Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.

A/N: I know it's not really an excuse, but I was practising my touch typing, meaning I typed six times slower than usual.

XXX

Emily got up slowly, frowning as she worked out the kinks in her neck. Stretching, she looked over to JJ's sleeping form before heading to the bathroom to change her clothes. She wondered how to approach what she'd dubbed the "Irrational Morons" issue with JJ and Morgan- she couldn't do much, really. After all, all she knew was that JJ had nightmares about dogs, and Morgan had blamed her for something which she thought was her fault. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened, but still, she didn't want to do anything until she figured out exactly what they'd said to each other. JJ might have been dreaming about an incident with Morgan from two years ago, which had melded together with a dream about Hankel's dogs.

She unlocked the bathroom door. When she came out, JJ was sitting up in bed. Emily smiled at her in greeting.

"Morning," she said carefully, noticing the dark circles under JJ's eyes and her tired expression.

"Morning." JJ rubbed her forehead and, grabbing her go bag, walked into the bathroom, avoiding Emily. She had a feeling her colleague had maybe found out more than she was comfortable with her knowing.

"We should probably head down to the station," Emily called through the bathroom door.

"Yeah," JJ agreed. "Let's just grab a coffee on the way."

"I could die for a blueberry muffin right about now," Emily said dreamily, making JJ laugh. She stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a fitted white blouse and black pants.

"Let's go."

Just then, a knock at the door startled them both, and their fingers automatically reached for their weapons. Meeting each other's expressions, they smiled wryly.

"At least we've got the reflexes of a cat," Emily said as she opened the door to reveal Morgan, who was grinning, apparently having overheard the last part of the conversation.

"Who's like a cat?" he asked teasingly.

"Us," Emily replied, pulling JJ out the hotel room door and locking the door.

"Do you want to give Tiger Morgan a spin?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He wrinkled his nose as Emily made a face and JJ burst into laughter despite herself. "Alright, fine, that was lame. I need my coffee fix before I can get my flirt on!"

Emily snorted. "Uh-huh, sure." She noticed things she hadn't before: how JJ avoided Morgan's eyes, and although she was trying extremely hard to keep up a cheery front with him, she wasn't comfortable.

"Whatever, Prentiss. Let's just go, okay?" Morgan made a show of being hurt, grabbing both their arms and leading them down the corridor to the elevators. Both Emily and Morgan noticed JJ stiffen, and Emily could see from Morgan's expression that he had no idea what was wrong.

It's something small to him but big to her, she thought, pressing the elevator button. The doors ping-ed and were about to shut when Reid came running down the hallway, his hair flapping behind him.

"Wait for me! Morgan! Hold the doors!" He ran into the elevator, ignoring their amused looks. "I didn't want to take the next one."

"You forgot the 'by yourself'," Morgan said, laughing.

They settled into an uneasy silence for the four floors down. Emily took this as the perfect time to examine their behaviour.

JJ was tense and it was apparent to everyone in the lift. She was gripping the metal bar so hard her knuckles turned white. She was trying to seem relaxed though- but she was making it too obvious, that was the problem. To the trained profilers in the elevator with her, it was apparent that she was forcing herself not to hide in the corner, turned away from them all.

Morgan was acting perfectly normal. He seemed confused as to why JJ was so uncomfortable, and his stance was slightly more protective of Reid than was needed, but that was expected given what had happened on the last case.

Reid...Reid resembled a curious puppy. He knew something was up, and he had a fairly good idea what was wrong with JJ, but he, like Emily, was trying to figure out what her guilt had to do with Morgan. He met Emily's eyes over JJ's head and raised an eyebrow as the doors ping!-ed and opened. She shook her head at him and gave a tiny shrug, motioning to him to come over as JJ and Morgan exited.

"What's with the cold war?" she asked in a hushed whisper, eyeing the pair conspicuously.

Reid cocked his head to one side. "I don't know...although it does seem one-sided..."

"Yeah," Emily agreed, following JJ and Morgan out of the hotel. "All the cold vibes are from JJ's side."

They shut up as they climbed into the SUV, Morgan taking the front seat with Prentiss driving.

"So, JJ, are you doing a press conference today?" he asked, in what was an obvious attempt to bridge the gap between him and his colleague.

JJ shrugged, slightly annoyed that her Avoid-Morgan-and-Reid mission was so transparent. Collecting her face into a poised, friendly mask, she replied, "Probably. It depends on whether we get the profile done or not." She turned to Emily to change the subject. "Hey Em, did you take my earrings by any chance? I couldn't find them this morning."

The drive continued in much the same fashion, with Morgan pressing JJ for information, and JJ replying in a perfectly friendly, but obviously unintentionally detached manner.

When they arrived at the station, Hotch, who had arrived early, greeted them with a tired frown. Rossi appeared close behind him.

"Good; you're here. We've been going over some of the videos."

They followed him into the conference room where the laptop was set up, with numerous screencaps showing ghastly methods of torture displayed on its screen.

"Garcia, play the second one," Hotch ordered.

"Is that Alice Young?" Emily asked quietly. Hotch gave a stony nod as the video switched to full screen. Alice lay on a cold stone floor, a bump on her head, but otherwise unharmed. The unsub walked into view of the camera, his face hidden by a mask. JJ and Garcia looked away as he walked up to the woman and began slowly torturing her. They'd seen it once already- and that was one time too many.

"Wait, this is interesting," Reid said at the 2:42 mark, pressing pause. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Morgan asked.

"He was angry. She told him to, ah, 'go fuck himself' and he was furious, look at his face!"

"But he controlled it almost instantly," Hotch said. "He's used to taking care of his appearance and hiding his emotions is usual for him."

"Reid, did you manage to work on victimology yesterday?" Rossi asked.

"Um, yes. All the similarities I could distinguish are pretty obvious: all blonde, all in jobs which require some form of leadership, all within the same age range, all single."

"Well, we know he has a type," Morgan said. "That makes it easier. She was probably a former girlfriend or boss. We could get Garcia to search for possible future-"

"Um, excuse me, honeybun," Garcia interrupted him, "but do you know how many blonde single women there are in New York City between the ages of 30 and 35?" Before he could answer, she went on, "A lot. I'm talking like half the women in the city here."

"Alright, but we could at least warn them?" Morgan said, glancing at JJ. "Press conference, Hotch?"

"We need to work on getting the profile completed first," he replied. "Garica, use any recognition program you can to find his height, weight, facial structure- anything you can. Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss, I want you to finish watching the videos. Pick up on anything you can. Reid, finish the geographical profile. JJ, I'll go over the preliminary profile with you, and you can start drafting the press conference. We'll give the completed profile to police department in, say, three hours?" At their nods, he left the room with JJ and Reid.

Three hours later, they assembled the detectives from NYPD in the conference room.

"Alright," Morgan started. "We have a seriously messed up guy on our hands. He's a power/control killer, like John Wayne Gacy. The unsub is also an organized killer."

"This offender is a white male between the ages of 30 and 40, and judging from the videos, he's between 6'1 and 6'2"," Hotch continued. "The unsub is extremely extroverted, articulate and highly narcissistic. He takes great care with his physical and outward appearance. He will dress himself neatly, whether in business or casual attire."

Rossi surveyed the room before carrying on. "Organized killers are manipulative, deliberative, and full of guile but outwardly amiable as long as it suits their objectives. In other words, this type of offender could truly be a pillar of the community, the patron saint of child or spousal abuse prevention, and the neighborhood's most willing handyman."

Prentiss nodded, using her hands to talk. "All the while, he is also the boogeyman who stalks his
community's women, tortures them, and snuffs out their last breath. He is equally convincing in both roles and this is why the news reports always show the community astonishment in phrases like, "He was always such a nice guy."

"If you look at the victims," Reid said, "you'll note that they all share physical and occupational similarities. It's likely this unsub was fired from his job just before the killings started, and his boss was probably a blonde woman."

Morgan cleared his throat. "He feels insignificant and incapable in his daily life, so he tortures his victims to get that sense of power and control. He is most likely single, and definitely not impotent."

"Another thing you should be aware of," Hotch stated carefully, "is that he has probably injected himself into the investigation."

"What do you mean?" one of the officers asked sharply, looking up. "He could be one of us?"

"No," Rossi answered. "He's not in law enforcement, and he's not a reporter or journalist. He's most likely one of the witnesses or the person who alerted the police to the bodies. Please keep all of this under wraps; I cannot stress how important it is that certain details like the videos don't get leaked out to the public."

"Thank you," Hotch said, dismissing them. "That's all for now. We'll be holding a press conference in about ten minutes to give the profile to the media; you are welcome to come to that if you missed anything." Turning to JJ, he nodded his head towards the hall where a sea of reporters were gathered.

Putting down her coffee mug, she made her way to the front of the crowd, bumping into several reporters on her way there.

"Alright, thank you for coming," she said, smiling at them all in her well-practised way. "Now, we'd appreciate it if you would listen carefully to the profile. If you feel that you know someone who fits the description, or find out anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact the hotline displayed on your screen."

She relayed the profile to them, then opened the floor to questions. Immediately, the journalists, who had apparently never heard of taking turns, shouted out loud, pushy questions.

"Agent Jareau! Agent Jareau! Does the BAU have any comment on the victim types?"

"Agent! Has he tried to contact the police in any way?"

"What can residents do to protect themselves?"

"What should locals do if they think their spouse could be the killer?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the last question, and, remembering what Hotch had said, evaded the second one. "We have managed to gain an accurate understanding of his victim 'type', so to speak. He goes after single, blonde women between the ages of 30 and 35 who are in a position of authority or a job that requires some form of leadership. If you or your family members fit this description, please take great care to protect yourself." Before they could ask, she added, "Always stay with a fit, physically healthy person. Never go out at night alone. Keep some pepper spray in your bag. Don't invite any strangers home. If you think you're in danger, again, don't hesitate to call the hotline shown on your screen."

The pesky reporters immediately jumped onto the previous question which she had avoided. "Has he tried to contact the police in any way?"

"Are there any other questions?" She pretended she hadn't heard it. "Yes, Mr. Morrison, from The Times?"

Morrison, a skilled reporter and well-read in all of the BAU's cases, asked "Has he made any effort to be recognized, by, say, sending the local police an item meant to mock them?"

She sighed, cursing the direct question. Time to subtly change the subject, she thought, not really annoyed. Subtly diverting from a question was one of her main manipulation skills. "We know from crime scenes that he wears a mask, which tells us that he does not want to be fully recognized. He hasn't yet tried to personally," Hotch nodded approvingly at her use of the word 'personally', "contact us, and obviously because of this we don't know his identity. However, the moment we do, we will let the public know. Of course, we would need the locals' help to find him if it got to that point and, again, please make good use of the tip line. That will be all. Thank you."

She walked off the stage, smiling at Hotch's "Nicely done." They rest of the team had gathered in the conference room, going over a list of names.

JJ raised an eyebrow. "You've narrowed it down to..." she scanned the list quickly, "...29 names already?"

"That's 28 too many," Morgan muttered, flipping a page of the file in his hand.

Reid nodded at JJ, his eyes bright. "Garcia compiled a list of all the people involved in the investigation who were also fired from somewhere in the last six months, and fit the geographical profile. We're now going over the pictures to find people who fit the height and build of the unsub."

"Okay," JJ said, noticing Emily's lips quirk upwards at Reid's obvious excitement. "Let's get to it, then."

XXX

A/N 1: I have a poll up, on my profile. Also a new two-shot called It Isn't Always a Mistake, Hotch/Prentiss.

A/N 2: They keep banning and unbanning sites which have even slightly M-rated stuff, so I completely freaked out, and, to make myself feel better, I created a blog where I'll only post chapters of all the stories. Just in case is banned. Link on my profile. (I KNOW, I'M PARANOID!)

Maddie xxx