A/N: This is my first fic ever, so please don't be too harsh!

I should probably also point out that I don't own CM, but you probably assumed that already. It would be epic if I did though.

Everyone was exhausted as the long day came to a close. They were all packing up as fast as possible to go home. Soon JJ, Hotch, Rossi, and Emily had left, and only Morgan and Reid were behind, Reid searching frantically for his keys and Morgan helping him.

"Hey, Reid!" Morgan yelled across the room "Your keys were over here" Morgan picked up the keys and tossed them towards Reid. Without thinking, Reid reached up a hand and grabbed the keys in midair, hastily stuffing them into his pocket.

And unexplained look of worry crossed Morgan's face. "Hey, kid, what happened to your arm?"

Reid looked down at his arm, the loose sleeve covering the pale limb, before returning an inquisitive look to his coworker, panic rising. "Huh?", he asked dumbly, holding on to the hope that he was wrong.

"Dude, you have a ton of bruises! What the hell happened?"

"Oh... um, I tripped on the stairs the other day."

"It looks bad... let me see." Morgan said, taking a step to grab Reid's arm.

Almost instantly Reid took a step back. "It's nothing, forget about it" Reid muttered, grabbing his stuff and hastily walking out the door.

As he left Morgan's sight he cursed himself internally. He should have worn tighter sleeves. He shouldn't have reached his hand up into the air... and falling down the stairs? What kind of excuse was that?

As Morgan left the office he wondered what was up with Reid. Why was he so freaked out? Did he really think Morgan would buy the stair story? How did he really get those bruises that he was trying to hide?

The next morning, if you could even call it morning, Reid's phone rang. Dragged out of his sleep prematurely he fumbled for the offending device. Finally he managed to open it and mumble a greeting. JJ's voice spoke "Reid, I know we all had a really late night last night and we're exhausted, I'm so sorry to do this, but we have a case."

"Ugh, I'll be there in half an hour"

This time Reid was careful to select a tight shirt under his vest. He pulled the sleeves over his bruised arms as he walked out the door ten minutes later, coffee in hand.

As he drove to work, the morning sun rising, he replayed last night's events in his head. He hoped he was worrying too much. Still, he couldn't get Morgan's look of concerned shock out of his head.

Morgan, too, was on his way in at that very moment. He had not forgotten about the events of the previous night. In fact, he had been replaying the scene in his mind since it happened. What the hell could have caused those bruises? When he closed his eyes and tried to remember an image of them they seemed to all be different colors, in different stages of healing. If it had been anyone other than Reid he would have suspected abuse, but Reid lived alone. Should he confront Reid or let it go?

As everyone walked in Morgan looked to meet Reid's eyes, but Reid seemed to look right through him.

JJ called everyone's attention. "Thank you everyone for coming. I know none of us got nearly enough sleep, but we just got a new case. It's out in Denver. We'll brief on the plane. Go get your coffee and then we'll head out. Wheels up in 10."

It was explained to the team on the plane that there was a serial killer in Denver who was abducting little girls and dressing them up in princess costumes before murdering them. He had escalated, and was now killing one a day. A girl had gone missing an hour before they were called, and they were hoping to catch the guy before it was too late.

After the briefing they all moved to separate seats to review the case by themselves. As Reid chose his seat he looked up to see Morgan walking towards him. His heart leapt in fear.