Obsession

Authors Note: Incorporating the episodes of both NCIS and Criminal Minds to make one cross over story based around Abby, Aaron and Gibbs. I have taken the liberty of re writing the actual "events" of the episodes so that the original characters have either been swapped for one of my 3 or no longer exist in the context of the particular episode. Hopefully the episodes will meld together as well on paper as they do in my head

Fans of each show will recognize the episodes that I have used – I apologise in advance if tampering with the originals causes "grief" to certain fans.

Chapter 1

Abby knew she needed help.

For weeks she had been having the feeling that something was off balance. Considering the job she had and the people she had come in contact with on a daily basis, trusting her instincts had kept her ahead of the game, and on occasion had saved her life.

So when she felt like something was wrong, she normally acted on it. However, for weeks she had waited to see if this feeling would pass, simply because if she acted it would mean two of her most precious friendships colliding. She loathed over bearing men, and yet her two closest friends were just that – well, mainly just over protective and only of her, which infuriated her more. Both men knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But both also had good reasons for looking out for her. Recent history had taught her to fear what she could not control, and trust now was a rare commodity. Both Gibbs and Aaron had consoled her and proudly watched her pick herself up after a relationship had ended with this damage to her psyche. She had been with Hunter for nearly 3 years when she detected changes in his personality. During their last 6 months together, her normally sweet guy turned into an abrasive and almost cold hearted snake. What confused her was that it seemed to happen overnight. She suspected him of cheating, though he continually accused her of sleeping with Aaron, her best friend. After all, she knew only a guilty person would lay blame so harshly somewhere else. When the accusations started turning into violence Abby had worked hard to keep her turmoil from Gibbs. His reaction to McGee not hearing her calls for help when she was trapped and almost killed in the car called Otto proved actions spoke louder than words with her beloved mentor. Aaron had been too close to her not to notice. He had given her the ultimatum of ending it with Hunter or him ending it for her. Knowing that Aaron would not have ended it with polite goodbyes on her behalf, she had taken stock of what he had said during the long confidence boosting conversation after he found bruises she thought she had hidden, and found the strength to walk away. It hadn't been easy; she and Hunter had had nearly 3 good years before things went wrong, but she had had Aaron beside her every step of the way. It was a little later that she discovered the reason for Hunters Dr Jekyll type turn. He had been dabbling in drugs and had developed a liking for steroids.

Annoyed at the sudden depression thinking of Hunter always bought, she shook her head and mentally pulled up the facts that were causing the gut instinct.

The facts went back a few years to almost the beginning of her career. She had been loaned out to the BAU as a consultant in a case that Jason Gideon had been in charge of. It centered around a killer calling himself The Reaper. At the time Gideon had been at the twilight of his career and there were loud whispers around the BAU that he had gone over the line on more than one occasion and that he was on the way out. Abby saw something different; a man who had become so burned out by the world of darkness he worked in that he had almost forgotten what good looked like. Maybe that was why the Reaper had been able to fool him into making that deal. Deal with the Devil he had called it when he confided to Abby what he had done. The Reaper had simply called him one night and offered him a way to stop the killings. "Stop hunting me and I will stop hunting them." So, although he had no way of knowing what hell would later be unleashed, Gideon had placed an ad in the paper as Reaper had requested – and the killings had stopped.

A few years passed and then Abby had received word that Gideon had "disappeared." The burn out had finally gotten to him and he went off into the world to find himself. Abby hoped that he would succeed. For a man that had given so much in the pursuit of evil, he had been given so little back. He was one of those people that her heart tended to bleed for.

Aaron had inherited the case and his brilliant team had worked themselves at a hell of a pace to find Reaper. Because Abby had worked the original case with Gideon, Aaron had requested her help from NCIS, something Gibbs had not been happy about. He knew that the Reaper case had plagued Abby and had not been happy when Abby had agreed to help out a second time. When the Reaper had finally been caught it uncovered a deeper mystery. Reaper had been the alter ego of George Foyet – who was thought to have been the only person to survive an attack by the Reaper. Turned out that Foyet had killed his girlfriend, raced to a phone to call for help under the guise of the Reaper, and then stabbed himself. Abby was stilled stunned at how easily Foyet had fooled her and Gideon and then played the BAU. Of course they should have known that catching him wouldn't be the end of it. By the time she and Aaron had landed and returned to their respective offices, Foyet had escaped custody and was still on the loose.

Now things were happening that had Abby wondering if the Reaper had come out to play again.

First there had been the little gifts sent to her office; roses that she thought had been from Gibbs, a necklace that she thought had been from Aaron, notes that had been left on her desk complimenting her on how she had looked that day or what a great job she had done with a case. Considering she was used to receiving notes of love from Gibbs she hadn't given these a second thought. When she started receiving notes pinned to the front door of her home, she casually asked Gibbs about his new delivery method. When he told her that he would only ever put notes on her desk, she knew she was right to worry. Someone had been leaving the notes and gifts at her office and home – but it was neither Aaron nor Gibbs. That left her with the prospect of either having a secret admirer, or a stalker. Either one would cause problems for her with both Gibbs and Aaron. But there was a worse option.

The tickling in her gut told her that Foyet was about to reveal himself again.

What do you think? :)