Sorry that I haven't updated for such a long time... school was getting hard on me, but I finally managed to continue. I'll probably have more time in the autumn holidays, so I'll try my best to update more often.

Thank you guys for the wonderful reviews: ghostdolly, the-vampire-act, Torilei, angeleyes46, myers1978, Calantha Iolanthe, mykidmom, Paineverlasting, tearbos and cyn23, and of course thanks to my great beta-reader REIDFANATIC!

Chapter 20: Safe and Warm

"Where are we?" Reid asked as the car parked on the pavement of an empty street and the engine went silent. He didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep until he'd woken up a couple of minutes ago. It was now completely dark and they were in what looked like a small town.

"Redwood Falls, if I remember correctly," Hanson answered willingly.

"What are we doing here?"

"What do you think? We're staying here for the night. I'm kinda tired, how about you, son?"

Reid didn't answer. 'Tired' was not the best word to describe his condition right now. 'Sore' or 'cold' were a lot closer to it. He was only tired of Hanson calling him 'son'. Maybe it was the way he spoke to his followers, but it made Reid feel like he was twelve or thirteen, a boy who's old enough to accompany his father on some of his journeys, but who isn't old enough to know about serious things.

Hanson suddenly grabbed one of Reid's hands and pulled it towards himself. Reid gasped in fear but calmed down after he saw that his captor was only opening the handcuffs. He didn't unchain him fully however, just freed one hand and closed the now empty half of the handcuffs around the steering wheel.

"I'll be right back," Hanson smiled at Reid. "Wait here and don't do anything stupid. You know what the consequences will be."

He got out of the car and shut the door. Reid watched helplessly as he walked in a door under the big yellow letters that read 'Motel'. The young agent wondered what his captor's plan could be – last time people didn't really eat his tale about the runaway sicko.

Minutes passed and he started feeling quite uncomfortable: in fact his arm was getting tired as he had to hold it because the shortness of the handcuffs chain wouldn't let his hands be lowered on the seat. And he couldn't let it just hang: his wrist was bruised where the metal had excoriated his skin as a result of Hanson pulling him by the chains; red hot pain flooded his arm each time he moved it and his wrist made contact with the shackle.

Finally Hanson appeared after what felt like an eternity.

"We're lucky, son," he smiled as he opened the half of the cuffs that were bound to the steering wheel just to close it again around Reid's free wrist. "We can stay for the night. They have vacancy. Come on."

He helped Reid get out of the car and leaded him to the motel entrance, with the familiar, firm grip on the arm. Before they entered, Hanson stopped for a minute and whispered in the young agent's ear: "Remember son, just one bad move…"

Reid gulped, knowing the exact ending of the unfinished sentence. If he tried anything to get away, innocent people could die or, in the best case scenario, be seriously hurt.

They walked into the motel as if there was nothing strange about them. Reid felt the same fear as in the gas station, waiting for somebody to stop them, to shout at them, to ask why he was limping, but nothing happened, although he felt a dozen pair of eyes staring at him. What on earth did Hanson tell these people?

Once they were inside their room, Hanson locked the door from the inside and turned to Reid.

"We're safe now. I can't wait to have a good night's sleep, we deserve it, right?"

He was talking like the two of them were only on a holiday journey. Reid stood there, still shaking from the cold, not knowing what to do or rather what he was allowed to do.

"Okay, son, I presume you need to use the bathroom. I suggest you to take a nice hot bath; I'll take the handcuffs down for that. You got one hour, alright?"

"Thanks," Reid muttered barely audibly. Mentioning a hot bath only made him feel even more cold and tired, and he could barely stand upright now. He watched in a daze as Hanson unchained him, then stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the warm faucet. As the hot water was slowly filling the tub, he sat down on the edge and took a look around the room. It had no windows, only a small blow-hole, so there was obviously no way of escape. But at that moment, Reid didn't even want to escape, especially not from a bathtub full of warm water.

As he saw the toilet in the corner, he suddenly realized how much he needed to use it, so he quickly eased himself. It happened just the same way with the sink; as he saw it, he felt extremely thirsty, and he drank like he would never drink again.

The bath was ready; Reid took the hospital robe off in a hurry along with his underwear and lowered himself gratefully into the hot water. It felt so good that he nearly fainted at first. He had no idea whether the bandage on his left knee could be wet or not, he tried to keep it over the surface just to be sure.

He lay there with closed eyes for long, blissful minutes, not thinking about anything in particular. It felt wonderful. It felt as if his mind was torn away from his body and soared towards the sky. Soon it became hard to decide whether he was dreaming or awake, or even whether he was alive or dead. If there is heaven, it must be like this. A nice, hot bath after a freezing winter day.

He didn't know how much time had passed. He must have drifted off to sleep because he awoke to someone banging on the bathroom door.

"Time's up, son," Hanson's voice was heard. "I want a shower myself too."

Reid opened his eyes and tried to prepare himself for having to leave the warm heaven. It seemed harder than he thought. None of his body parts wished to move, not even an inch.

"Are you there?" Hanson asked impatiently, "or have you flushed yourself down the toilet?"

"I'm coming, just a minute," Reid hurried to calm him, in a barely audible voice, but Hanson must have heard it because the banging and yelling stopped. The young agent even wondered why he hadn't just pushed in the door and come to drag him out personally.

While he was sleeping, Reid's knee had sunk into the water too, so the bandage was soaking wet, but he didn't mind it. His wound felt better; at least the pain wasn't as sharp now as it had been before.

He carefully stood up, grabbed a towel from the hanger standing beside the bathtub and wrapped himself in. After drying himself as much as possible, he put the hospital robe back on, not having any clean clothes.

Hanson was waiting for him on the other side of the door. He had the shackles in his hands, but miraculously he didn't make any attempt to put them back on Reid. Instead, he took a close look at the young agent's face.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, think so," Reid mumbled, standing there, again not knowing what he could do.

"Your face looks a bit red."

Since when did he worry this much about my health? Though he might be right, Reid thought. His insides, especially his head felt burning hot. It was strange, as if now they refused to let go of the heat they'd gained from the bath. I must have a fever.

"You can go to bed, if you want," Hanson offered, "or is there anything else you'd like?"

Well nothing, maybe just to go back to my team?

"I'm hungry," Reid said quietly.

Hanson's brows jumped up to his hairline.

"I haven't eaten anything since morning," Reid explained.

"Oh, yeah, I remember." Hanson's voice turned teasing. "Maybe if we didn't have to leave the gas station in such a hurry because you screwed things up, I could have bought you a chicken sandwich."

Reid didn't answer. He was too tired to argue and knew he wouldn't win anyway.

"But don't worry, as I said I don't want to torture you. I'll order some food from the kitchen. You can go lay down."

He motioned towards the bed, and Reid obeyed gratefully. Hanson followed him though, and after the young agent made himself comfortable, he took his arm and cuffed him to the bed frame.

"Sorry son but I have to make sure you won't leave me."

"Do you by any chance have an anti febrile?" Reid asked suddenly.

"Are you sick?" Hanson was looking at him suspiciously.

"I think I have a fever."

"Sorry, I've run out of meds." Hanson spread his arms. "A long time ago. I haven't been ill since I was ten. I'll get some tomorrow, if you behave good."

"'Kay…" Reid mumbled, already half asleep. The bed was warm and comfortable, even with one of his arms immobilized. At last, he didn't have to worry about anything, well at the moment. At last, he could rest. Unconsciousness slowly wrapped him and he never saw Hanson get up from his bedside, dial a number on the phone and ask for a dinner.

As always, tell me what you think!:)