Hey,

Here's chapter 7 which I know you have all been waiting for. I have a confession to make. I got my new computer but it doesn't have Microsoft Office or even Word so I'm writing this on WordPad which doesn't even have spell check. I've been through it as much as I can and corrected any mistakes but if you find any, stick them in a review and I'll correct them.

Okay, about this chapter:

It's more of a I'm-trying-to-build-up-suspence kind of chapter and it kind of gives some information about Mariyah. I will do more if you ask me to in alter chapter. Umm... It's mostly to set the scene between Mariyah and Spencer to make room for the kind of stuff I'm adding in later. Oh and by the way, the first bit is based on a real life experiance.

(The kidnapping dates and stuff like that is also posted on my profile if it's too hard to read here. )

Reviews replys are as always on the bottom of the chapter. And please reveiw.

And on with the story...


Chapter 7 - Of Drama and Dilemma

Rolling over, Spencer prised one eye open in order to snatch a glimpse of the clock. The clock in question revealed it was seven minutes past six in the morning. Far too early, he decided and rolled over. Right onto something squishy, and sweetly smelling. Something that shouldn't be there.

"Umm... Spencer?" A voice came right beside his ear.

He shot upright from horizontal to vertical in less than a second. Looking around wildly, he looked down and saw a gorgeous redhead in his bed wearing what looked to be only a t-shirt. He wondered just how much he had had to drink last night and whether it had not yet worn off. After all, he had never in all living memory awoken in another's bed. Not even as a child.

"Spencer?" The woman asked.

And it all came rushing back to him. The victims and the unsub and the dinner. The accident with the rooms, the horrible receptionist, Morgan's jokes, and the team's laughter.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling slightly woozy. He was relieved that he hadn't slept with Mariyah, he was practically elated even. Though a small part of his mind he never even knew existed suddenly made itself known when he found himself wishing that he had slept with Mariyah. He quickly suppressed it, hoping that Mariyah had not noticed.

"Spence?" She asked, one hand reaching out to touch him. He backed away, and then in all his magnificent wisdom, fell off the edge of the bed.

From his now significantly lower position, Spencer heard Mariyah laughing before he saw a small white hand emerge from the edge of the bed and pro-offer itself to him. He grasped it in his larger hand and nearly flew upright from the force of Mariyah's pull. He stood, his head swimming.

"How did you do that?" He asked, confused.

"Physics." She said getting up stretching. Spencer tried hard not to look at her chest as she raised her arms. He breathed slowly and evenly as he regained control over both his brain and certain parts of his anatomy.

When he was sure that Mariyah was not going to be seeing anything personal, he opened his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of deep green eyes, complete with concerned expression.

And for the second time as many minutes he fell off the edge of the bed. From his now familiar position on the floor, Spencer heard Mariyah laughing before offering her hand to him again. She pulled him back onto the bed and climbed off of it.

She stretched and yawned widely as she strolled over to the chest of drawers and bent over to get into the bottom drawer. Spencer closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had never felt this feeling before but he was sure he could get used to it.

"I'm just going to leap into the shower now, okay?" Mariyah asked from the doorway, her arms full of clothing. Spencer nodded, his mind a million miles away.

When Spencer heard the shower start to run he leaned back onto the pillows and sighed. He had never been out on a date because he had never felt the need. And, he thought, he had never been popular in high school and he was too young to date there. And when he had been old enough to think about dating he was halfway through college and was under too much pressure to even contemplate it.

But now? One look from those beautiful deep green eyes could send him reeling, one breath of the sweet scent sent him into a blissful day dream, and one glance at that perfect body could send him to Niravana on the express train.

It wasn't fair, he decided, just when he had friends and he could finally enjoy life as a normal human, Mariyah came along and made him feel emotions he had buried a long time ago so he wouldn't be distracted from his work. But she was a good distraction wasn't she? Spencer thought as he heard the water turn off and the hairdryer turn on.

He got up and stretched, feeling very much more awake than before. He found an outfit in the drawers and put it on the bed. The door to the bathroom opened but he didn't turn around. "I'm out," Mariyah announced. Thanking her, Spencer walked into the bathroom without seeing her, his mind once more a million miles away. This time, though, on much a less pleasant subject: the case.

He went over what the team knew in his mind as he stepped under the hot stream of water.

They knew the killer worked to a strict time line:

May 12th – First victim is taken from the parking lot outside the local gas station.

May 18th – First victim found in the local park by a woman walking her dog.

May 19th – Second victim is taken from the street outside his home.

May 25th – Second victim is found in the local park.

May 26th – Third victim is taken from the local supermarket.

May 31th – Third victim found on the local soccer pitch by male jogger.

June 1st – Fourth victim taken from the parking lot at the school from an afterschool revison session.

June 7th – Fourth victim found at the local youth club by a social worker.

June 8th - Fifth victim taken from a street on the way to school for a soccer practise.

June 14th - Fifth victim found in a side street off the main drag.

June 15th - Sixth victim kidnapped from a road on his way home from school.

June 21st - Sixth victim found dumped in the school court.

No connections there, Spencer thought, though the time line was odd. Kiddnapped on a Saturday, tortured and raped all week, then killed and dumped in the early hours of the sixth day which was always a Friday. Odd. Very odd.

Few killers were ever that organised and never escalating. That meant one of two things. Either the killer was sticking to a schedule because it was important in some way to the killer and the spree would end with a specific ritual act of the utmost importance to the killer or the killer was sticking to the schedule because there was no other way to find and kill these boys without raising suspision on himself.

Spencer mused further on the case as he turned the shower off and stepped out. He snatched a warm fluffy towel from the heated towel rack and began to dry himself off. Winding the towel around his waist, he stood in front of the sink to shave.

As he applied the lather, he went back to the victims. The first victim was a fifteen year old swimmer, the second a soccer player aged thirteen, the third a seventeen year old shop-worker, the fourth a fourteen year old who didn't work but played the violin to a master level, the fifth sixteen years old and a running champion and the sixth an actor eho was twelve.

Three up-and-coming sporting stars, one manual labourer, one talented actor, one brilliant musican and no connection at all. As Spencer brushed his teeth, he contemplated what Mariyah had said about backtracking until they found a connection. But there was no connection, he reminded himself.

Spencer dressed on auto-pilot, his mind still on the case. One last comb through of his hair and he was ready.

He threw his dirty clothes in the hamper and opened the door. Dressed in another pair of jeans and a deep red shirt with a grey blazer, Mariyah was standing by the window, looking out over the town. He went and stood behind her, admiring the view. The suite had a direct view over the gardens behind the building and they were amazing. Explosions of colour and sparkling fountains sprinkled across a vibrant green lawn made for an impressive viewing.

A knock at the door brought them both out of their daydreams. Mariyah went to answer and Spencer picked up the pair of briefcases on the table. His an old battered leather satchel, hers a smart elegant black leather briefcase.

A Italian looking waiter, dressed in a old fashioned English waiter outfit, stood outside the door, pushing a cart covered with silver platters with silver lids. He pushed it into the room and began to place each dish on the table on the table after covering it with a snowy white table cloth and laying places with sliver cutlery.

"Was your night satisfactory, Sir?" the waiter inquired.

"Yes it was fine, thank you" Spencer replied.

"If you don't me asking, who ordered this?" Mariyah asked, her face confused.

"It's part of the Honeymoon Suite package, Madam. A hot breakfast every morning at no extra cost, free wines, champagne and chocolates and free evening meals delivered if ordered." He informed them, placing a pitcher of orange juice on the table.

"What's your name?" Spencer asked.

"Lizao" He told them.

"Thank you, Lizao," Mariyah said, placing a five dollar tip in his hand.

"No, thank you Madame." He smiled as he closed the door behind him.

"Well I didn't expect that but I could really get used to this." Spencer said as he picked up the nearest lid, "Bacon and sausages"

Mariyah picked up another one to find scrambled and fried eggs, lightly peppered. Spencer found the fried mushrooms and the sliced potatoes, while Mariyah discovered the condiments and the fried bread.

"I could get used to this too," She commented as she selected her breakfast of bacon, eggs (of both varieties) sausages, fried mushrooms and fried bread, and sliced potatoes. Spencer eyed her plate with suprise. Elle and JJ would have just stuck to toast with a smear of butter "I don't put on weight and I refuse to starve myself to fit into a pair of jeans. Besides, I don't normally have a big lunch if one at all."

Spencer nodded, it was the same with him. With what they faced at work, sometimes eating lunch wasn't the brightest idea.

They sat down at the table, after pouring orange juice. They discussed various netural subjects like politcs and favourite books before the conversation died out.

"So..." Spencer said.

"So, where do you come from?" Mariyah asked.

"Sin City. Las Vegas" He told her.

"The city of the seven deadly sins" Mariyah said, "However did you turn out to be so innocent?"

"No idea," Spencer laughed with her, "So where did you grow up?"

"In my father's mansion. It's in Artic Ural Mountains. There's a small town and my father's house is just above it."

"Must be huge" Spencer said.

"It's massive but I never liked it. It's too big. But it's been in our family for generations so it has to stay"

"Why don't you like it?" Spencer asked.

"It's lonely. So many rooms without a purpose, so many things and treasures confined to the past. I used to play as a child in those rooms, with the ghost of the past."

"Deep."

"I'm sorry. I'm depressing you." She said shying away.

"Not a problem. You're not the only one that played with the ghost of the past." Spencer opened his mouth without thinking. "Now I'm the one making you depressed."

"Never mind," Mariyah waved away the apolgy, "Hadn't we best get on over to the police station?"

Nodding, Spencer helped Mariyah to clear the table and replace all the lids, before putting on his shoes and picking up his satchel. As he opened the door and let Mariayh through it, he decided that maybe a new member of the team wasn't so bad. He was happy, he had had a wonderful breakfast and now he was talking with someone who understood him better in a few minutes than a whole army of shrinks had in ten years of talking at him.

Mariyah locked the door and the two spent the ten minute journey to the police station talking avidly about the case, Spencer sharing his suspisions on the lack of connections and Mariyah adding comments occasionally.

When they arrived at the station, things were not so amicable. Police officers were talking to a distraught woman and a man who was shouting at them, the team were trying to control the madness and Hotch was standing with the chief who was looking like thunder.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked, narrowly avoiding a police woman with a large pitcher of water for the sobbing woman.

"Another boy is missing,"


(The kidnapping dates and stuff like that is also posted on my profile if it's too hard to read here. )

Hi,

me again with the reveiw replies.

SpencerReid - thanks for reveiwing! It was your review that booted me upside the head and made me write this so here you go!

CatWillow - I agree with you on the whole racing through the scene and putting together a profile in ten minutes. It sometimes feels like they want to get to the action packed bit and ignore much of the scene setting bit. I thought that the research bit also made for longer reading and it's a very important plot device later on

ReidLover12 - I can't wait either to find out the ending. I'm writing this with a vague idea of the end and with a set beginning. That leaves a lot of time and space for making things happen to Dr. Reid and Mariyah.

Archer14 - It was a friend who actually suggested it to me and it sounded like a perfect oppunity to get in some pre-romance action.

Dani Casster - Calm down there!! I agree with you calling him 'poor' Reid but at least he gets some love in this fic. And I will update and I will keep writing.

Nekko-Sama - Thanks for reveiwing and I agree; the sharing a bed thing works in almost any situation. And I will be updating soon.

Thanks for reading and please reveiw!!!

J.