A/N

Heyo! I decided to rewrite this story since Morgan and Reid were so out of character. I hope they're better now, but they might still be a little out of character. Characterization is my weakest point, sorry. Hopefully it meets up to your expectations, enjoy!

I own nothing. All mistakes are my own. Warning for language and child rape.

It was a bad one. Three days into the case and they had absolutely nothing. Zip. Nada. No-thing. The team had been called on to assist on a case in a small town in rural North Dakota. The population was under 5,000 so in retrospect, the case should have been simple. Kids between the ages of eight and twelve were being raped and killed, then dumped in alleys like trash.

It was an understatement to say that everyone was a little stressed out. But nobody was as bad as Morgan. Morgan had already cussed out two police officers, made JJ cry, broke a window, punched countless walls, and even back talked to Hotch. They all knew (with the exception of Rossi but Reid was pretty sure he somehow made the guess) that Morgan was molested as a child. So it was only natural he was a little more angry than the rest of them. But when Hotch suggested that Reid take Morgan to check out the latest abduction site, Reid had seriously begun to wonder if Hotch wanted to see him alive again.

So now they were standing on a small stretch of side-walk leading from the latest victim's school to his house. Ten-year-old Daniel Marshal was last seen walking the route he takes from school to his house every day after school. Reid has to admit, he was a little annoyed at the victim's parents for letting the young boy walk home alone when they knew there was a killer targeting kids his age.

The side-walk followed down a small road leading into the farming area of the small town. The road was surrounded by farm land and a couple small houses along the way but other than the few elderly people who sit out on their porches in the mornings, there was no one to see the young boy walk home. So Daniel was young, completely alone, and probably very scared when he was abducted. Great.

Morgan and Reid were now walking along the side-walk in silence, keeping an eyes out for anything the UNSUB could have left behind. Reid glanced over at Morgan in the corner of his eye. Morgan was walking stiffly a little ways in front of Reid, his fists clenched at his sides. Reid knew he should try to talk to him, comfort him. But Reid knew he wasn't very good with the whole "comforting friend" angle and he would probably end up saying something wrong. It was worth a shot, though. Because that's what friends are for, right?

"Morgan?" Reid asked hesitantly, thinking about how to word his "comforting friend" speech.

"What?" Morgan's voice was cold and emotionless. Reid unconsciously winced and almost lost his nerve but quickly plowed on before he totally wimped out.

"I… Are you okay?" he asked the darker man with his awkward stutter. Damn, he was no good at this…

Morgan stopped walking and Reid stopped with him. Reid fiddled nervously with the button on the cuff of his navy blue sleeve as he eyed Morgan. Morgan's posture was still stiff and his face was unreadable of any emotions.

"Am I okay?" Morgan repeated Reid's question.

Reid swallowed hard at the steeliness of Morgan's voice, "Y-Yes. You've been worrying everyone. If you need help, you can just ta-"

"I don't need help, Reid. I can watch over myself," Morgan interrupted.

Reid eyed him disapprovingly before adding with a slight huff, "Right."

Morgan stared at Reid for a moment before he began walking again. Reid watched him walk for a couple of seconds before he jogged to catch back up with the older man.

"You know…" Reid began in attempt to lighten the subject, "There are 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and it is estimated that up to 100,000 of them are missing. They're supposed to be registered, but nobody knows where they are."

Reid looked over at Morgan. Morgan was still staring ahead, not even indicating he had heard Reid. Reid wasn't sure how to take that but he eventually took it to be a good sign and kept talking.

"89% of child sexual assault cases involve persons known to the child. 29% are relatives, 60% are acquaintances, and only 11% are strangers. So it really wasn't your fault Carl Buford did what he did, it could have happened to anyone. Actually-" Reid immediately cut himself off when he realized just how wrong he worded that.

Damn it! He cursed himself for his words, Why do you have to say the wrong things all the time?

"Uh…" Reid said awkwardly and looked over at Morgan. Morgan had completely stopped walking and Reid hesitantly stopped with him. Morgan's hands were clenched so tight, his usual dark knuckles were practically white.

"You had no right to say that," Morgan hissed through clenched teeth.

"I-I know and I'm sorry. I was just babbling and…" Reid stuttered out a response.

"Just. Stop. Talking…. Please," Morgan said, his eyes still staring straight ahead.

"Yeah… Yeah, okay," Reid mumbled.

They stood there in an awkward silence while Morgan attempted to regain his composure. They stood there for what seemed like hours before Morgan started walking again. Reid stared after him for a moment before following.

Maybe you should apologize, a little voice inside his head suggested.

Apologize? Yeah…

"Uh, Morgan?" Reid asked.

"What is it, Reid?" Morgan asked in an exasperated voice.

Reid bit the inside of his cheek for a second and then spoke.

"I… I'm sorry for what I said. It was out of line and I shouldn't have done it," Reid said in a rush. Yeah, there you go. That was good.

Morgan pursed his lips and kept walking, "S'okay."

Reid eyed him for a moment. That was it? An "its okay"?

Maybe you should try talking to him, the voice in his head suggested and Reid vaguely wondered if he should be worried about that persistent little voice.

Talking. Well, he wasn't too good at talking… But it couldn't hurt, could it?

"So…" Reid started, "What do you think about this UNSUB?" Good job!

Morgan paused for a second before answering, "I think he's lost someone close to him or all these kids are surrogates for someone. All these kids look alike; they all have blonde hair and blue eyes. That can't just be a coincidence."

"Maybe it's just his type," Reid said.

Morgan looked over at him sharply, "Do you doubt my profiling skills?"

"What? No!" Reid said in surprise that Morgan had said that to him.

He's probably still mad, the voice said, you should apologize again.

"Morgan, if you're still mad-" Reid began.

"I'm not mad!" Morgan practically yelled and Reid stopped walking in surprise at Morgan's tone.

"Morgan, something is obviously bothering you and I can help you," Reid said stubbornly.

Morgan glared at him, "I. Don't. Need. Your. Help. You don't know anything about me so just shut your little mouth and try to find who's killing these kids!"

With that, Morgan turned on his heel and began walking briskly back down the side-walk to where they parked the black SUV. Reid stood there, stunned, for a good while.

Maybe you should just stop talking…. The voice suggested.

Thanks, I really needed your advice, Reid though back angrily. This is the last time he's going to listen to the "voice of reason".

Reid sighed and began walking up the side-walk back up to the SUV.

The ride back to the police department was, to say the least, awkward. Reid would glance over at Morgan every now and then and Reid could have sworn Morgan's grip on the steering wheel tighten every time he did. Reid tried to talk to Morgan a few times but every time he did, Morgan blew him off.

Morgan and Reid walked into the police department together, Morgan still giving Reid the cold shoulder and Reid still trying to thaw out the ice

"Did you guys find anything?" Hotch asked them when he saw them walk in.

Reid opened his mouth to talk but Morgan cut him off.

"No. This guy good. Really good and it's pissin' me off, Hotch," Morgan said in a strained voice.

Hotch nodded grimly, "Me too. I think we should go over the profile."

Reid and Morgan both nodded and followed Hotch to the small room the police officers had set up for the profilers. When Reid walked in, he saw Rossi, JJ, and Prentiss were already seated around the small round table.

"So what do we have?" Hotch asked no one in particular and he sat down in one of the vacant seats.

Morgan sat down in the chair next to JJ and sighed, "I didn't find anything at the latest abduction site. The UNSUB didn't leave any footprints, trash, car tracks, nothing."

Reid leaned up against the door frame and frowned at Morgan's wording. He said "I didn't find anything" as oppose to "Reid and I" or "We". Reid profiling skills automatically kicked in. Morgan was distancing himself from Reid by ignoring him. But why? Was he seriously still mad about what Reid said? Reid apologized! Shouldn't that be enough?

"When was the last time any of you have slept?" Hotch suddenly asked.

Reid saw the rest of his team glance at each other and shrug. Hotch sighed out of his nose, "I want you all to go back to the hotel and get some rest."

"Hotch-" Morgan already started to protest but Hotch cut him off.

"You'll all do better if you're fully rested. Now, go back to the hotel and get some rest," Hotch said in his if-you-give-me-shit-about-this-I'll-punch-your-face voice.

Everyone was still for a moment, pondering if they should argue with Hotch but then ultimately deciding not to. One by one, everyone filed out of the room but Reid remained at his spot near the door. He wanted to talk to Hotch about Morgan's behavior before he left.

Hotch got up from his seat and Reid walked up to him.

"Hotch…" Reid started but stopped when Hotch put his hand up.

"Can this wait until morning? I would really enjoy getting some sleep right now," Hotch said.

Reid though about that for a moment before finally answering, "Yeah… Yeah, it can wait."

Hotch gave him a small, grateful smile before brushing past him to get out of the room. Now Reid was the only one left when he remembered he was the only one without an SUV to drive back to the hotel with.

He quickly jogged out of the police department and hoped that one of his team members hadn't left yet; he really didn't want to walk all the way to the hotel. Not that it was that far away, it's just he wasn't really up to the walk. It was around seven in the evening and the reddening sunlight was the only thing lighting the parking lot.

Reid's eyes scanned the parking lot and saw only one black SUV left in the parking lot and his body flooded with relief. But that relief had quickly vanished when he saw the one person leaning up against the driver side door. Morgan.

Reid sighed and walked quickly over to where he was leaning up against the side of the car. Morgan raised his eyebrows in minor shock when he saw Reid making his way up to him.

"Hey," Reid said, "I don't have a ride and I was wondering if you could….?" He trailed off and gestured awkwardly at the black SUV.

Morgan's eyes darkened and he glanced at the SUV and then looked back to Reid.

"No," Morgan said simply.

"No…?" Reid echoed in confusion.

"No, I can't give you a ride," Morgan repeated and said each word clearly as if was talking to a small child.

"Why?" Reid asked lamely. He knew it wasn't the smartest thing to say, but he was completely too shocked for long sentences. Had he really made Morgan that mad?

Morgan scoffed in a very un-Morgan like fashion, "I don't exactly enjoy riding in cars with people who I thought were my friend but actually turned out to be somebody who goes and rips up my worst childhood memories. How would you like it if I just so casually mentioned your mom? Or your bullying in school? Or about how your dad left you? Huh?"

Reid blinked his eyes a few times and opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Morgan sighed angrily and opened to door to the SUV and slid into the driver seat.

"Maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut," Morgan advised and shut the door to the car. Reid watched as Morgan drove out of the parking lot and then accelerated faster than needed down the road. Looks like he was going to get his exercise today…

Reid sighed again and debated whether or not he should ask one of the officers inside to give him a ride but then decided against it. What would they think when the skinny agent kid came in there asking for a ride like a car-less teenager?

Reid looked up at the sky in confusion when he felt something wet hit his face. He brought his hand up to his nose and brought it away to reveal a small rain drop. Reid groaned inwardly as more and more rain drops began to fall from the sky.

Soon, he was soaked to the bone with the chilling water. He ran a hand through his wet hair and pulled his thin black cardigan closer to his thin frame. He grumbled to himself about Mother Nature and its impeccable timing as he jogged out of the parking lot and down the side-walk towards the hotel.

Maybe it's just fate kicking you in the face, the voice suggested.

Damn you, fate. Damn you.

Reid felt his foot connect with a something hard and the next thing he knew, he was sprawled out on the freezing cold (and also wet) side-walk. He groaned and propped himself up on his elbows to see what had tripped him. A piece of the side-walk was cracked and was sticking up in an odd (and dangerous) fashion.

Yeah, it's definitely fate, the voice said.

Reid pushed himself all the way up into a standing position and was secretly grateful he didn't rip any of his clothing when he fell. That would have been embarrassing. Reid started jogging again through the rain, but much more cautiously this time. He noticed his running was slightly off and it was brought to attention that he was limping slightly on his right leg.

Great, he grumbled to himself, I probably pulled something when I fell.

Reid saw the small, neon light in front of his hotel and he sighed in relief. At least he made it without getting in life threatening trouble. He slowed to a brisk walk when he reached the covered area in front of the front door of the small hotel.

Reid looked down at his soaked clothes and frowned slightly. His dark blue dress pants were soaked and sagging slightly off of his thin hips, his blue dress shirt was soaked in a similar fashion as his pants except his shirt was clinging tightly to his body and it outlined the slight muscles he had on his chest. His black converse shoes were soaked just like the rest of him and they made a squish sound whenever he stepped.

He ran his hand through his hair again in attempt to shake out some of the water before going inside the main lobby of the small hotel. It was more of a motel, really, with two stories and made with white bricks. The lobby was a cozy size with comfy looking furniture placed here and there inside. The lady behind the reception desk frowned at his wet clothes but didn't mention them.

"Um, I'm with the BAU team," Reid said to her, "There should already be a room for me."

"Last name?" the elderly woman asked him.

"Reid," Reid said, "R-E-I-D."

"Hmm…" the woman murmured as she scrolled through the chart on her computer screen.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Reid," the woman said and handed Reid a small, black key-card, "Second floor, room 24."

"Thank you," Reid said quietly before walking towards the elevator, careful not to slip on the tile floor. He pushed the small button on the wall and waited impatiently for the elevator to come. He shivered and silently cursed Morgan for making him walk in the rain.

Surely Morgan will feel guilty about this tomorrow, right? Reid is his best friend for Pete's sake! Or was…. The elevator dinged and the doors slide open. Reid stepped inside and was grateful he was the only one inside the small elevator. It strangely reminded him of the time Morgan and him had gotten stuck inside an elevator a few years back. The memory brought a small smile to Reid's lips as he felt the elevator move upward.

Things would eventually go back to normal, right? Morgan can't hate him forever. It was a simple slip of the tongue! If anyone should be apologizing, it should be Morgan. He was the one who overreacted, not Reid… Right?

The elevator dinged again and Reid stepped out. He glanced at the different number plates on the doors as he walked past them.

20… 21… 22… 23… 24.

He stopped at his room and slid the keycard in the little slot and the door clicked open. He saw his Go-Bag already placed neatly on his bed and he smiled. JJ was probably the one who was responsible for the simple gesture. Reid made his way over to the bed and opened the bag up. He pulled out a pair of grey sweats, a clear pair of boxers, and a black t-shirt. He pulled his cell phone out from his pocket and saw it was clearly dripping wet.

"Damn…" he murmured and set the now dead phone down on his nightstand. He pulled his gun off of his belt and carefully laid it down next to his phone.

He quickly peeled off the layers of wet clothing from his body and shivered when the cold air assaulted his bear skin. He pulled on the dry clothes and gave a content sigh once their warmth flooded through his body. He ran his hand again through his damp hair, causing it to stick up in crazy spikes. He was about to crawl into bed when a soft knock came at his door. Reid groaned and sat up from the bed.

"Comin'" he called sleepily and stifled a yawn. He reached down to unlock the door but noticed he had forgotten to lock in the first place. Huh, he thought to himself, no wonder the UNSUBS come after me, I'm have absolutely no concern for my own safety!

He opened the door and his eyebrows went up in shock when he saw who it was.

"Hi," Morgan said and rubbed the back of his neck, "Can I come in?"

Reid felt an unexpected anger boil up inside of him, "I don't know. Are you going to talk or send me walking in the rain?"

He expected Morgan to be guilty for what he did to him, but instead Morgan's eyes flashed with anger.

"Actually," Morgan said hotly, "I was going to say you left your wallet in the SUV earlier but…"

"Oh," Reid said somewhat stupidly.

Morgan nodded bitterly and then pulled Reid's black wallet out of his pocket, "Here" Morgan practically shoved in into Reid's chest. Morgan turned to leave but Reid reached out to grab his arm to stop him.

"Wait," Reid said, "I…"

"You what?" Morgan asked him, "You gonna apologize again?"

There goes that anger again.

"No," Reid said, "If anyone should be apologizing, it should be you."

"Me?" Morgan asked in disbelief, "What the hell did I do?"

"What did you do?" Reid echoed and licked his lips, "You made me walk in the rain all the way to the hotel!"

"You should have just asked one of the officers to drive you," was Morgan's reply with a nonchalant shrug.

"Should have asked…" Reid repeated in disbelief, "Why couldn't you have just driven me? It wouldn't have killed you."

Morgan shook his head, "I told you, I didn't want to ride in a car with someone who talks about things that shouldn't even be mentioned."

"It was a slip of the tongue!" Reid insisted.

"Then maybe you shouldn't use that mouth of yours so much!" Morgan whisper-yelled, "All you do is talk-talk-talk-talk about things nobody even cares about! Why can't you just learn to shut up every now and then? Jesus, Reid…"

"Why can't you just learn to let go of it?" Reid challenged, "It was a mistake and I apologized, what more do you want me to do?"

"I… I want…" Morgan couldn't seem to get his words across.

"What? You want what?" Reid prompted and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I just… I just want you to leave me alone," Morgan finally managed, "You are useless to me. You're only some stupid kid whose dreams are too big for your own good. You were a loser in school who deserved to get beat up because of it, a failure of a man in every way except books, a drug addict and a social outcast who will forever be alone. "

Before he knew what was going on, Reid snapped his hand forward and slapped Morgan across the face. Morgan brought his hand up slowly to touch the now reddening spot on his cheek where Reid's palm connected with his face. Both men stare at each other in shock. Had he really just done that?

"Morgan…" Reid said in disbelief, "I have no idea what came over me! I'm so so sorry!"

Morgan still stared at him with the same shocked face, hand on cheek.

"Morgan?" Reid asked hesitantly.

Like a flash of lightening, Morgan's fist flashed out and connected with the side of Reid's face. Reid stumbled sideways and hit the wall next to him. Reid brought his hand up to his cheek and stared at Morgan in disbelief. Morgan stared at Reid, his mouth in a big "O".

"Oh my god…" Morgan said, "Reid… I…"

"Don't," Reid hissed. The punch didn't necessarily hurt; he was a child prodigy in a Las Vegas public high school, he could handle a few punches. But what really hurt him was the fact that Morgan was the one who had done it to him. Morgan was his best friend…

Without speaking a word, Reid pushed his way past Morgan and practically ran down the hallway and into the door leading to the stairwell. He took the stairs down, two at a time, with angry tears burning in his eyes. Every time! Every damn time he let someone in, they tore him down!

He burst out of the stairwell and into the main lobby again. The elderly woman looked up from her seat at the reception desk and Reid could barely make out the small smirk on her face once she saw the newly forming bruise on his cheek.

"Go fuck yourself," Reid snapped at her and felt slightly shock at his use of language. The lady's smirk immediately disappeared and Reid felt a bitter smile come across his features as he pushed open the door of the small hotel and started walking. He didn't know where he was going; he just knew he had to get far away from this place. The rain had stopped and the sky was now a dark blue night-time color.

Reid's bear feet padded on the cold concrete and Reid wished he had pulled on a pair of shoes before storming out of the room like that. His wet hair hung down in his face and he ran his hand through it, causing it to stick back up in those ridiculous spikes.

How could Morgan do that? Wasn't he his friend? Did he even care about him anymore? Reid thought back over the past events of the day and frowned, things just didn't add up. Sure, Morgan would be annoyed at Reid's placing of words from earlier but be this mad? No way. There was definitely something else going on here and Reid was determined to find out.

Reid was pulled from his thoughts when a rather loud commotion followed by a string of curse words came from Reid's left. Reid slowly came to a stop and looked into the dark alley next to him. The only thing lighting the side-walk was the crappy street light hanging over Reid's head as he squinted into the dark.

The facts of the case came flooding through his mind. Young boys… abducted… raped and then killed… dumped in alleys…

Reid glanced around the street. All he saw was a closed coffee shop across the street and a black van parked in front of it. Wait… if the coffee place was closed, why was someone parked there? Instinctively, Reid's hand went down to his hip where he kept his gun, only to slip down his hip. Reid glanced down and remembered he took off his gun back in the hotel room.

So now here he was; gun less, phone less, shoe less (not that that really mattered now), and with their possible UNSUB dumping a body in the alley right next to him.

Fate, my friend, fate, the voice said.

"Shut up," Reid mumbled absentmindedly. What was he going to do? He couldn't just waltz right in there and be like "Hey, I'm an FBI agent but it seems I have forgotten my gun back in my hotel room. Now if you'll just come with me…" Um, no.

But he couldn't just leave either. They had no leads, no evidence, and this could just be the break they needed! If Reid let him get away now, they may never catch him. Reid sighed angrily and finally decided to just wing it and hope some guardian angel was looking out for him.

Reid walked slowly, careful not to make any noise, down into the dark alley. He stopped walking for a second to let his eyes adjust to the lack of light before squinting into the darkness. He could barely make out the outline of a figure kneeling over a large object wrapped in some type of blanket, his back to Reid.

Reid looked around and saw a thin, metal pipe leaning against the trash can next to Reid. He cautiously knelt down to pick up, only to knock it over and make a loud clang sound when it hit the trash can on its way down. Reid froze and watched in horror as the man quickly stood up and whipped around to face Reid.

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded. Reid could see the outline of a gun in his hands and his mouth went completely dry.

"I, um… I…" Reid stuttered.

"Get up!" the man shouted and shook the gun in his hand.

Reid nodded in reply and slowly stood up, hands raised. Reid swallowed hard and his eyes drifted to the object wrapped in the blanket. The child-sized object…

"Who are you?" the UNSUB repeated.

"I'm a… I'm an FBI agent working for the Behavioral Analysis Unit," Reid said. Why not start with the truth?

"So you're here to… profile me?" the UNSUB asked in an amused tone.

Reid shifted uncomfortably, "Yes."

Reid heard the faint sound of sirens from somewhere far away and he realized he needed to get the UNSUB talking if he wanted to live to see another day.

"You've been a very… slippery man to find Mr.…?" Reid trailed off and waited for an answer.

"Stanley." The UNSUB said, "And I must ask, if I've been so hard to track, how did you find me here?"

Reid shrugged casually and he could hear the sirens steadily get louder, "Actually, it was an accident. I was going for a walk, you see, and just so happen to stumble upon you."

The UNSUB shook his head and smirked, "Seems like fate has it cut out for you, agent."

Fate. Yeah, his damn fate was going to get him killed.

The sirens were now in full hearing distance and the UNSUB cocked his head to the side to listen. Reid saw him stiffen and then glance around, as if looking for an escape route.

"You should just give yourself up now," Reid said, "You're not going to get away."

The UNSUB looked over at Reid and glared. Reid watched as he raised the gun, aimed, and fired.

And then everything went black.

*Wipes forehead* Whoo! That was a monster! I originally planned for this to be a little thing with only a couple hundred of words, but it's pretty obivious this thing wanted to be bigger. Follow up to be posted later today! Also, quick question: Have you ever seen the movie Stay Alive? It's about the group of friends who play a video game and if they died in the game, they died in real life. Anyone seen that movie? I've not totally lost it, there's a reason for the question lol. But have you seen it?

Please review!