For several moments, all Reid wanted to do was lie there. He felt sore and tired and sick, and the car was giving him motion sickness. No, it was a truck. They were in a truck bed. The glow came from an orange cargo light. It was extremely dim, barely giving any help. Reid stared at Riley, whose attention was on his head wound; he could only imagine how bad it was. After a moment, her sparkling eyes moved down to meet his, glistening slightly.

"It doesn't look too bad," she informed, her voice low. "I imagine it hurts worse than it is."

"What happened?" he whispered again.

She swallowed, her throat seemed dry. "You don't remember?"

"Please don't make me think," he said, closing his eyes. He reached between her bound arms, leaning in to rest his aching forehead against hers. He tried to reach for her, but realized his wrists were bound, too. The twine cut into them painfully. It wouldn't be long before it drew blood, and he couldn't afford to lose much more.

"Car accident," she explained. Her fingers entangled into the ends of his hair in a loving fashion, still leaning on his wound.

"Oh yeah," Reid muttered, opening his eyes. Now he remembered. A truck had been following them since before the interstate… he was looking at Riley, not paying attention, and knew the truck was trying to pass. It slammed into them on the driver's side unexpectedly… "Are you alright?"

Riley let out a light laugh. "Not as bad as you," she said, glancing up to check the wound again. Reid took a quick glance over her. Her shoes were gone and one leg had a large gash in it. "Don't fall asleep… you might have a concussion."

"That's the least of our concerns, Riley," he defined from their surroundings. "It's Engles, isn't it?"

She nodded. "You were out cold… I…" a few tears escaped as she talked. "I thought you were dead… I kept screaming for you to wake up, but you wouldn't move…" She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I tried to get out… but my leg was trapped under the dashboard and… I could barely catch my breath, my side hurt so bad…" She breathed a few times. "Engles finally came over and he had a gun… I refused to do what he said…" A few more deep breaths; they sounded painful. "You let out a groan, and he threatened… ah… he threatened to kill you right then if I didn't come."

"Riley…" he moaned. "Why-"

"I thought he would let you go… I let him pull me out. He tied me up and dumped me into the back of his truck. Before I knew it… he put you in next to me…" She took another shuddering breath and flinched, "Oh God…" her eyes closed tightly as she absorbed the shot of pain, beginning to cry silently.

"You might have broken some ribs… or internal bleeding." His own tears fell with hers. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be you dare be sorry," she sobbed, brushing through more of his hair. He closed his eyes, absorbing the feel.

The reality hit him. The team didn't know where they were or what they were doing. Garcia was going to call them soon enough, but by the time she realized they were missing and told the others… it would be too late.

"Don't fall asleep," she said again. Reid locked his gaze with hers. "You have a concussion, you need to stay awake."

Reid had been in situations like this before. He had cheated death and gotten away, but he and Riley wouldn't be so lucky this time. There was no point in lying or trying to ease the actuality of it, either. "Riley… you know we're going to die tonight."

She took a slow deep, painful breath and nodded. "Yeah. I know."

Morgan waited for his phone to turn back on. He hadn't remembered switching it off, and noticed it only when he went to call Reid. He should have been back by now, unless he and Riley decided they wanted some time to themselves. For the kid's sake, he hoped so.

He sat in the lobby, waiting for the others, listening to sounds of each ring. No answer. As he heard the automated voicemail message, JJ and Emily appeared. "Hey, Reid, I'm wondering why you're not back yet. Listen, we're going out to dinner as soon as we figure out where. Call me back and I'll let you know, and if you haven't dropped Riley off yet, you should bring her along."

He hung up; Emily took the seat next to him. "I doubt he'll call back," she said with a smile.

"Not for awhile, anyway," Morgan agreed. He pocketed his phone. "Where's Hotch and Rossi?"

"They're not coming," JJ informed. "Rossi said he's too tired and Hotch is caught up in another phone conversation with Strauss. No end in sight."

Morgan rolled his eyes. "So where are we eating?" He asked, standing up.

"Chinese?" Emily suggested. She checked her phone, switching back from silent. "I got a call from Garcia." She noticed, dialing to call her back. "You did tell her we're going home, right?"

"Yeah, right after Hotch told us, when Reid and Riley left." Morgan said.

"The call came a good half hour afterward," She said, listening to the rings, not expecting anyone to answer.

"House of Absolute Truth, how may I direct your call?" she asked.

"Hey, Garcia, it's Emily, is something wrong?" Emily asked.

"Oh, now we decide to answer our phones!" She declared, "It's very distressing when my calls go unnoticed, you guys. I don't like being out of the loop."

"Sorry, Garcia it's… been a long day. What's up?"

On the other end of the line, Garcia hesitated, trying to shift gears so quickly. "Uh… it's okay, I already told Reid about it."

"You… got a hold of Reid?" Emily asked, looking at JJ and Morgan, both listening intently.

"Yeah, it was… about an hour ago… uh, it was… just off the DNA on Riley's coat."

"You got a match?" Emily asked. She listened, and repeated Garcia's words for the others. "A partial match… to Maria? Okay, what did Reid say about that?"

"Reid?" Garcia spoke slowly, knowing she would probably have to betray him in the next sentence or so. "Why… is… his reaction a… concern?"

There was no doubt all three of them were good at their jobs. With one look, Emily gave them a good idea what was happening. Morgan reached over and took the phone. "Hey, baby girl, now you wouldn't lie to your boy, right?"

"Right," she moaned.

"What is Reid up to? Now I know you know." He said.

Garcia let out a long breath. "He's… he asked me to look up the medical records on the other victims."

"He's still working the case, isn't he?"

A long sigh. "With Riley."

Morgan shook his head. "Alright, where are they at now?"

"Okay now, that I can't help you with." She said. "Reid asked me to call as soon as I got a hold of the records, but there's no answer."

"He didn't tell you where they were going?"

"No, his only instruction was to not tell you." She admitted. "I've called ten times in the last half hour, there's no answer. His phone rings, so I know it's not off."

"Keep trying, Baby Girl. We'll call you back when we know something." He said. He listened a moment longer and hung up. "Reid and Riley decided to take it on themselves to keep working the case."

"Why am I not surprised?" Emily asked. She smiled, taking a glance at JJ. Her face was pale and grave, almost like she was about to be sick. "JJ?" she asked.

JJ was a mother; a very good mother. And mothers knew things others could never sense nor understand. Something wasn't right. She couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but a knot in her stomach told her things were not as they seemed.

"JJ!" Emily called, pulling her from her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "I just… I feel like something's wrong."

"Do you want to stay here?" Emily asked. "Morgan and I can handle this."

"Yeah, it shouldn't be hard to track them down, and I'll need a few minutes to kick Reid's ass of course. The whole thing shouldn't take more than an hour."

"No, I want to go." JJ stated. "I just… I have a bad feeling."

"About what?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "It's nothing; I get feelings like that sometimes."

They left the hotel, not bothering to tell Hotch or Rossi in an effort to keep Reid out of trouble. Still, JJ couldn't quite shake the feeling. But she was probably just over reacting. Probably.

A person shouldn't fall asleep if they had a concussion, but survival was not an option this time. He could have drifted off and probably be in some coma by the time they stopped. Reid wouldn't try, though. He refused to let Riley go through this alone.

The windows in the truck bed were dirty and rusty, but some light managed to shine through. It gave enough indication of how long they drove. Before long, the sun had set completely and the world was dark. After that, time slipped away from them.

"What are you thinking about?" Riley asked.

Reid smiled. "Actually… I'm thinking about my Mom."

Riley felt like crying again, but she kept her tears back for now. "Really?"

He nodded. "I… feel guilty she'll never know what happened."

The tears dripped through her lashes. "Oh, God, I'm sorry."

"There's a voice memo for her on Garcia's computer." He paused, enjoying the feel of her fingers playing with his hair. "Last year… the summer before I met you… I… got infected with anthrax."

"You never told me about that."

"I left a message for my mother in case I died. Just to make sure she heard my voice. Afterward… I told Garcia not to delete it… She was right, everything happens for a reason."

Riley looked away for a minute. "You shouldn't be this calm. You should hate me, you should be angry with me."

"Riley, I don't hate you… I've tried hating you… and I'm very bad at it. And even if I had the energy… I don't want that to waste the last hours of my life being angry with you."

"But you should be angry. I don't have anyone to leave behind. My father's dead, I haven't spoken to my mother in years. You were right; I have no friends, no family… No one is going to miss me. But you… you have people who care about you."

"They'll be fine. They'll be upset, I know, and they'll try to find us, but they will be okay. The only other person I would be concerned about… is lying here with me."

Touched by his words, Riley's arms gently slipped around Reid's neck and held him close to her. "I love you, Spencer," Riley whispered.

"You're just saying that because we're going to die." He said. He wasn't upset. Maybe it was the loss of blood, but he actually felt amused.

"No, I'm not… well," she swallowed and tried to breath. "Okay, yeah, I am, but I do mean it. I never… I never stopped loving you… I never fell out of love with you."

"Then why did you lie?" He asked.

"Because I can't make you happy. I am the most screwed up woman on the planet and I am completely unfixable. I can't let myself be intimate or vulnerable… Spencer, you would wind up miserable with me; you are such an exceptional person and I know I would ruin your life… but I guess I did that anyway."

Reid smiled, looking in her eyes. "This is not your fault…"

A moment passed. Reid leaned forward and met Riley's lips. They kissed, absorbing the last feel of tender, warm human contact. They were together. At the very least, they were together.

"I love you." She said again.

He wished he could hold her, resting his constricted hands on her hip. It was close enough. He whispered, closing his eyes, "I love you, too."