Plot

While Agent Hotchner takes a leave of absence from the BAU, the team must regroup to solve a home invasion case.

Following the murder of Haley by George Foyet and Foyet's subsequent death at Hotch's hands, Hotch needs to take some time to regroup and review both his professional and personal life, especially in how to deal with raising Jack on his own. Strauss provides him with an option. In the meantime, the team, without Hotch, is called to a case in Nashville, Tennessee. Two young brunette women, both high powered executives, have so far been killed in their own homes, the floor around them covered in rose petals. Evidence indicates that the women were being stalked, and that the unsub is hyper-vigilant in his control of the murders, with both being almost identical down to what the women ate prior to death. It seems as if the unsub is romancing the women against their will. It isn't until they discover an anomaly to the routine of one of the victims and look at the unsub profile is a slightly different manner that the team begins to piece together who the unsub is and who he might target next.—Huggo

Following Haley's death at the hands of the Reaper and Foyet's brutal demise at the hands of Agent Hotchner. A despondent Hotch, takes some time off to take care of his son and he begins to figure out how he can take care of his family. Strauss gives Hotch an option that may benefit him and his position. The BAU goes to Nashville, TN., when two upperclass women are killed and he is romancing these women against their will. The team must race against the clock before the unsub goes after another woman who symbolizes the object of his rage and rejection.—dawsonpersi

We open with Hotch dressing his son for his mother's funeral. It has been a tough couple of weeks for the former BAU boss. One funeral procession and tearful eulogy later, the team gathers to discuss Hotch's leave of absence. "He'll come back," Derek says. "I just don't know what he'll look like when he does." Suddenly, Derek gets a call. Time to go. The Hotch-less team boards the jet and discusses the latest case: "Two women dead in two weeks -- both killed in their own homes," J.J. explains. One of the bodies was covered in rose petals. "Romantic," Rossi quips. Derek then gives a pep talk. Everyone is thinking of Hotch, but they need to be on their games. The killer could strike again soon.

One landing in Nashville later, J.J. urges the local police to warn ALL the women of the city that a serial killer is on the loose. Derek and Emily, in the meantime, visit the second victim's home. The evidence reveals no forced entry. No prints either. "This guy knew exactly what he was doing," Derek says. Theorizes Emily: "He was stalking them." Cut to the morgue, where Rossi and Spencer examine the dead bodies. "Both their stomach contents were the same -- chicken, broccoli, pasta, salad and red wine," Spencer notes. Rossi theorizes that the killer is playing out a fantasy one that involves cooking dinner for his victims.

We cut to Hotch's apartment, where little Jack watches videos of his mother on the TV. "I miss her too," Hotch says. It's a sad, sad scene. Let's hope the BAU team can prevent it happening for another family. Speaking of, Garcia calls the team with news: the two victims lived similar, high-class and expensive lifestyles. Emily surmises that the unsub is a "gentleman" -- someone who knows how the privileged elite live. Sure enough, we cut to the home of an extremely frightened brunette. Sitting on her couch is the killer, talking smooth and drinking red wine. He IS quite the gentleman -- if you can forget the fact that he is also a psycho. Back at Hotch's apartment, chief Strauss arrives for a visit. She offers him full retirement. "Given the circumstances, there's no reason why you should have to return to the bureau," Strauss says. "I'm offering you a way out." Hotch decides to mull it over.

The next morning, the team gives its profile to the local police. "He's highly intelligent and probably comes from a place of status," Spencer says. He is also sociable and will do anything to protect the fantasy of a romantic evening and stable relationship. Derek urges the police to look for a man who has recently been abandoned by a love one. Meanwhile, the unsub is still playing house with his next potential victim. Just then, the woman's boyfriend enters the house and is promptly STABBED to death. "Erica, honey," the psycho says in an eerily calm voice. "Why did he have a key?" Sometime later, the team arrives at the house after a tip for the UPS guy. They find the dead boyfriend at the foot of the stairs. Upstairs, they find Erica with multiple facial wounds to the face. She is dead. And it gets worse: Rossi theorizes that the unsub had never gotten so far in his fantasy before. He likely won't wait long before attempting to complete it. "He is going to try to finish this tonight," Rossi says.

Garcia wastes little time. She examines the latest victim's GPS and notices a non-routine trip to a nearby botanical garden. At the same time, Derek and Rossi theorize that perhaps the killer learned to live among the rich as a child -- and is now trying to recapture that standing. Derek instructs Garcia to look at employees of those places the women visited and see if any are deeply in debt after spending beyond their means. While Baby Girl searches, J.J. and Spencer visit the botanical garden. "Most of our private events hire valets," the botanical garden manager says. Bingo. A valet would have access to GPS for stalking purposes. Rossi and Emily immediately track down the owner of the valet service and give him the unsub's profile. "Joe Belser -- he and his girl just broke up," the owner says. "He was head over heels in love with her. And she was sleeping with the best man." Sure enough, Garcia does a little digging and discovers that Belser was not only recently dumped by his high-society fiancé, but is also deeply in debt.

The team storms Belser's apartment, but finds no one. They do, however, find universal garage-door remotes -- perfect for easy access to the victim's homes. The team then heads to a local lounge where the valet service is working. They check the businesss records and find six women who have used a credit card. Garcia runs checks on them all and identifies Ann Herron, a wealthy brunette. Cut to the Herron home, where Joe is busy roughing up the latest love of his life. He is just about to stab the women when the BAU team suddenly BURSTS through the doors. They tackle and cuff the killer. Emily then taunts him with tales of prison rape. Case closed.

But not the episode. Rossi visits Hotch, who sits by his wife's grave. Hotch is coming back to the team, after all. "I don't need to tell her," he says of his dead wife. "She already knows."