This one came about from a conversation I wrote for my other story. I never understood why people ran with the "Princess" nickname, since it never actually aired, so I set out to write something that explained it. I showed the finished draft to a friend who encouraged me to expand it and see if I could form a full story around it. This is what I came up with. It's set earlier in the show, a little while after Rossi joined the team.

Happy reading =)

With a strangled yell of frustration JJ rolled over and blindly reached for her phone in an effort to silence the ringtone that was piercing the otherwise quiet room. Unsuccessful at first in locating the phone, she instead cringed at the loud noise of her alarm clock hitting the floor, a few magazines and a bottle of water following suit. She finally cracked open an eye and located the loud and offending object before picking it up and hitting the button to answer the call.

"Agent Jareau," she answered groggily, bringing the phone to her ear. She rubbed at her eyes, trying to fight off the sleep as she did her best to listen intently to the apparently very concerned police captain on the other end.

"Did you send over the files?" She paused briefly to listen to the captain's answer before responding. "Okay, yeah I'll have a look at the email then. Give me one second."

JJ navigated her way through the menus on her phone to open up the email the captain had sent. She scanned the contents quickly, noting the timeline of the abductions featured a very quick turnaround. And that meant getting the team out there as soon as possible before things took an even worse turn. She knew Hotch would agree.

"Captain? Yeah, I'll let our team know and we'll be there as soon as we can. In the meantime, keep us updated with any new developments via our technical analyst Penelope Garcia at Quantico."

After ending the call JJ took a second to mentally work through who to inform first. Hotch would need to know, obviously, but Garcia always needed more time to get ready… With a sigh she sat up, and decided to call Garcia first.

"JJ?" Garcia mumbled.

"Hey, Garcia. We've got a case."

"Ugh, no fair. I was just dreaming about the most hunk-a-licious guy who was feeding me-"

"Overshare, PG!"

"Sorry, but it's early, or maybe it's late, I'm not even sure. What I am sure of is that I have not seen enough of the insides of my eyelids. Here we were having the most scandalous of affairs, and you had to go and interrupt that. Shame on you, Agent Jareau!"

JJ let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Get your butt to Quantico, PG."

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," Garcia groused. "What monstrosities are going to be crossing my screens this time?" she asked wearily, knowing she wouldn't like the answer. She never did.

JJ paused and bit her lip before responding as she considered how much to reveal. Garcia was the type of person to appreciate having that extra hour of ignorance.

"That bad?" Garcia said after hearing no immediate response from JJ.

"The unsub is abducting 6 year old girls," JJ said finally.

Garcia let out a long, heavy sigh and JJ's eyes closed in response. Cases with kids were always harder. "You want me to call anyone?"

"No, go ahead and get ready, I'll let the rest of the team know."

"Okay, gumdrop. See you soon."

"Actually, we're flying straight out and doing the briefing on the jet, I think."

"One of those "time is of the essence" deals?"

"Aren't they all?" JJ replied wearily.

"I guess so. Take care of yourself, and the rest of my babies. I'll be in touch."

"I will. Talk soon," JJ said before ending the call and immediately dialing the next team member.

Balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder as it dialed Hotch, JJ picked up the knocked over alarm clock, water bottle, and magazines before heading to her closet to grab an outfit.

"Hotchner."

"Hey, Hotch. We've got a case on a tight timeline. 3 abductions in 9 days, and a police captain who's run out of ideas."

"You've reviewed the file?"

"Quickly, I forwarded what I have to you, but it doesn't look good, Hotch."

"When was the last abduction?"

"Six hours ago."

"You're letting the team know?"

"Just got off the phone with Garcia, and I'll let the rest know now."

"I'll call Rossi and then make sure the jet is ready for us, we'll brief en route. Wheels up in…an hour?"

"Make it 90 minutes, no way Prentiss gets there earlier, even with the roads empty."

"Okay. 90 minutes then. Thanks, JJ," Hotch said quickly.

JJ hung up the call and set about making the next one. She selected Prentiss' entry in her phone and listened as it began to dial. Prentiss was the logical choice for who to inform next since she had the longest commute and would need the most time to get there.

"Prentiss," she grumbled, clearly irritated with being woken so abruptly.

"Hey, Em. We've got a case," JJ said softly, treading lightly with the still mostly asleep agent.

"JJ?" Prentiss said, clearly not having checked her call display, or fully recognized JJ's voice – a true testament to her exhaustion.

JJ bit her lip to stop from letting out a laugh. "Yeah, it's JJ."

"We have a case?"

"Yeah. Wheels up in 90 minutes, you okay to make it by then?"

"Is there snow?"

"What?" JJ asked, confused by her question.

"Snow…white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky?" Prentiss snapped, apparently irritated she wasn't understood the first time.

"Oh, uh, no, roads are clear as far as I can tell."

"Mm'kay," Prentiss mumbled. "90 minutes should be okay then."

"Pack warm, it's cold where we're headed."

"Ugh. Hawaii," she groaned.

"What?"

"I want a case in Hawaii."

"I'll see what I can do about that," JJ replied with a chuckle before hanging up.

Three down, and with Hotch letting Rossi know, that meant only two more to go. JJ scrolled through her contacts and selected Morgan next, putting the phone to hear once it began to dial.

"Morgan," he answered gruffly.

"Hey, Morgan, it's JJ."

"Oh, JJ, please don't tell me…"

"Sorry," JJ apologized. "Don't shoot the messenger, but wheels up in 90, we're briefing on the jet."

"Ugh," Morgan grunted. "Don't they know we just got back a day ago?"

"Doesn't who know?"

"I dunno…unsubs everywhere?"

"If that's an indicator of your level of alertness, please have a coffee before driving," JJ quipped.

"If you were nicer maybe I'd bring you one too."

JJ let out a chuckle. "Do me a favour and bring Em one? Timing's gonna be tight for her, and we both know she's not gonna be the happiest having been woken up rudely…"

"Anything to ensure the safety of the team," Morgan said with a light laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just make sure you aren't late," JJ said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, and pack warm."

"Ugh, we couldn't be going to Hawaii instead?"

"I already promised Emily I'd look into that. Now get your butt moving. And don't be late," JJ reminded him.

"I'll do my best, girl. See ya."

"See ya," JJ said before ending the call.

With just Reid left to inform of the case, JJ dialed his number and began to throw warmer clothing into her ready-bag.

"Hey, JJ," Reid answered.

"Were you awake?" she asked, surprised by his apparent alertness.

"Yeah, there was a documentary on the history of jazz on and I figured I should watch it."

"Why?"

"Why not? Jazz has played an important role in developing-"

"Okay, let's pretend I didn't ask that," JJ interrupted. "We've got a case. We're briefing on the jet, and we're hoping to have wheels up in a little under 90 minutes. You need a ride?"

"No, I'll drive in."

"Okay. Oh, and Spence?"

"Yeah?"

"Pack warm."

"Okay."

"That means boots, Spence. Not just your Converse and an extra pair of socks."

"I know, I know."

"Good."

"Thanks, JJ. See you in a bit."

"Yeah, see you."

Hotch glanced at his watch, checking it for the third time in just a few minutes.

"Aaron, relax," Rossi said, shooting Hotch a pointed look. "She'll be here soon."

"We need to-"

"I am so sorry, guys," Prentiss said as she barreled onto the jet. "I think I hit every single damn light on the way here."

"It's all right," Hotch replied, scrutinizing Prentiss' wet hair, and overall slightly disheveled state, no doubt a result of her rush to get to the jet on time. "Let's get settled and go over what we know."

"I'll let them know we're ready for take-off," JJ said, rising from her seat quickly and heading toward the cockpit. She stopped momentarily to lay a comforting hand on Prentiss' shoulder before popping her head in to speak with the pilot.

"Here, Prentiss," Morgan said, handing over an extra-large coffee. "Something told me you wouldn't have time to grab one."

"You're a god, Derek Morgan," she said, accepting the cup.

"That's what they all say," he said with a wink.

Prentiss groaned in response but eagerly took a long drink from her coffee. "Mm. Thank you," she said sincerely. "I needed this."

"Okay let's go over what we know," Hotch said, bringing the team back on topic now that JJ had returned to her seat.

"Right," JJ began. "Sorry I don't have copies of the files for you all, but it was brought to my attention just before I called you all, and I didn't have a chance to get anything put together."

The agents all nodded in understanding, tight timelines like this often led to them having to go with faxed or emailed information.

"We're headed to Fort Collins, Colorado. They've got a series of abductions of young girls in the past nine days."

"How many?" Morgan asked.

"Three. The last girl was taken just under 8 hours ago."

"What's connecting them?"

"Similar ages – previous two were 6, most recent is 7 – all are Caucasian, and so far they've been dumped in the same area."

"Any signs of sexual assault?" Morgan asked.

"Not sure, we're still waiting on some information," JJ replied with a shake of her head.

"Do they share any other characteristics?" Reid asked.

JJ shook her head again. "No, both the previous victims were brunettes, one with brown eyes and the other with blue, but the latest abduction was a blonde with blue eyes."

"Doesn't seem to have a particular preference looks-wise then," Morgan offered. "Opportunistic offender?"

"Maybe," Rossi hedged. "Where were they taken from?"

JJ scrolled quickly through the information before answering. "Maggie Gunstrew was taken from a museum, Ava Smith from an outdoor concert, and the latest, Carly O'Donnell, was taken from the downtown shopping district."

"I'm assuming they were with adults at the times of their abductions?" Prentiss asked.

"All three were out with their parents," Hotch answered with a nod.

Morgan frowned. "Seems a bit bold, doesn't it? Snatching them with both parents nearby is risky."

"Yeah, but all of those spots have one thing in common," Prentiss said with a quick shake of her head. "Crowds and places for kids to get bored. It's not out of the ordinary for the parents to lose sight of their kid for just a moment, especially when they might wander off out of boredom."

The team nodded in agreement. They'd seen too many times what can happen in just a few seconds.

"Okay, but going back to Morgan's point – are these merely opportunistic abductions, or is the unsub watching them?" Hotch posed.

"If the unsub was watching them, don't you think he or she would find a better time to abduct them?" Reid pointed out. "I mean, it was pretty high-risk to take them with both the parents there, like Morgan said."

"Maybe," Rossi said with a thoughtful expression. "But maybe the crowds were the best opportunity."

"But if the age and being Caucasian are the only things linking these girls, the unsub wouldn't have to watch them, he or she could pick one out of a crowd and go from there," Prentiss theorized. "Unless we're missing something else that links the victims."

"Are we thinking male or female for the unsub?" Morgan asked after a moment.

"Without more information on the state of the bodies, I'd say it's hard to make that judgment," Rossi said. "But if there's a lack of a sexual component then we can't rule out our unsub being a woman, even if it is less common."

"Okay. We'll table that aspect for now until we get more information. When we land we're going to hit the ground running," Hotch began. "Morgan, Prentiss head over to see the M.E. and get some more insight on the victims – they're just finishing up their examinations now."

Prentiss' brow furrowed in confusion. "Just now?"

"Apparently there's a bit of a backlog due to being short staffed," Hotch explained. "Rossi, Reid, you head to the dumpsite and see what you can get from it. JJ, you and I will set up with the locals and get caught up with any new information, as well as coordinate any media concerns to do with the latest abduction."

The profilers nodded their understanding of their assignments.

"But for now, until we get more information I don't think there's much we can do, so let's see if we can get a bit of sleep – I know we're all still exhausted from the last case," Hotch added, his tone growing softer by the end. He glanced at each of them, noting the tired eyes and weary expressions. He was worried about his team – they were nearly running on empty and heading into an investigation that would require a lot to get done in a very short amount of time.

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