Reid and Emily were the last to enter the roundtable room. Despite their efforts to act nonchalant, they walked in almost guiltily, like teenagers late for school. Morgan, having just arrived, raised his eyebrows at them as he put down his bags. Rossi lifted a hand in greeting from the table where he sat beside Hotch, who simply looked on with steely eyes. JJ stood before them all, remote in hand, and gave the two of them a tight-lipped smile. As Reid and Emily took their seats and their case files, Hotch brought them all to attention.

"Now that we're all here," he said, looking pointedly at the two of them. "Let's get started."

Reid cringed internally at Hotch's apparent irritation with him and Emily. Was he berating them for being the last two to arrive? Couldn't be. It's not like they were late. Maybe, and he hoped with every fiber of his being that this wasn't the case, Hotch was detecting the same thing that Morgan had detected outside. Then, there was always the possibility that Reid was being too paranoid, taking Morgan's attitude and Hotch's frowns more seriously than he ought to. Reid chose to go with this last option, as it was the most helpful if he wanted to put all his focus on the case.

As Reid began flipping through his case file, Hotch turned and gave a nod to JJ, who nodded back. She pressed a button on her remote and a picture of a woman's face appeared on the screen.

"This is 35-year-old Elizabeth Bunting," JJ began. "She was abducted two days ago in Detroit. Last night, a jogger found her in a park with her throat slashed."

JJ pressed the button again and the woman's face was replaced by a picture of her entire body splayed out underneath a tree, a bloody gash around her neck.

"Elizabeth is the fourth victim in the past five years," JJ said as three more pictures of dead women joined Elizabeth's on the screen. "28-year-old Andrea Doe and 32-year-old Moira Gable were also found in Detroit parks with their throats cut. The second most recent victim, Nadine Woods, was found only two weeks ago."

"He's devolving," Reid remarked.

"Hold on," Morgan interrupted. "Four Detroit women with slit throats in the past five years? It's pretty vague. How do we know it's the same UnSub?"

"The M.O. is identical in all four murders," JJ explained. "The women were dumped in parks with their throats freshly cut two days after their abduction. There are no signs of struggle on their bodies apart from ligature marks on their wrists."

"Okay, so say it is the same guy," Morgan said. "It's a pretty low body count over such a long timeframe."

"This guy is controlled," Rossi answered. "He can live off each murder for a long time before feeling compelled to commit another one."

"Not anymore," Emily said. "He's killed twice in the past two weeks. It's getting harder for him to resist his urges."

Although Emily was talking about a serial killer, Reid couldn't help smirking at her choice of words. He quickly realized that he was being inappropriate, however, and hastened to add to the discussion. "The fact that the victim's bodies show no signs of struggle indicates that they might've known their attacker and willingly gone with him," he hypothesized.

"If that's true, we'll need to find what these women have in common," Emily said.

"That's the other thing," JJ added. "They're all single mothers."

At this, the team went quiet and looked at each other knowingly. If they weren't sure about the case before, they were now. Detroit had a serial killer.

"Wheels up in twenty," Hotch said.

And they were off. The whirlwind had begun again, like so many times before. This time was slightly different, though. On no other occasion had Reid received a secret smile from Emily as they left the roundtable room. On no other occasion had she offered a steadying hand as he shakily boarded the jet. The cases would blend together for all eternity, some making more impact than others, but for now, Reid had an added bonus, and she was sitting beside him when the plane took off.

BREAK

Reid sat hunched on the edge of the bed in his hotel room, his hands clasped in his lap, one of his heels bouncing up and down. It had been a long and taxing day, and he was struggling. Struggling to stay focused, struggling to ignore the pain in his head, struggling to shove certain thoughts that had begun to appear to the back of his mind. Alone in his hotel room, Reid was going to the dark places he'd promised himself he wouldn't go to now that he had Emily. He thought of his mother, and of the fact that he was probably going to have to find a new home for her. He thought of what would happen if the team found out about his and Emily's fraternization. He thought of Dilaudid, because although he had promised himself and Emily that he wouldn't take it again, the cravings were inevitable and he couldn't stop them. He had been expecting all of these thoughts and cravings, of course. He knew that his problems wouldn't disappear just because he had Emily. They were still there, waiting to be worked through, and it wasn't going to be easy. But he didn't have to go through it alone. It was for this reason that, against his better judgement, Reid got up from his bed and tiptoed out the door and across the hall to Emily's room.

"Emily," he whispered, knocking gently on her door.

After a few moments, the door opened slightly and she stuck her head out. She looked down the hall both ways before grabbing Reid by his shirt and forcefully tugging him inside her room.

"What was that for?" Reid asked as Emily shut the door.

"We have to be careful, Reid," Emily said. "If anyone sees us going to and from each other's hotel rooms, especially this late at night, they're gonna start asking questions."

"You're right, I'm sorry," Reid apologized. "I just… I really need to talk to you."

"What's wrong?"

"There's, uh… There's a lot going on in my head right now," Reid began.

Emily nodded to herself, almost as if she had been expecting this.

"Come sit down," she offered.

She walked to the other side of the room and sat down on her bed, propping herself up with a pillow. Reid followed suit and sat opposite her, crossing his legs underneath him like an obedient kindergartener. Emily took both of his hands in hers and squeezed them.

"Go ahead," she said softly.

And he did. He told her that he was worried about his mother's health due to her most recent outbursts. He told her that he felt pressured to find her a new place to live. He told her about his fears regarding their new relationship and what would happen if they were found out. His job was more important to him than almost anything else, but he didn't know what would happen to him if he lost her. Finally, he told her that he was still reeling from the previous night and that he didn't feel that he could do his job properly. He was of two minds about his self-destructive spree. If it hadn't happened, he would be in a better condition to focus on the case. He would not, however, be with Emily. He wasn't sure whether or not to feel regretful.

"I'm confident that you'll do the right thing for your mother, Reid," Emily told him. "You're a good son. You know what's best for her. As for last night, there's no point in regretting it. I think all you can do is be grateful for the good things that happened, and learn from the mistakes."

"What about us?" Reid asked.

"We'll just take it day by day," she said, after a moment's pause.

Reid looked at Emily fearfully. What was she saying? That their relationship wasn't long for this world? That she didn't expect it to last?

"Hey," she smiled, placing her hands on either side of his face and stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. "Think of it like this. Every moment that we get to spend together is a gift. Because of our career demands, those moments might get cut short, but that doesn't make them mean any less."

"I don't want our moments to be cut short," Reid said quietly.

"Well, I'm willing to fight for us if you are."

Those were the words Reid needed to hear. He gazed at Emily, thinking for the millionth time how fortunate he was to be with her.

"Thank you," he croaked.

Her hands still on his face, Emily drew Reid towards her and gave him a gentle kiss. When she pulled away, however, there was something different about her expression. She looked at Reid somewhat warily.

"There's something else, isn't there?" she asked him.

Reid flinched. Emily had the innate ability to sense everything that went on in his head. For a moment, he wondered how she did that. Then he remembered what she did for a living and felt a bit stupid. He sighed and began to play absent-mindedly with the loose threads on the mattress.

"I've seen that look on your face before, Reid," Emily reminded him softly. "You're craving, aren't you?"

That sure didn't take long. Reid continued pulling threads, unable to look directly at her.

"There's no reason to be ashamed," Emily continued. "Reid, it was bound to happen after last night. You may be a genius, but you aren't immune when it comes to this."

He shot a sheepish glance in her direction.

"Okay," she said. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, I understand, but I'm here when you're ready. Or if you need a distraction."

Reid was in his own little world, not quite paying attention to what Emily was saying. His mind had drifted to what would happen later that evening when he tried to go to sleep. He envisioned a restless night of tossing and turning in his uncomfortable bed, which was not conducive to focus and concentration at work the next day. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" he inquired abruptly, eliciting a look of complete shock from Emily.

"Uh, I don't know if we should-" she began.

"No, no, I didn't mean- I just thought maybe…" Reid felt like kicking himself. Couldn't he have expressed the question slightly differently? "I would sleep better beside you, that's all."

"Oh," Emily breathed, her cheeks turning slightly red. "Of course, Reid. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-"

"No, don't worry about it. Bad phrasing on my part."

"It's fine."

Now what? He and Emily sat on the bed together, looking at each other somewhat expectantly, the red tinge fading from her cheeks. In the back of his head, Reid found himself wondering how many times he had seen Emily blush before. Not very many, it seemed. She wasn't the blushing type of woman. He then realized that he was getting distracted and forced himself to focus on the situation at hand. Emily had accepted his request to spend the night. What was he supposed to do next? Get into his pajamas? Brush his teeth?

"I'll be right back," he told her. "I'm gonna get ready for bed."

"Okay," Emily nodded at him.

With one last awkward smile, Reid got up from the bed and left Emily's room, his legs feeling unfortunately jelly-like. He made sure nobody was outside before darting across the hall into his own room, whipping himself out of his clothes and into a pair of white flannel pajamas and giving his teeth a thorough brush. He barely had time to be grateful for the fact that he didn't bring his Star Trek pajamas to Detroit before he was back across the hall, softly tapping at her door. When she opened it, she was wearing a blue pajama top and matching shorts. She quickly ushered him back in and brought him over to the bed.

"I set the alarm an hour early so that you have time to go back to your hotel room in the morning, before everyone else wakes up," Emily advised Reid, climbing under the covers.

"Oh, good idea," Reid said, climbing in after her.

"Thanks," Emily replied lightly. "Should I turn off the light?"

Reid was about to tell her to go ahead, but something told him not to. Instead, he followed a strange and sudden impulse. It told him to say, "Not just yet," and to place a hand on her waist, scooping her towards him. It told him to kiss her, not too forcefully, but not softly, either. He felt her lips smile against his as she kissed him back, felt her hand land on his cheek and lovingly brush his hair back behind his ear. After a few seconds, he pulled away.

"Now you can turn off the light," he told her.

Emily opened her eyes and stared at him in amazement. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again and smiled to herself before turning and flicking the switch on the lamp beside the bed. Everything went dark except for the faint shadow of a figure beside Reid, shifting closer to him to lay her head on his chest. Reid cuddled in closer as well, slipping an arm around her shoulder. He felt much better than he had an hour earlier. Not perfect, mind you, but better. It was a good start. He leaned over and kissed Emily on both eyelids before shutting his eyes and going to sleep.

BREAK

The next morning went according to plan, for the most part. When the alarm went off, Reid woke up and went back to his hotel room, though not without his fair share of morning kisses from Emily, who stayed in bed. Just because Reid had to go back to his hotel room didn't mean that she had to get up too, and she was not about to miss any sleep. Perhaps if she had roused herself along with Reid, however, she might have reminded him to make sure the coast was clear before going across the hall. As it was, Reid had nobody to tell him not to simply open the door and walk right out, which is what he did. Reid was still very sleepy, and not quite thinking straight, which is why he didn't check his surroundings. If he had, he would've seen Morgan making his way out of his own hotel room a few doors down, coffee in hand. In any case, Morgan definitely saw Reid. He saw Doctor Spencer Reid doing the walk of shame from Emily Prentiss' hotel room back to his own, in all his flannel pajama-wearing glory.