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Warning: See my profile and the first chapter

A/n here is the next chapter. One more week with the brace! Yay....

Seven hours had passed since the jet had left DC. The borrowed SUVs from the locals sped up to the tiny parking area in front of the police station. The revolving red and blue lights washed over the front of the building as midnight struck. Ten hours had passed since Terry had disappeared.

Emily lifted her head from the window. She sat in the back seat next to JJ, who was studying her file folder. The other woman looked up and gave her a weak smile. Emily shifted in her seat, anxious to get out of the car and working on the case. Her neck hurt from falling asleep in one position, so she rotated it and heard the bones crackle as they popped.

"You okay?"

She looked over at JJ and saw something in her eyes that managed to mimic the pain in her heart that had taken root since she'd seen those three little boys.

"No," The tears she could hear in her voice dismayed her.

Get it together!

"This is so tough." JJ agreed.

She opened her door and stepped out. Emily climbed out after her and stretched. The headache that was threatening to split her head eased up just a little now that she could stand up. The smell of pine trees and fresh earth permeated the air around them. It smelled like summertime.

"I'm relating too much to the mother in this one." Emily said. "And I'm not a mother, at least not yet. What am I going to do when the baby gets here?"

"You're a mother from the moment of conception. That's what I believe. JJ said. "I think having Henry makes me more determined than ever to make this world a better place for him and all the children. You'll want to do the same thing." JJ hugged Emily around her shoulders.

"Then let's go bring Terry back to his mother."

They entered the police station with JJ in the lead. Constable Blevins greeted them in the middle of the bull pen. He had black hair that was buzz cut. His dark intense eyes looked them over more thoroughly than Emily's mom when she was in ambassador mode. He was very tall, and even more muscular than Morgan, who looked small by comparison.

"Hello…" He said in a soft voice that was in complete contradiction to his appearance. "Thank you for coming."

The four locals and Detective Sparrow from the state police all looked tired and frustrated. Still they welcomed the BAU with sincerity.

"I can't tell you how glad we are to have you here." Detective Sparrow said. He was smaller than Morgan, and his hair was streaked with gray, but his blue eyes were warm.

"Do we have a serial on our hands?" One of the locals asked.

"We can't label it till we go through the evidence."

"But that's what you think," the deputy insisted.

"This is one of my deputies, Connor Stanton." Blevins said, giving the younger man a steely look. "He thinks that since he's been on the force for six months that he knows it all."

Stanton was the same build and height as Hotch. His auburn hair highlighted his emerald green eyes. His face looked like God had had a very good day when he made it. His cocky stance and attitude made even the self-assured Morgan appear lacking in confidence.

"I don't think I know it all boss. I just don't think we need feds here that don't know anything about the area. We can find this kid without them. We've got the state police helping us and they know the area."

"Shut up!"

"Boss!"

"I said keep your mouth shut or you'll be on graveyard for the rest of your natural life."

Stanton backed down, but his green eyes sparked at all of them.

"Is there some place we can set up?" JJ asked into the tension filled silence.

"Yeah… We carved out a corner for you." He gestured to the southeast corner of the room that had one desk, a computer and a white board set up on one wall.

"I'm sorry it can't be bigger or more private."

"It's fine…" Hotch told him.

They passed through the bullpen to the corner designated for them. The other officers went back to their desks while Reid began to set up the crime scene photos. Rossi and Morgan set out with one of the state police as an escort to talk to Mrs. Clark, despite the hour.

Hotch and JJ left to speak with the Bishop family. Emily headed for the bathroom, leaving Reid to look at the geography of the dump sites. The small bathroom had two stalls and a unisex sign over the door as there was one female cop on the force.

She looked in the mirror while washing her hands after emptying her taxed bladder. The shadows that were beginning to collect around her eyes were getting to be as deep and dark as the shadows that lived under Reid's eyes.

It looked good on him, she thought, it doesn't look good on me. Her back was aching and her feet were so tired. Maybe Hotch was right to tell her that she needed to stay out of the field.

She splashed water on her face, but the cool liquid did little to perk up her spirits. The headache that had succeeded in pushing to the surface throbbed and pounded like she had a rock group rehearsing in her head.

The paper towels were scratchy on her face as she wiped off the water. It was going to be a long night unless they could find something that would lead them to the boy fast.

She left the bathroom and walked right into Deputy Stanton. "Well hello there Special Agent Prentiss." He said.

"Can I help you with something?"

"There are many things you could do for me beautiful, but we're on the clock."

She laughed because it was late and this wasn't happening. "You don't want to go there with me."

"Why not… Just because we're working together don't mean you can't leave me with your number."

"I'm pregnant!"

"That don't matter to me baby… I like pregnant women, it's very sexy."

He was right in her face and had put his hand on her shoulder where it met her neck.

"Step back deputy, I've got a child to find. If you can't help, maybe I should talk to the Constable."

Instead of stepping away from her, he leaned in to her face, his minty breath exploded in her nose. "Are you married Emily Prentiss?"

"I said step back now!"

He backed off but the cocky smile that lit up his eyes never wavered for a minute. "I like a strong independent woman. If your man got you pregnant and ran out on you, I could have a talk with him."

Emily laughed and surprisingly her headache began to back off from miserable to a nuisance. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I?"

"No… now get out of my way or I'll kick your balls so far into your throat you'll be singing Soprano in the shower."

He turned to let her by, but his smile didn't falter. "Yeah, I like em feisty!"

Emily ignored him and headed back to the corner where Reid was setting up their case file. The strong sudden urge to grab hold of him and cry was so strong that she veered off and went outside into the night air. The smell of pine that she'd noticed getting out of the car washed away the smell of bad cologne and bleach from the bathroom.

"Get a grip and get back in there." She commanded herself as the stars twinkled in the sky.

She's never seen so many stars. She should come back with Reid one day and they could watch the stars together and have a peaceful night just talking about anything under the sun from all the books they'd both read.

Wait… Why are you thinking about a holiday in the woods with Reid?

Go back to work!

She went back into the police station and walked right past Deputy Stanton to the corner where Reid was working.

"Hey… Did you figure anything out yet?" She asked him very quietly.

He jumped in surprise and then went red. "Um… no, but I'm sure it's right in front of me."

"Have you heard from Garcia yet?"

"No…"

"Oh… I'll just go over the reports from Utah and Wyoming. Maybe we'll find something there."

---

Reid watched Emily out of the corner of his eye while trying to concentrate on the geographic profile he was tying to put together. He frowned at the data in front of him. There was something missing. He needed more data to complete the picture and the only way to get it was for them to fail in finding Terry.

His heart climbed into his throat at that thought. His hands got sweaty at the thought that this wasn't just a little boy they were trying to find. It was different now that he was going to be a father. For the first time he felt utter terror at failure.

He looked over at Emily again. She looked different to him somehow. He cocked his head and tried to understand what he was seeing. She had dark circles under her eyes, but he'd seen her tired before, there was something else that he couldn't put his finger on.

Then he saw a tear leaking out of her eye. Oh God, what was he supposed to do now? Should he say anything, or would calling attention to the problem make her mad? Girls didn't like it when you pointed out that they looked terrible, right?

He decided to go back to his white board and pretend nothing was happening. It was probably her hormones anyway. He knew they were probably playing havoc with her emotions right then.

Remember how JJ's mood swings made everyone crazy!

His hands began to shake at the thought. He should have remembered that when he agreed to Emily's plan. How had it slipped his mind?

He looked back at her again and saw that more tears were making their way down her face. He'd never get anything done until he talked to her. He went over to the desk and perched on the end as he'd seen Morgan do in Garcia's office.

"Hey Emily… Um, is everything okay?"

Please say yes!

"What… Oh Reid, yeah, I'm fine." She smiled up at him while wiping at her eyes.

"Um, okay," He got back to his feet and turned back to the white board. She said she was okay, so that must mean she is.

"So how's the geographical profile coming?"

"I need more data."

He went back to the board and jumped from shock when she said angrily. "What? So you're saying that Terry has to die for your precious profile."

He looked at her again and shrank back from her red and angry face. He could almost feel the heat coming off her body and it scared the hell out of him.

"No! Of course not… I didn't mean that."

"Sure you did… The life of one boy doesn't matter to you as long as we have enough information to track down the unsub."

She stalked away from him toward the door of the station. Every cop in the room had their head down as Reid rushed past them to follow her, except for Deputy Stanton who was looking at Reid like he was a new species of ant.

"Having trouble with the lovely Agent Prentiss," He hissed at Reid.

Reid ignored him and rushed out the door into the darkness after Emily. She stood at the edge of the sidewalk with her arms crossed over her chest. She was staring at the sky.

"Emily…"

"Go away Reid!"

He stood still.

"Please go away!"

He stepped back.

She turned around and then she was hugging him. "Emily…"

"We have to find that little boy."

"I know…"

"Promise me you'll find him."

"We'll find him." She was crying again.

In desperation to stop the flood of tears, he put a shaking and awkward arm around her. She grabbed him in a tight embrace and every thought in his brain shut down when her lips met his.