All criticism and advice deeply appreciated; if anyone thinks this is worth carrying on with I'd love to hear from you, I have some interesting romance/scary/all sorts of plans ahead :)

AN: Obviously don't own CM, just love it

………

Forever

Chapter 1: Think
"Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever." - Paul Auster

………

"Seriously kid, someone's gonna ask her out soon, boy will you be sorry"

"I will not be sorry as I am clearly aware of the status - and happy with- 'just friends'"

"Lies"

Morgan grinned, Reid blushed, Emily simply rolled her eyes to the ceiling. They were awaiting the rest of the team in the conference room for the latest case and Morgan was exercising his favorite and main pastime – genius-baiting.

"I've seen you turn an incredible shade of red every time she sways into this room, when are you gonna put us all out of our misery and just do it?"

He was bound to get a reaction soon.

"Seriously Rei-"

"-Morgan, sure you're not covering a little office romance of your own?"

Hotch broke in as he entered, and Reid could relax for another five minutes. He still marveled at the way Morgan remained so smooth in the face of accusation, it made his flustered defenses seem even more pathetic in comparison. JJ saved Morgan this time, stalking in, remote in hand. Spencer became acutely aware of everything he was doing and everything around him, particularly the 'incredible shade of red' he was undoubtedly turning and of course, Morgan's amused glare boring into the side of his head. He quickly pushed these thoughts away however, when he noticed the grave stance JJ had adopted.

"You wont like this one guys"

In other circumstances Morgan would have thrown in a sarcastic comment but it was clear that now just wasn't the time.

"I'll get straight to it… New York. There have been nine confirmed cop killings-"

"Nine??" Morgan questioned incredulously.

"Up until now they were thought to be all brutal, yet unconnected, starting from last Christmas up until late last month… so just under a year" JJ took a deep breath and began opening the files onto the screen. They all had a very small mark in various places on the body.

"It looks like a very crude tattoo…" Emily began, anticipating the inevitable interruption.

"Those look like lowercase Greek characters-" Reid felt obliged to answer her incredulous look "-well I didn't exactly have a social life in high school at the mature age of 12, it passed the time pr-"

"Well, they had to seriously search some of the bodies…" It seemed JJ wanted to get it all out at once, although internally she deeply regretted interrupting Spencer, "but it turned out they had all been marked by a similar symbol, the request was sent two days ago but it has just been upgraded to urgent." The team remained silent so JJ carried on, knowing the personal significance this would have to all of the team, and dreading it. "The NY police department was sent a nameless memo stating amongst other things…'their desire to move onto higher things'… and a laptop with a streaming video of a clearly drugged and brutalized detective… cuffed to a chair, who was working that case." A still flashed onto the screen. It was uncanny. There was a tense pause. Reid was aware of the attention he had inadvertently drawn but somehow he didn't feel anything yet. Panic didn't set in and he decided to take this as promising. It had been almost a year now and he was much more careful, besides, nobody was that unlucky, and Tobias was most certainly dead. He certainly knew they'd stay like this forever if he didn't break the ice soon.

"My ready bags… well, ready"

Hotch gave a quick yet meaningful nod. "Wheels up in half an hour guys"

………

"Now why didn't you grace me with your oh-so-lovely presence in the conference room today?"

"Oh sweetie don't fret, I am already hard at work enhancing these photos into a recognizable form for our resident genius to decode"

Garcia twirled an electric pink fluffy pen between her nimble fingers and swirled around to face him, with a gaze of total seriousness that looked so completely out of place on her normally care free face that Morgan had to laugh. Garcia was undeterred.

"This guy has a problem with the law."

"I thought as much"

"You're the law"

Morgan couldn't argue with that, and knew, selfish as it seemed, personal safety had been on everyone's minds. If this guy wanted to 'move onto higher things'… well, he was about to be delivered a team of the BAU's finest.

"You know I'll be fine" Morgan stated so firmly that she was almost instantly comforted, "and you know I'll be missing you baby girl"

"Who wouldn't? Anyway, I didn't install that personal webcam of yours for fun, now get that money maker moving, you're going to miss your plane"

Garcia smiled to herself long after Morgan had left her office.

………

The team marched into the New York police department, getting the usual looks, JJ giving out the usual introductions and receiving the usual formalities, and yet they could sense how exceedingly unusual this case was. They'd all looked closer at the case on the plane journey there and realized they were dealing with something… disturbingly different. An alarming amount of overkill was evident that made even Emily recoil at first glance. And the video… it made Tobias Hankle like a babysitter. A man spun around to face them whilst slamming down a phone.

"Detective Parker, You must be the BAU" stated a stern suited man, not unlike Hotch. They all felt a pang of compassion; this was the kidnapped detective's partner. "Look - hate to be brash - there's been an anonymous tip off of another victim down town, two miles from here, in an empty office block basement - same MO. Another cop. I'm sure you'll want to join us."

"Of course." Hotch took control straight away, "Morgan, JJ, you're with me, Emily and Reid, you can stay here and see what you can make of the symbols on the victims bodies" A wall of disappointment and relief hit Reid when he realized: he wasn't being paired with JJ - but would have no unprofessional (albeit beautiful) distractions from the task at hand. JJ squeezed his arm as she left ("tell me what the coffees like when I get back") and Reid caught an unsurprising wink from Morgan. He sighed exasperatedly, inwardly deeply enjoying the fact that his friend thought highly enough of him to believe it could ever happen.

………

"Damn"

Morgan was first down the stairs, CSI had lit up the dungeon-like space to reveal a suspended, shirtless and clearly tortured body, hanging from a rafter. A huge symbol had been etched on his chest - blood, not ink.

"They've given up on subtlety, that's for sure" he shouted up. Hotch leaned down to take a look, keeping his face, as always, indifferent, while his heart sunk.

"Morgan… profile every inch of that basement, JJ's handling the press outside the best she can, someone's tipped them off… god knows how they knew, I'm going to see what else I can find up here"

"Got it" Morgan confirmed. He always seemed to pick the short straw in creepy situations he thought to himself, taking in the symbols on the unfortunate corpse above him.

………

"Down here, Reidy"

"Excuse me?"

"Thought you might want a nickname?"

"Well… No Garcia"

"Doctor Spencer Reid it is then" she mused. The ease of video conferencing via laptops never let Garcia feel out of spin for too long. "Well Doctor Spencer Reid, I have some superbly digitally re-mastered shots on their way to you, in chronological order, right this very moment, oh and my character recognition software says… Greek, but I'm sure you have deduced as much already, oh mighty Doctor Spencer Reid"

Emily laughed at his mild annoyance, marveling at Reid's inability to be wrong about anything and Garcia's innate understanding of his predictability.

"OK I'm getting them now… and Garcia… you don't have to address me by my full title"

Garcia sighed, saving the 'it's a good job you're handsome' speech for another day.

"I know sweetness; I'm just passing the time."

Nine images popped up onto the screen in a string

Πρώτα - γρίφος - κομμάτι - Γιατρός - θάνατος - είναι - πολύ - εκρηκτικός - δόλωμα

"That's… that's very strange."

"No kidding"

"Garcia…"

Emily glanced curiously at Reid, he was growing alarmingly pale.

"Reid… what's it say?"

To the average, none multi-lingual-genius it was just a string of foreign symbols. Reid began to translate; Emily couldn't help noticing he was shaking.

"First - puzzle - piece - doctor - Death - is - very - explosive - bait"

There was an unnaturally silent pause; Garcia's tinny voice filled the hole.

"…Who the hells Doctor Death?"

"Death has a capital letter… I think it's the start of a new sentence. I think I'm the Doctor. I think it's a clue… or a warning."

"You think…?"

Reid suddenly lunged across a desk for the nearest phone, punching in Hotch's number and sickening at every ring, trying in vain to do anything but think. Emily and Garcia held their breath, attempting the same. He had noticed immediately how strange it was - the minute they get here - a fatality anonymously called in? Why didn't he mention it? Had his team been baited into a trap? The guilt would stay with him forever, it would destroy him. His worst nightmare was anything happening, anything, to his mentor, his best friend and the woman he truly did love.

………

Hotch read 'Reid' on his caller display and picked up while opening another decrepit old empty cupboard at the back of another decrepit old empty room, mildly surprised he could get cell signal this far into the building and mildly irritated that the place had proved completely bare so far.

"Hotch"

"Hotch get out of there, get-out-of-that-building, don't ask why, get everyone out NOW!"

For a moment he thought about reprimanding the young agent for his lack of cell phone etiquette

then he felt a diminutive click as he fully opened the decrepit old empty cupboard

then he was face to face with a hulk of black machinery and wires

then he spotted the timer quickly decreasing from "0:10"

and then there was no time to think.

"EVACUATE – EVERYONE OUT NOW, THERE'S A BOMB!"

Hotch bellowed this into his radio while sprinting faster than he imagined humanly possible, through the halls and out of the building, camera crews initially fervently recording the first few escapees, then panicking at the sheer chaos spread from people literally diving out of the office block. All he needed to repeat to the barricade of reporters as he ran towards them was the word 'bomb'. Everyone fled. JJ held back for her boss as long as she dared, he caught up with her, scanning the area and realization destroying the impenetrable fortress that was his calm demeanor. He grabbed her and held her still.

"What are you doing???"

"MORGAN??!"

The timer only gave JJ one last second to look back utterly horrified – for an instant they were drowned in silence - followed by a deafening blow of such force that - despite the impressive distance they had managed to put between themselves and it- they were thrown viciously to the ground. Debris flew over their heads narrowly missing them and they turned around to see the plot engulfed in flames.

"MORGAN!!"

………