A/N: I'd like to say a big thank you to tearbos :)

Disclaimer: Same as always.

Chapter 4 – Kiss and Makeup

Both Elle and Reid had lain awake in bed, still not speaking, until Elle rolled over early the next morning. She saw him staring at her with his sad, brown eyes.

"I didn't sleep at all last night," he said quietly. They both sat up in bed as he thought about what he was going to say. He tucked his hair behind his ears as he started nervously. "Last night was our first fight and I'd really like it if we didn't do it again." He turned to face her. "I'm really sorry that I didn't just come out and tell Lila that you are my girlfriend. I honestly wasn't trying to keep my options open because I am so happy with you. You're smart and gorgeous and funny and you completely understand my commitment to my job and I love talking to you…" He laughed. "Basically what I'm trying to say is that you're perfect and I'm so lucky to be with you that I shouldn't even be looking at other women." She laughed as he continued to apologize. "And I'm really…really…really sorry that I made that comment about you modeling. You trusted me enough to tell me and I was an asshole to say anything that would make you regret finally opening up to someone. I've already told you that I greatly respect what you did because you put yourself through school and you helped your family." He leaned in and started to kiss along her neck. He whispered, "And you know that it doesn't bother me at all, you know I think that those pictures are incredibly sexy."

She put her hands on both sides of his face and kissed him softly. "I don't like fighting with you either."

He kissed her back passionately as he placed his hands on her sides and pushed her back onto the bed. He pulled back from the kiss and smirked. "Our first incidence of make up…" he hesitated on the word, "…sex…"

She pulled him back down on top of her. "Oh my God, you're so cute." She kissed him affectionately before she pulled back. "But baby we can't do this now, I'm sorry."

He looked down at her sadly. "Why not?" He asked cutely.

She giggled as she ran her hand through his hair. "We don't have time baby." She kissed him softly. "We have to get ready and leave." He sighed heavily as he looked at the clock on the bedside table and realized that she was right. "I'll make it up to you later, I promise," she smiled before kissing him again.

He smirked, "Really?"

"Yeah," she replied with a grin. "Now get up," she laughed as she pushed him up off of her and onto the other side of the bed.

They got dressed, grabbed all of their things, and then made their way down to the lobby to meet the rest of the team.

The first people down after them were Morgan and JJ. The blonde smiled when she saw her two friends with cheerful smiles on their faces. "You guys look happy," she stated rather happily herself.

"Yeah, did you two kiss and make up?" Morgan asked teasingly.

"Actually, yes," Elle replied before she kissed Reid tenderly.

Morgan laughed, "Well that's good."

The four agents stopped their banter when Hotch and Gideon arrived. "Good morning," Hotch greeted them as he tossed Elle the second set of SUV keys. "Let's go."

They arrived at the LA field office and grabbed a breakfast of toast, donuts, and coffee as they chatted about various elements of the case.

"Our unsub is a male between the ages of 15 and 25. He is a classic serial arsonist; his motives are sex and power." Gideon stated matter-of-factly. "He most likely has a juvenile detention record for a lesser crime."

"He is of average intelligence," Morgan began, "the fires are simple, one point of origin and gasoline is used as an accelerant."

"This gasoline may be stolen," Gideon added before Hotch spoke.

"With the success of the past fires, he is getting bolder; he is now less likely to pick targets that are abandoned. With each fire, there will be a greater chance that he will be caught."

"He also has some form of transportation," Reid said as he looked down at his map of the state of California. "These fires have been set across the state."

"We want to setup a tip line," JJ stated, as the BAU had discussed the idea this morning before leaving the hotel.

"You think that someone has seen him?" Agent Lowe asked curiously.

"Maybe," Elle replied, "mostly we think that he'll call us."

Everyone turned to Morgan as his cell phone began to ring. "Yeah, what ya got for me Garcia?"

"I have the juvenile records that you asked for and I'm sending them to you," she answered quickly.

"Thanks mama," he replied before closing his phone. "Garcia got us the juvenile records."

"So a tip line?" Lowe asked slightly confused.

JJ worked with the local agents to setup the tip line and afterwards scheduled a press conference to announce it to the general public. Jennifer Jareau was the face of the BAU and that did not change from case to case. They had all, at some point, found themselves in a local newspaper or two, but people identified JJ. The rest of the BAU watched JJ do what she did best before pouring over the hundreds of juvenile detention records that Garcia had dug up for them.

"We still have a very long list of suspects," Reid stated as his eidetic memory had allowed him to race through his stack of files, "and nothing new to contribute to the profile."

The six agents exchanged glances. They were all aware that what they needed was more crime scenes.

--

The BAU returned to the hotel after another long day of work. They were all hoping that the tip line would do its job. They moved into their individual hotel rooms as they were all exhausted.

Elle removed her gun holster from her belt and laid it on the dresser before moving to sit down on the edge of the bed that she and Reid had slept in last night. Reid also laid his gun on the dresser and tossed his messenger bag in a nearby chair. "You're not still upset, are you?" He asked worriedly as he sat down on the bed behind her.

She smiled to herself. "No, I'm not. Just tired."

"Oh, okay." He replied as he began to gently massage her shoulders. "Do you want to get ready for bed?"

"If you don't mind."

He laughed lightly, "Of course I don't mind."

"But I promised that I'd make it up to you," she said as she tilted her head back to look at him.

He smiled before kissing her softly on the lips. "We can do that anytime."

"You're so sweet," she kissed him before getting up off of the bed and moving into the bathroom.

Upon entering the bathroom, she noticed the contents of the trash can. "Reid?"

"Yeah?" He called back from the bedroom.

"You didn't have to throw out the tabloid with you and Lila on it," she stated in awe as she looked down at the magazine in question.

"It doesn't mean anything to me," he replied genuinely. "It was just taking up space in my bag."

She walked back into the bedroom and placed a very passionate kiss on his lips, one that left him in awe, before returning to the bathroom.

--

Elle stirred from sleep and rolled over in the bed to discover that she was alone. She turned towards the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that it was 2:47 A.M. She sat up in the bed and looked around but her boyfriend was not in the room. As if on cue, the door of their hotel room opened and Reid stepped inside. "Hey, where were you? I woke up and you were gone."

The amount of concern in her voice made him smile. "I don't sleep well on cases so I went to the vending machine." As he spoke, she sized him up. He had put on a pair of sweat pants, a plain, blue t-shirt, and his sneakers. He carried a bottle of coke and a small bag of potato chips in his hands.

He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry that I woke you," he apologized sincerely.

She shook her head. "No, its okay. So this is why you drink an enormous amount of coffee," she added playfully. She let him chuckle before she spoke again. "How come you don't sleep well when we're on cases?"

He looked down at the food in his hands. "I've just never been much of a sleeper," he lied.

"Reid," she smiled at him sadly. "I get them too."

"What?" He asked confused.

"The dreams," she answered awkwardly. "I get them too."

He kicked off his sneakers, shifted his body, crawled up to the top of the bed, and climbed under the covers next to her. "I talked to Gideon about them once." He was slightly surprised by how effortlessly he was telling her the things that he tried to keep to himself for fear of embarrassment. But he loved talking to her and he felt like he could be completely honest about everything and she wouldn't hold it against him.

"Yeah? Did it help?" She asked supportively.

He nodded. "Well it did for a while but now they happen a lot and then they kinda stalled when we started dating," he revealed quietly. "But when we're on cases, I get them almost every night and I just want them to stop."

She comfortingly ran a hand through his hair. "Baby, they're not gonna just stop. I guess that you kind of just have to come to terms with whatever it is you're having nightmares about. I started getting them…" she paused and stumbled over her words, "a long time ago, and most of the time it was…" she paused again and stared off into space. "A woman who had been raped just watched her rapist walk." She looked at him. "Not typical nightmare material, right?" She asked laughing awkwardly.

He shook his head. "No, I'm sure that that really hits home for you."

"What?" She asked shocked.

"Well because you were in sex crimes for so long and you probably saw that a lot," he explained. "You mentioned it when we were in New York for the vigilante case."

"Right," she replied, slightly flustered. Luckily he did not notice. "But they only made me work harder to help build a strong case and make the arrest clean and legal so that they didn't walk. My dreams about what we see in the BAU motivate me too."

"You're a really strong person," he complimented quietly.

She smiled back at him. "So are you." She ran a hand through his hair again. "So what are your nightmares about?"

"Us not being able to save children on time," he mumbled.

She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'm sure that Gideon said what I'm going to say."

A small smile played across his lips. "I want to hear it from you."

"We don't always win but we put the same amount of energy into every case and we have to take comfort in the ones that we do win."

He smiled. She amazed him and sometimes he wondered if she was an old soul. She was a very mature woman with a lot of life experience but she was still only 30 and it made him realize that she had figured out who she was a long time ago. He leaned in and kissed her passionately, winding a hand in her long hair. "Thank you," he said breathlessly once he had pulled back from the kiss.

She smiled. "No problem. Oh, and you know what else helps me sleep better?" He shook his head and she continued to smile as she got up out of the bed and walked over to her ready bag. She pulled out her MP3 player and carried it back to the bed. "Music helped." She pulled his t-shirt over his head and inserted the small headphones into his ears. Then she pushed him onto his back and kissed him softly before pulling the bedcovers up to cover them both. "Goodnight and I hope you sleep well."

He smiled at her sweetly. "Thank you."

She smiled back as she pressed the 'Play' button and then proceeded to cuddle into his chest.

A/N: I got my season 3 dvds today, I'm pretty hyped up and thought I'd post to celebrate. LOL. I am leaving on Saturday and will be away from my computer for a week so its possible that this will be the last chapter posted until I return. Please review and stay tuned! :)