"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."
- Abraham Lincoln

*****

The relief of finding their friends and knowing that they were completely safe was replaced by a familiar aggravation and panic when the news of Morgan's disappearance reached the team. Morgan had voluntarily disappeared, which made it almost impossible to track him since he knew all the methods that could be used to track a person. The only thing they could do now was to track the unsub.

Which would ultimately lead them to Morgan.

Their concentration was broken when the sound of hurried footsteps was heard, followed shortly by the door bursting open. They weren't surprised by who was at the door, but it didn't mean that they were happy to see her.

"Emily, you shouldn't be here," Rossi said tiredly. It was clear that running on only caffeine and no sleep was taking a toll on everyone.

"Don't tell me where I should or shouldn't be," Emily snapped. "I'm fine, the doctors cleared me."

"They did?" JJ asked incredulously, finding that extremely difficult to believe. The bruises on Emily's face were still as apparent as when they found her.

"She made them," Ambassador Prentiss informed wryly as she entered the room, Mrs. Morgan following closely behind. "She left them with no choice but to let her go."

"What do we know?" Emily asked, wasting no more time on banalities. When no one made any move to fill her in, she insisted, "I'm not going back to the hospital and I'm not going to sit idly by while Derek is out there. Now, you can either tell me what you know or I'll go after him on my own..."

Hotch sighed wearily. At least, if she was here, with them, contributing to the profile, she was out of harm's way. He knew that if Emily got hurt and he could have prevented it, Morgan would have his hide. So, he relented, "Honestly, we still don't know a whole lot. Garcia's narrowed down a list of thirty or so men with the last name Reimer who would have been in elementry school at the same time as Morgan."

"But we don't have time to round up and interview thirty guys," Rossi said, "We need to come up with something to narrow it down more."

Emily bit her lip, obviously frustrated that that was all they had managed to come up with. But she knew they were trying, so she bit her tongue.

The Ambassador, though, clearly had no such compunctions. "That's it? That's all you have?" she asked incredulously. "You've been working this case for days and you're hardly closer to catching the guy than you were at the beginning!"

They all remained frozen, mouths hanging open slightly. Everything she'd said was true, they had no excuse, no justification. But hearing it said so blatantly made it all the more shameful.

Bravely, Mrs. Morgan placed a hand on her shoulder and said gently, "We aren't going to be of any help, let's leave them to their work." And, with that, she shepherded her from the room, leaving a still-stunned silence in their wake.

******

"How is it that you're still so calm?" Ambassador Prentiss asked as Mrs. Morgan ushered her to the other room, "Your son is out there, searching for that manic who tried to kill him!"

"You don't think I'm worried?" Mrs. Morgan asked softly, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

The Ambassador cringed, immediately regretting her outburst. "I'm sorry..."

"I expected him to do that. That was one of the reasons I refused to leave him alone," she whispered, "I just didn't expect him to go after that man so soon."

"You expected him to do that? Why?"

Mrs. Morgan sighed. "That boy has always been very protective of us, his sisters and I. And, of course, now Emily as well. When he was little, whenever someone bullied his sisters, he'd go after that person and show them who's boss... I'm sure it had something to do with his father's death... He took his role as the man of the house very seriously." She smiled softly at that memory. "When he grew older, that didn't change. He still made sure no one messed with us. And when someone had hurt Emily like that man did, I was sure Derek would go all out to put an end to it..."

"How did you..."

"A mother knows..." she cut the Ambassador off. "You went to talk to the doctors, you told them to release Emily. You knew she wouldn't sit by and do nothing. So, instead of stopping her, you talked to the doctors, made it easier for her..." Mrs. Morgan chuckled softly when she saw the shocked look on the other woman's face. "I saw you."

She nodded. "If Emily hadn't been released, she would have snuck out of the hospital. I'd rather let her leave the hospital and bring her here, instead of having her go searching for Derek alone."

"You're a good mother."

Her attempt at a smile was closer to a grimace. "That's not something I'm told very often...

******

He stood, watching, waiting.

He knew he would remember. It was only a matter of time until he showed up.

He still couldn't believe they had been found in time, that they had gotten out alive. But there was more than one way to skin a cat and, if we was patient, he would get what he wanted.

In fact, he would hardly have to lift a finger. Really, he made it so easy...coming right to him, a lamb to the slaughter.

Then, right on schedule, he heard the voice from behind him. "Turn around you cowardly son of a bitch!"