"Mommy?"

Erin looked over at the feel of a small hand shaking her hip anxiously, and gave Catherine a small smile as she placed her bookmark before setting the book on the nightstand and scooting over a little on the bed so that Catherine could climb up and join her. She could tell just by looking at her daughter that she wasn't feeling well, and Erin clucked her tongue a little as she allowed Catherine to slowly climb on top of her, burying her face in the crook of Erin's neck as she started to cry. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I had a bad dream, where you were being chased by a bad man, and I was running after you, but I couldn't catch up, and then you disappeared." The words came out a little garbled, since Catherine's crying was a little too hard to make her completely intelligible, but Erin understood the gist of them, realizing that somehow her fear over their stalker had bled into her daughter. Sitting up a little, she adjusted how she was holding Catherine so that she could rock her back and forth as she sang lowly to her daughter. Erin had almost gotten her back to sleep when she heard their home phone ring, and she frowned a little as Catherine immediately startled back to wakefulness, her cries starting up once more as Erin listened to David answer it.

"Who is calling so late?" he growled, and Erin knocked her shoulder against his in an effort to get him to be nicer on the phone. Whatever news they were receiving, it was not good, it never was this late at night, especially since they didn't know anyone who was currently pregnant. "Hotch? What's wrong?"

Erin felt her arms tighten around Catherine as her breath caught in her throat, and she turned her head to stare at her husband as she tried to hear as much of their conversation as possible, even though Aaron's voice was muddled on the other end of the line. Catherine let out a little groan as she contorted her little body to fit better against Erin's, and she unthinkingly began to rub her daughter's back as she listened to the bits and pieces that she could understand. It seemed like the call would never end, but as David became quieter and quieter, Erin knew that something truly terrible was going on. Finally, he hung up the receiver, and then he turned to look over at her. "I need to go into the office, stellina. I can't say more around little ears, but it is really bad. I don't know when I'll be home, it all depends on how things go down. I'll call your cellphone from the car, so that I can fill you in a little more, without letting things be overheard."

"Okay. Stay safe."

He nodded as he leaned over and kissed her deeply before pressing his lips against Catherine's head as he slipped out of bed. She was surprised to see him pull jeans and a casual shirt out of the closet, which told her that whatever was happening was definitely occurring under the table and that when he called to read her into the situation, she would not be doing so in a professional capacity. Before he disappeared into the master bathroom, he waggled his fingers at her, and she nodded as she grabbed her phone from the charger on the nightstand before turning Catherine and herself onto their sides. This caused her daughter to stir slightly before letting out a huge yawn as she snuggled back into Erin's chest.

It didn't seem to take too long before Catherine was full asleep, and Erin contorted her body so that she could sit up once more, setting her phone in her lap before picking up her book, starting to read once more, as she was not tired at that moment. Instead, she knew that sleep would be a long time coming as she waited for David to fill her in on what was happening and then as she tried to process it. She had nearly finished her chapter when her phone buzzed in her lap, and she hurriedly stuck the bookmark between the pages before answering.

"David?"

"It's bad, Erin. Someone's kidnapped Reid's girlfriend, and we have no idea who it was."

Fear gripped her heart tightly as she dropped the book on the nightstand before turning back on her side to look at their daughter as she tried to frame the question she wanted to ask in her mind. "Do, do you think that it's the same person who's been stalking me and Alex?"

"We don't know, which is probably the most distressing thing about this. Hotch wants to treat it as such, until we know more, because there are just too many coincidences for it to be yet another person taking aim at our team. I mean, it seems like we just keep picking up people who want to take us down. The Fisher King, Battle, Foyet, and now this series of events? I just…I don't want to think that there are so many people out there that want to pervert the course of justice by taking out those who would take them down."

"But that always seems to be the case, doesn't it? I wish that I could tell you better news, give some advice that would help you out, but I can't think of anything. Just, you know that I can't officially sanction your team working on this case, right? We haven't been invited in by the local police force, she hasn't been missing all that long, and there's no reason for us to be involved. You have to thread that needle so carefully, so as not to arouse suspicion as to what you're doing. Please, be careful out there."

"I will, Erin, and I will keep you updated as much as I can, though I don't know how often I'll be free to call. I'm assuming that we'll be using the bunker this evening, to try and get sleep in shifts as we work on finding out more."

"I know. And I don't know when I'll get to sleep, since I have concerns about you and Catherine and the whole other situation that we're experiencing. Just know that I love you, David."

"I love you, too, Erin." He kissed into the phone before ending the call, and Erin hugged her phone tight to her chest as she struggled not to cry. This was another part of her worst nightmares come to life, and she didn't want to deal with the fact that there were a number of people hellbent on hurting the members of her team, all at the same time. There was just something so cruel about that realization, and she took a deep breath as she turned and plugged her phone back in before dropping her book on the nightstand before contorting her body around Catherine's before pulling the covers up around their shoulders in an effort to make herself warm once more.

"Everything has to be all right," she whispered as she ran her fingers through Catherine's hair in an effort to soothe herself enough so that she could drift off to sleep, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help the situation at that moment, and that she had to focus on taking care of Catherine and making certain that she was feeling better by the morning.