JJ returned to the conference room, a fresh cup of coffee in hand. She approached Reid, busy at work with a dry erase marker in hand. The scribbling and equating all over seemed to make perfect sense to him. All it did to JJ was make her head hurt.

"Anything?" she asked as she handed him the cup. Reid took it, taking a sip as he continued to examine his progress.

"Not much," he replied. He'd written down the name of each of the victims, their numbers written beside it. Even the owner of the school was there, and Reid had assumed his number was also twelve. "I'm thinking he's using some kind of numerology. Unfortunately, there are… numerous forms of that religion. Pardon the pun."

"Numerology." JJ repeated. "I thought only teenaged girls and Wiccans followed that."

"Actually, Wicca is more associated with nature and astrology." Reid explained. "In a weird way, almost everyone follows numerology."

"How do you figure?" JJ asked.

"We base our lives completely on numbers. Friday the 13th is a bad day, 7 is supposed to be lucky, 666 is associated with the devil. Different cultures and different countries have their own meanings. For instance, Christians associate the end of the world with 3s. Japan rarely sells things in 4s. The possibilities and combinations are endless."

"So it might take awhile to figure this out." She realized.

"If," Reid admitted. "Considering how intelligent and deluded our unsub is, he could be using a form that he invented himself. If that's the case… we might never find the other victims." He wasn't giving up hope, yet. Reid continued figuring the numbers, trying to determine if anything made sense. When a few numbers connected, the others wouldn't fit. It was frustrating, but he pushed on.

Meanwhile, out in the squad room, the rest of the team discussed what they knew. The trail was going cold. The more time wasted the farther away he got.

If they didn't find him, Riley knew the Undertaker could still be watching her. Once he realized the heat was off him, he could come out of the woodwork and take her. Yet she was more concerned about letting Spencer go than catching the man planning on killing her. Now she began to understand why the FBI discouraged bureau romances, and zero tolerance on dating agents working together. It was too distracting.

After another pointless look through the case files, Hotch received an important phone call. The others decided to take a break. Rossi stepped out to stretch his legs, Morgan and Emily went for coffee. Riley sat back in her chair, noticing Reid and JJ working alone in the next room. She debated whether or not to go in there. On the one hand, maybe it would be better for everyone involved if she and Reid just left things where they were. On the other, she didn't like the way Reid was acting with JJ. They were friends, and Reid had complete trust and care for her. Riley was jealous; she wanted that with him again. It was completely ridiculous and irrational to feel this way. Of course, if love were rational, it wouldn't turn everyone into such fools.

Before anyone could return and want to get back to work, Riley made her way to the conference room. JJ was pleased to see her. Reid continued working, unaware they had a visitor until JJ greeted her, "Hey, Riley."

Pausing for a moment, Reid's hand stopped writing. He didn't turn around, gathering himself. Not saying a word, he continued working at another hopeless calculation. Riley waited a moment for him to acknowledge her, despondent when he didn't.

"Any luck on the numbers?" Riley asked.

JJ shook her head. "Any luck out there?"

"Nothing. His victims can't be random, but they don't appear to have anything in common." She said, sitting on the edge of the table. "The big mystery is why he chose to bury Maria and Addie the way he did. Everyone else had a coffin… I wish we could know if Alex would have had a coffin, or…" She cut herself off before she could say "me". "Everyone's on a break, you guys should take one, too."

"No thanks," Reid muttered. "I'd rather work on this."

JJ had a sudden idea. "You know, I haven't talked to Will since yesterday, I think I'm going to call home. Riley, you don't mind helping Reid, do you?"

Before either could object, JJ left. Riley thought about slipping out, but couldn't get her legs to connect with her mind. Instead, she watched as he distracted himself with his work. Maybe it was because she was a nerd or maybe it was because she loved him so much, but something about Spencer was so sexy to her when he was being outlandishly smart. He could rattle on for hours on useless information, knowledge that only mattered to him and he kept her attention the entire time. It was the passion and revelry he took in it that enchanted her.

Riley decided to speak up. "That looks complicated."

"It's not, really, if you understand basic Calculus." he replied. "I've been using forms from the Pythagorean system in numerology, but no breakthroughs yet."

He was at least being civil to her. But Riley's mentally debilitated mind couldn't seem to leave well enough alone. If she could, she probably wouldn't have come in at all. "How's your chest?"

"You mean besides my broken heart?" Reid cracked, "It's fine, thanks for asking."

A deep breath; she didn't really know what to say. 'I'm sorry' just seemed a redundant cliché. "I feel awful, Spencer."

He turned to her, speaking sarcastically, "Oh, thank you for telling me. I've been so worried about how you felt about breaking up with me." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "If there's anything I can do to ease your pain, please let me know."

He let his hand rest on her a moment, both trying to ignore the electricity it generated. He pulled his hand away and went back to the board.

He tried to distract himself with working, wishing Riley would just leave. Instead, she moved closer, brushing his shoulder. He didn't brush her away this time, but his hand stopped moving across the board.

"I didn't… I didn't mean to hurt you, Spencer." She said. "Sometimes… things can slip out when you're trying to get a point across."

"And what point is that?" Reid asked.

That I'm too emotionally damaged to make you happy. "I told you. I care about you… but… it's not enough. You need to get over me."

"Then why did you kiss me?" He asked.

"I was… caught up. I was scared and… I felt safe with you. My instincts took control, I shouldn't have done it, I'm sorry." She continued stroking his shoulder. "I know I keep saying that. I want us to move past this, I want us to be friends again."

"I don't think so," Reid said, looking at her. "We're adults. I can be impartial during this case, I can work with you. But… that's it." He paused, trying to keep his voice calm. "I shouldn't have let you go, Riley. I should have begged you to stay."

"It wouldn't have made a difference, I still would have left." She explained.

"I thought so, but I still should have tried." He replied. "Saying goodbye was the hardest thing I ever had to do… I can't do it again. Being friends is just agony. I can't be your friend when I want you so much. If we have to work together, I can be professional, but otherwise don't come near me."

She wanted to cry. Nodding, she backed away. This was what she wanted. She had no right to be upset. "Okay," she said. She turned to leave.

Before she reached the door, Rossi walked in. "Anything going on in here?" he asked.

"No," Reid exclaimed. "I was just… explaining something to Riley."

His eyes went from Riley to Reid and back again. "Anything wrong?" he asked Riley.

"No, sir," she said. "I'm just tired."

He nodded slowly, disbelieving. "Any luck with the numbers?"

"Not yet," Reid said, "I have a… few more ideas."

"Did you find some new information pulled from the victims?" He asked to Riley.

She didn't have anything to say. She hadn't gotten back to work since the rest went on break. "Riley offered to help me when JJ went to call home."

"Okay, then." He replied. "You guys keep working, then. Let us know if you find anything." Both men noticed Riley rubbing her uninjured temple, her eyes scrunched in pain. "Don't hesitate to take a break."

"Thanks, Rossi," Reid said as he left, leaving them alone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, opening her eyes. "Headache. You… you didn't have to cover for me like that."

"Just trying to help." He muttered, turning back to the board.

"Thank you, though." She continued. She hesitated. "Can I… help?"

"Headaches," He said, turning around.

"What?" she asked.

"Your headaches. You've been getting them since you moved to Seattle, right?"

"Right," she answered. "But there's nothing… I can do for them."

"But they were severe enough you needed to go to the doctor. That's it. We need to pull the records on the other victims."

"Why?" she wondered.

"The other victims had to have something that sent them to the hospital. Something so serious, the unsub thought they were too sick to lead a normal life. The unsub found out about your headaches and… since they couldn't do anything for them…"

"But Maria wasn't sick, she was having a baby."

"Yeah, a baby out of wedlock. She had no money and no career. Her mother wasn't happy to have another kid to take care of. The unsub knew her life was spinning out of control, he thought a mercy killing would solve that."

"Murdering her instead of adoption or abortion?"

"He's not exactly sane, Riley." Reid explained. "Come on."

He grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the squad room. Riley hated how much she loved the feel; the warmth of his fingers between hers. Hotch was in mid discussion with the others. "Guys, we have an idea."

"It's too late, Reid," Morgan said.

"What?" He asked, dropping Riley's hand. She was too surprised to notice.

"We're going home, Reid," Hotch explained. "I just got off the phone with Strauss."

Reid practically cringed at the sound of that name. No good ever came from that woman. "What did she want?"

"She wants us back in Quantico," He explained. "Three murders have been reported in Bethesda. She said it takes precedence over this case."

"Three murders take precedence over all of these?" Riley asked. "These victims aren't just random people are they?"

"Let's just say there are… several politicians in Washington who are upset about this." Hotch said.

"Hotch, we can't just let this go!" Reid exclaimed.

"We have to concede, Reid. There's nothing to justify this case over Bethesda. The police have the profile, they know who to look for. It's over. We're back on the plane to Quantico in the morning."

Reid wasn't giving up. "We have a lead, Hotch. It's not over."

"It is for us. The police can handle it now. We leave first thing in the morning. Take Riley home; we're done."