A/N: So, here's to hoping I'll get this chapter out before school starts on the first…. And that I can get housing at college -.- Also, hoping this gets done before the hurricane. Little bit terrified about that, honestly….

Welcome to the sequel to Red White and Dead! If you haven't read that one, it's strongly suggested, otherwise you'll be quite a bit confused and I'll spoil the ending for you. This is put in the DP/AR cross-over section, but the Alex Rider characters really don't show up en masse until next chapter, sorry! There will also be the BAU team from Criminal Minds in this, just so you know, but sadly, this site does not have a section for three-way cross-overs.

General warnings for this story: violence, language, angst, and suspense. ...hmmm, yeah, I think that about covers it….

Playlist for this chapter: "Going Under" by Evanescence and "Falls Apart" and "Outta Control" by Thousand Foot Krutch.

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

Reid nervously walked into Hotch's office of his own volition as opposed to being ordered or pulled in. Of course, the topic he wished to discuss was the same as the topic Hotch always called him in about. Danny Fenton.

The teen had retreated into himself a bit more after receiving the package from this Yassen/Cossack person. He was never seen without the collar and iPod nano, and he even regularly washed the Ruski Rock shirt to wear under a T-shirt each day. Reid had also noticed that Danny would get caught off-guard or daydreaming more often, and he sometimes responded in Russian when distracted.

Needless to say, Reid was worried. What if this Yassen/Cossack guy was making things worse? Already Danny's small bit of progress seemed to be thrown out the window as he ignored the agents all together some days, instead listening to his bright green iPod and staring off into space.

And yet… Danny was smiling more often, blushing when caught off-guard, and generally seemed happier. He would hum or even sing along with his music and turn bright red if caught doing so, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing in his embarrassment. He wasn't falling back into his runaway state of mind, either. If Reid saw him taking food from a pantry, he'd simply state he'd gotten hungry and ask Reid if he wanted some of whatever had been grabbed.

Still, Reid felt the need to speak with Hotch about the change in Danny's progress. So, he peeked his head in Hotch's door and knocked.

Hotch glanced up from his paperwork and invited the rather nervous genius in. As the young agent sat down, Hotch asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Um, it's Danny…."

Hotch's eyebrows peaked in concern. "What about him?"

And so Reid explained his conflicting thoughts on the mysterious Russian gift-giver. Hotch simply listened, thinking each point over as Reid brought it up.

Finally, when Reid had gone silent, Hotch sighed. "Has Danny still been answering the calls from his friends and family?"

Reid nodded. "Everyday at four. He talks for hours with them, too. I once ha to practically hang up for him one night. He was still speaking with Sam at 10:30."

Hotch chuckled. "Then I don't think you need to worry too much, Reid. But, if it's still bothering you, talk with Prentiss. She might have been able to read some of that note Danny got with his delivery."

Reid absentmindedly nodded, already standing and heading for the door. "Thanks, Hotch," he called as he left, heading straight for Emily Prentiss' desk. He glanced around quickly, making sure Danny was out of earshot. "Hey, Prentiss?"

She blinked up at him, taking in his nervous posture with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, Reid?"

"I, uh, was wondering if, um, if y—you'd managed to read any of the n—note Danny got in—in that package last week?"

Prentiss' eyes went wide. "Um, yeah, I saw a little bit of it. But I just skimmed it, so I didn't get a good idea what it was talking about…."

"What did you see?"

"Uh, nephew, renting an apartment, Washington D.C., keepsakes, stay, twenty-third, three in the afternoon…. There was a P.S., but I didn't get a chance to read any of it."

Reid paced between a couple desks. "So it's from Danny's uncle. Must be talking about when Danny can move in to his apartment…."

"At three in the afternoon tomorrow?" One of Prentiss' eyebrows had quirked up again.

The genius froze, realizing that didn't sound quite right. "Maybe it's a meeting time? For when the uncle would get into town?"

Prentiss thought it through, nodded. "Maybe. But shouldn't we just ask—?"

"N—No!" Blushing at Prentiss' shocked stare, Reid added, "I'm just being extra careful, and I don't want to worry him over nothing…."

Both glanced up when they heard humming coming from the hallway that led to Garcia's bunker. The two shared a grin as Danny walked by, oblivious to the onlookers. He made circles with his right wrist, clenching and unclenching his fist and flexing his arm at the elbow. It was a habit Morgan first noticed immediately following Danny's cast being removed. Whenever they brought it up, Danny would blush and explain that he was trying to restrengthen his arm after a month and a half of no use.

But Danny simply walked by, heading down another hallway. Reid sighed, looking back at Prentiss. "I'm sure he'll tell me if it's important."

Prentiss glanced once more after Danny, murmuring, "I sure hope he will…."

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

"No way, really?"

Reid chuckled at Danny's incredulous expression. The teen was on his cell phone, talking with Sam. They'd been on the phone for two hours now, and Reid was trying to determine how to get Danny's attention for dinner.

Danny saw Reid waving him over and held up a hand, signaling to wait a minute. "No, no, Sam, I just…. It's getting close to dinner, and— ...Yeah, I know. ...Sorry, I…. It's not really something I can control. ...Well, about tomorrow…."

Reid's ears perked, straining to hear as much as he could without being obvious about his eavesdropping.

Danny was blushing slightly. "I'm gonna be hanging out with my uncle. He's getting in tomorrow around three, so I'll call you as soon as I can, okay?" He sighed. "I know, I'm sorry it's such short notice. ...No, I think I can convince him to join our Skype call on Saturday. ...Yeah, no problem. ...Uh-huh, I'll try to call around five. ...Okay. Bye, Sam." He chuckled at something she said, responded with another good-bye, then hung up and came over to the table.

The temporary roommates grinned across the table at one another as they set the table together. Once all the food was set out, they sat down, Danny closing his eyes for a moment before reaching across the table for mashed potatoes.

Reid smiled, letting Danny fill his plate as much as he wanted and barely holding back his snicker at Danny's subtle way of saying grace before his meal. It was the little things like this that amused Reid, especially when his ward thought he didn't see. Reid was glad to see that wasn't changed by the mysterious uncle.

Speaking of whom….

"So, what was that you were telling Sam about?" Reid asked as he began filling his own plate.

"Which part?" Danny asked, barely remembering to swallow his food before speaking.

"The not being available tomorrow at four part."

"Oh, that." Danny shrugged. "I'm gonna be out with my uncle. Y'know, catching up and stuff."

"Your uncle's in town now?"

"He will be tomorrow. His plane gets in at three." Danny set down his fork, sighing. "I won't be able to move in with him until the weekend, but I wanted to pick him up from the airport myself."

"Will we get to meet this mysterious uncle of yours?"

Danny chuckled. "Yeah. Sorry I haven't told you guys about him, I just haven't seen him in a while. He travels a lot 'cause of his work."

"What kind of work?" Reid asked, wondering what job would necessitate so much travel—before remembering that could easily describe his own job.

"Similar to you guys, he works for a group that deals with international cases. He's been pretty much everywhere, but I wouldn't really say he liked his job." Danny's lips quirked and his brow furrowed as he rethought his last statement. "Well, I guess I can't say he hated it, either. But it brought in money, which he used to get Mom a good start here in America."

"Oh?" Reid did a very poor job acting nonchalant. "Your mom grew up somewhere else?"

Danny smiled wryly at the agent. "Yeah, don't bother. You heard us talking, you saw the writing on the package and note, and you've seen my choker and iPod. The whole team knows Mom's Russian."

Reid blushed, trying to stammer out an apology.

Danny chuckled. "It's fine, Reid, neither of us mind all that much. If we had, we wouldn't have been speaking it in front of you guys."

"R—Right…."

The two continued to eat for a few minutes, Danny quickly going through a plate and a half of food before pausing again.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked, not quite meeting Reid's gaze and picking at the table cloth. "About my uncle, I mean. And me."

Now Reid's brow furrowed as he tried to think why Danny brought it back up. "Sure."

"He had a mentor, when he first started his job about twenty-some years ago. His mentor meant a lot to him. They did pretty much everything together, and he was my uncle's best friend. My uncle would do anything for him, and he even saved my uncle's life. My uncle loved him, so much, in fact, that he convinced Mom to use his mentor's name rather than his own for my middle name. At the time, he made the excuse that it was more 'American' than his name, but he told me a couple years back that it was the least he could do in remembrance of the man who saved his life. That's why my middle name is Hunter, not Yassen."

Reid took a moment to absorb what Danny had just told him, but recognized the look on the teen's face. Time for a subject change. "So, when is the last time you saw your uncle?"

Danny grinned sadly. "Just after the accident with the Portal."

"Did he know you were—?"

"Phantom? Yeah, not much gets past him. He's hyper observant, something Jazz and Mom got, too. Of course, Mom tends to ignore or overlook things she deems impossible, even if they're just improbable."

"And you?"

Danny blinked. "Huh?"

"Did you get the hyper observant gene?"

The teen blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'd like to say I did, but my friends call me clueless a lot…."

At that, Reid simply had to laugh.

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

"So, he's picking up his uncle then?" Morgan asked, an eyebrow raised. The team had gathered at Reid's request, Garcia dragging Danny away so they could speak freely.

"This afternoon, yeah," Reid replied. "He said he can't move in until the weekend, so he's just hanging out with his uncle until then. Oh," Reid turned to Prentiss, "the uncle's name is Yassen. I'm still not sure why he used the name Cossack, but Danny still hasn't said much about him."

"What did he say?" Hotch inquired.

"Ah, his job requires him to travel a lot, so Danny hasn't seen him since just after his accident with the Portal. His uncle knows about his ghost-half, and Danny said that he was hyper observant."

"Anything else?" Rossi wondered, wanting as much information as possible on this unknown uncle.

Reid thought back. "Um…. He admitted his mom is Russian, and he kinda already knew we knew. Also, he mentioned that his uncle used whatever he made to help Maddie start a life here." Reid chose to keep the story of Hunter to himself, realizing it was something Danny wanted kept quiet.

"So when are the two of you heading to the airport?" JJ asked.

Reid blushed. "A—Actually, Danny wants to go on his own. He'll take the bus to the airport, and he'll call me to meet them for dinner."

The group took a moment to think that through, each wondering what this Yassen person would be like.

"Hey, Reid?" a voice called from the doorway.

All six glanced up in surprise to see Danny standing there. The teen grinned in embarrassment and amusement at catching them off-guard. "Sorry, but, um, I wanted to talk to Reid before I left…."

Reid spared a quick glance at Hotch, who nodded, before following Danny out.

They came across an empty room and went in, Danny shutting the door behind them before turning to Reid. He nibbled his lip, eyebrows peaking as he stared at the ground and scuffed the floor with a foot.

Reid blinked, not having expected this kind of vulnerability from the teen. "Danny? What's wrong?"

"W—What if I—What if I changed too much?" he murmured. "I—If he doesn't recognize me or if I can't—" He cut himself off, glancing up at Reid. "I'm still—It's not a problem around you guys, since you've done nothing but help me since you found me, and I was still in shock around my family, but I noticed the other day that—that I get panicky around anyone else. I—I mean, someone bumped into me in the hall yesterday and I freaked. W—What if—if it's the same around Uncle Yassen? I—I haven't seen him in years, and now I won't even be able to hug him when I pick him up! N—Not that he's very touchy-feely in the first place, but still—"

"Danny."

The teen stopped his ranting (and subconscious pacing), wide, scared blue eyes locking onto Reid.

"It'll be fine," Reid continued, smiling reassuringly. "Your uncle sounds like a good guy. You already know he's on your side, especially with him knowing about Phantom. And even if you do have trouble, I'm sure he'll understand if you tell him." Reid knelt to Danny's eye level, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. He saw the slight flinch at the contact, but only because he was looking for it. "You'll be fine, Danny. No one can fault you for this after everything you've been through. And you can even learn to use it to your advantage."

Danny blinked, still wide-eyed, but curious now rather than scared. "H—How?"

"By learning to feel out a threat before it comes. Like your ghost sense, but for humans."

There was a long moment where Danny thought that through. Then, he smiled widely. "Thanks, Reid."

"Anytime. Now, don't you have a bus to catch?"

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

Danny easily slid the correct change into the slot as he boarded the bus, picking out a seat near the front and sitting. His phone rang only once before he pulled it out and answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Daniil," the called replied in Russian.

Danny slipped effortlessly into his uncle's native tongue. "Hey, I'm on my way to the airport now. What's your ETA?"

"We're on time. Fifteen hundred hours. The BAU let you out?"

The teen chuckled. "Mama told you, huh? Yeah, they let me. But they'll want to meet you."

"Of course."

"In fact, I was hoping to invite Reid to dinner with us tonight."

"The one you're staying with?"

"Yeah. Would you mind?"

"It's fine. I'd like to meet him, too."

Danny grinned brightly. "Great! I really want you all to get along. I think you'll like him, though. He's almost as observant as you are."

"He found you out, hm?" Danny could hear his uncle smirking.

"Yeah, he figured out. I really don't mind, though. They really helped me out a couple months ago."

"You'll have to tell me about it."

"Don't worry, I will."

There was a slight pause, then, "So, what security question should I ask this… Reid?"

Danny smirked now. "Number three. I told him last night. But I wanna be there when you ask to see the look on Reid's face."

His uncle laughed. "No problem, Daniil. You looked over those keepsakes, though, right?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yes. I've kept them on me since I got them."

"Good."

The boy sighed. "Nothing's going to happen, dyadya. No one's connected you to Mama in almost twenty-four years. I doubt they'll connect you two now."

"Better safe than sorry, Daniil."

"I know." Danny sighed again. "Thank you, but I hope I won't be needing to use any of these keepsakes."

"You and I both."

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Da. Do svidaniya."

"Do svidaniya, dyadya Yassen." Danny hung up, smiling for a moment down at his phone before exhaling heavily and leaning his head back against the bus' window, turning his head sideways to look out it.

It was such a happy, bright day. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the sun shone down on the whole city. There was a little traffic, but nothing too horrible, and Danny could see the airport in the distance. Danny could practically feel the warmth of the sun on his face and relaxed back, closing his eyes and grinning vaguely.

He never should've shut his eyes.

Everything happened all at once. There was a screech and honking and the world spun. Danny and several other passengers were lifted out of their seats as the bus tipped over and before Danny could even open his eyes again there were bright flashes of red and white, then everything went black.

The dark lasted only a moment. As he blinked back to semi-consciousness, he heard the squealing tires of cars trying to swerve around the bus. Some made it, but Danny felt the vehicle jerk again, the roof (which was now on the side) caving in from the impact. The teen winced, tucking his head in to avoid the bending metal inches above him. At the same time, a third car slammed into the underside of the bus, causing it to turn and the metal to shriek as it scrapped against the asphalt. But it had only just begun to turn when one last vehicle smashed headlong into the roof, actually tearing straight through the weakened metal, lodging against the seats just a yard from Danny's face.

The boy was barely conscious to begin with, but when he saw the knocked-out driver in the car and the blood pooling inside the bus, he nearly passed out. Instead, he crawled towards the car, grimacing with each movement as his body warned him that his ankle and arm had been reinjured. But he forced himself forward, first checking the driver's pulse before opening the car's door and attempting to pull the driver out.

Another horn caught his attention, and he spun to look out the front windshield. His eyes went wide as another vehicle, this one a truck, smashed through, shoving the bus back and tossing Danny headfirst against the car. His world went dark once more.

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

Danny, like most of the unfortunate travelers going through Arlington, VA, that day, never saw the power go out on the traffic lights. In fact, the outage lasted barely a second, but it was enough to mess up clocks, appliances, and the traffic lights themselves, turning every light green. Those few unlucky vehicles to be going through the intersection of South Glebe and South Arlington found themselves either dodging or joining the massive pile-up that had begun with a bus and pickup truck going through the light at the same time but from different roads. Four other vehicles joined the pile-up before people got the message to avoid that intersection.

Of course, the outage caused more than just the one set of lights to malfunction, but none of the others were as busy at twenty-to-three on a weekday. There were two close calls and three other crashes, but none as bad as Glebe and Arlington. As such, no one was surprised when the ambulances all aimed for that crash site.

It took only ten minutes for a line of emergency vehicles to arrive at the intersection, paramedics rushing in and out of the pile-up, pulling out survivors and bodies.

One such paramedic climbed into the bus, immediately noticing two rather roughed-up passengers. The elder was leaning over a young, pale boy with dark hair that was matting. He'd obviously received a gash on his head from being thrown against the car.

The conscious passenger locked eyes with the paramedic and nodded. Then, the two picked up the boy, carrying him out and loading him into one of the waiting ambulances. The van pulled away, blending in with the others that were spiriting the crash victims away.

Ten minutes later, an abandoned cell phone rang on the bus, the caller ID reading YASSEN.

No one picked up.

(|_04| 4|\||) |)4663|2

A/N: So, yeah, we're jumping right on into things. Sorry about the cliffy and any liberties I took with bus routes/light malfunctions. I couldn't hunt down a bus route that went from Quantico to Arlington, so I made one up. Also, I'll probably be going through radio silence this weekend thanks to Irene, so if I don't respond to reviews, that's probably the reason. And, yes, all the chapters will be about this long. :D Anyway, read and review, please!