AN: I hope this is liked. The next chapter will be solely the case instead of the other way around. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Criminal Minds or the song.

We Are Pilots By: Shiny Toy Guns ... (Suggested by Sue1313 for Reid)

Hello mother,
Some news for you
I'm really not that crazy.
Hello father,
I'm curious?
Why you think there's something wrong with me.

Once the team got off the plane the headed straight for the local police station. Ithaca, New York proved to be a small city surrounded by even smaller towns and villages. Jareau realized that with this kind of small population it would be difficult to keep the case private from the locals. However when she glanced at Reid and Morgan after they got out of the SUV she knew the case would be okay and she would do her job fine. There is something about knowing that family also doubles as teammates that makes the job a little less mind wracking. When she eyed Rossi, she wished he could understand that. Family was family.

The team set up their station behind a half wall that cut off their small rectangular area from the rest of the department. Hotch was somewhere talking to the sheriff, Jareau was pinning the evidence they had onto the large corkboard that stood on a frame taking up a wall, Reid was pinpointing each victim's location on a map, and Rossi, well Rossi had his own plans. Morgan carried in a box of evidence from the evidence room. He placed it on the fold-up table Rossi, Jareau, and Reid surrounded.

"Morgan, I need to talk to you," Rossi said slowly and precisely.

Morgan nodded and pulled out a chair. He turned it around and sat down, straddling the back of it. Folding his arms on the metal back he nodded, furrowing his brow. He knew what this was going to be about, but no one was around except for Reid and Jareau.

"All right, Rossi," Morgan replied, with a slight twitch from his left eyebrow.

Rossi looked around. "Not here."

"No we're gonna do this here or we're not doing this at all," Morgan stated firmly, poking his pointer finger on the cold table. "Reid and JJ are here. I'd like witnesses for whatever you're about to say."

There was a moment of silence between what Morgan said and what Rossi wanted to say. Rossi leaned forward. He leaned forward on his overlapping arms and looked out the window for a mere moment. It was clear he did not want to talk about this topic here. Morgan realized that Rossi was right, and that this should be done elsewhere, but there was nothing Rossi could say that Reid and Jareau could not hear.

Rossi began talking in a low voice so only the four of them, including himself, could hear what he was saying, "Do you care about him?"

"What?" Morgan asked, taken aback by the inquiry. He thought this would be more of an apology sort of thing about the plane ride here. "Yeah, of course I care about him. Why?"

"After three ex-wives you kind of learn to realize that you should try to find love anywhere," Rossi said as he leaned back in his chair, knitting his fingers over his stomach.

Morgan furrowed his brow. "What made you change your mind?"

"You two," Rossi said as he sat up again, nodding toward Reid whose mouth was half open. "Now let me talk to Hotch- buy him a drink or something. I'm an old colleague. He'll listen to me."

"Listen to you about what?" Prentiss inquired as she entered their puny area. She squeezed behind Rossi and sat in a chair across from Morgan, right in front of the window. "Oh, I get it. You've finally grown balls. Good for you, Rossi."

Jareau, Reid, and Morgan all let out a small breath of a laugh while Prentiss got a pointed glare from Rossi. They could be light-hearted about this now. It was a good feeling to have with friends throughout all the bad they saw together. Hotch was the only threat to everyone's happiness. Not only did Morgan and Reid's joy rest in the palm of his pale length hand, but so did everyone else's joviality- including Hotch's. Without the two members of the team, not only would people be angry at Hotch, but they would no longer be a strong family.

"Rossi grew balls? That's a good thing to know," Hotch said in his sardonic voice. He raised an eyebrow at the unopened box of evidence on the table and the map that had nothing on it. "You've all be sitting here for how long and you've got what accomplished?"

He squeezed passed Prentiss and sat to the right of her since all the other chairs, except for the one nearest Jareau, were taken. He placed an ankle on his other knee and sat there stoically, with his hands over the armrests. Everyone stared at him for a moment, unable to comprehend what to say next.

"Special Agent Hotchner," Jareau said, her voice a little weak at first from nervousness of what she was about to say, but the fact that he used part of his formal address caught everybody's attention. "Rossi was just apologizing for being rude on the plane… and I think everyone would like it if you did the same thing. Hotch, if you go back and tell the head of the board, you won't just be hurting them… you'll be hurting us too. And as much as some of you would like to deny it, mostly you, Hotch, we are a family. We will always be a family- that's why we work so well together. I have a family at home- a husband and a son- but I get the same kind of love and support with you guys as I do there. Hotch, show them the same sort of support you would want."

Jareau tacked up the last set of pictures on the corkboard. There was a long drawn out silence. This was one of those days where nothing anyone could say or do would make anything better. The team recognized that. However, it did not mean they could not try.

After this long period of nothing but the phones ringing and police talking in the background, Hotch opened his mouth to speak, "I'm sorry JJ, but I can't break the rules."

"Oh, bull. We've broken plenty of rules!" Prentiss exclaimed as quietly as she could, leaning forward in her seat. She looked around at everybody with huge eyes and continued, "Hotch, nobody needs to know. Do you really want to take away their careers because of this?"

"I don't but-"

"Then don't," Prentiss finished simply.

Another long silence.

"JJ, what do you have for us?" Morgan stated with a slight smile.