Ch 7 The ones left behind

Two Days ago

It took them several hours to realize that Emily wasn't coming back from the video store and she wasn't going to answer her phone. Fear ran through Hotch's veins at first he hoped that she had gone back to the hotel for the night. But he knew that was a pipe dream none of them had gone back to the hotel since they checked in several days ago. They had been working around the clock the whole time even though they still had little to show for it.

When they realized that Emily wasn't answering her phone Garcia traced it to the parking lot of the video store. When they arrived they found her cell phone abandoned at the far end of the parking lot and her bureau issued SUV but no other evidence of what happened to her.

"He has her, the Unsub took her" Morgan Growled.

"He had never taken a second victim from the same location and he has only taken locals up till now." Rossi added

"Do you think it is possible that he had returned to the scene of the abduction and Emily caught him and he took her to protect himself." Reid offered.

"It's possible but if that was the cause it is likely we would find evidence of a struggle possibly blood nothing looks out of place" Hotch said trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

"You think he specifically meant to take her, that would be a change to his MO he has never stalked a victim before." Morgan Questioned.

"Unsubs have been known to follow the investigation maybe he decided to up the stakes now that the FBI is involved. Or maybe he is use to seeing a woman he wants and taking her so maybe he saw Emily and decided he had to have her or he has evolved even more. Do you think he saw her at the Parking crime scene yesterday?" Rossi asked

"I think that would have been the most likely time for him to have seen here. It is likely he has come back to every crime scene which means he is good a fitting in with the other onlookers. I fear that he has decided to make her his next victim either way." Hotch answered dejectedly.

"What fairy tale do you think he has moved on to?" JJ asked even the thought of it turned her stomach sour.

"Snow White" Reid practically yelled "Emily said it herself she said that snow white was one of the only princesses without blond hair and she had the pale skin and—"

"Just stop Reid not right now" Morgan hissed he didn't want to think what could be happening to her at that very moment.

"Sorry" Reid squeaked "The good news is that if he follows his pattern he should keep her sedated for a day to two before he starts hurting her. It is possible that we could find her before anything happens to her."

"You're right Reid right now we have to focus on doing our job and getting this Unsub." Rossi said with an air of optimism he wasn't actually feeling.

With that they left the abduction site and head back to the station. All through the ride back Hotch was deep in thought. It was always his biggest fear on any case that one of his agents would end up kidnapped or a victim to their Unsub. But he had a bigger fear that it would be Emily and he wouldn't be able to save her it was his worst nightmare and it seemed to be coming true.

He knew that Emily was quite capable of taking care of herself but this Unsub was different. Every move they made to try and find him ended up at a dead end and now they were desperate, Emily was missing and they all feared that this would be Unsub who finally managed to kill one of them. They have been relatively lucky in the past, everyone always made it home alive. But as Emily had pointed out luck was not with them on this case.

For the next two days the BAU Team frantically searched under every rock they could think of to find Emily and they still had nothing. Then Garcia was sent a link which led her to a live video link of Emily. They were relieved to know that she was still alive and she looked unharmed which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. But that relief was short lived as they watched the Unsub hit Emily and stabbed her in the arm. They were forced to watched as the he tortured her, suffocating her and they watched as she slowly lost control fighting the pain the man was clearly causing her. They knew she was strong but they also knew that Emily understood exactly what was going to happened if they didn't find her. And she knew how slim the odds of them finding her were. None of them were surprised to see the tears running down her face once the Unsub left the room.. This man was taking her to her breaking point and near death and then allowing her to live so he could kill her later.

They couldn't tear their eyes away as they watched her cry. She never looked directly into the camera and Hotch couldn't help but wonder if she knew it was there. He wanted her to look at the camera he needed to see her eyes to see how broken she was, he needed to know that she hadn't really give up, that she was still willing to fight.

JJ had tears in her eyes as she watched her friend in distress and she felt so helpless as Emily began to have a panic attack. "Oh Em" she exhaled.

"It's ok Prentiss we will get you out of there I promise." Rossi said softly trying to will her to calm down.

"That much force would have likely broke a few ribs, which would cause a great deal of pain she needs to stop crying or she's going to pass out." Reid exclaimed.

"She can't Reid she is scared and panicking and we can't help her. Hotch said thrusting his empty chair into the table. "We need to find something."

"He mentioned something about finishing her coffin do you think he is going to make it out of glass like in the story?" Reid asked

"Given what he has done in the past I would bet he is making a glass coffin." Rossi answered

"There are only so many places where a person can buy can buy glass and welding materials" Reid added

" Maybe we can find where he bought them" Hotch said directing his request toward Morgan. "Garcia can you trace the video link?"

"I think so but it is going to take me a while, a few days probably." She answered.

"Work as fast as you can, we only have two to three days max. Get Kevin to help you. Plus analyze the video see if you can get a clear shot of his face and run facial recognition on it."

"Got it sir I will be in touch." Garcia said closing the phone connection between them.

"Find me something, there has to be something, no one is this good, we just have to find it." Hotch demanded and everyone around him began looking through pages and reports desperate to find something.

Hotch then turned his eyes back to the video link of Emily. He watched as her panic attack got worse and she began to hyperventilate. Then Hotch heard her say his name, it came out as a moan. This whole situation was driving him crazy and Emily calling out to him only made it worse.

It was tearing him up inside to watch the Unsub torture her. He hated when any member of his team was in danger or hurt. But Emily was now special to him and it took all of his resolve not to break something, he wanted to break all the Unsub bones. Almost three months ago Aaron Hotchner realized that he was falling in love with Emily Prentiss.

The realization had come to him rather slowly; it had taken him months to move past the guilt he felt over Haley's death. But once his guilt started to fade he began to notice everything she had done for him and Jack. She had been there for him through everything that had happen. She was always there to offer support and help. She never pushed him to talk about how or what he was feeling and she was always there to listen when he was ready to talk. She answered the hard questions Jack had, the ones he could never find the right answer to. She even helped him go Christmas shopping and wrapped the presents. But more than her being there for him, she was funny—really funny. She knew how to make him laugh and she helped him enjoy life once again.

The realization had come to him several weeks ago. They were flying home on the jet and he turned and caught her laughing at something Reid had said. She looked so beautiful and that was all it took for the light bulb of emotions to click in his head. He understood exactly what all those feeling he had for her were; he was falling in love it was like a breath of fresh air after holding your breath for a long time.

He felt a bit giddy and he liked feeling this way. From that day on he had trouble thinking about everything else. He had forgotten what being in love felt like. It was all consuming. This was the reason he joined the drama club to be with Haley even though he had no talent for acting.

As he though back over the last few months his realization of love was not all surprising he often found himself trying to make her laugh when they weren't at work and pairing himself with her when they were on a case.

Though just because he realized he was in love with her didn't mean he knew what to do about it. For a few seconds he tried telling himself that he felt wasn't love that it was just because they were friends but that sounded like a lie even to him. He was falling in love with Emily Prentiss that much he knew for sure. He just didn't know how to tell her or if he even should. Part of him the damaged part of him couldn't help but think that maybe she would be better off without him. But he knew her, she would yell at him if she knew he was thinking those types of thoughts. Also she was a girl who liked to make decisions for herself. The issue of their working relationship, he being her boss, didn't worry him too much, that was the one think he knew how to handle, this type of thing happened every once in a while. It was everything else that he was unsure of and then he had kissed her. He hadn't planned on doing it she was talking and he had this strong desire to kiss her and for some reason he gave in to the feeling. But the moment he did it he panicked he didn't know if he was ready to have a relationship with her or if he was capable of having a relationship with anyone again. He was scared and so he asked her to pretend it never happened and for some unknown reason she had agreed and nothing changed.

Then this happened and the thought of losing her was unbearable to him and it was a real possibility that they were not going to find her in time. He felt as though he was being eaten alive, he hated watching her hurt and not be able to do anything.

When she was first taken almost three days ago he made a promise that he would tell her how he felt if they got her back safely. It made him feel a little bit of a jerk, it took her getting kidnapped for him to get up the guts to tell her. And now that he wanted to tell her he couldn't and he couldn't rescue and after three days he was getting really tired of feeling this way. He had failed one woman he love he was damn well going to do everything in his power to get her back.

"She's still hyperventilating and panicking, she needs to calm, down stop crying and take deep breaths." Reid said drawing Hotch's attention to the computer in front of him.

"Of course she is panicking, she can't breathe very well, this guy was suffocating her, she is scared and not really up to thinking clearly. If I were her I would be a disaster." JJ tried to explain to Reid what Emily was feeling.

"But she is going to pass out if she doesn't calm down." Reid explained highly frustrated that he couldn't help his friend.

"Maybe that would be better at least if she is unconscious she won't be in pain." Rossi said sympathetically

As Reid predicted a minute later Emily lost consciousness and her breathing began to slow and even out.

"We are going to find her I don't care what it takes." Hotch said with strong determination in his voice. "I want her picture and the sketch of the Unsub all over the TV and Internet there is someone out there who knows something there has to be. We will get her back we have to." He said the last words quietly to himself.

"What shape will she be in when we get her back though?" Morgan asked as he watched Emily sleep on the screen.

"We are going to get her back and help her recover." Hotch said with such conviction in his voice that no one questioned him.

"He gave her apples." Reid pointed out changing the subject.

"He isn't feeding her; he is keeping her weak so he can control her." Morgan added.

"She should eat the apples then" Reid said flatly.

"If you had been kidnapped and dressed up as Snow White would you eat the apples? They could be poisoned." JJ commented.

"I hope they aren't" Hotch said "pretty soon, once she wakes up again those apples are going to look too good to resist. It is another form of torture."

A/N Thank you all for reading the story I hope your are enjoying it and thank you to everyone who has written a review I greatly appreciate them all thank you.