"You find anything?" Spencer sat down in front of a laptop, the laptop belonging to the possible unsub, Rowan sitting down on the desk where the laptop was placed.

"Give me a minute. I will find the grime." Penelope said from phone call.

"All right. You ready to start searching his computer?" Spencer asked.

"Born ready." Penelope responded.

"You seem to be in control." Rowan said, grinning slightly.

"I'm always in control, honey buns." Rowan smiled at the nickname.

"So far, William Harris appears to be quite intelligent. He's covering his tracks pretty well." Spencer noted.

"Yeah, just because you delete your history, it doesn't mean all your dirty cyber laundry isn't hanging out there for me to find on your hard drive. Rookie mistake." The pair heard Penelope typing away.


"Garcia's been digging through William's computer. She found an encrypted link to a web page." Spencer began. Rowan beside him, arms crossed.

"Where'd it take you?" Morgan asked, the detective and Rossi right beside him.

"It lead to an unsearchable, untraceable blog with tons of journal entries. It's like some sort of diary or journal." Rowan informed.

"You find anything incriminating?" Rossi asked. inquired.

"We were able to differentiate between the two authors. We found various idiosyncratic words, phrases, punctuation, and orthography within the blog entries consistent with each separate person." Spencer explained.

"Words like 'soda' and 'pop' were used, indicating that the writings were more than likely the thoughts of two different people. Once people establish a style of speaking and writing, it's difficult to derail from that. Especially if they grew up hearing such words or phrases. One guy uses dashes while the other uses ellipses." Rowan finished Spencers thought. Spencer turned to write something on the evidence board, Rowan's attention on him, but she could still hear the detective and Rossi

"Where'd you find these two?" The detective asked Rossi.

"He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI. She on the other hand sort of just wandered in. We decided to keep them both." Rossi responded.

"One side of the discourse made a reference to the devil's strip." Spencer looked back at the detective.

"What the hell's that?' Detective asked.

"It's a small patch of grass that separates the sidewalk from the street. Now, that term is only used in central Ohio. William lived in Atlanta for 20 years, but he grew up in Columbus." Rowan answered.

"The other guy uses words like 'turnpike' and 'filling the gas tank,' Both specific regionalisms for Florida." Spencer concluded.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Morgan asked, just as the unsub walked past, earning a look from both of the doctors. "Right."

Spencer started going over the writings from the blogs as Rowan studied the murders.

"Tell me you found his partner. Reid." Morgan came up from behind the two of them, startling Rowan slightly, causing her to jump. "Sorry, darlin'." Morgan said, tapping Rowan's shoulder gently.

"It's all so cryptic. 'The end of the day came too soon." Spencer read aloud.

"Well, they clearly enjoyed being together. " Rowan said, semi-sarcastically.

"They wrote a cluster of others right after the first victim, Kim Groves, was killed." Spencer informed.

"We need to figure out how they met. There's gotta be something in all this about their courtship." Morgan sat beside Rowan and went through the file.

"It all seemed so hopeless, but I finally learned to rise above it." It sounds like William confessed he was feeling incomplete." SPencer observed.

"He was. He didn't start killing until he met his soulmate."

"Faith should never be broken." The longer they got away with it, the stronger their relationship." Rowan said, now standing by Spencer, reading the text closely.

"Sounds like these two aren't just obsessed with rape and murder. They're addicted to one another." Morgan sighed, eyebrows furrowed.

"We could have saved her." Detective said, walking in with the rest of the agents

"There were no signs of his having a partner until now."Emily said as the circle assembled.

"I guess that's why he's so cocky." Detective crossed his arms, feeling defeated.

"Well, his arrogance is typical of a dominant personality. He's found a submissive who's willing to kill for him." Hotch informed.

"The partner is a biter. We found marks on Missy Dewald." Emily looked between the two doctors.

"They never did that before." Morgan raised his brows.

"Well, with William out of the picture, he's changed his behavior. Maybe the partner went back to something that's comfortable, something he's done before." Rossi shrugged.

"I've got Garcia checking dental records against other cases."

Hotch and Emily went to check out a witness from a case similar to the MO of the unsub who murdered Missy DeWald.


Rowan and Spencer stuck around to look further into the writings found on the blog.

"One thing I have noticed is that there doesn't seem to be any kind of sexual flirtation or anything along those lines between William and his partner." Rowan squinted at the papers on the evidence board.

"It appears that they are getting the sexual excitement from kidnapping these girls, and bonding over the adrenaline and ritual." Spencer agreed, as he studied the papers closely.

"The biting could be some sort of obsessive habit that the partner strayed away from because of William. Or the partner could be trying to throw us off with another set of MO." Rowan huffed, she couldn't quite pinpoint the biting. "This is so damn frustrating. The partner is escalating while William is in custody. He could take another victim and strike again if he doesn't get what he wants."

"Hey," Spencer began. He quickly glanced around him, making sure nobody was watching before grabbing Rowan's hand. He closed the side-by-side distance between them. "If anyone is going to figure this out, it's our team. We're just missing a couple of details."

Rowan shied away from his touch and pulled her hand from his. She couldn't justify why, but she hated that she did. Seeing the almost pained look in his eyes after she retracted was too much.

"Guys," Hotch said from behind the two doctors, making the both of them jump. Spencer released Rowan's hand, hoping the team didn't see. They both didn't want to act or seem unprofessional.

"How was the witness interview?" Rowan inquired.

"Connie mayers described an anger-excitation rapist just like William." Emily said, her voice sounded disappointed.

"So we're lookin' at 2 dominant personalities?" Morgan asked.

"Makes sense. They have a similar discourse. They're equally well-written." Spencer shrugged.

"And that's a big deal?" Detective asked.

"It's rare in criminal partnerships." Rowan answered.

"If their personalities are the same, their lives probably mirror one another's as well." Emily added.

"Harris goes to church, on the board of the p.t.a., Coaches his daughter's soccer team, rarely drinks." Detective informed.

"Sounds like a saint." Jordan relented.

"With a dark side. That's what he connected to in the partner. Prentiss and I will go talk to the family, see if they know who it might be." Hotch determined just before him and Emily walked away.

"Two alpha males working together is going to be difficult to crack." Morgan looked briefly at the evidence board.

"The partner is definitely following the investigation." Jordan though aloud.

"Let's do the talking for them. We've got something that could be used as a tool." Rossi said, holding out one of the blog writings.

"Why would he read it? He knows William won't be writing." Detective pointed out.

"These men are addicted to each other. Right now, he needs a fix, and the words they've shared are all he has to cling to." Morgan told.

"His partner wrote 'faith should never be broken.' A betrayal could devastate him." Spencer said, definitely on to something.

"All we have to say is that William's cooperating and then hope he takes the bait."

While Hotch and Emily talked to the families, Rowan, Spencer and Morgan typed out a letter to the unsubs partner.

"What have we got so far?" Rowan asked, looking through the files. She sat right next to Spencer as he typed, except she sat on the table again. Morgan took notice to how both of them were acting.

"Uh, 'We were surprised that you injected yourself into the investigation. You risked a lot in order to help William. And killing Missy tells us how close you really are. It must be devastating to learn that William is here with us." Spencer finished speaking aloud.

"He's not gonna like that. Sounds like William's cooperating with us." Rowan said, looking onto the screen.

"Well, that's exactly what we want him to believe, so he'll doubt their alliance." Morgan started plainly. "Most entries followed the first murder."

"Yeah, William wrote most of them. Uh,"I wasn't expecting that type of gift. I wish time didn't take away all the pleasures of the day." Rowan cringed at Spencers words. In theory, the words would be romantic and heartfelt in nature if they weren't referring to rape and murder.

After figuring out that the unsub met William at a neighborhood party, it was a short walk to figure out that they were communicating via song, when they were right next door.

Steven, the partner/lover of William, abducted William's daughter, Andrea, after he caught her following him. The murderous pair knew that it wasn't going to end well, but they wanted to see each other again before going off to their own prisons.

William was wired when he went to their meeting place, Morgan and Emily busted in after making sure Steven was unarmed and Andrea was alive.


Rowan poured herself some hot water, to make some hot chocolate as the jet sped through the air. Unbeknownst to her, a young man struggled to find words he needed to say.

Spencer got up from his seat on the jet and walked over to the small counter Rowan stood in front of. She saw movement out of her peripheral vision and smiled to see Spencer walking towards her.

"Hey." She smiled widely at him and she stirred the chocolate powder into the water.

"Can we talk?" Spencer asked, word vomiting. The question took Rowan by surprise.

"Uh, yeah s-sure. What's going on?" She set down her mug as the tightness in her chest rose. She back to him, he seemed flustered.

"It's about last night." Spencer swallowed and evaded her eyes for a moment. "We barely even said goodnight." His voice unsteady and low.

"I know." Rowan looked down to her coffee cup. "Please don't be angry with me, but this isn't the place. We're on a jet 10 feet from our co-workers. Just come over tonight and we can talk about everything. Okay?"

"I'm not angry, just-" Spencer took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay. I'll come over after work." Spencer gave her a weak smile and turned to sit back in his seat.


Rowan's anxiety grew. Leaving things left unsaid wasn't particularly healthy, even for short amounts of time. It worried her.

Rowan paced around her apartment, waiting for Spencer to arrive. She had changed from her work clothes to comfy, fleece lined leggings and a stanford t-shirt.

She kept going over scenarios in her heading.

One where Spencer walked away from her.

One where she walked away from Spencer.

One where she completely broke down in tears.

One where everything was perfect, until he found out about that one, excruciating detail from her past and decided he could not love her.

She wanted nothing to do with any of those situations.

After about 5 minutes alone with her thoughts, she was ready to vomit. Finally, a knock came to her door. She sighed of relief and stepped towards the door. She looked through the peep hole to see that a drenched Spencer was standing with his hands in his pockets. She unlocked and opened the door.

"Spencer," She stifled a laugh as he chuckled along, stepping through the frame and into her entry way.

"I thought it would be a good idea to walk but I failed to bring an umbrella from the office." He chuckled.

"Do you want some dry clothes?" She said, observing the water dripping from his jacket, pants and hair.

"You're 5'5 and I'm 6'1. Somehow I don't see that working out." He chuckled, nearly forgetting why he was there as soon as he heard her laugh.

"My little brother is a bit taller than I am. I have some of his old team clothes that I stole because they were comfortable." Rowan chuckled.

"Yeah, That sounds nice."

"Oh, you can hang your coat on the hool." She said as she pointed just above his head. He shook off the coat and hung it up, before noticing she disappeared into the hallway by the entry way. He followed her through an open door.

Once he realized where he was, he froze. In the middle of the room, coming from the far wall, was a queen size bed, draped in a dark grey, purple and white bedspread. Next to the bed was a small black nightstand with two drawers. A silver alarm clock, a pair of glasses and a small pill bottle decorated the nightstand.

Spencer noticed that it wasn't an over the counter pill bottle, but it was a yellow bottle with a white cap and sticker. He didn't want to be nosey, so he didn't look further for any more details on the bottle.

He continued to look around the room, a couple of open boxes were on the other side of the nightstand and a standing lamp in the corner of the room, as well as a small desk lamp on the nightstand.

Rowan stood at a dresser that was almost as tall as she was, going through the second to the top drawer. She pulled out a shirt and a pair of comfortable looking sweatpants, that seemed to be of Spencer's size and threw them over her shoulder. She turned to see him, awkwardly standing there.

"Here you go." She handed the clothes to him after she closed the drawer she was looking in. "You can change in here, or in the bathroom. Its the door on the left when heading back to the living room."

Spencer nodded as he turned around, not wanting to change in her room, he felt odd about it for some reason.

He went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His wet hair was a mess, but he knew if he touched it, he would make it worse.

He started taking off the wet clothes and hung them over the shower rod. He stepped back to look at her shower curtain.

It was a dark colored curtain, with the skyline of a city, buildings with lights on and everything. What really caught his eye was the stars in the sky over the buildings. It looked like they were hanging from strings. Spencer smiled. He felt as if he was getting to know her better but observing small things in her apartment.

He stepped back over to his original spot in front of the mirror and looked at the top half of his torso before putting on the shirt and pants that were provided for him. He had always thought that he was too skinny. That he didn't have enough muscle tone. Working for the FBI definitely helped, but he still critiqued his body.

He exited the bathroom to see that right across the hall, was another bedroom behind a closed door. He noted that as odd, as she didn't seem to have any roommates and or any children. He shrugged it off and moved back to the living room to find Rowan pouring herself a glass of chocolate milk. He smiled to himself.

"Why do you have two bedrooms?" Spencer blurted out, not even meaning to. Rowan shrugged.

"Its my office. I have a desk and computer in there. Along with a pull out couch in case my brother wants to visit ever. Would you like any?" Rowan offered.

"I'm okay for now, but thank you." Spencer said, looking around, avoiding her eyes.

"I'm sorry I've been acting a bit off today. When you took my hand this morning, I panicked." Rowan confessed, setting down her chocolate milk and stepping away from the counter, closer to Spencer. "You said last night that you were falling for me and it was terrifying. I feel the exact same, Spencer. I'm afraid for so many reasons, but none of them have anything to do with you." She confessed.

"I know why I'm afraid. Why are you?" Spencer questioned, his voice curious.

"I've never done this before. I've never felt so comfortable with someone so quickly. You make me nervous and also calm at the same time. It's all so confusing and I don't handle my emotions very well either, to be completely honest." Rowan said, looking into his eyes from 3 feet away. She chuckled nervously.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never done this either. What ever this may be." Spencer gestured between the two of them. "All I know is that whenever I'm near you, the room I'm in gets brighter." Spencer took a couple of steps towards her. He took her smaller hand in his.

As he stepped closer, Rowan's heart rate increased. The feeling of his warm skin on her hand was familiar and felt right to her.

"What are we going to do?" Rowan asked, looking into his eyes, as they were much closer now.

"Right now or in general?" Spencer responded with a question.

"Both."

"Well, normally when two people have feelings for each other they start dating, right?" SPencer asked, his question serious. Rowan chuckled slightly and nodded.

"Typically." She joked.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend then?" Spencer inquired. Hearing the word 'girlfriend' coming from his own two lips felt strange. But he liked it. Rowan bit her lip.

"Of course I would." Her smile took his breath away before she closed the space between them and gently placed her lips on his.

This kiss was different than their first. This kiss was slow and gentle. His hands cupped her jaw as hers rested on his abdomen.

Each moment between them bringing the kiss deeper. Their first kiss was heated and fueled by fire. This kiss was a slow, tender burn.

Spencer pulled away slowly, keeping his eyes closed and taking in the vanilla taste of her lips and breath.

"I'd hate to ruin this beautiful moment but what to we tell the team?" Rowan said, Spencers face still very close to hers. She chuckled at the thought of their team.

"I wonder what nicknames they'll give us as a couple." Spencer chuckled along.

"I'm sure they'll come up with some good ones." Rowan enjoyed every second of her embrace with Spencer.


It is now 7 am where I am and I don't see myself going to sleep anytime soon unfortunately. Thank you for reading. Feel free to review/fav/follow if you'd like!