Hotch and Rossi stuck to their plan. They only saw each other at the BAU. While on cases, Hotch often assigned him to work with Reid or Prentiss. Both men were miserable and missed each other's company. A couple of months went by and the team was in South Carolina working on a kidnapping case. To say the case went sour would be an understatement. A 4 year old year old girl was kidnapped and had been missing for five days. The team knew the statistics. If a child was going to be found alive, it was usually in the first 24 hours. The team came up with a profile; White male, late 20's/early 30's, pedophile, etc. Given the fact that the child was taken to satisfy a sexual need, there was a chance he was keeping her alive. The team was about to give the local PD a profile, when a call came in from a woman who said that she had kidnapped the little girl because she reminded her of her daughter who died in a car crash. "I just want you to tell her parents that she is safe and has a new home now", the woman said. They heard what sounded like a child crying in the background.

Hotch felt uneasy. Something just wasn't adding up, it seemed too easy. The team looked at Hotch for direction. He pulled their original profile and came up with a new one based on the call from their new unsub. He had Garcia research car accidents within the last five years in which a girl aged 2 to 6 was killed. The team spent two days following the list that Garcia had provided. The searches lead them to Mary Sullivan, a woman who lost her three and a half year old daughter 6 months ago. The team went to her home. She wasn't there, but they talked to her husband. It soon became clear that there was no way she could have kidnapped the little girl. Mary had a psychotic break due to stress two months ago and was locked away on a psych ward receiving treatment. When Reid went to interview her, she confessed to calling the police. She said that she did kidnap the girl and that she was being kept under her hospital bed. When police looked under her bed they found pictures of her daughter and a tape recording of her daughter. That must have been the child they heard in the background.

The team was led in the wrong direction. The girl was still out there. Hotch and the team reverted back to their original profile, but it was too late, Kristen's body was found that afternoon. The medical examiner estimated that she had been dead 12 hours. Hotch felt sick.

Hotch had disappeared from the police station. Rossi found him sitting in a park across the street.

"Aaron, it was a case gone bad. That's all".

"I should have trusted my gut feeling. Something felt wrong to me after her call...it seemed too easy".

"We had no leads Aaron. We had to follow up on her call. Damn it we heard a child crying in the background."

"I should have left some of the team to flesh out our original profile. I should have..."

Dave realizes that Hotch is blaming himself for the death of Kristen. "So you think this is your fault?"

"It is" Hotch responds, tears glistening in his eyes.

Rossi first instinct was to wrap his friend in his arms and comfort him. But he knew the situation called for a tougher approach.

"Fine if you want to blame yourself for every case gone bad, go ahead. In a couple of years we will find your goodbye note, just like Reid found Jason's. Aaron we catch killers, rapists, and every other kind of scum everyday. We can't save every victim. We're not super heroes, we're only human".

"She was only five".

"Yes she was, and her killer is still out there. Now we couldn't save her, but we can catch the unsub that did this to her, thus saving more kids".

Hotch took a deep breath. "Let's go give a profile".

The two men started back towards the police station.

"Thanks Dave"

Dave patted his friend on the back. "No problem"

"By the way, if we are not super heroes, how do you explain Morgan? He runs on the tops of trains, jumps out of trucks filled with explosives".

"I said we are not super heroes, Morgan well...maybe?"

The two men went back and got to work. The team was in South Carolina for another nine days. On the six day another little girl went missing. This time the team worked the profile and were able to track the unsub down. They found him at home; the little girl was tied up in his back bedroom. She was hurt and emotionally fragile, but she was alive.

The team returned to Quantico and filed their reports. Since this was the team's third back to back case, Hotch gave the team a week of stand down time.

As the team headed out, Rossi noticed that Hotch was still in his office. He knew he should just go home, but he needed to connect with Hotch, and see if he was alright.

Hotch looked up when he heard the knock at his office door. When he saw Dave standing in the doorway his heart leapt.

"Dave, I thought you left".

"Forgot some notes in my office. I thought I'd head to Little Creek for a couple of days, maybe do some writing. "How about you?"

"I don't know".

"Aaron for God sakes get out of this office for a few days. You need a break too".

"I will".

"Promise?"

"I promise". Dave turned around and began to leave. He stopped when he heard Hotch call out his name. "Dave thanks for what you did for me in Greenville. It was a real low point for me...and as always, you were there to pick me up".

"I care about you Aaron".

"I care about you too Dave. Have a good few days off, I'll see you Tuesday".

Author's Note: I hope everyone is enjoying this story, as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would love some feedback!