Chapter 2

Reid walked into the briefing room, the rest of the team was sitting around the table already. JJ had already started briefing the rest of the team. they all looked at the door when Reid walked through. he noticed that their gazes lingered on him longer than necessary, before returning to the folders in front of them. what Reid didn't noticed was that Morgan's eyes lingered on him longer than anyone else. Reid mumbled an apology before sliding into the nearest chair.

"what do we have?" Spencer spoke as soon as his body was fully in the chair. the rest of the team was silent, he raised his eyebrows. JJ was the first one speak.

"we have a triple homicide in boston." Spencer looked up as images flashed on the plasma screen tv, showing pictures of the victims. "it seems that our unsub is targeting women in their late twenties and early thirties. the victims have different financial backgrounds and share no common characteristics beside the fact that they are all women. they were all found with their throats slashed with a cross burned into their chest." when JJ was done speaking she turned and sat herself in one of the chairs nearest the large screen. the rest of the team continued looking through their files, Spencer reading at a his usual pace to catch up with the rest of the team. after a couple minutes of silence Hotch looked at each member of his team, Spencer noticed that his bosses eyes lingered on him longer than anyone else on the team. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get away with how he had been acting for much longer. the team was starting to noticed that something was seriously wrong. at first they had attributed it with PTSD steming from the Hankel case.

"Wheels up in 20." Hotch's voice cut through the silence of the room, startling Spencer from his thoughts. "Reid, Morgan i want you two to go over the crime scene of victim number one. See if you can't find any clue as to the unsub's motives. See if you can get an ID of the victim. Rossi and Prentiss do the same for the victim number two. JJ, you're with me, we're going to look into vicitm number three. if that's all, i expect you all on the plane on time." again Hotch's eye slongered on Spencer as he said the last words.

"what about Gideon?" Spencer's voice was quiet.

"he'll be meeting us in boston once his recruiting trip to LA is done." with that Hotch stood, file in hand and walked out the briefing room door. the rest of the team followed him, leaving Reid alone in the room by himself. He stared at the photos that were flashing on the screen, "what did these women have in common?" Reid thought to himself as he watched the crime scene photos flash in front of his eyes. Slowly Reid walked up to the plasma, arms crossing in front of him, looking at each photo carefully.

the noise from the planes engine cut through Spencer's thoughts as the plane readied to take off. he was still looking at the crime scene photos. he wasn't sure what about them got under his skin, but something about them unsettled him. they made him feel sick to his stomach.

"hey pretty boy! what's on your mind?" Morgan's voice from the seat across from him startled him. Spencer jumped before looking over at Derek. onw was his chance. he had tried for months to deal with his drug problem by himself, but nothing had worked. it was months later and he was still using. Spencer had thought that once he ran out of dilaudid that he would have been able to end his addiction, but that hadn't happened. it was months later and he had found a way to continue his addiction. he slowly lowered the file down onto the tops of his legs, wresting them in his lap, he looked at Derek, sizing him up. he had been there for him when he had needed advice on what to do about Lila Archer. he was like the older brother he never had, and on some level spencer thought of morgan as more than just a friend and brother.

"remember the hankel case?" Reid's voice was soft, he only wanted to tell morgan, he didn't want anyone else on the team to know about his problem. morgan nodded, the expression on his face showing that it was something that he could never forget and would never forget. "hankel was a junkie. his drug of choice being dilaudid." spencer paused to take a deep breath, the concerned look on morgan's face caused his breath to hitch. "when hankel was in his tobias alter he would inject me with dilaudid. he told me it helped with the pain. i begged him not to, i told him i didn't want it. but he wouldn't listen. i hated it! but i grew to love it."

Spencer didn't see morgan move from his seat across from him and into the seat beside him, for his eyes were clouded by the tears that streamed down his face. morgan's arm looped around the younger man's shoulders and pulled him close, the older man resting his head on the top of the younger man's.