A/n I just wanted to thank everyone that's stuck with this story and continues to feed the muse with your kind reviews.

Disclaimer: see my profile

Ben pulled his dark green Ford Explorer into the driveway of the little rental house Anna had moved into after coming back to Atlanta.

The house was small, wooden, and painted white with a forest green roof. It was set back from the driveway with a fairly large front lawn. He parked the SUV and got out of the car. Anna had fallen asleep during the drive home, so he carried her into the house and to the bedroom he shared with her nearly every night.

He'd made the bed that morning and after lying her on top of the dark blue comforter, he pulled off the shoes she wore and put them in the closet.

"Hm… Ben… What's goin' on…?" She slurred.

"Just get some sleep… You'll be okay. I'm going to watch over you."

"Kay," She turned over.

He took out his phone and left the room to make a phone call while she slept.

--

They had been looking at everything for hours, going over the old cases as well as the new murders. All of them had happened in exactly the same way. The oldest daughter stalked, and then kidnapped. Her family killed the same time as the abduction. It could only happen with two people.

Hotch sighed and dropped the picture he'd been looking at. They knew from Anna that the killer had a partner then, so he must have one now. Who was it?

"Morgan… Did Garcia have any more information on who the partner was for the first set of kidnappings?"

"We have a name, but Penelope is drawing a blank on him. I'm sure it's a fake name, hiding something important. If we had the identity of the killer we might be able to make an educated guess. She's going to keep digging. If anyone can find the connection, even after all these years, its Penelope."

"Let's get the locals together and go over what we know."

"After lunch Hotch, I just called in an order." JJ said.

She could bully Hotch about food as they'd all skipped breakfast and he was hungry as they all were. He rubbed at the back of his head and dropped the rest of his file on the table.

"Okay… We'll talk after lunch."

Reid sat at one end of table looking intently at the crime scene photos from the burned out house where Anna had been found. The home had been at the edge of the woods and there were tress surrounding the blackened mess of the home.

He could smell the scent of rotted leaves and his stomach turned over. The very faint smell of fish hearts burning on a stove combined with the smell of his own fear made his hands shake so hard, he had to sit on them so the others wouldn't see.

Choose someone to die?

The voice of Rafael spoke up in his head, and he could hear the sound of metal on metal as a gun was being cocked and ready to fire.

I can't… I won't choose!

He sounded so pathetic, he should have been stronger. He should have sounded tougher and in control. Hotch would have been stronger and so would Morgan, or Rossi, or any of the team but him. He was weak like Charles Henkel said.

Choose Anna… She should have died twelve years ago. She's coming between you and Emily. You love Emily….

The picture was swimming in front of his eyes and his breathing was speeding up. The palms of his hands were sweating against the chair and his cords.

Better yet, choose Emily… She doesn't trust you and you know it. She wants to control you and tie you down to a family that you don't want.

"Spencer… What's wrong?"

He looked up at Emily, and only unhappiness and concern for him was in her big dark eyes. One hand was soft on his shoulder and she gave him a small smile.

"I- I'm okay…

"You're white as a sheet." She whispered.

"I… I j-just need some coffee… I'm tired."

He jumped up from his chair and almost ran out of the conference room. Emily was frozen to her chair, unable to make the simple move to go after him. She didn't see Hotch staring at her or Rossi shaking his head, or Morgan grinning at her.

--

"Damn it…"

"Usually when you get to the rim of the cup, you stop pouring." JJ said from behind her friend.

"Really… Thanks for enlightening me," Reid said while attempting to clean the coffee off the cuff of his dark grey dress shirt.

"You're welcome…" JJ grabbed one of the dark blue cups from the table and took the coffee pot from Reid's lax hand. "You're going to spill the rest of it!"

"Sorry… I guess I wasn't paying attention."

"What's wrong Spence?" She filled her cup and reached for the creamer.

He dropped in his third teaspoon of sugar and was going for a forth when JJ put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Hey… You're going to go into a diabetic coma if you don't knock off the sugar."

She took his free hand and pulled him into an empty interrogation room, ignoring the stares of other cops and one janitor that was mopping the opposite room.

"Okay… what's the matter with you and Emily?"

She was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and tapping her foot. For a minute she looked taller than he and he took a step back. Then everything snapped back into place and she was just looking at him with real compassion.

"She doesn't trust me and I don't know what I'm going to do about it." He blurted it out like the words had been bottled up and someone had shaken the bottle till it exploded.

"That's not true Spence… We all know that she loves you. She trusts you more than anyone else in the world."

Reid put down his coffee on the dingy steel table that sat in the middle of the room. "No… She used to trust me, but ever since I met Anna, she's become… I don't know JJ. I'm not an expert on women. I don't know what to do or say." His voice had climbed up to a squeak and he was pacing the small room.

"Spence… You don't have to be an expert on women. None of us are experts on relationships, we all muddle through… The point is that you need to talk to her. You need to make her tell you what's really bothering her."

He just looked at her like she was speaking in a foreign language. She laughed and grabbed onto his arm to stop his ceaseless pacing around the small room. "Look at you, you're in here talking to me with no problem and I've seen you talk to Anna like she was your best friend. Do the same thing with Emily. She's the one that you love, so stop listening to that big brain of yours that tells you that you can't do it, and follow your heart instead."

He was frowning, but at least his face wasn't white anymore. Whatever had been bothering him in the conference room wasn't just troubles with Emily. She knew that being back here had probably hit him hard, but he wouldn't talk about it and she wouldn't push him.

"Go on then… Go talk to Emily." She urged him, pushing him to the door.

"I can't JJ… Not know," He argued.

"Spence, you can't just ignore the problem," She countered.

"I'll talk to her, but it has to wait. I can't let this get in the way of the case. We have a little girl to find."

"I know Spence I just think that if you wait, it will only make things worse."

He turned around and smiled at her. She wondered how anyone could resist that smile, especially Emily. "I'll talk to her when this is over. I promise…" He said and then he was gone.

--

When Anna awoke several hours had passed. Her head felt better, but she was still very groggy from the medication. Maybe coffee would help and she could get back to work. Hotch was going to regret bringing her in on this if she didn't get her act together and get to work.

She ran her hands through her "bed hair," and stumbled to the bathroom. She looked at her face and almost laughed at the big red mark on the side of her face and the creases from the blanket. Her blouse was wrinkled too. She was going to have to change clothes.

What time was it? Had she been out all day? Had the team found anything? She should call Slim… No, it was better to call Hotch. Emily was furious with her and calling Slim would only make things worse. She brushed her teeth and then went to find her phone.

Ben was entering the bedroom at the same time she fished her phone out of the bag she always carried. She was trying to dial it when he pulled it out of her hands.

"Hey…"

"What are you doin'?"

"I'm checkin' in with the team," She said.

"I just talked ta Hotch. They don't have anything new ta go on." He was smiling at her and his green eyes twinkled.

"But I should talk ta him and -"

"No… I brought ya some mint tea, which ya love."

It was iced mint tea, which most people didn't like, but she loved it. She should get back to work, but she was thirsty and still groggy. Maybe this would snap her out of it. So she drank it down and Ben put an arm around her.

"It's after five pm… You've slept the day away. It's too late ta go back ta work now. I'm goin' ta make ya something ta eat."

She should get back to work, but her brain was still fuzzy and the tea had been great. Her stomach was rumbling too. Maybe food would be the best thing to get her brain to clear.

Several minutes went by and she tried to get up off the bed, but her muscles wouldn't cooperate for some reason. She was getting really dizzy, and the room seemed to elongate and then snap back at her suddenly like it was a rubber band pulled out of shape.

"Ben…" She tried to yell, but it came out as a whisper.

Someone came into the room and she looked up. It was him! She tried to scream, but her mouth wouldn't work. She was so dizzy. What was he doing here? She had to get to the phone and call for back up. How could he be here? He was somewhere else with his victim. He would never leave Carrie alone, would he?

"What're ya doin' here…" She whispered when he came closer. "I don't want ya here… Ya can't be here!"

His face was right in front of her and he looked exactly the same as he had that night he took her. She tried to scream again, but it was just a wheezy whisper. He smiled at her just like he had all those years ago.

"Don't worry baby… We're going ta make everything right."

Ben picked her up and she was so weak she couldn't fight him as he carried her out of the house. "That's right baby… Soon you will be back where ya belong."