It looked like a simple delivery van which the driver had parked in the shady spot grabbing a bit of lunch. However, inside was a fully outfitted surveillance system being operated by three men. Currently, the occupants where watching a couple on a picnic.

"The bug in the hamper seems to be working fine," Morgan said as he adjusted a dial. He could hear Emily and Mason's voices loud and clear through the headset he wore.

"Reid is with Seaver?" Hotch asked.

Rossi nodded. "Seaver is going to try to do a little snooping around. Mason apparently gave them the run of the house so she's invited her 'boyfriend' over for lunch, with Mason's blessing."

Hotch threw the older agent a worried look. "So soon? They've just moved in."

"Which gives Ashley a good excuse to look around the house," Rossi replied patiently. "Hotch, I know you have some doubts about her and she is green, but she's got good instincts and Prentiss has been working with her a lot. I'm sure Emily was clear about how far Seaver should go today."

Hotch nodded, but the worried look still didn't leave his face. He put on his headset so he could here Emily and Mason's conversation.

"So tell me, Emma, have you ever been married before?" He had been avoiding too many personal questions, seeing how reticent she had been with her, or really anyone but Amanda. However, now that she and her assistant would be staying with him, he thought she might be comfortable enough to give a few more details about her life.

Emily hesitate a moment, still making sure she showed some of "Emma's" lingering skittishness. "I'm a widow. My husband died about five years ago. Cancer."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"How did your wife die?"

"Boating accident. She drowned."

"Not here?"

"No, in Jamaica." There was a touch of sadness in his voice.

"You still miss her," Emily said gently.

Mason nodded and seeing her sympathetic look, launched into a long story about his time with his late wife. Emily listened patiently, encouraging him with a word here and there. It was a full ten minutes later before Mason realized what he was doing and he let out an embarrassed laugh.

"God, what an idiot you must think I am," he said sheepishly. "Here I am going on and on about my late wife who's been dead ten years."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Emily replied gently. "It's obvious to me that you loved her very much. I think you're very fortunate to have experienced that type of love."

He gazed at her in admiration and warmth. "I was right about you."

Emily tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"There's kindness in your eyes."

The blush that came to her was real and she cast her eyes downward, embarrassed by the sincere compliment he gave her. He smiled warmly at her reaction and then said in a soft voice.

"Tell me about your husband."

"If I'm being honest, I can't say we had the love story you and Brigid had, but we did love each other. He was a good man. The brain cancer was very quick, but I'm glad we had those last few months together."

"Ever consider re-marrying?"

Emily shrugged. "Maybe, but well, dating is not my thing and sometimes-" She stopped abruptly.

Mason quirked an eyebrow at her. "What? What were you about to say?"

"Nothing," Emily mumbled and busied herself with the picnic basket.

Mason gently reached out to still her hands. "Emma? Emma, look at me." When Emily raised her eyes she had her features schooled to show sadness and a bit of fear. "Honey, what is it? What happened to you? Please, tell me."

Hotch's grip on his pen tightened when he heard the endearment slip out of Mason. Rossi noticed the small movement and glanced at Hotch. The older profiler had wondered how Aaron would handle this assignment, if the younger agent did have feelings for the brunette. So far, he's done well, but the closer Emily got to Mason, Rossis suspected the harder it would be for Hotch to control his emotions and reactions.

"A few years ago, there was a man, a very bad man." She paused and Mason nodded encouragingly. "He did some truly awful things to other people and to me…" Her voice faltered and she let the innuendo hang out there. Mason's face crumpled into a sympathetic look.

"Oh my God, Emma," he breathed out.

"In a lot of ways, what he did wasn't even the worst part. What was worse was what came after. The looks, the comments. Even people I considered friends and family, those closest to me, well, they never looked at me the same. Amanda has been the only one to truly stick by me."

"She seems like a great young lady," Mason nodded.

"She's helped me through a lot especially when I felt abandoned by everyone else. She stopped me from feeling completely alone. She reminded me that I wasn't dirty and disgusting and a-, a whore, like some people thought." The emotion in Emily's voice was all too real and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

Mason reached out to cover her hand with his. "Know that Amanda isn't your only friend. And know that I think you are a special, wonderful woman who is worth more than she thinks."

Emily smiled shyly at him and Mason changed the subject to more mundane things to put her more at ease. The men in the van however, had a different reaction to Emily's words. Each wondered if she had been speaking about her own experience after the Doyle incident? Had they made her feel so alone and worthless? Of course they did, they hadn't bothered to speak to her, essentially giving her the cold shoulder. Did they make Emily feel dirty and a whore? Their refusal to look at each other simply confirmed to themselves their guilt. While they never called her a whore to her face, at one point in time, each of them had had that thought, if only for a brief second. The knowledge that they did weighed heavily on them.

They said nothing to each other, wishing to stew in their own private pools of shame. Silently, they listened to the couple's conversation. As the afternoon wore on, they covered a wide range of topics with Emily nudging the conversation every now and then towards politics. Each time she did, the men tensed, waiting to see if Mason might inadvertently reveal something, but he never did. In fact, his entire attitude seemed a bit puzzling to the BAU team.

For a man suspected of bankrolling terrorist cells, he seemed very apathetic towards politics. It could be a front to throw off any suspicion, but he truly did sound like someone who had no strong views on government, international issues or many social issues. Hotch was concerned. Bernard Mason wasn't acting in the manner they expected. He felt a tickle of apprehension crawl up his spine, not the first time he's felt it since this mission started. While they had worked up a profile on Mason, they also had relied on a lot of information provided by Counter Terrorism. That section had concrete evidence that led a trail to Mason, but the man wasn't quite fitting into the role he had been cast.

Hotch needed to talk to Prentiss to get her take on Mason and if she has been getting the same vibe as he had, their mission just got a lot more complicated.