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"Come on Penelope. Let's go home. You're not gonna to find him tonight."
"How do you know?"
"It's four in the morning, princess. You need to get some sleep."
"I can't Kevin. What if he's out there and hurting somewhere? I have to find him. I have to find something on that little boy too. We need to have the team back and looking for Reid.
"Please just come home and get a couple of hours of sleep."
She looked up at him and he could see the deep weariness and worry in her eyes. All of that energy expended over that skinny freak! It wasn't right! She should be spending her time and energy on him. Soon it would happen. She'd have to eventually give up on Reid. She'd never track him down anyway. He'd seen to that with a sweet little program he'd created.
"Let me take you home!"
She finally left her chair and came into his arms. She was so soft and curvy… He could get hot just thinking about what she looked like naked. He hated really skinny girls. She fit his needs in every way.
"Thanks for taking care of me. I'm just so worried."
"You'll find something tomorrow. I have faith in you, my love."
She hugged him tighter and then turned for the door. "I will, because leaving Reid out there with whatever sick sadistic son of a bitch is unacceptable."
He made comforting noises and followed her to the parking lot. He followed her home as they never stayed over at his place. He'd let her into his bed once this was over and he had a big expensive place for them to live.
It wouldn't be long now. Calloway had told them all that the next step to his plan was going to be put into place that very night. Calloway had been badgering him again about the security of their plan. Kevin had once again explained that there was no way Penelope would make a move with out him knowing about it.
He thought back to ten days ago when he'd made sure that she wouldn't be able to track down the good doctor or him and the team.
Kevin slipped out of her bed and pulled on his briefs. His beautiful princess was deeply asleep after very enthusiastic sex.
He stretched, trying to wake up as she'd screwed him nearly into unconsciousness. His jeans were on the floor in the hallway. He slipped them on and padded out to the living room. The shades were up on the windows and moonlight streamed into the room, making it a bit ghostlike. He liked the white light and the silence in the room. It helped to grease the wheels of his thoughts.
The lap top he'd brought with him, was packed in its carrier, and he ignored it for the second lap top on Penelope's desk. He booted it up and sat down as the light from the screen washed over him. He only had one attempt to break the password into her hard drive, but that was no problem because he already knew the password. He typed it in and smiled as he called up a menu and began to type.
He lay on the couch watching early morning cartoons when Penelope came into the room. Her hair was adorably tousled and there was a red patch on the side of her face.
"You were supposed to wake me at six!"
"It's Saturday morning."
"I know, but I've got a ton of things to do. I have to do laundry. This apartment is a mess and needs a through cleaning and then I have to run to the dry cleaners and -"
Kevin yanked her down on top of him. "All of that can wait."
"Kevin, I'm serious!" He let go of her and she stood up, pushing her red kimono shut.
"I'm sorry. I just want to spend time with you. You work too hard."
"I don't work any harder than the team."
"No, but you push yourself to look at and deal with things you shouldn't have to deal with."
"You're a tech. You see the same things I do."
"It's different."
Penelope had sat back down on the couch next to Kevin. Now her eyes were blazing at him in the low light of the lamp on the desk.
"Why is it different for me?'
"It just is."
"Why! Because I'm a woman?!"
"That's not what I meant."
"I think it is."
"Kevin, I'm not going to quit! I'm going to stay at the BAU and do my job."
'"I'm not asking you to quit your job."
"Aren't you?"
"I love that you work for the FBI and that you're on a list."
Kevin was massaging her back and even though she wanted to move away from him, his hands were wonderful on the knots that had stayed in her back, despite the eight hours of sleep she'd got.
"Hm… you're not playing fair."
"I take every advantage that I can get."
"Kevin!"
"I'm just saying that I want you to be happy. You haven't looked happy at work for awhile."
"The last year has been hard. It wasn't a barrel of laughs to get shot."
"I know that princess. That's why I want you to be happy. If you left the BAU, you'd have so much less stress in your life."
She pulled away from him again and stood up. "I'm not going to leave. Please don't make me choose."
He followed her into the bedroom. "I'm not going to make you choose. I'll support whatever you want to do. Just promise me that you'll stop working twenty-four seven. You need to take care of yourself and get rest on a regular basis."
She turned around again and her face was softer. She was smiling at him and he cheered inwardly. "I will. I promise that I'll get eight hours of sleep every day."
Kevin opened the door to her apartment with his key. "You don't have to stay."
"If I don't stay, you'll get on your lap top again."
"You're such a watch dog."
"No, I'm concerned. You promised me weeks ago that you weren't going to work into exhaustion again."
She dropped onto the couch. "I know! I just can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong. I mean Reid could be hiding out there away from us. I suppose it's possible that he's just looking to get away from everything."
"I know you don't believe that and neither do I."
"You don't," She snuggled into his arms when he joined her on the couch again.
"No, what do you take me for?"
"I guess I just thought…"
"You thought that I don't care about your friend. I do care because this is making you crazy. So let's get going and find him."
"Thank you my tech God."
"You're welcome. You take a shower and I'll make breakfast."
"Pancakes?'
"Pancakes."
He watched her walk away and a little smile of triumph crawled across his face. His virus, that had infected her lap top and the computers at work were doing their job very well. He knew everything she did about Dr. Reid and the little boy. Soon, she would give up and then she would beg him to take her away.
---
Reid came out of the bathroom wearing a tee shirt, a pair of sweat pants and a matching pair of white socks. His head was pounding so hard it was the only thing in his universe. He couldn't think of anything but the pain. The hot water from the shower he'd taken hadn't helped and neither had the pain medication he'd found in the cabinet. A look at his watch told him the time was four am. His eyes burned and his back ached, but sleep wouldn't come at all.
The hot water hadn't helped with the craving for Dilaudid either. He reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and fingered the medallion he'd been carrying around for months. God he wished that John was there to talk to. He wished that any of his friends from "Beltway Clean Cops" were there.
Yeah, if they were here you'd be out of here.
That was a nice thought and a foolish one. He went to the living area and took the top off the tray that someone had brought into his room while he'd been in the bathroom. There was a bowl of tomato soup, a sliced apple, some cheddar cheese, crackers and a glass of milk. He tried not to think about how much that very lunch reminded him of his mother in her more lucid moments.
He ate very slowly while going over the case file again. If he could only remember what had happened in those minutes after he'd escaped from the trunk of that car. His right hand began to shake as he made another attempt to relax and think. He shouldn't have taken the doctor's word that his memory of that night might not come back. He should have tried harder to recover them. He'd been able to recover other memories from his childhood. Why wouldn't his stubborn brain give up the memories of that night? What could be worse than being tortured by a religious maniac or thinking that his father had been a child molester and murderer?
He chewed the last slice of apple. The fruit was almost too sweet in his mouth. The last slice of cheddar cheese cut the sugary taste on his tongue as he desperately closed his eyes. If he could just remember what had happened. He squeezed his eyes together so tightly that his forehead began to hurt. Did he know that person that had tried to kill him ten years ago? Was it someone that he'd known very well, a friend, someone that he trusted and that's why his brain wouldn't let him remember?
He put the plate that had held the apples and cheese back on the tray. He'd emptied the bowl without realizing it. His stomach felt better now, but his heart still hurt and the low-grade fever for the Dilaudid was still making that spot between his shoulder blades itch.
At least I can't get my hands on a needle while locked in here.
The door opened and Calloway entered. "I see you've finished your meal. I'll just take your tray away."
"I can't help you with this. I can't remember anything from then."
"You disappoint me Dr. Reid. Perhaps you need a bit of encouragement."
"I don't need any more of your encouragement."
Calloway laughed, throwing his head back joyfully as though he just heard the best joke of his life. "Oh I think I can find some way to motivate you."
"You'll never see the light of day again, if you hurt my family."
"I don't need to involve anyone of your loved ones to get you to help me. I know of a better way."
"Really, I told you that I don't respond to torture."
"I don't need to torture you to get what I want. Instead, I'm going to give you the one thing you want."
Reid had folded his hands in his lap. They began to shake again and he hoped that Calloway couldn't see them tremble. Calloway was looking very pleased with himself.
"Are you going to let me out of here?"
"You know better than that Dr. Reid. You're here for the duration."
"Then you don't have anything I want."
"Oh, I think I do."
Stark came into the room, left a small wooden box on the coffee table and left again without so much as a word to either man.
"Why don't you open the box and see what I brought for you."
"I don't think so!"
Calloway gestured with the ever present gun. "Please open the box."
"No… I don't need to see what's in there."
"Then I'm afraid I'll have to make a call. It really is too bad about your mother. You think she's safe there in Bennington, when it's easy for an FBI agent to get in and -"
"I'll open it!" Reid said tightly as he reached for the box.
"Good, I knew you'd see reason. It really is better this way."
Calloway gestured at the box with his gun. Reid picked it up. It had bronze hinges, and was rectangular and thin. The wood was polished to a mirror shine. It was smooth as satin under his skin and cold as though it had been sitting inside a refrigerator. He should put it down. There was nothing that he wanted in that box.
"Open it!"
He opened it and the lid swung up on silent hinges. He dropped it to the coffee table and stumbled up off the couch and into a corner.
"You can have that one now and if you cooperate, there's more where that comes from." Calloway said smugly.
"I don't w-want that."
"Of course you do. I realized that this is what you needed to cooperate. So why don't you take it and stop suffering. Do yourself a favor Dr. Reid. I know you want it. Take it, and you'll feel much better."
"I won't take it. Take it away." Reid whispered as his whole body began to shake.
"I don't think so. I'll leave you alone. You better have something for me to work with by tomorrow or your mother will pay the price.
He left the room but Reid didn't move. He stared at the needle nestled in green velvet inside the box. The silver tip of the needle seemed to glow in the lamp-light. His mouth had begun to water, but he didn't notice. His hands were shaking and his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. He wanted the drug so badly he couldn't think anymore. Maybe it was better just to sink the needle into his flesh and forget everything.
He left the corner of the room and sat down in front of the box. He didn't realize that his tongue was licking his lips. One shaking hand reached out and picked up the needle.