Wheels Up

From The Perfect Start...

"Okay, wheels up in 30" Hotch said, as they finished discussing the latest case. "Also, has anyone seen JJ?"

"Sorry, sorry I'm here." JJ said, rushing through the door.

Hotch paused, glanced at his watch, then back at JJ. He stared into her eyes for a moment, contemplating. "My office, please?" He said, and walked out the room.

"Hey, you okay?" Emily whispered to JJ.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm good." She half smiled, then rushed out of the room again.

"She's not good." Spencer remarked, standing in the doorframe. The rest of team had left, and it was now just the two of them.

"I know. And I can't figure out what's wrong, but there's definitely something." Emily said, frustrated.

"Emily, I'm.." Spencer started, then stopped.

Emily looked up. "What is it?"

Reid looked away. "I'm worried she's using." He confessed. "She's pushing away from us, she's always in the bathroom, there's something in her bag she won't let me see, she's always running late, and I just... it's behaviour I recognise, is all."

Emily opened her mouth to respond, but JJ walked in at that moment to grab her tablet off the table. The silence was awkward, and JJ could tell they'd been talking about her. "Drop it, okay? Everything is fine. Now if you don't mind, there's work I need to do."

"JJ..." Spencer said.

"Drop it, Spence." JJ said, irritated, and walked out the room.

Rossi moved back to let her past, then entered the conference room, one eyebrow raised. "What was that about?"

Emily stared at JJ as she left. "Whatever the hell it is that's going on with her."

"It's JJ. You know her, she likes to figure things out on her own. She'll be okay." Rossi said.

"She's not, though. It's been weeks, and whatever it is isn't getting any better, and we're all just watching it happen." Emily snapped, and left the room.

She walked to her desk, and watched JJ from a distance while she packed the last few bits, frowning.

"Prentiss? Hey, Prentiss."

"Huh?" Emily said, dragging her eyes back to focus on Derek.

"We need to go get on the plane... are you good?" He asked, concerned.

"Sorry, yeah, just distracted. Let's go." Emily answered, grabbed her bag and headed for the elevator.

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"So." Derek said. "We have 4 victims, early 20s, black hair, with a fashion sense very similar to Prentiss when she was in high school."

"Okay how many times are you going to bring that up?" Asked a vaguely annoyed Emily.

"As often as I can, don't you worry. Garcia, what have you got for me baby girl?"

"Well, my favourite crime fighters, aside from the fact our charming Unsub clearly has a type, there was another link in particular that caught my eye." Garcia said, tapping on her keyboard. "Sending to your tablets... now."

"Approximately 12 hours before being abducted, all of our victims visited the same cinema." Hotch read aloud.

"A cinema is an odd place to choose victims." Rossi remarked. "You can barely see anyone or anything."

"Perhaps that suits the unsub, he wants to remain unseen. Possibly some sort of disfiguration he wants to hide from the public?" Emily speculated.

"Still doesn't explain why he waits roughly 12 hours later to abduct them though." JJ input.