Reid's arrival at the BAU with sketchy information about murders involving prostitutes prompted Hotch to open at least a preliminary investigation.

While he went the morgue to meet up with Reid and Gideon, Hotch had assigned Morgan and Emily to go canvas in the area where the latest victim was found. He had been somewhat surprised when he made that assignment that Emily nodded and walked out of the room with Morgan.

No hesitation.

No avoidance.

In his experience, agents that have worked behind a desk would show at least some indication of displeasure at this type of assignment. Especially when it would be their first assignment in the field.

Upon their return, Morgan went in to brief Hotch on what they found. Hotch used this time to not only determine what they had learned from the interviews but also Morgan's evaluation of how Emily did in the field.

He was surprised by Morgan's description of how she took the lead interviewing the prostitutes who were willing to talk to them. And seeing the wary look on the Unit Chief's face, Morgan quickly added that he hadn't felt the need to step in because she had been asking all of the right questions. What he would have asked. And the women were responding to her, answering the questions.

Morgan then chuckled as he walked away saying that Prentiss had no trouble holding her own with the prostitutes. What was that supposed to mean?

####

Emily knew she had screwed up. Asking that question at the crime scene. She was in the backseat of the SUV Hotch was driving with Reid, while Morgan was in the front passenger seat.

She could tell even from where she was sitting that Hotch had a tight grip on the steering wheel.

Morgan and Reid were uncharacteristically quiet, sensing the anger from the team leader.

Emily dropped her head and thought back to the interview that her and Morgan had done with the woman…no... girl who was found murdered this morning. She'd known that the girl had been lying about her age but hadn't expected that she was only 16. A wave of sadness swept over her as the image of the crime scene went through her mind. The sadness was quickly replaced with anger. Anger at the bastard who was killing these women. What screwed up excuse they would hear when they finally caught him? And how many more women would die before then?

Reid sat in the back of the SUV next to Prentiss. The silent surroundings were unnerving him.

It was clear that Hotch was pissed. Not knowing the exact cause of the Unit Chief's anger, Reid didn't initiate a conversation. He didn't really want to talk.

And from the look of it, neither did anyone else. Hotch had his jaw set and was tightly gripping the steering wheel. Morgan was looking at his notes. And Prentiss had her head down, appearing to be deep in thought. He noticed her hands as she was absentmindedly picking at her nails.

Reid had his own thoughts right now. He was relieved that Nathan Harris was not the serial killer that they were chasing. It was obvious to him that there was something off about the teen. But Nathan Harris had sought him out and Reid hoped that he would get answers to his questions. They may not be the answers any of them wanted but Nathan Harris would get answers.

Morgan looked down at the papers he was holding, flipping through them but not really looking at them. He knew Hotch was pissed and wanted to make sure that anger didn't get redirected at him as it had at Prentiss earlier. And from the silence from the backseat, he wasn't the only one to notice the boss' dark mood.

Derek had no idea what had set the boss off. Though he was fairly sure that it had something to do with Strauss and/or Haley. It could be something else but those were the top two contenders.

Strauss seemed to be a thorn in Hotch's side particularly since he took over as Unit Chief.

And Haley...well Haley had been growing more discontent with Hotch's position in the BAU for a while now. Morgan had been present during one conversation when Haley had called JJ trying to reach Hotch while they were on a case. Poor JJ didn't deserve that level of rage for just answering her phone and explain to their boss' wife that he was unavailable at that moment. And according to Garcia, it hadn't been the first time JJ had received a similar call.

And arguing with his wife was definitely at the top of the list of things that would put Hotch in a bad mood.

####

Hotch watched as an irate Emily walk out of his office. He looked at the door that she had just stormed through and then down at his desk. Looking back up he followed her movements through his window as she went across the catwalk, down the stairs and out of the bullpen.

'Crap' he thought as he banged his fist down on his desk. He was so sure that Emily had been the leak, especially after he had seen her conversation with Congresswoman Steyers and then her question at the crime scene today. He had been working long enough first as a prosecutor and now as an FBI agent to know not believe in coincidences.

However, in this case, all that experience seemed to have failed him.

The profiler in him was confident that she had been completely honest with him just now. He could not detect any signs of deception from her words or body language. Speaking of words, he didn't think he had 'sir' sound so much like 'go fuck yourself' before today. As for body language, there had been no mistaking the fire coming off the glare she directed at him.

Hotch knew he should give himself a mental slap to the back of the head. He needed to get a grip when it came to Emily. She was on the team. He was her supervisor. Yes, he had some concerns about how she would do long term in the BAU. But as he had said to her, she was doing good work. The profiles she had written up on the few consults he and Gideon gave her had been excellent.

But what it came down to was he didn't trust her. Not after how she lied and deceived him 12 years ago.

He would never forget that day sitting in his office at the Ambassador's house when he overheard staff discussing Emily's transfer to Brown as well as her recent engagement.

He had been devastated. And felt so betrayed.

They had made plans to live together in New Haven. He had already put in for a transfer to the New Haven field office once he finished his assignment with her mother.

He had come up empty in all his attempts to contact Emily over the next couple of days wanting to hear the news from her. Find out what happened.

Then he had been called into HQ and offered a position on an international task force in Europe that unexpectedly had an opening. This had been one of his dream assignment when he joined the FBI. A dream that he had been willing to put on hold to be with Emily in CT.

But he hesitated. He hadn't wanted to walk away without talking to Emily however she was nowhere to be found.

Then after a day listening to staff as they planned to clear out Emily's apartment in New Haven and store her belongings since she was moving in with her fiancee, he was certain he had lost her and called that afternoon accepting the assignment. Three days later, he was on a plane to London.

He shook his head at the memory before sighing. He knew he couldn't jump on her for no reason again. Or accuse her of misconduct. Unless he had proof.

As far as he could tell she had done nothing on this case to warrant that level of overreaction. Without proof, these overreactions were just going to give Strauss fuel against him.

That wasn't helpful to anyone or to the team as a whole. And if he didn't mask the mistrust the rest of the team would pick up on it if they hadn't already.

On a different note, the whole interaction did allow Hotch to profile Emily. What he had been able to discover was what she had been keeping so guarded behind her walls that had stubbornly stayed in place since coming to the BAU.

Whether it was intentional or not he wasn't sure but she had allowed her mask to drop. He had seen the raw emotions behind the mask. A passion for the job they do. Compassion for the victims they encounter. Pain. A hatred of politics. When she was talking about what politics does to people, it was clear that she was talking from experience.

And finally she was hurt and angry. By his insinuations and accusations. And on this side of the conversation, he had to admit she had every right to be.

He had questioned her integrity and loyalty to the team on the flimsiest of associations. He had agreed when she started that he would give her a chance and today he had reneged on that.

While it would be beneficial for the team from a political standpoint to stay in the good graces of the congresswoman, the actions he had started to take had the potential to affect the team's reputation as seeker of justice for all victims.

That would be a difficult thing to win back if lost. He needed to refocus and treat this case how he would handle any other case. Emily was right to call him out on it. He just wished it hadn't been when he was questioning her motives.

To be effective in the BAU, he needed to focus in the here and now.

He had gotten caught up in the promise of his future career and the career goals his wife had for him.

And he lost sight of the big picture. He had let ambition cloud his judgement.

They were working this case to catch the killer. To prevent more murders. To get justice for the victims. Distractions like that are what get people killed.

But Hotch found himself left with an important question. Since Emily had no part in the Congresswoman finding out about this case then how did she find out?

####

After storming out of the bullpen, Emily quickly made it across the lobby and to the stairwell.

A couple of minutes later she opened the door and stepped out onto the roof. She immediately stopped, took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. After releasing a pent-up frustrated yell, Emily walk to the quiet area away from the helipad.

During her first week with the BAU when the team had been in St Louis, Emily had rediscovered this calming place from her Academy days. She smiled as she found the area she was looking for, taking in the evidence that others had also found this spot.

Pacing back and forth, Emily's thoughts went back to the meeting she just had with Hotch.

What the hell!?

Yeah, asking that seemingly innocuous question at the crime scene hadn't been her best idea but damn.

How did it turn into her leaking information about a case? Having a political agenda? And problems with trust?

He had accused her of leaking details of the case to the Congresswoman.

Like she would ever do that, especially to the Karen Steyers. The only reason Emily has even spoken to her was the Congresswoman approached her. All she had done was exchanged pleasantries with an old friend of her mother's for all of 3 minutes in the middle of the bullpen with a lot of other agents around.

The ironic thing was Emily couldn't stand Karen Steyers. She possessed the same qualities of the Ambassador that Emily could not stand.

Not surprising since they had been friends for years. It was hard to believe that there was someone more political that her mother but Karen Steyers was.

And her feelings about the Congresswoman aside, she would never leak details of a case to anyone. It is actions like that in this line of work that can get someone killed if the wrong person was tipped.

But dammit, she didn't do it. And didn't know who did.

And if the almighty Aaron Hotchner wanted to see someone with a political agenda he just needs to go and look in a damn mirror.

He must have forgotten. She was in the room when he shut JJ down several times about making a statement to the press. Actions that would have been appropriate, given the profile of the UNSUB. And he knew that.

Pulling out one of the chairs tucked away, Emily sat down and rubbed her hands. She looked down at the ground wondering where she should go from here. His words and accusations had cut deep at her soul.

With most people, Emily had a thick skin. But Aaron, he could get past her defenses, through her walls like no one else.

Wiping a tear off her cheek, Emily considered how she could still love him even after that meeting. God, this sucked.

This isn't the Aaron Hotchner that she remembered.

It looks like she isn't the only one who has changed in the last 12 years.

Taking a deep breath, Emily realized her pity party needed to be over. The case wasn't going to solve itself. If nothing else, Emily was not going to let Aaron know that he affected her this way. She wasn't going to give him that power.

She had an idea for a search but she would need Garcia's help. With that thought, Emily stood up, folded the chair back up and placed it back where it had been. After a few more deep breaths, Emily turned and walked back to door to reenter the building.

####

Garcia was working on a personal project when she heard a knock at her door. The team hadn't given her anything new to work on for the case. Confused, she got up and walked over to the door, wondering who was there. The team would generally just walk into her office.

When she opened the door, she was somewhat surprised to see Emily Prentiss standing there, looking a bit worse for wear. Garcia had heard from Derek about the meeting she had with Hotch earlier. Garcia held the door back, inviting Emily to enter.

"Hey Peaches, what can I do for you today?" Garcia said, happily.

"Garcia, can you run a search for me? It's about the case."

"Sure, hun. What am I searching for?" Garcia answered as she sat down at her desk in front of her keyboard.

"If there is anything weird about anyone on Congresswoman Steyer's staff." Emily replied, walking over to stand next to Garcia.

Garcia chuckled before saying, "You mean other than they work for a politician. Oops, sorry. I forgot for a moment." She cringed slightly forgetting briefly who Emily's parents were.

"It's fine, Garcia. I'm not fond of politicians myself. Look for anyone who would fit the profile." Emily said smiling, watching as Garcia typed on her keyboard. Before she could say anything else, her phone started to ring.

"Prentiss. Hey Derek. I'm in Garcia's office. No, she's checking out a hunch for me. I'll be back out as soon as we're done. He doesn't have to. OK, see you in a few."

Noticing as she hung up that Emily seemed to suddenly be a few shades lighter than when she walked into the office a few minutes before. "What's the matter, Peaches? You look pale all the sudden."

Emily sighs and shakes her head before answering quietly. "I'm fine."

Garcia looked up at Emily and then back to her screen, typing quickly. "OK, it should be done in a few."

"Thanks Garcia." Emily says as she pats the tech analyst's shoulder.

They both looked up when the heard the door to Garcia's office open to see their Unit Chief. He nodded at the two women before asking, "What have you found?"

Garcia could feel the tension between the two profilers in the room. Hotch looked back and forth between the two women. Emily had yet to acknowledge his presence. "Nothing yet. Emily is having me run a search of Congresswoman Steyers staff."

"Prentiss?" Hotch asked questioningly.

Emily raised her head and looked right at him as she answered. "It occurred to me after I left the bullpen that the person who leaked the information to the Congresswoman may have done it to slow down or stop the investigation. I asked Garcia to check the members of her staff to see if any of them fit the profile."

Hotch took a deep breath before answering her, knowing that he needed to admit what he had just learned, wishing that he had known a couple of hours ago.

"After we spoke earlier, I investigated the leak further. I found out how it happened when I spoke to Detective Barnes a few minutes ago. There was an intern from the Congresswoman's office at the precinct doing research for the legislation when Reid went in to speak to him. The Chief of Detectives received a call a couple of hours later from the Congresswoman's Chief of Staff asking questions about the inquiry and the BAU's interest."

Emily nodded and answered coldly. "I see. Was the intern male or female?"

"Female"

Hotch turned and looked at the tech analyst. "Garcia, what can you tell us about the Chief of Staff?"

"Also female."

"So a bust." Emily said shaking her head.

Hotch shook his head. "No, we can't rule out the staff yet. We don't know who else either of these two spoke to or if someone else in the office overheard the conversation. Garcia, pull up the photos are all the men on her staff. Prentiss, we are meeting in the conference room." Then he turned and walked out of the room, heading back towards the bullpen.

"Thanks Garcia." Emily says as she slowly walks towards the door, relieved that Hotch had left and not waited for her. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

Garcia looked up at her with a big smile. "Anytime, Peaches. You better hurry up. He looks like he's on a mission."

####

Hotch looked down into the bullpen through his office window. After the earlier press conference, he was certain that Congresswoman Steyers would be gracing the BAU with her presence sooner or later. He had not doubt that she would be angry when she did arrive. And now they were ready.

Hotch had been pleasantly surprised when Morgan and Prentiss had arrived back at the BAU with three prostitutes willing to be interviewed. It had been a long shot to expected any to agree to come into the FBI.

When Hotch spoke to him, Morgan immediately threw his hands up and stated that it wasn't him who had convinced the women to come in, it had been Emily. She had built off the interactions she had had with each of the women over the last few days. Emphasized to them that the FBI wanted to catch this guy as soon as possible but needed their help. Promised that they were only coming in as witnesses, would be free to leave at any time, and she would personally make sure they got back as soon as they were done. And he was pleasantly surprised that it had worked with three women.

Hotch had witnessed earlier the attention that Emily gave the women. She had shown them to the conference room to wait for the Congresswoman to arrive. Made repeated visits to the break room to bring them coffee and various snacks.

Then knowing that the women could leave at any time, he had overheard Emily reviewing with them the characteristic of the man they were all describing. She also asked about days and locations they had encountered the man, building the team's knowledge base on this UNSUB.

She was treating them as he would expect anyone from his team to treat any witness, regardless of their occupation. Though the more he watched, the more guilty he felt.

As Emily's words sunk in from their conversation a couple days ago, Hotch realized how hypocritical that whole conversation had been.

It was not that long ago in St Louis when he assured the mother of a murdered prostitute that her job didn't mean she was any less important.

But on this case, his actions had not consistent with that mindset. He had been asked to changes to how his team approached this case. Not for a logistical or tactical reason but because of politics.

And to his now regret he has acquiesced to the request. But that stops today. He wasn't going to stand over the body of another dead woman knowing that he hadn't led his team into doing everything possible to prevent it.

When he had explained why he wanted to see if women to come in, he had asked Emily if she wanted to be involved in this meeting with the prostitutes and the Congresswoman. After looking at him as if he had two heads, she responded:

'Sir, I'm here to do my job as an FBI agent. I don't care if she sees me doing my job. I want her to see me doing my job. And I'm not going to stop doing my job to please anyone. I agree that this is the best way to catch this guy and like I said earlier I want catch whoever is killing these women. A possible angry call from the Ambassador will be a small price to pay if we can get this guy before he kills anyone else. Beside it's not like it would be the first time she had an issue with how I'm living my life.'"

####

They solved their case and the UNSUB had been arrested. Hotch was getting ready to leave for the night but there was one last conversation that he wanted to have. He needed to apologize to Emily.

When she left the bullpen earlier, he noticed that she pulled out her gym bag. Not entirely surprising after the stress of the last few days.

After grabbing his bags and coat, Hotch closed his office door and made his way down to the training facilities. Walking off the elevator, Hotch wondered what equipment he was going to find that Emily favored to de-stress.

He was surprised when he entered and could not find her anywhere. He must have waited too long and missed her. After looking around one last time, Hotch turn to leave and unexpectedly came face to face with the women whom he had been looking.

"Emily, I was hoping we could talk." Hotch said.

Emily looked up, surprised at who she had just bumped into. Hotch had been the last person she had anticipated running into down here tonight. She had just walked out of the locker room wearing a t-shirt and black athletic capris holding a roll of tape in her hands. As he stood in front of her Hotch noticed that instead of wearing shoes, she had padded protectors on her feet that were used there when training in hand to hand.

"Now? Do we have a new case? My phone didn't ring." Emily said as she pulled her phone out of her waistband to look at the screen.

"Yes, now. And no new case. I want to apologize about the other day." Hotch said quietly.

Hotch had moved to stand on her left side watching as she placed her phone back into the same spot on her pants. As she raised her head to look at him, Hotch got a whiff of chlorine. 'Ah, she had been over at the pool when he came down.' He thinks to himself.

"Why apologize? You were just reiterating that I'm still not wanted or trusted on your team. Fine, I get the message. But I'm here to do a job and I'm going to continue to do my job." Emily replied bitterly.

Hotch watched as she roughly apply the tape around hands as she spoke. There was no question that she was still angry with him.

"Emily, please."

Emily turned and looked him right in the eye, enough fire in her eyes to incinerate him.

"Agent Prentiss. My name is Agent Prentiss or Prentiss while we are working."

"And what about outside of work?" He asked cautiously.

Emily looked up at him. She shook her head and chuckled humorlessly before responding. "Well, Agent Hotchner, I don't see the point of planning for something I don't see happening. And that note, goodnight sir. I have a date."

With that Emily walked away from him and over to the punching bags. After doing a check of the tape on her hands, Hotch watched as Emily started working with the bag. Slowly at first and then gradually increasing the tempo.

After a few minutes his phone rang 'Gideon' and walked out of the gym to take the call. Thankfully Gideon and Morgan had the situation under control and were going to take care of Reid and Garcia.

Hotch decided to head out. He knew from experience that with as angry as she was he wasn't going to get any further with Emily tonight, knowing that tonight the face on her punching bag was his.

Emily had been surprised to run into Hotch in the gym. How in the hell did he know she would be down here?

Aaron Hotchner was really the last person she had wanted to talk to tonight. After they had arrived back at BAU after catching their UNSUB, Emily had uncharacteristically been one of the first on the team to leave for the evening.

After grabbing her gym bag, she went down to the locker room and changed into her swimsuit to take advantage of the Academy pool. After doing countless laps, Emily returned to the locker room finding that while the swim had helped some, but she still had frustration to work off.

Aaron Hotchner, the cause of most of her pent-up frustration, was the last person she had expected to see when she walked out of the locker room. She was glad that it was now instead of 10 minutes before she had still been in her swimsuit. That would have been really awkward.

Emily could still feel his eyes on her for a few minutes after she started to work with the bag. She made sure to keep her back to him, not wanting to engage him anymore tonight. Just when she was beginning to wonder if he was going to wait until she was done to talk to her again, she sensed that he was gone.

After a few more minutes, she rotated around and confirmed that he had actually left. Emily could feel the tears start to fall.

She hated being angry with him. But dammit, she wasn't ready to listen to an apology. And definitely wasn't going to accept one for how he treated her on this case. Not yet.

She was still so angry and hurt by what he said. But he had at least acknowledged what really happened with the leak. At least he knew for sure it hadn't been her.

After a few more minutes, Emily noticed that her shoulders and arms were burning. Looking at the time, she decided to call it a night. She was exhausted.

And she was going to need to be well rested before entering the BAU the next morning. One thing she was certain of was that Aaron wasn't through with her.

And in the office she was his subordinate and wouldn't be able to avoid a conversation if he wanted to push it.

####

The next morning, Aaron Hotchner walked into the BAU with purpose… and a plan. The plan had been formulated the previous evening after he arrived home.

Haley had once again been angry that he had been home 45 minutes later than he had planned. After yelling at him for a half hour, she stormed out saying she was going to visit a friend.

Thus leaving Hotch to bathe and put Jack to bed. Not that he minded at all. His favorite time of day was cuddling with his son in the rocking chair as Jack fell asleep.

After Jack was settled in his crib for the night, he had some time to think.

And before Haley returned home well after 1AM, he knew what he wanted to do the next day. He was hoping that if this plan was successful, it would smooth things over between him and Emily.

And yes, he still thought of her as Emily even if she had requested he only address her as Prentiss.

When reviewing all the cases for consult with JJ, he directed the largest percentage to Emily. It included a variety in the types of the cases the BAU handled and included a couple of complex consults. He wanted to see how she would handle those particular cases.

He had ignored JJ's concerned look at the case assignments. It was clear that JJ did not agree with some of his choices. But he wasn't concern himself with that. It wasn't like he wasn't going to be reviewing all of her profiles carefully before sending them to the appropriate police department.

Before JJ left with the files to distribute, he attached a note to the top of Emily's pile.

####

As Emily arrived at the BAU, she was nervous about the day ahead. The previous evening's workout and sleep had gone a long way to improving her mood. She did still have some residual soreness in her arms and shoulders, however, that was much improved from when she had first woken up. Getting out of bed had been painful.

The atmosphere in the bullpen seemed to indicate that today was going to be a much needed paperwork day. Unless, as always, an urgent case came in.

As she approached her desk, Emily was shocked to see the tall stack of files sitting there. Usually she only had a couple each day and was done by lunchtime. As she reached her desk, certain that it was a mistake, she noticed a note on top in Hotch's handwriting:

Prentiss,

Included in this stack are files representing the various types of cases that BAU handles. Bring what you have completed to my office by 4PM. After I review your work, we will go over each case together. If you have any questions, ask Gideon or myself.

-AH

PS I don't expect this whole stack to be finished today.

Emily smiled and sat down at her desk, anxious to get started on the case files in front of her. Her usual trip to the break room for coffee was quickly forgotten. This was finally her opportunity to show the team what she could do. She wasn't going to waste it. These profiles would have to be her best work.

As Emily started to read over the details in the first file she open, she heard her phone buzz with an incoming text message. She wasn't surprised to see it was from Hotch.

I'm sorry. I said I would give you a chance and so far I've done a lousy job. Here is your promised chance. See you at 4.

-Aaron

After reading the message twice, Emily nodded before sending back a quick reply.

Thank you.

-Prentiss

She placed the phone down on her desk. It wasn't long before she realized that he knew just saying the words of an apology weren't going to be enough for her.

By the action of letting her prove herself, he was showing her that he was sorry. And he was giving her the only thing she had asked of him-a chance to prove herself.

AN: I've added more information on what happened between them in the past. Also Hotch's experience is different that what was written about Emily previously. This is intentional. They will at a later point find out what really happened but first they will need to talk to each other but they aren't there yet.