A/n hey all, here's the next chapter. Thank you all for your kind words and support of the story!

Disclaimer: Nope they're still not mine!

"I got a call from the morgue just a few minutes ago and the autopsy is getting started right now. I spoke to Carter in the lab and he's going to rush through tox as fast as he can. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can find anything else to get us a warrant." Garcia told him when he sat down next to her.

"Thanks Garcia…" Reid said absently.

"Hey sweet cheeks… what's bothering you now? You were looking so happy a minute ago."

"I don't know… There's something bothering me. It's like I forgot something really important or forgot to do something important.

"Well… I think you're worrying for nothing. Oh… I almost forgot. The animal shelter in Arlington called. They have Leia and they said you can pick her up after eight in the morning tomorrow."

"Oh… I'm sure she's very happy there." Reid said sarcastically. "She'll scratch my eyes out when I go get her. She hates to be in a cage and she's been in one since yesterday morning."

Garcia reached over and patted his arm. "Don't worry baby cakes… I'm sure she'll forgive you in time. She's a pretty easy going cat."

"Yeah… when she gets everything she wants from me."

"Spencer Reid… Are you trying to tell me that JJ and Leia have you whipped?" Garcia asked stifling a laugh when he sent her a withering look.

"If I'm going to be insulted, then I'll just go back to my desk and wait for Carter in peace." Reid made as if to get up and Garcia pushed him back into this chair and went back to her computer.

"Sit down sweetie. You're not good at empty threats." Garcia said failing to hide the laugh that wanted to well up from her lips.

"You don't know me as well as you think you do!" he declared, trying to be as serious as he could. Garcia laughed and he went pink in the cheeks.

"Yes I do know let's get to work."

"I'm trying but I'm still sure there is something I'm forgetting and it's something important."

Garcia stopped tapping the keys on her computer and turned around in her desk to look at her young friend. "Baby boy… you think too much. I know that whatever is bothering you will… Reid… Are you listening to me?"

He was staring at her chest. Dr. Spencer Reid was staring at her chest. Why was he staring at her chest? Why wasn't he blushing while he was staring at her chest? She should say something, but she had lost the ability to speak. What about JJ… Reid was supposed to be in love with her best friend. Then there was Morgan, what was he going to say and …

"Garcia… Are you awake?" Reid was waving his hand in front of her face. "You were talking and then you just stopped. Is there something wrong?

"Yeah… you were just staring at my chest!"

"What…. No I wasn't," He looked at her bust line again, then something lit up his eyes.

"Reid… what in the world…"

"Your cat," He exclaimed!

"My cat…. What the hell - oh you mean the pendant."

She reached down and pulled the pendant she was wearing up to look at it. It was twenty four carat gold and the cat was lying down, looking at though it was sleeping. It was a Siamese cat and had the self satisfied expression those cats often wore when they felt especially content.

She explained to Reid where it had come from. Her oldest brother had given it to her for her nineteenth birthday. Her mother had adored cats. "She had three of them and after she died I moved out. I was the only one still living at home. I couldn't take them with me…" She wiped angrily at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Reid said. He looked very upset at her tears. He patted her awkwardly on the arm.

"It's okay… There are days when I really miss my mom. Today was one of those days and that's why I'm wearing the pendant." She fingered it and straightened up with a no nonsense look. "Enough about me… Now tell me why you're so fascinated by the cat."

"Oh yeah… can you find out what room Mrs. Reiner was in at Sleeping Pines?"

"I can get that faster than you can say Starship Enterprise." Her fingers flew over the keys. "There… she was in number nineteen.

She watched Reid's eyes as they seemed to turn inward for a second. Then his eyes cleared and he looked very excited about something. "Garcia you're a genius." He said looking as though he wanted to kiss her. She leaned back away from him.

"Reid… I think you need to get some sleep…"

"No… I need to get someone on the phone to open up the shelter and get Leia out of there. We have to get to Sleeping Pines now."

"But…" It was too late he was out the door. Two minutes later he was back looking a little sheepish. "Ah Garcia can you…"

"Right here Dr. Reid. Next time… Skip the theatrics and just ask." She said impatiently. She handed him a piece of paper with a name and number on it. "Are you going to tell me what's got you so worked up?"

"Later…" He left the office again and she sighed. God save her from high strung geniuses and profilers!

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Harold Thompson rolled over and got quietly out of the bed. His wife was sleeping on her side facing him. He reached over and stroked her face with one finger. She was a tall, willowy woman with skin that was several shades darker than his. Her eyes were black and they always twinkled when she looked at him, even after thirty-five years of marriage. Her hair was black and just beginning to get streaked with strands of pure white at her temples. She refused to color her hair. She said that it made women look older when they colored their hair after sixty. He didn't care, whatever she did, it was the right thing. She took great care of herself and could pass for forty. He loved to see her smile. It lit up her face.

He grabbed his dark blue silk robe and put it on over the silk pajamas he wore that matched the robe. The case with Sleeping Pines was keeping him up. He padded out into the hallway and passed the pictures of their three children that were hanging on the wall in the moonlight. God… he missed his kids and grandchildren. Well… maybe this summer would bring them home for a visit.

He went down the stairs and around the corner. His home office was down the hall past the kitchen. He detoured into the kitchen to see if there were the makings of a snack. Lily would chide him about his metabolism and how he could eat anything at anytime, even at the advanced age of sixty. She would complain about having to work out and watch what she ate to stay slim. He smiled to himself and pulled ham, Swiss cheese, rye bread and mustard from the refrigerator. He flicked on the light to the kitchen and proceeded to make a sandwich. He got a small plate from the cupboard and got a pickle from the jar in the fridge. He poured out a glass of milk and went to his office. He was just about to sit down in the leather chair behind his oak desk when the phone rang.

"Thompson…" He growled into the phone.

"Harry… Stephen here," The voice said on the other end of the line. It was a gravelly voice that expected respect and got it.

"Your Honor… what can I do for you at this hour."

"I've got the warrants you requested… I want them followed to the letter. I'm going out on a limb on this one. We have to be sure or it's going to end badly for everyone."

"I know Stephen. I promise you that Dr. Reid and Aaron Hotchner are on to something at Sleeping Pines."

"You better be right. I'm straining the limits of friendship and professional decorum. I've spent the last couple of hours looking into the backgrounds of Dr. Reid and Agent Hotchner. There's nothing there that tells me not to trust either one of them. Dr Reid's life has been tough, and the case in Georgia was as rough as it can get for an agent. He's kept it together though and I trust him. I know of Agent Hotchner too. He's a good man. So… I'm faxing the warrant to you now. Go put a lid on this problem once and for all."

"Yes sir… And Steve… meet you on the golf course tomorrow night?"

"Sure… I'm always up for kicking your ass Harry."

Thompson laughed with the judge and hung up the phone. Judge Stephen Wilcox was the best of the men on the bench these days. He wouldn't give his signature on a warrant if he didn't feel it was worth it, even for a friend. That only elevated Harry's respect for the man.

He picked up his phone again, and called a familiar number as the fax machine beeped, and began to spit out the documents that he hoped would put Lev Stevens in prison for the rest of his life.

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Esther Warburton had left the room and gone a few steps down the curiously round hallway. It looked like what she saw on television when they had a submarine on a program. There was a round door at the end of the hallway like the one she'd just left. Her shoulders sagged to see that there was a keypad at the side of the door and it a red light was on. It was coded, something else she knew from the movies and television. She tried to yank on the door, but it was tightly closed. Maybe she could guess the code. There was always a simple code for the bad guys on television. Then again, there was always a bobby trap if you didn't get the right one in like three guesses or something. Well… there had to be another way out and she was going to find it.

"Mrs. Warburton… How did you get out of those restraints?" A rough hand turned her around and she looked up at Dr. Lev Stevens.

"I should have known it was you young man. Have you no shame." She tried to pull out of his grasp, but his fingers dug painfully into her shoulder, and she was beginning to feel dizzy again.

"You're a nosy old bag and I know just what I'm going to do with you!"