Author's note:

Instead of being 22 when he joins the BAU, Spencer is 18. This is set during season five, after Hotch's leave of absence following Haley's death etc. Spencer is 24.

Instead of Sean and Hotch being only children, they have another brother named Jeremy that died of cancer about ten years ago. Jeremy had a child named Avery, but Hotch and Sean haven't seen her in years because of her mother's reaction to her husband's death.

I haven't ever written any fanfiction or anything like that before, so please be kind!

Oh, and I don't own Criminal Minds or any characters from the show, or the killers that the unsub is based upon!

Chapter One: Reid's POV

"Let's go guys", Hotch announced as we headed out to another case, though this time (thankfully) one in our own backyard. Instead of having to rush off onto the BAU's own jet, we speedily walked into the black, FBI issued Ford Escalades that we used when cases happened to fall near enough to Quantico. This time, the case was on a serial killer who appeared to be targeting victims in Washington D.C. The only connection between any of the people was the fact that they had all been living in a homeless shelter, they were all women, and they were all between the ages of 18-22. I was never really sure if being on a local case was actually any better than jetting off to another location; being on a case here meant that the danger was closer. It was more real.

Hotch, Rossi, and I headed to the local shelters to speak to some of the victim's friends, living mates, generally anyone who would be able to help us with a more accurate profile of the unsub. Morgan and Prentiss went to review the newest crime scene. It appears that the girls were taken from the shelters, or from the streets (in the case of one prostitute out of the 3 victims we'd found so far). At the very least we had to interview their friends at the shelters, and give out flyers, explain the dangers this unsub presented them with. It didn't really seem fair; these people had enough to worry about. ,

After carefully interviewing many of the volunteers and residents of 2 of D.C.'s largest shelters we had found nothing on the previous victims that further connected them, or really helped build the profile at all. I anxiously bit my nails, a bad habit I'd had since I was a child. I didn't like that we hadn't learned anything further about the case. Not being able to put a face and M.O. to the unsub was beyond a pet peeve for me, it was like my kryptonite. I didn't understand, he targeted women who all ultimately had families in the shelters that would notice their absence. If you were going to target the homeless, wouldn't their supposed anonymity be the main reason? There were so many pieces of this profile that we were missing; I bit my thumbnail harder.

As we walked into the third shelter Rossi recited, "The George Washington Family Center. One of the last places our latest victim was found. Provides temporary living for families with children, and twice daily meals for anyone who needs it".

"Perfect place for our unsub to hunt", replied Hotch as we opened the doors. I grimaced not comfortable with the idea of someone who hunts humans, much less families. Children. Some aspects of this job just did not get easier with time.

Hotch was already talking to the head volunteer about the victim that had been taken from the streets; the prostitute that had been killed had been living here for a few weeks. Apparently she had left a baby boy, along with a nearly 18 year old son devastated. After he had been told what happened he had been found by his maternal grandmother who had taken him in. Garcia had been particularly disturbed by that; it took her own daughter's death to convince her to take her grandchildren in. She was a wealthy women, she just seemingly didn't want to take care of her family, until she was forced to.

As Hotch and Rossi talked with the woman who ran the shelter, I began scanning the room, taking notice of the large number of women and children. Many were playing games on the floor, well-worn Candylands or decks of cards that looked a little thinner than 52 cards. No one seemed to mind, they contentedly bustled about their tasks with easy familiarity. Other families simply sat on the floors, talking or telling stories to their children. I was reminded of the stories my own mother had told me, although I was fairly certain that none of these children were being recited Chaucer's Parlement of Fouls.

I quickly narrowed the amount of women that we should interview and warn, the unsub seemed to favor women with lighter features; two of the victims had blonde hair, the first was a brunette. This particular unsub also chose women with families. As I surveyed the amount of women that fit our victimology in this shelter, I silently agreed with Hotch. If there were a perfect hunting ground for this unsub, it was here.

As I was thinking, my thoughts were broken by a young boy's exclaim, "It's him Avery! Dats him! He's the Doctor!"

Just as I turned to see who he was talking to, I felt a little body attach itself to my leg. I turned to see a small boy, whom I estimated to be about 4 based upon his height and speech patterns, had indeed grabbed onto my pants pocket and was looking quite expectantly up at me. I couldn't help but smile at his innocent face; the boy had big blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. Ordinarily I would have been uncomfortable with the sudden invasion of my personal space, but there was something about this boy that I liked. Maybe it was the Doctor Who reference that I was nearly certain he was making, or maybe it was something else but I felt a connection to him.

I knelt down and said, "I wish I could say that I was the Doctor little man, I really do believe me, but sadly I'm just Spencer". I saw the disappointment flash across his face, poorly concealed, typical of children. I'd always had a soft spot for children, I liked how they didn't try to hide their emotions. I had the sudden urge to take away that disappointment, it didn't suit this boy.

"But, he did teach me a few things the last time I met him. Like how to make money", I said, pulling a quarter from behind his ear. As soon as I showed the money to him, his eyes doubled in size, and all semblance of disappointment gone.

"AVERY", he exclaimed. "He's met the Doctor!" As he yelled for the second time, a young woman (who I presumed to be his sister, children didn't refer to their mothers by their first name) approached. I straightened up and took a look at the woman, whom I now realized had been watching from afar the whole time. She pushed a large, double stroller that had a baby in the back seat and the front seat removed. In the place of the seat were a few duffle bags, a backpack, and a diaper bag. She was of average height, blonde hair and the same blue eyes as the young boy. She wore a pair of simple black leggings, a black t-shirt with the Nirvana logo on the front, and a pair of old, worn hi—top converse. Her blonde hair was long, down to the curve of her bottom, and naturally wavy. It reminded me of all the pictures and drawings I'd ever seen of mermaid women. I noted a half sleeve of tattoos on her right arm, black and white roses with some sort of musical staff with a quote in place of the notes on her inner forearm. There was another type of tattoo on her lower left calf, a ribbon of sorts, but one made of words of different colors and fonts. They were the only ones that I could see, but her general appearance told me that there were probably more that weren't visible. She had some of those things in her ears that people used to stretch their ears, and a ring in her nose. All of those things I generally didn't find attractive, but on her they just seemed to work. To put things simply, she was beautiful.

"Avery, Avery!" he said excitedly.

"Henry, Henry!" she replied, smiling and getting down to his level.

"Avery he says he met the doctor, and then he… and then… and then he found money behind my ears and he says the Doctor taught him!" he explained in his sweet little voice.

"Ohhh he did, did he?" she said, looking up amusedly at me. I was caught off guard by her eyes, they were so pale it was almost hypnotic. I half-smiled back, without realizing I was.

"Uh yes I was just showing this little guy how the Doctor taught me to make money", I said while reaching behind her ear, touching her soft blonde hair as I did so. My hand wavered, unprepared for the sudden urge to tangle my hands in her hair. My slight falter (thankfully) went unnoticed by Avery; her smile widened as I pulled the quarter from her silky locks.

"Ah I see", she said, taking the quarter from my hand. "Maybe he can teach us his tricks Hen. What do you think should we ask?" she said finally breaking eye contact and getting back down to his level. I got down to his level as well, as his innocent face looked back up at me.

"Henry huh? You know I have a godson. His name is Henry too", I said smiling at him. "So Henry, would you like to learn my secret?" I asked. Before, he could answer, the baby from the stroller let out a cry. Avery turned away from Henry and me, and began to take her out, cooing at her to calm her down. She pulled out a baby, approximately 5 months old from the stroller. It was a baby girl, chubby, with the same blue eyes as her siblings.

"Henry why don't you look for your screwdriver to show Mr. ..?" she turned to look at me, expecting me to fill in the blank.

"Spencer. Uh Dr. Spencer Reid. I'm with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit", I explained to Avery, "I would love to see it little man", I added to Henry. He nodded vigorously and began searching through some of the bags inside the stroller.

"FBI?" Avery questioned, looking at my with a hardened expression. "Are you here to talk about Sammy?" she guessed, shifting from foot to foot to placate the now happy baby girl.

"Uh yes we're here to question anyone who might have information on Samantha Barks, and to warn everyone about the uh dangers of strangers", I explained. I was still hypnotized by her eyes, she looked me directly in the eyes for the whole conversation. "Did you know her?"

"Yes, Sammy and her kids had the room next to ours. I watched her baby while she was gone and David needed to get to school", she said stoically. She seemed like she was putting on some sort of brave front, as if she wasn't really scared. Years of profiling clued me into the fact that's she was really probably in a state of grief or shock. Judging by her current situation, I guessed that she was used to being the strong one in her family. "She was doing her best, but she was getting more and more desperate for money. She was gone more and more, and I never asked where".

"Avery?" My reply was cut off by Hotch's exclamation of her name. We both turned to see his pale face. At first she looked surprised, then confused, but realization soon dominated her beautiful features.

"Aaron?" she said disbelievingly. She set her baby back into the stroller, and wrapped her arms around Hotch. He held her tightly, and closed his eyes, as if a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders. I felt a flash of jealousy burn through me; however unwarranted and unlikely, I wanted it to be me that she pulled into her arms. I cleared my throat loudly.

"Uh Hotch this is Avery. She lives in the shelter, I was just talking to her about Samantha. They were neighbors", I explained in the stunned silence that followed the break of their hug.

"Avery, who's this?" Henry questioned, coming back from the stroller.

"Henry, this is Aaron, he's our uncle", Avery replied in a shaky voice.