"Did Jack have nightmares again?"

Hotch looked up with big eyes to witness David Rossi waltz into his office.

"What… ?"

"You look tired. Did Jack keep you awake?" Rossi exaggerated his pronunciation so as to get the message across, simultaneously making himself comfortable in the chief's couch.

"Don't you have some paperwork to do?" was the only answer he got from Hotch, who patiently turned back to his own files and continued scribbling. He didn't want to discuss last night's events with his friend, not when Emily had not yet had the chance to explain herself to the team. Yet David Rossi was not one you could send away without an explanation.

"Yeah… You could say that." He decided to go along with the offered alibi.

"Oh." Rossi stood up after a moment of silence. "I see in your eye that there may be another person involved… Is she cute?"

Hotch sighed and definitely put down his pen when Rossi sat down uncomfortably on the edge of Hotch's desk. He wouldn't get away with it.

"What do you want, David?"

"I'm just curious."

"Well I guess you'll have your answer soon enough." Hotch got up and went to the window bay showing on the bullpen. Most of the team members were not there yet. He had only seen Reid as he had come in, frenetically playing with his Rubbi cube. Hotch hadn't said anything about that leisurely attitude: the stack of files under which the young doctor was buried proved that he had not played around all morning.

"What do you mean?" Rossi frowned. He knew Hotch didn't sleep much at night anyway. Five hours max, three when they were on duty, and the man still found time here and there to run before coming in to work… God, Rossi shook his head, for Hotch to have blue bags under his eyes meant that either he had spent a VERY good time, or there was a VERY big problem.

"Are you afraid she will not call you back?" He continued despite the look on his friend's face. At this point, only humor could get Rossi to the bottom of things.

"I am not up to your jokes this morning. As you noticed, I didn't get much sleep last night…" Hotch was looking intently onto the bullpen, at the coming and going of agents. "It's Emily."

The name slipped easily off his tongue. Rossi, who had kept silent for the past two minutes – which was long for the elderly agent – now had a dry mouth. Whenever Aaron would call her by her first name, and not "Prentiss", it meant that something was very wrong.

"What's with her?"

Hotch turned around to face his friend. He knew he could talk to him. Some time between five and six, he had asked Emily what she planned on telling the team, and she had chosen to go for the truth. Never this bunch of profilers would believe that Emily's injuries had come from a car accident, and Hotch was not very good at playing the surprised one. So she had agreed to tell them about the assault, and the fact that Hotch knew.

"She was assaulted last night."

Rossi immediately stood up and balled his fists.

"What? By whom? Is she alright? How do you know?"

Hotch raised a hand. "May I explain or are you going to ramble like that for fifteen more minutes?"

Rossi flashed a sarcastic grin. "Yeah, you'd better explain. After dropping a bomb like this."

"She had a date yesterday, and the man was apparently all but gentlemanly. He tried to rape her, from what I could gather."

Rossi brushed a hand over his face. It wasn't often that one of their colleagues went from investigator to victim. They were used to drama in the line of duty, but not when it hit so close to home.

"What's the name of this prick?"

"She didn't want to say. You know Emily, she doesn't want us to intervene and beat the man to a bloody pulp." Hotch gritted his teeth as he said that. His only desire at that moment was to practice his boxing skills on the face of the man.

"Do you mean she's not going to file a claim either?" Now Rossi was pacing back and forth between the couch and the desk, making Hotch dizzy. He knew that the elderly agent had always had a lot of tenderness for Emily Prentiss. He could get through to her, he could make her laugh. They had been out to share a good Bourbon more than once, and often played chess together on the jet. They were close indeed, in a father and daughter way although Rossi liked to play seductive once in a while.

"Do you know how hard I worked just to make her admit what happened?" Hotch sniffled. It wasn't that easy to get Emily to talk. You had to take baby steps.

Rossi stopped pacing and looked at his friend with suspicion.

"You didn't answer the other question: how did you know?"

"She called me. After running away from the bastard, she took her car and had an accident."

Rossi nodded. Things were sounding worse and worse.

"Did you bring her to the hospital?"

"She didn't want to."

"Oh, Emily…" Rossi swore under his breath. He knew how stubborn the brunette could be. Even on the field, it took several paramedics and agents to get her on a stretcher. Hotch nodded in agreement.

"And what's bugging you?" David Rossi was good with asking questions out of the blue. Hotch snapped out of his thinking to shed him a curious glance.

"This time I'm the one not following."

"Of course, I want as much as you to beat the crap out of this guy, and to drag Emily to the next emergency service for a complete check-up. But from what you say, she's fine now. She defended herself, and I guess she's even coming in today…" He took Hotch's silence for a confirmation. "But I see there is something else on your mind. Why are you so serious?"

"Is all this not enough, David?"

Rossi eyed him curiously, trying to read his mind.

"You don't believe her? You think it was worse than she told you?"

Rossi was good. Of course, Hotch had questioned her sincerity. Emily was so secretive that you always had to make sure she was not minimizing things. But not this time.

"Of course I believe her! She was really in no shape to lie to me."

"Then are you just exhausted? You look like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

The two men were interrupted by a smiling JJ, as she knocked gently and peered into the office.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked.

"Not at all." Hotch answered in his normal voice – he wasn't so bad at compartmentalizing. "Good morning, JJ. Is everyone here?"

"Emily's missing but she sent a text saying she was in the parking lot, and she would be here in five."

Rossi shared a worried gaze with Hotch.

"Alright. Then we're ready for briefing. We are coming."

Hotch immediately followed JJ through the door, but Rossi was on his tail.

"Saved by the bell, my friend." He said, imitating a French accent. "But I'll be back… Once I've gotten Emily to file in a claim and divulgate the name of this prick so that we can pay him a little visit."

Hotch couldn't help smiling at that comment.