Chapter 36 –

Hotch sat in his office, his right hand holding the photo he had of Jack on his desk, the young boy had asked about Emily that morning and he knew that soon he would have to enlighten him but he wanted to speak to Emily before he did anything. His brown eyes focused on the cell phone that lay prone in the middle of his desk, he had tried to phone Strauss earlier but had only reached her voicemail, now he was anxiously waiting for it to ring. As he turned and looked at the photo of Jack once again his patience was rewarded as he swiftly picked up the phone.

"Hotchner."

"Aaron, sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner."

"It's ok ma'am."

Hotch carefully placed the photo of Jack back down on the desk as he grabbed a pen and waited for Strauss to continue.

"Chris Petersen, who is also Natasha's father, has been blackmailing the Ambassador. For his silence she enabled him to further his career. I want to know what else he has on Emily and Natasha but also why is he suddenly so interested in the BAU team and what does he have to gain from us being in Texas?"

"Of course ma'am, I'm sure Dave will be able to find some answers down in Texas. Uh ma'am, what about Agent Prentiss?"

"According to the Ambassador she has no knowledge of this and I have no reason to think otherwise."

Hotch breathed a sigh of relief, although he knew Emily had been kept in the dark it was nice to have it confirmed, especially by as an unlikely an ally as Strauss.

"I'm going to find out what else Petersen has been blackmailing the Ambassador with, I'll fax the information over to your analyst, please keep me abreast of things at your end."

"Of course ma'am, and thank you."

Hotch placed the phone down and sat back in his chair, closing his eyes as he tried to formulate his next move.

Natasha's eyes continued to blink as she struggled to focus, what she could see was the tears flowing down not only her mother's but JJ's face as well, instantly she started to panic about what had happened.

"Mom? JJ?"

JJ let her left arm relax and brought it around to wipe the tears from her face as she sat up and managed to smile at Natasha.

"Hey Natasha, it's really good to see you, how are you feeling?"

JJ spoke softly, allowing Emily time to compose herself as Natasha managed to raise her left hand, moving it slightly from side to side.

"Mom you've been crying?"

Emily edged closer to the bed as Natasha quietly spoke.

"I'm ok sweetie, just feeling a little tired and emotional."

Emily smiled as she felt JJ's hand once again gently rub her back.

"But. JJ?"

"I'm fine Natasha, please don't worry, we're all just pleased that you are getting better."

"Oh ok."

Natasha closed her eyes once again, her body failing her once again as she drifted back off to sleep.

"What am I going to tell her?"

"Nothing at the moment Em, we don't know anything for certain, just wait until we know that Natasha is completely on the mend."

Emily nodded as she listened to her friend's voice of reason, that for the time being she had to sit tight and let the rest of the team discover what was going on.

Garcia lifted her fingers up, and reached for her over-sized pink mug, she could feel the headache creeping in and knew that the rapid intake of coffee wouldn't help but it was vital in order for her to carry out her task. Placing the mug down, Garcia reached up and pulled her glasses off before she gently massaged her temples. Sighing heavily as she placed her glasses back on, she tried to make sense of the information displayed in front of her, when she was brought out of her reverie by the sound of the fax machine whirring to life. Pushing with her right foot she quickly glided in her chair over to the other side of her desk, presuming that the information was coming from Morgan down in Texas she grabbed it up, but as soon as she saw the second page she dropped the remaining pages to the floor as her hand flew up and covered her mouth.

"Oh Em, my poor Em!"

Garcia bent down and rapidly collected the paper up, her demeanour had instantly changed to one of shock to one that was determined to make Chris Petersen's life a living hell. She stood up and adjusted her glasses, a steely determination coursed through her body, the words that JJ had once said to her...

"You do whatever it takes to protect your family."

...and now that the Ambassador had failed completely in her role as a mother Garcia was going to make sure that 'her' family which now included Natasha was protected. Grabbing the pad of paper she had scribbled her notes on and her troll topped pen Garcia walked out of her office and towards someone who she knew would not be happy with what she was about to tell him.

Garcia knocked on the open door and peered in, her heart sinking a little as she saw Hotch sitting, exhausted in his chair.

"Sir?"

Hotch quickly shook his head and raised his right hand, gesturing for Garcia to come in, which she duly did, shutting the door behind her, which he instantly knew was not a good sign.

"So what have you found out?"

"Sir, I managed to track down all of Chris Petersen's life from the moment of his birth up until six days ago, but Sir I also got a fax from Germany."

"Slow down Garcia, take a breath."

Garcia nodded as she anxiously played with her pen.

"I want to wipe this bastard off the face of the planet, and I'm sorry Sir but I'm not just talking about electronically."

"Garcia?"

Hotch frowned as he spoke, he had rarely seen this side of Garcia, and he desperately wanted to know want she had found out.

"This Petersen, he was a nobody, average at school, actually to be perfect honest below average. Yeah ok he could speak two languages and was fortunately blessed in the looks department, but if it wasn't for the Ambassador's help he just be a lowly employee in some non-descript government office."

"So what happened?"

"It seems that our friendly scumbag decided that it would be a good idea to take some photos of him and a certain Ambassador's daughter in some rather compromising positions. He used these as leverage to further his mediocre career, he then upped the ante by keeping a record of the transactions Emily's mother made, promising not only to ruin her career but Emily's too if she didn't help him get into law school and then set up his own practice."

"Send the information down to the others and then do you want to come to the hospital with me?"

"Yes of course Sir."

"Thanks Garcia, I think Emily is going to need all of our support when we break this to her."

Hotch shook his head as he spoke, hoping that Dave and Morgan would leave him a little piece of Petersen to play with.