A Delicate Light

Part 15

5x05 - "Cradle To Grave"
October 21, 2009
He hates this. Hotch finds himself in his office with JJ at 8:30 at night reviewing cases instead of being home with Emily whose 26 weeks pregnant. What he hates is that he's choosing to be here in order to avoid the tension that's taken over their home. Since their fight in his office three weeks ago, she's barely spoken to him, and he knows he can only blame himself. But, how is he supposed to apologize if she won't even give him the light of day? He wants to make things right.
He truly is excited for another baby, but every new milestone they reach in the pregnancy is a reminder that his son is out there somewhere and he doesn't know where. It's all wrong. Jack should be with them. He should be asking them all sorts of questions that they aren't prepared to answer and he should be ecstatic when he feels the baby kick against Emily's skin. They should be arguing over names and setting up the nursery. Instead, he spends most of his nights in the office and, the few hours he does go home, he sleeps on the couch.
"What's next?" He asks JJ as he closes one file. "Baton Rouge thinks they have a white supremacist problem." JJ answers, "What's your take?" He asks. "Really?" She seems shocked, "Yeah, I'd like to hear it." He encourages. "We're dealing with an individual, not a group." JJ says. "Why?" He pushes. "The angry letters. The writer switches pronouns from plural to singular: 'we are a heavily armed militia' followed by 'I will be forced to take action.'" The liaison defends. "Good, send it back to the police with our analysis. What else?" He asks before JJ checks her watch.
"You need to be somewhere?" He asks. I should be too. He thinks. "Uh, Henry's just going through a clingy stage. It's one less 3:00 am diaper change when I put him down." The mother explains. "Why don't you go home?" He offers. I should do the same. He thinks. "Oh, no, no, no. We only have five more cases. We can crank 'em out." JJ assures him. "We can do this tomorrow. Please, go home." He tells her. "Okay, thank you. I just have one last distribution and then I'm out of here." JJ tells him.
They bid each other goodnight and he begins to pack the files away and gather his things. Maybe he'd make it home early enough for him and Emily to talk. That plan comes to screeching halt when he opens his office door to find Strauss on the other side. He shuts the door at her request, "The bureau is worried about your competency as unit chief of the BAU." She says. "The bureau?" He asks, "They've read your reports. They think it's best if you temporarily assign someone else to be team leader while you're handling personal matters." She says.
"Like who?" He asks. "They mentioned Agent Morgan. The New York field office wanted to bring him in as their leader when Kate Joyner died, he declined. Making him the temporary unit chief of this team could help the other agents focus. You'd be able to go home earlier to spend time with Agent Prentiss and prepare for your baby, and no more rash decisions would be made. It's not a request, Aaron." Strauss says before leaving his office. He hears her greet JJ before the blonde comes to check on him. He tells her everything is fine and then sits down at his desk, unpacks the files, and starts planning how to ease Derek into this role.
He does end up going home, but by the time he gets there, Emily is fast asleep with their bedroom door shut. He sleeps on the couch, but only for a few hours before making his way back to the BAU before anyone else arrives. He sends Derek files to look over before they meet the rest of the team in the round table room to debrief their latest case. "Kristie Taylor, runaway drug addict, reported missing from Farmington, New Mexico three years ago." JJ begins.
"Yesterday, she turned up off a freeway outside of Rio Rancho." JJ says before Reid states the cause of death along with other details from the file. "Three victims in five years. All the women are connected by marks. He likes chains." JJ reports. "Definite sexual sadist. He sticks to his type: 16 to 19 year old girls, all blonde." Prentiss adds. "Hangs onto them for awhile too. Look at this, average of two years between abducting and killing them." Reid notices. "Low body count, long time frame. This guys in control of his urges." Morgan summarizes.
"Too controlled. Sadists need new victims, new ways to torture. There are a lot of guys out there who like chains. Are we sure this is the same unsub?" Rossi asks. "Kristie Taylor's autopsy report also indicates a second connection between these victims." JJ says. "She was pregnant." Reid says. The minute the genius says those three words, Emily instinctually lays a hand on her bump and can feel everyone's eyes turn to her, especially Hotch's. They finish their debrief with Hotch giving them twenty minutes to gather their belongings. He asks to speak to her in his office.
"I want you staying at the precinct when we get to New Mexico." He tells her. "Hotch-," "It's not a request, it's an order." He cuts off her argument. "I'm not his type. I'm not his blonde, and I'm older than the victims." She tells him. "I don't care. Believe it or not, I love you and our baby. I will not put you out on the streets when an unsub is targeting women and impregnating them. Either agree to stay at the local precinct or I will ground you here with Garcia for this case." He says. She huffs angrily.
"Fine." She moves to open his office door, "One more thing?" He calls out. She turns and looks at him with anger and unamusement in her face. "I'd like for us to talk, when we get back from this case. I want to fix everything I've done wrong and make it right. I want to be a family, Emily." He tells her. Her facial expression changes to shock, "We'll talk about this when we get home. Right now, there are women in New Mexico who need us." She indirectly answers before opening his door and leaving his office.