The revised chapter! Thank you for reading everybody, hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait. * I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters.* (I do, however, own Ava Gideon, she is an original character and therefore all mine.)

Ava turned to walk out the apartment door the second time. She had kissed Spencer goodbye, and now just had to keep herself strong. She ran out the doors of the apartment building, sharply inhaling the biting morning air. She leaned against the building and willed her brain to focus. But she couldn't. She knew she had to say it. If not to him, then at least just to get out. She whispered to the morning air "I love you too." But all she found in response was the cold, unloving whistling of the morning air.

Ava really should have known better, but her brain was too clouded to think straight. Spencer would never just let her walk out the door to her death. So he ran to his car as soon as she left to tail her.

Ava silently contemplated their situation as she drove. Hotch had put him in charge of her safety. Who knows why? Maybe Hotch had always known Spencer was the only one who could ever really save Ava. Actually, if Hotch had it his way, Ava would be in protective custody, but even he had to admit that this UnSub seemed to notice every move Ava made. And if she were to disappear, it would cause a major psychological break, resulting in more murders. Ava was very specific about how she didn't want any fuss made over this. She distanced herself from her father, trying to keep him out of it as much as possible (despite the constant phone calls), and Hotch eventually agreed to not be too obsessive in front of her. But she never knew how he poured over the case file hundreds of times, looking for something that would keep her with them, keep her safe.

….

It was oddly nostalgic driving through her old hometown. It was a small town in Virginia near the water. Ava hadn't been back home in years. Her father had moved out of her childhood home after Ava started college, and Jason Gideon had moved to Washington D.C. She couldn't decide if it was being back home again or meeting with her stalker that was putting her on edge. She drove past the old oak tree she fell out of when she was eight and broke her arm. She saw the corner shop where she would go out for sundaes after school with her friends. She noticed the school yard where she had her first kiss…and instantly thought of Spencer. If she had it her way, he would be her last first kiss ever. Before she could allow her mind to wander too far with that thought, she drove into the beach parking lot. Stepping out of the car and onto the sand, she took off her sandals and felt the sand between her toes, treasuring the feeling of freedom while she could. The waves rolled in and out constantly, mimicking the rolling on of time, of life itself. She checked her watch. "10:56 a.m." She slowly walked towards The Beach Shack. It was literally a shack where ice cream was sold, a place Jason and Ava frequented throughout her childhood. She sat at the stool covered in faded pink material, tracing the tabletop carved with various initials, lovers' messages. The server came up to her and asked to take her order. She hesitated, but decided to order for old times' sake. She got the same thing throughout her entire childhood.

"I'll have a-"

"Chocolate ice cream on a cone." A foreign voice finished her sentence.

Ava froze. This was the man that had watched her entire life unravel. She leaned forward, attempting to get a glimpse at him. She expected to find a dark-clothed man, wearing a hoodie or a hockey mask. But he was none of these things. He was simply and casually dressed, wearing jeans and a short-sleeved button down. He looked perfectly normal. And that was terrifying.

"You." She said, unsure what to do or say.

"Walk with me." He said, pretending it was a question when they both knew it was an order. He offered her his hand, and she solemnly took it, clearing out of the shack before the server could return.

He led her out to the beach, and they walked together like anyone else, until he spoke.

Harding was just staring at the hem of her white dress caught in the wind.

"You are so beautiful." He reached out to touch the bare skin of her shoulder, but she quickly and thoughtlessly cringed and pulled away. This was the wrong response. Harding quickly grabbed her by the arm, leaving fingerprints that would bruise, marking her just like he wanted.

"Walk." He ordered. And for the first time in her life, Ava felt subdued, powerless. So she did as she was told.

They walked in silence, Harding keeping his grip on Ava's arm firm. Finally, Ava chanced a question.

"Why?" She asked intently.

"Excuse me?"

"Why? What do you want from me? I have nothing to offer you. What could you possibly gain from me? And why would you hurt all those people? Or Spencer?"

"How could you not know?" He snapped, whipping her in front of him. "You are my life, my love, my means of salvation. How could you choose him over me? You're supposed to be with me! I'm the one that has done everything for you, I'm the one that has loved you your entire life!" He squeezed her arm tighter. But Ava noticed something. He became more fierce when professing his love for her, not when accusing her of loving Spencer. While Ava was deep in thought over this, she made the mistake of letting her guard down for just a second. And just a second was all it took for Harding to gain an edge on her. He quickly punched her across the face, bloodying her lip just the slightest bit. And when Ava looked at him, he just looked back at her, mesmerized, loving, smiling.

Her pain was giving him pleasure. Textbook sadist. What made him like this?

By this time, they were nearing the end of the beach trail. Behind them was a dingy, abandoned cabin. Although everything was telling her not to go with him, Ava pushed the thought to the back of her head and continued on with her mission. He led her to the shack, pushing her down on a crate covered in old fish netting. He paced the floor, muttering things to himself, trying to make up his mind. Ava used this opportunity to take advantage of his weakness. It would be the best time to get answers out of him.

"Did you know my father?"

He continued to pace the floor, paying little attention to her. "Yes, he's good. I always found it interesting that the all-powerful Jason Gideon, the avenger of the innocent, would name his daughter "Avangeline", meaning 'avenger of angels'."

"What about your parents?" She asked.

"They loved me. They loved each other, the way I love you."

And then it clicked.

"They were both sadists. Love became synonymous with pain. They beat each other just as much as they beat you. Then one day, they took their 'love' too far…and killed each other. That's why a killer was never found. They did it, and you watched the whole thing."

Harding finally stopped. There was fire in his eyes. And ice filled Ava's veins. He lunged toward her, and in one swift movement, he grabbed her by the throat. He didn't have a hold on her for long, though. Ava was a trained FBI Agent. In 10 seconds she had him on the ground with her foot about to crush his windpipe. But then she heard him squeak out,

"I'll kill him." Spencer. The thought of Spencer being harmed is what threw Ava off guard. She momentarily lost her focus, and gave Harding the upper hand.

He had her pinned against the crate once more.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I just wanted to love you. But he got in the way. You refused to follow my plan. Why couldn't you just be with me? I'll give you a choice: him or you." She struggled against his weight, but he was too heavy for her. Before she could think, he whipped a knife out of his pocket and held it against her throat. Ava struggled and pushed against him, trying to force him away, but all she could think of was Spencer. As he choked her, images of Spencer filled her head, and she couldn't think straight, focus on how to defend herself. She searched for something to use in her defense, feeling around the floor as she struggled for her last few gasps of air. Her hand finally grasped a vase lying on the floor, and she quickly smashed it into his skull, shattering the vase into a million pieces. Air filled her lungs as she came to.

"Now I'm going to make it hurt." He said, his head bloodied.

He took the knife to her head, carefully lining up the tip to her hairline, just slightly to the right of the center. And all of a sudden, a blinding pain as he sliced a small incision on her forehead. Ava felt blood dripping down into her eye as she squirmed. He caught her hands, and slowly, torturously slit both of her wrists.

"You could have chosen me." He said, as he left her in the shack to bleed out.

Ava felt herself slipping slowly into oblivion. She thought of Spencer, trying to force herself to focus on the good things, in her last moments of thought. And finally, as she felt the drops of blood crawling down her wrists, pooling beside her, blackness filled her vision, and she had the incessant feeling of falling deep, deep under. Her once white dress was now mostly red, drenched in her blood.

She was only vaguely aware of pressure being applied to her wrists, strong hands pumping at her chest, trying to resuscitate her. It was Spencer. He was here now, the tears streaming down his face. He held her wrists tight, trying to stop the bleeding, his body stretched over hers.

"No, please, please, Ava, just stay with me…" He pleaded for the second time that day. The paramedics were on their way, but Spencer couldn't shake the overwhelming fear they wouldn't make it in time.

Spencer kept praying for her eyes to open, to tell him everything was going to be alright. But they didn't. Ava slipped further and further into unconsciousness. As the paramedics finally arrived, and they had to forcibly remove Spencer from putting pressure on her wrists, Ava's heartbeat slowed. Dying down to that of a whisper. To a breath. To a nothing.