Disenchantment

Disclaimer: As per usual I own nothing related to any TV show, book, movie, etc. How sad D:

Pairing: Hotch/Prentiss friendship and romance. Everything else is friendship :D.

Genres: Crime, Drama, Friendship, and Romance.

Rating: 14 Advanced. There will be swearing, violence, and sexual implications. Nothing too bad without me warning you (or) changing the rating.

Spoilers: Some time during season five I suppose.

Summary: Aaron and Emily have an accord but it is put in jeopardy when the illusions of one man finally push him over the edge.

Dedication: For the always lovely Jackie (aka Paramore-CSI) because her fangirlism must be fed ;D.

Author's Comment: So this is my first Criminal Minds fanfiction and I have probably only seen a seasons worth of episodes (not all from the same season mind you) so I am not tooknowledgeable of all of the characters and their histories. From what I have seen of the program I am very impressed with and I enjoy it a lot but sometimes it is just too dark/scary for me too watch. Nonetheless this is my attempt at a story that I hope you all find interesting and enjoy :D.

Chapter One.Vanishing Act

"Don't learn safety rules simply by accident."

9:14AM
Tuesday March 23rd 2010
BAU,Quantico, Virginia

"Has anyone seen Hotch at all? I need him for a cold case that just got a lead." Agent Jennifer Jareau asked as she entered through the elevator with a file in one hand and a Green Tea in the other. From their respective seats in the bullpen Garcia, Reid, and Rossi looked to each other for an answer that obviously none of them had. All right, so that was a bit unusual. When they faced JJ again they were wearing matching expressions of confusion and shrugging, something that did not bode well for the blonde agent.

"I guess I will try him on his cell then. See you guys later." JJ replied and swiftly made her exit, placing the file under her and reaching for her cell while the team redirected their previous conversation from the weather to Hotch's whereabouts.

"Usually Hotch is the first one here, early too." Garcia stated as she spun around in one of the desk chairs, balancing the Entertainment section of the newspaper in her lap as she did so.

"Or he just doesn't leave." Rossi pointed out after taking a sip of his coffee; the other two agents nodded in agreement.

"Well I'm sure he'll show up some place, it isn't like Hotch to be late without good reason." Reid reminded his friends with the intention of keeping them in a calm and rational mood. Besides he was rather sure of himself and how well he knew Aaron Hotchner.

Now despite the agents' "calm and rational" demeanor it did not stop any of them from whipping around to the sound of the elevator dinging and two metal doors sliding open. All three of them were expecting—with fingers crossed—that it would be Hotch on the other side. It wasn't and almost instantly all of the air was released out of their lungs, air that they hadn't realized they were even holding. Morgan approached them with a tight-lipped and dead serious expression; suddenly the calm evaporated into the air.

"What's the matter Morgan?" Reid queried, placing his hands in his lap as Rossi and Garcia sat up in their seats.

"I just got off the phone with Hotch," he replied but it was not with the relief the rest of the team felt and that worried them.

"And?" Garcia pressured impatiently. "You can't leave us hanging afterthat, not when Hotch pulled a Houdini on us and you're the only one whose spoken to him!"

"Relax baby girl," Derek told her smoothly and once she did he continued. "Hotch is fine everyone."

Rossi arched at an eyebrow at this surprise response; "very anti-climatic of you, Morgan."

There was a pause before Morgan spoke again but this time it was different, not in the way you can explain but just different, maybe worse?

"Hotch is fine, it's Emily we're worried about."

9:30AM
Tuesday March 23rd 2010
BAU, Quantico, Virginia

About fifteen minutes after Morgan had informed the team as to Hotch's whereabouts and why they were concerned about Prentiss the elevator doors opened to reveal a very disgruntled looking Agent Hotchner. JJ had showed up about thirty seconds after Hotch and had spoken almost two whole words to him before he called a meeting in the conference room. Naturally, everyone followed.

"I assume you all know why I called you here?" Hotch spoke to the group who were now all seated around the conference table.

JJ looked momentarily confused and then spoke up. "Uhm, no. Care to fill me in, Hotch?"

Hotch nodded and began to explain. "It is my understanding that Agent Prentiss went missing at some point after four this morning. After attempting to contact her on her cell phone, I spoke to the local PD and filed a missing persons report so they will be keeping in touch if anything comes up."

The team understood this but was very curious as to how exactly Hotch knew about Emily's whereabouts before she went missing. When their curiosity finally got the better of them they questioned Hotch and were both surprised and disbelieving of his answer.

4:03AM
Tuesday March 23rd 2010
Hotchner Household

At four in the morning there is very little movement happening in the Hotchner household, in fact at four in the morning the aforementioned is usually sprawled out in a vertical position on his bed trying to get a few hours sleep before having to venture into Hell the next morning. But today was different, well not so much "different" but "less often", if that makes any sense. This morning Agent Hotchner had a houseguest, a houseguest that was currently stealing blankets and mattress space; he half smiled and padded out of the room as quietly as possible. Now if it were not four something in the AM Emily Prentiss probably would have been more aware of a dip in the mattress and the sound of socks on the hardwood floor of the bedroom, but she wasn't and didn't. But that was the point for SSA Aaron Hotchner had no intention of having Agent Prentiss wake up, since he knew fully well that if she did come out of her slumber it would likely be that she either would not fall back asleep or she would question where he was going and he did not care to worry her over such minimal things.

Once he had freed himself from the warmth and comfort of the bedspreads and Emily Prentiss, Hotch found his way to the bathroom with admirable stealth for someone who was still half-asleep. Originally Prentiss had been surprised to see that Aaron was so agile first thing in the morning when she tripped over the comforter and bed sheets in a pathetic attempt to pull herself from the bed. Hotch smiled to himself at the memory. When the bathroom had finally been located (oh, come on, he may have been trained by the FBI but that doesn't mean he has sonar vision) Hotch went about his business as quietly as he could. After having taken care of the serious business of needing to pee, Hotch washed his hands and wiped the tired from his eyes and stared at his reflection as he did so. So that was what he looked like when he got a good night sleep? Interesting. He made a mental note to do this more often.

Heading out of the bathroom, Hotch was about to make his way back to the bedroom when he heard the doorbell chime; now who could that be?

The thing that people always needed to remember was to take precaution. Like always. Say you were approached by a stranger on a quiet street alone; they may very well be an innocent and decent person only wondering about road directions but that surely doesn't mean that they are incapable of doing you harm. SSA Aaron Hotchner understood this, he also understood that people must precede things with a certain degree of sensibility and rationality and forethought. It was this reasoning (and how many years of working for the BAU) that Hotch entered the bedroom to retrieve his gun form his holster, a necessary precaution really.

Flicking the porch lights on, Hotch carefully positioned his gun so it was out of view of the doorway but still positioned well. A light knocking came from the opposite side of the door and so the Agent unlocked it and braced himself.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, sir." A disheveled looking twenty-something year old woman apologized hurriedly. "But I crashed my car and I don't have my iPhone. Can I borrow your phone to call someone? Please?"

On any other occasion Hotch would have been a little more suspicious but in the young woman's defense she did have a few fresh cuts and bruises and looking past the her shoulder Hotch could see a totaled car crashed against the side of the road. Against the better judgment of a strange something niggling at the back of his mind Hotch nodded and told the girl that he would call for help and the scraped up young woman retreated to her car where Hotch could see her inspecting damages and lighting up a cigarette. Noticing the clock had ticked to about quarter after four, the tired BAU agent made his way back upstairs, skipping steps as he went, and freezing in his tracks by what he saw in the master suite.

Nothing.

Well not exactly "nothing".

There were rumpled bed sheets and disarrayed pillows, the comforter was kicked half off the bed and dresser drawers were thrown open. In a word the room looked like a tornado had passed through it and Hotch could not peel his dark brown eyes away for even a second. The reason he couldn't seem to drag his gaze away was because there seemed to be one thing that stuck out the most in the entire room and it wasn't the chaos but instead the unnerving fact that the other side of the mattress was now empty and the window was cracked open. Now that terrified him.

Author's Note: *Eternally hopeful* So what did you all think? I sincerely hope I did both the characters and the dialogue justice (need I remind you that this is my first Criminal Minds fiction?) but if you think it could use some improvement I am open to suggestions and constructive criticism. I would really appreciate if you would leave a review telling me if I should continue this or not (oh who the heck am I kidding? I'm beginning chapter two as soon as possible :P). Have a wonderful day :D.

CSIAly, xoxo