"I promised I'd protect her," Reid mumbled, leaning on his hand. The entire team was gathered around him now. "How could I let this happen?"

"Reid you did everything you could." Rossi assured. "You brought here, you put her under protection… he was determined to get her. They're uncertain how the unsub got into the room. According to the agents, she had no visitors, no one went into that room except room service, and that was delivered by a woman."

Hotch finished. "If the agents couldn't have stopped it, there was nothing you could have done."

"That's not true." Reid corrected. "I could have stayed with her."

Reid knew Lila had other intentions, ones that would have required him to stay. He took a glance at Riley, sitting on his desk with her hand brushing his shoulder. He wondered if his statement had offended her.

She looked bothered, but it was a disturbed kind of look. Indeed, she felt sick. The only thought in her head would be if Spencer had stayed with Lila. That man had gotten into that room; he'd killed Lila without any sign of a struggle according to Hotch. Lila didn't look like one to put up a resistance, but then again neither did Reid, and he had proven himself a fighter when it really mattered. Lila could have tried to fight him off and failed. And if Spencer had been there… he could be dead right now.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked, he squeezed the denim leg closest to him to get her attention.

"You're worried about me?" she asked. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Even Hotch was nervous about this, but he had to remain the fearless leader. "Obviously this guy is not going to just go away. I want everyone to brainstorm and determine where we should look. The only connection we're aware of is Reid, so let's work on that. Reid, I want you to talk to your parents. They might know something and not realize it."

"You're right, Hotch," Reid said, standing up. "I'm not sure about my dad… but I'm certain my mom is aware of something. She just doesn't know it because of the meds."

"What are you going do, then? Take her off her meds?" Morgan asked. It had worked once before.

"I'm not sure that's necessary yet." Reid explained. "Perhaps… it wouldn't hurt if… someone were to use her expertise and question her."

He slowly took a glance back at Riley. She understood immediately and shook her head. "Spencer… no, there has to be another way. She hates me."

"Yeah, we could pull someone else in here, but you know it wouldn't be as effective." Reid explained. "You know my history, you know some of her history. I know you'll be sympathetic, no matter how badly she treats you."

"I can't do it." She whined. "She will never listen to me. We won't get anything out of her and we'll only waste time."

"Please try," Reid walked over and took her hand. "I know you can do it."

Riley opened her mouth again to protest, but Reid cut her off. "Please." He brushed aside her hair, looking deep into her eyes. Riley could always be influenced by those rich hazel eyes. "You are my best friend and I love you more than anything in this world."

Guilt was a powerful manipulator. "Alright, fine…" she said with a roll of her eyes. Riley hopped off the desk. "But you can't use that line again for a whole year!"

She went in search of her belongings in order to get ready. The rest of them gathered to make plans for an investigation, and Reid finally made his way to the conference room.

…

He knew Riley would take her time getting prepared. Reid had left his parents alone long enough, and he knew his mother would get upset if she didn't see him soon. Besides, if he could try to persuade his mother to the idea, they might have an easier time.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Reid stepped into the room. It was dark in here; still only half the lights were on. He flipped the switch. "Sorry about that," he said, closing the door.

"I was beginning to think you forgot about us." Will said kindly. It did not go unnoticed how his son made his way around the table to take the seat beside his mother, across from him.

"Spencer, why did you bring us here?" His mother moaned. She looked on the verge of a breakdown. If she did have an episode, Reid didn't have anyway to calm her.

He reached over and took her hand. "I'm sorry, Mom," Reid said soothingly. "But… I have reason to believe… you and Dad are in danger."

Direct would do better than sugarcoating the circumstance. Diana did not bother to hide her panic. Reid took a glance at his father. The fear was on his face as well, but he at least made an attempt to hide it.

"This is because of the letters, isn't it?" Will asked.

"Letters?" Diana looked between her son and former husband. "What letters?"

Reid hesitated before nodding to his father. "Another girl was killed last night… an old friend of mine… she had gotten a few letters, too."

"What about Ethan?" Will wondered.

"That, I don't know. I've looked into it, but… Ethan wasn't very sociable. There's no one I can question about that and obviously the police won't know." He paused for a breath, and continued. "But… if I had to make an educated guess… I'd say he got them, too."

"Spencer…" his mother moaned. "I don't like talking about this. Why do you have to work with such horrible things?"

"I'm sorry, Mom," Reid said, squeezing her hand tighter, then looked back to Will. He at least could understand fully and with him on his side, he could help Reid convince Diana to talk to Riley. "Last night… my boss told me about another death. A patient in a mental hospital; the unsub killed him the same way."

"Unsub?" Will asked.

"Sorry, it's a nickname for unknown subject. I deduced that if the unsub were able to get into such a secure hospital… he could definitely get to either of you. I couldn't let that happen."

To his surprise, his father's fear had a look of gratitude. Reid suddenly felt self-conscious, but continued. "My team is working on this… we don't have much to go on right now, but what we do know is that he's someone I'm acquainted with and has possibly killed several women in DC and neighboring cities over the last year."

Will was confused. "But you have an eidetic memory. Don't you already know who it is?"

"That's what makes this so serious." He explained. "It's familiar… but honestly… I can't determine who's doing this."

"That's enough, Spencer," His mother demanded. "We're done with this. I want to go home. Do you understand?"

Diana spoke sternly. She still saw her son as the little boy she used to read to. Reid gave her a small smile, though it was difficult with the nervous, almost burning sensation in his stomach. "Mom… we can't go home just yet… but I do think you'll be able to help us."

"How, Baby?" Scared and bothered, she still seemed willing to help her son in anyway she could.

"Mom… I know you don't remember… but you've been getting some of these letters, too."

With a sweet, patronizing smile, she replied, "Is that what they told you. Those are your letters, Baby. Remember? You send me letters every day."

"No, Mom. Some of them haven't been from me. I think they're why you've been having nightmares-"

She interrupted immediately, "Those are nothing! Those doctors will say and do anything to make you believe you're crazy, they make a huge deal out of nothing!"

They were not nothing. "Mom," Reid's other hand wrapped around the one he clasped, "maybe you're right. Maybe they aren't important. But I don't know that, and I need to be sure… so I want you to talk to someone about them. And then everyone here will know."

There was a long silence. Diana looked away from the men watching her. Reid pleaded silently that she would agree. Finally, she met her son's gaze and replied, "If you want me to, I'll do it."

Reid sighed with relief. "Thank you, Mom. Riley will be in a minute and it won't take long-"

"Oh, no!" She cried. "I am not having that Nazi whore anywhere near me!"

Reid knew his mother was mentally ill and didn't know what she was saying, but that struck a serious nerve. "Mom. Riley is not a Nazi or a whore, okay? She's not going to hurt you; she wants to help you." She opened her mouth to protest. "I will be in here the entire time, and so will Dad, so there's nothing to worry about."

Another long silence as she thought. Diana's attention looked to Will. "If that girl does anything you think is suspicious, get him out of here. She's not concerned with me, her focus is Spencer. Make sure he's safe."

"Don't worry, I will," Will replied, sharing a knowing glance with his son. For a moment, Reid felt a real connection with his dad; one he couldn't remember having before.

…

The group worked diligently on a game plan, considering they were almost starved for ideas. They decided their best bet was to go through Reid's records and look through all his previous cases, particularly ones with disgruntled former unsubs. Morgan and Rossi returned, both with an impressively large stack.

"Wow," JJ cried, amazed. "Those are all Reid's?"

"Well he's been here over six years." Rossi explained. "You should see how many I have."

Everyone took a seat and got started, first sorting them into piles. "Let's start with the two obvious ones." Morgan said, running his finger over the stacks until he found two names. "Sam Andrews… Jimmy Engles."

"Well, Sam Andrews is dead, that's definitely in the 'No' pile." Emily said, taking the file and setting it aside. "And Engles is sitting on Death Row. The odds of him being involved are fairly slim."

"Let's stick it in the 'Maybe' pile until further notice." Rossi explained. "Garcia, first thing when we're done here is to make sure he's still behind bars."

"Dually noted," Garcia sang, making a note on a legal pad with a pink fuzzy pen.

"Tobias Henkle, that's 'No'," JJ said as she read over one. It sent a shudder down her spine. Dogs still made her a little nervous thanks to that case.

"Benjamin Syrus," Emily read, a bitter resentment in her tone. "I am pleased to say 'No'."

"Theodore Bryar," Hotch flipped through the pages. "I think this could be a 'Yes'."

"Guys…" Garcia took a break from her attentive note taking. "Maybe… we're going about this the wrong way."

Everyone looked up from their search in question. "You got an idea, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked.

"If it were a case that the BAU handled, that Reid was apart of, he would remember. Maybe not right away… but we all know our boy. By now he would have realized something. I really think this search is kind of futile."

Secretly, every single one of them was thinking the same thing. However, they were starved for ideas at the moment.

"Okay," Rossi set aside the file belonging to Randal Gardner. "It has to be someone he's encountered before… but maybe not necessarily an unsub."

"Like maybe a family member." Emily agreed.

"Maybe," That wasn't exactly where Rossi was headed. "Or maybe… a kind of… fan. You guys remember Dr. Rothschild, right?"

Everyone but JJ was acquainted with him, but she had heard about the case from Garcia. "You don't think it's him, Dave?" Hotch asked.

"No, but possibly… someone like him. Someone who knows that Reid… understands him."

At those words, there was a hint of recognition in Morgan's mind. "You know what, it is someone he knows." He whispered.

"How do you know, Morgan?" Hotch asked.

Through the fog, a few specific words surface. "I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind." When had they talked about that? They were in the car, Morgan was driving, and it was night… but his memory failed after that.

All he could do was shrug. "I don't."