Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, other than River Constantine. I am not making money from these stories. I like writing and this is a terrific distraction for me.

Chapter One

The young girl woke up with a start. *What time is it?* she thought, slightly scared.

It was Thursday morning, and Dr. River Constantine was rushing around, hoping, and praying that she would be on time. The coffee pot was almost done brewing, and the apartment smelled of extremely strong coffee. The toaster had just popped up the two pieces of toast that were all she was going to have time to eat this morning. *Please, just let us get a break for lunch or something. I am going to be starving in a few hours,* she pleaded with no one in particular.

As River was locking the door to her apartment, the next door over opened quickly and Dr. Spencer Reid practically ran out.

"Are you running late, too?" River asked of her neighbor, and friend.

"Yeah. I couldn't get to sleep; I don't even know when I fell asleep, but I didn't hear the alarm at all."

"Same here, pretty much. Would you like a ride?"

"I thought you never got behind the wheel of a car. Never mind, it doesn't matter. Yes, I would love a ride," Spencer responded.

"Alright, c'mon Spence."

Dr. Reid smiled. He remembered the way he felt when JJ called him "Spence". He loved it when she called him that, mainly because River had always called him by that nickname. His heart jumped into his throat. *Maybe things are better now. Maybe she is better now.*

River could tell he was thinking… most likely of when they were younger. The look on his face reminded her of when they were in college. Yesterday, he seemed so much older than she remembered, but now, he looked like she remembered. They had just pulled out of the parking lot of their complex, and she was speeding down the road toward the BAU. As she was about to turn onto the highway, her cell started ringing. It was already plugged into the hands free system in her car, and she just hit the answer button.

"This is Dr. Constantine."

"Hey River, it's JJ. Hotchner is calling the team together with wheels up in an hour. How far away are you?"

"I'm driving now; just got on the highway. Reid is with me."

"Okay. Well, that's one less call for me."

"JJ, do you know what the case is?" Reid asked, while watching the other cars disappear as River drove faster.

"It's the series of rapes in Austin that we looked at yesterday. Three more students were attacked last night. Local PD is positive it's the same guy," JJ replied. "Well, I have to go. Still have to call Emily and Derek."

"Alright. We should be there in about 5 or 10 minutes depending on traffic," River said, and then hit the end button on her phone.

"The technology you have in this car is amazing. I can't even tell what half of this stuff is for," Spencer said, trying to not let the fact that he was terrified of their speed show through in his voice.

"Most of it is pretty much useless most of the time, but it was highly recommended. Everything in the car is linked with the ONStar system. There's the hands free system for the cell, there's voice activation for everything including windshield wipers and even unlocking the doors and starting the engine. The latter two require giving a PIN for activation, though. The only other thing of real importance is the medical monitoring system. It can read pulse, blood pressure, respirations, and body temperature in regular intervals. It can also read glucose levels, and blood counts, but that requires test strips, so it can't do it on its own." River loved her car, but she never really had anyone else in it, so she didn't really get a chance to talk about all of the additions she had made.

"Why do you need the medical system?" Reid asked, worried.

"I've had a few issues recently. The doctor can't really explain it, but the diagnosis is an unspecified bleeding disorder, drug induced. Basically, sometimes my blood won't clot correctly or I will become anemic for no apparent reason. It started shortly before I stopped using the morphine," she said, and paused. She was a little uncomfortable talking about the drugs, even though he already knew. Talking about the morphine made her want to use even more. "The hematologist told me I needed to quit using, or the disorder could become permanent. Part of me thinks that is why I'm having such a hard time; because I didn't really get to the point where I felt I needed to quit."

River fell silent. She was feeling like she had said too much, and just wanted to run away at that point. Luckily, they had just arrived at BAU headquarters, and an excuse to change the subject was about to become available.