Perhaps more rare than getting home early on Valentines', Hotch mused, was waking the next morning without a case. It was 8:30 AM- late for him, but normal on a day when all they had to do was paperwork. He sent out a mass text telling the team that they didn't have to come in until 9, and then he noticed the missed call notification. He debated calling Reid back, but decided against it. He would ask what Reid had wanted when he came in for work in half an hour.

The team began to trickle in accordance, it seemed, with the night they had had. Rossi was first, humming a little ditty and winking at Hotch before disappearing into his office around 8:50. JJ was next at 9:00 on the dot. She looked younger than she had in a long time, and Hotch made a note to himself to be more adamant about required vacation days. Morgan followed a few minutes later, looking somewhat smug, and with a hint of lipstick on his collar.

Garcia and Prentiss came in together around 9:30, each with a large cup of coffee in their hands. Garcia looked somewhat better than Prentiss; she apologized profusely for being late, giving some excuse about an alarm clock, but Hotch noticed with some amusement that her eyes never seemed to meet his as she spoke. Prentiss only offered a low grunt and retreated to her desk, sporting a pair of extremely dark glasses.

It was 9:45 now and Reid still had not arrived.

Hotch watched the bullpen from his desk, his frown deepening as the morning progressed. It was unlike Reid to be late, unlike him to not give word, and suddenly Hotch remembered the phone call. He pulled out his cell and listened to the ringtone, and grew suddenly and unshakably frightened. Reid did not answer.

"Has anyone heard from Reid?" He leaned into the hallway, trying to keep his voice calm, but as he watched everyone's eyes widen he knew that something was wrong.

"He called me last night," JJ said slowly. "My phone was off, and he didn't leave a message, so I thought..."

"He called me, too," Derek looked from Hotch to JJ, and then stood as Rossi emerged with his phone in his hand.

"I was... occupied," he said lightly.

"I don't think-" Prentiss was looking down at her cell and she stopped abruptly, her hand rising to her jaw. "Oh, God."

"He didn't answer when I called a few minutes ago," Hotch said. "I'm sure there's a reason. Maybe he was drinking, and-"

"Hotch, come on. This is Reid we're talking about," Derek shook his head incredulously. "Knowing him, he was probably playing with a damn Rubik's cube all night, or-"

"He went to the symphony," Prentiss said, her voice soft, almost a whisper. "He asked me to go."

"Sir, would it be all right if I swung by his apartment?" JJ stood. "I'm sure everything's fine, I just..." she trailed off and Hotch nodded.

Prentiss had volunteered to go with JJ, picking her nails the entire way there.

"He's fine, Emily," JJ took her eyes from the road briefly to give her a smile. "Probably missed his alarm."

"Yeah," Prentiss forced a laugh, realized she was picking her nails, and started twisting at the band of her coffee cup instead.

They walked up the stairs quietly, and paused a minute before knocking. Neither woman wanted to tell the other that she had a terrible feeling and so they stood in the landing, waiting.

Finally Prentiss leaned forward to knock on the door, and it gave under her hand. The apartment was dark, silent, and above all, empty.

"Reid?" JJ called, and she was on her way to open a window across the room when she stumbled over something on the ground. It was Reid's messenger bag. As her eyes adjusted to the dark she saw his phone, not far from his bag, the screen shattered. And everywhere she looked, there were pools of blood.

She turned, about to call out to Prentiss, but Prentiss was staring somewhere past her, her coffee cup dropping from her hands.

A/N: I know I probably made some promises to you guys about regular updates. And I fully intended to keep those promises. And then my second year of architecture started, and I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that this is the first 'free time' I've had in two weeks (and I really do have homework I should be doing, but anyways...). The point is- I will do my very very best to update semi-regularly, but there will be some dry spells. Just be patient and I won't let you down.