Annabel Bradey was falling asleep in the passenger seat of the Bureau issued SUV, despite the countless mugs of coffee she had drunk since the afternoon had turned to evening. In a single day, the woman had consumed more caffeine than she had in the rest of her lifetime put together, and still she had run out of energy. It had begun in the precinct, her eyelids growing heavy while words from the case file began to blur together. She had spent almost half an hour reading over a single line, trying to blink back the veil that seemed to cover her eyes. Unbeknown to Annabel, the rest of the team had begun to feel the same way, and the Unit Chief has noticed.

That was why the team were crossing the city in convoy, Annabel watching out the window as the people of Bristol continued to go about their evenings as if nothing was wrong. Surprisingly, they had managed to keep the media quiet, but the ginger began to wonder if that was a wise idea. The amount of twenty year old blondes they had passed, wondering the city alone, caused her to begin to feel panicked. There would be another family for her to talk to the next day; they hadn't caught him, so it was inevitable.

Without looking away from the streets, Annabel began to wonder if that was why Aaron didn't smile much at work. She had been shocked by how little the man let his joy become apparent on his face around his work colleagues every time she had spent the day in his office. Now, as she felt the knowledge that they had potentially let another woman die, she understood him. Even as Emily made a joke about her finally sleeping in a proper bed, Annabel didn't want to smile or laugh. She didn't feel she had the right.

The moment they entered the hotel, the Spencer and Derek collected the keys to their twin room, while the rest of the team stood in silent contemplation. David's eyes gaze met Emily's as they both tried to discern, simple from facial expressions, how they would be pairing. In all their past cases, it had been custom for David and Aaron to bunk together while Emily paired with Jennifer or, as had been the way for the last couple of cases, taken a room by herself. However, Annie and Aaron were a different situation.

Noticing the prolonged silence, and Emily holding the two room keys in her hand as she moved to look between the two adults in question, Aaron stated, "I'll share with Dave, so Annie you'll be with Prentiss."

The ginger nodded her head, smiling towards Emily who was trying not to display her joy in not being paired with David. While he was a close friend, and she was completely comfortable sharing with him, the senior agent had a tendency to snore so much that she lost the ability to sleep. Not saying anything more, Emily walked towards the elevator, the rest of the agents, and Annabel, following her.

However, before they could even enter the elevator, Annabel froze, her breath quickening slightly as she started ahead of her. The cold, metal box had taken her by surprise, since she could remember she had always taken the stairs. Being in the enclosed space, that relied on complex physics and engineering to keep it functional, caused her immense discomfort. Though, it wasn't unreasonable, she had spent almost six hours trapped in an elevator when she had been a child, and she had waited as maintenance tried to make repairs. When she had managed to leave the confinement, she had sworn, unless utterly necessary, she would not take the elevator again.

She wasn't about to break her promise to herself, "Which floor are we on, Emily?"

"Six," the brunette answered, holding the elevator for the newest team member. "You coming?"

Glancing towards the stairs, then to the heeled boots she had been wearing all day, Annabel sighed, shaking her head as she said, "I'm going to take the stairs, I'll meet you up there."

The woman took off down the hall, holding her go bag tightly in her hands. Not turning back, she continued, on search for the stairs, unaware of the man following her steps attempting to catch up with her. Annabel was annoyed at herself, having let her life be dictated by fear once more, yet this time she was also unimpressed that she had let her new team see her weakness.

She jumped slightly as Aaron took a space beside her, saying, "Is everything good?"

"Yeah, just can't use the lift." Annabel explained, turning into the stair well. "Well, and these shoes are killing me."

Aaron let a small laugh leave his mouth as the woman pulled the heels from her feet, holding them in her hands as she walked up the stairs her odd socks out for the whole room to see. Her habit had become seemingly contagious in the Hotchner house, Jack now refusing to wear anything but miss matched socks. They young boy wanted to match Annabel in any way possible, and while it made Aaron happy to see him connecting with someone - in a way similar to how he had to his mother - it also made him weary of how Jack would react if she were ever to leave.

"Have you called Jessica today?" Annabel asked, looking to the Unit Chief, pulling him from his thoughts. He nodded his head, following her up the flight of stairs. "How are they?"

"They are good," Aaron explained, causing Annabel to smile at him. "Jack asked about you, but you were speaking to Kara's Fiancé, I said you'd call tomorrow if you could."

She thanked him silently, slowing her pace to let him catch up with her, "I asked Penelope to help me with locating Liam."

Aaron grit his teeth beside her, his entire body tensing at them name. This caused Annabel to become overly confused, having never noticed any tension between Aaron and her brother. The only time that there had ever been anything near a heated discussion was when he had taken her to the junior prom and Liam had given his protective older brother speech, despite knowing that they were simply going as friends. Though, she had been gone for a decade, and that is a long time for blame to be thrown amongst once allied forces.

"Aaron," Annabel sighed, turning to face him, the steps allowing her to match his height. "What happened with Liam?"

He sighed, rested his hand on her cheek, forcing himself to smile as he said, "You don't need to know, or at least not from me. When you find him, he should be the one to tell you."

"God help me, Aaron," Annabel snapped, pushing his hand away from her and gritting her teeth. "I deserve to know before you speak to him, if I end up still speaking to him."

He shook his head, stepping past her and continuing to climb the stairs. Behind him, Annabel let out a chocked and shocked laugh, for the last few months, Aaron had been telling her to trust him and to share her experiences from the last decade. However, the moment she had any questions, surrounding her own brother at that, he closed himself off and decided that he knew what was best for her.

For a second, Annabel thought about letting it go, allowing him go to his room while she went to meet Emily. Yet, a childish notion become fixated in her mind, and the ginger took a seat on the stair. She had decided that she wasn't going to move until he shared with her.

Turing back, Aaron shook his head, asking, "Are you going to act like a five-year-old?"

"Only for as long as you treat me like one." She muttered under her breath, causing him to reluctantly take a seat beside her. "What happened between you and Liam?"

"It wasn't me and Liam." He explained, taking her hand in his, his thumb grazing across her knuckle as he tried to figure the most sensitive way to share the information. "It was Liam and himself. He's not the person you remember, you should get Garcia to check the Rehab centres in California."

Annabel looked up in shock, her breath getting stuck in her throat as she thought about her older brother. He hadn't hidden the fact that he had had trouble drinking from her, in fact he had been as open with her as possible hoping that she would do the same. Liam had always thanked her for helping him get sober, though she hadn't done anything to actively help him, he had sought help so that he could become her guardian when she was fifteen stopping her from entering the foster system.

"That isn't his fault though, Aaron," the ginger whispered, her voice cracking with the guilt that she was suddenly feeling. "If I had never gone away, then he wouldn't have gone back to that. If I'd have been stronger."

"Annie, its not your fault." Her friend reassured her, placing his arm around her as she leaned against his shoulder. "The reason that I reacted the way I did was because when he got really bad, I asked him to get help. He was still married to Amber at the time, and she was expecting a little girl, but he didn't listen."

"But you said to check Rehab centres, he got help." Annabel stated, looking to him with hope in her eyes. "He got help, Aaron."

Aaron let out a breath, not looking at her as he said, "The rehab was court ordered. He'd had a handful of DUIs and then caused an accident that paralysed a teenager."

"Oh, God." Annabel sobbed, her heart pounding in her chest as she thought about the girl. Her brother's state would have been made worse by the knowledge that he had hurt someone else, however it wasn't that which caused her the most shock. Thinking back over what Aaron had said, the woman whispered, "I have a niece?"