A/N: Okay, okay. I've received several comments about how people can't believe that Haley is a killer now. WHY NOT? In my opinion, Haley's been a serial killer diamond in the rough since Blood is Thicker! Read on, I think you'll warm to this story. Thanks for reading and please please review!

One

"I'm home!" Haley called as she slammed the door shut on her way into the new apartment. It was around eight o'clock, a bit early. Isabelle toddled up to her to give her a hug.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" she screamed her name for Haley. Haley collapsed on the little curly haired blonde and smothered her with kisses.

"Well aren't we happy?" Haley smiled as she picked the two year old up, carrying her to the living room. She grinned at Spencer and JJ in the kitchen, drying the last dinner dish.

"Haley," Spencer smiled at her. He checked her eyes for dark circles, her bare arms for track marks, anything. It was natural for a person to change after a… a rape, but Haley didn't change… much. She was quieter for a while, and then she would go out. Out. It was a place now. 'Where are you going, Hales?' 'Out.' 'What time do you think you'll be back?' 'Eightish.' Eightish, nineish, and tenish were times now. He just didn't know about her anymore. Before she went "out", she would be quiet, tense, nervous, and almost bumbling. But when she came home from "out", she would always be happy and cuddly. She'd suddenly become talkative. Joyous.

It wasn't right. Spencer hated it but something put him instinctually off about his little sister now. Sure, he loved her like no other man would but this was ridiculous. There was no tangible reason to be offset about her. She was a twenty-year-old girl… woman… ?

Still, there were never any track marks. There were never any dark circles unless she watched a movie with him the night before. There was always a smile, a vague way of talking of hers. And now she was looking for her own place. Her own place! She's a… victim! She shouldn't have the security in herself to be seeking her own place.

Spencer was brought back to Earth by the reassuring touch of JJ. He smiled at her big blue eyes, matching her daughter's. "Where were you, Hales?" JJ asked in place of Spencer. She always had a different manner of putting things than he did. Where he sounded accusing and frightened, she sounded like she was starting a casual conversation with one of her friends at a café.

"Oh," Haley smiled and paused. Spencer saw she was thinking, and he was usually the only person to pick up on that because normally the Reids' thought processing took nanoseconds. As it did now for Haley. "House hunting. I saw a nice place in the classifieds not too far from here. I thought that maybe I could get out of yours and JJ's hair."

JJ put the last dish up into the cabinet. "You're not intruding, Hales. You've been through a lot and we realize this, right Spence?" she asked as she looked from the cabinet to her husband. "Spencer?"

The siblings had been looking at each other, analyzing. Of course Spencer knew that Haley was lying. He could detect the visible differences in her posture, positioning, a slight blush across her face. He realized that through whatever she was doing, she was the sweet Haley he met years earlier in Carrollton, GA. But she was still lying. He looked at her sternly.

She smiled weakly and shrugged at him. She hated this. Lying to her brother was the one thing she never thought she'd have to do. But what would he do if he knew? He wouldn't sit idly by and live with the fact that she was a serial killer herself. It didn't matter if her… type… though she hated calling it that… was the serial killer and rapist and abuser. She lowered her chin and looked dead at him, challenging.

"Spencer," JJ said again, purposely interrupting the mental warfare.

He ripped away. "Yeah, yeah, no, you aren't intruding," he said quickly and put up his drying rag.

"Are you two okay?" JJ asked seriously.

"What are you talking about?" Haley grinned. "I'm fine; I'm going to take a shower." She leaned away from the counter and quickly walked to the bathroom to avoid the awkward situation.

JJ looked curiously at Spencer. He was obviously, obviously upset about something. He wasn't good at hiding distress, or any other emotion, rather. But now wasn't the time to ask. Isabelle wanted to play, and she needed to go down.

A/N2: The chapters are shorter than my normal chapter. I apologize. I'm trying to get this right as this may be my last story in the plotline.