'What is this?' you ask. 'An update?!'

Indeed it is! I seriously am so sorry for the length of time it has taken me to update! I've had loads going on at school and had an american exchange girl over who left a week ago but decided to leave her cough and cold behind! Anyway enough of these excuses... thank you to all those who reviewed the second chapter, I hope you enjoy this one as much. There are pieces of this chapter that I kept redoing so I hope it's ok! Love to hear what you think!

Chapter 3: Realisation

'The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear' – Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

A drowsy heavy feeling came over her body as her eyelids tried to open. She felt a hard, cold surface against her cheek and groaned at the throbbing in her head as she slowly came to her senses. She tried to adjust her eyes to her dark surroundings, a feeling of nausea rising up inside of her. She tried to push herself up from the ground but stopped when her wrists were weighed down and metal clattering sounded out. Bending her arms, she managed to push herself onto her elbows only to see metal chains wrapped around her wrists. JJ's heart beat sped up as her eyes followed the short chain to the heavy metal drainpipe. She started panicking as she shook at the chains in an attempt to rid herself of them. Using the little strength in her body she heaved herself into a sitting position, the heavy chain moving up the drainpipe.

"Oh god, oh god," she murmured in panic whilst trying to keep a level head. She moved her hands to the pipe and tried to pull the chain off causing a loud clashing sound to tear through the silence of what she could only describe as a dungeon like room.

"You know that's not going to help."

JJ's head flew up at the sound of the deep, gruff voice.

"What did you do to me?" she asked angrily as a figure loomed in the heavy wooden doorway. She had sounded angry though truthfully more than anything else she was terrified.

"They're far too strong to break off. Trust me they've been tested," he said with a cruel smile.

"What do you want with me?"

"Hmm that is a very interesting question. You know I think I'll leave you alone to think that one over. But don't worry your pretty little head I'll be back later. Oh and don't waste your breath screaming…no one's going to hear you…"

"No wait! Don't… Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" she shouted this with no response as she heard him bolt the door from the other side and walk away, his boots echoing off the concrete floor. JJ looked around the small dark room that she was trapped in. It was completely bare with a concrete floor and walls and a heavy wooden door. The only light came from a weak bulb hanging in the middle of the bare ceiling, with not even a crack to let any natural light in. There was a slightly damp smell that penetrated right into her nostrils causing her feeling of nausea to increase. She screwed her eyes shut trying to think back to the last thing she could remember. She remembered him dragging her out of the house and down the path where there was a car parked by the curb, his hand firmly over her mouth. She remembered being bundled into the car when his hand was placed with a cloth and from then on everything gradually faded into black. She had no idea how long she had been out of it. It could have been half and hour, or it could have been five hours.

JJ stood up, the chain she was attached to moving up the drain pipe. She looked desperately around her and rattled at the chains again, her natural instinct telling her to try and break free. She wondered for a second why she was chained up if there was no way out of the room, the door locked and too heavy for her to break through, but she had spent long enough with her psycho-analysing team to have a fair idea. She pictured in her head Gideon explaining the actions of the unsub.

"He chains her for a power rush, likes to feel in control."

"He chains her so that…"

JJ felt tears stinging her eyes and her body grow weak at the true realisation of her situation.

"…so that he can do whatever he wants to her…"

She felt her lips begin to quiver and almost without meaning to, cries for help erupted from her mouth.

"SOMEBODY HELP! HELP ME!! Oh god please help me," she whimpered quietly, as she looked desperately around her, the small room seemingly closing in on her and suffocating her slowly and painfully.

"Oh uh sorry one second," Reid excused himself when his cell phone rang. "Garcia what's up?" he asked as her name flashed across his screen.

"Hmm I don't know, why don't you tell me," she said coyly.

"Sorry?" Reid asked in confusion.

"Never mind. Are you and Emily still at Katie Mitchell's home?"

"Yeah we're just talking to a couple of her neighbours. Why what's going on?"

"Hotch just wanted me to ask if you guys could swing by JJ's place seen as you're nearby."

"She hasn't called yet?"

"Nada."

"Hmm that's weird," he commented.

"I'm sure she's fine but if you could just check up."

"Yeah of course, she's probably just feeling grotty and has gone to bed," he concluded out loud but knew it was a big lie on the inside.

"Ok talk later."

"Hey that was Garcia on the phone," he told Emily as she walked over to him. "JJ still hasn't called and she asked if we could stop by her place seen as we're the closest."

"Yeah that's good actually, I thought we'd go chat to Katie's work partner so we can stop off on the way."

"Mrs Mann?"

"Yes?" a worn out woman opened the door, the shadows under her eyes casting an aura of pain and fear over her whole body.

"I'm Agent Gideon, from the FBI," he held up his badge as did Morgan. "And this is Agent Morgan. We would like to talk to you about your daughter Amy."

"What do you want to know?" she asked as she led them into the living room.

"We just want to learn what she was like. We're from the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI which means that we get into the minds of the criminals. And we do this through victimology," Morgan explained.

"Whatever will help to bring my Amy back…" Mrs Mann said slowly lowering herself onto the seat. Morgan took a seat opposite her and Gideon stayed standing.

"Firstly do you know of anyone that would wish any harm towards Amy? A grudge at work maybe?" Gideon questioned her.

"She teaches at an elementary school and as far as I know she doesn't have any enemies there or outside of work. I mean she was just a young woman who lived a carefree and happy life…why would anyone want to do this to her?" Mrs Mann said, as she lifted her hand up to her mouth to muffle a sob.

"I really am sorry Mrs Mann. We're doing everything we can to get Amy home safe," Gideon assured her.

"Do you recognise either of these two women?" Morgan asked her showing her pictures of Katie Mitchell and Josie McDonald.

"No, no I don't. Are these the other two women who have disappeared?" she asked. Morgan nodded his head. "But they all look so alike," she commented.

"That may have been the kidnappers' reason for taking your daughter – her looks," Gideon explained.

"But why?" she asked quietly.

"We're not sure yet Mrs Mann but the fact that all three women have huge similarities in physical appearance suggests that Amy does not know her abductor. It seems he has picked her for her looks rather than for who she is," Morgan tried to explain.

"Amy lives alone doesn't she?" Gideon questioned.

"Umm yes, though she has a boyfriend who often stays over."

"How often does he stay over?" Morgan asked her.

"He usually stays on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. You see he owns a chain of restaurant and manages one near here on these days."

Gideon and Morgan glanced at each other. They both knew that the unsub had to have known when Amy was going to be alone and so must have been watching her for a good period of time, learning her schedule.

"Do you know how we could contact him?" Gideon asked her.

"He is actually coming over here in about an hour. He's been helping me through everything since Amy disappeared. He's the only one who knows how I feel. Amy's father died when she was small and she doesn't have any siblings," she explained.

"Would you mind if we waited to talk to him?" Gideon asked her.

"Not at all, make yourself at home," she said gesturing for Gideon to take a seat.

"You know I've got a funny feeling in my stomach," Reid commented as he and Emily drove to JJ's house.

"What did you have for breakfast?"

"No it's not that sort of feeling more of a sinking feeling, a feeling of I don't know…" he tried to explain but failed.

"So what you're psychic now?" Emily asked jokingly.

She pulled into the curb and they jumped out the car. Reid walked around the car and joined Emily in walking up the path.

"Well her car's still here," Emily commented. "And her curtains are still drawn," she said shaking her head.

"What's so bad about that?" Reid asked her.

"Nothing my mom just used to hate it if I forgot to open my curtains, apparently creates a bad atmosphere, a bad omen for the rest of the day."

"You know in America there is a superstition that indicates that a black cat is a bad omen but in the United Kingdom it is considered to be a good omen."

"What about in France?" Emily asked teasingly knowing that Reid wouldn't realise that she was just playing with him

"Oh um, I'm not 100 sure though uh I guess with it's proximity to the UK it would be considered a good omen as superstitions tend to travel by word of mouth."

Emily shook her head and laughed quietly.

"What?" Reid asked her innocently.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Oh ok," he said with a slight frown.

As they reached the door Emily pressed on the doorbell. They stood there patiently but there was no sound from inside. She eventually reached over and pressed the bell again.

"JJ?!" she shouted through the door. She looked at Reid who was concentrating for any sounds.

"Maybe the door's unlocked," Emily suggested.

"No JJ never leaves her door unlocked; she's crazy when it comes to things like that."

Emily ignored Reid and reached to the handle. Much to Reid's surprise the handle turned easily.

"Never huh?" she said looking at Reid.

She pushed the door open and walked into the hallway. Reid followed her in but they both stopped dead in their tracks. On the floor in front of them was the wreckage of the table.

"What the hell happened in here?" Emily said under her breath.

"I don't know but you know that funny feeling I had earlier? Well it just multiplied by like a million."

Emily peered down the hallway.

"JJ?!" she shouted.

No reply.

"JJ?!" Reid joined her.

They looked at each other.

"You take the front I'll go through the back," Emily suggested. Reid nodded and they split up.

Reid knocked on a door and gently pushed it open revealing JJ's bedroom.

"JJ? You in there?"

The room was tinged in red, the sunlight casting rays through the curtains. But JJ was nowhere to be seen. He looked around the room. The bed was perfectly made, and her work clothes were draped over the chair at her dresser. The room was immaculate. Too immaculate for Reid's liking.

"Reid!"

Emily's voice called his name.

"What's wrong?" he asked rushing into the kitchen.

"More like what's right."

Reid looked at the chicken and the dried out potatoes and the empty plate sitting on the work top.

"Why would she leave after taking the time to make all this food?" Emily asked confused. "It would have to be something urgent."

"But if it was urgent then why didn't she take her car?"

"Or her cell," Emily lifted JJ's cell off the work top. She looked around the kitchen and back out to the hall way. She could feel in her gut that something really wasn't right.

"Maybe she didn't leave..." Emily said.

"Clearly she did 'cause she's not here."

"No maybe…maybe she was taken."

"Why would anyone want to take JJ?" Reid asked in confusion.

"Because she's in the 25-30 age range, blonde hair, blue eyes…"

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"JJ's our number 4..." she said solemnly looking at Reid. "I need to call this in," she said taking her cell out her pocket.

"Wo, wait…we don't know for sure that she's been taken," Reid said not wanting to jump to any conclusions - or just not wanting to accept the truth.

"What we do know is that her cell phone and car are still here and there's a sign of a significant struggle at the door. Also there's a boot print mark on the edge of the door, some blood on the worktop and the knife drawer is ajar."

Reid looked at Emily in amazement.

"What? I took a course in Crime Scene investigating; I have a very trained eye. Look my guess at what happened is that JJ pushed the table over to try and keep the unsub back. She then ran towards the kitchen and he kicked the door shut before following her into the kitchen. She then ran to the knife drawer to defend herself but he caught up and forced her down causing her to hit her head off the work top."

Reid looked back down the hallway imagining JJ running for her life towards the kitchen. Even just the thought of this made his stomach turn.

"I think we should check the house before raising any alarm," Reid suggested.

"Ok fine," Emily agreed.

After searching through JJ's house Reid and Emily met back in the kitchen.

"Can I call it in now?" she asked him after they were certain that JJ was nowhere to be found. Reid nodded his head gravely.

"Hotch?" Emily said into her cell. "This is Prentiss. I'm with Reid. Umm we think we have a fourth victim."

"What? Where are you guys?" he asked her urgently.

"We're at 412 Woodfield Park..." she said hesitantly, glancing at Reid.

"412 Woodfield Park? But that's JJ's hou… Prentiss what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we think that…um that JJ is the fourth victim…"

"What do you mean you think?"

"We came to JJ's house and well her door was unlocked, there is uneaten food lying in the kitchen and uh, the table at her front door has been smashed to the ground. She is nowhere to be found. Please something is really not right. Can you get a team of crime scene investigators together and get here ASAP?"

"Ok I'll be there soon."

"Thanks."

"And Prentiss?

"Yeah?"

"I hope to god that you're wrong about this."

"Me too Hotch, me too," she answered before hanging up.

"Wh...what do we do now?" Reid stuttered.

"All we can do," Emily said. "Wait."

She looked at her young colleague's face which had lost all it's colour. She followed his gaze over to the other side of the kitchen to a picture pinned to the notice board. A picture of the whole team pre Emily. In the middle of the picture was a grinning Reid, his arms wrapped around a smiling JJ.

"She will be ok," she said gently, trying to comfort him.

"You don't know that," he said bluntly.

"No but I know that we have the best team behind us to find her."

"You just don't get it," he said almost angrily, looking at Emily.

"I don't get what?" she asked defensively. "That you are scared for JJ? 'Cause I get that."

"No…that the truth is that we don't save everyone. There are ones who haven't been ok, and there will be more still."

"We don't even know any details. There's no point in thinking like that," she said trying to get through to him.

"It's better than lying to myself. I don't know that she's going to be ok. And neither do you."

He took one last look at Emily before leaving the room. She looked back at the picture and glanced at Reid's retreating figure. No matter what he said she was going keep hope and believe that JJ would be alright.

The Swedish founder of the Nobel Prize, Arthur Bernhard Nobel, once said – 'Hope is natures veil for hiding truth's nakedness'.

There we go, hope it was even slightly worth the wait? I will get the next one up as soon as I can but I'm pretty busy just now!

Happy vibes to everyone!XXX