Dark Eyes

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoy!


Chapter nine - Controversy

With two large steaming coffees in hand Emily walked through the open door into the conference room where the rest of the team was waiting for her. Some of them more eagerly than others. The second she came through the door Reid hurried towards her his lanky legs almost twirling together as he made a dash for his much awaited caffeine.

"What took you so long?" He asked as he grabbed the paper mug Emily was holding out flinching a little when his skin hit the heat.

"My heel got stuck between the cobblestones and I dropped the coffees so I had to go get new ones." She shrugged. "Sorry for the wait." She said giving Reid an apologetic smile.

"Oh, no worries." Reid smiled back. "Ah, so that's what you and Hotch were doing."

Emily gave him a surprised look. "Yeah. Were you watching us? He helped me with my boot." She raised an eyebrow. "What did you think we were doing?"

"Nothing." Reid answered looking completely genuine and like he didn't really understand her question then taking a long sip from his paper mug.

"Who did what?" Morgan asked coming up behind Reid and Emily.

"Uh, Hotch helped Emily when her shoe got stuck between the cobblestones." Reid answered.

"Well well well, wasn't that mighty chivalrous of him." Morgan chuckled. "Our fearless leader helping a damsel in distress." He sniggered showing Emily a row of perfectly white teeth.

Emily opened her mouth with the clear intention of shooting a profanity at Morgan but was stopped by Hotch's deep voice gathering the troops.

"Alright guys." He said. "JJ could you go and tell the Detective that we are ready to give a rough profile."

"I'm on my way." JJ answered and left the room in search of Detective Granger.


Officer Mike Newton was sitting in the front of the room intently watching the six FBI agents getting a whiteboard ready. He'd been told they were going to present a rough profile of the unsub, as they called him. Next to him was his much older colleague Officer Earl Elder who was silently huffing to himself and rolling his eyes.

Officer Newton had been listening to the talk around the water cooler. He knew that some of the other officers, mainly the older ones, weren't all that excited about the FBI's presence. They thought that they were "fancy FBI agents with their suits and their strange words that were coming in and taking over". Those were the same officers that had had a problem with Sally being promoted. They weren't an all that progressive bunch. Newton usually stayed well away from them.

"Can I have your attention, please." Agent Jareau, the sweet tiny blonde, started. "SSA Hotchner and the team will give you a profile of the unsub shortly. Please remember that this is only a rough profile and should not be released to the media yet."

"Thank you." The tall and thoroughly frightening Agent Hotchner began. Without adding any further formalities he began delivering the profile with steadfast determination. "We believe that this unsub is killing these women because they remind him of someone close to him. Maybe his wife or his mother. He believes himself as being wronged in some way by this woman and takes it out on substitutes because he can't approach the real source of his anxiety. He is most likely the submissive one in the relationship and beats these women violently to death to gain control."

Agent Hotchner took a step back and in his place stepped Agent Morgan. Newton had talked to him the day before and he liked him. He was a no nonsense tell it like it is kind of guy and Newton liked that in a person.

"The unsub held his first two victims for around a month before killing them. Why he did that we do not know yet or if he will hold his current victims for as long." Agent Morgan began.

"So you don't know everything." Officer Elder smugly stage whispered next to Newton. A comment that Newton was glad to notice Agent Morgan disregarded and continued as if nothing had happened.

"But this does tell us that he has time to spend with the victims. That could mean that he is unemployed or self employed." Morgan continued. "Both victims have shown signs of starvation. We believe that the unsub is starving them to easier gain control over them." Morgan continued looking at the officers. "These are fit women. If the unsub needs to weaken them then that probably means that he's neither a big nor strong guy. He's probably at most 5'9."

"Both victims has been found in the same part of town." Agent Prentiss took over the presentation. "Work under the assumption that this is where the unsub either lives or works. The four victims have a lot of the places around the dump sites in common. That is not a coincidence. Please be vigilant to anything happening in that area."

Newton noticed how several of the other officers had sat up just a little bit straighter when the obviously very beautiful Agent Prentiss took center stage. And he really couldn't blame them. She was a very lovely lady. And what was sexier than a woman with a gun?

"Finally we expect the unsub to be a Caucasian male in the ages between thirty five and forty five. And who drives a light colored SUV, most likely silver. Be sure to report any suspicious sightings of such a vehicle." Agent Prentiss finished and made room for Agent Hotchner.

"Again we would like to stress the importance of not taking this profile to the press." Agent Hotchner took over once again. "It is very important that our involvement is kept as quiet as possible. We need the unsub to believe that he is getting away with this or he might be driven to kill both his current victims. Thank you." Hotchner finished and started making his way towards the conference room following the rest of his team.

"Agent Hotchner!" Officer Elder quickly rose from his seat and chased after Hotch who stopped and turned around.

"Why aren't you releasing this information to the public?" He gave Hotch an angry frown. "Shouldn't we warm potential victims?" Elder asked looking up at Hotch. Had the circumstances been different it would have been a funny sight. The angry Officer Elder trying his hardest to be on eye level with the at least five inches taller Hotch.

"Officer...?" Hotch looked questioningly at the short balding man.

"Elder."

"Officer Elder, I assure you that this is the best way of keeping Mary-Anne Nylund and Denise Carlson alive. It is highly unlikely that the unsub will take another victim at this moment in time." There was a clear finality in Hotch's polite voice that Officer Elder ignored.

"But you don't know that!" He exclaimed throwing his hands out at Hotch who took a step back. "This is all just an educated guess. If even that."

Daggers shot from Hotch's eyes as he fixed them on Officer Elder. "Officer." He said glaring at the other man his steady voice not conveying the same heat as his eyes. "We are good at what we do. Trust us when we say that releasing this information could cause the unsub to kill one or both of his captives."

Officer Elder replied by snorting arrogantly. "Excuse me, Agent Hotchner..." He said looking as if he had tasted something vile when saying Hotch's name. "I might be an idealist but I always believe that it is for the best to protect the public..."

"With all due respect, sir." Hotch cut him off. "That is what we are trying to do here. The level of rage that this unsub is displaying points to a very unstable personality. Telling him that the police and the FBI are after him could very well push him to kill both women and go on a spree." With that Hotch turned and started walking away. "Now if you excuse me I have work to do."

Elder watched Hotch leave with an incredulous look in his eyes before stalking away muttering something about FBI big wigs who thought they were all high and mighty.


Sitting by herself at the table in the conference room Emily startled when Hotch stormed through the door his dark eyes gleaming.

"What happened, Hotch?" Emily asked looking at him with concerned eyes. Pissed off Hotch was something you very rarely saw. Kind of like a shooting star. Except the only thing you could wish for was that it wasn't you who'd caused his anger.

Sinking down onto the chair next to her Hotch let out a deep sigh and looked at Emily. Her warm eyes met his and he felt a tiny bit of the world lift off of his shoulders. Like always he instantly felt a little bit better when she was around.

"Oh, some of the local officers aren't too pleased with our way of doing things." He gave her a tight smile. "Hopefully there won't be anymore controversy, but I just got the feeling that this one guy won't back down all that easily." He scrubbed a hand over his forehead. This case was exhausting enough without having to worry about riled up locals.

"If he does do something then we'll handle it." Emily told him giving him a reassuring smile. "It's not like we haven't had to deal with crazy locals before."

"No, you're right." Hotch said looking up at her. "We've dealt with situations like this before. It just never stops being frustrating when some of the local officers just don't understand that we're here to help."

"Yeah, it is. But maybe he just needed to get it off his chest." Emily agreed before asking. "Who was it?"

"Officer Elder." Hotch answered.

"Oh, the short one." Emily nodded. "Well if he gives you any more trouble." She gave him a bright almost a little devilish smile. "I'm pretty sure I can take him." She chuckled.

That comment made Hotch break out both dimples and give a little chuckle. "That's good to know, Emily." He gave her another smile. "You always seem to know just what to say to lighten my mood."

That last part he hadn't intended on saying. It just sort of slipped out. He usually didn't hand out such compliments. Always keeping a safe professional distance. But it was true that she always knew just what to say to make him smile, even if that smile usually was an inward smile. And he wanted her to know that. And the warm smile she was giving him back made him hope that she was glad to know that little fact about him.


A/N: Thanks! Please review!

Sussi

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