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LYSSA'S HOUSE

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23

Reid and Lyssa had just finished dinner and Reid was in the kitchen, washing the few dishes that the two of them had used. This wasn't at all unusual, the young man always did the cleaning when the two of them had dinner at Lyssa's house. He viewed it as only fair that he do the cleaning seeing as she always did the cooking.

When he finished with the clean-up Reid made his way in to the living room where Lyssa was sitting on the sofa with her little white dog. Lyssa didn't immediately realize that Reid had entered the room and as he walked toward her he picked up on the fact that she looked somewhat depressed. This wasn't an altogether new occurrence; Reid had noticed that his girlfriend had seemed down for the last couple of weeks however Lyssa hadn't brought up the subject and had been attempting to hide this fact from him.

"Are you okay Lyssa?" Reid asked in a quiet voice as he sat down on the sofa beside her.

"I'm fine," Lyssa replied quickly, too quickly.

"Please tell me what's wrong," Reid pleaded, gazing at her with a concerned expression in his brown eyes.

"There's nothing to tell," Lyssa maintained, looking away and refusing to make eye contact with him.

"I know that's not true," Reid said, clearly reading the signals that told him that something was wrong with her. "You've been acting weird for a couple of weeks and I'm worried. Please talk to me."

"Look I said it's nothing," Lyssa snapped, turning to glare at him, her blue eyes flashing fire. "Could you just drop it Spencer? I don't need you to profile me."

Realizing that he'd inadvertently upset her, Reid held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I-I'm sorry Lyssa. I didn't mean to upset you."

Lyssa shook her head, the angry expression that her eyes had held a few moments before now replaced with one of guilt. "You don't have to apologize. Don't worry about it Spencer. You know, I don't think that I'm going to be very good company tonight and I'd kinda like to be alone."

Reid nodded, taking the hint. He got to his feet and gazed down at her. "Is it okay if I call you tomorrow?"

Lyssa nodded, offering Reid a forced and half-hearted smile. "Yea Spencer, I'd like that."

"Alright. I'll call you." With that Reid turned and began to walk toward the door however he paused as he heard Lyssa call out softly, "I love you Spencer."

Pausing for one brief moment Reid turned back to her, a sad look in his brown eyes. "I love you too Lyssa." Reid then turned and walked the couple of feet that separated him from the front door. Reid quickly left the house and walked across the front yard to his car where he stopped to gaze back at the house. Something was definitely wrong with Lyssa but even with all of his training as a profiler Reid was unable to put his finger on exactly what it was.

Lyssa listened to the sound of the car's engine as Reid left her house. She'd hurt his feelings, she knew this for a fact, and this knowledge only added to a mental burden that was almost too much for her to bare. Finally succumbing to the tears that had been threatening to fall for most of the day, Lyssa curled up into a ball on her sofa and sobbed.

The little white dog, Shiro-chan, whimpered and pressed his nose up against her arm.

The tears didn't lessen as Lyssa wrapped her arms around Shiro-chan and held him in a tight embrace. "I don't know what to do Shiro-chan. I love Spencer but. . ."

Lyssa's voice broke as her thoughts flashed back to the one thing that she was trying so desperately to forget.

After leaving his girlfriend's house Reid made his way back to his own apartment and when he arrived he immediately set up his laptop computer. He needed someone to talk to and he could only hope that his friend was currently on line.

FBI PROFILER: Do you have time to talk Charlie?

MATH WHIZ: I always have time for you Spencer. What's the problem?

FBI PROFILER: It's Lyssa.

MATH WHIZ: Trouble in paradise?

FBI PROFILER: She's been acting strange for a couple of weeks, like she's depressed, but she won't tell me what's wrong and even with all my knowledge about profiling I can't figure out what's bothering her.

MATH WHIZ: I'm sorry Spencer but I don't think that I'm the best person to be getting advice about this kind of situation from. Maybe one of your colleagues at the BAU would be more suitable to have this conversation with.

FBI PROFILER: It's okay Charlie. I just needed to talk to someone, I wasn't really looking for advice.

MATH WHIZ: I see. Well are you doing okay?

FBI PROFILER: Actually I'm really worried about her. In all the time that I've known Lyssa she's always been so happy and outgoing but lately she's been like a completely different person.

BAU HEADQUARTERS

THURSDAY JANUARY 24

When Reid arrived at the BAU headquarters for work the next day he was there in body only. His mind was still focused on the problem concerning Lyssa and he was racking his brain in an attempt to come up with a solution when he didn't even know what the problem was.

"REID!"

Reid immediately snapped out of his thoughts and gazed up at Hotchner, who looked somewhat annoyed. "Sorry sir. What were you saying?"

"Meeting in the conference room," Hotchner informed his young subordinate, his right eyebrow raised a small degree as he gazed down at the younger man. "Listen Reid is there something going on that you'd like to talk about?"

Reid shook his head. "No sir. I just zoned out there for a minute. I apologize."

This said, Reid quickly got to his feet and made his way to the stairs that led up to the small landing that housed the conference room. He had absolutely no desire to go into the details of his relationship issues with his boss.

"Are you okay boy genius?" Morgan asked as Reid fell into the chair beside him at the conference table. There was a concerned look on Morgan's face that Reid didn't want to see. He absolutely hated the fact that his colleagues could always tell when something was bothering him.

"I'm fine," Reid replied, attempting to hide his mental anguish from his 'big brother'.

"Sure," Morgan said, not the slightest bit convinced that the kid was telling him the truth but deciding not to press the issue.

"Alright guys," Hotchner said as he entered the conference room and closed the door behind himself. "The local PD in Jackson Mississippi have requested our assistance with a series of kidnappings. The first two ransoms were paid by the families however the victims were killed anyway. Now a third victim has been taken and this time it's the daughter of the mayor. No one has any idea about who the kidnapper or kidnappers could be. Wheel's are up in twenty."

This said, Hotchner left the room to finish up some last minute paper work before the team departed for Mississippi, leaving the rest of the BAU to quickly gather up their things for the trip. Still somewhat preoccupied by his thoughts about Lyssa, Reid misjudged the distance between himself and his desk and as a result he bumped his head on the corner as he bent down to grab his ready bag.

"Oww!" the young genius exclaimed, rubbing his head and feeling like an idiot.

"Are you sure you're okay kid?" Morgan asked, focusing a scrutinizing gaze on the young agent.

"Wonderful," Reid replied, his voice simply dripping with sarcasm.

"You know, it's a good thing that our psych evals were last month," Morgan said in a thoughtful voice. "Cause I don't think you'd be able to pass yours at the moment."

"Failing that would be just great," Reid muttered, hoping that what he was about to say would succeed in taking Morgan's mind off his lack of focus. "I'm lucky I survived my physical fitness eval. I absolutely hate the obstacle course. I'm still having nightmares about it."

"Oh come on," Morgan said, taking the bait and changing topics. "It's fun."

"For you maybe," Reid said, rolling his eyes in the direction of his colleague. He knew this was completely childish but at the moment he really didn't care. "You were a jock in high school and college. I never was. I considered it a small miracle when I managed to make it into the FBI's training academy in the first place."

Less than a half an hour later the members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit were on board a Learjet bound for Jackson Mississippi. Each of the team members had been given a folder containing all the pertinent information about the case and they were each skimming through the contents before Hotchner called an official team meeting. Typically Reid was the first to finish reading the report, which he instantly memorized due to his eidetic memory, and when he completed this task the young agent pulled out his laptop. While he waited for the others to finish with the report, Reid quickly drafted an email to Lyssa.

Lyssa. We caught another case and I have to go to Mississippi. I don't know when I'll have time to call you but if you need anything you can call me. I'll do my best to make time for you. Spencer.

"Alright guys," Hotchner called out, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Let's go over what we know about the case, see if we can sort a few things out before we arrived in Jackson."

"Well," Morgan said, his eyes briefly returning to the open folder that he held in his hands. "We know that all three victims are female and all are from wealthy families. They also all attend the same private academy, Wellington Prep."

"The ransom notes were typed on a computer and give basic information about the victims and demands for a ransom," Prentiss said. "The same amount in all three cases; one million dollars."

"The first two victims were killed once the ransom was received," Hotchner said, his tone serious. "This suggests a certain level of organization and intelligence from our UnSub. He wants to make sure that no one can link him to the kidnappings so he kills his victims once his demands have been met."

LEARJET

THURSDAY JANUARY 31

The pieces of the puzzle had finally fallen in to place and the members of the BAU were able to lead the local law enforcement officers to the UnSub responsible for abducting the three girls. Their arrival came not a moment too soon for the third victim, the mayor's daughter. The UnSub had been on the verge of murdering her when his front door was kicked in by Morgan. Thankfully the UnSub had been taken into custody without incident and now the members of the BAU were on board a Learjet bound for home.

Everyone on the team was exhausted, having been working sixteen hour days, and most of them were lounging around either asleep or close to it. The only one who seemed to be wide awake was Dr. Spencer Reid. Reid was just as exhausted as his colleagues however now that the pressures of the case had been lifted the young agent found that his thoughts were once again occupied by his concern for Lyssa. He hadn't had the opportunity to call her since the BAU had been assigned the kidnapping case and he found himself hoping that she was okay.

"Spencer, are you alright?"

Pulled from his thoughts by the soft voice Reid glanced up and saw Gideon standing in the aisle. Startled by the question the young man nevertheless managed a nod.

Not convinced that Reid was telling him the truth Gideon sat down in the chair across from his young colleague and gazed over at him intently.

"I know what you're thinking Gideon," Reid said in a quiet voice, hoping that this would be a quiet conversation. "And you're wrong."

"Really?" Gideon asked, his tone not the slightest bit condescending. "And what am I thinking Spencer?"

"You're thinking that something is bothering me," Reid told Gideon. "You're thinking that I've been distracted from my work because something is wrong and that's not the truth."

Gideon nodded, knowing that something was indeed wrong with the young man but realizing that Reid wasn't going to tell him what it was. "Well, if you do need to talk about anything you know you can come to me right Spencer?"

Reid nodded.

"Alright," Gideon said, getting to his feet and returning to the seat that he'd occupied earlier.

REID'S APARTMENT

THURSDAY JANUARY 31

As soon as Reid arrived back home he pulled out his laptop and immediately checked his email. He had a couple of new emails, one of which was from Charlie, the other from Lyssa. Reid opened the email from his best friend first.

Spencer. Send me an email as soon as you get back to Virginia. Charlie.

"I wonder what exactly Charlie wants," Reid thought to himself as he moved on to the email from his girlfriend.

Spence. I'm really, really sorry about what happened the other day and I'd really like to make it up to you. Please give me a call when you get back to Virginia, no matter what time it is. Love, Lyssa.

"That seems really strange," Reid thought to himself as he closed the email from Lyssa. The young man pulled his cell phone from his pocket, flipped it open and quickly dialed Lyssa's number.

"Spence!" Lyssa's voice exclaimed over the phone. "You're back?"

"I'm back," Reid said quietly.

"Listen Spence," Lyssa said. "I'm really sorry about the other day and I'd like to make it up to you. Would you like to come over to my place for dinner?"

"That sounds nice."

"Good. I can have dinner ready by seven but you can come over whenever you're ready."

"I'll be there in a little while."

"Alright. Love you Spence."

"I love you too, Lyssa."

Reid flipped his phone closed and placed it back in his pocket. He briefly debated emailing Charlie however he decided that it could wait until after his dinner with Lyssa. The young man took a quick shower and then left his apartment.

When Reid arrived at Lyssa's house he quickly got out of his car and made his way across the yard to the house. The young man knocked lightly on the door and then stepped back. Moments later the door opened and Lyssa motioned for Reid to come inside. The young man obliged and as soon as he was over the threshold Lyssa threw her arms around him.

"I missed you," Lyssa said, pulling away from Reid after giving him a quick kiss.

"I missed you too," Reid said, slightly shocked by her behavior. Lyssa was acting like her old self again and Reid was curious as to what exactly had happened to her while he'd been gone. However, curious thought he definitely was, he had no intentions of asking her what was going on. He still hadn't recovered fully from the last time.

"Dinner's almost ready," Lyssa said, giving him another quick hug and a kiss. "You can go in to the den and play with Shiro-chan while I finish up if you want."

"Alright," Reid said and made his way in to the den while Lyssa returned to the kitchen. "Hey Shiro," he said to the little white dog who was lying on the sofa. The dog raised his head and barked once, as if in greeting. Reid sat down on the sofa beside Shiro-chan and absently ran his hand through the pup's silky fur and as he did Reid thought about Lyssa. It appeared that she had worked through whatever problems she'd had the last time Reid had seen her, which was a good thing for her, but Reid was still curious about what had caused the personality change.

Reid was still lost in thought when Lyssa sat down on the sofa beside him. She glanced down at Reid's hand, which was still buried in the dog's fur, and smiled. "You and Shiro-chan seem to be bonding quite nicely. And you thought that he wouldn't like me."

Reid chuckled softly to himself. She never missed an opportunity to remind him that he'd been afraid that the dog would hate him. "You were right and I was wrong. There I said it. Now are you happy?"

Lyssa smiled softly and nodded. "Yea I'm happy."

Reid heard something almost wistful in her voice but before he could ask her about it Lyssa abruptly grabbed him by the hand and jumped to her feet, pulling him along with her. "Come on Spencer, let's eat."

Reid sighed as he allowed Lyssa to lead him in the direction of the dining room. There was still something troubling Lyssa, she was just trying harder to hide it from him. "Are you doing alright Lyssa?" he asked in a quiet voice as the two of them sat down at the dinner table.

"I'm fine," Lyssa replied casually, offering Reid a reassuring smile. "Don't worry so much Spence."

Reid didn't look convinced however he allowed the subject to drop, not willing to upset her by pressing the issue.

TBC. . .

A/N- Hope you enjoyed this chapter.