Riley was sitting in Hotch's office, her notes in hand. The door stood slightly ajar, allowing Reid to watch her a moment unnoticed. He stepped inside, instantly grabbing her attention.

"Well, I managed to convince her to talk to you, provided my father and I stay in the room. I assumed you wouldn't have a problem with that." He said with a smile. He took a seat next to her on the couch. "Are you ready?"

"Truthfully? I'm trying to work up the courage to go in there." She glanced at him, the worry mixed with the diamond dust in her eyes. "It's not going too well, so far."

"You're going to be fine." Reid assured, slipping his arm around her waist. "And this could be a blessing in disguise. It gives you time to speak with my mother, maybe she'll see she was wrong about you."

"Maybe," Riley repeated. "I don't get it. I've dealt with some of the most dangerous killers in the city and I can't remember one time I was this nervous. Not even on my first FBI interview."

"Well, according to psychology, your fear may be due to your subconscious knowledge of making a good impression in front of your boyfriend's mother. A man's mother is the first truly important woman in his life and often times, his wife finds difficulty living up to the romanticized standards he holds in his mind."

"Good thing you're not a psychiatrist." Riley gave him a smile.

"No, I just have a Ph.D. in psychology, plus two others, a master in philosophy-"

"Yeah, and can read 20,000 words per minute and have an IQ of 187. Are you done, Brainiac, or do you want to keep bragging?"

"That wasn't bragging. That was explaining." His voice went up the octave a bit, as it usually did when he was trying to explain himself, falling into a fit of laughter with her.

It was stopped, however, by a knock on the open door. Reid and Riley both turned to find JJ with several files under her arm.

"Sorry to interrupt." She said with a cautious smile.

"What is it, JJ?" Reid asked with concern.

"Well, the rest of us were talking and Morgan seems to agree that you may be right in thinking you know this unsub."

"I can't remember, JJ, looking over the old cases won't help." He explained.

"We know that, but we thought maybe you might recall some people who weren't filed in any specific case."

"Like who?" Riley wondered.

"We were thinking some family members of previous unsubs, some people we interviewed as victims who may have developed a grudge against Reid." Indicating the files, "We tried to think of as many as possible. Maybe you could take a look over them, see if anything sparks a memory."

"Absolutely," Reid took the files from her hands. "I know I've met this person before… it almost feels like… I've been waiting for this to happen. But I don't know why. This is so frustrating. Why can't I remember?"

Riley suddenly wondered something. "Maybe it's not that you can't, it's that… you won't."

JJ looked confused, unsure what exactly the young therapist meant. Reid was skeptical. "A suppressed memory? What, from my childhood?"

"No, I doubt it's that complex… I was thinking more… maybe from an older case. Maybe a victim or family member who could never adjust to the trauma they went through. I mean… I think everyone in this room knows how disturbing those events can be. Some people don't know how to deal with it or, more often, don't want to."

"That's true," JJ agreed. "Events like that aren't exactly something a person can ignore and move on. It damages a person."

"And now this is the only way he can get over it. By inflicting pain, not on someone who he holds a grudge with, but… someone who reached out to help him. He doesn't want to hurt you, he just has to." Riley finished. "If it seems familiar and someone with your memory can't remember, then your subconscious is trying to protect you from believing that what you suspected for years."

Reid was silent. It seemed logical, but unfortunately, until they found out who this was, there was no way to be sure. "It's a good enough theory for now. I'll look through these and… let you know if it jars anything."

"We'll keep going through the system for more leads. Garcia's working on the computer searching for some while investigating some of the obvious unsubs you've faced." JJ said, trying to sound reassuring.

"As soon as we're done, we'll join the search." Reid said. Slipping the files under one arm, he slipped his hand into Riley's free on. "Come on… they're waiting."

…

Will and Diana sat in a tense silence, anxious for their son to return. Reid and Riley stepped in, Reid closing the door to give them a bit of privacy.

"Mom, Dad, you remember Riley." He said, closing the blinds.

"Of course," Will said, standing up to shake her hand again. "Thank you for doing this."

Riley would not admit it aloud, but she was beginning to like Will. From what she could see, Will Reid was a nice man. He was very kind and interesting, and so much of his personality had been passed to his son. It was understandable why Spencer held such a resentment for his father, but if he were able to let go of it, he might see the good in him, too.

"I promise, this won't take long." She reassured, looking across the table. "It's good to see you again, Mrs. Reid."

Diana said nothing. She fixed Riley with a cold, hateful stare. She tried not to let it bother her, as she took the seat across the table. Reid went to sit next to his mother.

As Riley began, Reid grabbed the first file and started to read it over. The sounds around him turned into white noise, eventually forgetting there were others in the room. Reading the details, he looked for the focus of their theory. Someone affected in a case, that Reid had reached out to. But that was hard to determine. Reid liked to offer comfort to the victims and their families. The BAU team knew of the awful things out there, hunting in the night. But normal people were different. They knew the horrible happenings in the world would never happen to them… until the day the nightmares puncture their perfect bubble and became reality.

Reid glanced up at his parents, realizing he was a victim to that, too. He faced the horrors every day. He knew there were people out there who hated him, who would love to see him dead. He'd looked death in the face and walked away, even when he knew all faith was lost. But not once did he ever believe his parents would be facing the horror in his stead.

"My dreams aren't any of the government's concern, young lady." His mother's voice distracted him. "If that's all you want to know about, you won't learn much from me."

"But, I'm concerned where these dreams came from. It's true, you didn't start having them until a few months ago, yes?" Riley asked. She made a quick note on her paper as she spoke, not wanting to miss one thing.

Diana looked frightened. "How do you know that?"

Riley didn't know how to explain that, but Reid spoke up. "I told her that, Mom." He clarified. "You told me… I passed the information on to her."

"Spencer… you shouldn't have done that, Baby," She moaned. Her hand brushed aside some of his hair, looking over his face. "You can't let that girl get into your head. I understand you think she's pretty. She's very pretty, but that's the whole point. She's using that to trick you. You're mind is too unspeakably amazing to fall for that."

"Mom… please just talk to her. You said you'd do this for me." He begged.

Unable to deny her son, she let out a heavy sigh. Turning to Riley, she continued. "I don't know exactly when they started… just that it wasn't very long after I last saw Spencer."

"Okay, he spent four days in Vegas and got back on July 29th, so… probably the first two weeks in August the dreams began." Riley said as she wrote the notes. She looked up, a little confused at the pleased expression on Reid's face. "What?"

"Nothing," He said quickly.

"Okay," she muttered, slightly suspicious. "Can you describe anything about your dreams, Diana? What do you recall about them that upset you so much? Was Spencer in danger or being harmed?"

At last, it seemed his mother was complying. Reid waited in anticipation, the files at hand ignored. Diana thought carefully, which seemed a great struggle for her. "…he wouldn't help me… I would beg him to save me… but he just let me die."

Shocked, Reid looked to his mother, appalled. "Mom, you know I would never do that."

Her blue eyes flew up immediately and met her son's. Her hand went through his hair again. "I know that, Spencer. That's why I said it was nothing." She turned to Riley, her eyes narrowing into slits. "My son is not a disease. My son doesn't get to chose who lives and who dies."

The words were familiar, sounding over and over in Reid's mind. It echoed, like someone had screamed it into the hallow walls of a cave. "A disease… Dad, that's what your letters said. A disease who chooses who lives and dies, the unsub means me, I'm the disease."

"Spencer, the letters never mentioned you by name. We don't really know he means you." Will said.

"With all due respect, Mr. Reid," Riley interrupted. "Three important people from your son's past are dead. One of which we are certain received the same letters. We do know his focus is Spencer."

"Lives or dies…" Reid repeated. "He thinks I decide who lives or dies."

"What if it's someone who thinks you let a person die who should have lived." Riley suggested. "People make those accusations at doctors all the time, you're put in similar life threatening situations often. More than often."

Reid nodded. "You know what, Mom, Dad, I think Dr. Parker has everything that she needs-"

"No, I have one more question." Riley had a sudden idea. Even if it led to a dead end, it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Who referred to your son as a disease? Did you read it? In his letters?"

A long silence, and for a moment Riley feared Diana wouldn't answer. She shook her head. "The boy told me."

"What boy, Mom?" Reid asked.

"The boy… he would sometimes… bring me one of your letters… I don't know why he had it. I hated those letters, Spencer. I much prefer to read about your adventures… but he did say he was an old friend of yours." She looked to Reid, reaching over to take his hand. "He said you saved his life. I don't know why he would call you a disease."

"What was his name, Mom?" Reid pressed.

"He never told me." She explained. "He never stayed long enough… I didn't like him, Spencer. You should learn to keep better company." She flashed her eyes at Riley at that. "And I'm not answering anymore questions."

…

"Obviously, she's confused." Riley explained to Reid and Will a few minutes later in Hotch's office. "She thinks the man who brought her the letters actually said these things to her. It's very common for schizophrenic patients to read something and believe a person said it. Especially in intense situations like this. The lucid part of her mind knows this is about her son." She flipped through her notes. "If we could take her off the meds, we might be able to get some real answers out of her, but that'll take a lot of time that we don't have."

"I'm assuming getting a description of this man is out of the question?" Will asked.

"I'm fairly certain she'd be able to identify him, but having her describe him from memory… no." Reid explained.

"This man took a big risk delivering her letters by hand, though." Will mentioned.

"Actually, no." Reid spoke up. "I'm certain he observed and studied Mom for awhile, as he did with you and the victims. He knew their routine, their personality, their relationship to me. The unsub wanted to make sure the murders affected me as efficiently as possible. He knew that my mother would never be able to identify him."

"And he knew that personal contact would emotionally harm you." Riley added. "I'm not a profiler, but I'd say he's more concerned with hurting you mentally than physically… at least for now."

"That's at least enough for a partial profile." Reid said. "It could help narrow down the search. Maybe you could help JJ look through the files, give a professional opinion. You may not find much, but you never know. I'm going to make a few calls and then take my mom to the hospital. I just want to check, make sure she's as protected as she can be." He stood up, sizing his dad up a minute. "Dad, I'd like you to come with me. And then I'll take you to the hotel."

"Of course, Spencer," he agreed. Reid acted as if he had expected his father to argue. Riley suspected he was on a constant search to find anything to hate about his father. Simply, he despised him on principal.

Will headed towards the door, waiting in the hall while his son finished speaking to Riley.

"Let one of the agents drive," Riley said. They stood together; two people desperate to have time alone to relax after two days of constant work. Her one hand went to his shirt, her fingers brushing the fabric, sending a warm shiver through Reid's stomach. "You're tired; I don't want you driving off the road."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be alright." He muttered. He felt the magnetic force they created, pulling them together. She was avoiding his eyes a moment. Something was working in her mind. "What?"

"I was just curious what that… gloating look of yours meant earlier." She asked, meeting his gaze. "When I mentioned how long you were gone."

"That wasn't gloating. It was… impressed." He said.

"Why? I'm capable of remembering quite a bit, too. I did go to Harvard." Riley stated.

"But you remembered how long I was gone." He smiled. "It means you missed me."

"Of course I missed you," She hissed with a seductive smile. "When you're away, I always miss you. And when you come back, I show you how much I missed you."

She gripped his shirt, pulling him to her and met his lips. For a moment, Reid's mind was clear. He forgot the deaths, he forgot the danger, and forgot the fact that his father was watching them. He only had the taste of her kiss and the presence of her body with him.

Their kiss ended. Her hand slipped behind his neck and tousled his hair a bit. "I know you're worried, but you'll figure out what you're missing, we'll solve this and catch this guy. And no one else will get hurt; no one else will be killed. I'm sure; it will all be behind us soon."

All he could do was hope she was right. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too." She replied with a comforting smile, "Go. I'll see you later."

Reid kissed her forehead and headed out the door. Riley watched him leave. She was confident in what she had said, having no idea just how wrong she was.