This is my first Criminal Minds fanfiction - Hope you enjoy it.

They had felt a step behind the entire time, finding the bodies of the third and fourth victims while they were in the city, and mere minutes away from the police station.

But they found him, just as they always did, a man named Harold Jenkins, whose ten year old red headed daughter had died in her sleep three days before the first kidnapping.

And, not only that, but they found him in time to save the life of his fifth, and fortunately final, victim – a nine year old little girl named Melody Williams.

It was the best outcome they could have hoped for considering the possible that could, and usually do, occur in many cases of this style.

But, despite his best and most valiant efforts to hide it, something had been off with their resident doctor the entire trip – the case, while all child cases take a toll on the members of the BAU (even when they manage to save one), the death of something so ... so innocent, always hitting every single one of them hard – he had seemed to take it on personally, and it hurt the team to see something fold slightly inside of him every day, and not to be able to do anything about it.

Morgan had tried to talk to him.

JJ had tried to talk to him.

Garcia had tried to talk to him.

Emily had tried to talk to him.

Even Hotch and Rossi tried to find out what bothered him so much about this case.

But he didn't open up to anyone, and just continued to work himself to the point of exhaustion, and Hotch having to almost physically drag him away from the work and to his hotel room for some sleep.

They arrived back in Virginia almost five hours later, having finished everything that needed to be done at the Police Department, and booked out of their hotel, not to mention the three and a half hour ride on the Jet, and everyone was tired – even if it was only six in the evening – but they all sat down to do their paperwork anyway, liking to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

Reid finished his paperwork in record time, even by his own standards, though not a single smile had yet graced his face, instead he appeared almost apathetic, leaving the moment his work was finished with barely a glance back at the team, and not a single word spoken.

It was Hotch who left next, having promised Jack he would be back soon, with a muttered 'goodbye' as he left for his son, and his home.

JJ followed shortly afterwards for similar reasons, wishing to see her son again after only being able to speak to him over a phone for a week, she waved goodbye to Emily as she passed the brunette's desk.

Surprising even herself, Emily managed to actually finish before both Morgan and Rossi.

Or maybe it wasn't that surprising, as Morgan had more than usual to do since he could not manage to pawn any of his files off on Reid before the younger man left, and Rossi simply had nowhere else he needed, or wanted, to be – the BAU gave him a purpose that couldn't be found in a too large, too expensive, too empty house.

Saying her goodbyes to the two Agents, she descended in the elevator, blinking a few times to get rid of the sleep rapidly forming in them.

Shivering slightly as she left the relative warmth of the FBI headquarters, and ventured towards her car, wishing it wasn't so well camouflaged amongst the inky blackness of the already come evening.

Finally finding her own car, she gratefully climbed in and started the heating, warming her almost red hands from the freezing night air.

She gently pressed her foot down, she smiled slightly, grateful for a night in her own bed.

Five minutes into the journey, however, Emily frowned, realising that while she had been driving on auto-pilot, she had driven in the opposite direction to her apartment (and most importantly, her bed), and towards the area she knew Reid lived in.

Emily groaned – her subconscious was telling something, and now she had to see him or she'd feel guilty until she saw him again, even if there nothing to feel guilty over.

Thinking back, Emily realised that she had never actually been around to Reid's home, nor had any member of the team – that she knew of anyway – in fact, Emily only knew where it was because she had accidently glanced at the address when he was filling a form to say he was moving home almost three years ago now. She had jotted it down and stored it in her desk, as she did possess Reid's almost scarily encyclopaedic memory, though now it seems that she did remember the address that she had barely thought of in a long while.

It was only when she was less than three streets from Reid's home that she realised that these weren't apartment for single adults, but large family homes intended for, well ... families.

Emily frowned, wondering why Reid needed such a large home, as she pulled up in front of it – a two storey building, that from the outside, appeared to have at least four bedrooms, and a large well kept garden at both the front and back – a house suited for a family.

Walking up to the wood clad home, Emily noticed that the television was on – the light seeping around the edges of the tightly drawn curtains – and though she could hear it, sort of, she couldn't tell what was being watched.

She knocked on the door, and could hear laughter floating through the door – the laughter of a young woman – and the movement of a slightly clumsy being, before Reid opened the door, a slight smile on his lips, that reduced in size slightly when he saw who was at his door.

"Emily?" Reid sounded confused, but at least he was speaking now, and despite being less than an hour since she had last seen him, he looked like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "What are you doing here?" The second question wasn't accusatory, but it was infused with genuine curiosity.

"You got out of the office really quickly today, and you've been acting weird all week. What's wrong?" Her voice was soft and full of concern for her friend, despite her tiredness that was fading with each passing second.

"I thought we weren't supposed to profile each other." His tone was almost harsh, but it was belied by an all too real sadness in his eyes, that would be unnoticeable if you were not looking for it as she was.

"I'm not profiling you, and just want to know why this case hit you harder than any of the other child cases we've had. What was it about this case that hurt you so much?"

He opened his mouth to speak, already to turn back into his house and shut the door on her until the next time he was needed in work, when a voice, far too young and high to be his, spoke.

"Dadddyyyy!"

Thank you for reading, please review,
Mia