Chapter 4!

"Fallin' asleep on me, Kid?" Morgan asked as Reid tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. They had long since checked in to their hotel rooms and where now sitting in the hotel's restaurant, vaguely having some semblance of a conversation.

"Long night." He answered, glancing up at the clock on the wall. He had spent hours pouring over his notes from the scene and just as he set them aside and began to crawl into bed Morgan called him.

"So," Reid coaxed, "I have a feeling that you may not have called me here just to talk about the local hot spots." In answer Morgan took a big sip of his drink. Reid waited patiently, feeling a little strange watching his coworker beat around the bush.

"Who do you think the Unsub's trying to lead around?" He finally said, his eyes flicking up to his young friend.

"Anyone, really." Reid said, "Delusions of accomplishment keyed with narcissistic behavior. He wants as many people as possible to see…whatever's at the end of the trail." Morgan's brows furrowed together thoughtfully.

"Try to get some shut eye." He finally said, standing up and leaving the money on the table before disappearing out the door. Reid stared after him for a moment before glancing at the table. He had left another money for Reid's food as well, so he pulled out a few more dollars for the tip before turning and leaving, waving at the waitress as she came out the back room.

The trek back to the room eerily silent, the elevator and hallways all empty. Reid tightened his grip on the strap of his shoulder bag, digging out his room key but he dropped it as soon as he looked up.

His door was open, propped a crack with the side lock. Reid flipped his back against the wall, carefully remembering Morgan's instructions on entering a possibly hostile situation. Should I go in? Should I call Hotch? Reid was conflicted but he found his hand moving to push the door open without his permission.

He glided along the wall before realizing that the room was empty. He checked his other bag, his notebook, everything was still perfectly untouched. He glanced over the table tops and the desk and noticed that the hotel's notepad had been moved, the pen resting beside it Reid blinked and saw that a message had been written on it.

Welcome.


"You didn't see anything?" Morgan asked for the third time, "Nothing at all! Then how did he get in!" The woman at the desk was shaking her head, nearly in tears.

"Morgan." Reid called, trying to save the poor girl. Hotch was standing with him, asking questions. Did you see anyone suspicious? Talk to anyone? No, he was trained to look out for that sort of thing, how could he not notice?

"I should have gone with him." Morgan grinded, finally leaving the girl to fall apart in peace.

"What good would that have done? No one was in my room."

"What if someone had been? You should have called me!" Reid wanted to say that calling him would have alerted whoever was inside, but he stayed silent, waiting for Morgan to cool off. Hotch chose this convenient moment to turn away and pull out his phone, putting it to his ear and wandering a little ways away.

"I should've…"

"Should've what, Morgan? Don't worry about the things you couldn't have changed." Morgan sighed in resignation, his shoulders slumping.

"Come on," Hotch said, turning back to them, "Let's head back into the station."


The team was huddled around the conference room table, Reid's message resting on the table top.

"We need surveillance tapes, any footage we can get on the hotel." Hotch commanded, "I want to see every person who went in that door."

"I'll call Garcia." Morgan answered, moving into the main office so as not to disturb the team.

"Queenly Queen of awesomeness, how may I be of service?" Garcia declared playfully.

"Hey baby, we need some surveillance footage on the Parkside Hotel."

"That's all?" Garcia joked, grinning on the other end of the line, "No challenge at all." Morgan chuckled, leaning against the wall. Garcia rapidly tapped her keyboard, periodically glancing at the screen.

"It's streaming," she said, "JJ can pull it up on her laptop."

"Thanks, Baby girl." He said with a broad smile.

"My pleasure, say hello to my other darlings."

"Will do."

Next chapter: The team tries to confront the unsub! Please review, let me know how I'm doing.