My Muse thought of this randomly one day and has refused to let me just leave it alone. So we shall see how it goes.


As children, our imaginations are vibrant, and our hearts are open. We believe that the bad guy always loses and that the tooth fairy sneaks into our rooms at night to put money under our pillow. Everything amazes us, and we think anything is possible. We continuously experience life with a sense of newness and unbridled curiosity. ~ Yehuda Berg


"Come one Reid you could not have read that book in hour. There is no way." Emily said with a laugh. JJ laughed also at Reid's expression.

"I did. It really isn't that hard of a book." Hotch and Rossi walked in and their laughing died down.

"There have been five murders down in Plano Texas. First was Erik Smite and then Janessa Stakes, Greg Frederickson, Alice Tidwell, and Marie Long. All of them killed in the past three weeks, all with their throats ripped out and slashes over their upper torso." JJ explained bringing up the pictures of the victims.

"Do they have anything?" Rossi asked.

JJ shook her head. "The only thing they have found on the bodies are some animal claw shavings." She replied.

"Do they know what kind on animal?" Reid asked looking up from his folder.

"No, they are still running some tests." Reid nodded his head and went back to reading.

"Alright wheels up in thirty." Hotch said standing up. Everyone stood up and gathered their things. "Garcia I want you to come with us on this one." She nodded. "Alright."

On the jet Garcia was giving them background info on the victims. So far there was no connection between any of the victims. "Reid, I want you and Prentice to go to the morgue and see the bodies. Morgan and Rossi go to the latest crime scene while me, Garcia and JJ set up at the station." They nodded in agreement.

At the crime scene Morgan and Rossi met with a few officers. A young officer greeted them. He waved his hand over. "The body was found over here." He led them over to a small ditch on the side of a back road. Morgan leaned down and studied the soil.

"This is just a dump site. There is no blood anywhere around here other than the little bit that came from the body." Rossi pointed out.

"We need to find the primary crime scene." Morgan said standing up. They looked around. "There is no way they were murdered around here. People would be able to hear them." Morgan said noting the houses that surrounded the area. "Let's just hope that Reid and Prentice find something."

The morgue was cool as they walked in. The ME was just starting the autopsy on the latest victim. "What can you tell us so far?" Reid asked as soon as they walked in.

"Not much. What I can tell you is that they were tortured before their throats were cut. They were sliced numerous times on their upper torso. All of the victims show signs of rape, both male and female. By the scabbing on their cuts they were held for at least three days." Reid looked at the bodies thoughtfully.

"What is it Reid?" Emily asked after she saw the bodies herself.

"The slash marks on the victims. They kind of look like claw marks. Have you got any results from the claw shavings?" Reid asked the ME.

"There was not enough to get viable DNA. All I can tell you is that they are claws."

Reid turned to Emily. "I think know what the murder weapon is." Emily watched Reid stunned. He started walking out before he gave Emily an answer as to what he had found. "Wait Reid!" She said trying to catch up.

The local sheriff met Hotch, Garcia and JJ at the station. He held out his hand so they could shake hands. "Thank you guys for coming. I have set up a room where your whole team can gather if need be and I also have a separate room for your computer analysis. I will show you." The chief led them to a room and held the door for them. "Thank you." JJ said walking into the room and started to get things ready.

"Can you get me everything you have on the victim and their families?" Hotch asked. He really didn't need the chief to do it he could have Garcia but this way the chief would feel like he was doing something. "Yep." The chief closed the door and left the two to themselves. Rossi and Morgan walked in a few minutes later.

"Where they found the body is not where she was murdered." Morgan informed them.

"Do we have any idea on where the primary crime scene is?" Hotch asked setting down the file he was reading.

"Not a one." Rossi replied. He was going to say something else when Reid and Emily burst in.

"I know what the murder weapon is!" Reid said slightly excited. Hotch raised his eyebrow at Reid. "Well?" Rossi prompted.

"The murder weapon is an animal claw. By the size of the gashes it may be prehistoric or abnormally large. May be a bear or big cat claw."

"So the unsub is using animal claws to kill and mutilate his victims but why?" Rossi asked.

"All the victims were raped, both genders." Emily said. "Odd." Rossi replied.

"And how did he get the weapon?" Prentice asked. Morgan got Garcia on the phone.

"Hey Baby girl, I need you to run something for me."

"You got it what do you need?" She asked with her fingers ready to type.

"Can you get me all the records of people here that have bought or are known to make animal parts?"

"I will get them for you and hit you right back." Morgan hung up the phone. Not ten minutes later his phone rang.

"You got something already?" Morgan put the phone on speaker. "So there are not many people that buy or sell animal parts in Plano strangely enough. There were no flags; that was until I found Wallace Crane. He has made numerous purchases to an online store that sells exotic animals and accessories."

"Do you have an address?" Hotch asked. "Just sent it to your PDA's. Stay safe."

"Thank you Garcia." Hotch said and Morgan hung up the phone. "Let's go." Hotch said as they grabbed the chief and informed him about what they had just found.

The address led them to a isolated farm way out of town. They jumped out of their vehicles and pulled their guns out. "Ready?" Hotch asked looking at his team. Everyone nodded back to him in affirmation. "One, two, three…" They bust down the door. There was no one in the house.

"Hey Hotch." Morgan said holding the curtain back and pointing out back to an old barn. Hotch nodded and they went out to the barn. They covered all the exits before they entered. They went in and searched the whole area. In one of the stalls they found pools of blood.

"This is where they were killed." Emily said expressing the obvious. Everyone looked around looking for the unsub and the murder weapon when they realized Reid was nowhere in sight. "Reid?!" Emily hollered and soon the others were hollering too. Morgan finally found him at the back of the barn just staring into what use to be a tack room. There were small animal cries coming from the room.

"Reid…?" Morgan asked walking over to Reid trying to see what he was seeing. Once he got in sight he froze just like Reid. Hotch and the others joined them and looked at each other in disbelievement. The room was full of small reptile creatures. They didn't have time to do anything before other agents burst into the barn with guns raised. The team spun around with their own guns raised.

"MOU!" the lead agent informed them.

"FBI!" The whole team said back. The leader raised her head and slightly lowered her weapon.

"FBI?" They showed their badges and the new agents finally holstered their weapons.

"All of you will have to some with me to be debriefed." The girl said in a no-nonsense tone. They all looked at each other confused. What in the world was MOU?

The team didn't need Garcia now and she was craving some food. Any food other than what came out of a vending machine. She snagged her purse and decided to walk. Overhearing some of the officers she went to a small diner that was famous for its pie. There was a strip of road that went down the middle of a beautiful field and also went through a patch of trees. It was beautiful. As Garcia entered the patch of trees she heard what sounded like s small animal cry; one that was in pain and needed help. Garcia froze and listened carefully. She pinpointed that the sound was coming from her side of the road and just behind a few trees. She sneaked behind the trees and found the source of cry.

A gold colored reptile was caught in a trap. There were deep gashes in its sides and it was caught with a long knife in its left side. The knife had a rope attatched to it and that was staked to the ground. Garcia pulls out her phone and speed dials Morgan. He didn't answer it till the third ring. "What is it baby girl?" He asked.

"Can you come find me right now? There is an animal in need of help but something isn't right. Just get here as soon as you can, I am going to help it." Garcia said and hung up the phone. Morgan panicked and told the team what Garcia had just told him and the female agent's face paled. They rushed to the car to find Garcia.

Garcia meanwhile was walking carefully toward the creature. It saw her coming and scrambled away. "No, no it's okay. I am not going to hurt you. I just want to help." Garcia said. As she got closer she could see that it had been abused and was left for dead. It disgusted her. The creature quieted and let Garcia come closer. It even let her kneel in front of it. Garcia moved so she could really look at the creature. It had beautiful deep brown eyes and Garcia could see a pretty gold color to its scales that were not covered in blood and dirt. Garcia moved to remove the knife when a male's voice behind her stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if you want to live." Garcia slowly turned around to a gun pointed at her. The man behind the gun was just as dirty as the creature behind her. He was wearing rags pretty much but the gun was not dirty. He must have just purchased it for it was almost spotless.

"I was thinking I was going to get someone different but hey for my first one you will do nicely." The man said and cocked the hammer.

Morgan was freaking inside. The location that he had gotten as to where Garcia was, was a place where trappers lured in their pray. The agent had informed them that the creature that Garcia had found was probably the same as the ones that they had found in the barn. Morgan thought back to just before Garcia called…

"What are these things?" Rossi asked. The female agent gave them a glanced and then turned back to the radio she was talking into. Only after she was done did she give the team any attention.

"They are dragons now if you excuse me I have to make sure there are no more of them here."

Hotch took over."We need to know what is going on."

The agent sighed. "I can explain it to you but I first need to know with certainty that you will not let any of this information leak out." Everyone glanced at each other and then nodded their head.

"For thousands of years dragons were virtually none existent but then started showing up again in the late 1800's. The MOU or Mysterious Occurrences Unit has been going around and keeping everyone in ignorance that they exist. It was pretty slow until a few months ago. Then our cases tripled. Usually there is only up to three in a batch and having this many in one place is unusual. I believe that the person you are looking for is the person who had these dragons. You are welcome to join until we find the person but he will go into our custody." Hotch nodded.

Morgan's phone rang and everyone looked at him. They watched as Morgan's face fell and he started to get agitated. "No wait Garcia…" Morgan looked at the phone in surprise. Morgan turned to the team.

"Garcia just called and says she heard an animal crying but something was not right and she wants us to come find her." He said searching on his phone for her location.

"Got it." He said after a second and ran to the SUV. The female agent barked a few orders and then joined the team as they rushed to Garcia.

"Now what are you doing here? You don't look like the type that would normally come to this part of town." The man with the gun said still keeping the gun pointed at Garcia. The creature whimpered at the sight of this man was backed up to the stake and curled around it. Garcia hoped with all her heart that Morgan was on his way. She didn't know whether to tell him that she was with the FBI or not. She took a risk and decided not to tell him just in case.

"Please you don't have to do this." Garcia pleaded. He walked toward her and she back up staying away from him. Soon she was beside the creature and she really didn't like the look in the man's eyes.

Morgan slammed the SUV in park and ran as quietly as he could to where Garcia was supposed to be. Everyone was right to behind him spreading out. The scene that met Morgan stopped him in his tracks. A man was aiming a gun at Garcia and he could see the fear in her eyes. He also noticed the creature next to her. The agent had been right, it was a dragon but this one was wounded and in pain. "FBI lower your weapon!" Morgan ordered walking out in to the open. Everyone else followed his suit all with their guns trained on that man.

He grabbed Garcia and pulled her against him with his gun to her head. "You are going to walk away and may be then I will consider letting her go." The man said dragging Garcia back with him. He was now supper close to the dragon. No one had a clean shot but all that changed when the dragon moved.

It lunged forward and tackled the man. He hollered and let go of Garcia and all his attention went to the dragon. He kicked it viciously and then raised his gun to shoot whoever was closest when four bullets slammed into his chest. He sputtered and then collapsed to the ground dead. Hotch ran over and kicked the gun away and Morgan ran to Garcia.

"Are you okay?" He asked holding her. She nodded her head and finally let the tears fall. "Yeah." She then began to look around. Morgan had a hunch at what she was looking for. He led her over to the dragon that was trying to get up. It had managed to pull the stake out of the ground and that was the way it had managed to attack the man and give them the opportunity for Garcia to get away. The female agent was trying to get close to it but it kept crawling away. It was a growl mixed with a whine. They could see the dragon was scared and hurt not knowing what to do. Reid also tried to approach but the dragon still backed away. Reid was able to get closer than the agent but not close enough.

"Hey let her try." Morgan suggested to the agent. She hesitated but knew that this dragon needed medical attention so she finally let Garcia try. The dragon whined.

"Hey it's okay, no one is going to hurt you." Garcia said soothingly. The dragon stayed put as Garcia approached. It looked her over and whined. "I am fine thanks to you and now it is my turn to take care of you."

The female agent watched in amassment as the dragon let Garcia come to it. Garcia gently touched the side of the dragon's neck. Morgan took a step toward them and froze when the dragon whine-growled again looking at him. Garcia glanced back before she ran her hand in a petting motion on the dragon.

"Hey it's okay. That is one of my best friends and his name is Derek Morgan. He is a friend, you can trust him." Garcia explained with a smile. The dragon looked from Garcia to Morgan and back to Garcia. It dipped its head to Garcia. Morgan took another step forward and continued when the dragon did not make a noise.

"Hey are you a baby girl or boy?" Morgan asked kneeling down.

"It is a girl." The female agent informed them staying where she was.

"Hey baby girl." Morgan said reaching a hand out. The dragon flinched but other than that it didn't move. Garcia kept a hand on the dragon to keep it calm as Morgan placed one of his. After a minute the dragon calmed and let Morgan touch her without flinching. The rest of the team watched in amassment. Morgan moved so he could get a better look at her side. He flinched himself when he saw the damage. The knife was still in its side but he didn't know how deep it went. He gently untied the rope from it. He carefully picked it up. The dragon whimpered as the movement pulled on the wound.

"I know I know." Morgan said standing up with it in his arms. As Morgan stood up Garcia's hand dropped from the dragon and it panicked.

"Easy, easy, Garcia!" Morgan said as his hold on the dragon began slipping. Garcia placed her hand on the dragon again and it immediately calmed. Garcia was concerned as she watched the dragon gasp for air and then as its eyes closed. There was a siren and soon there was a dark ambulance next to their SUV's.

"Come on, it has the materials to help it." The agent said leading them to the ambulance. Morgan carried the dragon there and was fascinated when it looked almost just like one that was used for people.

Two men took the dragon from him and began working. The carefully removed the knife and stitched up the wound the best they could. They were just beginning to bandage it when the dragon woke up and began panicking. It was thrashing around and the men began panicking themselves. If it continued it would reopen the wound and kill itself. Morgan saw the disturbance and called Garcia back over. The agent was barking orders and trying to defuse the situation but was just making it worse. Garcia rushed over and got in with the dragon.

"Hey you are fine see. Everything is fine, you just need to let them finish putting the bandage on." Garcia said. The dragon calmed and kept its eyes trained on Garcia. The men finished bandaging the wound and as soon as they were done the dragon climbed into Garcia's lap. The men looked at each other quizzically. They came to decision and moved to grab the dragon. The dragon growled and tried to hide.

"Leave her be!" The female agent barked. The men stopped and busied themselves in cleaning up.

The dragon quite growling. Garcia stood up and got out of the ambulance with the dragon on her heels. She walked over to Hotch and the rest of the team. The dragon stayed as close to Garcia it could. The agent sighed as she watched it. More of her men had arrived and one of them reached a hand out to the dragon causing it to flinch and scurry to the other side of Garcia. She walked over to the BAU team.

"What do you do with the dragons you find?" Reid asked.

"We take them to our facility but it is overflowing right now and we don't know what we are going to do. We may be able to get the smaller ones from the barn in a section but we don't have the faculties to take care of a wounded one like her." The agent said pointing at the dragon sitting at Garcia's feet.

"What if I take care of her?" Garcia asked. She had kneeled down and was petting the dragon. It had relaxed to her touch. It was something that the agent had never seen before.

"It will take more than just you." Garcia looked at Morgan and Hotch for support.

"I will help you." Morgan said kneeling down too. The dragon moved slightly closer to Garcia but didn't flinch from Morgan's touch. "I will too." Reid said coming closer. "All of us will" Emily said knowingly. Garcia nodded her thanks and looked back at the agent who sighed.

"Alright you can take her but I will call for weekly checkups and I want to check her out tomorrow before you leave." Garcia nodded and smiled. "A heads up, they are just about as smart as us and I have heard that they have feelings just like us but I wouldn't know."

Garcia nodded her thanks. The team then set out on finding out if that man was the one they had been looking for earlier. Garcia took the dragon and they both got in one of the SUV's as they waited for the team to finish up. Morgan, Reid and JJ came and got in the same SUV once they were done which was in a few minutes. Morgan drove with Reid in the front passenger and JJ next to Garcia. They were going to head back so Garcia and their new friend could calm and get cleaned up. Things were never going to be same.


Strange I know