"Do you think there's a killer here?" Garcia asked Emily in the silence of the car ride.

Emily didn't answer. She focused on the road ahead, it was pitch black outside and she could only see from the limited shine of her headlights. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.

"Let's just get to my house and we can try to figure out more."

Emily could've driven this familiar path in her sleep. She had driven between her and Garcia's houses a countless number of times since she moved in. She was really her only friend. Well, her and Spencer, but she never went to his house.

Aaron was different. They were from different groups. Hotch was a "cool kid". He hung out with people like Morgan and JJ whereas Emily liked to hang on the edges of things. They had met working on a project after school last year. Somehow they just ended up spending so much time together. When she told Garcia and Reid about their relationship, they were shocked, but never did anything but support her.

Suddenly Garcia snapped her out of her thoughts, "hey, slow down."

Emily turned her head and saw someone walking down the street, head hung down, shoulder hunched. She slowed down and tried to make out whoever it was face.

"Is that Reid?" Emily asked.

"Spencer?" Garcia had already rolled down the window and was shouting out.

He turned his head, and suddenly Emily recognized him. Something was wrong, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was in the dark.

"What're you doing out so late?" Garcia called, "Come on, hop in!"

Reid looked down at his shoes and scratched them against the sidewalk.

"Come on, I'll drive you home," Emily said, speaking over Garcia.

Reid stepped forward and slid into the backseat. He kept his head down and his long hair covered his face, "Can I come over?" His voice broke.

Emily and Garcia both turned to look at him, "Of course you can Reid, but what's going on?" Emily asked.

"Can we just go?" he whispered.

Emily nodded and started driving again. No one spoke as they pulled into Emily's driveway and they all got out of their seats. They walked inside and Emily turned on the lights in the kitchen. Emily kept a close eye on Reid who was still looking away from them.

"What's going on, Spencer?" She asked again.

He looked up and stared at her. His hair fell to the sides of his face and she could finally see him. She held in a gasp. "Come on, let's sit."

"I'll get your couch dirty." He whispered.

"Think of it as a favor, my mother loves this couch."

The three of them sat in the living room and Emily couldn't stop staring at Reid's face. It was smudged black but more significant were the cuts on his lip and the bruise on his left cheekbone.

"I want you to tell me everything that happened," Emily said in a low voice.

"It's not a big deal," Spencer said.

"Spencer," she warned.

Reid sighed and glanced at Garcia who had not yet said anything. He looked back at Emily who was still staring at him, "I got home... there was a fire."

"Oh my God! At your house?" Garcia exclaimed.

"Yeah. My mom was upstairs, she started it with the stove. Must have forgotten she turned it on. By the time I got her out of the house there was so much smoke."

"Is she alright?" Garcia whispered.

"She will be okay, I guess."

"Where is she?" Emily asked.

"They kept her. She was burned and well..."

Emily didn't press. She had known about Reid's mothers condition for a while now. That was why he couldn't spend much time out and they never went to his house. She'd come to learn that he mostly didn't like to talk about it.

"What else?" She pressed.

"What do you mean?" Reid asked, "That's not enough?"

"Those cuts didn't come from a fire, I know that."

Reid sighed, defeated. He leaned back against the couch. "I was at the hospital. I didn't have my car so eventually I just decided to walk. But apparently it was later than I thought and it got dark pretty quickly. I was walking down the street and this group of guys come from behind..." Reid stared down at his hands and wrung them together.

"Who?" Emily asked.

"I don't know."

"Bullshit. Who did this?"

Reid continued to stare at his hands. He couldn't bare to look up. "Just some guys from the football team."

"They're going to pay for this," Emily promised.

"Please, don't make a big deal about this."

"Why didn't you call us? We could have picked you up," Garcia said.

"I know, sorry. I tried calling Derek, and when he didn't pick up... I guess i just didn't think."

"Wait," Emily stopped him, "Derek, as in Derek Morgan?" Emily watched Reid closely as he bit his lip realizing he had said too much. "Derek Morgan, captain of the football team?" She questioned him again.

"He's not a bad guy," Reid whispered.

"Are you two friends?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And he lets this happen?"

"He wasn't there."

Emily took a deep breath to keep from shouting. She had to remember to breathe. She wasn't mad at Spencer.

"He didn't want me to tell you guys," Reid said, barely a whisper, "but we've been dating, you know, sort of."

"You and Derek?" Emily asked.

"Yeah."

Emily took in a deep breath and nodded. "I'll be right back." Emily stood up and left the room, walking to the front room where she had a view of the street in front of her house. She took out her phone and help it in her hand for a moment. She had Derek's number in there, he was friends with Aaron, and somehow it found it's way in there.

She flipped it open and dialed the number. After five rings he picked up.

"You better get your sorry excuse for an ass over here now or I will fuck you up so bad you won't even see it coming."

Emily hung up before he could respond.