A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thank you so much for the support. I'll keep the rest simple: I really hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, hope you enjoy this installment, hope you review, and hope you understand that I don't own the show. I didn't realize I could be so hopeful.

The air was sucked out of the room. All three agents exchanged horrified looks.

"What do you mean found?" Hotch finally uttered.

"Well, I lifted his coat, and it was resting underneath."

"Where is Reid now?" Hotch demanded.

"He and Morgan left to go talk to other victims. JJ and I are here. Why?"

Hotch turned out of the room and stormed down to his office. Prentiss hurried after him.

"Sir, it's-"

Hotch had already whipped out his phone and was calling before Prentiss could finish.

"Reid, get back here. Now." Hotch commanded. There was a pause. "Reid, come back to Quantico now. That's an order."

Hotch flipped his phone shut.

"Sir, it's not Reid's. It can't be."

"Prentiss, please go back to the conference room and assist Garcia."

"Sir,"

"Prentiss, this is an order. I will talk to Reid when he gets back. Work on the case."

Hotch stated this curtly. Prentiss and he were locked in a staring contest for several seconds. His eyes didn't tell Prentiss anything, as usual.

"Yes sir." Prentiss reluctantly said.

She sadly turned out of his office and headed into the conference room. In the background Prentiss could hear Hotch dialing again. Garcia was still there with a horrified look on her face.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. He called Reid. He's coming back."

"He could just be taking Reid off the case. Conflict of interest." Garcia said hopefully.

"Yeah, I'm sure that it's it." Prentiss agreed. She was trying to be calm for Garcia, who still looked pretty shook up.

"Shouldn't we call Reid? Warn him?"

"I don't think Hotch will let us."

"Well, shouldn't we at least tell Gideon?"

"He just left to teach." Prentiss said wearily. "But I think Hotch was calling him as I left. Gideon's class doesn't start for a few more minutes. What did you tell Jessica?"

"Nothing really. Just something like that you guys saw something, I don't remember. It's her first day. She doesn't need to learn everything about us." Garcia remarked.

"I don't know if she's going to get a choice about this."

"What'd Hotch want?"

"We have to go back to Quantico."

"Why? We need more information on the other victims." Morgan stated as he pulled a U-turn on the barren highway.

"He didn't say. He didn't sound too happy."

"Maybe the tie's too tight again." Morgan joked.

Reid laughed and looked out the window. Then he yawned and took another swig of coffee. Morgan looked over and took note of the dark circles underneath his eyes.

"Late night?"

"Late weekend actually. And then I had to get up earlier than usual for the seminar." Reid stated matter-of-factly.

"Reid, you okay?" Morgan inquired seriously.

"What? Yeah, fine."

"You sure? I mean, you're not having nightmares or anything again, are you?"

"What? No! Well, the occasional one, but nothing more." Reid was quiet for a moment. "Wait, you thought I wasn't sleeping because I was having nightmares or something?"

"Little slow on the get up there genius…"

"Morgan."

"Well, maybe. It's not unusual for our line of work. I'm just looking out for you."

Reid laughed.

"Don't worry Morgan. My late night wasn't for anything bad." Reid expressed with a smirk. He immediately tried to take it back, but Morgan saw it.

"You're getting some lovin?"

"Morgan, you didn't see that."

"You are getting some lovin!"

"Morgan, you didn't see that." Reid kept repeating.

"You have a woman!" Morgan yelled proudly as his face grew into one gigantic smile. "Reid, why didn't you tell me?"

Reid remained silent, not even looking at Morgan. Instead he glared out the window with an obviously suppressed smile on his face.

"Come on man." Morgan pleaded. "Okay, fine. Keep me, your friend, in the dark. But at least tell me this, is she fine?"

Reid couldn't stop himself.

"She's beautiful."

"All right Reid, my man! Wait… yes!"

"What?"

"I win! Ha, Prentiss you are doing my paperwork!" Morgan yelled triumphantly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I won our bet."

"What bet?"

"We made a bet a few weeks ago. I thought you had a girl; Prentiss didn't."

"You made a bet on my personal life?" Reid yelled, stuck between laughing and being appalled.

"Yep. And now she has to do all of my paperwork for this case."

"Why didn't you ever just ask me?"

"I knew you. You wouldn't tell me. And then I forgot. Emily probably did too, but she is going to remember now."

"Morgan, doesn't it affect your conscience at all that you are betting on a private portion life that I didn't wish to share with you?"

"Nope." Morgan gleefully said. "Can't wait to get back and tell her."

"What even made you think I had a girlfriend in the first place?"

"You started getting lots of text messages, you left early."

"One time!"

"Yeah, but, I guess I'm just an expert profiler."

"If that's all it takes, then Prentiss should have made a bet like this with you a long time ago. She would have won." Reid teased.

"Oh, ouch Reid!" Morgan said playfully hitting him across the seat. "She thought you would have said something to me or JJ or someone. But that doesn't matter now."

They rode in silence for a few minutes.

"Wait, why were you dissing partying on the weekend if you're staying up late getting lovin?"

Reid rolled his eyes.

JJ walked around the site one more time. The questions that always plagued her mind during a case were present. How could someone do this? What caused this? How were they going to stop this person? How did her hair look in the news release that her and Jessica had just done?

JJ cast her look down the hill. Some officers were doing something around the bottom.

"Jessica, do you know what they are doing?" JJ inquired.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. When I went to go grab Reid's coat, I found the possible drug used underneath it. The unsub may have accidentally left them here."

"What did they use?"

"Dilaudid, have you ever heard of that?"

JJ's eyes widened. She gave a slight nod.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." JJ emitted.

"You sound just like Garcia when I told her."

"You told Garcia?"

"Yeah. Prentiss and Hotch were with her."

"Prentiss and Hotch?" JJ repeated. "When was that?"

"About an hour ago. JJ, what's going on?" Jessica asked picking up that something was definately off.

JJ wasn't paying attention. Her phone was out, and she was dialing. Hotch didn't answer, and then JJ's worst fears were coming out into the open.

"Prentiss."

"Emily, what's going on?" JJ demanded, not even bothering with a greeting.

"I don't know."

"Is Reid there?"

"No, but it won't be long now."

"Does Reid know?"

"I doubt it. Hotch told me not to call him. Well, not in those words, but he got the idea across."

"Damn."

"It's going to be okay JJ. It's not his."

"Yeah. I know it's not." JJ replied quietly but firmly.

"Are you guys coming back soon?"

"Yeah. We just finished giving a news release, so we'll head back. Day's almost over anyway."

Prentiss smirked. The time of day never seemed to matter in the BAU. Then her face quickly fell. Morgan and Reid were entering the bullpen, their happy, laughing smiles taunting her. Hotch exited his office.

"Reid, my office, now."

Hotch's tone was sharp, commanding, and loud. Reid and Morgan both looked utterly confused. Garcia looked at Prentiss with terror in her eyes. Hotch hardly spoke to anyone on the team with that kind of tone.

Reid dumbly went up the steps and into Hotch's office. Morgan followed slowly behind.

"I heard that." JJ said into the phone.

"JJ, it's going to be okay."

"We're heading back now." JJ replied.

It didn't sound like she had heard Emily's last statement. She hung up.

"Morgan we need to talk to you." Emily immediately said as he entered the conference room.

"Me too. I won our bet."

"What?"

"Remember that bet we made a few weeks ago about Reid getting a girlfriend? He told me-"

"Morgan we have bigger things to worry about."

"What?"

"Dilaudid." Garcia whispered.

"What?" Morgan asked, his face darkening at the mention of the substance.

"They found Dilaudid underneath Reid's coat at the scene. It's just a coincidence."

"But, Hotch, he doesn't think," Morgan stammered. "Hell no!"

He took off for Hotch's office.

"Morgan!" Prentiss yelled.

"Prentiss, it's not Reid's." He came to a halt just feet from Hotch's door. Prentiss grabbed his arm to keep him there. "It can't be."

"We know that. Angering Hotch by busting your way in there isn't going to help. He probably just has to clear some things with Reid." Prentiss assured him.

"He better." Morgan threatened.

"Sit down."

"Hotch, what's going on?" Reid asked innocently.

"Sit down." Hotch repeated. Reid obeyed and Hotch moved behind his desk.

"Reid, you left your coat at the crime scene."

Reid looked around as if to find his coat in thin air.

"I guess I did."

"They found Dilaudid at the scene."

Reid gulped uncomfortably but then nodded.

"It was underneath your coat."

"What?"

"Reid,"

"Hotch, no! I put my coat down for Lowell to sit down. I left it there because it was getting warm and I wasn't going to need it. There wasn't anything underneath my coat when I laid it down."

Hotch looked at Reid, whose eyes were widening at what he implied.

JJ walked into the bullpen. Most every other agent was finishing up his or her last things before leaving. Seeing no one on the team, she headed to the conference room.

"JJ, hey." Prentiss greeted her. Garcia and Morgan nodded.

"Is Reid okay? What's going on?"

"We don't know. Hotch kept him in there for 5 minutes before Reid came out. We think he went to do a drug test. He came back, but before we could talk to him, Hotch made him come back in." Morgan replied tensely.

"Hotch doesn't think-"

"We don't know what Hotch is thinking. He won't talk to any of us." Prentiss interrupted sadly. "Where's Jessica?"

"I told her to go home. Today's already been screwed up enough."

"Does she know?" Garcia asked.

"I think she figured it out. She wasn't too surprised when I told her that Reid had a slight problem with Dilaudid a while back. I think she knew what I meant." Everyone exchanged dark looks. "What have you guys been doing?"

"Working on the case, sort of."

JJ sighed. A noise came from the hall, causing the team to turn. They saw Gideon coming up the stairs. He pointed to Hotch's door and received confirmation from the team. He disappeared inside.

"Where's Gideon been?" JJ demanded.

"Teaching."

"Does he know?"

"We think so."

Hotch's door opened. He stalked out and headed into the conference room.

"How are you guys coming?" Hotch asked tersely.

Everyone was so shocked by the normalcy of his question that it took them a moment to respond.

"Fine."

"Okay, uh, good." He rubbed his eyes wearily. "Can you guys catch me up on some details?"

Everyone was trying to profile Hotch. However, his face gave no information about what had been happening inside his office. They reluctantly began recanting the finer points of the rural Virginia rapist.

Reid rubbed his eyes. Anger, confusion, hurt, it was all burning inside him. He had been thankful when Gideon entered, hoping he would rescue him. Gideon had asked Hotch to leave.

"Hi." Gideon started.

"Hi."

"Hotch called me before my class started. He said that Dilaudid was found at your crime scene; said he was going to talk to you about it."

"Yeah, well if talking is the same as interrogating, then we've been doing a lot." Reid spat out sarcastically.

For the last hour, Hotch had been asking Reid over and over about whether or not the Dilaudid was his. Reid had told him even more times that it wasn't. Hotch was still doing a drug test.

He then turned to Gideon, his eyes pleading. "Gideon, I didn't look when I set my coat down. Lowell was about ready to pass out, I swear, my test will-" Reid rambled.

"Reid, shh. Just answer my question. Is that Dilaudid yours?"

"No."

Gideon looked straight into his eyes. Having all the information he needed, he nodded and left.

"Okay, you guys can go home. We'll start fresh tomorrow." Hotch ordered.

"Hotch, Reid-"

He was already down the hall. Prentiss and Garcia sighed. Morgan almost pounded the table in frustration and anger. JJ just stood there for a moment, but then her demeanor changed. She threw her file down on the table and stormed out without saying anything. Immediately she joined the conversation. It looked she had gotten through to Hotch, which was astounding everyone.

"What's she saying to them?" Morgan demanded.

Suddenly all three went down the hall into JJ's office.

"What are they doing?"

"Who knows?" Prentiss answered.

Another minute of silence passed. Suddenly, Garcia let out a little sob. Morgan and Prentiss immediately turned to her.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Morgan asked forgetting his frustrations and anger.

"I was just thinking, it's been so long since we were this scared." Garcia replied quietly. A few more tears leaked out of her bright eyes. Morgan immediately pulled her into a hug, and Prentiss patted her back.

"I thought we were done being scared. I thought we were done months ago. He's been out of rehab for so long. I didn't think we still had to worry about him relapsing." She sobbed.

"Hey, mama, it's okay. I know you're scared. We're all scared." Morgan soothed.

"I remember the day he came back. It was so confusing. How were we supposed to act? What were we supposed to say? What was he going to do? It was so awkward." Garcia continued.

"What isn't with Reid?" Morgan joked. Garcia gave a smile that was still her priceless value, even though it was small.

"I missed that today." Morgan commented.

"Hasn't been a great day for smiling."

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay. Right, Prentiss?"

Emily's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a moment.

"Yeah. Everything's going to be fine." She did agree.

"Listen, how about you go put your babies away for the night, and I'll escort you home?" Morgan offered as he pointed to Garcia's computer. Garcia's smile grew somewhat bigger as she picked up her laptop and left.

"Morgan, you know you-"

"Possibly made a promise that I can't keep? Yeah, I know." He replied looking her right in the eye.

"Then why-?"

"Penelope knows the truth. I'm not hiding anything; I'm just trying to be hopeful for her. You were too."

Prentiss was quiet for moment.

"Is that feeling back for you?" She finally asked.

"What feeling?"

"That feeling? When all of this was happening with Reid?"

"You mean guilt, fear, and worry all rolled into one?" Morgan asked to which Prentiss nodded. "Yeah."

"It was guilt for me. It was so obvious after we found out. We just stood by, and watched him fall. I knew something was wrong, and I should have been able to figure it out. And all the while, I was mad at him for snapping at me." Prentiss stated.

"There was that guilt, and then the guilt over being angry." Morgan remarked. "I was pissed at myself and Reid. It felt so wrong to be mad at him. How you can be angry at Reid? He's so innocent. But this, I couldn't help myself."

"It felt wrong to not trust him." Prentiss said. "Like you said, it's Reid. He's so innocent. It just felt like this could never have happened. Morgan, you don't think Reid actually, you know, relapsed, do you?"

Morgan sighed.

"I honestly don't know. We never knew he started. I tried so hard to watch him, check for signs. I researched all the signs and symptoms so I knew what to look for."

"I did too." Prentiss admitted. "It's like, after he got out of rehab, it was my mission to make sure he never had to go back."

"That was why I did it even though I knew if Reid figured it out, he would have killed me. I couldn't watch him suffer again."

"Is that why we never talked about this after Reid came back?"

"Why relive bad memories? We never had to. There never was a case that came this close before. Reid never brought it up, so we never did. It just felt so good to have him back. Now we trust him again. I don't want that to be a mistake." Morgan finished quietly.

Prentiss nodded. Garcia entered the bullpen again, prompting Morgan and Prentiss to leave.

"Hotch, what's going on?" Gideon asked him as he came into the hall. "What have you been doing with Reid for the last hour?"

"Talking to him, clearing some matters."

"Hotch, it's not his."

"I'm just testing him to be sure."

"Aaron, you don't need evidence."

"Jason, I'm doing what I think is best."

"Hotch." A new voice emerged. JJ couldn't take it any longer. She was going to talk to Hotch.

"JJ, go home."

"No." Hotch looked up. JJ didn't usually defy him.

"JJ,"

"Hotch, it's not his."

"JJ, you can't prove that."

"Hotch, Reid doesn't possess any Dilaudid." JJ stared Hotch down almost as hard as he stared down an interrogation subject.

"JJ, you don't know that."

JJ's glare only strengthened. Hotch, confused, turned to Gideon, looking for the answer. Gideon studied JJ for a moment.

"JJ," Gideon began softly, "you've checked haven't you?"

JJ started to flush a little red.

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review!