AN - sorry for the delay peeps, I started getting worked up further ahead in the story and kind of hit what would be called writers block at one point in betweem here ., either way I hope you like it, on with the show! I'll be jumping back and forth between Emily and JJ's POV from here on out

I had woken up the next day feeling like a brand new person. Almost like it was my first day at the BAU. I pulled open the doors to the bullpen walking with a determined stride as I dropped my bag at my desk and hung my suit jacket on the chair. The morning rush trickled in, JJ briskly walked in, briefly making eye contact with me. She froze from her stride, a slight look of confusion fell on her face, my expression was indifferent, the look she wore was as if she didn't know who I was. I raised an eyebrow in response 'what?' my emotions strongly kept in check as I looked at her, she shook herself out of her trance.

"New case" she said, I nodded and turned briskly to follow her to the conference room. She placed a stack of files on the desk in front of her usual spot. I sub-consciously took the chair closest to the door, farthest from the usual seat next to her. My body doing exactly what my mind told me it needed to do to keep myself sane. She seemed to have frowned momentarily before watching everyone else arrive and settle down in their respective seats. Garcia was last to arrive, a few seconds after everyone had already sat down. Without thinking anything of it, she took my empty chair. I saw JJ glance quickly at me one more time before turning her attention to the monitor behind her, clicking the remote in her hand.

"An urgent case made its way on my desk early this morning. 5 women have been found dead after a span of 5 days from the time that the first 2 have been identified as missing, all residents of Michigan." JJ clicked the remote, bringing up pictures of 5 brunettes. " Why did they take so long to call us in" Morgan interjected. "Because their bodies washed up on the shores of Sarnia, Ontario Canada" she called up more pictures of Canadian officials recovering bodies from Lake Huron. "It took locals awhile to identify the women since they weren't Canadian, their bodies being dumped over international waters slowed the process"

"It would be safe to say the unsub is dumping their bodies in Lake Huron, the fact that their bodies washed up in Canada could be a forensic counter-measure. We would then have to assume that they dumped them without caring about weighing them down or having them found. How much time had passed between the discovery of each body?" Reid asked.

"2 were found early on Monday morning, 1 midday Wednesday, 1 early Thursday and the last one Thursday night" JJ announced. Reid commented almost immediately "The fact that they were found so close together, we could probably assume they were all dumped at almost the same time, the movement of the lake causing the bodies to wash up on the shore arbitrarily. Have they been able to investigate a timeline on when this women had gone missing?"

"Today is Friday, they only made the connection late last night from the first two bodies, they were right in assuming the following bodies were also from Michigan after that, we've been called in urgently because the first 2 had been confirmed missing last Saturday and Sunday, information still pending on the other three. At this rate they are extremely worried about more bodies showing up" JJ said quickly.

"Due to the urgency of this case, let's discuss our strategy on the plane. We leave in 15" Hotch spoke firmly as he closed the folder in front of him, standing up briskly and walking to his office. Everyone nodded and hurriedly readied themselves.

On the plane en route to Michigan.

We weren't very well rested from the last case. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves until we settled on the jet. With the urgency of the case everyone took every little second they could to rest up before the big grind.

"All women, all caucasian, all from Michigan. That's a lot of murders from one person in a short span of time. It would be incredibly rare and remarkable if this unsub doesn't have a prior history of violence." Reid piped as soon as he took his seat.

Spreading out a case file on the table across from him added "He's already solidified a signature. At first glance it didn't seem like it, but I noticed a consistency with the deeper slash marks and the stab marks as well. The stabs only occur on the upper half of body, specifically around the shoulders. It seems minuscule but its almost safe to assume he holds his knife pointed downwards in his left hand" I imitated the position with a pen in my left hand.

"I think you're right. He uses a knife in his initial attack. The wounds look like defined marks, all the larger cuts looking very similar. The other smaller cuts seem to be done with a different knife, judging by the depth and the cleanliness of the stroke, it looks more like the work of a scalpel and it looks like he takes his time with these ones." Reid added.

"So he's left handed?" JJ asked.

"Not necessarily. Victim #3 showed almost no evidence of torture. She had fewer cuts and was the only one that was shot. Statistics say people are more likely to consent to someone wielding a knife over a gun. This seems like he might have both." Morgan commented back.

"Twice as likely to comply" JJ added.

I thought quickly back to my prior CIA self defense training. "He could be holding a gun in his right hand at the same time as holding the knife in his left." I motioned again with my hands, pretending to point a gun with my right hand, supporting the bottom of my right hand with the wrist of my left, which was still holding the pen. It was pretty much the same way you would hold a gun and tactical flashlight.

"With victim #3, there were probably less cuts, no signs of torture, because she was already dead. I think his focus is about torturing the victims. Perhaps he had a harder time controlling the situation with the third victim." Reid

Hotch interjected. "When we touch down I think it's important to see how each victim reacted to the unsub, understanding what their personalities were like might be able to give us an idea on where he might be meeting his victims. Each of us, myself, Reid, Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi will each interview one of the victims family. JJ you go to the local PD and set up. We'll meet back an hour and a half after touch down."

We went over a few more details. Once we landed we all hurried to do our parts.

JJ's POV

It's been a couple days. The case was intense, we were having a hard time getting a break, and there was no room for dawdling. And even thought we saw each other for every waking hour, it felt like ages since I last held a non-work related conversation. I couldn't help but feel Emily was intentionally avoiding me. It was a little disheartening actually I still remember the last thing she said to me 'you two look cute together'. As that thought cleared itself I caught myself looking up and desperately searching for her.

I found her next to the coffee pot and starred as she multi-tasked, mindlessly pouring coffee into a mug and intensely looking at a file with her other hand. I frowned slightly, more and more I could see she had placed her internal walls up. She was nothing but professional. The last 2 days of trying to desperately track this unsub, as victim after victim turned up on the shores, had taken its toll on every member of the team.

I savoured one last glance, then sighed out heavily as I looked at the pile of files in front of me. 'I could really use a coffee too', just as I was about to get out of my chair, a mug landed it's way on the space in front of me. Slightly surprised by the pre-meditated gesture, I glanced up just in time to see the back of Emily's figure making it's way out of the office. 'She made me coffee'. Two more files got plopped down on the stack before me. I shook my head, sighed and got back to work.