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You

You watched as the man walked into his backyard, nursing a cold bottle of alcohol in his hands as if he had not a care in the world. You watched as he sat down on the dirty, old lawn chair, the action made difficult by his enormous beer gut. He didn't notice you. He fiddled with the dials on the rust-covered radio beside him, unaware of your presence. Jason Burwin. You hated him, hated every second you ever had to spend with him. So you waited until he was alone. Waited for the perfect moment. And then you struck.

B.A.U.

The humid Floridian air was stifling, as always, but even more so with the immense pressure weighing on Hotch. It wasn't often he would feel hopeless after such little time, but he had a gut feeling that this case wouldn't go well. And with all the expectations that were riding on him, he could only hope his theory would pan out. Glares from the setting sun shone through the window, blinding him temporarily as he pushed open the door to the police station. Cool air blasted over the agent from the rattling air conditioning unit in the corner, and it took all he had to not sigh out loud in relief.

"Reid and Morgan are on their way back from the crime scene," JJ said, handing him and Prentiss a file each. "And these are the autopsy reports."

"Did they find something?" Prentiss asked, flipping through the stapled sheets of paper.

The communications liaison frowned, making a 'so-so' gesture with her hands. "Kind of." She tilted her head towards the paper. "Take a look for yourselves."

"The weapon." Realization dawned on Hotch after he scanned the paper. "The blade was pointed downwards."

"Which means the UNSUB was at a height disadvantage," Prentiss said, finishing his thought. "Did the medical examiner have an estimate?"

"I think it was about 5'5"."

"Five foot five? That's awfully short for a male-"

"-But around average for a female," finished Hotch, his eyes widening. His theory was correct. "It's possible. It definitely fits. There wasn't any signature that we could find, no sexual component to the murders."

"The UNSUB is a female?" The group turned as Morgan's voice entered the conversation.

"We're considering the possibility. Did you find anything at the scene?"

Morgan's jaw clenched at the question, and Reid looked at the floor. "It was a kid this time. High school student on his way home from football practice. He died last night, and they only found him this morning." The team shared looks of pity. "M.O. was the same, no prints or witnesses. We still have nothing."

"What was his name?"

Morgan pointed to the investigation board, where the picture of the boy and the other two victims were pinned up, in addition to the rest of the team's notes on the case. "Reagan Davis."

A sharp ringing cut through the tensed stress of the moment. It was Morgan's cell phone. He answered it, putting the call on speaker for all to hear. "You better have some good news for me, Babygirl."

"And who am I to refuse, Chocolate Thunder?" Garcia's familiar voice quipped, and Morgan could feel the tension in the room start to evaporate at the sound of the team's ever-joyful technical analyst.

"Did you find something connecting the victims?"

"Kind of. I'm gonna need you all to bear with me here, 'cause it's a stretch but I think it's something."

"We're listening, Hot Stuff."

"Okay, so you told me to look through Jason Burwin's records, right? So, on the surface, there aren't any, you know, felonious charges, but if you look deeper, his stepdaughter, Aedyn Burwin? She's been in and out of the emergency room ever since her mom got married to the guy. What a scumbag. How did no one notice?" Garcia's voice was filled with disgust, a side of her showing that was rarely seen. "Hospital records say the cause was a few fights at her school, so fingers never really get pointed. Then I looked at school records, which say she's never been in a fight. Pretty good student, all around. She has, however, filed a bullying report against a classmate by the name of Davies, Reagan."

"That's the third victim."

"Bingo. But the school, being the god-awful things they are, dismiss the reports because guess what? Davies is the star football player, the key to the school earning some recognition. And heaven knows his reputation just can't be tarnished with something like harassment. So poor Aedyn here has no choice but to give up, and Davies goes free."

"So there's our connection in the victimology," Rossi said, staring at the whiteboard in front of him. Pieces were starting to fit together, aligning right before his eyes, but there was something he was missing. The schoolteacher. How did he fit into all of this?

"Yep. And what about the teacher, you ask?" It was like she read his mind. "Well, it turns out that teachers are required to fill out tutoring forms to log in any student who stays after school. Guess who is on Mr. Daniels' list?"

"Aedyn Burwin." Prentiss supplied, playing along with Garcia's game.

"You're a genius, hon. She's signed into his classroom for tutoring for pretty much the whole year. Now if that's not suspicious, I don't know what is. You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome," she sang, and her smile could be heard from miles away. "Has my genius paid off yet? Methinks yes."

"Alright, thanks, Babygirl. Let me know if you find anything else," Morgan said with a smile, getting ready to hang up.

"Anything for you, my Chocolate Adonis."

"So where does that leave us?" Turning back to the investigation board, the unit chief furrowed his brows.

"Tired. It leaves us very, very tired," Emily yawned, smiling slightly and rubbing her eyes. "It's past midnight, and our UNSUB won't attack again for at least another day or two, even if they don't stick to a schedule. My brain's fried. I'm out."

Seeing the rest of the team give small nods of agreement, Hotch relented. "Okay, let's head back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep. We're close. It'll only be another day or two, hopefully."

Even before the sun had risen, the team had already gathered inside the precinct, each nursing their own steaming cup of coffee. Reid's notorious eye bags were more prominent than usual, the dark rings making his eyes look sunken and miserable.

A large hand clapped him on the back and he turned around, almost spilling his coffee. "Late night?" Morgan's eyebrows wiggled suggestively. Emily laughed quietly from beside him, eyes still trained on the board in front of her.

"Yeah, I had a date with the hotel bed. It didn't go so well." Reid said, his voice groggy, and faked a grimace, trying and failing to keep a grin from his face.

The laughter in the room died down as Hotch entered the room. "Good morning." His voice was scratchy with sleep. Greetings echoed around the meeting tables as everyone settled down. "I'm glad you're all here early. Garcia gave us a few leads last night that are worth looking into. All the victims have some sort of connection to Aedyn, so she may most likely be part of the motivation. Once we find motivation, we'll be able to figure out who it is."

"Maybe the UNSUB is… I don't know, obsessed?" Frowning, Prentiss tried to work out her thought process aloud. "Maybe they see these people as a threat. You know, someone who puts their relationship at risk- puts Aedyn at risk of getting hurt."

"A threat, coming between them and Aedyn, or a potential cause of harm." Rossi nodded along, hand subconsciously stroking his graying facial hair. "It makes sense. She'd be the dominant personality in the relationship. An alpha protecting her pack?"

"So, what're we thinking- an overprotective friend? A lover?" Morgan gestured at the board. "Right now we have nothing but behavior. But who are they to Aedyn?"

"Well, the profile will lead us to her. For now, I want Prentiss and Morgan to head back to the Burwin's. Maybe she knows someone who might fit the profile. You can bring her here if you think that'd help. I'll stay here with Rossi to see if we can find anything new. Reid, you find some of her classmates or teachers and see what they know, or if you can manage to get some behavioral clues off of them." He turned abruptly as JJ entered the conference room, a slightly flustered expression on her face.

"The media caught wind of the murders. They're having a field day. How do you want me to deal with this?"

"Wasn't this under control?" Hotch asked. "They've known about the other murders. What changed?"

"The police department played off the last two murders as a drug-related scandal. But the kid? Davies? He was the town's golden child. Star football player, and all. He wouldn't give up a scholarship for drugs. The press connected the kills, figured out the coverup. Hence the field day."

"Alright then. Let them know about our involvement with a case, tell them it wasn't a drug scandal, but that we have no other information at this moment. We'll tell them more once we make an arrest." JJ nodded, turning to deal with the mob that was the press at the front of the precinct.

An hour had passed before Reid called back with more information. Between the two, Rossi and Hotch had gone through about six cups of coffee. There wasn't enough information in the kills to work with. No signature, no overkill, nothing. The killer was organized, and she knew her victims. She knew their schedules, and her victims were picked, not random. But that was where the trail went cold. Why Mr. Daniels? Was he a threat to Aedyn? Were they too close for the UNSUB's comfort? The sharp ringtone was a sound of salvation to Rossi's ears. He answered, putting the young genius on speaker. "Reid. Tell me you have something."

"I do. But, well, it's technically nothing."

"Enough with the riddles. What did you find?" The remark was only half playful.

"That's the thing, sir. Nothing. Aedyn's a loner. She has no friends, doesn't belong in any clubs. None of her teachers really even know her that well. She doesn't seem the type who would have friends, much less lovers dedicated enough to kill for her."

"It matches with what we saw at the house. She seemed bitter and withdrawn." If it wasn't someone she knew, who else could it be? Hotch's jaw clenched in frustration. "So if it's not her friend… hold on, where's the M.E. report for the first victim?" Hotch rummaged through the papers pinned onto the investigation board.

"What? What're you on to?" Rossi watched his friend, confusion written on his face.

"What if it was her?" Finding what he was looking for, he made eye contact with the older agent.

"Aedyn? Are you sure? You met her. Does she seem capable of doing something like this? She was bitter, yes, but malicious?"

"Think about it. We profiled that the UNSUB was meticulous, that she was close enough with Aedyn to know what was going on and wanted to stop it. She has above average intelligence and is probably around Aedyn's age. She memorized her victim's routines and made sure no one was there to witness it. She's part of the community, not out of place with the other locals." He stopped for a second, pointing to the autopsy report. "There was no hesitation with the first kill. It was a clean-cut wound, nothing jagged or reluctant. Even if she'd been fantasizing about it, there still would have been hesitance- she wouldn't have built up the confidence yet."

"But this UNSUB has no priors. She would be more careful if she was already in the system." Rossi agreed, nodding.

"So what's the only way this could happen? If I were defending myself… out of self-preservation, I wouldn't care who I killed, just that I survived."

"It's instinct, then? She's protecting herself." The senior agent's brows furrowed, following along.

"Makes sense, doesn't it? All these things are happening to her- she's not safe anywhere. No one would listen to her. She only had two options, but either way, someone had to die. And she'd been through too much for it to be her." Hotch's eyes met Rossi's, and he could tell that he'd come to the same conclusion.

"She felt trapped. Her animalistic instincts kicked in."

"And you know what they say about a trapped animal."

Rossi clenched his jaw, expression grim. "So she'd killed them."

A/N

Thank you to everyone who has read, and anyone who is reading now! I'm grateful to all of you, especially those who subscribed and reviewed- it motivates me to write more. I hope you liked this chapter!

What do you think is going to happen? Also, how long do you guys think I should wait before posting another chapter? I hope everyone is doing well!