No strings attached

Part eighteen

"Wheels up in 30" Hotch says and the team gets up "Can we talk y/n?" you see Emily nod at you so you stay back

"Before you say anything, I wanted to apologize for yelling yesterday Sir."

"You don't need to apologize about anything y/n" he reaches for your arm but you pull away "please y/n, baby"

"Hotch" you cut him off "do you need to discuss something regarding the case? Because if not I would rather leave." he shakes his head and you walk away

The case was killing you, no one could find any connections between the victims or even where they abducted you sit in the precinct for the third night in a roll and read the file one more time hoping to find something.

"Y/n" you were so exhausted you could've sworn you heart Hotch call out your name "what are you still doing here?" you see that he is actually standing there looking nervously at his watch "it's 2 in the morning, you are coming to the hotel." He grabs your hand and you don't even try to argue walking with him into the night.

"You should really get some sleep y/n" he says standing in front of your hotel room

"Same goes for you" you look deeply into his eyes "thanks for walking me here Aar- sorry, I mean Hotch" before you know it he crashes his lips onto yours, you pull him inside and slam the door, he pins you against the wall hands traveling all over your body, he pulls you even closer to him holding you tight almost as if he was afraid to let you go.

"No" you suddenly pull away "as much as I want you Aaron I can't. We are done"

"Please y/n don't say that" he puts his hand on your arm

"You should go" you don't want to cry, so you just crash on the bed and fall asleep

The next morning you were surprisingly well rested and ready to face the new day. You walk into the small precinct and sit beside Reid when it hits you

"Reid can you check if Dana Johnson was working somewhere?" you say jumping from your chair to look at the map

"She wasn't princess" Derek says, "I remember reading it, why?"

"Guys all of our vics where unemployed, they had a history of small wage jobs like waitresses and cashiers" you say happy to finally have a breakthrough

"Right here" Reid points to the map "our geographic profile said that they were abducted around this area, we have three establishments that our victims may have tried a job at"

"Good job guys" Hotch stands up "Lets split up, well cover more ground this way"

You and Emily run to the first location, a small dinner. There was something very wrong with that place, you knew that as soon as you stepped inside, it was like you were drained of all your energy, involuntarily you lower your hand to you gun.

"You ok?" Prentiss asks but before you can answer a man emerges from behind the counter. You, once again feel very unsettled the thing is now you can see that Emily feels the same way.

"Hello beautiful ladies" the guy was tall, skinny but very strong, dressed in clothes that definitively weren't clean enough to be worn in a restaurant, specially if you the one handling the food. You flash you badges "Oh, FBI how can I help?"

He assured you he never met any of you victims, his calm made you even more nervous and you just wanted to get the hell out of there. Back at the precinct the others ask if you found anything out.

"Beside the fact that that place was straight of horror movie" Emily jokes "we've got nothing"

"But something was definitely not right there, I say we keep an eye on that place" Emily nods and the team agrees.

Hours passed and nothing seemed to happen, until an officer walks up to Hotch "We've got another disappearance" he says "Sarah Thomas, 31, her boyfriend reported her missing after she left to run errands and never came back." You freeze looking at the picture of the woman.

"Em" you call and her eyes widen when she realizes

"Hotch we saw this woman a couple hours ago, outside the diner" she remembers

"Did she go in?" he asks "if not we have no grounds to search the place

"I don't quite recall" you lie hoping your brunette friend understands

"I think she did" truth was you didn't see it but it was too much of a coincidence, the problem is Hotch seems to catch on to your plan

"Come here you two" he guides you somewhere the team wouldn't hear "I hope you two know the risk of what you are doing"

"We have 6 missing people Hotch" Prentiss sighs "we have to find out what happened, besides, I am pretty sure I saw her go in." your boss' gaze shifts to you

"Just trust me, please." You beg you move your hand to touch his arm but remember you are not alone "that has to be the place"

"Y/l/n, Morgan and I will take the front door, you guys take the back" Hotch says once he sees that the place was closed, what type of restaurant is closed on a Friday?

You raid the place only to find the creepy owner in the kitchen, Derek stayed with him as you and Hotch searched, but found nothing. JJ and Rossi run towards you with a wallet in their hands, the victims.

"Where is she" you spit out at the man

"She? I have no idea what you are talking about beautiful." you clench your fist but as Aaron places his hand on your lower back you get less tense

"Watch the way you speak to a federal agent" his tone is as sharp as a dagger "Plus, we are not going to ask again. Where. Is. She?" The man just laughs "Bring in the dogs! And tear this place down, we will find her"

The dogs eventually found her and the other victims buried in the back of the restaurant.

After a while you excused yourself, you sat on the sidewalk by Prentiss' side, you didn't speak but you knew she was thinking the same as you. Hotch walks over to you and she gets up as he sits.

"Are you alright?" he is unable to hide his worry

"I just saw her this morning Hotch" you feel useless "and I knew there was something wrong with this place, and I did nothing. I could've helped her, I should've done more."

"Hey, listen to me." Pulls your chin with his hand so you can look into his eyes "This wasn't your fault. Not to mention that if it wasn't for you and Prentiss we wouldn't even be here" he stands up and walks up to the officer that had called him.

"What was that?" Emily asks raising an eyebrow

"What? He was just talking to me." She doesn't dwell on the subject but you can see she won't rest until you tell her.

A/N: this chapter is kinda bad sorry :/