A/N: Hello everyone. This is my first CM fic that wanted to get out of my head. I really hope I get this finished before summer holiday but knowing me I can't be too sure.

The story will take place quite in the beginning of the series. Reid is 25 in this one, Gideon and Elle have left, and Prentiss and Rossi are on the team. That's because the majority of the episodes I've seen are like that. I do not own any of the BAU team but everyone else in this fic I do.

The fic will be pretty much Reid-centric but I also put some thoughts from others too. I hope you'll like this one and plz review me if you want this to continue and especially if you like this. :)


Las Vegas, Nevada
The 12
th of July 1994, Tuesday

Zap!

A polaroid camera took a photo about a boy sitting in a shadow of an oak tree and reading a book. The boy was about thirteen or fourteen years old and had chestnut brown hair and a pair of eye to match it. In front of those eyes he wore eye glasses. His attention was absolutely captured by the book he was reading even though he was constantly turning the pages of it. He didn't even notice another boy across the street, holding the camera. That boy was much younger, something between eight and ten. He looked at the photo he had just taken and allowed himself to smile slightly. Now he needed to get away from there, and quickly. He stuffed the camera and the photo into his dark grey backpack and hopped off the bench he had been sitting on.

Only to stumble and fall on the ground. The older boy looked up from his book.


Spencer was half-way through the book he had been reading. He truly loved classics and that was already the third book of the day. Nothing had disturbed his peace as it was a hot summer day and people preferred spending time indoors or at swimming pools. He didn't care of the heat though. In the shadow it wasn't insufferable.

Thump!

Spender looked up from his book. There was a boy lying flat on his stomach on the pavement, just fallen down. Spencer closer his book and placed it on the grass. He walked to the other boy. "Hey, are you alright?"

The younger boy snapped his head up and his cheeks got a tint of pink. Maybe it was the heat or then it was from embarrassment, Spencer didn't know but nevertheless offered his hand to help the boy up.

"I-I'm fine." The other boy stuttered, surprised about something. Spencer couldn't figure out what it was even though he had read a lot of books about human behavior and psychology.

"You aren't from here, are you? I don't remember seeing you before." He asked as he helped the boy up. The younger one's face fell slightly and he avoided eye contact.

"N-No… I don't live here. I'm from Idaho… My parents are on a business trip and decided to take me with them…" He told quietly as he stared his toes. Spencer noted he told only the state he lived in, not the name of his home town. But he decided not to draw attention to it.

"Okay. Why are you alone then? And here? Usually people stay in the city center. I'm sure you parents must be worried." While Spencer didn't have exactly experience of worried parents he knew it was very usual for parents to worry about their children.

"They are on a meeting and won't be back until night. And brother is playing with game automats at hotel. I'm merely looking around."

"What's your name then?"

"Ah… um… Matthew… I'm Matthew Thompson." A lie. Spencer could see it from the boy's eyes.

"Well, nice to meet you Matthew. My name is Spencer Reid." Matthew nodded, like he had known it. They shook hands. "Say Matthew… Do you like chess?"

Matthew became suddenly very uncomfortable about that question. Much more uncomfortable than with any of the other questions. It was written all over his face. But Spencer decided to try anyways.

"What's wrong?"

"I do know the rules but I don't play."

"Why not?"

"Mum is a poor player. Brother doesn't like chess and dad… he is too busy." Another lie.

"Well, would you like to play with me then?" Spencer suggested carefully. Matthew's face brightened immediately.


"I lost!" Matthew laughed. Spencer smiled at the younger boy who had slowly come out of his shell during the game. He was pretty good player and had been able to give a proper opposition to Spencer. He was quite odd kid. He really wanted to know more about Spencer but was reluctant to tell anything about himself. It was like he had been afraid of something. But there were little bits of truth Spencer had managed to pick up from Matthew's speech.

The boy was nine years old, had a mother, a father and an older brother. He also had possibly another sibling too who wasn't living with them. Either deceased or then given away for adoption. Some kind of illness so they had to be in a hospital was also a plausible opinion. 'Matthew' was a fake name as was the name he called his brother 'Timothy'. The boy was really smart and bright for his age. Probably as smart as Spencer but he was doing his best not to show it. From his behavior the older boy could see Matthew didn't have much friends if any; he was happy to notice someone tolerated him around and was rather clingy towards Spencer. And the way Matthew spoke about his father… he clearly wasn't in good terms with him. It was also weird that he didn't even tell which hotel they were staying in…


Washington D.C.
The 26th of May 2005, Thursday

Spencer Reid woke up with a start. It was already well past midnight and only light to the room came from neon advertisements outside of the window, dimmed by curtains. He touched his forehead with a shaky hand and noticed it was covered in sweat. Why was he shaking so badly?

"Matthew Thompson…" The young man frowned and sat up slowly. He hadn't met that boy after he had left Vegas. How many years it was already? Ten? No, almost eleven. He had forgotten the boy completely. Why was he seeing a dream about him so suddenly? And the most confusing thing was… Reid could not bring himself to remember what the boy had looked like. It should be impossible. Especially with his memory. With his eidetic memory that could remember everything he had read and helped him connect pieces of information faster than an average human could. Yet, he couldn't remember anything about the boy. Had Matthew Thompson been just a creation of his subconscious?

Reid rose up and glanced at his alarm clock. 03:47A.M. already – or only, depending on the point of view. He could as well get ready for the day and check if he could find anything from his belongings to prove Matthew Thompson's existence.


Two hours and three cups of coffee later Reid was sitting on the floor of his living room, in the middle of old photos and a few diaries. There weren't much of them and only one diary mentioned Matthew with a few sentences written by Diana Reid: "Spencer got a new friend today. His name is Matthew. He is very sweet and bright boy. A bit like Spencer actually." That was all. Reid sighed. This didn't prove much. He couldn't be sure if it was written when his mother was in lucid or not. Maybe he could ask Garcia to help him… He cleaned up and took his messenger bag. Hopefully there would be some paperwork for him to do at Quantico, even though it was quite unlikely for him to leave anything for next day.


Reid was sitting at his desk and reading the report of the last case the BAU had had. At the moment he didn't have anything else to do as no one else had come yet.

"Reid, how come you are here already?" Aaron Hotchner, the leader of BAU, asked as he stepped into the bullpen. It was really rare that anyone was there before him.

"I woke up a bit earlier and decided to come." Reid shrugged. Hotch furrowed hi brows but didn't reply. As a profiler he could easily see that something was bothering the young doctor.

After about an hour later the other members of BAU started to come. As soon as Garcia came, Reid went after her to her office filled with several computers.

"What now, mr. Genius? We don't even have a case yet and you already come here to seek my help. Or do you just enjoy my company so much you have to follow me from the beginning of the day to the end of it?" The blond computer nerd teased the man. Reid didn't pay attention to it. He was already used to Penelope Garcia's bubbly and flirty way to talk to others.

"I need a favor… Or I don't need is it favor as I'm not even sure is that person real or not but I'd like to find him if –…" Reid's rambling was cut short as his colleague Derek Morgan came to the room.

"Hey, Pretty boy and Baby girl. We have a case. JJ and Hotch are already waiting for us in the conference room."

"Ah, we're coming." Reid nodded before turning back to talk to Garcia. "I'll explain later."

"Okay, but don't think you are off the hook. You managed to catch my attention with that brief description and you do know how I like challenges." She smirked. "You go ahead. I'm coming soon."

"Yeah, thanks already in advance." Reid hurried after Morgan.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing special. Forget it."

"Reid? You are not alright."

"I'm fine enough."


"There have been serial robberies in Idaho, Atlanta. Every single time the group attacks to a seemingly random place, shoot someone, take the money from the cash register and while escaping take a hostage. The hostage is found two days later, tortured and sometimes even dead. About a day after the hostage is found, the group strikes again. There has been eight attacks this far and no one dares to go anywhere since no one knows where the UnSubs are going to strike next." Jennifer Jareau aka JJ told to the team.

"Eight attacks and they ask for help now?" Emily Prentiss was surprised. She was rather new member in the BAU and wasn't really used to the way some police officers treated them.

"I talked with one of the detectives in response of the case. He apologized for the delay but didn't want to say what had caused it."

"Is there any connection with the hostages or the victims or the places?" The senior profiler, David Rossi asked as he flipped through the file they all had been given.

"According the detective they haven't found anything. The shot person was usually working on the place and all the places are some type of shops. Only once the attack happened on the biggest library of the city."

"Right, take you bags. The plane leaves in thirty." Hotch announced. They were about to exit the room when JJ called them back.

"The detective asked us if we have anyone with knowledge on the computers. They themselves couldn't find anything but he added that none of them have a proper education on 'handling anything more complex than a search machine'."

"I see. Garcia, make sure you are ready in thirty minutes." Hotch told the technical analysist.

"Understood, Bossman." Garcia saluted and hurried to take everything she needed to take with her.


Rossi frowned as he studied the case. They seemed to be blitzattacks but the profiler did find something weird on one of the statements of the victims. 'They asked who was ––, and took him/her.' It was repeated in every single attack at least once. It seemed the hostages weren't so random anymore and thus made the places less too. Otherwise the UnSubs seemed to be untraceable. Every time they used a different car and even if the car was same, the license plates were covered. They also seemed to know the area very well because after a few minutes they weren't found anymore. No wonder the police were stuck.

The profiler glanced at his colleagues and could see similar thoughts going on in their minds. Except Reid and Garcia which was weird because usually the young man was going through the file and making comments on the victims. But now the plane was unusually silent. Only Reid and Garcia were having a quiet conversation, seated apart from everyone else. It obviously wasn't anything case related. It was a personal matter.


"Alright, my junior G-man. What's your problem?"

"I… I met one boy about ten years ago. I didn't remember him until today. I know the name he gave me but it's not his real one and…" Reid paused for a second.

"And what?" Garcia smiled gently.

"I don't remember at all what he looked like. I- I'm not even sure did he exist at the first place." The doctor scratched his head embarrassedly and looked away.

"It's alright, pretty boy. I'm here to help you to find out more about your friend. Tell me everything you know and think that might be useful. So the name doesn't help at all?"

"No, I know it wasn't his but I'm sure it wasn't completely random either. But we can't rely on it if we don't know how he chose it."

"So we ignore it for now. Where does he live?"

"Somewhere in Idaho."

"What a coincidence."

"You do know I don't believe in coincidences… But in this case it's possible yeah."

"Family?"

"Mother, father and an older brother. Most likely someone else too but he avoided the subject."

"What would be his age?"

"He was about nine at the time so now he's supposed to be something between nineteen and twenty-one, depending when his birthday is."

"Do you remember anything else?"

Reid frowned and tried to remember that one day. Nothing came up except…

"He was really afraid of his father. I suppose he was being abused." He replied. It was hard to make a profile about the boy he wasn't even sure to exist. The boy who had tried to hide everything about himself.

"Well, let me do my magic. This might take a while, so be patient. And most likely I'll get too many hits as we have a whole state to go through."

"Thanks anyways." Reid smiled to the woman and left his seat. He sat this time opposite Morgan who watched him curiously.

"What's up Reid?"

"Nothing." The ex-police officer raised his eyebrows.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"It's nothing. Really. If something comes up I'll tell you." Reid waved his hand dismissively and leaned back on the chair. Maybe he could catch a bit of sleep. After all he hadn't slept well at all thanks to that dream/memory. In no time he had drifted to a light sleep, his mind buzzing disorganized information.


A/N: Alright, my dearest readers. Tell me what you thought about it and do you want some more. Most likely I'll post the second chapter in two days but nothing is too sure. :)

See ya 'til the next time XD