[Here you go guys, next chapter! As you know, reviews are always appreciated!]

Rossi's entire mind was foggy, and his memory was full of god knows how long of slipping in and out of consciousness. He tried to force himself to sleep in order to forget about the hunger and thirst nagging at the corners of his mind, yet he couldn't.

His brain was still working, looking for ways out of here, even though he knew it was hopeless. He found himself wishing that maybe, maybe, one floor tile was loose, or that Elle had foolishly left the door unlocked. They were stupid, childish things that he hoped for, but he couldn't manage much else.

When the door opened, he was sure it was in his head. He couldn't even recall the amount of times he'd imagined the noise, praying for Aaron to be on the other side in Kevlar.

But it wasn't his imagination, because Elle walked in, holding a water bottle in one hand and a handful of energy bars in the other. It took all of Rossi's self-control not to immediately grab them out of her hands. But he needed to wait for her to give them to him. He needed to build at least some trust if he wanted to accomplish anything.

Elle walked across the room slowly, finally sitting down propped up against the wall next to his. She looked at him for a second, squinting, before throwing the bottle of water and a bar over.

Rossi caught them expertly and immediately took a gulp, the water feeling like liquid relief down his throat. Then, he unwrapped the energy bar and started to eat, taking small bites.

After a couple minutes of silence, Elle spoke – in a voice much different than what Dave had heard earlier.

"I'm not crazy, you know."

Rossi looked up at her expectantly. He didn't know what she was trying to prove – to him or to herself, but he would listen. For god's sakes, he would even tell her she was right if it meant saving the team.

"I know you think I am, but I'm not.", she added, her voice reaching desperation.

He took another swig of water, waiting for the explanation that was sure to come.

"I- I just, I need to be in control for once. This job – you always think you have the upper hand, but really you never do. You try and try and you catch the bad guys when you can, though there's always someone – some monster waiting on your doorstep when you get home. And he takes everything you had, everything you were so sure of. He takes your peace of mind and your sanity, and he makes you realize that you were never really in control at all. With this job, none of us ever are.", she said, searching his face for some sign of a reaction.

Dave took a moment to look at her, really look. He looked past the scowl she always wore, past the eyes that shot daggers and the gun on her hip. And for the first time, he saw her. He saw the bags under her eyes, how un-naturally thin she was, how her eyes darted from corner to corner as if she was still expecting her monster to come and get her. Rossi realized that she didn't look like the woman in that picture, not at all. She looked broken and tired, and just about ready to give up.

But above all that was determination and anger. Above that was a need for revenge which had driven her to this. And finally, Rossi could say he understood her.

She saw him studying her, and all of a sudden she seemed to get defensive. Her arms crossed over her chest and she shifted her position away from him, as if she was ashamed of what he'd find if he looked.

"I guess I just wanted to ask how you do it. Even after all this time, how do you still manage to get up every morning and go to a new crime scene and see the dead bodies and tell the grieving families? How do you interview all the killers and see exactly what goes on in their fucked up minds every single day, and then go home and cope with the nightmares? I guess... I guess I want to know if there's some secret to it. I need to know why the job hasn't taken you yet, even after all this time."

He was looking into her eyes, and he could see all the uncertainty sparkling in them. And for a second, she didn't look like a psychopath killer. She looked like one of the victims that never really got better; she looked like a woman who was just looking for answers.

So he answered, as honestly as he could. Because really, she deserved at least that.

Rossi took out his wallet from his pocket, suddenly grateful she'd let him keep it. He opened to the pictures and flipped past the one of Caroline and his little boy that had never gotten to grow up. He flipped to the next page – to the family sitting on their front lawn, to the family that looked happy and carefree. He held the picture up to her and she reached out to get it.

"This is how. Every day, when my mind is full of darkness, when it seems like I'll never get out, I look here. I think of all the children I've saved, all the families I have given answers, all the mothers I have put at peace. And I know that it's worth it. So every day, I drag myself out of bed and hope that it will be a good one, that maybe we'll save someone else. You see that family there? Both of their parents were murdered, twenty years ago. It took me twenty whole years, but I got answers for them. I put the killer behind bars and I got justice for their parents. And, you know what, every Christmas, they still send me a card, and on the anniversary of their parent's death, they always call, just to say thank you. And that's how I do it. Those phone calls, all those families I helped keep together, that's how I manage to keep doing this job, even though it's taken pieces of me that I'm not sure I'll ever get back."

Elle looked at the picture, running her thumb over the laughing kids, and Dave swore he saw a tear come out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, he wondered if she'd had a loving family, if they were somewhere out there right now, missing their little girl. Because he knew that even though she was still alive, she was nothing like the woman she'd been before joining the BAU.

"I- I tried. I tried to convince myself how worth it the job was, but in the end it destroyed me. A case became personal, I got hurt, and nothing was ever the same again. The job ruined me, Rossi. I'm not who I used to be, not by a longshot. This job might be important, but it's just not worth it. We'll never catch them all anyway. There will always be more monsters, more victims we didn't save. I just, I just think that it's not worth losing yourself over.", she was crying by now, the tears streaming down her face freely.

"The job didn't ruin you Elle. You let it. This isn't about the guy who shot you, or about Hotch, it's about you. If you had just abandoned your pride for a minute and let someone help, maybe you wouldn't have lost yourself. Don't blame the job for your mistakes."

She got up then, anger playing on her face again. She walked to the door, throwing the last couple energy bars at him.

"Huh, who are you kidding. You're just like me. One day, those families aren't going to be enough for you. One day, a case'll get personal and you'll break down and then, you'll end up just like me – crazy.", she said mockingly and the slam of the door followed close behind.

Rossi looked up and said a prayer, hoping that he would have more cases to work, hoping that he'd get out of there and have the chance to prove her wrong.


When Reid woke up, there was already a bottle of water next to him. He gulped it down eagerly and sighed at the relief he felt as the liquid went down his throat. Even though he knew he should make it last, the bottle was gone in a matter of minutes.

Twirling the empty bottle around his finger, he wondered whether Elle just wanted him alive or his pleading had gotten to her. Either way, this gave him more time.

His mind was now clearer, and he knew he had to make some sort of move. This was like a chess game – he couldn't just wait it out, or else the opponent would surely win.

So he looked up into the camera again, trying to figure out something to say. He tried to stay as close to the truth as possible, because the truth was easier to make convincing than a lie. And the words that came out of his mouth were 100% true, and it made the pain of her leaving come right back to him, like a bullet in the chest.

"Elle, I don't forgive you for leaving like that, I don't think I ever will... But I do miss you, if that means anything."

If the old Elle had gotten him water, then maybe, just maybe, there was more of her in there somewhere – and Spencer knew the only way he could win at this point was to try and get her out.