Hotch eased his way down the steel ladder and into the darkness below. As soon as Emily had made her way down, he began waving his flashlight around, looking for any signs of life. Finally his light settled on a figure, blindfolded, bound and gagged in the corner. It was clearly a woman, slumped over on her side. Hotch holstered his weapon and knelt down next to her. Just as he removed the gag, the room was filled with light, Emily having found the switch.

"Mrs. Robinson, can you hear me?"

Not getting any response, he lifted her hand, placing two fingers on her wrist.

"She's alive," he called over his shoulder "I think she's been drugged. And by the looks of it, beaten."

"Damn." Emily muttered. "Wait, where's the boy?"

Quickly looking around, she found a door, leading to a supply room. She entered cautiously, gun out in front. She could hear a sobbing coming from behind one of the large crates of supplies, and moved quickly towards the sound.

"I've got him!" she yelled to Hotch "He seems to be all right."

The boy was tied and gagged, but unlike his mother showed no signs of physical abuse. Emily removed the gag and worked on untying his hands.

"Hey, little guy are you all right?"

The boy was crying hysterically. "Mommy! I want Mommy!"

"Mommy's in the other room, sweetheart. She's sleeping, but I'll take you to her."

She reached down and picked him up, carrying to him to where Hotch and the mother were. Instinctively the boy put his arms around the woman, still crying.

"Mommy! Wake up!"

"Hey Buddy," Hotch said soothingly, "Your Mom's going to be fine, she's just a little tired right now. Can you tell me how you got down here?"

"It was Daddy." he whimpered. "Why did Daddy hurt us?"

Hotch felt a pang in his heart.

"I don't know Buddy, but we're going to get you out of here."

Hotch knew from the start that the husband could have been the unsub, and he cursed himself for not seeing it. What bothered him the most was that this was all to easy. He let them go down there, knowing they were going to find the mother and the boy. So what was his next step going to be? Before he could even process all of the possibilities, they heard a noise from above.

"Uh, Hotch?" Emily said, looking up towards the exit.

He jumped up, and sprung towards the ladder, climbing quickly up the rungs. He anchored himself and pushed with both hands at the door above him. As his frustration grew, he continued beating on the door to no avail. And then he heard what sounded like a car being started. He stilled, listening to the sounds above him, then worked his way back down into the room.

"Hotch?"

He shook his head. "We're locked in. And I'm pretty sure there's a car blocking the only way out of here."

Emily glanced at her cell phone.

"There are no bars down here. Not enough for a call, anyway."

Hotch and Prentiss shared a look. They had both walked in to this trap.

"Rossi knows where we went. It won't be long before he comes looking for us." he assured her.

Hotch began to look around in the supply room where the boy had been held, hoping to find another way out. Emily walked up behind him, glancing around at the shelves full of food.

"Well at least we won't starve down here." she said sarcastically.

Hotch turned to look at the mother and son, and wondered just how much the husband had put them through before leaving them for dead. How could a man do this to his own child? It made him sick just thinking about it. Emily noticed the familiar tight lipped expression and tightened jaw.

"They will find us.

"I know." he said quietly.

"Then what's wrong? You do realize, this could have ended so much worse."

He looked away.

"How could I have been so stupid? It was so obviously a trap, and I made it easy for him. And by now he's probably long gone."

"Hotch, we're gonna get him. The important thing here is the two people over there are alive. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm here too. So don't feel like the lone ranger.

He nodded silently. It seemed that her coldness towards him had dissipated for the moment, and he felt relieved. He grabbed a jug of water off of one of the shelves, and took it over to the boy.

"Are your thirsty?" he asked, kneeling next to him.

The boy nodded, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Here take a drink, but just a little at a time."

He held the jug up to the boys lips, tilting it enough for him to drink. He heard a noise coming from the supply room, which sounded like something scraping across the floor.

"Prentiss?"

"Hey Hotch, I think i found a door to get out of here."

Emily put her hand on the doorknob, cautiously pulling it open, and immediately found herself face to face with the unsub. Cursing herself for not having her weapon out, she grabbed for it, but he immediately knocked her to the ground. Her head hit the concrete floor, causing her to lose consciousness briefly. Hearing the commotion, Hotch ran into the room and joined the struggle, grabbing the man and pulling him off of Emily. They were wrestling for control, knocking things off of shelf as they did.

Prentiss began to come to and was blinking furiously, trying to clear her vision. She pulled out her gun, but there wasn't enough separation between them to get a clear shot. Finally Hotch landed a punch that sent the unsub backwards just enough and she fired, hitting the him in the thigh. He screamed in pain, grabbing for his leg. Hotch grabbed hold of him and wrenched his hands behind his back.

Emily handed him her cuffs, and he snapped them on the unsubs hands, twisting them so they were more than just a little too tight.

"Are you all right Emily?"

"I'm fine," she said, gasping for breath. "Go check on the boy."

Moments later, they heard Rossi's voice coming from the top of the stairway that she had just found.

"Everything okay down there?"

Hotch stood back,and watched, arms crossed, as the paramedic attempted to attend to Emily. She was seated on the front step of the house, her eyes focused on the woman and child being loaded in to the ambulance.

"I'm fine, really." she protested as the paramedic assessed her condition. "Just worry about them."

"They're being taken care of M'am. You have a pretty bad bump on the back of your head, and you might require a stitch or two. Did you lose consciousness?"

"No," she lied. " it's not as bad as it looks."

"Prentiss..." Hotch warned. "You know you need to go get checked out."

"It's really not necessary."

"You were out cold when I ran in that room. It's standard procedure for you to go and get a scan. Concussions are nothing to fool around with."

"But..."

"Please."

She sighed heavily. Emily knew that he was right, but she was also still a little irritated with him and didn't want to let him off the hook just yet.

"Fine. I'll ride back with Morgan and we will stop at the hospital. I promise."

"Why would you ride with Morgan, I can..."

But she was already on her feet, making her way towards where Morgan was standing. Hotch followed in an effort to continue his protest, but he was interrupted by Rossi.

"Looks like we're done here." he said. "Garcia was able to track the girlfriend through her cell phone activity, and the state police have picked her up."

"You really think she had anything to do with this?"

Rossi shrugged.

"Not really sure but I think we can let the locals sort that out. The important thing is the mother and child are going to be okay."

"Maybe physically." he said as he watched Morgan help Prentiss into his SUV. "I'll see you back at the office."