Lights! Camera! Action!

A\N: Nothing much to say except to enjoy this chapter!

All mistakes are my own!

Happy reading!

Chapter 4

*Present day* ''I never meant to leave you. Please forgive me. I never meant to leave you...''

(Folkston, latest crime scene - late afternoon)

She climbed out of the vehicle and walked in direction of a small wood followed by Hotch. "That's not a very romantic place to take his girlfriend out on a date!" The brunette popped out and shot a sideway look at him, then smiled as she saw his reaction.

"Excuse me?" Hotch kept his serious but she knew him well to know that he was a bit confused by her remark.

"I'm talking about the teenage couple who found the victim." She narrowed her eyes as her lips curled up. "What did you think I was talking?" She asked on a teasing tone.

Hotch gave her a tiny eyebrow-raise and blew a sigh. He was used to these kind of references with Garcia but was always a bit confused when Prentiss was acting like this with him. ''Shouldn't we stay focused on our work?'' He answered a little more serious.

''Of course!'' She exclaimed on a desolate tone. ''The suspect really didn't want us to find the victim.'' She said as she turned the subject onto the case again. As Hotch lifted the crime scene's yellow tape, he let the brunette walk in the perimeter first then followed her. They proceed through the crowd of forensics,detectives and officers until as Emily spotted the detective in charge of the investigation. The grayish haired man made Emily think of the former FBI agent Jason Gideon. He wore black shoes, a pair of blue jeans and a white striped blue shirt. Though his physic was pretty look like to the former profiler, he wasn't as compassionate and emotional as Gideon was. Emily felt a shiver down her spine when her eyes connected with him. His expression was hard and his gaze was ice cold, almost as if he had no soul. She definitely didn't trust him. She saw her supervisor shaking the soulless man's hand.

''Detective Richardson,'' Hotch greeted after the handshake. The detective went to shake Emily's hand but she crossed her arms and gave him a tiny smile instead. She knew she'd made him uncomfortable and Hotch probably noticed it too because he broke the silence, ''Detective, have you been able to identify the victim?'' He asked without keeping his eyes off of his interlocutor.

The officer in charge ran a hand through his gray hair then released a breath. ''Without a doubt!'' He answered as he shoved his hands into his Jacket' pockets. He started to walk as Hotch and Prentiss followed him up to a tree. When he stopped, he lowered his head. "We did nothing to stop this..." He added with a hint of anger in his voice.

"This is not your fault, detective." Hotch stated on a tone that Emily had heard a lot when a colleague was blaming itself for the tragic fate of one or many victims. "Have you find anything new?" He asked without dwelling on the guilt of the detective.

"The legist reported her death to only three hours ago. She was killed from a shot gun wound to the back of her head, exactly like the second killing." He made a pause and exhaled an exaggerated sigh. "How the hell can someone have the guts to shoot a nine year old girl? Have you ever seen something more horrible than this?"

"We've seen a lot of atrocities in our career that can't be compared." Emily stated as she put her hands on each side her hips. She lowered her head to look at the motionless victim's body. "Do you think our UnSub experienced remorses?" She was now talking to his supervisor.

Hotchner seemed to consider the victim's position a moment before giving an answer. "It's possible. The suspect hadn't planned on killing the girl but something came up and had to get rid of her. That could explain why the victim's body had been laid face down." Hotch heard Richardson sigh in disbelief. As if the fact that the suspect can experience remorses was impossible. "Is there a problem, detective?" He asked a bit annoyed by the detective's behavior which was noticed by Prentiss who had already seen this expression on his boss's face.

"There won't be anymore." He answered harshly. "This bitch is going down!" He articulated with a genuine anger. The detective was about to add something else but was cut off by two new presences.

Rossi and Morgan had joined them to exchange what they had found. As Rossi started to explain his theory, he noticed the tension in the atmosphere. He slowed his speech until the silence wrapped them. Rossi took an inquiring look and eyed his dark haired male partner. "Have we interrupted something?" He wondered out loud, eyes wandering to the detective, who clearly seemed angry, to Emily, who was staring Richardson with a displeased look.

Emily knew that all eyes was on her but she ignored them. "Who were you talking about?" She demanded still staring at Richardson. She wasn't completely convinced that he was talking about her but who else could it be?

Richardson backed away a little and took a defensive position. "She knew exactly this would happen!" He snapped at her waving a hand in the victim's direction. "She is responsible for this and the others too! She is going to pay for that. You can be sure that I'll bring this bitch down!"

"Her name is Paige and if you are too dumb to understand that she could have never killed this girl because she was with me in custody when Ariel Prescott died, maybe you shouldn't have choose this career! This is sad and awful but you can't put the blame on whomever the hell you want!" The words left her mouth so fast that she hadn't noticed she had crossed the line.

"What the fuck is wrong with her? Have you ever showed her how to behave in public?" He articulated nastily without even looking to the brunette.

"I think..." Rossi's attempt to calm the atmosphere had failed and so as Prentiss's composure.

"You're one sexist son of a bitch!" She barked at him. As she took a step forward in the detective's direction, she felt a strong pair of arms holding her back.

"Prentiss!" She heard Hotch calling her name but she was too blinded by the anger to see anything. The only thing she heard after was Morgan saying he'll handle it.

When she started to recover all her senses, she noticed that Morgan had put his arms around her and was leading them back to the place they had parked the SUVs. "Emily?" She wondered how many times Morgan had call her name and the only response she gave him was a grunt. "Emily, you want to tell me want the hell happened back there?" He asked with a genuine concern.

"I just can't stand him!" She was quick to answer. She put her eyebrows in a frown when she saw Morgan's lips curl up.

"Yeah, we saw that!" He smiled then took back his worried expression. "But why? Did something happen?" As they reached the parked black Tahoe, Morgan opened the passenger door and made a sign to Prentiss to climb in.

"I don't know, there's something weird about this guy as if he was up to something. I just don't trust him at all." She explained while hopping into the vehicle. Morgan listened to her then he nodded and walked around to got into the driver's seat. "Where we're going?" She suddenly asked with a curious look.

Morgan eyed Prentiss and started the engine. "How about a little break? I saw this little Pizzeria in town that looked delicious." He offered while he made the SUV back away and turned on the left to return on the road. "So?" He asked her again when he noticed she hadn't replied yet. "It's already five pm and I am sure you haven't ate today!"

His last comment made Emily frowned. "So what, you want to take care of me now?" She asked with a defiant tone.

"I would if you asked me." He replied honestly without keeping his eyes off of the road. After twenty minutes, they were back in town and were only ten minutes away from the pizzeria. They remained silent in their thought until they were finally arrived. Morgan parked the black Tahoe in front of the restaurant and climbed out. Prentiss hopped out and followed him toward the pizzeria. "My stomach is already looking forward to this pizza!" He commented with his eyes closed and his nose rising up as if he delightfully enjoyed the smell. Whereas she eyed her partner with an amused look, they entered in the restaurant.

"You want to sit here?" Emily pointed to the corner booth in the back.

"Anywhere is good for me!" He answered and headed to the place Emily had proposed.

"Right! As long as you get your pizza, it's all good!" She quipped and took the menu on the table. "So, do you want to share a vegetarian with me?" She asked with a teasing look.

Morgan blew a giggle. "How about pepperoni and cheese!?"

As they were friendly arguing the choice of their pizza garnishes, a twentyish chestnut haired waitress came up to them with a little notebook and a pen. "Hi! are you ready to order?" Morgan stared Prentiss few seconds, with an unsure look. "Or I can come back in five minutes if you want?" She suggested when she saw that both didn't say anything.

Prentiss raised her eyes and connected with the waitress's. "It's okay, we'll have a half pepperoni and cheese half vegetarian." The waitress nodded then asked them the pizza size. "Medium?" Emily turned her head toward Morgan and he gave her a nod of approval.

"So, a medium half pepperoni and cheese half vegetarian?" She repeated the command to be sure. "Would you like anything to drink with your pizza?"

"Iced tea for me!" Emily exclaimed as Morgan ordered the same drink. They watch the waitress walking away then turned to face each other. "Do you think I've overreacted?" She asked him with a more serious look.

"There were wrongs on both side." He replied genuinely. "I don't think that telling him he was a sexist son of a bitch was necessary though." He added with a hint of teasing in his voice. "But I think you're maybe a bit too involved in this case." He paused when the waitress came to them with their drink.

Emily furrowed her brow in confusion. "I know I went too far with Richardson but what makes you think I'm too involved? I am just doing my job. I want to bring the bad guy to justice." She took a gulp of her iced tea then eyed Morgan. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Speaking about bad guy, did they interview Paige's teacher? She told me that he had read her story the day before the first murder." Another silence when the chestnut haired woman came back with their pizza.

"Its a dead end," Morgan said while taking a bite of his slice of pizza. "They questioned him and he has a strong alibi. He was at his home when the murder was committed and his wife and seven year old daughter can testify it."

Prentiss dropped her shoulder and the piece of pizza she had in hands. "Then there has to be an explanation. This girl is not the killer neither a partner. She is innocent, I could swear." Emily drank her iced tea and took a look at her watch on her left wrist. It said six ten pm. She knew that after their pizza they would return to the local PD to continue the investigation. However, she wasn't looking forward to see the detective Richardson again.

Morgan snapped her out of her thought, waving a hand in front of her. "Are you going to answer?" He asked as Emily gave him a confused look. "Your phone." He said and lowered his head to Emily's cell phone laid on the corner of the table.

"Oh." She simply said and pushed a button to answer without checking the ID caller. "Prentiss."

"Emily," A female voice said and as she recognized the familiar voice, the brunette leaned back in her seat, answering by the positive. "There's someone who wants to talk to you." JJ added without giving her any other details.

Emily frowned not sure if she should be worried or not. Morgan had probably noticed the uncertainty on her face because his eyebrows were arched down and his eyes narrowed. She didn't have the chance to ask to her blond friend who wanted to talk to her that a different voice suddenly spoke out. "Emily, can we talk?" The voice was young and seemed extremely nervous.

"Paige? Why...? What's the matter?" Prentiss wasn't sure what to say such she was surprised by this call. She knew by the tone of her voice that the teenage girl's was about to break down.

"I want to talk to you." Short silence and Emily heard the young woman sniff as if she just had cry. "I need to show you something."

Still confused, Emily shared a look with Derek who was trying his best to understand what was going on. "Okay, I'm on my way." The brunette finally said before hanging up her phone. As she rose from her seat, she took a last sip of her iced tea. "We have to go back to the station." She said as Derek stood and shoved his hand in his pocket to grab his wallet. He dropped on the table enough money to cover the bill and a generous tip for the waitress.

"What's going on?" Morgan asked once both were back in the SUV.

"I'm not sure... I think something happened and Paige is involved."

(Emily's place)

Her attention was all on the dark haired male pacing before her in her living room. An expression on his face that she until now had never seen. Was it some kind of anxiety or maybe fear? They still haven't talked since he was here. Maybe he was feeling guilty, like they all seem to feel lately. "Did you come here only to dig a hole into the floor?" She finally articulated but the man seemed to focus in his thought to even notice that she had just say something.

He suddenly stopped after few minutes and joined the brunette. The expression she had seen earlier was no longer on his face, it has gave way to another one more familiar. He was sad. "I know you'll get through this. You're a fighter." His words seemed to choke in his throat and Emily knew he wasn't convinced of his own words.

She wasn't sure what to do or say. She had tried to comfort her friends the best she could, considering the situation. "Aaron?" His name worriedly escaped her lips and in an hesitant move, he took her hand.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited you since..." He interrupted himself searching his words. The tears started to fill his eyes up. "Don't leave us, we need you..." Emily would have probably been annoyed by all the concern everyone had for her but the man she was looking at had dropped his stone wall and for the first time she knew he had no idea what to do. ''I think I'm doing a mistake.'' He said after few minutes of silence. She bore her eyes into him and squeezed his hand, ready to hear his confession. ''I'm not sure what to do about Morgan...'' He paused to search his words. ''You both shouldn't have done that but what Morgan did was...'' He stopped again and lowered his head as if he wanted to stop himself from saying something he would regret. ''If Strauss comes to know what really happened that night, he will lose his job...''

Emily knew that Hotch was right and the more she listened him, the more she feared the decision he had taken. ''So what are you going to do? How will you hide this from Strauss?''

''...But he doesn't deserve this. Derek Morgan is a very good man that I respect a lot. I'd put my life in his hands... That's why I think he should be transferred to the FBI New York Field Office at the end of this week.''

It took few minutes to Emily to assimilate the words but when she did, she removed her hand from his hold and looked his supervisor with a dumbfounded look. ''What!? No, you can't do that! It's all my fault if Morgan did...'' She interrupted herself when she noticed Hotch leaving the room.

He stopped at the doorway and turned. ''Hold on Emily. Please, hold on...''

***

*Present day* ''What happened was just a tragic misunderstanding. I hope I'll get the chance to see you again before I die...''

So do you think Emily overreacted? And what do you think about Richardson and Paige?

Another Hotch/Emily moment... How do you think Morgan will react to be sent away and how the team will react? Humm...

I wonder if you guys have any idea where this story is going!?

Anyway hope you liked the chapter. Don't forget to review! :)

CalleighJ