AN: Thank you to everyone who is following this story!

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Acting fast to help Reid wasn't an option. Another body was found that night, reminding the BAU team that they still had a case to work.

Hotch and Rossi went to the crime scene while JJ headed back to the police station. Before leaving, Hotch assigned Morgan and Prentiss to stay focused on helping Reid. The two agents decided to work in Morgan's room at the hotel. Garcia wanted to stay up with them, but she wasn't used to the traveling and long hours. Morgan ordered her to bed not long after Hotch and Rossi left.

When Prentiss stepped outside to make some calls, Morgan finally found himself alone to think. The news that his best friend, his baby brother had been dead for the last six months definitely brought up some difficult questions. This felt similar to Penelope getting shot. He searched difficult avenues of memory for comfort and answers.

His mind replayed lessons learned in Sunday School as a boy, the minister preaching about the afterlife, about heaven, hell, and purgatory. Is that where Reid was now? Purgatory? Was he trapped in some sort of pre-afterlife suffering being cleansed of his sins?

Morgan shuttered at the thought. Reid's sins were not a subject he liked to think about since the Hankel case. Instead, he found it easier to decide that the religion he grew up with had misinterpreted something. He couldn't remember his minister reciting any Bible passages that described spirits lingering after their bodies gave out. Reid could probably quote several verses that explained his situation, but Reid was no longer here.

How had Morgan not seen what was really going on? Six months working by Reid's side without realizing the truth. Sure, he'd witnessed some questionable moments—questionable moments that now seemed to have an explanation.

There was that case a few weeks ago. Morgan couldn't figure out how Reid hadn't been shot in that house. The bullet landed in the wall directly behind where he had been standing. Now, he knew that the bullet had passed right through the kid. It hadn't killed him because he was already dead.

The thought caused Morgan to wince. He pictured Reid from earlier today, huddled in the dark corner of the room, eyes intense but sad. How had it taken Morgan six months to realize Reid wasn't wearing a red sweater? It was blood. The kid's own blood stained his clothes.

"I'm so sorry, pretty boy," he whispered to the seemingly empty room.

"What did you say?"

Caught up in his thoughts, Morgan hadn't noticed Prentiss returned, letting herself in with Morgan's key which she now set on the table.

Morgan stared at her a moment while he pulled himself out of his melancholy. After several seconds he had his professional mask back on.

"Learn anything?" he asked.

"Well, I learned that my friend who introduced me to all this passed away last year. And, unlike Reid, she didn't stick around."

"So, we're still at square one?"

"Not necessarily. Her son was a few years older than me. He sent me some information that could be helpful."

Prentiss took out her tablet, the light illuminating her face as she scrolled through the screens.

They sat in silence again. Morgan tried not to let his tired thoughts fall back into pensive reflections.

"This is interesting," she said reading something on her screen.

"What?" Morgan asked. He stood up to walk over, but Prentiss closed down her tablet and set it on the table. "What?" he asked again, this time with more urgency in his voice.

"I... He said..."

Morgan had never seen Prentiss at a loss for words. Normally when she was upset, she would express herself by increasing her volume and letting out a few curses. This mute, flustered Prentiss was entirely new.

"Emily?" Morgan asked.

The use of her first name caused the agent to immediately focus, as Morgan knew it would.

"This is more difficult than I thought."

"You telling me this isn't going to be possible?"

Prentiss shook her head. "No. We can do this. I'm starting to question the ethics of it all."

"What? Do we have to sacrifice a virgin to a volcano god?" Morgan cracked a smile that Prentiss didn't return.

"When Hotch told me that Reid's body was cremated, I was relieved. I knew the original body had to be destroyed for this to work."

"Okay, so tell me the problem," Morgan said.

"We need a new body."

For several seconds, neither agent spoke. An image appeared in Morgan's head of the team sneaking into a graveyard at night to dig up a fresh corpse. He then thought of the news headlines the next morning; 'Elite FBI Team Arrested for Graverobbing.'

"I take that back," Prentiss said and Morgan relaxed. "We don't need a whole body. We need certain parts, certain organs in order to recreate Reid."

Morgan felt like he'd been punched in the gut. This was far worse than graverobbing. He felt bile rise up his throat and had to swallow several times before speaking.

"We need to...to Frankenstein Reid a new body?" he said, barely able to get the words out.

"I'm afraid so." Prentiss leaned back in her chair, staring up so she wouldn't have to meet Morgan's eyes. "That's just the beginning. Once we've collected the parts, we need to perform a ceremony. If we mess that up, Reid's gone. We only get one shot at this."

Morgan felt the fear and anxiety rise up in him once more. Along with it came anger, which he directed at Hotch. He knew it was unfair to blame their leader for this situation, but it was easy and Morgan was tired. And it wasn't like Hotch held no responsibility for the predicament. As the team leader, Hotch needed to make sure they were all safe. Reid hadn't been safe. He'd been shot. He'd died. Then, instead of telling the team, he had kept Reid's condition a secret for six months. Now, just when Morgan could start to believe that there was a slim chance of bringing their boy back, Prentiss had to come up with a plan that was both unethical and had almost no chance of succeeding.

Was it even worth it to try?

The question wasn't even fully formed in Morgan's head before he knew his answer. He would not let Spencer Reid down.

"Tell me what we have to do?" he said.

Prentiss met his eyes at last and Morgan saw determination that matched his own. It didn't matter how difficult this would be to pull off.

They would get Reid out of purgatory.