" ' Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.' Eleanor Roosevelt." ~David Rossi

After being released from the hospital Aaron went directly to the BAU. He walked through the double glass doors, but it wasn't the same. Even though Aspen could still be alive, he felt as though a piece of him was missing. As if something had died inside him. . . Again. Hotchner knew he couldn't do much with his arm in a sling, but anything was better than nothing. He couldn't just sit around twiddling his thumbs.

Rossi was the first one to greet him when he made it to the conference room. The team had scribbled notes onto a whiteboard and hung Aspen's photo up with the other victims of their UnSub, but Aaron couldn't look at it. He had to believe she was still alive because if he didn't't, he might just lose it.

"What do you have so far?" He asked the team that just started at him for a moment.

"The only connection we'we've found between Aspen and the victims was the locations they seemed to be taken from, but we are going through her more personal life to see if there is any other connections." Spencer finally spoke sounding cold and distant. That maybe if he disconnected himself from Aspen than it might not be as hard.

"I'll go down and check her calendar on her computer, maybe we can find something useful." Hotch spoke up just wanting to get out of the room.

"Here," Rossi followed Aaron. "I'll go with you. Two heads is better than one." Leaving the rest of the team to disguise Aspen's personal life, which Aaron couldn't handle, him and Rossi made their way down the stairs and to Aspen's desk computer. Hotch sat in her chair melancholy, she's already been gone over 72 hours, he knew the chances of finding her alive were slowly fading with every passing hour. Instead of going through her calendar like they were supposed to be, Hotch slowly clicked through her photos. He couldn't help getting a little choked up as he watched each picture go by with another one of her smiling faces.

"I never told her that I loved her and now, I'm too late." He spoke so softly that it was barely audible in Rossi's ear. Rossi couldn't bring himself to speak at the moment, so instead he watched the photos on the screen.

"Wait," Rossi finally broke the silence, his voice cracking. "do you see that?" He leaned closer to Hotch and the computer.

"What am I supposed to be seeing Rossi?"Hotch questioned as he leaned closer to the computer screen as if it would help his vision focus on the task at hand and not just on Aspen's smile or endless green eyes.

"That man," Rossi pointed out a rather tall man in the background. "he's in every single photo." He spoke as if he was holding something back, what that was Aaron may never know. Anger? Fear? Determination?

"Rossi," Hotch spoke softly. "what if she wasn't just taken because of convenience?" Neither of them spoke for what seemed forever. Hotch's words hung in the air making it heavy. Both men stared at the screen as the pictures changed with the slide show and in every single one the same man appeared, but in the background. Aaron's heart sank, if only he had paid more attention to what was around them then this never would have happened and Aspen would be standing with them now, probably laughing. Telling Rossi and Reid to quit making jokes before she started snorting or she would shoot both of them. He just wanted to hear her laugh one more time. To look into her eyes and see his life with her one more time. Aaron couldn't imagine living his life without her and now here he was going through her things trying to find the UnSub who took her. Rossi's voice finally broke Hotchner out of his thoughts.

"Garcia, we need you to find a name to go with our face." He spoke into his cell phone, but Garcia could be heard perfectly from the other side.

"Anything for you sugar." They could practically hear her smiling through the phone. Everyone was amazed that Garcia, of all people, was taking this better than anyone else. In the background though, you could hear the faint sound of Heaven Can't Be Found by Hank Williams Jr, Aspen's favorite song. They all knew Aspen was an old soul at heart. She loved anything classic and she was always listening to older music.

Even though it felt like everything was falling into place, Hotch had this terrible feeling that for some, ungodly, reason that this is going to be harder than it looked. He feared the worst was about to come and that they still have a long road about of them. This is only the beginning.