Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. This will be applicable throughout the entire story.

A PSYCHOLOGIST FOR THE DOCTOR

"No. No, please!" she begged as the masked man pointed a gun at her head. "What do you want from me? Just take everything from the house. Take it! Please, don't kill me!" Tears streamed down her face as she desperately pleaded for her life. She had never done anything to anyone, so why was this happening to her?

The man pushed her on to her stomach. With one hand aiming the gun at the back of her head, he used the other to manoeuvre a plastic tie around her wrists. Not once did he say a single word.

"Please, no…"

He only pushed the cold barrel harder against her head. She immediately clamped her lips shut, afraid that he was going to shoot her.

Suddenly, a blinding pain struck her and her entire world turned black.

…

"In the past three weeks, there have been 6 women missing," Morgan told the crew. "I don't even need to ask Reid this. That's an average of two a week. Not only that, these aren't your regular high risk individuals. All of them were well educated and rich."

"Any ransom notes or calls?" Prentiss asked with a frown on her face.

He sighed. "None. No one knows why they were taken."

"Well, taking rich woman could be a sign that perhaps our unsub is either jealous of the victims, they felt that someone with that profile had done them wrong, or they have some sick fantasy with one – or six," Reid stated. "To take so many instead of killing them, I'd lean towards the latter two. The unsub is most likely going to re-enact some kind of disillusion that they have with these victims."

"So you think they're still alive?" Hotchner asked.

"Given how long some of them have been missing for, I'd say the likelihood is slim to none." Missing persons cases were terrible for them. Usually, the FBI weren't involved until it was too late. The first twenty-four hours was most important and each hour after that, the chances of finding a live person significantly decreases.

Gideon looked down. "If we find just one and put a stop to this madness…"

This was going to be a long case.

…

She had no idea where she was. When she had woken up, her entire vision was dark. There was that moment of panic where she thought she was blind, but eventually, the feeling of a scratchy fabric tied around her head registered.

Where was she?

It was cold and her back ached as she pried herself from the stone wall. "H- Help!" she croaked. "Is anyone there?" Her voice echoed around her. "Hello? Help!"

She frantically began to move her bounded hands underneath her feet until they were in a more comfortable position in front of her and tugged the blindfold away from her eyes.

It was so dark that there was barely any difference without the blindfold on. The only light seemed to be coming from several holes in the ceiling. They were useless, hitting random points on the walls. In fact, they seemed more like air holes than anything.

She pressed herself against the wall and shuffled forward, touching everything and hoping to find something – a door or a boarded window.

Why was she even here? She didn't want to complain, but she was sure that he was going to kill her. Instead, she was in some dark dungeon.

Once she had gone the full way around, she was disappointed to find absolutely nothing.

"Help!" she shouted towards the holes, walking towards the centre. "Help! Is anyone there? Please! I need help!"

Suddenly, her feet flew up from beneath her and she landed heavily on to her hip. Wincing in pain, she tried to get up, but the sensation of something wet soaking into her clothes made her stop. What was that?

She gripped around in the dark until she found something relatively soft, but in the same time, it was stiff. Were these… fingers? Her hand travelled up. There was a hand and an arm. She found the face, which rotated towards her. She let out a terrified scream as dead eyes hit a narrow ray of light.

"Oh, God… No!" She scrambled back in fear. Her back hit a table leg and something fell with a heavy thump from behind her. She quickly turned around to see another body. Long dark hair was matted with blood, sticking haphazardly against the woman's lifeless face.

"Help! Help!" She retreated into a corner, trying not to look at the bodies situated in the middle of the room.

All of a sudden, lights filtered into the room.

She squinted, trying to make up what was happening. "H- Hello?"

All she could see were the two female bodies in the centre of the room. It seemed that before she had disturbed them, it looked as if they were having a twisted tea party. Instead of tea, the white, dainty china teacups were filled with blood.

How hadn't she noticed the smell? Now that she could see everything, the stench was overwhelming.

She turned her head and threw up everything that had been in her stomach. It burned her throat and made her feel even worse than before.

She was terrified. She didn't want to die here. She didn't want to be like the two in front of her.

…

Spencer Reid stared blankly at the back of Gideon's chair.

"Confess!"

"You can read minds, can't you?"

He clenched his hands as he recalled the feeling of the needle piercing his skin.

"Hey, man! You okay?" Morgan plopped on to the seat beside him.

"Uh, yeah…" he replied, but his mind was quickly drifting back to his time in the shed. The feeling of the fist on his face and how frightened he had been. What if he never got out? What if Tobias had killed him that night? What if –

"Reid!" Morgan gave his friend a concerned look. Ever since the kidnapping, Reid had been different. The boy would stare off into space during meetings and miss his queue to rant on about some fact. It just wasn't the Reid that they knew.

"Sorry, I'll just go… get something to drink." Reid stood up and away from his co-workers. Sometimes, it was just too much. Countless times, he contemplated whether he was even still cut out for all this because at this rate, he was more of a liability than anything.

As he was pouring himself a cup of coffee, Gideon came in. "Hey, kid."

"Hey." He really didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm not going to make you talk," Gideon said. "But I want you to know that if you ever need to talk about it."

"I know. I'll come to you."

"I don't want what happened to Elle to happen to you, too."

Reid sighed. "It's just so hard sometimes. I see all those photos and I know how they feel. I can't seem to make it objective anymore. It's as if I was back there, tied up and beaten."

"But you're not. You came out on top because you knew what you were doing." Gideon had seen Reid grow and learn. Seeing the boy so broken up now made him wonder what else he could've done to protect him better. Short of leaving the team, they were always going to face these perilous situations. It was inevitable. "After this case, I want you to have a good, long think. Is this what you really want to keep doing?"

…

Every hour or so, the lights would turn on and turn back off. It was as if he was taunting her.

She slowly made her way back towards the table, being careful not to look at them and began to drag the wooden furniture towards one of the holes. She pushed everything off of it and climbed on, hoping to be able to reach the ceiling, but she was still too short.

Hesitantly, she looked over to the two occupied chairs. One of the body was already off of it. She swallowed hard and climbed back down. "I'm sorry. I need this. I need this more than you. I'm so sorry," she sobbed, pulling the chair away from the fallen body.

She placed the chair on top of the table before climbing back on. On her toes, she could just look through the small hole. It was an open field with grass. She couldn't see anything distinctive.

Suddenly, a boot appeared above her. She let out a startled shriek and fell backward. Her head crashed on to the hard, concrete floor. "W-why…?"

…

By the time that they arrived in Seattle and met up with the local police department, three more women had gone missing.

"It's only been a few days since the last kidnapping. Our unsub couldn't have worked so quickly," Prentiss said. It seemed like they had even less time than they first thought. "Either we have more than one kidnapper or this person is devolving quickly."

They had all split into pairs. Morgan and JJ had gone off to Dara Kellen's house; Hotchner and Gideon were investigating Sharon O'Connell; while Prentiss and Reid were walking around Evelyn Davies' luxurious home, looking for clues. Evelyn was the last person reported missing and the one most likely to still be alive.

Reid looked at the photos still perfectly displayed on the fireplace mantel. She was smiling softly into the camera with a white teddy bear pressed against the side of her face. Her ordinary brown hair fell in soft waves that framed her pale face and complimented her forest green eyes.

He took a step back, looking at all the other photos. Something was odd about it. Not only were they only of Evelyn and no one else, it was all angled. They all seemed to be… "Selfies," he whispered. "They are all selfies. Why doesn't she have any photos of other people?" He took out his cell phone and called Garcia. "Hey, I want you to look into Evelyn Davies' background. Was she an orphan?"

"Let's see," Garcia mumbled quietly to herself. Her eyes were quickly flitting around the screen, reading everything that was being presented to her. "According to this, Evelyn Davies was put up for adoption shortly after her birth in the hospital. Her mother requested for confidentiality, but I might be able to find something…" Only one window popped up and it was empty. "That's odd… There isn't anything of it recorded on file. Nothing." She typed in another few keywords. "But get this, she has been bouncing from foster home to foster home. She was a pretty troubled child. Eventually, she got it together – made something of herself. She was given a scholarship to the University of Cambridge and studied to be a psychologist. Once she got her clinical license, she made millions. I'm kind of jealous!"

Reid pursed his lips. "What about the victims? Were they also – "

"One other is an orphan. The other four are split into a mother-daughter duo. Dara Kellon is Sharon O'Connell's mother. Sharon seems to be a divorcee, but her husband had moved overseas and haven't been back since. I see no other connections with the other three."

"Thank you, you've been a huge help."

"Anything for you, sweetie."

Reid could understand that perhaps the unsub have some kind of relational issues regarding the mothers and daughters, but what did the orphans have to do with anything? How were they connected in any way?

He continued to stare at the photo until a thought popped into his head. What if… "What is the possibility that…"

…

"Why?"

She held her breath, staring at the masked man in surprise. This was the first time she had ever heard his voice. It was deep and had a low rumble to it.

"Don't you like the present I gave you?"

"I don't… I don't understand." How could this possibly be a present. She was trapped in a room with two dead bodies. "This isn't what I want. I just want to go home. Please. Just take me back home. I swear I won't tell anyone."

He crouched down so that he was properly facing her trembling form. "I can't do that, Evelyn. I need you to fully enjoy this first."

She shook her head. "I just want to go home."

He let out an exasperated sigh before standing back up. "I'll be back later."

"No! No! Please!" she begged, feeling her chance of escaping disappearing before her eyes. What did he want from her?

She racked her brain to try to remember anyone with that voice. Hundreds of clients had come and gone in her office. At least a quarter of the men sounded similar, but with that physique…

And why did he think this could be a present for her. She didn't even know these women.

"Damn it!" She buried her head into her arms. Helplessness was quickly setting in. "Please, help me. Someone, please, help me…"

…

"You're right," Garcia told Reid. "There's a huge possibility that Dara could actually be Evelyn's mother. Even though it's never been specified, she had given birth during the time that Evelyn was in the hospital and she had given the baby up for adoption! This could mean that… Yes!" She looked excitedly at the information in front of her. "The same is said with the other two trios! You're a genius, Reid."

"I know," he grinned widely, but it quickly disappeared as the problem was still present. "How do we find them?"

"Well, it seems that they also all have one thing in common – the birthing doctor. Dr. Cameron Swanson. He's since retired, but there are records that he had been seeing a shrink for the past six years. He had lost his daughter after the mother drove both of them into a lake. They drowned and were dead on arrival."

That was it. "He must've kidnapped the women to reunite them, but… If his wife was the one to kill them both, then…" His heart dropped.

"Then the mothers are most likely dead," Prentiss finished.

Reid looked down. "It's highly likely…"

"It's time for you to pay for your sins, boy."

He gently placed the photo back on the mantel and quickly excused himself. The house had become overwhelmingly stifling, knowing that an innocent woman had just been living here and taken from her home. If she was still alive, she'd be so frightened now. Maybe she'd even wish that she was dead – to just give up and…

"Reid!" Prentiss stopped beside him. Concern was clearly on her face. "Are you alright?"

"Yes! I'm fine! Can everyone stop asking me that?" he exclaimed, frustrated that everyone was getting on his face for showing a bit of emotion. Didn't he have the right to lament over the fact that all these women were frightened beyond compare and that he just needed a bit of time to clear his mind and get into a better head space?

"Hey! I'm sorry." Prentiss was just worried about him.

"I know, but I need you guys to just back off a little. Let me handle this on my own."

…

Evelyn laid tiredly on the floor. She didn't even have enough energy to shout, anymore. She was so hungry and thirsty. How long had it been? The man seemed to forget that she needed sustenance to survive.

Hadn't her life been hard enough already? She was an orphan who had been transferred from one abusive family to another. In school, she was teased for not having parents. Just when she thought she'd finally managed to prove herself to them all, this happened.

She was so tired of fighting and defending herself. What was the use when it just seemed that fate had different plans for her? She didn't want to keep doing this.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she picked up the china dish with shaky hands before retreating to her corner. How much longer could she even survive in this forsaken dungeon? It'd be easier just to do the job for him.

With her decision made, she threw the plate on to the floor, watching it shatter into a dozen pieces. She picked a particularly sharp and jagged shard and rotated it in her hands. This could be it. In a few minutes, she would be free from all this bullshit that was her life. Free from this monster's grasp and free from those dead eyes, constantly watching her.

She pulled her sleeve up and lightly dragged the sharp edge against her unblemished skin. It was ironic. She had spent years learning how to help people deal with these situations and another year practising. Where had it gotten her? Who was there to help her when she needed it? No one. She was alone.

Taking in a shaky breath, she pressed the fragment harder into her flesh until a bead of blood seeped out.

Suddenly, arms grabbed her.

She screamed, trying to wiggle away from her captor.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he roared. "I finally avenged you and this is how you repay me?!"

"No!" she sobbed. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! I don't even know you! Let me go! Let me die!"

…

They had lost a lot of time searching through Swanson's numerous properties. There were five just in the Washington State. They had gone through each one systematically, but each came out empty. Some were rented to families, while others remained unoccupied.

Reid found himself growing more and more frustrated. It was highly unlikely that their victims were still alive. Too much time had passed. If Swanson's intentions were benevolent, then he wouldn't need to kidnap the women and they'd be returned almost immediately. Instead, it's been a month since the first woman went missing and four days since Evelyn was taken. It would only be a matter of time before another trio of women disappeared.

He slammed his fist against the white porcelain sink. He rummaged for the two small glass bottles and rubbed his face. No, he couldn't. Not now. He had to find them and it wasn't for them. It was for him. He needed to find closure somewhere.

When he walked out, the others were already standing. They were going to the next location. It was further than Swanson's permanent residence, but it was one of the remaining two left.

"Come on, kid," Morgan beckoned to him. "If you're having stomach troubles…"

Reid shot him an annoyed look before slinging his bag over his shoulder.

…

"Let me die… Let me die…" she begged over and over, again.

He had tied her arms around the back of a supporting beam and left her alone in the dark, once more.

She didn't think it could get any worse, but obviously, that wasn't the case. Now, she was in one of the most uncomfortable positions and completely vulnerable. She didn't even have the ability to take her own life anymore. What fucking monster would do that to someone?

…

Reid hurried forward. Despite repeated disappointments at every location, once they arrive, he couldn't stop the rush of anticipation. Each one gave him the hope of finding someone alive and although each ended in failure, he couldn't quite let that hope go, but he wasn't sure how much longer he couldn't keep doing it. He needed this one to be it or he didn't know what he'd do. It was slowly driving him insane.

"Prentiss, Morgan, go check out the back." Gideon was also ready for this to be over. He could already imagine the bloodied corpses that were sure to await them. It wasn't something he wanted to see nor what he wanted his colleagues to see. "Reid, stay close."

With guns at the ready, they crept towards the large barn. The door was opened ajar, but neither could see anything in the dark. Gideon signalled for Reid to continue forward. They searched through every nook and cranny, but by the time they met up with Morgan and Prentiss who came from the back entrance, they found nothing.

Reid could feel tears of frustration sting his eyes. He couldn't believe it. This was the second last property. One more and that'd be it. They'd hit a dead end. By then, he knew that the women would all be dead.

"Please…"

His head snapped up. Was there someone there or had it just been another voice in his head?

He walked around looking for anything suspicious, but he couldn't find anything. It was a large field as far as the eye could see – only grass and dirt stretching into the distance.

"… Kill me…"

Reid stopped. That couldn't have possibly been from his head. Someone else was here.

"Hello?" He had his gun out and pointed downward. "Is anyone there? I need you to keep talking to me so I can find you."

"H-help!" a female sobbed. It was muffled and seemed to be coming from… Underground?

Suddenly, his heart began to sink. They had never thought of an underground cell. They should've, but they didn't. None of the properties were thoroughly combed out for secret rooms that were away from the main residence.

"Are you alright? Please, don't stop talking!"

"Help me…" The voice was getting weaker, but Reid looked at a barren patch of dirt and finally saw it. There were holes in the ground. He rushed over and knelt down. It was pitch black down there, but he knew that this had to be the place. "Evelyn, is that you?"

"Kill me now, please…"

"Evelyn, I'm not going to hurt you and I'm definitely not going to kill you." It broke his heart to hear her beg like this. "I'm with the FBI. Just… Give me a moment and I'll get you out of here. Can you move at all?"

She sniffed loudly. "No, he tied me down."

Reid took out his cell phone and quickly speed dialled Gideon. "I found her. I found Evelyn. She's underground in the fields."

"Stay put. I don't want you going there alone. I told you to stay close."

He snapped his phone shut.

Immediately, he began to frantically dig with his hands, ignoring how the dirt dug into his bed, making them bleed and split. "I'm coming!" He shoved the loosened pile away and found the locked latch. "Evelyn, talk to me!" He needed her alive, even if it was just one person. He needed this.

"I don't want to be here anymore…"

"I know. You won't have to be." He tried to ignore the way his heart clenched whenever she spoke. She had been there for days. "I'm here. I'm here. Do you see me?" He stuck his face against the hole, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but it was useless.

"No," she cried. "I can't see anything. H-he tied me f-facing the wall."

He let out a rare sting of curses before standing up and shot the lock that kept the latch sealed. Immediately, he flung it open. "I'm coming down!"

"No!" she repeated, this time in a loud exclamation. "It's really far down. I don't… I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He wasn't athletic in any sense of the word, but he theoretically knew how to keep from harming himself while jumping down from high places. Drop. Bend the knees. Roll. Keep the body relaxed. Don't break any bones and kill himself.

He jumped.

Evelyn's heart raced as she heard his voice. It wasn't the man. This one sounded much younger. He said he was from the FBI. Had they really found her? Was she finally going to get out of here?

When she heard the sound of someone landing heavily into the dungeon, she held her breath. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he fell to his death in an attempt to save her. "A- are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Just give me a second…" His voice sounded strained. Had he hurt himself?

Before she could think of all the horrible ways he could be bleeding to death behind her, she felt shaky hands trying to untie the ropes binding her to the beam.

One her hand was free, she turned to see her saviour. It was terribly dark, but the moonlight reflected off of the dirty blonde hair and pale face. "Hi," he said as if it was just an awkward meeting between strangers. In a way, he reminded her of a shy, uncertain boy.

"Hi," she said back to him.

"Did you, uh, know there were…" He gestured hesitantly to the two bodies that he had passed to get to her.

"Yeah, they're kind of… hard to miss."

Before they could say another word, a deeper voice interrupted them. For a brief moment, she thought the man had come back to check on her.

"Reid?! Are you in there?"

"Yeah!" Reid shouted back, his eyes still fixed on the woman before him. "I have Evelyn with me. There are no traces of Swanson!" Reid pushed the table and stacked the chair on top. He held out his hand for Evelyn who stumbled up the furniture. "Careful."

Being so close, he could finally get a good look at her. Deep forest green eyes looked back at him. "Here." He moved his hand to her waist and managed to easily hoist her up before she could protest. She was much lighter than he thought. Swanson must not have fed her well – if at all.

Morgan leaned over to help her up before thrusting a hand to Reid.

"You're safe, now," JJ told her, knowing how frightened she must've been. "We're with the FBI. Can you tell me where Dr. Cameron Swanson went?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I didn't even know his name! He doesn't really talk to me. I don't know why I'm even here." Tears streamed down her face. She was just so confused about the entire ordeal. "Can I please just go home? I'm tired and hungry and I really, really just want to go home."

"We can't let you do that," Gideon broke the bad news to her. "Swanson is still on the loose. Once he realises that you're missing, he's going to come back for you. We'll have to bring you to a safe hou – "

BANG!

Reid watched in horror as Evelyn's eyes widened. A dark patch bloomed from her chest and she fell into limply into his arms. "Evelyn! Evelyn!"

"You're not taking her away from me!" Swanson was standing by a tree. The gun was still pointed in their direction. His face was screwed into an expression of fury. "She's mine. The ungrateful bitch isn't going anywhere!"

"Put the gun down, Swanson." Everyone had their guns pointed back at the deranged doctor. "There's nowhere to run, now. Just surrender and you can leave here alive."

"Fuck you!" He reloaded his gun, but before he could get in another shot, it fell from his hand as a bullet pierced through his arm. He screamed in agony when it ripped through his muscles.

Reid still had his gun pointed at Swanson and he was looking at him with such hatred in his eyes that it took everyone by surprise, but in another second, they had detained their serial killer.

"It's okay, now, Evelyn. We got him." He brushed the dirty, waved hair away from her ashen face.

"I-I'm scared…" she whispered. Her entire body felt so cold.

"You'll be okay," Reid told her. "I need you to live for me." He pressed his hand on her wound, hoping to staunch the flow as much as possible, but in seconds, blood had already coated his entire hand. "I need this. Please, Evelyn. Don't die."

From the distance, he could hear sirens approaching them. Paramedics rushed over with a stretcher.

"She'll make it," Morgan told him. "She was strong enough to survive in that hell for four days. Don't' think a bullet is going to do much to her."

Reid wasn't so sure about that. "Do you know how I found her?" He could still hear the broken voice in his head. "She was asking for someone to kill her. What if she doesn't want to hang on? What if she wants to give up and just stop trying to fight a futile battle?"

Morgan had a feeling that Reid might not only be speaking for Evelyn anymore. He knew that something was wrong with his friend for a while now. The prodigy had been behaving differently since he had been taken and nearly killed. Maybe he should talk to the others about it. Letting him deal with it himself might be a bad idea. Morgan would never be able to forgive himself if Reid just took his own life one day because no one wanted to people address the elephant in the room. The kid needed some serious help.

…

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Evelyn groaned as she felt herself wake up from what felt like a never-ending nightmare. Her mouth felt incredible dry, her head was pounding, and it was as if someone had beaten every inch of her body. Everything just really, really hurt.

When her vision finally cleared, she was surprised to find that she wasn't alone in the room. The young FBI agent was sitting on the chair beside her. He looked very uncomfortable. His slender neck was angled oddly and the luscious hair fell in front of his face.

She slowly extended her hand, wondering if this was actually real or if this all a dream and she was still stuck in the dungeon. The moment her fingers grazed his, he jolted awake.

He looked wildly around until his eyes finally settled on her. First, there was confusion, then relief. "You're awake. H-how are you feeling?"

"I'd love to say fine, but I'm not sure if I've never felt worse in my life," she croaked. "Do you mind maybe getting me some water, please?"

His eyes widened and he stood up so quickly that it startled her. "Uh, yes. Sorry, I should've…"

She watched him as he hastily poured her a cup of water, sloshing some out of the container in the process. The water dripped over the edge and when he turned to her, he nearly slipped.

He cleared his throat and helped her into a sitting position before gently pressing the cup against her lips.

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome." He smiled.

She looked at him with curious eyes. There was something remarkably innocent about the man in front of her, but his eyes told her a completely different story. He had recently experience something traumatic.

With him being an FBI agent, she didn't doubt that there were many unspeakable things that he'd seen, but this wasn't it. He had personally experienced this and she immediately wanted to help him. Her instincts were shouting for her to psycho-analyse him, but before she could, a quartet of people filed into the room.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Davies?" the tall, dark-haired man asked her.

"Could be better."

He nodded in understanding before continuing. "I know you're still recovering, but if you could come with us to see Swanson – "

"No," Reid quickly objected before she could even reply. "How could you ever think of allowing that murderer to be in the same room as her after everything he's done?"

Hotchner's face darkened. "Reid, he requested that the only person he was going to confess to is her. We need to find the rest of the bodies." Swanson had given them enough information to solidify that the others were already dead. It was all in the matter of finding where they were now. Without bodies, it would be difficult to properly convict him. A good lawyer could easily half his already undeservingly-short sentence for two murders and a case of kidnapping.

"Hotch – "

"I'll go," Evelyn cut him off. When Reid shot her a concerned look, she merely squeezed his hand. "I want this guy off the streets permanently. If this is the only way to do it. I'll go. I don't ever want another person to experience what I have."

He watched Morgan help her on to a wheelchair. If she could still be stronger after everything that she have to go through, why couldn't he?

As she was being wheeled out, she turned back to look at him with a small smile on her face and he felt his heart skip a beat.

What was happening to him?

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So, exactly a week ago, I started binge watching Criminal Minds and I'm currently on Season 3, Episode 9. The entire time, I couldn't keep my eyes off the young doctor. I just had to get it out of my system, which is why I wrote this. However, I'm not sure if I should continue on it or just leave it as a One-Shot.

It's a bit difficult to write, not quite knowing each character as well as I hope. Please tell me if I'm writing any of them too out of character.

Echo