A/N: Guys, thank you so much for all the support. I'm sorry I disappeared for a while, but here's the next chapter.

A/N #2: I did not write this chapter. This story will be continued by my girlfriend Sinca. She's the one who volunteered to help me and finish this story for me so all credit goes to her :) The story will still be uploaded here though :) PS: She's amaaaaziiiiiiing!

"Get up, team. We've got a case." Hotch said, stepping out of his office. He and JJ had agreed that he would help decide cases until she had settled a little more.

Emily stood up from her desk and headed to JJ's office to let her know. She knocked gently on the door, opening it once she'd heard the soft "come in" from inside.

"Hey, angel." Emily greeted JJ earning a smile in return, "Hotch says we've got a case."

"Oh, okay," JJ responded, not quite sure how to feel about her lack of involvement in the decision.

"Hey, don't get down on yourself. You know it's best you take a step back for a little while. You've gotta focus on me. I'm quite a handful," Emily joked with a wink, reading JJ perfectly as usual. "Come on, beautiful, we've gotta go to the conference room," she coaxed softly.

JJ sighed and stood up, taking Emily's hand as they both exited her office. As they entered the conference room, the others were already waiting and Garcia was standing in front of the screen.

"All right, my lovelies, we have three victims in the last 4 months. All of them have been found within five miles of one another in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. They've been abducted from all over the state, though. As you can see, each victim has red hair and green eyes, engaged, and are 27 years old but that's all I can find for similarities. They live in different counties, work different jobs, even have different gym memberships." Garcia explained.

"Local PD has identified the first victim as Lauren Whittaker and the second as Jaime Lawson. They've just found the third body, Elain Pierce. The unsub waits exactly 7 days between the discovery of the body and the next abduction. He keeps each girl for 3 weeks before disposing of them. They all appear to have been subjected to torture during the time they were held captive, escalating to a brutal rape and murder by a single stab wound to the chest shortly after. The unsub is organized, though. There's no DNA evidence and while they were disposed of within a small radius, that area is at least 10 miles from the nearest known human structure." Hotch filled in.

"He really covers his tracks," Morgan stated in disgusted awe, "each victim has bruises on their hips and thighs, probably from the rape, but what should have been the shape – and size – of his hand has been totally mottled with other bruises."

"Exactly, but he's bound to make a mistake at some point. They always do. Wheels up in 20; let's move out." Hotch said with finality as the team packed up their files and headed to grab their go bags.

"Hey, JJ," Emily whispered as her girlfriend made no motion to get up, still staring at the pictures of the victims. "Come on, honey, look at me," she said, turning JJ's chair to face her. She knelt before the blonde, finally managing to make eye contact. "Hey there, beautiful. You gonna be okay on this case? I can ask Hotch if – "

"No. No, it's okay. I'll be fine. It's just…familiar, is all." JJ commented, averting her eyes once more.

"You wanna talk about it, my love?" Emily asked gently. JJ had never really explained everything that had happened to her. Emily had no intention of pushing, but that wasn't going to stop her from giving a little nudge every once in a while, just to remind JJ that she was there if the blonde wanted to talk.

"No." JJ said fiercely, looking up once more with wide, frightened eyes, "I can't. I'm sorry, Emily. I just can't. Not yet," she finished, quieter.

Emily sighed, "okay, beautiful. I'm not going to make you talk, but if you change your mind I'd love to listen, okay?"

"Okay," JJ whispered, nodding but refusing to meet Emily's eyes again.

"Okay," Emily parroted. "Well, we should get going." She said, standing up and offering her hand to her girlfriend, "And, hey," she added before JJ could lead her out the door. Emily waited for JJ to turn to face her before continuing, "if at any point this case gets too much for you, you just tell me, okay? Just tell me and we'll figure out what to do from there, okay?"

JJ nodded again, "okay," she said with a small smile.

"Good," Emily said, smiling back, "now let's go."