A/N: Notes at the end. Sorry about the update time.
The Colour Red – Chapter 2
"Okay, I managed to get us three rooms that might actually work out for us. We've got 2 standard rooms and a triple. Emily and Hotch get one of the rooms, I get the other and you three guys get the room with the three extra-large single beds in it."
Emily raised an eyebrow. "We could just keep things business as usual."
The look Aaron shot her had her lifting her hands in surrender as a spurt of pleasure washed through her. Knowing he didn't want to be separated anymore than she did made her feel good inside despite the nausea currently plaguing her.
"Why do we have to share?" Derek demanded.
"Because this is the only hotel in town within the budget we are allotted and those were the only rooms available. Deal with it," JJ said as she handed out key cards.
They had landed at the airport to find a message waiting for them; the police had a suspect in custody and they may not even be needed. They were to go to their hotel and wait for further instructions. They'd been half-decided about just stopping past the station anyway when they'd received a call from Strauss backing up their orders. Unable to fly out until the next day anyway, they'd decided to check in and get dinner while they waited.
The second Aaron got their door open, she shoved past and limped quickly into the bathroom. 15 minutes later, she'd decided she'd rather share a room with JJ than with the man who'd put her in this position.
Hearing a knock at the door, Aaron opened it and shot an inquiring look at the group on his step.
"How far along is she?" Dave asked mildly.
He wasn't that surprised that they'd figured it out; Emily had been sick on the plane as well and he'd heard the louder noises coming out of the rooms on either side of him.
"About 8 weeks and utterly miserable. It didn't hit til the honeymoon either. She's not pleased."
"Well I'm not sharing, so she can just stay with you," JJ said with a wink and he grinned in return.
"That's not very nice," Emily muttered as she appeared under his arm. She'd stripped off her suit jacket and shirt and pulled on the red singlet that always drove him mad.
"Trust me honey, when the nausea passes you'll be horny and wanting sex. You may as well keep him close by for those moments. He can always sleep on the floor when you don't want him."
"Okay; way too much information," Reid said as his face went beet red and he turned away.
"I'm with the kid on that one," Derek muttered and followed Reid.
"I'm just not going to comment. Can I do anything to make it better?"
Emily smiled tiredly at the older profiler. "Can you fast-forward time to when these initial weeks are over?"
Dave smiled gently. "Think of it this way; your second trimester starts in about four weeks and with luck you'll be free of the worst of it."
"At the moment that isn't really that comforting. What time is dinner?"
"You can sleep for an hour if you want," Aaron said as he lightly rubbed the silky skin of her shoulder.
She studied him for a moment and muttered, "You're almost too good to be true."
He watched her walk to the bed and turned back to the door. "Dinner at seven okay with you guys?"
They agreed and walked off and he turned into the room to find Emily was already sound asleep and dressed only in the top and her panties. He sighed as he attempted to squash his sudden desire. He walked to the bed and gently tugged the covers from under her body. She mumbled a protest but settled as she snuggled under their warmth. He soothed a hand over her hair and straightened.
How he'd gotten this lucky twice in his life with this woman he didn't know, but he did know he'd do nothing knowingly to screw it up.
He gathered his toiletries and a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked slightly in case she woke and needed it in a hurry. Turning on the cold water, he attempted to curb the raging fire she'd woken in his blood.
New Section-
Dinner had been a pleasant affair for everyone except Emily. She'd been able to sit with them but one bite of the meal she'd selected was enough to undo the good her nap her done for her. Luckily the chef had a wife who was also pregnant; while she'd been off throwing up yet again the chef had happily agreed to make her some toast instead.
They were just returning to their rooms when the call came in that their suspect had been cleared and released, his DNA not a match. They collected their gear and headed immediately to the station.
They gathered outside the station before walking in together.
"Emily, how do you want me to introduce you? Agents Hotchner and Hotchner might be a bit confusing?"
Emily smiled slightly. "Introduce me as Prentiss-Hotchner. I don't want to confuse anyone but I've wanted to be a Hotchner for years; I'm not giving it up now that I've achieved it."
"You say that as if you mean a period of time longer than the few years you've been on the team," Derek remarked as he held the door for her.
She flicked a look at Aaron and saw a slight shrug.
"I do mean years; we met first when I was 24."
"And you knew then? How did we not pick up on that in the now?"
She smiled. "I am a profiler too Derek; I know how to keep secrets when it's necessary."
He followed her into the station, trying to get more information from her as they all followed JJ and Hotch. As a detective approached, he stopped bullying her and turned his attention to the work at hand.
"Detective Warner? I'm SSA Jennifer LaMontagne; we've spoken on the phone a few times."
"Yes, of course. I'm sorry to have messed you all around; we wanted to be sure we still had a case before we brought you in. DNA came back as not a match to the guy we held so we let him go."
"These agents are SSA's Hotchner, Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss-Hotchner and Dr Reid."
"I didn't think fraternisation of that level was allowed in the FBI?"
Hotch shrugged. "It normally wouldn't be but they are making an exception for us for as long as we keep our personal relationship from work."
"Fair enough; I'd happily work with my wife if I could figure out how to get a hairdresser on payroll. We have a room set aside for you to work from and the other bits and pieces you requested. Anything else you need, just ask. The sooner we catch the bastard terrorising my city, the safer I'll feel about leaving my lovely blond wife home alone at night."
"Do we know how he's gaining entry to their properties?"
"All the women confirm they left a window cracked for fresh air when they went to bed. Mesh frames were either fully removed or they were cut up until he could get through them. He appears to leave by the same route, for all doors are still locked when he leaves."
"Right then. JJ, you'll come with me when we interview the latest victim and the previous ones. Detective, would you mind taking Morgan and Rossi to the latest crime scene?" He nodded easily. "Good, and I'll get Emily to stay here with Reid and work the geographic profile and go over the statements we already have for any matching information."
Everyone nodded and got to work.
Reid and Emily walked into the room indicated and set about getting everything all set up. They were just finishing up when a young officer walked in with a large drink and a box of crackers.
"These are for you mam, courtesy of Agent Hotchner."
She blinked in surprise and smiled at him. "Thank you. It was very kind of you."
He smiled shyly and slipped out of the room.
"Where's my drink?"
Emily rolled her eyes and sat on the table with the cup in hand. "Lemonade for you is just a drink. For me, it's a godsend because it settles my stomach when it's flat. Unless you want me to throw up?"
He shuddered. "So it doesn't bother you that Hotch took JJ and left you here with me?"
"Not at all; he asked me before we left what I wanted to do. I told him I would be quite happy to avoid moving about too much so he said he'd leave me here."
"Oh. Well, we should get started on this."
"We should also call Garcia to see what she's come up with already on her end; make sure we aren't doubling up on information too much."
"Hmm," Reid murmured as he picked up a few pins. "How about you tell me the locations and I pin and draw."
"Sold."
New Section-
"Is it just me or are a few things not making sense to you either?"
Aaron shot a brief look at JJ as they returned to the station. "How do you mean?"
"Well, for one thing, except for this guy wielding a knife, it sounds like he isn't that violent. Then there is the insistence on him taking his victims' underwear with him. He's too controlled to be using the underwear to get going on this so what does he need it for?"
"It is a bit unusual to have an unsub that would rape without using violence. Insisting his victims keep their eyes closed as well displays that he is trying to minimise the impact to them."
"So he's a sexual predator with a compassionate side?"
"When you put it like that, it doesn't make as much sense as I would like. As to the underwear I'm stumped as well; perhaps we can track him by seeing where each garment was purchased."
JJ nodded and climbed out of the vehicle. They waited as Dave, Derek and Det. Warner joined them.
"What'd you find?" Aaron asked.
"Same things as at the other crime scenes; window mesh cut open and no fingerprints anywhere. This scene reveals as little as the others did; makes me wonder if maybe he's done this before somewhere else and perfected the technique for use here."
"We can get Garcia to run the DNA through the national database but that'll take more time and we only have a week to go before he strikes again if he sticks to schedule."
"Nothing indicates he's in a rush. He's the most controlled unsub I've ever seen. Twelve plus weeks and no fatalities, no mistakes. I think we're going to have trouble catching this one."
With Dave's ominous words hanging over them, they walked into the station. Entering the back room, they found Reid studying the map in front of him and Emily sound asleep on the couch and covered with a cop's jacket.
Dave chuckled softly as Aaron froze, work totally fleeing from his mind. Derek and JJ hid smiles and Detective Warner frowned slightly.
"Is she alright?"
Dave smiled at the younger man reassuringly. "She's fine. She recently had knee surgery and that coupled with morning sickness is knocking her about a bit. She'll wake in the morning embarrassed about zoning out and ready to get back to work."
"How long's she been out?" Aaron asked Reid quietly.
Reid twisted his upper body to look at the clock. "Only about half an hour. We covered heaps initially and then we stopped speaking. She moved to the couch to put her leg up and I guess the quiet coupled with the day caught up to her and she fell asleep. An officer bringing me a fax Garcia sent spotted her sleeping and thought she might be cold."
"So what do you have?"
"The geographic profile isn't making a lot of sense. These women are spread out across the city over a 30 mile radius. Garcia finished checking for any overlap and for the most part there isn't any. A couple of them frequent the same gym and shop in the same supermarket. A couple travel for work but they all do different things. They all go to church, but there are three different denominations represented here. I thought to run a church location profile but that hasn't revealed anything either. I've just been standing here for the last five minutes trying to see if I missed anything initially but as yet I'm drawing blanks."
"JJ suggested perhaps there might be overlap where the underwear taken was purchased; we'll get Garcia to look into it. Keep at it here, but don't worry too much if you can't come up with anything. It might just be that this time the big break will come from somewhere else."
"What'd you guys find out?"
"Everything with this latest victim is the same as the previous ones. There are no clues to go on but Morgan did suggest it was possible he perfected the technique elsewhere so we'll get Garcia on that also. I think for tonight we need to stop, step back and come at this with fresh eyes in the morning."
Everyone agreed. Reid returned the jacket to the cop as Aaron lifted his wife and headed for the door with JJ following with Emily's gear and shoes. Morgan and Rossi closed the room down for the night and getting in their vehicles they returned to the hotel.
End-
A/N: I know this chapter is a little slow and with little information; for the first time, I'm actually having trouble writing it. Hopefully that will clear soon. Please stick with me; things will get rocky for a bit and it's going to rain and then the sun shall shine again.
As always, I love reviews, so please let me know what you think.