Finally, I found some time to get this story started. This is going to be more like an episode of CM than my previous story. Mostly, I wanted to see if I could do it (it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. LOL!). It's meant as a continuation to my previous story, Condemned, and is the first case the team faces after Elephant's Memory (season 3). Reid is still struggling with his addiction to dilaudid, but Hotch and Morgan are trying to help him. If you haven't read Condemned, and want a little more background, you can probably start at chapter 10 and be just fine, or you can just ask me. I promise to answer any questions you might have. Please enjoy and consider commenting when you finish.

This is a full-team story, but may become a bit Reid-centric at times.

I do not own, rent or otherwise lay claim to Criminal Minds, I simply use it for my own twisted fantasies.

XOXOXOXOXO

Morgan and Reid boarded the jet finding J.J and Emily already waiting for them. Hotch and Rossi were waiting for the team in Seattle. The two eldest team members had originally been sent as representatives of the B.A.U. at a law enforcement conference, but had stumbled upon a number of local cases that possessed similarities – too many to be a coincidence. From his phone calls with Hotch, Morgan already had some of the details, but Emily and Reid still needed exposure to the gathered evidence. Once they were in the air, as the senior agent on board, Morgan turned the floor over to the woman with the information, "What've you got, J.J.?"

Confidently as always J.J. began laying out the facts as they knew them so far, "Hotch sent this over last night," continuing, she passed out the official documentation to the entire team, "The Seattle P.D. investigated a report of a missing child about a month ago. The investigation hit a dead end when they found the body two weeks ago." She passed around pictures of several recently murdered boys.

Morgan studied them carefully, "How many boys have they found?"

"The Seattle P.D.? Two. The rest of these boys," J.J. resumed indicating the pictures spread out on the small table, "were found all over the Pacific Northwest, from Bellingham to Eugene, and Olympia to Pocatello. Six in all – so far."

Reid was confused about something, "These cross state lines. How did they link the cases?"

Morgan answered this, "the conference brought the local investigators together. They started talking, and someone connected the dots." J.J. nodded her head in confirmation.

From Emily, "Cause of death?"

"As far as they know, it's been strangulation, though most of the boys have suffered contusions around their upper torso and head as well." J.J. answered.

Almost to herself, Emily reflected, "they were beaten."

Only Morgan saw Reid's reaction to this news as he surreptitiously cringed. The young agent struggled to push his emotional reaction away as Emily continued.

"Any evidence of sexual abuse?"

J.J. answered, "I'm afraid so."

"So he's a physically violent sexual predator. That's fairly rare, isn't it?" Morgan asked.

Using this as a way to avoid his emotions, Reid responded with, "Yes actually. Most sexual predators lure their victims in with promises of gifts. They'll threaten the child with harm, or tell him they'll hurt his parents, but the threat is usually menacing enough to gain compliance. They genuinely believe they love their victims, and that the victim returns that love and is a willing accomplice in their deviant acts."

Hearing the exhaustion and remaining congestion in his friend's voice, Morgan shot Reid a worried look. The kid had been mildly ill lately and Hotch had considered benching him for this case. Morgan had convinced their boss that Reid would be fine, and Hotch had given his okay with the proviso that the young agent rest as much as possible.

Emily asked J.J., "Where were these boys found?"

"Generally, they were found buried in shallow graves in the woods."

"He didn't just dump the bodies. Shows the unsub cared about these boys." Morgan speculated still watching Reid closely. "Was there any other information, J.J.?"

"No, just this so far. The last two bodies found are at the morgue. Hotch mentioned wanting Reid to go with him to take a look when we get there."

Reid looked almost nauseous at this proposition, but he didn't say anything. Morgan, of course, noticed the hesitance, but decided now was not the time to bring it up. Instead, he said, "Okay, this is a long flight, so we should get as much rest as we can. I don't think we'll be getting much sleep once we get there."

Though it was still early in the day J.J. and Emily, noticing how intently Morgan was watching Reid, silently nodded their agreement and wandered off in search of a relatively comfortable spot to relax.

Reid remained in his seat. He was fixated on the pictures of the boys. Morgan slowly started gathering the photos together in a pile and turned them face down. Reid looked up at the older agent with questioning eyes.

Quietly, Morgan said, "you can still sit this one out, kid."

Morgan's words hadn't been loud enough for anyone but Reid to hear over the roar of the jet, but the young man looked anxiously around to make sure. His response was uncharacteristically heated, "I'm fine, Morgan. You can stop babysitting me now."

The older man's head cocked to one side. They had had this conversation in the past, and it generally pointed to Reid feeling unsettled about his ability to function under emotional stress. The kid was all facts and logic, but when he could no longer push disturbing thoughts away, he lost all sense of confidence. The problem was he had never learned to deal with his emotions thinking they made him seem weak in the eyes of others. Without reacting, Morgan waited for the young man to calm down.

Predictably, Reid eventually lowered his eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

Gently, Morgan asked, "Was it the pictures?"

Reid looked up at Morgan, chewed his bottom lip and nodded in the affirmative, "they were strangled to death, Morgan."

To Morgan he resembled a tired, lost puppy. "Why don't you go lie down for a while?" At the look of resistance Morgan played his hidden ace, "Come on, kid. Hotch'll have my hide if I let you exhaust yourself before we even get to Seattle."

Reid gave in. He rose from his seat, walked to the long settee-like seat behind him, and laid down. He knew Hotch would pull him from this case without a second thought if he didn't take care of himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to keep the pictures out of his head, but try as he might he simply couldn't. As he rolled over he wondered again how anyone could be so cruel to children. He wondered why the perps didn't seek help before going this far.

Morgan sat covertly watching Reid's restlessness. The kid was really upset about this one, and with the recent renewal of his drug cravings tied so closely with a child's death, this could be his undoing. Hotch had just begun working with the young agent, helping him deal with the cravings. Morgan was sure it was too soon to put this kind of pressure on Reid. He tried to remind himself that the kid was stronger than he looked, and he was incredibly motivated to kick his addiction to dilaudid. Morgan decided he had to give the kid a chance if this was what he wanted, but he was going to keep a close eye on the young agent in the meantime.

The jet was still about an hour out from landing at Sea-Tac Airport when Reid finally gave up on trying to rest. He realized he'd begun to perseverate on the images and needed a distraction. Sitting up, he longingly looked at his messenger bag sitting on the floor near Morgan. Buried deep on the bottom was a needle and an unused bottle of dilauded. Though Morgan had been watching him like a cat watches a can of tuna lately, he had managed to sneak away long enough to obtain the drug. At the moment the feelings of guilt were minimal compared to his need to escape, if only for a short time, the feelings of despair he was experiencing. A soft voice deep inside told him he should tell Morgan about the vile in his possession, but he simply couldn't give it up. It felt like his lifeline. A much louder voice reminded him that one small hit would make the pain go away. No one would have to know. Reid turned his eyes to the small restroom door. All he had to do was casually walk over to the bag, pick it up and just as casually walk into the restroom.

He'd hardly realized he was actually moving until he heard Morgan's voice, "Where're you goin', kid?"

Reid froze, and then turned around to face the older man. "I – uh – I'm going to the restroom." He even sounded guilty to himself, and he began to fidget.

Morgan's ever expressive eyebrows shot up, "with your bag?"

"Umm, no," he gave an unconvincing snigger. To Morgan's questioning glance, Reid backpedaled both figuratively and literally, "I was just moving it over here. I have some paperwork . . . to, umm . . . yeah . . ." He nervously dropped the bag on the seat he'd been occupying, stiffly turned and nearly ran to the restroom leaving Morgan feeling concerned about the kid's unexpected behavior change.

In the small restroom Reid frantically shook his hands trying to relieve the feelings of embarrassment and disappointment. He'd just made a fool of himself in front of Morgan and still hadn't managed to get himself alone with the dilaudid. He willed himself to calm down and, when that didn't work, splashed his face with cold water. If he didn't pull it together, Morgan was going to start asking questions. Again Reid heard the quiet voice telling him to turn the drug over to the older agent. He shook his head as if actually talking to someone. The other voice – the loud one – told him he could handle it. He wasn't sure what the voice meant by 'handle it', but it was an easier option than giving up his lifeline.

Meanwhile, Morgan was combing through the case files trying to find anything that might point to finding this unsub. What did they have so far? Six strangled boys who all collected coins, and a violent unsub who also cared about his victims. Morgan wondered if the boys had any other commonalities. He wanted to look at all the possible demographics: age, height, weight, hair and eye color, where they lived, how they lived, and any other hobbies. He also wanted to interview as many of the parents as he could. Maybe one of them knew more than they realized.

Several minutes later the restroom door popped open, ejecting a smoothed down but still anxious looking Reid. Morgan scrutinized him out of the corner of his eye as he resumed his seat. The older agent watched as Reid opened his bag, looked inside, then as if frightened by what he found there, clapped it shut and hurriedly stuffed it under a nearby seat. When he sat back, arms crossed tightly around him, he didn't take his eyes off the bag.

Morgan knit his brow at the peculiar activity and had just decided to go investigate when Emily plopped down in front of him. She had her own copy of the case file in her hand. As was her bent, without preamble, she asked, "why so far apart?"

Distracted, Morgan gave her a perplexed stare.

She continued, "I mean, wouldn't it be easier just to pick up kids in the neighborhood? Why move around so much?"

Morgan postulated, "Could be a way to avoid detection. It's worked well for that purpose so far."

Emily was skeptical, "Maybe, but still, this is hundreds of miles we're talking about. Seems a little extreme just to cover your tracks, don't ya think? What if the unsub travels a lot? Like a sales person, or a contractor, or even a retiree with an R.V.?"

"You know, an R.V.'s a good idea," Morgan ruminated, "The boys are always found a few weeks later and close to where they were taken. He has to be keeping them some place, and a hotel would be too risky."

Gazing concernedly in Reid's direction, J.J. approached the other two agents. "We'll be landing in about 15 minutes." After years of this drill, they understood that to mean the pilot wanted them to buckle up in preparation. As they began situating themselves, J.J. asked, "What's up with Spence?"

He was still sitting, arms crossed, nearly glaring at his bag. Emily, seemingly noticing him for the first time, shrugged and turned to Morgan for answers. Morgan studied their youngest agent a moment before answering, "He's fine." Though he knew that wasn't entirely true. He acted as though he was in some sort of angry trance, and clearly he hadn't heard J.J announce their imminent landing. Morgan called over to him, "Reid." When he received no response, he tried a little louder, "Hey man!" The young man finally blinked and slowly slid his gaze toward the familiar sound of Morgan's voice, "We're about to land. Buckle up."

Reid, still on the edge of his reverie, automatically began following orders. He yanked his bag out from under the seat and moved to sit in the chair next to Emily. As he secured himself in, the rest of the team silently watched him for clues to his odd behavior. He offered none, but carefully schooled himself into a relaxed affect.

As the plane descended the team sat in congenial silence. Some thinking about the case, others thinking about the dark magical pull of dilaudid.

XOXOXOXO

Okay, that was a bit more Reid-centric than I had planned, but it almost had to be at first. The rest of the story will focus more on the case. :)

Generally, I have several chapters written before I post, but I just don't this time. This means subsequent chapters will be slower coming than usual I'm afraid. And because I'm about the start the class I've been dreading since I started grad school, things may be even slower. If you'd like to help speed things along, I'm far more inclined to write faster the more reviews I get. It's up to you really – no pressure.