Next Morning- FBI Office

"I'm so happy for him," JJ said while as she headed with Prentiss to the conference room. Prentiss laughed, "Maybe we should get him something for the room, you know?"

"Does Hotch seem like the type of person to decorate?" Prentiss entered the conference room and sat down. "Hey, he should have something in the room better than the dark and dismal room he was in before." She looked over to see Camen glaring at her.

"Agent Prentiss, do I need to remind you of the rules of no personal business at work?"

"No, sir. I apologize; won't happen again."

"Yes, it will," Camen snarled as the A and B team entered the room. Rossi, Reid, and Morgan sat down at the conference table, causing an agent from the B team to loudly tell a fellow team member, "I hear there's a rule that crazy people can't sit at the table. "

Rossi whispered to the increasingly angry Morgan, "Don't. He isn't worth it." Morgan relaxed his tight fist in response.

Camen coughed to get his agents' attention. "Clearwater, Florida has called us in on a serial kidnapper case. Five children between the ages of 8 and 12 have been kidnapped, strangled, and dumped on the beach,"Camen said.

Morgan winced as he looked at each crime scene photo that contained a view of the bodies on the beach. -Beautiful children...what a monster.

Prentiss, who was staring at a spot at the table thought, Strangulation means the unsub is personal; he wants to see the life leave these children. Power seeker and I'm assuming that he can charm the children to come with him. Why would he be so personal in a strangling a young child? I can also see that these are all brunets- three girls, two boys…

"Agent Prentiss, is this not interesting enough for you?" Camen snapped, nearly causing Prentiss to jump out of her seat.
"No, sir. I was just running the case through my head-"

"Oh, so you don't share now?"
I would if I could! "I do, sir-"
"Shut up. Wheels up in 15." Camen marched out of the room with his team trailing behind him. Prentiss sat in her chair after they had left in a state of shock while JJ slowly stood up, whispering, "Oooohh, what did you do?"
"I don't know! Oh, I predict a hard, long case for me... " Oh, he's going to destroy me….

Quantico Medical Center
"Aaron?" Ames slowly opened the room door and found the ex- agent asleep under a red blanket. Ames closed the door as quietly as he could, but once the door closed a click sounded, immediately waking up Hotch. His head shot up as the semiconscious Hotch groaned, "Mmmmhhuuh?"
"Sorry to have waken you, Aaron," Ames said. He pulled a chair from the mahogany desk filled with books and placed it near Hotch's bed. As Hotch yawned and sat up, Ames sat and asked," How do you like the new room?"
"It's quite excellent. Thank you-again."
"Good. Good. How are things with the team?"
"There are still problems that I hope are resolved soon."
"And your relationship with Agent Morgan?"
How can I put it words...severely strained? "I don't really want to talk about it."
"Alright- I'm going to give you a choice on the topic of today's session: Haley, my question of sexual assault that you still haven't answered, or Agent Morgan."
"Haley."

Flight to Clearwater, Florida- 106 miles from Quantico
"I want two agents to walk the beach where the bodies were found while the rest work with me or at the station," Camen directed. He smirked at his agents sitting near while the A squad was scattered at the back of the jet. Before Rossi could speak for any of his team mates, Camen cut him off. "Your agents will be at the station...and for the beach; let's see- Agent Prentiss!"
Prentiss, who was sitting as far away from Camen as possible, sat forward and answered quietly, "Yes sir?"
"You can go with Agent Morgan to the beach."

Ok- maybe he and I can have a talk about what's been going on the way, Prentiss thought. Reid whipped his head towards her and babbled, " Did you know that the Southern United States is having a heat wave; the hottest one during the spring months since 1887. It reached 97 degrees with the heat index hovering around 108 yesterday! I wonder what it'll hit today."

Prentiss groaned and dropped her head onto JJ's shoulder. Thanks for the info, Reid.

Quantico Medical Center

"Alright, let's talk about Haley. She died when you had a final confrontation with the serial killer George Foyet, correct?"

"Yes." Hotch glanced away from Ames and started tapping a finger against his thigh. This is going to be….hard. "Foyet killed her before I could get there to stop it."

"How does it make you feel?"

God, I should have been there in time! "It's my fault."

"Aaron, this isn't your fault. From the report the FBI gave me, this was out of your control. Foyet manipulated the system to where he was able to escape jail. He found away to reach Haley and Jack before you could-"

"But I should have caught him in Boston or at least when he offered me the deal !"

"What deal?"

Hotch shifted the position he was sitting in and said, " I was offered the deal to stop hunting him in exchange for him to stop killing. I hung up on him and many people were killed. Including Haley."

"What would have happened if you took the deal? You don't seem like the person to bow down to a serial killer's demands."

She would still be alive. Lives would have been saved- I wouldn't be in this mess. "I don't know."

"I know that what you just said is lie, Aaron. I believe that taking the deal, allowing that man to control you; I believe that it would have killed you. You take great passion in your work, Aaron. Haley knows that you never meant her any harm."

The incident with Strauss! "This could have been avoided! Haley wanted me to step down from the BAU, but I changed my mind at the last second…she left me for it!"

"Aaron- you love your job. You're great at what you do; if you had left the BAU, you wouldn't be happy, would you?"

All that matters is that Haley would be here. "I don't know."

"Aaron, our session is about up. I want you to think- what do you think Haley would think about what has happen to you within the last few months? Would she want you to suffer from guilt that you aren't responsible for or would she want you to continue living? Don't listen to the monsters in your head; listen to your heart. Would she be angry with you for what happened with Foyet or would she love you and still want you to fight? Think about that, alright?"

Hotch closed his eyes and whispered, "Ok."

Clearwater Beach

Prentiss, with her thoughts on Camen, slammed the SUV door shut and muttered, "Ass."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Morgan said softly. Prentiss stopped in her tracks and gave Morgan a weak smile. "I guess I'm the focus of his vendetta for today."

"He has no reason to pick on you. He's just-an ass."

"Yeah…..Derek?" she leaned back onto the hood of the SUV and asked, " If something happened to me right now and I couldn't take care of myself, what would you do?"

Morgan took off his sunglasses and said, "I would do everything in my power to make sure that you are comfortable and as happy as you could be. I would try my hardest to not screw your life up like I did with Hotch- it would kill me if I had made the same mistake twice."

"I realize that, but what you did….I don't know. I trust you and care a lot for you. I realized within the past few days that the anger I have about this needs to go away; for Hotch, you know. You never meant any harm towards Hotch…..I guess what I'm trying to say is that your'e my friend and I miss you. I forgive you."

"Thank you," Morgan answered, smiling.

"There's also one thing. You have to promise that if I lost control and went after Camen, you'd back me up," Prentiss joked.

He laughed. "The whole way…unless I got to him first." Both chuckled and began trekking towards the beach.

Clearwater Police Station- Four hours later

"Where's Camen?" Prentiss asked as she entered the conference room fours later behind a nearly sweat drenched and exhausted Morgan. Rossi gave both agents an annoyed, irritable look. "Out with his posse getting dinner. He has that lovely gentleman, "Rossi pointed to an overweight officer, chowing down on a sandwich, "watching us to make sure that we don't misbehave."Morgan snorted at his comment and sat down.

"How was the beach?"JJ asked as Prentiss plopped down in the chair next to her. The brunette rolled her eyes and said, " Hot and sticky."
JJ smiled and saw that the blue cami Prentiss was wearing on the jet was now brown. "What happened to your shirt?"
"Ummmm...well-after we searched the beach...Morgan and I...went..into the...ocean."

Rossi glared at both agents. "You went swimming on a case?"
Morgan stretched out his legs as he said, "No- we stuck our feet in the water for five, ten minutes top while we were searching the beach. Rossi, it was a million degrees outside and we nearly caught fire in the 115 degree heat index."
"Plus," Prentiss added," Morgan splashed me."
"I did not. You walked in front of me and a wave hit you."He laughed, causing Rossi to ask, "I'll let that go, but I see that you two are ok now, huh?"

Both smiled and answered simultaneously, "Yeah."

Suddenly, Reid quickly left the room. JJ sighed and stood up. "I'll go speak with him." I think I know where this is going…..

Reid pushed open the doors of the Clearwater Police Station, angrily and stepped out into the humid Florida air. Prentiss had been so rude since San Francisco; it shocked him that both Prentiss and Morgan were on friendly terms now. Maybe it was something he was missing…..

"Spence?" Reid glanced up to see JJ walking towards him with files in her hands. Reid put his hands into his pockets and mumbled, " Hey."

"Are you ok?" JJ asked. She leaned against the wall directly across from Reid.

"Well, yeah. They make it seem like nothing happened."

"Spence, I can assure that there is still tension between the two of them. They made peace and they want to work things out. Sweetie, she's sorry for what she did. Have you spoken to her yet?

"No, but-"

"Spence, it's been three months. Do you really think that she doesn't care about you? I know for a fact that Emily would take a bullet for you and I know you would do the same for her. Just talk to her- you don't have to be best friends; just make peace. Ok?"

A smile crept on his face. " Thanks, JJ." He gave her a hug. She laughed and said, " You are like a brother to me. It's my job."

"I don't want to sound mean, but you should take your own advice with Morgan as well. He didn't mean any harm towards Hotch or you."

True…" We'll be ok, Spence. I'll talk to him if you talk to Emily."

The young agent grinned. "Deal."