Dave smirked as Hotch divulged the details to him on Sunday, while Jack was preoccupied in the living room with a baseball Dave had thrown him.

He nodded as Hotch finished. "So…how was it?"

Hotch hesitated. He had thought about it all night and the best he came up with was 'nice'. Dave frowned at him. "What? All I ever had were nice kisses with Haley… Ok, so maybe this was better than nice."

Dave played with the frayed edges of a nearby dish towel. "Rough?"

"No, not rough. Better than nice."

"Are you going to kiss her again?" Dave glanced at Aaron. He was smiling.

"I don't know." Aaron cleared his throat.

"You like her?"

Aaron stopped what he was doing. "Yes. But you don't understand." His gaze moved over to Jack. "He got really upset when he heard us talking."

"That was different…"

"Maybe it was… But I can't date someone my son doesn't feel safe around. And I can't date Lex because she'll feel like…" He paused, searching for the right words. "I'm using her as a last resort."

Dave grabbed his jacket and stood. "I'd better go. Thanks for dinner. You know…" He flicked Hotch a coin. "Maybe you should you leave it up to fate? Bye, Jack."

"Byes, Uncle Dave…" Jack ran into the room. He looked curiously as his Dad threw a coin in the air and smiled. "What's wrong, Daddy?"

Aaron looked down at Jack. "Nothing… Wanna play?"

When Aaron walked in the next morning, Morgan, Reid, Lex and Emily were in the kitchen. He said a general hello and walked up to his office. He sat down and spent the bones of an hour firing paper into his paper basket. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

JJ stopped moving as a paper ball flew past her just missing the basket. Hotch frowned. "Nice shot."

"Thanks… Is it ready?"

"Yeah… I'm not taking the fall…"

"I will… Um, if she's not happy about it, I will explain everything to her."

JJ nodded and led him out to the conference room. Hotch sat between Garcia and Reid. Lex, sitting across from him didn't look up at him.

"Three nights ago the fifth murder in a string of crimes took place in…" JJ looked from Hotch to Lex. "… Barehaven."

Lex's head shot up. "What?" she asked alarmed.

JJ pressed the button on the remote.

"Josephine Arlington, aged 21, received severe blows to the abdomen before being hit fatally on the head with a blunt instrument," Hotch informed the team. "Now, the last four murders have been surrounded by several other crimes… theft, arson, rape, assault and battery. The unsub does a pick 'n' mix."

Garcia looked around, confused. "Pick 'n' mix."

Reid turned to her. "It's when an unsub will commit several different crimes, not necessarily keeping one of them the same all along."

Emily nodded. "He gets off on the fear he creates."

"There's a minor problem." Everyone looked at Hotch. "Strauss doesn't think much of the case… she thinks we can work it from here and close it fast. I think differently."

"So what are we going to do?" Emily asked.

"Reid, Lex, Garcia, Strauss and I are going to fly out today, prove that there is something to worry about. The rest of you can fly out tomorrow."Garcia groaned. "Oh this should be fun… She's never forgiven me for the 'Talk Dirty' incident." Everyone in the room laughed.

"Um," Reid began, "I don't feel very comfortable working with Strauss either… um, I said some things I shouldn't have an-"

"Fine… Dave, you instead."

While JJ, Reid, Emily, Morgan and Garcia, who flashed Lex a suggestive grin, filed out of the room, Dave whispered something to Hotch, while he turned off the screen, and Lex sat rooted in her seat. Hotch noticed as he turned to leave and, instead, crossed the room to her. He leaned on the desk in front of her.

"Um, listen ab-"She looked up at him, hurt in her eyes. "You should have told me." She stood up and walked out of the room.

A/N: Barehaven is a madey upey place from my head :D