(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

Thanks to Astrahan, Guest, damthing, CarolineyHotchner, ash59, fishtrek, theWeirdPersonNextDoor, and lillyflower for reviewing the last chapter.

Enjoy!

"Aaron? I don't think we should do this."

Aaron looked across at his brother. He had his hands wrung tightly around the steering wheel and when he looked back down, he loosened his fingers quickly.

"This is what it has to come down to," he said, glancing back at Sean.

"But it doesn't." Aaron frowned, pulling his hands complexly from the wheel. Sean shook his head quickly. "It doesn't, Aaron. You me and Myles… Spencer, we're okay. That's all that matters."

"And what about the victims? Those women when we were younger?" Aaron asked and his younger brother looked down.

"I've learned that it wasn't our fault."

Aaron turned back to look at the window as Sean continued.

"I'm fed up of feeing guilty. Now we have Myles back I just... I don't feel so angry."

"So those girls don't matter?" Aaron snapped. He hated himself before he said it and even more after seeing Sean's hurt look.

Sean turned away from Aaron as his brother glanced at him.

"Sean-"

"I'm not dying for him, Sean said. "And I don't want you risking your life for him either."

Aaron looked at his brother for a long moment. He glanced from him to the key hanging in the ignition and he sighed.

"Maybe you're right," Aaron muttered and he felt a twang of guilt when Sean looked up suddenly. "Maybe you should stay here. I don't want to put you in danger."

Sean started to shake his head but Aaron reached passed him and pressed down on the passenger door handle.

"You're not going alone," Sean said as the door opened a crack and Aaron straightened back into his seat.

"And you've made me realise I can't take you. I can do this."

"I-I can help. But not like this."

"I don't want you to. You're right, it's not worth your life."

"And it's worth yours!?" Sean yelled, startling himself back into his seat. He shook his head side to side, squeezing his eyes shut. "I can't lose you. You were the only person I had left after Myles. Mum was never right after that but you stuck with me. I don't want him..." Sean shut his mouth, the idea of losing Aaron in any way to their father was too much to bear.

"He won't," Aaron said and he nodded to the open door. "I promise."

Emily got into the backseat, still reeling from the crime scene photos they'd just seen. JJ had joined them when CSI had finished their investigation and the evidence and photos were being spread over the conference-room table. She too walked shakily to the car.

"Three more victims..." Emily mumbled as Rossi and JJ got into the front seats, Rossi behind the wheel since neither JJ nor Emily felt well enough to drive. "Aaron needs to know."

"And Spencer," JJ mumbled. "But how are we supposed to do that? They're both on edge."

"I tried to call Morgan," Emily said, checking her phone again for any messages from Morgan. "He must be at the hotel or something."

"Garcia's on her way."

"To the hospital?" Rossi asked, looking at Emily through the rearview mirror. She nodded.

"Good. We need her."

JJ pressed her head into the window and sighed. "I just can't believe he could do that," she whispered as the car came alive and Rossi began peeling out of the busy police parking lot.

"I know... and for him to choose three with likenesses to Aaron, Sean, and Spencer... he's smart... and organised," Emily said.

"Spencer escaping put him back into his pattern. He's messy but the organisation it must have taken to kill three men each at different times." JJ shook her head. "Its... horrifying."

"He didn't seem to have a plan when he took Reid," Rossi said, indicating right. "He was out of control then but now he's gone a step further but he's being clever."

Rossi shook his head, making another turn on the road and stopping at the next red light. "God..." he muttered. "When will this nightmare end?"

Spencer was living his own fresh nightmare. Following Aaron and Sean hadn't been his best idea, especially since the clothes he'd taken from the lost and found were scratchy and much too big on his skinny frame.

He took the pair of crutches from the corner of his room and, with a baseball cap low on his head, (another thing taken from the lost and found box) Spencer struggled his way through the hospital hallways. He made it to the front entrance, his hands already sweaty and his whole body seizing with aches.

He looked at the parking lot as he moved slowly out of the doorway. People were bustling around the cars, paying for parking or trying to force their kids into car seats. Spencer glanced to the right and saw an empty path down the side of the building.

He remembered Sean and Aaron mentioning parking close to the back of the hospital, out of the way and inconspicuous to the rest of the team.

Spencer grit his teeth and looked down at each of the handles on his crutches. You've got this... he thought, taking a deep breath and digging his nails into the soft plastic protecting the handles.

Spencer took one step, his body shaking with the movement. He dropped his good foot back into the floor and breathed in, trying to compartmentalise the pain eating him alive.

He took another step and moved the crutches, wobbling for balance before the crutches touched down again.

It continued as such for a minute before he heard steps coming from behind him.

"Hey!"

Spencer stumbled back into the wall he'd been walking alongside. He pressed his eyelids closed praying that whoever it was wasn't talking to him. Please don't come over, please don't come over...

"Spencer?"

Spencer paused in his desperate thoughts. He recognised that voice. Spencer cracked an eye open and turned his head. He tilted on his crutches to look at the person calling him and nearly fell forwards. He caught himself at the last moment, the clutches slamming hard against the concrete.

"Sean?" Spencer said. In the middle of the path Sean stood, his jacket falling off his shoulders and a frown firmly set over his brow.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sean said, moving quickly to close the gap between Spencer and him.

"I overheard you and Aaron," Spencer said, trying to move closer on his crutches. The exhaustion was catching up to him. "I-I couldn't let you find him alone. I know what he's... what he's capable of."

"You weren't meant to be a part of this!" Sean said.

"And why should you? O-or Aaron? This is too dangerous."

Sean was about to take another step when someone moved behind him.

"Sean!" Spencer started but it was too late. The shadow moved fast and lifted something high, dropping it and knocking Sean down. Spencer tried to move in to help his brother but the shadow was faster. It grabbed Sean around the neck and shoulders and held him up while his body slumped.

To Spencer's horror, Ed's face emerged from the shadows, holding a knife to Sean's throat. He held a dark smile on his face.

"Hey, kid," he said, his smile widening at Spencer's look of abject terror.

"H-how..." Spencer mumbled, looking from Sean's closed eyes to Ed's wide gaze. His hands shook and he forced his one good leg to hold himself up. He had started to sweat through his oversized hoodie.

"You weren't in your hospital room," Ed said, adjusting his grip on the knife and lifting Sean up a little. "Phew," he said dramatically. "This ones heavier than he was."

"Please... please go."

"I came to see you! Poor Aaron thought I went to see him though..." Ed tutted. "Now," he said. "You're going to follow me to the car."

"A-and Sean?"

Ed smirked, looking at his middle child. "Well he can tag along, can't he."

Emily, Rossi and JJ met Garcia at the front of the hospital. She gave them a half smile as they drew close. She had a laptop under each arm and cables draped over her neck.

Rossi explained the details Emily had missed in her phone call and Garcia handed him a laptop when her hands became too clammy to hold both.

"We need to tell them," she mumbled as Emily took the other laptop from her.

"I know... that's why we're here." Emily looked up at the hospital and winced. "I'm not looking forward to it."

"I'll do it," Rossi said, smiling knowingly at the girls. "What's the worst they can do?"

"Uh... fire us," Emily said with a grin.

Emily was more worried about the emotional reaction from the brothers. She hated being the bearer of bad news especially when the news was this bad.

She lead the way toward the hospital doors and looked through the glass, hesitating for a moment as she looked through. "I haven't seen Aaron or Sean for a while," she muttered as she held open the hospital door for Garcia.

"I think they've both been here."

Emily frowned, keeping the door open for a woman behind her before hurrying after Garcia and Rossi.

"I thought Spencer didn't want to see Aaron at the moment?"

Garcia shrugged. "He's been here anyway," she said.

"He's no use to us right now," Rossi said as he turned the first bend toward Spencer's room. "His head isn't with it and some of the things he's suggested are just outlandish. He's better here, waiting for Spencer to let him back in."

They got to Spencer's door and Rossi opened it for the girls. "Sorry, bambino, they insisted," he called as he waved Emily inside first. She stopped in the doorway, forcing Penelope to squeeze around her.

"Em-"

"He's not here."

Garcia looked sharply from Emily to the bed and she staggered back when she saw it empty.

"What?" Rossi was pushing past then, frowning as he looked at the empty bed. He walked further into the room and found a used hospital gown hanging off the pillow.

"Maybe he's just gone for a test."

Rossi looked at Emily who backed out of the door in time to catch a nurse as she passed.

"Excuse me," Emily said, stepping into her way and motioning to the room. "Our friend was in this room. Has he been moved? Or..."

The nurse scowled, poking her head inside. Seeing the bed empty she walked inside and looked the scene over. She moved the sheets back and shook her head. "He's not booked for any tests," she muttered. "And we haven't moved him. I was in here this morning administering his medication so I'd know if he was meant to be somewhere else."

"Dave..."

"Has Morgan been here?"

Garcia had her hands against her face, caressing her cheeks with worry. "No, he went to the hotel for a shower. H-he told me to watch Spencer when I got here."

Rossi glanced at the nurse who was still looking around the room in bemusement. "Has anyone else been here other than agent Morgan? Agent Hotchner was meant to be here with his brother?"

The nurse shook her head thoughtfully. "I did see agent Hotchner a few hours ago, your other agent left not too long after that but I haven't seen anyone since then."

Rossi grabbed his phone.

"What are you thinking?" Emily asked, looking from him to the phone.

"I don't... I don't want to think it..." Rossi swallowed hard, his hands shaking as he typed. "But whatever this is it isn't good."

Thanks for reading!

See you next week.