Hotch, unsure of Prentiss' condition, pulled out his weapon and headed up the trail as snow started to fall. "Emily?!" He continued to call.

Prentiss got down on one knee and leaned onto her left leg. Her glock was in her right hand with the barrel touching the exposed dirt. She stared at the ground in front of her for a second, then got back up and continued to follow the path.

"Emily!" He continued to call out as he chased her boot prints in the snow.

She stopped, and turned around, believing that she heard something. Hotch yelled her name again, this time she was able to recognize it. "Hotch! I am right here." She went back down the path toward his voice.

"Emily, thank god." He said as she came into view. He put his weapon back into its holster.

"What's wrong?" She did the same with hers.

"Reid fell and hit his head, Willis is taking him to the hospital. We need to get back down to the road where there is a better signal and call the team. They don't know what happened, and we are going to need a ride." Hotch looked up to see dark clouds filling the sky as the snow dropped down on them. "What were you doing all the way up here?" He asked as they walked back down the path.

"I was following some foot prints in the snow. At first I thought they could be from the searchers last night, but they were done more recently. I wanted to see where they went. But now that the snow is falling, I wouldn't be able to follow them much longer anyway."

Hotch pulled out his phone to check for a signal. He held it up above his head and turned around in a circle, still no signal. They continued to walk until he saw it. "I got a bar." He dialed a number and pressed speaker. His left hand held the phone above his head while his right wiped the falling snow off of his face.

"Your friendly neighborhood keeper of all knowledge."

"Garcia?!" Hotch shouted.

"Hotch? Is that you? Where are you?" Garcia asked barely able to hear him.

"Listen, Reid was taken to the hospital, alert the team. Also, we are stuck where Deputy Willis left us, you need to tell them to come get us."

"Sir, I only heard some of that, can you please repeat?"

Hotch repeated what he said.

"I heard, Reid, Hospital, Willis and that's it." She said to no response. "Sir? Hotch?"

"Damn. The phone cut off. I hope she got that."

"It's Garcia, I am sure she will be able to figure it out. Look, I think there is a cabin over that way about a hundred yards, I suggest we head for it. The snow is falling harder and it might be some time before the team reaches us. And I really don't feel like freezing to death out here."

Hotch looked in the direction of the cabin, assessing the situation. "I agree, we should get moving." The two left the path and walked into the woods.


They walked through the brush, pushing tree branches out of their way as they tromped through the snow. With each step they were able to make out the cabin more clearly. Before too long they were at the front steps. Prentiss walked up and knocked on the door as Hotch peeked through the window. "It doesn't look like anyone is here." He observed.

Prentiss picked up the mat from in front of the door. "No key."

Hotch looked around and went to the wood pile at the edge of the porch and lifted a log at the far end. He picked up and key, turned to show it to Prentiss and smiled.

"How did you know it would be there?" She asked with a surprised face.

He walked to the door and unlocked it. "Just a matter of deduction." He took a step into the dark cabin and looked around. "Hello?" He called out. With no answer, he walked in further.

Prentiss looked at the walls. "I guess it would be too much to hope that this place has electricity."

"It doesn't look like it." Hotch stared at the glorious, brick fireplace that took up the far wall. A simple sofa rested in front of it. "I will go get some of the wood and start a fire." He walked back out to collect the chopped wood.

Prentiss looked around the small room. A modest table with two chairs, a meager kitchen with a sink and a shelf of canned goods. She went to the sink to find a modern faucet, and turned it on. "At least there is plumbing." She yelled to Hotch. "Let's hope there's a modern bathroom." She said to herself.

She walked past the fireplace to a doorway. Inside there was a double bed with what looked like a homemade quilt laying on top. Another doorway was to the right. She walked in. "Oh, thank god."

"What?" Hotch said as he stood right behind her. Prentiss jumped as she heard his voice. She turned and smacked him on the chest. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"I'm sorry." He said with a laugh. "What were you thankful for?"

"That there was a working toilet in this rustic cabin." She walked past him into the main room. Prentiss looked at the stack of dried wood in the fireplace. "You do know that a fire works a lot better when it is actually burning, right?"

Hotch let out a sigh. "I was looking for some kindling to get it started."

Prentiss put her hand into her back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here, will this work?" She held it out towards Hotch.

"Yes, it should. Are you sure you don't need it?" He asked as he took it from her hand.

"Yeah, it's just a piece of paper."

He crumpled it up and stuffed it under the logs. He then picked up a match from the side of the fireplace, lit it and placed it on the paper. "That should get going pretty soon."

Prentiss stood with her hands on her hips. "So how long do you think we will have to be here before they find us?"

Hotch poked at the ensuing fire. "It shouldn't be too long. I think the hard part will be figuring out what cabin we went to." Hotch turned to look at her while still crouching down. "You can rest on the couch or on the bed if you wanted." He turned back to attend to the fire. "Don't worry, I won't join you this time."

Prentiss's face started to turn red. "I think we had enough of that for one trip."

Hotch stood up now that the fire was going strong and took a seat on the couch. "Well, why don't you come over here and sit next to me. That should be innocent enough." He smiled.