IN NAME AND BLOOD

It had been a rough month for the BAU. Gideon had returned to work...and then had taken a two-week leave of absence. Hotch, had to deal with all that paperwork...and then got suspended. Amelia...had a girlfriend.

Okay, so maybe it was only the mum and dad of the team suffering.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Amelia walks into the office on her phone, a coffee cup in hand

"I'm fine," Mellie says on the other end, sniffing, then coughing violently, Amelia flinches "It's just a cold Ames,"

"A cold," Lia snorts "Sounds a lot worse than that," she watches a stressed JJ walk into the conference room "Mels I gotta go, message me if you need anything," she greets Spencer and the two follow the liaison into the room.

"What, no Hotch, now no Gideon?" Morgan enters with a mug

"No, not yet," JJ sighs

"Y'know, these guys have been out two weeks. You'd think the least they could do is be on time,"

"Yeah, 'cause you're never late," Spencer smirks and Amelia grins, biting her lip, Morgan ignores them

"So where's Prentiss?"

"Her phone keeps going straight to voicemail,"

"Well, this room just keeps getting smaller and smaller, doesn't it?"

"Should we wait fifteen minutes?"

"Like when you're in school?" Amelia asks "Teacher doesn't show up and you can go,"

"We can just brief them on the plane. Right now the police task force in Milwaukee needs our help, four blondes appear on the screen "They've had four murders over the past three weeks, and in addition, another woman has been missing the last two days. They've all the women are in their 30s, married with children,"

"Any connection between these victims?"

"Just that they've all been abducted from the area of Wauwatosa, all from very public places, but there are no witnesses,"

"How are we even certain it's the same killer?"

"Well, for starters... All of the bodies have been dumped in the city's third ward. And there's this,"

Amelia squints slightly to see the screen "Is that-"

"All the hearts have been cut from their bodies," JJ nods.

"Wheels up, I guess," Amelia shrugs.

BAU JET

"I'm going to throw something," Amelia is sitting next to Spencer on the Jet, arms crossed with a semblance of a pout on her face.

"Can you do it in Strauss' direction?" Morgan murmurs into his coffee cup, JJ snorts.

"You know, from this angle, she almost looks human,"

"Has anyone talked to Emily yet?" Spencer asks quietly

Oh yes, Emily, Amelia was going to send her a strongly worded message when she was free. The agent had resigned from the FBI. Amelia had been graced with this news after Derek had informed her that Hotch was requesting a transfer and that Gideon hadn't shown up yet.

She was having a great day.

Absolutely brilliant.

And then Strauss got on the jet.

"She was gone before I heard the news,"

"I told you, Reid, now we're down 2 agents and Gideon's M.I.A."

"Does Strauss ever do any-" Spencer is cut off when Derek raises a quick eyebrow at him, and Starss appears at their table.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's protocol to brief everyone before we arrive at the crime scene,"

"Yes, ma'am," JJ nods and Strauss sits on the sofa, a file open on her lap. "This unsub is abducting women from very public places, with no witnesses. He holds them 48 hours, with no sexual as*ault, and then he dumps their bodies with their hearts carved out of their chests,"

Derek puts a picture of the victim on the table, and Strauss flinches when she sees it.

Spencer leans over Amelia's shoulder to see the photos she's holding "There's an obvious dichotomy in the skill the unsub exhibits in abducting these women and the fact that he cuts their hearts out so crudely."

"We're probably looking at someone in a psychotic break," Amelia looks over to Strauss "Could be a butcher, maybe a hunter,"

"Somebody who's very comfortable being around blood, but as you can see, he obviously doesn't have the skills of a surgeon," Derek adds

"So do we have a working theory?"

"Sure we do." Morgan laughs slightly, grabbing his mug "Somebody really doesn't like women." he walks off and Amelia smiles awkwardly at Staruss, turning her head to look at JJ and Spencer, her eyes widening, JJ bites back a smile.

MILWAUKEE

The team, minus three, plus one, enters the crime scene, Derek steps under the tape first, opening it up for Amelia.

"You the FBI?" A detective asks

"Supervisory Special Agent Amelia Rowe," she shakes his hand then gestures with her head to the people around her "Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Doctor Spencer Reid and Section Cheif Strauss,"

"Vic Wolynski, Milwaukee PD," he shakes Derek's hand also

"You worked the Jeffrey Dahmer case," Spencer realises

"16 years ago..."

"I've studied it,"

"And you remember my name?"

"He remembers everything," JJ explains

"It's what he does,"

"What can you tell us?" Strauss interrupts

"Uh, local merchant noticed her a few hours ago. Uh, but considering he didn't see her when he first came to work, uh, we figure she was dumped there between 7:50 and 8:05. Same window as the others."

"All the bodies were found in this area, right?" Morgan asks

"Uh, Wauwatosa is an upper-middle-class suburb approximately 15 minutes from here. All the women were abducted from there in the afternoon and turned up here in the morning 2 days later."

JJ looks around the scene, outside the barriers, people are constantly walking past "All this foot traffic and no one saw anything."

"Well, he, up, wraps the bodies, uh, loosely so they're not immediately recognizable. Eventually, the, uh, wrapping comes open my guess is he, uh, has a van or a truck, something he can back up so he's shielded when he makes the drop." The detective is clearly nervous around the FBI, he leads them closer to the body

"No prints?" Amelia kneels down to look at the poor woman.

"There have been traces of paint and wood stain, but most of it's just common stuff you'd get at any hardware store."

"He's trying to demean them, putting them out like trash..." Spencer mutters

"This guy might work or live around here," Derek helps Amelia stand up "Gets off on the reaction to his... handiwork."

"What can you tell us about the victim?"

"She was taken from a supermarket. Her husband says that most days she would have been picking up her son at school, but he was spending the afternoon at a friend's."

"This is your fifth victim, right?" Strauss finally speaks

"Yes."

"You should have called us sooner."

Amelia can't help the facial expression she pulls, her eyes widen and she has to look away.

"I thought we had a handle on it."

"Apparently not."

"Ma'am," JJ quickly interrupts, she pulls Strauss away "Excuse me, sir."

"You should call Hotch," Amelia whispers to Morgan and he nods, excusing himself.

"Doctor Reid and I would like to take a further look at the crime scene if that's okay?" Wolynski nods and Amelia leads Spencer closer to the yellow tape.

"I'm gonna throw a rock at her," Amelia mutters and Spencer laughs.

POLICE STATION

On their way to the station, JJ got a call, alerting her to another missing woman

Wolynski leads everyone into the bullpen "Hey. What do we know?"

"Woman's name is Claire Thompson. Husband tried to reach her on the cell phone. When she didn't pick up, he drove to the department store. The car's in the parking lot, but she's not inside,"

"Is that the husband?" JJ subtly points to a distraught-looking man

"Yeah."

"JJ, take Strauss with you when you talk to him," Amelia instructs and Staruss looks like she'd object, but follows JJ.

"I had the department store uplink the security footage to your analyst in Quantico."

"Perfect," Derek dials Penelope "Garcia, baby girl, please tell me something I want to hear," Amelia doesn't hear what Garcia says, but she assumes it isn't about the case.

"How about something I don't already know? Did you locate the missing girl on the security footage?"

The security footage pops up "Keep me on speaker, will you?" Garcia's voice filters through

"She doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar."

"Look. Who's the kid?"

"Does Claire Thompson have a son?"

"No. 2-year-old daughter."

"It looks like the kid's lost."

"Garcia, this all you got?"

"That's it. Then they turn down a hallway without a security camera and we lose them."

"I'll get a list of missing kids, see if we can make out a resemblance to any of them,"

"Oh, damn..." Morgan mutters

"What?"

"Something Hotch said. All the abductions and disposals have been timed around schools. We thought the unsub might work in the system. What if this guy's actually using his own son to lure his victims?"

Later at the briefing, Derek and Lia take the lead.

"Detective Wolynski told us you're trying to single out trucks and vans."

"That's smart. The unsub is dumping his victims in the business district, so I'd agree with you-- he's probably not driving something that would stand out. He may even have some type of company logo on the side of his vehicle as well."

"We know that he abducts the women in Wauwatosa and dumps their bodies somewhere in the third ward." Spener gestures to a map where he's highlighted certain areas "Most unsubs keep their area of control-- where they kill their victims-- triangulated between the two points"

"This means that the unsub probably lives in Wauwatosa or the third ward - somewhere in that area," Amelia adds

"And the people who live there know the unsub."

"There's no sexual component to these crimes, which means it's more about the unsub making a point...He's cutting their hearts out,"

"It might just be that this is the sickest way the unsub knows to disfigure the women and...Throw them out like trash. We can't really know."

"The two most important questions to ask ourselves are: What is this guy doing with these women for 48 hours? And why is he willing to use his own son to abduct them?" Spencer asks

"And if he is truly using his own son, then it's likely that he has what we call borderline personality disorder."

"Borderlines think that all relationships revolve entirely around them," Amelia starts to pace "and when they set their mind to something, absolute-- there is no grey area."

"It would also manifest in a way that would be visible to people around the unsub. Intense bouts of anger and depression, problems drinking. He would also be highly sensitive to rejection."

"And one last thing. It is not easy to crack clean into breastbone. You're dealing with a guy who works with his hands and he's used to hard labor. At the very least, he's not afraid to get dirty."

As time moves on, the team is stuck, there's not much they can do until a lead pops up.

"I have triple patrol in the area and I've got every available unit recanvassing."

"It's tough knowing they're out there and we're still a step behind." Derek comforts

"You know, it used to be a running joke that if you told people you were from Milwaukee, all they wanted to talk about was happy days reruns. And then dahmer happens and they ask you about it as if it's the same thing. As if it's entertainment...But I was in that apartment."

"Gideon, one of our bosses, says that there are things that attach to you that you can never wash off."

"Alright-" JJ stops herself and then starts again "Is it possible we're looking at this the wrong way?"

"What do you mean?" Strauss takes a sip of her coffee

"Well, we're trying to zero in on the unsub. Now, you guys tell me, but...If he really is using his son, wouldn't the trauma manifest more clearly on the boy?" the team is silent, looks of revelation on their face

"Oh JJ you genius..." Amelia mutters

"Can your analyst get a list of all the children in the area that we're targeting?" Strauss asks

"Garcia can get you whatever you want."

She dials the number and Garcia's voice rings out "Talk dirty to me."

"This is Section Cheif Erin Strauss,"

Amelia snorts and looks over to see JJ grinning and Morgan's face in his hands.

"Ma'am, I think it goes without saying that I was expecting it to be someone else."

The call continues, and when it ends, Strauss stands "You need to present these counselors with a profile of a troubled kid." she walks off

"Yes ma'am," Amelia mutters sarcastically once she's left the room.

Spencer and Amelia tackle one-half of schools, Derek and JJ the other half. They regroup in the office.

Amelia walks in with a stack of files "The kid doesn't look like he could be any older than 7. Let's work from youngest to oldest, start with the worst behaviour, get the names of the parents, send them over to Garcia. She can cross-check for criminal records."

"This guy's dumping bodies between 7:30 and 8:00. That gives us..." Derek checks his watch "A little over 12 hours to make something hit."

"Let's get it done."

"Look who's here." Amelia turns at Spencer's voice and sees Emily and Hotch enter the room

"Oh my god,"

"Hey. Where do we start?" Emily asks and Amelia grins

"Take some files and save me from eternal doom," she chucks a file at her and Emily laughs

"How fast can you get us up to speed?"

"How fast can you sit down?"

"Look at you all in pink," Amelia teases Emily and she hits her over the head gently, the team laughs and gets to work..then Straus walks in

"We're only here to help."

"We'll deal with this later."

The night passes, but they find nothing, and in the morning, are in an SUV on the way to the dump site.

Strauss takes the lead, but trips, Hotch helps her back up "Are you all right?"

"I st--I stepped on her hair."

"If you need a second, take a second. This is what it is." Strauss covers her face with her hands, taking deep breaths, clearly distressed "Just don't let the public see you break down." Strauss walks away

"This is a different area from the other dump sites, isn't it?" Emily questions

"He's getting smart. He knows where all of our manpower will be so he's changing locations."

"Well how long before he changes when and where he abducts them?"

"He does that, we're back at zero."

"Claire?!" the husband is stood outside the tape screaming

"No, no, no, no. We gotta keep him out of here!" Morgan rushes off with JJ and Emily, Amelia goes to follow.

"Lia," Hotch stops her.

"Yeah?"

"I heard you before we entered, you took charge, thank you,"

"Don't mention it," she shrugs

"You're gonna keep these team together, and you're good at it," he says sincerely and Lia smiles before leaving.

POLICE STATION

"So what's around the dump site?"

"Here's the old printing press of quad graphics, and the paving yard, and then the concrete factory where we found the body. None of them visible from the highway."

"You don't end up there by accident."

"So we go back to the schools, we eliminate the third ward, and we target problem kids whose fathers have held blue-collar jobs over the last 10 years."

"What if he's not a problem kid?" Reid asks quietly

"What?"

"Forget it. It's off the textbook profile."

"What is it, Reid?"

"Sometimes when a parent is unstable, especially if the other one's out of the picture, you'll do anything to be the perfect child." Lia knows that Spence is talking about himself here.

"Like help your father abduct women?" Emily asks apprehensively

"They're never late for school," Amelia realises

"Even with the abductions, the disposal of the bodies, it's always timed perfectly so the kid will be on time to school."

"The killer wouldn't care, but the kid would," Amelia explains to the rest of the team "Not all kids in 'broken homes' are problem kids, some turn to the authority of teachers for comfort,".

'David Smith' was the boy they were looking for, after a visit to the school district, Amelia and Spencer had a name and a profile that matched, and now the team was outside his father's home.

"The boy's alone in the family room," Hotch tells Strauss

"Where are your other agents?" she asks referring to JJ and Reid

"Covering the other side. They have an eye-line just in case somebody tries to sneak out the back."

"Is there any sign of the nurse or the dad?"

"No."

"So what are we doing here?"

"We call in S. W. A. T., Secure the perimeter, and wait for him to come out."

"Ma'am, he's holding a woman inside!"

"We don't know that for certain. We don't have probable cause."

"She's right." Hotch sighs

"If he's got her, he waits 48 hours. He's not gonna kill her yet."

"He's changed the pattern of the dump sites, and now he's changed how he abducts them. Do we really want to gamble that he's sticking to the rest of the model?" Amelia asks angrily

"So let's pound on the door," Wolynski suggests "Maybe he'll panic"

"But he could spook just enough to kill her early."

"Let me go in alone, the boy's in the family room. He'll answer the door," Emily interrupts

"No."

"We need to get invited in that door. He's looking for female authority figures. If he lets me in, I can signal as soon as I see anything that gives us cause."

"Technically, you're not even in the FBI"

"All the better," Hotch nods

"She's interfering with a federal investigation!"

"Well, if I'm no longer in the FBI, then you have no authority over me. I'm just a civilian knocking on a little boy's door,"

Derek takes his gun from his ankle and hands it to Emily "Prentiss,"

"As soon as you have probable cause, give us a signal and get out of there."

"Ok." she walks off

"Emily!" Amelia calls after her "Be safe,"

The team waits silently, watching Prentiss enter the home. They have no idea what's going on in there, but a few minutes later she signals and the team charges in, finding Emily on the ground...And David holding a gun.

"Drop the weapon son, give me the gun,"

Amelia pulls Emily up off the floor, and the father tells his son to put the gun down

Outside, the father's being arrested and the detective is leading him away, Emily sits by an ambulance, her head being tended to

"I'll be dead before I ever stand trial."

"Good."

"You know, I never even told the boy to bring me this last one..."

"I'm gonna worry about that kid," Amelia admits, standing between JJ and Spencer "An accomplice to murder at 7..."

"Let's hope he doesn't appear on one of our filesin the future," JJ sighs, and they watch Strauss and Hotch talk.

"How's she doing?"

"She's gonna be ok."

"You know, I can't officially approve of how this transpired, right?"

"No. The arrest was clean. It would be a mistake to break up this team."

"None of you will ever move up the chain of command. You know that?"

"Why would I ever want to leave the BAU?" he starts to walk off but Derek calls him back

"You mean that? You're not gonna leave us?"

"I don't know. I gotta talk to Haley."

"Please don't," Amelia blurts out "Leave us, I mean, I don't mean don't talk to your wife, although really that would help -" she cuts herself off "Don't leave,".

BAU OFFICES

It's pretty late when the team gets back to the headquarters, and everyone leaves for home immediately... almost everyone. Amelia is sat organising her emails when Spencer gently leans on her desk.

"Hey,"

"Hey," she looks up and sees his anxious expression "Worried about Gideon?"

"Yeah..." she knows what's happening, he doesn't need to say it

"Come on, I'll drive you to his cabin,"

"You don't - I thought you were seeing Mellie tonight,"

"Spence," Amelia stands and puts a gentle hand on his shoulder "She'll understand, I'm, worried too".

Spencer, I knew it would be you who came to the cabin to check on me, and I knew Amelia would come with you.

You must be frightened, I apologize for that. I never meant to cause you any pain and I also never envisioned writing this letter.

I've searched for a satisfactory explanation for what I'm doing. All I've come up with is, a profiler needs to have solid footing. I don't think I do anymore. The world confuses me: the cruelty, the indifference, the tragedy.

When my dear friend Sarah was murdered, it tore a hole in me. And I truly believed the way I handled the pain was to get back to our work as quickly as possible. Get on to helping somebody else until I could handle Sarah's murder. Work through it.

Remember the first case we had after?

It was on a college campus. You see, I met Sarah at college, on a campus just like that one, 31 years ago. Campuses are supposed to be places of life and excitement, they're supposed to be about the future, figuring out who you are and who you're gonna be. They're supposed to be about dreams, not nightmares. They're supposed to be about hope.

I just apparently don't understand the world anymore.

All homicide scenes are tragic, but when the victim is someone young, their life ripped away before they've even had a chance to live.

Nathan Tubbs-- he was easy.

There was a time in my career when I would have asked the question I should have asked. The worst trap for a profiler to fall into is pride, forgetting that for all your skills, profiling is just. A tool.

They believed in us. Believed in me. The way Sarah believed in me. And, as with Sarah, I feel that I led them right to the slaughter.

Was I even doing there? How many times have I told you that a profiler cannot do the job if the mind is unfocused?

If anything is going on in your personal life that would cloud your judgment. My mind has never been more unfocused than it was on that campus.

Two more dead. Was it a price that needed to be paid? Is death ever worth it? Was the world always this gray? Is it only in the movies that it's black and white? Is that just an illusion?

I used to know.

I used to understand my place, my direction, where I was headed.

Profiling requires belief. Belief in the profile. Belief in yourself.

After Sarah, I no longer trust myself at home. But after Tubbs, I no longer trust myself in the field. And without that, I have nothing.

That was the last domino. The death of that girl, Hotch being suspended over something that was my fault.

I said at the beginning of this letter that I knew it would be you to come up here. I'm sorry the explanation couldn't be better. And I am so sorry that it doesn't make more sense. But I've already told you I just don't understand any of it anymore.

I'm sorry.

I guess I'm just looking for it again, for the belief I had back in college. The belief I had when I first met Sarah and it all seemed so right.

The belief in happy endings.