The Children are Missing

Chapter 11

It wasn't long before Hotch walked Kahlan back to her room. While she wasn't falling down drunk, he knew she wasn't feeling any pain. He helped steady her as she tried to get the keycard into the little slot by the door. With a little chuckle, he took it from her and opened the door for her. He led her into the room and she plopped down in the first chair she came to. She reached down and started to untie her boots. Hotch laughed again as he realized she had pulled the laces into a knot. "Here, let me help," he told her as he knelt down and untied the laces and pulled the boot off for her. She switched feet to let him do her other boot. He smiled up at her as he took it off. He felt a burning deep down in his stomach and stood up quickly. I need to leave before this gets out of control.

Kahlan stood up, too. She ran a hand through the hair on the side of his head, down his neck, and let it stop on his chest. "You could stay," she suggested passionately.

Hotch took a deep breath as he looked into her eyes. They were blazing with desire, and he felt his own desire deep in his loins. He put his hand over hers and gently removed it from his body as he felt his manhood growing. "I would love to," he started.

"But you can't," she finished for him.

He shook his head slowly. "No. It wouldn't be right," he told her as he tried to get a handle on his conflicting emotions. I can't take advantage of her while she was so vulnerable, but damn it, she isn't making it easy!

He's too much of a gentleman, she thought sadly as she felt her own desire raging through her like a forest fire. "Well, maybe another time," she told with a quick raise of her brows and another sly smile.

Hotch adjusted his ever tightening slacks and swallowed, the man in him arguing with the agent in him. It would be so nice. . . But she is a victim in this case, Hotchner! "I better go. I will pick you up in the morning around 7:30. Maybe we'll get lucky. . . I mean maybe we'll catch a break, and we won't have to be in Wyoming so long."

She smiled warmly. "Then, I will say goodbye." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for tonight. You gave me a nice end to a horrible day."

He returned her smile and made his way out of the room. He ran a hand down his face as he walked to his car. He could imagine Dave's laugh and could hear him telling him, I told you so. He shook his head as he sat down and started his car. Shut up, Dave. He looked at his watch. It wasn't even eight yet. He looked back at the hotel and had to fight the urge to go back to the beautiful woman. At least he still got to spend some time with Jack.

XXX

Hotch met the team on the plane. An earlier call from Reid had let him know that he stop by and pick up Kahlan because she was on his way, and Hotch let him. He wasn't sure if he could handle seeing her again, alone, so soon. Within no time they were on their way to Wyoming. Kahlan sat in the back of the plane again. She never let on to what had almost happened the night before. Hotch wondered if she had actually been more drunk than he originally thought and didn't remember any of it. Rossi nudged Hotch on the leg. He looked at the older man and Rossi's eyes were gesturing toward Kahlan. Hotch glanced over at the woman and realized she was watching him, but she quickly looked away. He looked back at Rossi. "See?" Rossi asked with a smile. Hotch shook his head and tried to concentrate on the tablet in his hand. Rossi hadn't been able to ask him about the night before yet, but Hotch knew that Rossi would drill him for information the first chance got, but he would wait until they were alone. Hotch was dreading that conversation, though. Rossi always seemed to be able to figure out exactly what Hotch was thinking, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Once they landed in Casper, WY, they headed out in SUVs to the house of Martha Stanton, a single mother, and the first suspect on the list. Upon digging into her past, they found out that Martha had a son who had died at the age of seven four years ago. She was investigated because of the suspiciousness of the accident, but she was eventually cleared. The police had been concerned about her other two sons, though, and conducted several random checks over the next year which didn't reveal anything, so the checks ended, but they had informed Garcia that she always seemed to be hiding something.

The teamed came to a stop at the end of the street where they could clearly see Martha's house. They studied the run downed house and saw four boys going in and out of the house. Knowing that the woman only had two sons, they were trying to figure who the other two boys were. The looked to be the age that the missing boys would be, but it was disconcerting that they only saw two. Kahlan studied the boys. From the distance, she couldn't tell if they were any of the missing boys, but she was sure none of them were Wyatt. "What are you waiting for?" she asked impatiently.

"For the search warrant," Blake told her as she looked through binoculars.

"If she's responsible, and she sees you all, won't she get rid of evidence or something?"

"It will be here any second," Reid reassured her.

As if on cue, a local police cruiser pulled up with the document. They all prepared to serve the warrant and search the house. As they started to proceed down the street, Hotch noticed Kahlan following. "You need wait here," Hotch told her.

"What? What if it's her?"

"You have to wait here. You are a civilian unless you have some information that proves otherwise you would like to share with me," he asked her with raised brows.

She looked at him, and he thought for a second that she might actually tell him something. She didn't, though. "But. . ."

"But, nothing!" Hotch told her with a glare and a tone to tell he not to argue.

"Alright. Be careful," she told him with a genuine look of concern. He nodded and rushed to catch up with the others.

XXX

After serving the warrant and a quick search of the house, the team knew that Martha was not their unsub. The extra two boys turned out to be kids from the area, but a closer look at her own sons revealed physical abuse. They left that up to the local police to take care of, and the officers were happy to finally be able to arrest the woman.

With an unsatisfactory feeling, the team and Kahlan packed back up into their SUVs. They had two more people on their short list: David Holt outside Thermopolis, 139 miles to the north and Dennis Harper outside Wheatland, 112 miles to the south. Both men ranked about the same on Garcia's creepy scale, so they didn't have a definite reason to pick one over the other. Finally, Morgan suggested flipping a coin and they ended up going south.

Dennis Harper and his wife Laura had lost their only son in 1995. For the next year, they had tried to adopt several young boys, but every home visit ended with the adoption agencies turning them down. Laura had also spent time in a psychiatric hospital for severe depression in the late nineties and again in 2005, one year before the new set of boys went missing.

They arrived in Wheatland at around six that evening. They met with the local police and set up a morning raid. They found a small hotel, checked in, and prepared to go to a local restaurant for dinner. The team waited in the hall as Hotch knocked on Kahlan's room. "You coming with us to eat?"

She smiled and noticed the team watching them. "No, thank you, though. My stomach still hasn't recovered from my outing last night."

Hotch realized, sadly, that he had forgotten about her ulcer. He should have stopped her from drinking so much. "Not even some soup or something?" She could hear the concern in his voice, but declined politely. As he joined his team, he wondered again if she even remembered the night before. Probably not. She wouldn't have come on to me had she been sober, he thought dejectedly.

They all enjoyed the meal and the company, but Rossi noticed that Hotch was a little too distant. No one else notice, though, so Rossi waited until they were back at the hotel to confront Hotch about it. Once everyone else had entered their rooms, Rossi stepped back and knocked on Hotch's door.

"Enter," came Hotch's answer through the door.

Rossi found Hotch already relaxing on the bed as he used the remote to turn on the TV. He walked over and sat on the chair next to the bed.

Hotch gave him a quick glance. I was wondering how long it would take him. "Hey, Dave."

"So how did last night go?"

"Alright, I guess. Horrible in some ways, fine in others," Hotch told him as he focused on the TV.

"Horrible?"

"She wasn't taking Wyatt's birthday too well."

"And you helped her through it?"

Hotch looked at Rossi out the corner of his eyes and looked back to the TV. "I listened as she cried."

"It was probably nice to have someone to talk to," Rossi mused. Hotch shrugged, and Rossi knew he was being too cryptic, so he knew there was a lot more to the story. "Anything happen between you two?"

Hotch gave Rossi a shocked look. "The woman was grieving, Dave, and drunk. Damn, do you actually think I would take advantage of a woman in such a vulnerable state?"

"No! Of course not." Rossi told him honestly. He stood up and took a long look at Hotch. He patted him on the shoulder. "You are a good man, Aaron," he told him with a smile and left to go to his own room.

Hotch watched him leave and shook his head, knowing Rossi had figured it out. Am I really that easy to read?

XXX

The next morning Hotch invited Kahlan to breakfast, and to his surprise she accepted. Rossi and Reid were the only ones to join them, though, as everyone else just wanted coffee brought back to them. They were making small talk and Hotch noticed Rossi being his charming self. Reid started entertaining Kahlan with several stories about the lists he liked to compile. Hotch was again impressed by whatever training Kahlan had received because she actually looked interested in what Reid was saying. He smiled at Rossi as he nodded to Reid. Rossi laughed and rolled his eyes. Hotch was sitting across from Kahlan, and he noticed her eyes were almost sparkling as she listened to the young genius. Hell, maybe she is interested, she's almost as smart as him, Hotch thought but mentally shook his head. She might have been almost as smart as Reid, but she definitely wasn't as strange or awkward as Reid was.

Rossi asked Hotch something about Jack, but he didn't really hear it because he suddenly felt a foot rubbing up and down his calf. She does remember! Hotch thought as Rossi noticed a slight shift in the way Hotch was sitting and repeated the question. "Was Jack upset you have to leave again so soon?"

Hotch smiled. "Well, I explained to him that there were several boys who were being missed by their mommies and daddies, and he wished me luck in finding them fast." Hotch smiled again as the foot made its way up to his thigh.

Rossi gave Hotch a strange look. He knew Hotch loved talking about his son, but the smiles were just a little too strange to be about Jack. He glanced at Kahlan; she was still deep in the conversation with Reid, so Rossi didn't think the smiles were for her. Maybe Hotch is remembering last night.

Kahlan let her foot work its way to the middle of the seat Hotch was sitting in.

As her toes pressed into Hotch's manhood a small groan escaped his lips, he quickly looked at his watch. "We better be going," he told the table. Reid and Kahlan looked at him as if they just realized they were not alone. Damn she is good! No one would know what she was doing. Hotch thought to himself. Rossi nodded and stood up. Kahlan and Reid followed him to the door. Hotch stood up, took a deep breath, and adjusted himself discretely. He noticed that Kahlan was wearing slip on shoes. And yet, I was wondering how she got her foot out of her boot so easily. He smiled and ran a hand down his face. I think I'm going to be in trouble with this one.

XXX

Everyone piled into the SUV's to execute the search warrant on Dennis Harper. Kahlan didn't argue with Hotch about waiting by the car, but she wished the team luck and told them to be safe. Garcia had alerted them first thing that morning that Dennis had several rifles and two pistols registered in his name.

Within seconds of Morgan kicking the door in, the agents had Dennis Harper in handcuffs. A search of the house found his wife passed out on the couch and a basement full of marijuana plants, but nothing else. They let the local police take care of Harper and the house, and they got back into the SUVs and headed back to the hotel in silence. The second strike put them into a somber mood, and Hotch noticed through the rear view mirror that Kahlan shed a tear. He knew what she was thinking, and he hoped that the only suspect left on the list didn't end up being another strike. Three strikes and we're out, he thought sarcastically. He shook his head.

They got back to the hotel and packed up their things. They had decided to leave as soon as possible to get to Thermopolis. Garcia had told them about the 300 acres David Holt owned, and they knew it would take a while to search the entire area. Kahlan rode with Hotch and Rossi. Everyone else rode with Morgan. Hotch figured it was because they didn't want to be around Kahlan because they knew they were running out of options and they felt sorry for her. Hotch had wished Reid had ridden with them, maybe he could have gotten her talking and got her mind off the morning's disappointment. She sat directly behind him, so it was easier for him to see her in the rear view mirror. He watched her swallow her pills and could only imagine the pain she was in physically and mentally. She leaned her seat back and closed her eyes. Hotch hoped that maybe she could at least rest if not actually fall asleep. Hotch was worried about her, but she let him know she was alright by squeezing her foot between the door and Hotch's seat, letting her toes rest up against his thigh. He smiled and moved his right hand to the steering wheel and moved his left hand to rest on her foot. He gave her foot a squeeze to try and give her some comfort. Rossi was too busy studying the file in his hands to notice any of it.