Gayle sat at Reid's desk, clutching onto the book he gave her to read, and stared somewhat emptily at the computer screen. The team had put her back in the bullpen, with Prentiss sitting across from her to make sure she stayed safe. For what seemed an eternity, neither of them said anything, and no one else on the team came out of Hotch's office. Finally, Prentiss stood, and placed a small cup of water on the desk in front of Gayle.

"You okay?" she asked, pushing her hair behind her ear. Gayle blinked, and looked up, before shaking her head.

"No…Debbie would have lived if I could remember who was doing this…"

"Hey, now…you don't have to beat yourself up. The doctor said you were recovering rather well. And what's been happening, you know, it's incredibly stressful. Any normal person would block it out of their mind as long as they could…"

"But I don't want to block it anymore. I want to remember, I want to help, and I can't…"

"Yo, Prentiss!" The women turned their heads to see Hotch's office door open, and Morgan leaning out. "We need you in here…bring Gayle," he said, stepping back. Carefully setting the book onto Reid's desk, she stood, and followed Prentiss to the office, hands in her pockets.

Hotch was sitting at his desk, with Rossi, Morgan, JJ, and Reid standing along the wall. Prentiss closed the door behind the two of them, and motioned the chair to Gayle before standing behind her.

"Alright…Gayle, you saw the note, you know what it said. I know you'll probably want to go home, but until we figure this out, we really can't let you do that," Hotch began, shaking his head.

"I know…if they find me, you guys are back at square one," she said softly, rubbing her neck and looking down at her lap.

"…Right. So we're going to take turns keeping an eye on you, keeping you safe. It won't be the same person two nights in a row, meaning you won't be at the same place two nights in a row. I'll be making the decision on where you go, and I won't make it until it's time to go for the night, so no one else can possibly know where you'll be," Hotch explained. "It will start tonight, and I'll inform you before anyone leaves who you'll be leaving with, alright?" Gayle nodded, and glanced around the room.

"That's fine. I, uh…I completely trust you guys, I know I'm in good hands," she admitted, nodding again.

"Good. For now, you're going to stay here, with JJ. The rest of us are going to go talk to the police, and do what we have to do. Don't leave the building, and don't go anywhere alone."

"I know. Thanks," she said, as JJ opened the door for her, and headed with her down to the bullpen. Hotch looked up at the rest of the team.

"Morgan and Prentiss, go talk to Manassas PD, get everything they've got on these disappearances, check their passed murders to see if anything matches the ones we have now. Rossi and Reid are going to go with me to La Plata and talk to their Police. We need to try and figure this out before we find Melody's body in a ditch," he said, standing and heading out of his office.

[PAGE BREAK]

Melody looked around the room through blurry eyes, sniffling and choking back tears in the dark. The tape over her mouth was stiff, and her skin itched beneath it, but her hands, tied over her head, couldn't reach to relieve the irritation. She grimaced, and wriggled against the wall, twitching her nose and moving her mouth as much as she could to try and help, but all it did was make it worse.

She saw a beam of light strike the floor across the room, at the bottom of the stairs, and whimpered, pulling herself closer to the wall. The sunlight vanished, replaced with artificial light from his flashlight, as he crossed the floor, and looked down at her. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back tears, hoping to open them and find he wasn't there, find herself back in her living room. Instead, just as she was creating the image of peace in her head, she heard him shut off the flashlight, and felt it connect with her face as he swung.

As she cried out, he grabbed her hair, and pulled her upright again.

"I will not be letting you get away. So you can forget about it ever happening. This," he said, grasping her chin, and using his other hand to open her eyes, "is going to be the very last face you ever see." He snickered, and released her face, before cracking her again with the flashlight, and heading back up the steps. Melody dropped her head, gasping behind the tape, sobbing, with tears pouring down her face, as she was once again locked into the darkness.

[PAGE BREAK]

Reid shut the car off, and glanced in his rearview mirror to see Gayle slowly sit up. He smiled, before climbing out, looking around, and helping her out of the car. Once the door was closed, he took hold of her wrist, and led her up to the door, letting her into the dark hall first, then locking the door behind him.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, keeping her in the entryway as he made his rounds to close all the blinds, and keep the world outside from seeing Gayle.

"No…Thirsty, but not hungry."

"Come on," he said, motioning for her to follow as he led her to the kitchen. "Water? Juice? Coffee?" She chuckled, but shrugged.

"Uh, water, water's fine. I really appreciate this Reid, I know this can't possibly be easy on you…or any of the team." He held out a bottle of water to her, and shook his head a little bit.

"It's nothing. I actually don't have much company outside of work, so I wind up spending most of my time reading and rereading the books I've got." For a moment, Gayle was quiet, and stood, sipping her water, before raising an eyebrow.

"What kind of books do you have?" she asked. A smile crossed his lips, and he led her down the hall, clicking on the light in his spare bedroom to reveal a room that instantly made Gayle envious. Shelves lined the walls, filled with books of all sizes and colors; the floor was partly covered in boxes of books; a small desk sat in the middle of the room, with a comfy-looking desk chair facing them, both of which were covered with several books. She looked at Reid, wide-eyed.

"Some of the drawers have books, too…"

"Have you read them all?" she asked, stepping towards the shelving and running her finger across the spines of the novels, letting her eyes scan the titles, some of which were faded and worn. He chuckled, but nodded.

"Yeah. I, uh, can read twenty thousand words a minute, so, yeah, I've read all these books, at least twice," he explained, when she turned to see him with a surprised look on her face.

"Reid…I hope no one takes this wrong way, but I would kill to be able to read that fast, and be able to say I've read this many books once." A laugh passed his lips, and he stepped up behind her, nodding.

"I think there are at least a few who would say that – I'm just happy knowing no one would kill me to be able to read that fast." She laughed softly, and moved, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Please. After what I'm going through, I think there's only one person in the world I would actually kill, and it's whoever is doing this," she said, frowning a little but shaking her head.

Reid looked over at Gayle as she read the book she'd chosen from his library, her head bobbing as she attempted to stay awake. Chuckling, he reached over, and took hold of the book.

"Gayle? You should lie down. Uhm…c'mon, you can have my bed, I'll stay out here," he offered, standing to help her up. She glanced up at him, and shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous. This is your home, I'm not taking your bed…" Reid looked at her for a moment, but instead of convincing her to use his room, he waited for her to lie down on the couch before laying the blanket over her, and shutting off the lamp beside the couch.

"I'm just down the hall, if you need me. I'll wake you in the morning," he replied, leaving her book on the table, and taking his down the hall to his bedroom. Gayle glanced up, and sighed, but nodded.

"Hey, Reid?" He paused, and turned around to see her.

"Yeah?"

"…Thank you, for being okay with this." Reid smiled, and nodded, waving as he shut the lights off and disappeared into his room. She smiled as he waved, before snuggling up against the pillow he'd placed out for her, and falling asleep.

[PAGE BREAK]

Hotch tossed his file onto the table, and sighed, looking over as Reid came into the room.

"Sorry…couldn't get the car to start."

"Reid, man, you should really get a new car – one that's more reliable," Morgan chuckled, shaking his head. Reid smirked slightly, and moved to the board.

"It was fine – Gayle fixed it."

"Gayle?"

"Yeah. She knows a lot about cars – it's impressive. She might even give you a run for your money, Morgan," Reid said, shrugging.

"Whatever. Did she remember anything else last night?" he asked, shaking his head and smiling. Reid shook his head.

"Not really. She, uh…she woke up screaming around two, but couldn't tell me why. Just said it was a terrible nightmare, and wound up sitting up on the sofa the rest of the night. So…she's in JJ's office, trying to rest. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how well that works," he added, shaking his head and looking over the information on the board.

"Alright, let's try to concentrate, okay?" Hotch asked, looking around. "What do we know?"

"The unsub is risky in taking women during the day, but smart in taking them at a point when people can't say with certainty what he looks like. He's meticulous, as far as keeping them out of sight. He's a white male, in his late twenties or early thirties," Rossi said, glancing over at the board.

"He has probably already been interviewed at least once by the police, so they know his face, meaning he's going to be more careful about the women he kidnaps – he won't be doing it out in the open, but instead indoors, where people actually can't see anything," Reid added, nodding his head. Morgan eyed the board, and rubbed his neck, tossing his pen onto the table.

"He's got to be handsome – otherwise the women would put up more of a fight with him getting too close, and anyone around would notice. He also needs to be strong – except for Melody and Gayle, as far as we know, all of these women went missing outdoors, and no one reported seeing a vehicle around at the time, so he had to have carried them off…" Morgan continued for Reid, rubbing his hand over his head. Hotch nodded his head, and sighed a little himself.

"Well, that narrows it down to…a good majority of men in La Plata and Manassas," he said, shaking his head. "Try to narrow it down more, I'm going to go talk to JJ." He stood, and tapped the table lightly before rounding it and exiting the room. Reid watched him leave, before turning back to the pictures, and scanning them and the file. Morgan leaned back in his seat, and sighed, picking his pen up and tapping it on the table.

"Reid…how'd it go last night?" he asked, not looking up.

"With Gayle?" Morgan nodded. "It went fine. We sat up and read until she fell asleep. She was jealous of my books," he chuckles, sliding his finger down the page. Morgan couldn't help but snicker, and shake his head.

"Leave it to you to find a girl jealous of books," he replied.

"She's very smart, Morgan. Not as smart as me, but…you know. She loves to read, she seemed to enjoy the silent company rather than staring at a television, or listening to music – I even offered and she turned me down."

"Guys? Can we try to figure out the unsub?" Prentiss asked, without moving her eyes from the case file she'd picked up from Manassas PD. The men looked at her, before smiling and going back to work.