Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

A/N: Brookdale, Chaterville and Castleton are fictional towns in Kentucky

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"Hey Reid," Morgan teased, "Looking forward to going back to Brookdale and seeing your little honey again."

"Morgan, she's not my honey. She's a very nice girl and a friend."

"Oh my man, your lips say friend but your eyes and your blushing face, say honey."

"All right Morgan," Hotch interjected, "How be we leave Reid's love life to Reid."

"That's what I been doing Hotch and that's why he aint got one. A love life, I mean."

Reid was about to respond to the latest of Morgan's many taunts about his love life or lack thereof, when Emily reminded him that if they didn't hurry, they'd miss their flight. He and Gideon were flying to Pikeville and then renting a car and driving to Brookdale to conduct a seminar on crime scene investigation for the sheriffs and deputies of Brookdale and surrounding areas.

On his return from Brookdale, where he became involved in a double murder investigation at the request of the sheriff, he'd put in recommendations to the director for educational sessions for rural sheriffs' departments. He thought that due to his recent Dilaudid addiction, he was not, at this moment, in favor with the powers that be, and his recommendations would not be given serious consideration. He had asked Hotch to put the recommendations in for him, as Reid thought they would hold more weight coming from the unit chief. Hotch, however, said it was Reid's idea, and a good one, and Reid should put the recommendation in himself. Needless to say, Reid was very surprised when the director replied to his request by agreeing to the seminars, giving Reid a very small budget and telling him he was in charge of it. If the seminars turned out to be a useful tool, the program could possibly be expanded to more states.

"Where is Gideon? We really should get going."

"I'm right here," Gideon responded, rushing into the room, bag in hand. "Are you ready to go?" he said looking at Reid. Reid nodded and Gideon said, "Well let's head out then." Reid had asked Gideon to accompany him since he knew that the senior agent was used to teaching and conducting these types of seminars. Gideon had agreed to come on one condition; he would go as Reid's assistant. Reid, he said, was in charge and would make all the decision about topics. Gideon would be there as a teacher for the sheriffs and deputies and a sounding board for Reid but the program was, as the director had specified, up to him.

Reid was, to say the least surprised, firstly, that his recommendations had been given the green light and secondly, that he had been put in charge. It was a big responsibility for such a young agent and, Reid knew, a vote of confidence from the higher ups; he had no intention of failing at this opportunity to prove himself.

While they were on the plane, Reid went over his plans with Gideon. He wanted to concentrate firstly on crime scene investigation since what he had seen in Brookdale in June was that the sheriff and deputies lacked the knowledge of how to effectively handle a crime scene and that can be crucial in finding the unsub and eventually bringing him to justice.

He wanted to concentrate on evidence collection, what to collect and why, what to photograph and why, so that the law officers, if they perhaps needed help with the detection and apprehension of the perpetrator, they at least had the evidence from the crime scene that would lead to the capture before the crime scene is compromised.

Gideon thought that Reid was on the right track and he was glad that Reid was concentrating his first lessons in this area. Firstly, it was the correct place to start and secondly, it was one of Reid's strengths. He was excellent at assessing a crime scene. Being a scientist, he saw things in a scientific way, he also saw the emotional impact but he had spent much of his schooling in labs and knew this aspect of crime scenes very well, the best of any of the profilers. All profilers have the ability to get into the unsub's mind, that's what made them good at what they did but Reid had more scientific knowledge than the average profiler and was able to apply that knowledge to crime scenes. It was an invaluable tool to his team and it would be invaluable for rural law enforcement.

The drive to Brookdale from Pikeville was uneventful and they arrived at the Brookdale motel in good time. Sherry Colby the desk clerk at the motel greeted Reid like a long lost friend. "Special Agent Reid, how are you?" She said coming around from behind the desk to shake his hand.

"Hi Sherry, it's good to see you again, I'm well thanks. This is Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon, Gideon Sherry Colby. She'll take very good care of us while we're here.

"It's nice to meet you Sherry."

"You too Agent Gideon, welcome to Brookdale. I've put you in rooms eleven and twelve," she handed them the keys. "Let me know if there is anything you need."

Reid and Gideon settled into their rooms and then got in the SUV and Reid drove them to the sheriff's station. They entered the station and Ruby was again at her post in the main room. "Hi Ruby," Reid said, "It's good to see you again."

"Hi Reid, likewise, it's good to see you too, how have you been?"

"I've been good Ruby, Ruby James this is Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon. We work together in the BAU in Quantico."

"I'm honored to meet you Agent Gideon. I hope you know how fond we are of Agent Reid in these parts. He did us a great service a while back and Brookdale will be forever grateful to him."

"I'm rather fond of him myself; he's a remarkable young man."

Reid was blushing and looking at the floor and said, "Ruby, is Kyle around?"

"Yes, he and the deputies are getting the conference room ready for your arrival and we have four other law officers coming from surrounding areas. I'll let him know you're here." She got up and headed down the hall.

Ruby came back followed by a man Gideon thought to be in his late forties. He was about 5' 10" and had brown hair with slight graying at the temples. "Reid," he said with a huge smile on his face, "It's great to see you again," he grabbed Reid's hand in both of his pumping it enthusiastically.

Reid was smiling as well, "It's good to see you too, this is Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon, Gideon, Sheriff Kyle Rutherford." Gideon and Kyle exchanged handshakes and greetings.

If you want to come back to the conference room, I just heard from Jake and Greg, they're on their way from Chaterville and they'll be here shortly. Morris and John from Castleton arrived this morning and went to the diner for a bite and they'll be back soon. They got to the conference room which was much like the one back in Quantico only on a much smaller scale. Roy Butterfield was sitting in one of the chairs and stood when they entered the room. "Reid," he said extending his hand, "It's good to see you again."

"Good to see you too Roy," Reid said and introduced Gideon. "Is Dave going to join us as well?"

"No" Kyle replied. "Dave liked being a volunteer deputy but it wasn't something he wanted to do full time so we had to find someone else to fill our empty position.

"Will he be joining us?"

"Not he" said a voice from the doorway.

Reid turned and saw her standing there, her long brown hair pulled back in a braid. Her beautiful brown eyes were looking at him mischievously and her full lips parted in a smile. She was dressed in a deputy's uniform. "Colleen!"