Hi everyone thanks for the reviews. They mean so much to me. I love how enthusiastic you all are about this story. In answer to one guest's question about this story being linked to my story An Adolescent Alliance, sort of. I would say it is more linked to the other story Kindred Spirits mainly because a friend who I write stories with and I are planning and writing a story that will be set after this one involving the story Kindred Spirits and this one. More about that later on (inbox me though if you want more info). Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 7

"That peace which is within us, we must experience it. And if we are searching for peace outside we will never find the peace within" Prem Rawat

When they arrived at the address Lucas Clark had given them there were already plain clothed officers waiting outside. "No movement inside since we arrived sir" one of them said as the BAU team approached strapping on their vests. Hotch nodded before he turned to everyone assembled "we search every inch of this house" he said "our main priority is to bring Sophie Ryan out of their alive … got it"? Everyone nodded "good" he said "let's go"

Everyone instantly drew their weapons and headed towards the house keeping an eye out for any movement. "Stick together" Morgan said to Livie and Reid as they moved carefully forward. Both agents nodded as they paused outside the house and they brought their guns up. Morgan looked at Hotch who nodded before he lifted his leg and kicked the door down.

Instantly everyone rushed forward shouting out as they flooded though the house. Morgan immediately headed for the stairs and quickly headed up keeping his gun raised. He kicked down each door he came too as Livie, JJ and Hotch followed him up and they cleared each room. JJ yanked open the last door to find a set of stairs. "Found the attic" she said and lifted her gun slowly heading up with the others right behind her.

They slowly checked every nook and cranny of the attic pulling away dustsheets and checking all boxes as Rossi, Reid and Emily all came up "house is clear" Rossi said looking around "have you found her. No one answered until they had checked everywhere. "Dammit she isn't here" Morgan said angrily lowering his gun. "Hey guys" Livie called "over here" they looked over to see her standing by a bookcase with Emily studying deep grooves in the floor. She looked up "just like Clark said" she whispered "she would be behind a bookcase"

Morgan and Hotch instantly moved forward and grasped the bookcase and with strained grunts they managed to haul the book case out of the way to reveal a thin door that was padlocked shut. Morgan used the base of his gun to break the padlock and looked around as everyone readied themselves.

He yanked the door open and they all rushed inside the little dark room, turning their flashlights on as they all ducked in swinging the beams of light around the small room before they called out 'clear' and slowly they looked around.

The room was dark, lit by a single flickering lightbulb. The walls were covered with a peeling wallpaper that might once have been yellow but now resembled the colour of vomit. There was a tiny hard bed tucked in one corner with a thin blanket tossed upon it. A hard chair was placed next to it so that their unsub could sit and watch their victims sleep. And around the leg of the bed was a chain with a heavy cuff on the end which obviously went around the little girl's leg.

Emily muttered a curse under her breath "he must have found out that we had Lucas and decided to move her" she said "that or he has realised that she is a liability now" Hotch said heavily "and he decided she wasn't worth it any more" everyone looked horrified at the thought that they were too late. It was not a thought anyone wanted to have. "Well until we find a body lets try and act like she is still alive" Rossi said and everyone nodded before they took their pictures and slipped out so that forensics could do their jobs.

Hotch looked at his team as they all grouped outside waiting for forensics to find something. After an hour Hotch asked Captain Soloman if he had anything but he said no and told them to go rest and that they would call them if they got anything. Grudgingly Hotch realised that his team was exhausted but he didn't want to leave this scene. So he drove them a few streets over where he found a pub serving food and bought his team something to eat.

XO

Emily looked over to the bar where she could see Livie hunched over, sitting alone. When they had arrived she had quietly excused herself saying that she needed a bit of time alone. They were all impressed with how long she had managed to hold herself together like that. She had managed to stay strong long enough to track down a lead. But knowing that the lead had brought them nothing had apparently been too much for her and now she needed time.

"Hotch is she going to be ok" she asked looking at their team leader as she shifted out of the way so that Reid could go to the bathroom. Hotch slowly looked over to the young profiler his face thoughtful. "Under normal circumstances I would say no" he said softly "what she went through as a child is one of the worst things I have seen and I have been doing this job for a very long time now, normally I would say that life will never be easy for her".

Emily looked at him "but under these circumstances" she asked. Hotch met her gaze calmly and looked at her long and hard. "Livie is an extraordinary young woman" he said "and somehow she doesn't let what happened to her slow her down, in fact it is quite the opposite. What happened to her drives her; she turned her pain into determination. She doesn't let it drag her down"

Emily looked over at Livie again uncertainly "Emily" Hotch said "she'll be fine ok, I already told her to come to us if she isn't". Emily nodded uncertainly and they all looked over at the bar again at the same time Reid came out of the bathroom and headed back towards their booth, however as he passed the bar he paused and glanced over at Livie who was sitting staring at the wooden bar unseeingly. He glanced around the small pub before he slowly changed direction and hauled himself up onto the bar stool next to Livie.

They saw her glance up at him as he sat down and say something softly too him and he responded gently and they were all relieved to see her smile before she looked fully at him as he gazed at her, his eyes soft and caring.

Emily looked back at Hotch "you're right" she said "she'll be fine after all, it looks like our little doctor is taking good care of her" everyone grinned before they turned away leaving their youngest team members talking at the bar.

XO

Reid hesitated before he ever so slowly sat down next to Livie wondering how she would react. When she sensed him sit next to her, her eyes flashed up to see if he was a threat. When she saw it was him she relaxed. "Did the others send you over to talk to me" she asked. "No I thought you could do with some company, mainly to deter the rest of the men in this pub who are eyeing you up" she looked over at him and a smile slipped across her face as she laughed gently "thanks" she said "though I could have handled them on my own". He smiled back at her "I have no doubt" he said.

She looked back down at the cup of coffee in front of her and fell silent. For a couple of minutes Reid mimicked her before he gently asked "are you sure you are ok". Livie sighed "about how we still haven't found Sophie… no" she said before she looked at him "about what happened to me as a kid… yeah I am fine… well as fine as I will ever be". She stared into her cup of coffee in front of her for a minute before she looked up at him "I guess my news was a bit of a surprise huh"

Reid ducked his head before he nodded "I'm sorry about what happened to you" he mumbled, "don't be" Livie said softly reaching out to touch his hand "it wasn't your fault". He didn't look back up at her but eventually he did "you remember it all" he asked softly and she nodded "every second" she said "I even remember the blinding pain"

He looked away "sorry I didn't mean to bring it back up" he said, she shrugged "its ok, what happened to me is a part of who I am, it made me who I am" he sighed "did you really forget your whole life" he asked and she nodded again "yep, all of it, the trauma was so bad I blocked everything out, everything, even the things I loved… I didn't even remember my mom who had been there for me my whole life; I was terrified of her because all I could remember was what my kidnappers had beaten into me, that my mom hated me" she paused and fiddled with her coffee cup before Reid asked "did you get your memories back". She looked at him "yeah most of them" she said "some things I still don't remember, others are a bit fuzzy but I don't mind because the past doesn't define us. It is what we do now with our lives that makes us who we are"

Reid gave an awkward smile "I can see the logic behind that" he said and Livie rolled her eyes at him "do you try to see the logic behind everything" she asked and Reid nodded "don't you ever just want to believe that something is possible" Livie asked tilting her head to the side to look at him "that anything can happen… that things don't have to make sense?". Their eyes met for a few seconds and they stared into each other's souls until Livie broke the contact looking away, her cheeks reddening slightly.

"So after your incident your mom met your stepdad" Reid asked and she smiled before she nodded "well she had known him for years already but they were just friends. Then he helped her get me back and when I woke up from my coma he was there, he comforted me and helped me and my mom reconnect as I was scared of her. We stayed in his apartment for a while until I was better then my mom tried to make things go back to normal but his daughter Alexis and I, we say something. A spark, almost completely hidden but slowly we watched it get brighter and we knew there was something there. So we began to push them together and eventually they began to date and my mom and I moved back into their apartment and after a while they got married. Rick has been the only father figure I have ever had, and he is the only man my mom has truly loved. You can see it whenever you are with them. They may be focused on something else but you know that they are just as aware of each other as they are themselves. They are like soul mates. The one true pairing. Do you know what I mean?"

Reid nodded watching her face light up as she smiled as she talked about her family. When she paused though the smile slipped and the slightly haunted look returned as she remembered everything from her past that had recently returned to the surface.

"Do you think that Sophie is still alive" Livie asked quietly. Reid hesitated before he looked at her "she has been missing nearly 24 hours now" he said softly "with each hour passing the likelihood of their survival becomes less and less". Livie nodded looking sad. "But there is still hope" he tried hoping to cheer her up. "I remember once we worked a case where many children had been taken by this couple and the oldest boy had survived six years in captivity"

Livie looked up "I survived three days" she said softly "and that was torture, how did he survive six years?" Reid shrugged "he did what he had to do to survive" he said before he fell silent. "I hope she is alive" Livie whispered "I can't bare the thought of loosing her like we lost Stella. I want to find her alive so bad" Reid looked at her again "we won't give up" he said "none of us will; we will find her, no matter how long it takes". Livie nodded "I know" she whispered.

"Hey" came a voice from behind and they both turned to see Morgan standing behind them "the crime scene investigators have finished at the house. They found DNA from all of the girls in the hidden room and two other sets of DNA, one belonged to Lucas Clark the other had no match in the system". Livie sighed "so where does that leave us" she asked and Morgan shrugged "pretty much back at square one" he said "we still have Clark" Reid pointed out and Morgan nodded "yes but unless he gives us a name he isn't much use to us"

Slowly Livie slipped off her stool and Reid followed in suit and they headed back to the booth where everyone shuffled round so that they could fit in. "So did forensics find anything in the rest of the house" Emily asked as Livie slipped in sliding along so that Reid could shuffle in next to her as Hotch shook his head "the house was clean, our second unsub may have left in a hurry but he was careful enough to wipe away any prints". "Well that's a shame" Emily muttered.

"So what do we do now" JJ asked and Hotch sighed "we go back to the precinct and go over everything again and we make Clark talk" everyone nodded and once they had paid for their food and drinks they all headed back to the cars and drove back to the precinct.

XO

When they arrived Hotch headed straight to the interrogation room but Livie stopped him. "Let me go in with him again" she insisted but he gave her a look. "No Livie" he said "you have already hurt yourself enough in there, let us handle it".

"But he opened up to me last time" Livie said "come on Hotch you know how little time we have, we don't have time for someone else to go in and start building up a relationship with him, we need him to start answering questions now"

Hotch looked at her long and hard "are you sure about this" he asked and Livie nodded staring straight back at him confidently and he sighed "JJ goes in with you" he said and Livie frowned "mainly because you shouldn't be in there alone with him anyway, you are an intern" he added firmly. Livie sighed and nodded as Hotch called JJ over.

Then the two of them headed into the interrogation room. Hotch moved into observation and Reid followed as if there was a magnet drawing him in. when Hotch looked over he saw that the young genius' eyes were fixed on Livie.

"Reid" he said softly and he looked over at him and Hotch paused as he looked at him. "I have seen the connection between the two of you" he said and Reid shifted uncertainly "don't worry this isn't a lecture… its advice" Hotch said and he turned to face Reid fully. "I have seen the spark you two have and it is getting harder to ignore. Somehow you two have known each other less than a week yet you understand each other as if you have known each other your whole lives"

Reid nodded dropping his head as he fiddled with the strap of his bag "she understands me" he mumbled "no one else understands me like she does" he looked up at Hotch anxiously "I haven't felt how I feel about her before Hotch. It … confuses me. To see her smile or hear her laugh creates this warm feeling in my chest that I don't understand and when I look into her eyes I fell like I have stood up to fast... like I am falling. And when we touch it is… it is like electricity running through my body. I don't know how to describe it but she intrigues me"

Hotch looked at him and a rare smile slipped onto his face "from what you describe" he said "it isn't hard to profile what it is Reid". The young agent looked up curiously and Hotch placed a hand on his shoulder "you have feelings for her" he said seriously and Reid reddened embarrassed.

"Be careful Reid" Hotch said "you both work a dangerous job and you can't allow yourself to become distracted by her and neither can she. She has to build her career here and now, she is still young. You must remember that she won't be here forever, come the end of her internship she will have to leave… make sure you can say goodbye when the time comes and still lift your head ok". Reid hesitated looking back at Livie sitting in the chair talking to Clark urgently. "It might already be too late for that" he whispered and Hotch swallowed before he looked back into the interrogation room at Livie and JJ talking to Clark.

XO

Clark looked up when Livie entered with JJ right behind her and his eyes flashed over them uncertainly. "What happened" he asked "did you find him". Livie didn't answer she just sat down in the chair opposite him and JJ sat next to her. "Mr Clark I am Agent Jareau" JJ said but Clark ignored her keeping his eyes fixed Livie. "Did you get him" he asked.

Livie looked him straight in the eye "no" she said "by the time we got there he was gone and so was Sophie". Clark stared "what" he demanded. "He's gone Lucas" Livie shouted "gone, he packed up and left taking innocent little Sophie away with him. He must have found out that you had been caught alive and fled". She glowered at him "he abandoned you" she said "what kind of loyalty is that huh, you protect him and he leaves you, because to him Lucas you are disposable".

She paused staring at Clark who was trembling as he stared up at her "you still want to protect him" she asked softly. Clark looked straight at her before he dropped his head and gave a long sigh. "I met him when I was in foster care" he said "I was being bullied by some of the other kids who thought they could beat me up because I was new. He came and fought them off and protected me. From then on he kept me under his wing and I was safe".

"What was his name" Livie asked but Clark ignored her question and carried on "we were in the same home for two years and he continued to protect me, he was to me amazing, very talented and good looking, all the girls loved him. He was on the football team as a quarter back and everyone loved him. Including me, I did anything he asked".

He paused again before he began to twist his hands around "eventually we got separated; both of us were adopted by new families. I tried to stay in contact with him but we lost touch for a few years. Then one day he found me again. He had graduated by then and become a rich respectable man. Me? I was just clinging to any job I could get. But then he found me and offered to let me come with him, he would travel the country and I could come too, free of charge as long as I did what he said". He paused to take another shaky breath and continued to stare at his twisting hands. "I didn't realise he wanted to carry on doing what he had done when we were kids"

"The first kill" Livie asked and he nodded "I don't even know why, one day he just took me to this abandoned shed in the middle of no where and showed me this little girl he had tied up inside. He had had her there for a week. Her name was… Annabelle, she was five" he ducked his head before he carried on "that was the first time I truly saw him for who he was and I was uncertain but I didn't want to question him, I didn't want to lose him as a friend. He abused her badly and I just watched. Then he killed her. He bashed her head in with a shovel and then he just stood over her staring at her body and there was this mad glint in his eye, he looked crazy. He then threw the shovel at me and told me to bury her by the side of the road. I was scared but I did as I was told, when I came back he told me that I had done well and I was pleased with the compliment and after that I just did what I had to do. I fed the girls, I kept them strong for him and I… disposed of them when he was done, for his approval; that was all I cared about".

"Tell me where he has taken Sophie" Livie said softly. Clark looked up at her looking panicked "I don't know" he whispered "we have never had to move them before; I don't know where he would take them". "Come on Lucas you have to know something" Livie said "you have to… we are running out of time". Clark looked at her "I don't" he whispered "I honestly don't"

"Then tell me his name" Livie whispered staring at him unwaveringly. Clark stared before he dropped his head "when we were children he went by the name Samuel Anders" he said softly "but I don't think he goes by that name any more, he lets me call him Sam but no one else does, to everyone else… he is a ghost"

Livie straightened up looking at JJ who nodded. Slowly she stood up and Clark looked at her anxiously "what is going to happen now" he asked as they headed towards the door. Livie turned to look at him "I think that depends on whether we find Sophie Ryan alive" she said softly before she turned and followed JJ out the door.

They moved instantly into the room that had been set aside for them and found Morgan already calling Garcia who answered with her usual flirty answer of "challenge me you beautiful behaviour analysts".

"Garcia we have the name of the second unsub" Morgan said "get me everything there is on Samuel Anders". "Urgh you guys are going to have to do a lot better than that to challenge me sexy boy" the tech analyst said as they heard her fingers fly across the keyboards "oh wait … sealed juvi records… that's more like it"

Morgan rolled his eyes as they all crowded round the table and settled down leaning forward in anticipation of Garcia's answer.

"Ok" she said "Samuel Anders was sent into foster care when he was 10 years old after his father Roy Anders was sent to prison" "what did he do" Emily asked "one sec" Garcia said and the tapping of her keyboard keys filled the void of her speaking as she searched. Then the tapping stopped and she let out a gasp. "What" Hotch asked "Garcia what is it".

"Um" Garcia said "um… Roy Anders was given multiple life sentences in prison with no chance of parole because he raped and murdered 37 teenage girls over a span of 15 years". Everyone blinked in shock "like father like son" Rossi said slowly and Hotch leapt back into business "Garcia was Samuel Anders ever in the same home as Lucas Clark" "yep" Garcia said "for 18 months they were both housed in the same foster home before Lucas was sent somewhere else in an attempt to get him adopted. Samuel was left in that home for two more months before he began to bounce around from home to home until he was eighteen"

"What happened then" JJ asked "that is it" Garcia said "he just disappears completely, I cannot find any trace of him ever again, it is like he just vanished" "Clark must have been right about him changing his name" Livie said Emily groaned "how are we going to find him now" she asked. Nobody answered. Nobody knew the answer.

Livie moved over to the window deep in thought and Reid moved after her watching her uncertainly as she began to mutter "ok so I have a serial killer for a father… he probably teaches me everything before he gets arrested and I get placed in foster care. I lie low for while until I meet Lucas Clark who I instantly see as malleable and I decide to take him under my wing and groom him into the perfect follower. Then after 18 months we get separated and I bounce around homes for a while before disappearing at 18… why what was I doing".

She turned back to face the others "Clark said that when he met Anders again he was rich and respectable when he found him again, so he must have had education right". Hotch nodded "but he probably was under an alias" he said.

"Um guys" Garcia said "I think I might have figured out why they took Sophie Ryan… I am sending you the picture of their first victim. Five year old Annabelle Hunt". They all reached for their tablets and clicked on the image Garcia had sent them. When they saw the picture of Annabelle they all gasped.

The picture showed a little girl with wide brown eyes that stared at the camera with a cheeky glint in them. She had light brown hair pulled back in two pigtails on either side of her cute round face.

"Oh" JJ said shocked "Sophie Ryan is a spitting image of her". Morgan scowled "he must have seen her when her mom picked her up from Lucy's house" he said. "He wants to recreate his first kill" Emily said "he wants to get the same thrill he got from that again".

"If that is the case then we don't have much time" Reid said and they all looked at him. He showed them the file on his tablet that he was skimming through "according to this Annabelle Hunt died 24 hours before she was killed at roughly 7pm. On the 17th September" he paused biting his lip "today is the 17th of September" he said "he will want to mimic every detail exactly to get maximum thrill". Livie swallowed "Clark said that he badly abused Annabelle before he killed her" she said and everyone's faces darkened in disgust.

"Come on there has to be something" Livie muttered and her eyes flicked over the white board covered in information and then her hand shot out and grabbed the photo of the bumper sticker. "Garcia do you have anything on the bumper sticker" she asked "nope" she said "there are literally thousands of logos like that, I can't narrow it down"

Reid peered at the logo over her shoulder as Livie began to repeat what Lucas had told her. If the situation had been any less serious it would have been comical to see how in sync Livie and Reid were. They both froze at the exact same time as their eyes widened before they both turned to face each other crying out "football".

"Clark said that Anders was a quarter back on the football teams at school" Livie said excitedly "what if he kept playing at college…" "and college football teams have a mascot and they are usually powerful animals like something feline" Reid finished looking equally excited. They both dove for the phone "Garcia run the bumper sticker against college football teams" they both cried.

"On it" Garcia said "and might I just add how adorable that was… you two in sync". Reid flushed slightly and a small smirk slipped onto Livie's face as they waited. "Oh boy genius and girl genius you rock my work" Garcia said "that bumper sticker is of the mascot of … wait for it now… The Boston Panthers"

"He went to college here in Boston" Emily asked "that explains the large comfort zone" Reid said leaping over to his map "he spent longer here than he did in any other city because he went to college here, he knew it better and look" he pointed at a spot in the middle of the map "his comfort zone surrounds Boston University" "nicely done lover boy" Garcia said "now I am sending you the team photographs from all the years he could have been in the college plus a picture of him, unfortunately the last photo of him was from when he was fifteen so you might have to use your imagination"

Everyone crowded round the laptop screen staring at the photos trying to find a match. Then once again in perfect sync Livie and Reid both pointed "there" they said "Garcia forth photo down fifth from the left in the middle row" Morgan said as Emily looked at JJ "I agree with Garcia that is pretty cute when they do that" she said and JJ nodded.

"Ok profilers drum role please that boy according to this is Isaac Hughes and according to their website he studied business management, graduated top of his class whilst remaining star player for the Boston panthers"

"Brilliant" Emily said "but does that bring us any closer to finding him". "Yes" Rossi said and they all turned to look at him "he is on the run, he hasn't had to do that before meaning that things are not going his way and he has a little girl with him who has her face plastered all over the media. He can't risk her being seen but he has to kill her tonight, otherwise he has to keep her for a whole month and that is too risky. So he is panicking, what will he look for? Some place he knows and feels comfortable"

"The university campus" Hotch finished off "come on everyone lets get over there, we don't have long until 7pm and if he is trying to mimic it exactly then he going to kill her then". "Not if we can help it" Emily said as she grabbed her vest and gun. Hotch nodded to her and as they all sprinted towards the cars he cast out a silent plea that they were not to late. They couldn't be. After everything they had been through on this case, after everything they had learned about Livie. They couldn't afford to be late.

He leapt into the car and saw Reid and Livie slip into the back. He looked at Livie and saw that she was clutching Sophie's toy horse Shadow. She stroked it softly before she pushed it carefully into her bag and quickly strapped on her vest.

Hotch focused his eyes back on the road and pushed his foot down on the pedal harder. Determined to reunite Sophie and Shadow.

'The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand' Vince Lombardi

Well I hope you enjoyed that ;) next chapter is the showdown. Hehe.

As I said at the beginning another story is being planned and if you want more info just ask and if you think it sounds good, let me know so we will know whether to keep writing.

Please Review

Thanks

Mysticgirl