"Where's Hotch?" Reid asked no one in particular, as he took his usual seat in the briefing room. "Shouldn't he be back today?"

Garcia glanced up from her tablet, looking perplexed. "Holy Cats, Fearless Leader's never late. Not once. Should we be worried?" she asked, her eyebrows raising.

"Maybe he had a late flight?" Dave offered.

JJ asked the room, "Nobody's heard from him?" She sat down next to Spencer. "Probably traffic."

Luke finished off the last bit of his everything bagel and said "I haven't heard anything, but doesn't the traffic know to get out of his way by now?"

The smiles that garnered around the table quickly fell as none other than Emily Prentiss walked into the room, a somber expression on her face. All chatter ceased as they focused as one on the unexpected arrival of their beloved friend and former teammate.

Luke scanned his co workers, immediately noting their concern. "Who…?" he began.

"Shh," said Spencer, directed at Luke. "Emily, what is it?"

"Hotch isn't coming." Emily gripped the front of the table and dropped her head for a moment. Lifting it, she looked around the table and made eye contact with each of them.

"As you all know, he's been on assignment this past month, the details of which are still classified. I'm sorry to have to tell you the news… Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner's helicopter got caught in an unexpected thunderstorm, and from what we know, a freak microburst caused the engine and rotors to malfunction."

She took a breath and continued, unable to keep the tears from her eyes, her voice thickening.

"The helicopter went down in a field on the outskirts of Virginia as he was on his way back. There were no survivors." Her voice broke on the last of it.

All of the air was sucked out of the room. Nobody moved. Nobody said a word for what seemed like minutes.

Spencer jumped up, knocking his chair back. He yanked his phone out as he quickly strode out. JJ tried to grab his arm, but he was too fast. She got up and followed him out. As she passed Emily, she touched her arm and said "It's certain?" Emily nodded, grimly.

Rossi quietly said "Damnit, Aaron..." and he leaned forward, putting his head in both hands, staring at the conference table, unblinking. His face reflected his deep shock and pain, like he'd just been gut shot. He had. He rose slowly and made his way to Hotch's office, and with a heavy sigh, lowered himself to the worn leather sofa where he'd sat with his friend, so many times before.

Penelope stood, tears beginning to stream down her face as she enveloped Emily in a tight hug. "It can't be, it can't be… not Hotch, not our Hotch..." she whispered. Emily's arms went around her effusive friend and she squeezed back, closing her eyes, taking comfort just as much as giving it.

Luke sat back in his chair, shocked. In the short time he'd known Hotch, he'd gotten the impression that his Unit Chief was somehow indestructible. A formidable force, incapable of succumbing to something as mortal as a crash. How tragic. Tragic and sad, especially for his teammates who had known and worked with him for so long.

He looked around for a way to help the two women still in the room and pulled a few tissues out of the box on the conference table, taking them over to the crying Garcia who took them quickly, releasing Emily for a brief moment before clasping her again.

JJ caught up to Spencer just as he was ending his call. "Hey," she spoke softly as she reached for him.

He stiffly returned her embrace then looked into her eyes. JJ glimpsed the pain, the sadness, and something else… anger? before he schooled his features into a semblance of calm.

"It's crazy, right? I can't believe it..." she began.

"I can," he interrupted.

JJ raised her eyebrows.

"When you think about it, considering the odds in our line of work, it's really amazing that any of us have made it this far." He said, quickly.

"Spence..."

"I wonder who'll be next. You? Me? Why don't we just go push Rossi out the window so Emily doesn't have to make another trip over here to break the news!" His voice went up an octave as he continued.

She could see his neck reddening and that vein in his forehead that always stood out when he was upset. Her immediate instinct was to reason with him, even though she related to everything he was saying.

"Morgan was smart to get out when he did, and he barely escaped with his life, not to mention his wife and baby's lives! They all almost died! YOUR husband almost died, your son! MAEVE!" He spread his hands for emphasis.

The more he talked the faster he went and JJ could see he was losing control. She reached for him and he moved away from her, his hands held up, palms out. He grimaced, then folded his arms tight against his stomach, a gesture she hadn't seen him do in years. He turned abruptly, walking over to the windows and looking out, unseeing.

She came up behind him and spoke softly. "You're right. There's been so much loss. We've all felt it, experienced it... and we've survived."

"Have we, JJ?" Spencer set his jaw and shook his head, still staring out the window.

"He should've left when Haley was murdered. He should've taken Jack and moved far, far away right then. Right then."

"He couldn't do that, Spence. You know he couldn't."

"He should have! He'd at least be alive if he had!" he shouted.

"Think of all the lives that have been saved because he stayed. Because he believed in what we do, in what he could do here at the BAU. He believed every life had worth, every person was worth saving, and he acted on that belief up until the very day he died," JJ replied.

"Yeah? And for what? At what cost? In the end he made the ultimate sacrifice and his choices made Jack an orphan. You think he wanted that?" Reid was shaking he was so upset.

"No, I don't. But nothing any of us could have said or done would have convinced Aaron to do otherwise, Spence. He was compelled by his better angels to do his job. And he did it better than anyone else ever could have."

He shook his head again. "I'm not sure I can take this right now, JJ. I can't - with what's going on with my mom, and with Morgan gone on top of everything else-"

"Speaking of..." said a rumbling voice behind him.

Spencer turned and saw Derek Morgan standing there, big as life. If the situation had been different, he would've grinned and embraced his friend, but his was no happy matter.

"Thanks for coming," Reid said, swallowing.

JJ moved in for a silent hug, and Morgan reciprocated.

"Where're the others, in the briefing room?" the former profiler asked as he released her.

She nodded.

"This is insane. When Reid called and told me, I couldn't believe it. I still can't. How's my Baby Girl?"

"Emily's with her," JJ said.

"Should we all…?" Derek tilted his head in that direction.

They moved as one to go see about the others, but Reid said, "Go ahead, I want to check on Rossi, first."

Spencer took a breath and entered Hotch's office, taking in the scene before him. Everything was just as Aaron had left it. One neat file in a basket to the right, the cherrywood desk gleaming with care. Pictures of Jack, Haley, Jessica, Sean, and Beth. His bike mounted on the wall, his numerous awards displayed prominently behind the desk among his law books. And it smelled like him, like Hotch. Spencer swallowed again, even as he realized why that hit him like it did.

And there was Rossi, seated, his arm stretched along the back of the leather sofa, two glasses of untouched scotch on the table before him. He didn't need to look to know that it was Reid who'd come in, he just started talking.

"You know kid, when Gideon and I cooked up this Unit, we didn't dream there'd ever be a guy like Aaron to run it."

Reid moved around and took a seat in the chair opposite Dave, listening.

"He was better at it than either of us. A better profiler, a better leader. And I think Gideon knew it. I think that's part of the reason he was okay with leaving. He knew the BAU would continue, in better hands."

Spencer nodded, leaning forward.

"I came in here, all full of myself. Wanting to use the position to heal an old wound, break an old case. And I did... but I couldn't have done it without all your help, without Aaron's help. He showed me what the BAU had evolved into, what it really became. I was hooked. And I love you all like my own. But... I am really... really... going to miss my friend."

Rossi leaned forward and picked up his glass of scotch. "To Aaron Hotchner, Spencer. A fine man, a terrific dad, a great friend, and an exceptional human being. I was lucky, we all were lucky to know him. Salut!"

Spencer took the glass and raised it to Rossi's, clinking them for the toast. Rossi took a sip, but Spencer set it back down. That was Hotch's glass. Hotch's last drink with the founder of the BAU.

Prentiss looked up when Derek walked in and disengaged her hand from Garcia's. She stood up and vacated the chair that Morgan then filled. JJ watched, then gestured for Luke to come with her as she walked out.

Penelope looked into his beloved brown eyes and said "You've heard?"

Derek met her gaze and said simply, "Yes."

"I'm so glad you came," she said, and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

Derek took a tissue out of the box, gently daubed at her teary cheeks and said, "There's nowhere else to be right now."

Penelope squeezed his hand. "It's not just me that needs you, you know."

"You need me most. Come on, let's take a walk."

They left the room, arms around each others waist, her head on his shoulder.

Emily sat down heavily, leaning her elbows on the table, her head in her hands. She straightened and pushed back against the leather chair, breathing out forcefully. Her chest ached, her head pounded, and she was deeply sad. Since she'd first heard the news, she'd lost all sense of time. There had been no room to grieve yet, but she knew it was coming.

Aaron gone. It was still too raw, too new for her to grasp, but it was the awful truth, and she knew she had to hold it together, for their sake. It's what Hotch would have wanted her to do. It's what Hotch would have done.

She'd been the first one the Bureau had called. She'd accepted, without question, in sorrow and in duty. She would be, moving forward, the next Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Emily Prentiss was home.