Dark Eyes

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Love you lots my delicious crime fighters!

Chapter ten – Whatever you do, don't poke the bear

Splashing some icy cold water on her face Emily took a deep breath. She needed the revitalizing kick the chill gave her. It had been a long day and it wasn't over yet. Her stomach rumbled. She'd been going on coffee and a few bananas the last seven or eight hours. There just hadn't been time to eat something proper.

After delivering the profile earlier in the day she and Hotch had gone to visit Kelly White's mother while Rossi and Morgan had gone to Linda Sheldon's husband. At the same time Reid had continued working on the geographical profile tying all the different places together trying to see a pattern. Poor JJ had drawn the proverbial short straw and had been stuck dealing with the pissed off older officers who thought that doing it their way was the only reasonable thing to do. All in all it had been a truly exhausting day.

Emily was just leaving the ladies room, that was hidden away in the back but was just as bright and breezy as the rest of the station, when her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket. Checking the display before answering Emily greeted the tech goddess with a bright smile.

"PG, what's up?"

"Oooh, Chica!" Garcia happily exclaimed. "I think the real question is what is up with you and our hunky leader?" She trilled from the other end of the line.

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on between Hotch and I." Emily answered semi-truthfully. Actually, she wasn't really that sure anymore.

"That's not what I heard." Garcia sing songed back. "A little blonde birdie whispered in my ear that you two had a lovely little private moment earlier today."

"He helped me get out of my shoe that had got stuck..." Emily began but Garcia cut her off.

"Oh, you know what they say." She sniggered. "First it's your shoe next thing you know he's helping you out of your underwear."

"Garcia! I've told you this a hundred times. Nothing's ever going to happen between me and Hotch." At least that was what I used to think was the part she didn't say out loud.

"But you'd be perfect together." Garcia huffily complained. "You're both dark, seriously intense super agents. You should so get together." Though not visible the pout on Garcia's lips was heard loud and clear.

Knowing that the conversation would go on forever and that Garcia definitely would be able to drag more than she wanted out of her Emily skillfully made a change of subject.

"Did you call just to try and wrangle gossip out of me or did you have another reason as well?" She asked Garcia.

"Actually I did have another reason for calling." Garcia said with her bright smile shining through her voice. "The gossip wrangling I threw in for free. If you could be so kind as to gather the rest of the delicious crime fighters I'll give you all my status report."

"You got it, PG. You just show your sexy face on that screen and I'll have the team there." Emily smiled back glad that Garcia had dropped the whole Hotch thing. For now at least.

As she flipped her cell shut Emily rounded the last corner and slipped into the conference room joining the rest of the team.

"Is the laptop Garcia ready?" She asked.

"Yeah it's all ready to go." Morgan answered before the screen lit up with Garcia's smiling face.

"There you all are, my lovely little tree elves!" She wiggled a pink fuzzy pen at them. "And hello again to you Miss Prentiss. Have you given what I said any more thought yet?"

The other five looked quizzically at Emily who just shot Garcia a small glare while keeping perfectly quiet.

"I'll take that as a no then." Garcia smiled back ignoring the look Emily gave her. "Alright, let's get down to business ladies and gents."

"Did you find anything on that name Morgan gave you?" Hotch asked leaning forward on his knuckles against the table.

"I did." Garcia answered and an expecting silence filled the room. "John Heart. Twenty five years old and with a bit of a slimy past. Petty larceny, minor assault, indecent exposure. He's a scum bag alright. Just not our scum bag. He's currently doing time for rape as well as attempted rape. His second victim bit him in the ear before he could get his you know what out. You go girl! He's been locked up for the last six months."

"Alright." Hotch answered looking around at the disappointed faces of his team. "We knew he'd likely be a dead end. This doesn't change anything."

"No, but this does." JJ said as she hurried through the door. "Hotch, look at this." She turned on the tiny TV that had been placed in the room for their convenience. In the middle of the screen was a tall blonde woman standing outside the sushi restaurant where the second victim had been found. She was holding on to a large gray microphone that she was talking fast into.

"Sources within the police have confirmed that this is where the second victim of the Birka serial killer was found. Yesterday the FBI was brought in after two new women were taken and they have confirmed that it was committed by the same man. Women in their mid to late thirties should be extra vigilant and and keep an eye out for a Caucasian male, thirty-five to forty-five driving a silver SUV." She gave the camera a dazzling but serious smile. "Back to you, Steve."

No one said anything. The room flowed over with an awkward silence. They all knew how bad this was. If the unsub was checking the news, and odds were that he was, then this could tip him over the edge.

"JJ!" Hotch snapped but quickly calmed himself down again. This was not the liaison's fault. "Have you got any idea who could have leaked this?" He asked. "We've stressed the importance of keeping this quiet."

"I don't know exactly who it was." JJ answered. "But take your pick of the older officers. I'm sure it was one of them. Or all." She frowned. "They've all been very vocal about their problems with our way of working."

"Where's the detective?" Hotch asked looking through the door. His voice was tight and his eyes flaring.

Spotting Detective Granger standing by herself out in the station's bullpen Hotch quickly made his way out of the conference room with long fierce strides. Rossi followed a few feet behind, he was generally considered the one with the best ability to calm pissed off Hotch down. The rest of the team stayed behind in the conference room not wanting get in the line of fire.

"Detective!" Hotch caught Detective Granger's eye.

"I know, Agent Hotchner. I saw the news." She said with a sigh before Hotch had a chance to say anything.

"Do you know who the leak is?" He asked his eyes burning. "Did your men not understand how extremely important it was to keep this quiet?"

"Well, Agent Hotchner." Detective Granger said. "Unfortunately you've just stumbled upon one of the biggest problems we have around here." She gave him a weak smile. "There's a bit of a difference of opinion between some of the officers. Most are happy to follow orders. Some however are not quiet as fond of that concept."

"I see." Hotch answered her easing his tone a little. "But if you do find out anything about who could have gone to the media then please let me know." Hotch told her. Then the sound of someone clearing his throat sounded behind them making them both turn around.

"No need going around pointing fingers at innocent, Agent Hotchner." Officer Elder told them. "I am man enough to own up to something I did. Especially when it was the right thing to do. I am sorry though that you don't see it that way." He gave them both a righteous smile.

Hotch had always preached the importance of not stepping on any local toes. But right at that moment he wanted to do more than that. He wanted to break a local nose. But he reined himself in letting the smug tone of the officer's voice slide.

"Officer Elder." He said as calmly as he possibly could in the situation. "I thought I made myself rather clear before. Tell me what part of 'don't go to the media it might cause our killer to snap' did you not understand?"

"Oh, I understood alright." Elder huffed. "You don't want anyone to know that you're here so that when you screw up you can just slip away back to your fancy FBI offices unnoticed."

"I can assure you, Officer. That is not our intention." Hotch kept the words polite and controlled but they came out in a dark snarl. "We are just as determined to find the person killing these women as you are." He said with a little more force taking a step forward closing in on the short officer.

"Oh, I'm sure..." Elder complacently began but fell silent when Hotch took another stride forward.

Apparently the officer could finally sense the silent anger radiating from Hotch and took a small step back. But Hotch followed taking a few more steps almost pinning the officer against a wall. His dark eyes fixed on the man in front of him he let out a low growl. "What you did can prove to be very damaging to this investigation and I am holding you partly responsible if the unsub kills again."

Rossi who'd been watching from a few feet away saw this as his moment to step in. He knew that Hotch was the undisputed master of self control but even the sun has its spots and Rossi did not feel like scraping locals off the floor.

Placing a hand on Hotch's shoulder he wordlessly pulled the younger man off of his prey and led him out of the station. In the background he could hear Detective Granger scolding Officer Elder. He liked Detective Granger. He had no doubts whatsoever that she wouldn't be able to put that ass in his place.

Rossi led Hotch over to a bench outside the station, the same one Emily had been sitting on several hours earlier.

"You don't have to say anything, Dave." Hotch said sinking down onto the bench. "I'm aware that I was out of line."

"Aaron, don't worry. That was nothing." Rossi patted him on the shoulder. "If it had been me I'd have decked him." He gave Hotch a smile. "But I know you and if you'd have done something like that you would have ultimately felt guilty and embarrassed and I thought I'd spare you that."

"Thanks Dave." Hotch answered starting to get up off the bench but Rossi stayed seated so he stopped and sank back down.

"You've been acting a little more intense lately, Hotch." Rossi told him letting his eyes wander over the crowded street.

"It's a tough case, Dave." Hotch answered and Rossi let it go. He guessed it was something more than just the case, that granted was a tough one but they'd had worse. But he'd already given Hotch his view on that situation and he didn't believe in nagging. All three of his ex-wives had been champions at it and that had put him off that particular method of getting a point through.

"I've just got a bad feeling about this." Hotch finally said after a few moments of silence and got off the bench.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading. If you have any comments or questions don't hesitate to let me know! I've had a bit of a drop in reviews and I just hope that you're still enjoying it...

Sussi