----- Last chapter? Maybe, I haven't decided…….hope you like it! -----

Like the in breath and the out breath. You gather the light and then you give it out. That's just the way it works. - Nancy Rivard

Each of their heads snap up with question in their eyes as Reid tumbled down the first couple of stairs before picking himself up.

"Who's there?" Mildred grunts, looking up the stairwell. Reid clears his throat, nervous, injured, and fearing for his life. "I – I'm FBI Agent Spencer Reid. Nobody move." He responds, trying to fit some boldness into his shaky voice.

"So nice to meet you, Spencer," Mildred replies sarcastically, "But why are you here?" "Save us! Help us!" Patricia shouts, hope beginning to stir in her heart.

Mildred reaches into the back pocket of her jeans and Reid finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun once more. "You'll come down these stairs and sit nice and easy, and if you've got yourself a gun you'll happily hand it over. Now!" Mildred demands. Reid looks over to Patricia, Jessica, and Nina – cowering and huddling together. And then he spots Rebecca's lifeless form.

"You killed her?" His voice is quiet.

"I said," Mildred speaks up, "Now."

***

JJ and Rossi flung themselves out from behind the trees, right into Millicent's line of view. "Millicent Beck put down the gun!" Rossi orders, both his and JJ's guns trained on her. "No backup?" Millicent asks, a bit let down, "No fight? No fuss?"

"Ms. Beck!" Rossi barks.

Millicent looks down at the gun in her hands. "You guys know?" she inquires, thoughtfully. "Ms. Beck we aren't here to chit chat. Put down the gun." Rossi repeats. "You know about my homosexuality. Hey, blondie, what do you think about that?" Millicent steers her gave over to JJ.

JJ clenches her teeth, despising being called blondie. "I think," JJ replies coolly, "That what you do with your life is entirely your decision."

Millicent cocks the gun's trigger, "You wouldn't laugh at me if you found out I'm a lesbian?" she inquires. All eyes are on JJ, "No," she eventually answers, "It doesn't matter if you're hetero, homo, or bi. It just matters about who you are as a person."

Millicent gives a dark laugh, "Guess I should have been friends with people like you when I was a kid," she says. Then she raises Reid's gun to her head.

And fires.

***

Morgan, Hotch, Prentiss, and the rest sprint through the woods, eventually stumbling though an overgrown path and turning the corner just in time to see JJ and Rossi clambering up to the house, stepping around Millicent Beck's fallen body.

"We're behind you," Hotch radios them both. The only acknowledgement is a slight nod of JJ's head. Rossi pushes the door of the house open as JJ follows, with the team and the local PD a bit further back.

"Hello! Reid!" Rossi shouts as he makes his way in.

Another gunshot went off in response.

***

Reid was walking down the stairs, slowly as he possibly could, when the gunshot rang out.

"Hurry up!" Mildred hisses, as the women all flinch in terror. Reid licks his lips, "Mildred what are you doing? Out there someone just got shot; why are you killing them? Maybe you'll get a feeling of content but then the urge to kill will just become more and more frequent. In cases like yours you have a certain goal but then thing just get completely out of hand and it turns out –"

"GET OVER THERE!" Mildred screeches, cutting off Reid's genius babble.

Reid steps off the last stair and then, in a moment of bravado, he tries to grab Mildred's arm and pull her to the ground. The element of surprise is on his side, but Mildred has just as much body-power and jerks her arm, pulling the trigger of the gun she holds.

The bullet goes astray, spiraling into the stairs. A startled shriek comes up from the women, all clutching one another with terrified tears springing from their eyes.

***

In one quick move both Rossi and JJ are rushing down the stairs into the basement, their guns pointed out in front of them, to where they are positive they'll find Reid, Mildred, and the victims. Hotch, Prentiss, Morgan, and Police Chief Deluchi follow them, with the rest of the cops staying on the main level, looking out just in case.

Reid still has one of Mildred's arms in his grasp. Now he reaches out for the other one but she fights him off, pointing the gun straight at him once more.

"Let him go, Mildred. Millicent is dead. This won't do anything." Hotch speaks, his tone grim.

Mildred looks up at the group with hatred in her eyes and pushes Reid to the ground. "Fine," she spits, "Killing the FBI, that'd be something, wouldn't it? But he'd be in the line of duty. They," she spins around, directing the gun on the kidnapped women, "Now they'd make a story, don't you think?"

"All the attention would go to the women, Mildred. They'd be the victims, not you. You just want to make this right. Just want to get Millicent's story known. Don't shoot anyone. Put the gun down." Hotch directs.

Mildred lowers her arm, deliberating. On the floor, Reid watches, not able to help.

Then she point the gun at the women once more, "The only way to make it right is kill them. Millicent would want me to." She explains, getting ready to fire. "Don't do it!" Morgan interjects, "You spilled her secret. You made her life hell. It all came down to you."

"You're right," Mildred agrees with a sigh and puts the gun under her chin. "Ms. Farmer just put down the gun and I can get your story known!" JJ promises.

Mildred's eyes light up. She leans down, beginning to place the gun on the ground. Then her gaze lands on Reid.

"You remind me of Simon," she murmurs.

No one can stop her.

She fires.