(I'm gonna be honest, not a big fan of this chapter, but the next one will be great!)

Aaron held onto Kara for...he wasn't sure how long they sat there. Her breathing had returned to normal, but she sat in his arms, eyes wide. He looked at the clock. It was almost two in the afternoon. They had sat in silence for hours, listening to each other breathe. He wasn't sure what to say aside from little words of comfort here and there. She wasn't very responsive, her dream haven shaken her to her core.

He finally decided to speak up. His grip tightened on her and he cleared his throat. "Kara?" He shifted, moving both of them into a more upright position. She looked over at him, unable to meet his eyes. "Hey." He breathed. He slowly pulled his arms from her and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Hey." He repeated more strongly.

Kara took a deep breath and adjusted herself on the couch. She blinked, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees. She didn't say anything, settling back into the real world. She swallowed, turning her head to look at him. "Hey." Her voice was raspy, the emotion from earlier having effected her. She cleared her throat. "Hey." She tried again, stronger than before.

Aaron frowned and reached out, resting his hand on her knee. "You want to talk about it?"

She looked at her toes, flexing them nervously. She shook her head. There was no way she was about to bring it up, not now, it was something she never told really anybody. She just lived with the fear that her dad was still out there and would find a way to hurt her again. "I...I'm okay. Not right now." She still didn't look at him.

He sighed. He wanted to know what had caused her to scream, he wanted to help, but he was in no position to push. He squeezed her knee. "Whenever you're ready to talk. I'll be ready to listen."

She nodded. "I know."

Another silence fell over them, this time thicker than before. Now that she was awake to the real world, it was different. It was almost hard to breathe. She was shutting him out and it was obvious. It didn't take a profile to notice the tension in her muscles and her inability to look at him.

"What time is it?" She asked, looking at the floor now.

"A little after two." Even though she didn't look at him, his worried eyes never left her, constantly tracing her, silently willing her to look up.

She nodded. She rested her hand over his. "You should get home."

His brow furrowed. There was no way he was leaving her in this state. She was mentally shattered. Whatever wall she had built to block out the bad was broken. "No, I'm not leaving-"

"Please." She raised her head and met his eyes. "Go hang out with Jack." Her lip started to tremble, but her voice was firm.

She was pushing him away and he hated it. He squeezed her knee, "I'm more worried about you right now." He knew where his son was, knew how much fun his son was having with his friend.

Kara's mental state scared him. He had never seen even a sign of something remotely like this. Sure he hadn't seen her much out of the field or office, but it was hard to hide something like this. He knew how hard it was. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to figure out what was going through her head. He sighed.

"I'm okay." She reassured quietly. He wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. No matter, he wasn't convinced. "I'll call you." She leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Her face was blank. No smile, no familiar spark in her eyes.

His heart raced, but not from her touch.

Finally he nodded. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere with her. She needed her space, and usually he would respect that, but his worry was taking over. "Okay." He said. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. His hand found hers and he squeezed it. "I'll call you later. Please, Kara if you need anything, call me." He stood up.

She nodded and looked up at him, a forced smile on her lips. "Thank you. I will."

He left without another word, feeling uncomfortable and awkward. The previous comfort that was there between them just yesterday was gone. She wouldn't let him in.

During the day, Kara had spent most of it thinking. She had had that dream before, but not for a couple years. It was too familiar. The thought of it made her skin crawl. She thought she was past it, but apparently not.

The rumbling of her stomach around four was the only thing that was able to pull her from her head. She sighed and slowly shifted, moving her legs off the couch. She stood, reaching out for the couch for support as black spots crossed her vision. She took a deep breath and grabbed her phone from the coffee table. A missed call and three texts from Aaron. Her chest tightened. She felt bad, for sending him away, but she couldn't talk about it, not now. She didn't want to.

She had always had a hard time talking about her feelings, especially her past. It was actually her past that had made her that way. She opened up to her mom, tried to tell her what was going on and immediately no matter what the problem was, her mom shut her down.

She wanted to tell Aaron, but she was scared. She was scared of being rejected. She was a go with the flow kind of woman because of this fear. Why speak out and argue when you can put your head down and be quiet.

Aaron had called her an hour and a half ago, probably when he got home. His texts were simple.

"You okay?"

And then an hour later.

"I'm worried Kara. Call me later please."

She frowned and quickly responded to him. "I'm okay, I promise. I'll call you later."

She didn't call him later. She made food, turned on a mindless show, and sat in bed. She didn't want to sleep, not after what she saw before. The thought of calling Aaron back slipped her mind.

Aaron picked Jack up early from his friends. He tried to distract himself from her nightmare. He baked cookies with his son, played with action figures, and finished the night off with a movie, but his mind never stopped. He tried all of the possibilities that could make her feel like that, act like that.

He came up with a conclusion. Something had happened to her before, most likely as a child. She keeps it a secret, shutting out everybody who tries to help. He felt bad profiling his own girlfriend, but it was the only thing he felt he could do to possibility help and get through to her.

He put Jack to bed. He had a feeling he wouldn't sleep much tonight. He sat on the edge of his bed. He ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't had much contact with Kara throughout the day. He had reached out, but her responses were small. He laid his back against the mattress. He had been expecting, or hoping for a call, but had yet to receive one.

He wasn't sure what time it was. He laid in bed, tossing and turning, trying to sleep. His phone went off, causing his heart to jump. It wasn't who he hoped. Strauss' name flashed across the screen, as well as the time. 03:42.

"Ma'am?" He answered. It was rare she called, especially this early. He assumed they had a case. He had asked her for the weekend off for his team, but exceptions had to be made.

Strauss quickly explained a case in Nevada where several bodies were uncovered. Most of them were skeletal remains by now, the officers wanting the BAU team to check it out.

"This couldn't wait till the morning?" His brow furrowed. He was irritated. For once he was able to schedule his team some off time, which was rare with this job.

"You leave in the morning."

Hotch called the team around seven, wanting them all to be there at eight.

He called Kara. She answered after a single ring. "Hello?"

"Hey. How are you feeling." He was surprised she answered so quick. She sounded wide awake. His brow furrowed.

"I'm...better." She said quietly.

He wasn't exactly convinced, but didn't push. "We're heading out on a case in about two hours."

"Sounds great I'll be there in twenty."

"No." His response was quick. "You got shot two days ago. You don't need to be here."

She frowned. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to sit in her apartment all day trapped with her brain. "I can still help."

"And I'm saying no. After yesterday, I don't know where your head is right now."

His words hurt her, but he was right. "I...okay." She didn't want to fight him anymore. There was no point in arguing. She could sneak in after they took off and help out Garcia.

"I'll call you when we land."

"Sounds good." She said, pulling her phone from her ear and hanging up. Honestly, she wanted him here. She wanted to be held and told everything was going to be alright. But he didn't know what was going on in her head, and it was hard for him to be there if he didn't understand.

Hotch sat in his office since he got into the bullpen, fingers tapping anxiously on the desk. Rossi poked his head through the door, tapping his knuckles against it. "Hey."

"Hey." Hotch replied.

Rossi frowned. "What's going on?"

He shrugged. "Just thinking."

"About?"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He offered his friend a small smile. Dave wasn't convinced, but nodded.

"We're all here if you wanna start."

Kara texted Garcia, asking her to update her as soon as the team left. Garcia knew she would want to come in, even if Hotch told her not to. Kara's drive to work fit in exactly with the rest of he team. The serial killers never stopped.

The team briefed in the conference room and headed out. Nobody asked many questions. There was a job to do. They'd be down a man so they needed to get to Nevada as soon as possible.

Thirty minutes after the jet took off, Kara stepped into the bullpen, heading straight to Penelope's office. The techie was waiting for her, ready to call the team so they could discuss information on the case. She looked over shoulder as Kara knocked on the door.

"Ooo Honey come in!" Penelope greeted with a wide smile. She stood up, looking over the injured agent. Her smile wavered. She assumed Kara's lack of sleep was from her injury, but she wasn't sure. She wasn't a profiler. "How are you? I'm just about to call them."

Kara offered her a smile and nodded. She felt Penelope's worried eyes on her, but tried her best to ignore it. As far as she was concerned, she was fine. She had a nightmare about a scary reality from her past, but now she was okay. She tapped her fingers on the desk, taking a seat next to the techie. "I'm okay." She shrugged.

She had thought a lot that night about what she would tell Aaron. How she would even bring it up. She wanted to forget it happened and push past it, but he wouldn't let that happen. He'd make sure he got an answer out of her.

Garcia wasn' convinced, but nodded. She didn't have time to focus on it now. She flipped on the camera of her computer and pulled Kara by her chair arm into frame. She called the team.

The team had been on the jet for about thirty minutes, settling in before Garcia called them. The screen blinked to life and the women appeared on screen. "Hello my crime fighters! Sorry for the early wake up call." She said with a smile.

Rossi was the first to look up from his file. He smiled when he saw DeBruin next to Garcia. He had a feeling she wouldn't sit at home and play with her thumbs.

"Garcia, run backgrounds on all of the victims, so far we have two identities." Hotch didn't look up from his file as he spoke, scanning the rest of the information. Finally he raised his eyes towards the screen. His brow furrowed as he saw DeBruin sitting beside her. Their eyes met for a moment. "I gave you an order, DeBruin." His voice was firm. The air in the jet suddenly stilled.

She frowned, but nodded. "Hotch, i know, but I can't help people from my apartment."

He didn't say anything. This wasn't a conversation to have in front of the entire team. He only nodded and looked to Garcia now. "Garcia, run those names."

Garcia looked from DeBruin to Hotch, but nodded. "Yes sir. Anything else?"

He looked at DeBruin. He was frustrated, that was obvious. "No." He closed his file. "That's it."

She nodded. "I'll have it done faster than the speed light!" She said and hung up. "He's pissed." She said with a slight chuckle, starting to type away on her computer.

Kara sighed and nodded. "Very."

Kara sat, looking over the file she asked Garcia to print out for her. She had been looking at it for thirty minutes and couldn't focus. She frowned and looked up, catching Garcia staring at her. She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Sorry, I can just tell you're distracted."

Was it that obvious? She shrugged. She wanted to talk about it. She cleared her throat. "My best friend has a secret, and just got into a new relationship. Her boyfriend found out that she has a secret, but doesn't know what it is and she won't tell him. Both of them are asking me for advice." She swallowed. "And I'm not sure what's right."

Garcia frowned, studying Kara's eyes. "Is the relationship serious? Does she like him a lot? If she likes him a lot, why ruin the relationship. Just get it off her chest so they can be happy again." She paused and shrugged. "Secrets destroy relationships. The only secret Kevin had was about his top secret job, but then again, that's a secret in itself." She started rambling.

Kara tuned her out for a moment and nodded. She knew that's why she had to do, she just needed somebody to tell her. "Thanks Penelope."

The techie nodded. "Of course, now help me with these victims!"

The team landed in Nevada. As soon as Hotch dished at the orders, sending Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi, and Reid to the dump site. He told JJ to go ahead and take one of the SUV's to the station and he would meet her there. He pulled his phone from his pocket. "Are you kidding me?" He said as soon as she answered.

As soon as Kara's phone started ringing she excused herself from the room. She swallowed. "Hello?" Listening to Hotch's irritation on the other line. "Hotch I just want to help."

"I know you want to help, but dammit Kara, your physical health isn't okay, and I have no idea where you are mentally right now, which is why I told you to stay home!" He was pissed. It wasn't because he was mad that she wanted to help out the team or that she made her way into the office. His worry morphed into anger. He was only upset because he was so worried about her.

"Aaron I-"

"No, let me finish. I want to help you and be there for you, but when you don't let me in I have to take a seat and watch you mentally destroy yourself. Something happened to you, and it's in your head right now. Sitting on it is only going to make it worse and you know that. If you aren't going to tell me than how is this going to work?"

She swallowed. She felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes. A heavy silence fell between them. He was right. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry..." she mumbled.

"Just let me in. Let me help you."

"Nobody can help me. What's done is done."

"Kara...If you don't let me try, you won't know if I can." And with that. He hung up.