Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds

A/N: I'm re-writing this series. It will be the exact same story line, but will a little more prose. I have matured a lot since I wrote this, so some things will change, some will change drastically, but mostly just the style.

Derek Morgan had been trying for ten minutes to get his bosses attention. He'd began to talk to them several times, but couldn't get Gideon or Hotch to listen. He started to walk for the door, and turned to try one more time.

"Gideon! Hotch! I'm leaving!" he called. Jason Gideon was lost in the file and simply waved his hand dismissively. Aaron Hotchner was on the phone and his attention was not on Morgan.

Morgan finally just gave up and opened the door to the conference room and left. as he was leaving he ran into Elle Greenway in the hallway.

"I need to talk to Gideon, I think-" she started but Morgan held up one hand.

"Good luck. They're off in their own world."

"Okay." She shifted the stack of files she'd gathered from on arm to the other and watched Morgan head off again. He turned and looked back at her as he got to the desks.

"If they ask," he said pointing to the room where their bosses had started spending all their time, "tell them I went to the hospital to talk to Daniel."

Elle nodded.

"Morgan! Wait a second." Morgan stopped and looked back at her.

"What's up?"

Elle pointed to the empty desk across from hers. Neither had seen Dr. Spencer Reid that in the last week and she was starting to worry. Gideon's story was less than convincing.

"Do you believe that Reid actually went to Vegas to visit his mom? I mean, just like that? Out of the blue he decides to fly all the way across the country."

Morgan considered the question carefully. Then he shook his head.

"No. I don't think that he would do that. I don't think that Hotch and Gideon are being completely honest. I think if he did there are circumstances we don't know about. And I think that this is something personal of Reid's and it's not our business."

Elle sighed and nodded, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear and out of her eyes.

"You're right. I'll cover for you if I have to."

"Thanks, Elle." Morgan grabbed his jacket and left.

He got into his car and drove to the local hospital. That was where Daniel Terrance, the sixth victim of the Quantico Rapist, was recovering for her attack. It was a tragic incident that had left the petite young woman in a near comatose state. She was so pretty, and in such bad shape. Morgan was just going down to talk to the nurses and se if he could get any information at all from the doctors.

When he arrived at the ICU, a nurse led him to the isolated room where the seventeen year old girl lay. Her lean body was covered with bruises and there were long scars that had been stitched to stop the bleeding, and wrapped in gauze.

She was hooked up to an IV and still unconscious. Morgan turned to the nurse that had just finished changing Daniel's IV.

"How is she?" he asked. The nurse, Brenda Cale, shook her head and gave a weak smile.

"Not so good. She hasn't woken up yet, and she lost a lot of blood." Brenda had worked on one of the other victims, Cathy Be, who had died two days ago from her injuries.

"Think she'll make it?"

"I'm praying for her. Agent Morgan, promise you'll catch the monster that did this to these poor girls."

"I'm doing my damn best."

"They're so young. And after Cathy died…"

"We're doing everything we can. We're going to find him."

"I'll keep praying." Brenda nodded once as if to confirm what she'd just said. Morgan smiled at her.

"You do that. Did you finish the SART test?"

Brenda nodded and pointed to the table beside her.

"We just finished, I'll take it down to the CSIs. Agent Morgan, she's stable right now, but we don't know if she'll stay that way. If you need anything just ask."

She tried to force a smile, and then took a deep breath to compose herself. With that she disappeared into the hallway to deal with the rest of the tragedies.

Morgan stayed behind for a moment, and stared at the girl, saying a short silent prayer and asking God to ease the pain of the teenager.

On his way out, he looked into the other rooms through the windows. He looked at the people who were in so much pain, and wished he could help them as well. He knew he had to focus on the five girls who had been killed, beaten to death, by this monster. He knew he had to focus on finding the man who'd tried to do the same to Daniel.

As he looked at the other patients he saw something that caught his eye and made him stop. Standing by the window in one of the rooms was a tall, slender man in hospital scrubs, the kind you were allowed to wear if you were pretty much living in the hospital.

The man had sandy brown hair that went just past his chin and was staring absently out the window.

Morgan couldn't be sure, but the man looked like Reid. He shook his head to clear the strange though, and was about to walk away, when the man turned to face the side.

The profile view showed a slender face with drawn in features, like he hadn't eaten in months. Or simply drank too much coffee and was haunted by the ghosts of people he hadn't been able to save.

"Reid," said Morgan, his voice hardly a whisper.

Reid didn't hear him, but start talking to a person beside him. Morgan looked to see who the young doctor was talking to, but he realized there was nobody there. Morgan looked at the boy, who was he talking to?

"Excuse me, Brenda?" asked Morgan, flagging down the nurse from Daniel's room. He pointed through the window at Reid. "What can you tell me about him?"

Brenda looked at Reid and shook her head.

"Not a lot with out breaking, doctor patient confidentiality," she said.

"Well, can you tell me who brought him in? The paramedics? Did he drive? Was there someone with him?"

"No, an FBI agent…One of the ones that came in with you before. I don't remember his name, I think it was Aaron, or Adam, or something like that."

"Aaron Hotchner?" suggested Morgan.

"Yes! That was his name. He was the one that came in with you that first day with Cathy and asked me a lot of questions."

"What happened to him?"

"He was pretty beat up, needed a lot of stitches and attention. It was not easy to stop the bleeding. I think he might have had a psychotic break a couple days ago, since Dr. Canyel was in earlier and she's our resident psychiatrist. He's up and walking now, so he should be fine."

"A psychotic break?" asked Morgan.

"I can't talk about that, and I don't know for certain. I'm sorry, Agent Morgan, but I have to get back to work, good bye."

She walked off, leaving Morgan to stare at the figure before him. There stood a brilliant young doctor, with a promising future in the FBI, and a good friend of his. If Brenda was right, and if what he was seeing was any proof, Reid was talking to a person who didn't exist.

A tear rolled down his dark cheek as he watched Reid turn back to the window. He left the hospital, confused and alone, unsure of what to do next.

As he drove back to J. Edgar Hoover Building his confusion turned to anger.

He couldn't understand why Gideon and Hotch had lied to them? Why they didn't think that He and Elle and JJ deserved to know what had happened to their partner. To their friend.

Hotch had known. Hell, the Senior Agent had brought him in and probably concocted the lie as well.

Why hadn't they said that Reid was in the hospital? They, as his friends and partners, should've known, should've been able to go see him and help him through this.

When he got back to the J. Edgar Hoover building, the questions and the betrayal had turned his anger into a full fledged rage.

He took the stairs two at a time until he reached the BAU level of the building. Hotch and Gideon were still in the conference room they'd been holed up in all day and Morgan threw open the door and let it slam shut behind him.

He took long steps until he was an inch from Hotch's face. He pushed the older agent into a wall with more force than necessary.

"Morgan!" yelled Elle in shock.

Hotch didn't have time to really react before Morgan was in his face.

"Why the Hell would you lie to us?" he yelled.

"What are you talking about?" asked Elle, stepping up to try and pull Morgan away.

"Reid isn't in Vegas. He's in the hospital!" yelled Morgan again.

"What?" asked Jennifer Jareau, now also standing and watching what was happeing.

Morgan stepped back and looked at Hotch, who had yet to speak or do anything to stop Morgan's outburst.

"Hotch drove Reid down to the hospital a week ago. The nurses say that Reid was in bad shape, beaten up and bleeding. They lied to us."

"You mean…what happened?" asked JJ. Morgan looked from Hotch to Gideon, who was still quietly seated at the table, and back at Hotch. He shook his head.

"Why don't you ask them," he said, indicating to the two men.

"Gideon? Hotch? What happened?" asked Elle.

Hotch stepped away from the wall and turned to Gideon.

"I guess we have to tell them now," he said. Gideon nodded, tenting his fingers in front of him and leaning his elbows on the table.

"We don't really have a choice," he said.

A/N: I'll try and get the next update tomorrow.