There will be another chapter shortly. This one is not as long as I intended, but the breaking point felt natural. So many details in the next chapter. Keep your eye out for it. XOXO

The exhaustion that swept over Jessica was unlike anything she'd experienced in a while. She sat at the table in the conference room after refusing to go back into her interrogation room. Morgan sat with her. He tried guiding her through her memories, but quickly realized she had no block. Jessica remembered everything, and sometimes, in vivid detail. She insisted she could draw a preliminary sketch for them. It's not as if she could see anything else when she closed her eyes. Slowly but surely, though, every time she closed her eyes, they stayed closed a little longer, and a little longer, until her hand was resting the entire weight of her head. Morgan had stopped trying to coach her and simply watched her drift away. It was the most peaceful the girl had looked all day.

Morgan went and collected the small travel pillow he kept in the side drawer of his desk guided her head down onto it. He cracked the door and kept the lights on, so as not to scare her like earlier. In his hands he held her drawing, which wasn't that great, but not too bad either. He could definitely see what she was attempting, and at least he could pass this along to the sketch artist and see if she could come up with something. Maybe it would help shorten the time Jessica needed to meet with the artist. He would try anything to shorten any amount of discomfort still had to come to the girl.

The whole team knew they had a hard, long road ahead of them. Despite the openness her captor kept with her, Jessica knew very little about the DC area, and when Hotch sat with her and a map earlier, she just panicky and couldn't even figure out which way was up. Sometimes, the more you want to help, the more pressure you put on yourself, the harder it is to actually help.

JJ took a deep breath and hesitantly knocked on Hotch's door. She was all for protocol and so was Hotch, but maybe this one time they could figure something out.

"Come in," Hotch answered with a heavy voice. He promised Jack he would be home tonight, on time.

JJ slipped in and shut the door behind her.

"I've been speaking with all kinds of people for the last hour. Jessica isn't a minor; the state wants her to do a seventy-two hour psych eval, and then go into a halfway home for the duration of our investigation," she spoke steadily, pausing only to see if her stoic boss would reveal anything. "I just really don't think that would help anything."

"What are you suggesting?" he laid down his pen and ran a hand through his hair.

The day had taken a toll on Hotch. They had just gotten back from a case in Wyoming involving body parts being burned in front of churches, and no matter how much he loved his job, he wasn't quite ready for another extensive case so soon. Maybe he was just frustrated with himself, frustrated that he had no idea where to begin with this unsub. This man was so brazen as to have a lavish home and keep multiple young girls at the same time, but obviously good at his work or else they would have noticed him doing this for, most likely, longer than twelve years. How had they not known?

"I want her to take her home with me. Will and I just fixed the spare room in our place up. Henry goes back to school next week. Please, Hotch, help me do this."

They both knew if JJ really wanted to get it done, she could, but it would be much easier with Hotch on board.

"You need a court order, or something," he said after a long moment.

She tried holding back her smile, but it broke out across her face. This case was already hitting her, as it was Hotch, as it was them all.

"Judge Mendez owes me a few favors," JJ said so fast Hotch only really heard Mendez and favors.

Spencer Reid stood in front of the large window that looked into the conference room. Every time they worked late he made a large mug of green tea with extra honey, sat it on his desk, and then went on walk around the floor, just to get the blood pumping again. But this time, he just stood there, with his mug in his hands, which was a bit too hot to hold. He couldn't tear himself away, though.

Of all the team members, Reid was the best at keeping himself detached from the case. That's not to say he never cared—that would just be a lie. Reid just had his own way of handling the daily traumas they encountered. But as he stood here, watching Jessica sleep—her body twitching occasionally—he felt overwhelmed with anger. Cases of children were the hardest to handle. Ever since he'd learned of the case from his very own neighborhood, his ability to deal with those children and their abductions made his stomach sick. He rarely slept during those times until they found the unsub and child, hopefully alive.

Sure, Jessica was a fully grown girl, should be at least halfway through a bachelor's degree by now, but that didn't quiet the fire he felt any. No, that enraged him further. His hand tightened around the glass as some hot tea sloshed over the side and onto his fingers. Reid was beyond angry. Instead of killing her, instead of letting her go free long ago, he stole all of her teen years. Reid may not have had a normal adolescence, but he volunteered for that.

Garcia appeared at his side, seeming to have an understanding of his feelings, and some similar, albeit more passive, thoughts. She tentatively laid a hand on his forearm and whispered that she had found a few of the other missing girls' cases for the team to look over.

Reid nodded and took one final look at the sleeping Jessica.