Hey guys/gals/other. =)

So this idea came to me and I just HAD to go with it. I'm going to incorporate couples other than just H/P so bear with me if I struggle with them. *laugh*
Sadly enough I do not own Criminal Minds (I die every time I type this) nor "Out of the World" by Bush.

I hope this leaves you wanting more because this will be multi-chapter!!!

Enjoy/Review

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When we die

We go in to the arms of those

Who remember us

We are home now

Out of our heads, out of our minds

Out of this world

We're out of this time

It was his fault.

Hotch let the paramedics bandage his head wound as his eyes took in the chaotic scene before him. The condemned apartment building cast a dark shadow over the dozens of people walking franticly from person to person. Night was just about to fall upon the small city. JJ was trying to pacify the few reporters that had ambushed the area while Morgan paced quickly as he tried to calm down a hysterical Garcia over his phone. Rossi had taken to talking with the few police on the scene as Reid, who had stayed behind at the precinct, hobbled over to the older profiler. Hotch watched as Reid's face contorted with disbelief as Rossi filled him in on the hour's previous events. Reid shook his head and rushed over, as fast as his leg brace would allow him, to Morgan.

Morgan's fists were clenched as he hung up his phone and turned his attention to Reid. Hotch had to look away as Morgan hung his head in defeat once he confirmed that what Rossi had told Reid was indeed correct. JJ, who managed to deal with the media for the time being, walked over to Reid and Morgan and tightly squeezed Reid's shoulder and spoke in reassuring tones. Reid nodded weakly and together the three of them walked over to the ambulance where Hotch was currently being held captive.

Rossi too rushed over. "Now what?" he asked once he reached the team. They all turned to look down at Hotch. He sighed deeply, ignoring the throbbing of his skull and the blood that stained his shirt. He stood up, despite the paramedic's protests and turned to face his team. "We fine her." Hotch replied and stormed off to talk to the police and give his statement. The others stayed still until Morgan's voice broke through the cloud of depression. "You heard the man. Let's catch this son of a bitch and get Emily back," his voice hot with rage.

Reid nodded with conviction and left to go process the scene-Morgan not far behind. JJ remained and turned to Rossi, her eyes slightly wet. "How long do you think we have?" she asked, her voice a little raw from suppressing her emotions. She knew what this guy would do to Emily and in what condition they'd find her if they were too late. Rossi looked down at the blonde media liaison and felt his heart constrict at the sight of her distressed emotional state.

"Not long enough," he replied honestly then he gently grabbed the young woman's arm. "We'll find her JJ." Rossi promised and watch her pull herself back together. "You're right, " JJ said willing her words to be true, "we will." With that said she turned around and marched away from Rossi to make a few calls.

"God help us if we don't." Rossi muttered and went to go find Hotch.

Hotch had finished giving his statement to the police officer when Rossi walked up beside him. Hotch really wasn't in the mood to deal with his old friend right now. His mind kept running over their ambush of the apartments and how their unsub had taken him down. He had taken Emily and Hotch was the only one to blame. Hotch let out a frustrated sigh. He looked at Rossi and immediately knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth.

"Save it Dave," Hotch said curtly, "I know what you're going to say and it's not going to help." Rossi ignored Hotch's tone, "I was going to ask you what out plan of attack is going to be." Rossi said casually. Hotch rolled his eyes. He wasn't buying it.

"You were going to tell me that none of this-," Hotch gestured to the scene before them and then to his bandage, "-was my fault." Rossi nodded and Hotch let out another sigh of frustration. "Would it have made any difference if I had?" Rossi asked already knowing Hotch's answer. Hotch shook his head and looked down in shame.

He had been such a fool rushing into that room without clearing it. He had gotten himself knocked out and Emily taken. Hotch found it impossible to even consider not blaming himself.

Rossi sighed, interrupting Hotch's thoughts. "She wouldn't want you to blame yourself Aaron," he said referring to Emily. Hotch didn't respond. If he hadn't been so damn careless Emily would be there beside him, perhaps reprimanding him for his reckless behavior instead of being held captive by a psychopathic serial killer. If she died because of him…

Rossi, recognizing the signs, shoved Hotch forcefully bringing the team's leader back from his darker place. Hotch's head snapped up as Rossi's voice rose. "Look blaming yourself isn't going to bring Emily back or help us find her. So snap your ass out of it and if you want to, you can take your little guilt trip after we have her safe with us!" Rossi scolded and smirked as his words stirred the determination in Hotch's eyes.

"You're right. Our main priority is finding Prentiss…alive." Hotch said pushing back the overwhelming guilt that twisted in his chest. He was of no use to his team-or to Emily- if he was acting all weepy. He'd have time to beat himself up later after he had Emily safely in his arms. He had let Foyet take his son away from him and he'd be damned if he let another sicko take Emily away as well.

"Hotch," Morgan called, "I got something."

Hotch and Rossi walked quickly to where Morgan was standing. By now the street lights had come on and the sun was barely on the horizon. The area looked like the Devil's playground. "What do you have?" Hotch asked noticing the cell phone in Morgan's hand. "I think it's the unsub's. I found it outside of the room you were attacked in." Morgan replied as he handed the cell to Hotch.

Reid came out the building and once he spotted the others he rushed over. "I think this is where he brings them first to 'test' them out so to speak. I doubt this is where he actually tortures his victims. It suggests that he's paranoid in the way he has at least two-maybe more-hideouts. He wanted to confuse us." Reid said, his eyes falling on the cell phone. Hotch nodded in acknowledgment and froze as the phone began to vibrate. JJ, seeing her team frozen in shock rushed over. "What is it?" she asked breathless and watched as Hotch flipped open the phone. His mouth went dry as he heard her labored breathing and her quiet gasps of pain. "Emily…" Hotch said barely able to contain his rage as another noise was heard.

"Now tell them what I told you to say," a deep male voice said in the background. Emily took in a deep breath and they could hear her spit at the unsub. "Go to hell." Emily growled and the others tried hard to maintain their cool as a cold laughter overtook Emily's breathing. "You first my dear," the voice suddenly replied and the entire team flinched as they heard her body being thrown into a glass object of some kind. Her cries of pain made Hotch's heart stop. JJ was grasping Rossi's coat jacket as Morgan's fist were shaking with barely contained rage. Reid's countenance was pained as Emily cried out once more. Rossi shook his head and looked down to the ground.

"Come on agents. Come catch me if you can." The cold voice said once more then the phone went dead.

All was silent in their tight knit circle as they stared at the phone, Emily's cries playing like a broken record in their ears. Morgan's phone suddenly went off and he quickly flipped it open and put Garcia on speaker. "Baby girl please tell me you have some good news." Morgan pleaded. Her sniffles disrupted most of her reply. "I'm afraid not handsome. I traced the phone's origin and found it belonged to Janice Howard-the latest victim." Garcia said picturing the defeated looks on her team's faces. "Dammit!" Morgan swore closing his eyes in frustration.

Hotch was still frozen, unable to will his body to move. He was angry beyond all words. His guilt began to battle with his rage to see which emotion would win out in the end. His guts were a mess of nerves and anger at Emily's torture that he knew would inevitably get worse as the hours wore on. It was then Hotch was sure he was being punished for something he had done. Was it ever going to end?

Garcia was about to hang up, seeing as there was nothing she could do for them at the moment, when something popped up on her screen. "Oh no," she whispered just loud enough for the others on her line to hear. "Garcia what is it?" Hotch asked already dreading her reply.

"I just got mail," Garcia replied as she opened the file and the images filled her screen. Garcia let loose a small cry of horror once her eyes quickly scanned the images on her desktop. "Penelope, baby girl what's wrong?" Morgan asked concerned. Hotch already knew what it was that made her cry out like that. Their unsub was playing with them. "They're pictures…" Garcia whispered and a sudden weight came crashing down on the team. Morgan hung his head and ran his hand over it in exhaustion. Their unsub sent pictures to his victims families though the mail just before their bodies we dumped.

"He's bolder than before," Reid said clearing his throat, "and he's speeding up his process. He's daring us. Mocking us even." The team shuddered in horror as Garcia's sniffling increased tenfold. "Garcia send me the pictures and try to get an IP address." Hotch ordered. Garcia really didn't want to. She knew how much her boss man was blaming himself for this, and seeing these pictures of Emily wasn't going to help one bit. Garcia was about to object but something in Hotch's tone of voice raised a little red flag in the back of her mind. "Yes sir," Garcia replied and hit that little forward button then disconnected the call so she could blow her nose in peace.

The team waited anxiously as Hotch's phone lit up and began receiving Garcia's email. JJ was still clutching to Rossi's coat as the download finished and a large image of Emily filled his screen. "Oh God…" JJ whispered and turned her head away from Hotch's blackberry. Rossi patted her back as he looked on, horrified at what that bastard had managed to do to Emily in only a few hours. Reid managed to swallow his revulsion and began cataloging her injuries that he could see as Hotch flicked though all ten images. Morgan was beside himself and barely stood still.

She was a wreck. Her blouse was torn to where you could see her black bra underneath. She had deep cuts and pieces of glass embedded in her chest, which were bleeding profusely. Her nose looked like it had been broken then reset and she had light bruises on her face already. Her hands were cuffed together and her legs bound with what looked like electrical wire. Her arms were suspended above her body allowing the team to see the other various cuts on her sides and underarms. There were defensive wounds on her arms and hands, which was no surprise. Emily wouldn't go down without a fight.

In one picture her dark eyes were looking back at the camera and the others could see the pure hatred that lurked in them. She hadn't cried yet, or begged for her life. She'd never give him that satisfaction. Not yet at least.

Hotch, who for one couldn't look one more second at those pictures, put his blackberry in his pocket and faced his team. They had a haggard appearance and revenge in their eyes. He was sure he looked the same way, maybe even worse. His voice was clipped with authority and laced with anger. They would catch this bastard at any costs. Hotch didn't give a damn about protocol this time, not when their unsub could easily kill Emily in any second that they stood there waiting for orders.

"We go back and we dig deeper. We pull up everything we can get our hands on and we go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. We will catch this bastard and we'll do it by any means necessary." Hotch said meeting the eyes of his team members.

Morgan was with Hotch all the way. "You're damn right," he replied and rushed off to the car he came in with Hotch and Prentiss earlier. Reid turned to follow as JJ finally let go of Rossi's coat. "JJ we need a press conference." Hotch said.

JJ nodded, "I'm already all over it," she replied and left to catch up with Reid. Rossi turned to look at Hotch and noted the stubborn set of his friend's face. This was going to be messy but necessary. Rossi knew Hotch would do anything to rescue Emily, no matter the consequences. Rossi silently hoped that after this whole ordeal was over that Hotch would let himself be happy with Emily. If there was ever a man who deserved happiness it was Hotch.

"Let's go." Hotch said and marched off to go back to the office where he wouldn't eat, sleep or rest until they had found Emily. Rossi followed close behind and together they left the scene to go on the hunt.

Are you drowning or waving?

I just want you to save me

Should we try to get along,

Just try to get along?

So we move

We change by the speed of the choices that we make

And the barriers are all self-made

That's so retrograde

"Out of this World" -Bush

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Phew! Chapter 1 is finished!

I'll go more in-depth with Hotch's inner turmoil and his conflicting feelings for Emily as the story progresses. There will be lots more of Emily in the next chapter I promise! I also want to develop Emily's friendship with Reid and Morgan more since I believe those are some of the strongest friendships on the show. I'm leaning towards a Rossi/JJ paring in case you didn't really catch that *laugh* and of course Morgan/Garcia. I really wish I could give Reid someone but I really just want him to be a supportive character for Emily later on. Any ideas would be muchly appreciated.

I think this will be about 3-5 chapters long (I'm still debating on length) If you've never heard this song I strongly suggest looking it up and just listening to it. I had a hard time figuring out what song to use for this first chapter but I already know which one I'll use for Chapter 2!

Please continue to shower your support down upon me and I shall continue to write.

Peace out. =)