A/N: Hope you won't be disappointed, but there aren't any warnings for this chapter except for a bit of language and general creepiness. Also, posting a little early today because tomorrow's Easter, and next week will probably be late as I'll be out of town.

Hugs and thanks,

Seds

It was getting close to evening; Derek woke from a nap in his hotel room bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs. He paused by the establishment's exit and noticed that one of the flyers the troupe had been handing out earlier in the afternoon was posted on a window, giving the time and location of that night's show. He went out and strolled to an empty lot at the southern end of town.

Colorful scarves tied together served to rope off the area where a show wagon was parked. It was larger and much more ornate than the one Spencer lived in, with elaborately carved filigrees and painted panels adorning all four sides. The name, "Professor Gideon's Traveling Compendium of Dreams" was lettered above the door; it caught Derek's eye, and he puzzled over the meaning for a moment.

Derek slipped under the rope and went to the caravan's entrance, climbed the steps, went inside and looked around. He realized that one side could be opened up, turning the wagon into a stage. A heavy velvet curtain divided the space. He called out, "Spencer?" and as he reached out a hand to pull back the curtain, a stern voice intoned, "Don't do that."

Derek whirled around; he was certain no one had been behind him when he came in. A man looking to be in his fifties was standing by the door, and Derek deferentially nodded at him. "Sorry. I was looking for Spencer."

The man had dark, thinning hair and piercing brown eyes. He looked Derek up and down in a critical manner, and then pursed his lips for a moment before saying, "I see. Friend of his, are you?"

"Uh, yeah. He invited me to see the show." Derek stepped forward, holding out his hand. "Name's Morgan, Derek Morgan."

"Jason Gideon. Nice to meet you." Gideon didn't take his hand.

Derek cleared his throat. "You're the Professor, I take it?"

Gideon shrugged, looking amused. "Yes, that's me. Ridiculous, isn't it? I've never taught a class in my life. But, that's show business, you know. You have to make things... memorable."

Derek couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he asked, "What the hell's a 'dream compendium' anyway?"

A slow smile crossed the man's face. "I'll tell you later. First, I have a question for you." The smile stayed, but his voice had a suspicious tone to it. "What do you want with Spencer?"

Derek met Gideon's eye and he didn't like what he saw there. He steeled his gaze and answered sharply, "I told you. We're friends."

"I seriously doubt that. Man like you trying to be pals with a kid like him? Doesn't ring true."

"What are you saying?"

"I'll be frank. I think you have a mind to bed him. If you haven't already."

Derek felt ire rise in his throat, and he took a step forward. "What's it to you? Oh, wait—maybe I'm stepping on your turf. Is that it?"

Gideon's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, but let me make something clear. Spencer's like my son. I look out for him, and I'm not going to let him be hurt by some high roller passing through town looking for a quick fuck. Get it?"

Derek's fists tightened and he would have loved nothing more than to take the bastard out with a good right hook, but he forced himself to consider the man's words. He wondered what Spencer thought of Gideon; he'd only mentioned him in passing, but he'd sounded as if things were good between them. If what Gideon said was true, he was just trying to protect the boy, and Derek respected that. He relaxed and took a deep, calming breath.

"Right. Sorry. Listen... I have no intention of hurting him. We just met, and we're having fun together, but that's all. You can ask him yourself if you don't believe me."

Gideon seemed to relax as well, and he made a conciliatory gesture. "Well, I have no reason not to believe you. Spencer doesn't always make the best decisions, but he's generally a pretty good judge of character. I'm sure he knows what he's doing." That strange smile came back to his face and he glanced toward the heavy curtain. "You asked about the dream compendium. Here, let me show you.'

He moved past Derek to the curtain, and was just about to pull it aside when Spencer appeared in the doorway and shouted, "Gideon! No!"

The youth sprang forward and grabbed Derek's arm, jerking him away from the curtain. "Don't. Please." He pushed past him and whispered something in Gideon's ear that Derek couldn't make out, but it sounded as if he said, "He's a good man." Spencer wore an anxious expression, and Derek looked from him back to Gideon. The older man was still smiling slightly, but there was a darkness in his eyes that Derek didn't understand.

"As you wish," Gideon said. He stepped away from the curtain and pulled a cigar out of his coat pocket. He struck a match and lit it, and then began to puff, turning to impassively observe Derek again.

Derek felt oddly relieved at seeing Spencer and he gave him an uncertain grin. "Uh... Hey, kid. I came to see the show like I promised. Guess I'm a little early."

"That's all right." Spencer patted his arm, then tugged at him. "Let's go outside so you can get a good spot." He cast a worried look back at Gideon, and then led Derek down the steps. People were beginning to gather at the roped-off area, and Hotch was standing there, preparing to collect admission.

Derek glanced behind him, then back at Spencer. "What the hell was all that about? What's behind that curtain?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, really. It's just that that's where we keep the props and costumes and such." Spencer smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah? Well, you didn't need to grab me like that. I can take care of myself, you know." Derek irritably straightened his collar, and Spencer nodded.

"Of course. I just didn't want Gideon to spoil any of the show's surprises for you, that's all." He still seemed to be keeping an eye on the show wagon's entrance.

Just then, Penelope and Emily came out and began readying tables on either side of the wagon. One had a scarf draped over it proclaiming "Why suffer? Try Dr. Garcia's Magic Elixir!" The other was covered with a satin cloth and had a sign stating "Madame Emily Sees Your Past, Knows Your Future."

By now, Spencer's discomfort had passed and he gave Derek a warm hug before saying, "I need to go get ready, so you just stay here, okay? You'll have the best seat in the house. I'll see you after the show." He scampered off, his touch leaving Derek with a longing to keep him close, to hold him, to bury his face in his neck and inhale his scent.

He stared after him until he noticed that Hotch had dropped the rope and let people enter. The area around the stage quickly filled up and the crowd stretched back for several rows.

After a while, the doors opened and oil lamps came on, seemingly of their own accord. A heady smell of exotic incense filled the air, and what sounded to Derek like calliope music started up. Gideon strode grandly onto the stage, wearing a black silk jacket and top hat. He stopped in the middle and faced the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Jason Gideon. Welcome to my Compendium of Dreams. What you will see tonight may shock you. You'll be amazed, you'll laugh, and you may be brought to tears, but one thing is absolutely certain—you will be entertained. Now, with no further ado, may I present the beautiful and mysterious Lady Jennifer—and Clyde." He took a slight bow, and the audience responded with a round of half-hearted applause. The curtain behind him opened, and JJ was standing there.

She had her hair tied back in a bun and she wore a cloak that covered her from her neck down to her feet. The audience fell quiet as eerie music began to play. JJ stared straight ahead, unsmiling. She slowly brought her hand to her throat and undid a clasp; the cloak shimmered to the floor, and the audience gasped.

JJ was dressed in a spangled belly dancer outfit, but what shocked the audience much, much more was that there was a live snake wrapped around her waist. Its head faced the crowd and it opened its mouth to hiss, revealing glinting fangs as if in greeting.

JJ began to dance, undulating her body, and the snake slithered over her, up to her shoulders, her neck, and then it coiled itself around her arm and matched her liquid movements as if it were a part of her. The mesmerized audience stood stock still. As the song ended, JJ brought the cloak up over her head; suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the cloak again dropped to the floor, but now Spencer stood in JJ's place, with the snake coiled tightly around his neck.

He sported a bewildered expression, and then he looked down at the snake and made a comically horrified face, earning him a good bit of laughter; he unwrapped the creature from around himself and held it out toward the audience, as if to throw it to the crowd, and a number of ladies in the front row shrieked. Then, another flash of light came, and now the snake was gone and in its place was a bouquet of daisies. Spencer smiled and threw the flowers to the audience; they disappeared in mid-air and became a shower of bright yellow confetti.

The audience laughed and applauded enthusiastically.

Next, Hotch and Emily performed a scene from "The Taming of the Shrew," in period costume and with perfect English accents. The relative normalcy of it seemed to settle the audience and they gave their full attention to the actors.

The next act belonged to Gideon. He came out and sang a mournful lament for lost love in a beautiful tenor voice, acapella. Derek noticed some people dabbing at their eyes, and he felt a catch in his throat, himself.

Then, changing the mood, two garishly painted marionettes dropped down from overhead onto the stage and began a sort of Punch and Judy show. Derek recognized the voices as belonging to Spencer and Penelope. They were outrageously bawdy and funny, and Derek found himself cracking up along with everyone else. The boy puppet had a big stick and kept threatening the girl puppet with it as they traded insults. Finally, the girl puppet wrestled it away and bashed the boy puppet over the head, to great applause. He was then jerked upward, and he disappeared into the rafters. The girl puppet took a smug bow before joining him.

Then, Spencer came out on stage carrying a third puppet, this one a rather pretty blonde female in a filmy white gown. Hotch played a lively tune on the violin and Spencer made her dance, but after a few bars, he clumsily dropped her in front of the stage. He mimed being embarrassed, then leaned down and pulled her up.

But, this time, it was JJ at the end of the strings.

Hotch switched to a haunting, delicate melody, and Spencer worked the strings, appearing to make JJ dance to his will. Her face was painted a chalky white and with her lips outlined in dark red and wearing the same type of diaphanous gown, she looked exactly like the puppet. She was completely limp, her head sagging, and the sight was both beautiful and somehow ghastly. When the music came to an end, Spencer let JJ slowly fall into a heap on the ground; he bent down to pick her up, but now the puppet was in her place and somehow JJ was on the stage behind Spencer. The audience went wild with applause, and Derek clapped as loudly as anyone.

There was more singing, another skit was performed, and JJ danced a steamy tango with Hotch. Spencer did more magic, bringing three people up from the audience to pick a card, any card, and while he couldn't seem to guess the right cards, he did manage to triumphantly relieve each of them of watches, wallets and jewelry, all of which he returned with a big flourish at the end of the bit. As an encore, he pulled the correct cards out of each person's ear, and then the curtain came down and Gideon returned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have been a delight. It was our pleasure to entertain you. Now, if you'd like to have your future told, or if you have nagging aches and pains troubling you—and gents, I'm not talking about your wives—please visit Madame Emily or Dr. Garcia at their tables. Thank you, and good night."

Everyone applauded madly, and people began to line up at the tables. Derek looked around for Spencer. He noticed Gideon talking to an unknown man, and after a moment, the stranger followed Gideon inside the wagon. Gideon came out several minutes later, and the man soon after, but when he returned, he was pale and he moved haltingly, as if in a trance. Gideon watched as he walked away, the same odd smile on his face that he'd had earlier when he was talking to Derek.

The sight left Derek feeling unsettled. He suddenly had a strong urge to find Spencer and take him away with him, far from the caravan, far from Gideon, and far, far away from his magic.

Morgan sat alone at the hotel bar. The BAU jet had landed just after 4:00 PM, and the meeting with local law enforcement had taken a couple of hours. The team had agreed to meet for dinner at a nearby restaurant, and the rest of them had gone to their rooms to unwind, but Morgan had napped during the flight, and he didn't want to go to sleep again even if he could. The dream he'd had on the plane was, oddly, even more upsetting than the sex dreams he'd been having about Reid. This one left him feeling uneasy and worried. He supposed it was just a reflection of the tension he always felt going into a new case, but even so, it was bizarre.

He still carried the smell of oil lamps, incense, and a sweaty crowd in his nostrils, and a vague memory of dream-Spencer's agitation at whatever it was Gideon had been about to do to his dream-self lingered in the pit of his stomach. What did it mean? Nothing? How could something that... tangible mean nothing?

Just then, Prentiss came into the bar and took a seat on the stool next to his.

"Hello, stranger. Getting a jump on the rest of us, huh?"

"Hey, Princess. Not really, I just couldn't stay in the room. Thought a little liquid refreshment was in order."

Prentiss ordered a drink and when it came she raised it to Morgan, and he clinked his glass to hers. "To this case getting solved quick and easy," Morgan said.

"Amen." Prentiss watched Morgan knock back the rest of his drink and then order another one. She raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Sure. Why?"

"You've been looking a little... off the last couple of days. Is everything all right?"

Morgan sighed. "It's nothing. Just a little trouble sleeping."

"Mm. I know how that is. I've learned not to hesitate to pop a pill if it gets too bad. Maybe you should try it."

"Nah. It'll pass." He glanced at her, and added, "But... I've been having weird dreams, too."

"Oh, yeah? About what?"

Morgan started to answer, then paused. Suddenly, he turned to her with a look of such intensity in his eyes that Prentiss was taken aback.

"You ever have a dream so vivid that you could taste food in your mouth? Feel someone lying beside you, the warmth of their skin against yours, the smell of their hair—and then have that scent stay with you, even long after you woke up?"

Prentiss stared at him a moment. "Uh... Well, I once dreamed my dead Grandma Betty was sitting on the edge of my bed talking to me about her Hummel figurine collection, and when I woke up I was really bored." She waited for Morgan to laugh, but when he didn't, she frowned and gave him a puzzled look. "So, whose hair are you smelling? Anyone I know?"

Morgan pulled back and shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Oh, come on. Is it Garcia?" Prentiss asked lightly.

Morgan laughed a little. "I wish. But, no."

"JJ?"

"No."

Prentiss wrinkled her nose. "It's not Strauss, is it?"

Morgan did laugh, this time. "Remind me why I'm talking to you about this again?"

Prentiss laughed too, then a thought struck her. "Oh, God—it's not me, right? Not that I'd mind starring in your dreams, but I can see where that might be a little awkward."

Morgan gave her an affectionate look. "No, honey. I wish it was you. Hell, I'd even settle for Strauss, to tell you the truth."

"Huh?"

"It's a guy." Morgan just came out and said it. His nerves were so raw, he didn't care what Prentiss thought, he just felt the need to talk about it at this point.

"A guy? Oh, Morgan. So, you think that means... something? About, you know, your—"

"I don't know what it means."

They were both silent for a few minutes, and then Prentiss asked, "Do you want to tell me who he is?"

"It's Reid."

Prentiss' mouth dropped open. "Reid? Really? Wow." She turned back to her drink and took a sip, unsure how to proceed with the conversation. Morgan saved her by adding tiredly, "I think I've got some kind of a thing for him."

"Oh. Okay. Well—do you think that because that's how you really feel, or is it because of the dreams? I mean, I'm pretty sure you're not the first straight person to have a sexy dream about a same-sex coworker. "

"I don't know. I don't know how I feel, I'm just confused. I think the dreams are trying to tell me something, but it's so... I've never thought of him in that way before, you know? Not once. But, maybe I have, and I just repressed it so hard, I didn't realize it was happening." He turned to look Prentiss in the eye. "I'm not gay. But, the attraction in the dream is so strong—am I going crazy?"

"I doubt it. Look, I don't know anything about dream interpretation, but—"

Morgan laughed. "Yeah, but guess who does—I made the mistake of telling Reid that I was having weird dreams, not that I told him about, you know, me and him, but now he wants me to keep a dream journal and he's offered to do the analysis for me. Now, how'm I supposed to deal with that?"

Prentiss laughed too. "I think you do need a doctor, but Dr. Reid's not it." She grew serious. "Honest though, Morgan—have you thought about seeing someone? Like, a shrink? It might help."

"I don't know." Morgan shook his head and shrugged. "I'm probably making a big deal out of nothing. Hotch thinks that in my dream, Reid symbolizes some conflicted aspect of myself that I'm struggling with, and he's probably right. I think I just need a nice long vacation, away from all you guys. When your co-workers start visiting you in your sleep, you know you need a break, right?"

"Oh, I think so. If I were you, I'd put in for some time off as soon as we get done with this case." Prentiss finished her drink, and then checked the time. "We're meeting for dinner in a few, but I think I'll go freshen up first. See you in the lobby, okay?"

"Yep. I'll see you there."

Morgan finished off his drink as well, and then headed up to his room to change for dinner.

By the way, I am of course thinking of "The Lesson," shudder, in the scene of JJ dancing as a marionette. Also, anyone who's seen "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" will recognize the thought behind the show caravan and Professor Gideon, but I'm going to have things go a little differently.