Criminal Nightmares

by Artemis Ambrose

Jen and her friends are having nightmares about a horribly burned man in a red and green sweater. the FBI are sent in, specifically, the BAU team. Reid's perception of reality, and logic, are turned upside down, especially the closer he gets to Jen.

51

Jennifer could feel the heat, before she could see where she was. When she realized where she was, her heart sped up, noticeably, and the sweat sliding down her face and body had very little to do with the heat. She unfortunately recognized her surroundings; she came to this place almost every time that she slept. Maybe once or twice the place was different, but what happened was always the same.

Jennifer looked around, but didn't waste time. She quickly started walking fast, to the point where she was almost jogging. She was breathing much heavier than her pace should have been. The feeling that he was close to her was overwhelming. It was getting much harder to breathe.

Her heart stopped when she heard his laugh, too close for comfort.

She found a door, and it opened effortlessly. She went through and found herself looking at a school. Why was she here? What kind of game was he playing with her this time? Why was he coming after her in her dreams? Why did no one believe her, even after all of the deaths in the town? Her friends had committed suicide, at least that's what the police and everyone wanted her to believe, but she knew better than that. She'd been told about the man that was trying to kill them in their dreams. No one had believed them, and now they were dead. If she didn't wake up soon, she would be dead too.

She'd described the man to the police, her mom, anyone who would listen to her, but they told her that they were only nightmares, and she was fine. No one connected the deaths to the man in their dreams. The police had told her that people don't die from nightmares, it was impossible. That's what they thought. She knew better though.

She felt a presence behind her. She spun around, and saw him, his horribly scarred face, his tattered brown fedora, his torn green and red sweater, his dirty work pants, and his boots. What her eyes gravitated to was the weapon on his right hand. He had knives on four out of five fingers. They reminded her of razor sharp claws. Claws that had tried many times to kill her. He'd come very close a time or two, and getting closer every single time that she met up with him.

She needed to wake up.

He laughed, and that got her going. She spun around and ran into the school. It was old and leaky. Her bare feet slapped the tiled floor, sounding like she was jumping in puddles. She soon came to a wall. She could go either left or right. She chose right, and ran into him. He laughed as she pushed him away from her, and turned around to run away from him.

At the end of the hallway, she came to a door. It said, 'maintenance' on the door. It swung open at her touch. She quickly ran in the room and shut the door behind her. She turned to look around the room, but all she saw was him, swiping the knives at her.

She woke up screaming, and holding onto her left arm. It burned, and hurt like hell. She'd fallen asleep again. She had fought it most of the night, but sleep had unfortunately won. She screamed in surprise when her door opened suddenly, and her mother ran in.

"Jenny, what is wrong? What happened? Shit! Throw on some shorts; you need to get to the hospital." Her mother said frantically.

Jennifer didn't say anything; she just stood up, slid on the first pair of shorts that she came across, and then her mother came back into the room, and wrapped a towel around the slash marks on Jen's arm. Her mother all but dragged her to the car. Soon, they got to the hospital, and she was being taken care of. She told them that she'd had a nightmare, and that she scratched herself in her sleep. They seemed to believe her.

They got back about two hours before she needed to be at school. Her mother told her to get some sleep, but she knew better. There was no way in hell that she was going to sleep. She wanted to live, which meant that she could, in no way, shape, or form, fall asleep. She went to her room, and locked the door behind her. She needed to make some sort of plan.

XXXX

Jennifer was trying her hardest to keep her eyes open. They were getting too heavy. She took a deep breath, and sat up straighter in her chair. She looked around the room. Her classmates seemed to be into the lecture. All but one, that is. Sara, her next door neighbor, was staring ahead of her, not paying attention to the teacher. Sara seemed to be frozen in fear. Jen followed Sara's eyes, and couldn't breathe. He was at the front of the classroom, instead of the teacher.

How had this happened? She didn't think that she had fallen asleep. Could she have fallen asleep without realizing it? Oh god, she had hoped not, but if she had fallen asleep, then how was she seeing him? This was not good. She didn't want to die, not in school, not for a long time. How could they possibly say that it was a suicide, if it was during a class though? Why would anyone kill themselves during classes, when there were so many people around to stop it? They would have to come up with a new theory, but they would come up blank, because she doubted that the police would believe anyone about the dreams still.

He looked at her, and smiled, showing his decayed teeth. She wanted to throw up.

"Don't go anywhere Jenny; I'll be right with you, right after I'm done with Sara. We're going to have so much fun." He told her.

This was bad. It was as if he was telling her that her time was up. Fear kept her from moving. All she could do was watch him as he moved closer to Sara. She was powerless to stop him. Sara glanced fearfully at Jen. She wanted to comfort Sara, but the words were stuck in her throat.

He got to Sara, who was whimpering, grabbed her neck, and pulled her out of the seat. He threw Sara against the wall, and she cried out in pain, as she fell to the floor. Jen gasped. She heard someone speaking, but it sounded so far away, and she couldn't hear what was being said, the words were too fuzzy for her to make out. She wasn't paying attention though; all of her attention was on Sara. She was going to watch her friend die right before her eyes, and there wasn't anything that she could do to stop it from happening.

He picked Sara up by the throat with his left hand, and pushed her up against the wall, hard. Sara tried fighting back, but he was so much stronger than she was. Her hands were gripping his wrist as he lifted her off of the ground. He moved her to her desk, and slammed her on top of it. Jen gasped in fright again, a little louder this time. Once again, she heard the far away, groggy, words, but still couldn't understand what was being said.

He looked at Jen, and smiled.

"This is going to be so much fun." He rasped.

"No." She gasped.

More of the hazy talking surrounded her, a little louder this time, but just as unclear. She couldn't worry about the unclear talking right now, Sara was about to die, if she couldn't wake her up.

He began strangling Sara. Then, he slammed her head against the desk. Jen jumped as she heard the sickening thud of skull against the cold, hard desk. He slashed his knives against Sara's cheek, drawing blood. Jen could smell the metallic blood, and it was making her feel sick to her stomach.

He raised his hand again, and she knew what was going to happen. She didn't know what had come over her, but she jumped up, and ran towards him.

"NO!" She yelled, running for him.

He threw Sara away from him. Sara hit her head on the corner of the teacher's desk as she fell. Sara didn't move again, as blood pooled around her motionless head.

He got his hands on Jen, and threw her to the ground. She hit her head on the floor, and she winced in pain. When she opened her eyes again, everything was different.

Her teacher, Mr. Stack, was looking down at her. She glanced around the room, and her classmates were looking at her like she was crazy.

"What happened?" Mr. Stack said.

Jen sat up, looking for Sara. Sara had her head down on her arms, on the desk. Jen could see the blood starting to seep from underneath her unmoving arms.

"Sara." Jen gasped.

Jen jumped up and ran over to her friend. She grabbed Sara's shoulder, and screamed as the jolt made Sara's body slump even more and fall out of the chair, and onto the floor, in a heap. Jen dropped down to her knees. Screams filled the class room. The other students had seen the blood. People were starting to pile into the room. Somebody was in the process of calling the police.

Jen's hands were shaking as she searched for a pulse. It was hard, but she found a very weak one. Someone had pulled her away from Sara's body, and stood her up. She swayed on the spot, as her stomach churned violently. It was becoming over whelming, and the smell of the blood wasn't making anything better. Her vision was blurring, as the bile rose to her throat. She put her hand over her mouth to try to push the nausea back down. It didn't work, she moved her hand, and as she did, she bent over, and everything that she'd eaten that day had come back up. Someone brought a garbage basket over, and put it in the line of fire. They also had moved her hair out of the way.

"You need to go to the nurse." Mr. Stack said.

She didn't acknowledge that he had said anything to her.

"I'll bring her." The person that had brought the garbage to her said.

It was Kevin Dennison. He lived right down the road from her, and he was having the same dreams as her. He must have realized what had happened. He was safe to talk to about what had happened in her dreamlike state.

Kevin pulled her out of the crowded classroom. They made their way to the nurse's office. Halfway there, medics and police officers ran past them.

"It was him, he did that to her." She told him; when the police had turned the corner, out of ear shot.

"I figured. You were staring off into space, and not responding to Mr. Stack. I tried waking you up, but it didn't work. Then you jumped up, trying to run. Mr. Stack all but tackled you to the ground. Well, you know the rest." Kevin said.

She nodded.

When they had gotten to the nurse's office, she made Jen lay down. She took Jen's temperature, and blood pressure. About fifteen minutes later, two men walked into the office. They couldn't have looked any more different from each other. They talked to the nurse, and she pointed to her. They walked over to her.

"Jennifer Hatfield, my name is SSA Morgan, and this is Dr. Reid. We are from the Behavioral Analysis Unit, BAU, with the FBI. Can we ask you some questions?" Morgan asked.

Jen didn't answer, she just nodded.

Morgan sat down on the bed that was right next to hers, and looked at her.

"We've been told that you were the one that found Sara how she was. What happened?" Morgan asked.

Jen looked at him for a minute before she cleared her throat to speak. She knew that she could not tell him the truth, he would think that she was crazy, just like everyone else had, when told. She looked at Dr. Reid, and then glanced at Kevin for a brief second, before answering SSA Morgan. She felt Dr. Reid's eyes on her as she spoke.

"Sara is my next door neighbor, and my friend. She's been complaining about really bad nightmares, and not being able to sleep very well. She told me that if I ever saw her sleeping, to quickly wake her up, whatever means necessary. She was upset, and very scared. I was worried about her, she was all I could think about when I saw her sleeping at her desk, I mean, I never heard Mr. Stack talking to me, he thought that I was freaking out or something, when I jumped up to get to Sara. When I got to her and touched her, she was hurt, bleeding, and had almost no pulse. I think that Sara scratched herself in her sleep. I saw that she had scratch marks on her cheek. I got sick, so Mr. Stack had Kevin bring me here." Jen said.

She only held SSA Morgan's eyes every so often during her limited retelling of the story. She wouldn't keep her eyes on his while she was talking. She didn't want to look at him while she was lying to him. She hated lying, but it's what needed to be done, since no one believed the truth.

"What happened to your arm?" Dr. Reid asked.

Jen jumped slightly when she heard his voice, she had all but forgotten that he was there with them. He was very quiet.

"What?" She asked.

Dr. Reid pointed just below her shoulder.

"Why is your shoulder wrapped in gauze?" Dr. Reid asked.

She had to take off her sweater; it had gotten puke on it. The gauze covering her cuts was fully exposed, and eye catching. She glanced at Kevin once again for a split second, before replying.

"I had a bad dream in the middle of the night last night, and I scratched myself, badly. My mother took me to get it fixed. It's nothing." She said, and even to her, it sounded phony.

SSA Morgan and Dr. Reid looked at each other, and then back at her.

"Is that all?" Dr. Reid asked.

She frowned.

"I'm sorry that I can't give you any more than that, the next time a friend of mine almost dies in front of me, I will be sure to pay attention to every little thing around me." She snapped.

"Dr. Reid didn't mean anything by that. We are sorry for disturbing you. Your principal has said that you are free to go home. You should probably get some rest." Morgan said.

"That's never going to happen." She mumbled.

"What was that?" Dr. Reid asked.

She hadn't realized that she had said anything out loud.

"Nothing. It's probably a good idea. I am kind of tired." She said quietly, not looking at either of them.

"I'll bring you home Jen." Kevin said.

She just nodded.

He helped her up, and she started leaving. She paused before she left the office, and turned to them again.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be any more help." She said, and then left the office.

They went to her locker to get her books.

"Do you think that they believed the story?" She asked.

"What else were you supposed to tell them, the truth? I highly doubt that they would have believed that either. No one else believed us, or anyone else who has had the same dreams." Kevin said.

She nodded.

He guided her out of the school, and into the parking lot, to his car. He quickly drove her to her house.

"There's no way in hell that I'm going to fall asleep. I probably won't wake up if I do." She said, as they walked into her house.

"I don't blame you. There's no way I'm falling asleep either." He said, as they made their way to the kitchen to make some coffee.

"We need to keep each other awake any way possible. We need to get some caffeine pills, or energy drinks, or that five hour energy thing they have out now. Something that will give us energy to keep us from falling asleep." She said.

"I will go and get some more, I'm on my last couple caffeine pills. Do you want one, until I bring more back?" He asked.

She nodded, as she watched the coffee.

"Definitely. There's no way that I'm going to let myself fall asleep any time soon." She said.

He nodded as he pulled some pills out of his bag. He only had two left.

"One for you and one for me." He told her.

"Thank you." She said, downing the pill with some water.

He did the same.

"I'll go and get some more, just don't fall asleep while I am gone." He said.

She shook her head.

"I don't plan on it. I just hope that this works. I don't know what else we can do; the only way that we will survive is by not falling asleep." She said.

"I know. I promise that I will be back as soon as I can. Try to hold out until I get back, then I will help you stay awake." He said.

She nodded, and he left.

She began pacing, for something to do while she waited for Kevin to return. The coffee seemed to be going as slow as it possibly could go, just to screw with her. She ran her hand through her hair, as she looked at the clock. Kevin had been gone for a half an hour. What was taking him so long? He had said that he would be as fast as he could be, but it shouldn't take this long. Maybe he had gotten caught up, or stopped to talk with someone. She had no clue.

She decided to watch something on the television.

Almost as soon as she turned the TV on, there was a knock on the door. She threw the remote on the couch, and went to answer the door. She was surprised to see who was at the door.

"Are you checking up on me, or something?" She asked.

SSA Morgan and Dr. Reid looked at each other, then at her. They looked a little confused.

"This isn't a social call, Ms. Hatfield. Can we come in?" SSA Morgan asked.

She nodded, stepping back, to let them in.

"Jennifer, what happened after you left the school?" Dr. Reid asked.

She frowned.

"Why?" She asked.

She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right. The news was buzzing in her ear about some car accident on Main Street.

Neither could speak before the news answered for them.

"The victim is 18 year old Kevin Dennison. Authorities said that Dennison fell asleep behind the wheel…"

It was all she needed to hear, and her breathing became very shallow as her heart sped up. Kevin's system was way too full of the caffeine pills, that it took more to give him the energy to keep him awake. He had fallen asleep before he could get any more into his system.

"Are you okay? You don't look good. Maybe you should sit down." Dr. Reid said.

"No, it can't be. He can't be dead." She said; her head spinning.

"I'm so sorry that you had to hear about it that way. You had no clue what happened to him?" Dr. Reid asked.

She looked at him, and raised her eyebrows. Her mouth dropped open, and wondered if she had somehow fell into an alien planet.

"Are you high? I wasn't there, I don't know what happened. Why are you guys here anyways?" She demanded.

"You're not telling us something, we just want to know what it is." Morgan said.

She looked at Morgan.

"Why do you think that?" She asked.

Maybe they hadn't bought her story, but there was no way that they would believe the truth. No one else had. They were no different.

"You barely made any eye contact while we spoke earlier." Reid said.

She shook her head.

"My friend is almost dead, my other friend just died, and you are wondering why I didn't make eye contact with you? Are you two serious?" She demanded.

"Okay, why don't you just sit down and relax? There is no need to get upset." Morgan said.

"No need to get upset? Kevin just died, Sara almost died right in front of me, you two are here because I didn't make eye contact, and there isn't any need to get upset? You have got to be joking! How do you guys ever solve any crimes with attitudes like that?" She spat.

"We know that this is a rough time for you. You have lost some friends, and are hurting. We are sorry, but please; don't take your anger out on us. We are only trying to do our jobs." Morgan said calmly.

She shook her head again.

"Do you hear what you are saying? Either of you?" She asked.

Morgan's cell phone suddenly rang. He walked out of the room, and answered it. She was left alone with Reid. It was a little uncomfortable.

"Is this how you question everyone, or am I just a special case?" She asked.

"We are asking questions to try to figure out who is doing this. We don't want to upset you any more than what you are." Reid told her.

She ran a hand through her hair.

"Maybe you should ask some of the victims' parents, or the cops about the dreams." She mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"What did you just say?" Reid asked in surprise.

She had spoken out loud again. She needed to be careful about doing that, especially with him around. He seemed to hear everything.

Just then, Morgan came back into the room. He looked at her, worried.

"That was Hotch." Morgan said to Reid.

"What happened?" Reid asked.

Morgan looked at Jen, and shook his head slightly. Something was wrong; she felt it in the pit of her stomach. Bile was rising again, and fast.

"I'm so sorry, but Sara died." Morgan said quietly.

He had killed her. He had actually succeeded. She should be surprised, but she realized that she wasn't. He was going to kill her too. There was no stopping it. He would win. The only solution that she could find was to stay awake.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked.

He sounded so far away.

"Jennifer?" Morgan said.

She didn't answer; she just went into the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard. She was grateful that the coffee had finally finished. She poured herself a cup, and immediately took a drink.

"What are you doing?" Reid asked, both following her into the kitchen.

"Why are you two still here? Shouldn't you be out there, trying to find the person who is doing this?" She demanded.

"It would be easier, if you tell us what you are hiding." Morgan said.

"Leave, now. Anything that I may or may not know, that you think I'm hiding, can't possibly help you." She told them.

"I think that we will be the judge of that. Just tell us. It couldn't hurt." Reid said.

She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I doubt that would make any difference. The police and the parents of the dead kids thought that they were crazy, when they told them what was going on. Why would you two be any different? Anything that people can't explain is crazy to them." She told them.

Both looked surprised.

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked.

She exhaled loudly.

"Maybe you should talk to the cops and the parents. Now, leave." She told them.

"Why can't you tell us?" Morgan asked.

"Because, you wouldn't believe me. When you hear what they have to tell you, and if you believe it, then come back. Until then, you both need to leave." She said.

Morgan nodded. They left, and she was alone, again. The tears fell, fast. She could barely breathe from crying. She had to stop crying though. Crying had always drained her, and she could not afford to become any more tired than what she already was.

She decided to raid the medicine cabinet for anything that would help her stay awake. Nothing. How could there be nothing? She was sure that her mother had something that would help, but she didn't find anything. Coffee would have to do for now.

The phone rang. It was Debbie Canton. She was scared. She'd heard about Kevin and Sara, and thought that she would be next. Jen tried calming Debbie down, but she wasn't doing too good of a job. Jen asked, if she wanted her to come over, but Debbie declined. Her parents didn't want any company, and wanted Debbie to get some sleep. They were making her go to bed to rest, but Debbie was freaking out. Jen knew what would happen if Debbie fell asleep, and it was nothing good. Jen told her to try her best to stay awake, and to drink a ton of coffee. Jen told her that she would call later, just to check in on her. Debbie agreed, and then they hung up.

Jen was scared and worried about her friend. There was nothing that she could do to help though. She did not like feeling like she was helpless.

XXXX

Jen was on her fifth cup of coffee when her mother came home. Her mother had heard what had happened, and wanted to make sure that Jen was okay.

Her mother saw how tired Jen was, and made Jen go to her room to rest. To make her mother happy, she went to her room, but did not lie down; she wasn't taking the chance of falling asleep. She wanted nothing to with him, no matter what her mother told her to do. She wanted to live, and sleeping wasn't the answer, it was the problem.

She paced around in her room, needing to do something to keep her awake, since she didn't have access to any coffee. She was becoming desperate for something to do, and nothing was working. Her eyes kept falling closed. Frustration was high on the list of her emotions. She wanted to sleep, but knew the result if she fell asleep. Her body wanted to sleep, right along with her brain, but she fought tooth and nail to stay awake.

She suddenly heard sirens, and her stomach clenched tightly. She went to her window, to see if the sirens were coming her way. Unfortunately, they flew past her house, and went down the street to Debbie's house. Anxiety coursed through her like adrenaline. She didn't like the feeling at all. Tears flowed freely as she knew without being told anything. Debbie must have given into sleep, and paid for it. She sobbed freely as she saw two SUVs pulled up to Debbie's house. Morgan and Reid exited the vehicle with some other people that she assumed were their coworkers. Reid turned around, and looked at Jen's house. She wiped away tears as Reid looked up at her, worry stamped on his figure.

She knew that they weren't going to find anything that would help them with the case. Even if they had believed her, who were they going to arrest? It wasn't like they could arrest him from her dreams. There was no way that this was going to end with getting him out of her life. At least, not with her coming out of this alive. The thought scared her senseless.

She kept her eyes one his until someone spoke to him, and he turned around to talk to them. Jen moved away from the window, running her hand through her hair. She tried taking deep breaths, to calm her nerves, but it wasn't working.

About ten minutes later, she heard a knock at the bedroom door. She jumped, not expecting the knock. She was surprised to see who was at her door.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Debbie's house, looking for clues about who is behind my friends dropping like flies?" She asked.

"Your mother let me in, and told me to come up. She figured that you wouldn't be sleeping. Why won't you go to sleep like she asked?" Dr. Reid asked.

Her heart skipped a beat, as she saw his face flash in her memory. She flinched. He was watching her reactions very carefully.

"What does my choosing to not sleep have to do with anything?" She asked, feigning confusion.

She couldn't read his face. She didn't know if he believed her.

"Are you having nightmares?" Reid asked.

What was he getting at? There was no possible way that he could believe her, there wasn't any proof that he was behind anything, and no record of him. He was in their dreams. He didn't exist out of their dreams.

"Why does that matter?" She asked, trying not to look guilty.

"You told Morgan and me to ask the officers, and parents, about the victim's dreams that they'd been having. You also had said that Sara was having bad nightmares, and didn't want to sleep. Then she fell asleep in class, and now she's dead. Your friend Kevin died because he fell asleep behind the wheel. Was he having nightmares too?" Reid asked.

She really wanted to believe that he was coming to the truth, but she just didn't think that he would. She wanted someone to tell her that she wasn't going crazy, and that she was going to be safe. She was realistic though, she doubted that was going to happen though. She was going to die, at his hand. She would fight for as long as she could, and the only way that was going to happen, was if she was to stay awake for as long as she could. No one could save her. The realization of this made it difficult to breathe.

"I…don't know. He didn't tell me." She said.

"Was Debbie having nightmares too?" Reid asked.

Jen shook her head.

"She didn't say anything to me if she was." She told him hoarsely.

Reid watched her for a minute, and sighed. She sat down on the bed as he shut her door, for more privacy. He sat down next to her.

"I talked to some officers and some of the parents. All of the parents that I talked to had the same story at one point. All of the victims were having extremely bad nightmares. They said that their kids complained that someone was after them in their dreams. Sometimes the kids would wake up with marks on their bodies. They were scared to death to go to sleep. The officers were told this by the families, but didn't think that there was anything to warrant a deeper checking on this. Actually, I don't know anyone that would delve deeper into anything that had a murderer in the victim's nightmares." Reid told her.

She rolled her eyes. Just like she'd thought. He didn't believe it. She would have been more surprised if he had believed it. The whole thing was crazy, and if she wasn't going through it presently, she doubted that she would have believed it either.

"Believe what you want. Just because it doesn't make sense, doesn't mean it isn't happening. You probably see things that I can't imagine every day, but do you know what it's like to be so scared to sleep at night because you know what you will see, or what will happen to you if you do? Do you know what it's like to want to sleep with every fiber of your being, but knowing that if you do, you will have to fight just to be able to wake up, and that if you can't wake yourself up, that you might not wake up at all?" She demanded.

"You are having nightmares…Nightmares can't hurt you, the fear you feel during sleep stresses you out and the fear can get to the point where it can kill you, but to say that something in your dreams is the reason why you die from what it, or they, do to you isn't sensible." Reid told her.

She shook her head.

"You do not understand any of this, and that's because you're not going through it. If you could just see what Sara saw when she fell asleep, you would change what you thought." She said.

He didn't say anything right away, he watched her for a minute.

"Tell me about your nightmares. Let me know what goes on when you fall asleep. Why you are so scared of your dreams. Help me understand." He told her.

"Why are you doing this? It will not help anything, it's not like you can arrest the guy, and he only exists in dreams. There is no way that you can help or save me from him, you can't get to him." She told him.

"Just tell me about your nightmares so I can understand what your friends were going through when they died." He said.

"Anxiety. Fear. Dread. Take your pick; I'm sure that they felt all of that all the way up until they died." She said.

He just looked at her. The gaze made her uncomfortable. She sighed, and looked at the floor.

"Fine. All of the dreams are basically the same, the place might change sometimes, but he is always there. I don't know his name, none of us do. He looks like he's been horribly burned and scarred; he always wears the same thing too. A red and green sweater, a brown fedora, work pants and boots. He tries to kill me. He has a glove with razor sharp knives for claws on his right hand that he uses. He appears out of nowhere, and can't be hurt." She said.

He didn't say anything. He didn't believe her, and now she felt like a fool. She knew that she shouldn't have said anything, and now he would think that she was crazy like the cops thought that her friends were when they told adults. She ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't care if you believe me, or not. I know what happens when I fall asleep, and you can't save me, no one can, if he wants me dead, just don't feel too badly when I turn up dead, and you realize that I'm not crazy, that I knew what I was talking about. I didn't get these wounds from scratching myself they are too smooth to be from my nails. However, I'm sure that you are going to believe whatever you want to." She spat, ripping the gauze off of her wounds.

The sliced flesh was bright red and irritated. She saw him studying the wound and saw what she meant. The marks were too smooth for them to be made by fingernails.

"Who else is having these nightmares?" Reid asked.

She shook her head.

"I'm the last, as far as I know. I haven't heard anyone talking about nightmares. I'm next, and I can't let myself fall asleep." She said.

"You will die. After so long without sleep, you die. Everything will start shutting down until you are dead." He told her.

"That's just freaking perfect. I can't sleep or I'll die, and I can't stay awake for too long, or that will kill me. It's a no-win situation." She said miserably.

"You are not going to die." He told her.

"You still don't get it, do you? There is nothing that anyone can do to stop him! He wants me dead, and he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants. You will figure that out when I die. I can't get away from him; he is everywhere when I close my eyes. He all but killed Sara right in front of me. How are you explaining that one? In your opinion, how did she die? It couldn't have been suicide, I mean she was in class when it happened, no one is that stupid to try to kill themselves while people are right there to stop them, it doesn't make sense at all." She said.

She rubbed her eyes. They were so tired and itchy.

"You look exhausted; you really need to get some rest." He said, but when she looked at him, it was not Reid that she was looking at. It was him.

She screamed in surprise, and threw herself away from him. She landed on the floor, scrambling to get away. He stood, and stalked towards her. She scooted away from him as fast as she could. She stumbled to her feet, and tried running away from him. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. She was about to scream, when she realized that Reid was the one holding onto her arm. She ran her hand through her hair. She tried to calm her racing heart.

"What the hell was that?" Reid demanded.

"I saw him, instead of you. He was right there. I wasn't even sleeping, and I saw him." She said shakily.

"You need to sleep, you are having micro naps, and they're like hallucinations and day dreams mixed together. If you don't sleep soon, you will go into a coma. Then its death." Reid said.

"What part of I'm dead if I sleep are you not understanding?" She asked.

"You will die if you don't sleep." He told her.

"I would rather stay awake and die later, than sleeping now and dying sooner." She said.

Her door suddenly opened, and her mother looked worried.

"I heard a scream, is everything okay?" Her mother said.

"Everything is fine, Dr. Reid was just leaving. He needs to get back over to Debbie's house." Jen said.

"Jenny, what happened? Her mother asked.

"Nothing, I just stubbed my toe. Everything is fine." She said.

Her mother nodded, and then disappeared from sight. Jen sighed, and shook her head.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Reid asked.

She laughed sarcastically.

"You really don't understand this do you? If I told her anything, she would think that I'm crazier than what she thought before. You barely believe me, if at all. Why should I have told her?" Jen asked.

"You don't think that you have any one to talk to? Who will believe you?" Reid asked.

"I don't think, I know it. Case in point, no one believed any of my friends when they told them. Now, please, just go and do your job, as well as you can, since you can't stop the person killing us." She told him.

He just watched her for a moment.

"Okay. I just want you to know, that if you want to talk, about anything, give me a call. I will listen." He told her.

He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed her a card. She took it, and read it. His first name was Spencer. Interesting. She looked up at him again, and nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said.

He turned around, and left.

She took a steadying breath, then stood and walked over to the window. She watched his retreating back. When he got to Debbie's house and turned to look at her. After a few seconds, he walked into the house.

She opened her window, to get some fresh air, to help her wake up. When would all of this end? She could end it at any time; all she would have to do was go to sleep. She didn't want to die though. It was a no win situation.

Reid had told her that she would die if she didn't sleep, and he didn't look like the type that would make that type of stuff up. He had probably graduated at the very top of his class.

She sighed again.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. It was her mother.

"Honey, I have to go into the office, are you going to be okay? If you need me to stay here, I will." She said.

Jen smiled, but shook her head.

"I'll be fine mom. Go into work." Jen said.

"Are you sure?" Her mother asked.

Jen nodded.

"Go ahead." Jen said.

Her mother nodded and left.

She was alone. She needed to find something to do, and fast. She could feel her body becoming very sluggish. She headed for the kitchen to get some coffee. There was barely any left in the pot. Not good. She ran a hand through her hair, and made another pot of coffee. She went into the living room, and turned the TV on. It was the news, and they were at Debbie's house. She fought back a sob as best as she could, but it escaped from between her lips. She turned the TV off again, and walked outside, to stand on the porch. She watched the circus that was surrounding Debbie's house.

Poor Debbie. Debbie had called for help, but there was nothing that Jen could do. That did not mean that Jen didn't feel guilty for not being able to help her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she silently cried.

She felt like she was suffocating from the anxiety washing over her. She caught Reid looking over at her, looking worried. She didn't want to deal with him right now. She quickly went back inside, and headed to her room. She paced for a while, and then decided to take a shower, to get her body to wake up. She highly doubted that it could make her any more tired than what she already was.

She grabbed a change of clothes and headed into her bathroom, locking the door behind her, and started the water. She made sure the window was open, to disperse the steam, and keep her mirror clear. She quickly brushed her hair and stepped out of her clothes. She secured a covering over her wound, and stepped into the shower. She made sure that the glass door was secured, and then stepped under the water. She let the water wash over her, then she put her head on her arm, and rested up against the wall.

She hadn't realized that she'd closed her eyes, until the water had started getting much warmer than it should have been. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that she hadn't opened her eyes right away. She spun around and looked everywhere, to see if she'd actually woken up, or if she was asleep. Everything seemed to be normal, but she wasn't too sure. Her heart was acting as if it was trying to win a sprinting contest against itself. She rubbed a hand over her face, and tried to relax.

Something wet was suddenly creeping up around her ankles. Her head jerked down and found that something was clogging the drain. That was weird, there shouldn't be anything clogging the drain, she'd just cleaned it out. She knelt down, and reached towards the drain. However, she paused right before she got her finger to the drain. She knew that if she was dreaming, this would not be a good, or smart, thing to do. It was something that he wanted her to do, stick her fingers in a clogged drain. However, she needed to get whatever was plugging up the drain, or else the water was going to spill out onto the floor, then, she would have to clean all of the gross, mud colored water, up. She wiped the water off of her face, and sighed. She decided to skip the potential cleaning, and get whatever was in the drain, out of it. She bit her lip, and slid her fingers in. Her fingers hit something, it felt like a piece of thick, rough, cloth. She frowned. What was something like that doing in the drain?

She grabbed it as best as she could, and tugged on it. It was jammed in the drain, tightly. She worked it out as quickly as she could. When she got some of it out, she saw that it looked like it was bigger than what she thought the drain could have handled. The thing was all bunched up and she couldn't quite tell what the thing was. It was dark brown.

About five minutes later, she had finally gotten the thing out, and felt sick. This wasn't good. This was not good what so ever. She stood, holding the hat in her hand. She was finding it even harder to breathe.

Suddenly, she was pushed up against the tiled wall. She screamed in surprise, gasping in terror as she felt pain spread around her left cheek bone.

"There's no escaping from me." He growled at her.

She screamed in fear.

She was spun around, and slammed against the wall. The back of her head hit the tiles, and her vision blurred for a moment. His left hand went around her throat, and she gasped for air. He raised his gloved right hand, menacingly. Her eyes were frantic as she looked at the razor sharp knives connected to the glove. Her hands grabbed his left wrist, to try to get his hand away from her throat, but still not taking her eyes of the knives.

He moved his right hand to her cheek, trailing a knife down her jaw line. He put his face close to hers, cheek to cheek, in fact, and he inhaled deeply, groaning as if he liked her smell, a little too much for her liking.

"What do you want?" She gasped.

He laughed, and that did not make her feel any better. It actually made her feel sicker than what she already was.

"You don't remember."

She wasn't sure if he was stating it, or asking a question.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please leave me alone." She begged.

That seemed to make him mad. He squeezed her neck tighter. She scratched at his burned hand, trying to pry his fingers away from her throat. She screamed as loud as she could. That made him laugh. He was like a roller coaster, emotionally. It was as if he had bi-polar or something.

"You'll remember soon enough." He told her.

He stepped away from her, raising his right hand. She screamed as he swiped at her. She brought her arms up in front of her, shielding her upper body from getting slashed. Only, he hit her in the temple. Her head was blasted to the right, and she fell into the glass door. She fell to the bottom of the tub, in a heap, screaming some more.

"This is almost too easy." He growled at her.

He pulled her to her feet. He grabbed her neck again, as she tried to open the door of the shower. It wouldn't budge. Of course, the rising water level wasn't helping anything either. He suddenly slammed her head against the glass. Amazingly, the glass didn't break. He then pulled her by the neck, and slammed her face into the tiled wall. She grunted from the sheer force of the throw.

She heard voices coming from somewhere, but she was also disoriented, so she could just be imagining things. Since, she had fallen, he fished her out of the water, where she was trying to stand, and not go under the dirty water. She was gasping for clean air, but it was getting harder to breathe. She tasted blood; the force of the facial blow had made her nose and mouth bleed.

The talking was getting louder, very steadily, and she was starting to see a little better.

"It's time to say goodbye. Goodbye Jenny." He rasped.

He put his gloved hand on the top of her head, and pushed her down, underneath the polluted water. She held her breath for as long as she could. Thankfully, his hand had come off of her head, and she broke the surface of the water, trying to get as much air into her burning lungs as possible. She screamed, as she felt his right hand on her head again. She took a deep breath right before he managed to push her under the water again. Her arms went above her head, breaking the surface of the water. She tried grabbing for something, anything that could have helped her, but there was nothing to grab. Her lungs were burning, and she felt as if they were going to explode, just when his hand left her head again. She could barely move her body, to get above the water, and to where the air was.

She did get above the water, getting as much air as she could. Then, her legs gave out from under her, and she descended under the water again. This time, she couldn't get to the surface. Her arms and legs wouldn't work the way she needed them to. Her vision was blurring, and she felt the darkness coming. This was it, she was going to die.

Her eyes shut, and the darkness consumed her.

XXXX

Jen opened her eyes, to find that she was lying on her bed in her bedroom. She sat up, and swung her legs off of the bed, and stood up. The sun was streaming through her open window. The breeze grazed her cheeks, and she smelled freshly cut grass, one of her favorite scents from summer. She smiled as she tried looking out the window, but the sun was too bright. It had hurt her eyes to look out the window.

She turned her back on the window, and crossed the room to her door. She opened it, and walked through, but she wasn't in the hall, where she should be. She was outside of a factory. Where was she?

Suddenly, she heard the squeal of tires coming towards her, and she spun around to see what was going on. Four cars of men and women were speeding right for her. She stepped out of the way just as they flew by her. She ran after them, and watched them. Apparently they didn't see her for some reason, which confused her.

The men and women were talking among themselves. She caught bits and pieces of what they were saying, but most of it was hard to understand. She heard what they said, but what they were saying didn't seem to connect together like they should. It was as if her brain couldn't process what was being said.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. She felt foggy.

"I know that she's in there! I need to get her before he does something to her." A very familiar looking woman said.

Jen squinted at the woman, and realized that it was a much younger version of her mother. As she looked at the other men and women, she realized that she was looking at the younger versions of her dead friends' parents.

She frowned. What was going on? She felt like her lungs were compressing, and her heart was speeding up.

Jen turned her attention to the factory, as her mother grabbed a torch, and headed for the factory. Kevin's father and Debbie's mother followed closely. Jen followed them, without realizing what she was doing.

Her mother entered the factory, and Jen followed her. They walked down a couple of hallways, and then they came to a stair well. They took it all the way down to the boiler room. Her breathing became even more labored as she realized where she was.

She suddenly heard a sound. It was a little girl's cries.

Her mother gasped, and ran forward. Jen followed closely behind.

She saw a young girl cowering in the corner, as a man was walking towards her. Her eyes left the little girl, and gravitated to the man, more specifically, to his right hand.

Jen's heart skipped a couple of beats as she realized she was looking at the man who currently was haunting her dreams. At least before he had become burned and scarred.

Her mother and the other parents that were there, rushed forward. Her mother went to the little girl, as the others took down the man. Jen suddenly realized that the little girl, was her when she was about four or five years old. The man was yelling, and her mother was crying, trying to comfort her younger self. Jen was frozen on the spot, only able to watch.

Debbie's mother had found some sort of rope, and they tied the man to one of the pipes.

There was a lot of shouting, but Jen couldn't hear what was being said. It was like she had ear plugs in her ears, as if she was watching a movie with the audio muted.

The parents' lit alcohol soaked rags and threw them all over the place, and on him. He screamed in pain as the flames licked his flesh. Her mother got her younger self out of the factory, and when the others were finished setting things on fire, they followed her.

She was rooted to the spot that she stood, watching the man burn. His restraints broke apart from each other, and he ran towards her. She threw her arms up as he got to her…

XXXX

Jen felt as if she was choking. Water was spewing out of her mouth, and she coughing, gasping for air. She couldn't get enough, or that's what it felt like to her. Her vision came back quickly. She saw Reid kneeling next to her, on her bathroom floor. Morgan wasn't too far away either. They looked worried, and scared, as she sat there, gasping for air. She felt sick.

She suddenly turned on her side, away from Reid, and began coughing like crazy.

"Get someone up here, to check her out." Reid told Morgan.

Morgan whipped out his phone, and barked out instructions to the person on the other end of the line.

"Someone will be here soon, to make sure that you're okay. What the hell happened?" Reid demanded, after her coughing fit subsided.

Her breathing was ragged, and her throat felt as if she had tried to swallow glass, or something just as bad.

"I don't know, I think that I fell asleep, standing up, as I was taking a shower." She rasped, looking pointedly at him.

That's about the time that she had realized that she had been in the shower, naked. She looked down at her body, and felt a wave of relief to find that someone had covered her up with one of the towels. However, she had been naked when whoever had pulled her out of the shower.

"What are you two doing here? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you got here in time, but how did you know to come for me?" She asked.

Reid and Morgan looked at each other, and then back at her.

"We heard you screaming, and rushed over. We had to kick the door in, sorry." Reid said.

She shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. In the big picture, the door does not matter. Thank you." She rasped.

Reid nodded. Morgan cleared his throat, as a couple medics rushed into the bathroom. They checked everything that they possibly could, to make sure that she was okay. When they had gotten to listening to her breathe, they made her sit up. As she did, her hair fell away from her shoulders, exposing her neck fully. Both Reid and Morgan spoke at the same time, and before the paramedics could draw a breath to ask the question.

"What the hell is that?" They demanded.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

Reid very gently touched a spot on her neck. She winced from the small amount of pressure of his finger, and jerked away from his hand, drawing in a sharp, painful, breath.

She could only imagine what her battered neck looked like now, after the encounter in the shower.

"You look like someone was trying to choke you to death, with one hand. Have you been depressed lately, Jennifer?" Morgan asked.

She looked at him, as if he had grown a second head, and was speaking a foreign language. She frowned, and tried to clear her throat.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You don't actually believe that I tried killing myself, do you?" She demanded.

"What else are we supposed to think, you're friends and neighbors are dropping dead, and we hear you scream, not too long after we find out that Debbie Canton dead in her room, we have to break down the door, find that you are all but locked in your shower, which happens to be over half way filled with water, and that you look like you've been strangled. What went on in here?" Morgan demanded.

Her frown deepened, but it was Reid who spoke first.

"Morgan, this might not be the best time for questions, she almost died, from drowning." Reid said.

"Maybe that's what she wants us to think." Morgan said.

"Are you kidding me? I would never try to kill myself! Neither would any of my friends!" She said as loudly as she could, without straining her vocals too much.

"Actually, she has extremely high blood pressure, 140 over 100, dangerous actually. She would have died from stress and the b.p. before she would have from the strangling. If you guys hadn't woken her up when you did, she would have been dead. You guys saved her life." The blond paramedic said calmly.

She glanced at Reid, and he looked torn, and worried. He would see, soon enough, when he wasn't there to save her the next time she fell asleep. She wouldn't wake up, and he would realize that she wasn't crazy, and that someone was after her, in her dreams. He would figure out that she was right, and nightmares could be the cause of death, that is if you die during the nightmare. He would probably feel guilty about not believing her, but she didn't blame him for anything, what she knew, sounded extremely crazy. It was pretty impossible for her too believe too, except for the small fact that she was currently going through it.

"Do you want to die?" Morgan asked.

She could not believe this guy. Was he always this thick? How did he get a job at the FBI?

"If I had wanted to kill myself, all I would have to do is go to sleep, on purpose. Do you actually think that I would try to kill myself while I was trying to wake myself up, with a shower?" She said coldly.

"What do you mean by that? Are you telling me that you think that you will die, if you fall asleep?" Morgan asked in disbelief?

She rolled her eyes.

"Give the man a medal." She muttered sarcastically.

"What was that?" Morgan asked.

She rolled her eyes, but shook her head.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Just leave, please. I don't feel up to any company right now." She told him.

After a small discussion, Morgan had decided to leave, and soon after that, the paramedics released her, and told her to relax, and get some rest. That was never going to happen. She was suddenly alone with Reid. She took a deep, steadying breath.

"What did you see when you came in?" She asked quietly.

He looked as if he did not want to answer that question, but decided against it.

"Morgan kicked in the door, and we tried getting you out, but the door must have been stuck, or something. Your back was to us, and you weren't responding to anything that we were saying to you, and then suddenly, you lunged forward, and slammed into the wall, face first. You stood straight up again, and fell into the water. You came up a minute or so later, and fell back into the water. Then, the door opened, and you came out with all of the water. After I gave you mouth to mouth, you came back." He told her.

"Do you still think that I'm crazy?" She asked.

"I never thought that you were crazy." He told her.

"Fine then, do you still think that this guy isn't trying to kill me?" She asked.

He didn't answer her question; his attention was on her right hand that was half under the blue towel. She realized that she had something in her hand. Somehow, she'd kept her grip on the ugly brown fedora through everything that had happened.

"Where did that come from?" He asked.

She pulled it from under the towel.

"My dream. I was holding it when I came out of my dream." She said, surprised.

She looked at him.

"That is impossible; you can't bring things out of your dreams with you." He said, not believing what he was seeing.

"This is the hat from his head. In my dream, it was stuck in the drain, that's why there was so much water in there. I pried it out of the drain, and never let it go. Why can't you believe any of the evidence that is right in front of you? What's this? There is a name written inside of it." She said.

She adjusted the hat, to see better; and tried reading the scribbled name.

"Fred Krueger." She said as shivers went up and down her back.

She knew his name now.

"Do you know who that is?" Reid asked.

She frowned, remembering the dream she had awoke from.

"He kidnapped and tortured the children of Elm Street. Apparently, he didn't kill them though." She said, trying to keep her composure.

"How do you know this?" He asked.

She took a deep breath.

"Because I am still alive, and up until recently, so were my friends." She said.

"Do you know what happened to him?" He asked.

She didn't answer for a moment.

"He was killed. A group of parents got together, and torched him in the factory, where he took the kids, at the other side of town." She said quietly.

"How do you know all of this?" He asked.

She just looked into his eyes, as a tear fell, sliding down her bruised left cheek.

"Because the night that the set him on fire, he had kidnapped me, and that is where I was found." She whispered.

His eyebrows flew upwards.

"I am so sorry." He rasped.

She began shaking, not only from seeing the dream replay in her memory, but from the cold.

"You should get dressed, or you will catch a cold." He told her, standing up.

She nodded, as he handed her a dry towel.

"Thank you." She said.

"Do you need any help?" He asked.

She made sure that the towel was secure, and then held her hand out for him. He took her hand, and helped her up.

"I think that I can manage getting dressed by myself. Thank you though." She told him.

He nodded, realizing that he was still holding her hand. He let it go.

"I guess that I should go then." He said.

Her head snapped up, to look into his eyes. She hadn't realized until then just how much she didn't want to be alone. Apparently, she couldn't keep herself awake. She needed to have someone around, to help her.

"What?" She asked breathlessly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, realizing how scared she was.

"I don't know if I can be alone, I need help staying awake. I can't do it alone." She said, trying to stay in control of her emotions.

"What you need is sleep. You fell asleep taking a shower, and you almost died." He told her.

She shook her head. She felt so hopeless.

"Fine, go then." She told him.

She walked past him, and into her room.

"You are going to die, if you don't sleep, why are you doing this to yourself?" He asked.

"I will die, if I sleep, and can't wake myself up! No one seems to get that. Now, if you would leave, please, I need to get dressed." She told him.

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but then decided against it, and just nodded. He left her room, shutting her door behind him. She burst into tears, as she grabbed some new clothes, and quickly dressed.

She went to the kitchen, and poured herself a cup of coffee. Once that cup was gone, she poured another, and so on and so forth, until the pot of coffee was finished, then she made another pot. She went into the living room, and turned the TV on. She hoped that it would help her stay awake.

Unfortunately, however, it wasn't. She got up and paced. There was nothing that was helping. She went into her room, and looked around. It was as if the bed was calling to her, and she so wanted to just lay on it and rest her eyes. She knew what would happen if she did that though, and she wasn't willing to take that risk. Something caught her eye. It was a white card that was just lying on the edge of her bed. She walked over, and picked the card up. It was Reid's. She studied the writing as she headed back out to the living room.

XXXX

Jen was in trouble. She knew that she was. She was starting to fall asleep while she was pacing. The coffee wasn't working anymore. She needed to do something drastic, to keep herself awake. A breeze blew past her, and something moved out of the corner of her eye. Almost immediately her eyes were on the card that had fallen from the coffee table. Reid's card. She prayed that he would help her, even if he didn't really believe her.

She grabbed the phone from the coffee table, and dialed his number, her eyelids battling themselves to stay open. She heard his voice, but it sounded so far away.

"It's…Jen…I…need…your help…I can't stay…awake…anymore. I am so scared, please help…me." She told him.

He must have heard the sleepiness and fright in her voice, because he told her that he would be there as soon as he could. She hung up, and dragged herself over to the door. She unlocked it, and then went into the kitchen for the last cup of coffee, and to make another pot. She caught herself dozing more than one time, as she made the coffee.

Every two minutes, she was checking the time. It was as if the clock had stopped, just to play with her. She ran a hand through her hair, and drank the last of the coffee. She put the cup in the sink and went into the living room. She sat down on the couch and watched the TV, standing every so often, just to wake herself up.

There was a knock at the door. She sighed in relief, and went to answer it. She gave a smile to Reid.

"You made it. Thank you." She said.

Reid entered, and followed her to the kitchen. She started another pot of coffee.

"You sounded bad on the phone. Jennifer, I really think that you need to get some sleep, you are going to become sick." Reid told her.

She shook her head.

"I've told you, I can't, I won't be able to make it if I do. I'm not strong enough to beat him." She said.

Reid walked up to her, and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Jennifer, listen to me, nothing will happen to you. I promise. Would you like me to stay here with you tonight, and prove it to you? If I see you struggle, or anything, I will wake you up." Reid told her.

She searched his face, and thought for a minute. He would wake her up. He didn't know. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. She sighed.

"As soon as I start struggling, wake me up." She told him.

He nodded.

"I will, I promise." He told her.

They went to her room. She grabbed a black tank top, and a pair of net shorts, and then went to the bathroom, to change. She changed quickly, and then returned to her room. Reid was sitting down at her desk.

"Get some sleep, you need it." He told her.

She pulled back the covers, and slid into bed. She covered up, and took a deep breath.

"Watch me very carefully. If you don't, I might not wake up again." She said.

"That's not going to happen." He said.

"I hope you are right." She mumbled.

"I usually am." He said.

She rolled her eyes, and then closed them. It didn't take her long to be out.

XXXX

She was standing on a playground to a preschool. She walked up to the door, and opened it. She walked down the hall. She came to a T in the hallway. She looked to her right, and saw her at the age of five. The five-year old version of herself, ran up to her, and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, we have to go! He's going to find us!"

"Who?" Jennifer asked, as the girl pulled her down the hall.

They came to the maintenance door. The little girl opened it, and they shut the door behind them. The little girl went over to the bookshelf.

"Help me, please."

Jen went over to the bookshelf, and helped move it out of the way.

"Where are we going?" Jen asked.

"To the secret cave."

Jen's stomach knotted. She didn't like that idea. The little girl pulled Jen into the hidden room. Jen looked around. She felt uneasy being there.

She was suddenly spun around. Her heart sped up.

"Jenny, I found you." He growled at her.

She backed up, until she bumped into the wall. He laughed.

"You can't escape from me!" He told her.

"You're not real, you're just a nightmare." She told him.

His left hand was at her throat before she could move. He growled.

"I am real!" He hissed.

She put her hands around his wrist, trying to get him to let her go. He suddenly threw her against the opposite wall. She gasped in pain, and then was thrown against another wall.

XXXX

Reid looked around Jennifer's room. He suddenly heard Jennifer groan. He looked over at her. Suddenly, she flew off of the bed, and hit the wall. Reid stood up as Jennifer gasped, and flew to the opposite wall.

"Jennifer!" Reid called, heading for her.

Before he could get to her, she was flung to the ceiling. Reid got onto Jen's bed, and tried to pull her off of the ceiling. She wouldn't budge.

"Jennifer, wake up!" Reid yelled to her.

Jennifer let out a scream, as the tank top was sliced open. Blood began falling. Jennifer eyes opened, and she gasped. She fell into Reid's arms, and they landed on the bed. She was groaning in pain, as she put her hands over the slash marks.

"What the hell just happened?" Reid demanded.

"He did…this. He found me." She gasped, looking down at her stomach. She removed her hands, and started gasping at a quicker pace.

"Calm down, I'm calling 911." Reid told her.

She was shaking horribly as she covered the slashes back up. She looked up into Reid's eyes as he called 911. He gave the information, and told them to hurry up.

Within minutes, the ambulance, police, and FBI were at her house. They loaded her up in the ambulance, and headed for the hospital. Reid rode with her, holding her hand.

XXXX

They stitched her up, and put her in a room. The doctor left, and Reid, with Morgan, and another man she didn't know, entered.

"Jennifer, this is my boss, SSA Hotchner, and you know SSA Morgan already. They need to ask you some questions, about…what happened." Reid said.

She looked into Reid's eyes.

"You were there. Why don't you tell them what you saw?" She said.

Reid looked at Hotchner, then back at her.

"They want to know what happened to you." Reid said.

She sighed. She looked into Hotchner's eyes.

"I had a nightmare." She said, not even blinking an eye.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"A nightmare?" Hotchner asked.

"Yes." She said.

"How did you get the slash marks on your stomach? Morgan demanded.

She turned to look at Morgan.

"I was attacked in my nightmare. The man that attacked me cut my stomach." She told him.

"You can't be serious." Morgan said.

"Did Dr. Reid tell you what he saw?" She asked.

"No." Morgan said.

Jennifer looked at Reid.

"Go ahead. Tell them what you saw." She told him.

Reid looked uncomfortable. He didn't look like he wanted to say anything.

He cleared his throat.

"I got Jennifer to get some sleep. I was to wake her up if she started struggling. About five minutes after she fell asleep, she began fighting. As I got up to wake her, she…"

"She what?" Hotchner asked.

Reid sighed.

"She flew out of the bed, and into the wall. Then, before I could get to her she flew into the other wall, and then up to the ceiling. She was still sleeping. That's when she got cut. Then she fell onto the bed, waking up. It was only her and me in the room at the time." Reid said.

Hotchner and Morgan looked at each other, speechless.

"How is that even possible?" Morgan asked.

"It's what I've been telling you. What happens in your dreams happens in real life. That's why my friends didn't want to go to sleep. He was after them, and they couldn't survive, so he killed them in their dreams. He's after me now." She said.

Hotchner and Morgan looked at Reid.

"I didn't think it was real, until tonight. Something threw her into the walls, and the ceiling. Something sliced her, and I couldn't see it. I have no clue what is going on." Reid said.

Hotchner looked at Jennifer.

"Who is the man in your nightmares?" Hotchner asked.

She didn't want to say the name. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Freddy. Freddy Krueger." She whispered, opening her eyes, to look at him.

He searched her face.

"What does he look like?" Hotchner asked.

She licked her dry lips.

"He wears a dirty red and green sweater, a ratty brown fedora, and boots. He has four knives for fingernails on his right hand." She said.

"Do you know what he wants?" Morgan asked.

"To kill me." She whispered.

"Why does he want to kill you?" Hotch asked.

"When I was younger, a man was kidnapping children, among other things. He told the children not to tell. The kids told their parents. The parents went after the man, tied him up and torched him, after they rescued the child that he had taken." She said.

"How do you know this?" Morgan asked

She looked into his eyes.

"I was the last one that he had taken. My mother saved me, and then killed him. He's after me, because I told my mother the truth." She said.

Morgan raised his eyebrows in surprise. No one spoke for a moment.

"You do know how all of this sounds? A man that kidnaps children is killed, and then returns years later, to kill them in their dreams. It's a little…farfetched." Hotchner said.

She gave a frown.

"Tell that to all of my friends that are dead. I don't know, Dr. Reid, what do you think it is?" She asked, looking at Reid.

Reid looked uncomfortable.

He looked over at Hotch and Morgan.

"Logically, and scientifically, it doesn't make sense, but, something happened while she was asleep. There was no way that she was able to stay on the ceiling without anything holding her up there." Reid said.

"Maybe you three should start thinking outside of your square box. If you couldn't tell, this is real, and none of my friends killed themselves either." She said.

"Jennifer, calm down. You are already stressed out enough." Reid said.

She sighed.

"Jennifer, would you excuse us please? Derrick, Spencer." Hotch said.

Jennifer watched them as they walked out the door. She exhaled loudly, as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. She slowly wiped it away. A few minutes later, Reid returned, alone.

She shut the door behind him, and took a seat by the bed.

"Jennifer, I can't explain what I saw, so let's say that I believe you. When did you and your friends start dreaming about him?" Reid asked.

"Where are the other two guys?" She asked.

"They had to go. When did you start having the nightmares?" Reid asked.

He didn't give up easily. She sighed.

"About a week ago. The first to start was Emily Tyler, then her twin brother, and then his girlfriend, Dana Brown. Sara got them next. Then Kevin and I started having them at the same time." She said.

"They've gotten worse?" Reid asked.

"No, its all unicorns and rainbows. They're so scary that it will kill me. Of course they've gotten worse! I don't like not being able to sleep! I want to sleep! I don't want to die!" she said.

"I'm sorry. I really am. Does he have a weakness, that could possibly help you defeat him?" Reid asked.

She shook her head.

"He is very strong, and nothing hurts him. Believe me, I tried. Nothing has worked." She said.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" Reid asked.

"I stabbed him with a pipe. He laughed at me and pulled it out. He told me that I was in his world, and I couldn't hurt him. He cut off his fingers, and nasty black blood poured out. It was gross." She said.

"So, if he catches you, he will kill you?" Reid asked.

She exhaled loudly.

"That's what I've been telling you from the start, but you wouldn't believe me. Why else do you think that I told you that story when we first met, in the nurse's office? I knew neither one of you would believe the truth. Its crazy!" She said.

Before Reid could say anything, a nurse entered the room.

"The doctor wants to give you something for the pain. I'll put it through your IV. It will be quick and painless. You might feel a little burning sensation, but it will go away after a minute or two." The nurse said.

Jennifer became a little worried.

"Will it make me tired?" Jennifer asked.

The nurse smiled as she got the needle of pain medication ready. She headed for Jennifer's IV bag.

"All pain medication will do that to you. Its normal." The nurse said.

Jennifer shook her head.

"No. no, I don't want it. I'll deal with the pain. Don't come any closer to me, with that." Jennifer said.

"Miss, calm down, its not going to hurt you, its to help manage the pain. The doctor also ordered for you to get some rest. If you don't, your body will shut down and you will be in a coma." The nurse said.

Jennifer shook her head again.

"I don't care, I don't want it." Jennifer said.

The nurse didn't listen, she just kept moving closer to the bag. Jennifer wouldn't let the nurse put her to sleep. She would fight before that would happen. There was no way that she was going to fall asleep tonight. No way in hell.

She started freaking out. The nurse called in orderlies to help her, and Reid was asked to leave.

"Reid! Don't let them do it! Don't let them put me to sleep! He'll get me! Freddy will kill me! Please help me!" she screamed to Reid.

Reid looked like he was fighting an internal battle. He looked into Jennifer's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I can't." Reid told her.

"NO!" Jennifer screamed.

One of the orderlies stuck her with the needle. Jennifer screamed, realizing what had happened, and tried to fight harder, to get away.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Reid's boss, Hotchner, Morgan, and two women that Jennifer didn't know was at the door, watching her fight the staff.

"Someone help me! Don't let them put me to sleep!" Jennifer begged them.

No one moved to help her.

"Miss, you will feel better once you've gotten some sleep." The head nurse said.

"You bitch! You've just killed me!" Jennifer sneered.

Jennifer pushed the orderlies off of her, and backed up against the wall.

"Dear, you're safe here, nothing is going to happen to you." The nurse told her.

Jennifer slid down the wall, to the floor.

"Freddy is going to get me, and it will be your fault when he does. My blood is on your hands." Jennifer spat.

She could feel the stuff in the needle start taking effect. She struggled to remain awake. She began rocking back and forth and began singing the song from her nightmares.

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab a crucifix. Seven, eight, stay up late. Nine, ten, never…sleep…again…"

She could barely finish the verse, the medicine had taken affect. She was out.

"Put her back in the bed." The nurse said.

"What the hell was that all about?" Morgan asked.

"She's scared to death to go to sleep, of dreaming, but she'll die if she doesn't get sleep." The nurse said.

"I'm not so sure that it was the best idea for her." Reid said.

Hotchner put a hand on Reid's shoulder.

"They needed to do their job. She would have died without any more sleep." Hotchner said.

Reid shook his head.

"I don't know about that Hotch. There is no way that I can explain what I saw happen to her. Something hurt her, and I was the only one in the room with her." Reid told him.

Hotchner sighed, and thought for a minute.

"Okay, you stay here with Morgan, and watch her. If anything happens, call the nurses, and me, and try to wake her up. We will switch sitting in on her every eight hours." Hotchner said.

Reid nodded, and sat down in one of the chairs next to the bed. All but Reid and Morgan left. Morgan sat down in the empty chair, and crossed his arms in front of him.

"This is definitely one of the weirdest cases we've ever gotten." Morgan said.

Reid didn't say anything, he was watching Jennifer closely, ready to wake her up at the drop of a dime.

"Maybe you should get some sleep too. You look a little worse for wear. Don't worry about her, I'll keep an eye on her. I won't let anything happen to her." Morgan said.

"I don't know." Reid said.

"I promise that if anything starts happening, I will wake her up. You just need to get some sleep, or you'll be in the same boat as she is." Morgan said.

Reid sighed.

"Fine, but make sure that I am awake before our relief gets here." Reid said.

"Will do." Morgan said.

Jennifer looked around at her surroundings. She was in the factory. She was petrified, and the dripping water that she heard wasn't helping. She heard his laughter, and her heart skipped a beat or two. She needed to find a way out, and to wake up.

She heard the sound of knives on a piece of metal. She spun around to the direction of the sound, her whole body on high alert. She had to move, go somewhere, she couldn't stay where she was, or else he would get her. His laughter was getting louder, closer.

She spun around and ran. She soon came to a T in the hall. She quickly went left, but came to a dead end. She turned around and went the other way. It was another dead end. This wasn't good, she was going to die. The sound of knives on metal was getting closer to her.

Someone touched her shoulder. She screamed, and spun around quickly.

"Calm down, it's just me."

"Reid? What are you doing here? How did you get here?" she asked.

"I fell asleep, and I found you standing in front of me. Are you okay?" Reid asked.

She exhaled loudly, and gave a small smile.

"I am now, but we need to get out of here. Now. He's getting closer, I can feel it." She said.

"Where are we?" Reid asked, looking around at their surroundings.

"The factory. The one that he took the children to." She said.

"How sweet, Jenny, you've brought fresh meat. How thoughtful of you."

Jen turned to the direction of the voice. She gasped, and backed up, into Reid.

"We need to go!" she told Reid.

"What's the rush, we haven't gotten started yet. Don't you remember how much fun we used to have together?" Freddy asked.

"Leave me alone!" Jen yelled.

Freddy laughed.

Reid grabbed onto Jen's sleeve, and tugged on it. Jen was frozen to the spot she was standing on. Fear was paralyzing. Freddy began walking towards them.

"Hold it right there!" Reid said.

Reid grabbed his gun, and pointed it at Freddy. That made Freddy laugh even more.

"That won't hurt me, you're in my world, little piggy." Freddy said.

Reid shot him. Freddy looked down at the bullet wound, then back up at Reid. The look in his eyes wasn't a good one.

"Reid, run. Now." Jen told him.

"I'm not leaving you." Reid said.

"You'll die." She said.

He shook his head.

Freddy held his right hand up. He flicked his pointer finger, and Reid flew backwards, into the wall.

"Reid!" Jen yelled.

Reid groaned.

Freddy got closer to Jen.

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, what should I do with you?" Freddy asked.

"Leave her alone!" Reid yelled.

"Or what? There is nothing that you can do to me. I'm going to kill little Jenny, and then I am going to kill you. I want you to watch me cut her open and play with her insides. It will be fun, just watch." Freddy said.

Freddy flicked his finger again, and Reid was pinned up against the wall. Freddy started circling Jen. She was trying to stay calm, but it wasn't working. She heard him take a deep breath.

"I love the smell of fear. It's so intoxicating. Addicting." Freddy said.

Jen whimpered.

Freddy grabbed her neck with his left hand, squeezed, and lifted her up off of her feet. She gasped for air, and put her hands around his wrist. She tried prying his fingers off of her neck, but he was much too strong for her.

"Jenny, you should have known that I would find you again. There is no place to hide from me. I would have found you anywhere. You should have realized that I would punish you when I found you. You said that you wouldn't tell, but then you did. Now it's time for your punishment. You need to take your medicine." Freddy told her.

She didn't like the sounds of that. This wasn't good, she was about to die. She could feel it in her bones.

Freddy threw her down to the ground. Jen gasped and coughed as she got fresh air into her lungs. She could breathe again.

"Run little piggy. I find the chase exciting." Freddy told her.

She was torn at what she should do. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run. What use was it though? He would catch her, and kill her, if she ran or not. She wasn't stupid.

"Run! Now!" Freddy yelled at her.

She jumped. Her body moved in to action by itself. She stumbled to her feet, and took off running. She could feel him right behind her. He was too close. She let out a scream.

"Reid!" Morgan said, shaking Reid awake.

Reid sat up straight, waking up.

"You were having one hell of a dream." Morgan said.

Reid was breathing heavy.

"It was a nightmare. We need to wake her up, now." Reid said.

"What? Why?" Morgan asked.

"I was dreaming, and Jennifer was there, and this guy, just like she described, was after her. He told me that he was going to kill Jennifer, while I watched, and then he was going to kill me." Reid said.

"Calm down, it was just a dream. You're starting to sound like her." Morgan said.

Reid shook his head.

"It was too real to be just a dream. We should wake her up." Reid said.

"She will be fine. Besides, Hotch said that she needed to sleep." Morgan said.

Jennifer started groaning, and thrashing around slightly.

Reid's heart skipped a beat.

"She is fine." Morgan said.

"No…stop…help…Reid…please." Jennifer said.

"Morgan, we need to wake her up, now." Reid said.

Morgan was about to say something, when Jennifer whimpered. Both watched her closely. She opened her mouth, and let out a blood curling scream. They jumped, in surprise. She didn't stop screaming, and began thrashing much more. Hotch was suddenly in the room.

"What happened?" Hotch demanded.

"She just started screaming." Morgan said.

"Hotch, we need to wake her up now!" Reid said.

Reid went over to Jen, and started shaking her, to wake her up. She didn't respond. He shook her harder. Still nothing. Reid started calling out her name. She wasn't waking up. Reid was getting worried. Hotch and Morgan were right next to him, trying to wake her up too. Nothing was working, and she was still screaming.

Nurses and doctors came rushing in. They tried waking her up, but she didn't react to them. She was having one hell of a nightmare. Suddenly, a slash mark appeared on her face. It started right above her right eyebrow, slashed diagonally over the bridge of her nose and ended at the bottom of her left cheek. Slashes appeared from her right shoulder, went diagonally about a half a foot, and the same slashes appeared on her left shoulder, going diagonal. They were mirror images.

Jen's heart rate was through the roof.

"We have to calm her down now, or her heart is going to give out!" a nurse yelled.

"Wake her up!" Reid yelled.

One of the nurses grabbed a needle, prepped it, and jammed it into Jen's heart. A few seconds later, Jen, gasped loudly, and sat straight up. She was gasping for air, as if she had been held under water for too long. She hadn't fully realized that she was awake yet, and was still struggling and screaming.

After a moment or two, she began calming down. Tears were streaming down her face.

"You saw him! I told you!" She told Reid.

Reid locked eyes with her.

"How did you get those?" Morgan asked, not quite processing what he had just witnessed with his own eyes.

Blood was streaming out of Jen's wounds. Jen rubbed at her face, and flinched.

"He cut me, with his blades. I couldn't get away from him." She said, her voice breaking.

"Who?" Hotch asked.

"Freddy. Freddy Krueger." Jen said.

"Sweetie, it was just a dream." The nurse that had put her to sleep said.

Jen frowned.

"How did I get these then? I sure as hell didn't do it to myself. I told you that you would kill me if you put me to sleep! I would have been dead if I hadn't woke up! I can't fall asleep again, or I will die!" Jen said, becoming hysterical.

"Jennifer, are you okay?" Reid asked.

"I am now." Jen said.

The nurses began cleaning her up. Thankfully, the slashes were shallow, and she didn't need stitches. When she was all bandaged up, the nurses left, and Reid, Morgan, and Hotch came back into her room. They sat down, and no one spoke for a minute.

"I'm not quite sure how to proceed." Hotch said.

"Ask Reid what he saw when he fell asleep. He was in my dream!" Jen said.

"That's not possible. How can two people be in the same dream?" Morgan asked.

"It isn't anything that we've ever seen before, but let me tell you, I know what I saw, and it was just like she said." Reid said.

"He can't die in dreams." Jen said.

Hotch looked like he was wrestling with something internally.

"So, how are we supposed to catch him, or anything?" Hotch asked.

Tears began sliding down her cheeks.

"I don't know! He is going to kill me!" Jen said.

"You are safe. He's not going to get you." Reid told her.

She shook her head.

"He's going to kill me." She said.

"Hey Jenny!"

Jen looked to her right, and screamed. He was standing right next to her. She flew out of the bed.

"Calm down. What's going on?" Hotch asked.

She was on the other side of the room, in the corner, with her knees in front of her.

"He was right there!" Jen said, pointing to the spot that she had seen him.

"There was nothing there." Morgan said.

"I was awake, and I'm still seeing him!" she said, her voice breaking.

"The micro naps have begun. This isn't good. The next stage is your body shuts down, and you slip into a coma." Reid said.

The blood drained from her face.

"Permanent dreaming." She whispered.

Reid nodded, walking over to her. He helped her to her feet, and she held onto him, as if her life depended on it. She was shaking like a leaf. Halfway to the bed she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Reid asked.

"The hat." She said, looking at him.

"What hat?" Reid asked.

"The one that I brought out of my dreams." She told him.

He searched her eyes, realizing what she was getting at.

"No. no, you can't do it. It's too dangerous." Reid said.

"What's going on? What are you two talking about?" Morgan asked.

"It's dangerous doing nothing, and falling asleep." Jen said.

Reid shook his head.

"Reid, tell us what you are talking about." Hotch said.

Reid sighed.

"When Morgan and I saved her from drowning in the shower, she had a brown fedora in her hand. She said that she had brought it out of her dream. She wants to go back to sleep, and bring the guy out of her dreams." Reid said.

"This is insane." Morgan said.

Suddenly, Morgan's phone rang.

"Hey baby girl, what do you have?" Morgan asked.

"Nothing good. I got that info on that guy Spencer asked for. That Krueger guy. Let me tell you, it was not easy to find. If I wasn't as good as I was, I might not have found anything. It was almost like he never existed. Krueger was a gardener at a preschool. He also lived in the basement of the school. Then he disappeared. There is no record of him at all after he left the school suddenly." Garcia said.

Morgan had her on speaker phone, and Jen heard everything. That must have been the school she had been dreaming of.

"What happened to him?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know, I can't find anything, at all." Garcia said.

"They killed him." Jen said.

She felt sick.

"Who?" Hotch asked.

"The parents of Elm street. The parents of the kids that died. They tracked him down to the abandoned factory outside of town, and torched it, and him. They killed him for what he did to their children." Jen said.

"What…what did he do?" Garcia asked.

Jen shook her head.

"Nothing that you want to know about Garcia, trust me." Reid told her.

Jen heard Garcia gasp on the other end of the line. Jen wiped away the tears from her face.

"Thank you Garcia, that will be all." Hotch said.

Morgan hung up the phone.

Reid fought her tooth and nail, not to go through with her plan. He lost. She was going to fall asleep, grab him, and have someone wake her up. She'd bring him out, and they would arrest him, or kill him.

They got her out of the hospital, and were back at Jen's house. Reid might not have won the argument to keep her awake, but he was going to go back into her dream, to help her out, and keep her safe.

When she got to her house there were people there that she didn't know. Reid's coworkers.

"Jennifer, this is Penelope Garcia, she was on the phone. This is Jennifer Jereau, J.J., and Emily Prentiss." Reid said.

Jen nodded to her.

"You don't have anything to worry about, they won't let anything happen to you. They are the best." Garcia said.

All Jen could do was nod. Garcia was very…bright. She was wearing very bright colors. It made Jen smile, and have hope. She liked the woman and barely even knew her. There was just something about her.

Reid led her over to the couch, and they sat down. Hotch told Prentiss, J.J., and Garcia what they were going to do. None of them looked too sure of the plan, but didn't say anything, they just gave a nervous nod.

"Be ready for him when he comes out. He has four razor knives on his right hand. He will try to kill you, and laugh about it. Shoot him right between the eyes. I'm praying that this will work. I want to get back to sleeping at night." Jen said, with a sigh.

They all exchanged worried looks. Morgan readied the needle he would use to wake Jen up. Jen laid down on the couch, and Reid took the chair next to the couch. Jen took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Reid watched her for a minute, then closed his eyes too.

Jen was curled up in her bed. She sat up, and looked around her room. Everything looked normal. She got out of bed and went over to the door. She opened it a crack, and looked down the hall. It was empty. She took a deep breath, and opened the door more. She cautiously stepped out into the hallway. She suddenly heard his laugh.

"Boo!"

She screamed, and ran. She ran down the hall, trying to get to the stairs. The hall suddenly turned into a thick, viscous liquid. The farther she ran, the deeper she got. He was getting closer to her. She decided to try to swim to the other end of the hall. She dove under the liquid and tried to swim. It was thicker than water. She broke the surface, gasping for air. The liquid was all over her. She wiped her face with her hands, and she looked at her arms. The liquid was a red color. Dark red. Blood red. She realized that she was swimming in blood, and screamed. She somehow made it to the stairs, and ran as fast as she could down them.

She came to the living room. She headed for the door, but couldn't open it. It wouldn't open. As if she was locked inside of her own house. She turned around, and he was at the bottom of the stairs. He flicked a razor at her, and she tumbled through the air, landing on the couch. She struggled to get off of the couch, but it was no use, she couldn't get up. Something was pinning her down. He laughed at her.

"Little Jenny. You are still so pretty. You smell so different now. I warn you, it can be very messy the first time." He told her.

She screamed as he got closer to her. He licked his burned, charred, lips.

He climbed on top of her, and ran a razor down her body. She squealed in discomfort and fear.

"I promise not to be gentle." Freddy told her.

She screamed louder.

"Get off of her, now!"

Reid had found her.

Freddy frowned, and growled at Reid.

"Stay here Jenny. I'll be right back. I just need to take care of a piggy." Freddy told her.

Jen screamed and struggled to get up.

"Reid!" Jen yelled.

Reid had no chance against Freddy. Freddy grabbed Reid and threw him into the wall, face first. Reid fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his nose.

"Reid!" Jen screamed, tears falling down her face.

Freddy was suddenly on top of her.

"I killed your boyfriend, it's your turn!" Freddy said.

Jen had been groaning in her sleep for the past hour. It was becoming more frequent, and more distressing. Then she screamed.

"Reid!"

Everyone jumped, in surprise. They looked at Reid, but he looked fine. They looked at Jen again. She was struggling.

"Should we wake her up?" Garcia asked.

"Not yet." Hotch said.

"Reid!" Jen yelled.

They all looked at Reid again, but this time blood began falling from his nose. Garcia gasped, and ran over to Reid.

"Wake up! Come on Spencer!" Garcia said, shaking Reid, to wake him up.

"Garcia, stop." Hotch said.

"But, he's bleeding." Garcia said.

"I know, but he is the only one in there helping Jennifer." Hotch said.

Garcia nodded, and then let go of Reid's arm. Garcia went back to J.J.'s side, to wait for Jen to wake up again. Suddenly, Reid groaned, and opened his eyes. He blinked several times, and then sat up straighter. Everyone was trying to talk to Reid at once, but he wasn't listening to any of them. He got out of the chair, and went over to Jen. He fell to his knees, and tried waking her up. It didn't work. He tried a couple other methods, but they didn't work either.

"We have to wake her up! She's got him!" Reid said.

"Here" Morgan said, handing Reid the needle.

Reid grabbed it, put his thumb on the plunger, and stabbed her in the heart with it. Jen's hands flew upwards, and Freddy appeared. He was trying to plunge his razors into her chest. She was barely keeping him away. Reid fell over when Freddy appeared, and tried to get away as fast as he could. One of the women screamed. Jen suddenly threw him off of her, and he fell to the floor.

"Freeze!" Hotch yelled.

Freddy laughed.

"Little Jenny, you brought friends. Too bad they will have to watch you die." Freddy said.

Jen stumbled off of the couch, and tried to run away from Freddy. Unfortunately, Freddy was fast. He caught her, and pulled her to him. She screamed, and struggled.

"I said freeze!" Hotch yelled.

Freddy laughed again.

"You're not going to do a thing, you wouldn't do anything that would hurt Jenny." Freddy growled.

"Let her go now." Hotch said.

Freddy put his nosed to her hair, and inhaled loudly. He stuck out his tongue, and licked the side of her face. She squealed in disgust.

"Fine." Freddy said with an evil smirk.

Many things happened at once. Jen felt blades go into her back, and she gasped. A shot rang out, and Freddy dropped Jen. She stood on her own for a second, then fell to her knees, as if in slow motion. A second later, she fell sideways onto the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Freddy lying in a heap. She weakly tried to push herself away from him. She clenched her teeth together, trying not to scream, but losing.

People were suddenly surrounding her. Reid was to her right, and Morgan was to her left. They were telling her not to move, that the paramedics would be there soon, and that she needed to hang on.

"Get me away from him! Please!" She begged hysterically.

"You shouldn't be moved." Hotch told her.

"I don't freaking care! Get me away, now! Or I will move myself." She threatened.

Morgan gave a nod.

"Help me Reid." Morgan said.

Reid grabbed her right arm, as Morgan grabbed the left, and the slid her farther from Freddy.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked.

She gave a small smile.

"I am now. It's over, and I can sleep, without having to worry about if I will be killed or not. It's finally over, for good. He's dead." She rasped.

She grabbed Reid's arm.

"How are you doing? Are you okay?" She asked.

He smiled at her, blood tinting his lips and teeth.

"I'm fine. Do you need anything?" Reid asked.

"Some water would be great, please." She said.

"I'll get it." J.J. said.

A moment later, J.J. returned with a glass of water. Jen drank a little, and handed it off to someone. About five minutes later, the paramedics arrived. They took her to the hospital. Reid rode with her in the ambulance. The other agents would meet her at the hospital.

Jen was all stitched up, and in her room. She was in bed, watching the news. It was finally over. She thanked god. There was a knock on her door. It was Reid. She smiled at him and waved him in.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Great. It's finally over with. I'm so happy, but for some reason, I'm having a hard time falling asleep. It's just my luck, I'm able to fall asleep now, but I can't. When I didn't want to, I was doing it all the time." Jen said.

He smiled.

"That's always how it happens. My boss wants to talk to you, are you up for some company?" Reid asked.

She nodded.

"Let me go tell him." Reid said.

Reid left, and a few minutes later, Hotch returned, alone.

"Hello Jennifer."

"Hi."

"I wanted to know if it was over, are there going to be any more bodies dropping?"

"No, it's over. We're safe now. When he was shot, he died. He can't come back to life in our world."

He nodded.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you and your friends. I'm sorry that you had to do what you did."

"Thank you for shooting, and killing him. You and your team saved my life, I'm just sorry that it wasn't sooner. Kevin might still be alive."

He placed his hand on hers. She looked up at him.

"My team wants to come in and see how you are doing, and to say goodbye, we're leaving soon. Is that okay?"

Jen smiled, and nodded.

"That would be great." She said.

He went out to get his team. They could only visit one at a time. Emily Prentiss came in first, then J.J., then Garcia. Garcia gave her a hug, and made her laugh. Morgan kissed her hand, and made her blush. The last one to visit was Reid.

"Hotch told me to tell you bye and to get well soon. He doesn't like long good byes." Reid said.

"That's fine." She said.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"Okay, so, I should get going. I'm glad that you're okay." Reid said, turning to the door.

Jen got out of bed, and went over to him. She grabbed his arm. He turned around to look at her.

"I know that you didn't believe me in the beginning, but I want to thank you for everything that you've done for me." She said.

"I'm still not quite sure if I fully believe what happened. It's crazy, all of it." Reid said.

She laughed.

"I know exactly what you mean. Seriously though, thanks. I don't know if I would have made it without you. You saved my life, I owe you." She said.

He was blushing faintly.

"I was just doing my job." He said.

She shook her head.

"It was much more than that to me." She told him.

She leaned up and gave him a hug. When she pulled out of the hug she leaned in, and kissed him. Surprisingly, he didn't pull away from her.

He cleared his throat, when they did pull out of the kiss.

"Well, I should be going. Would you like my card…in case you need our help again?" He asked.

"I still have your card, when you gave it to me the other day. I'll call, if I need your help." She said.

"Or if you just want to talk, or just say hi." He said.

She laughed.

"I'll remember that." She said.

He turned to the door, paused with his hand on the door knob, thought for a moment, then turned back to her. He gathered her in his arms, and kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him back.

"Okay, I really have to go, or else they will leave me. Good bye Jennifer." He told her.

"You can call me Jen. I'll talk to you soon Reid. Thank you." She said.

This time he did leave. She sighed, and got back into bed.

"The nightmare is finally over." She sighed.

She laid down under the covers, got comfortable, and finally drifted off to sleep…

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