A/N: Once again, all I can say is thank you. Your reviews are awesome!!!!

Enjoy, and please review!!!!

Sad A/N: As I'm sure many of you know, a great tragedy occurred on Monday, April 16. I would like to extend my condolences to the victims, their families, their friends, and anyone else who was affected by such a horrible event. In this chapter, I do have gun and suicide use that was planned long before Cho Seung-Hui opened fire at Virginia Tech. If this will affect you, please do not read any part that I have marked with asterisks (). I believe there is only one scene. After that, there is only a mention.

Once again, I don't own Criminal Minds. If I did, I would know the schedule of the rest of the season.

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"Do you think anything has happened yet?"

Morgan was usually the impatient one. Yet, here was Reid, pacing, worrying. He didn't care that every time stood up he felt dizzy. Reid just couldn't take sitting still any longer.

"Reid, it's been twenty minutes. By now, they're hopefully making it to Lakewood." Gideon reminded him. "Don't worry; she's going to be fine. The others will get her, Ana, and Sara and bring them back."

Reid nodded. It didn't stop him from pacing though.

"Reid, what's bothering you?" Gideon asked after many moments.

"Bothering? Um noth…"

'Dang it Gideon.' Reid thought furiously. Gideon's eyes looked so trusting that Reid knew he wouldn't be able to lie. 'I can't tell him about…everything. How is it that he can get me to almost always spill my guts? Wait, maybe I'll tell him something else. I could tell him the other less damaging worry.'

"It's just that, well, I think I didn't do everything to protect Kristy. I mean, I was an armed FBI agent who was taken down by a 44 year old man. I mean, I should have been in that chair Gideon while Kristy slept." Reid began as he watched the scene inside his head again. "I should have easily been able to stand up, draw my gun, get him to back down, and arrested him. Then, Kristy wouldn't have to be held hostage, and probably beaten. But I didn't Gideon. Instead, he got me. And because of me, he got Kristy."

"Reid, no one blames you for what happened."

"It's not just that Gideon. If I had been more careful, more through, I cold have prevented this from ever happening. Grimow slipped under our radar. And the DNA? It's obvious now looking at it that they are the same. If I had caught that last night, we could have gotten him then. There were so many opportunities that I could have seen something important, and I didn't." Reid was growing hysterical as he finished.

"Reid, we never caught Grimow because his connections to the lake were so well hidden. We didn't look at the right time period. And were you looking to see if Grimow was a chimera? No. You weren't looking for it; there's no way you would have seen it. Reid, what happened last, it's not like when we swarm a place and we have our guns drawn and ready. Reid most likely, you did react. Grimow got to you before you draw your gun. You know how fast, what is it, emphrin?

"Etomidate."

"Takes someone out. You were fighting uneven odds Reid. And, as for Kristy, I didn't speak to her that much but from what Hotch and Morgan described of her, she wouldn't hold this against you. Besides Reid, had you not been here, she probably couldn't have left the note. That note has solved the case." Gideon stated calmly.

Reid looked up again. Gideon's eyes were still kind and trusting. However, instead of that taunting Reid as it had been lately, it comforted him. He began to contemplate what Gideon had said. He knew Gideon was right in his head, but his gut didn't agree. Until he saw that Kristy, Ana, and Sara returned he knew he would feel responsible.

Suddenly, Reid's stomach took another nasty churn, and he was once again in the bathroom. Reid's body wanted the drug again; he knew that it was only going to get worse because his body would be rebelling when it didn't receive it.

When Reid finally returned from rinsing out his mouth, Gideon was snapping his cell phone shut.

"That was Hotch. Reid, they raided the house. They didn't find anything."

Reid just stood there.

"Where would he go? That was of significance to him." Reid asked.

"They don't know. They're splitting up and searching the area. There's nothing more they can do."

"Wait, we should have figured this out." Reid suddenly realized. "The address of the house was 209 Edge Drive. Grimow wouldn't go there because there was no 7. It's not part of his plan."

"So where he took them has a seven, and it's important? Reid, that could be a lot of places. I mean the first one was an abandoned building that had a fitting address. He could have taken them anywhere." Gideon reminded him.

"But he wasn't confident then. He didn't want to venture far away in case it didn't work. Now he thinks that it's destiny to happen. He would want constant reassurance that this is right."

"The lake, to remind him of his cause."

"Exactly."

"So what's important on the lake that has 7?"

"Do his in-laws own any other property at the lake?" Reid questioned.

Gideon pulled out the file.

"Yes, a storage shed."

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"Hotch."

Hotch was pissed. They had rushed out to the lake only to find nothing. They knew that the longer they waited the higher chance Kristy was getting more severely hurt.

"Grimow's in-laws own a storage shed on the other side of the lake." Gideon spat out.

"Gideon, what makes you think that he's there?"

"They rent number seven."

"Okay. We're going over."

Immediately, everyone drove over to the storage shed complex. It was silent around the lake as was expected in early March. However, there were many car tracks that Hotch thought were similar to the ones that he and Morgan had found a few days earlier.

The storage shed was locked as was expected. One of the other cops pulled out pliers and pulled the lock apart.

"3,2,1" Hotch whispered as everyone stood waiting to raid the place.

"FBI! Nathan Grimow, come out with your hands up!" Morgan ordered as the door came up.

"Morgan?" came a weak response.

Everyone surveyed the area. Furniture was lying around, but a little path had been cleared. Hotch was closest and started moving back. Then he saw Kristy staggering towards him. She was bearing bruises on her face and arms.

"Agent Hotchner?" She asked with a worn out voice and a smile on her face.

"Kristy." Hotch went forward and grabbed her. She was very shaky.

"You need…to help Ana and Sara. I think they're getting… hypothermia." Kristy mumbled as Hotch guided her out front to JJ. Morgan followed Hotch back, and sure enough, Ana and Sara were lying on the floor unconscious. Their beatings were more severe and more similar to the other girls.

"Hotch, Grimow's not here." Emily called.

"He left a few hours ago." Kristy replied.

JJ was helping her to a police car where they were getting her a blanket.

"Did he say where he was going?" JJ asked.

Kristy shook her head.

"He was beating me, and then he just stopped. He started muttering, and I think he said something about finishing something. Then he just ran out and locked the door. I don't know anything else. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry Kristy. You did your best. Just relax." JJ assured her.

"Is Reid okay?"

"Yeah, he's going to be fine."

Kristy nodded. JJ finally got her sat down, and Kristy promptly shut her eyes. Morgan and Hotch were helping to get Sara and Ana out while Emily called Gideon, or so JJ assumed.

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"Where would he go?" Hotch asked.

Those who had gone on the raid were standing outside the storage shed talking to Reid and Gideon over the phone.

"He needs to go somewhere that's important to him, and most likely the number seven is involved somehow." Reid stated.

"That could be almost anywhere." Morgan stated.

"Kristy thinks he said something about finishing. Where would he go if he wanted to finish?" JJ pondered.

"Well, no more girls can be taken, so we shouldn't have to worry about him taking another hostage." Emily said.

"Then that would imply that this is something personal, something that he would go to before. According to his ex, he came here to be close to Scott. We can tell he's not here. No one is." Hotch added.

Reid was still pacing. He nearly fainted with relief when Hotch said that they had the girls. However, not having Grimow meant that their job was not yet done. 'Where would he go? What else is significant?'

"JJ, did Kristy say anything else?" Reid asked.

"Well, she did say that he was beating her, and he suddenly stopped which was when he left."

"Well, if he truly was finishing, maybe he's de-evolving. He didn't just stop with the other girls, he kept going. He's done, he wants to be finished." Reid cried with excitement. The final piece was coming together. "And where else to finish but the grave?"

"You think he went to his son's grave?" Hotch questioned.

"If his son truly was the reason, then maybe when he was at the abandoned building the grave was his source of strength. At the lake, it was the accident site that kept reminding him of why he was doing this. He needed something closer to Watertown, and the only plausible thing would be his grave. If he had been visiting something that was his ex's or in-laws', they would have noticed. The grave is something that they wouldn't have." Reid concluded.

"That's in Watertown, right?" Emily asked.

"Yes." Gideon confirmed. "I'll go."

"Jason, be careful. If he's truthful about finishing, he's going to try to kill someone." Hotch openly worried.

"Just get the girls back. I'll get Grimow." Gideon assured him.

Gideon snapped his phone shut.

"You'll be okay, right?" He asked as he turned to Reid.

"Yeah. Go ahead. The others will be back soon enough." Reid stated.

Gideon nodded as he turned out of the room. Reid slumped back on the bed.

Relief washed over him. Even if he ended up being wrong about Grimow being at the cemetery, Kristy was okay. He had a feeling everything would turn out okay.

Reid's body began to shut down, and he drifted off. He wanted to be awake when they got back, but he was suddenly so drowsy.

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(Okay, pretend with me that lets me use asterisks. I wasn't aware the didn't)

The truck Gideon was driving up in finally pulled into the cemetery. On the other side, sure enough, Grimow was sitting in front of a grave. Snipers were put into place and other precautions were taken before it was finally cleared for Gideon to approach him.

"Nathanial Grimow?"

"Ah, agent, Gideon I believe? I see you've joined me." Grimow replied with a sad smile. He didn't turn to look Gideon in the eye.

"It's over Grimow. We got you."

"Took a little longer than you expected. As I told Kristy, DNA can be confusing."

"You knew you were a chimera, and just to confuse us you gave us the opposite sample."

"I know what I did. You don't need to tell me."

"Then why don't you tell me why you did it. Why did you kidnap and beat seven girls in the course of nine days?"

"Because they needed it." Grimow said softly. He finally turned to look directly at Gideon. "They knew better, yet they didn't act better. I saw them in December! They needed to be taught a lesson! I did it. Because of me, parents won't have to go trough the hurt I did."

"You put a lot of parents through a lot of misery. Two girls are still in comas." Gideon reminded him.

Grimow's eyes filled with tears. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that. But it doesn't matter anymore."

The next few moments went in slow motion for Gideon. Grimow moved his folded hands to reveal a gun and put it to his own head. Before Gideon could grab it, a shot rang out, and Grimow's lifeless body was falling to the ground.

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JJ walked down to the hallway to Reid's room. Hopefully, the doctor would let him out in the next few hours as she had predicted earlier. She was about to say something when she saw that he was asleep on the bed. He had changed clothes, and looked normal again.

She figured it would be best to wait. Hotch and Morgan had gone down to the cemetery to help finish Grimow's mess. The whole team was still in shock that Grimow had committed suicide.

Emily and JJ had returned to the hospital to make sure the girls arrived all right. Sara and Ana were definitely in for a tough recovery. Kristy had once again been lucky. She would be fine in a few days.

JJ stared down at Reid. Sadly, she thought that his face was slightly paler that when they left a few hours earlier. Other than that, he appeared fine.

Emily walked in a few minutes later.

"Hey."

"Oh, hey Emily. What's going on?"

"Well, I was talking to the doctors, and Cora woke up this morning. Haley should really soon. Ginger and Rachael are both making really big improvements and they should go home in a few days." Emily whispered sitting down next to JJ.

They chatted a little while longer. A nurse later entered the room.

"Agents, it's okay to see Kristy now. I can escort you." The nurse said.

"Do you think we should wake Reid up?" Emily asked.

"Yeah probably. He'll most likely want to talk to her." JJ replied as she began to shake him gently.

Reid slowly opened his eyes.

"JJ? Emily? Did everything go okay?" He asked as he began to get up.

"Yeah everything went fine. You were right; Grimow was at the cemetery." JJ answered.

"Good." More relief entered Reid.

"However, he committed suicide before Gideon could officially arrest him." Emily added.

Reid sighed.

"And everything else?" He continued.

"Well, we were going to see Kristy now and begin to ask questions." JJ said.

Reid nodded and with JJ's assistance the three agents began to head to her room.

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"Wow."

That was the greeting they received from Kristy.

"What?" Emily asked.

"You look really different in street clothes." She clarified looking at Reid.

"Oh, well, hospital gowns are only so comfortable." Reid replied as he sat down in a chair next to her. JJ stood next to him and Emily moved on the other side.

"Yeah." Kristy stated with her knowing smile.

Her face carried many distinct bruises. Reid could also count four areas of stitches. It amazed him that she could still smile.

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Been better, been worse. Did you find him?"

JJ, Reid and Emily exchanged looks.

"What happened?" Kristy asked.

"He was at his son's grave." JJ began. "Gideon went to get him to surrender."

"He killed himself before we could arrest him." Emily concluded.

Kristy got a look of disgust on her face.

"I can't… It's just so surreal." Kristy stammered.

"If you want us to come back later, it's okay." JJ said.

"No. You need to know what happened." Kristy stated adamantly. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Last night. I don't remember what happened." Reid instructed.

"Well, around midnight you dozed off. I was trying desperately to figure out why he wasn't the man, but I dozed off too. Next thing I know, Grimow is standing in front of me. He had a syringe and threatened to use it. He was shaking and jittery. Then, we heard a noise. He asked me if there was anyone else around. I said no, but then he opened the bathroom door anyway. A few seconds later, you were on the ground." Kristy finished quietly.

'No. I didn't, did I really?' Reid thought. 'I can't believe I used it while I was here.' Reid really wanted to beat himself up. How much lower could he get than using drugs in a hospital?

"Then he kind of spazzed. He started walking circles and mumbling something. I tried to talk to him, but he only said one thing to me. I asked him why they didn't figure out it was him because of the DNA, and he got this really crazy grin on his face and said that DNA can confuse people. Other than that, anything I asked or just angered him. Finally, he figured out his plan I guess. He pulled you into the bathroom. Then he took your gun, badge, wallet, anything that he thought would identify you. He grabbed my clothes and told me to put them on." Kristy continued. "I said no."

"What?" Reid blurted out. "You were in a hostage situation. You always should do what the hostage taker tells you."

"I would have, but thankfully, you told me everything I needed to know. You said that he wants his victims to be aware of their beating, their punishment. I knew he wouldn't shoot me. If he did, he wouldn't get any release because I wouldn't feel the beating. I also knew he wouldn't shoot in a hospital, and if he was crazy enough to do it, I figured I was in a pretty good spot for it to happen." Kristy replied with a smile.

"Kristy, do you realize-" Emily began.

"how stupid and potentially life-threatening that was? Yeah. But I figured the longer I kept him, the safer I would turn out. Didn't work in the end though." She added bitterly.

"What happened? We know that you left, and that you were wearing your street clothes." JJ responded.

"Well, he convinced me to follow his orders." Kristy replied shortly.

"How?" Reid pushed.

"Do you really want to know?" Kristy asked after a moment. She looked directly at Reid. "He turned and put the gun to your head."

Never did Reid see that coming. Immediately his mind went into overdrive of flashbacks and sweat began to come over his entire body. Tobias was standing in front of him, asking him to condemn someone who was innocent. Then the gun shot came…

"And he said that he would shoot you if I didn't follow his orders. I knew he didn't care about you, or even the fact that you were an FBI agent; I did what he said."

Reid barely heard this last sentence. His mind was stuck in the cabin in Georgia. Not really thinking, he stood up and left. JJ followed him.

"Hey, Spence. Hey, it's okay." JJ comforted him as she pulled him into a hug outside Kristy's room.

Reid was still shaking. It was nice to have someone comforting him, especially JJ, but even she couldn't understand the feelings he had at the moment.

"JJ, I think I want a few moments alone. Don't worry." He added quickly as he saw JJ's face light up in protest. "I just want to think. This will pass soon enough, I just need a little bit."

JJ looked at him. He knew she would understand.

"Okay. The others should be back soon, and we'll start getting ready to head home. I'll tell them you're here." She replied as she headed back into Kristy's room.

Relief washed over Reid. He turned and headed back.

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"I'm sorry. Reid's a little sensitive about some of these topics." Emily immediately explained. "Just, pick up where you left off."

Kristy stared at her quizzically before continuing. "I convinced him to let me change in the bathroom. While Grimow was rambling I snuck the paper into my hand. It was the DNA comment that told me he was chimera. I stole a pen from Reid's pocket in the bathroom. When I got out, he told me to make the bed look like someone was sleeping. It was easy to slip the note in the covers after that. I know it wasn't exactly clear cut or anything. But you must have figured it out, right?"

"Reid did." Morgan confirmed as he walked in with JJ.

"Morgan, hey. What's going on?" Emily greeted him.

"Hotch and Gideon are searching his house. He didn't give Gideon all of the answers that we needed, like why he came back or why he waited. However, he most likely wrote everything down." Morgan replied. "I came back to give Reid his bag back. CSI's said that Grimow barely touched, they found it in his truck, so it was cleared. However, it was Reid's gun that he used. We might not get that back."

"Reid probably won't want it back." JJ said quietly.

"Is Reid okay?" Emily whispered, seeing that Kristy was dozing a bit and not paying attention.

"He's going to be. He wanted a few moments alone to think." JJ replied. "We better finish this. Then we can let Kristy rest."

"You're right. Kristy, how did you get out of the hospital?" Emily asked.

"Grimow knew all the exits for staff and everything. They weren't watched, and he took me out through one of them. He threw me in his SUV, and we drove out to the lake. He took me into the storage shed and began to beat me." Kristy paused here and her eyes began to widen and water. "He kept shouting things like 'Knew better' and 'Punishment'. I just kept hoping that he wouldn't go completely crazy. He still had Reid's gun. And then, he just stopped. He stood up, and looked around like he didn't know why he was here or what was going on. He turned around and left. I tried to help Ana and Sara, but there wasn't a lot I could do. And then, you guys showed up. You know the rest."

The others nodded.

"So he didn't say anything about why he wanted you?" Morgan asked.

"Nope. Or if he did, he wasn't comprehensive enough for me to know." Kristy then yawned. "I'm sorry, but I'm really tired. I'll talk to you some more later if you need me to."

"No, that's fine."

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"So, what next?" Emily pondered once they exited.

"I'll call Hotch and Gideon. If they need help, we can go over. If not, maybe we can head back to the hotel, you know start packing." Morgan replied.

"Start to head home." Emily concluded with a smile.

"Hey, I'm gonna go see if I can talk to Reid yet." JJ said.

Emily gave her a look of warning while Morgan gave her one of understanding.

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Reid was sitting on his bed. He felt like he had just woken up from being induced with twice as much Rohypnol. Thoughts were cluttering in his head. He felt dizzy and he could depict if it was from the drug or the same thoughts and memories.

Morgan had given Reid his satchel back. The drug was in there. Sure enough, the amount in one of the vials was lower than Reid remembered.

'That's why I couldn't protect Kristy.' Reid thought bitterly. 'I was drugging myself. Why? How was I so stupid?'

Reid began to feel tears well in his eyes. It was just too much. He couldn't take it all. Everything was beginning to merge and become too confusing.

Reid didn't even realize how his fingers worked like magic these days. In the minutes that his thoughts rampaged, they had prepared a needle full of the drug. Actually, fuller. Reid wanted to escape, just like Tobias had originally said the drug would accomplish. He wanted to get away, to not have to think, to remember, to know.

'How lucky I am that Morgan gave that back.' Reid said inside his head.

He shoved the depressor down, and let into his body the most massive dose he had ever taken. Reid never knew how he was even conscious long enough to hide the needle and drug. Later, he never remembered falling back into his pillows. All Reid later remembered was what Tobias did indeed promise him, an escape.

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JJ turned into his room. She once again saw that Reid was asleep. In all honesty, she was about to leave. It was difficult however; it had been a while since Reid had been looking peaceful. Then something caught her eye.

"Spence. Hey Spence, wake up." She repeated as she had 45 minutes earlier. Only this time, he didn't wake up. He didn't even move. In fact, he didn't even take a breath.

"Spence!"