After that, the rest of the ride was fairly pleasant overall. There were still bouts of silence, but the tension had dissipated completely by the time we reached Lebanon. We had gotten in contact with Hotch and Dean's brother and agreed to meet at the police station. When we arrived, the team was gathered in one of the conference rooms. Sam was there along with a young man who looked to be around 20 or so and a little boy who was around three-years-old.

Taking in the toddler's appearance, I could only assume he was Milo. He had Lexi's auburn hair and Dean's green eyes.

"Daddy!" the young boy cried, running to Dean and confirming my suspicions.

"Hey, bud," Dean smiled at his son as he took him in his arms.

"I figured it was better to bring him than leave him and Jack alone," Sam addressed his brother.

"Yeah, it's fine," Dean nodded. "How you doin', buddy?"

"I made new friends! They're helping find Mommy," Milo said excitedly.

My heart clenched in my chest and I saw a similar reaction flash across Dean's eyes at the child's words before he buried the emotions and put his mask back on.

"Yeah, Milo, they're gonna help us find Mommy," he choked out.

He was trying to cover it up, trying to hide the fact that Milo's childlike innocence concerning his mother's disappearance was affecting him as much as it was. But we could all see it, clear as day.

"Hey, Milo, want to see a magic trick?" Reid called the boy's attention to him.

"Okay!"

While the doctor distracted Milo and the other boy, Jack, the rest of us got to work. Dean and I were already caught up to speed because we had been talking with Hotch and the others as we drove. Penelope had learned that Ellis had been Lexi's next door neighbor up until she was in high school. He had moved down the street from her when she had switched neighborhoods as Rebecca got older. He had watched her go through the whole pregnancy. When she and Becca moved to Washington State, he had moved again to be close to her.

The more Garcia had dug, the more it was clear this guy had been stalking Lexi most of her life. There were even two restraining orders filed, one from her senior year and another a few weeks after Becca's ninth birthday.

"Why was he so obsessed with her? And why take her now?" Sam inquired.

"There are any number of things that could have motivated his obsession," JJ began. "It looks like he watched her for years before the initial restraining order was filed her senior year. We think he might have somehow convinced himself she's in love with him, and when she got pregnant that created a stressor which is why he reached out her senior year.

"Then something must have happened to have him reach out again after Becca's ninth birthday. We're unsure what could have motivated him to take her now, but there is one thing in common with the two restraining orders."

"What?" Dean asked.

"You. Both times he reached out and subsequently had restraining orders filed on him, it was right after you were with Alexandra," Prentiss replied.

"Me? You're saying he went after her because of me?"

"That's what it looks like, Dean. And based off of that assumption, the reason for him taking her now probably has something to do with you as well. If we can figure out what exactly that was, we can better figure out where he took her and what he plans to do with her," I told him.

"What he plans... You think he's going to kill her, don't you?"

"Not exactly," Rossi cut in. "It appears that he's in love with her and he believes she reciprocates those feelings. He wouldn't purposely do anything that he knew would cause her harm. That doesn't mean that he won't accidentally hurt her in some way."

"We already searched his home here in Lebanon. It was empty which means there's a secondary location he took her to," Hotch added. "Garcia is working on trying to figure out where that might be."

"She got taken because of me."

I swallowed, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Dean was getting tunnel vision. It was easy for friends and family of the victims we tried to find to do in these situations. I was surprised I hadn't started to be affected with it yet. I was even more surprised Hotch was letting me, or any member of the team, work this particular case. While I had certainly gotten closest to Lexi over her nine month stay, everyone had grown attached to her in some way.

The only member of the team who hadn't was Emily, because she wasn't around back then, having handed in her resignation letter two months before Lexi and the Winchesters were arrested. She had come back while we were focusing on other cases after we learned from my phone call with Lexi that the Winchesters were indeed staying near Lebanon. When I opened my eyes again, Sam had a hand on his brother's shoulder and was trying to comfort him.

"We're going to find her, Dean. This isn't your fault," he said quietly.

"I shouldn't have pressed going to Cicero. If I hadn't shown up at her door, she wouldn't be in this situation."

"You can't guarantee that, Dean. He'd been watching her for a long time before that, and I'm sure you not showing up when you did wouldn't change anything."

"He only made contact with her after I showed up in her life, Sammy. How can you say that's not my fault?"

"Sam's right, Dean," I said. "There's no use playing the blame game. Some other stressor would have come up eventually to cause a situation like this. That's what happens when guys like him have these types of obsessions. Something like this always happens."

"Sir?" Garcia's voice came through the answering machine on the table.

"What is it, Garcia?" Hotch inquired.

"I have a possible location for where he took Lexi. When Peter Ellis was six his family owned a farm about half an hour outside of Lawrence, Kansas. It's abandoned and the house was torn down a long time ago, but the barn and all the land is still there."

"Do you have an address?"

"I've already sent it to your phones."

"Alright, let's head out," Hotch nodded.

I held back, letting the rest of the team file out so I was alone with the Winchesters.

"You coming, Dean?" I addressed the elder brother.

"I'm allowed?"

"Only if you want to."

He nodded numbly.

"I'll come. Will you...?" he asked his brother.

"I'll watch Milo. You go ahead," Sam told him.

Dean stood, following me out the door and to one of the black SUV's we drove.

"You aren't taking Baby?" I asked him.

"I don't trust myself behind the wheel right now," he shrugged, getting in the passenger seat.

I nodded in understanding, starting the car and taking off after the rest of the team as we headed to the abandoned farm outside Lawrence.

---

She had gone back to staying in the cell she had been put in when the Winchesters first escaped. She didn't want to be under the same roof as me alone anymore. I didn't blame her. I had messed up big time. It had been clear when telling us about Becca that it was hard for her. Recounting her death was the one time before my outburst I had seen her cry.

I ignored the looks my team gave me while I worked at my desk. I refused to be present when she was brought into the interrogation room anymore. If she didn't want to see me, then I didn't want to see her either. A week passed before Hotch finally called me into his office to talk.

"Do you have something you want to tell me?"

"Not that I know of," I answered the Unit Chief.

Hotch fixed me with his signature cold stare, face like stone. I kept my face equally emotionless, refusing to give anything away. In all honesty, I wanted to admit to my outburst that had caused Lexi to retreat even further into her walls. However, if I admitted to that, then I would have to admit to what had brought on the outburst in the first place. Which would lead to having to admit I had developed feelings for her, and that was absolutely never going to happen.

"Miss Turner has become more stubborn than before. She won't talk, won't eat and it appears she's getting less and less sleep as well. And it all started after she left your home. So, Derek, I'm going to ask you one more time. Do you have something you want to tell me?"

I licked my lips slowly, my mouth suddenly very dry as I processed Hotch's words. Apparently, Lexi was doing even worse than I originally believed after she left.

"She and I had a fight."

"What about?"

"I was trying to get her to understand why we needed her to cooperate and find the Winchesters. She was insisting that she was in no way obligated to give us any information."

It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. We had been fighting about her cooperation before my outburst about Becca's death. Hotch studied me for a long moment, neither of us saying anything else. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.

"You get to interrogate her today. No, I'm not budging on this. You made a mistake, this is your chance to redeem yourself."