Do you hear that?

Emily glances at her watch, 7:30, and bolts up. She grabs her bag, makes sure she's got everything and hurries out the door. She takes the passenger seat of the car that's become very familiar to her in the last month or so. She doesn't need to adjust the seat, nobody else really sits on it these days. That seat practically has her name on it by now.

"The usual?" Dave asks her instead of a more traditional greeting. Emily grins, he nods and the car is moving again.

"Where else?" The question is rhetorical and elicits a chuckle from both. "It's been weirdly quiet, hasn't it? No cases."

"Us having cases means there's a maniac on the loose." This is said with a singular raised eyebrow. "That's not exactly a good thing."

"Don't I know it. But we do this for a reason."

"Can't argue with that."

The rest of the short drive is sat in a comfortable silence. Their usual spot for a morning coffee is a cute little café in Emily's neighbourhood. It's a walking distance from her place, really, but him picking her up is habitual now and she's not going to refuse a ride. The café is owned by an elderly couple, Esther and Albert, and every now and then their teenaged grandkids work shifts for pocket money. They mostly swing by in the afternoons and evenings after school, and mornings are left for their grandparents. Esther is better with customers, and so she takes orders and Albert prepares them or sits in the office. This morning he's somewhere in the back, as only Esther is holding up the shop. It's quiet. There's a young couple sitting in a booth drinking milkshakes, an old man reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee, and a mom having breakfast with her baby. Emily used to go to this café alone, although nowhere near as often as she now does with Dave, and recognises them. The mom is also a regular, and Emily remembers seeing her here when she was still pregnant. It warms her heart to see her with her sweet, healthy baby.

"My favourite customers!" Esther exclaims as soon as she sees Emily and Dave entering the café. "A darling morning, isn't it?"

"A glorious one indeed", Emily grins back at her. "How are you doing, Esther?"

"Splendid, just splendid!" Esther is beaming as she arranges cups on the counter.

"And how's Albert?" Dave chimes in.

"Good as ever, dear. Now, will you be having your usual or are you finally going to try something new?"

"Not today, I'm afraid. We'll go with our usual, please." Emily places their order and pays. It's her turn. Since they always get the same things anyway, they've figured it's easier to take turns paying for both. Dave paid last, so now it's her turn.

"Creatures of habit, aren't you?"

"Just like you and Albert." Dave's remark has the effect he hoped for, Esther bursts out laughing. Her laughter is contagious, and as they leave with their to-go cups in hand, they can see the other customers in the café are smiling too. Esther leans on the counter, watching them leave. Through the large windows she can see Dave opening the car door for Emily, her touching his arm as she gets in and the looks they share, and she smiles and shakes her head knowingly.

Both of their phones beep when Dave closes the car door on his side. It's JJ telling them about a new case. Dave makes a snide remark about Emily just complaining about lack of cases and now there's a killer loose. She smacks his arm lightly and he drives them to the office. They're the last ones in the round table room, and Hotch gives them his warning look. Morgan tries to throw in a quip about not bringing coffee for the rest, but is quickly shut down by JJ presenting the case. A bomber has been wreaking havoc in Annapolis, Maryland, three attacks so far. All of them parking facilities with 20 people injured and 4 dead. The funny thing is, the attacks have been two separate explosions at the same time, one with victims and one without. Annapolis is so close there's no point taking the jet, so Hotch divides the team and they all pack into cars. He wants Reid, Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi checking out the scenes and starting a preliminary profile, while he and JJ meet the lead detective and start interviewing the victims' families. They get a head start in the cars, and by the time they reach the police station less than two hours later, they've already got the ball rolling. JJ and Hotch were on touch with Garcia, trying to figure out if the attacks were targeted, but have so far come up with nothing. The deceased victims share no demographics. The only thing they all have in common is a similar status; they were all fairly wealthy, either working in or had a background in high-profile office jobs, although different fields. The meaning of two simultaneous explosions is a mystery, and so is the targeting of car-related locations. Hotch determines the injured victims were not intended, but that the Unsub hadn't gone out of his way to avoid bystanders being hurt. When the four agents arrive at the police station after checking out the explosion sites, which had told them little to nothing new, they come to the same conclusions with Hotch and JJ.

"Yes, Garcia?" Hotch puts the call on speaker. Everyone stops what they're working on to hear her new findings.

"I was going through the victims' financial records and found a connection linking the four fatalities. All four had their cars worked on in the same auto repair shop and, get this, all on the same day."

"The auto connection also explains the explosion sites", Reid interjects.

"Anything that explains why there's always a victimless explosion as well?" JJ asks.

"Nothing yet… I'm still looking… Wait, hold on. I've got something." The team wait quietly for the analyst to explain. "A-ha! There was an explosion at the repair shop a year ago. It seems there was another explosion on the other side of town just a little bit earlier, and it took first responders too long to get to the shop in time, the owner died."

"Did the owner have a son?"

"A 27-year-old Charlie Robert, and before you ask: yes, I sent the details to you already."

The arrest is clean. Too clean. Hotch and Rossi suspect there's something they're missing, and they're proved right when Reid finds a notebook. The last filled page has two separate markings on it. It doesn't take him long to decode them. They're addresses of two parking garages, one attached to a mall and one separate building dedicated to residents of the area. Both hold a similar amount of cars, so it's impossible to know which one will be the decoy target. Hotch decides to send Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi to the residential one, while himself, JJ and Reid take the mall. When Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi arrive at the 4-floor parking garage, they realise it's large enough to split up.

"I'll start at the top and work my way down, you guys can work from the bottom up. We'll meet in the middle and see what we've got. Call for me immediately if you've got something." Prentiss and Rossi both give him the not-our-first-rodeo-look as he takes off to the top floor.

It's clear the garage has been repurposed from some other initial usage. There are identical indents all around the walls, each large enough to fit a person or two. Rossi and Prentiss share a look as they see them, sighing in frustration as they realise they're going to have to examine all of them.

"Hey Morgan", she calls over the radio. "Are the upper floors also full of these weird things in the walls?"

"There are less of them on the second floor and none on the third and fourth, why?"

"It's gonna take us a while to go through all of them, that's all. I wonder what they're for."

By the time Prentiss and Rossi have cleared the first floor, Morgan is done with the fourth and halfway through the third. They climb up to the second floor and start working. Even through the stress and fear, there's a pleasant, comfortable undertone to their banter and they're working seamlessly together. Prentiss is studying the wall between two of the unexplained indents, when she suddenly perks her head up. There's a faint sound.

"Rossi, do you hear that?" He freezes and listens for what she means. Indeed, there's a quiet, even beeping. When she continues speaking, his eyes widen. "It almost sounds like-"

Something collides with her, shouting her name and pushing her into the indent, her back thuds against the wall. All she can make sense of is Rossi's torso against hers, one of his hands grabbing the back of her head and forcing her face into his shoulder, the other grabbing her shoulder, his head is resting atop hers – loud noises and rattling, the whole building seems to shake – she grabs hold of what she can, clings to the fabric of his shirt on both sides as if her life depends on it – something flies at them and shatters upon hitting the wall with a bang – a giant piece of concrete crashes onto the spot Prentiss had just stood in – something hits the top of her head and she sees stars for a few seconds – and then it quiets, apart from the choir of car alarms. Their breathing is heavy and their grips on each other tight as they wait to see if the chaos is actually over. When they trust it is, they lift their heads and look at each other, Rossi's hand sliding from the back of her head to the back of her neck. Prentiss feels her heart racing and both of their eyes are wide, full of shock, fear and concern for the other. Their faces are too close together and she can't back away because she's already against the wall, but she finds that rather than back away from each other, they're getting even closer to each other. And it's Dave, he just saved her life and she trusts him and she wants him – wait, what? – her fingers grip his sides and she closes her eyes and she can feel his beard on her chin, his lips brushing hers –

"ROSSI? PRENTISS? ARE YOU OKAY?!"