A/N: Thanks for reading, reviewing and alerting guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds

Chapter 2

"This is why they shouldn't have just been able to take you away." Came Reid's soft voice from her left and JJ's head spun around to lock eyes with him; he looked like a lost puppy, almost like had when she had said goodbye in the bullpen that day.

"They shouldn't have been able to, no, but they can and they did." She agreed somewhat sadly but it was obvious she had accepted her fate, no matter how much she didn't want it. "Besides, Garcia was doing great. Give it another few of those and you'll feel like its second nature." JJ said with a reassuring smile towards her friend before her expression grew serious once more. "Now, someone explain to me how we're going to get Emily back?"

"I think you just helped us do that, sweetie pie, it's highly likely that this UNSUB is going to call into the tip line after that wonderful display of yours or that someone will have seen something and their memories will be jogged after watching that fine display of Jareau-charm." Garcia said with a grin, a slight rouge tint still colouring her cheeks after JJ's compliment; she didn't think JJ would ever know just how much that meant to her.

"Check you out, Garcie, picking up the lingo and the ideas." JJ teased with a half-smile to lighten the mood a little more.

"Well thanks, sugar, I do tr-"

"AGENT HOTCHNER!" came a yell from the next room over; the hotline base.

"Reid you and Morgan take Geography; Garcia, try and trace her cell phone again, he may not have found it on her and she'll use it if she can." He hesitated for a second, giving Morgan and Reid enough time to be out of earshot – he didn't need even more members of his team worrying about more until they could prove or disprove the new theory - before adding: "And while that's running we need you to find everything you can on her past." His request was met by Garcia's brows drawing together as she protested:

"But sir-"

"We need to be prepared in case it's not our UNSUB that has her and with her recent behaviour and some comments she has made to JJ we need to know everything."

Garcia nodded, her manner resigned and yet determined as she headed to her make-shift lair.

"Rossi, JJ, with me."

The dark mood that had been circling the team set in once more as the reality of the situation hit home with a vengeance.

"Come on JJ, pick up, pick up, pick up." Will chanted softly into the phone as he turned the car on to the highway, heading for Norfolk.

It was the fourth time he had tried to ring her and he was seriously beginning to worry even though he knew that by now she must be with her team and they would keep her safe...like they had whoever was missing? A stray thought niggled at him before he cursed as her voice mail picked up.

"You've reached Jennifer Jareau, sorry I can't take your call right now but please leave me a message after the beep and I'll get back to you."

Hanging up again he groaned in frustration before buckling a sleeping Henry into his car seat and getting ready to set off.

Feeling her phone vibrating on her hip once again, JJ tore her gaze away from the rookie long enough to catch the caller ID: Will.

Spying JJ's expression Hotch spoke softly and firmly, knowing her answering that call would be the only way she'd be focused: "Go, answer it, we've got this."

Nodding quickly before turning her back and taking a few steps out of the hotline base she picked up the phone.

"Jay-jay, finally!" Will said and the worry he was feeling was evident in his voice. "Thank god you're OK, I was-"

"Someone's got Emily." She interrupted his rambling with a soft voice; he stopped as abruptly as if she had shouted them.

"You'll find her." He said confidently, knowing right now JJ didn't need or want to be placated. When all he could hear was her taking a deep breath on the other end of the line he knew she was trying to hold it together; it'd taken a lot out of her after being forced to leave the team but for one of them to be missing while she couldn't have helped? That had to be killing her. "We're on our way." He said, offering a distraction for a moment. "The little guy's sound asleep. I just hope he sleeps the whole way. He looks so peaceful."

"Give him a kiss for me." She said softly, blinking back any tears that were threatening to fall, she had to be strong, for the team, for herself and for Emily.

"I shall do, babe. Anything else I can do?" He asked, feeling slightly helpless from where he was now.

"Just get here, Will, I just need to know you're there."

"Always." He said softly, his southern accent drawing the word out.

"We have a lead." Hotch almost bellowed at her as he came out of the room and she stammered a quick goodbye to Will before falling in step with him and Rossi.

"Neighbour saw a blue sedan, similar in description to that seen around the time Jo Hallens disappeared, drive by her house late last night and leave again this morning. She lives in a rather remote area; nobody apparently lives in the next house along." Hotch filled her in. "And Prentiss was taken from a few streets over."

JJ could have grinned; they might know where Emily was! She would have grinned if she hadn't been far too worried; having an idea of where she could be and actually finding her were two completely different things.

"We need a SWAT team and a handful of officers ready to leave now." Hotch ordered to those officers who were in the incident room. "Let's get a move on."

"JJ, get Morgan and Reid and tell them to meet us at the address." Rossi said, "You stay here in case the UNSUB calls, he'll have seen you on TV, chances are he'll talk to you or at least stay on the line long enough for Garcia to trace him. And Garcia, you can drop the side search, it has to be our guy."

"Yes Bossman." She replied, relieved that she no longer had to look into her friend's background. She had known it was only to help Emily but she still felt like she was snooping, especially because she was such a private person normally. That was part of the reason why she'd set up the search in the background and had been focusing on the cell phone. It had already yielded some basic results but those were all the things the team knew already and she was glad she could stop it before they found out more than Emily had shared. She didn't want to dig into her past unless she absolutely had to.

"JJ, stay here with Garcia. We'll keep you up to date." He ordered as he grabbed a set of SUV keys and headed for the door.

When she tried to protest Hotch spoke up again: "You're a civilian JJ, at least right now. You can't be there."

"Yes, sir." She replied, almost out of habit before almost running towards the conference room to alert Morgan and Reid to the latest development.

Despite the circumstances, JJ couldn't help feel like she was back 'home'.

As he stalked down the hall to the last room on their floor, gun drawn in front of him and Rossi following behind him, Morgan was hoping against all hope that when they opened that door in front of them they would find Prentiss relatively unharmed. But he would even settle for alive; he was going to need his partner back soon.

Motioning for Rossi to take the other side of the door he tried the handle, his heart rate accelerating when it stuck; it was locked.

Nodding to Rossi, telling him to be ready, Morgan took a step back and kicked at the door, splintering it under the force and he and Rossi called out: "FBI, nobody move." As they entered the room, guns drawn and eyes trained for any sign of movement.

They needn't have bothered; the room was as empty as all the other rooms on this floor.

"Clear." They both shouted, alerting the rest of the team.

"Dammnit." Morgan ground out in frustration, "I thought we had him."

"We all hoped we had." Rossi said in quiet agreement.

As they were buckling up and heading back along the dirt road, disappointed and frustrated, the ringing of Hotch's phone breaks the somewhat tense silence: "I think I may have found where his centre is; seventy four Seacrest Avenue."

"That's where we are right now, there was nothing here." Morgan said irritably.

"JJ where was this on the location map?" Reid asked suddenly, a slight hint of excitement in his voice as he got that familiar far off look in his eye.

"A bit further North than your yellow marker." She answered, not even questioning where this was going; Spencer Reid's logic was after all, Spencer Reid's logic and as a result best left to figure out after the fact.

"She's right." He said after a moment of in depth thought as they turned back on to the main road. "This would have been just off-centre, there may not be anything there now but at some point whatever was at that address meant a great deal to this UNSUB and the change in his MO and his routine came with taking Emily and it sent him back here. She rattled him asking questions so close to here; it must mean something."

"Get Garcia on it; find out what used to be here." Hotch ordered, "We'll be back at the station soon."