A/N: Thankyou all you lovely people for reviewing, it is such a warm fuzzy feeling to open my mail and see a review alert - plus I'm happy that you like it! Enjoy!
Penny paced the living room floor. She felt nervous, irritated and just a little bit scared. It wasn't supposed to go like this. Damn snooping FBI piece of shit, don't come to my house! She clenched her fists in pure anger. Stopping short in front of the window facing the street, she spotted Reid's car parked at the curb. She instantly knew she had to get rid of that car, and fast, or the rest of the FBI was going to be sniffing at her door at any second. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed a familiar number. A few seconds went by before she got an answer.
"Get over here, right now. We have a major problem." Pause. "Don't ask stupid questions, just get over here! And call Lindsey, bring her with you." Click.
Penny threw the closed Nokia on the couch and let out a groan of sheer frustration. Running her hands through the dirty, tousled curls also known as hair, she bent over, resting her elbows on her knees. The sudden need to regain blood flow in her head was overwhelming. Okay. Okay. Okay. Calm down. So far nothing is shot to shit. But they have to hurry over here. We have a ton of things to do. She lifted her head and drew a deep breath. All she had to do was relax and keep her mind straight, and everything was going to be fine. Just fine.
She once again picked up her phone, placing it safely in the back pocket of her jeans. She had a long day in front of her, and she knew it. The nausea had to take a backseat to the task at hand. All she could do now was wait.
--
At 5.15 pm Doctor Spencer Reid was 2 hours late to arrive at the station. Giving the well exceeded appointment, the BAU was beginning to worry about their youngest member. Even SSA Hotchner began to have second thoughts about his junior team member's whereabouts. There had been several attempts made to contact Reid, and none of them had been successful. This better not turn into New Orleans all over again. Although the thought crossed his mind, he seriously doubted it. Reid wouldn't go AWOL like this without a good reason, not for this long period of time. Hotch began to worry.
"It's been 2 hours, Hotch." The irritation in Morgan's voice was all but subtle. "We have to go look for him."
Hotch sighed. "Had this been a civilian we would have told them to wait 24 hours before doing anything."
"But this isn't a civilian!" JJ burst out. "This is Reid we're talking about, one of our own! He went out on his own and now he is missing!"
"JJ!" Hotch turned sharply towards her. One could almost see the black cloud circling his head, and his eyes had turned an eerie shade of black. "For all we know, he's at the high school talking to students."
"He's not." Prentiss piped up over by the whiteboard. "The school shut down this morning. Not enough students attending classes."
JJ tilted her neck, looking at Hotch, as if saying "not what, smartass?".
"Do you have a list of the people he was going to interview whine we were resting?" Gideon's voice broke the uncomfortable silence.
Hotch began digging through a pile of files. "Yes. Just family and friends of victims. Here." He handed the paper to his senior team member. "But we are not going to look for him. He'll turn up. But Gideon and Morgan, you go talk to the people on the list. Find out where he was last seen. The rest of us are going to stay here and work on the new profile."
"Don't you find it odd", JJ questioned, "that we go to sleep for four hours, and no one is murdered. At the same time, Reid goes missing. Can't you even consider the remote possibility that the two might be connected?"
Hotch knew she could be right. No bodies had been found in the past seven hours, and that was a long period of time for this particular UnSub. He bit down hard, clenching his jaw as he looked out the window. "I am. But we have to stay focused." Turning towards Gideon and Morgan, he motioned them to leave. "Call me when you know something."
The two men nodded, and set course on the exit. Before they even reached the door, a local deputy blocked the entrance with his scrawny frame. "Agent Hotchner? We found something."
"Another victim?"
The man fidgeted in the doorway. "Well.. Ah.."
--
Half an hour earlier Penny ripped the door open to let her visitors in. Roughly, she pulled them through the entrance, and slammed the door shut behind them, securely fastening the chain in its lock. "Good, you're here."
"What is going on?" The tall, lanky young boy asked, rather agitated. "What's the major problem?"
"Shut up, Jared!" Penny was all too wound up for all these mindless questions. She just wanted to cover up all the traces of Dr. Spencer Reid in her home. "Look, an FBI agent came here a while ago. He was saying that they changed the profile to a student instead of a grown man."
The slightly pudgy blonde who followed Jared though the door began to hyperventilate. "Oh, my god, oh my god, oh my god..!"
"Shut up!" Penny felt her anger flare up inside. Lashing out, she slapped the blond across the face, making her whimper and cover her cheek in her hand. "We don't have time for this! We have a lot of work to do. Put these on." She handed her friends latex gloves, the same kind she was already wearing.
Jared stared at the gloves in his hand. "Penny, what did you do?" It suddenly dawned on him. "You killed an FBI agent? Are you insane?! What were you thinking?!"
"Must you people be forever talking?!" The irritation took the upper hand. "Look! The cops and the feds are going to be here at any moment. We have to get rid of the evidence. Jared, you take his car and drive it into the pond in Greensboro, take the bus back. Throw this out the window on the way." She handed him a plastic bag, its contents covered by the big Piggly Wiggly logo as well as the keys to Reid's car.
"Lindsey." Penny attempted to make contact with the blonde, who had slipped into a light state of shock. "I promise you won't have to see the blood. Just help me with one thing. Okay?"
Lindsey nodded carefully.
Penny exhaled in relief. "Great. Jared, go – we don't have much time."
Jared turned to leave, but stopped short in the doorway. "Penny.. Where is the fed dude?"
"I took care of him. Now go."
Realizing that was the best answer he was going to receive, he felt less satisfied than he would have wanted to as he closed the door behind him. He now wished that he had never become involved with Penny in the first place.
A/N again: Poor Reid..