The next few hours we're slower than I could have ever imagined possible. The Friday dinner was obviously canceled and the night was filled with bringing all the evidence we had with us together, getting the jet ready to fly into Portland, which was a good forty-five minutes out of Lewiston, renting an SUV to bring us to the local police station, then to the crime scene.

Another oh so wonderful part about waiting to leave was getting to deal with Strauss and explaining to her what happened earlier in the week that led up to Sarah's abduction, what happened during the phone call and how I knew the unsub.

To all of her questions I replied with I've already told you what I know, she then asked what Sarah had been up to, to which I replied with I wouldn't know, she's in Maine and I'm in Virginia.

I could tell she didn't like my attitude, but frankly, I didn't like her. She was a bitch and didn't even wait David bringing me in to join the team. She tried everything she could to get me into another department. Plus, I'm pretty sure she has the hots for David. YUCK!

"Lissa, go start packing, but bring very little." David finally told me.

"Why very little? We don't know how long we're going to be there for."

"I know. But we'll just buy any extra if we need it."

Puzzled by this I started walking out of the kitchen to go towards my room. That's when members of the team returned with their belongings; Soon after we got word we would be going up to Maine the team dissolved so everyone could pack for themselves.

Spencer and Morgan had just returned.

I was just about to cross into the living room when Strauss blocked my path.

"Agent Rossi, where do you think you're going?"

"Well Agent Strauss, I am planning to go to my room and pack to go with the rest of the team to Maine to help find Sarah."

"Agent, I feel it wouldn't be a good idea for you to go with the team."

"WHAT?" This time she really pissed me off.

"Well you have an emotional tie to this case, and the unsub already said he's after you. Plus it is your hometown, I can't be certain you'll actually focus on the case instead of throwing yourself a welcome home party."

She finally crossed the line. I was just about to tell her where to go when a voice spoke up for me.

"Agent Strauss, we understand your concerns but that won't be necessary. Melissa is a vital key into finding the victim and keep in mind she left her hometown because she wanted to, not because she was forced. I think the only thing she missed from it was her friend, who at the moment is missing. I don't think you have anything to fear about her going out and partying."

Stunned I looked up to see Hotch now standing next to me. Ok sure the guy had his moments of being really scary, but overall he only wanted to help people at the end of the day, and in this case if finding Sarah meant bringing me to my hometown, then that's what he would do.

Strauss, even though I could tell she didn't, finally agreed with Hotch and then, FINALLY left.

"Melissa quickly go pack your things." Hotch turned to me and gave me a look that meant he hoped he hadn't made the mistake of allowing me to go with the team.

With that I gave him a grateful nod and hurried to my room. Although I was thankful for what Hotch did, I was still steamed at what Strauss did. She pretty much told me I was a party girl, which I was far from, and that I would pretty much screw up the case. That was a slap in the face. Although, if she had compared me to my mother, (which would have surprised me since she doesn't even know my mother) that would have hurt more.

I was lost in my thoughts when a knock interrupted them. I turned to my door and saw Spencer standing there.

"Hey Lissa, how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine right now. Just pissed after what Strauss said. How could she even say that? She doesn't even know me! Just wait, I'll show her. When I get my hands on that unsub, he will regret what he did to Sarah and Strauss will.."

"Melissa! Calm down! This is what Strauss was talking about. You have all this anger built up towards the unsub for taking Sarah that you could end up doing something that could hurt the team, or worse, yourself."

"I'm sure Strauss would love it if I hurt myself. Then she could be like 'I told you not to bring her' or 'I told you she wasn't right for the BAU'."

"Lissa, don't say that. The team would be devastated if something happened to you. I know I would definitely be upset if something happened to you."

I looked into his brown eyes and felt bad I was taking my anger out in our conversation.

"You're right. I'm sorry, I need to calm down. And I need to pack."

He gave me a smile and checked his watch, telling me I had ten minutes to get everything I needed together so that we could get to the airport and get on the jet to fly out.

I grabbed my suitcase off the floor and just shoved as much clothes as I could in there and my toothbrush, hair products and make-up. After I grabbed a small black carry-on and threw in my iPad and it's charger, (BAU equipment), a few books, and some other things to occupy myself with on the plane.

After Spencer and I left my room we met the rest of the team in the kitchen to go over the plan.

Morgan, Prentiss, J.J., Hotch, David, Spencer and I would fly out to Maine while Garcia and the back-up we called in would go back to the BAU building and use all of the technology there and help us from Virginia.

With that we piled in to the waiting SUV's and made our way to the airport to fly us to my home state and to hopefully find my best friend.