A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and welcome back! They were all much appreciated. So a couple thing, the first of which is a made a slight edit to the first chapter to smooth the continuity with this chapter a bit, something I meant to do before posting it, but forgot until I was editing this chapter. Second, you will notice that Gideon does not get much dialogue. That will continue for the rest of the story, because I can't write Gideon worth a damn. I don't know what it is, but every time I try to write a line of his dialogue, all I get is Rossi. So, I will be limiting Gideon's dialogue in this story.

Lastly, I'm looking for someone to design a book cover for an AU fic that I'm writing that is proving to be extremely work intensive. So, I'll trade someone a cover for a story. You design the cover, I'll write a story (10,000 words or shorter) based on a prompt, which you give me. So, if anyone is interested let me know (pm or in a review, either is fine).

Thanks for reading!

It turned out that their victim had more than just a bump on the head. She had a fair amount of scrapes and bruises as well, though she was surprisingly calm for what she'd been through. Morgan wondered about the woman, who was currently being examined by a doctor while he and Elle waited outside the room. She'd been shaky sure, but she'd also been oddly level-headed. She hadn't cried and had taken all their requests and instructions with patient nods.

Morgan shook his head and turned to his partner. Elle had her phone out, her fingers flying over the keys as she texted someone.

"That a guy?" He asked.

Elle snorted. "Wouldn't you like to know."

He didn't respond, just glanced down the hall, looking at nothing. Elle's typing abruptly stopped. He turned to find her looking at him. "What?"

"Right back at you. No comeback, Derek? Are you already losing your touch?"

"You wish." He grunted. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"This woman, something feels off about her." He paused and met his partner's eyes. "Nothing struck you as odd?"

Elle frowned. "I don't know. I think she's the calmest I've ever seen a civilian victim, but that's just the way some people cope."

"It's more than that." He shook his head. "She pegged us as BAU, Elle."

She scoffed. "So what, are you suggesting she's our unsub or something?"

"Of course not. But I don't think she's being truthful, I think she's leaving something out. Something big."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," he groaned. "I just know that something isn't right with her."

His partner rolled her eyes. "Derek, the woman was kidnapped and held prisoner in a closet, all while in a foreign city. Behavior is difficult to read at the best of times, but you know it's even harder when the subject is under stress. Plus, the poor woman probably has a concussion to top it off."

"So you're saying I'm reading her wrong?"

"I'm saying just hold off on your suspicions for a little while."

He shook his head. There was something here they were missing with this woman, something big. He could feel it in his gut, as sure as he'd ever felt any hunch. He dropped it though; it wasn't like they'd be able to come to a solution here and now. He'd just continue quietly observing Lauren Reynolds and hope that whatever she was hiding didn't blow up on all of them.

The door creaked open then, and both agents jumped to attention. One of the doctors, the neurologist, headed out, her movements quick and efficient as any ER doctor he'd ever seen. She looked from one to the other. "Ms. Reynolds has a concussion, but it's mild. I didn't detect any other problems."

"Can we take her back to get her statement then?"

"Uh, Dr. Faraday has another doctor on the way for a consult, so it might be a minute."

"Another doctor? What kind of doctor?" Elle asked impatiently.

"An OB-GYN."

Morgan frowned. "Why does she need to see an OB?"

She once again looked between the agents, pursing her lips. "You better ask Dr. Faraday, or Ms. Reynolds herself."

The doctor excused herself, and left them staring at each other. Elle inhaled. "Well, you may be right after all."

"Yeah, but what about?"

"You think the unsub moved up his schedule, raped her before the 24-hour mark?"

Morgan frowned and lifted his shoulders in a move that ended with him shaking his head. "No, if he had, we'd be waiting on a SANE nurse, not an OB."

She nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

The door opened again to reveal Dr. Faraday, a wiry young man with dark hair and a very soft voice, who nodded at both, and tried to walk away.

"Whoa Doc," Elle called. "Hold up a minute."

He stopped and turned back to them. "Agents?"

"Why does Ms. Reynolds need an OB consult?" Morgan asked.

"She's concerned about the effect of the stress and lack of the nutrition on the fetus. I thought is best to be safe rather than sorry."

"Fetus? She's pregnant?" Elle gaped.

Faraday went quiet, silently studying them. "I assumed Ms. Reynolds had informed you of that when you rescued her."

"No," Morgan said. "No, Ms. Reynolds definitely left that part out."

"Well, she says she's about six weeks along, but the OB will confirm that estimate. You can go in and speak with her until the OB-GYN gets here for the consult, if you like."

"Oh, we do like," Elle confirmed, and started to pull open the door.

"Thanks, Doc." Morgan nodded to him, and followed his partner inside.

Dressed in a gown with white sheets around her, Lauren Reynolds looked drawn and exhausted. Her dark, reddish brown hair was greasy and stringy against the pillow, and her eyes were almost subdued. She didn't smile when she saw them, she didn't react at all. She was actually quite beautiful, he realized, and he wondered at how gorgeous she must be with life lighting up her eyes.

"So, we hear congratulations are in order," Elle greeted her.

The other woman's mouth opened, but soon closed with a surrendering sigh. She didn't offer an explanation though.

"You could have told us," Elle said.

"I only recently found out myself, Agent Greenway, I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea yet. And I really don't feel like discussing it with people I just met, no offense."

"Is the father someone prominent?" Morgan asked. "Like a senator, diplomat, something like that?"

"No, nothing like that. Since this has nothing to do with your case, and no relevance to why I was abducted I'd be grateful if you'd leave it out of your reports," she said.

"Why do you want to hide this?" Elle pressed.

Her tone hardened. "Because I don't know if I'm going to have it, I don't know if I'm going to keep it if I do have it, and I'd really rather not discuss it with anyone or have it become part of any case file."

"Is he married?" Elle asked, her voice almost gentle.

"No, he's not married." Lauren shifted on the bed, eyes aimed at the sheets. "Keeping or even having it may not be the best thing to do under my current circumstances."

Morgan watched her speak. Her tone was still hard, but her eyes were soft and sad. This woman definitely had things going on in her life that she didn't want them to know about, and if she weren't so obviously the victim of a serial killer that might be a problem. But she was right. Her personal life had no bearing on their investigation, and it wasn't right to keep pestering her for information.

He inhaled. "We'll be outside whenever you're ready, Ms. Reynolds."

"Thank you, Agent Morgan." She nodded and bit her lip, and her voice made them both freeze as they started to leave. "Would you please call me Lauren?"

He tried not to show his surprise to the woman who was clearly hiding something that suddenly wanted to get personal.

She ran her tongue slowly over her top lip. "It will make you feel less like strangers, and I don't really want to be with strangers right now."

There it was the barest flicker of vulnerability. A flicker that said that she was scared and seeking comfort. Though it remained to be seen whether she was more afraid of the serial killer still on the loose or the secret she was hiding.

"So, Ms. Reynolds, can you please describe what you were doing before you were abducted?"

Emily nodded and inhaled. She was sitting in a conference room with all four people who'd rescued her, as well as a young blonde woman who was apparently the team media liaison, and a very young man that was a self-described genius. Derek and Elle, as they'd asked her to call them, had driven her straight to Quantico from the hospital after promising that her pregnancy wouldn't end up in their reports.

She had known she was pregnant for only about a week, but hadn't been able to deal with the possibility. It was just inconceivable. She'd even debated having the doctor check her out, but the maternal part of her that always came out when Declan was around screamed inside her head for reassurance that the baby was okay. It was fine, and her estimate was off, she was eight weeks along.

Emily had heard the baby's heart beat, and she desperately wished she hadn't. It made the whole thing far too real, and that was terrifying. Her body trembling and her throat tight, Emily had shaken her head when the doctor had offered her the a photo of the sonogram.

She shook away those thoughts now, and focused on the people in front of her. "Uh, I was out shopping. I like to go to locally-owned stores when I travel, so I was downtown looking around. I left the last store, and was headed back to where I'd parked the car. I was walking away from the tourists and pedestrian traffic. I decided to cut through an alley, and I could hear someone moving behind me, but only for seconds before he hit me in the head. I remember stumbling, and feeling dizzy. I didn't get a chance to fight back, I couldn't focus. I must have blacked out then, because I don't remember anything else until I woke up in that closet."

"And your shopping bags?" Agent Hotchner asked.

"Still in the alley as far as I know."

He nodded. "Do you remember where the alley was located?"

Emily bit her lip. "9th Street NW, over near H Street, I think."

"Can you give us a list of stores that you went into?" Agent Jareau asked, offering her a yellow legal pad and pen.

"Sure, I'll try to remember." She took the pen, and began scribbling down the names as she thought of them.

"Can you tell us about your time in the closet?" Agent Gideon asked, his voice soft.

"He only came in twice, the rest of the time I just sat or laid. Sometimes I slept, though I don't think much."

"Please describe those times when you saw him."

She cleared her throat. "The first time, he offered me water. He took off the bag first. I wouldn't take the water, I was afraid he drugged it or something. He threw it in my face, put the bag pack on my head and left. And the second time, he was naked. He took the bag off again, and this time he removed the gag. When I saw him I expected him to rape me, but instead, he pulled me up by my hair and pushed me against the wall. He rubbed himself along my backside until he got hard, and then he turned me around and pushed me to my knees. He grabbed me by my hair again, and tried to make me take his penis in my mouth. I refused at first, tried to push him away, and then he put the belt around my arms. So, I made like I was going to do it, and I…I bit down on one of his testicles, as hard as I could. He screamed and punched me in the face, and that seemed to really turn him on. He started slapping me and rubbed himself until he came. Then he tied my ankles together, put the gag back in my mouth and the bag on my head, and left me there."

"Did you see his face?" Gideon asked.

"Yes. He has light brown hair that's receding, blue eyes, and his teeth aren't straight. He was probably in his late thirties, early forties, and not tall, maybe 5'9"? He was more muscled than average, but not a body-builder, and less so than Agent Morgan. His face was thin, and his nose looked a bit too big for it." She didn't need to close her eyes to remember him, his face was imprinted into her brain.

Gideon pulled something out from under his pad, and set it in front of her. It was a photo array, six photos in all. "Is the man who abducted you in one of these pictures?"

Emily studied them, not used to being the one to judge a photo array. She froze when she found his face, and handed the array back, one finger settling one of the top center picture. "That's him."

They asked more questions over the next two hours, and Emily tried to answer everything patiently. She wanted to go home. She wanted to take a long, very hot shower, kiss and hug Declan, and curl up in bed with Ian spooning her. Emily hated herself for the last part, but she was in a constant struggle to hold herself together, and she just wanted some comfort. It wasn't like she could go to Clyde or Sean or Tsia, and as nice as they were, she didn't know this team of FBI agents well enough to allow them to comfort her. It had to be Ian.

He made her feel safe and loved. That's really what she wanted right now, to feel safe. She was well aware of the irony in seeking safety in a man dangerous enough to be the target of an Interpol investigation.

She yawned as Hotchner indicated that they'd come to an end. "Can I go home now?"

"We'd prefer if you didn't leave town just yet," he said.

"I meant back to my hotel."

Gideon smiled at her. "Actually, we're going to send you to a safe house until the man who abducted you is caught. Agent Morgan and Agent Greenway will stay with you tonight."

"You think he may try to come after me again?" Even as she asked it, Emily knew it was a possibility. The man who abducted her was certainly a sexual sadist, a narcissist and possibly a psychopath. He would perceive her rescue as an insult, as being beaten at his own game.

"We don't want to take any chances," he said. "But, if you give us your hotel information, we'll pick up your bags for you."

Emily felt her stomach begin to boil with anxiety. She wasn't staying at a hotel, but at a rental house with Ian. How the hell was she going to explain that?

"Ms. Reynolds?"

She had a realization. "Did you impound my rental?"

Agent Reid, the young genius nodded. "Yes, I spoke to MPD, they have it."

"I have a bag in there, my carry-on, it has everything I need, we can just grab that and I'll get the rest of my stuff after this is all over."

"You keep a carry-on in your rental?" Elle asked.

"Not usually, no. I got the rental from the airport, and I always take a carry-on with everything in case they loose my checked bag. I got to the hotel late, and didn't feel like dragging both inside, so it's still in the car." She waited, silently praying that they bought it.

"I should start doing that when I fly out to Chicago, you know how many times they've lost my stuff?" Morgan shook his head. Emily smiled.

"Alright, Elle, Morgan take Ms. Reynolds to the impound lot, and pick up her bag. Run by Garcia on your way out, and she'll give you the address for the safe house." Hotchner instructed, effectively dismissing them.

They left the conference room, and she followed the agents down the steps and through the glass doors of the BAU over to a hallway. Elle turned to look at her. "How're you doing Lauren?"

"Tired, and I'd really like to take a shower."

"Don't worry, we should be settled in the safe house in under two hours." The FBI agent offered her a reassuring smile.

"We should grab some dinner on the way there." Derek looked at her. "I bet it's been a while since you had anything to eat."

"Too long." Emily let a hand rest on her abdomen over her baby. She let her hand drop. She couldn't focus on that now.