She's Back

Where Does the Good Go

*I am in no way a crime writer, so please understand if the details of the criminal case are wrong or off :)

 Luckily for Emily, the ride to the police station was only 10 minutes from where the jet landed. Emily pretended to review the case files so that she wouldn't have to talk to Aaron or Sabrina. The two of them didn't talk much either; Sabrina only asked Aaron a question about the families, and then was quiet the rest of the ride. Although she tried not to, Emily couldn't help stealing glances at Aaron as he drove. His mouth was set in its usual firm, thin line, and his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. The bags under his eyes only seemed to have deepened in the 2 years since Emily had seen him, but that wasn't surprising; being Unit Chief was taxing both physically and mentally.

Aaron was too caught up in his thoughts to notice the looks Emily kept giving him. His mind was going in a million different directions, with Emily taking up the majority of space. He was still focused on their fight before the jet, and wanted to find a time to actually talk to her.

Aaron pulled the car into the station, and the three of them got out of the car. The bright Arizona sun and clear blue sky was unsettling to Emily, as the weather contradicted the severity of the case the team was brought in to work on.

The police station was bustling with activity as the three of them walked in. They were immediately greeted by Captain Stowe, a tall man with a kind face who looked severely out of his league. "You must be the FBI, welcome. I'm Captain Stowe, and we can't thank you enough for coming out to help us in this case."

"Yes, we're with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. I'm SSA Hotchner, and this is SSA Prentiss and Agent Whitney, who's our Communications Liaison. The rest of our team is out talking to the victims' families and with the morgue." Captain Stowe shook each one of their hands as Aaron made introductions. Emily smiled at him as he shook her hand; he seemed like he would be pleasant and capable enough to work with on the case.

"Well, I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you all, but I wish we wouldn't have had to meet at all. Unfortunately, another body was found while you all were flying over here. I can take you to the scene now," Captain Stowe said grimly. Aaron nodded his head.

"Alright. Prentiss, you come with me. Sabrina, stay here and start getting the press sorted out. I don't want them to know anything until we have a profile," Aaron ordered. Sabrina left to find a space to start working out of, and Emily and Aaron followed Captain Stowe's car to the crime scene. Again, the two didn't say a word to each other as they drove the 30 minutes to the latest crime scene, a local park.

The victim, just like the 3 others so far, was a brunette woman in her early thirties. And, just like the others, her neck was broken and there were signs of physical trauma before death. Unlike the others, it seemed like the woman had only died within the last day; Derek and Spencer had confirmed on a phone call that all the other victims weren't found until at least 2 days after death. All the victims had been found within a 10 mile-radius of each other, each at varying locations.

After gathering all these details from the crime scene, Hotch called everyone to meet back at the station and report on what they found. This time it was Prentiss who drove back to the station. Both were thinking about everything they had learned in the last 2 hours about the case and what it could mean for the unsub's profile. Emily, however, kept getting distracted as Hotch's fingers incessantly rapped the window while he was thinking.

"Would you stop doing that?" She asked after 10 minutes, exasperated. Aaron startled. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing it. I thought I had stopped the habit," Aaron said without explaining. Just another thing that's changed, Emily thought. They didn't speak again for the rest of the car ride, and walked into the station to meet the rest of the team.