Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Thanks again to mablereid and all those who read and reviewed

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The team had just finished another case in Dallas. The unsub was a homeless man who was frequently in and out of the county hospital's psychiatric ward. He would go in to be treated for a bipolar disorder because he was threatening the people on the street he called home and as soon as they had him properly medicated, he would function 'normally,' in the eyes of the medical establishment, and would be released back into the community, where he would immediately refuse to take his medication and the previous behavior would recur. This vicious circle had continued as long as many residents of the street could remember. Except this last time, instead of just threatening, his behavior became much more dangerous and four citizens had lost their lives before the BAU was called in and through their profile it was revealed that this homeless man felt the people who lived on the street were a danger to what he considered his home, since they would call the authorities on a regular basis and have him removed. No one had suspected that it was him because he had never been violent in the past. The team was now looking forward to heading home.

Reid took out his cell and dialed Evan's number. He hadn't heard from his brother in a couple of days. He usually spoke to him every other day or so. Of course, their case in Dallas had kept them busy but if he'd called, he'd generally leave a message. "Hello," Reid heard his brother's voice through his cell.

"Hi bud, how you doing, I haven't heard from you in a couple of days?"

"I'm good," the thirteen year old replied, "How's your case going?" Evan's voice was quiet and Reid could hear none of the boy's usual gregariousness.

"Good, we caught the unsub and we're heading home in a couple of hours."

"That's good; I guess I'll see you when you get back. Bye." Reid found he was listening to dead air.

"Bye," he said to no one listening. He looked at the phone in his hand, his brow furrowing, and the confusion evident on his face. What was that about?

On the plane back to Quantico, Gideon could see the concern etched on Reid's face. "What's troubling you?"

"Oh," Reid shook himself, realizing his mind had been elsewhere, "Sorry, I had the strangest call with Evan a little while ago. He was so quiet, not his normal self and he hardly talked to me at all. You know what he's like, a regular chatterbox most of the time. It makes me wonder if something's wrong."

"Well, you can't do anything about it now so you might as well relax until you know what you're dealing with," Gideon counseled quietly.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." He sat quietly for a few moments. "How about a game of chess?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The two men played their game in companionable silence for the rest of the journey home. Gideon, as expected, was the victor. One of these days, Reid vowed, it had to be his turn.

When he reached his apartment a few hours later and shuffled through his mail he found a few bills, a response from a science magazine offering to publish an article he'd written on quantum physics a few months back and of course a credit card company wanting him to sign up at a great rate. He checked his answering machine, his dentist's office was reminding him it was time for a checkup and to have his teeth cleaned again, the cleaners wondering if he was ever coming to pick up the garments he'd left there over a week ago and an insurance salesman who was positive he would be interested in a double indemnity policy. There was nothing from Evan.

He called Evan again but this time he called their home phone and Janice answered, "Hello."

"Hi Janice, how's it going?"

"Oh hi, well you know, busy as usual. Lots of work at the library, we're cataloguing what seems like a ton of new books that just came in. I'm just making a quick dinner. I've got my bridge group tonight. How did it go in Dallas?"

Janice was loving her new job and certainly getting out a lot more now; she was in a bridge club, taking quilting and yoga classes and participated in a book club with Haley Hotchner. To say Janice Reid was enjoying her new life without his and Evan's father was an understatement.

"Dallas went okay, another unsub out of circulation. How's Evan?"

"He's good; he's in his room doing his homework."

"He's not usually so eager to do that is he, especially on a Friday night?"

"No, he's not, so I'm looking on it as a good sign. Maybe you're rubbing off on him."

"Oh please Janice," Reid's voice was emphatic, "You don't want him turning into a misfit like me."

"Well, I don't know about that, for a misfit you seem to have done pretty well for yourself."

"Thanks, you're sure Evan's okay; he seemed really quiet when I talked to him on the phone earlier today."

Janice sounded exasperated, "Spencer, you're worse than a mother hen with that boy. He's a teenager; they don't like to tell adults everything. Look I've got to go and get dinner finished or I'll be late for bridge, talk to you soon. Bye."

For the second time that day Reid was talking to dead air. He looked at the phone saying, "Well he ordinarily tells me everything." He closed up the phone and thought to himself, he had the weekend off and was definitely going to get to the bottom of this.

Evan sat cross-legged on his bed, clad in blue jeans and his brother Spencer's university tee shirt, his schoolbooks spread out around him and his laptop in front of him. But the boy wasn't looking at either the laptop or the textbooks and his mind was definitely not on his school work. He was staring straight ahead. His head was spinning. How was he going to tell his mom, he thought? How was he going to tell Spencer? Why was this happening to him, his thoughts raged, hadn't he been through enough?