Parker placed their bag next to their desk. The young agent turned to hand a coffee to Spencer, who Parker was expecting at his desk.

But he wasn't there.

Strange, Parker thought, checking their phone– no calls or messages.

"Hey Parker," JJ greeted their colleague.

"Oh, morning, JJ."

The young agent looked up from their phone and saw that JJ was already holding a stack of files.

"I wanted to brief the team. Where is Spencer?"

"I don't know. I thought he was already here," Parker replied.

The young adult stood up and followed JJ to the briefing room, both coffees in hand.

"Didn't you come here together?" JJ asked, slightly surprised.

Parker shook their head and explained that they had met up with an old friend last night and had spent the night there too.

"But I have an idea where Spence might be," the young profiler murmured afterwards.

Their guess was correct. Spencer had been waiting for the profiler in Gideon's office and had fallen asleep.

Parker was considering letting him sleep. It wasn't often that he had a peaceful sleep like he had right now.

"Reid?" JJ spoke to him. "What are you doing here?"

Spencer opened his eyes and sat up. He took a moment to fully wake up and looked at his watch.

"Gideon didn't answer his phone. I called him twice," explained the young man.

"Have you been here all night?" Parker asked.

"We were supposed to play chess," Spencer reminded his better half.

"Here?" JJ asked.

"Yeah. He hasn't been back to his apartment since..."

Since Sarah's death, the three finished the sentence in their heads.

"Right. I need to brief the team, so..." JJ changed the subject.

Spencer slung his bag over his shoulder and got up on his feet before asking, "Is Hotch here?"

"He's not due for half an hour."

JJ was the first to leave the office.

Parker gave Spencer his coffee, who accepted it gratefully.

"How are Josh and Franie?" Spencer asked as the two followed JJ into the conference room.

"Good. I'm supposed to send you greetings."

~~

Derek was the fourth to enter the briefing room.

"What? No Hotch, now no Gideon?"

"No, not yet."

"You know, these guys have been out two weeks, you'd think the least they could do is be on time," commented Derek and sat down with the others at the round table.

"Yeah, 'cause you're never late," Spencer replied.

Derek knew Spencer was right. He was late more often than he would like. So he changed the subject.

"So, where's Prentiss?"

"Her phone keeps going straight to voicemail," JJ explained.

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

"Should we wait 15 minutes?"

"We can just brief them on the plane," said JJ. "Right now, a police task force in Milwaukee needs our help."

She tapped the remote and images of four women with light hair appeared 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–"

The missing woman had dark hair, unlike the others.

"– They've all been women in their thirties, all married with children."

"Any connection between these victims?" Derek asked.

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

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

"Well, for starters, all the bodies have been dumped in the city's Third Ward. And there's this–"

Derek, Spencer and Parker weren't expecting what they were about to see. And Parker was glad that Penny didn't have to see that– or at least not yet.

"Is that what I think it is?"

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

~~

George Washington said, 

"Let your heart feel for the affliction and distress of everyone."

Parker and the others knew that this would be an special case, but they had not expected that Hotch would submit a transfer, Emily would quit, and section chief Strauss would accompany the profilers.

"You know, from this angle, she almost looks human," JJ murmured.

Strauss sat a little away from the others and read a file.

"Has anyone talked to Emily yet?" asked Derek.

"She was gone before I heard the news."

"Now we're down two agents, and Gideon's MIA."

"Yeah, that was definitely not on my bingo card," Parker commented.

"Has this Strauss ever even been out of the...", Spencer began.

However, he stopped speaking when Derek indicated that Strauss had stood up and was walking towards them.

"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."

Since all four seats were already occupied, Parker stood up and offered Strauss their seat. She nodded at Parker and JJ summarized what they knew so far.

"This UnSub is abducting women from very public places with no witnesses. He holds them 48 hours with no sexual assault, and then he dumps their bodies with their hearts carved out of their chests."

Derek put the crime scene photos on the table and he and Parker noticed that Strauss hesitated for a moment before taking a closer look at the photos.

"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," Spencer added.

"We're probably looking at someone in a psychotic break. He could be a butcher. He might be a hunter. Somebody who's very comfortable being around blood, but, as you can see, obviously doesn't have the skills of a surgeon ."

"So, do we have a working theory?" the section chief wanted to know.

"Sure we do. Somebody really doesn't like women," Derek replied and stood up.

~~

During the flight, the Agents learned that they found another body and immediately went to the crime scene after they landed.

"You the FBI?", a middle-aged man addressed the group.

"Derek Morgan. Spencer Reid, Parker Gallagher, Jennifer Jareau, and Section Chief Strauss," Derek introduced himself and then his colleagues.

"Vic Wolynski. Milwaukee PD."

"You worked the Jeffrey Dahmer case," Spencer recognized the name of the entire files that this case included.

"Sixteen years ago."

"I've studied it."

"And you remember my name?", the detective wanted to know.

"He remembers everything," Parker explained with a little pride in their voice.

"It's what he does."

"What can you tell us?" Strauss changed the subject.

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

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

"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, two days later."

Parker let their gaze wander. Someone should have seen something.

"All this foot traffic and no one saw anything?"

"Well, he wraps the bodies loosely, so they're not immediately recognizable," Detective Wolynski pointed out the obvious.

The group moved closer to the body to take a closer look.

"– Eventually, the wrapping comes open. My guess is he has a van or a truck, something he can back up, so he's shielded when he makes the drop."

"No prints on whatever he wraps them in?" Derek asked.

"There have been traces of paint and wood stain. 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."

"This guy might work or live around here. He gets off on the reaction to his handiwork."

"What can you tell us about the victim?" asked JJ.

"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 addressed the detective.

"Yes."

"You should have called us sooner."

"I thought we had a handle on it."

"Apparently not."

"Ma'am?" said JJ Strauss.

She apologized to the detective and took a few steps to the side with Strauss to talk to her.

~~

A moment later, Derek got a call from Hotch. The profiler answered the call and walked through the tape.

"Hey."

"How's it going?" asked Hotch.

"Well, Strauss just offended the lead detective 45 seconds into her first crime scene," reported Derek.

"I'm not surprised."

"This isn't about getting any better, is it?"

"I doubt it. Morgan, listen, I've been looking at the file. Milwaukee schools start at 8:10, and they get out at 3:10. Every abduction has taken place within 15 minutes of school getting out, and each body was dumped within 15 minutes of the first bell. We could easily be looking at someone who works in the school system."

"Okay, thanks, man."

"Any idea how he's getting control of these women? Is he blitzing them or coercing them?"

"So far, we're coming up blank."

"All right. Keep me posted. And Morgan, you don't have it from me, but you have to keep an eye on Parker and Reid."

"Of course. But is there a reason–"

"Agents who are in a relationship usually don't work together, you know that. They are the exception and there was never an issue, but–"

"But Strauss thinks there is," Derek finished the sentence.

He turned around and saw Parker and Spencer talking to Detective Wolynski.

"Allright, thanks," Derek thanked again and the two men ended the conversation.

~~

On the way to the police station, they received news that another woman had been kidnapped. Her name was Claire Thompson. She was shopping when she was kidnapped, and the video footage showed a boy coming up to her and talking to her.

They chatted for a moment and Mrs Thompson accompanied the boy to an area without CCTV.

To everyone else in the shop it must have looked like the boy was Mrs Thompson's son, but she only had a two-year-old daughter.

Derek figured that the UnSub was using his son to lure the women to him.

Once that was clear, the profilers were able to present the working profile.

"Detective Wolynski told us you're trying to single out trucks and vans. Smart. The UnSub is dumping his victims in a business district, so I'd agree with you. He's probably not driving something that stands out. He may even have "Some type of company logo on the side of his vehicle, as well," said Derek.

"We know that he abducts the women in Wauwatosa and then dumps their bodies somewhere in the Third Ward. Most UnSubs keep their area of control where they kill their victims triangulated between the two points," Spencer added.

"Which means that the UnSub probably lives in Wauwatosa or the Third Ward. Somewhere in that area. The people who live there know the UnSub," Parker explained.

"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?"

"And if he is truly using his own son, then it's likely that he has what we call borderline personality disorder. Now, some borderlines, they think that all relationships revolve entirely around them, and when they set their mind to something, absolute. There is no gray area."

"It would also manifest in a way that would be visible to people around the UnSub. Intense bouts of anger or depression. Problems drinking. He'd also be highly sensitive to rejection."

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

~~

"I've tripled patrol in the area, and I've got every available unit re-canvassing," Detective Wolynski reported.

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

"You know, it used to be a running joke that when you told people you were from Milwaukee, all they wanted to talk about was Happy Days reruns," said the detective and sat down at the table. "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."

"All right, is it possible we're looking at this the wrong way?" JJ pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"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?"

JJ was right. Such experiences had to leave a mark, and someone had to notice something.

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

"Garcia can get you whatever you want."

Strauss dialed the number and put it straight on speaker. So, the others experienced firsthand what happened next.

Because Garcia answered the phone with: "Talk dirty to me."

Parker turned away from the others, trying to hide her laughter behind her cough.

Spencer pushed a water bottle towards Parker. Parker was irritated at first, Spencer knew what Parker actuall coughing sounded like. Nevertheless, the young adult drank some water to stay hydrated.

"This is Section Chief Erin Strauss," the woman spoke after a moment of silence.

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

"I need a list of every grade school in the Third Ward and Wauwatosa," Strauss explained, without mentioning Garcia.

"Yes, ma'am. The Third Ward has one public grade school, but there appears to be four private schools that draw from that area."

"And Wauwatosa?"

"That would be nine, ma'am."

"And how many students?"

"Thirty-two hundred."

"Can you also get me a list of every guidance counselor that deals directly with the student body in that area?"

"Certainly, ma'am, and again, I'd like to..."

Strauss hung up before Garcia could finish her sentence and addressed the agents.

"You need to present these counselors with a profile of a troubled kid."

Then Strauss left the room without another word.

"Well then, you heard them. Let's get started."

Detective Wolyinski, Derek, JJ, Spencer and Parker stood up at the same time.

Parker must have gotten up too quickly because the room suddenly spun around them.

Strange, they thought and closed their eyes briefly. When Parker opened their eyes again it was better, not completely gone, but better. So the young adult decided to drink the water bottle completely on the way to school.

It wasn't difficult to describe the child's behavior to the counselors.

The boy they're looking for is possibly from a single-parent home. He's sullen and withdrawn. He may have been caught stealing things from his female teachers. He's more than likely clingy to maternal figures in inappropriate settings. Hugging the female bus driver, the woman in the lunch room. His classmates might notice this inappropriate behavior and tease him, which makes the boy incredibly angry.

~~

However, the investigators had underestimated how many children there were with this behavioral profile and now they were sitting in front of several stacks of files that all had to be looked at.

"All right, the boy doesn't look like he could be any older than seven," said Derek. "Let's work youngest to oldest. Start with the worst behavior, get the names of the parents, send them over to Garcia. She can crosscheck for criminal records. This guy's dumping bodies between 7:30 and 8:00. That gives us a little over 12 hours to make something hit.

Parker grabbed a file and opened it.

"Look who's here."

Parker followed Spencer's gaze to the door through which Hotch and Emily were just entering the room.

"Hey, where do we start?" Emily wanted to know.

"Just grab a file," Parker suggested.

They were relieved that they now had help. And that Emily and Hotch wouldn't abandon her.

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

"How fast can you sit down?"

Emily sat down next to Parker when Strauss unexpectedly entered the room.

"We're only here to help," said Emily.

"We'll deal with this later," replied Strauss, knowing that without help they wouldn't make it in time.

The agents leafed through the files hour after hour. After six hours, Parker could no longer hear the ticking of the clock and after eight the letters blurred together.

"This is impossible. There's too many," Spencer muttered.

"Keep looking, Reid. We still have an hour."

Parker looked up and wondered how eleven hours could pass so quickly.

~~

Shortly after the 12 hours were up, Mrs. Thompson's body was found.

The profilers drove to the crime scene. The body lay further away than the other women, on a bend in a side street. More precisely, in front of the back entrance of a house.

Strauss went first. She slipped and staggered, but managed to hold on to the old, rusty fence.

"Are you all right? You okay?" Hotch asked as Strauss stood up again.

"I stepped on her hair," mumbled the section chief.

"If you need a second, take a second. This is what it is. Just don't let the public see you break down," Hotch advised the woman.

"I was just about to talk to the kids who found the body anyway. Would you like to accompany me?" Parker suggested.

Strauss looked at then suspiciously. But nodded when she realized it was a serious suggestion.

The two stepped away from the other agents and the body.

It didn't take Parker long to talk to the teenagers.

The three girls wanted to skip gym class to go shopping. More specifically, they wanted to buy a certain new "super cute" jacket that definitely wouldn't have been there two hours later.

On the way to the mall they walked through this side street and saw the body.

Just the corpse. No other person, no car, no nothing.

While Parker talked to the teenagers, Strauss watched them.

That's when Erin Strauss realized two things.

First, she had misjudged Parker. She was concerned that Parker and Spencer's relationship could affect the team and the investigation, but even she had to admit that wasn't true.

Second, she saw potential. Potential for Parker to climb up the career ladder at some point and lead a team themself.

"So ladies, what do we learn from this? We're not skipping school."

"Never again," Mindy assured.

"Can we go now?" Mindy's bff wanted to know.

"No. You will be picked up by your parents," Parker explained.

~~

Back at the police station, the team and Detective Wolynski gathered in front of a map.

They had to think of something. Like the UnSub who dumped Mrs. Thompson's body in a completely different location than the others.

"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," the detective explained and marked the houses on the map.

"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 ten years."

"What if he's not a problem kid?" Spencer pointed out.

"What?"

"Forget it. It's off the textbook profile," Spencer said quickly.

"What is it, Reid?" Hotch wanted to know.

"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," the young genius explained his thought.

"Like help your father abduct women?"

"They're never late for school," Parker murmured, and the description reminded them of Spencer.

They couldn't remember Spencer ever being late for school. Meanwhile, there wasn't a week where Parker wasn't late at least once.

"Correct. Even with the abductions, the disposals of the bodies, it's always timed perfectly so the kid will be on time to school. I don't think the killer would care, I think the kid would."

~~

The profilers split up again and spoke to the schools a second time.

David Smith was the boy Parker and her colleagues were looking for.

David's father was diagnosed with cancer six months ago and his wife had left him and David. He also drove a van (large enough to inconspicuously transport a body).

~~

The agents first checked the situation at Smith's house.

Hotch and Derek peeked through the window and could see the boy watching TV.

They motioned to Spencer and JJ to guard the back door in case anyone tried to leave the house through it.

"The boy's alone in the family room," Hotch reported as he and Derek joined Paker, Emily, Strauss and Detective Wolynski who were waiting for them on the street.

"Where are your other agents?"

"Covering the other side."

"They have an eye line just in case someone tries to sneak out the back," explained Derek.

"Is there any sign of the nurse or the dad?" asked Emily.

"No."

"So, what are we doing here?" Detective Wolynski wanted to know.

"Call in SWAT, secure the perimeter, and wait for him to come out," Strauss replied.

"Ma'am, he's holding a woman inside," Derek replied.

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

"She's right," said Hotch Strauss.

"She's– Hotch, there's the nurse's car."

Parker pointed to the small green and black car across the street.

"If he's got her, he waits 48 hours. He's not going to kill her yet," said Strauss.

"He's changed the pattern of the dump sites," Derek reminded his colleagues. Now he's changed how he abducts them. "Do we really want to gamble that he's sticking to the rest of the model?"

"So, let's pound on the door. Maybe he'll panic," suggested Detective Wolynski.

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

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

"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," Strauss pointed out.

"All the better," Hotch said, which was taken as agreement.

"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."

"Prentiss," Derek drew attention to himself and handed Emily his backup weapon.

"Thank you."

"As soon as you have probable cause, give us the signal and get out of there," Hotch instructed her.

He gave Emily a pager and she walked toward the house.

It took maybe three minutes and Emily signaled to the others.

The Agents stormed into the house. Parker followed the others into the basement.

Emily was lying injured on the floor, David's father was standing next to her, the nurse was tied up against one of the walls and the boy was standing in the middle of the room holding a gun with a shaking hand.

Since Mr. Smith didn't have a gun, he backed away from Emily and Derek helped her back to her feet.

"Drop the weapon, son," Hotch said to the boy. "Give me the gun."

"David, it's okay. Do what they say," David's father assured his son.

David handed Hotch the gun. The Unit Chief nodded to Parker and they took the boy outside while Mr. Smith was arrested and the nurse was freed from the restraints.

Out of the corner of his eye, the young agent saw the small boxes in which Mr. Smith had put the hearts.

~~

"I'll be dead before I ever stand trial," said Smith as he was led away.

"Good," commented Detective Wolynsky.

David's father glanced into the police car where his son was sitting with Parker.

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

Parker had distracted David a bit, got out of the car and overheard the end of the conversation between Hotch and Strauss.

"Why would I ever want to leave the BAU?" Hotch asked the section chief and stepped away from her.

"Hotch," Derek stopped the other profiler. "You mean that? You're not gonna leave us?"

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

But little did he know that that wasn't necessary anymore.

~~

It was dark when the car stopped in front of the hut.

Parker and Spencer got out of the car.

There was no light in the cabin, which surprised Parker. It wasn't that late, and Gideon could stay up all night if he wanted.

The young genius knocked on the door.

"Gideon?"

The couple waited a moment for an answer. When there was none, Parker tried to open the door.

It was strange that it wasn't locked.

"Gideon?"

Parker and Spencer grabbed their flashlights and entered the cabin.

Spencer turned on the floor lamp that was in the middle of the room and the profilers could now get a better look around.

Gideon had taken away all of his personal belongings.

The only thing he left behind was his gun, his badge, an envelope and a box of cookies.

Spencer and Parker looked at each other before sitting down at the table.

There was a small note with Parker's name on the cookie package.

The young adult smiled. Gideon knew them well enough to know that they would be hungry when they would look for him.

And the envelope had Spencer's name on it, so he opened it and started reading.

Spencer,

I knew it would be you and Parker who came to the cabin to check on me.

I'm sorry the explanation couldn't be better, Spencer.

And I'm sorry it doesn't make more sense. But I've already told you, I just don't understand any of it anymore.

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–