𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟎𝟐

"𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚈𝚘𝚞?"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ

HOTCH walks into the office the team had made themselves comfortable in, finding Emily sitting alone at the table. If he's honest with himself, he feels guilty that the team ganged up on her and debunked her theory so quickly. After she left, Hotch and the rest of the team realized that her theory may not be too far off.

He takes a deep breath before speaking. "I know that you want to stick up for her—"

"She doesn't fit the profile, not even a little bit," she states.

"We don't know the exact profile, yet."

"Then, why did we bring her in?" she questions him.

"She ran away—that's something," he defends his decision and glances at Emily; he knows exactly what she's thinking.

"I think Reid's right," he admits. "I think she has some anger issues. But I also think she was never given a chance to work them out."

"So, you trust me?" she asks, a little shocked.

"I trust you, but I don't trust her. Not yet, at least. Can you talk to her? She seems to think you understand her," he says, and watches Emily nod.

Emily knows that she understands the teen, being completely convinced by the girl's words. The rest of the team thinks it's too easy, but Emily understands. She walks into the interrogation room and takes a seat across from Noah again, noticing that she seems to instinctively calm down. Emily eyes the teen, who simply blankly stares back at her.

"Noah," Emily says gently. "I think you know who did this."

"I don't," Noah insists as her eyes fall to her lap.

"When did he tell you to keep it a secret?"

Noah stiffens out of shock. "What?"

"You don't have to protect him," Emily says calmly, watching as Noah peers up at her, finding comfort in Emily's eyes.

"You don't owe him anything, Noah. If he hurt your mother, he deserves to go down for that, not you."

Noah is silent for a few moments, but then her voice comes out soft and slow. "I don't know for sure. He never said anything to me."

"Was there anything that your brother was involved in? Anything against the law or dangerous?"

"Not that I know of."

"Any strange groups or people he hung out with?"

"He did tell me that he was going to these meetings. He wanted me to go with him, but I didn't want to. Something about a meeting with some other kids..." Noah trails off, trying to remember as much as possible.

"Do you know any other kids who were in the group?" Emily questions as she watches Noah try to remember.

"He only told me about his friend, Ethan. I don't know about the other ones, but if this has anything to do with the other women, I can point you to the right people. I think they met at the church on Broker Street."

"I'll be back," Emily says and heads to the observation room.

"I want the older kids of all the victims brought into the station," Hotch tells his team and assigns everyone a kid. "Prentiss and JJ, I need you to bring in Nick."