Chapter four: It was a big, big world...

Hermione was drinking her morning tea when Hotch came in to ask Harry's favorite color after dropping the unwanted cookies off at Reid's desk. Gideon frowned at the question.

"Harry?" Gideon questioned.

Hotch turned to look at him. "Jack and I saw her over the weekend and she told stories to Jack that he just loved. Now he wants to know Harry's favorite color so he can get a cape the same color."

He didn't see Gideon give Hermione a stern look. Hermione blushed. "Red, Harry's favorite color was red."

Hotch nodded. "I will definitely tell him. He talked about you almost nonstop yesterday until I took him home."

"I'm glad he liked them," she said quietly, avoiding anyone's gaze.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asked with a frown.

She smiled. "Just a headache. I didn't sleep well."

"I don't like this."

He frowned and looked over to her. Her elbow was propped up on the open window, open because of the killing damned heat of a summer in Georgia, rubbing a thoughtful finger over her bottom lip. He recognized this expression as her thinking about something hard.

"What do you mean?"

"He's intelligent. So far we've only found what he wanted us to find. This was too easy."

Hotch saw immediately what she meant, but didn't want to think about it. It had been too easy, but they had too many dead bodies not to take every option they could find.

"Everyone slips up some time," he told her, unsure of himself.

She made this strange movement with her mouth and he could tell she was biting the inside of her cheek. The ultimate sign of her thinking hard. There was a gun shot from the inside of the house and he called over the com for all units to move in, but not to go inside. He and Hermione ran to the back towards the bedroom where it sounded like the gunshot came from, guns ready and signaling each other with eyes. She nodded to him and he kicked the door in with a swift movement that he would never admit he hoped impressed her.

Hotch followed her into the room, but saw no one. He stopped short at the recording on the bed, wired to the amplifiers around the room. Hermione moved forward, stopping the recording as it started screaming and looked back at Hotch with confusion. He shrugged and looked around for something, not sure what. Only wires. Wait, not all of those wires were for the recording. He traced them with his eyes to the device on the bed that she was reaching to pick up. The unsub had a history in-

"WAIT!" He launched himself at Hermione and threw them to the ground, rolling them under the bed with her under him as the room exploded.

There was a ringing in his ears and he saw Hermione trying to say something. Trying to shout something. There were more shouts, but the ringing didn't stop and he felt some thing warm dripping down his neck. He reached up in a daze and dabbed his finger at it, his fingers coming back red. He felt the loss of the bed behind him as someone tried to pull him up and someone pulled Hermione away from him. Then he heard himself shouting, reaching for her and trying to throw the arms off that were trying to subdue him. The ringing in his ears subsided enough that he heard Hermione telling him to stop fighting and he recognized the man with her as Gideon. He calmed down marginally until he suddenly slumped and fell into unconsciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, there was no more ringing but rather a faint buzzing. He was aware just barely of a pressure on his hand. He tried to squeeze the warmth back, but found himself unable. Hermione stood at his side, butterfly bandages over a long cut on the corner of her eye and a bruise on her other cheek bone.

"Aaron?" She asked, looking at him with worry. "Don't try to move. I'm going to go get the doctor."

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. She kissed his forehead and left in a rush, returning a moment later followed by an older doctor- wrinkles playing tag on his face.

"Agent Hotchner? I'm Dr. Mallory. You sustained a blunt force trauma to your entire back from the bed collapsing on you. You should be able to leave in a few days, but you may experience difficulty walking too much and some ringing in your ears from time to time. How are you feeling?"

Hotch blinked at the ceiling a few times, moistening his lips. "Drugged. What did you give me?"

"That would be..." he glanced down at his clipboard, lifting a few papers to find the answer, "morphine. For the pain."

"Stop it. I don't want it."

Mallory went to object. "Sir, you're both lucky to be alive-"

"I don't care. I can't think on morphine."

"Yes, sir. Your team is in the waiting area. They can come back here in a few minutes. Now your team has contacted your family, they should be-"

As if on cue, there was a blur and suddenly Jack was at his side. Mallory nodded to Hotch and left the room. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

He smiled at his son. "Yeah, buddy, I'm okay."

"Aaron," Haley greeted. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah," he said, sitting up. "Hermione, would you mind taking Jack to the waiting room?"

Jack immediately perked up and looked over at Hermione, who he hadn't realized was there yet. "My-knee?"

She smiled and Hotch noticed Haley's face shrivel in hatred that he had never seen on her before. Jack ran to hug Hermione and she ruffled his hair affectionately, leading him out with a glance back to Hotch with a smile.

"So, you're looking for the younger girls?"

"Excuse me?" He said coldly.

She scoffed. "Oh, come on, Aaron. She's what, ten years younger than you? Fifteen?"

"How is that relevant?"

"It's relevant because you've already said that there's something between you. Jack won't stop talking about her constantly. How irresponsible is it that you let your son around a girl like that?"

"What do you mean a girl like that? Caring, intelligent, fun to be around? I rather thought it was being a good influence." He paused with a slow smile creeping into his features. "You're jealous. That's what this is. I'm not brokenhearted and pliant for you after the divorce. I'm not letting you walk over me anymore and happy?"

He had never been so angry. She just glared and raised her voice to match his. "She's a child and you're being pedophile. I don't want my son around that. Around her."

"Excuse me," a voice said. Haley looked back red-faced to Hermione who stood in the door way. "It's fine if the two of you need to shout at each other, but perhaps you should either wait until you aren't in a hospital or lower your voices. Jack can hear you."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do when it comes to my child," Haley ground out.

Hermione smiled and Hotch almost did too, knowing this was a dangerous smile for her. "And Aaron doesn't need you to tell him what to do when it comes to his feelings for someone else. For your information, I'm an adult. So is he. You have no control over either of our decisions. Especially considering Ryan Finnegan is even younger than I am. Please, think about what you're doing when your son can hear you shouting at each other. Especially when it's partially about him."

Then she left again and Haley stared at the spot she had previously occupied with wide eyes.

Hours later, after Haley and Jack left, after the team had went home, after the sun had gone down, Hermione sat beside Hotch's bed holding his hand while they talked.

"How did you know he was younger?" He asked.

She smirked. "I know him. His cousin and I went to school together."

"He didn't go to the same school?"

"It was a very exclusive school," she said. "He didn't get his letter. If I remember correctly his parents were bitter and moved here."

"She used to be my best friend," he told her. "She told me that she could handle my job as long as I always came home. I don't know when that stopped being enough."

Hermione rubbed her thumb over his hand. "Do you miss her?"

"I miss who she used to be. I miss my best friend."

"She doesn't seem to like me much."

"Haley thinks she's the only one allowed to move on."

She tilted her head with a strange expression. "And have you? Moved on?"

"Yes."

Hotch could hear the plans they were going through as he packed his desk in excitement. Haley was letting him keep Jack for the whole of two weeks. He couldn't wait. He and Hermione even had plans to get together and take Jack to the zoo. Their relationship was still in a balance of romantic and not, but they were all but official. He couldn't wait.

"Come on, Hermione. You're hot, you could have fun with us..." Morgan wriggled his eyebrows suggestively and she snorted at him.

"I think not, I have friends from England coming to visit. Plus, I have important plans."

"Hot date?" Elle asked.

She smirked, glancing at Hotch. "Something like that."

"Oh, there he is."

"Pretty Boy."

"Last chance."

Reid looked anxious, grabbing a few things from his desk and rushing out with a "Thanks anyway."

"He look okay to you?"

Elle shrugged. "He looks about the way I would if I was gonna spend 2 weeks with my family."

"Hey, don't knock family."

Hotch was coming don the stairs at this point. "I'm gonna get nothing but for the next 336 hours. Hermione, need a ride?"

"Yes, thank you."

The passed by Gideon on the way out, rushing as though he were late or something. "I'll be lost in a cabin for the next 2 weeks. Do not call me for anything. Have a great time."

"Tell Sarah hello for me," Hermione told him.

"And give the boys my best."

Gideon left in a hurry, choosing to run down the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. Hotch smiled at their exchange. But, boys? Should he worry? If she was in a romantic involvement she'd have told him though, right?

"Boys?" He asked.

"Old friends. Just friends." He relaxed. "Although, I did have a bit of a crush on Severus when I was in school."

He scowled at her teasing until she squeezed his hand as the elevators dinged open. "Does that mean we need to postpone the zoo?"

"Are you kidding?" She said. "No! I can't wait to see Jack at the zoo."

"He really likes you. I'm surprised Haley is letting him stay the whole two weeks."

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe she has her own plans for two weeks?"

He shrugged, not caring what she did and just being happy about having Jack. "So, tomorrow? Nine? We'll pick you up. Or, would you rather wait?"

"Well, I'd like for you to meet them, but that can wait. Nine sounds perfect."

"Is Harry one of them? Jack would go insane."

Hermione's smile stopped as she buckled her seat belt. "Harry-Harry died. He was seventeen, I was eighteen and so was Ron. Ron and I sort of drifted apart afterwards. I think we were only really friends because of Harry."

"What happened?" Hotch asked quietly.

She chuckled humorlessly. "Voldemort finally got him."

He frowned. Voldemort was the villain in the stories she told Jack. He never really thought about it, but maybe the stories were all true in a sense. He could see a psychopath killing parents, being arrested and coming after the son later. It wasn't unimaginable. There were some stories that he could translate into what really happened. An elite boarding school that let Harry in through his parents being legacies and Hermione being intelligent.

"No, Sirius, Remus, and Severus Snape are coming over."

"Snape is a real person?"

She chuckled. "Yes, and he's a good person. I'd tell you the story, but I don't want to make Jack jealous."

"Sirius was really a mass murderer?"

"No, he was really accused and we proved his innocence."

"You're school was much more exciting than mine."

He wondered how much truth her stories held in their dangers. He pulled up to her house and parked.

"Do you want to come in and meet them real quick?" She asked.

Hotch glanced down at the clock on the dashboard. "For a minute."

"Okay, now, don't listen to Sirius, he's a joker. Remus seems sweet and innocent, but he isn't. He's just as bad. Severus will not shake your hand, but offer anyway. He likes to intimidate. Don't mention Harry or my stories please."

Then she was pulling him by the hand to the door and throwing it open. Did she not lock it? When she walked through the door she paused and then was attacked, stumbling back after being tackled by a small boy.

"Mia!" She reached down and picked the boy up, pretending to groan under his weight.

"Oh! You, my young man, are getting heavy."

Hotch looked at the boy, a young boy probably a year older than Jack with freckles, brown hair, and blue eyes. In the living room, all sitting around a fire place and looking at the door, were a man with shoulder-length black hair, tied back. Hotch wasn't attracted to his own sex, but he could appreciate that this man probably left a string of broken hearts behind him. There was a man with the same length and color hair, greasy, hanging around his face and beaked nose. This had to be Severus Snape, the greasy bat of the dungeon. Then there was who must be Remus with a scarred, friendly face.

"Mia, guess what I did? I won the prank war against Padfoot."

He watched Hermione glance to Hotch and back to the boy in her arms. "You did? That's a miracle. Keep it up, cub. Teddy, this is my friend Aaron."

The bright blue eyes turned to Hotch and held him in place as he felt like he was being weighed and measured and found wanting. "Aaron, this is my godson, Teddy Lupin."

Remus' son then. "Hello, Teddy. How do you do?"

The boy tilted his head to examine him more. "What's your favorite dinosaur?"

Ah! An olive branch hinged on his choice. "Raptors," he answered.

A small smile crept on his face. "I like raptors, but my favorite is the T-Rex."

"That's my son's favorite too. Did you know the largest T-Rex tooth is about this big?" He held his hands about a foot apart. Teddy's face got excited at that and Hotch made a mental note to thank Reid for loading he and Jack with all those facts.

"You have a son?"

"I do. He'll be five in a few months. His name is Jack."

"I turned five in April."

Someone cleared their throat and Hermione looked over. "Right, sorry. Aaron, this is Sirius Black, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin."

She put Teddy down and he ran to his father to ask if he knew that about the dinosaur's tooth. Sirius and Remus had nodded at their names, but Severus glared. Hotch understood the parts of the story where his glare terrified them. Looking at them now, he could tell her she told the stories well.

Hotch shook Sirius and Remus' hands, but was rebuffed by Severus' just as Hermione said he would be. "You're one of Hermione's friends?" Remus asked civilly.

He nodded. "I am. We work together." His eyes glanced to the clock she had on her mantle and grinned. "Sorry, Hermione. I need to go pick Jack up. Nine tomorrow morning?"

"I look forward to it."

"I thought we were going to Horizon Alley tomorrow?"

She looked back to Severus, whose tone had been sharp, and sighed. "Severus, I told you all I had plans tomorrow. We're going to the zoo."

There was a gasp. "THE ZOO?"

Hermione looked to Hotch in silent question. He shrugged with a 'why not' face. She looked to Remus as well, who nodded. She smiled down at her godson. "Teddy, would you like to come to the zoo tomorrow with me, Aaron, and Jack?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Please! I'll be good!"

Hotch smiled and Hermione walked him out. "I hope that's okay? Him coming."

"Jack will love it and I honestly don't mind. Teddy seems sweet."

"Thank you, Aaron." He began to slowly lean down, wanting to kiss her, when there was a clearing of a throat and Severus was at the door with his arms crossed.

"I don't think he likes me much," Hotch whispered.

She smiled and kissed his chin. "He doesn't like anyone, that much in my stories is true."

"Daddy! Is Mine in the car?" That was Jack's new name for Hermione as opposed to 'My-knee.'

Hotch picked him up in a similar fashion to Hermione and Teddy. "She is not, but she and her godson are coming to the zoo with us tomorrow. You'll like that, won't you?"

His son's face dropped. "Do you think she'll still like me with him there too?"

"I do, and I really think you'll like Teddy. His favorite dinosaur is the T-Rex."

Jack gasped excitedly. "I brought my dinosaur's with me."

"Well, how about you go get your bag while I talk to your mom?"

"Okay."

Haley was at the door in the same position as Severus when Hotch had decided to kiss Hermione. "Aaron," she said coldly in a greeting. He ignored it.

"So, I'll bring him home in two Fridays? Around four?"

She turned her face up. "Two Sundays. Keep him longer."

He frowned. She had never let him keep Jack longer. She often had to cut it short. "Okay."

"Do you know anyone outside of your job?" She asked. "That could watch Jack when you're gone?"

"I could figure something out. Why?"

She shifted on her feet. "Just asking. I, uh, I've been thinking about giving up my rights."

Hotch widened his eyes. "Wh-what?!"

Haley cleared her throat and looked away. "He's your son. Always has been. He's nothing like me and Ryan and I want to start our own life together just the two of us. He's, there's something wrong with him."

"There's nothing wrong with him," Hotch hissed lowly. "You'd give up your son because of some guy you barely know?"

"And you would for some bitch you hardly know."

"I wouldn't give my son up for anything. If she didn't get along or accept him then she wouldn't be anything more than a coworker. That's what a parent does."

"I never signed up for him."

"Ready, Daddy." Jack came out with a stuffed backpack on and an assortment of dinosaur toys in his arms, grinning. Haley pursed her lips and looked away.

Hotch smiled at his son and ruffled his hair. "Go get buckled then, I'll be there in a minute." Then to Haley, "If that's what you want, do it, but think about our son and how it affects him. He loves you."

"I'm not built to be a mother, Aaron. It's not in me. I've tried for four and a half years, but I just don't. I have the paperwork. All I have to do is fill it out. Jack, Jack doesn't like Ryan."

"So you're choosing your boyfriend over your only son."

"HE'S NOT MY SON!"

Hotch clenched his jaw and looked away. "Then, fill it out. Jack doesn't need you."

Jack was quiet on the drive home, making exploding sound effects, and making his dinosaurs eat each other. "Daddy, will Mine be my new mom?"

Hotch almost swerved off the road. "Wh-what?"

"I heard Mommy and Ryan talking. Ryan called me a freak."

"You're not a freak, Jack. Don't listen to either of them. You're staying with me now."

Jack looked out the window.

That night he had just laid Jack down for the night- when the house phone rang. Hotch frowned. No one ever used the house phone. Most people who called were from work or Haley. They called his cell.

"Hello?"

"Agent Hotchner, don't waste time on the first victims. They were unrepented bad men. She's the important one. Remember, everything stars at the beginning."

"Who is this?" Hotch asked, a feeling he didn't like going through his body.

"There won't be much time. The youngest holds the key. You must help him save her."

The line clicked and Hotch stared at the phone for a few moments after, not sure what to think.

"Daddy, I want to ring the doorbell."

"Well, you better beat me there." Jack ran to the front door, past the gate, and rang the bell twice before holding it down without letting go.

Hotch joined him on the step as Hermione opened the door laughing. "Okay, okay, I'm right here. You're early."

"I hope that's okay," Hotch said, suddenly nervous that it wasn't.

"It's fine, we were just eating breakfast. Would you guys like some pancakes?"

Jack grinned and nodded in an answer for them both. Pancakes were his favorite.

"Mia, it's burning."

Her brown eyes widened and she groaned. "Oh, bollocks. Come on in, guys."

They followed her into the kitchen where Teddy sat at the breakfast nook. He supposed the others were still asleep or out for the day. Hotch decided he liked her like this, barefoot in the kitchen with her hair in a messy bun, cooking with a bit of a swing because of the radio and singing a song he didn't recognize.

"Jack, this is Teddy. Teddy, this is my son Jack."

The boys smiled at each other as Hermione placed a plate in front of Jack and Hotch, kissing both boys on the head. "I'll be right back, I just have to go change."

Hotch watched her go and turned back to the boys, both of which were lost in conversation that he honestly didn't understand half of. He still watched them interact as if they had known each other for years. It was amazing to watch children become friends in such a short time based on nothing more than a favorite dinosaur. Hermione came back down, hair brushed, dressed in a white sundress and tennis shoes with her hair in a bun of sorts with flyaway wisps framing her face.

"You look pretty, Aunt Mi," Teddy told her with an awed voice.

"You do," Jack agreed.

She smiled and kissed them both again. "Thank you."

Jack looked over at Hotch with a smirk. "Don't you think Mia looks pretty, Daddy?"

That traitor. Mia?

"I think Hermione always looks beautiful."

She blushed prettily and stole a bite of his pancakes. He whined in complaint and she just smiled. "Are you all done eating?"

"I am!" The boys both said together. Hotch nodded to her question and stood to help put the dishes in the sink.

"Hey," he whispered when Teddy went to show Jack his room. "I wanted to talk without them."

"What's wrong?"

"Haley is giving up her rights."

Hermione stopped washing the plate and looked over at him. "She what? Why would she do that?"

"She said that she never wanted to be a mother and that she and Ryan wanted to start over. That Ryan and Jack didn't like each other."

"Ryan Finnegan is the most small minded, conceited, maliciously stupid person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting and that's saying something."

"How well do you know him?"

"His cousin is a friend, but I've only met Ryan a few times. He and I don't get along, though, from what I understand he and Haley deserve one another. Sorry."

"No, I agree. Jack said that apparently she and Ryan call him a freak."

Hermione dropped a bowl and splashed water to her upper arms. "Well, then perhaps it is for the best that he stays with you."

Hotch pulled her closer. "Hermione, I need to know, does that change anything? With us?"

"Is there an us?" She asked.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently. "I want there to be, but I need to know. Jack will always come first."

"I wouldn't be want to be with you if he wasn't," she said. "And Teddy is just the same to me. He's here a lot and he will always be."

"So, you and me?"

She smiled. "You and me."

"Teddy, slow down!"

"But, Mia! They're lions! Like Gryffindor!"

Jack's face lit up at the familiar term and began jumping up and down and pointing. "Daddy! I want to be in Gryffindor too!"

"My dad was in Gryffindor," Teddy tells Jack very seriously. "So was Padfoot, but Uncle Sev was in Slytherin."

"I thought all Slytherins were bad?"

"Some people still think that, but Sev is good."

Hotch and Hermione watched them point to the different lions and talk excitedly to each other.

"So Gryffindors and Slytherins are real?" Hotch asked.

She nodded. "And so is the rivalry between them."

"Huh."

Teddy turned back. "Aunt Mi, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, uh, okay-"

"I can take him," Hotch offered. She looked over.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll be right back."

Hermione took Jack's hand. "Then we are going to head toward the cafe to get a table for lunch. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

Hotch walked Teddy to the bathrooms, that were actually remarkably clean, and waited outside of the stall for him to finish, lifting him so he could wash his hands after.

"Do you really like Mia?" Teddy asked on their way back.

Hotch smiled. "Yes, I really do."

"You aren't going to take her away from me?"

"Of course not! I like you and I would never take her away from you. I promise."

They finally came to the cafe and saw Hermione telling Jack what looked to be a story with more wide hand gestures and a bright eyed look. He could catch bits as they got closer.

"...she was going to hurt Harry! I had to do something..."

Teddy ran ahead to help finish the story he had obviously heard a million times. "So she lured Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest to where Grawp the giant was, but he was gone! And Umbridge figured out it was a trick. She was about to hex them when the centaurs came and took her away!"

"Teddy," she laughed with a hint of a warning. He looked over to her and calmed down from his enthusiasm.

"Mia, will you come home with us?" Jack asked.

"And me too?" Teddy added.

Hermione blushed and looked to Hotch, who smiled at the boys. That's when his phone rang. He looked down and frowned, answering it. "Morgan?"

Hermione's head snapped up and she scooted closer to him in an attempt to hear.

"It's Elle, man. They found blood in her hotel room. The police have her in custody and it looks bad, man. Really bad."

"We'll be there soon."

"We?"

Hermione moved the phone slightly. "Hey, Morgan."

"Yeah, after we clear this up, you two are explaining that."

Hotch hung up and they both looked to Teddy and Jack- who were watching them enraptured. "I'm sorry, guys," Hermione said. "We have to cut this short."

"Are you going to go catch the bad guy?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sweetie, we are," she told him.

Hotch sighed. "I have to find someone to watch Jack."

"I'm sure Remus and Sirius wouldn't mind. That's where Teddy will be."

He nodded. "Okay, let's go then."

Hotch entered the room first, followed closely by Hermione and Morgan.

"Detective St. Pierre, I'm SSA Hotchner and this is SSA Granger. I'm Agent Greenaway's superior."

"We're not finished here." The man said in a heavy accent.

Hotch took his suit jacket off very deliberately and handed it to Elle, who took it gratefully.

"Agent Greenaway only arrived in your country yesterday afternoon. So, I brought a forensic expert and he's examined the body at your morgue, and he's put the time of death at no less than twenty-four hours ago. Now this is based on advance rigor mortis and the contents of his stomach which contained a meal that he ordered from room service 2 days ago. Your coroner concurs with the findings. What this means is that Agent Greenaway wasn't even here when this man was killed.

"Now, I appreciate that you have a difficult situation, and Agents Morgan and Greenaway are happy to cooperate in any way that they can, but they'll do it from our offices in Quantico, Virginia.

The man sighed, smacking a bit and closed the file Hotch had given him. He then took a sset of keys from his shirt pocket and tossed them onto the table. Elle grabbed them quickly and began unlocking herself. Hermione went over to help as Elle was shaking so bad. The first thing Hotch did was call JJ, who told him to call Gideon. At the same time he got off the phone with her, Hermione was getting off the phone with Remus and they were boarding the jet.

"Are they okay?"

"They're great, Sirius is telling them about pranks that he and the Marauders used to pull. Severus is trying to discourage him. Jack seems to be having a good time."

Elle and Morgan sat across from them. "Thank you so much for coming, both of you."

Morgan frowned. "By the way, what's going on with the two of you?"

"What do you mean?"

He turned to Elle. "When I called to tell Hotch, he was with Hermione."

"Really?" she asked, looking to the two of them. "I thought everyone had plans?"

"We were at the zoo," Hotch said calmly. "With Jack and Hermione's godson."

Morgan smirked. "And that's it?"

Hotch cleared his throat and glanced at Hermione. She smiled her consent. "We've decided to try a relationship."

"Try a relationship?" Elle teased. "Sounds very diplomatic."

Hermione chuckled. "Elle, come on. We just saved your arse and you're teasing?"

Hotch would swear Elle was about to kiss the tarmac when they all stepped out of the jet. They were even more at ease when they walked out of the elevator and into the bullpen.

"You sure you guys don't want to go home and get some rest?" Hotch asked. "Take a shower?"

Elle looked back like he was crazy. "Like Hell!"

"I'm good," Morgan agreed.

"How much sleep have you gotten in the last 24 hours?" Hermione asked worriedly.

Elle sighed. "Hermione, I spent half of the night in an interrogation room. I am not sleeping until I find this Frank Giles."

JJ walked up to them. "Frank Giles left Jamaica last night on the red eye. He flew to Florida, then got onto another flight to Virginia."

"Virginia? You mean that son of a bitch is from here?"

"I don't know if he's from here but this is where he flew to. Arlington. He's got a long criminal record. Manslaughter, robbery, rape."

"What about the victim, Marty Harris?"

"Uh, he a two time convicted fetish burglar. Registered child sex offender."

"And we have his head," Gideon said, hugging Hermione and kissing her forehead. "CSU just positively identified the one delivered to my cabin."

Hotch remembered that strange call. "Don't waste time on the first victims. They were unrepented bad men. They only got what they deserve."

"What is that?"

"I got a phone call last night."

"Any mention of a her?"

Hotch nodded. "You must help him save her."

"There's a him now too?"

"I think he means Reid," Gideon said.

Hermione looked startled. "Reid?"

Hotch lead Hermione and the others further in. "We need to regroup."

A/N: WOW THAT WAS LONG! Lol, tell me what you all thought. Hope you love it! I wish I had more to say. I hate that I haven't been posting much. I thought I was over being sick, but BAM! I had a fever and sneezes again. Jeez. I hope, cross your fingers folks, that it's over. Can anyone spot the Knight's Tale reference? I put a lot of movie and book quotes in my stories. Love always, Skye.