A/N: Okay, this is a bit of an emotional chapter. Garcia enters the story in this chapter, but she may be quite OOC. That's intentional. And we learn a bit about our friend Conner Jenkins. Oh, and I got an anonymous PM from someone saying that this reminds them of Pretty Little Liars, and I do love the series, but it is unintentional. If you think that, feel free to let me know, but only with the TV series. I just finished Flawless in the books and it is extremely hard to find any more books in the series that aren't Wanted. I don't own anything but my OC's. Hope you're liking the story. -A (and yes, I did get the idea to do the '-A' from the PLL series!)

Chapter 13: Missing

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There is no courage unless you're scared- Eddie Rickenbacker

Hotch needed his team to help finish the case. They had gotten the search warrent first thing that morning and Garcia was flying out. He had Rossi call the others while he watched the suspect. It was hard to believe that the kid wasn't scared. He seemed more annoyed than anything. His father on the other hand was freaking out. It was unusual...

Rossi came back in. "I got ahold of Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ, but I couldn't get ahold of Reid." Hotch's head snapped up.

"Did you call the family?" Dave nodded.

"The parents were already at work, but the oldest daughter told me that when she woke up at ten, they were already gone." This worried Hotch.

"Where do you think they are?"

"I don't know. Yesterday, the Miss Hunter had some McDonalds food, so maybe they went out to get breakfast?" Hotch shook his head.

"Reid would have picked up his phone."

"It went straigt to voice mail when I called." This worried him more. That's when Morgan walked in. He looked tired.

"What's wrong?" Hotch asked.

"Oh, the kids snuck out last night. Kid woke the whole house up, looked scared out of her mind, but wouldn't say what happened." He shook his head. Hotch and Rossi shot each other a worried look. "What?" They didn't reply, just ran back into the main room and looked for the girls. Three of them sat, not talking to each other, identical looks of worry painted on their faces. Hotch ran up to them.

"When you snuck out last night, did you see Amber or Dr. Reid?" he asked urgantly. They looked shocked and guilty at the same time. "Answer the question!" he snapped.

"Hotch," JJ said, alarmed. "What's going on." He didn't answer, just stared at the girls. Sara broke the tense silence.

"Yes. She told us to meet in the park."

"What happened?"

"She gave us a note that was written in Chelsea's hand writting," she told him, handing him a crumpled piece of paper. "She told us that she had seen Chelsea." All agents were alarmed at this point. They had all read the note too. "Then a bloody knife fell from above us and there was a gun shot. Dr. Reid came out from behind a tree and his arm was bleeding." There was a colective intake of breath from the agents.

"He told us to get out of there and there was another shot. We ran, and he turned and pointed the gun at the trees. That's the last I saw." The other girls nodded. "I heard Amber scream and yell 'Spencer' but I thought she was just telling him to run. I ran home." Again, they all nodded, telling them that that's what they thought too, and they went home.

"Can you take us to where you were last night?" Sara nodded and they all three stood. The agents led them out and into one of the vehicles. Sara sat behind Hotch, giving him directions as he sped along. When they went as far as they could by car, they ran with Sara in the lead.

What they saw in the clearing was not pretty. There was a lot more blood than anybody was comfortable with. Much more than could come from a bullet hitting you in the arm. A knife that, thankfully, had no blood on it was staked into a tree, holding a note in place. Hotch, using a cloth so he wouldn't get fingerprints on it, pulled the knife out and grabbed the note. He read it and it made him feel sick.

I was aiming for a bitch, but a fed took the shot. Now you get to find two bodies... When I'm done with them, that it. Have fun, Agent Hotchner. Don't worry, I'll make sure he's recognizable for his poor, sick mommy.

Morgan took it from him, gloves on his hands by this point, and read it before putting it in an evidence bag. Then he put a hand on Hotch's shoulder.

"Hotch, we'll find him. We'll get this sick son of a bitch." Hotch didn't respond. "Spencer's stronger than we give him credit for, and he'll do anything so that girl doesn't get hurt. You know that." Hotch gave him a stiff nod.

"I'm just worried about what'll happen when we do get him back. Remember the after math of Tobias Hankle?" Morgan cringed.

"Yeah, but this time, he won't suffer alone. I regret not saying anything last time. He trying to tread water, but was starting to drown. That won't happen again. He'll know that we're all gonna be there for him when he can't keep his head above the surface." Hotch nodded.

"You're right. It won't happen again."

CM

They got back to the police station to find Garcia already prowling through the computer.

"Hey, Baby Girl," Morgan said, sitting next to her. "Find anything?"

"Not yet, but I just got started." There was a pause. "Is it true that Reid..." She bit her lip, unable to finish. Morgan nodded somberly. "Oh. My poor, sweet Boy Wonder. Why does it seem like the world is out to get him?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, can't the kid ever catch a break?"

"He's had a hard life," Morgan agreed.

"Do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"When you find this son of a bitch, nail his ass to the wall." With that, she turned back to the computer, a new fire in her eyes as determination set in. He smiled and stood up, walking over to Hotch.

CM

When he woke up, his head hurt like hell. So did his arm. So did his entire body, for that matter. With a small groan, he pushed himself up, ignoring the stabs of pain in his... everwhere. When he opened his eyes, his head started thobbing painfully agains the skull. He was on a small cot with a tattered blanket and worn-out pillow. The room was dull and very small. About a foot and a half to his right was another small cot, this one harboring Amber.

Memories from the night before poured into his head. The girls sneaking out, him following them, the knife, the gunshot wound (when he remembered that, he noticed that his arm was now poorly bandaged), the girls running and screaming, Amber's attcker (no, he didn't see who it was), and being beaten in the back of the head four times (that explained the bitch of a headache he had).

Then Amber stirred. Slowly she sat up too. "Where am I, and why do I feel like I got hit by a truck?" Slowly, her eyes found Spencer. "Why do you look like you got hit by a truck?" He opened his mouth to tell her when the door he hadn't noticed before (yeah, some super genius he was proving to be) opened. It was a bit dark, so at first the person who entered was a shadow. A very small shadow. As it stepped into the dim light, he saw the UnSub for the first time. Chelsea Dumant stood in front of them, grinning at them like this happened everyday.