Note: So... I think it goes without saying that this is a de-aging story. I never thought I would write one of these, but here we are...

I'm going to dedicate this story to Dextolan, who wrote the wonderful de-aging story, Like a Family. If de-aged Reid is your thing, I highly suggest you check it out. It's full of fun, laughter, with some angst mixed in for all of you.

This is going to be a pairing free fic for now. There may be eventual Morgan/Garcia, however.

Second, this opening chapter is really short. That's mainly because this is my first fic of this nature and I kind of want to test the waters.

Warnings: Expect a lot of nonsense and explanations that probably won't make sense, but this is a de-aging story. I'm pretty sure most of them don't make sense when you think about them.

Chapter One: What the Hell Happened?

It was getting late at the BAU.

Already most of the team had headed home for the night.

Hotch, however, was still in his office, going over the paperwork and files from the case they'd just closed.

A man in Minnesota had been murdering young pre-teen boys who resembled his deceased son.

It had taken them three days to bring him in, but they'd prevented the death of another child.

All in all, they considered it to be a success.

But he knew he was looking at a long night.

Haley would not be pleased.

He sighed, knowing he'd been neglecting to spend time with his family, but he couldn't avoid his work either.

His phone rang and Hotch reached for it reluctantly, expecting it to be Haley.

It wasn't.

He frowned when he saw the caller ID.

Garcia's office was just down the hall.

If she needed to talk to him, all she had to do was come down to see him.

Unless she'd already left and forgotten something she needed him to take care of.

But… that was unlikely.

Hotch pressed the phone to his ear. "Hotchner," he answered automatically.

"Um… sir?" Garcia squeaked. "I… you might want to come see this."

Hotch sat up a little straighter. "Garcia, what is this about?"

"I… I can't… I don't really know. Sir." She tacked on "sir" almost as an afterthought. Like she was too distracted to really know what she wanted to say.

That was worrisome.

Garcia always knew what to say.

"I… I think you might want to come over here."

She didn't say anything more.

He sighed yet again, rubbing two fingers over his forehead. He had a feeling his long night was about to get even longer.

Hotch stood, setting his files aside for now.

Hopefully, whatever Garcia needed him for wouldn't take long.

He didn't bother to knock on her door. She knew he was coming and he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

He turned the knob, pushing the door open.

"Garcia, what's…?"

"Shhhhhh!" She shushed him furiously, finger on her lips.

Hotch stopped, taken aback, but then he spotted the sleeping child curled in her lap.

"Garcia…" He spoke slowly, calmly, but right now he felt far from calm. "Who is that?"

For a moment, he wondered if she had smuggled a nephew in here, or even a son that they didn't know about. Which was ridiculous, but no one was more unpredictable than Garcia.

In any case, he was completely unprepared for the answer she did give him.

"Um," she looked panicked, "it's… it's Reid?"

Note: I'm pretty sure the only thing left for me to say is... what the hell did I just write?