I had lost track of time at this point. In my mind, I had been there for so long that it didn't matter, that all of the clockwork in my mind was set to survival. He hadn't even given me a way to keep track of time anyway. No clock. No calendar. No window. He kept me in a small room underground and close to maddening. It was dark; the only light hung by a wire fixture in the corner of the room and was controlled by a switch on the other side of the door. He only turned it on when he came in and turned it off as he left, leaving me in the silence of the dark.

I sat with my back to a corner, leaning back against it with my knees pulled up to my chest. It had been a while –the only way I was even able to describe time anymore- since he'd been down here. The only thing I had to look forward to was the light turning on. No matter what happened after he would come down the stairs and through the door; being able to see had been so-

The light shone brightly making me groan and squeeze my eyes shut in the sudden blinding light. I quickly blinked it away knowing I didn't have as much time as I wanted to just look around.

Nothing had changed. Nothing ever changed. I was surrounded by concrete walls with a floor and ceiling to match. The door was on the opposite side of the room – which was just far enough out of my reach, but with this chain shackled to my ankle a door was nothing less than torcher.

The doorknob clanged has I imagined his hand taking hold of it. It turned and the door slowly opened with an agonizing creek…

The team had been called in for work now that the day of politics for the last case had been over and done. I had been here a little earlier than I should have been. When I say a little earlier I actually mean none of the others on the team were even here yet. I had been up most of the night haunted by him in my dreams.

It hadn't happened often, but recently it was happening more often than not. I let out a yawn; I woke up from it in a cold sweat, scrambling for a light. Firstly thinking that this had been some sort of warning; a sign that he and I were still connected by some higher connection that told him everything he needed to know, that I was still afraid of him. Then a more rational voice –which sounded a lot like Spencer- convinced me that it was just because of the cases we've been working. I knew what panic was going through the victim's heads. I could see it in them so it could spark in my mind without me knowing until it was too late.

With nothing to do yet I got up from my desk and walked over to the coffee pot to try and get myself geared up for the day. I could tell it was going to be a long one.

"Do my eyes deceive me or are you actually here before I am?" I smiled as I set the coffee pot back on its burner and sent a glance over to the glass doors.

Garcia stood with her purse over her shoulder and a rollaway suitcase. She never knew if she would have to leave with us or not, but you can bet she would always be prepared. She looked like she was wearing the highest of heels –orange heels- that stood out to the rest of her outfit. She was getting in touch with her spring side in a pink floral print skirt that stopped a bit below the knee and blue and white striped navy shirt. The force was strong with this one.

"I had a rough night of sleep." I explained. Garcia had quickly become a dear friend of mine in my time being here so far. I trusted her completely, but something in me didn't want to admit to having nightmares. They needed to know I could do this job.

She gave me a look as I brought my cup to my lips and took a drink, "You and Reid should get married." She said.

I nearly choked on my coffee; it burned the back of my throat, "Excuse me?" I managed to question through coughs.

"You're too much alike. It's pretty much a sign from the Gods." She smiled as she turned and wheeled her way down to her lair.

I watched her until she disappeared and swallowed hard in between coughing. I looked down at my shirt as I began to compose myself. I had taken little damage as a brown coffee mark looked back at me near the bottom of my shirt. I hurried back to the coffee pot, getting out the last of my coughs, to grab a napkin in an attempt to save my shirt.

"Embreonna, you okay?" I threw a glance over my shoulder to find Hotch standing behind me. His go bag over his shoulder and he was looking through a file folder at documents I hoped didn't have to deal with a crazy killer.

"Yeah," I swallowed hard and turned to face him, "Garcia just tried to kill me."

It only took a second for him to stop looking through the folder and meet my eyes with a smile playing at his lips. I understood why he was smiling. What I had just said sounded ridiculous on nearly every level. Garcia, our bubbly technical analyst - nerdy hippie girl had just tried to kill me.

I fought back a smile on my own, trying not to laugh and said, "There is a chance that it could have been a misunderstanding…" I failed a little in the laughter area as I little chuckle escaped me.

A full smile broke onto his face as he shook his head slightly and made way for his office. There was no doubt in my mind that he had to feel like the parent of the rest of the team - especially with Morgan. Though, I knew he liked being the parent of all of us. A family needs to have someone to keep them in focus.

Slowly everyone had shown up. I was at my desk when Spencer had walked in. We smiled and waved to each other, still going with the 'down low' plan. It was easy enough; no making out in the bull pen, no calling each other by crazy sickly pet names – as if we were doing those things when we were alone, but there had to be something between us to be down low about right?

I looked over to him for a moment, just a quick one, but not quick enough. He caught me and smiled back; a look of pure happiness. I could feel my cheeks go warm as my smile turned inward and I looked back to my computer screen. Oh right, there was that.

Thank you to those who have been commenting! It really does keep me going when I know people are looking forward to reading it. :) And I hope you all continue to comment.

This was a little bit of a filler, but it also sets pace for future chapters. So it's one of those in between chapters that I like/hate to write. Ya know? It gives you hints on things...but really nothing is happening at the moment. Don't worry though I got things figured out...a little bit. :) Thanks for reading!