Hard to Love {A Hotchniss Story}

Chapter 24

"There's one very unusal thing." The corner said and JJ with Emily listened carefully. "Their hearts are missing."

"What?" The two women said at the same time.

"Their hearts are missing. They've been cut open and robbed of their hearts quite literally." The corner continued. "Their COD is strangulation though, you can see by these marks." He pointed at the neck of the victim in front of them.

"Anything else?" Emily asked already thinking that what they've heard was already enough.

After leaving the corner's office they met at the station with the rest and discussed the case for a bit. "I think the unsub is a man, probably mid thirties."

"Why not a woman?" JJ asked this time. "The nipples must mean something and the victims were clean. A man wouldn't be this tidy and careful."

"Either way, this is personal." Aaron continued. "This level of rage and brutality means something. "Penelope-" He waited for a moment to hear her confirmation that she was listening and when he had it he kept going. "-narrow this down, men and women, over thirty, living in the area."

"A lot of names Sir." Penelope said after a few moments.

"The unsub's cuts, they were precise, they removed the heart well. Not exactly like a surgeon, but relatively well." Spencer continued. "Search for hospital employees, nurses, intern, maybe even residents."

"Down to twenty three. Anything more?" Penelope asked and silence fell over the room for a few moments.

"Cross reference with the words 'breasts' and 'heart'." Emily suggested and everyone looked at her as if she was stupid. "Just do it!" She insisted and Penelope did as told.

"One employee, her name is Sandra James, she suffers from breast cancer, had surgery two years ago, mastectomy." Penelope stopped for a few good seconds. "Aw poor thing, her daughter is in need of a heart."

"Who's stupid now?" Emily asked them as Penelope was sending them the woman's work and home address.

"Morgan, JJ and Reid, hospital. Emily, Dave and I will check her house." Aaron ordered and everyone was on their way.

In the car, on the way Sandra's house Aaron was fidgeting to ask Emily a question. Dave was right there next to him and Emily on the backseat, but he desperately wanted to. "Emily?"

"Yes." Emily said a little surprised. She didn't expect him to say much, after all they were on their way to a murderers house.

"How do you feel about spending a whole weekend with me?" Aaron asked ignoring the look that David was giving him.

"What do you mean?" Emily looked from Aaron to David then back at Aaron. Thay was a question she didn't expect, especially not with David there. But Aaron did tell her that their relationship was out in the open and he wasn't going to hide that.

"Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday, you and me, all alone. I'll handle everything, you just have to come." Despite being on the way to arrest a criminal, Aaron was excited about the idea of spending almost three full days with Emily.

"Could've picked a better time to ask her that." David suggested and Aaron let out a chuckle. Emily couldn't help but crack a smile hersef. "Answer the man for God's sake, I'm getting nervous here." David joked when he noticed that it was taking Emily a bit too long to answer.

"Yes, I'd love to spend a weekend with you Aaron." Emily smiled more widely, it made her happy to know she could make Aaron happy. And the fact that David was there and - just like the rest - seemed to approve of their relationship was relieving for Emily. She knew how close Aaron and David were and his approval of them meant a lot to Emily.

Eventually they arrived at the house, but except the daughter and a caretaker, no one was there. The rest also couldn't find her. They had no lead as to where the woman was anymore so they had to trace her last steps with information from all the people that had seen her within the last few hours. So for the rest of the day everyone conducted interviews and tried to piece up a trail of her steps, but they came up almost empty handed despite working hours after midnight.

It was around three o'clock when Aaron sent everyone to the hotel. They had to get a few hours of rest before morning when they'd pick up exactly where they left off. Emily waited for Aaron while everyone else left. Eventually Aaron took a last look at the board and his notes then he and Emily went to the elevator in order to leave the station.

"Hey." Emily said right after the doors closed in front of them. Aaron turned his head and looked at her. Emily then smiled and got on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips.

"I needed that." Aaron smiled when they parted. "Emily, I hope you didn't feel pressured to accept to spend that weekend with me." The thought that she might have considering that he asked her in front of David was daunting.

"Of course not." Emily frowned for a second. "You know I wouldn't have accepted it if I didn't want it. I can't wait to spend that weekend with you. I'm curious when it'll happen though." She chuckled, referring to their busy and unexpected lives as profilers.

"Hopefully, soon."