AN: This chapter will set up what will happen in the next 5-6 chapters. I'm in the process of writing those and they will at least touch on all of the canon events through In Name and Blood. I'm also working on the last three chapters of Suspicions and Consequences of Cases Past.

Also I did decide to write the sequel to the Good Daughter. I have it outlined but wanted to get past the next few chapters of this story before I delve too far into it. What I will say about it is it picks up about a year after the epilogue and it will be a lot of drama.

No one else was in the bullpen when Gideon arrived in the darkened bullpen very early one morning carrying a large box with his film projector and a few reels of film. After walking into his office, he placed the box on the small table in the corner that generally held his chess board.

Once he started a pot of coffee, he went back over to the box and removed the projector. After he had it set up on his desk, he began to thread the first roll of film onto it. Over the years, he had seen his grandfather and later his father set up this same projector to watch the films his grandfather had obtained over his career including the Chaplin ones Gideon had brought today.

While organizing his apartment in preparation for his friend Sarah's visit, he had come across the projector and reels tucked away in a box in his closet. From early in his career, he had used these movies or similar comedies to de-stress from the harsh realities of his work as a profiler.

However after Boston he had put the box away after a disastrous attempt to watch them a few weeks afterwards. Instead of having the calming effect that the Chaplin film generally elicited in him, that day he found himself becoming agitated and anxious at the comedy. He had paced around his apartment until he couldn't take it anymore and yanked the cord out of the wall before storming out to go for a walk. Later when he got home and was calmer, he was relieved that he hadn't inadvertently damaged the projector. It was then that he had packed it into the box and put it into the closet discouraged that his long time relaxation trick was no longer working.

However as he discovered recently, it was working for him again. Taking a page from his own experience, he was focusing a lecture for his class at the Academy on finding ways to cope with the stresses of the job. So along with examples of other positive coping strategies, he was going to do a screening of Chaplin in his class today.

But he had not just brought it in to show his class. No he was going to show it to the team as well.

That decision came after he had been walking through the bullpen one day and heard laughing between JJ and Morgan which had him momentarily stopping in his tracks. It was then that he realized that it had been a while since the team had unwound enough to laugh. Until he heard the laughter that day, he had forgotten this method of stress relief.

As he looked at it, they all needed an opportunity to laugh and de-stress. Their caseload over the last few months had been brutal for the team with the last few weeks being particularly trying. Even by BAU standards, the teams recent cases had been difficult.

First it was someone using fire as a weapon. A weapon to destroy families. Men. Woman. Children.

Then there was the case that had brought him face to face with Elizabeth Prentiss again though she seemed distracted and did not appear to recognize him. The superficial facts of that case were gruesome enough but as they had peeled back the layers with the help of Agent Cramer, they saw the true horror.

There was the one adult child whose father refused to acknowledge his existence because of a code. That man was committing crimes that would make it impossible for his father to ignore him while lining his pockets with his father's money.

Then there was a woman who they later found out was working with him. A woman who had her own arduous relationship with the parents she felt invisible to after the deaths of her brothers years earlier.

And the couple got what they wanted. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't in the form that they had been planning. They were no longer ignored however it resulted in their deaths. The kidnapping that led to the team's involvement was resolved with the release of the man but even that wasn't a complete victory for the team.

Then there was the case they just returned from in Idaho. Since they returned, Gideon hadn't been able to get the image of the young man who died in front of him out of his head.

As he thought about it, that young man well both of the UNSUBs really never really have a chance once their parents died. It wasn't even a nature v nurture argument as both were stacked against them. Starting when they were toddlers they went to live with an uncle who the team had discovered had also hunted people in those same woods for years with little outside socialization. However, as sad as how the case ended was, they needed to be stopped before anymore innocent people were hurt.

But since their return there had been a welcome lull in cases but how long that lasted was anyone's guess. They were all still doing long hours in the BAU catching up on paperwork and a neverending cycle of consults. At this point he noticed that most of the team had made a significant dent in their work so he was going to talk to Hotch this morning about screening the film for the team after work tonight.

However in the world of best laid plans as he was preparing to go over to the Academy, the team was reviewing a potential case with a detective from Kansas. Either way he wanted to do the screening with the team. Hotch's reaction when he had stopped by his office earlier in the day had only reinforced for Gideon that Chaplin was something the team desperately needed right now.

####

Hotch sat at his desk looking at the wall in front of him. He had come into the office early to make progress on the mountain of paperwork on his desk.

As he walked into the bullpen he realized he wasn't the only one getting an early start this morning as he noticed Gideon's office light.

After getting himself a cup of coffee from the breakroom, he had headed for his office having not seen Gideon though it wasn't unusual for the veteran profiler to stay shut up in his office if he was working on a project.

As the morning progressed, the members of his team had trickled into the bullpen to start their day. Thankfully he hadn't had too many interruptions and the consults that JJ had arrived with were all quickly triaged with instructions on who on the team each consult should be assigned.

Looking back down at his desk he took in the piles of files he still needed to go through. Even as quickly as he worked on it, the pile seemed to be growing at a rapid rate.

Over the last month, Strauss had markedly been increasing his workload. As the time grew near for him to be eligible for promotion, he suspected she was attempting to sabotage his chances by being able to document that he was negligent in completing required paperwork on time. Unfortunately for Strauss, he was completing the additional paperwork on time though it was causing him to be in the office for extended hours.

And if he was being honest it was a promotion that he was both welcoming and dreading. As much as he anticipated that the change would improve his home life, he did not want to leave the BAU. Even with the heartbreak situations they found themselves investigating to dealing with Strauss to even the occasional friction on the team, he felt that the BAU is where he belonged. Where he was meant to be at this point in his career.

Even before college, it had been expected that he would follow in his father's footsteps and become a lawyer in an exclusive firm. He would first put in his dues for a few years and then at some point become a partner.

That expectation which was thrust upon him was dashed when during law school he chose to take a job after graduation in the prosecutor's office. That position had long hours and the pay was nowhere near what he would have made in a firm though he found the work was more fulfilling.

But after a while he felt that that there was still more he wanted to do in getting criminals off the streets before they hurt people instead of being involved until after the fact.

After much soul searching after helping prepare a particularly gruesome case for trial, Hotch had applied to the FBI Academy. Very quickly at the Academy, he found himself excelling in multiple areas and it was noticed by his instructors there and later by his superiors at various assignments.

The acknowledgement of his skills opened opportunities to further branch out his skill set. Crisis negotiation. Weapons training. Interrogation. Hostage rescue. With success in each, his reputation within the FBI had improved and over time more doors opened for him.

After working as an agent for a couple years, he had been asked about taking the profiling courses back at the Academy, Hotch had initially been conflicted. Profiling reminded him of Emily and given what happened with their relationship... Or he corrected himself what he was led to believe happened. Since she had joined the team several pieces of information had come up that had him questioning the whole basis of what he thought he knew about what happened that summer.

But he quickly accepted the invitation to take the profiling courses, deciding that he wasn't going to let that connection hold him back. Having knowledge in behavioral analysis was a beneficial competence to add to his skill set that would looked at favorably as he advanced his career, regardless of department.

His first direct contact with the BAU was with Dave Rossi. Hotch was the primary agent on a case in Seattle where the MO matched an UNSUB that the BAU and Rossi specifically had been following. A couple of months later he received a call from Rossi offering him a transfer to the BAU.

Given his reluctance to even take the profiling courses, he never planned on going to the BAU. But during the case he worked on with Rossi, he was intrigued with the process of using profiling to link cases and follow an UNSUB. Or what Rossi was trying to do and use the pattern of behavior to get ahead of and arrest the UNSUB before he could hurt anymore women. Seeing profiling in practice had him decide to take the position because that was a main goal of his for joining the FBI in the first place.

The team that he joined was vastly different than the team he was now leading both in composition and function. Gideon was the lone team member that had been there longer than him. The rest had all been part of the team for less than four years.

From a functional standpoint, the team no longer work semi autonomously as they had for years. Gideon had started the process when he was Unit Chief after a close call in the field which ultimately led to the profiler transferring out.

When Hotch became Unit Chief he strengthened the team approach by, in most circumstances, he assigned tasks so it was rare that anyone was in the field by themselves. With the type of UNSUBs this team pursued, he didn't want to risk someone being caught in a compromised situation alone.

It was after his move back to Virginia that he ran into Haley again. After meeting early in high school before he was sent to boarding school, they had dated off and on until he went to law school out of state. Haley was very close to her family, refused to move away from them and wasn't interested in a long distance relationship. When he came back to Virginia for the FBI Academy and they met up she had repeatedly questioned his decision about moving away from law. The conflict had driven a wedge between them as Hotch was certain that the FBI was the right place for him to continue his career.

With his assignment now back in Virginia they met up as friends before dating on and off again. Just when he was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to be ready to move their relationship to the next stage, Haley came to him and agreed to become engaged.

Unconsciously he knew he should consider more closely what had prompted the sudden change. He later found out that she had overheard at a gala she had accompanied him to that he was going places in the FBI and mention of him possibly being director.

Shortly after their wedding, Haley began to encourage him to start looking outside the BAU for a promotion. That conversation had been put on hold when he was approached to head a second BAU team. A short time later the explosion in Boston and Gideon's subsequent breakdown had the plans for a second BAU team put on hold. With his seniority in the BAU, he was asked to head the current BAU team instead while the FBI brass evaluated whether Gideon should and/or wanted to resume his role as leader of the team.

The next few months were a blur. The team was busier than ever while he was adjusting to leading the team and the new dynamics and expectations that came with that role. Alongside that was them finding out Haley was pregnant and a few months later, Jack's birth.

Haley had been pushing him about him seeking a promotion as soon as he was eligible. She seemed focused on the "normal" hours she expected he would then have.

While he had agreed that he wouldn't travel nearly as much as a Section Chief than he was in the BAU, that the 9-5 Monday to Friday work week that she was fixated on was not realistic. However, he found that she was mostly ignoring what he was explaining. She just wanted him promoted so he would finally be getting away from the BAU.

As much as he understood that this was the next step on the career ladder, he was feeling somewhat conflicted about leaving the BAU. He felt challenged by the work in that the work allowed him to be directly involved in cases that had brought him to the FBI.

While he was motivated to look at the possibility of promotion because of his family, that wasn't the only reason. He had been asked to take over the Unit Chief position because Gideon was unable to function in the role after Boston. However, recently, Gideon had seemingly been doing better, stronger and taking a more active role with the team.

If the day came that the brass decided to reinstate Gideon as Unit Chief, Hotch would then have two options - back to his second in command role in the BAU, essentially a demotion or a promotion. The second team was no longer being considered as the Bureau felt there weren't no longer enough experienced profilers to staff two teams adequately. If he voluntarily sought the promotion soon he was anticipating greater flexibility in where he would be assigned than if he waited.

Even with him working towards what Haley had been stating she wanted him to do with his job, he was uncertain how to characterize her recent actions. As a profiler, that didn't happen very often. There were days when she was overly affectionate more so than he had ever known her to be to the point of being clingy at times. Then there were the days that she was quiet and distant focusing all her attention on Jack or leaving Jack with him while she was out. Whatever the issue was he hoped that the promotion she was pushing for would stabilize their home life.

Before he could go onto the next file, there was a knock on his door. After JJ slowly opened it, she asked if he could come and talk to a detective from Kansas City who was a walk in to her office that morning. Sighing, Hotch stood up and followed her out of the office, hoping that there would be a quick resolution to whatever case he was bringing them.

####

It was late in the evening when Erin Strauss was passing by the bullpen when she noticed the BAU team was gathered in their conference room in a seemingly upbeat mood. She could see through the window that Aaron Hotchner was speaking to the group.

It annoyed her to no end how successfully he drew in whatever group he was speaking to whether it was the FBI brass, a class at the Academy, locals that his team was consulting on a case or last be not least, his own team.

There was no doubt that it had been a difficult year for his BAU team. A year that would have broken most teams. But here was Hotch and his team meeting late in the evening when they had just gotten back from an out of state case. She could see the respect for him on each of their faces. and all of them paid close attention to whatever it was he was saying.

There was only a month left before the day she had been dreading for over a year, that he would be at the threshold for being eligible for promotion. And from what she was hearing, he had already been putting out feelers about a couple of departments that would have vacancies at the Section Chief level in the coming months. And she sighed she was no closer to finding cause damage his career.

Even her decision to hire Emily Prentiss had not produced the results she had been expecting. With what she had heard about their personal history, she had been expecting tension with the unexpected addition to the team however that outcome had not come to fruition. Aside from tension and confusion when Hotchner not taking her on the case the team travelled for on what was her first day. Though given the circumstances, he had been following protocol and Strauss knew she would have thrown the book at him if he had taken her on that case with the team.

The complaint that she had made to HR through a third person about Hotchner's lack of reaction to apparent fraternization between Agents Prentiss and Reid was immediately dismissed for lack of evidence after HR met with the three of them. A close examination of their recent cases had shown that Hotchner had them in a completely different locations on the last couple of cases with no compromise to the success of the team. Furthermore as she observed the team the close relationships seemed to be how this team interacted.

But with Emily Prentiss, she still had a card to play. She had been the one to hire her into the BAU. It had been several months and now that Prentiss was settled into her role on the team it was time to remind this agent of that fact. She would offer a bit of persuasion in the form of a possible promotion to sweeten the deal. Then she would have the evidence she needed to get Aaron Hotchner out of contention for promotion hopefully by getting him out of the FBI entirely or at least get him demoted to a department such as White Collar Crime or Internal Affairs where it would be much harder to gain promotions.

But Strauss also needed to make sure that whatever promotion she needed to offer Prentiss was not permanent. She had noticed promise and dedication in the young woman over the last few months. Promise that had been noted during the years she worked with Crimes Against Children though contrary to what was noted during her time in Chicago.

Though not as far into her career, Emily Prentiss was as much of a potential threat to Strauss for advancement within the Bureau. She was not going to remove a potential roadblock to her progression only to create a separate one that could become an issue in the future. No Aaron Hotchner needed to go but so did Emily Prentiss.

As she reached her office, Strauss pulled out a document and started to fill it out. Once submitted, it would prompt a review of the BAU team. It had only been six months since the annual review but having the personnel files in hand would make it easier to verify anything she could get out of Emily Prentiss when she spoke to her. Now she just needed to find a way to get the younger agent to talk.