Well Emily's back in Chicago and they need the BAU's help with a case... queue Hotch saving the day. This will be two chapter's long cause a lot happens during a case!

It's summer of 2000, Emily is 29 and Hotch is 34.

"Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter." - Friedrich Nietzsche.

Emily sat racking through some of the case files that lay on her extremely over cluttered desk.

She was emotionally worn out... this was by no means her first murder case but this one hit her on a personal level as well... four woman killed in as many weeks and the only link between them was they all went to an abortion clinic at some point during their lives.

She was just glad that her stubborn as hell boss had finally agreed to call in the BAU to help them... something she'd been practically begging him to do since body number two was found.

The fact that they were at a dead end with the case wasn't the only reason she'd asked for the BAU... though it had been her main reason... it was also because she really wanted to see a friendly face and the job had meant she made very few friends, though she'd kept in touch with Hotch over the years... especially since the job and Haley had started getting him down... and he was one of if not her closest friend.

She was lost in this thought when she heard her boss calling her over.

She jumped up and quickly made her way over to the main open area of the bullpen and her face instantly broke into a smile when she seen Hotch along with two other agents one of whom she recognised as Agent Gideon.

"Agent Prentiss these are Supervisory Special Agents Aaron Hotchner, Katie Cole and Jason Gideon with the BAU." Her boss introduced. "And agents, this is Emily Prentiss she's the lead agent on this case so you'll be working with her." He added before walking away.

"Well I've got a room ready for you back here." Emily said, motioning for them to follow her with her arm.

"Thank you Agent Prentiss." Katie said before walking into the room.

"Thanks Em," Hotch said quietly. "And sorry about Gideon, he sometimes forgets to say please and thank you." He added as Gideon walked past without speaking.

"its fine, most of the guy's that works here are like that." Emily sighed, wishing there was more women in the FBI.

It wasn't until seven o' clock that evening that they started making any head way with the case and Gideon and Katie had headed out to interview the only surviving victim of the Unsub, leaving Hotch and Emily behind to keep working victimology.

"So how's Hailey doing?" Emily asked absentmindedly... well she'd wanted to ask for a while but hadn't gotten the chance... as she looked through a case file for the third time that day to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

"She's ok... things are still pretty rough at home... you know, with me travelling... but it's... ok." Hotch answered with a reluctant and half hearted smile.

Emily could see from the look in his eye's that things weren't going as well as he was making them out to be... she didn't need to be a profiler to guess that one... but she chose to leave it, knowing that if Hotch had really wanted he would tell her.

"I heard Gideon and Katie call you Hotch earlier." She said, trying to change the subject.

"They seen one of your letters on my desk and... what can I say, your nickname's stick." He said with a small laugh.

"That they do Hotch." Emily laughed.

"So how are you finding your first serial killer case?" Hotch asked after a moment.

"Mhm..." Emily said with a small smile, before looking back at her work... even if it was Hotch she was talking she really didn't want to talk about how this particular case was making her feel .

"Ok spill... what's up?" Hotch asked, throwing down his own file on the small wooden desk that occupied most of the space in the room.

"Huh... Oh nothing." Emily muttered, looking up from her file again.

"Emily you're talking to a profiler... and your friend, so there's not a hope in hell that excuse is going to work." Hotch said, looking worried.

Emily sighed and threw down her file on top of Hotch's but didn't speak, instead choosing to stare at her hands pick her nails.

"Emily please tell me... I'm worried." Hotch begged, moving his seat closer to her and tilting her face up with his hand so she was looking him in the eye.

"It's just... this case." She sighed.

"What about it? It's not the worst case you've ever worked... You've told me about worse ones." Hotch said, confused and getting more worried by the minute.

"I know I've seen worse but... I... it could have been me." She finished quietly averting her gaze once more.

"Emily what do you mean? You're going to have to talk to me properly." Hotch said, trying to look her in the eye again.

"Well... you know how I travelled a lot when I was a kid?" Emily sighed.

Hotch just nodded and waited for her to continue in her own time.

"Well we were in Rome... I was fifteen and all I wanted was friends." She whispered, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her.

Hotch stared at the in silence, knowing what she was going to say next, but wanting her to say it just to be sure.

"I... I got pregnant, and well... I... I wasn't ready." She finally said, tear's now streaming down her face, as this was the first time she'd ever spoken about it to anyone.

"Come here." Hotch said, pulling her into his arms and letting her cry, not really knowing what else to do other than whisper comforting words in her ear.

They sat like that for five minutes before Emily finally began to pull away and wipe her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, once her eyes were clear, looking away again.

"There's no need to be... what you just told me was brave of you to say... thank you." Hotch said, wiping the last remaining tear from her eye and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks." Emily sniffled, with a small smile.

"Any time Emily, any time." He smiled. "Now we better get back to work before Gideon and Katie get back and wonder why the heck we have nothing done." He added, knowing that working would distract Emily from the way she was feeling.

"Ah yes, we wouldn't want 'slacker' going on your record, now would we." Emily joked with a watery smile, now almost fully recovered from her admission about her childhood.

"No we wouldn't, because I'm ranked higher than you so I could put it on your record as well." Hotch teased.

"You wouldn't dare!" Emily laughed.

"Want to bet?" Hotch asked also laughing.

At this Emily scrunched up a piece of paper and threw it at Hotch, hitting him square in the face causing them both to laugh harder.

"Sorry to interrupt but there's another body that's just been found... same M.O as well." An officer said from the doorway just before Hotch threw paper back.

Well this is the first of two chapters stay tune for the next one! Oh and did you notice Katie Cole from P911 in this story... I couldn't think of another girl agent (JJ and Garcia weren't on the team at this stage by my calculations) and I didn't want all men! Tell me what you thought. =)