First of all, I'm sorry it took so long for me to update this story... I kind of forgot where I had planned to take this one because I hadn't touched it in sooooo long. Sorry for the wait but i can assure you that chapter 8 is not far behind! thank you to all the readers, follower, favoriters and reviews especially. You all make posting stories worth it!

Hope you enjoy :)

Hotch had the team assemble in the conference room for a quick meeting. It was long overdue and the rest of the team deserved to know everything that was going on.

They all sat down, except Emily. She stood firmly beside Hotch, biting at her lower lip.

Rossi had noticed that his female college was struggling during the case. He watched her shift uncomfortably in front of the small crown assembled in front of her. He could see that this conversation wasn't something she wanted to start.

She sighed and wiped her face with her hard as if wiping away her thoughts.

"I haven't been completely truthful with you guys about my life," she said quietly with her gaze locked to the table in front of her. "Thirteen years ago, I had a daughter, we named her Shawna. Her father passed away when she was still a baby, so it was just her and I." she took a deep breath before continuing. "She was everything to me and I loved her so much." her voice cracked as she spoke and she could feel wetness creasing the water line of her eyes. "When she was five she was kidnapped from our back yard. I only left her alone for a minute… The gate was locked from the inside…" She stopped because she didn't know what else she should say and because if she were to keep going she might not be able to contain her emotions.

She glanced up at the ceiling, doing her best to force back her tears. She sucked in what was supposed to be a calming breath then closed her eye, shook her head and then looked at her colleges.

He felt his jaw drop as she spoke. "You're a mother?" Reid questioned slowly as he stared sadly at his dark haired friend. "Why didn't you tell us?"

She knew this question would come up sooner or later. She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to relax herself the best she could. "I'm sorry I never told any of you," she started her as she looked between Rossi and Reid. "There were times when I wanted to but… I didn't want all of you to worry about me whenever we worked cases with missing children. I didn't want you to feel like you were walking on eggshell every time some kids face ended up on our screens." Emily felt ashamed for keeping the truth hidden all these years. She wanted to curl up in a ball, climb into a dark whole and just stay there. She wanted to be anywhere but here, standing in front of her friends, her family while they judged her.

No one spoke. They just looked at her as if they found this discovery hard to process.

After a few moments of silence. Dave stood from his seat and ambled up to her. He stopped in front of her and gape at her sympathetically like he wanted to say something. However, not a sound escaped from his mouth.

Rossi made her feel frozen inside, all she hoped was that he wasn't angry with her decision. A tear escaped from her eye and as it did he wrapped his arms around her.

He caressed the back of her hair and whispered. "It's all going to be okay kiddo. We'll find her."

The team had been held up in the round table room for quite some time discussing theories and review there minimal profile. There had been no leads making them feel like they were searching for a ghost. Victimology was getting them nowhere and they could not narrow down the UnSub's comfort zone. Garcia was looking for similar cases but had come up empty. The team was getting tired and losing hope fast but they were trying not to let it show, for their distorted co-worker.

"I know what you're thinking," Emily muttered suddenly to her friends as she lifted her head from her file. Her eyes were glistening as if to be thinly layered with preemptive tears.

For the past few minutes JJ had been watching Emily. She could see that the young brunette had been locked on the same seven year old picture. She was losing faith that she would ever see her daughter again. All she wanted was one last hug, one last laugh and a chance to say goodbye.

She got out of her seat and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. She squeezed gently. "Don't do this Em. This isn't over yet." Her voice was soft and calm but inside she wanted to scream.

JJ was always heartbroken when the victim's pictures were those of children. She did her best not to get attached, not to make it personal. For the most part it had worked. But what could she do now? They were looking for her best friend's daughter, of course it was personal. At first she had tried to pretend it was just another abduction case, which helped. Until Emily finally broke down. It was something she wasn't used to seeing and it tore her to pieces.

She knew they were doing everything they could but it wasn't enough. If they didn't find something helpful soon they may never be able to bring the young Prentiss home to her mother.

"Come on Jayje! You know as well as I do that they're in the wind by now." She glanced at her watch." Plus the first 24 hours are up," she said as if she were reminding herself. Emily took a deep breath trying to calm down. They were running out of time.

As he flipped through the file Rossi could tell that things weren't adding up. They had missed something very important. He knew it was time to break it down. "Look Bella, you're a great profiler. Let's break it down. Tell me, what's wrong with this? What is this guy doing?"

"What wrong? They're taking helpless little girls from the mothers and keeping them for something. That's what wrong." Emily clenched her teeth in rage. She was disgusted to think of the things this guy was doing to Shawna. "God knows what they're doing to them." This time she spoke softer as if she where only speaking to herself.

"Where are they taking these girls from?" he asked as if he did not know the case.

"DC and the surrounding areas," Reid informed him. He then proceeded to list off the abduction sites.

"Which means he's..."

JJ spoke up this time."Probably not local but lives close enough to drive in and out of the city easily."

With that the eldest profiler opened a dry erase marker and began to write in point form on the white broad.

"Come on Rossi we don't have time for this." Morgan he protested irritably with a confused look on his face. They didn't have time to play games. Did he already know what they were missing?

"Let me finish. You'll see. Now, what doesn't make sense?"

"Why is he keeping them? It would be easier to just dump them," Hotch said a matter a fact. He glanced as Prentiss hoping what he said had not upset her.

JJ agreed with her boss's statement. "Yeah, it's not easy to hide that many young girls."

"That means he probably resides somewhere that gives them some form of isolation. Perhaps a farm?" Reid said. Then he walked over to the dry erase board, took the marker from Dave and started writing down the point he had come up with.

Isolated.

"What else do we say when a victim is kept for longer periods of time?" Rossi questioned. He could see that his team mates were becoming frustrated by his inquiry. They just wanted him to get to the point.

"More than one UnSub..." JJ stated slightly confused. She thought they had already established that they were looking for a team.

"We already know it's not just one scumbag… the letters say we and it's hard to abduction a child and keep them this long." Morgan had been running his theories all day but this one he was sure has to be true.

"That's where we are wrong. We're profiling this as if our UnSubs are all men when they are not. Emily? Can I see the last photo you got from the UnSub?" Rossi questions softly knowing that it might be hard to look at for everyone.

"Hotch has it." She nods her head towards the dark haired male agent who was now standing by the door.

Dave turns to his supervisor and put out his hand. Hotch placed the image in his palm. "Thank you Aaron."

He unfolds the photograph and places it in the middle of the table. The team quickly crowds around it watching intently.

Dave taps the picture twice to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Do you see how she is clean and somewhat healthy? Yes, she's far too tiny in the sense that she probably does not eat as much as she should. But her hair is brushed and her clothing is clean. Someone is putting some effort into caring for your daughter."

"Our UnSub is a woman..." Emily blurts finally as she closes her eyes and leans forward in her seat and leans against the table.

"She calls the shots."

As if on cue, Hotch's phone began to ring. He answered as he lifted the black iPhone to his ear. "Hotchner," he said.

The team observed him intently.

"When was that?" He said loudly with urgency in his voice.

"What is it man?" Morgan asked, knowing they were all thinking the same thing.

Hotch lifted his index finger to Morgan signaling 'in a minute'.

"Is she okay?" He questioned. He glanced at Emily, whose eyes were wide in fear.

She couldn't breathe. She stood up and started pacing. Had someone found her daughter? She moved towards the team's fearless leader trying to catch some of the conversation.

She watched Hotch's facial expressions waiting for some kind of indication of what was going on.

"Thank you detective, we will be there right away." Then he quickly pockets his cell phone and turns his attention back to his team.

He paused for a moment to consider how was going to tell them what had happened. "An hour ago Kathryn Roy was found near Baltimore Country. She escaped. Sheriff Logan is keeping her at the station and says that she is not hurt."

With that the agents swiftly rose from their seats and darted out of the building.

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