A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've written something... blame it on school and pure exhaustion. This one's been in the works since Christmas, so give me a break, please! Slightly AU since Elle's in it, but she's still my favorite character so live with it. By the way, this is pure friendship between Elle and Reid... nothing more.

Disclaimer: Still doesn't belong to me... never has, never will.

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Ring. Ring. Ring.

Special Agent Elle Greenaway groaned and rolled over to look at her bedside clock. The sudden light hurt her eyes, and she squinted to read the numbers. 3:16 in the morning. She groaned again and rolled onto her stomach. Maybe if I ignore them they'll go away.

Ring. Ring.

Elle slammed her fist into her pillow in frustration and reached for her phone. Whoever the hell this is had better have a damn good reason for calling me so early. She fumbled around for a minute, knocking off the book she had been reading before bed. Finally her slim fingers connected with the coolness of the telephone. She shoved her chestnut hair aside and placed the receiver next to her ear. "'Lo?" she mumbled into the microphone.

"Elle?" A familiar voice sounded in her ear.

She recognized the voice instantly. "Reid?" she asked into the phone. She rolled her eyes in the dark. "Do you have any idea what time it is, Reid?" She tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice, but it didn't really work.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I guess I'll call Hotch or something."

"No, Reid, wait!" Elle surprised herself by stopping him. She glanced at the clock again. Why is it that when it comes to Reid, I always do the opposite of what I want to? She sighed into the microphone. "Haley will kill you if you wake up the baby."

She heard a snort on the other end of the line. "Yeah, she probably would."

Elle stifled a yawn and flipped on her bedside lamp. She pushed herself up and leaned against her headboard. "So why are you calling me at this ungodly hour?"

There was a long pause, as if Reid was trying to come up with an explanation.

"Reid?" Elle asked. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah," he replied, his voice growing quieter than normal. "Look, could I come over? I, uh, have to tell you in person."

Elle glanced at the clock one more time. "Reid, it's three-thirty in the morning."

She heard the young genius sigh on the other end. "You're right. It's no big deal."

"Reid…" Elle sighed and leaned forward. Here I go again. "Fifteen minutes, Reid."

Elle could almost hear him grin. "I'll be right there." Click.

Elle replaced the receiver and sank back against her headboard. Why the hell am I doing this? She threw back the covers and grabbed her silk robe that lay next to her on the bed. She stood and wrapped it around her shoulders, tying it tight around her slim waist. She quickly ran her fingers through her long hair, trying to get it out of the bedhead state that it was currently in.

She moved to her little-used kitchen and started up her well-worn coffee pot. She watched as the dark liquid began to fill the glass pot and sighed again, trying to shake the sleepy fog from her mind.

Tap, tap, tap. A soft knock at the front door startled her. She trudged through the living room and opened the door.

Spencer Reid squinted in the sudden light. He was dressed like he always did—button-down shirt, vest, a school bag slung over one shoulder. He looked like the young genius he was. His brown eyes adjusted to the light, and his mouth dropped open when he saw Elle. A flush came to his thin cheeks and his eyes immediately shot to his feet.

Elle looked down at her open bathrobe and grinned. "Come in, Reid." She pulled the robe closer to her slim body and stepped aside.

Reid stepped over the threshold and set his bag beside the door. "Wow, you have a nice place."

Elle disappeared into the kitchen. "It's functional. Not like I spend a lot of time here."

Reid sank onto the couch. "You know, studies have shown that the average person spends over seventy percent of his daily life outside his own home, which probably accounts for the drop—"

"Reid!"

Reid grinned. He knew the best ways to irritate his impulsive coworker, and he loved to bug the hell out of her.

Elle entered the living room with two coffee mugs in hand. She handed one to Reid and sat down on the sofa on the other side of the room. She studied him as he lifted the coffee to his lips. "Mmmm…" he said as he tasted it. "Two sugars. Just the way I like it."

Elle lifted her own mug to her lips as a million questions whirled in her brain. What could he possibly want? Why is he here at three o'clock in the morning? Why couldn't he tell me on the phone? Look at those circles under his eyes. How long has it been since he slept? "So, Reid, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, um," he cleared his throat. "I was just wondering…"

"Reid," Elle said, a slight edge to her voice. "It's early in the morning and I'd love to get back to bed." She instantly regretted it as her colleague's face fell. She got up and sat down next to him. Hesitantly she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry. Please tell me what's bothering you."

Reid looked at her with his big brown eyes, and then looked down at his knees. "Do you ever have, um… I guess you could call them bete noires. "

Elle looked at him, puzzled.

"Bete noires, French for night beasts."

Elle still looked puzzled. "Reid, some of us are actually normal."

"Nightmares," he clarified with a slight smile. "Do you ever have nightmares because of the job?"

Her brown eyes registered concern. "Are you still having nightmares?" She moved closer to him. "Tell me about it."

"Well," he said, clearing his throat again. "I'm in this dark room, and there's a hand reaching out to me. I try to grab it, but it keeps slipping out. Then it goes completely black, and there's this sick smell, like blood. And then I wake up."

Elle stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Reid's eyes never left his legs. "I thought I'd get over them. I thought that, once I got used to this…"

"You never get used to it, Reid," Elle interrupted gently. "This job… it's tough. It's hard because we see the worst of people every day. We see evil like no one else ever does, and usually we get it before we can prevent anything happening."

Reid finally looked up at her. "Do you ever get nightmares?"

She took a deep breath and put a hand on his shoulder. "Every time we get a new case."

Reid stared at her in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"What happens?"

Elle stared at the wall. "I'm running away from something, but I can't see what it is. I keep running, and I can't stop, but my legs won't move as fast as I want them to. I can hear it getting closer and closer until it's right behind me." She looked at Reid, who was staring at her wide-eyed. "The job is tough. It consumes us. And there's nothing we can do about it."

His face fell. Elle leaned forward until he was looking her in the eyes again. "Nothing except be there for each other."

Reid sighed. "Will they ever, uh, go away?"

Elle shook her dark head. "I don't know. But no matter what, I will always be there for you, Spencer."

The young genius finally cracked a smile as Elle yawned. "Now if you don't mind, Reid, I'm going back to bed."

Reid stood and set his empty coffee cup on the coffee table. "I guess I'll be going." He moved toward the door.

"Hey Reid." He turned to see Elle at her bedroom door. "You're more than welcome to take the couch." She grinned. "So I can be there for you to plug in a nightlight, just in case."