Here's chapter two :) Thanks for the reviews and subscribing/ favoriting my story, it really means alot. I got this one up pretty quickly since the prologue was very short. I would REALLY love to hear what you think! I hope you enjoy.

Once again, I want to thank my great beta- youdude!

I do not own Criminal Minds

"Every guilty person is his own hangman." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"If you had done everything you could have, you would be dead, not Caroline!" Mr. Smith, Caroline's fathers, spat at Emily.

"What?" Emily asked speechless.

"You heard what I said. You should be dead! You promised you would get my daughter!" he shouted once again, his voice shaking with tears.

Emily stared out the window of the jet, replaying this moment in her head. This wasn't how things were supposed to end. After the case had finished, the team had tried to quickly get out of Los Angeles. The people there and the police department no longer welcomed their presence. There had been a delay with their flight, so they spent the entire day in their hotel rooms. They didn't speak, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts.

Emily looked over to Hotch and Rossi, who had their heads in the case file again and were writing furiously. Strauss was going to be on Hotch's ass about this one. She would be on all of their asses. This time Emily wouldn't even blame her. Emily felt she was the one who had singlehandedly screwed the case. It was not the rest of the team who was at fault.

The entire team had been up all night and through the rest of the day, and they were exhausted. Reid was curled up on the couch sleeping, and JJ was resting on one of the chairs. Morgan had his earphones on and was trying to drown out the events of the night before. Emily rested her head on her chin and closed her eyes. She was not prepared for the memories that shot across her mind before she was able to stop them.

Hotch put the phone down from his ear and massaged his temples.

"Was it them?" Emily asked.

"It was Rose Hernandez."

"Oh God," Emily moaned, "Were there any signs of Caroline Smith?"

Hotch shook his head rigidly. "Morgan, Rossi, Reid and the entire PD searched the whole area with dogs and didn't find anything else."

"Do you want me to call in the families?" JJ asked from her spot at the back of the room.

"Yes." Hotch nodded. "But I want you to keep them separated at all times. I don't want them to even see each other."

JJ nodded her head and picked up her cell phone.

Her eyes shot open. She did not want to relive the next moment. Caroline's parents had arrived to the station, and Emily had talked to them. She had known from her years of experience that you don't promise a family you will find their child alive, but she gave them the next best thing. She had promised she would do anything and everything to get her back alive. Fretfully, she ran her fingers through her hair and gave it a slight tug. The pressure on her skull did little to relieve any of the feelings she was keeping bottled up inside.

Morgan glanced around the plane with music blaring in his ears. That was how he handled this: through music. He envied JJ and Reid who were able to sleep right now. But then again they hadn't been there. It had been him and Hotch. Then his eyes shot to the other side of the plane. Emily had been there. She had been there the whole time, before they had gotten there, when it was just too late. He cursed under his breath as he saw her dead eyes. Despite the teams agreement Morgan started to profile Emily. Her jaw was clenched and her entire body tense. He thought about going over there, but decided against it. Sometimes people just need space. If he had been through what she had, he knew he would want to be left alone too.

Hotch and Rossi sat looking over the case file and the profile they had presented.

"Our profile was dead on," Rossi stated.

Hotch nodded. The case they had worked was actually a pretty text book-styled one. A man about 20 to 30 years old, they predicted correctly, had been abducting women and keeping them with him for about two weeks. Yet he had had two women with him at one time, their time with him overlapping for about a week so he would never be without one. They should've had a week. They should have had a week before he killed Caroline. Hotch glanced over at Emily. They should have had a week, but they had done something wrong to make him change his pattern.

Pull it together Prentiss, she commanded herself. Unconsciously she clenched her bitten down nails into her palms. She didn't even realize when they broke skin. Thin crimson lines bled across her hands unnoticed.

This isn't you, you don't freak out after cases, she tried to reason with herself. But this wasn't a usual case and she knew it. She was the reason that woman had died. She knew it, the whole team knew it, and the Smiths knew it. Hell, the entire city of Los Angeles probably knew it by now.

The sky surrounding the plane was black and starless. It was blank. Emily forced her mind to become the same. She stared out the window until the runway lights slowly came into focus. After they landed, Hotch stood up.

"Go home and get some rest. We can deal with this in the morning." He grabbed his bag and unboarded the plane with Rossi just steps behind him. JJ and Reid sluggishly did the same. Emily grabbed her bag, and with her eyes downcast, walked across the plane.

Morgan put his hand out and stopped her before she got off. "You okay Prentiss?" he asked.

"Fine." She didn't even have the energy to muster up a fake smile. She just wanted to go home.

After she had showered, Emily grabbed a beer and sat down on her couch. She loved the feeling of the cool bubbly liquid sliding down her throat. She brought her hand to her forehead and winced as she ran it against her bruise. But that didn't stop her. The pain was comforting. The kind of comfort you get when you know it's something you deserve. It may not feel good, but it felt right.

She set her empty beer bottle down on the side table, and without the energy to move, she lay down on the couch. She closed her eyes, but instead of lifting off into a dream, she was dragged into another memory.

"He's going to be out hunting tonight," Morgan said, and the rest of the team nodded in agreement, "He still has Caroline, but since he dumped Rose, he will want another."

"We will need to patrol all of the bars since that is where he finds his victims," Rossi added.

"You guys, this UNSUB is slick. They upped the security after the last abduction, and yet he still managed to get another woman," Emily said.

Hotch nodded his head. "Prentiss is right." He looked around the police station. "We should put someone under cover at his most common abduction site."

"I'll do it," Emily volunteered quickly.

Why the hell had she volunteered?

After Emily had managed to pull herself awake, she clenched her nails again into her already broken skin. The slight sting helped. The rest of the night was spent between beers and bad made-for-TV movies. It was her attempt to keep her mind off of what had happened.

Keep her mind off of the truth.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as I said before, I would love for you to comment and tell me what you think :) Thanks!