Chapter 6: Dark Side Of The Moon

He was at his wit's end.

'Maybe if Spencer hadn't spent the entire plane babbling about some philosophy concepts and how they relate to that show he's always trying to get me to watch, I could have actually slept rather than pretending. Maybe if Spencer hadn't randomly cut his hair short enough to reveal that poorly covered up bruise I left, I could be focus on the case instead of staring at his neck. Maybe if Spencer didn't keep standing behind me, I wouldn't be distracted by his breath on my neck. Maybe if...'

He pinched the bridge of his nose. 'No, it's more like...maybe if I didn't fuck everything up between Spencer and me, then maybe I wouldn't be so fuckin edgy.'

Nothing was going well. The interview with the boy that the unsub left alive went terribly, mostly because of Spicer, who was reacting as if he had seen his own parents die. In fact, Spicer had seen them die, at the hands of the same unsub no less, but no one knew that it until Derek had the luck to pick up the file. Oh, and the unsub had been killing for at least 26 years.

'Can this case get any worse?' he wondered.

Then it did get worse. Spicer's sister, Kristen, and his daughter, Ellie, had been kidnapped by the unsub. After the entire city went dark and all the cell towers overloaded, Derek realized that the apartment they were rushing towards had no meaning to the unsub and they had driven to Spicer's childhood home instead. There was no back up, just them, and Spicer had gone in anyway.

That's how Derek ended up on the floor, bound with tape, blood flowing from a wound near his left temple, watching Spicer plead for his daughter's life. Apparently, he talked too much because the unsub suddenly kicked his ribs so hard that his whole mouth tasted of copper and his head was spinning. As his vision blurred and his brain struggled to stay conscious, he screamed at Spicer to pick up his gun, urging him to remember that the unsub hadn't killed kids. Spicer wasn't listening and had the audacity to ask Derek to promise that he'd keep Ellie safe. Derek knew Spicer would be dead the second he made the promise, but Kristen's wailing forced him to make it anyway. A single gunshot to the head and it was done.

"We will find you, you sick son of a bitch," he vowed.

"Is that another promise?" the unsub sneered as he yanked Ellie into the night.

He needed to focus on the case, but it was getting to be impossible.

Spencer knew better than to go so far off topic, yet he found himself rambling about things that no one really cared about. He knew Rossi and Hotch didn't want to hear a debate about free will versus determinism and, of course, Spicer had looked at him like he was an alien when he went on a tangent about moral concepts. He was distressed by how tired and sore Derek looked; it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was his fault. Every time he was in the same room as Derek, he used all his willpower resisting the urge to bridge the gap between them, if only because Spencer desperately wanted to comfort him.

His heart seized up and he felt incredibly light-headed when JJ informed him that Derek had been restrained and beaten by the unsub. The words she said afterwards about Spicer and his family didn't register until they were in the car. He wanted to scream at JJ for not driving faster; he needed to see that Derek was actually alive for himself.

They arrived just as the medic left and he repressed his urge to roll his eyes. 'Oh goodie, he's refusing medical treatment...big surprise there...'

"...Derek," JJ said, full of concern.

"I'm alright," Derek replied harshly.

Trying to keep the fear from his voice, he pointed out, "You don't look alright."

Rage filled Derek's eyes. "Reid, drop it!"

"Sorry..." Spencer whispered, before swallowing hard and walking away.

He knew the anger wasn't fully meant for him, but it didn't hurt any less and the pain in Derek's eyes was unbearable. Then Morgan stormed off anyway after a well-meaning question about Ellie. At the station, he incurred Derek's wrath again by forgetting how personally involved the other man was. 'Or the unsub might kill Ellie because almost half of abducted kids are killed in the first hour, that's a great thing to imply, good job genuis...' he berated himself. When he heard Derek yelling at Garcia, he couldn't help but wonder how much of Derek's reaction was his fault. 'Well, I'm certainly not making the situation any better.'

"Morgan, Reid – go check out the RV," he instructed.

Aaron knew he might be making a terrible decision, but it was the choice he would have made prior to whatever had occurred over the weekend. He knew Morgan would insist on seeing the trailer no matter what and he needed Reid in there if the unsub had journals or really...anything else that needed to be read. It didn't make sense to send anyone else.

Both men had tensed, but Reid immediately walked over to the vehicle and eventually, Morgan trailed behind him.

"It smells pretty rancid in here," Spencer warned.

Looking at the floor, he gestured to Derek, "He cut her hair."

The rage was palpable. "I swear to god, when I get my hands on this son of a..."

"That might actually be good," he interrupted, looking up. The distraught face staring back at him almost stopped his brain entirely. "Why disguise someone you're going to kill?" he reasoned.

Pain still radiated from Derek's eyes, but there was an unmistakable glimmer of hope too. Derek had stepped closer to examine the article Spencer found and his heart skipped a beat. As Derek started to leave to inform the rest of the team what they'd found, he grabbed his wrist.

"We need to talk."

"Now is the worst possible..."

"I know, I'm not saying now. Promise me that when we find Ellie and get home, we'll talk," he pleaded.

Derek sighed. "Kid, I'm pretty sure I couldn't say no to you even if I wanted to. Now, finish reading anything you can find in here."

He hurried through the stacks of newspapers, looking for something, anything that they could use to find Ellie. Then he found what he hoped would be a jackpot - a hint that the unsub's first murder might have been earlier than they'd originally thought. Hotch left him with the task of calling Garcia, which he dreaded. Thankfully, she stayed focused on the case and, of course, Derek. He was overjoyed when Prentiss came back with an idea on how to contact the unsub, but he was pretty sure everyone's stomachs flipped in unison when JJ told the unsub she didn't relate to him.

Somehow, her speech worked. The unsub let Ellie go and holed up in a house with hostages.

He heard the disagreement between Hotch and Derek about whether or not Derek should go in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emily look over her shoulder, but he knew that in order to concentrate, he needed to stare at the house. 'For all the times Derek yelled at me for putting myself in harm's way...' he brooded, as Derek ran into the house. He was concentrating so hard that it became difficult to tell how much time had passed and it was causing him to imagine the worst.

A gunshot rang out and he ran towards the house without a second thought. Eight more shots and he was sure his heart was on the verge of stopping completely. Just as they reached the door, Derek walked out without any new injuries. He knew the only reason he resisted the overwhelming instinct to grab Derek and never let him go was because he was in work mode. 'Finish the case and then you can go home and work things out with Derek,' he reminded himself.

He was decently sure that things had calmed down.

The two agents most drained by the case, Morgan and JJ, were asleep. Prentiss appeared to be over her latest "groupie jealousy" incident, as she and Dave were quietly joking about something he'd probably rather not know about. Reid was in the back, absorbed in a new book. If it were one of his usual books, Aaron could have able to read his mood, but a new book could mean just about anything. He needed to be sure. Walking over to Reid, he sat down.

Reid looked up, somewhat confused. "Sir?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted a ride home tonight."

"Oh, no," Reid blushed slightly. "I think Morgan and I are going to watch a movie or something."

"Sounds like a good way to unwind. Let me know if he decides he's too tired. You know it's not out of my way to take you home."

Reid nods. "Thanks Hotch, I'm sure I'll be fine."

He moved back to his seat, a hint of a grin slipping onto his otherwise stoic face.

A/N -

1) First, I'd like to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and/or reviewed so far. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that the by the end of the first 7 days, I got 60 faves and follows and 24 reviews! It really means a lot to me and definitely gives me motivation to keep writing. You guys rock. :-) I also need to give a special shout out to SugaKane01 who encouraged me to put aside my doubts and post this story (also, I love her writing, so ya'll should go check it out if you haven't already).

2) Watch me jump around everywhere! Seriously, I had a hard time writing this...partially because I'm a perfectionist who is bad at lifting quotes and felt a strong urge to make sure I had "blocking" and emotional responses being as close to what they are in the episode as possible...but mostly because I didn't know how much of the episode I wanted/needed to include without going overboard. Episode-heavy chapters can make me zone out a bit and I didn't want people zoning out. So, this was a good 200-300 words longer, but I kinda took a machete to it.

3) I planned on this coming out Sunday night, but then the site kept giving me errors/wouldn't let me log on from Sat nite to Mon morning (and then I had my two crazy shifts). WTF. And I didn't have a full back up saved, making it hard to remember what the fuck I was actually writing about and/or making crazy editing changes. Very frustrating.

4) Actually, you'll be happy to know that I have most of the next chapter written due to 2 ("I need a break from this episode-heavy chapter!") & 3 ("Well, since I can't work on 6, I guess I'll start fleshing out the notes on 7."). Still won't be posted for a few days (but almost every time I've said this, it's like...the next day lol) because of my incessant need to edit the fuck out of everything (which I may have mentioned before heh). Also, I'm not exactly done with my research for chapter 7.