Hazelwood Police Department-27 Hours later

Morgan yawned before saying, "This is ridiculous. This guy is ballsy enough to kill people in broad daylight, but when we get here, he stops?" He sat in a small conference room with the rest of the team, all exhausted and frustrated. With the unsub stopping once word had spread of the FBI's arrival, the team had gotten nowhere in getting close to any suspects. The worst part was that they all knew that if they left without solving the case, the killings would start up again.

"I'm exhausted and I'm going to get coffee. Anyone want one?" Prentiss said as she walked to the conference room door. After, five "no", she walked out. Hotch saw her step into the bullpen through the window before suddenly she and five other officers suddenly pulled out their weapons and pointed them towards the front of the building.

"Prentiss?" he called before running towards her with the team right behind him. He stepped out and found a tall, red haired male standing in the police office entryway with a gun pressed against his temple. In the man's other hand was the Barrett M82. Hotch pulled out his weapon as the Chief of Police yelled out, "Put the weapon down!"

"No! I can't do the mission-I have to-I can't do the mission!" the man yelled out in a crazed, antsy daze. "I can't win-win against FBI-I-the mission-"

He's definitely the unsub, Hotch thought as Rossi yelled out, "Sir, we can help you! Suicide isn't going to help!"

"How the hell do you know? They'll come after me-I can't-"

Do something! "What's your name?" Hotch asked the man. The man flinched and stammered, "Declan Harden."

"Ok, Declan. I'm going to put my gun down and come over to you, just to talk. Alright?"

Declan pressed the gun harder against his temple before stammering, "Al-Alright, but I-I don't trust you."

"That's ok," Hotch put his gun onto a table and took two steps forward, "My name is Aaron. Declan, I know you think suicide is the way out, but it's not worth it. Trust me, I know."

"I didn't get the mission done and I have to-they'll kill me-"

"The voices in your head aren't real. I know you may feel like they're right, but you need to ignore them. Did they tell you to kill those women?" Hotch took another two steps closer to Declan, placing him within reaching distance.

"Yeah, they said they'd destroy me if I didn't get the mission done!"

"If you put the gun down, we'll get you help that you'll need. It'll be hard, but you'll be safe and they won't hurt you anymore, I promise."

Declan's hand started shaking. "You swear?"

"I swear. Declan, give me the gun." Declan nodded before placing both guns into Hotch's hand. He started shaking as Hotch sat him down on a chair while the officers started preparing transport for Declan to go to a mental health facility.

"Have you ever done it?" Declan suddenly asked Hotch as they waited.

"Suicide?"

"Yeah."

"I tried it nine months ago. It wasn't worth it. You have a family, Declan?"

"A wife and a son."

"Well, one thing that helped me get through my problems was fighting day and night for my son. If you do that, the voices will be gone in no time," Hotch saw two officers stand by the door, ready to take Declan, " Take care of yourself, Declan."

As the two officers took Declan away, Hotch thought, I guess that's another reason to be thankful that I failed at suicide. If I hadn't, Declan would probably be dead and not getting the help he needs. I'd call that a job well done.

"When journeying down the long dark road, we must continue on and never give up faith we'll one day reach our destination - no matter how ugly that road appears before the naked eye."

-Reed Murphy

Quantico, Virginia

Allison walked down the hallway towards Hotch's apartment later that night. She had just worked a twelve hour shift and wanted nothing more but to crawl into bed with her boyfriend, who had just arrived home from the case. She turned the doorknob, expecting an empty apartment, but froze when she found the team, JJ's son, Henry, and Jack in the living room.

"Jack?" Everyone other than Jack was sound asleep. Henry slept soundly behind the couch in a crib that JJ had brought over.

"Hi, Allison! We're watching the Lion King!" Jack slid from under his father's arm and bounced over to her. He almost knocked over an empty pizza box, located next to a drooling, sleeping Reid. Garcia was asleep on Morgan's shoulder. Rossi sat across from them with his head being supported up by his hand as he slept. JJ and Prentiss were sleeping on the floor in front of where Garcia, Morgan, and Hotch were sleeping. Hotch had fallen asleep while leaning back in his chair.

"Wow, they must be really tired. Since everyone is sleeping and it's only 8:00, how about we leave a note for your father and you and I go get some ice cream?"

Jack jumped and exclaimed, "Oooo, I want chocolate!" He grabbed his jacket off of one of the kitchen chairs and started bouncing up and down as Allison wrote the note for Hotch. Once finished, Allison took a quick glance at the sleeping group before following an excited six year old into the hallway.

Even as she walked with Jack, her heart warmed at what she had seen: all seven members of the team slept soundly as if everything around them was at peace.

Even the one who had fallen from grace- Aaron Hotchner- slept peacefully, with an expression on his face that outsiders rarely saw on the man.

A smile.

The End.

A/N: Thanks for reading!