A/N: GAH! What a ride it's been in my life. As of lately there's been so many twists and turns that my head's still spinning. But now everything's finally starting to calm down – which means that the new chapter is FINALLY here. (grins apologetically) I'm so, so sorry about the long wait!
And, gosh… THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for all those absolutely amazing reviews! You've seriously kept this story alive, ya know? So thank you! (glomps)

Awkay, because you've been waiting for ages already, let's rock! I really hope this chapter turns out worth the wait. (winces)

The Lost Children

/ In the basement's shadows Cody found himself losing the track of time. In the end he didn't even want to count the days. Every day he felt more and more sick to his stomach, to a point where he had to throw up fives times a day.

The only good thing in the hell were the books. Uncle John noticed quite soon that Cody knew how to read already. Such feat impressed the man. Since then Cody received one book whenever the man was in a good mood, each slightly more challenging than the previous one. He read them all with child-like excitement. The only downside was that all too often Uncle John ordered him to read out loud to the man, but Cody didn't mind. He liked reading much more than most of the other things the man made him do.

That – the world of books and constant, looming terror over what was to come – became Cody's new reality. One day that version of normalcy was disturbed by unexpected visitors.

Uncle John had been angry about something the day before, so he'd taken away the few sources of light there'd been in the room. That's why it was impossible to tell what time of a day it was when Cody opened his eyes and frowned, feeling a hint of panic at the dark that wrapped around him. It took a moment before he realized that two of the other children – Danny and Joshua – were kneeling nearby the hatch. "What…?" he started, but became interruped when Joshua put a finger to his lips. That was when he heard it.

There was talking. Uncle John had company.

"… detective Strauss and officer Reid from Philadelphia P.D. We'd like to ask you a couple of questions."

"About what?" Even a child could detect the nervousness in Uncle John's tone.

There was a moment of silence. "When's the last time you met Nick Lohman?"

"My ex brother in law? It must be months ago. He and Christina, my sister, divorced last year. Why are you asking?"

"A jogger's dog found his body by the Delaware River this morning. He'd been killed a few days ago."

There was a moment of silence. "Shit… Do you have any idea who did it?"

"Where were you last Thurday between six and eight pm?"

Uncle John emitted a sound the children didn't manage to name. "Do you seriously think that I did it?"

"According to Christina she called Nick that afternoon, and asked him to come and see you because she was in England. She never heard from him again. She also told us she's worried about you."

"Well Christina doesn't have a fucking clue of my life anymore." Something, most likely a wall, was punched with brutal force. "Fuck! She's giving you shit about me again, just like she did when we were kids. Are you really buying that crap?"

"Just answer the question, Dr. Waldon." The officer's voice carried a sharp edge.

"I was out of town, visiting a friend", Uncle John finally spoke through grit teeth.

"Does that friend have a name?"

It was around then Cody realized that the chance he'd been waiting for had arrived. There were other adults present, now. They'd be able to help.

"Help!" he called out, with the full power of despair. "Help us! We're…!" He never managed to finish, because just then a small yet firm hand took a hold of his hair and the pull made him fly down the stairs. He cried out when hitting his head to a sharp corner of the stairs.

His head spun, which was why the speech sounded distant to his ears. "… the hell was that noise?" one of the police men demanded.

"My TV." By then Uncle John sounded absolutely furious. "Now, unless you've got a warrant get the hell out of my property."

Once more Cody attempted to scream, but a stony hand was slammed to his mouth.

Liam's eyes were pure lava while the child glared at him, keeping him silent with all the strength the child had. "Don't… make another sound, traitor."

Upstairs steps could be heard. "Fine. But we'll be back, Dr. Waldon. And we'll have a warrant. Don't leave the city."

"I won't", Uncle John hissed. With that a door was closed. Hope vanished.

Cody looked up towards Liam when the boy pulled back the hand covering his mouth, feeling furious, devastated, shocked, confused and betrayed. Tears filled his eyes while pain pulsated behind his ear, where the blow had hit. "Why… Why did you do that? Don't you want to go home?"

Liam's eyes were completely serious as the boy looked at him. "This is home. Don't you get that? I won't let you take it away from us."

Just then the hatch opened. Cody had never seen as much rage in Uncle John's eyes as he did just then, when the two pools of ice looked directly at him. "You… Do you have any fucking clue of what you just did, brat? You could've had me sent into a prison!"
Cody swallowed thickly, already guessing what was to come. "I… I'm sorry."

Uncle John shook his head sharply. "No, you're not, not yet. But trust me, you will be."

The attack came so fast that Cody had no chance of seeing it coming. Before he realized that the man was stood beside him the man was kicking him, so hard that eventually there was a sickening crack. Cody opened his mouth when pain surged through his entire body, but didn't manage to produce a sound. The pain was absolutely everywhere in his tiny form.

Cody must've collapsed, because the next thing he realized was that he was falling – and landed on something extremely hard. With wide eyes he looked around in the tiny, confined space – and realized that he was in a dry, stone-floored well.

His eyes widening still he looked up to realize that Uncle John was just sliding something dark and metallic to cover the well. The man gave him a look that'd never leave his nightmares. "Maybe this will teach you something about obeying the rules, brat." Cody was too much in a shock to even scream when the man sealed him from the rest of the world. Tears rolled down his cheeks while he began to tremble uncontrollably.

Cody Jones' world became completely dark. /

When Derek woke up at around four in the morning he couldn't tell immediately what had disturbed his rest. Then he heard the sound of a coffee maker.

Derek blinked twice, furiously trying to wake himself up, then forced his incredibly stiff body out of the bed and made his way to the kitchen. What he found broke his heart and filled him with warmth at the same time.

Sure enough, Spencer was wide awake, sitting at the kitchen table and looking out the room's window with glazed over eyes while waiting for coffee. One of the brunet's hands scratched absentmindedly the sensitive spot behind Clooney's ear while the dog rested his head on the young man's lap, looking at the genius with adoring eyes.

Derek didn't really want to disturb the strange scene's frail peace, but he knew he had to do something. "Reid?" he dared to call out in the end. "What are you doing up?"

Spencer jumped with startle and looked swiftly towards him. It took a long moment before the brunet's eyes gained recognition and calmed down. "'Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Derek shook his head, fighting back a yawn. "It's okay, kid." He frowned. "But seriously, what are you doing up? You do realize what time it is, right?"

Spencer swallowed and looked away once more, scratching Clooney a bit more forcefully than before. "I… was having nightmares. Nothing I haven't faced before."

Derek felt a stab of sadness. He also had nightmares, sometimes, and he could imagine Spencer's were a lot worse. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Spencer shook his head immediately, squirming on his seat with discomfort. The silence stretched. "Did you know that the average person has about 1460 dreams a year? That's about four per night."

Derek wasn't sure whether he wanted to roll his eyes or smile. "You're trying to distract me. And it's not working."

Spencer first focused on Clooney, then stared out the window to avoid looking at him. It seemed to take ages before the brunet spoke. "I just… I wish I could stop seeing them all in my dreams every night. I wish…" The younger man swallowed and blinked rapidly, clearly fighting back tears. Clooney emitted a whimper and looked up at the brunet. "I wish I could forget, at least for a moment." The tiny chuckle that came sounded wet and bitter. "So much for the perks of having a eidetic memory."

At first Derek could only stare at his friend, such amount of opening up striking him speechless. It took a while before he realized that this was the chance he'd been waiting for. "Have you ever… talked about any of that, with anyone? I mean… A professional?" He knew he was dangling on dangerous waters, but he had to ask. Because that look in his best friend's eyes…

To his surprise, perhaps, Spencer didn't pull his guard right on at that question. Instead the genius shook his head, so lightly it could barely be seen. "When… When mom first heard the name Spencer, that look on her face… I'll never forget it. She looked like I'd died and been brought back to life." There was a long pause while Spencer gathered himself together. "She… She accepted that new name, savoured it. All the horrors of those eight months… Her illness made it easy for her to wipe them away, to make them nothing but a sick conspiracy. As far as she was concerned, her son's name had never been Cody. And I…" This time there was a single tear which the brunet didn't seem to notice. "You can't even imagine how good it felt, to have it all wiped away, to pretend that it never happened! Of course I knew it did, but even pretending…" Spencer was shaking so badly that sitting upright was visibly difficult. "When we moved to Vegas, as Reids… It's the best day of my life." Finally, finally the younger man looked at him – and he shuddered. Those eyes… He didn't know them. "I… I died in that basement, Morgan. I know it doesn't make any sense, but I did. Cody Jones did." The brunet's voice broke. "That little boy Uncle John took there… He never made it out."

Derek had absolutely no idea what to say to that, and in the end he chose what was most likely the worst option. "What… about your father? How did he take it all?"

Once more Spencer's eyes changed, to such that sent a stab of worry through him. Before he could utter a word, however, the brunet went on, looking away once more. "I… I've got a headache", the genius murmured.

Derek inhaled a sigh, feeling old beyond his years. "I'll go and get you something."

"Thanks."

When he came back with two pills and a glass of water it appeared Spencer was at least somewhat composed once more. Neither of them spoke while the brunet accepted the offerings and consumed them, never once meeting his eyes.

It seemed to take ages before he suddenly heard Spencer's barely audible voice. "You know… I've been Spencer Reid longer than I was Cody Jones. It feels weird, that the name's come up again."

Derek attempted to smile, but had a feeling it came out feebly. "I bet it does, kid." He then yawned, unable to resist it any longer, and took a peek towards the clock. It was five thirty in the morning – there was no use in going to bed anymore. He glanced towards his friend and felt his heart ache at all the shadows looming around the younger man. He couldn't understand how Spencer had managed to hide that load from them for all those years. "You know… I think that by now the coffee you'd been making tastes worse than the one we have at work. What do say if I make some more?"

Spencer nodded with almost child-like gratitude. Finally there was a trace of a smile on the brunet's lips. It was pale, barely existent, but at least it was real. And for a moment that was more than enough.

Casting a secret glance towards Spencer a bit later, Derek hoped that nightmare the man had been having was finally over, now – at least for tonight.

Usually Aaron was the first member of the team to enter the building. That's why he was surprised when he came to notice that there was already someone waiting for him. He frowned when seeing Spencer pacing by the door of his office. There was a extremely nervous look on the young man's face.

"Reid?" he inquired, managing to startle the brunet. "What… are you doing here this early?" Suddenly what Erin had said to him the day before echoed in his ears.

/ "He's kept a secret of this magnitude from us. And one of your UnSubs, Joshua Martel… According to reports he never told any of you that he used to know that man. He's broken several protocols. So… I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue what's going to happen to him." /

As Aaron looked at his youngest agent he couldn't help feeling a bout of guilt upon realizing that he'd failed to protect Spencer after everything the man had gone through. But just one glance into Spencer's eyes revealed that the genius had similar emotions.

All of a sudden his body felt very, very cold under a wave of dread.

Spencer swallowed thickly, running a hand through his hair. "I… I came this early, because I didn't want to see the others. Because I didn't want to explain this to them."

Aaron frowned. "Explain what?"

Unable to produce a word the brunet handed him a sheet of paper. Aaron recognized it all too well even without reading.

It was a resignation report.

Feeling even colder than before Aaron looked at Spencer, his eyes demanding answers. "What's this?"

Spencer's body shook in effort to hold back a storm. There was a crushing amount of grief in the genius' eyes. "I… I hope I'll get the chance to explain one day. But… Right now I have to go away for a while. For everyone's sake."

Aaron didn't want to let Spencer just walk away, not with everything the team had just found out of their youngest. But this time, just this once, he had no other choice.

He didn't know how long the silence had lasted until Spencer spoke in near whisper. "Just… Don't tell the others until in four hours, okay? By then… By then I'll be gone."

Aaron sighed, his impossibly heavy shoulders slumping. "They're not going to take it well, especially after JJ."

"I know." Gosh, he'd never seen the kind of sadness and remorse that lingered in Spencer's eyes just then. The brunet's body seemed to be twitching slightly. "Could you… Could you tell them I'm sorry? And that they don't have to worry?"

Aaron nodded, so helpless that it made him want to scream. "I will." What else could he possibly do, really?

Relief brought some life back into Spencer's eyes, although only for a moment. "Thank you."

Then Spencer did something that most likely shocked them both. Rapidly, on the spur of the moment, the man's arms wrapped around Aaron, who found himself responding reflexively. The embrace reminded him all too much of another, much more distant nightmare.

/ "I knew you'd understand." /

And then, just as suddenly as the moment had began, it was over. Spencer let go, took a couple of steps away and gave him wave. The thin smile on the brunet's face was broken, empty. A second later the genius turned around and began to walk away.

Spencer would come back, Aaron told himself firmly, perhaps even desperately, while watching the man's distancing back. So… Why did he feel like he'd never see the genius again?

Erin Strauss was just taking off her jacket and preparing for a new day of work when Spencer entered her office. Unlike he'd expected she appeared pleased to see him. "Good. I've been waiting for a chance to get to talk with you."

Spencer nodded. At that very moment he spotted the file lay on Erin's desk. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed a sticker that said 'Cody Jones' on top of it. "Where did you get that from?" he managed to utter after a long moment.

Erin's eyes were all too serious when she looked at him. "Someone… approached me yesterday." There was a pause. "I assume you know what's going on."

Spencer swallowed. Of course he'd known that this conversation was inevitable, but he still didn't like it. "I'm not sure yet, but… I think Liam's back." His mouth went on before his mind got the chance to catch up with it. "I wasn't sure at first, but… Then he left me two notes. He told me he'd get to me eventually, no matter what. That I wouldn't walk out alive." He felt almost horrifyingly calm. Perhaps he was in a shock.

Erin sighed heavily, rubbing her face with one hand. "You do realize that I'll have to report this further, don't you? And I'll have to suspend you, at least for a while."

Spencer shook his head, his jawline tightening. "You won't have to do any of that, because I resign." He went on before she got the chance to say a word. "I… I know that it's the right way – the only way."

Erin frowned, clearly not liking the idea. "Do you have a safe place to be in?"

He nodded, unsure which one of them he was trying to convince. "I'll be fine."

Erin nodded back and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What do you want me to tell the others?"

Spencer shook his head, feeling choked all of a sudden. This stung a lot more than he'd expected. "I… I already talked to Hotch. He's going to tell the others later, when I've…" He discovered that he couldn't say the rest.

They looked at each other for a moment, neither feeling the need to say anything.

It was amusing, really, that for the about first time there was finally something close to understanding between them.

And then Spencer realized that he was turning around, walking out on the life he'd fought so very hard to build together. He blinked furiously against the stinging sensation that took over his eyes. This wasn't the time and place to fall apart.

He almost made it out of the room until Erin's voice spoke once more. "Dr. Reid?" There was a look of sympathy and something else on her face. "Take care of yourself."

He nodded, knowing that there weren't any words that would've sounded proper.

On his way out he couldn't keep himself from stopping once more, to such spot from which he could safely observe his team – his new family.

Derek and Penelope were fooling around, saying something Spencer couldn't hear from where he was standing. David joined in with what was most likely a witty comment. Emily observed the whole commotion with a smile on her face, eventually throwing in a line of her own. And Aaron was stood by the doorway of his office, guarding his team with thoughtful eyes.

It wasn't until at that moment Spencer realized that he might never see them again. That thought alone nearly made his heart burst with such agony he'd never experienced before.

All he could do was hope that one day, they'd find a way to forgive him.

With that final wish he walked away, moving as quickly as possible to avoid being seen. Because if he'd heard a single word from any of them he would've never been able to do what he had to.

He left the life and people he'd grown to love like a ghost, not daring to look over his shoulder.

Mandy Christensen felt cold and sick to her stomach while she stood outside the building where witness protection unit worked, wind playing with her long reddish-brown hair. Her skin tingled with discomfort when she took a glance towards her wristwatch. Her light-brown eyes narrowed.

Liam was late.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting." The voice came to suddenly that if she'd been a little bit less professional she might've yelped. She shuddered when feeling his warm breath on her neck. "Did you bring it?"

Feeling even more nauseated than before she handed him a tiny note, rage flickering in her eyes. "You promised to leave my mother alone."

"And I'm a man of my word – I'll do just that." The man sounded unnervingly calm. "But I never said anything about you, did I?"

A blade flashed in the light of a soon darkening evening. Mandy didn't emit a sound, even though she knew for a fact that she was going to die. She'd seen several photographs of this man's work – she knew what he was capable of. She knew pictures of her would be added to that collection very soon.

Spencer felt utterly cold while he stood in the living room of his apartment, letting his eyes linger on everything familiar.

Leaving everything behind… was harder than he'd expected. A lot harder. It wasn't until at that very moment he realized how deep the roots he'd formed to this life went.

Ray's voice caught him off guard. "Are you ready to go?"

He swallowed and steeled himself before managing to nod. "You said that this is only temporary." His voice sounded hollow, like something had been carved out of him. "What are the chances of that actually being true?"

Ray gave him a small, sad smile. "You tell me. You're the statistics-wonder out of us two."

That actually managed to coax a tiny smile out of Spencer, despite the fact that he could guess the statistics – and he knew they were against him.

Spencer grit his teeth, forcing his mind back on track. No matter how little he liked it his time was up. It was time to go, to face a brand new reality.

Ray's eyes were full of undestanding. "Let's get going, then."

Spencer nodded, doing his best to keep himself composed. "'K."

Before heading out, however, Spencer glanced towards a table where a lonely envelope was waiting. 'To the team', he'd written on top of it.

He'd written that letter as a message of goodbye, just in case…

Cutting that thought with a firm grit of teeth he followed Ray through the apartment's door, noticing that it made a familiar screech when he closed it softly.

This was only temporary. As soon as Ray's team would find Liam he'd be able to come back home again. So there was no need to say goodbye to anything.

Right?

The safehouse was a lot smaller than Liam had expected; just a tiny one room apartment in a block of flats, with blinds pulled tightly to cover its one small window. And it located in what was most likely one of the sleepiest parts of the city.

Those two things made his work a lot easier. The clearly officious, young male guard stood outside the apartment's door, on the other hand, didn't.

In the safety of shadows he stood and waited, seething when Cody and the witness protection agent whose name he didn't know kept talking.

And then, so suddenly that it almost surprised him, the agent emerged with a grim look on his face. "The kid… isn't taking this too well", the man explained. "Could you get him some sparkling water? Maybe it'd make him feel better. I'll keep watch in the meantime."

The guard didn't appear all too happy about his newest task. "Sure."

Liam's head was buzzing while he weighed his options. This agent was too much of a challenge – too great of a risk. But that guard…

His eyes flashed when his decision was made. And just then the guard returned with a bottle. The two men exchanged gruff byes before the agent left and the guard began working on the safe apartment's door.

Liam's chance had arrived. He wasted no time before pulling out a long, extremely sharp blame and beginning to approach his victim.

The guard's eyes widened when the man spun around and saw him. "What the…?"

A long, swift wrist movement took care of his problem. Blood flew all over the walls and his clothes, but he didn't even notice. All that fit into his head was that now, there was nothing holding him back.

Swiftly and soundlessly he took the bottle the guard had been holding, then pulled out a needle full of clear liquid from his small bag and pressed the needle through plastic. Less than five seconds later the drug merged fluently into water.

His eyes flashed when he put down the bottle. And just then the bathroom door opened. He barely made it to a nearby closet before Cody emerged, immediately noticing the bottle. From the safety of the closet he watched how Cody took a mighty gulp of the water, and he grinned so that his teeth showed.

He'd been so very patient for such a long time. But now…

Now, it was only a matter of minutes.

Exactly three hours and fifty minutes after his talk with Spencer Aaron decided that it was time to bite the bullet and share the bad news with the team – they were already suspicious, anyway. They took the news just as badly as he'd feared.

Penelope's eyes immediately filled with tears while she brought a hand to her lips, which was painful even to watch. She looked hurt, wounded. David, on the other hand, didn't seem to know what to think. There was a troubled look in his eyes while he folded his arms and leaned heavily against the wall, like he'd just received a punch to the stomach. Stood unnaturally straight and stiff with smouldering eyes Emily looked just about ready to kill, or at very least to tear something to shreds. Aaron had never seen her as furious. But her rage was nothing compared to Derek's.

"Who the hell does Strauss think she is, ripping Reid away from us?" Derel bellowed like a wounded lion, so loudly that Penelope flinched slightly further. "That creep is still after him – he needs us! How the hell…?"

"Morgan." Aaron was surprised he managed to sound as firm as he did. Perhaps it was because he'd, at least, had a few hours to deal with this. He sighed heavily. "Reid… resigned – he left us out of his own free will. He told me he'd have to go, for everyone's sake. He also asked me to tell you that he's sorry, and you shouldn't worry."

The silence seemed to last a lifetime. "He thinks this way, he'll protect us." Emily's voice was quiet and tight, like a violin's string. The fire in her eyes gained a new, sharper edge.

They all shuddered a bit with surprise when Derek began to move with brash, unpredictable moves. "I'm going to go and talk some sense into that kid", the man announced in a low growl, his voice slightly less dangerous than before. The man's eyes carried so much that it seemed to overwhelm him. "We're supposed to be his family. We can't let him go through this alone."

"I'm going with you." Emily didn't sound any less determined when she finally got up from the seat to which she'd slumped. "There's… something I should tell him."

Penelope's mouth opened, but in the end she didn't manage to say a word. Instead she folded her arms and sighed soundlessly.

Aaron knew he should've tried to stop the two of them, that he should've told them they might be too late already. But he didn't, because deep in his gut he knew they were right. Spencer was in a lot of trouble and needed their help.

As he watched Emily and Derek go, he hoped from the bottom of his heart that they weren't too late.

Spencer had absolutely no idea how long he'd spent in the burning hot shower, futilely trying to scrub off the stains now refreshed memories had left somewhere underneath his skin. When he finally stepped out of the shower cabin he was shaking and panting slightly, like he'd been holding his breath the entire time water caressed his skin.

He was supposed to be safe, the entire team was supposed to be safe. So why did he feel Uncle John's hands on his skin even now, while he was wide awake?

Trying to shake off that thought, along with the intense nausea it caused, he dried himself, put on some clothes and made his way towards the bed. There was no use in attempting to eat anything, especially with how drowsy he felt, so he might as well try to sleep.

When he was only a couple of steps away from the bed he rather felt the presence than actually saw anything out of ordinary. It was like a icy hand had caressed his neck, sending a dark prediction all the way to his spine. Then he took another step, and couldn't keep himself from emitting a slight hiss of pain when sudden ache sped from his foot to the rest of his body. Moving rapidly, he took a look at the injured limb to assess the damage. All warmth disappeared from his body.

Right there on his foot, a shard of broken glass was sticking out. He operated slowly, feeling dizzy, while pulling out the glass and dropping it. It was around then he realized that there was more glass close by – it was a miracle he hadn't hurt himself sooner. Someone had smashed the huge mirror there'd been hanging on the wall to what looked like hundreds of pieces.

Spencer blinked, swallowing thickly.

How… had he not heard anything when he was in a shower? Was he really that out of it?

Suddenly there was a barely detectable sound that made chills go through him. There were steps. He was no longer alone in the apartment.

Spencer waited, with his breath caught into his throat and adrenaline filling his whole body with electricity.

And then he heard the sound again.

He reached out one hand towards the gun waiting for him on a tiny bedside table, but he wasn't fast enough. Just when his fingers brushed the metal of his weapon cold steel was pressed against the back of his skull, followed by a hissing voice. "I wouldn't want to kill you yet, but I won't hesitate if you turn out to be uncooperative. And then I'd go after that team of yours. Do you want to take the chance of not knowing what I'd be able to do to them?"

Spencer knew, on some rational level, that his team – family – consisted of well trained agents who were more than capable of taking care of themselves. And there was a chance that this attacker would hurt them in any case. But still, as he listened to the other man's hissing voice…

Was he really willing to risk them? To bet their lives?

"Think carefully – I already killed the guard stood outside the door."

Spencer swallowed thickly, realizing absently that his body was shaking. And then he made his decision.

He shook his head, and although his reason screamed against it pulled his hand further from his gun. He wouldn't have been fast enough to use his weapon, anyway, not with the barrel pressed against the back of his skull.

He could picture the chilling grin aimed his way. "Very good. I was counting on you being reasonable."

"I'm not going to let you hurt them", he half-hissed through grit teeth.

The attacker chuckled. "Are you trying to play tough with me?" Something sharp struck his neck, and he bit his lip to hold back a yelp when it stung like fire. "You remind me of a cockroach – you're just as annoyingly resilient. But no matter. I'll find a way to make you crack. I've spent years practising and preparing myself."

Spencer tried to respond but his mouth wasn't working properly anymore. His mind didn't seem to be working properly, either.

He wanted to fight back, to figure out how to get away from this. But his body had other ideas.

Despite his best resistance he slumped backwards, directly to the attacker's waiting arms. But he wasn't ready to give up yet. He was finally low enough to be able to reach the floor, and at that very moment his fingers brushed a shard of glass. No matter how cloudy his head already was he knew exactly what to do.

He took a firm hold of the glass and slashed backwards. His efforts were rewarded with a loud snarl. "Fucking damn it…!" He was thrown to the floor, with such force that he hit his head and lost a part of the little awareness he'd had. The man kicked him, hard enough to cause a sickening cracking sound, but he was too dazed to really feel anything but his body jerk. A taste of blood filled his mouth, making him shudder.

Spencer blinked slowly, the entire world spinning around him. His rapidly clouding eyes locked to the bloodied shard of glass on the floor.

It was the attacker's blood.

Liam's blood.

"Just go to sleep, Cody. Sleep", the attacker's husky voice whispered to him, already sounding blurry to his ears. "Rest. Because when you wake up the games will begin."

Spencer tried to fight with all his might, but in the end the pull of darkness was too strong. He fell, fell and fell until he didn't even remember to long for something to fall on.

The world around him crumbled and faded away.

TBC, right?

A/N: Oh man… (sighs) There's no place for poor Reid in the world of fanfiction, is there?

BUT, now… (glances around) How was the chapter in your book – any good, at all, worth the wait? PLEASE, leave me a note to let me hear from you! It'd seriously help this story grow and flourish. (gives puppy's eyes)

IN THE NEXT ONE: Reid wakes up in his own personal hell, and demons of past come marching in. In the meantime the team – devastated over Reid's sudden departure – learns some more of Uncle John, and the connection between Reid- and Strauss families. Will they manage to find Reid before it's too late? The story continues in 'Full Circle'.

Until next time, folks! I'm got a pretty hectic next week (moving snatches at least a couple of days, and I have no idea how much I'll be able to spend on a computer), but I promise I'll update as fast as possible if you're still willing to read more.

Take care!

ari: Strauss finding out something like that does NOT sound good, does it? (winces) We'll see how this is all going to end…

I REALLY hope the next one turns out worth the all too long wait. (grins apologetically)

Massive thank yous for the review!
-

vetgirl1231: First of all, thank you so much for the support – it really helped, enough to make this chapter see daylight! (hugs) And I'm so sorry that I've kept you waiting for so long, especially with that evil cliffie. (winces)

Let's hope they find and fnish off that creep, no? Because poor Reid would seriously deserve a happy life with no shadows of past haunting him. (sighs)

Protective Morgan is so cute, no? (grins) I went all goo with 'Amplification'. He's such a dear on his 'big brother' –mode.

HUGE thank yous for the review and supoort! I really hope you won't be disappointed with the newest one.