Years Go By - Interlude

Mommy Dearest

CHAPTER SEVEN

Aaron had been holding Kate in his lap when she started screaming for her mother. Originally, he had no idea how to react. He had no idea what was happening and thus, what to do. Then Kate had started crying in earnest, still calling for her mother through the phone. He reacted then, automatically, wrapping his arms around his daughter as Jack raced in from the kitchen. Aaron managed to extract the phone from Kate's hand, holding it up to his ear.

"Emily? Emily are you there?" He swallowed thickly when there was nothing but a dial tone in his ear. Panic reared up in his stomach as Jack stood over him, AJ clinging to his side. Seth, bless the four-year-old's oblivious soul, was too young to understand that something was happening. He was still focused on the cartoons dancing across the television screen.

"Dad," Jack said finally. "What's going on?"

Aaron clicked off the phone, panic now crawling up his throat. He couldn't breathe. "I... I don't know," he admitted. And he really didn't. Kate was sobbing hysterically into his shirt and he rubbed a hand up and down her back, encouraging her to try and breathe. "I don't know."

"Why is Katie crying?" AJ asked.

Aaron took a very deep breath. He could panic later. Right now, three children needed answers. For that matter, so did he. "Jack, can you take Seth and Annie upstairs? I have to call Uncle Dave."

Aaron knew that was enough information for his oldest to know that something had just gone seriously wrong with his stepmother. He didn't ask any more questions, just turned to his youngest sibling. "Seth, come on. Bedtime."

Seth groaned.

Jack pasted on a smile. "I'll read you a story."

That had Seth scrambling off the floor. He idolized his big brother to the ends of the earth. "Anything I want?"

"I'll even read you two," Jack bargained as Seth darted past him, bragging he was going to beat his older brother up the stairs.

AJ seemed more reluctant, more aware that something was terribly wrong. "Why does Kate get to stay?"

Aaron's hand continued rubbing up and down Kate's back. "Annie, I need you to go with your brothers, okay? I need you not to argue with me tonight."

"Come on Annie," Jack cajoled. "I'll give you a piggyback."

Aaron smiled thankfully at his son as Jack moved to help AJ climb onto his back. He, meanwhile, shifted his six-year-old daughter so he could have a better look at the phone. He took a deep breath before dialling Dave's number.

"Agent Rossi."

"Dave," he greeted, his voice barely controlled. "Where's my wife?"

--

Dave's brow pinched. "She just stepped out to call you."

"Something happened to her," Hotch's voice floated over the phone. "She was talking to Kate, then she was gone."

Dave was already moving, heading back out the door the team had entered through. His heart had jumped into his throat. They all knew Emily fit the victimology to the very last detail. It churned his stomach to think that their UNSUB had gotten his hands on her, that he'd been watching her every move.

"Dave, what's wrong?" JJ asked just as he pushed the door open, but Dave ignored the question.

"Rossi," Derek called. "What the hell?"

Dave's head swung this way and that, peering into the Colorado dusk, hoping for any sign of his brunette colleague. He prayed to every higher power that she'd just wandered off down the street, that the signal had been lost on her cell phone. The terrible burning in his stomach was telling him that he was wrong. He wasn't going to be able to give his protégée any good news.

"Damnit Rossi!" Derek exclaimed having followed the Unit Chief outside.

Dave met Derek's eyes even as he passed the information onto Hotch. "Emily's missing."


"So you've been writing in your journal?"

Blake nodded at Kelsey as she sat beside him in the waiting room of Dr Dale's practice. The good doctor was late. Which sucked. Blake had homework to do, but he'd had to stay after class to write a make up test for one he'd missed. His father had called to postpone his appointment. It was the only reason he was sitting in Dr Dale's office after dark.

"Does it help?" Kelsey asked.

Blake shrugged. "Sometimes." He bit his lip. "Kelsey, what's wrong with Dr Dale?"

Kelsey's heart stopped. The kid had noticed? She cocked her head to the side, trying for an air of curiosity. "There's something wrong with Dr Dale?"

"He's... acting weird," Blake replied, his eyebrows coming together. "I don't know how to explain it really... Like, the other day, we were in his office, talking, and he had the news on. They were talking about a missing woman and how it was connected to one they'd found dead... He... he cut our session short. It was like he had to get out of the room. Like the news report had triggered something in him."

Kelsey chewed her lip. She too had been noticing the times he cut sessions surprisingly short, leaving the office without an explanation and without warning. He'd always been first and foremost committed to his practice, a dedication Kelsey had admired from the get-go. But leaving in the middle of the day, without warning... And he'd been extra secretive, short with her when talking about patients and asking her to do things. He was super tense and, as Blake had said, weird.

"Everyone's allowed to have off times," she finally replied. It was the best explanation she had been able to offer herself, let alone a nine-year-old kid. She knew Blake and the doctor had a very close relationship. "I'm sure everything's fine."

"What's fine?" Dr Dale asked, stepping through the door just then, shucking his jacket and hanging it on the nearby hook. "You weren't talking about me, were you?"

Kelsey and Blake exchanged a glance.

"Of course not, Dr Leo," Blake blurted. "We were talking about how my grades are coming up again." They'd dropped after his mother's death, something Dr Dale had reassured Blake's father was perfectly normal when dealing with loss and grief.

"That's excellent Blake!" Dr Dale exclaimed. "That means we're doing better!"

Blake forced a smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he apologized. "I had an errand to run. Shall we get started?"


All hail set up chapters! Well, obviously this had a point, but yes, it was in large part a HUGE set up. That's all I'm going to tell you! You can guess how and which part is going to come back!

So, I have plans for a nice chapter between Pen and JJ and plans for Emily and our UNSUB as well as a couple of reflectionary scenes for Hotch. All coming up! So stay tuned!

And now that I feel adequately like a commercial, review!