I do not own Harry Potter, Criminal Minds, or NCIS.

Chapter 8

It was ten p.m., and Ianthe was still extracting evidence from a ball of painter's tape found in a trash bin two blocks away from the latest crime scene. Ianthe was hoping to get lucky by finding a genetic profile that was not the victim's on the tape. She had just extracted what looked like epithelial cells from the adhesive side of the tape, and put it into a DNA testing machine.

When I'm driving in my car, and the man come on the radio

He's tellin' me more and more, about some

useless information

Supposed to fire my imagination

I can't get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey

That's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction, I can't get no satisfaction

"Well, this is certainly a different musical genre than the last time." Ianthe heard, causing her to jump slightly. She turned around quickly, causing her to stumble. Aaron Hotchner grabbed her arm, steadying her. He felt his breath slightly hitch at her close proximity, and quickly stepped back.

Ianthe turned off her ipod, apologising. "Sorry, you startled me. I like all kinds of music, by the way. Liking The Rolling Stones is practically bred into all English people. Anyway, I managed to isolate some epithelial cells from the tape, and they are currently being processed. If we are lucky, they belong to the UnSub." Ianthe said. She was slightly breathless at her reaction to his earlier closeness. This caused her to go straight into work mode.

"Excellent. I came to force you to eat something." Aaron said. Ianthe started to protest, so he raised his hand to stop her. "You have been working non-stop since we got here. You have to take care of your bodies' basic needs, or you won't be much use to anyone." He said sternly, causing her to smirk slightly.

"And have you followed your own advice?" Ianthe asked, with a teasing lilt to her voice.

Hotch grinned sheepishly, causing her to chuckle. "I guess I'll eat with you, if you don't mind the company." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Of course not. This will take a couple of hours to seperate the genetic material, so now is as good a time as any." Ianthe said, grabbing her purse. She followed Hotch out of the building, and to his rental car. "Has everyone else already eaten?" She asked as she fastened her seatbelt.

"Yes. I sent them back to the Hotel for the night. We were not getting anywhere, so I want them to look at the case with fresh eyes in the morning." He said. "Is Waffle House ok? There are not a lot of choices at this time of night on a Tuesday." Hotch asked.

"That's fine. If you don't mind, I am going to call and check on Cloony." She said. Hotch raised an eyebrow in question. "My dog." Ianthe said, pulling out her phone.

"That's funny. Morgan has a dog named Cloony." He said.

"Huh. He was already named when I got him, and I didn't see any reason to change it." Ianthe said. She dialed Gibbs' number, hoping it was not too late to call him.

"Hello." Gibbs said. Ianthe heard music in the background, and a woman laughing. She furrowed her brow slightly. Who was that?

"Jethro? It is Ianthe." She said, sounding slightly cold to her own ears.

"Ianthe? Hang on a second." He said. She heard him shush the woman she heard in the background. "Hi. Are you back in town already?" He asked.

"No. I am sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you had checked on Cloony at all." Ianthe said. It sounded like she was interrupting a date.

"Yeah. I spent about an hour playing in the yard with him earlier. He was doing good." Gibbs said, wondering at the tension he could hear in her voice.

"Oh, good. Well I will probably be gone a few more days, so I appreciate your visiting. Thanks for looking in on Cloony, I will let you get back to your 'friend'. Goodbye." Ianthe said, then hung up the phone. She wasn't sure why she was so irritated. They had not said that their relationship would be exclusive, she had just assumed. She really liked Jethro, and it hurt her feelings, and her pride to find out that he was interested in seeing other women. She seriously regretted having sex with him, if he was seeing multiple people.

Hotch had heard most of her conversation, and got the gist of what happened. How could that idiot be on a date with someone else, as soon as her back was turned? 'Well, no matter.' Hotch thought. This could only benefit him in the long run.

They pulled into a Waffle House, and looked at the menus. "What can I gettcha?" The waitress asked, causing Hotch to nod at Ianthe.

"I'll take two poached eggs, wheat toast, an order of bacon - extra crispy, and a side of grits. Orange juice and coffee to drink, please." Ianthe ordered.

Hotch hummed in consideration, then ordered. "I'll take a pecan waffle, two eggs over medium, and bacon. Coffee and water to drink, please." He said, and then replaced their menus in the holder.

After a couple of minutes of silence, in which Ianthe was wondering if Jethro was in bed with that woman right now, Aaron spoke. "So. Is Jethro your boyfriend?" He asked, then rushed out- "I'm sorry, that is none of my business. You don't have to answer that." He said, embarrassed.

"No, it's fine. I had assumed he was my boyfriend, but since I just interrupted him on a date, I guess I assumed wrongly. It's not that big of a deal, we had only had dinner together a few times." Ianthe said, trying to be nonchalant.

Hotch looked like he didn't believe her, but he dropped the subject. Their food soon came, and they ate slowly, talking about various things. Hotch found out about her divorce, and why it came about. He felt awful for her.

"This job takes me away from home a lot. My wife couldn't handle it- not that I fully blame her- it is a hard life to lead. But instead of talking about it, or aking for a divorce, she cheated on me, then she left. Our marriage had had it's problems, but I never thought she would stoop so low. When I found out, we decided to divorce. I saw my son Jack whenever I could. Then they were targeted by an old perp, George Foyet." Hotch said, then got quiet.

Ianthe reached across the table, and placed her hand over his. "You don't have to tell me, Aaron." She said softly.

Hotch shook his head slightly. "No. It's alright. They were put in Witness Protection, but he found the US Marshall that was in charge of them, and tortured and killed him. He called Hayley and posed as another Marshall, and told her that her handler and myself were dead. She met him in our house, and he killed her before I could save her. I..." Hotch stopped, swallowing at the memories. "I beat him to death with my own hands." He said.

"What happened to Jack? Is he ok?" Ianthe asked. She had had to kill a suspect before herself, and knew there were a plethora of feelings involved. Grief, relief, saddness, guilt, the whole nine yards.

Aaron smiled slightly. "He was safe. He has taken her death hard, but he is strong."

"He's just like his Father, then." Ianthe said, smiling sweetly at him.

Hotch was genuinely touched by her words, and squeezed her hand. A little later, Hotch and Ianthe returned to the lab. It was 11:30pm by the time the results were in.

Ianthe removed the printout of results, and scanned them quickly. "We are in luck. I was able to isolate a DNA sample from the skin cells. I will put it through the database, and let it run through the night. We should have the results in the morning." She said. "If their profile is in the system, we will find it. If not, at least we will be able to compare it with any suspects." She said.

"Good work. Let's get some sleep, it will be a long day tomorrow." Hotch said, then drove them back to the hotel.

As he lay down to sleep, he wondered if he should ask out the brilliant redhead. He just wasn't sure. He fell asleep thinking about green eyes, and a warm smile.