A/N: Today we come to a very sad day, the day the divine Paget Brewster will be leaving Criminal Minds. Given how badly season 7 has gone, I can't say I blame her. The quality is just not there anymore. I wish Paget all the luck in the world and I'll definitely be checking out any new projects she has. And for those asking, yep, I'll continue writing, but in my writing world, I won't be going beyond season 7. Hope you enjoy this part.
Just as Hotch and Gibbs were getting out of the car, two other cars pulled up. Rossi, Reid, Morgan and JJ looked at the two men in surprise and suddenly a barrage of questions and exclamations fell from their lips.
"Hotch!"
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"Why is Gibbs with you?"
Hotch held up his hand to quiet them. "They haven't charged me so they had to let me go, but I get the feeling Detective Kramer thinks it's only a matter of time. Gibbs was down at the station poking around and gave me a lift."
Rossi nodded knowingly. "Emily's contact."
Gibbs merely grunted an affirmation. Suddenly, the air thickened with tension as NCIS and FBI faced off. While Gibbs and his team's relationship with Emily was very strong and friendly, the same could not be said for the others in the BAU. Their introduction to each other had been rocky and while there had been a healthy amount of professional respect between the two groups that was lost when Doyle came back into the picture. Gibbs had blamed Hotch and the rest of the team for failing to protect Emily. That anger was only magnified towards Hotch and JJ when he found out that they had faked Emily's death and told no one, including him. While Gibbs would be civil to Hotch because he was doing Emily a favor, he hadn't planned on dealing with the rest of them and ill will between the agents immediately enveloped the group.
"Well, let's go inside," Dave continued accurately reading the scowls on several people's faces. "We can pool our information."
"Where's Emily?" Gibbs asked sharply. "Inside?"
"No, I called her about ten minutes ago and she said she was on her way here. Should be here in a few minutes," Morgan replied. He gazed warily at Gibbs. Morgan didn't particularly care for the other man and objected to the NCIS agent blaming him and the rest of his teammates for the Doyle situation. But in his more honest moments, Morgan had wondered if Gibbs might not be right and that they did bear a lot of the blame for how things turned out.
Gibbs grunted in annoyance. All he wanted was a few minutes of Emily's time to warn her about what to expect in this case and a potential lead, but it would look like he would have to wait around for her to show up. Reluctantly, he followed the BAU team into the mansion.
Garcia looked up with bleary eyes that had been staring non-stop at the computer screen as she scrolled through hundreds of websites and databases for information on Beth Clemmons. When she saw Gibbs, she let out a small squeak of surprise. The NCIS man intimidated and terrified the tech analyst and she usually became a bundle of nerves around him.
"Agent Gibbs! Why are you here?" she asked nervously.
"Just doing Emily a favor," he sighed. While he remained silent, the BAU team could feel the disdain drip off of him. In Gibbs' black and white mind, you do what you needed to do to protect your family and for a group of profilers, they failed miserably in seeing the signs that Emily was in distress last year or if they saw them, they ignored them. For that, Gibbs could not forgive nor forget. Had Emily not avoided him in those months, he would have noticed something and he would have dragged it out of her. While he wasn't happy she didn't come to him either, he understood why she couldn't and why she hid everything from him.
But these people who saw her every day, who claimed to care for her and did nothing until it was too late, they got no forgiveness from him. They hadn't protected someone they claimed to be their own, to be family. That was unacceptable in Gibbs' eyes. One thing though that Leroy Jethro Gibbs did very well, he knew how to hang onto a grudge, and he had a big one against Hotchner and his team.
Silence stretched out to an awkward point in the room, causing Rossi to clap his hands together and say in a far too cheerful and loud voice, "I think we all need to have some lunch. JJ and Reid, why don't you two help me out in the kitchen? I'm sure Aaron can use some food."
"Actually, I'm not that hungry." The thought of food made him a bit queasy and his already wan pallor paled a few shades more.
Gibbs watched him sharply and then asked. "You pull a sample yet?"
Hotch shook his head as he sat gingerly down. "No, it didn't occur to me until later and by then I was at the police station. If something like GHB was used, it's probably metastized."
"Still wouldn't hurt to be sure." Gibbs glanced around and picked up a small jar on an end table. He took off the lid and handed it to Hotch. "Here use this."
Rossi darted forward and snatched the jar out of the NCIS man's hand. "You are not peeing into that. It's worth $5,000." He glared at Gibbs and then turned to Hotch. "You think you were drugged?"
"I can't remember anything about last night," Hotch replied grimly. "Plus I woke up feeling sick as a dog. I'm still not feeling that well."
"Should we call a doctor?" Reid asked.
Gibbs was already on his phone. "Yeah, Duck, I need you to come out to Bethesda. Patient needs to see you and he's a live one, so bring your medical kit." He gave Dr. Mallard the address. "He'll be here in twenty minutes," he informed them after disconnecting the call.
"Who do you think may have drugged you?" JJ asked.
Gibbs and Hotch exchanged looks. The NCIS man shrugged, indicating this was Hotch's situation to explain.
"It's possible Beth might not be dead," Hotch finally said. He explained what he and Gibbs had discussed on the ride over.
Rossi nodded his head gently. "If she was feeling resentful and wanted to hurt you, she could have set up this elaborate scheme. She would be a logical choice as to who would be behind this. But are we certain that isn't her body at the morgue?"
"Dr. Mallard is a good friend of the DC ME," Gibbs stated. "I'll ask him to nose around."
Suddenly, they could hear someone at the front door and a second later, Prentiss appeared in the doorway into the living room. She paused, blinking in surprise when she saw Hotch. While she anticipated Gibbs to be there because his car was parked out front, she didn't think he would be bringing her supervisor with him.
"They haven't charged you yet?" she asked by way of greeting.
"Nice to see you too, Prentiss," Hotch replied in a dry tone. "No, they haven't charged me yet, but they're definitely building a case against me."
She seemed to accept this, a distracted look in her eye as she shrugged off her leather jacket. Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by either Gibbs or Hotch. The two men shared a look with each other. While not friends, the one thing they did have in common was their concern over the beautiful brunette.
As the others reported what they had found, Hotch kept glancing over at Emily and he could see Gibbs doing the same. With each new bit of information, they could see her try to contain her agitation. But neither man could blame her if she did feel some anxiety, especially when JJ reported finding many of the same articles of clothing Emily owned at Beth's apartment.
"So she could have been stalking Emily?" Rossi queried as JJ finished up her report.
"If she thought Emily was a romantic rival for Hotch, she could have very well set out to hurt her," Reid piped in, reminding them of what Beth's co-worker had told him earlier.
"But Emily isn't the one being set up," Morgan pointed out. "Hotch is."
"Depends on who she's trying to punish, me or Emily," Hotch replied.
"But Emily is the competition," Morgan persisted, drawing on what he knew about obsessive love, his specialty. "She would go after Emily first."
"Maybe it's not her who's doing this," Gibbs added his comments.
"So she weirdly tries to copy Emily's wardrobe only to try to get Hotch arrested and put away for murder? How does that make sense?" JJ argued.
"Prentiss," Hotch began, watching Emily start to pick her fingernails. "What is it? What's bothering you?"
Emily jerked to awareness, not realizing she had been such a focus for scrutiny by her supervisor. When she looked around, she saw he hadn't been the only one as she met Gibbs' icy blue gaze.
"I went to your apartment to see if there was anything we could use to establish your whereabouts for last night," she began reluctantly.
At this point, the rest could see something was troubling her. They exchanged glances with each other. What did she find?
"Go on, Emily," Rossi said in a quiet tone.
She took a deep steadying breath. "I didn't find anything that would help you, Hotch," she said with an apologetic glance at him. She paused and started to pick at her nails again. Suddenly, a large hand covered hers, stopping her movements. She looked up in surprise, not realizing Gibbs had moved to sit next to her on the couch. He gazed at her with kind eyes and gave her hands a reassuring squeeze.
Hotch threw the other man a frown, a flicker of irritation on his face, but he said nothing as Gibbs had stopped Emily from tearing her nails out.
"But I did notice that my spare set of house keys were missing," she said in a rush.
None of them were expecting that and they looked at her in surprise.
"The keys are missing?" Garcia repeated. "Why is that important?"
"Well, we know now how Beth bought all those dupes of Emily's clothes," JJ said in a grim tone. "She probably took the keys and broke into Em's house to see what was in her closet."
Gibbs was watching Emily closely. "What else?" he asked in a quiet tone. "There's something else."
Prentiss bit her lip and sighed. "After checking out Hotch's place I went to mine. I found someone had set up surveillance equipment, cameras in my apartment." She couldn't help the small shudder going through her as an overwhelming feeling of being violated swept over her. "My living room, the kitchen, my bedroom…"
Everyone was furious at this new development, none moreso than Gibbs and Hotch. The former sent the FBI team leader a coldly furious look even as he gently squeezed Emily's hands in reassurance.
Hotch closed his eyes at the news and swallowed hard. Beth mad at him and striking out at him was one thing, but to target one of his team, to target Emily…He did this. He brought that woman into their lives and possibly put his family in danger. How could he not see how dangerous Beth really was? He was a profiler for God's sakes!
"Did you touch the cameras?" Rossi asked.
Emily shook her head. "I couldn't get a good look on them, but in case they were on some wireless transmission system, which they likely are, I thought maybe Garcia could try to do a back-trace on them."
"Smart girl," Rossi murmured approvingly. He looked over at Garcia. "Is that something you can do?"
Garcia nodded, shooting a sympathetic and worried look at Emily. "If it's on some wireless system, I'll find out who's at the other end, but I'll need to go there to do so."
Emily snorted. "Seems like my house is Grand Central anyway." She handed Garcia her house key.
"I'll take you over there, Baby Girl," Morgan volunteered. Garcia gathered up her gear and with Derek trailing after her, hurried from the house.
"So, if Beth did set this up," Rossi continued. "Then we know Emily is involved in some way with her plans."
"Because she thinks there's something going on between Hotch and Prentiss," JJ finished. She looked thoughtfully at the brunette pair. Emily was staring at her hands, Gibbs one hand still covering them as Hotch looked on with a strange mixture of regret, anger and sadness on his face. The blonde wondered if Morgan's assessment of her friends' relationship might have more merit to it than she initially gave it.
"What's her end game then?" Hotch mused. "Set me up for her "death", but where does Emily come into it?"
"For these types of cases of obsession, the perceived rival would be killed first," Reid put in. "So that it would be likely that Emily's death would figure into her plans."
"Thanks a lot Reid," Emily murmured in annoyance.
"Hey," Gibbs said quietly to her. "Look at me, no one is going to get near you. I promise you."
She smiled wanly at the NCIS agent as Hotch looked at them in irritation, Rossi was amused and Reid and JJ merely sat there uncomfortably.
"I think we can make certain Agent Prentiss is safe," Hotch replied in a cool voice.
Gibbs turned his own cold eyes towards the BAU leader. "Didn't do so great last time."
Hotch and the rest of his team immediately bristled at the implication and Emily hastily intervened. "I'll be fine. I think I can take whatever Beth might have planned."
"If it's her," Gibbs continued. He turned his attention back to Emily. "We don't if she's actually the one behind this."
"But all evidence poinst to her planning this," JJ protested. "Plus you're the one who came up with the switched dental records idea."
"But it doesn't mean that's what happened," Gibbs stressed.
"He's right," Rossi mused. "We can't be closed to anything at this point. We don't know enough. We have to operate on the assumption that Beth was in that car."
JJ looked unconvinced, but nodded reluctantly.
"Dr. Mallard is friends with the DC ME. I'll ask him to look into the autopsy. Make certain the body was identified right," Gibbs offered. "In the meantime, you can't go back to your place. You're staying with me." It wasn't an offer.
And Hotch wasn't pleased by Gibbs' high handedness. "I don't think that's necessary."
"No?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Remembered what happened the last time your team ignored a threat to Emily's safety?"
"Gibbs, stop it," Emily murmured, not wanting to bring up the Doyle incident again for a multitude of reasons. "You know it wasn't as clear cut as that."
"And besides, Emily doesn't need to go to your place, Gibbs, she'll be staying here," Rossi replied in an easy tone. Like Emily, he was hoping to defuse the situation. They needed Gibbs to help them out in the investigation. The man had access to resources that they didn't at this point. But it was obvious Hotch would rather chew glass than put up with the other man's accusations.
"Emily?" Gibbs asked. "Where do you want to stay?"
She bit her lip. "I need to stay close to the investigation, so I think it's best to be here working on it." She looked pleadingly at Gibbs. She was well aware of how he felt towards her team and no matter what she said, he wouldn't budge from that opinion. Any attempts to explain that she was to blame for Hotch and the others not knowing about Doyle fell on deaf ears. Gibbs' mind was made up and nothing would change it. But right now, she was silently asking him not to go there, not with this potential murder charge hanging over Hotch's head.
The NCIS agent looked into her wide, dark eyes, pleading for him to back off on her team and he reluctantly acquiesced, for now. His anger at Hotchner was boiling at an all time high. Yet again, the dumbass had done something that had dangerous consequences for Emily. His psycho girlfriend had targeted the brunette, violated her home and her privacy and he, not a profiler, could see how much that had shaken the usually unflappable Prentiss. He would have it out with Hotchner later when Emily wasn't around.
Gibbs nodded sharply and Rossi turned his attention towards Aaron. He gazed at the younger man who didn't seem ready to back down from the potential scuffle with Gibbs. Rossi had never seen anyone get under his old friend's skin as quickly and as effectively as the NCIS agent. He caught Hotch's eye and gave him a pointed look. Down boy, Rossi tried to communicate silently and from the stubborn expression on younger man's face, Dave knew the other man got the message. Reluctantly, Hotch moved slightly back into the chair he had been sitting in, no longer leaning forward, ready to engage Gibbs.
Reid had been watching the interplay between the two team leaders with growing fascination. Like JJ, he felt a little intimidated by the NCIS man. Gibbs was rude and abrupt, but he was that way to pretty much everyone. There was never any meanness from the man. So while Reid couldn't say he liked Gibbs, the young genius did respect him. He was a good investigator, conscientious, driven and protective. Reid knew a lot of the man's hostility towards the BAU team stemmed from his belief that they had failed to protect Emily from Doyle. How could Reid be mad at the other man for that when he himself felt the same?
The doorbell rang, breaking the heavy silence that hung in the room and JJ murmured that she would answer the door. A few moments later she came back with Dr. Donald Mallard in tow.
"Hello? What did I miss?" the cheerful man inquired as looked around the room curiously.
A/N 2: You can agree with me or not, but I do love writing Gibbs/Hotch, just because I really don't think those two would like each other. Both are too alpha (well, pre-Beth Hotch is alpha, I'm not quite sure what they've done with him in Season 7), but I do think on some level, they would grudgingly respect each other.