Hotch entered his room feeling even more nervous than before. Was the shadow from just a few moments ago just his imagination gone haywire or was someone actually following him? It was bad news for Hotch either way.

He sighed, put down his belongings and turned on the lights. He gathered a copy of the M.E report as well as a few other case files and started to look them over. Like Reid, Hotch found that studying and reading were activities that helped him relax, provided that he managed to make it through the first few minutes without getting distracted. He was looking over one particular photo and just then, thought that he saw something that would help them with their current case.

"BOOM, BOOM!"

A loud knock on his door interrupted him and startled him so much that he sent a few files flying to the floor. He quickly gathered them up before he sprinted to the door. He swiftly took a peek through the keyhole, but saw no one. He opened the door and still, no one was in sight.

He was about to go back to reading when the door is knocked on again. Hotch assumed a fighting stance, reading to defend himself from an attack. He counted to three in his mind and swung open the door. Once again, no one was in sight. Hotch relaxed and turned back. He checked out the floor to make sure that he had gathered all the files that he dropped. He turned around again to close the door when Prentiss suddenly popped up from nowhere.

"Boo!"

Normally Hotch wouldn't have fallen for this and would have seen it coming but tonight was different. Hotch acted like he had just saw a werewolf jump in front of his face.

"Ah god!" he swore and stumbled backwards. He landed on the ground rather roughly.

Prentiss started laughing at first but after a few seconds, she stopped and grew worried about Hotch. She helped Hotch up to his feet and suddenly became nervous. She instantly regretted pranking Hotch like that and was fully ready to get reamed out for doing something that stupid.

Hotch turned to face her but instead of being angry, he looked exasperated. "Emily, that's not funny. This case is making me more nervous than anything else in years and you decide to make fun of me."

Emily hesitated at first but argued back, "Well, that's why I did it. You're always moping around all the time and making yourself feel worse."

In a gentler voice, she said, "I know how much this case means to you, but you won't be able to do anything if you feel down all the time."

"And you think scaring me will help?"

"Well, it has before."

Smiling, she recalled the time when Hotch was anxious about whether Jack would like the new present Hotch was going to give him. She didn't like seeing Hotch so on edge and decided to wear Jack's Halloween mask and jump Hotch from a corner when he least expected it. She managed to give him a good fright that had her laughing her guts out at his reaction. Surprisingly, not only was Hotch not mad, he lost all his uneasiness and they playfully spent the rest of the day engaging in a prank war.

"It's different this time, ok? Being nervous about a dangerous psychopath is different than being nervous about getting my son a present."

Also from experience, Emily knew when it was time to stop an argument with Hotch. "Besides, he's right. What was I thinking?" she thought to herself.

"I'm sorry, Aaron" she apologized.

Hotch looked at her and she put on an irresistible doe-eyed, sad face which she knew Hotch couldn't resist. He tries to resist smiling but after a while, he couldn't help it.

"Looks like that worked, huh?" she lightly teased.

Looking away, he said "Not even close. You're an idiot to scare me at a time like this." He pauses and admits. "But I'm not mad at you anymore." They both already knew that Hotch could never stay mad at Emily for very long.

They sat down on the bed together, silently enjoying each other's company. Prentiss teased Hotch about being a scaredy-cat and Hotch lightly pushed her away. After a bit more playful banter, they both stand back up at the same time. Hotch suddenly remembered that he was focusing pretty heavily on one of the case files, just before Emily came.

"Emily, I was looking over the crime scene photos before you came and something caught my mind. Can you come look at it?"

Emily's face looked worried upon hearing this but she nodded. She wasn't surprised that he had caught something everyone else had missed. Members of the BAU always seemed to pull through on cases that were most personal to them and this case was obviously the most personal to Hotch.

Hotch took out a photo with a good view of their latest victims and pointed at the piece of plastic they found.

"Doesn't it look like it came from something familiar?"

Emily looked confused and responded no.

Hotch took out a zoomed up photo of the evidence that Reid had discovered.

"You see how it's curved like that? I think it came from a mask..."

Emily examined the picture more carefully and pondered over it for a while. Then she saw it. The curvature did seem to resemble the corner of the jaw from a mask. Finally, she looked at Hotch.

"I think you're right about that. It looks like the corner of the jaw area of a mask. It must have been knocked loose from a struggle."

"Or maybe it came off from it wearing down over time."

Prentiss looked at Hotch who seemed more alive and excited than he has been since the case started.

"But Hotch, this still doesn't really get us anywhere. We won't be able to identify the exact mask just from this, and a lot of serial killers wear masks anyways." Emily felt terrible getting Hotch's hopes down like this but she knew that she had to point it out to him.

However, Hotch didn't look disappointed at all. He gazed back at Emily and she continued, "Still, this is pretty helpful. We can tell the team about this tomorrow and we'll see if any other evidence comes up" she reassured.

Out of the blue, Hotch said, "I just really want this case to end", more so to himself than to Prentiss.

Emily comfortingly took Hotch's hand into her own and guided him back onto the bed, where they sat beside one another.

"You will make it end. This guy won't be hurting anyone else. You're going to make sure of that but you will also need our help. We're going to work together as a team to get this guy."

Hotch looked startled at her boldness, especially about the part about the unsub not being able to hurt anyone else. How many times have they promised people that an unsub wouldn't hurt anyone else and were wrong about that? Too many to count, he thought to himself. At the same time, her confidence managed to ease his mind, which nothing else had been able to do so far.

Hotch felt a yawn well up inside him and restrained it. He looked up at the time and noticed that it was getting late. As if on cue, Emily does give out a light yawn, which Hotch found adorable.

He told Emily, "You should head back to your room. We both need some sleep for the long day we have ahead of us."

Prentiss agreed but said "I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight. We shouldn't be alone by ourselves you know. Our unsub could be in this hotel" she joked.

"Just as long as it's just sleep, fine."

"Ok, fine" she grumbled. "I was hoping you can go to third base with me followed by a home run. Can I get one kiss at least?" She sat down on the bed and beckoned to him.

Hotch sat down as well and closed his eyes, about to kiss her when Prentiss suddenly tackled Hotch and straddled him.

"Ouch!"

Hotch tried to escape but Emily moved up to his chest and sat on him in a way that her legs pinned down his arms.

"Gotcha!" Emily smiled.

Hotch struggled for a while before he abruptly gained a burst of strength, which was enough to throw her off and reverse their positions.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Just for the fun of it", she admitted.

"Can you stop goofing around?" he grumbled.

Prentiss couldn't help but laugh at his irritation and Hotch smiled too. Emily's laugh was one of the few laughs that managed to lift his mood.

After they stopped, they were both aware that they were looking into each other's eyes from only inches apart. From here, they both realized that they had the same idea. They both closed their eyes and embraced in a long, well-deserved kiss that made them want to stay there forever. Reluctantly, they stopped and Hotch let Emily up.

Tired, Prentiss stretched her arms and yawned once more.

"Well, I guess that's my cue. Good night."

"Good night, Em."

Emily curled up on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Hotch took a few minutes to take one last look at the case files and was examining the picture of the most recent victims again. He stared at it, as if the picture was speaking to him. Nothing came to him for a while when, out of nowhere, Hotch had a flashback.

He found himself no longer with Emily in their hotel room, but on a bus that had stopped for a passenger. Hotch was standing right in the middle of the bus when a strange man came on board. Hotch looked around for a few moments, taking in the bored and tired looking faces around him. He noticed that the driver still wasn't taking off despite no one else coming on board and decided to walk further towards the front. He noticed that the driver and the man who just boarded were having an argument. Suddenly, the man pulled out two guns and shot the driver, killing him instantly. Hotch reached for his own gun but realized that, since he was wearing civilian clothes, it was not there. The man, who wore a black mask, walked right through Hotch like he wasn't even there, and shot at everyone, right from the front of the bus to the very back. Hotch stood there helplessly and watched, as everyone on board was killed. The man suddenly turned back to Hotch and looked at him through the slits of his mask. He gave a chuckle that made Hotch's blood go cold.

The man said, "I always save the best for the last". He raised his gun and pointed it at Hotch. Hotch tried to run but he was unable to make it off the bus before he heard a shot. He quickly turned around just to see the bullet an inch from his chest...