A/n hey all, mabelreid here, this is my first contribution to the collaboration. Please comment as you would for tearbos' wonderful work. Thanks for your support of these one-shots

Cold Case

"Checkmate in seven moves," Reid said to Emily as he moved his bishop to intercept a rook on her side.

"You can get that smug, "I'm a genius and I'm better at chess then you," tone right out of your voice. Emily informed him while looking over the board.

"But I'm right though," He said.

"Yeah… you're right. I'm going back to work."

Reid was about to open his mouth and tell her that pouting was unattractive when JJ entered the bullpen and dropped a rather large file on his desk.

"Since you have so much time on your hands, I found an interesting cold case for you to look at."

"JJ…" He whined.

"I promise you'll have fun. It's very interesting."

He glared up at her. "You say that every time you give me one of these and mostly they're frustrating."

"Reid… Would you like some cheese with the whine?"

"Cheese… Why would I want cheese right now?"

Emily laughed and JJ rolled her eyes. "Just look at the case file Reid." She left Emily snickering and Morgan, who'd been silent during the exchange with a large grin on his face.

"Nothing to see here," Reid said to both of them between gritted teeth. "Don't you have work to do?"

"No. but it looks like you do." Emily said and Morgan laughed. "Come on Morgan, you can buy me a cup of awful FBI coffee."

They left Reid mumbling under his breath and headed to the break room. He pulled the file toward him and opened it. Time seemed to stand still and the very breath in his lungs turned into molasses. He couldn't take a breath. His chest hurt and he was getting so light headed that the room began to spin around him.

"Reid…" A voice came from down a long tunnel.

"Reid…" Emily was yelling at him. Why was she yelling at him?

A hand clamped down on his shoulder and pushed his head between his legs. A voice was telling him to breath and he did, gasping each one into his nose because his mouth was clamped tight over the scream that wanted to burst out of him mouth.

"Reid man, you need to calm down." Morgan's voice was there and it sounded frightened. Why was Morgan afraid? Morgan was never afraid, so it must be a mistake. He'd look up and it would be a mistake.

He shook off his friends hand and looked up. Morgan was afraid and it jolted Reid out of the grey haze that had fallen over his eyes when he'd opened the case file.

"I'm okay…" He assured his friend and Emily who was right behind them.

"You scared the hell out of us man," Morgan was saying and Emily nodded. Her eyes were huge in their sockets.

"I'm okay," He repeated. However, the way his voice shook made Morgan scowl.

"Sure you are… That's why you're white as a sheet. You nearly fell out of your chair."

"Morgan, please don't push it."

"We're concerned Reid." Emily said before Morgan could answer.

"I know… I'm sorry," Reid said again. "I'll tell you all what's going on with this case." He indicated the case file and Morgan frowned.

"The cold case, how could it be -?"

"In a minute… I need to get everyone together." Reid insisted as JJ re-entered the bullpen.

"JJ… would you get everyone in the bull pen." He asked as he passed her heading to the conference room.

"Yeah sure Reid…" She looked at Emily curiously. Emily only shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

--

The team had assembled, including Garcia. Reid let JJ give the details of the case as it was outlined in the case file, while his hand shook and his heart beat strangely in his chest.

"In 1988, Las Vegas had a serial killer. His first known victim was Caroline Spinnet. She disappeared from her home November 1st of that year. She was found in the desert by a couple off-roading 30 miles west of I-15, two days later. Her son also went missing and his body was never recovered."

Reid made his eyes look up at the sandy haired boy on the monitor.

"This is Joshua Spinnet. He was seven years old when he went missing. The first suspect for both disappearances was Harold Spinnet, his father. Unfortunately, there was no evidence to hold him.

Three more women were abducted in the next three months, Janet Darcy, Katrina Mitchell, and Suzanne Kramer. They were found two days after they each disappeared. The most telling difference is that Mrs. Spinnet was bludgeoned to death and dumped in the desert. The other three were raped, tortured, and bludgeoned to death and dumped near their places of business. They were all high risk areas. The killings stopped after the third murder. No one knows why he's been silent for twenty years."

"JJ told me you know something about this,' Hotch had turned to the young genius who was rather white faced.

"Yeah… I know who killed these women. I've known since I was seven years old."

The others looked at each other and then at their youngest member.

"Tell us what you know," Hotch said trying not to be angry that his young agent knew a murderer was out there and he hadn't tried to do anything about it.

Reid drew in a deep breath and began to tell the story that had haunted him for nearly twenty years.

"I had two friends when I was growing up in Las Vegas. They were the only good friends I had when I was a child. We lived next door to each other. My house was in the middle of the other two and they were the only ones that didn't desert me when I started skipping grades in school. There was Justin Cooper who lived in the house to the left. He was chubby, redheaded, and freckled. The other boys picked on him almost as much as they did me. We tried to protect each other. Then there was Joshua Spinnet in the house on the right. He was home schooled and almost as gifted as me. His mother was a housewife and his father a traveling salesman.

We used to watch our neighbors with my dads binoculars. They guys would come to my house because we had an actual attic with windows. I called it observing human behavior, my friends called it spying. What can I say; we were bored, especially in the middle of summer."

He looked around at the amused faces of his teammates and thought about what they must have done to pass the time during the summer holidays.

"Anyway, Justin had come over one July night when we had a rare rainstorm. Josh was at home, sick, which meant his father was home. Josh's dad was abusive, and no one did anything about because he was home schooled. I wanted to call CPS but Justin said they wouldn't believe a seven year old. I didn't believe him until Josh disappeared.

We were watching Josh's house, waiting for him to signal to us from his house that his did was gone. His father would often leave in the evenings and we could go over there for a few hours. I was the one that saw what happened. I saw his father kill his mother. I saw him take her body out to his car under the cover of darkness and the rain. Then I saw him kill Josh and load him in the car too. I wanted to call the cops right then, but Justin said they wouldn't believe us and we'd get in trouble if we tried."

His voice was beginning to crack and squeak remembering how they'd watched through the rest of the night, until the car came back.

"My mother didn't care if we stayed up all night. Justin's mother thought he was sleeping over at Josh's house. We argued all night about calling the cops. I tried to tell him that his father could get rid of the evidence and then Josh's dad would get away with murder. Justin said that they might take me away because of my mom's disease and the fact that my dad was never around. I didn't want to go live with a foster family. I loved m-my m-mom and d-dad even if t-they ignored me."

He stopped talking and the others were silent as he tried to get his shaking voice under control. He looked down at his case file so he wouldn't have to meet the disapproval he was sure was in all of their eyes. They would probably just leave the room now and let him flounder on his own. It was okay; he deserved it.

"So… our main suspect is a traveling salesman," Rossi spoke up first.

"Let's start at the beginning…" Hotch said, "You know we need to proceed as though there is a suspect to keep the profile intact."

"But Hotch, we have an eye witness that's better then anyone we've every dealt with," Morgan argued.

Reid looked up as they jumped into the case like it was just another day at work. A warm, happy feeling traveled from his face to his fingertips and his toes. They didn't hate him for what he failed to do. He didn't understand why they didn't hate him, but he wasn't going to complain.

--

"Come in…" Hotch said, and looked up to see Emily standing in the door way. "Emily?"

She sat down and began to talk very fast. "I'm worried about Reid. He's been working this cold case every minute of the day and night for a week. I know he's not sleeping and he doesn't eat. He drinks coffee by the truckload and he won't talk to anyone unless it's about work."

He watched the normally cool and controlled Emily fidget nervously in her chair. He'd seen the same things and had tried to get Reid to slow down, but it appeared that harsher measures might be called for.

"Tell him to come up here," he said. "Please!"

She left his office and was gone for a long time before he heard the commotion and the yelling from the bull pen. What the hell had happened now?

--

When Reid woke up six pairs of eyes were looking down at him with various looks of annoyance and anger on their face, but there was some relief in their eyes too.

"What happened," He croaked.

"Too much caffeine, too much work, not enough food or sleep," Garcia spoke up before the others could speak.

"I don't remember…"

"We know… You collapsed at work yesterday." Hotch said his voice low with anger.

Reid flinched at the fury in his boss's eyes and decided to look at Emily instead. Her dark eyes were snapping too, so he looked at JJ. She was frowning and her blue eyes had darkened with anger. He looked at Rossi and he was the only one that wasn't mad, but he looked very annoyed and impatient.

"You're going to stay here for as long as the doctor says you will and you will do everything he tells you to do. You will take a week off and get some rest and I don't want to hear any complaints." Hotch snapped when Reid opened his mouth.

"Yes sir…"

The team left the room except for Hotch. Reid watched his boss pace once around his room with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you going to tell me what you think you're doing?" He finally said.

"I'm trying to close this case." Reid shot back defensively.

"You think killing yourself is going to bring back your friend."

"No… I don't think -"

"Reid… I'm going to keep you on this case, because you're the best one to close it."

Reid gave a tiny sigh of relief and then Hotch said. "But, you'll do as I said and get some rest. And, I want to know why you're pushing on this so hard."

Reid turned to look at the window to his left while Hotch sat down in the chair on his right. The trees were bare of leaves and the sky was grey. It looked like rain. If he could get out of here -

"I know what you're thinking, and you're staying here till the doctor tells you otherwise." Hotch said.

"Fine… I joined the FBI and the BAU because I wanted to make sure that nothing like what happened to Josh happens to anyone else ever again."

Hotch was so quiet for so long that Reid turned back to see if the man was still there. He was, and his face was softer and thoughtful.

"The BAU is lucky to have an agent like you. I don't care why you're here as long as you do your job in a responsible way."

"I'm sorry Hotch," His chocolate eyes cut Hotch's heart with their misery. "It's my fault he's out there and may have hurt others. I should have called the police."

"You can wallow in self pity all you want Reid, but you're not that kid anymore. Your friend was right about the police, they wouldn't have believed you. Now, get your rest and I want you back and ready to work in a week. No more wallowing in guilt, do you hear me?"

"Yeah…"

Hotch clapped a hand on his shoulder and he smiled. "I'm proud of you. You can get through this and if I were your friend's dad, I would be a bit scared right now."

Reid smiled widely all the way up to his eyes. "Okay…" He whispered.

--

Six months later Hotch called Reid into his office. The young man had done what Hotch asked him to do and he looked ten times better then when he'd collapsed at work.

"Sit down Reid," He said when the young agent entered his office. "I just spoke to Garcia. She found Spinnet. He's a guest of the state of New York for rape and murder."

He saw Reid relax back in the chair as if he were a deflated balloon. "I want to talk to him." Reid said.

"It's already been arranged. If anyone can get him to cope to the Nevada murder and get the where-a- bouts of Joshua, you can. Don't let me down!"

"I won't Hotch, thank you sir."

--

The team gathered in the bull pen which was decorated with red yellow and blue balloons and streamers. There was a banner that read "Happy Birthday Reid," over the young genius's desk. The elevator opened and Reid stepped out to a chorus of Happy Birthday's and Congratulations. Reid went cherry red over all the attention and tried to hide in the break room. Morgan pulled him back into the middle of the room and the others pounced, wanting to know all the details of his visit to Rikers Island.

"…so he told me everything and the authorities are looking for Joshua's remains were Spinnet said they would be. I'm not hopeful though," He said dejectedly. "I doubt after all this time in the desert that there's anything left to find."

"Don't think that way Reid. I'm sure there will be something." Emily said.

"Actually did you know that the human body can be reduced to skeletal remains in less then a week if the right conditions are present? You have to have the right combination of heat and -"

"Reid…" Hotch said, but he was smiling.

"Sorry… Hotch I want to go back to Vegas. Even if they don't find anything, I want to make sure he gets a proper memorial."

"Of course… take all the time you need."

"Thanks Hotch."

"Now, let's eat the cake." Garcia said, leading Reid back to his desk.