-{\|/}-

"Sorry, false alarm. Is everyone ok?" Sykes asked with fake innocence as she and Morgan rushed over.

"Wow... pretty boy you look-"

"Hot" Sykes grinned, winking at Reid, and making Morgan frown in annoyance.

"Like a drowned rat. Come on, there's no time to be playing around." Reid was infinately glad at that moment that he was wet through, because if he wasn't than the other profilers may have noticed the tears pricking at his eyes as Morgan guided Sykes away, Prentiss close behind, and he followed, like the stupid, faithful puppy he seemed to have become.

-{\|/}-

(Part 2)

When the four reached the station, Sykes hooked Reid's arm and lead him to the break room, whilst Prentiss followed Morgan into the empty conference room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"I'm not sure what I make of this at the moment... the dumpsites-"

"We need to talk." Prentiss interrupted, gesturing for the dark male to sit down. Overlooking the gesture, Morgan turned to face his co-worker, confusion written over his face.

"What's this about?"

"I think you know." She paused for a moment "You've been really... mean... to Reid lately. Why?"

"I have not been 'mean' to Reid."

"Yes, you have." Emily stated matter-of-factly "You have been insulting and frankly it really isn't like you. You're usually the one defending him from the jerks... but recently, it's you who has been the jerk." Morgan stared dumbfounded before snapping out of his daze

"Prentiss... I would never do anything to hurt Reid. In fact, I'm insulted that you would even think that I-"

"Is it Sykes?"

"Huh?"

"Are you jealous that Reid is getting all the attention? You're worried that he's muscling in on your turf?"

"What? No!"

"Or maybe it's Sykes that you're jealous of?"

"Why would I be jealous of her?" Morgan rolled his eyes, but Prentiss could see his jaw grinding.

"Because. There is absolutely no denying the fact that Reid. Is. Hot." ignoring her friends attempt to cut her off, Prentiss continued "He is smart, sexy, and getting a lot of attention from both the ladies, and the men. Could it be that the 'great' Derek Morgan is getting a little hot under the collar because he isn't the only one paying heed to our young genius? Because he may not be the most important person in Spencer's life for much longer?"

"That's not fair!" Emily tried to maintain her confident demeanour as she watched the anger flare into Morgan's deep, dark brown eyes.

"What isn't? The truth?" Before the male could reply, both agents jumped as the door swung open and the rest of the team entered, discussing their findings. Morgan sat slowly, pretending that the frown across his handsome face was a product of the pictures laid before him on the table, not the result of Prentiss' hard gaze that rested upon him before turning to tell Hotch of their findings. But as the object of their 'talk' gingerly entered the room, long fingers wrapped around a large coffee mug, he couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander over the skinny frame and think about the past few days.

'I am not jealous of Reid... but there is no way that I'm jealous of Lt Sykes... is there? No! Wait... since when did Prentiss call Reid by his first name? Is there something going on there? Well, she has been spending more time around him... not that I care. It just hurts that he wouldn't tell me, is all. He's just a lanky, awkward, socially inept genius. Even so, he's the youngest of the team... a kid. So he doesn't know what he's getting into with Sykes. So I need to protect him... I'm protecting him... aren't I?' Snapping out of his jumbled thoughts, Morgan returned his attention to the details of the case.

"We have 9 victims, 9 different methods, 9 different dumpsites, 9 different body parts missing. Please... someone tell me that they have a linking factor except victimology here?" Hotch sighed exasperated

"Perhaps it is the victimology we should be looking at? Maybe it isn't just the skin colour, but something about these girls that puts them in the same place in the UnSubs mind?" The team's eyes rested on Reid in tired disbelief "I mean, there has to be something linking the victims besides the fact they're all black women, and I'm pretty certain we can rule out hate crime because there is no true, consistent signature, and the UnSub is taking trophies, but never the same trophy... in fact, I would even go as far as suggesting-"

"Reid. We can't afford to lead the investigation on 'suggestions'." A voice cut the young brunette off from his musings, and it took a few minutes for Morgan to realise it was his voice cutting him off... why was he interrupting? But before anyone could comment on it, attention was drawn to a sudden commotion erupting from the lieutenants desk outside the teams borrowed room. Hotch sent Prentiss to see what was happening, whilst JJ went for takeaway.

When Prentiss came back into the room, the noise had calmed down and she was closely followed by Lt Sykes, who flopped down into the chair next to Reid's.

"What was all that about?" Rossi enquired, watching how close Sykes scooted to Reid

"Huh? Oh... that..." Sykes sighed, resting her head wearily on the nervous looking brunettes shoulder, and describing what all the fuss had been.

"Just a woman claiming to be stalked... we had men posted outside her house at one point, but nothing happened. She's pretty well known around here for being a little on the paranoid side"

"With good reason, perhaps?" Prentiss suggested as she slid between Sykes and Reid, much to the policewoman's disdain.

"We don't know. There is no evidence to support stalking claims, besides, she's done a lot to protect herself. Alarms, dogs and the likes... unfortunately, we're just too short staffed at the moment to do much about it." she sighed "We have a murder case to solve. Not the ravings of a paranoid woman." She added irritably when she saw Reid's gaze rest upon the retreating figure of the woman. By now JJ had reappeared, and was also watching the curvy, long legged, dark haired woman pass before putting an array of foods in the centre of the table. Rather than waiting on a takeaway, she had decided to stop at a store and pick up an assortment of sandwiches, baked goods and treats which the entire team was grateful for. Sykes slipped around Emily so she was between Reid and Morgan, laying a hand on Reid's forearm and batting her eyelashes as he rambled off statistics

"59% of female victims and 30% of male stalking victims in North Carolina are stalked by an intimate partner. Sadly, 81% of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner are also physically assaulted by that partner" the Lt scooted closer until she was practically on his lap, and if he were to look down he would have a full view of her pushed-up cleavage. Unfortunately for Spencer, he did glance down before quickly returning his line of sight to Rossi and Hotch, eyes begging for help from the shocked Alpha males.

"A-also 31% of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner are also sexually assaulted by that partner" The team tried not to laugh at the awkwardness of the situation, whilst Hotch recovered from his initial disbelief "And the average duration of stalking is 1.8 years-"

"Lt Sykes is right. We're investigating a serial killer, not a stalker, Reid." Morgan stated through gritted teeth... not that he was angry, of course. "And Lt, maybe you should-"

"Come over here for a moment" Hotch came to Reid's aid "I need you to look over something." Sykes huffed before plastering a fake smile over her pretty face and slinking over to look at the open case file.

Meanwhile, Morgan was engrossed in his own thoughts. What was with the sudden changes in Reid? And Prentiss... could they be together? No... No, that was ridiculous. That would jeopardise the teams dynamics, not to mention risk their jobs. But that wasn't really what was getting to him... if it was Prentiss and Rossi, he'd be happy... hell, if it were Prentiss and anyone he'd be happy for them... so... why wouldn't he be happy for Reid?

'Because. He works too hard and loves this job to much for him to be putting everything on the line. Besides, there are a lot of people who would take advantage of him. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen.' When was this decided? When Reid got some fashion tips? …no. This ran deeper. Morgan was pretty sure he had always felt this way – always wanted to protect Reid, only, there had never been as much for Morgan to protect him from until now... Yes. That was it. Prentiss' accusations were ludicrous and uncalled for. All Morgan wanted was the same as everyone else on the team: to protect their youngest member from pain, hurt and heartbreak – all the things he had seen too much of already in the few years of life he had lived.

Morgan was so busy wrapped in his crude justifications that he hadn't noticed Hotch and JJ pack their sandwiches and take off, leaving only 5 of them in the room. Rossi was discussing theories behind the choice of dumpsites with Prentiss, and Sykes appeared to be almost literally drooling over Reid... and then he saw why.

Spencer was oblivious to the goings on around him, no doubt to wrapped up in the limitless fountain of knowledge that was his mind to care, a small pot of assorted fruits sat before him. A stray piece of rich brown hair was being brushed casually away as a round, blood red cherry was lifted to the full lips of Dr Spencer Reid, who sank his teeth into its tender flesh, tongue darting out to lick the juice from his lips and finger tips. He rang his tongue along the pip and sucked around the little cherry stone, removing it from the fruit before taking it slowly from his lips and popping the rest into his mouth, rolling his tongue around it before casually swallowing and picking up a peach slice. Rossi and Prentiss remained oblivious to the goings on, but there were still two pairs of awed eyes resting on the youngest as he slowly bit into the peach slice, allowing its juices to run down his finger tips before delicately sliding the slice between his lips. Prentiss' eyes drifted to Reid over Rossi's shoulder, and watched the young genius raise his index finger and run his tongue down from finger tip to palm, lapping the juices from his hand and sucking gently on each digit, tongue swirling around his thumb before lightly nibbling on it in deep thought.

Unable to take the confusion that Reid was driving into his mind, Morgan stood muttering something about going to the morgue. Sykes grudgingly followed whilst a bewildered Rossi wondered what he had missed and strode out of the room trying not to reveal any sign of the sulkiness he felt. Prentiss stared on as her friend turned to examine the geographic profile. For a moment she considered commenting, but was left speechless as the socially awkward, timid genius turned with a small, shy smile and said;

"So... uh... was that seductive enough to pass step two?"

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." ~Lao Tzu

-{\|/}-

I wasn't going to end it there... but the story decided it had reached a nice close chapter point. Also, I couldn't find the quote I wanted T_T so I settled for this cute one from Lao Tzu :) Sorry it's so short... should I start making my chapters longer? Maybe I should stop worrying about wordcount and just update at whatever length the chapters wish to be? They look long on a word document, but not on the site haha. Well, wish me luck, and please review – I enjoy talking to people ^_^