Gossamermouse101 - Thanks for your review. I'm glad you like the Hotch/Isabella idea.

Note - I changed my original first chapter after posting it, so if this chapter doesn't make sense in terms of that couple you might want to reread, their relationship is going to be VERY slow burn. This chapter has less personal stuff and more unsub because I love me some crazy! I'm going to throw a few cases into the story - so be warned. Psycho serial killer alert!

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. The unsub, Nina and Isabella all belong to me though. Please R&R!

CHAPTER 2

"The first girl was found in Alamo Heights – a rather affluent neighbourhood, a city really… while the second one, an young boy was found in downtown San Antonio… The distance between the two victims is not that great, but everything else…"

Reid shook his head and put the file down in front of him again.

"Mara James, the first victim was a college student in her twenties. The only child of wealthy parents, apparently popular, smart… The second victim, Jose Gomez, was one of two children – only thirteen years old and from a family who seem to struggle financially."

JJ reached for her file, paging through it slowly.

"Third victim was Amber Mosely – seven years old. An only child to middle class parents, an older couple who apparently struggled to have kids. They must be heartbroken."

Her voice had a tender note in and Rossi squeezed her shoulder comfortingly as he glanced at his own file.

"The fourth victim was Jaylen King. Fifteen years old, African-American – the oldest child of three, no father – the stepfather was a suspect, but he was cleared."

Hotch moved in his seat and sighed, his voice strained when he explained details of the final victim.

"Richard Dawson was the fifth victim. Thirty years old, recently married – father to a two year old girl."

Nina shook her head and rubbed her hands over her face.

"This doesn't make any sense. These people have nothing in common, I've been through these files over and over again… what's the link? Why them?"

Hotch pursed his lips at her question, but nodded.

"Crime of opportunity can be ruled out – Mosely was abducted from school, Dawson was attacked at his home… The victims are specific. We just need to find the reason why."

Rossi turned fumbled with the file absently.

"There has to be a link."

"When we land, Rossi and JJ go to the police station in San Antonio, find out what they know. Reid and Morgan – the last victim's family. Parker and I will go to the crime scene."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Reid halted his solo game of chess to glance at the young woman who had taken a seat next to him. If he disagreed with Hotch, he did not mention it – however by the look on his face it was apparent that he would have preferred the new agent over Morgan in his quest to the victim's family.

Although Nina was elated at the chance of spending time with her brother – despite the realization that there was little to no chance of family bonding – her happiness faded the second they arrived at the crime scene. She shuddered involuntarily as she glanced around.

"Now… this I've never seen."

The radius of the blood splatter was wider than she had ever witnessed, clear evidence of the extreme brutality of the attack. Hotch nodded, his arms folded across his chest.

"This much overkill… it's not normal."

"It's like he tried to dehumanize them completely."

"What do you mean?"

"It's overkill, yes… but it doesn't look like anger, at least not just anger – there's more. The blood splatter shows that he didn't just kill him – he slaughtered them, like an… an animal."

She walked to where the victim had been found, kneeling next to a young officer.

"This is where she was found?"

"Yeah. Decapitated to say the least… His head was completely severed from his body, his limbs pulled off, he was gutted like a fish, we picked up his organs everywhere and…"

The young man trailed off as he truly noticed the woman next to him and a blush rose to his cheeks.

"Sorry… It's a little gruesome. I'm Officer O'Riley, but you can call me Mark… You don't seem like the type to hang out at a murder scene, if you don't mind me saying so…"

"The type? Why?"

"You're much too pretty to be a cop."

His tone could not be mistaken for anything other than flirtatious and Hotch took a quick step forward, a warning unmistakable in his voice.

"Thank you officer. I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is SSA Nina Parker. FBI."

Nina shot him an irritable look that he chose to ignore, and he focused on the intimidated young officer.

"We've seen the photos of the victim, Officer and we've all seen it – the body was mutilated, viciously so. Is there anything you can tell us that we haven't learned from the photos?"

The officer spluttered, mumbled and choked before rushing off to find a superior and Nina glared at Hotch, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Are you really going to treat me like a child?"

A muscle jumped in Hotch's jaw and he took a step closer to her.

"Agent Parker… this is a murder scene. Let me be very clear about this – what you do in your own free time is none of my business. However, I'd like to make it clear that when you are on the clock there are to be no personal liaising of any kind going on. Understood?"

"Understood, Agent Hotchner. It won't happen again."

"You're right, it won't. We're heading back to the offices."

A harsh sigh escaped from Nina's lips, but she didn't comment – simply following Hotch to where the car stood in wait.

Nina became painfully aware of the fact that she was on the outside the second they arrived at the offices. The team worked together like a well-oiled machine – rarely needing her input and speaking in what seemed like a foreign language that she was not privy to. Thus, she sat back in her chair silently as they debated about the possible motives behind the madness of their unsub. It was not until Garcia's voice cracked over the speakerphone that she moved, intrigued by the tone in the woman's voice.

"Guys… I think I found something…"

"What is it, baby girl?"

There was a short silence before Garcia spoke again.

"Well you asked me to try and find any link at all between the victims and… I did. They were all born out of state – at the exact same hospital."

Garcia's tone was enough to convince the team that this was not it, and it was once again Morgan who motivated her to continue.

"Go on, baby girl…"

"Okay, so not only were they born in the same hospital, but they were all created there too."

Hotch frowned at this and his head snapped up.

"Created?"

"Yeah… it seems they were all conceived via artificial insemination. All of them."

"Test tube babies?"

The words were out before Nina could help it and she shrunk back in her seat immediately as they eyes of the team turned towards her, shrugging.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, it's just…"

"It's unnatural."

It was Reid who spoke, his voice contemplative and he shook his head in defense when wide, and accusing eyes turned to him.

"Not to me! I don't have a problem with it, it's just… our unsub might."

"You think the fact that they were not conceived naturally has something to do with why they're being killed?"

Hotch sounded contemplative and Reid nodded hesitantly.

"It might. I definitely think it has something to do with how they're killed. The extreme overkill, the dehumanizing… he doesn't believe they are human."

Hotch scribbled a few notes silently before looking up with a quick nod.

"I believe we're ready to give the profile."

"We believe we're looking for a white male, aged in his late forties to early fifties. He holds a steady job – most probably in some religious institution. He is fanatical about religious rules and customs and sees these people as sacrifices to God. Until recently, he managed to hide his sociopathic tendencies, but we believe it has become more obvious – to the point where friends and family started to notice. This unsub is extremely dangerous – when cornered, he will kill anyone who gets in his way. We believe he left the clues because he wanted people to know… that he finds these people a menace to nature. As all the inseminations happened at the same hospital, we believe he has strong ties to this hospital. He might even have done charity work there, which is how he managed to get the files. We believe that the unsub recently suffered a great loss – possible a wife who died in labour after artificial insemination. This stressor started his rampage and we believe that his child, if still alive, is in grave danger. Thank you, that's all."

The press release was barely out when a young constable came rushing in, his face flushed.

"We have something… a woman on the phone; she thinks she knows who the killer is…"

Hotch moved swiftly, motioning for a constable to bring the phone closer. He grabbed it as soon as it was within his reach.

"This is SSA Aaron Hotchner, who am I speaking to?"

He listened for a minute before nodding and putting the phone down with an abrupt 'thank you'. He turned to the team, his hand instinctively moving to rest on his gun.

"We have a name. Let's go."

Hotch spoke as they drove to the address of the unsub – Victor Grayson. The call was apparently from his sister-in-law, Emilia, who had taken to caring for her niece after Elizabeth Grayson passed away during labour.

"She's afraid the child is his end-target, that he blames his daughter for his wife's death. We were completely off on the religious part of his profile – this is personal, very personal… he thinks AI killed his wife, he wants to destroy everything it stands for…"

It was clear from the eerie smile on his face upon their arrival that Victor expected them. The gun was pointed to his head within seconds and before anyone on the team could move the shot rang through them – blood spluttering Nina and Rossi who stood closest to him. Rossi moved automatically, shielding the girl from most of the splutter with an arm. Her eyes were wide when he let go of her – grotesque lines of blood dripping from her face. He gave her a fatherly smile and squeezed her shoulder as she wiped the blood from her cheek with a trembling hand.

"Welcome to the BAU."

Hotch just shook his head, making no comment and if his eyes lingered on the new agent a bit longer than usual no one noticed. He wanted to ask her if she was okay – she was his sister, of course he wanted to, but for some reason he could not break the stubborn professional barrier that kept her at a distance. So he didn't.

The flight back home was quiet – JJ, Reid and Hotch all sleeping peacefully, Morgan listening to something on his iPod, Rossi paging through a notebook.

"Does it ever stop?"

Rossi looked up when Nina spoke softly, light concern in his eyes.

"Does what stop?"

"Feeling… like you're on the outside."

"It does – after a while."

She nodded silently and glanced out of the window before turning her gaze to Hotch.

"Is he always such a hard-ass?"

"I wouldn't say something like that in front of the rest of the team if I were you. We're all fiercely loyal. But no… he's not. He just takes a while to let people in. Why does it matter so much to you?"

It would be so easy to share her secret, gain Rossi's help in opening the stranger she once knew up to her… and yet it did not seem like the right thing to do. Nina shook her head with a sigh and turned her gaze out the window again.

"It just does."

After a grueling case, Hotch was tired when he stepped foot into the house – however, the weariness faded when Jack came bouncing off the stairs into his arms.

"Daddy!"

Holding his son in his arms felt like heaven and Hotch sighed, suddenly desperate to spend more time with him.

"I was thinking… what about you and I go out to dinner? Just the two of us?"

The excited nod was more than enough to convince him and he loosened his tie, throwing it on the couch with a grin.

"What do you feel like eating?"

"Pizza!"

"Pizza it is then…"

He did not allow himself the time to sit down and let his weary eyes rest – instead he allowed his son to drag him to the car, chatting animatedly even as they entered the restaurant. He was so engrossed by Jack's chatter that he did not notice the figure leaving the restaurant and he flinched when he bumped into another body, hands frantically keeping a pair of shoulders to keep them both from standing.

"Sorry, I didn't see you!"

After keeping his footing, he recognized the school teacher and he smiled politely at her, gesturing to the fallen pizza on the ground.

"Miss Bianchi… I'm sorry."

Jack had already wrapped himself around the woman's legs, and Hotch knelt down to pick up the smashed box – the pizza was lying on the floor in eight smashed pieces and he winced.

Isabella Bianchi stopped him when he made a move to pick the food off the ground.

"Don't worry about it."

"I might owe you a pizza now…"

Whilst his good manners insisted he ask her to join them, his need to be alone with his son prevented it and she seemed to sense it, shaking her head.

"You know what… I was craving sushi anyway. You two enjoy your pizza."

Hotch breathed a shallow sigh of relief and nodded.

"Thank you – I'll make the fallen pizza up to you."

She laughed softly, adjusting her coat.

"I might take you up on that. Have a good night, Agent Hotchner. Jack."

He nodded, watching as his son waved at her excitably before turning to enter the restaurant – Isabella Bianchi long-forgotten as he immersed himself in his son's lively chatter.

A/N: I just want to make it clear that unlike the unsub, I have NO qualms about Artificial Insemination and I would not refer to these miracle babies as 'test tube babies' in my life... It's just fiction, so no offense meant!