Hello again, after such a long hiatus! I had a wonderful vacation as I had the privilege to sail on the magnificent Queen Elizabeth. Anyways, I've finally updated! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and do enjoy this chapter. Reviews are extremely welcomed. :)

She sobbed, tugging at her bound hands furiously as she thought of the things that she would miss: her mother's warm hugs, her best friend's daily gossip on who's with who, her puppy waiting for her to go home; life. "I'm sorry, please! Just let me go! My mom's waiting for me, please just let me go!" The figure before her just took a step forward and she let out a strangled scream at the glint of hard metal in his hands. Scrambling back into the dark corner that she had called hers for the last few days, she prayed to whatever god that was listening to give her another chance to see her mother again.

He looked on without a nuance of pity, the cold fire of rage burning as one scenario played out in his mind over, and over, and over. He could still hear her piteous cries as the slaps and hits rained down on her fragile body and he knew then he could never let this monster go.

"Let me go, please! Don't hurt me!" He glared at her, advancing further still until he stood just a hair's breadth from her. "I won't stop, do you know why? Because you never stop when they beg you to stop hitting them, to stop screaming at them, like they were nothing but trash!" He spat out, hand wiping the spittle from his mouth. "You want to see your mother again? Fine!" He grabbed the remote from the edge of the couch and pressed vehemently. The television winked to life and the face of Yvette Morton stared sternly at him, daring him to hurt her child. He smiled, eyes blank as he raised the knife slowly as if in a trance, ignoring the growing cries of the prostate girl before him. "Say goodbye to mommy."

And all that was left of Patricia Morton, aged 18, was the broken body of a young girl with her dark hair splayed out behind her and her face forever frozen in a call of 'mommy'.

"-have just confirmed that the body of Patricia Morton, the 18 year old daughter of Governor Yvette Morton has been uncovered. The Governor has yet to release a statement while the President has extended his condolences and support to Governor Morton as she goes through this difficult period of time. The FBI, who have been working closely with local police will be holding a press conference later this evening, stay tuned till then. In other news, Minnesota has-"

Hotch nodded at Derek who switched the television off. "We'll have to work fast. We need to catch this UnSub before he gets his next victim. Reid, I want you to be in touch with the coroner's office and get the autopsy reports as soon as they're available." At the young genius's nod, he moved on, training his sights on the others. "Has anyone found anything substantial to pin Howards or Barnes to?"

"You betcha! With the help of my babies and my exceptional genius, my chocolate stud muffin and I have uncovered more dirt on the victims." Penelope waved cheerily through the computer screen, "So we found out that all our victims actually had disciplinary records for bullying, which, by the way, never came up in my earlier search because they were all expunged due to the lack of evidence." The blonde scowled, twirling a pen, "Apparently when you're the Queen Bee of the school you can get away with almost everything."

Derek cut in then, leaning against the table, "I went through the security cameras again for the Wilson High gym where they were all taken from, and those girls, including Patricia Morton, were seen being involved in altercations with some female students." Emily nodded, "This would corroborate with the fact that Selina Camden, our first victim and Cynthia Nelson were victimizing Calleigh Howards, Hank's sister."

Hotch glanced at Rossi, "Dave, has Keith said anything that could help us?" The veteran profiler shook his head, "No, and I don't think he's going to say much." Jabbing his finger towards a stern looking woman standing just outside the interrogation room, "Remind me where this kid gets the cash to hire a lawyer, much less one of the top lawyers in the city?" JJ shrugged as she rifled through her notes for the press conference, "I don't know, but we better get him to crack, fast. The Governor's office has been hounding me the entire day; I wouldn't be surprised if she comes down to the precinct herself." She gave them a harried smile and straightened her clothes, "I have to go prepare now guys, I'll see you later."

Waving at the blonde, Emily turned back to the team. "Ok, so we know that Hank Howards is most likely our UnSub. He killed Selina because she bullied his sister, who suffers from Down syndrome." Reid's spindly fingers moved about as a contemplative look entered his eyes, "He sees the victims as surrogates for Selina; they all look like her and have been seen either verbally or physically abusing students." "But where does he keep them? And he lives with his aunt and sister, don't you think they'd notice if he was keeping a girl captive?" Derek folded his arms, muscles straining at the tension of not being able to catch the UnSub. "Maybe he's got a hideout somewhere his family doesn't know. Baby girl, got any property listed to Howards or his family?"

Beep! Garcia tapped some keys and shook her head regretfully at Derek, "No, sorry cupcake. His parents never had any property to their name other than a house Hank's aunt sold when his mother died." Emily tapped her pen against the steel table, "You know, maybe the UnSub held the girls in his own home. I mean, think about it, he's always in close proximity with his sister and with his job and school activities there's no way he could have extra time to hike out into the woods to some obscure place to hold the girls."

Hotch grunted and ran a hand over his tired face, "Either way, we need more evidence to get a warrant to search his house. Garcia, I want a tail on Howard, alert us if there's any suspicious movements. The rest of us will take a break for an hour and regroup here. JJ will be giving the press conference in half an hour; I'll see you later then."

Dave slinked out of the station with his jacket in hand; no doubt off to have a drink. Emily felt her phone vibrate and waved Derek and Reid off, the latter who was squawking indignantly at Derek's suggestion that he pay for lunch. Her brows knitted together as she saw the caller ID, "Aunt Grace? Is everything all right?" Hotch glanced at her through the corner of his eyes, concern clear on his face. Leigh? He mouthed to her, to which she shrugged in reply, "When will we know if the operation was a success?"

The brunette nodded and smiled when she felt her beau's hand come to rest on the small of her back. It never ceased to amaze her just how perceptive Hotch was to her emotions, and how he knew just what she needed. "Ok, is daddy there yet? Could I talk to him for a minute? Thanks." Emily covered the mouthpiece on her phone and spoke quietly to Hotch, "They're prepping Leigh for surgery now; Aunt Grace says it'll probably take a few hours and we'll know how it went at about 8." Sebastian Prentiss came on line and she turned to speak to her father, "Hi daddy, I know, I'm really sorry I couldn't be there but we're still caught up in a case and I-" She rolled her eyes affectionately as her father brushed away her apologies.

"I know daddy, I'm just worried. Give Leigh a hug for me will you? And I want to know how she is the moment she's out." She smiled as her father's rumbling voice put her frazzled nerves to ease. "Ok, thank you daddy, I'll see you as soon as we're done with this case. Bye."

Hotch stood and stretched, rolling his shoulders as he winced a little at the soreness in his body. "I was thinking we could head out for a quick bite before heading back? I want to see how the press conference goes later." At the brunette's nod, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and dropped a quick kiss onto her head, "Come on, we better get you some food before the entire precinct raises a false alarm over an earthquake." Emily scowled and smacked his chest lightly and moved closer to him as they exited the station, "Just for that, you're sleeping on the couch tonight."