Chapter Text
Emily Prentiss’ apartment was dark, empty and cold when she got home. Pulling out her phone and keys from her pocket she dropped them on the counter before walking straight into the kitchen, pulling out some wine and pouring herself a glass. The red liquid swirled around the glass as she looked at it, her expression tired and blank.
The last case had been draining. Four year old Adalynn, six year old Kennedy and seven year old Alice, all kidnapped on the same night from Tulsa, in Oklahoma. Child abductions were always the hardest. They all had blue eyes and blonde hair, big smiles and seemed to be loved by everyone they knew. The unsub had been an average guy in his middle forties who’d lost a sister to an abusive dad and wanted to protect those girls by locking them in his basement, chained up, in the dark. They’d found the kids after Reid’s breakthrough and they’d rushed to the house, where Emily had promptly gotten a door slammed in her face and Morgan had been knocked out. Hotch, the local cop and Reid had rushed in, the cop grabbing the unsub and Reid grabbing the kids while Hotch helped a dizzy Emily up and shook Morgan’s shoulders to wake him. Her bleeding nose had stopped after a moment but Hotch’s fearful expression at seeing her so bloodied and dazed had stuck in her brain, after JJ came in and got Morgan and Hotch insisted on escorting Emily to the back of an ambulance to be inspected.
The kids had been okay, the most severe injury being a rope burn and cut on Alice, being the only one who had really tried to fight back. Morgan had a concussion but it was only mild. Everyone else was just tired, drained and wanted to go home.
Emily’s phone pinged as she sat down so she stood up and walked over to get it before sitting down again, curling up and trying to relax.
Aaron Hotchner: you okay?
Emily Prentiss: i’m still fine, hotch, calm down :)
Aaron Hotchner: you could have a concussion or something.
Aaron Hotchner: you’re my responsibility, I can’t not check up on you
Emily Prentiss: i’m fine, i promise, go bug morgan
Emily Prentiss: i’m the idiot that got hit by a door aha
Aaron Hotchner: no, you walked through and he slammed it into you to try and knock you out
Emily Prentiss: still. Goodnight hotch
Aaron Hotchner: goodnight Emily.
Emily’s phone had pinged again at some ungodly hour in the morning (8:36am on closer inspection) and the agent had groaned as she reached out into the darkness of her loungeroom to grab it. It was probably just Hotch coming to bug her about making sure she was 200% alright.
Jennifer Jareau: we have a case, round table in 45 minutes.
Suddenly she’d realised that she would have preferred Hotch’s repetitive nagging to this.
“I’m not happy about the hour, JJ. Why can’t serial killers think about the people trying to catch them and be considerate?” Emily complained as she flopped down on the seat, but her tired eyes were the only indication of her lack of sleep.
“Thanks Prentiss, that really helps.” Morgan sarcastically said, a smile on his lips as he handed her coffee.
“Thanks.”
“What's the case, JJ? We’re all here now.” Reid spoke up, the bags under his eyes prominent.
“We’re just waiting for Agent Redfield.” Hotch said, reading through a case file that only he seemed to have.
“Agent who?”
“Good morning Agents, I’m Marly Redfield from the Norfolk Field Office in Virginia.” A woman stood in the door behind them, her black coat matching her dark hair. She looked a few years younger than Rossi, her hair pulled back in a neat bun. “I’m here to run the operation from the Hazel Beach end.”
“The operation?” Rossi asked, his eyebrow raised at her.
“Has it not been explained yet?” Redfield asked, raising an eyebrow back at him.
“I was just about to start. Please, have a seat. These are SSA’s Morgan, Prentiss, Hotchner, Rossi and Doctor Reid.” Redfield nodded as she took a seat, JJ clicking something on the screen. “So, sorry to get you up so early after the case, I know you’re all tired, I am too. But this is important so it’s key that we get everything sorted out as soon as possible.” Five photo’s appeared on the board of girls who looked around high school age.
Redfield spoke up. “There have been five girls found dead in the past few months in Hazel Beach, Virginia. They’re all around 17-19, brunette, classified as the nerdier or smarter kids. They all attend Hazel Beach High and had normal family lives. Hallie Johnson was the first victim, found in January this year, then there was Micaela Talson, Lily Richards, Poppy Zina and Tiana Lewis. They were all asphyxiated and then their bodies were left in alleyways around the suburb. None of them were reported missing.”
“However, what is interesting is that the different m.o’s point to there being more than one unsub, theoretically a group. There is evidence of some sort of rituals being done to the body, burns, missing hair, cuts, drawings on the skin that all point to some sort of satanic group.” More photos appeared on the board behind JJ of the dead girls and close ups of the drawings and burns.”
“Is there any evidence of rape?” Reid asked, his brow furrowed.
“No. There are suspects however. Teachers at Hazel Beach High told the cops that there is a group of about five students who are always pouring over old rituals and witch hunting things, ways of banishing satan. They’re a mix matched group of kids, no particular personalities, and their ringleader is a twenty four year old ex student. They all live in the same apartment building. There is insubstantial evidence to arrest them, however.” JJ finished.
Redfield took over again. “The suspects: Alessio Thayer, 24. Ex-student, single but a player. He was expelled from Hazel Beach High when he was a senior for drug dealing. He works at the local convenience store now, minimum wage stuff, but smokes and hangs in dodgy alleyways in his spare time. He is, as you guys would say, an alpha male sort of type.”
Morgan nodded. “And the kids?”
“Lucas Mitchell, 18. Jock. Doesn’t listen in class, surfer boy. Failed 90% of his classes last semester. Lilliana Thomas, 17. More of the brains behind the operation, it seems. She was keen to get into a career with forensic science, according to her science teacher, but her interest seems to have dissipated this past year. Teagan Fay, 18. Pretty, popular. Sort of like a girl version of Lucas, personality wise. Justin Finchley, 16. The youngest, nerdy, his teachers didn’t really peg him as the type but it seems like he’s doing it to fit in. He sees Alessio and Lucas as the kind of people who will be able to protect him from other bullies. Finally Chloe Taw, 17, Lucas’ girlfriend, good grades, seems the most sensible and out of place.”
“Overall, they really are a mixed bunch but they’re hard to incriminate because their kills are irregular and they aren’t leaving any evidence behind. So this is where it gets interesting. Hotch, Emily, you’ll be going undercover.” JJ grinned.
Emily almost choked on her coffee. “Undercover- sorry what?” Hotch raised an eyebrow at JJ.
“The brass have decided that this will be a good opportunity to learn more about these kinds of groups, how they recruit, how they kill etc. So they’ve authorised two from the BAU to go down. Hotch, you’re going because you’re the most experienced as unit chief and Emily, well, you’re the only female profiler.” JJ shrugged apologetically.
“You’ll be undercover as a couple, Emilia Prior and Aaron Howington. It will probably be a very easy assignment, you’ll be in the apartment building and you have to try and get to know the kids and their parents to get an inside scoop.” Redfield handed out files, Hotch and Emily’s slightly thicker. "We can't be certain that it's them so my team will still be following other leads but it's a good idea to have someone undercover watching them most of the time. It also may not be all of them, it could be one of them, two of them, not necessarily all."
“Emilia Prior, born 21st April 1970 in Manhattan, NYC. Language teacher at Hazel Beach High, previously at St Luke’s College, NYC.” Emily looked up. “You do know I’m not a qualified teacher, right?”
“Yes, but it will only be for a short amount of time and I’m sure you’ll go great. And it's already set up so don’t try and say no, either of you.” JJ smiled. Emily pulled a face at her.
“Aaron Howington, born 9th September 1968, Washington DC. Lifeguard at Hazel Beach.” Hotch looked up, echoing Emily’s earlier expression. “You do know I have zero experience being a lifeguard, right?” JJ just rolled her eyes at that one.
Reid turned the page of Emily’s file, speed reading over her shoulder. “It says that you’ve been dating for a little over two years and that you met at a wedding, Emily’s college friend and Hotch’s cousin. Emily got drunk and Hotch dropped her home but she left her jacket in his car so they had to meet up for him to return it and kept in contact since then.”
“Aw, that’s such a cute story.” Garcia’s voice filled the room as her call connected. “Fear not, my lovelies, I have read your case file much like genius boy over there. Isn’t this exciting!”
Emily smiled at her and refused to look at Hotch. Yep, this was definitely a great plan to stop those tiny little seeds of feelings that had been growing inside her. Perfect.
“When do we start?” Hotch asked. “And how long will we be undercover? Because, you know. Jack.”
Emily bit her lip, ashamed that she’d been thinking about her own feelings rather than the fact that the small child she’d become so attached to was going to be left fatherless and motherless for who knows how long. “Jessica will be able to take him, right?”
Hotch must have seen the worry on Emily’s face because he nodded reassuringly. “I’m pretty sure. She’s always happy to take him when I’m away, don’t worry about it.” Emily nodded, and turned back to JJ.
“You will have to start next week, your apartment and possessions have been bought, your ideas and backstory completely soundproof and ready to go.”
Garcia grinned. “I have personally handled your digital life, you have a facebook account going back the past three years which will soon have fair few photos of yourself and Hotch on it, showcasing how your relationship has developed over the past few years. You're welcome.”
“Thanks mama.” Morgan started but then the smirk on his face disappeared when he saw Agent Redfields confusion. “I mean… Miss Garcia.”
“You knew about this, Garcia?” Hotch asked.
His technical analyst seemed to shrink a bit under his harsh eye. “Sort of. I wasn’t told that it was you two, just that I had to organise a cover facebook account. I only found out two hours earlier than you two that it was actually you, Sir Hotch-alot.”
“Just Hotch is fine, Garcia,” Hotch rolled his eyes, not missing the other look of confusion Agent Redfield was sporting.
“And we don’t know how long you’ll be under. A few months, maybe.” JJ shrugged apologetically.
Hotch nodded and then muttered under his breath, leaning in slightly so that only Emily could hear. “It doesn’t really seem like we have much of a choice in this, does it?”
Emily grinned. “Well, congratulations on becoming my boyfriend, I bear no responsibility for any PTSD you may suffer from after living with me.”
Hotch laughed, a rare sound that made Emily’s smile multiply tenfold. “Thanks Emilia.”
The butterflies in Emily's stomach got bigger. This was not where she thought this week would end.
So anyway, Emily definitely had no feelings for Aaron Hotchner.
So she felt absolutely nothing other than friendship as she watched him crouched down in front of his adorable son, a mirror image of him with blonde hair, and explained that he had to go away for a while.
“Again?” Jack asked, his voice quiet and sad. Emily’s heart broke.
"I'm sorry, Jack. It's for work, but I promise I'll be back as soon as possible." Hotch ruffled his son's hair.
"I'll miss you daddy." Jack hugged his dad tightly and Hotch kissed his forehead.
"I'll miss you too. You're going to be staying with Auntie Jessie but I won't be able to call you, I'm sorry." Hotch said quietly.
"It's okay. You're a superhero, you have to keep working to save people." Jack whispered, but loudly enough that Emily could hear and smile.
"That's right, Jack Jack. And then when I'm back we'll go to the beach, okay? And get ice cream." Hotch grinned at his son.
"Yay!" Jack pulled back from the hug and jumped up and down a couple of times. "Can I get two scoops?"
"Sure, buddy." Hotch smiled.
Jack got quiet really quick though. "Daddy… is someone going to die?"
"What?"
"Last time you went away mummy died. Will Aunt Jessie die?" Jack looked down at the ground.
Hotch pushed his shock aside but Emily's mouth was hanging open. "No, Jack, of course no one will die. What happened with your mummy will never ever happen again, I promise. No one wants to hurt you or Jessie."
"Okay." Then he got quieter. "Will you protect Emmy?"
Both the boys seemed to have forgotten Emily was even in the room as Hotch replied. "I won't let anyone touch her, I promise. I’ll keep her safe.” There was something in his voice that Emily couldn’t quite identify, a certainty. Like he couldn’t stand the idea of anyone hurting her. She didn’t quite know what to do with that knowledge.
Jack nodded, his blonde hair flopping over his eyes. “Okay. I’ll miss you too, Emmy.”
“I’ll miss you more, Jack Jack.” Emily crouched down behind Hotch as Jack ran over to her, throwing his arms around her. She held him tightly, her eyes meeting Hotch’s over the young boys shoulder. His expression was unreadable but a little sad as he watched her with his son. Dark hair and light hair. Emily was a motherly figure to Jack, Hotch knew that, the boy always talking to Emily at a million miles per second whenever he saw her. She’d taught him bits of Italian which Jack loved showing off to Rossi with. Just from looking at Emily, Hotch could tell that this assignment was going to do something to their relationship. He couldn’t like her that way, of course, she was his subordinate. But… yeah.
Emily could see in Hotch’s eyes that he needed a moment alone so she smiled faintly at him before lifting Jack up, the five year old weighing nothing, and tickling his side lightly to break up the sad moment. Jack laughed wildly, squirming in her arms. “Emmy!”
“Come on, handsome. Let's go steal some cheetos from JJ’s and then we can go find Penelope and she can let you play a game on her computers, okay? Your dad needs to work but then he’s going to take you to a cafe for lunch, isn’t that right, Hotch?” Emily grinned at Hotch and Jack looked around to see Hotch, glee written across his face.
“Thank you daddy!” Then he turned back to Emily. “Will Aunt Penelope let me use her special keyboard?”
Emily smiled at Hotch over Jack’s shoulder and he mouthed thanks, before sitting down and sighing. She bit her lip before ruffling his hair similar to how she might with Jack, trying not to linger on how soft it felt but instead on how to give him some support with a child in her arms. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he must be feeling, having to leave Jack again.
They were stuck in this boat together so they might as well get used to it.