A/N: Weeell, it's Suday, isn't it? (grins) BUT, before getting to the actual business…

THANK YOU, a million times over, for all your reviews and affection for this story! They mean more than you could ever imagine. So THANK YOU! You're precious. (HUGS)

Awkay, because I know what you came here for… Let's get going! I really hope that you'll enjoy the ride.


The Endgame


/ After sharing their secrets Spencer and Anya found themselves growing closer and closer. They spent as much time together as they possibly could, both overjoyed that there was finally someone around them they could be fully honest with. Even more hidden things were revealed after the biggest one and two more months later they knew each other better than they knew themselves. It was dangerous and ridiculous. Risked everything they'd fought so hard for. But nonetheless it was only a matter of time before things would escalate further.

And sure enough, one night the door of Spencer's room opened just when he was about to doze off. He turned his head and felt his eyes widening at what he discovered. "Anya?" What was she doing in his room in the middle of the night?

Anya swallowed hard. "The other nightshift nurse… He's asleep. We have a few moments." She focused on breathing for a couple of seconds. "I just… I need it to be someone that I love, for once."

As soon as those words sunk in properly there was nothing in the world that would've kept Spencer away from her. He couldn't exactly brag with his amount of experience but natural instincts seemed to be doing a fairly good job at leading him. It helped that his mind and body were so eager that it scared him a little.

At first their motions were gentle, almost cautious, while they explored one another with their mouths and hands. Traced every scar, birth mark, curve and inch with a great deal of excitement. But soon the heat took over and they grew more forceful, almost desperate.

Already then they both knew, deep down, that these nights would be numbered.

They found each other's most delicate spots with a stunning amount of ease, like they'd known each other all their lives. Only the fact that they couldn't arouse any attention kept them from howling out of sheer pleasure when everything clicked together exactly as was meant to and they were sent hard to the peak of pleasure. In the end Anya's soft, shuddering gasp blended effortlessly to Spencer's small, muffled moan.

They knew, all too well, that Anya should've left as quickly as possible. But against all reason they stole a few more minutes from fate. During those moments, with his whole body still pulsating in the aftermath, Spencer leaned closer to her ear and whispered the truest words he'd ever uttered. "I love you, too."

When Anya finally walked away sixty-eight seconds later Spencer pretended that he didn't notice how she wiped her eyes, just like he pretended that he didn't noticed the moisture clouding his own line of vision.

Their secret meetings continued over the three months that followed. Anya came to him as often as she could. Sometimes, when it was a particularly bad day for both of them, they merely sat quietly, seeking comfort and strength from one another. Sometimes it was kisses and soft, whispered sweet promises. And other times the passion was simply too much to bear. Those particular nights made blindfolds fun for Spencer again.

And then one cold, dark December night changed everything. Anya had seemed off for a few days, paler than usual and nauseous. When she sneaked into his room at one in the morning there was a mixture of terror and excitement on her face. Somehow the look spoke out her news long before her lips did. "I… Spence, I'm pregnant." /


The pain… It was unbelievable. Seemed to rush into every little bit of Spencer's body. He gasped and groaned, fighting furiously to regain some focus. To get a hold of himself. Along with the agony only one thing made sense.

His gun hadn't fired properly.

Ian chuckled. "Did you really think that we hadn't searched through every little bit of this house? That we hadn't expected you to lay traps? No, we didn't expect you to go that easy on us." The man kneeled beside where he'd fallen to his knees on the floor. "I kept the knowledge of this gun all to myself, though. Because I had a feeling that it might turn out useful." The unit chief nodded towards Joseph's dead body. "You see… Joseph there was starting to become a problem. Too brutal, too difficult to control. As much trouble as it will be to find someone to replace him his existence was a even bigger threat." Ian sighed. "I could've handled him myself, of course. But that might've included taking some unnecessary risks. So…" The man's eyes clashed with his. "I left the task to my best agent."

"You…", Spencer wheezed. Talking hurt even more than he'd expected. "You knew…"

Ian nodded. "I trained you. I left you with just one bullet because I knew that it'd be all you need to finish the job." Those eyes flickered towards the cuffs that trapped him what already felt like a lifetime ago. "I also knew that you'd have no trouble with breaking yourself free. All I had to do was send Joseph to you and he was more than eager."

Spencer groaned, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. He honestly didn't know what hurt the most. All the nightmares being brought back to life, Ian's betrayal or the bullet wound.

"You shouldn't fight it", Ian adviced. "The longer you stall the inevitable the more it'll hurt. Just let go."

The thought was far more tempting than it should've been. But Spencer knew that he couldn't give in, not yet. He wasn't finished.

The hole right above his stomach area, however, seemed to disagree.

Spencer didn't like the way his strangled breath sounded and felt. The pain it brought was so intense that for a few moments he saw stars. "I'm… I'm not alone in this", he managed. "The others… They'll stop you."

Ian snorted. "Stop me? Oh, Spencer… They don't even know my real part in all this."

For a moment, just a moment, Spencer's eyes flashed. Maybe it was his last moment of lucidity on Earth. "Are you sure?"

Ian's eyes narrowed while Spencer's words began to register. "What do you mean?" When he refused to answer the look on the man's face grew even more dangerous. "Explain… and I may be kind enough to end your miserable life quickly."

Spencer counted time, evaluated the best course of action. Focused on anything but the pain pulsating everywhere inside him. He couldn't tell if the look on his face was closer to a grimace or a smile. "Joseph… was sloppy", he rasped, one of his hands twitching half convulsively towards his coat that'd been thrown unceremoniously to the room's corner. He hoped that it was enough of a clue.

It was. Ian frowned and, after making sure that there was no way Spencer would be able to budge from where he'd slumped, marched his way to the coat and searched through it roughly. The change in the man's expression would've amused Spencer under any other circumstances.

There, in Ian's hold, was a very much active cell phone. It'd been set to activate at the same time the warning was sent to agents all over the world. There, in the covers of his pocket, it made a one more phone call and a recording began.

Ian, of course, understood perfectly what was going on. Fury flamed in the older man's eyes when they clashed with his. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"

Spencer smirked although with each and every passing second he could feel life draining out of him. "Your… Your name… is Ian Hollard. The Spider", he rasped with what was dangerously close to the last of his breath. It was the final seal to the identification. "And now… Now you run."

For a few moments Ian stared at him with eyes that might've scared him if he'd had even a little bit more left to lose. Then the unit chief lifted his gun once more. Aimed, and fired.


Derek could quite easily count exactly how many times they'd almost lost Spencer. But somehow, miraculously, the genius always fought his way back to them. Back to life.

As the car Aaron was driving sped towards Joseph and Anya's former house he could only pray that their youngest would keep hanging on, one more time.

We're coming, his mind sent out. Like there'd been any actual hope that Spencer might hear. We're right here and we're coming, so you'd better hang on tight.

Aaron took a turn that was nothing short of hazardous but none of the passengers complained. They were running out of time, Spencer was running out of time. They could afford to break a couple of traffic rules.

It seemed to take ages although the actual passed time couldn't be longer than fifteen minutes. The house that towered before them was dark and clearly abandoned. It was very easy to believe that it was haunted.

Derek took a deep breath, then jumped out of the vehicle as fast as he possibly could. Fully ready to barge in. To do pretty much anything. Only to find a single sound halting his steps violently.

A gunshot from the house pierced the eerie quiet.


Emily, who was usually in a stone hard control over herself, nearly dropped her cell phone when a gunshot sealed the conversation she'd been recording. Uninvited tears filled her eyes and a horrific taste filled her mouth while one of her hands flew to her lips. "Damnit, Spencer…!"

It took longer than it should've but eventually she found enough sense of mind to function. Her hands were far from steady while she typed a brief, hasty message. Her heart hammered as she sent the words and the recording to a carefully selected group.

'New target.'

The following moments, which were full of ache and regret, dragged on painfully slowly. Emily held her head in both of her hands, desperately trying to get herself back into control. To tell herself that she'd done everything she could. That she did what Spencer begged of her. Nothing more, nothing less.

She should've done more.

Emily shivered when the cell phone came to life all of a sudden. She inhaled a deep breath, then took the item. During those motions the device gave six more signs of life. The messages came raining in at a breathtaking speed. More of them than she could keep track of.

Each of them was a picture of a spider, a confirmation of a accepted mission.

Emily grinned icily, feeling a brief brush of sick satisfaction in the middle of grief and agony. Good. With how many guns there were trained on him Ian wouldn't live long.

Emily wiped her eyes although more moisture appeared instantly, then switched off the cell phone that announced twenty-two new messages. As soon as she had she dropped it to the floor and crushed it with her heel, making sure to destroy the SIM-card. She'd be damned if she let Ian's men track down her or any of her new allies.

The Spider's Web would go down for Spencer, she'd make sure of that.

There, much too quickly, it was all done. With her heart tearing apart and thudding in her chest she made sure that Henry was still fast asleep, then rushed to the apartment's tiny bathroom and locked the door. Finally giving herself the chance to break down a little.


Chief Lincoln Rhyes was expecting a lot of things when he approached Joseph Bell's house with some of his best men, his heart fluttering and dancing with excitement. He expected it to be the high point of his career. His ticket to glory.

Well, he didn't expect that the FBI had gotten there first. He growled, his jawline tightening. "Never mind the feds", he adviced his men. "They have no business working on this case, anyway. Let's just nail the arrest and get this over with."

Upon walking into the building with his gun held high, his steps full of certainty and determination, Lincoln was too hasty to miss the obvious threat. He jumped a step backwards at the sight of a gun pointed at him. "Christ…!"

Aaron Hotchner lowered his gun, albeit suspiciously reluctantly. "I could've shot you", the unit chief, who seemed tense and pained, snarled. "What are you doing here?"

Lincoln gave the taller man his most authoritative look. "I am here to arrest a murderer. Your team, on the other hand, has no business setting a foot here. So beat it. Now."

David Rossi also came to view, holstering his gun with a badly shaking hand. The agent's eyes seemed suspiciously red and puffy. "He's in the bedroom. Both of them are", the older man snarked. "Go on, arrest him all you like."

At the moment Lincoln's mind was too busy with other matters for alarm bells to go off. So he advanced, ordering a couple of his men to keep an eye on the agents while the rest followed him. His steps were nothing short of confident until he reached the bedroom's doorway and froze.

There on the floor lay Spencer Reid, his face badly bruised and a heavily bleeding gunshot wound right above his abdomen. Derek Morgan was doing whatever he could to help his teammate but didn't seem to be getting a lot results. Not far away lay a cell phone that'd been pierced by a bullet. And also not far was Joseph Bell, killed by a single gunshot but otherwise unharmed.

"I… I tried", Spencer rasped although talking sounded painful. The man swallowed loudly, his eyelids fluttering. "For Diane and Anya… Everyone…"

Derek's voice was more than a little choked while the agent kept applying pressure, futilely attempting to slow down the steady, merciless flow of blood. "We know, Reid. We know. About… About Anya. And your daughter."

Lincoln's eyes widened when pieces began to slide together. While understanding started to sink in, slowly yet surely. The entire sick nightmare was finally clearing out.

The baby that was murdered in this very room… Spencer's true relationship with Anya… Bell's true nature…

Quite a web, he had unfolding in front of him.

"We know", Derek repeated in what wasn't much more than a whisper. Far from enough to reach the younger man's rapidly fading mind. "And I… I'm sorry. So sorry. But Bell… He's dead. See? You did it." The mocha skinned man attempted to smile but it didn't come out right. "You did it, Reid. It's over."

Spencer shook his head. Fought against the darkness that was pulling him under with sheer willpower. The man's barely open, hazy and pained eyes were full of such despair that didn't seem to belong to this world. "… not yet …", was all that carried to Lincoln's ears. It sounded far more like a prayer than it should've.

Derek's eyes were far from dry while the agent continued his desperate efforts to save his friend. "Shh, it's okay. You'll be fine, I promise. Don't worry. Just… Just calm down and stay with me. You'll be just fine."

Spencer, however, kept struggling although the efforts seemed to be growing increasingly weak. For a moment the younger man's head lolled to side until he caught a hold of himself. Choked out a one more word. "… Hollard …"

Lincoln's heart stopped for a couple of seconds. He'd already screwed up once when listening to Joseph Bell's sob story and sending all forces after an innocent man. If it'd be revealed that a apparently dirty CIA unit chief had fooled him as well…

Derek, of course, couldn't understand his friend's warning. A frown appeared to the man's face. "Who's Hollard?" When there was no response a desperate, blood stained hand tapped the barely conscious agent's cheek. "Reid, stay with me! Who's Hollard?"

But Spencer had reached the limit of his strength right there. There was a one more, moan mixed gasp. And then, with more than a little apology in his eyes, the agent who'd fought all alone for a long time finally gave in and slipped under.

Terror rose in the room's already heavy air. "Reid?" Derek's call received no response. The older man's eyes were wide and unnaturally bright with nearly overflowing tears. "Spencer! Don't you dare do this to me… Eyes open! Stay with me!"

But Spencer wasn't listening.

Lincoln approached a step. The floor creaked underneath him, announcing his arrival, and instantly Derek's eyes swept towards him. For a while he feared for his life. "What the hell are you doing here?" the agent growled. "You have no right to come near him!"

Lincoln considered taking a one more step forward. In the end he decided againt it. "I know that he's innocent. I know." He glanced towards the bleeding man. "If there's something…"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

There was no telling what might've happened if Aaron and David hadn't barged into the room just then, almost right alongside with approaching sirens. "We secured the house. It's safe for them to come in." The unit chief's gaze then fell on Spencer's unresponsive form. It was impossible to name all the emotions dancing in the man's eyes. "How is he?"

Derek swallowed hard. The man's hands were shaking while still struggling to stem the seemingly unstoppable stream of blood. "Hanging on."

All of a sudden Lincoln found himself facing a lot of heated, unwanted attention. David's left eyebrow twitched hazardously. "Still here?"

Lincoln shrugged. "This is my case. Where else would I be?"

Aaron's eyes were nothing short of murderous when they glared at him. "You… You came here to boost your career." Aaron hissed those words through gritted teeth. "Well… I'm going to make sure that your career will never, ever recover from this."

Lincoln felt a sharp slash of ache, somewhere deep inside. He lifted his chin a little, his eyes narrowing. "I was only doing my job, agent Hotchner. Nothing more, nothing less."

He might've very well ended up being attacked physically. But, by some twist of fickle fate, it was Spencer who saved him. Because while the sounds of paramedics rushing through the house echoed Derek's sharp cry froze everything in the room. "He stopped breathing!"


TBC


A/N: Gosh…! I've gotta admit that I'm feeling just a bit breathless in the aftermath of this. Poor Reid! Poor… entire team, really, and Prentiss! We'll see how things move on from here…

Soooo…. Thoughts? Comments? Do let me know! There's a lil' box down below for all possible rants…

I've reeeeeally gotta dash on. Until next time, ya all! I really hope that I'll see you then.

Take care!


Sniper: Let's hope that Spencer makes it through this! And that his team makes it there QUICKLY.

I REALLY hope that what's to come turns out worth the waiting!

Merci beaucoup for the review!


Patricia: I've gotta admit that I'm quite happy to hear the chapter moved you so. (beams) But gosh, Reid sure is a real hero, isn't he? Let's hope that he'll manage to save himself now that he saved all those others.

Awww, happy belated birthday! I'm glad that I was able to give a present that pleased you. (grins)

HUGE thank yous for the review!


Guest: GOSH! You can't even imagine how happy you just made me. I REALLY hope that what's to come will please you as much.

Monumental thank yous for the review!