A/N: Thank you for the four nominations I got in the 2012 Profiler's Choice Fan Fic awards! I'm honored and touched. There are so many great stories and authors out there that I'm thrilled some of you have found my works worthy. The sequel to this story, "A Rose By Any Other Name" was nominated for Best Crossover. I know it won last year, but the award runners said it was perfectly legit to nominate it again. So thank you for those of you who did! If you go to the Forum's section, the ballot is up to vote. I also want to apologize for the length of time it's taking me to post updates. Work has been beyond insane and it's cutting into all of my time for things like, you know, sleep. Anyway, I hope folks enjoy this installment and thank you again for the nominations!

"I don't understand how anyone can do this to another human being," Jimmy Palmer sighed as he handed Ducky a pair of scissors. The ME was finishing sewing the incisions he had to make in Commander Hill's body in order to perform his autopsy. "I mean how can anyone perform a lobotomy on someone?"

"Up until a fairly recent time, it was considered a legitimate form of dealing with mental illness," Ducky replied. "Fortunately, they discovered that such a procedure did very little to help the recipients and found more effective and humane forms of treatment. I'm afraid our suspect has more nefarious reasons behind the commission of this act than those misguided physicians decades ago."

"Why do you think he's doing it?" Palmer asked.

"Because he's a sick bastard," Gibbs replied as he strode into the morgue with Hotch and Rossi following close behind. Never one to mince words, he barked out, "What have you got for me, Duck?"

"It's a bad one, Jethro," the weary man informed his friend. He turned away from the autopsy table and realized Gibbs was not alone. "Hello. I don't think we've met before. " He looked pointedly at Gibbs, waiting for his friend to make introductions.

The NCIS agent sighed. "Dr. Donald Mallard and Jimmy Palmer, Agents Hotchner and Rossi with the FBI."

"Ah, members of Emily's team! Delighted to finally meet you both," Ducky said as he came forward. He automatically held out his hand but realized that they were still bloodied from the autopsy. "Sorry, I forgot. Agent Rossi, David Rossi, correct? I am a great fan of your work! I am a student of forensic profiling and would quite enjoy an opportunity to speak with you for a few minutes at a later time."

"I'm sure we can find some time to do that, Doctor," was Rossi's gracious reply.

"After we've nailed this scumbag," Gibbs interrupted. "What have you got, Duck?"

"I'm afraid not much, gentlemen," Ducky replied as he discarded his gloves and washed up. "The connections to and from the prefrontal cortex were severed as you would expect to find in a lobotomy. It appears that the instrument used was a long, slender piece of metal, perhaps even an orbitoclast that was used in these procedures decades ago. The procedure was likely done through the eye. He would have lifted the eyelid and the instrument would be placed against the top of the eyesocket. A small mallet would be used to drive the orbitoclast through the bone and into the brain along the plane of the bridge of the nose-"

"Duck...,"Gibbs grimaced in distaste. "We get the picture." Hotch remained impassive, but Rossi had scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Yes, well, this barbaric act was likely done soon after the Commander was kidnapped. Healing had begun and would mesh with the time she was still held in captivity before this monster killed her. She was repeatedly sexually assaulted until he likely tired of her and then he strangled her." Ducky wadded up the paper towels he had used to dry his hand into a neat ball and threw them forcefully into the nearby garbage can. "The wounds were some of the most vicious I had ever seen. I truly hope you find this creature soon, Jethro."

"That's the plan," Gibbs murmured. He turned to the FBI men "This sound like your killer?"

Hotch nodded as Rossi said in an angry voice, "To a 'T'. Was there anything else?"

"Possibly," Ducky replied as he moved towards the Commander's feet. "He was careful. No DNA, she was bathed to remove trace evidence but he wasn't careful enough." He pointed to the soles of Hill's feet. "He likely kept them barefoot. There are some scratches as though they walked over a rough surface. He washed whatever trace evidence from the soles, but he missed under the toenails. The Commander had fairly long nails and if she dragged her toes against the ground, as it appears she might have from the bruising and scratching to them, traces would be caught under the nail. It was some dirt and other substances. Abby has it right now."

"That's it?" Hotch asked, sighing in frustration.

"I'm afraid so," Ducky replied. "You are dealing with an extremely clever and I'm frightened to say, experienced, killer who is taking counter forensic measures. This man won't stop and he most likely is searching for his next victim."

"We know, Duck, we know," Gibbs sighed as he turned to leave.

"Thanks, Doctor. We'll talk later," Rossi said as he and Hotch followed Gibbs out.

Abby sucked on the straw as she quickly went through her third Caf-Pow of the day. She was watching Emily who sat in the forensics expert's office, working on the computer. Emily's face was a mask of cool professionalism, but Abby had seen how upset the older woman was just a few minutes ago. The case was disturbing, but the scientist suspected that wasn't what was bothering her friend. Maybe she got bad news? Or someone said something to Emily to upset her? If it was the latter, Abby didn't know who that could be. Emily was well-liked at NCIS and besides, everyone here knew they would have to deal with Gibbs if he found out the brunette agent had been insulted.

Her own team? Abby sucked on the straw in a more thoughtful manner as she considered that. Abby hadn't met any of the other BAU agents, but she was under the impression that they were a fairly tight knit group. However, when they first met, Abby knew relations between Emily and the rest of her team were rocky. Abby didn't know if they had improved or not. Emily had been quiet about it.

"Abs! Abs!"

The loud music that had been playing in her lab was suddenly cut off and she could hear the unmistakable sound of someone trying to suck something up a straw in an empty cup. A large hand came over the top of the Caf-Pow and moved it away from Abby's mouth. Gibbs took the empty cup out of Abby's hands and held up a new Caf-Pow.

"Gibbs! Perfect timing. I needed a refill." Her eyes traveled up to look at the other two men in the room, one looked startled and the other was looking at her appreciatively. "Hi!"

"Abby Sciuto, Agents Hotchner and Rossi."

The startled one was Hotchner and even he, the master of the blank expression couldn't contain his surprise when he saw Abby Sciuto, crack forensics scientist. He had heard good things about her and knew she had published many journal articles associated with her work and discoveries and studies she had conducted. Everything pointed to one of the brightest forensic experts in the country and many agencies were jealous that NCIS had her under the house. Hotch had expected an older woman, maybe someone as old as Strauss or at least a woman around Prentiss' age. Instead he got Abby in all her Goth glory with her platform shoes that made her already tall frame well over six feet. The lab coat was longer than the schoolgirl, plaid miniskirt she wore and was she actually wearing a spiked dog collar? Hotch could only blink again.

Rossi however, was looking appreciatively at the young, pretty woman. He smiled at her and held his hand out. "David Rossi," he greeted her with a twinkle in his eye.

Gibbs frowned at what he would classify as a leer from the older FBI man, but Abby, so used to such attention merely smiled at the man. She may have an optimistic and sunny outlook on life, but Abby had a very good lecher radar and while she suspected David Rossi liked his women young and frisky, maybe even a bit jailbaity, she got the sense it was a decent guy. "It's nice to meet you, Agent Rossi." She looked over the two men. Rossi was dressed in an expensive blazer and jeans, while Hotchner was in a full, conservative suit and tie. She thought Tony's assessment of Hotchner having a bug up his butt was probably accurate.

"Please, bella, call me Dave."

"You have time to analyze those scrapings Ducky sent up?" Gibbs interrupting Rossi's attempts to hit on his petted scientist.

"Geez, Gibbs, I just got it about forty-five minutes ago. I'm good, but for me to have something for you would be inhuman. Though we know I have managed to do some superhuman things in the past. Remember that time when I reconstructed that bomb that was in a million and two pieces and covered in horse manure-"

"Abs," Gibbs warned her.

"Fortunately, I am in a superhuman mood today. I'm not done analyzing the substance, but I have something on the blanket that Commander Hill was wrapped in." She moved towards her keyboard and her fingers began to fly furiously over the keys. "It's a high end, cashmere and wool blend blanket sold through expensive stores. I've compiled a list of local and online stores that sell it."

"He's using an expensive blanket?" Hotch asked as he moved towards the screen, getting his first look at the evidence found at the scene.

"He didn't use the same one at the other crime scenes?" Gibbs asked.

Hotch shook his head. "Blankets were found in two of the drop sites but they were mass produced blankets found in numerous stores. Nothing could be traced on that end. But this one, this is new."

"It could be something as simple as he ran out of the other blankets and just used this one," Abby said.

Hotch shook his head. "This guy is organized, careful. I can't see him making a mistake like that."

"Unless something happened to throw him off," Gibbs supplied.

"We haven't discerned any pattern to his killings as far as time," Rossi replied. "They're just getting to be more frequent and closer together. Commander Hill's body was dumped less than two weeks from his previous victim. That's the shortest time frame we've seen so far."

"He may not have expected her to be found so quickly. Where she was dumped off, maintenance had already serviced that area of the park and weren't scheduled to be back in that section for another two weeks. She wasn't visible from the path. If that dog hadn't found her, she might have gone unnoticed for a few days if not the full two weeks until the maintenance crews hit the area again."

"It's definitely a deviation from his previous behavior," Hotch noted as he turned away from the screen. "If you could send us the list of those retailers, we can start with that."

"Already sent to McGee," Abby replied brightly.

Hotch nodded his thanks and turned his head to look at the screen again. As he did that, he noticed for the first time someone was sitting in the small office in the back of the lab. He realized it was Emily.

"What's Prentiss doing here?" Hotch asked.

The other two men glanced over to where he was looking and then all three turned to Abby for an explanation.

Brilliant as she was, Abby Sciuto was a lousy poker player. The three men knew immediately something disturbing had happened that would cause Emily Prentiss to take refuge in the lab.

"Abs…" Gibbs pressed.

"I don't know what happened, but Emily was…upset a little while ago so I brought her down here so she could just decompress a bit."

"Upset?" Rossi repeated. Hotch frowned in concern. "Who upset her?"

Abby shrugged and Hotch turned towards Gibbs. "I hope no one at NCIS said anything inappropriate to Agent Prentiss." Hotch's voice was frigid with anger. Prentiss was tough. He had only seen her rattled once before, her friend Matthew's case. He couldn't imagine anyone saying anything that would cause her to hide away. His hand tightened into a fist. What if someone had acted inappropriately towards her? There had been times when local law enforcement they were working with had made lewd and unwanted advances towards Emily, but she had always handled herself professionally and with dignity. She was never rattled. It had to be something truly outrageous.

Nearly the exact same thoughts were going through Gibbs' mind. It had to be something very egregious for Emily to remove herself completely and seek out a safe haven and even for Abby to felt the need to offer it. He heard Hotch's last remark and his eyes flattened out as he said, "If they did, they're going to regret it," was the NCIS man's ominous reply.

"I should go check on her," Rossi said in a worried tone. He still wasn't sure if she was completely recovered from Matthew's death and all the old wounds that case had opened up. He had been watching her closely the past few weeks and he wanted her to know he was here to listen if she needed someone to talk to.

Abby placed a hand on Rossi's arm. "Just give her a little space and time," she said softly. "Don't worry, she's okay here, but if you push, I think she'll just clam up. I think she's embarrassed that I saw her like that. Just leave her with me. I'll make sure she's not bothered and that she'll be back upstairs when she's more…centered."

Rossi's eyes softened as he stared into Abby's green ones. Yes, he appreciated the long legs, the pretty features, and the apparent wild child persona she outwardly presented, but he could see that Abby was a good, gentle soul and if he wasn't there to keep an eye on Emily, Abby would be the next best person. He patted her hand gently and nodded his thanks.

Hotch took more convincing. He looked doubtfully between Abby and Gibbs and threw another concerned look at Emily in the office. She still hadn't noticed they were in the outer lab, the glass doors between them muffling their voices and her attention completely focused on the computer.

Gibbs came up to Hotch's shoulder and said quietly to him, "Trust Abby. Emily is in good hands and Abs is right. Emily will feel embarrassed by whatever happened. We'll figure out what it was either by asking around or she'll tell someone herself."

Hotch glanced once more at Prentiss but nodded reluctantly. He knew the others were right, she would feel embarrass and she would likely feel he might be wondering if she could perform her job on this case if her head wasn't 100% in the game. Best to let her gather herself and focus herself back onto the investigation without her knowing he was concerned. Meanwhile, he, Gibbs and Rossi could poke around and see if anyone knew what happened to make Prentiss so upset.

"Ms. Sciuto, thank you for your help," Hotch murmured as he glanced one more time at Prentiss and then headed out of the lab. Rossi nodded his thanks and gave Abby a look that said, Keep me posted. On everything.

A/N 2: I'm trying to balance case and character story here so I hope folks don't mind me switching back and forth between the two. Hopefully I'm weaving them in without too much unevenness. I also feel, next to Emily, that Rossi would likely be the next person who would get along best with the NCIS team for a variety of reasons.

For those who are looking for the Profiler's Choice nominees and how to vote, you can find it at:

topic/ 74868/73609377/1/ 2012-Profiler-s-Choice-CM-Awards-FINAL-VOTING-BALLOT-HERE

Just remove the spaces. There are a lot of very good authors/stories nominated so show your support by voting!