Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It had been a couple of days since the team had returned from Dallas. After acknowledging his role in the missteps there, Hotch had been working to orient Dave the how the team currently functioned as well as all of the personnel that worked with the team. For his part, Dave had been accepting of the information and asking various appropriate questions.

With this Hotch was breathing a bit easier this morning. Since receiving word that Dave wanted to come back to the team, he had been nervously optimistic to have the man who had recruited him to the BAU back in the unit.

Unlike the rest of the team, he had previously worked with Dave and knew he had a wealth of knowledge from which the BAU could benefit. He was also well aware of Dave's strengths and weaknesses.

This allowed him to see Dave as human being not on a pedestal as the others were struggling with after the last case. However in order to function well what had happened in Dallas couldn't happen again.

So this morning Hotch was meeting with Dave and JJ to review JJ role in the BAU as well as her responsibilities in the field. Hotch had met with her yesterday about what had happened in Dallas and about his plans for this meeting.

As they talked in the meeting room, Dave was engaged in the conversation and asked appropriate questions. As they continued, he had apologized to JJ explaining the difference between what they did now and how things were done in the past. He said he would try to consider her role in the future.

Just as they were finishing JJ got a message about a potential case about a missing woman whose kidnapper had just blown himself up while also injuring multiple members of law enforcement.

After they reviewed it, Hotch stated that they would take it. While he and JJ contacted the local sheriff and prepped the case details to brief the team, Dave offered to gather the rest of the team.

At the offer, Hotch's apprehension from the last couple of days diminished. Perhaps the first case had just been a blip because Dave was thrown into a case on his first day.

Turning his attention to the case, he started to prepare as he waited for the others to arrive. Once everyone was there and Hotch looked up, he could immediately tell that something had happened. Derek was standing on the side of the room next to the coffee pot quieter and more reserved than normal. Spencer and Emily were sitting at the table however both were slouched down in their seats while neither was making eye contact with anyone looking more like naughty children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar then experienced FBI agents.

As JJ was explaining the case, Hotch observed the three as he tried to assess what was going on with his team and what had happened while he was meeting with Dave and JJ. As he did, he looked over and saw the smug look on Dave's face. All the sudden he was certain that Dave was involved in whatever happened.

As the meeting concluded and each member of the team left to prepare themselves for the case, Hotch went back to his office.

Once at his desk, he banged the case file on the desk before sitting down.

He had spent the last two days working with Dave to get him up to speed. As the meeting with JJ ended, Hotch thought he was there.

But then Dave was out of the conference room for less than five minutes. Five minutes. And somehow in that time he had an issue with Morgan, Prentiss and Reid.

Hotch wasn't sure what happened but whatever it was had noticeably affected the effectiveness of the case presentation just as they were getting ready to go into the field in Montana where their presence wasn't going to be welcomed by most.

It was then that he started to wonder if Dave coming back to the team was really going to work. He knew that Dave could do the profiling. There was no question about that.

But when Dave had previously been with the BAU he had been the Unit Chief, making all the decisions for the unit. Then for the most part worked on cases by himself. At that time, agents working autonomously. There were cases were more than one agent would go on scene however that had more an exception than a rule.

Additionally Dave was coming back was from retirement where he had also been fully in control of his day to day activities. It had been a long time since Dave had needed to work with others in the way that the current BAU team functioned. As much as Hotch accepted Dave's assertion that he was back to help, he had to question if Dave would be able to work with them as a member of a team.

And that was a question he needed to determine sooner rather than later. Since Gideon had left, his workload had already increased so he welcomed help from someone who knew what they were doing from a profiling standpoint. After seeing the files of the agents Strauss had identified as possibilities, Hotch wanted Dave to work because he did have profiling experience but only if his presence supported the team.

Hotch also had changes going on in his personal life Dave had immediately picked up on though he and Haley had never gotten along. With his divorce looming, it would be beneficial to the BAU to have Dave in place in case he couldn't be in the office when a potential case came in.

But Hotch also realized that he couldn't put the whole onus of whatever happened on Dave. He had been around long enough to know that his team, particular Morgan, Garcia and Reid were more than capable of finding themselves in trouble. He, Gideon and Strauss had all needed to call them out at times.

Emily was close to both Reid and Morgan. For her first few months on the team she had mostly avoided their hijinks however since she decided to stay with the team, she had started being pulled into some of their mischief.

So it is likely that something like that happened. However, their reaction was more intense than it usually was so he was interested in what actually happened.

But for now he couldn't worry about it. They had a case. He trusted in the team that they would put aside whatever it was and be professional in the field.

He would address the situation once they were back.

####

After the house was cleared by the bomb squad, the team except for Derek and JJ moved in as they searched for the woman kidnapped that morning.

As the four of them walked into a room, they could all sense that this was the space they were looking for. For Emily, she could immediately feel the change in energy there. A heaviness that wasn't present in the rest of the house.

As she stepped into the room, a smell overwhelmed her. A smell that she recognized from an unpleasant time and place in her past. The smell had a metallic quality to it even though she was uncertain if it was from metal or residual blood.

Even with the smell, she was coping. She was an agent. It had not been the first time she had smelled blood. Moving further into the room, she worked on calming her breathing as all of them cleared the room.

That was until in the process of searching the room, Dave had quickly flipped up the bed frame and the full range of implements that were attached to the other side came into view. That along with the smell of the room was taking her back to time and place she didn't want to remember, particularly in the field. Doyle's house. His rooms in the basement. What she had observed there. What she had experienced there.

As she looked at bed frame, she could feel her vision narrowing and had to fight against what her instincts were telling her.

To run.

She turned away from her teammates as she continued to work on calming her breathing.

####

Though it was a necessary step, it felt like forever before the house was cleared for them to search it. As the team was searching the house, they zeroed in on what appeared to be a bedroom.

Entering the room, they looked for the missing woman, frustrated when they didn't find her. Hotch turned as Dave flipped up the bed frame to reveal the UNSUBs' weapons of torture attached to the underside.

Though she didn't say anything, Hotch glanced at Emily out of the corner of his eye and noticed that she immediately became pale at the sight of Dave had just revealed. Just as quickly she turned and was looking in a corner of the room where there was nothing that could potentially be evidence.

As he looked around the room, Hotch noted that both Rossi and Reid had noticed Emily's uncharacteristic reaction at this crime scene as well. With other parts of the property still needing searched, Hotch turned and said calmly, "She's not here. Reid, I want you and Prentiss check around outside. The opposite side from where we came in. Be careful. We don't know if he set any bobby traps. Rossi and I will finish here."

Reid nodded before walking over to Emily and gently touching her shoulder. She looked at him and he said something that Hotch didn't hear before Emily nodded and they both walked out of the room. After watching them leave, Hotch turned back to the room to continue to look for clues as was Dave. As they worked, Dave asked, "is she OK?"

Hotch sighed before answering, "she'll be fine." though he planned to talk to Emily as soon as he could get her alone to verify that. He had never previously seen her react like that in the field. While this room would give anyone paused even those that weren't identical to the type of the victims, he wanted to check in on her before making further assignments.

####

Emily took a deep breath as she stepped outside with Spencer. As she breathed in the fresh air, her head cleared and her breathing returned to normal. As much as she was glad that it was over for now, she was going to have to talk to Alicia about her reaction to that room. It was too dangerous to react like that in the field.

But for now, they had a job to do and that was trying to find out where the woman kidnapped that morning was being held along with any evidence about the three women previously kidnapped by the same man.

As she walked into the yard, Spencer asked quietly, "are you OK?"

Emily turned as saw the nervousness in her younger colleague. She sighed as she realized that given what they had already been through together it would be disrespectful to blow him off. However, given they were still at a crime scene with personnel from various departments around, she really didn't want to explain.

Looking at him, she replied, "I'll be fine. The air was heavy in there. Let's see what we can find out here."

Spencer looked at her, assessing the response before nodding and they walked across the yard.

####

After the discovery of the bodies, Hotch decided to head back to the station. He sent Reid with Rossi to check out a lead while Emily along with various pieces of evidence were in the SUV with him. The recent murder after the death of their known UNSUB had cracked their profile wide open. They needed to gain some insight on who the partner was so they could identity and arrest him before he killed anyone else..

As they travelled, Hotch noted that Emily was staring out of the window.

"Are you OK?" Hotch asked calmly.

Emily sighed but did not turn to him as she answered, "I'm fine."

Hotch shook his head before replying, "Emily, you turned white and had to put effort into controlling your breathing."

Emily nodded as there was no point in lying to him before she responded, "I know. Let's just say it's not the first time I've seen a room like that. I've seen what damage can happen from all that stuff." As she finished, she hoped that he didn't ask any questions. Even if she could, she didn't want to explain, particularly to him about what had happened to her.

Hotch didn't say anything as he thought about what she said wondering what case she worked that she would have come across a room like that. Sadly, given her time in the FBI, he wasn't surprised. Given that she worked with Crimes Against Children it could explain why her reaction was more pronounced.

Noticing that she did not wish to discuss it anymore, he pivoted when he asked, "are you OK to work on this case?"

Emily turned quickly to look at him as she answered, "absolutely. It was just the room. I want to help solve this case."

Hotch nodded and answered as they reached the station, "OK, we have this evidence to get through and we are waiting to see if they can get anything off those tapes. Let's start there. Let me know if you need a break."

Emily nodded before they got out of the SUV, collected the boxes of evidence and walked into the station.

####

Emily found herself sitting at a table in the station with Dave as she looked over the evidence. Dave was watching her carefully, not sure what she had reacted to at the house when he saw the look on her face change so he asked, "what is it?"

Emily looked up and over at him surprised before responding hesitantly, "the yard where the women were buried."

Dave nodded before asking, "what about it?" wondering where she was going with the thought.

Emily peeked over at him before looking back at the evidence in front of her and said, "given the location it was picked by Goehring."

Dave agreed with the assessment. There were plenty of places Goehring could have dumped the bodies that they wouldn't have been found if he had wanted to "yes, it would have allowed him to revisit their bodies."

Emily nodded and then said, "yes but given how he viewed women, he wouldn't have planted the roses."

Dave considered the statement before answering, "you think that was the partner."

Emily nodded then replied, "it would have had to have been. Goehring would have treated them like trash when he was done with them. He wouldn't have put the effort into planting rosebushes."

Dave nodded as he remembered what they found at the house, "that would go along with how we found Angela Miller's body. She was carefully laid out."

Emily looked over at him and then added, "yes, so information about the roses may be the direction we look to find the partner. Given the growth on the rose bushes, they weren't planted at the same time, so he went to wherever he bought them at least three times."

Dave stood and said "we have a description now so we go interview plant nurseries." before walking out of the room to find the rest of the team.

####

After they finished the case, Hotch left the station with JJ to head to the airstrip. The others had remained at site where their UNSUB Henry Frost had been killed in order to free the woman he had kidnapped to finish working the scene with the Sheriff's Department. They received a message from Hotch to just go directly to the airfield when they were done and he and JJ would meet them there.

He and JJ were already on the plane waiting when they saw the SUV drive up. As soon as it stopped Dave quickly got out, grabbed his bag from the trunk and climbed the stairs. As he stepped onto the jet, he mumbled something as he stowed his bag that Hotch couldn't hear as he went to the galley for a cup of coffee. Once he had that, Dave sat in the back in the single seat.

When Dave walked into the galley, Hotch looked back out the window of the plane for the rest of his team. At that point all three were now out of the SUV as well working on pulling their bags out of the back while they all balanced cups with Reid carrying two.

After closing the back and handing off the keys, the three of them who appeared deep in conversation made their way onto the plane. Once inside, they put their bags up before going over to JJ who Hotch just noticed was holding a couple of bags of popped microwave popcorn. Before he could consider too much about what they were doing, the plane started to taxi before taking off.

About 30 minutes into the flight, Hotch listened to the occasional laughter as the team watched a movie that Garcia was streaming through to the screens on the plane. Hotch was pulled out of his thoughts when a perturbed Dave sat down across from him. He looked past Hotch to were the rest of the team was and then back to Hotch as he grumped, "Aaron, where in the hell did you find these kids?"

Hotch's eyes widened before he asked, "excuse me?" He thought given the case and location that the team have functioned well today. While they all wished they could have gotten Angela Miller back to her family none of them had anticipated that Goehring that working with a partner.

As he watched Dave, Hotch wondered if something else had happened between the four of them on the way to the airstrip as he still hadn't found out what happened in the office right before they left for the case. That question was answered when Dave asked, "And what is the deal with having me ride with them?"

Hotch sighed. Yeah something definitely happened on the way over. Shaking his head he explained, "I needed to go back to the station with the Sheriff. Since the four of you were finishing up in the field, it didn't make sense for you to come there since the airstrip was in the opposite direction. What happened?"

As much as he wasn't sure he wanted to know, he needed to ask. Where before they left for the case, Reid, Morgan and Prentiss had been unusually quiet and Dave was smug but now Reid, Morgan and Prentiss had been happily conversing with JJ since they arrived while Dave was upset.

Dave glared at him before saying, "the better question is what didn't happen."

Hotch shook his head already certain that this was going to be a long story.

When he looked back up, Dave continued, "they tried to play the license plate game but quickly gave that up when all they saw were pickup trucks from Montana.

Then was a sing along and let me just tell you none of them can sing well."

Hotch internally chuckled at that because it seemed that they were trying to irritate Dave. Hotch know from team nights that Morgan could sing though he much preferred to dance. From his past relationship with her, he also knew that Emily sung well. He wasn't sure about Reid however Dave was stating that it was all of them that sung poorly.

Before Hotch could say anything, Dave continued, "they played I Spy for the rest of the drive."

Dave paused as there was a burst of laughter from the other side of the jet. When Dave turned back around, he said, "we were running late getting here because they needed to stop and get smoothies for the trip home."

Hotch had wondered about them arriving later than anticipated however it wasn't the first time they had stopped for smoothies. Hotch had found that it was something they did after a hard case.

He saw Dave turn and look at them before turning back to Hotch and stated exasperatedly, "and now… and now they are over there drinking their smoothies, eating popcorn and watching a show about cartoon mice."

It had taken a few minutes but Hotch had determined that they were watching Animaniacs. He hadn't seen it in years. He had been introduced to it by a friend as something to watch after a difficult day. Haley hated it but he had watched it during his relationship with Emily.

Hotch sighed before stating, "it was a rough case."

Dave looked at him surprised as it apparently wasn't the reaction Dave had been expecting, "most cases in the BAU are considered rough. That doesn't mean that this is the way to handle it."

Hotch sighed as he considered what he wanted to say. Looking back up at Dave, Hotch started," Gideon."

Dave looked at him confused at the seemingly non sequitur before answering,"Gideon?"

Hotch nodded before continuing, "You know about Frank?"

"Yes" Dave answered having heard about him directly from Gideon as well as through the grapevine.

Hotch nodded before continuing, "around the time that we worked the last case before Frank came to DC and killed Sarah, Gideon brought in his Chapin reels. He took them to the class he was teaching at the Academy for his lecture on coping strategies. When we returned from that case in Kansas City, he also did a screening in the conference room for the team as an example of using comedy as a way of coping with the job.

This was a hard case for them. Gideon leaving, particularly the way he did, was hard on all of us. So they are utilizing one of the last lessons he taught them. It's a long trip. They will watch this for a while then will each do their own thing after that until we land. By the time we get back to the bullpen, they will be ready to complete their reports." Hotch stated assuredly knowing his team knew what was expected from them.

Dave looked at him skeptically before shaking his head and walking back over to his seat.

As he sat there, Dave sighed as over the years he had viewed the Chapin movies with Gideon several times. Usually when one of them was going through a difficult time. It did not surprise him at all that he would have brought them in to show the team and the trainees in his class. As for the rest of what Hotch said, he would just have to wait and see.

####

When the pilot announced that there was about an hour left before landing, the jet grew quiet after a period of everyone moving around and remain quiet except for occasional chatter. As he was disembarking Dave noticed that where they had been sitting was completely cleaned up with not even a piece of popcorn on the floor.

After they reached the bullpen, Dave watch Hotch head up to his office. After Garcia greeted them she and JJ headed out to their respective offices while Morgan, Reid and Prentiss sat down at their respective desks after stopping at the break room. As Dave reached the conference room since his office was still being worked on, he observed how they each worked quietly with intermittent short discussions. The one by one they took their completed reports up to Hotch before leaving for the night.

Dave still wasn't sure about the team but was reassured that Hotch had been correct about how things would go when they arrived back at the office. With his own report done, he sighed as he researched the meanings of various wall colors since he now needed to choose something other than taupe.

While he did somewhat identify with what was said about taupe, he wasn't ready to give the team that much insight into him. So not only was the wall color changing in his office but he was going to know the meaning of what he did pick.

AN: For the next few chapters I am going to have the episodes reordered somewhat. The next chapter will go along with the Limelight episode.