(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

Dear guest reviewer, please contact me if you want to talk, otherwise I'm unsure if the relevancey of your review, it has nothing to do with this story, so unless you wish to elaborate I will remain slightly confused. Thanks.

Enjoy...

David Rossi had seen many things in his life. He had written novels on some of the more memorable and grotesque of cases. But opening that basement door and finding a half dead child inside was probably the worst. In fact, sitting beside that hospital bed and looking on at the small boy with a tube wedges down his throat was also taking a top place on things he never wants to see again.

Dave pressed his head into his hands and took a deep breath before looking at the child again.

Spencer had been out of surgery for two hours. They had to do something to his hand before amputation became the only answer. They'd also inserted a feeding tube in the kid's stomach since he was so malnourished as well as tubes to flood his body with fluids. Dave could see all the tubes wriggling around the bed sheets and into various machines around Spencer, some beeped, others whirred and some just made the occasional dripping sound.

The hand was severely cut. They were close to having to take a skin graft but they managed to salvage most of the torn skin.

The gashes on the kid's face had been cleaned. Dave could see that they'd practically been dug out and then sealed with stitches, a length of gauze stuffed beneath the skin, an inch sticking out so as to keep it drained.

And the tube down the kid's throat was necessary since Spencer's body was shutting down and his internal organs were compromised. The lungs had started to shut down first and to keep him breathing the doctors had to open his airways and insert a ventilator.

It all looked awful but Dave preferred it to the state they'd found him in earlier.

Emily followed Morgan into the interrogation room. William Reid sat up quickly, watching them sit down with a desperate expression. His fine hair was clinging to his scalp, pushed back to reveal an extensive receding hairline. His eyes were red, black skin encasing them from lack of sleep.

"We need to talk," Morgan said simply, taking the seat opposite William. Emily stood for a moment, watching the disheveled man before sitting beside Morgan.

"What do you want me to say?" William said, his voice stronger than expected.

"Why did we find your son locked in your basement?" Emily said, her own voice cool.

William sat back, his lips falling. "I refuse to talk about that," he said.

"Alright," Emily said and she passed a file over to Morgan who opened it and laid out several photos. They were of Ashley's laptop and phone which they'd uncovered from William's bedroom.

"Do you mind telling us where your daughter is?" Morgan shoved the pictures forward and set a hard look on his face. William looked down and he visibly paled.

"I-I-"

Morgan curled his fingers around the file. "Don't bother telling us 'she's away.'"

Morgan pulled open the file again and pulled out the posts on Instagram which had in fact been sent from William Reid's house. "All of her posts from the last month on Facebook, Instagram, and twitter were posted by you. That's about the time she left, isn't that right, Prentiss?"

Emily nodded. Both agents turned their gazes back on Reid. "Care to explain?"

"I don't understand how technology like that works... social media is not m-my strong point."

"Bullshit-"

"Derek-"

Morgan was up out of his chair. "Where is your daughter!" he shouted.

William flinched away from Morgan. "I don't know," he said, his voice quiet and terrified.

Morgan glanced at Emily, his expression already annoyed.

"This is going to take a while then."

Aaron stepped back and forth along the hospital corridor. He had left Dave with Spencer while he got some air.

The image of the closet where the boy had been held was imprinted behind his closed eyes and they were stinging from staying open too long to hide the atrocities.

It hurt him to see such a young child in the state Spencer was in. If he had found William Reid after Spencer the man may not have survived the search.

Aaron glanced down the corridor, wondering when Morgan and Emily were back. He looked down at his watch just as his phone rang.

Aaron wrestled the device from his pocket and smiled, accepting the call.

"Hey, Jess."

"Dad?"

"Hi, buddy!"

"Dad! When are you coming home?"

Aaron chuckled. "How did you get aunt Jess' phone."

There was a pause. "I borrowed it?"

"As long as you give it back," Aaron said with a smile.

"I will, but you have to answer me first! When are you and uncle Dave back?!"

Aaron's smile dropped slightly. "Well," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "There's a boy here who needs our help, Jack. We just need to stay here to make sure he's alright and then I'll be home."

"What's his name?"

"Huh?"

"The boy?"

Aaron frowned. "It's..." he wasn't sure if he should be discussing a case with his son. "His name's Spencer."

"What happened to him?" Jack asked.

"His dad... isn't nice."

"Oh..."

"Yea... anyway, how's school, buddy? Have you been doing your homework this week? I don't want to be having another chat with Mrs. Goodwin again."

There was a giggle on the other end of the line before Jack said, "I am, I promise! Mrs. Goodwin gave me a sticker today."

"That's great, pal!"

What Jack said next was interrupted by another call coming through on his work phone. He pulled out the second phone. Aaron frowned as he looked at the number trying to get through to him. He recognised it as the sheriff's number. He pursed his lips and turned back to his phone call with Jack.

"I've got to go, buddy. Somethings come up, I'll call you before school tomorrow."

"Promise?" Jack said after a moment and Aaron smiled, clutching his work phone tighter.

"Promise. Now get to bed, kiddo. I love you."

"Love you too, daddy."

"Tell aunt Jess I said bye, okay? And give her her phone back."

"Okay."

Hotch hung up quickly, exchanging phones and answering the sheriff's call.

"Sorry Sheriff, I-"

Hotch's brows squeezed together in concern. "Where?" His hand rose and he pinched his bottom lip. "Yes, it was located there. Do they know how long?"

Aaron glanced at the hospital room holding Spencer and he saw his partner reach forward and brush back the boy's hair. "And you're sure?" He shook his head.

"Alright, I'll have my agents talk to Reid. And there was another one? Alright, thank you Sheriff."

"Did you like it?"

William Reid raised his head and glowered at Morgan. "No."

Morgan snorted. "Sure as hell looked like you did. Did it make you feel good, huh? Locking a kid up? Leaving him for the rats? Your own child!"

Emily stayed seated, glaring at William as he dropped his head back into his arms, the defensive position he'd taken for much of the interview.

"He involved the FBI," William muttered.

"Oh? The news thought he was Rossi's fan. They interviewed you after. You were squeaky clean, so why punish your son?"

William didn't answer so Emily leaned forward and brought out her soft voice. "You said you wanted to protect him. From who, Mr. Reid?"

William raised his head and looked at Emily briefly. She thought he might say something but he just shook his head, closing his eyes tiredly.

Morgan was ready to start shouting again when an officer stepped inside.

"Your boss is here," he said, stepping aside to let Hotch in.

"He ain't talking, Hotch," Morgan said, not bothering to look at Aaron. "To me I think we might have a classic pedophile and we all know how well they do in prison."

William stared at Morgan, his eyes blown wide with fear.

"He's not a predator," Aaron muttered, opening his file and setting it on the desk. He pulled out a few photos and slid them toward William. "He's a murderer."

Morgan turned to Aaron, glancing down at the photos. There were two large holes in both pictures, one a little smaller than the other, the bigger one freshly dug. The other photos showed partially skeletal remains, the skin still attached in some parts, along with clothes and some blonde hair.

Emily stared at the photos. "Is that-?"

"Ashley? Yea," Aaron said before looking up at William who was watching him in intense fear. "You killed your daughter."

"I-I had to."

"What was the second hole for?"

William shook his head and looked away. "You know."

"I want you to tell me," Aaron said.

"Yes I did it! Okay?"

"Who's the other hole for?"

"Stop it." William raised his hands and covered his ears.

"You weren't going to let him out of that basement were you?"

"I was... I-I was."

"Not alive anyway."

Morgan stepped back, his stomach feeling suddenly queasy. Hotch pressed his palms into the table and stared intently at William.

"Who was the hole for?" he asked again, his voice low and dangerous.

"I-"

"Who?"

"Spencer!"

Um... you may have noticed my profile picture has changed, I apologise if this makes it slightly confusing to find my story but I wanted to put my dog at the forefront of my profile since he has been my sunshine for so many years.

Unfortunately, he passed away on last Tuesday. I feel like I'm expected to be over it, but... I can't help but feel heart broken, even after a week. As my mum told me, he was never just a pet, he truly was a big part of my family and I will miss him for a long time.

For anyone curious, his name was Oliver (Ollie) he had always been a healthy dog until he was diagnosed with heart disease last year. Since then, he's been labouring on, up and down, but he never stopped wagging that tail, even on his last day. He was 11.

I'm trying to write to distract me but to also feed my emotions into my stories. So thank you again fanfiction, for acting as my safety net, for giving me a place I can write and be listened. And thank you to all you lovely readers who always go further to support me.

I'm sorry for that moment of melancholy. I will be back as soon as I can.

See you soon.