Chapter 28-Here we are at chapter 28. Same as always….I don't own anything (except my OC) never have, and at this rate probably never will.

(Sarah McLachlan, Building a Mystery)

You come out at night
That's when the energy comes
And the dark side's light
And the vampires roam
You strut your rasta wear
And your suicide poem
And a cross from a faith
That died before Jesus came
You're building a mystery

You live in a church
Where you sleep with voodoo dolls
And you won't give up the search
For the ghosts in the halls
You wear sandals in the snow
And a smile that won't wash away
Can you look out the window
Without your shadow getting in the way
Oh you're so beautiful
With an edge and a charm
But so careful
When I'm in your arms

'Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully

You woke up screaming aloud
A prayer from your secret god
You feed off our fears
And hold back your tears
Give us a tantrum
And a know it all grin
Just when we need one
When the evening's thin

Oh you're a beautiful
A beautiful fucked up man
You're setting up your
Razor wire shrine

'Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully

Mac had arrived with Kong in tow, announcing that he was the uncle of the four young children as well as Alecta's attending physician. It wasn't exactly a lie. Mac was a qualified doctor. He was licensed in most of the states up and down the eastern sea board as well as parts of Great Britain. But medicine wasn't his bread and butter. In the world of the Agnes's and the George's Mac was sort of like a mob doctor. He could patch you up quickly depending on the injury; he could remove a bullet from minor gun-shot wounds…stitches he could do in a pinch….you name it he could do it. His capabilities were only limited by his environment. If he had the proper inventory he could damn near start his own battle front hospital. That idea brought a smile to his face as he remembered the time he commandeered an entire hospital in a small town in Scotland to patch up some of his friends. That was some of his better work.

Looking at the police officers, 'You are not allowed to question these children without their parents and/or child advocates present. And the woman on the stretcher is the mother of these two young girls. The mother of the young blonde boy, as well as the father of the older boy are FBI agents and are out of town on a case. Furthermore, the older boy's father is a former prosecutor, so please don't try something stupid."

"Well if you are typically her attending physician and their uncle, you're going to have your hands full, don't you think?"

"Why don't you let me worry about my job and you do yours alright? Because, if you try me my gorilla back here will lose his temper."

To add emphasis to what Mac said, Kong sort of growled a little under his breath and balled his fists up cracking his knuckles.

"And if he gets one scratch on him, our dear girl here will hunt you down like dogs when she comes to. So, again, worry about doing your job collecting the evidence." Turning to Kong he told him to stay with the kids and Mac himself would ride in the ambulance with Alecta and the EMT's. Kong nodded his agreement and got the kids gathered up, packing their little back packs with things to bring with them (coloring books or favorite toys) that would keep them occupied at the hospital. Sofie, being Sofie, was beside herself; she was sure she had just watched her mommy die. Nobody could say anything to make her feel differently. Emma wasn't even getting through to her, reminding her that 'Mommy never gets dead'. Sofie wouldn't hear it, she knew what she saw. Kong had to carry her in his arms; she was so upset she had already cried until her eyes had just about swollen shut. It was true what everybody said about the girls. Emma was the quiet, thoughtful side of Alecta. Sofie was the emotional side that ran into a room shooting first and asking questions later. Walking out of the apartment, Emma took hold of Kong's free hand as Jack and Henry walked beside of her. Sofie rested her head on Kong's shoulder, twirling part of his hair around her little finger as she sniffled. Her mommy loved this big ogre, he was one of her favorite people, he had taught her a lot about the Punjab language and the food of his country….he was wonderful. He looked big and scary, but he was a nice daddy to his little kids at home. And his wife was so pretty, Sofie loved his wife, so did Emma for that matter. And Kong was always super good to them. He was one of Sofie's favorites as well as being Alecta's; he just was. From being so emotional, by the time that Kong had made his way to the car with the kids, Sofie had already fallen asleep against his shoulder, her little girl snores as she crashed.

At the hospital, Immogene and the girls met Kong and the kids and asked after Mac. Once they learned that he was with Alecta when she was brought in, Immogene calmed down. She set immediately to calling Agent Hotchner.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner."

"Agent Hotchner…"

"Immogene?"

"Yes. Please listen. We are at Mercy General. There was a break-in at your apartment. Alecta had Jack, Henry, Sofie, and Emma for a bit of a sleep over. The children are all safe, not a scratch on them. The intruder is dead. And right now, Alecta is in surgery. I haven't heard any news yet on her condition, but Mac is back there in the OR with them trying to get her patched up."

"Was she conscious at all when they brought her in?"

"Sir, I do not know. I only just arrived myself. I need to get off of here for the time being. I need to settle the children and find out if there have been any updates. I'll call you back as soon as I have anything for you."

"We are wrapping up the case as we speak. We were going to stay in town overnight to get some rest, but in light of the circumstances, we'll go ahead and head out to the airstrip and come on home. The only thing that might take a little time is some of this paperwork we have to file before we leave; the travel time itself shouldn't take more than about two hours. We can likely be there before 4 a.m."

"You just be careful. Jack, Henry, and the girls are all safe. Right now, it's just a waiting game to find out how Alecta is."

"Thank you for calling, we will be home soon."

After the phone call, Hotch turned to everyone and explained to them what had happened. The sheriff and his men hearing what had happened, helped to wrap up the paperwork as fast as possible. All it took was hearing the words-break-in, children, and injured pregnant woman-and they seemed to light a fire under everyone's asses.

The drive to the airstrip should have taken nearly an hour, but only took 30 minutes due to the fact that the deputies that were doing the driving flicked on the lights and sirens to clear a path.

Rossi had called ahead to make sure the jet was ready when Hotch first passed along the news; all the team had to do was embark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even though the flight home was probably one of the shortest the team had ever been on, it was also one of the longest. JJ had been on the phone with Will, double checking how Henry was doing. She was anxious to see her little boy. Even though the team had heard the kids were unharmed, it didn't mean the little boy wasn't scared. Although, Will did say that Henry was currently curled up with Jack on either side of Penelope, asleep. Both boys had refused to leave the hospital at all until they knew that Alecta would be alright.

Hotch was worried about Jack, he had managed to get back in touch with Immogene and she let him talk to the boy briefly. He wanted to hear Jack's voice to see if he sounded worried or afraid. Jack was as calm as a cucumber. The boy talked about helping Alecta on an adventure like some of the ones in her books. Jack was worried about Alecta though, when he talked about what happened to her he sounded extremely sad, but then he would perk right up by talking about how indestructible Alecta was and that she would be out of the hospital by lunch time. It was pretty clear that the boy was head over heels for his dad's new girl-friend; Jack thought the sun rose and set with Alecta.

After touching down at their local airstrip, the team made quick work of getting to Mercy General. Hotch flashed his badge at the people stationed at the desk in the lobby, saying that he was FBI and one of his agents had been admitted earlier. Once the introductions were over with the security officers gave the team the floor number they needed and told them to go to the nurse's station in the trauma wing. From there they would receive any further updates or instructions that were needed. Hotch and the team made their way to the nurse's station as instructed, a middle aged nurse happened to look up when she heard the movement coming down the hall.

"You must be the FBI agents I was told about. I'm Ruth. I'll take you to the waiting room with the others, then I'll go back and double check for an update on your friend for you."

"Thank you ma'am,' was all that Hotch could come up with.

Once they were lead into the waiting room by Ruth, she turned and left to do as she had promised. When she was gone, Jack and Henry ran to their parents and hugged them.

"Jack are you ok?" Hotch asked, it was barely registering with him that JJ had asked Henry the same thing.

"Yeah daddy."

"What happened?" JJ questioned.

"You'll have to ask the boy,' Immogene said nodding to Jack.

Hotch looked at his son, 'Well, Daddy, it's like this. We were lying in the floor watching 'Toy Story', when there was a sound at the door. It didn't sound like when you come home and try to use your key. Somebody was jamming something in the door to bust the lock. That's what Lex said anyway. She had been training me for weeks that if anything bad happened I was supposed to go hide in my closet and be quiet. She gave me this emergency cell phone and told me to make three calls if bad things ever happened. The first call was to the police. The second would be to you. And the third would be to Uncle Mac, in case you and the others were on a case and couldn't come help….that way Uncle Mac could take care of us until everybody came home.

She told me to take Henry and the girls to the closet and be quiet like she had taught me; she let me keep a baseball bat in there in case something happened to her and the bad people came after us. She said that I was too young for anything else.

Daddy the gun made a noise, Lex yelled….I couldn't keep Sofie from running out, you know how she is. I had already called the cops. Before I could get out to the living room, I could hear Sofie yelling at the bad man that he killed her mommy, and kicking him….Lucky for her the guy was dead already. The cops came. I wouldn't go with them daddy, I had rules to wait for Uncle Mac so I did."

"Jack, I need to ask you something. Alecta has been a little….strange lately. Do you know anything about that?"

Jack looked down and away, he didn't want to lie to his father, but he didn't want to rat out Alecta either.

"Jack…"

"Okay. Alecta said I should always say the truth if you asked….not to tell you unless you asked, but then when you did, not to lie about it." Jack took a deep breath. "The man she killed is Mr. Dunbar. He's a teacher at our school."

"Son of a…"

"But daddy, he wasn't a nice man. One time I saw him sitting in his car across the street from Henry's house, we were playing outside with aunt JJ and Uncle Will. At first I couldn't see his face; I just thought it was some guy reading a map in his car. Sometimes at school he would ask a kid to stay for detention, and then after this happened two or three times, that kid didn't come to school there anymore….don't know why, they were just gone. I guess the moms and dads would take them away. You'll have to find out.

That night that she got back from the hospital, the other day, she had the girls over,' looking carefully to Immogene before continuing, 'I heard sounds coming from her office so I went to see if she was alright. She asked me questions about Mr. Dunbar.

Daddy, she said that the night that we all went to that restaurant, Mr. Dunbar was out in the parking lot in his car watching us. I remember she looked behind us, and put her arm around me to pull me closer. She said that he gave her a dirty look, like he hated her.

When she was finished asking me questions she told me that if Mr. Dunbar asked me to stay for detention to tell him NO and come straight home or to Aunt Jessica's…and that if he had issues with what happened that he could call her, and she gave me a card with a phone number for him to call. She said that the story she was going tell him was that she was my nanny for when you were away on business and that if he had a problem with behavior in school, that he would have to wait and speak to you before I was to be put into detention…but that she would not make me stay with the man."

"Is that all that you know? She hasn't told you of any other reason that she might be worried about something?"

"No daddy, I promise, this is all that I know. Oh, and she gave me this, saying it would help protect me." Jack showed his dad the St. George's medal that Alecta had given him.

Reid had begun to feel a little guilty by now. He knew what had Alecta terrified at present. "I'm going to go get some coffee, anybody else want some?" All he knew was that he had to step away from the team for a second. In a group of profilers someone was sure to smell the guilt on him soon.

As Reid stepped away, Rossi watched him and got up to follow, saying that he would help Reid carry the extra coffees.

Cornering Reid in the 'Refreshment Center' just down the hall from the waiting room, 'Alright kid, what do you know?"

"R-Rossi, you scared the shit out of me old man, don't do that."

"What. Do. You. Know."

"I'm not sure I follow your question."

"You're not stupid. Answer the question. Hotch may not have seen you go white as a sheet, but I did; you know something. What is it?"

"Look….I can't really tell you anything much. All I can tell you is that Alecta seems to think that someone is following her. Beyond that you will have to ask her what's going on. I promised her I wouldn't say anything. And, after seeing what has happened to people that cross her these last few weeks, I'm inclined to keep my mouth shut. Besides, she deserves a little….God, I can't think of the word. But she needs it, whatever it is. Someone to watch her back, to keep her secrets until she's ready to tell them. I will not break my promise to her."

"Even if it might be dangerous to her if you do keep your mouth shut?"

"Perhaps it would be more dangerous for us than for Alecta and that is why she begged me to keep my mouth shut. Either way, she asked me for a favor, and I will not back out."

"What if something happens during surgery and she doesn't make it?"

"Trust me, she will."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Rossi, please, I promised her. When she is able she will tell the team everything."

Rossi and Reid made their way back to the waiting room carrying two trays each of coffee, trying to make sure they had enough for just about everybody.

Hotch was pacing. Penelope was sitting there quietly talking with Immogene and the other girls' she was so out of the loop on some of the things that were going down and she didn't care for that at all. Derek was sitting next to Pen with an arm around her waist, trying not to eaves drop, but to support her whatever happened next….as well as keeping his eyes on Hotch. Rossi had called Mrs. King and told her where he was and all that he knew so far and that he would try to call soon with an update. Mrs. King had jumped up out of bed and began dressing as soon as she picked up the phone when he called. As soon as they hung up from talking together, she called for a cab, giving him the name of the hospital and telling him to get her there as quickly as he could. JJ and Will were sitting there, close together watching Henry play with Jack and the girls, thanking God that Alecta had stopped this insane person from getting near the kids and also praying that she and her babies would come out of this in one piece. Although Sofie had calmed down considerably after being held by Kong and talking to her Aunt Immogene, she was still a little bit on edge about what she saw. She was so sure that her Mommy was dead. Emma was doing her best to keep Sofie's mind off of things, she even brought the doll with her that Hotch and Emily knew belonged to that child/ghost Daphne; Emma knew how much Sofie had grown attached to that doll….they both did. At one point, Sofie just sat by herself in a chair in the corner, hugging that doll tightly, not really talking to anyone. Jack wouldn't have that. He walked over and hopped up sitting next to Sofie in the chair.

"Your mommy is going to be alright. She didn't get dead."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. If you want me to stay here with you, I can."

Sofie only nodded, resting her head on Jack's little shoulder, still hugging the doll to her for dear life.

Emma had been sitting with Emily, coloring and drawing, staying quiet as always. Mrs. King had finally arrived at the hospital and went past the security desk and asked for directions to the trauma ward and the security officer escorted her to the waiting room. On her way in the cab, she had called her granddaughter and told her what happened; Rachel and Jeffy made their way to the hospital as quickly as possible, meeting the older woman just as she was entering the hospital. The small group went up together.

Upon reaching the waiting room, 'Well old man, ya got any news yet?"

Rossi looked up at Mrs. King, shaking his head NO. "We've even drawn our badges and pushed our weight around, and gotten no results."

Immogene spoke up, 'I'll go see if Mac can tell me anything."

"He's back in the OR, you can't go back there." Reid informed her.

"Watch me."

Immogene got up from her seat and walked right up to the door leading to the OR, a nurse coming to try to stop her. Immogene, who was several inches taller than the petite nurse, merely looked down at the woman, arching an eyebrow….to which the smaller woman just backed away allowing Immogene to proceed on her way.

It took her several minutes to locate the area where Mac was with Alecta.

In the meantime out in the waiting room, Emma put her crayon down, standing up from her little chair at the kids table. Sofie saw her move, and watched her for a moment. Emma turned and looked at Sofie. Sofie noticed a strange look in her sister's eye. Emma tilted her head only slightly, signifying that Sofie should come with her.

Just as the girls got up to make their move, 'Girls, where are you going?" They heard their Aunt Cossette ask.

Sofie, usually so quick with some sort of a comeback was at a loss for words, Emma answered for her this time. "Just gotta go get a drink from the fountain, s'all"

The water fountain was mere feet from the door to the waiting room, Cossette nodded that it was alright.

As soon as they were close to the fountain they began to walk up the hall way a bit further, they had no idea where they were going, but they had the urge to go that way. Then they took a left out of a door into a stairwell, going down nearly four flights of the stairs before they saw a strange looking man in a rumpled suit.

"Aren't you two exactly like your mother?' his strange accent pouring over the girls. "It is impossible to tell which one is Sofie and which one of you is Emma. Come with me girls, I can take you to your mother."

The girls began to follow the strange man in the old rumpled suit. He seemed to know their names, and their mother. And they couldn't ignore his request if they tried. They merely followed like lambs to the slaughter.

Back in the waiting room, Hotch stopped pacing and whirled around. Looking towards the group of people there with him scattered all over the room, he looked to the right a bit and saw a boy standing there. It was the same boy that was in that old house they found Alecta in when Mark Goodnight took her. The boy was back; he looked at Hotch worriedly.

Turning back to face the group, 'Where are Sofie and Emma?"

Everyone else looked up from what they were doing, realizing at that moment that the girls hadn't come back from their trip to the water fountain. Seeing the clueless looks on everyone's faces, Hotch made a quick dash out of the room and down the hall; he ran to the nurse's station, asking if they had seen two little girls come that way or not. Most of the nurses thought he was nuts; they had been running around the trauma ward trying to see to patients, they had practically no time to baby-sit two little girls.

Hotch was about to panic. Alecta had taken a bullet making sure that the four smallest kids in this mismatched family had remained safe, and now they had managed to lose her two youngest children in a matter of seconds; not to mention after all the drama of the last two weeks, Hotch just couldn't begin to imagine who might have them.

Backing away from the nurse's station a bit, Hotch spun around on his heel looking in every direction, as the others began to go through the entire trauma ward looking for the girls. Turning back to the left, he saw the boy's ghost standing in front of the door to a stairwell; he followed it and took the stairs two at a time. Getting closer he could hear the girls talking to someone else in the stairwell…he could hear the echoes of their little voices, and then he heard the echo of a man's voice with a thick accent speaking back to them.

Rossi had seen Hotch take off for the door to the stairs, and yelled for the team to follow him. Mrs. King, Rachel, Lakshmi, and Oona stayed behind to watch the other children that were left behind.

The ghost boy knew that Hotch would never get close enough in time to keep this strange man from taking the girls….and even if he did what was he going to do to the man? This person might harm Hotch. Summoning up whatever strength he had as a ghost, the boy yelled out "HEY!" and pushed the stranger down, causing him to roll down nearly an entire flight of stairs. It wasn't much but it would buy Hotch a few seconds to get to the girls.

As soon as the man landed at the bottom of the flight of stairs, Hotch had managed to get close enough to the girls to wrap his arms aounr them. By this time, Rossi and Morgan had managed to catch up. Hotch grabbed Sofie and Rossi grabbed Emma. Morgan had pulled his gun to make sure they had somebody to cover them.

Just as the three men were grabbing the two little girls, they looked up to see the stranger in the rumpled suit standing up, about to make his way back to the girls. Looking up he realized he was not alone any longer.

In his thick accent, 'Tell that…."calming himself slightly, 'Tell Alecta that I'll be seeing her soon." He smiled a menacing sort of smile that made the hairs on the backs of the three men's necks stand up, and then he was gone. Just gone.

Hotch hugged Sofie tightly, as Rossi did the same to her sister.

"Who's the boy Hotch?" Morgan spotted the young boy standing mere feet away.

Sofie finally snapped out of it, 'His name is Jesse. How old are you?"

"He says he was seven.' Emma chimed in.

"When?' Rossi was getting curious.

"He said he got hurt in 1937. How'd you get hurt?" Emma was genuinely concerned now. Her new friend said he was hurt.

Sofie began to get back to her old self a little bit when the boy refused to tell them what they wanted to know, 'Why won't you tell us?"

"Oh. Well, thank you." Sofie had calmed down quickly.

"Sofie what did he say?"

"Mr. Agent Man,' her pet name for Morgan, 'He said he wanted us to know what had happened, but it was kinda bad, and he doesn't want to make us upset."

"Mr…."

Hotch looked at the boy, 'Yes?"

"He will be back, sooner than you think. Please, take them home."

Sofie turned in Hotch's arms, 'I'm not leaving my mommy."

The boy, Jesse, leaned forward and whispered something into Sofie's ear and handed her a medallion. Sofie turned it over in her little hand, looking back up at the boy.

"Jesse, where'd you get this?"

"Mr. Man gave me it."

Sofie turned to Hotch, 'Mr. Aaron, I'll go wif you…Emmy we gotsa go wif Mr. Aaron."

Emma simply nodded her head and wrapped an arm around Rossi's neck.

"Sofie, do you want me to carry that for you, in my pocket?"

"NO! I mean, no sir. I gots it." So much like her mother, Sofie leaned over, while still in Hotch's arms and inserted the little medallion into her shoe.

Before they could all leave, Sofie turned to the boy, 'Be careful, K."

"Of course I'll be careful. I gotta go. I'm coming momma." As the little boy spoke about his mother he turned and vanished, having walked right through the wall of the stairwell, his last words lingering in the air.

"Poor Jesse." Emma muttered as they got up to leave.

"What's wrong with poor Jesse?" Rossi asked.

"Ever since he gotted hurt, his mommy all the time wants him by her side. Never lets him have any fun. But he lets her be like that because when he got hurted, she was very sad…."

"Very sad,' Sofie echoed.

"It wasn't so long before she hurted herself so she could be with her son. His daddy lived a long time after, but he never did nothing anymore 'cept drink every day. What does that mean? What did he drink?"

"He prolly drank the ka-ka water that mommy told us to stay away from. Poor, poor Jesse." Sofie shook her head before laying it on Hotch's shoulder as he turned to take lead them out of the hospital. Before leaving completely, Hotch explained that he was taking the girls and Jack home, that they had enough excitement for one day and needed to rest. And that Rossi and Morgan would come with him to help keep an eye on them. JJ and Will soon left, taking Henry with them. Pen and the girls stayed with Mrs. King and Rachel, as did Reid and Prentiss. Morgan followed Hotch and Rossi in his own SUV.

On the way back to Hotch's apartment, the twins had both dozed off, they were holding hands. When they were awake they were as different as two children could be, especially considering they were identical twins. But there were moments when they were exactly the same, and this was one of them.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, Hotch and Rossi each grabbed a twin and carried her up to the apartment, while Morgan made sure Jack got safely out of the SUV. They went inside, Hotch and Rossi took the girls into Alecta's office and set them down on the day bed.

"Mommy's cave?" Emma muttered tiredly.

"Yes baby,' Rossi confirmed.

Sofie snapped awake really quickly and she jumped down off of the bed and ran over to her mother's desk and pulled open a drawer…she began to rifle through the drawer, looking for something.

"Sofie, should you be going through your mother's things?"

"Mr. Aaron, when we're older, and Mommy gets too old to do this, everything is ours. She's been teaching us fings. Emmy, if you were a key, where would Mommy put you?"

Emma jumped down and began trying to help look, 'But why you need a key?"

"Gotta find a kit." Sofie looked at her sister, widening her eyes to emphasize the point she was trying to make.

"What kind of….OH!" Sofie's point just hit Emma. 'Hang on."

Emma went over to the desk, crawling under the desk, she looked up underneath it, finding the key that must have been the one in question because Sofie squealed in happiness at seeing it.

"What are you girls looking for?"

"Uh…." Emma looked at Sofie, 'Any bright ideas?" she was heard to mumble.

"Um. It's a first aid kit."

"Sofie, we have one of those in the bathroom on one of the high shelves. What do you need a first aid kit for?"

Sofie clicked her tongue against her teeth, making a TSK sound. Rossi couldn't help but chuckle in spite of himself. She turned away looking for the kit in question that her mother had hidden in the room.

"Sofie, is this it?" Emma held up an intricately carved wooden box, made from….

"Is this Acacia wood?"

Sofie looked at Agent Rossi, 'Yes."

"It's the Seyal variety." Emma interjected.

"How did you mother come by Acacia Seyal wood?"

"What's the big deal Rossi?"

"It's from around Egypt, Senegal, Kenya, and the Sahara. In some circles it is thought to be the kind of wood they built the Ark of the Covenant from….they used it in ancient times, sometimes still do, to build coffins. And these carvings are old; Reid could tell you better than I can, but they look like they are of the style from the 2nd century B.C.E. How did your mother come by this box?"

"She's had it since before we were born, dunno." The guilty look on Sofie's face told Rossi a different story.

"What's in this first aid kit of yours, eh Sofie?" Hotch opened it, and saw the dagger and the musket and the prayer beads and the silver cross on a chain as well as silver musket balls.

"Mr. Aaron, you know how to work a musket?" Emma grinned at him.

"My daddy can shoot anything."

"Ok, well can he shoot a musket?" Emma arched an eyebrow at Jack.

"Daddy can you shoot a musket?"

"Why is there a musket in there?"

"Duh, Mr. Aaron." Emma gave him the look in her eyes that almost said, 'I thought you knew everything'.

"Mommy didn't have time to change the gun in this one like she did for the one she gave to uncle Spence….oops." Sofie flinched and closed her eyes as Emma reached over and pinched her on the arm.

"What do you mean?"

"Tell 'em Sofie, you opened that can of worms. Tell 'em."

"The blank space on the shelf….there was a kit in a silver box. Mommy said she bought it in an oddity shop in Paris years ago. She gave it to Uncle Spencer."

"How do you know who she gave it to?"

Emma rolled her eyes, she thought the FBI hired smart people, 'Well, the three of you are asking too many questions; if you had seen one of Mommy's kits before you'd know everything. And besides, when Mommy told us about the store she bought it in, she even said that she wished that Uncle Spencer could have seen the place. She said that he would have loved it so much he would never have left probably."

"Emmy, we shoulda known somefin was up though….' Sofie was tugging on the sleeve of Emma's little shirt.

"Shhh! Sofie. Don't."

Usually Sofie was the more dominant personality of the twins; as far as watching out for her sister and her mother went. But it seemed that when it came to protecting some of their mother's secrets, Emma was the one you had to watch out for.

"Girls, somebody better start talking; something is going on, and we want answers." Rossi spoke sternly to the twins as Hotch's phone rang.

"Ask Uncle Spency. He knows it."

"I have, and he said that I would have to ask your mother."

"Well, what do you want from us? We're four." Emma shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes at the older man.

Coming back into the room Hotch gave the group an update, 'Alecta is out of surgery. She will be alright. The doctor did say that the bullet missed her heart by mere inches. I think we're lucky that Mr. Dunbar wasn't a better shot than he was. According to the nurse, Alecta will be out for a few hours sleeping off the anesthesia."

"I'll call Pen and tell her to call us when Alecta wakes up and we can head back over there if you want, and we can start getting answers to these questions."

"Morgan, you stay here with Hotch and the kids. I am going to go and talk to Reid again."

"Again?"

"Yes, Hotch, again. Earlier when we first got to the hospital and you were asking Jack what he knew about everything, Reid had a guilty expression on his face. And I followed him when he got the coffee for the team, cornered him, and questioned him about what he knew. He told me absolutely nothing. And after what we saw in the stairwell back there, we need answers and we need them sooner rather than later."

"Alright, but don't push him too hard, you know that never gets you anywhere with Reid."

"Wait!"

"Sofie, what is it?"

"Don't go. Please, stay. Emmy, we gotsa tell 'em. He'll leave if we don't,' Sofie had leaned over to 'whisper' to her sister, though in reality, the men could hear every word she had said.

"You can't go." Emma's eyes were as big as saucers, as if to try to translate the importance of what she was saying.

"And why not? Girls, we need answers, we need to know what's going on."

"Emmy…."

"Mommy wouldn't like this."

"Mommy can't do anyfing about it right now. What if he leaves Emmy? What if….' Sofie was starting to get all emotional at the thought of what could happen.

"Pops, if we tell you what is going on, you have to believe us, it's all true. And you can't leave. At least not right now. M'k?"

"That depends on what you have to say."

"Hmmmmm….Deal." Sofie answered quickly. "What, we gotsa do sumfin', Mommy needs help." Again these last few words were an attempt to whisper, failing.

"M'k. Now, before mommy made us in her tummy, when she was 'bout Sissy's age, she went on a trip. She said it was to Romania, she showed us pitchers one time, they were so pretty. Anyway, Mommy said that some of her friends made a dare with her that she wouldn't be able to spend the night alone in the tassle on the mountain. It was a ooky old place and the bricks all fallin' off an' stuff. She showed us it in pitchers. Aschew" Emma had to stop for an epic sneeze.

"Bless you Emmy,' Sofie chimed.

"Fanks. Anyway, Mommy did it, because she used to love a good adventure she said. And 'sides, she ain't no chicken. An' so she did it. She never told us what she saw or heard that night, 'cause she said that it might make us not seep no more. But then sometimes this person will hunt her down…."

"The man from the hospital?" Jack questioned quickly as Sofie sneezed super hard, "Bless you Sofie."

"Fanks. Uh huh that man from the hopsital….hospital. Him. Mommy said he's like the devil, he makes people go asleep and never come back…and if they do come back it's not a good thing."

"A stranger from Romania? Girls, are you trying to tell us that Drac…"

"AAAAschew.' Rubbing her nose with a tissue that Emma had given her, Sofie spoke up, 'Don't say it Mr. Aaron, don't. It'll make things worse than they are."

Emma helped out, 'But yes. The strange man is still around, not so much alive, and he's been hunting Mommy for a long time. He was going to make us go away so he could make Mommy come look for him."

Emma let off a hideously large sneeze.

"Sweet heart, what's wrong? Something has you and Sofie just messed up." Morgan asked her after she had to steady herself after losing balance from the force of the sneeze.

In a stuffy voice, 'it's nuffin' Agent Man. We're jus' allergic to chalk."

"But there isn't any chalk in the place."

"Umb, bister Aaron, comeb here." Sofie said, standing up and wiggling her little finger at him, to lead him into the living room.

"Moob that table, and den da rug." Hotch did what the little girl had instructed and found the cross on the floor with the other symbols.

"Momby dinn't draw dose wif crayons now did she?"

"But Sofie, you and your sister were here earlier, lying in the floor even and there was no allergic reaction." Dave tried to call her out on the discrepancy of her statement.

"Well Pops, we were only here for about an hour maybe. We just got home from seeing Sissy and Aunt Pen. And we dinn't have thime for it to make uth sneethe. Andow we're back and it's cwazy." She doubled over sneezing.

"If you're allergic to the chalk, why would your mother use it?"

"How bad would you be if she used paint?" Emma asked meaning to ask if Hotch would be mad, she tried to breathe in through her nose which was futile with it being so stuffy.

"Hotch the smurf has a point." Derek conceded.

"Fank you Agent Man." Emma nodded to him, accepting of his little nickname for her.

"Pssst. Jack, can you hand be a….a tissue? Gimme one for Emby, too.' Thinking quickly, 'Please."

"Can somebody help be blow by nose?" Hotch looked over to where Emma was standing, her eyes were starting to water from her allergies to the chalk, as were Sofie's. He knelt next to the little girl and held the tissue up to her nose for her.

"Fank you Mr. Aaron,' she mumbled miserably.

"Just let me know if I pinch too hard okay."

"M'kay. Just hurwy…my dose…."

"Here we go sweety." He placed the tissue back up to her nose and signaled to her to start blowing.

In the meantime Rossi had gone to the bathroom and got two warm damp wash cloths and handed one to Hotch and walked over to Sofie and sat down on the sofa, pulling her onto his lap.

"Turn to me Sofie, I'm gonna wipe your eyes a bit."

"Fank you Pops."

"I still can't believe she would use chalk if the two of you are allergic."

"Mr. Aaron…she couldn't use paint, and she couldn't nail holes in the walls…"

"Emma, what are you talking about?"

Emma cracked one eye open and located Morgan, once eye contact was made she pointed to a picture on the wall behind him and made a spinning motion with her little index finger. Morgan, getting the hint, took hold of the framed photograph on the wall and took it down.

"Hotch, look."

Hotch turned and saw there were more drawings on the wall behind the picture.

"Mommy prolly put them all over the room…..' Emma said as Hotch finished wiping her nose and picked up the washcloth to wipe her eyes.

"An' ya might wanna check un'er your bed Mr. Aaron….and maybe Jack's, too."

"Why would she do such a thing?" Rossi thought out loud.

"You gave her shelter; she knew that monster would come looking for her at all cost." Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan all jumped at hearing an unfamiliar male voice suddenly speak out. Looking around they see another unknown man standing before them. This one was slightly different from the first stranger they had seen today. This man was dressed in the knee breeches and a long waist coat from some time….

"What? When?" Rossi was rarely at a loss for words.

"Mr. Man!" Both twins squealed with excitement, running forward and wrapping their arms around his legs to hug him as he stood before them.

"My dear girls, it's been far too long since you last came home."

"Talk a'mommy 'bout that." Sofie chirped.

"Mr. Man, we gots a piece from Jesse. We knew you'd come." Emma was as happy as a clam, just gushing over the fact that this…person was there.

"I'm Aaron Hotchner, you're in my home. Who are you? And where or when do you come from?"

"James is my given name, though the girls call me Mr. Man. I was executed in 1590, it was the summer. I was a highwayman by trade. I had….' Looking down at Emma and Sofie, 'I had done a lot of bad things. Even as they tied the rope around my neck I was unrepentant to the very end. I don't think they ever really found all of my….Let's just say, that sometimes when you're out on the moors you can still hear the cries of the ones who were unfortunate enough to know me."

"Why would Alecta let you anywhere near her or her children?"

"She wasn't left much choice; in death I was left no option but to wander the estate that had once been my hunting ground. I wander the grounds of the estate, though now it is a small highland village, as well as the house itself. In my time on this side of the veil of death I have had time to think, I have had time to try to make reparations for my crimes. Once I saved Alecta's life, another one of us was poking around the old place, and he struck out to do her harm. I make sure that doesn't happen. I am charged to protect those that live in or near the premises. That is my duty, it is the least I can do."

"But why are you here?"

"It is known in certain circles that someone hunts our girl. A mutual friend wants to see to it that he is finally put in his grave, permanently. I am here to look after these little mites until Alecta is back on her feet and can do it properly herself. I must warn you, ending this will be easier said than done. Our strange diplomat has had nearly 600 years to build a following, building an army of his own. And he will use every dirty trick he can to make sure he comes out on top."

"Why wouldn't Reid just tell me what he knew?"

"The boy made a promise, he intends to honor it, and there is nothing wrong with that; and from what I have been lead to understand, he is a man of science….this would be far outside the realm of his understanding. Besides, he knows ever so much more than you think."

"What pray tell would that be?"

"Oh no sir, you won't hear about it from me. That is a different adventure for a different day. You have to let the chips fall where they may. But I can tell you this, you will be finding out soon enough."

Post AN: The same goes for the rest of you, you'll learn more later, just gotta hang on a bit longer, hopefully I haven't lost many of you that do read me to some of the supernatural stuff….I sort of like it myself, it's fun to write in any case. Peace out until I see you again in 29 land.