AN: Dialogue in italics is actually dialogue from the show.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Dave was at his desk. The walls in his office had been painted a few days earlier and the items he had brought in to display were where he wanted them. After consideration, he decided for the moment to keep the chair that came with the office knowing that it had been used by his good friend before he left the team.

He closed the email message that had been sent to him. A message had contained pictures and data about what an agent in the Philadelphia field office had asked him to review. The information sent was limited to the extent that he couldn't make a determination ...yet.

Sitting back in his seat, he knew what he wanted to do. To go to Philadelphia and review the material and go from there. However after his meeting with JJ and Hotch, he knew that requests for BAU help generally needed to go through JJ's office. Given that he had said the meeting with her and Hotch that he would try to respect her role on the team, he needed to consider carefully how to proceed.

Last time he was in the BAU, he was Unit Chief. Even aside from that BAU agents working more independently, he had been in the position to take whatever cases that he wanted. That wasn't an option anymore.

But from what he had seen, this information deserved at least once over. He collected copies of everything that was sent to him. He would go and talk to Hotch and hope the younger agent agreed to let him go to check it out.

With that decided he stood up and sighed. Though he wished it was for another reason, he was looking forward to the peace and quiet of the drive. He wasn't sure yet if he was going to brave the traffic on I95 or take the longer but more scenic Route 50. Either way the tranquility would be welcome after activity that his younger teammates were insisting on bringing into his life.

Dave walked out of his office spotting Hotch over in the break room. As he approached, Hotch looked up and asked after spotting the file in his hand, "you've got something?"

Dave sighed and shook his head before handing the file to Hotch. As Hotch opened it, Dave said, "not sure. It's from an old storage unit. The case agent from the Philly field office sent it to me."

Hotch glanced up at him as he asked, "somebody you know?"

Dave shrugs before answering, "she knows me. You know."

At that Hotch had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. From that comment, the agent who contacted him was either a fan or a former fling. He shook his head before he responded drily, "ah. A fan. Your world's a very crowded place, isn't it?"

"You'd be surprised." Dave answered vaguely before they both turned their focus to the file.

"This is detailed."

"Future tense." Dave commented at a concerning part in the writings found.

"They're fantasies."

"That agent thinks it could be more than that." Dave answered as Hotch closed the file.

"There's more of this?" Hotch questioned as what he had seen had been disturbing.

Dave nodded before replying gingerly, "a few boxes In the field office. I'd like to drive up there, look at the rest of the material, make a judgment from that."

Hotch looked at Dave, back down at the closed file and then over at Reid who had entered the entered the bullpen as he and Dave were talking before saying, "take Reid with you."

####

Emily was walking back to the bullpen after meeting with Cooper. It had been the third time that they had met since Gideon had left. Since she had promised him that she would seek Cooper out. Thankfully Cooper was open to talking to her and had been supportive.

It had taken a few weeks after the unfortunate incident in the defense class for their schedules to align again for them to meet again. Between that meeting and today, Cooper had shared his thoughts on Bruno and what he read about the taskforce and the Doyle mission. Emily had filled in some holes for him as she had done for Gideon. Emily had also shared about the recent encounters with members of the JTF12 and what they were asking of her. Like Gideon, he had encouraged her to call on him if needed.

He expressed that he knew she was keeping something from him but wasn't going to push her to tell him. While Emily trusted Cooper, she wasn't ready to let him know about Declan. She still needed a permanent plan for him and if things went wrong when she did, she didn't want him to be caught in the middle. If she could get Declan situated without issue, then she could talk to Cooper about it.

They had established code words and panic sequences for them to use. The day may come when she would need an ally who was fully briefed.

As she was getting off the elevator, she ran into Derek who was also heading back to the bullpen as well. When they walked in they saw Hotch, Rossi and Reid talking over by their desks. After trading a look, they walked over to see if there was a new case.

As they came up behind them they heard Hotch say, "take Reid with you."

This was apparently not what Rossi had expected Hotch to say as he started to explain he was OK going by himself when Reid excitedly looked up and said, "Road trip, nice! I've got books on tape with Peter Coyote reading the entire Foundation trilogy." before grabbing his bag and walking away.

Rossi turned back to Hotch but before he could say anything, Morgan and Emily walked up next to them as Morgan said, "can we go on the road trip with Rossi too?"

Emily nodded before continuing, "yeah, I've heard about these books on tape."

At this point Rossi had paled along with his eyes widened. Hotch internally laughed at the reaction remembering Dave's comments about the last road trip he had taken with the three of them in Montana.

As much as a part of him liked to see the uncharacteristic action of Dave squirming, the goal here was to have a cohesive team. Perhaps things would go better if Dave got to know each of them one on one.

Hotch shook his head before saying, "no, I need both of you to stay here. Morgan you are scheduled to go over to the Academy this afternoon. And Prentiss, you are doing that phone consultation with me."

Morgan and Emily looked at each other and shrugged before saying,

"OK"

"That's right."

With that Dave nodded to Hotch and quickly walked out of the bullpen as Hotch, Emily and Derek watched.

When the glass doors closed, Morgan said, "too bad we couldn't have gone too."

Hotch shook his head before answering, "even if you didn't have plans this afternoon I wouldn't have sent all three of you."

Morgan grinned as he asked, "why not."

Hotch sighed before replying, "because I don't want to have to explain to Strauss why three of my agents needed to picked up from the shoulder of I95."

"He wouldn't do that would he?" Emily asked at the same time Morgan asked, "do we need to worry about Reid?"

Hotch shook his head before saying, "no I think Reid will be fine. All three of you again maybe stretching it. He told me about the car ride in Montana." with a pointed look before walking towards his office.

####

Hotch hung up from the phone consult he and Emily were doing. He sat back in his seat at the conference room table. Emily did not make any attempt to get up and head back to her desk either.

"Have you heard from Reid and Rossi?" Emily asked.

Hotch shook his head before replying, "nothing after they arrived at the Philadelphia Field Office. I'd expect to hear from Dave in the next couple of hours whether he thinks it's a case or not."

"Reid make it all the way to Philly with him?" Emily asked cautiously. Her and Derek had been too sure how much Hotch was joking about dropping them off on the side of the road. All she did know is that if he hurt Reid, Rossi was going to see a different side of them.

Hotch gave her a small smile before answering, "seems so. The three of you may want to be careful with your pranks on Dave. He hasn't yet but don't be surprised if one of these times he reliates."

Emily laughed thinking of Dave's reactions to some of their pranks as she said, "he wouldn't do that. Rossi loves us."

Hotch turned serious before continuing, "just be careful. He is going to be in charge on some days coming up."

That comment got Emily's attention. She sat up straight and looked at him before asking, "oh, is everything OK?"

Hotch sighed and nodded before answering resignedly, "the divorce papers will go through this week. After that we need to schedule time for court before it's finalized."

"I'm sorry." Emily answered looking down at the table. As much as she had believed him that the divorce was his intention, the news of it happening soon had been a surprise. And no matter how certain he had been all along about this being the right step for him, there was still a sadness about it.

Hotch sighed as he said, "it can't be helped. I know I won't compromise on my time with Jack. I do wish the evidence I had about her affair was more straight in its link to Haley. Right now it's circumstantial, strongly circumstantial but…"

"...you would prefer a smoking gun." Emily interrupted.

"Yes but I can't demand her DNA. The judge may order it but that's a big if." Hotch shared his largest worry about the upcoming legal fight with Haley.

Emily could see the conflict in his eyes before she said, "Let me know if you need anything. Even if it's just to talk." Even with them deciding that neither of them was currently in the best place for a personal relationship, she still wanted them to be friends. Right now as she was looking at him, she could see that he needed someone to be a friend. And if a friend who he could talk to was what he needed right now, then she was happy to do that.

Hotch looked at her before answering, "I will. Thanks Emily."

Emily nodded as she stood up and said, "OK, I'll start the write up on this consult. I should be done before Derek gets back." before walking out of the conference room and down to her desk.

####

As the team headed back to Quantico after the case, Dave sat quietly contemplating what he had witnessed on this case.

What had brought him here was curiosity about a few items found in a storage unit. As they had gone through it he hadn't expected anything to come of it. He and Reid had almost left after the once over as he didn't see it as a BAU case. But then the case agent. The agent that had called him gave him a piece of evidence. False evidence as they would discover later that changed the trajectory of the case and the team was called in to investigate.

How had he been so wrong on his initial assessment? What if she hadn't given him that false evidence and he and Reid had packed up and left? Went back to Quantico? How many more women would have died before the case came back to the team? Would Hotch have considered it after Dave and Reid had already consulted on it? Would he have considered it a personal affront if Hotch did bring it to the team given he had already reviewed the evidence?

The team. For this case, he had witnessed each member of the team individually and as a group unravel the evidence to find the UNSUB. In the field they were showing themselves to be a competent group. He found that he was still trying to find his place within their team dynamic in the field having worked by himself for so long.

Once the team arrived, they found several bodies. And that was before the UNSUB abducted the case agent. They luckily found the location before she was seriously harmed however it had been too late for the woman abducted at the same time as her.

As Rossi had explained to the case agent, he saw himself in her actions. He had chased the spotlight even before he left the BAU. Then later with his books, he was the face of profiling but that didn't mean he was the only one or even the best one for all cases.

Looking over, he noticed Prentiss nervously picking at her nails on the seat next to him. He wanted to talk to but didn't know how to start.

After they had gotten back from Montana he had looked at the files for the rest of the team. In hers he had discovered some interesting information as well as some concerning discrepancies.

He learned that she was in fact the granddaughter of his first mentor when he joined the FBI. The man who had introduced him to Gideon. They had grown apart after her grandfather had left the FBI before he had completely disappeared.

Now he realized why the name Prentiss was so familiar. He had met her parents during that time though from what he remembered, he had only met Elizabeth's son. The son who had also learned from Emily's file had died in early childhood.

Dave sighed suddenly wishing he had been paying more attention when Gideon had been describing her at his cabin. Did Gideon even know about her relationship with Breckenridge? He had to assume yes as he was certain that Gideon would have looked at her file when she joined the team. Had he spoken to her about it? Did he know what had happened to Breckenridge and where he was now?

Something else Dave found interesting was Hotch had once worked for Emily's mother. He recalled that part as soon as he saw who Emily's parents were. He remembered that detail from when he looked at Hotch's file before offering him the position at the BAU years earlier. It had brought back his memories of Breckenridge back then as well.

Now Dave was curious if Hotch and Prentiss knew each other during that time. From her record, it appeared that Emily was in graduate school at Yale during that time. Given a comment he had overheard Emily make about her mother last week led him to believe that the two women weren't close so it was possible that she hadn't gone home in the few months that he had been at that assignment and therefore hadn't met Hotch.

He knew he didn't need to wonder about if that had factored into the decision to hire her as her file had that Strauss had approved the transfer not Hotch or even Gideon. Additionally he had learned through his sources that Strauss had made that hiring decision without Hotch's knowledge. He shook his head at that wondering what angle Strauss had been playing because he knew with her she was always playing an angle. But however Emily had come to the team, Hotch seemed to now respect her judgment which was high praise from him.

Though Dave wasn't sure how to reconcile that with what he considered noticed as discrepancies in her file. Ones that Hotch would have noticed as well. Again, he wished he had been listening when Gideon had been talking about her file as maybe he had some insight into what he found. And what he had noticed wasn't just obvious inconsistencies in her work history but also one of the agents listed as her supervisor wasn't even working at that time. Dave knew for a fact that he had been out on medical leave that year.

Dave shook his head. For now he would leave it unless something came up that would make it prudent to ask. These were items in her official work history not a personal record. For there to be inconsistencies listed, there needed to be a compelling reason. One that she would not reveal to him just because he asked as he currently had the same clearance as the rest of the team.

But he did plan to talk to her soon about her grandfather. But would she tell him where he was?

As his mentor, Dave had sometimes wondered what feedback Breckridge would have given him about his career. About his life. Breckenridge was a quiet man who was serious about his work and his family. He never sought the limelight and did his best to avoid it. In that way it appeared Emily to follow in his footsteps as Dave noticed a notation in her file that she was not to be involved in any media appearances. Not a big deal as the team had a media liaison but it was unusual for it to be official.

Even with it not being his own preference, would Breckenridge understand or be disappointed in his own choice to write books and do media appearances? As much as a part of Dave wanted to know another part was worried to find out.

He knew he had made missteps in his career and done things he was not proud of. He had tried to point that out to Agent Morris the last couple of days as he could see her following a similar path. She had seemingly ignored the harsh truths and would have to discover the consequences of those actions for herself just as he had.

But he also wanted to think that he had done a lot of good. The BAU that he and Gideon had worked hard to create was doing well. The success of their work had allowed the unit to grow as the BAU continued to assist other departments find and arrest dangerous criminals. But like all field agents sometimes they don't catch the person and they remain UNSUBs. And some of those cases stick with you.

For Dave he had several cases where he still had all his notes. That he would go back to and review the evidence trying to find a clue, any clue that would give a new direction to go with an investigation.

There was one in particular, a case where three children survived the brutal murder of their parents over 20 years earlier, that haunted him. A case that would continue to haunt him until his last days if he couldn't find the UNSUB. The case that he planned on researching so that didn't happen. He wanted to give the family peace of mind of knowing the person responsible was no longer a threat.

He sat back in his seat reviewing the facts of that case still knowing that he needed something else to finally solve it. He just hoped it would be soon.

AN: The next chapter is going to be around the episode Birthright. Dave will start to suspect something about Emily, a conversation during the case will give Emily an idea for how to handle her dilemma of what's best for Declan and things start with Hotch's divorce.