The next thing Reid could remember was lying with his eyes closed. His head felt split into two. His entire body ached and his stomach felt extremely sore. Slowly, he opened his eyes, finding himself lying in a white, clean, unfamiliar room. He looked around. The sun was mixing with night. He couldn't tell if it was twilight or dawn.

"Guys," a female voice called. It sounded foggy. "Guys, I think he's coming around."

Reid looked to his right and saw a blonde woman leaning over him. His brain, working on slow motion, took a moment to recognize her.

"J.J.?" he asked, a little uncertain.

"Hey," she spoke in a half whisper. "We were worried about you."

Everything was a blur. How had he gotten here? "Where am I?" he asked.

"St. Anne's Hospital." She said. Morgan, Hotch, and Emily came into the room. "You were brought here around midnight. Somebody broke into your apartment."

"Hey, man," Morgan said, going over to the other side of the bed. "Do you remember anything, buddy?"

"Morgan," he whispered, after taking a moment to identify him. "Um… I don't…" he fought the splitting headache to think. He remembered screaming… pounding… a baby crying with the sounds of sirens… but nothing was making sense. Nothing connected the story in his mind. "I don't know." He mumbled dazedly. "What happened?

"I was called early this morning. They said someone broke into your apartment and attacked you. He didn't take anything, but he beat you up pretty bad. You have a concussion. He stabbed you five times in the stomach.

"They said your neighbor, Holly Marsh, heard a woman screaming in your home. Her husband called 911 while she came to see if you were alright. You'd have died if she hadn't found you."

Holly heard screaming, a woman screaming. What woman could have been in his place? Suddenly, his mind snapped to Riley.

"Riley…" he whispered.

"No, Holly," Emily said. "You're neighbor."

It clicked. He was holding Riley, he was trying to console her… "No, Riley was with me. Where's Riley?"

The entire group looked confused. "Riley wasn't there. She wasn't found."

"She was there!" he cried, sitting up. "She was at my place."

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked.

"Why was Riley at your place, Reid?" Hotch asked.

"Someone had broken into her apartment. She was scared, she didn't know what to do so she came to my place. She was sobbing and… I was trying to calm her down and…" with the exception of a few fuzzy noises, Reid's mind was blacked out. He covered his eyes with his hands to help himself think. "My brain is not working!" he moaned. The pain was almost unbearable, but he had to concentrate. Whoever broke into her apartment must have followed her… whoever it was kidnapped her and tried to kill him.

"It was Fueller," Reid said. "I know it. He has to be the one killing those girls. He's out to get her. He's been stalking her." He'd been stalking Reid as well. "And now he's taken her. He's going to kill her in three days. I'm sure of it."

"Reid, you don't know it's Fueller." Morgan said. "It could have been anybody who broke into your place. Riley was probably just in the wrong place at-"

"Do you really think it's a coincidence that a complete stranger broke into her apartment and then another complete stranger broke into mine and attacked us after she'd gotten there? Do you really think it's just a fluke that we both felt like we were being followed on the same night when we weren't even together?" He looked at Hotch. "He's got her."

Hotch shared Reid's stare and then looked to the rest of the team. "It's at least something to go on. Morgan, call Garcia. Tell her to try and track down where Fueller's staying and who his parole officer and his new shrink is. If she's not at the B.A.U., tell her to get back in. The rest of you, let's go."

"I'm going with you." Reid said, trying to climb out of bed.

"Reid, no," J.J. said, "They want you to stay overnight, just to be sure."

"And you're off this case, anyway," Hotch said.

"I can't be. Hotch!" He protested.

"Reid, you're injured. You have 67 total stitches on your stomach and 7 in your head. You're on leave until the doctors clear you to return to work."

"That could take weeks," Reid objected, but leaned back on his pillow, feeling dizzy and nauseous. His head felt like it was spinning. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the pain.

"J.J., maybe you should stay here and watch him." Hotch mumbled.

Reid opened his eyes to see her nod. Emily made her way to the head of the bed. "We'll find her, Reid. I promise. Get better." She patted his shoulder comfortingly. Reid reached out and squeezed it, feeling too sick to say anything. She and Hotch left, leaving the two alone.

J.J. reclaimed her seat, taking his hand for comfort.

"If you need to get home to Will and Henry, you can go." Reid said. "I'm not going to leave, I don't think my legs would support me."

"They'll be fine without me for awhile," she replied. Squeezing his hand tighter, she continued, "They'll find her, Reid. You know they're the best."

"I was supposed to protect her." He said. "And I let him take her."

"Reid, you look like Rocky." She said. "From the looks of you, you didn't just let him take her. You fought for her. You almost gave your life for her and if your neighbors hadn't found you, you would have." She paused, letting her words sink in. "And we are going to find her."

"I hope you're right, J.J." He said, leaning back to let the pain sink in. "At least whatever pain meds they have me on are weak. I won't… you know, relapse."

"You're not on any pain meds." J.J. said. "When Hotch made it in, he explained your situation to your doctor so he wouldn't give you anything. They've been giving you something to sleep. That's probably why you're so groggy."

Reid nodded, closing his eyes. In a moment, thankfully, he fell back asleep. He was the most upset J.J. had ever seen him. He didn't even bother to ask who Rocky was.

Slowly, Riley managed to open her eyes. The room was in was dimly lit, but her head hurt so bad she couldn't even make out an image. Her nose inhaled the scent of blood, waste, and burning wood. Light was flickering, probably a fire, and a shadow was moving among the flames. She felt sick.

"Spencer?" she mumbled, blinking slowly. Where was she? She felt drugged. The last thing she remembered… Spencer was soothing her; she was just starting to feel safe again… She closed her eyes to remember more. There was a fight… he was telling her to get out when she felt like she'd been stung in the leg… she felt an intense pain in her head as she blacked out… she must have hit her head. She tried to feel the pulsing pain on the back of her head and realized her hands were bound with duct tape. The nausea was getting to her.

"Spencer," she uttered again, rolling over on the mattress, she vomited on the floor. Resting her head, she closed her eyes and drifted away again. The world was too fuzzy for her to care.

Reid didn't awake again until late the next morning. J.J. had been replaced by Morgan, who sat with headphones on.

"Hey," he said, taking his music off. "Look who's awake. How you feeling, kid?"

"Like I was beat up and stabbed. I guess that's good, considering that's what happened." He sounded bitter. "Did you find Riley?"

"No, but we found Fueller. He'd been evading his P.O. His last meeting was supposed to be ten days ago and he never showed. The team's on the way over to his apartment to bring him in to interrogate him. They're going to call me when they've got him and I'm going to help interview him."

"I want to help, too."

"Reid, you can barely stand. Even without the sleep meds, I doubt you'd make it."

Reid heaved a heavy sigh, having little strength to argue. "I just feel like I should be doing something. I'm just lying here and no one even knows where she is. What if she's already-"

"If Fueller sticks to his MO, we still have a day and half before he kills her. They're bringing him in now. Riley might even be there, too."

"He wouldn't risk the cops coming to his place and finding her there. Especially being on parole. When he was arrested ten years ago, they didn't even find any evidence of torture or murder anywhere in his house. They never found where he did his work."

"We'll find her." Morgan urged. "I'll beat it out of him if I have to."

Finally, Reid gave a small, slightly painful smile. "Oh my God, you actually smiled!"

"Shut up," he said through another one. Reid was so thankful for Morgan, the best friend he ever had. Well… who was male, anyway.

"Hey, guys," Emily said, walking into the room. "How you feeling Reid?"

"Prentiss, what are you doing here?" Morgan asked.

"Where's Fueller? Did you find Riley?" Reid asked.

"Morgan, can I talk to you in the hall for a minute?" she asked. Morgan stood up, throwing a cautious look of curiosity at her. Emily led him out first, closing the door behind them.

Nervous, Reid stared at the door waiting for their return. They were keeping their voices low, he suspected, otherwise he'd hear them, even just a little. Something was wrong.

A moment later, an ashen faced Morgan returned with Emily, still looking as nervous and scared as when she arrived.

"What is it?" Reid asked. His throbbing stomach clenched… maybe they did find Riley… and she was…

"Reid, um… the good news is we did find Fueller." She said. She glanced at Morgan for support, but he had nothing to say. "But…"

"He killed her already, didn't he?" Reid asked, trying to keep his voice stable.

"We didn't find Riley yet. We found Fueller in his apartment." She closed her eyes to try and gather what strength she had left.

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Reid… Fueller's dead."

Confused, Reid glanced at Morgan, who was watching him in turn, warily.

"Well, I can't say I'm upset. At least he can't hurt Riley. Who shot him… Hotch? You?"

"We didn't kill him." Emily said. "He's been dead, the coroner suspects, at least two weeks."

A pin drop could have been heard within the room. Reid's head started pounding again as he tried to piece the information together. "That's impossible. Those girls we found… they were killed less than a week ago. The other girls in the case, they were killed the exact same way. It has to be the same killer."

"Then, I guess Fueller didn't kill them." Morgan clarified. "And Fueller obviously doesn't have Riley."

Reid looked away from the saddened eyes around him. "Then who does?"