Alex woke up with a song on her lips, and JJ giggled a little as she reached out to turn off their alarm. "Thank goodness Louise called you last night, as you are in a much better mood today than yesterday."

"It was a good call, yes. I hope that you didn't stay up until we were finished to make certain that everything was okay. We talked for close to forty minutes."

"No, I couldn't get settled down for some reason. Though I did notice that you went right to sleep as soon as you were in bed. I wish that sleep came that easily to me."

She shrugged a little as she got out of bed and picked up clean clothes for the day. "I think that I was too tense this last week, worrying about if I would ever hear from my friend again, and it took a toll on me, physically. Now, though, I feel quite refreshed. Even if my brain wants to now work on the puzzle of just who Louise is."

"Oh?" JJ asked as she started to dress for the day, heedless of her brief flashes of skin as she focused her attention on Alex. "And you'll need to hurry and dress, remember, Hotch wants to do a brief run through of what we know while we eat breakfast."

She nodded and began to dress, trying to not be quite so prudish, knowing JJ wasn't paying any attention to her. "Yes, I have the distinct feeling that Louise is not who she seems to be. In my little chat with Hotch yesterday, he brought up the idea that I don't really know all that much about her. And he's right. She's familiar to me, and she knows where we're going to be, enough where she knows exactly when my midnight is. I've never thought to ask James about his friend, because I've just gone with it."

"You needed someone to listen to, and sometimes that can override our natural inclination to question things. It's not the wisest course of action, I'll grant you that, but it is completely understandable."

Alex nodded as she finished dressing, taking a seat on the bed to step into her boots before tying them tightly. "But that still doesn't explain why I feel like I know her. I wish that you could listen in without violating the sanctity of our phone time, but that wouldn't be fair to Louise. At least things are going better today, and I need to push the urge to figure this puzzle out of my mind so that I can focus on the case at hand."

"You know that it's going to itch the back of your brain until you figure it out," JJ teased as they strapped on their guns before leaving the hotel room. "I mean, I would keep a small portion of my brain working away at it even subconsciously while we are working."

She laughed quietly as they made their way over to the elevators, joining Rossi there. He gave her a wide smile and she cocked her head to one side as she regarded him carefully, trying to figure out why he was looking at them that way. "You are in a much better mood this morning, Alex. Hotch will be glad to see that, since he was not looking forward to another day of you moping around with a glower on your face."

Alex drew herself up to her full height as she turned to face him, giving him a withering look as the elevator doors slid open. "I do not know what you're talking about, Dave. I most certainly do not glower," she said before stepping into the elevator.

"And just now you totally sounded like Erin," he shot back. Alex shook her head and fiercely pressed the button for the lobby and pressed herself into the corner of the car, her good mood rapidly evaporating with his teasing. "Oh come off it, Alex! You two were peas in a pod back in the day, and there are times when I see you come out from her, and this is one of those times where she comes out of you. It's rather nice to see that even after all these years, there are pieces of your friendship still evident in each other. I hope that there are pieces of Jason that still show in me."

JJ nudged her side a little, and Alex nodded absently as she struggled to find her good mood place once more. It had been so good to hear from Louise last night, after all, and she wanted to hold on to that high as they worked the rest of this case. "Erin is a hard person to completely excise from your life. You end up caring for her more than you would have thought possible. And mirroring is a very common form of bonding with friends. I'm certain that JJ will come out with pieces of Emily at times, too."

"There is that. But I don't think Emily will ever pick up Jen's love of Cheetos."

"Hey!" JJ piped out as the elevator doors slid open on the ground floor, and they all stepped out of the car and made their way over to the breakfast nook. The only member missing was Morgan, but Alex was fast growing accustomed to the fact that he liked to sleep in as late as possible when out in the field. "Cheetos are a refined snack that only the very best people enjoy."

Alex stifled a giggle as she shook her head. "I suppose that I am not one of those very best people, then. I much prefer pretzel rods, because they're clean and I can have my hands free when I'm working on a crossword puzzle."

"Let me guess, you're like Reid and only do them in pen."

"Is there any other way to do them?" she asked as they went over to the buffet and filled their plates with food. Not feeling all that hungry, Alex went with a bagel and peanut butter that morning, alongside a large glass of orange juice. After setting that down next to JJ's food, Alex went over to the coffee machine, finding that Hotch and Rossi were already deep in conversation as she approached them.

She fully expected to hear them discussing the case, since that was usually what they did, so she was unprepared for what she heard. "…Beth's decision. She knew that she had to get up early in the morning, but we still had to touch base before the night was too late. But you and Erin had a very short call last night."

Rossi shrugged a little as he added a dab of cream to his coffee. "Erin said that she had another call to make, and that we'd talk more tonight. It's not like we talk about anything too important, she just uses me as a sounding board when she gets low. And it's nice to have someone to go home to when the nights are lonely. Even if it's not serious."

Hotch nodded a little as he finished filling his cup. "That's all well and good, but who exactly was Erin going to call at one o'clock in the morning? She should have been going to sleep."

Alex felt her entire body turn cold as the connotation of that response filled her senses, and she woodenly filled her coffee mug before drifting back over to their table and taking a seat, trying to understand what she had overheard. The moment she was seated, JJ leaned over and looked into her face. "Is everything all right, Alex? You suddenly look like you've seen a ghost."

"I feel like I have. I'm sorry if I come off as a little spacy today, just nudge me every so often if it looks like I've zoned out. Please."

"Of course," JJ replied, giving her a small smile before digging into her breakfast. Alex took a few deep breaths as she spread the peanut butter over her bagel slowly. The others joined them shortly, and a companionable silence fell over the table as they all waited for Morgan to join them so that they could get the informal briefing started.

"Hey, hey, hey, hope I haven't kept you all waiting," the man in question said with a grin on his lips as he entered the breakfast nook. JJ gave him a look before she went back to her cereal, and Alex once more stifled a giggle at that. It was good to have something to take her mind off the truth that she was rapidly coming to believe, after all. The pieces were falling into place to reveal the picture that Alex had never thought she would see, and she didn't know how to feel.

Somehow, Alex managed to pay attention throughout the briefing, and appeared with it enough that Hotch didn't call her out on her wandering mind. She was grateful for the fact that she had learned how to compartmentalize early at the Academy, since she knew that the case at hand was more important than her personal life. Still, she desperately wanted to ask Rossi if he knew exactly who had been calling her all along. There might be time enough for that on the jet home, when they could perhaps find a private moment for her to question him.

"All right, Blake, I want you and JJ to head out to the nanny's house and question her about what she might know about this family and if there's anyone she can think of that would want to do them harm. We'll regroup at the precinct at noon. Let's head out."

She nodded as they got to their feet and cleaned off the table before heading outside to the SUVs. "Do you want to drive, Alex?" JJ asked as they approached one of the vehicles.

"Would you?" JJ nodded and got behind the wheel as Alex pulled herself into the passenger seat, trying to come up with a list of questions to ask the nanny. There were quite a few that she knew that should be asked, but time was of the essence, and so she'd have to narrow them down to the fewest, most pertinent ones. It was only once they were underway that she realized JJ kept glancing at her, a look of concern on her face. "What?"

"We can focus on the details of the case in a few moments, I just need to hear from your lips that everything is all right. You were in such a good mood this morning, and even though you were prickly with Rossi in the elevator, I know that you weren't upset, per se. So why has that suddenly changed? If you get it out of your system, then you can focus on the case all the better."

"I have to have your word that you won't tell anyone else this, Jen."

"If you're using my name, it must be really important, so of course."

Alex took a deep breath as she turned her head to look out the window. "I think that I know why Louise has sounded familiar from the outset of our calls. And I don't know how I feel about my supposition."

"All right, so who do you think that she is?"

"Based on what Hotch and Rossi were talking about at the coffee machine? I'm about ninety five percent certain that my midnight caller is Erin. She would know exactly where we are at any given moment and then would know what time to call me. It makes sense that she was upset when I called out the way I feel Rossi treats her. But I wish that I knew for certain. I just, I cannot believe that I told her some of the things that I did. I was so open to her as Louise when I am still so angry with her as Erin."

Letting out a deep breath, she turned to look at JJ, hoping to see that she understood her very muddled thoughts. "I can see where that would be something you would find unsettling, yes. We'll talk more on the jet home, because you need to unpack it a little before you say or do something rash. And if Louise happens to call again tonight, you'll have to act like you know nothing, otherwise things could go disastrously, and we don't want that to happen."

She nodded as she sighed once more. "All right, sounds like a plan. And hopefully, now that it's out in the world, I'll find my focus to finish this case well and then dwell on what's happening when it's the right time." Smiling, JJ nodded as she stepped on the accelerator a little heavier, and Alex went back to paring down the questions that she wanted to ask the nanny, in order to get the information that they needed.