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A/n hey all... here's the next chapter for my loyal readers. Thank you all for your reviews. Special thanks to my beta REIDFANATIC for all her idea's and suggestions for this story.

Decision

Reid scratched his head and yawned hugely as he trudged from the bedroom to the kitchen. All he needed was a large pot of coffee and he'd be ready to go. He stopped in the hallway swaying a little. He was supposed to be on vacation so why would he want to get ready to go. In fact, he should just go back to bed. He hadn't slept and then Sergio had jumped up on the bed to wake him at this ungodly hour of the morning.

He yawned again, turned around and walked back to bed. He fell face down on the bed and groaned. His head hurt, his eyes felt like someone had blown a bucket full of sand into them, and his soul ached. If he could just sleep for a couple of days, he'd feel like a new man.

The bed shifting a bit and an extremely irritated meow alerted him to the fact that his adopted cat was back and pissed at him. He flopped over to one side in the direction of Sergio's annoyed meows and glared at the cat.

"You and I have to get one thing straight."

Sergio only stared at him out of bright green eyes.

"This is my vacation. That means if I decide to sleep half the morning, you better get used to it."

Sergio swished his tail and crawled forward to bat his head against Reid's midsection.

"Alright… I'm getting up."

He rolled over again and levered himself up to his feet. "Why do I let you boss me around?" Reid asked the cat as Sergio jumped off the bed.

The cat didn't answer. Instead, he ran out of the room with his tail in the air.

Reid shook his head. "The things I do for a little companionship."


His head still hurt after a cup of coffee, but at least he felt more human. Sergio lay next to his food bowl, curled up in a ball like a kitten. The sun was beginning to peek into the windows and it was quiet. In fact, it was a little too quiet for a Wednesday morning. He'd been in this cabin for three days now, and he couldn't get used to the quiet.

"It's weird not working on a weekday." He said to the cat, which sat up and stared at him with baleful eyes.

"So it's okay for you to wake me up, but I can't disturb you."

Sergio walked slowly over to Reid and jumped up into his lap.

"I'm not apologizing to you."

Sergio put his front paws and Reid's chest and licked his chin.

"I'm glad you're here. I'm glad Emily decided to adopt you because I couldn't stand it here alone. Why did I run away Sergio?"

Sergio didn't answer except to begin purring under Reid's petting hands. He inserted his claws into the tee shirt Reid still wore from sleeping and blinked his eyes slowly.

"I mean… I'm not happy with what Hotch, JJ and Emily did but that's no excuse to throw a tantrum, right?"

He scratched the cat behind the ears. Sergio closed his eyes and purred even louder than before which made Reid smile.

"I know… We human beings think too much. Morgan's always telling me I think too much. He's the action man and I'm the answer man, according to Garcia."

He frowned down at the cat. "Do you think it's selfish of me to be here? Garcia was hurt too and she didn't run away. She stayed in her new home with Violet. She's doing something good while I'm here sulking."

Sergio mewed softly and swished his tail.

"Do you know what I've been thinking about for the last few days? I keep thinking about six years ago in LA. We had this case with an actress that had a stalker. Her name was Lila Archer and she was unknown at the time. Anyway… The stalker killed her manager and Gideon told me not to tell her because we needed her to cooperate with us. So I did what he told me and didn't tell her."

Sergio watched him and purred.

"Actually, that's not true. I didn't tell her for a few hours, but then I kissed her and - well I didn't think it was right to keep it from her. I thought she had a right to know. She was very upset with me for keeping it from her and it was only for a few hours. Don't you think it was better for her to trust me than to cooperate with us? Maybe I'm just weaker than JJ or Hotch.

Sergio meowed and batted a paw at Reid's chin.

"What about them trusting me?" He felt some of the anger that had slowly begun to cool, flare up in his stomach again. "Why couldn't they trust me or Morgan, or Rossi with the truth? JJ says she trusts me to be Henry's Godfather, but then she lies to me."

Sergio watched him with curious bright eyes as he spoke.

"Hotch and JJ both has kids so maybe they were thinking of them and Declan. Emily protected Declan by making his father think he was dead and then she nearly died protecting him again. I love Henry and Jack is the best. They're not my kids, but I'd still do anything for them. JJ said once that you'd do anything for your family, to protect them."

He put the cat down on the floor and got up to rinse out his cup. "My mother protected me even though my dad didn't think anything was wrong at first. She knew a predator was after me. It makes sense."

He sighed. "I can't blame them Sergio, for trying to protect all their family which includes me."

The cat ran over to him and stood up, placing his paws on Reid's leg. Reid picked him up again. "So what do you think Sergio? Do I forgive them and go back?


"Hey Penelope."

Garcia glanced over at Violet who rode in the passenger seat of Esther. "Yeah…"

"Is Dr Reid okay?"

"Yes… I suppose he is. Morgan said he went on vacation for a few days. Why do you ask?"

Violet kept her face to the window so that Garcia couldn't see the blush creeping up into her cheeks. "I was just wondering why he hasn't brought Sergio to stay with us for a case. I miss that cat even if he's a pain."

Garcia laughed as she piloted the car to Violet's school. They'd been very lucky to find a home for rent that was in the same district, as Violet's high school so didn't have to change schools in the middle of the year.

"He is a pain, but he's a cute pain."

"Did Sp - I mean Dr. Reid tell your boss when he was going to come back. I really want to see Sergio again." She said when Garcia looked over at her.

"He didn't say." Garcia said shortly.

They turned down the side street leading to the high school right behind one of the big yellow buses like the kind Violet used to ride when her mother was alive.

Some tears sprang up in her eyes, but she blinked them back because Penelope would ask her what's wrong. She had to pretend like everything was okay because her foster mother was sad right now.

"Hey…" She noticed they'd stopped at the curb. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Um, I'm late."

She reached for the door handle. "Violet…"

She faced her guardian unwillingly, but without tears in her eyes. "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired." She lied

"Did you have the dream again?"

"Yes…" She lied again, hating herself, but she couldn't tell her foster mother the truth about the dream she had had the night before, it was too embarrassing.

"Why didn't you tell me this morning?"

"I didn't want you to worry about me."

Penelope reached over and put a hand on Violet's face. "I like worrying about you. It takes my mind off my life."

"Thanks." Guilt began burning a hole in her gut so she exited the car. "I'll see you later."

"Okay sunshine."

"Thanks for the ride."

Garcia drove off leaving Violet feeling like a total creep for lying. Penelope wouldn't like it and Violet found it bothered her more than it would had she lied to her mother.

"Hey Vi…"

She jumped at the sound of her friend Suzie's voice.

"Yeah…"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Then come on."

The other girl pulled on her arm. "We're going to be late and you know if I get another tardy my mom will kill me."

"Okay… Let go of me."

She followed her friend into the school as the bell began to ring. She'd have to worry about Spencer later.


Reid zipped up his suitcase and lifted it to the floor. His go bag and his extra overnight bag were already in the back of his car. "Hey Sergio…"

The cat didn't appear so Reid went looking for him in the living room. The cat sat on the couch staring at the front door. "Come on buddy. It's time for us to go home. We've been sulking for to long."

The cat looked at him and meowed.

"Okay… So I've been sulking and you've been enjoying a few days in the woods."

Sergio began to wash.

"You're the biggest smart ass I know."

The cat swished his tail.

"I suppose you're going to fight me on getting into your carrier again."

Sergio narrowed his eyes and batted the air with his paw.

"You don't scare me anymore. Now be a good kitty and get into your carrier without making a fuss."

He went back to the bedroom and grabbed his suitcase. "Thanks for letting me use the cabin Gideon." He said into the air hoping that wherever his old mentor laid his head, he was happy.

It didn't matter what JJ, Hotch or Emily had done to protect their little family. He had to go back and face them all, especially Emily. He'd longed for a second chance, never expecting to get one and now here it was for better or worse. Gideon would tell him it was up to him what he did with it and Reid knew it was true.

"Time to have a little courage for once in your life Spencer," he said to the room. He grabbed Sergio's carrier and went out to wrangle his cat.