It had been over seven months now and still no change. Emily had officially decided that if she was going to stay in this job, the job she had wanted for so long, then she just had to stop letting Hotch's behaviour get to her.
Since the whole 'inappropriate shirt' issue, things hadn't actually been so bad. They pretty much just stayed away from each other. Prentiss had noticed that since that day her boss hadn't paired himself with her once. She was often sent with Gideon or Reid.
It wasn't until six weeks later, on a particularly brutal case in Dallas, that they found themselves working together.
It had been a tough case for all of them.
The ones that involved children always affected them differently to all other cases. They were stressed. Three seven year old brown haired, blue eyed little girls were already dead and the team were racing desperately to save the current victim. McKenzie Bourne had been abducted the same as all the others and judging by the Unsub's strict schedule, they had an hour to find her alive. Otherwise they would be finding yet another body of a seven year old girl with her throat slashed.
Hotch, Prentiss, Reid and JJ pulled up in one SUV at the address Garcia had given them for the Unsub, Miranda Williams. Morgan and Gideon were in a second vehicle, hopefully not too far behind them.
They'd profiled this unsub and Hotch knew that their best chance of getting both McKenzie and Miranda out alive was to send in his female agents. So that's what he did. He didn't like it, but he knew that if Miranda felt panicked and cornered she wouldn't hesitate to kill the girl. Hopefully JJ or Prentiss would be able to get through to her. He trusted their ability to empathize.
Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau entered the residence with their guns raised. They cleared the downstairs rooms before heading upstairs, finding the Unsub in the first bedroom. The pair entered the room cautiously as they spotted the sharp blade that was currently pressed against the throat of a teary eyed little girl.
"Miranda Williams." Emily spoke firmly, but trying to keep her tone calm. "My name is Emily and this my colleague Jennifer, we're with the FBI."
"Don't come any closer." The frazzled woman called out, backing herself into the corner of the room. "I'll kill her."
The frightened child let out a desperate scream as she was pulled back against the Unsub, the blade digging slightly into her skin. "Help me, please."
"Ok." The brunette agent lowered the arm holding her glock and held the other arm up in surrender. "I'm not going to come any closer."
JJ followed suit, lowering her weapon slightly. "We just want to talk to you."
"I did it for the children."
The agents could hear the anger in her tone and as another terrified scream escaped from McKenzie's lips, it was all Emily could do not to just take the head shot, wipe Miranda out there and then.
"Their mothers didn't love them. I did them a favour." Miranda spoke again.
"We know." The brown haired profiler agreed. "I can see how well you've looked after McKenzie. She looks well fed and those clothes aren't cheap. I can see that you really care about her."
"Her mother doesn't deserve her. She gets angry with her. No mother should get angry with their child. It's not right." The Unsub's voice raised as she continued. "It's not right! It's not fair!"
"Please!" The little girl shouted out to the agents, tears violently escaping from her bloodshot eyes. "I don't want to die. Please! Help me."
"We agree with you." JJ offered. "McKenzie deserves a good life."
"We know that's all you want for her." Emily agreed. "You're just trying to give her the life she should have. The life you never had."
Miranda's fierce stare locked onto Emily's.
The profiler continued. "We know that your mom was sick when you were Mckenzie's age, we know what she did. She beat you and that wasn't fair. You didn't deserve that. You were innocent, just like Mckenzie. Let Mckenzie come with us and I promise you that we will make sure she gets well looked after. You have my word on that."
"Your word means nothing to me!" Miranda spat.
"Please." The pleading voice of Mckenzie Bourne sounded again. "Please."
"My mom didn't just beat me, you know." Miranda told them. "She used to cut herself. And she used to cut me too."
"I know." Emily offered a small sympathetic smile. "That's why if you let Mckenzie go and you come with us now the DA will be understanding to your situation. We know that you were only trying to help those girls."
"I did help them!" She yelled. "They're in a better place now."
JJ spoke next. "The day social services took you away, your mom held a knife to your throat just like you are doing to Mckenzie right now."
For the first time since the FBI had entered, Miranda risked a glance down at the child.
Emily continued. "She was a very sick woman, but she didn't do it. She let you go. She took so much from you, Miranda. But she didn't take your life. I know that she didn't treat you the way you were supposed to be treated, just the same as Mckenzie's mom doesn't treat her the way she should be. And I'm so sorry for what you went through. I really am. But you were given the opportunity to live, that's the one thing she didn't take from you. I promise that we will make sure Mckenzie has good life, the life I wish you could have had. All I'm asking is for you to give her a chance at a good life. Please, can you do that?"
The room went unexpectedly silent as Miranda took in everything that had been said to her. Emily and JJ remained hopeful but cautious, hands holding their weapons tightly. Even Mckenzie had stopped her whimpering as she waited to hear the answer from her captor.
Miranda Williams let out a long sigh, before her stare locked onto Emily's. "No."
With as little hesitation as possible, Prentiss lifted her gun and fired a shot into the centre of Miranda William's forehead, killing her instantly.
But it was too late.
Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid stormed into the house, guns raised, at the sound of the gun fire. Reid cleared the downstairs rooms while Hotch hurried straight upstairs, where he was sure the sound of the shot had come from.
Upon entering the room, Hotch's jaw dropped at the scene before him. Miranda Williams was dead in the corner of the room with a GSW to the head and in front of her body lay the corpse of McKenzie Bourne, throat slashed. They'd lost another one.
The Unit Chief took in the frozen state of his female agents. Neither one of them had turned to acknowledge his entrance. He placed his hand on the back of JJ's shoulder and the blonde turned to face him, tears having already escaped her eyes.
He knew that they saw a lot in their line of work. They dealt with some of the worst criminals on the planet. But having a seven year old girl murdered just 4 feet in front of you, that wasn't something they were going to be able to shake off easily.
Without much thought, Hotch pulled the media liaison into a hug, as a sob escaped her.
"I'm sorry, Hotch." She let out. "We tried."
"I know." He soothed, rubbing her back comfortingly. "It's not your fault."
Reid cautiously entered the room, making his way over to the bodies, eyeing them sadly before turning to face his colleagues, looking like he might vomit.
Hotch spoke out to him over JJ's shoulder. "Go outside. Call Gideon and let him know what's happened and make all the other relevant calls." He paused glancing over at the other agent who had witnessed the terrible murder, whose teary stare was now fixed on him and JJ. "JJ go with him."
Spencer put his arm around the blonde, once Hotch released her, and led her out of the house.
Once the pair exited, Emily's eyes returned to the horrific scene in the corner of the room. Hotch wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them and pull her into his arms. He knew she compartmentalized well, but this was different.
"Prentiss." He called out to her, cautiously placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." She breathed out, liquid freely cascading down her flushed cheeks.
"I'm sure you did all you could." He told her, hating how professional he sounded. Would it really kill him to show her a little compassion? "There's no need to apologise."
Her gaze flickered around to meet his and she turned, before her stare shifted to the hand he still had placed on her shoulder. Emily had seen a lot in her days, but this had to be the worst. A seven year old girl, begging her to save her, had just been murdered right before her eyes. And it was her fault. She should have taken the shot sooner.
She felt the need to throw herself into her supervisor's arms. Sure he hated her and she really didn't think much of him, but right now she was beyond devastated. What had just happened had broken the once unbreakable Emily Prentiss.
With that thought process over, the female profiler stepped warily into her boss' personal space. Surely he wouldn't deny her the tiniest bit of comfort after what she had just witnessed.
"Prentiss." His voice came out as a whisper, as his other hand came up to rest against her other shoulder, stopping her from coming any closer. "Go outside, get some air. I'll wait here for everyone. You find JJ and Reid."
Emily scoffed at the remark and if possible her tears increased. "You really do hate me, don't you?"
Hotch's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't hate you." That was the problem. He didn't hate her at all. It didn't matter how much he tried to distance himself for her, or how much he tried not to pay attention to all the little things he liked about her and respected her for, he couldn't fight his desire for her. It didn't matter how much he wanted to, or how much he knew she needed him to, he couldn't bring himself to wrap his arms around her. Because he knew that if he did that, he'd never want to let go. And maybe if he was single, he'd have given in. But he wasn't. He was married. As stupid as it may seem to anyone else, if Hotch allowed himself to hold a woman he desired as much as Emily Prentiss in his arms even if only to comfort her, in his mind, that was a good as cheating on his wife. He couldn't do that. "I don't hate you." He repeated.
"Then why?" She questioned, her glance flickering between the hands that held her shoulders tightly, keeping her away from him.
"I'm married." He let it slip out before he'd even realised what he was saying. His eyes widening at the idiocy of his confession.
Her expression changed to one mixed half way between hurt and rage as she pulled away from his grip roughly, before hurrying out of the building.
"You fucking asshole." He muttered to himself, when Emily was out of earshot, hanging his head in shame.