A/N: Hello again, everyone!

First off, let me just say, let me just say it's great to be back to my CM stories after taking yet another sabbatical due to having the awful morning I had last month-(I rather not talk about it since I might end up crying again, even though I've been told to stop crying and to start praying and ask God to help me, give me strength, etc.). Honestly, I was so upset that I didn't even want to post the last chapters of my CM stories, and now...after posted the chapters that I want to write again.

At least not for now.

To be honest again, lately, I've been slowly writing again but for my own personal stories, just trying to get back to my CM stories. I know I always tell people not to give up, keep on going and keep fighting, but at times, there are days when you don't want to fight or keep on going, or even do anything. That's why I felt I needed a break from writing my CM stories.

Until now.

My apologies for the long note. I'll have my moments of being on-and-off, but I'll always be back when I have the mindset again.

Now back to the story.


Reid poured himself a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee and took a sip. Walking back to the bed, he still sees Élise sleeping in bed. Smiling, he walks up to her side and kisses her forehead.

"Mmm…" Élise moaned as she began to wake up and flicked her eyes. Giving them a quick rub, she blinks her eyes a few more times and sees Reid handsomely dressed in a dark sweater, light purple dress shirt with tie, dark dress pants, and shoes. "You have a case, babe?"

"In Tennessee," Reid felt her forehead and concernedly asked her, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah." Élise shrugs her shoulders. "I'm good. Maybe I'm just lazy."

"If anything, get plenty of rest, disinfect yourself from Stacie."

"Mm-mmm," Élise agreed as she massages her temples before giving Reid a goodbye kiss. "Love you."

"You, too."


After everyone settled in, Garcia presents the case as well as photographs on the screen. "A single homicide in Nashville, Tennessee. That is, firefighters responded to a house fire in the Green Hills neighborhood and were able to put out the fire before it destroyed everything, but they discovered the body of Monica Feinstein with a complete facelift. And I'm not talking about the kind that you need a weekend and a bottle of aspirin to get over. I'm talking cheek to cheek, neck to noggin. Her whole face was lifted, like, removed from her."

"All right." Lewis began observing the photos, "Well, burns on the body were limited to the legs and feet, but knife marks went all the way down to the skull."

"Possibly symbolic." Luke thought. "Were the cuts postmortem?"

Garcia answered. "They were. Cause of death was strangulation."

Prentiss guesses, "So the face is a trophy. He took it with him to relive what he did."

"As with Jeffrey Dahmer, killers often collect body parts to combat a feeling of inadequacy. They see the trophy as an extension of their own identity, something they'd rather die than give up." Reid said.

Rossi wonders, "How did the unsub set the fire?"

"Firefighters sourced the flames to a lit stove and then discovered evidence of corroded gas pipes," Garcia answered and presented more photos on the screen.

"The gas pipes are made of galvanized steel, and the house is only a few years old." Simmons said, "The unsub could've used sulfuric acid to mimic the effects of corrosion."

"Yeah," JJ agrees. "He's gone to great lengths to make the fire look like an accident."

"No forensic countermeasure," Tara noted. "Burning the house down would be a perfect way to cover your tracks."

"The sophistication suggests this isn't his first, and he's probably planning more. Wheels up in 20." Prentiss concluded.


After landing in Nashville, Reid, Rossi, and Prentiss were in a separate room; Reid was posting pictures on the board just as Simmons has just walked in,

"According to the autopsy, the cuts on Monica were rough and imprecise."

"But he had already strangled her," Prentiss replied. "He had the time and control to do what he wants. He had no reason to rush."

"Based on his skill and organization, it's not inexperience." Rossi believed.

"It could be that he loses control because he's obtained gratification." Reid justified. "A dopamine rush is similar to drug addiction, where a feeling of euphoria suspends fine motor skills."

Prentiss asked, "Monica Feinstein has a grown son?"

Simmons answered, "Yeah, Carl, age 19. He goes to Tennessee Tech."

Prentiss suggested, "Let's bring him in. If the unsub was somebody Monica knew, he might be able to give us a suspect."


After talking to Carl, Alvez managed to get some information on the potential unsub.

And after much discussion and discovery:

The teamed concluded that the unsub is a conman.

Yet, they are still wondering why to go to these lengths to start the fire and cut off the face.

The team knew they needed to give the profile.

And so, they did.

Prentiss began, "The unsub we're dealing with thinks he's a con man, but a con man wouldn't leave money in the bank like he did with Clarissa Carney."

"This man is a malignant narcissist and misogynist who fundamentally hates the women he takes advantage of. He can't reveal who he truly is to them, so at the moment of their greatest happiness, he destroys it and takes their face." Reid said.

Tara adds, "Now, a hatred this severe, where rage trumps money, indicates that our unsub has a damaged relationship with the primary female figure in his life, most likely his mother."

One of the officers asked, "Wait. Why his mother? Couldn't he just be some guy with a broken heart?"

Rossi answered. "Something must have happened during his formative years to produce this level of violence." "He's been nursing this anger for a long time."

Simmons said. "The time he spends with his marks is our best lead right now, and although he goes to great lengths to hide his face, he probably uses all or part of the same cover story in his con."

"And the details he recycles might be helpful to our investigation." Alvez includes, "There might be some breadcrumbs in there that help lead us to where he is now."

JJ concludes the profile. "Or, more likely, they'll tell us who he was to begin with."

Prentiss nods her head, "Thank you."


The team soon discovered after re-interviewing the family members of the victims, and all stories have one detail in common:

The unsub had a daughter named Grace who died when she was five; she bumped her head and drowned. And it was his mother's fault.

After Simmons and Alvez went down to Aberdeen, Mississippi, and found a police report of accidental death, Garcia searched arrest records for fraud, and one bigamy was found.

The unsub's mother.

Reid slams the open report of the unsub's mother, "Roberta Lynch, 62. Starting in the late seventies, she hopped from suitor to suitor, getting them to marry her and then taking them for all they're worth.

Tara noted. "An arrest in 1991 revealed she had a son, Everett, who was playing second fiddle to the con she was busted for."

"Having a con woman for a mother would have instilled the narcissism and misogyny that we profiled." Reid included.

"Ok, the path to finding him is through his mother." Prentiss figured. "Where is she now?"

"South Mississippi state prison. She's doing 25 to life for killing a boyfriend in a domestic dispute." Tara answered.

"Sounds like that runs in the family, also," JJ said as Prentiss texted Simmons and Alvez to go to South Mississippi state prison to talk to Roberta.

Just the thought and mentioning of prison caused Reid to walk out of the room for a moment, prompting Prentiss to follow him. Prentiss cried out for him,

"Hey, Reid."

Reid leaned back against a back and took a deep breath.

"Hey." Prentiss starts to comfort him. "Are you okay?"

Reid rubs the back of his neck, "It has been about two years since…"

"I know." Prentiss placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know."

"Thank you again for doing everything you could for me while I was there."

"I may be your boss, but I'll always be there and protect you all. No matter what."


After Simmons and Alvez made a visit to see Roberta Lynch and getting all that they could from her about her son, Everett Lynch, the team discussed more on Everett's backstory. Since Roberta did say that she taught Everett everything he knows, there was some kind of pattern.

The places where his mother conned a man.

Knowing the next stop would be Little Rock, with Garcia's help, managed to find a potential.

But when Simmons, Rossi, Tara, Alvez, Rossi, and Reid walked into the potential victim's house, armed with their guns and weapons…

They see cut-up faces of his victims were displayed all over the living room.

"Help!" A scream echoed the house. "Help me!"

Alvez said, motioning. "Upstairs."

"We need to clear the back of the house," Simmons said.

"I'm with you," Rossi said. "Go."

Reid and Alvez went upstairs and saw a young girl duct-taped to the chair.

"Please, you got to help me!" She cried.

"Hey, don't worry." Alvez solaces her. "We're gonna get you out of here."

"He took her! You have to save her!" She yelled.

Reid said as he searched the rest of upstairs, "No sign of him or Mary. Lewis is with Rossi and Simmons."

Alvez asked, "Where did he take your mom?"

"There's a barn in the woods out back!"

Reid said into his FBI vest. "Rossi, check the woods behind the house. Look for a barn." Reid started to get a bad feeling about something. "It doesn't make sense.". "The faces are his trophies. He wouldn't leave them behind if—" He paused, realizing, "He knew we were coming."

The girl was released from her restraints, "Please! You have to find her!"

"Don't worry." Alvez consoles her. "We're gonna find your mom. All right, now what's your name?"

"Grace." She answered. "I'm Grace. Please! He's gonna kill her!"

Reid nervously asked, "Grace?" Realizing he heard that name from...

The girl looked at the two of them, who had doubtful looks on their faces before she pulls out a knife from behind her,

"Daddy!"

Grace nicks Alvez in his arm, causing him to cry out in pain but not before he restrains her; Reid pointed his gun at Grace before restraining her with his handcuffs.


Reid, Simmons, and Tara watched in disgust as Grace is taken away in the backseat of the police car. Walking over to the ambulance where medics were tending to Rossi and Alvez; Simmons asked,

"How are you two feeling?"

Alvez winced in pain, "I'll be alright."

"Rossi?"

Rossi shuttered, "Still shaken up."

"Roberta must have called her attorney after we left and got him to warn her son." Simmons theorizes.

Tara grunted, "Bastard and his bitch daughter played us."

"He did." Reid's as equally pissed off. "But at least his daughter's in custody."

"But Lynch is out there somewhere." Tara looked out into the wildernesses. "And the worst part is that he's a chameleon."


On the plane ride home, Reid was steadily looking out of the window just as Prentiss stood up from the couch and cleared her throat, "Everyone."

The team, including Reid, looked up to her.

"I know today we…lost a battle. Even though Lynch escaped, we still caught his daughter. Just because we lost the battle doesn't mean we won't win the big war." Prentiss exhaled before vowing, "We'll get him. And if any of you need some time off, just say the word."

Reid went back to looking out the window.


Élise sensed something was wrong when Reid came home and had some coffee set up for the two of them. Reid told Élise everything about the case, mainly about the unsub himself, his incarcerated mother, and what happened to him and Alvez, Tara, Simmons, and Rossi.

Élise's eyes widen. "He used his daughter?"

"Yup." Reid softly said before sipping some coffee.

Élise cuddles closer to Reid on the couch, "Thank God you're okay. What about, uh…?"

"Grace put Luke's arm in a case, and he said his arm would have to take a week or two to heal; Everett opened repeatedly shot at Rossi, Tara, and Simmons. He even…almost asphyxiated Rossi to death but instead slashed his forehead and left him a knife as a reminder of what he could have done to his face."

Élise felt chills, "Oh, Rossi. Remind me to get him some flowers."

Reid sighs, "I don't know. I just…"

"You all are alive. You had a close call, but all that matters is that you're all still alive."

"But he got away," Reid replied.

Élise retorted, "But you also arrested Grace and saved Mary."

"But what if we can't?" Reid wonders. "Hotch's ex-wife, Haley, was killed by George 'The Reaper' Foyet. He planned everything down to the very last detail, even his prison escape. Plus, there are a lot of people we haven't caught."

"You'll get him. it may take another week, a month, maybe six months to a year, but you'll get him. Unless he has plastic surgery, he can't be in disguise forever."

Reid exhaled again and turned to Élise again, "Thanks for comforting me."

"As always."

Reid and Élise engaged in a passionate kiss on the couch when,

"Mama? Daddy?"

They pulled away from each other once she noticed Anastasia standing outside her bedroom door. Getting up from the couch and walking towards her,

"Hey, you." Reid crouches down. "You can't sleep?"

Anastasia shakes her head, "Mm-mmm."

Élise squats down, "Want to stay with us tonight, Stacie?"

"Yeah!" Anastasia cheered.

Reid picked up Anastasia and carried her to his bedroom with Élise following.