Days seemed to fly by since I'd first arrived here. Even though I did not let on as much as I had in the beginning just how much I missed home, inside and alone at night, I did more than ever. I just figured if at least someone from back home was here with me, it wouldn't be half that bad. I was enjoying Rhy'Din, the people, places and every day I learned a dozen new things.

My days have become quite occupied and busy, though there is an occasional lapse of an hour or two, every now and again. I've taken up to filling time at nights in the Inn, bartending when there is no one else around to do it. I forgot just how much I loved bartending.

I learned around the age of fourteen how to mix a drink that would knock a grown man flat on his ass. Things were different out in Baton Rouge, especially on the outskirts of the town proper. The O'Conner's, my next door neighbor's owned this little restaurant that had a full serve bar inside it. "A Taste of Italy," best little Italian restaurant this side of Baton Rouge. I remember begging and pleading with my mother and father to let me spend time working there, the O'Conner's son and I grew up together. We were best friends back in those days, there are even still a few pictures of the pair of us, running around in nothing but our diapers.

At any rate, I helped around the restaurant by busing tables and do dishes with Mark, and when we got older, we waited tables. When I was near legal age enough, I actually got to start tending the bar. I loved it! Between riding the horses for my parents back on the farm and tending bar, school and a social life, there was little free time I had. I never complained though, by the time our senior prom came around, I had quite a bit saved up for a Louisiana girl.

Over those years, it was inevitable that Mark and I started to develop a stronger relationship.. a more intimate one. He was my first love and I was his, he actually asked me to marry him when we were seventeen, I remember it like yesterday, he'd given me a ring with a butterfly on it, it'd had little rubies and emeralds in it.. I still have that ring too, I'll never get rid of it. Though we didn't have an "official" ceremony, we knew in our hearts, when it was time, we would get married.

We both left Baton Rouge and went to college at Harvard. It was really odd that neither of us had followed what our parents had originally intended for us to do for a living, we both had had high dreams of a career in law and/or the FBI. I thought at that time it was nothing but a dream, high held fantasies and girlish dreams, until I was given my scholarship to Harvard. Mark was so proud of me and happy as well, but he'd been worried that it might have been the end to our relationship. Harvard was a long ways away from Baton Rouge. His parents though, had been saving all his life and even beforehand, being an only child it was a bit easier for them. He was going to Harvard with me!

I snapped out of my daydream long enough to look around my room, it was starting to actually look more homey as opposed to just somewhere to sleep. I was happy with it, even though I was missing home terribly. One final look in the mirror and I was making my way downstairs and towards the bar.

I hadn't been there more an hour, and was just merely relaxing when something caught my attention at the front doors. I couldn't believe my ears or my eyes, I knew I wasn't "that" old to have either playing tricks on me when Sev burst her way through the front doors. I had to do a double take, even a triple take seeing Sev standing there. I've never been one to show affection.. not since that day two and a half years ago.

After the initial shock, Sev explained to me that the Capt'n had sent her to come and find me, and that the "Gatekeeper" and her had found a way back and forth from Baton Rouge to here. I couldn't believe it, one shock after the other! I was happy that my best friend was here with me. Even a bit more happier to hear that the Capt'n believed that it would be a good assignment for the pair of us to stay here and study those that had been "stolen" as well. Sev didn't look so hot, she looked pale and cranky and tired. After enjoying her company for awhile, I told her to head on upstairs to my room and gave her the spare key.

The question earned a muffled curse from Sev, and the sound of what might have been a soap dish hitting the door. "Go the fuck away! I'll be done when I'm done!"

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle hearing Sev, shaking my head, I snatched a pillow off of my bed and curled around it, closing my eyes again.

We confirmed that Tarence's identity had been stolen by Tim Madison. We managed to find a current address for Mr. Madison and we brought him in for a line of questioning. All the while, through it all, my mind would not stop working. Each and every witness, each and every suspect, I cased in my mind. Drawing up a preliminary case file for each of them, in my mind. I knew after the first day of talking to Chase that he was innocent, how exactly, I wasn't sure. With Tim's testimony that supported my client's defense that he'd been framed, Chase Smith walked away a free man.

I found out later when I'd aced the FBI's entrance exam in November 2002, and was extended and offer to work for them, just exactly what had been calling me. In just a very short span of a little over three months, I had become Louisiana's FBI BAU head profiler. Mark of course came with me, claiming his spot on the team and we worked as partners and part of the BAU team for quite some time.

In January of 2005, Mark and I were at home having a quiet evening to ourselves. Imagine that.. As rare as it was, we enjoyed it when it did happen. He'd paused the movie we were watching and excused himself to the restroom. When he came though, there was a sparkle in his green eyes that I'd only ever remembered seeing once. He pulled me up from the couch and he got down on one knee, my eyes were already filling with tears -- I knew what was coming.

"Will you marry me Hannah Jessica Schellden? I love you cher, I've loved you all my life and I always will. Make me the happiest man in the world, don't make me ask a third time, eh cher? Vous ?tes le seul amour de ma vie et m?me si vous dites le non, vous serez toujours l'amour de ma vie, je n'aimerez jamais une autre femme comme je vous fais cher."

He pulled out this beautiful ring, it was platinum and had a diamond in the middle and two on either side..I still have that one too. We had set the date for our marriage, it was going to be August 26, 2006.

It was Valentine's day of 2005 and we had gone out to dinner that night. We'd decided to go to "A Taste of Italy," to let our families know we'd finally set a date. Mark had pulled the car up to the valet and had stepped around to open my door. I stepped out of the car and into his side, and after Mark had given Junior his keys, we turned together towards the door.. And that's when it happened.

Tires squealed and then gunshots rang out into the night. I remember Mark yelling at me to get inside, and seeing Junior thrown back against the BMW with the impact of the bullet spray. I looked up a split second later from Junior, already knowing the boy was beyond help. Gray blue eyes searched frantically for Mark, and then I was hit. The bullet pierced my right side, about four inches above my hip, I staggered back a step and tripped over Mark's body. I didn't have time to register the shock before another bullet whizzed past my head and embedded itself into the brick wall of the family owned restaurant. Stumbling to regain my balance and fighting the burning in my right side, I drew my Glock 23 and immediately willed myself to focus on the black sedan with the tinted windows. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, I fired a round into where the gas tank would be, then one into the back tire.

I sat up with a start, shaking my head and squinting my eyes shut to clear the memories away. I looked toward the bathroom door again after a quick look around, coming to the conclusion that Sev hadn't managed her way out yet. I steadied my breathing and yelled to her, "Jesus Sev I'm going to die of old age here, hurry the hell up."

Having Sev around has been absolutely wonderful for my ever growing spirit. I've found that, being in Rhy'Din has been rather good for my health. My job, I love my job more than anything else in my life.. I guess you could say I'm married to it. But sometimes you need a break and a change, and I was coming to believe that Rhy'Din was exactly what the Dr. ordered.

I closed my eyes for only a second as the lappy loaded up, attempting to connect to the make-shift server that Sev had set up in the room.

"Where's Mark, is he alright?" With hopeful eyes I looked between the three faces that I saw, everyone else had been told that they couldn't enter until later. In those faces of my mother, father and Capt'n I saw a mixture of confusion, relief, pain, sorrow and sadness. The silence was unnerving me, even in my fragile state and I pushed up from the hospital bed. "Dammit, tell me, one of you talk or I will disconnect myself from all this machinery an go find out for myself." The outburst nearly drained whatever energy I had as I fell back against the pillow again, heaving a sigh. My father would be the first to be courageous enough to break the unorthodox silence that was dripping from the walls of my hospital room.

"Je suis fille tellement d?sol?e de b?b?. I'm so sorry baby girl, so damn sorry." My father's voice was strained and tired, he shook his head from side to side. His left hand reached towards my scraped right cheek and the backs of his fingertips brushed over the bruised flesh ever so gently. "Mon cheri, Mark is.. Mark was pronounced dead on the scene cher. There was nothing they could do for him. He was hit by three different sprays."

The sound of the computer finally connecting had me opening my eyes again with a sigh, a slight motion of a finger or two against the keyboard. Then fingers drummed against the table top while I waited for the mail from the Capt'n to load up, head tilted slightly as the image slowly took form. Squinting gray blue eyes at it, I could honestly say I didn't recognize the female face that was staring back at me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head and hit the "reply" button and typed back a quick note.

"Capt'n, haven't seen anyone even remotely close to this femme. We'll keep our eyes open and let you know if we do though. -Han"

Powering down the lappy I headed downstairs.

I was actually hungry and decided to make myself a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with light dressing. I put a lot of care and time into making it, making sure it was absolutely perfect, considering that I actually had an appetite and wasn't just eating to provide fuel for my body. Finally, seated at the bar with a bottle of water, I actually dug into the salad hungrily. I was about a third of the way through the salad when my cell rang, and I was already cursing thinking it was the Capt'n again. Flipping it open, I really wasn't expecting what the caller had to say...

"Han, he hit me. Il baisant m'a battu avec la po?le. He hurt me bad Han. Je suis Hannah tellement ?tourdi, it hurts so bad, burns Han. There's blood Han." Harley was in hysterics, speaking so quickly in a blur of French and English that it would make it hard for anyone to understand her.

My eating process halted abruptly at the sound of the frantic femme on the other end of the phone, regretting that I hadn't been there to protect her from the bastard. I told her that she had to slow down, she'd been speaking so fast that it was hard to understand her, hard to make sense of anything that she was saying. My head was already pounding with the few words I did manage to catch from her rushed greeting. It took a few more minutes for me to coax the young femme into a manner of speaking, so that I could understand what had exactly happened to her not forty-five minutes prior to her frantic call to me.

((Adult language and scenes included. If you do not wish to read such materials, please do not open this particular post.))

Hannah, Sevarenia and Harley's house
16094 Beauregard St -- Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"Open the door Harley!" Todd's voice was strong and crazed on the other side of the door. His breathing was ragged and the anger inside him was as fierce as a fire at full rage.

Harley blinked at the pounding of the door and then cringed when she heard Todd's voice. Someone she'd not expected to be at the door. She missed Hannah and Sev, especially when her love life crumbled like this.. They were always the ones to talk reason into her. With hesitant movements, Harley made her way towards the front door, slowly moving her hand to the curved handle of the door. "Go away Todd. I don't want to see you again. Y... You lied to me and to your wife. Go away!" As her words brought her a bit of courage, they were spoken with more authority before the door was kicked in and Harley went flying backwards, sliding at least three feet against the marbled floors.

Harley looked up dazed slightly from the fall at a rather crazed Todd staring down at her.

Todd's chest was heaving, there was sure evidence in his eyes and breath that he'd hit the bottle hard tonight. His fists were clenched at his sides as he glared down at Harley's form. "You bitch, you weren't supposed to evah call the house. How hawd was that Harley?"

Harley cringed at the vehemence in Todd's voice. She was pushing her way back to her feet, her entire form shaking with fear. She'd never seen Todd like this before, had never known him capable of an anger of this magnitude. "Todd, listen, slow down. I called to see if you wanted me to bring anything with me. I didn't know.. I had no idea th.."

Todd cut her sentence short by a backhand that struck Harley's mouth, probably harder than he had first intended but he was beyond reprieve now. His wife was threatening divorce and now he was sure that Harley would leave him too. Proof of that was verbalized when she'd told him to go away, that only fueled the anger that was building inside him. He never lost, he couldn't loose.. He always came out on top, no matter what the cost. "I loved you cher, couldn't you see that? I loved you both, but when you both found out.. You could not accept that I had enough love for you both." Another open handed hit to her face and Todd forced her down onto the foyer's cool marbled floor. He was pushing the material of her dress up her slender thighs now, forcing his knee between her legs to hold them open.

Harley was crying now, sobbing as she desperately tried to fight Todd off. "Please Todd, mon ami, please you don't have to do this. We can talk things out." Oh god how she wished Hannah or Sev were here. What is he doing now, she blinked up to him through the blinding tears that stung her eyes. "Stop. STOP! No please don't.. Todd I love you, don't do this, we can work it out." Harley closed her eyes tightly and imagined herself to be somewhere else...

Todd slid his body down her own, relishing in the feel of her body one last time. He leaned down towards her ear, whispering softy, almost lovingly, "Shhh mon cher, it will be over and done before you know it. I always win cher, always." One hand pinning both of her slender wrists above her head, the other reached down to rip off her panties. Todd tossed them to the side and forced himself inside her.. One last time.

When Todd was done, he stood up and stared down at Harley's body. She hadn't moved.. Her legs were still splayed and he saw the blood that began to seep from her body. A cold smirk teased the corner of his lips and he kicked her two times in the same area he'd just violated before spitting on her and turning on his heel to walk out the door.

Harley was in severe pain, Todd had been extremely rough with her, she'd felt the tissue tear and the kicks.. The kicks had her swallowing back the bile that rose in her throat. She laid as still as she could for a few minutes time, waited until she heard the door slam shut and she forced herself to stand up and pick up the phone to call Hannah.

I hadn't packed anything at all to take back with me, didn't figure it would matter much what I took back. What mattered was what I brought back with me. I had the clothes on my back, my cell, Glock and my wallet. I figured that would be plenty for a three day trip back to Baton Rouge.

I arrived at the Inn's bathroom early in the morning, we wanted to make sure that the area was vacated and empty.. Or rather I did. I was feeling rather uneasy about all this, I wasn't as openly open to this kind of thing like Sev was. Both she and Gustave had reassured me so many times over the last few hours, that I was quite sick of hearing that it would "Be alright."

8:30 a.m Rhy'Din time, it was go time. With a nod to Sev I was stepping into the ladies room of the Inn and Sev was yacking to Gustave on her cell outside the door.

I closed my eyes after stepping in and after what I thought was a few minutes later my cell rang. I hadn't realized I'd been standing there for over an hour. Time seemed to fly.. Way to fast. "Hul..Hullo?"

"Han get the hell out of the bathroom! People are going to start looking at you weird if you don't get the hell out of there." Sev's voice was short, she was tired and cranky and when Gustave had called and told her that I hadn't come through yet, he was getting worried.

"Huh? Oh?" I opened my eyes and looked around, immediately noticing the pale, sickly green tile of O'Riley's ladies room. I nearly jumped for joy, yet an emptiness was sinking in. "How lon' have I been standing innere Sev?"

Sev snorted into the phone as she answered, "Gustave said it's been just over an hour and you should have come through a long time ago, made me call because he's to scared to open the damn door. Now get your ass out there and shit." Sev hung up the call, knowing otherwise that I would keep talking all day long.

"Oh.. Ok." I pushed the door open hesitantly and peeked outside, I was greeted with the smell of stale ciggarette smoke, booze and the quietness that was O'Riley's this early in the morning. I saw Gustave sitting there with his little "office" that had been made up to be as mobile as it could, so little attention could be drawn.

"S'bout time ya stepped through there, cher. I was beginnin' t'get a mite worried 'bout'cha."

Gustave's voice was gentle on the ears and it was good to see him after nearly two months being gone. I smiled to Gustave and couldn't help but to continue to look around. O'Riley's hadn't changed at all, I walked out further and towards the table that Gustave had currently been using, fingertips brushing over the worn tables, and a smile crossed my face. "Sorra t'keep ya Gustave. I didn't realize I'd been innere so long." Another smile turned the corner of my lips, slowly my accent was returning. I didn't give Gustave much time to respond as I shook my head and nodded to Gustave. "I'll give ya a call when I'm ready t'go back through."

I left O'Riley's then, stepping outside into the humid Baton Rouge air, breathing in the scents of the city, I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips. It was like walking back in time, you always remembered what was familiar to you. Or did you?

My 1967, Shelby GT 500 was sitting there, sparkling in the morning sunlight. I stepped over towards her and ran my fingers over the new paint job I'd had done a week before I'd left. Jet black like the night, a thin silver strip through her middle. I'd had her totally redone, new parts, new leather, new everything. She was a beast in her own class. A work of art.. As requested, Gustave had taken her for a bath and a vacuum, and parked her out here for my return home. She'd been well cared for.. I dug out the keys, and unlocked the door and slid into the driver's side. Inhaling deeply of the scent that was mine alone, I closed my eyes, and leaned my head back against the headrest in the seat.

FBI Headquarters
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I peeled into my parking spot in the parking garage of HQ and cut the engine. A vain glance to the rear-view mirror and I was shoving the door open and stepping out.

I flashed my badge to the security guard at the entrance and he waved me in with a warm grin. I chose to trudge up the six flights of stairs, rather than taking the elevator up, that would have been to easy of course. Pausing outside the BAU's main doors, I took a deep breath. I knew that as soon as people caught sight of me, that there would be a barrage of questions that needed to be answered, and I had to make sure to formulate the answers accordingly.

Capt'n had told both Sev and I that we were to answer any questions pertaining to our whereabouts, simply by giving them the answer, "Ask the Capt'n." We were still working routinely with the team on certain assignments but it was rare that we were actually "there" with them physically.

Prepared for the verbal blows I was about to receive I pulled open the heavy glass doors and stepped inside. Gray blue eyes moved slowly and appreciatively over the busybodies that were the BAU's best. A smile flashed here and there, my hand lifted to wave so many time's I was afraid that it might fall off.

My Team, and those that worked closely enough with me, knew that I was not big on personal contact, so hugs and kisses of "Welcome back," were very few if none at all. Mostly the occasional handshake and pat on the back were enough for me.

As expected the slew of verbal questions arose and I answered them, darted around them, and dodged them like the plague as best as I could, until Allan Brody's voice cut through the din of the room.

"Hannah, I need you in my office now." Allan Brody's gaze stilled the entire room to a hushed silence and nods were given by his Team before they returned to whatever it was they had been doing prior to my entering the BAU's main office.

I walked towards the Capt'n and slipped into the open door that he held that led into his rather large, spacious and yet humble office. I didn't even wait for him to motion me to a seat before I flopped myself into the most comfy of chairs in his office. It was claimed as mine since the first day he'd had it brought into his office.

Allan closed the door with a soft click, and closed the blinds that allowed the Team to look inside his office. He stepped behind the desk and nodded to me before he lowered himself into the chair. He pulled himself into a comfortable sitting position and crossed his hands on top of his desk, clearing his throat. "Hannah, we need to discuss a few things. Now I want you to listen to me, and not a squeak from you until I'm done, understood?"

Allan's gaze sliced into mine, and something had me on edge. There was something in his tone that was setting off all the warning alerts in my head. I nodded to him, swallowing around a lump that was quick to form in my throat. "Alright Capt'n." I settled back into the chair, bringing my legs up and crossing them Indian style in the chair, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, gray blue eyes intent on the Capt'n.

"You are the most intelligent woman I have ever come across in my thirty years with the FBI. You have always been quick to catch on to whatever we throw at you, be it a profile, a case, a hypothetical situation.. Whatever it is Hannah, you have always conquered it and most of the time, you never even break a sweat." Allan paused and took a deep breath. He raised a hand and ran it through his receding hair line. "That's why it's hard for me to say this to you Hannah, but it has to be done. Over the last couple of years Hannah, you haven't slipped in your performance, you've only excelled at a frightening pace. You push yourself Hannah, sometimes, entirely to hard and to much. You push your Team, you're burying yourself." He shook his head and continued on, "I really need you think about this Hannah with an open mind. As of today, I am putting you on restrictive duty until you allow yourself to mourn the loss of Mark. Hannah, it needs to be done, and you know it does. You disobeyed my direct order to seek counseling on the matter, and I let that slide, but now, it's gone to far. You have driven the Team and myself, even my bosses to the grind. You push and push Hannah, no matter how much you push cher, it won't bring him back and it will not allow you to heal."

I was as still as a stone statue, there was not even a flicker of emotion that crossed my features as I listened to the Capt'n, I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders to him. "Fine." I was as indifferent as anyone could be that was buried in layers and layers of denial. Did I know Mark was dead? Yes, yes I did. "Is that all you wanted t'talk t'me 'bout?"

Allan shook his head, almost sadly as he watched the small, petite form of the firecracker before him. He had known her nearly all her life, he'd gone to high-school with her father and seeing her like this was breaking his heart. As a friend, mentor, and at times he'd thought of Hannah as his own daughter in certain circumstances, he knew this was the best route to take. "Actually no." He got up and walked around the desk and sat on the edge of the desk in front of me and looked me dead in the eye. "Hannah, look.. I'll make you a deal. Answer any of these questions with a "yes" and I won't do this, but if you tell me no, then I know I am doing the right thing, deal?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Fine."

"Have you allowed yourself to mourn him cher? To cry, to feel the pain of the loss? Have you been back to the restaurant, have you gone back to his grave to see him?" Allan fired the questions left and right, he knew the answer to them all, he knew her and the person she was. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and stared me down.

It took me a very, very long time to finally answer his barrage of questions. Though still unnerved, my countenance stayed the same as I uttered the one word that answered all his questions, "No." And with that I pushed up from the chair and turned towards the door.

"Hannah, wait there's something else I want to say to you." Allan's voice was almost father-like, stern and gentle.

I halted but didn't even look back to him.

"I want you to take the time that you are spending away from Baton Rouge, in Rhy'Din to allow yourself to heal. I'll put you on the highest profile cases that we have, that can't be done without you. I want you to find someone there cher, find someone and get close to him, let yourself open up to him. You are not the only one that can draw a profile cher, you need that companionship just as much as the next, if not more so now than ever." He took a breath. "And yes, cher, that's an order. Take as long as you need to cher, your job will always be here and waiting for you."

I was glad that my back was turned towards him, because as a child might fear making a face to her father, that was the way I was feeling then as I made the face with my back to him. Gritting my teeth, I offered a rather curt nod to him. "Fine, is that all?"

"Yeah Hannah, that's all. Keep in touch please, and take to heart what I said." Allan let out a heave of a sigh and crossed back around to his chair.

I shoved the door to his office open and tried very hard not to storm out of the BAU office, and avoided all sets of eyes on my way out.