A/N: Hello! Umm...well. Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry. I don't really have much of an excuse except I just lost the motivation. But I still really want to finish this...still a little ways to go, but hopefully it won't take so long! I cannot however promise I will be updating every week again. I hope you guys have been AMAZING, thank you SO much for all your support, my sincerest apologies for the long wait, and hope you enjoy!

Next chapter's gonna be great oh my gosh...

Reviews, as always and forever, are loved and appreciated greatly!

xxx

"Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength."

― Napoleon Bonaparte

25.

Garcia had to come looking for her, knocking on the door in concern after about five minutes—before JJ could get the courage to get out, or manage to swallow the fear threatening to engulf her entirely.

"JJ...?"

JJ sighed, picked herself up, and opened the door, meeting Garcia's eyes, and then handed her the cell, clicking repeat and gesturing for her to hold it to her ear. Garcia did so, confused, and then her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Oh, God."

"You can trace it, right?"

"Of course, my love." Garcia sped back to her laptop and plugged the phone in with one of her wires, clicking and typing for a minute before she spoke. "Okay. It was sent from a burner phone, but...oh. Well, that's creepy."

"What?"

"The call was made two hours ago..." She frowned. "From...outside this hospital."

JJ blinked a few times, processing the information, and then she turned on her heel and rushed off to find the others, who were in the hallway talking quietly to a nurse in front of the room the suspect they'd caught was in. Morgan was the only one really facing her, and so he saw her first, frowning and uncrossing his arms as she approached. "What's wrong?"

"One of them left a message on my phone. From outside. Here."

Hotch stared at her and then excused them from the nurse, who went back into the room. "When?"

"Garcia said two hours ago."

"Two hours?" Morgan echoed. "What did the message say?"

"That we're in over our heads."

"Great. How much you wanna bet it was the guy that got away?"

"A lot," JJ sighed, rubbing her face, and then Garcia hurried up to them and gestured over her shoulder. "There's still a signal coming from outside. I'm sure it's just the phone, but…"

JJ glanced at the others and then made her way outside, and with directions from Garcia and her program they managed to find the burner phone, which had been tossed in a trashcan. Taped to it was a crumpled up piece of paper, which Morgan, once he had on the gloves he'd borrowed from the hospital in order to pick the evidence up, unfolded and stared at for a moment before shaking his head. "Jesus."

"What?" Emily asked, and Morgan showed it to her. "Oh, lord."

"What?" JJ demanded, and Morgan set his jaw, turning it towards her. "It's the picture of Reid from the newspaper."

JJ scowled at it—the picture had a goddamn red X through it—and spat, "What is this? What are they doing?"

"Taunting us," Hotch replied, crossing his arms. "This isn't about Reid. He just got caught up in it. Get this and the cell to forensics to see if they can pull a print."

"Yes, sir, right away," Garcia said, and she pulled on a glove of her own and took it. JJ suddenly frowned and held her hand out to stop her, gesturing for her to show it to her again. She read the half of the article that was still there, frowned, and then read it again, finally looking up. "Why was Mariana DuBoir in Virginia in the first place? How did she even find him?" She paused and shook her head. "We need to go back to the crime scene. We're missing something."

"They've already been through everything a hundred times, sweetie," Garcia murmured softly, and JJ nodded. "I know. I just...please." She turned to Hotch. "Please. I need to."

Hotchner hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Morgan, you go with her. Take the jet. We're going to go down to Tennessee and talk to the police, see if Garcia can go through some traffic cams, maybe find something. Be back by morning."

Morgan nodded, nudging JJ's shoulder. "Alright, let's do it."

xxx

By the time Richard came home, Reid was on the verge of dropping to his knees and begging to get more of whatever they'd been giving him, anything to take the pain he was in away for just a short while, and Richard not only seemed to notice this, but was amused by it. He came over to where Reid was sitting on the couch, alone, and sat next to him, gently petting the younger's hair. "How are you feeling, hm?

"I-I—sir, I…" Reid trailed off and whined quietly, scratching his arm and leaning against the man, nuzzling him, and Richard smirked, cupping Reid's chin and tilting his head up. "I know what you want…do you want it bad enough you'd do something for me?"

Reid obviously didn't like the sound of that, but he nodded in agreement anyway. "Yes. Yes, sir."

"Good… I talked to Wyatt, you're going to come with me tonight."

"Yes, sir." Reid said, starting to get impatient, itching his cheek and holding his arm out, and Richard chuckled. "Okay, alright. In a minute. Come on, let's go." He grasped Reid's hand and pulled him to his feet, leading him outside and to his car, opening the passenger side door for him and gesturing him in. Reid hesitated only a second before sitting down, watching Richard as he closed the door and then walked around to get in on the other side. He started the engine and then took Reid's arm and placed it flat on the center console, taking a little box out of the glove compartment and rummaging through it, eventually getting what he needed out of it, tying Reid's arm off, and giving him what must have been only half of what he ever had before. "You'll get more when we're done."

Reid hummed pleasantly and leaned back, smiling a little and nodding, and Richard patted his head and then replaced the box, driving off. Reid closed his eyes, zoning out for a while, and then came back to himself when the back door opened, and someone got in. He didn't really care enough to look, but he heard Richard greet the other, and then the man grasped Reid's chin and pulled him to look at the person in the backseat. "That is Dez," Richard said, and Reid blinked and mumbled incoherently, and Dez gave him a once-over before rolling his eyes and turning away, and Reid leaned back against the window as Richard drove off.

The man didn't talk for a while, giving Reid time to doze off again, and then finally murmured, "I think she would make almost as much money as you, hm?"

Reid blinked hard, turning his head towards the man, otherwise remaining still. "Huh?"

"Her." Richard reached out and took Reid's chin again, pointing his gaze out the window, where a young girl was sitting at the bus stop they were stopped at a red light next to, drinking coffee and slowly bobbing her head along to what she was listening to.

"No one usually wants anyone over graduation age. But there're exceptions. The ones who look younger than they are, the ones who are worth it." He felt Reid up suddenly and the younger man exclaimed in surprise, shying away while Richard chuckled and then put his hands back on the wheel as the light turned.

"It's always better this time of day, isn't it?" Richard asked, glancing back at Dez in the mirror, as if he were trying to initiate a conversation. Dez hummed, sounding very preoccupied, and Reid made a sound of confusion.

"To pick. A lot of the kids we get want drugs...a lot of them we've given some to before. Trust's a real necessity."

Reid put a hand on his head and rubbed, trying to think through the fog.

"You didn't say he'd be drugged to hell." Dez said, irritated, and Richard rolled his eyes. "He'll do fine."

Reid stared at him, and fear overwhelmed him so abruptly he forgot how to breathe. "S-sir?"

Richard gave the younger man a look and then murmured, "You're going to pick who Dez'll bring home tonight, because I want you to. And I think you'll do fine."

Sitting up suddenly, Reid pressed himself against the door like he was trying to get as far away from the man as possible.

"Don't look at me like that. You already sold me your time, and you're doing this. It's not an option."

"Sir…"

"Not…an…option," Richard reiterated, seriously, and Reid silenced himself, trembling.

"I've been working on a few," Dez said quietly, "A blonde girl, about fifteen. Runaway. A sixteen year old boy…just a druggie…and a fourteen year old girl who hangs out with a group of older kids. She's the only one we want out of them, though. They're too old."

Reid felt like he was going to be sick, and he looked back out the window as rain began to fall.

"Pull in here," Dez said after a moment, and Richard turned into an alley, stopping about halfway through to the other side. "The blonde and boy meet me here around the same time…few minutes from now. They come together a lot. The other girl might not show. But you can pick from the two. I don't care which. I've got people lined up for both types."

"Sir, I think…" Reid put a hand over his mouth, and Richard smacked his shoulder. "Really?" He sounded extremely annoyed, but he opened the door and gestured Reid out. "If you run, I'm gonna fucking run you over."

Reid scrambled out of the car and fell to his knees a few feet away, weakly heaving, his fingers scraping at the damp concrete under him. He sobbed loudly and fell back to sit, wiping his lips, and then stayed there in a daze until he finally heard Richard ordering him back into the car.

"Jesus," Dez rolled his eyes as Reid shut himself back in, groaning.

"Relax. He's only had it a few times." He touched Reid's leg and smiled gently. "But he can have more if he does good here. He can have all he wants. You'd like that, right?"

Reid glanced at him, trying to hide his interest, and then shook his head a bit, pulled his sleeves over his hands, and crossed his arms tightly.

"Yeah. You'd like that." Richard said knowingly, and Reid huffed out a breath, turning his attention out the window again.

"Here they come. Hey," Dez reached out and touched Reid's shoulder, and he flinched violently and whipped around. "Make a choice. Can't wait too long."

Breathing harshly, Reid stared at the two teenagers as they approached, hands shoved in their pockets, hoods up. Dez opened the door halfway and nodded at them, and Richard rubbed Reid's knee. "Decide," he said, and when Reid gave him a desperate look, he gestured with his head. "Come on. Before they leave. He'll call back the one you choose."

"Please, sir…please…"

"I like the girl, too," Richard commented, like Reid had said something about her, and Dez cleared his throat in acknowledgment.

"Hey, sweetie?" Dez called after they had begun to leave, and she turned back while the boy jogged off and went around the corner. "Yeah?"

"I think you miscounted, there's not enough here."

"What?"

"Come here, count it again."

Reid turned himself and watched her, and through the raindrops collecting on the window, it almost appeared as if she was crying. And though she wasn't now…she would be soon.

"Stop crying, pet. It's been weeks. I know I hurt you, but if you'd just behave..."

"I wanna go home!"

"Excuse me?"

"I wanna go home, sir!"

"Don't worry, pet. You won't say that anymore soon."

"I...I want to go home."

Richard frowned, looking at the younger man. Through the sound of the traffic behind them, the distant thunder, and how quietly it had been said, he hadn't properly heard. "What was that?"

Reid hesitated—he hardly was managing to keep his eyes open, did he really want to deal with what this would get him?—and then licked his lips, jerked the car door open, and shouted, "Run!" as loud as he could, startling the girl so much she backed up a few steps and, when Dez stood up, dropped the money and fled back onto the street, and Reid grinned madly and laughed.

"You little shit!" Richard exclaimed, dragging Reid back into the car, slamming the door, and then punching the younger man so hard he never made a sound, slumping forward against the dashboard, his hand still on the door handle. Richard pried it off, leaning him back and against the window, grumbling to himself, and then took a deep breath as Dez got back in, shutting the door so forcefully it shook the entire vehicle.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" he shouted, lunging out at Reid, and Richard smacked him back. "Relax. There'll be others."

"I've been working on her for three fucking weeks!"

"Yeah, and I apologize. I pay for the trouble."

"I want his fucking head!"

"Not gonna happen," Richard replied smoothly, "but you can take him for a while...no charge."

"Oh, that'll make everything better! That'll get my girl back!"

"We'll find another. Right now, if you want."

"Whatever."

"You'd like that?"

"I'm not a fuckin' kid, stop fuckin' talking to me like that!"

"Stop fuckin' acting like one, then!"

Dez clenched his teeth, crossed his arms, and sat back. "Yeah. I'd fuckin' like that. And I'll take him."

"Better now than after his master gets ahold of him. It's never pretty after that. He's never pretty after that."