January 14,2012 -Two Hours Later- San Francisco, California

Rossi stepped out of the SUV and entered the police station with a quiet Reid trailing him. While lost in his worrying about Hotch, Rossi had snapped at Reid on the drive back from the morgue. It was not intentional- it was just not the time for facts about the hills of San Francisco.

Rossi stepped into the police station before the young officer he had put to watch Hotch ran to his side. "Agent Rossi," the young officer replied, "Agent Hotchner isn't doing so hot. I got him to eat, but only after he had some kind of panic attack." Rossi glanced over to Hotch, who was sitting in the conference room with his attention into a book. He heard JJ, Prentiss, and Morgan walk in behind him before turning to his team members and saying, " If we are going to do this, we need to do this now."

In the conference room, Hotch flipped to the next page of his book before hearing the conference room door open and close. He looked up to see all five agents standing across from him with sad looks on their faces.

"Hotch, we need to-" Rossi started to say but was cut off by Prentiss exclaiming, " Whoa." The team turned their attention to the police station entrance where they saw something shocking

Section Chief Strauss was standing next to the chief of police with an unhappy look on her face. The Chief suddenly pointed towards the conference room which caused Strauss to walk towards them. She opened the door and greeted flatly, "Agent Hotchner."

As Strauss closed the door, Prentiss , Reid, and JJ stepped back into a corner of the room while Rossi sat down at the table, as close as he could get to the door. Morgan leaned against the window and crossed his arms.

Strauss placed her purse on the table and stated, "One of your team members has expressed concerns about your ability to handle your duties as an FBI agent and the leader of this team. These concerns revolve mainly around your health and the incident from a few days ago." Hotch continued his stare at Strauss with his mind racing. Someone went over my head and called Strauss? He thought.

"With those factors in mind, I am here to escort you back to Quantico," Strauss continued, " You will not be allowed to work on any active cases until I find that you are suitable to do so. Also, you are no longer Unit Chief of this team. I would expect someone of a leadership position to deal with your current situation in a more professional way."

"Might I ask who called you?" Hotch responded. He felt a mixed emotion of anger, confusion, and worry. He had just lost Haley and now he was near losing his job. If Jessica took away Jack, there would be nothing else left for him to fight for.

"I did," Morgan stated. Hotch turned to see Morgan returning a dark expression. Morgan! Why would he….

"Yes, Agent Morgan and I had spoken about this matter before you left for San Francisco. I told him to keep me updated, which he did. I decided to come after he called me twenty minutes after you all landed at San Francisco Airport. I came as soon as I could. While you will return with me to Quantico, Agent Morgan will become Unit Chief until further notice," Strauss concluded. She picked up her bag and waved Hotch over, "Agent Hotchner, we need to leave."

Hotch wavered before looking to his teammates. All of them looked confused and sad for his departure. He tried to compose himself to hide his true emotions. He was known for being able to hide his emotions, but as of late, had failed at that. Hotch relaxed his shoulders before agreeing weakly, "Ok."

Morgan watched Strauss and Hotch exit the police station before turning to his team. He had no doubts in his decision to call Strauss; Hotch needed help. The team should understand, he thought as he picked up autopsy photos off the table.

"Prentiss?" Morgan called out to the dark haired agent. She let out an angry gasp before turning to Morgan and exclaiming, "You called Strauss?"

Rossi also exclaimed, "What the hell was that?"

Morgan put up his hands in defense. "I know you guys are mad-"

Prentiss took a step towards Morgan. "Your damn right we are mad! How could you do that, Derek? Did you even bother to talk to Hotch about this or did you want her to show up and intentionally make Hotch look like an incompetent four year old?"

Spencer turned to Prentiss and said, "Technically, it was a good move. Hotch is physically and psychologically ill and-"

Prentiss and Rossi gave Reid a dirty look and yelled, "Shut up, Reid!"

Morgan retaliated by yelling, "Hey, don't tell him to shut up! And watch what you say to me, I'm the unit chief now!"

"Or what," challenged Rossi, "Are you going to send us home as well?"

"Enough!" yelled JJ. She stepped in between the three angry agents. "We need to stop acting like four year olds and get back to the case! We all have had a rough week and I don't know about you, but I haven't slept much this week either. Hotch will be fine and hopefully will get help once he lands in Quantico. In the meantime, we need to focus on completing the profile and worry about Hotch later. Ok?"

Morgan and Rossi glared at each other before both agents sat down, still angry. Prentiss walked around to the other side of the table and sat down. JJ sighed and pulled up her webcam to call Garcia regarding any connection the victims had with Seaside Park, where the killer had buried all of his victims' bodies.

"The princess and seeker of all that is good and dandy, how can I help you?" answered Garcia, "Wait, what's with Debbie downer mood you all have?" JJ sat on the table near the computer screen. "Garcia, you haven't heard about what happened to Hotch?"

JJ watched the technical analyst drop her pen and whisper, "Oh no, no, no. He couldn't-"

"No, Penn," Prentiss blurted out, "Morgan went behind all of our backs and called Strauss. She's flying him home to be on desk duty." Morgan shot her an angry glare, which he returned almost immediately.

"What….so who's in charge?"

"Morgan."

"Ok, I actually think that was a good move. It might be better if he's here and not out on the road with disturbing dark serial killers. I don't want that to spread to him."

Reid leaned over to get a good look of Garcia on the computer screen. He chanted, "First, there is an inaccuracy on the statement. The desire to kill is not a contagious thing. Second, can you look up any connections the victims had to Seaside Park? It's popular for hikers, runners, and bikers. All of our victims were all athletic. Since we found them all in the park, we think he may stalk out his victims there."

"Yes, I can….it will take me a few minutes. I will call you back and I want all of you home safe and in happy moods!" Garcia piped. JJ smiled and said, "Thanks Penelope," before turning off the webcam.

JJ glanced up to her teammates , who were now talking amongst themselves. Morgan walked over to her and watched her cross her arms.

"JJ, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it."

"We were supposed to do this together, Derek. God, Hotch must feel terrible now. Why did you do that? And what did she mean by someone saying he can't even do his job as an FBI agent? You know he isn't going to take this lightly. I mean it's good that he's on his way home, but this is still bad, Derek."

"I know, but this is for the best."

"It's like you didn't even consider-"

"His feelings? Do you honestly think I did this out of spite?"

"No, Derek. I-"

"Don't you ever think that I would do something like this out of spite. Ok?" Morgan snapped.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. " JJ rubbed her shoulders as Morgan leaned against the table next to her and sighed. The tension she felt between him was growing and giving her the idea that this was the beginning of a long uphill battle.