Dark Eyes
A/N: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it!
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Chapter seven - Changing the dynamics
Straightening his blue-and-gray striped tie Hotch took one final look in the mirrored wall before exiting the elevator he'd been occupying by himself on the ride down from the seventh floor. As he walked into the lobby he had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. By a table in the restaurant clutching a white generic coffee cup was Emily. For a second he didn't know what to do. He just stood there. He didn't even know if his legs still were in their proper working order.
During the short moment he was frozen to the ground he thought about what Dave had said the night before. Then his mind brought back a vivid image of Emily in his dress shirt. And he knew what he wanted to do. But he wasn't sure if he was ready to just blindly dive in. Baby steps, he thought to himself. Start with baby steps.
He really wanted her to know that she'd been a permanent fixture in his battered heart for almost as much as a year. Maybe longer. But he couldn't open with that. He needed to change the dynamics between them. He needed to make the small adjustments to make them less Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss and more Aaron and Emily.
They had started to slowly make that transition several months before but the tragedy that had made him doubt his life and everyone in it had stopped him in his tracks. But now he was sure and he was going to let her know. He was just going to take it slow.
"Good morning, Emily."
Emily jerked her head from the paper she was reading in surprise as she heard the greeting combined with her name. She knew who it was. How could she not recognize that deep masculine voice? But that voice using her first name wasn't something she was used to.
"Ehm... Morning, Hotch." She managed when the initial surprise had faded. She even managed to give him a slight smile. One that he returned displaying both dimples as he slid into the chair next to her. When he sat down his knee bumped hers and she found herself wondering if he had done it on purpose.
Even though their knees just touched for a second Hotch could feel her body heat radiating and felt a pang of loss when they were no longer touching. Motioning to the waitress for another pot of coffee Hotch was about to say something to Emily when a booming voice behind them rang out.
"Oh my! Was that not one of the best nights in a hotel bed you've ever had? Not counting the ones when you weren't alone...of course." Morgan shot them a wide grin.
Again Hotch flashed back to last night's dream. He was sure that he could still taste cherries on his lips.
"I know." Emily answered turning her entire attention onto Morgan. "And that huge bathtub. If JJ doesn't show up at least we'll know where she is." She chuckled.
"You are so right." The happy voice of the liaison reached their ears. "That's exactly where I should and would be." She sat down next to Emily and leaned in closer making sure that Hotch wasn't listening. "And you should be all tangled up with our fearless leader in one of those big soft beds. After all the trouble I went through making sure that you'd have your privacy the least you could do is...well him." She raised an eyebrow at Emily.
"JJ!" Emily hissed. "Not here. We'll talk about that later when that leader isn't sitting two feet away." She turned and looked at Hotch letting out a tight breath when she saw that he was deep in conversation with Morgan and Rossi who'd apparently also joined them.
A loud clanging noise rose behind them and broke both conversations as they all turned to look at the last remaining team member clutching his knee behind two overturned chairs.
"Spence, how many times do we have to tell you? Don't read and walk at the same time. Remember the fountain in Charleston?" JJ asked her eyes twinkling at the memory.
"Vividly." Came Reid's strangled voice. "Sorry, sorry." He told the frazzled waiter coming up next to him to undo the mess he'd made.
Sinking down in the last chair between JJ and Rossi Reid absentmindedly grabbed one of the mugs filling it with hot coffee. Scrunching his forehead together he continued looking down at the file.
"What's bothering you, genius?" Morgan asked as he deftly swiped a piece of Emily's blueberry pancakes.
"How the unsub chooses his victims." Reid explained pouring sugar into his coffee. "Is it opportunity or does he have a thought out plan?"
"Hopefully the victims' families can shed some light on that." Hotch said before starting to hand out the day's assignments. "Morgan and Rossi. I want you to go talk to Denise Carlson's boyfriend. Emily and I'll talk to Mary-Anne Nylund's husband." He let his eyes glide over Emily as he for the second time used her first name rather than her last name. "JJ and Reid you can go back to the station and see if Garcia has found anything. Now let's see if we can't have five more minutes of peace before the day really begins."
They both sat quiet for the most part of the thirty minute drive to Mary-Anne Nylund's house on the edge of Birka. Only saying a few words about the case. Hotch focused his attention on the road ahead of him and Emily was going over some things in the case one last time.
But she couldn't help but think about how Hotch somehow seemed different. And the atmosphere around them. Or maybe she was just imagining things. But she hadn't imagined him calling her Emily instead of Prentiss. Twice. And she definitely wasn't imagining sitting in this car next to him. He hadn't partnered himself with her in months. He'd hardly looked at her other than when they were discussing a case and now he was calling her Emily and partnering them up for something that would take several hours.
Damn JJ for getting her hopes up.
The small house that they drove up next to was neat and pretty. It was painted a soft warm yellow and had white window shutters. The stoned path leading up to the white door was lined with not yet blooming rose bushes. It looked innocent. Like the people living there weren't experiencing the worst time of their lives.
Hotch placed a firm knock on the front door and after a few short moments they could hear slow shuffling steps coming closer behind the door. The lock turned and the door opened revealing a tall blonde man wearing sweats and dark circles under his eyes. Emily realized that he probably hadn't slept in days.
"Mr. Nylund." Hotch said showing him his credentials. "I'm Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Prentiss. We're with the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
Roger Nylund let out a deep emotion filled breath. He had known that they were coming. Someone from the local police had called ahead but still it was absolutely exhausting thinking about having to have someone in his home. Someone asking questions about his wife and their life. He didn't know if he could handle it without falling to pieces. But whatever could be done to bring his wife back had to be done. He opened the door wide.
"Come on in." He told the two agents letting his eyes rest on the dark haired woman. A cold breeze blew through his heart as he noticed the likeness between her and his wife.
He gestured at the sofa in the small sitting room in a wordless way of offering them a seat.
Emily sat down first followed by Mr. Nylund and finally Hotch took his seat next to Emily. They had decided that Emily would be the one to start off the questions. Thinking that her softer approach would be helpful.
"Mr Nylund." Emily began giving the man a small comforting smile. "We can't possibly begin to understand what you're going through and we know that this is very difficult for you to talk about. But any information that you can give could help us find Mary-Anne."
Roger didn't answer. He just took another deep breath. Emily took his silence as permission to start asking the questions.
"Mary-Anne was taken after a cooking class?" Emily started looking at Roger who gave a slight nod of the head. "Was that something she regularly attended?"
"Yes." Roger answered looking down at his hands folded in his lap. "She's been doing it every Friday night for the last three months. She says that cooking relaxes her."
Emily gave Roger a warm smile. "Mr. Nylund, is there anyone you could think of who could have done this to your wife?"
"No... No, not at all. Everyone loves Mary." Roger answered looking confused. "Why would anyone want to hurt her?"
"At this point we're considering all possibilities." Hotch answered. "Was there anything out of the ordinary that happened the days before she was taken?" He continued.
"No... I don't know. What do you mean?" Roger asked looking at Emily and Hotch with tired bleary eyes.
"Did you see anyone or anything outside your house that's not normally there? Or did Mary-Anne say that something had happened? Maybe something felt off?"
"No..." Roger got a distant look in his eyes. "No, wait. She did say something. I just didn't think that much of it. You know she's always fretting about the smallest thing. Like checking to see that the stove is off three times or thinking she forgot to lock the front door. I always tease her. Say she's paranoid. And this time she wasn't being paranoid, was she? And I just shrugged it off." He buried his face in his hands.
Emily placed a small hand on his large forearm. "What did she say, Roger?" She asked gently.
"She said that she'd seen a strange car following her a few times. And I didn't do anything about it. That's who's got her, isn't it?" He fixed his gaze on Emily a single tear running down his cheek stopping abruptly in his coarse beard.
"Did she say anything else. Did she see who was driving or did she say what kind of car it was?" Hotch asked taking on the harder role.
"Ehm..." Roger began furrowing his brow in thought. "Silver. A silver SUV. At least I think she said it was a silver SUV. That's one of the reasons I shrugged it off. A lot of people here drive silver SUV:s."
"Thank you, Mr Nylund." Hotch said getting up from his seat next to Emily. "This has been very helpful."
"Will you be able to find her?" Roger asked in a small voice.
"We will do our very best." Emily promised before they made their way out onto the porch leaving Roger in the sitting room.
As they walked towards the car Hotch was already dialing Morgan.
"Now we at least know that the attacks aren't based on opportunity." Emily said walking next to Hotch.
"No." Hotch nodded. "He chooses them carefully. He's stalking them."
A/N: Thanks so much! Please let me know what you think. I love hearing from you all!
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/ Sussi
