Even Jack knew he was preoccupied by the time Monday morning came around. Aaron hadn't heard back from Erin after his last email to her. Maybe he had pushed too far in bringing up her history with Dave. And there was still the puzzle pieces that refused to come together for him.

He dropped Jack off at Jessica's, hugging him tightly. "I want to have supper with Mrs. Strauss soon, okay, Daddy?"

"I'll see what we can do, buddy. Have a good day." Jack nodded and kissed his cheek before running into the house.

"Are you really this serious about someone already?" Jessica asked, smiling at him.

"I don't know, Jess. For the moment, I consider Erin to be a close friend. We've gone through similar tragedies, so I've been able to help her."

"Ah, the white knight rescuing the damsel in distress. Aaron, you are so predictable." She patted his arm and went back inside. Shaking his head, he turned and got back in his car. As he drove to work, he wondered about what Jessica had said. Was he predictable? Were his feelings more out of some misguided sense of chivalry that lo— He stopped mid-thought, not wanting to acknowledge where this rabbit hole had taken him.

Aaron pulled into a parking spot and went into the building. On the elevator ride up, his thoughts kept returning to Erin. What about Wyoming had broken her so badly? There had to be more to it than simply seeing the boy killed. He stepped off the elevator and felt every eye on him as he entered the bullpen. JJ came up to him and touched his arm lightly.

"We've a new case to brief."

"But why is everyone staring at me?"

"That would be because Penny is on the warpath this morning. Did something happen between you two over the weekend?"

"No, we left on good terms Saturday. Thanks for the head's up." He made his way to his office, trying to block out the weight of everyone's stares. As he booted up his computer, he took out the files he had finished on Sunday. The first thing he checked was his email, hoping for some word from Erin. There was nothing, and he began to worry that he'd upset her by his line of questioning. He felt hostile eyes glaring a hole in his back at that moment, and turned slowly to look at Penelope. "Hi?"

"Don't you hi me, Boss Man. She's pissed at me because of you, so I'm pissed at you, too."

"Who's upset with you?" he asked, leading her over to his sofa.

"Erin. She thinks I told you her secret, that I betrayed her. Only Dave and I know what happened in Wyoming. Well, and Director Shepperd, but only because it was his fault she went into that house of Satan. And she thinks I told you! You seriously suck, Aaron Hotchner!" Penelope burst into tears as she stared at him, fury still clouding her eyes.

"Penelope, back up. Why would she be upset that I know about Georgia? She told me about her and Dave's daughter here in this very office just last week. This doesn't make any sense."

Gradually, the anger in her eyes was replaced by confusion. "So, what do you know about what happened?"

He sat back and looked at his hands. "I know that she went into the house alone, trying to talk the unsub into letting the child go. That despite her best efforts, the unsub shot the child in the head. That the official report of what happened that day left some things out, since it reads very thorough up until the final hour of the unsub's actions. I know that to escape the horror of the day she had a one night stand with Dave that resulted in a beautiful girl named Georgia. Should I know any differently?"

Penelope relaxed into the sofa, a slow smile spreading across her face. "No, you shouldn't. If you'll excuse me." She stood and went to the door.

"Penelope, we have a case to brief!"

"Dave will take notes for me. I have something more important to do," she called back over her shoulder.

JJ came into the room, holding the remote. "So, is everything okay now?"

"I'm not sure. I feel like I'm being left out of the loop of something. But, we have to brief, which is more important at the moment."

"Shouldn't we wait for Penelope before we start the briefing?"

"I have no idea how long she's going to be. Let's just get on with it." He stood and followed the other woman over to the conference room. Taking a seat next to Morgan, he ignored Rossi's questioning look.

"Police in Prescott, Arizona, are requesting our help in a series of home invasions and rapes. A group of four men, always disguised in different costumes, kidnaps a young woman, bringing her to a home on the opposite side of the city and raping her in front of a household of people. Then things get weird."

"There's a weirder to this case?" Morgan muttered and JJ gave him a hard look as she flipped to the next slide.

"Yes. In every instance, three members of the household are made to resemble the three wise monkeys. If there are more than three people present in the household, the others are tied up in another room, bound and gagged so they can do nothing."

"How many times has this happened?" Reid asked, looking intrigued.

"This is the fifth case in as many weeks. The police were waiting for the unsubs to make a mistake, but they haven't so far, which is why they've called us in. If the unsubs keep to their schedule, another incident will occur in forty eight hours. Police would like us there as soon as we can be."

"All right, wheels up in twenty minutes." Aaron stood and went back to his office. There was a lot about this case that unsettled him. Picking up his go bag, he pulled out his phone and called Jessica, telling her where they'd be. "It looks like we'll be there for at least two days, maybe longer. I'll try to call Jack before he goes to sleep, but I can't make any promises, what with the time difference."

"Okay, Aaron. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"If you have time, take Jack shopping for a gift for Erin."

"You hurt her, didn't you?"

"Inadvertently. And I'm still not certain what's going on."

"All right, we'll try to find something. Stay safe, Aaron."

"As always." He hung up and buckled his seat belt, looking at Dave. "How upset is she?"

"On a scale from one to ten? She's at about a nine. With Penelope right behind her at an eight. I had to sleep in the guest room for the last two nights. I just hope Penelope gets Erin to talk to her before we get back, otherwise I'll be spending even more time in the guest room."

Aaron nodded and pulled out his cell phone once more. He first dialed Erin's office number, only to be sent right to voicemail. Disconnecting the call, he tried her personal cell number. After a number of rings, that went to her voicemail as well. "Dammit," he cursed under his breath.

"Leave her a voicemail, Sir." He looked into the rearview mirror and saw Seaver smiling at him. "If she won't talk to you, you have to get a message to her somehow. At least this way, you can apologize."

"Why would you think I have something to apologize for?"

"Even if you don't, it's nice to hear an 'I'm sorry' every once in a while. It made me feel better when my boyfriend did so."

"She's not my girlfriend." Aaron looked at her in the mirror again and she just smiled knowingly at him. Sighing, he dialed her private cell one more time. After listening to her voicemail message once more, he spoke. "Hey, it's me. I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, I get that. But I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you in any way. If I don't hear from you before we get back, I'll come up to see you." From the backseat, he heard Seaver hum an old Stevie Wonder song rather loudly, and he quickly hung up, not wanting Erin to hear that.

She giggled lowly. "Penelope was so right. You do have it bad." All he could do was glare at her.