A/N: Twenty for twenty! Woo-hoo! Thank you all so much for all the reviews and the support and encouragement.

This piece gives you a little glimpse into how the small town detectives feel when the Unsubs invade their communities. Hope you like it.

365: Day 20

Characters: Aaron Hotchner, Local Lead Detective

Rated: K+

My Town

The BAU Agents arrived at the police station shortly before 7:00am. They had been here for three days and were now well acquainted with the layout of the office and with the staff. They all nodded and smiled at the civilian receptionist who manned the front desk.

Reid immediately went to their makeshift conference room to study the map. It always seemed he had a new piece of information to add first thing in the morning after a few hours sleep. Blake was beside him, letting him explain what he was adding to the map and why. JJ checked on the night's press coverage to see if she needed to do any damage control before falling into her new role as Profiler. Morgan sat down with the files to go over all of the obsessional aspects of their case, often bouncing ideas and theories off Rossi. Hotch's first stop was the coffee pot, where he was met by the lead detective on the case.

The stocky detective was a little older than him, a little younger than Rossi. He was a rugged looking individual, one who had seen too many hard winters in this frigid little town in North Dakota. His salt and pepper hair was thinning, his mustache was neatly trimmed, but his eyes told the tale of how hard this case was weighing on him and his officers, as well as his town. Things like this didn't happen here.

"You guys sure do get an early start," he said as he filled his first cup of the day. Hotch turned to him and smiled.

"Yeah, none of us sleep very well when we're out in the field. It's too hard to turn off the case."

"I can understand that," the detective nodded. "When I first became a cop and saw some pretty awful things, I didn't think I'd ever sleep again. Now I see those same signs in my rookies."

"Learning how to let it go is tough. Especially when the case is still open or there isn't any closure."

"Yeah."

The two men stood silently drinking their coffee. The detective watched the team of Profilers as they worked diligently.

"I can't thank you all enough for coming out here. I know our little town can't be very high on the radar." He ran a hand over his tired face. "I still can't believe this is happening here. We haven't had a murder in this town in nearly ten years. Things are mostly quiet and peaceful here. I don't like seeing the people of my town so afraid. And until we catch whoever is doing this, there's nothing I can do to ease their minds. It's a helpless feeling."

"Hopefully we'll be able to help put an end to this nightmare for you soon. The good thing about small towns is that everybody knows everybody. They notice when something is out of place. Somebody knows this guy. They just don't realize it yet. Once we're able to solidify our profile and make it public, someone will recognize the signs." He put a hand on the exhausted detective's shoulder as his determined eyes met the detective's tired ones. "We will find him."

The detective nodded in acknowledgment. "Just tell us what we can do to help. Anything you need."

"Why don't you come sit in with us and listen to what we've got so far? You know this town better than anyone. You may notice something we don't. Something about the locations, the geography. No detail is too small or insignificant."

"Anything you think will help us get our town back from this monster, you got it."

The detective followed the BAU leader, finally feeling a slight glimmer of hope that the nightmare would end soon. Everyone looked up when they entered the room.

"Let's go over what we know..."

01/20/2013