Rushed //Criminal Minds//

One Shot....

Her blue eyes fluttered open, her head was throbbing. "Someone hit me." She groaned sitting up and looking around the dark and dirty room. "What the?" She raised her hand to her forehead, feeling the dried blood she winced. What the hell was going on? Where was she and who had taken her. "He-hello?" She called out as she made her way over to a metal door.

"Agent Monroe. You're finally awake." A dark male voice came over a speaker. "You mustn't dawdle. The children are waiting."

"What? What children? Hello?" Her raspy voice pierced the stale air as the door opened.

"Tic toc, your time begins now. You have five hours to find them and get out or you're all dead."

Hotch walked into the bullpen saying his usual greetings to the team. He didn't know that the day was going to be a rough one for all of them, but especially for him and JJ. "We received another video from our Unsub. Let's meet at the round table."

Once they were all assembled at the table JJ started the tape. The first thing they saw was a little boy. "Oh God." Garcia gasped.

"Jack..." Hotch breathed out.

The view changed to Ava walking down a poorly lit hall. And then again to another little boy. "Henry!" JJ dropped the remote backing away crying. He had their children and their friend.

Ava stopped looking behind her. She thought she heard something. "Is anyone there?" Taking careful steps she moved forward she heard it again. "Hello? I'm Agent Ava Monroe with the FBI." She took a couple more steps.

"Ava?" A small voice called out.

"I'm here. I'm here." She hugged him close. "Are you ok, you're not hurt are you?"

"I want my daddy." He whined as she picked him up.

"I know, me too. We're gonna find a way out and I'm sure your dad's looking for you. Have you seen anyone else?" The small boy shook his head no.

"I just wanna go home." He cried.

"I'm gonna get you home." Her eyes filled with tears as she spoke. "It's gonna be alright."

They watched as Ava comforted Jack. "Garcia, can you trace it?" Aaron's voice was pained. His son was being held by the man they were hunting.

"Sir, I'm trying he's rerouting the ip address every sixty seconds. I can't get a lock on him."

"Keep trying." Hotch walked out followed by everyone else. "We must be close. That's why he took them."

"But why take Ava. She's not part of the team." Spencer asked while getting into the SUV.

"He has to think one of us has a meaningful connection with her. We've all spent time with her. He thinks one of us has something more with her. We've got four hours to find them."

"Four hours agent Monroe." Jack whimpered at the voice.

"I wanna go home." He cried.

"Ok listen, we're gonna find our way out but I need your help. Stay close, there's another kid in here we have to find." She set him on his feet taking his hand as they walked down another dark hallway.

After an hour of chasing their tails they weren't any closer to having the boys and Ava back than when they first saw the video.

Spencer was reading over some letters the FBI had received shortly before they were asked to take the case. "Maybe we've been looking at it all wrong. We were assuming he was talking about someone we couldn't save. What if he's talking about Ava? She could have been his target all along. Listen to this... You took her from me. I will have her back no matter the cost. You will pay. He's not talking about a victim. He talking about her."