Derek sat on the bench outside the hospital, cradling the phone in his hand. He ran his fingers over the small buttons, trying to muster up the courage to ring Hotch and tell him that he had let Kate go. Willingly.

He pressed the number 1 and his thumb hovered over the green phone for a few more seconds. He pressed it and brought the phone up to his head, his eyes closing.

"Hotchner," Hotch said sleepily.

"Hey, Hotch."

"Derek, everything ok?" His suddenly sounded very awake.

"Not really."

Derek heard a bed squeaking so he guessed he was sitting up.

"What's happening?"

"She's gone."

"What?! They had a guard on her door."

"I told him to go."

Silence filled the conversation.

"Tell me the truth Derek, what the hell is going on?"

Derek took a breath before continuing.

"She knows where he is, and he threatened her and said if anyone tried to find him, they would kill Reid. So she went. On her own. I let her go." Derek rubbed his forehead; he rested his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands.

"Aaron, what's going on?"

Derek sat up straight, he recognized that voice. Reid. Derek stopped himself from gasping out loud and making some remark.

"Derek, I want you to find her. Tail her, do whatever you have to, but do not let her out of your site. Ring Garcia, get her to try and put a trace on her cell."

"Hotch, I don't know where she is." Derek sighed.

"Then find her." The line went dead.

Derek looked at the phone his hand and sighed. He pressed the number 2 and waited for Garcia's voice.

"There'd better be a good reason you're calling this time of the morning."

"Kate's gone, I need you to try and find her cell."

"What? How? Where?"

"Garcia please, just do it."

"Fine. Fine."

Derek heard her moving around, and was positive he heard Kevin in the background. God, is everyone shacked up, he heard some keys tapping.

Derek looked around him, the hospital parking lot was nearly deserted. He wondered where she had gone. He thought about maybe phoning the local taxi services, asking if they had picked anyone up.

"She's not used it so far, but I've got a trace on it."

"I'm going to ring her, I want you to try and see if you can find out where she is."

"Okay. Over and Out."

Derek got the number out that Garcia had given him a few days, so that he could try and ring her cell when she was kidnapped. The cell had always been on, but no one ever picked it up they believed it was a way of taunting her, the fact they were so close and couldn't do a thing to save her.

"Hello, Derek."

"Kate, look."

"I have three minutes, right. You know, before Garcia finds me."

"Kate, please."

"I have to find him, or he's just going to hurt more women."

"Then let us help."

"No."

"Reid is safe, we'll keep him safe."

"He'll find a way."

"He's with Hotch right now. Hotch will keep him safe, like he has done for all the years that Reid has been working at the FBI."

"Hotch will look after him."

"Yes, he will."

"Tell him I love him."

Derek sighed when she hung up the phone. He picked it up, when Garcia rang him.

"Sorry sweetheart. Not even close. I mean I know she's still in the area, but I couldn't tell you where."

"Okay, thanks Garcia."

"No problem, just find her."

"I'll try."

Derek closed the phone and slid into his jeans pocket. He started walking to his SUV hoping that he could somehow find her, before she continued with this suicide mission.

~*~

Reid stood in front of the mirror, staring at himself. There were circles around his eyes, making his already thin face look gaunt, like something was eating away at him from the inside.

He looked to the side when Hotch put his hand on his shoulder; he was already for work.

"You ready?" Hotch asked softly.

Reid nodded and turned around. He walked out of the bathroom slowly after Hotch, grabbing his shoulder bag. His cell was already in his pocket, his gun already in his holster but he didn't recall putting them there. He felt like he was still dreaming. Everything around him was fuzzy and when he ran his hand over the small table as he went by, it felt fake somehow, and unreal.

He walked beside Hotch as they walked out of the hotel – Rossi and Prentiss were standing near the front desk, Rossi stuffing the final bite of a bagel in his mouth while Prentiss finished her coffee, while JJ was waiting for them, beside the car.

"Hey, guys." She smiled softly.

"Hey, JJ." Hotch said, sliding into the drivers seat.

Reid tried to smile and failed, and just nodded softly, but felt his spirits lift a little as JJ rubbed a soothing circle on his back before they climbed into the car.

~*~

Kate walked down the road, knowing exactly where she was going. He had sat in a corner, rambling on about the women he had killed. There were many women they didn't know about. He had started when he was a teenager, as a stalker, slowly escalating to more serious crimes when the novelty had worn off.

She saw walked round the corner and smiled when she saw her destination. The Old Tavern.

It's owner, Tom Whitehouse, was the reason for her journey – he was the ex best-friend of Mark Rennie.