I am honestly not good with dialogues, so they sound a bit awkward, I'm sorry. Oh and I wish the first part of this chapter will tug your heart.

Enjoy reading!

And I am sorry this is slightly late. I had a hard time writing this as today was a noisy day with endless talking in my surrounding.

Chapter 3

Emily placed a hydrogel sheet on the scalded area of Reid's skin, after the young man's knees went weak and would have dropped to the floor if Morgan was not holding him. Reid was silent for a very long time, and it was unnerving his two teammates. Morgan shared a look with Emily, both not knowing what to do nor say.

"Reid?" Emily leaned closer with worry edge on her face. That was when she realized Reid was talking, but to himself.

"… could be multiple reasons why someone could lose their sense of touch, permanent or temporary. It ranges from B12 deficiency to poisoning of neurotoxins to severe trauma to the spinal cord. 30% of the occurrence of the condition could not be explained and considered as 'idiopathic'. Approximately, 8% of the U.S. population has a neuropathic condition, commonly caused by diabetes. In fact, according to the U.S. government statistics, 60 and 70% people with diabetes suffers-"

Emily grabbed both of the genius hands in hers, "Reid, please stop. You're torturing yourself," she already had tears in her eyes just listening to her friend rattling of statistics about his condition. Morgan wiped his face, feeling drained.

"The only pain I can feel right now is in my heart, Emily. And that's not good," the soft reply came with trembling voice. Reid shook his head, his eyes finally blinking and shined with the tears he held in, "It's not good," his voice faded into a helpless sigh, staring at his hands squeezed by the jet black hair woman in front of him. He felt Morgan's hand on his shoulder.

"We'll go see a neurologist. Let's go."

"Wherever you are planning to go will have to wait. We have a case," JJ said as she walked fast pass them, heading to Hotch's office. She failed to notice the distress in the air, too absorbed in reading the case file.

Reid stood hurriedly, surprising both Morgan and Emily, "No one tells Hotch," he stared back and forth between them.

"But Reid, he needs to know so he can excuse you to go see the doctor," Morgan argued.

Reid turned to look solely at Morgan, "I don't want to be excused. He does not need to know and I will go see the neurologist after the case is close," seeing as Morgan was still contemplating, Reid pleaded, "Please, Morgan." He knew he had won when Morgan sighed.

Emily wrapped her arm around Reid's shoulder and walked with him up the stairs and toward the round table, Morgan falling into steps behind them. For now, they would let it be, but they would keep an eye on their youngest family member at all times. They both agreed on that as they shared a silent nod.

"New Orleans. Four male students found dead at local parks all over the city in the last eight days," JJ explained as photos of men from different ethnics appeared on the screen, taken from their student IDs. And then in a split second the photos changed to them lying down on benches at different parks. They appeared to be sleeping, but the profilers knew better.

What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today –William Glasser

The flight was quiet, for most of it. Emily sat next to Reid while Morgan sat in front of them. Once again Reid was not saying a word, leafing through the case file again and again or else he would look out the windowpane. The only time he had said a word was to refuse coffee when JJ offered to make him one.

As usual, before they land, the whole team went through the information they have on the case again.

"They all look as if they were sleeping," Rossi commented as he stared at the photos of the crime scenes again.

"Cause of death?" asked Morgan.

"Beaten to it or punctured lungs, they all have at least eight to nine broken ribs," Reid answered, already had the autopsies plastered in his mind.

"It's weird. Such brutality when killing but then showed drastic care when disposing them. Maybe we're looking for two unsubs," Emily joined in.

"Could be remorse," Rossi chipped in.

JJ nodded, "Well, whatever it is, the unsub is escalating. From two victims in five days, two more of the victims only happened with one day between them."

"So we need to work quickly. Rossi and Emily, visit the first and last dumpsites. JJ and Morgan, get Garcia to send you the list of colleges went by the victims and talk to their friends and the person in charge of the dorm. Learn their routines and schedule to see if there is a clash in time. Reid and I will set up at the station."

They hit the ground running, SUVs waiting for them. After the formal introduction and being led into a room they could work in, Hotch and Reid started pinning up the photos, information and the map of New Orleans for the geographical profile. They worked quietly. At one point, Reid accidentally pierced his own finger, but did not seem to realize it. Hotch did not too until he saw a smear of blood when he stepped to look at the photos. The unit chief looked at Reid who was pinning the last corner of the city map.

"Show me your hand," Hotch asked without his superior demeanor.

"What?" Reid looked back at him with a look of pure confusion.

"Let me see your hand," Hotch held his own hand with his palm up. Reid hesitantly placed his burnt hand in it. Hotch looked at the blotchy skin that had blisters before turning the hand over and looked at Reid's thumb which was covered with blood, "Be careful. Go wash it and I'll get a band aid from the station's emergency kit."

Reid stuttered out an 'okay' before he walked out of the room, Hotch eyed him as he walked while frowning at his hand.

When the genius got to the washroom, he was lucky as it was empty. He locked the door, leaning against it for a moment before walking over to the sink. He washed the blood off and then he rubbed his face with his wet hands before he looked at his own reflection. A pale face was what he saw; with his hair looked almost shaved at the side and the top styled up though less than an inch – courtesy of one Penelope Garcia – and dull eyes stared back at him. "I couldn't feel the prick of the skin; I couldn't even know I hurt myself," he snorted at himself, "So much for being less conspicuous." He shut his eyes, bracing himself on the sink.

His thoughts ran wild as tears of frustration found their way out of him. He had told Hotch that very morning that what had happened would not affect him. But it seemed like everything will be affected. His sense, his response, his mind. It would not be the same. It was not enough that he could never forget his ordeal with Jason Summers, which he still had nightmares about. He still needed to suffer with the prolonged torture in the form of neuropathy. Instead of forgetting the pain he had felt, here he was, unable to feel any sort of touch sensation anymore. The pain he felt under the hands of Summers was the last kind of extreme sensation his mind remember.

Reid let out a deep, pain sigh. He washed his face once again before wiping them and then heading back to the room where Hotch was waiting.

The unit chief helped placing the band aid and Reid was grateful when he did not bring up the issue of the young man using the washroom longer than necessary.

"Thank you," Reid said, getting up from the seat and start on the map.

"Reid."

"Hm?"

"I know you don't like me interfering with your personal life, and I know you despised it when I asked you to see the counsellor. I'm just concerned," Hotch was still sitting and he looked up at Reid.

Reid swallowed the invisible lump choking him in his throat, "I'm fine."

Hotch nodded, "I just want to be sure you really are. I don't want you to be bothered, by anything. If something is bothering your head, and you are still not ready to talk to a therapist, you can talk to me."

As Reid looked down at his superior, he could feel the genuine worry coming from him and he found himself nodding and a sincere smile tugged on his lips. He made a silent promise to find Hotch when it all becomes unbearable.

Three days there and with a complete profile, the BAU managed to track down the unsub.

Douglas Thaw, 32, once a student at the college where victim number one went to, was the son of a police officer and he was sent to a military boarding school in his second year at college. He hated his father for pulling him out of the course to his dream of becoming an artist. His father death was his trigger. The victims all had fathers who worked as police officer all over the state, all in their second year.

Thaw first instinct was to protect them from getting the same fate as him, in his own sick way, which was killing them. After a drug was found in the screen test of the seventh and last victim, another screen test was done for all the others. The same kind of drug was found in each of them and the drug sufficed as diluting the pain. The beatings were his way of letting out his uncontrollable rage, thus, his method of killing. He laying them as if they were sleeping was the sign of him regretting what he had done and wishing they would die in peace.

Now, they were getting ready to catch him as he showed no sign of stopping and the agents were afraid he would attack the primary target of his anger; the police officers.

"JJ and Reid stay here while the rest will come for the takedown," Hotch ordered with no room for arguments and none did.

When the team arrived at Thaw's hideout, they cleared the place and the man was nowhere to be found. He knew they were coming, they profiled from the messed up condition of the place.

"He is not going to give up," Rossi said as they gathered to figure out the next move.

"What if for his endgame, he does exactly what we expect him to do?" Emile asked, dread sipping into her.

"Which is the closes police station from here?"

Morgan already started running toward the SUV before Rossi finished the question, "The station we are working for!"

Panicked seized all of them.

JJ and Reid had piled up all the files, photos, autopsies and map. Reid carried a box to the front desk, returning those that were for the police record. He smiled at the woman there but then frowned when her eyes went huge as she stared pass his shoulder. Not thinking much before it, Reid turned to see what it was. Before he could see anything though, he found himself knocked down to the ground.

"Spence!" he heard JJ scream.

The youngest member of the BAU stayed down, pretending to have fainted. All Reid could see from the ground was a bat and military shoes – the shoes that left the print on few of the victims and led to the unsub's background. Before Thaw swung his right hand up, Reid was almost sure he saw him holding a Glock 17 with a silencer. He heard the man taunted the officers, admitting what he had had done and what he was about to do to them.

Slowly, Reid's hand crept out to take his revolver. He angled his head so he could see where the criminal's hand was. He was planning to shoot his arm, forcing him to let go of the Glock. Just as he was about to aim, he saw familiar shoes running toward the entrance where the previously unknown subject stood. Making an immediate calculation as fast as he could, Reid took one second to aim before he shot right at the joint.

Thaw yelped as Reid scrambled to kick the gun away as he stood. Morgan jumped on the suspect and cuffed him.

"Spence!" Reid suddenly found himself embraced by JJ and then the others came by his sides, "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine, JJ," he tried reassuring her with a smile.

"Oh, I don't know, kid. That blood tells a different story," Rossi said.

"Blood?"

"He bashed you really hard, Spence, and you didn't even scream."

"W-wait…" Reid brought his hand up to his forehead and touched a sticky part at his temple. When he saw blood on his fingers, it was only then that he started feeling lightheaded, not from the pain but from the trauma itself. Hotch was the one who caught him and lowered him down when his eyes fell shut.

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