Hey everyone, here is the next chapter for you all. Feel free to hate me because you will after this chapter. I've done it like this because trust me, it leads to an awesome moment in about two chapters time that I can't wait to write, that will involve Spencer and the unsub. I did warn you dark times were ahead. I make these as long as I can in the time I have so I hope that is okay. I just want to say thanks for the amazing response you've all given this story. It's truly an early christmas present, and an early birthday present too. It's a bit of pain having it two days after christmas day. I'm usually knackered from two busy days by then. Never fear, I'm updating christmas day too. When I say daily, I mean daily. Enjoy this and I love hearing from you.

Thank you so much for every review, you're amazing and I wish I could come up and high-five you all. Thanks!

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All mistakes are my own

Hotch sat with Spencer in the office, he watched the young man stare out the window. The others had gone to William Reid's office and some had gone to secure Reid's mother. "Your dad isn't going to get you, Spencer."

"You don't know him," Spencer shook his head. "He's smart and he's always known what I was going to do."

"Spencer, has he ever abused you in another way? Has he ever touched you where he shouldn't have?" Hotch asked.

"No, my dad just likes to hit me. He's never done anything like that."

"What has he done? Remember, you're safe here, you can talk freely and no-one will hurt you."

"It started when I was three. Small things at first but he knew I was advanced for my age. I was ahead of other children my age and he hated that. He's always hated me because of my mind. As I got older, it got worse. I fought back once and I learned never to do it again. He locked me in the closet and he left me in it for two days with no food or water. I heard my mom come downstairs. If you've looked into my life, you've looked into her past."

"I know she is a Paranoid Schizophrenic."

"She has never hurt me, at least, not intentionally. I look after her because my father doesn't like to. She sometimes has bad days and she can lash out sometimes. I love my mother and she's taking her medication. Any way, she came downstairs when I was in the closet and dad sent her back to bed. She thought I was at camp," Spencer said before wiping his eyes. "I got such a beating after. He doesn't let me eat either if I haven't done everything he's asked me to do."

"When did you last eat?"

Spencer held his hands together. It felt strange telling all his secrets to someone who was a stranger to him. "This morning."

"Before that?" Hotch asked, dreading the answer. There was almost nothing to Spencer. His skin was pale, dark circles were under his eyes and he was very thin. Hotch knew that a boy his age should weigh much more.

"Before this morning, I didn't eat for forty-eight hours. I only had a sandwich this morning."

"Does he starve your mother too?"

Bringing up his head, Spencer shook his head fiercely. "My mother eats. I make sure of that. I make her breakfast before school and I make her a lunchbox to eat while I'm at school. I'd never let her go hungry."

Hotch got up and walked over, he sat next to Spencer. "How do you feel about what happened yesterday? You got attacked and you're barely phased by it."

"You don't think I'm phased," the young man said before shaking his head. "I've never been more scared in my life. He dragged me into a hedge where no-one could see us. I had no idea what he was going to do to me. He told me that he'd watched me and that no-one else could see the pain. No-one had seen the others pain. He put his hands around my throat and I tried to fight him but he kept squeezing. I couldn't breathe and I hated that he was the last thing I would see. I just remember hearing a dog and then darkness. I'm used to pain, Agent Hotchner, that part is easy to deal with. The fear I felt is another matter."

Hotch was about to speak when his cellphone rang. He brought it out and answered it. "This is Hotchner."

"Hotch, is Spencer near you?" JJ said. He knew something was wrong.

"He is."

"Step out of the room," she said. Hotch brought the phone away from his ear.

"Spencer, I just need to step out and take this phone call. I'll be right back."

He stepped out of the room and made his way outside, closing the door behind him. "JJ, what's wrong?"

"We came to Spencer's house. Hotch, his mother is dead."

"What?!" Hotch gasped before glancing quickly at Spencer. He noticed the young man pick up a Rubix cube and begin to solve it.

"It was the unsub," JJ explained to him. "There was a note. He knows that Spencer is still alive. It looks likes he smothered her in her sleep. The note said that this was the first step in ending Spencer's pain. All he wants to do is end the pain. We have a unit coming over now to process the scene and the coroner is on the way for the body. I don't think she suffered. There is something else too. We found handcuffs in a closet downstairs with a roll of duct tape."

"That's where he spent last night. He told me about the abuse from his father. He got shoved in it last night and handcuffed to the bar. He also had tape put over his mouth. JJ, he's in a lot of pain, physically and emotionally. How am I supposed to tell him that his mother, who he loves, is dead? I know I should know how to do this but I don't this time."

"He needs to know," JJ said, letting out a sigh down the line. "God, this isn't fair on him. Hotch, his room is like a prison. There is an automatic lock on the door, once closed, it won't open until a set time unless a code gets typed in. The windows have gotten nailed shut too."

"Keeping going through everything and I want to speak with the officers that were watching the house. Did they see anyone go in?"

"No, they have no idea how he got in. Call me after you tell him."

Hotch disconnected the call and turned around. He looked in the office and saw that Spencer had solved the cube. He leaned against the wall and knew that Spencer wasn't going to ever be the same after today. He walked back into the room. "Spencer, I need you to sit down."

"What's wrong?" he said quietly. Hotch took his shoulders and gently lowered him to the couch so they sat down.

"Spencer, I need to tell you this. Just remember that you're not alone and that we will catch him. I sent my team to secure your house and mother. We had a police unit watching it before and we will figure out what happened."

"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked.

"The members of my team went to your house, they walked in and went upstairs. I'm so sorry, I really am. Spencer, the man who attacked you, managed to get into your house."

"No," Spencer shook his head with tears in his eyes, his mind already knowing what the agent was about to say. His heart pleading for his mind to, for once, be wrong.

"We found your mother in her bed, she's dead. I'm so sorry. We'll find this man and we won't let him get away with this. We think that she got smothered in her sleep, we don't think she suffered."

Spencer broke down and fell off the couch, he began to lose control of his breathing. "N-No, you're l-lying. She can't b-be dead."

Hotch knelt next to him and carefully put his arms around him. Spencer gripped them and cried against him. "It's all my fault!"

"No, it isn't," Hotch shook his head.

"I didn't die, he came after my mom because h-he thought s-she was a source of pain. If I h-had just d-died, she'd still be alive," Spencer wheezed out as he cried. He came away and looked at Hotch. "M-My father said bad things would happen i-if I told people about h-him. All my...fault."

Hotch caught Spencer as his eyes closed and he fell forward. "Spencer! Spencer!"

Emily looked down at the young man and stroked her hand through his hair. JJ was on the other side of the hospital bed. "He doesn't look fifteen. He looks younger. It's not fair that this has happened to him. He's lost almost everything within a day and a half. At least, his father is in custody."

"His room was like a prison. He had a few books on display but we found other books under the floorboards. He's reading stuff I wasn't reading till I was in college," JJ said as she looked down at him. "Hotch isn't taking this case well. I think it's getting to him on a personal level."

"We don't profile each other," Emily shook her head. "How long does Spencer have to stay in hospital?"

"A day, at least. He's underweight and they want to keep him for observation. I don't blame him for passing out."

Hotch walked through Spencer's house with Gideon and Rossi, he didn't go into the room where Diana Reid had died. He made his way to Spencer's room alone. Pure anger ran through him as he looked at all the windows, nailed shut. Slowly, he began to search the room. Hotch smiled as he came across the books hidden under the floorboards. He picked up a copy of a book called Empty planet and noticed it had extensive wear and tear. He knew Spencer liked the book. Book by book, his suspicions about Spencer's true abilities were being proven. Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, Ayn Rand, Stephen King, Bukowski, Asimov and Harper lee were only a few of the authors that Spencer had read. Getting up, he searched the room and froze when he found something in the back of the wardrobe. Reaching in, he pulled out the large pouch and unzipped it. He took a deep breath when he found selections of medicine bottles inside. Medicines that didn't belong to Diana Reid.

"You have no right to keep me here!" William shouted from his cell. Morgan came and stood in front of it.

"You've been charged with child abuse, child neglect as well as other things that have already been explained to you. We know what you did to Spencer."

"I didn't do anything to my son. I told the others, he has problems with bullies at his school. You should look for my wife's killer instead of wasting your time over something that never happened."

"How about the bar in the closet with the handcuffs? I wonder how sick a father has to be to lock his own son in a closet like that. The nails on the window and the automatic lock on his door. Why are those there?"

"For his safety," William answered. "He's been a difficult child for a long time. Every thing I've ever done was to put him back on the right path."

"Beating your son does not put him on the right path."

"Never did me any harm when my father did it," William snorted back. "He made sure I never went off the path to a good job and a good home. I put that lock on and shut his windows because he tried to run away and he does not run from his responsibilities! It's his fault his mother is dead!"

"I can't wait to see you go to prison," Morgan snapped back angrily before walking away.

Spencer dreamt about the one time he had almost escaped the pain. The time he had tried to run away. He'd made plans for his mother and was going to take her to his aunt's house. He never got the chance. Thirteen and he'd already wanted to escape the pain.

He sat in his room, reading Empty Planet. He heard the lock on his door beep. Stepping off the bed, he stayed back. His father stormed into the room and grabbed his hair. "Dad, what did I do?!"

Dragged down the stairs, he got thrown into the living room. Pain ran through his head as he collided with table. "YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD RUN AWAY FROM YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES! I found the bag behind the shed. Quite a trip, you were planning."

A swift kick connected with his ribs and Spencer fell to floor clutching them. "No, I wasn't-"

"Don't lie to me!"

A hand grabbed his throat and threw him against the wall, a flash of white came in front of his eyes as he got punched three times. Spencer whimpered and cried as he looked at his father. "Daddy, please."

"The fact you came out of me is sickening!"

Spencer got dragged to the closet and handcuffed again. "No! No! Please, I'll be a good boy. I'm sorry."

A piece of tape came over his mouth. He panicked when another came over his nose, blocking it. He struggled to breathe and bucked as his father taped his legs together. His father stared at him and laughed before taking the tape from his nose.

"Remember, I helped put you in this world. I'll happily take you out of it when you become useless to me."

The door slammed, leaving Spencer with a swollen face and in the worst place he could ever be. The dark.

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