Authors Note: Thanks to everyone for their feedback and their suggestions. I appreciate everyone who's reading even though the alerts aren't working. Please review if you like the story or if you don't let me know.
She watched him arrow the SUV into its parking space in front of the apartment building, and get out into the night, slamming the truck door. He jogged to the door, unlocked it and entered the building without looking back.
She sat there fuming. She thought she was used to his hot temper and his tantrums, but he was acting like a child, and now he had forgotten she was in the car. Well… she'd just remain where she was. She refused to chase after him and beg him to confide in her.
She watched the light come on in the living room and she waited. The night was cool but not unbearably so. Her eyes looked unseeingly into the light of the oncoming traffic. Maybe they had made a mistake. After all, they barely knew each other when the shit hit the fan at home, and then she'd pushed him aside to deal with it. In the heat of getting through that perhaps she'd made a mistake taking him into her childhood bed. God knew it had been fantastic, better than her wildest fantasies, but maybe it had happened too fast. They'd never gone out on a proper date, they'd just come back to New York, and spent every waking minute together, and now she was pregnant with his baby
Oh how she loved his child, and she loved the father of her child too, but when he acted like a jackass, she wondered what she'd ever seen in him. She sighed and looked back at the door to the apartment, and nearly screamed in surprise. He was standing next to the window staring at her with such a look of misery, that she immediately forgot all of her doubts.
She opened the door and got out. He took her hand and led her up the stairs to their apartment. As soon as the door was closed, he was on her, kissing her like he hadn't kissed her since - well ever actually. His breath was hot on her neck, and she shivered at the sensation. He smelled like coffee, and the pizza they'd had for dinner. They were smells she'd come to associate with him and she felt herself getting wet.
She didn't try to talk to him; you couldn't talk to him when he was like this. When he lifted her into his arms, her mouth went dry and her heart began to race. He strode quickly into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. He stood for a long time just looking at her, and her heart beat so fast her face began to flush. Her hands were sweating. She didn't know how it was possible, but it seemed like one moment he was looking at her and the next their clothes were on the floor, and she was taken over by him. She came so fast and hard that mere screams couldn't do it justice, so she whimpered and lay there shuddering underneath him.
He rolled off her and when she turned to look at him, she saw tears rolling down his cheeks. She felt a fear greater than any she'd known well up inside of her. What had happened, he never cried, at least not over trivial things?
She brushed away a tear and he captured her hand in his. "I'm sorry Montana, did I hurt you?"
"God, no… it was wonderful, or didn't I make that clear enough for you cowboy."
When this remark didn't earn her a smile, she said fearfully. "Danny what's wrong, you've been so angry all day today. Why don't you want to sleep?"
He got out of bed and strode up and down the room. "I'm fine Montana; I just want ta work the case and find Peyton. The feebs don't seem ta be helpin us at all."
"Be straight with me Danny, what's really bothering you?"
"I just tole ya what's botherin me."
"No you didn't, please Danny; I thought we were done hiding from each other."
That stopped him. He approached her side of the bed and she scooted over. He got back into the bed, and she kissed his cheek.
"Please tell me why you're hurting baby. I can't stand to see you like this."
So he told her everything, the terrible nightmare in vivid detail, and her heart broke for him. "Honey, nothing happened to me. I'm here with you and so is the baby, we ain't goin nowhere. She said this last bit in a pretty fair imitation of his accent and finally he laughed.
"That was a lousy Staten Island drawl Montana; you better work on it before I take ya to da old neighborhood."
She pretended to be offended, but inside she relaxed at bit. "I'm sorry," he said his mouth against her shoulder, sending new shivers through her abdomen. "I couldn't bear it if anythin happened to you or junior."
"Nothing will happen to us, I can take care of myself, and I have a great looking guy from Staten Island to watch my back."
"Always, he murmured, pushing her back on the bed and this time it was sweet, slow and wonderful.
Afterwards, he slept and she was the one who lay awake thinking. She looked once more at his careworn face before wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes. She cursed loudly when her cell phone rang 30 minutes later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emily was dozing lightly in the tub when her cell phone rang from its perch on the counter. She turned off the I pod she'd been listening to on low and sighed, so much for a few minutes of relaxation.
"Prentiss," she said testily.
"We need you downstairs in fifteen minutes Agent Prentiss; there's been another related murder."
"Ok sir, I'll be right down."
Damn it why did the psychos always strike after eleven o'clock. Why couldn't they sleep like everyone else?
She got out of the tub, dried off and grabbed her robe. She pulled it on and turned to drain the tub. It had been fun while it lasted.
She entered the main room and began to dress. Somehow that nice relaxed feeling after a long soak in the tub was lost when you had to get dressed and go back out again. She snatched her badge and gun off the small table at one end of the room, and pulled on a lightweight jacket. She stopped halfway out the door realizing how quiet it was. She went to the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. It was going to be another long night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJ exited the bathroom in a cloud of perfumed steam. She loved a good long hot shower, and she was looking forward to a nice long night's sleep. Spencer was already down for the count, laying on his back his arms thrown out to each side of him.
Despite what Morgan may say, they seldom stayed up all night making love while on a case. It was usually the truly brutal ones that prompted them to lose control of their hormones. This wasn't a particularly brutal case, but the sex had been frantic none the less. Which meant something other than the case was bothering Spence.
"Are you going to stand there staring into space, or are you coming back to bed."
She blinked, started in surprise, and looked down to see Spencer watching her.
"I thought you were asleep, babe."
"I know… but I can't tonight… not without you, come back to bed."
His tone was scaring her; Spencer was not the clingy type. She shed her robe and climbed back into bed, scooting up to him and tangling her legs with his. He wrapped his arms around her and she said, "Spill it Reid!"
"What, I just want to hold you, that's all."
"Uh huh… I know that look, what's wrong. Is this about the conversation we had earlier. If you really want to have a baby we can talk about it."
"No, that's not it. I mean, sure I'd like to make a baby with you one day, but not now."
"Then what's bothering you?"
"I'm scared; I don't want anything to happen to you."
"You mean, like something happened to Dr. Driscoll?"
He flushed and refused to meet her eyes. "I know it's silly but Detective Taylor loves her so much and look what happened. What if the un-sub decides to kill her?"
"You can't do anything at this precise moment to stop him, so stop torturing yourself. You guys will catch him, you always do."
"Hey… what's this 'you'll catch him you always do,' you're part of the team too, you know. Stop talking like we do all the work. He reached up and brushed a piece of hair from her forehead as he spoke.
She kissed him and he pulled her down on top of him once more. His hands tangled in her hair and his lips found her neck.
Her cell phone beeped and he groaned into her hair. "Don't answer it babe."
"You know we can't ignore it. What if something's happened with the case," she said.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
She slapped him lightly on the shoulder, and turned over to snatch her phone off the bedside table.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mac heard the FBI approach the new crime scene. He said to Gideon without turning around. "He killed a woman this time. What do you make of that?" Gideon crouched near the body.
She lay face up on the grass, which was greening up nicely after the snows melted. Mac thought maybe spring was here to stay and that knowledge made seeing this body all the more hideous. Hotch hunkered down beside Gideon.
"He took the eyes and cut her throat, but there's no sign of post mortem beating or stabbing this time."
"I know, he spent less time with her, and he crossed the gender line."
"He wants to make a point."
Gideon smiled at Aaron; it was a terrible smile, full of rage.
"Yeah, this is a pretty bold message, I'd say."
Mac was only half listening to the profilers. He was trying to do his job, but all he could think about was this wasn't Peyton. The relief he felt was so great he felt lightheaded and strangely euphoric. He knew he should feel pity for this woman; she'd been used to get to him if only for a few minutes.
As he went through her purse and looked at her ID, he realized that there were similarities to someone else he cared for that tempered his excitement and he felt angry again. What kind of person did such a thing? He moved his light down the woman's body, and noticed a piece of white paper underneath her left arm.
"Agent Gideon, take a look at this."
He held his light steady while Hotch and Gideon rolled the body on its side and Mac pulled an envelope sealed in a plastic bag out from under the body. His name was printed in block letters on the front of the envelope.
"Mac, what's goin on?" Danny asked as he and Lindsay snapped on gloves and walked toward the body.
"It's not Peyton; her ID says her name is Claire Pearlman. She's the same age as Claire was when she died."
"Jesus, Mac you gotta be shittin me. This bastard is one sick puppy."
"Yeah, that's why I got you two out of bed. I need your help on this one." The guilt he felt at dragging Danny out of bed after less than two hours was outweighed by the fact that he knew the younger man hadn't wanted to go home anyway. Still, people need rest and this man wasn't going to let them have it.
"Who's Claire," Reid asked as he studied the face of the woman.
"She was my wife; she was in the world trade center on 911."
"Oh… Ah - sorry I didn't… He flushed red and looked so guilty that Mac smiled at him.
"It's ok Dr Reid, it took me a long time, but I'm over the hurt."
"Morgan, get over to the hospital and see if Detective Flack can remember anything. We need to find this un-sub before he picks another surrogate to kill." Hotch said over his shoulder.
"Come on Mac let me go talk to Flack, instead of the -"
Lindsay elbowed Danny in the ribs and he glared at her. "What the hell!"
"Don't say what you were just thinking."
"How do you know what I was thinkin?"
Mac watched her roll her eyes and he almost laughed. He needed a laugh and maybe when this was over he'd take Peyton to a movie or an off Broadway play, as long as it was a comedy. No thrillers or horror movies after this.
"Danny please, just get this back to the lab. It looks like it might be a DVD or CD and if it is a recording, maybe we'll finally know what this bastard wants.
Danny snatched the envelope from Mac, bagged it and took off back to his SUV with Lindsay in tow. Mac saw the glances the FBI agents were giving each other and he said almost nonchalantly.
"Sorry, Danny Messer takes a bit of getting used to, but there's no one better for the job. He and Lindsay Monroe are one of the best CSI teams I have. If there's something to find, those two will find it."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone was back in the conference room and hour later. JJ remained behind at the scene trying to deal with the media that had landed with flashing camera bulbs, microphones and lousy attitudes. Reid continued to be amazed at the way she manipulated the press to help them. She'd have the tip hotlines buzzing by dawn.
He sat down last at the foot of the table and Emily was next to him. "Did you get any sleep," she asked with a knowing look or at least it looked knowing to him."
"Yeah, a little how about you?"
"No, I was in the middle of a lovely soak in the tub and listening to Berlioz. His Symphonia Fantastique is awesome."
"Say did you know that piece of music has been used in at least two scary movies, it -"
"Guys… you with us," Hotch said his eyebrows low over his eyes when he looked at them.
"Yes sir," they chorused and Hawkes tried not to laugh at Hotch's tone.
"There weren't no fingerprints on the envelope or on the DVD inside. I haven't seen it yet. I thought ya might want ta see it with the profilers" Danny said. He left off feebs but spoke with a clear dismissal in his voice.
"Yeah, let's see what this nutcase has to say."