They arrived back at the field office, and Aida was one of the last ones through the door; she refused to be checked by the paramedics downstairs, still bloodied up as she walked through the door.

"She's back!" Hana said, pointing towards the entrance to the office and beaming. Reid looked over and saw her catching some blood from her nose, and he felt an overwhelming sense of relief as he went over to her with a couple of tissues.

"You could have at least cleaned up, you know." He said, handing the tissues to her.

"Thanks, BunBun." She smiled a little and tilted her head back, "I'm really glad you weren't there."

"What happened?" He asked, looking over the scrapes and broken skin on her face and arms.

"Mom beat the shit out of me, but I got her back pretty good considering she's in interrogation right now." She giggled and then let out a groan of pain, "Ugh, Hana! Get me some ibuprofen, please."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Hana laughed and went to the break room to get the medicine.

"She's really fond of you." Reid said.

"Yeah… I'm pretty fond of her, too." Aida smiled. "There's something I want you to do for me, BunBun."

"Do you have to keep calling me that in front of people we work with?" He was embarrassed, but it wasn't as if he didn't like being called by that ancient nickname she had given him.

"If you want me to stop, I will." She replied, walking over to Hana's desk and sitting down. "So, Dr. Spencer Reid, I need to ask a favor of you."

"Anything." His reply was so rapid that it surprised both of them.

"Did you hit your head while I was out?" She asked, giving him a funny look; he shook his head, "Anyway, I'm sure your team will want to get right on the interrogation, but do tell them that, if she doesn't say anything, we should hold a meeting… I've got a plan, and I know it'll work, and I need your help to see it through."

"Only if they can't get anything out of her, right?"

"Yep."

"Alright, I'll let them know." He got up and went to find one of the team to tell them.

Several hours passed and they got nothing out of Hiroko; anything she had said in the hotel room was irrelevant because no one could vouch for the validity of Aida's account because the conversation had taken place in private and in a foreign language. No one else had heard it, so they couldn't use her confession. She didn't ask for water, or even a phone call, not a single word fell from her lips the first four hours she was in custody.

The team was called into Aida's office for a quick meeting.

"What's your plan?" Hotch asked.

"She doesn't know Spencer is here, and that will work to our advantage. When I said that Spencer needed to stay here, it was more out of fear for his safety than anything else, but I knew mom had no idea he was here and that if she continued to be oblivious that it could be helpful."

"Hiroko isn't the type to talk; Aida once told me it's kind of a cultural thing and that her mother also isn't the type to incriminate or even exonerate herself, so Aida and I were talking and she thinks it would be enough of a surprise for me to go in there alone and try to talk to Hiroko."

"If that doesn't work, I'll join him." Aida smiled a little, "Our methods will probably be a little unorthodox, but I promise that'll probably get something out of mom if Spencer alone can't get anything out of her."

"The confession needs to be in English." Morgan cut in, trying to read their body language.

"If Spencer is in the room, she'll be speaking English. She speaks Japanese when it's just the two of us, so that won't be a problem."

"What do you mean by unorthodox?" Rossi asked.

"Long story short, Spencer and I were a couple a long time ago, and she's the reason we aren't now; acting like we were again will make her go ballistic. It's a backup plan in case she doesn't crack from being exposed to him, and I'm hoping we don't have to use it. But I just wanted to make sure everyone was in on the plan before even daring to put it into action."

"Alright… We'll leave her alone for another ten minutes, and then you'll go in, Reid." Hotch replied.

That was the end of the meeting.