A/N: Here's next chapter. I hope you all like it.

Special thanks to jenny crum, K8e1, Jareau37, Christiangirl and BAUMember!

I don't own criminal minds!

Chapter 13: Old times

Three days later, JJ walked into Chemicaltech with her head high. It had been a wonderful week, filled with a lot of different events. She had met an amazing guy, Owen was back in her life, and she had fought an unknown intruder. But the parts with Hotch were the best so far. Knowing she was going to see him soon made her day, but also kept her from sleeping. She constantly thought about him, even though he was across the country to solve a case. She had talked to him two hours ago and he told her that his case would be longer than he imagined and that he was truly sorry. JJ understood his work, so she told him it was more than fine. Their jobs were demanding and there was nothing they could do about it. But her case had no new leads. Nothing was happening around her, which she was thankful for. But she knew they had to catch the people behind the missing chemical weapons. If they ended up in the hands of terrorist, it could cost a lot of innocent people their lives.

She turned around the corner and was about to walk into her office when she was pulled into the supply closet with someone covering her mouth to keep her from making any noise. The lights turned on and the person behind her let her go. She wasn't shocked to see Owen standing there with a serious face. It was his game face. He knew something. She could see it in his eyes.

''I need you to come with me!'' he said simply.

''Sure, but where are we going?'' she asked curiously. He opened the door for her and stepped behind her. But before he answered he just walked, so she followed him through the building, smiling at the people she knew. She kept walking next to Owen as they stepped into the parking garage. He walked towards his car and pulled out a laptop. He opened it up and put it down on the hood of his car.

''Owen!'' JJ called out. ''What did they find?''

He typed in his passcodes and stepped aside when the pictures came up. He had been in contact with Collins earlier and he wanted JJ to know what they had found. ''Our analysts put the dental records of our intruder into the CIA database, and they found a name, but they didn't find anything in the hotel room. It was cleaned.'' he went on hesitantly. It wasn't necessarily good news. Well, not to him. ''His name was Isamm Hawsawi, former Special Forces.''

JJ stepped back with confusion. ''Former Special Forces?'' she repeated. ''Why would he break into Chemicaltech? What did he have to gain?''

''I don't think Isamm had anything to gain. He was born and raised in the US, but his older brother, Asad Hawsawi has been on a terrorist watch list for the past nine years. He has been suspected of terrorism in Europe.''

''So this case is international?''

''We don't know yet.'' he replied. ''Collins contacted MI-6 and informed them about the breach inside Chemicaltech. When you started this operation, MI-6 requested to be kept in the loop since they gave us the intel in the first place. Collins isn't happy about it. But they're working together to get more info on Asad Hawsawi.''

She leaned against the car as she breathed out deeply. Not being able to do anything was eating her up inside. She wanted to help and be there in the meetings and briefings. She didn't choose her job to sit still and play lawyer for months at a time. ''What are we supposed to do now?''

He closed the laptop as JJ asked the question. He closed the door and turned around to face her. ''Collins wants us to stay out of it, but I suggest we do some digging in our free time. I have access and the right clearance to see how far along they are.'' he smirked. ''Let's do some investigating on our own, shall we?''

''I am so glad you feel the same way about this.''

''Your place after work?'' he asked simply.

She nodded and walked towards the elevators. She didn't wait for Owen to follow her. She just walked and decided to let him go on his own. It was hard for her to be near him, but objectivity was saving her in times of closeness with him. Not to mention that the new man in her life distracted her enough to keep her focused on the important things. She no longer felt the same amount of pain, she felt a year ago. She was moving on in life and looking forward to many amazing years to come.

Hotch and his team members were seated in the small conference room in the Nashville police station. Another girl went missing a few hours earlier and the team was working hard to nail the profile, but it seemed like the unsub was all over the place. He wasn't sticking to the routine he had established with the women he abducted before.

''This unsub has changed his MO and victimology completely.'' Baker remarked as he looked at the pictures of the missing women. ''The first three women were brunette, ages 30 to 35, and taken from public establishments, and now he has abducted a blonde woman who is 23 from her own home?''

Hotch sat down next to SSA Cooper. Across from him was SSA Fowler. ''Something caused him to change his victimology. We have to figure out why.'' Hotch went on. ''And why is he keeping these women?''

''We don't know if they're even alive, Hotch.'' Cooper contradicted. ''He might have a secluded dump side where we'll never find the bodies.''

''I think Hotch is right, Cooper.'' Fowler added confidently as he rose from his chair. He stepped towards the boards and looked at the pictures intently before he turned around to face his three colleagues. ''We already established that our unsub is highly organized and confident. He abducted three women from public spots, which can lead to a lot of witnesses.'' he explained. ''And now he has taken a woman from her own home. Why would an unsub change his abduction side from target rich to offender friendly?''

''Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why he would keep the other women alive.'' Cooper said.

''What if Marissa Richards was his intended victim all along and the other women served as surrogates?'' Baker put into the group. ''It might explain the sudden change in his MO.''

Hotch knew all three of them could be right. This case was quickly turning into the hardest he had been on yet. Their unsub was all over the place and nailing a profile seemed impossible. ''Yeah, but it doesn't explain the difference in victimology. Three women, ages 30 to 35, and one woman who is 23. Why the change?''

''What if there's no change? What if our profiles are right?'' Fowler asked. ''One unsub is highly organized and confident while the other operates with safety.''

''We could be dealing with a team!'' Hotch said. ''It explains the differences. This would mean that our dominant is teaching the submissive how to abduct these women. So our latest victim was abducted by the submissive personality.'' he went on, feeling relieved that the pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together. ''We should go back to Marissa Richards' neighborhood and question the neighbors. If our second unsub really abducted her it had to be his comfort zone so he probably lives close by.''

Hotch rose from his chair and turned to his team. ''Baker you and I will present the police with the profile. Cooper and Fowler, I want you to question all the witnesses again and even people we haven't talked to before. Tell them who we're looking for.''

''Of course.'' Cooper said.

''We will meet back here later.'' Hotch said before everyone went their separate ways.

JJ leaned back on the couch in frustration. Documents and files were scattered all over her apartment, and she and Owen hadn't come up with anything. No one at the company had any ties to Isamm or Asad Hawsawi and no one had a suspicious record. They were once again back to where they started, and it was frustrating both of them.

''We need to approach this differently.'' Owen started as he sat down next to her once the couch. ''We've been looking through every single employee based on CIA files. What if we download all personal files of Chemicaltech's servers?''

''That might give us more information on the employees, but we would need to get into Warren's computer and his password changes every hour. I've seen him walking around with usb drive that generates the password every hour.'' she responded. ''There's no way that Collins will allow us to steal the drive and download the files. We were put in as sleeper agents, Owen. I am not about break protocol.''

''JJ, we can break this case wide open. Why are you against this?''

She rose from the couch and started to put all the files together to make sure her apartment looked at least a little better than before. ''We have our orders.'' she reminded him again. ''I know you love to bend the rules as long as you can profit from it, but I won't do this. And if you do, I'll report you to Collins.'' she said. She was about to continue when her phone started ringing. The caller ID lifted her mood, and she picked up the phone without any doubt as she turned around to face away from Owen.

''Hey stranger!'' she spoke happily as she had phone pressed against her ear. She walked closer to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, feeling Owen's eyes at her.

Hotch felt his heart speed up the moment he heard her voice on the other end of the line. It was amazingly perfect to hear her. They had only been on two dates and everything was working out great. She didn't ask questions about his job and he didn't have to leave with a feeling of regret. It made him extremely happy. ''Hi, how are you?''

''I am good.'' she said as she turned around to suddenly see Owen standing next to her with a disapproving look on his face. ''Aaron, can you hold on for one second?'' she asked sweetly.

''Yeah, of course.''

JJ took the phone away from her ear and covered it with her hand, making sure that Hotch wouldn't be able to hear a thing. ''You should go. There's nothing left for us to do!''

''Five days ago you would've done anything to find a lead and now you're giving up?'' Owen asked angrily. He didn't understand why JJ had changed her mind. She seemed nothing like the person he once knew. ''Just hang up the phone so we can talk!''

''Owen, go!'' JJ said angrily. ''Stop questioning me. You don't have the right anymore. Just go.''

JJ breathed in deeply when she realized he had given up on their discussion. So she put the phone back to her ear and watched as Owen took all the files and left in a hurry, never saying goodbye. But she wasn't bother by it for too long. She decided to focus on the man on the other end of the line. ''I am so sorry for that. But I'm back now.''

''Is everything alright?'' Hotch asked when he detected a hint of annoyance. He moved away from the desk, leaving his case files wide open on the desk in the hotel room. He sat down on the edge of the bed. ''JJ?''

She moved to the couch and sat back, sighing deeply to let her frustrations out. ''I just had a really long day. I'm fine.'' she went on. ''How are you?''

Hotch realized she was trying to get him away from asking about her, so he decided to go along with it. ''I'm tired. Being Unit Chief isn't exactly an easy job and this case isn't helping.''

''Do you want to talk about it?''

''Well, we believe we're dealing with two unsubs. Unknown subjects..'' he explained quickly. ''But we haven't found any bodies yet and no one seems to fit our profile. So we're reaching a dead end.''

''Why do you think you're dealing with a team?''

Hotch let himself fall backwards on the bed, doubting if he should talk to JJ about the case. But she seemed interested so he thought it wouldn't hurt anyone if he did. ''We have come up with two different profiles because the abduction sides and victims changed all at once. So we think we're dealing with two unsubs and one of them just abducted his first victim.''

JJ let her thoughts go for a moment. At one point in time she had studied behavior, she just barely used it at the CIA. Her job was a completely different story. ''What if the killer changed his MO because he nearly got caught? Or he realized he gets more satisfaction from different victims?'' she asked him. ''It might not have anything to do with two unsubs. You should ask: why the sudden change?''

''Where did that come from?'' he asked with a smile on his face. Somehow it didn't surprise him that she was able to help him.

''I did go to college before law school, Aaron. I actually got a bachelor in behavioral science.'' she explained, feeling the smile on her face appear. ''There's still a lot you don't know about me.''

''Yeah, and I like that.'' he grinned. ''It means that there's still a lot more to learn and I like everything this far. Well, I love it.'' he admitted bluntly.

''That's good to hear.'' JJ giggled, trying to hide her excitement as she felt the butterflies in her stomach. He managed to make her feel giddy with a simple phone call. She loved it. ''So you're not seeing and end with the case?''

Hotch stood up from the bed and walked to the window, looking out at the dark sky and picturing the blonde in front of him as she talked to him on the phone. ''No, not yet.'' he whispered apologetically. ''I am sorry. I really wish I could be with you right now.''

''Don't apologize for doing your job, Aaron. I would never want you to do that.'' JJ reassured quickly. She understood the demands of a job like his. Although she didn't see dead bodies all that often, she knew the pressure to save lives and to put the guilty away. It was one thing she truly understood, and she wasn't about to make his life harder because he tried to make the world a little better by chasing another killer. ''Just promise me that you'll never apologize for doing your job!'' she demanded.

Hotch was surprised, shocked even. He had never met anyone who understood the demands of his job, let alone make him promise to never apologize for it. ''I promise.''

''I am afraid I have to hang up. I have another long day of work ahead of me tomorrow and I could use the sleep.''

''Of course.'' he agreed, his voice gentle and sweet. ''I'll see you soon!''

''Sleep well!'' JJ smiled out as she jumped up from the couch. She put the phone on the coffee table and made her way into the bedroom to get the some much needed sleep, knowing the next day would be dramatic and stressful. The case she was put on was much more difficult than any other she dealt with so she had to tread carefully. Especially around Owen. Very carefully.