Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and all characters and recognisable themes belong to the respected creators.

Broken Strings

Up All Night:

'Okay, so, who's up for going out tonight? I think we deserve it, I mean, that was a pretty hard case and I wasn't even there!', Garcia said, as she and the rest of the team were leaving the BAU building that Friday evening.

'I'm up for it', said Emily, looking quite relieved to have something else to focus on other than what she had seen on this particularly brutal case.

'Me too', piped in JJ, liking arms with Emily as they stepped outside, in an attempt to protect them both from the biting cold wind.

'You know I'm always up for a night out babygirl', Morgan said, wrapping his arm around Garcia and pulling her closer to him, a big grin on his face.

Garcia was giggling as she said, 'Okay, so who does that still leave for me to attempt to get drunk?'.

'Well, we know Hotch won't be coming, I think he practically lives here you know', said Emily looking back at the building to their boss's window, where, inside, the light was shining brightly as usual.

'Gideon definetely won't come - I actually don't ever remember him coming out with us unless it's to some fancy restaurant. I guess getting drunk on a Friday night just isn't his thing', JJ pointed out.

'Okay, so that leaves, Pretty Boy', Morgan clarified, looking over to Reid, who was walking slightly behind them, his head in a book.

Garcia lent round Emily and JJ to face the youngest member of the team.

'Reid? You coming?'.

Reid looked up at his friends, seeming slightly put-out as Garcia had interrupted him whilst he was reading; 'Uh, I'll meet you guys there, I have to go home first, I'm expecting a call'.

This didn't surprise the team; Reid always went home after a case. They assumed he was calling his mother, who he didn't get to see often, but none of them had ever actually questioned him about this, knowing that Reid kept his personal life very private, which the team respected, even if he did sometimes intrigue them.

Garcia, Morgan, JJ and Emily all got into Garcia's car and headed straight for the club, whilst Reid wandered over to his own car, still reading.

'Uh, Spence? Don't forget to put your book down so you can actually drive?', JJ called to him, a smile on her face. Reid gave her a small smile back whilst he put his book in the glove compartment, before driving off back to his apartment.

'Okay, who's ready to partaaay?', yelled Morgan, whilst the other team members laughed as they drove off in the direction of the club.

Garcia and Morgan were already on their second round of shots by the time Reid arrived at the very lively nightclub.

'Here'; Morgan pushed one of the small glasses towards the young genius as soon as he sat down.

'Uhh, maybe I could start with something slightly less strong?', Reid said, looking unsure as he eyed the shot in front of him.

'No way', said Garcia, a determined look on her face. 'You turn up late, this is your punishment, now drink!'

The others all watched as Reid reluctantly downed the drink, his face screwing up as it hit the back of his throat.

'What was in that?', Reid exclaimed, looking horrified.

JJ leaned in towards Reid, murmuring,'We've no idea, I had one and felt physically sick, so I don't think I wanna know'. She, Emily and Reid all watched as Morgan and Garcia ordered yet another round of shots at the bar.

'Oookaaay', said Emily standing up and turning to Reid and JJ, 'Whilst these two might want to get completely wasted, I don't think it would be good if we all turned up with a hangover tomorrow morning. So, what can I get you?'

'I'll have a white wine', said JJ.

'A lager please', said Reid.

'Right, so that's two white wines and lager, I'll be right back', Emily was heading towards the bar and laughed quietly to herself, shaking her head as she just managed to hear Garcia complain that she, JJ and Reid were boring for not getting completely hammered.

Not surprisingly, the evening ended with JJ and Emily half-carrying Garcia to their car to give her a lift home, after she had passed out as soon as she was off the dance floor. Reid was still trying to pull Morgan away, feeling very uncomfortable around the girls he was attempting to dance with.

'We'll see you tomorrow morning!', Emily called back to him.

'And good luck!', JJ added, motioning to Morgan.

'Thanks!', Reid replied sarcastically as he finally managed to pull Morgan away and towards his car.

The next morning, Garcia dragged herself into the BAU room and slumped into a chair, after Hotch had called them in early to work on a case. Morgan was in a similar state - his head was resting on the table and he was wincing at every loud sound that was made. Luckily for JJ, and Emily, paracetomol tablets had managed to numb their headaches, but they couldn't help but feel sorry for their fellow team mates. However, Gideon was watching the whole facade with an rather amused look on his face. A few seconds after Garcia had arrived, Hotch entered the room and walked to the board, a stern look on his face.

Noticing the state of the technical analyst, he loudly said 'Uh, Garica! Do you have those case notes I asked for?'

Garcia suddenly sat up, as did Morgan, looking slightly flustered as she nervously said, 'Yes sir, they're here', as she handed out the files to everyone.

'Where's Reid?', Morgan inquired, looking around the room, just as the youngest member of the BAU entered the room, a troubled look on his face.

'Sorry I'm late', he murmered quietly, looking down and taking his seat at the table.

'Hey, you okay?', JJ whispered, leaning over to him, a concerned look on her face.

'What?', said Reid, as he was pulled out of his thoughts. 'Oh yeah, I'm fine', he gave her a small smile and then turned to the case notes.

'Okay, now we're all here, we need to get started on this case. It'll probably be a familiar case to most of you but as Emily wasn't here when we first worked on it, I'll quickly summarise it. About two years ago, five young girls all went missing. They were all 16 with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. They were taken from completely different locations in Atlanta, but each was found in a dumpster, 24 hours after they went missing with three lacerations on their abdomens. We weren't able to find the unsub, but recently in Surrey in the UK, there have been three girls with the same descriptions as these girls reported missing and then found dead.', Hotch said, with a grave expression.

'Hold on a second. This is in the UK, how do we know they're connected?', asked Emily, who looked confused.

'The MO is exactly the same, the lacerations are there and the UK authorities have asked us to step in', Hotch replied. 'The reason I asked you all to come in is that a fourth girl was reported missing almost an hour ago. Her name is Emma Johnson and she apparently left for a friend's house this morning but never got there.'

A picture of a young, smiling girl appeared on the screen as Hotch was speaking. As soon as this picture was shown, Reid sat up in his seat, his face turning very pale; he looked horrified and like he might collapse. The team didn't notice his reaction until they heard him utter, 'Em'. They all turned around to look at him, confused, as Reid shot up from his seat and ran from the room before anyone could comprehend what was happening.

Author's Note: Okay, I know this chapter is a bit confusing but don't worry, all will be revealed in the next chapter! It's not very long because I just needed an introduction to the story, but I plan to make future chapters a bit longer. Please review because I'd love to know your thoughts!