Deal with the Devil- Chapter 4

The Fourth Promise

Hotch wished that he could say that he was shocked when Morgan approached him with his concerns. He didn't even bother sitting, and when Morgan finally took that hint, he too remained standing. "Morgan, I know there's something going on with Spencer, but it's none of our business, and even if it were, we couldn't talk about it now."

'Spencer,' Morgan thought, his mind playing alarms back and forth inside his head. In the years that he had known Hotch, he had never called Reid 'Spencer'.

"If he gets more distracted or if it starts affecting his work, I'll intervene-"

"He was talking to some John, Hotch," Morgan interrupted. "And he didn't sound too happy.

Hotch sighed, mumbling 'damn it' before rubbing a hand over his face. "Alright, I'll talk to him later. In the meantime, I need your head in this case. Try not to worry about yet; we don't even know if we should be worried."

"Right, thanks man." With a dismissing nod, Morgan left and rejoined Reid and Prentiss. Behind him, Rossi cleared his throat.

"You should take your own advice," Rossi said.

Hotch turned around to face Rossi, a mixture of concern and regret flickering through his eyes. "Yeah, I know."

~* DWTD *~

He was officially too close to his prey- hell, he had become his own prey in the process. George Foyet knew that he couldn't hide from Spencer, though. He had fallen in love with him, and there was nothing else for him to do.

Well, except three things.

One, he knew that he had to find another victim as soon as possible. That was the easiest task, though, and his eyes were already opened to a few choices. 'The first one being that damned landlord of Spencer,' he grumbled, his mind wandering back to the rooming incident.

Two, Foyet had to plan his big reveal to the BAU. This task would be the most fun to complete, but it wouldn't be easy. It had to be perfect, but luckily he already had a plan in mind.

Third, and lastly, he had to tell Spencer who he really was.

And if everything went according to plan, he'd tell him tonight.

~* DWTD *~

After the profile was delivered, Hotch dismissed the both the police and his own men. They had been working for over nine hours straight, and his whole team was beat. It had already been one of their top five most exhausting cases, and it didn't help that it hit close to home for him. All profilers had that one case that 'got away', and this was his. Now, he was given the rare opportunity to redeem himself of it, and he full-on planned to take it.

Hotch glanced at each of his team members as they gathered around the conference room, waiting patiently for instructions. Each and every one of them looked exhausted- especially Reid, he added in his head. It was obvious that they weren't getting anywhere tonight- it was already 10:30, anyways- and until everything opened in the morning, working through the night seemed worthless. Nodding his head, he said, "Let's pack it in for the night; there's nothing else we can do." With that one magical sentence, a great weight seemed to lift off of everyone, and they instantly relaxed. "We'll pick up tomorrow; get some sleep everyone."

As the room cleared out, Morgan and Rossi waited behind for the rest of the group to leave. Hotch, eyeing the two men, nodded at them. He knew exactly what they wanted. "Let's discuss them at the hotel; I don't want the on-duty officers to hear us." Agreeing with their boss, Morgan and Rossi followed him out of the building.

~* DWTD *~

Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan walked into the hotel room with grimaces on their face. They suddenly felt wrong doing what they were about to do, and slowly but surely they were all backing out wanting to talk about Reid. It was late at night, for one thing, and for another, it felt wrong to talk about his situation without knowing all the details.

"Look, maybe we should hold this off," Morgan sighed.

"I don't think I could stay up long enough to realize what we discussed," Rossi mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"You're both right," Hotch nodded. "Let's hold off a bit longer; maybe he'll even tell us himself."

"Let's hope so," Rossi nodded.

"All right," Morgan agreed. "Let's try to get some sleep; like you said, Hotch, this is going to be one bitch of a case."

Then, when Rossi and Morgan turned away, Hotch mumbled, "I didn't say 'bitch'."

~* DWTD*~

Foyet had two hours left of the day, but that was all he needed. With a smile on his face, he held Hotch's business card in his hand, and although too tempted to make the phone call the first night, he knew he had to wait. If his plan was going to work out, he had to tell Spencer who he really was before present 'George Foyet, Victim' to the BAU.

Foyet climbed out the window of his small getaway house and started toward his car. Revving the engine, he took off down the street with a frown growing on his face.

This wasn't going to be fun.

~* DWTD *~

Spencer Reid immediately regretted being sent to his hotel room, because as soon as he laid his head on his pillow, the doorbell rang. 'I knew it was too good to be true,' Reid sighed. 'Damned tease- giving us the luxury to think we'd actually be sleeping tonight.'

But when he opened the door, his thoughts immediately halted.

"John!" Reid wasn't sure if he should be worried or thrilled to tears. If he would've known that Morgan was watching from around the corner, he'd be worried. He had the luxury of not knowing, though, so he decided that he should be happy. "Come in, I'm actually glad to see you."

John smiled as he walked through the door, but as soon as he sat down on his bed and pulled his small messenger bag onto his lap, he became sullen again. Reid immediately picked up on the mood change, and suddenly feeling vulnerable, he threw his arms over his chest and backed up against the door. 'Just in case..' a small voice in the back of Reid's head whispered. 'No, John wouldn't hurt me!' another one argued in return.

"John, what's going on?" Reid asked.

John looked up at Reid, and when he did, he felt something that he hadn't felt for too long-regret. 'Better just get this over with; I have to take my chances…'

"Spencer, I haven't been completely honest with you, but I promise, for now on, I'm telling the truth." John paused to control himself, sighing heavily before finding the nerve to continue. "My name isn't John Miles, and I'm not an accountant."

Reid slowly backed away from the door and sat down next to his boyfriend. Placing a hand on his leg, he bit his lip. "Then….who are you?"

Releasing Spencer's hand from his leg, Foyet's fingers lingered inside his bag until they produced a black mask. "My name is George Foyet."

Recognition immediately grew in Reid's eyes, and they widened- in fear or in anticipation, or perhaps something else entirely, Foyet would never know. Then, slipping on the mask, he watched as Spencer jumped from the bed, slowly backing away from him.

"No…" Spencer whispered faintly, shock consuming his entire body.

"Yes, Spencer, I'm the Boson Reaper."