Thank you to all of the awesome people who have read and reviewed this story! Hopefully this will alleviate most of the confusion. Probably not all of it. Just most of it.

Hotch was staring.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't stop staring.

Someone was pulling on his jacket. He tried to move. He tried to turn his head to look.

Frozen.

Oh, well.

"Agent Hotchner?"

The voice came to him from far off. He blinked.

Well, that was progress.

"Agent Hotchner!"

He wrenched his neck away from the scene in front of him; the amount of effort it took was physically painful.

Alyssa was grabbing onto his jacket, tears streaming down her face. "I had to, Agent Hotchner," she sobbed. "I'm sorry…I couldn't help it…I saved you, didn't I….Agent Hotchner?"

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He looked at the building again; what building? He thought. The building was gone. Everything was red. He closed his eyes, suddenly overcome by the feeling of nausea.

He reached out for support, trying to grab onto the nearest thing; that thing, apparently, was Alyssa's shoulder. He gripped it tight, trying to keep himself from falling over. Everything was swimming very strangely.

"Agent Hotchner?" Alyssa sounded fearful.

He opened his mouth; he felt like he should say something. All that came out was a strange, choking noise.

"Agent Hotchner!" Alyssa shrieked.

"I killed them," he gasped suddenly. He hadn't intended to say it; he hadn't even been thinking it; but that's what had come out.

"Agent Hotchn…" Alyssa trailed off as Hotch pulled away from her, stumbling towards the building.

"Morgan!" He shouted stupidly. "Prentiss? DAVE! MORGAN!" He was forced to stop as another small explosion rocked what was left of the building.

Probably the fire getting to the gasoline in the heating tank, Hotch mused, his brain feeling strange and detached.

"Agent Hotchner!" He felt Alyssa run up beside him. She put her hand around his arm, as if to pull him back. He ignored her, trying to force his way towards the building.

"Agent Hotchner, it isn't safe," she whispered.

Hotch stopped struggling, turning wildly to look at her, snatching at pieces of fragmented reality. "Alyssa," he muttered, "You should get with the EMTs. It…it isn't safe." He turned around. "Where…where are they?"

He could see her eyes welling up with tears again. "In…inside the building," she hiccupped.

Forcing his hands to stop their trembling, Hotch reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed the number.

"911, what's your emergency?" The woman on the other end sounded very bored.

"We need an ambulance sent to St. Emerson's nursing home," he muttered. He hung up before the lady had a chance to respond.

Alyssa was staring at the building, shaking her head. "It's no use," she whispered.

Hotch didn't say anything.

"There's nothing left," she moaned, her voice coming out in a strange, high pitched wail. She grabbed onto Hotch's arm and began to cry again. Hotch made no move to comfort her. He had something else on his mind.

"You said you were sorry," he muttered. He turned slowly towards her. She was looking at him with desperate, pleading eyes; guilty eyes.

"He has Katie," she whispered.

Hotch swallowed, different parts of his brain scrambling to make sense of what she was saying. "Who?"

If Alyssa had been upset before, it was nothing compared to now. She broke down into hysterics, clutching Hotch's arm. "He would've known, Agent Hotchner. He would've killed her, then…then he would've killed me, I…" she trailed off. "I didn't know what it was," she whispered. "I hoped…"

Hotch blinked. "You set off the bomb," he said blankly.

"I had to, Agent Hotchner…he has Katie, Agent Hotchner…" The girl's brown eyes were begging him for forgiveness.

Hotch just shook his head. "How?" he rasped.

She broke down crying again, reaching into her pocket and thrusting a cell phone into his hand. "It's his," she choked out. "Oh, god…I didn't know…what'd I do…?"

Hotch walked away from her, staring at the cell phone in his hands. He flipped it open. There were two recent calls. One was to "Mom," made approximately seven minutes ago. The other was to "Tucker."

Hotch selected that one and waited. It rung three times.

Then he answered.

"Hotch," Reid's voice said, "I thought I'd be hearing from you."

Hotch took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Ask the necessary questions. "You have a girl," he said slowly, "Named Katie?"

"Me? Don't be ridiculous. What use would I have for a thing like that? Even if I did have a girl named Katie, I can assure you would get rid of her as soon as possible. I have recently discovered that girls named Katie are usually incredibly boring."

Hotch stared blankly at the phone, expecting to feel anger; but it didn't come. Something had snapped; something was broken, destroyed beyond repair. There was nothing there anymore. There was an empty man in a suit asking questions. And that was all.

"Where is she?" Hotch asked quietly. "Assuming you have no use for her, I mean. Her friend wants her back."

"Oh, ah—I have to apologize to her friend. She'll have her back—she just won't be in the same condition as when she left."

Hotch swallowed. "Why?" he asked hollowly. He wished he could force anger into his voice. Anger or grief. Anything. There was nothing.

"Well," Reid said carefully, "I've just got a quick question."

"What's that?" Suddenly, from the other end of the line, Hotch heard the most familiar noise—a soft ding—like a door opening.

"I was just wondering, Hotch—" he heard a soft snigger from the other end of the line—"Is the team still working the case?"

Hotch blinked. He felt a small smile creep onto his face. It was not a happy smile.

It was a smile of hatred.

"Yes," he said.

"But of course," Reid replied diplomatically. "You're an excellent profiler, Hotch. I'll see you soon."

The line went dead.

Mechanically, Hotch pocketed his phone. He started towards the car.

"Agent Hotchner!" He heard Alyssa shriek, "Where are you going?"

Hotch ignored her. He got into the car. Started the engine.

"Agent Hotchner! You can't leave me here!" Alyssa cried desperately, running towards the car. "We have to find Katie!" She stopped at the window. Hotch rolled it down.

"The EMTs are on their way," he said, "And your friend is dead." He rolled the window up again and drove away. He had already forgotten about her by the time he made it out of the parking lot.

He had forgotten about all of it—all except one thing, really. There was only one thought that remained in his mind; like a mantra, a prayer, it played over and over. There was nothing else; it was all he had left.

He knew where to find Spencer Reid.

And he was going to kill him.

Sorry it is rather short. Also, sorry if you're still confused. More to come soon. Please review, it makes me happy and it makes me write faster : ).