A/N: I changed the bottom part of this chapter around a bit so hopefully it flows better now. Oh yeah and I know that Garcia is with them at Quantico but they keep calling her because she needs to be in front of all those monitors working her technological magic.

Chapter Four: Parallels

Emily Prentiss sat at her desk trying not to nod off. She only slept a grand total of 30 minutes the night before and she was currently on her fifth cup of coffee. The rose she had found lying on top of her badge was wedged into the case file. Morgan came up to her desk and waved a hand in front of her face.

"Hey Prentiss are you feeling alright?"

She shook away the fog of sleep as best as she could and flashed him a fake reassuring smile. "Yeah I'm fine just a little tired that's all."

Morgan wasn't completely buying it but he decided to let it go. "If you say so oh and Hotch wants us all in the conference room, now."

Prentiss nodded her head and picked up the case file following Morgan. She slid past Hotch without a single glance and sat at the end of the table next to Reid like she had done the day before. Hotch reached over the table and dialed Garcia's number putting is on speaker phone.

"Good morning team." Garcia chirped happily over the line.

"What do you have for us beautiful?" Morgan asked.

"Okay two of these girls, Jenny Masterson and Britney Stevens worked at a local ad agency called Carmichael & Smith. They weren't in the same departments though."

"Still there could be a connection. Maybe our unsub works there too." Hotch said.

"Claire Owens was a veterinarian and Stacey Michaels was a real estate agent." Garcia Continued.

"Okay so it's obvious that our unsub is attracted to successful women. He could have met or seen them anywhere so we are going to have to start narrowing things down a little better." J.J. chimed in.

"Also I ran a long background check on all four of these girls had their homes and apartments broken into three days before they went missing. The police reports showed that nothing valuable was stolen. Jenny Masterson did complain that a few of her things had been rifled through but everything seemed to be fine otherwise. At each break-in the police did find a single red rose though which means that our psycho of the moment was leaving them a little gift. The police just wrote it off as nothing."

At hearing this new information Emily's head suddenly snapped up. "Oh, my, God."

"What is it?" Hotch asked.

Prentiss grabbed her case file and flipped it open letting a single red rose fall out onto the table.

"Where did you get that?" Reid asked leaning forward to better examine the wilted flower.

"Last night I think someone was in my apartment. My badge went missing and I found it on my night stand and the rose was lying on top of it." Prentiss said as she stood up and began pacing back and forth. This morning before I left it looked like some of my stuff had been gone through too and my hairbrush was missing."

Everyone stared at Prentiss in complete shock and over the phone Garcia said, "Holly SHIT."

"This makes sense actually. Your smart successful and a beautiful brunette which is just our unsub's type." Hotch said.

The team all shot him a confused look. "Look I want all of you out there finding whatever else you can. Go over every last detail."

Everyone agreed and left the conference room leaving Hotch and Prentiss alone. Prentiss stopped pacing back and forth and finally looked Hotch directly in the eye. It was the first time that she had done that in over a week.

"Emily I know we are at work and there is probably a much better time and place to talk about our current situation but you aren't just an agent working on the case anymore; you are the case."

Prentiss lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose letting out a breath of air she didn't even know that she had been holding. "I know I just can't believe this is happening."

Hotch moved closer and lowered his voice. "You can't be alone in you're apartment for the time being. It's not safe."

"Where am I supposed to go? If this guy found out where I lived and managed to break-in what makes you think he won't find me somewhere else?"

"I don't know." Hotch said defeated. "Maybe you should stay with…."

Emily's brown eyes grew wide and she shook her head stopping him from even finishing his sentence. "No way, absolutely not."

"Well then we have to figure something out. You aren't safe right now."

"I know that but considering what happened between us last week don't you think it would be inappropriate for me to stay with you? Besides it's already awkward enough between the two of us here at work."

"I just don't want anything happening to you Emily."

"Sir…."

"Look I shouldn't be saying this here or right now but what happened between us last week was not a mistake. I know that you think that the only reason I kissed you was because I was upset about the whole situation with my ex wife and son but that's not true. I kissed you because I wanted too and I know that you don't really think it was a mistake or you wouldn't have kissed me back like you did."

Prentiss let out a long sigh and ran a hand through her hair. She grabbed her things and walked past him. "Look I can't do this right now ok. There may be a serial killer targeting me and I just can't deal with this right now. You're right it wasn't a mistake." She was about to walk away when she stopped and turned around. She quickly looked around making sure that no one was around and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. "We can deal with this after this case is closed and this psycho is behind bars." She slowly removed her hand from his chest.

"Fine but I'm sending a team over to your apartment complex. They will make sure anyone who doesn't belong there doesn't get in. You'll be safe for now."

Prentiss agreed and left the conference room.