Second last chapter, you guys! This will be a juicy one. Thanks for sticking with me through my first fanfic! Things are about to get good. Please read and review!

It was seven-thirty, on the dot, and the team was gathered in a surveillance van. The support group meeting had just started and the agents were listening intently to Emily's wire through their headphones, some more anxiously than others. To tell the truth, Reid was the only anxious one. As he looked around the van, his teammates' faces showed only determination and focus. Although he tried to emulate those feelings on his own face, to prove his objectivity, he had the feeling that he looked like a young child stuck in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Despite his nerves, however, Reid was paying attention to every word of the meeting. He didn't want to miss a single detail, in case something happened that required quick thinking or action. Every cell in his body was prepared, though for what, he didn't know, and didn't want to find out.

"Before we start, I just want to address something we're probably all thinking about," someone, probably Samuel Hall, began. "I know a lot of you are shaken up by Elizabeth's death, and I just wanted to let you all know that I'm available if any of you want to talk things through."

"Notice his wording," Rossi remarked. "He said, 'A lot of you are shaken up by Elizabeth's death'. He didn't say 'us', he said 'you'."

"He didn't include himself in his own statement," Hotch agreed, as the team leader went on about grief counselling.

Reid shook his head in the hopes of clearing it so that he could make similar observations and feel useful, but it was all he could do not to jump out of the van, run into the community center, and drag Emily out. He tried to turn his mind to Samuel's words.

"Now, as always, we've gained a few new faces, and lost a few old ones," he continued. "Those of us who are veterans of this group can begin and show our new members how it's done. Valerie, would you like to begin?"

The team listened as, one by one, the members of the support group talked about their lives, how they were coping, and so on. Every time somebody finished speaking, Reid's stomach clenched, thinking Emily might be next, but invariably, another man or woman would pick up where the last one left off. The stories ranged from fathers whose wives or girlfriends ran off with other men, to mothers whose husbands died tragically, but there was nothing in any of them that Reid thought could trigger the UnSub. No, the time would come for that when Emily began to speak. Just as this thought came to Reid's mind, a voice over the wire made his heart stop.

"Hi, I'm Lauren," Emily said without missing a beat.

"Hello, Lauren," the group responded.

Hotch signaled for everyone to pay close attention.

"Uh, I guess everything started about six years ago, when my boyfriend got me pregnant," she said coldly. "We'd been going out for a couple of years at that point. I, uh, still don't really know how it happened. We used practically every method of protection there was, 'cause neither of us wanted anything to do with kids."

Reid felt oddly uncomfortable listening to Emily tell this made-up story. It was almost as if he was invading her privacy, eaves-dropping on something he wasn't meant to hear. He had to remind himself that he was doing his job to get the squeamish feeling inside him to subside.

"Anyway," Emily continued. "When I found out, I told him the news, he told me what I wanted to hear, and next thing I knew, he was on a train out of town. A few months later, I had Devon and my life has been a mess ever since."

"Why do you say that, Lauren?" Samuel asked.

"Well, I wasn't ready to have a child. I'm still not," Emily replied bitterly. "I wasn't done living my life, and now I have to take responsibility for someone else's. It's not fair to me."

"Have you thought about what's fair to your child?"

Emily seemed to hesitate for a moment. Somebody coughed violently in the background. Finally, she said, "Look. I'm not here to talk about what would make life easier for Devon. I'm here to talk about what would make life easier for me. This is a parents' support group, right?"

Discontented murmurs sounded throughout the group. In the van, the team shot each other glances. Hotch nodded. He was obviously pleased with Emily's progress so far. Somewhere in the very back of his head, behind the fear that it might get her in trouble, Reid was also impressed by Emily's aptitude for undercover work.

"Well, it seems like we have a lot to talk about, Lauren," Samuel continued. "Unfortunately, we're almost out of time, but why don't you stick around for a few minutes after the meeting so that we can further discuss your situation?"

Reid gasped before he could stop himself, trying to pass it off as a sudden and short-lived coughing fit (and failing, if the looks he received from his team members were any indication). They heard Emily's strained "Sure", and everyone sprang into action.

"If he's about to try and abduct her, his cooling off period just got a hell of a lot shorter," Morgan stated, as Samuel delivered some sort of closing speech, and the low hum of chatter sounded throughout the room.

The seconds stretched into minutes as the group members gathered their things and left. Reid could see them from the van, walking out the doors on the far side of the building. Finally, there was only silence coming from Emily's end, and after what felt like ages to Reid, the team heard a voice.

"Well, now, Lauren," Samuel started. "You seem to have a lot on your plate right now. There's no easy way to deal with what you're going through, but coming to this support group is a good start. I do hope you return next week. I'd like to help you build a solid relationship with your boy. Although I've never met him, I can safely say that he deserves his mother's attention."

"Right," Emily said, sounding a bit lost.

"Mind you, it's absolutely alright if you decide not to come back. I understand this kind of group isn't for everyone. It's up to you."

After a slight pause, Emily stuttered, "O-okay, I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Have a good night now," Samuel offered.

They heard his footsteps trailing away. After a few moments, Emily spoke.

"He's gone," she whispered.

Reid breathed a sigh of relief as they saw him exit the building, and Emily's words were proven true. Samuel got into a nearby car and drove away, leaving the parking lot completely empty of human activity, and almost empty of cars.

"Something's not right," she continued. "I don't think Samuel Hall is our guy. If he were the UnSub, he wouldn't give me the option of not coming back next week. That would be too risky for him. This man seems genuine and sincere. He seemed to truly care about my son getting the attention he deserved. We've got to be missing something. Maybe-"

Just then, she was cut off by a sudden and noisy thump, startling the team.

"What was that?" JJ gasped.

"Hold on," Rossi urged. "Listen."

They listened, straining their ears for any sign from Emily. Nothing came. Silence filled the van.

"Oh, god," Reid said, his words barely audible as his worst nightmare threatened to come true.

"Let's move in," Hotch ordered, sliding open the door of the van.

Everyone leapt out, guns at the ready. They ran through the empty parking lot, around the side of the building and through the doors of the community centre. An alarmed receptionist, seemingly packing up to go home, jumped when she saw them.

"Where is the single parents' support group meeting held?" Hotch barked at her.

"Uh, Room 3A, down the hall," she squeaked. "But it'll be over by now—"

They didn't wait to hear the end of her sentence. With Hotch leading the way, the five of them dashed down the hall, skidding to a halt in front of Room 3A. The door was wide open. Hotch and Morgan entered the room first, followed by JJ and Rossi. Reid stayed in the doorway, looking both ways down the hall to make sure there was nobody there before setting foot in the room himself. As he did so, his body stiffened. There was no Emily, no UnSub, no sign of anything having happened at all. It was then that he spotted the small, yet disconcerting pool of blood on the floor.

"Clear," Hotch said, the other agents echoing the same word back to him. Their voices seemed a million miles away to Reid. He might as well have been on the opposite side of the world as he approached the scarlet patch on the ground. His logical side was overcome for a moment by his emotions as he willed the offending puddle to be a figment of his imagination. It was not his imagination, however. It was a very real, very slick pool of what was probably Emily Prentiss' blood. And it didn't stop there. It trailed off to a door on the other side of the room.

"Guys," he croaked, his eyes fixed on the door.

One by one, JJ, Morgan, Hotch and Rossi looked to where he was standing, saw the puddle on the floor, and followed his gaze to the door. Without saying a word, Hotch pointed to it and beckoned the rest of the team over with a wave of his hand. Reid's heart began to pound and his palms began to sweat as the five of them congregated around the door. Hotch gave a sharp nod to Morgan, who kicked it with all his might. It swung open violently to reveal the other side of the parking lot. In the parking lot was one sole pickup truck. And being shoved into the pickup truck was an unconscious Emily Prentiss.