A/N: Hello again. Just thought I would let you know about a cool thing I watched the other day. Paget guest hosted on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show and interviewed Marc Evan Jackson (from Thrilling Adventure Hour). If you haven't seen it, it's absolutely adorable. It's on YouTube and is podcast number 205 when you search. It's two hours long, but I have absolutely zero regrets on putting the time in to watch it. Anyway, we're starting part two with this chapter. Hope you'll enjoy it! And as always, all mistakes are my own and I pine for reviews like every writer on here. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Emily's eyes fluttered open. She squinted in the dark as she focused on her surroundings, but the events of the previous night came flooding back to her. She could feel Hotch behind her, his arm slung over her waist absentmindedly drawing circles on her stomach. She moaned and turned over to face him. "Hi."
He leaned over and kissed her softly. "Hi. I'm sorry if I woke you."
"What time is it?" She snuggled closer to him, letting her legs tangle with his.
"It's nearly six."
"What time do we have to be in?"
"Nine. I need to meet with JJ to decide our next case." He smoothed away a stray hair from her face.
"Do you have to go home first?"
Hotch nodded. "I forgot my bag last night. I'm sorry."
"Well we still have a little time, don't we?"
"Yes, we do." Hotch pushed her back, dropping kisses up her neck.
Forty five minutes later Emily forced herself out of the bed and slipped a shirt on, watching him dress. "I had a great time last night. We should do that again sometime. Dinner, I mean."
"Of course," Hotch replied, buttoning his shirt. He hesitated before turning to her. "Do we need to talk about anything?"
She walked up to him and looped her arms around his neck. "No, I don't think so. Is there something you want to talk about?"
He shook his head. "No." Discretion, for now, was a given. He knew that Emily felt the same way that he did about the Bureau finding out. He gave her a short kiss. "I'll see you soon?"
"Yes." She followed him out of her bedroom and to the front door. She leaned up to kiss his cheek and smiled at him. "I'll see you later."
With a nod, he left her standing against her kitchen wall. She already missed him.
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Emily swung her bag over her shoulder as she pushed through the doors of the BAU. She glanced towards Hotch's office, seeing that the door was closed. She made her way to her desk and set her things down. She smiled at Reid who was flipping through a case file. "Anything?"
"Not sure, they've been in there for a while."
"I won't get too comfortable." She yawned, covering her mouth. "Coffee?"
"Yes please." Emily nodded and made her way to the kitchen.
"Did you have a good weekend?" She looked up and saw Rossi hovering in the corner by the coffee pot.
"Yes. Relaxing, you?" She took out two cups and filled them.
"Not too much to report." He hid a smirk behind his coffee. "You still driving Aaron around?"
"No," Emily replied, not playing to his game. "Everything's fixed from what he told me."
"Must be a relief."
She shrugged. "I really didn't mind."
"Well I'm sure he appreciated it."
"Sorry to interrupt." Garcia poked her head into the kitchen door. "We have something. Hotch said conference room ASAP."
Emily nodded, picking the two cups of coffee up with her, and followed Rossi and Garcia to the conference room. She took a seat next to Morgan and passed Reid his coffee. "What do we have?"
"Jefferson City, Missouri." Hotch nodded to Garcia to flip through the first set of crime scene photos. "A total of eight schools ranging from elementary schools to high schools have been burned down in the last six months."
"Any casualties?" Reid asked.
"Fortunately no. All of the fires were set in the evening, when students were absent. The janitorial crew was alerted by fire alarms so everyone got out."
"Did they find evidence of an accelerant?" Emily pointed to the crime scene photo on the screen. "Those look like splash marks to me."
"Forensics confirmed it to be gasoline," Garcia said, frowning. "Unfortunately nothing very unique about that."
"We need to figure out who's starting these fires before someone gets hurt." Hotch closed his folder. "Right now the remaining schools are overwhelmed with the influx of students so PD is anxious to catch this guy. Wheels up in thirty."
Everyone nodded and picked up their case files. Emily smiled at Garcia on the way out and the blonde returned the smile. "Be safe out there."
"We always are." Emily waved at her friend and collected her go bag. She waited for JJ to finish in her office and the two walked towards the doors.
On the jet, Emily took a seat next to Hotch. This would be the test for them to see if they could work a case while keeping their personal lives on the back burners. It would be tough, but she knew the best way to fool her profiler friends for a while would be to act normal. She could feel him shift next to her then relax, opening his case file.
"Thoughts?"
"Considering less than twelve percent of serial arsonists are female, I'm going to assume our UnSub is male," Emily suggested, taking notes as she talked. "This guy is angry about something."
"He's targeting the schools, so he likely has a hatred towards the education system."
"The first school he destroyed was a primary school," Morgan pointed out. "His most recent was a middle school. He's moving up to schools that host older kids."
Reid held up a map with red dots showing locations. "Other than being local, there seems to be no significant geographical profile. He's hit schools at all ends of the city. So if we assume that he's going to target high schools next, then that narrows it down to two larger schools." He pointed to the map. "He's already targeted Calvary Lutheran High School, leaving Helias Catholic School and Jefferson City High School."
"JJ I want you to contact the principals of both schools and arrange for us to meet with them as soon as possible. Morgan and Prentiss, go to the first four crime scenes. Rossi and I will handle the last four."
"What about colleges and universities?" Reid pointed to his map.
"Have Garcia compile a list focusing on the major ones. Considering the higher amount of students in attendance and the wider range of times that classes run for, there's a higher chance for casualties even if that's not the UnSub's goal." Hotch closed his folder as the pilot announced their preparation for landing, turning to Reid and JJ. "Head to the Jefferson City P-D with JJ and keep working on the profile."
Everyone packed their belongings up and relaxed for a few minutes while the plane landed, silently preparing their minds for what was to come.
As they split into groups, Hotch glanced briefly at Emily as he got into his Suburban with Rossi. She caught his eye and gave him a small smile before slipping into the front seat next to Morgan in their own vehicle. Hotch mentally shook himself and focused his eyes on the road.
It was going to be a long day.