Although no requests had been made, everyone on shift enjoyed Val's homemade lasagna and cheesy garlic bread. And she was grateful for the distraction that taking care of others offered her. Even Morgan was impressed enough to have a second piece of pasta. When Reid and Morgan came back on shift Garcia had already contacted the team with what she found about the neighbors behind Val. None of them fit the profile perfectly, there were a few possible, Mr. Lawrence included, but nothing definitive enough for them to go door to door at such a late hour. Wishing the rest of the team good night Morgan and Reid forgo spending the night in the car, for staying in the living room. There were still two sets of uniformed officers stationed outside.
It wasn't until she had offered them desert, ensured they knew where everything was in the kitchen and to help themselves, and double checked that the coffee pot was full that Val retired for the night. Even though she knew they were FBI and there to protect her, it didn't make it easy for her to shower knowing that there were men in her house that she barely knew. Once out of the shower, she looked longingly at the bottle of Benadryl, but opted against it. Her muscles ached, and her mind was sluggish, sleep would come easily that night.
In the living room Morgan and Reid had several photos spread out on the coffee table, each of them was thinking hard, trying to find the missing piece to the puzzle that should be staring them in the face.
"Did Val ever mention what the gift was that Stone hoped would please her, from that letter?" Morgan asked to fill the silence.
Staring intently at a photo Reid answered in a distant voice, "No. But she did mention that he had thought about moving in together, so it could have been a house warming type gift, something that we have seen and didn't even notice." After a few moments silence he finished, "it could have been anything really."
They lapsed back in to silence for several moments, no noise except their flipping of papers and photos, the distant hum of the refrigerator and ticking from the mantel clock.
On the end of a long sigh, Morgan stated "too bad none of her neighbors had a criminal record, or something in their history to give us a clue which one we should be focusing on."
Not looking up from the photo he was studding Reid answered, "it would make our jobs to easy if the un-sub walked around with a neon light above his head." Morgan and Reid shared a knowing smile before focusing on their work.
She didn't know what changed in the silence of her room, but something woke her from a dreamless sleep. Keeping her eyes closed Val listened intently, trying to identify what had woken her. Her muscles protested any movement so she kept still, she hadn't realized how long it had been since she spent an entire afternoon weeding, or what the consequences would be. After several seconds the only sound she could identify was the hum of the bathroom fan, something she had left on for the white noise it provided. After giving herself a mental shake she resettled her head against the pillow. It was only a few seconds before she stiffened at the odd feeling again. It was the soft sound of footsteps on carpet. Thinking it could just be Reid or Morgan checking on her, Val rolled towards the noise, but kept her grip on the cell phone. That first night that the agents had stayed outside her house she had started the tradition of texting them 'good night' something she had continued to do, even last night when they were just in the other room.
Her bedroom was too dark to make out anything at first; either that or she was too sleepy to notice anything out of place. Her hand closed around the cell phone, her throat was dry so when she asked tentatively "Reid?" it was barely above a whisper. Silence answered her at first, then that same soft movement of shoes on carpet. The noise was coming from towards the foot of her bed; glancing there she saw nothing. Then using the cell phone as a flashlight, she flipped it open and held it in front of her self, the illuminated screen lit her room bright enough to see a figure standing at the foot of her bed, it was also bright enough that she was sure it wasn't Reid.
They regarded each other for a moment before he held a single finger to his lips to signal her silence, and moved around the bed to stand next to her. With a slow smile he reached out a hand to her and closed the cell phone, casting the room back in to darkness.
Reid picked up his coffee cup and finished the last swallow; glancing at Morgan's cup he took both into the kitchen for a refill. While standing at the kitchen counter he glanced out the window and frowned at the police car. Remembering how a warm cup of coffee could make the difference in being able to stay awake, he pulled four more glasses from cupboard and filled them with coffee. Walking back to the living room he said, "Hey Morgan, I am going to run some coffee out to the uniforms outside, take a look around while I am out there."
Morgan closed the file folder he had been reading and regarded the younger man.
Smiling sheepishly Reid placed both their cups on the table and slipped his hands in his pockets. "I am hoping the fresh air may clear my mind enough that something that has been eluding me will finally be revealed."
"Nothing against fresh air kid, but I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be outside alone." Morgan said not taking his eyes off of Reid.
Nodding he countered, "and yet the last few hours of last night you were out there alone."
"That's different." Morgan said bluntly.
"Why because its you?" shaking his head Reid took a deep breath, "I don't mean to start a fight, I will be back in a minuet. I just need to clear my head. And besides there are four uniformed officers outside who will be watching my every move. I think I will be safe."
Morgan continued to regard his friend, but didn't oppose him, "just be careful all right?"
"Yes mother." Reid replied with a smile as he headed to the kitchen to get a trey to balance the cups for the officers.
Morgan rose and watched Reid from the window as his friend approached the police car. Turning away from the window he surveyed the mess they had made in the orderly living room. Pictures were strew on every flat surface, charts were piled up on the couch, each one a dead end. They had nothing to go by but the profile. The un-sub they were looking for thought he was guarding Val, which meant that everyone that was really trying to keep her safe was a potential target. Shaking his head he took a sip of coffee and set the cup back down.
Maybe he was being over protective of Reid, maybe not, but that's what he did. Morgan was a protector by nature, and Reid was usually in need of some degree of protection. Now he had Val to watch over too. A quick glance out the window again revealed that Reid was still talking with the cop car positioned in front of the house. They hadn't heard from Val since the text to Reid saying 'good night'. After that nothing, just the hum of the fan she kept on. He hadn't been lying when Morgan had told Hotch that himself and Val would never be life long friends. And Hotch hadn't been lying when he pointed out that their relationship would be strained because of Morgan's interrogation technique. He had watched how Val interacted with everyone around her, she was warm, and caring, the kind of person who would give someone the shirt off her own back. But with him she was distant, she kept him at an arms length as though she was wary of him. Not that he blamed her, but he couldn't help but be envious of everyone else's easy interactions with her.
Reid had been the one to insist that they be in the house tonight instead of in the car, he had wanted to be closer to her if needed. If the un-sub kept to his pattern if something happened it would be tonight. But that didn't make it easier for Morgan. After another glance out the window showed Reid making his way to the other cop car that was located on the side of the house Morgan opted to check on Val. They had been checking on her every hour since she had fallen asleep, just glancing in the room and making sure nothing had changed.
Morgan stopped out side her bedroom and turned on the flashlight, listening out side he could hear nothing but the hum of the fan. Slowly and as silently as he could he turned the knob on her door and shined the light in. Before his eyes recognized what he saw he heard Reid's frantic voice in his earpiece, "Morgan! Morgan the second set of cops are dead, someone slit their throats!" A brief pause followed by, "Morgan answers me!"
Slowly raising both hands above his head Morgan stared at the man in Val's room, she was kneeling on the bed facing Morgan, with a scalpel to her throat.
Another tear leaked out of Val's eyes as she stared at Morgan; silently she mouthed the words 'I'm so sorry'. The intruder wore non-descript jeans, a black T-shirt and a knowing smile. When he spoke it was with a cultured rich voice, "Welcome to the party Agent Morgan."
"Morgan!" Reid tapped his wrist receiver and frowned. Pulling out his cell phone he hit speed dial. He was running back towards Val's house with his gun drawn.
"Reid? Its Hotch what's wrong?"
"Hotch! The police team on the side of the house was killed, and now I cant get a hold of Morgan, he's in the house alone with Val. At least I hope its just the two of them, I am heading back now." Reid ducked a low tree branch and ran across the lawn to the other cop car.
"We will be there as soon as possible, keep trying to get a hold of Morgan, but do not go back in the house. If the un-sub is their best not to give him another hostage." Hotch's voice was harsh.
Nodding Reid hung up the phone and made it to the other police car. In quick broken sentences he caught the other two officers up on what was going on. They got on their radio to inform their captain of what had happened; their Captain's reply was that SWAT was on the way.
Reid shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, how had the un-sub gotten inside? They had been in the house the entire night, and not heard anything. And there had been people in the house all day, so someone would have noticed if there was someone there who wasn't supposed to be. No answerers, he couldn't think of what they were missing. All he knew was that Morgan and Val were inside, and so possibly was the un-sub.
"Morgan, its Reid, do something so that I know you're alive." Reid spoke into his receiver. He continued to try, and there continued to be no answer.
Morgan glared at the un-sub from where he was kneeling by the doorway, his hands behind his head. The un-sub now had his gun, and Reid was still talking in Morgan's ear. His hands so close together he began tapping his wrist receiver in a distinct pattern and just hoped that Reid would hear it and interpret it correctly.
"Odd of them to only send one of you, but then I guess the other one was far to busy offering coffee to those poor dead souls outside." The un-sub said as he stroked Val's hair with the hand not holding the scalpel to her throat. "Heroic in a way, but then your not interested in playing the hero are you? That's not why you became a FBI agent is it?" He lowered his mouth and kissed Val's exposed neck, she muffled her sob and cringed away from him. "Its all right darling, don't be shy." He tried to kiss her again, she pulled away again, annoyed by her action he smacked the back of her head with his fist hard enough to send her flying across the bed to the floor on the side Morgan was on.
Morgan didn't make a move to catch her when she landed beside him.
The un-sub regarded Morgan for a moment before laughing, it was a hollow sound, "I guess the FBI doesn't hire gentle men or hero's."
"If I were to move you would have shot me, you know that, I know that and Val knows that. I am a lot more use to her alive then dead." Morgan said through gritted teeth. He was close enough to touch Val if he just dropped his arms, but he didn't, her eyes were wide open and she was reaching for something under her bed.
Nodding at the truth to that statement the un-sub reached for Morgan's gun, he had tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. He handled the gun as though it were a foreign object, not with the familiarity that Morgan did. "Guns." He said with distaste, "Such a uncivilized weapon."
"And what you did to those people, that was civilized?" Morgan spat, he didn't look at Val, but could still see her out of the corner of his eyes, she had whatever she had been reaching for under the bed. Reid was no longer talking in his ear, but Morgan continued to hit his receiver in the same pattern.
The un-sub replaced the gun in his waistband and regarded Morgan. "What I did to those people was a form of art. Something that people spend years learning, and that I have perfected."
"It wasn't art, it was murder."
"Murder?" he appeared to consider that word for a moment, tapping the flat side of the scalpel to his chin, "Murder you say? I guess from your point of view that it was it appeared to be, but I think of it as means to an end."
Morgan didn't chance a glance at Val, he didn't want to draw the un-subs attention back to her. "And what end is that?"
"Love." He moved closer coming to the foot of the bed, now only steps away from Morgan and Val, without the bed between them. "You see, I have fallen in love with that wonderful young woman, and she loves me too. Its just that those other people wanted to hurt her, and what kind of a lover would I be if I allowed that?"
Reid was visibly relieved when he saw the familiar black SUVs of the bureau pull up at Val's house. He moved to great them and gratefully took the bulletproof vest that JJ handed him.
"Have you had any communications with Morgan yet?" Hotch demanded as he shut the driver's door.
Reid slipped the vest over his head as he answered, "In a way, he hasn't said anything directly, but he is hitting the receiver in a distinct pattern, I just don't know what it is yet."
Gideon put on his earpiece and listened for a moment before speaking, "He's sending Morse code." He listened for another few moments, "he says the un-sub is in there."
Hotch nodded and strapped on his own bulletproof vest, Prentice followed suite. Gideon continued to focus on the message that Morgan was trying to send them. He didn't know if the agent was under stress or what kind of situation they would be going into. Keeping his voice calm he said into his receiver "Morgan its Gideon, the team is here, we got your message that the un-sub is here. Do we need to know anything else? Do you know who he is?"
There was a delay in the answer, weather it was because Morgan had to remember Morse code symbols or because he couldn't answer Gideon couldn't tell. Then he heard, 'don't know who.'
"Guys!" Gideon called to get the rest of the teams attention, "Morgan can hear us on the communicators, and is answering back with Morse code. We need to gather more information before we go in their or more people will get hurt."
"We need to be fast about it," Prentice said with a wary glance up the street. "SWAT is almost here, once they get here we may not be able to hold them back."
Hotch nodded and regarded his team for a moment, "Gideon, you and Reid try to get as much information out of Morgan as you can. The rest of us, lets try to stall the police."
Reid frowned, "I should have known it was Morse code, but…I'm sorry I shouldn't have left Morgan alone."
Gideon studied the young man beside him, sometimes it was easy to remember that despite all of Reid's knowledge he was still young, still in his twenties, and maturity and knowledge did not always come hand in hand. Reid still had growing up to do. Placing a hand on his shoulder Gideon offered him a smile, "you did what you thought was best at the time, don't beet your self up about something you cant change. Don't forget the past, but don't stress over it, learn from it."
It took a few tries, but Reid was finally able to look Gideon in the eye and absorb the acceptance in the older mans features. "Lets find out what we can about this un-sub."
Val watched from where she lay on the floor next to Morgan. Her head hurt like hell, and her vision kept going double. Her left hand was still under the bed grasping the gun Dr. Stone had given her a few weeks ago. He had said he was nervous about her living alone until they were able to move in together and he could protect her. She had understood why, but was still weary around the weapon, now she clung to it. Gently with her free hand she touched the back of her head, she probed the rather impressive bump that was already forming and when she examined her hand it was dripping blood. She fought a quick nasty internal battle with her self not to be sick, she had once heard that nurses only got excited at the sight of blood when it was their own, she fully agreed with that statement.
"Who are you to say that she needs protection?" Morgan asked.
He took the few steps forward that had separated him from Morgan, so that the un-sub was now towering over the FBI agent. "Who am I? I am the love of her life! I am her knight in shinning armor! I am everything she has ever wanted, and you, you're disposable." In one slashing gesture the un-sub brought the scalpel at Morgan at a slashing angle. The agent spun at the last moment and took the slice across his left shoulder and bicep instead of across the throat.
Val stared for a moment as her brain swam around her skull before her instincts kicked in. In a flash she went from dazed to focused. She left the gun under the bed and pushed the un-sub away from where Morgan had fallen to assess his wounds.
"Leave him, you don't need him." The un-sub pulled at her arm, Val pulled away from him and ripped Morgan's shirt wide open to expose the wound. After a moment she was on her feet and moving towards the bathroom. The un-sub grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise. Val looked pointedly at his hand then in his eyes. "Let him die, he is nothing to you."
She glared at him, "Let me do my job and save his life. I will not let him die in my room when I can help him." With a strong yank she was free and in the bath room. Under the sink she kept a well-stocked first aid kit. In seconds she was back to Morgan's side, assisting him to a laying position. She had gauze on his chest and arm and was applying pressure. With her knee she pushed his arm until it was stretched out and his left hand was under the bed.
"Leave him Val, you don't need him, he is nothing to you." The un-sub said, he was now pacing on the other side of the bed, scalpel still in hand, and visibly agitated. "What are you doing, why are you doing that? Leave him alone!"
Ignoring him Val focused on Morgan. She stared at his face until she caught his eye, then she pointedly looked in the direction of the bed. Morgan shook his head slightly; she nudged his arm again with her knee then focused on the wound. It was shallower then she had originally thought, but through muscles and bleeding freely. Thankfully he had missed the subclavian artery and the common carotid artery. Grabbing an ace bandage from her kit she used it to hold the gauze in place on his bicep and keep pressure, now she only had to focus on his chest wound.
The un-sub grabbed her left arm and flung her on the bed. "I said to leave him!" he pinned her to the bed, her arms locked above her head with one hand the other hand held the scalpel to her throat. "He is nothing to you, and I am everything! I am the one you will love for the rest of your life! Not him! Not Dr. Stone! Not even those people at your work who didn't appreciate you! I am everything for you!"
"You're hurting me." Val whimpered as she tried to push him off.
Morgan's hand finally closed on what Val had hoped he would find. He didn't know the make or the model, all he could do was hope it was loaded.
Hotch approached Gideon and Reid hoping to hear good news, but knew better when he saw their grim faces. "Anything new?"
Gideon shook his head, "He was able to tell us that Val and him are both in the room with the un-sub, but we haven't heard anything from him in a few minuets."
"Well we are about to run out of time, SWAT is getting ready to move in." Hotch said with a headshake.
Prentice frowned, "If they are in the room with the un-sub and SWAT comes in, they could get caught in the cross fire. We can't take that chance."
"We may not have a choice." Hotch said angrily. "They will see that sudden lack of communications as our agent is disarmed and defenseless. If we cant give them a reason why to hold off, they will go in."
JJ crossed her arms and shook her head; "the reason is that if they go in they would put a FBI agent in danger. That's one hell of a reason."
"To us it is, to them it is an acceptable chance if it means closing this case." Gideon said with a shrug.
"Lets see if we can buy ourselves just a few more minuets, maybe we can regain communications with Morgan." Reid said.
Val's mind was racing, she couldn't move her arms more then a wiggle, and the rest of her body was successfully pinned. Her thoughts went back to her psych rotation in school, when to play, when to reorient. Now was not the time to try to get this man focused on what was going on. Now would be a good time to delay him until….what? Morgan was still bleeding, she didn't know where Reid was or if he was safe or dead, and her head was throbbing so hard she was sure everyone in the room could hear it. Fighting back tears she forced herself for the first time to look at the man on top of her.
Recognition was slow, but her mind finally remembered the face above her, Mr. Lawrence, her neighbor. She just stared at him blankly for a moment.
"Sometimes love hurts my dear, but you should know that this is just a temporary thing, before long our souls will be together in eternity." Mr. Lawrence said as he leaned closer to her. His lips brushed the bridge of her nose, then her forehead.
Choosing her words carefully Val finally said, "Eternity can wait. But the pain hurts now, please end my pain. Please let me go, please let me help him. If he dies here he will be with us in eternity, and we will never truly be alone."
Morgan shifted his weight and got a better hold of the gun, he was still bleeding from the wound on his chest, the gauze was saturated all the way through with blood. He shifted again and when he didn't draw attention from the un-sub he moved again, the hand holding the gun was now barley concealed by the bed.
"Please let me help him. Please don't let him die here, Mr. Lawrence." Val begged.
Mr. Lawrence paused, then kissed her on the lips. Val closed her eyes and forced herself to remain still. She couldn't pull back, couldn't refuse him, if she was going to play along it had to be all the way. When she didn't fight, he let go of her arms, but didn't get off her. "Save him, then our eternity can begin." He didn't move for a moment, just stared at her, "but try anything, and both of you will die. Do you understand my love?" he watched her until she nodded, then kissed her lips again before finally letting her up.
Val remained where she was for a moment until he was across the room before she moved to the edge of the bed on the side Morgan was on. Morgan was still on his back, but he now had a good grip on the gun. She moved fast, applying more gauze to the soaked ones, she didn't want to risk removing them incase there was any clotting going on underneath the saturated gauze, if she were to remove it the bleeding would begin again.
A world of thoughts passed through Val's mind as she looked Morgan in the eye, there was so much she needed to tell him, and yet she didn't dare so much as whisper. Her head hurt so badly, she wanted to go to sleep, why couldn't she go to sleep?
Morgan noticed the subtle change in Val, something was wrong with her; her movements were slowing and becoming choppy. He had to end this fast. "Eternity is a long time, are you sure you want to spend it with her? I mean how well do you really know her? She can be a pain in the ass at times. Her cooking is ok, but she could stand to lose a few pounds."
The un-sub turned to face them, all he could see of Morgan was the lower half of his body, the top half was obscured from view by the bed. "You dare to insult the woman who is trying to save your life? Your as bad as those people that worked at the hospital!"
Faking a harsh laugh Morgan continued, "I am telling you the truth, hell I probably know more about Val then you do, I have sure as hell spent a lot more time with her recently then you have."
Val stared at Morgan, not able to hide the hurt in her eyes at his words. She was so very sleepy, and everything was moving so fast. Her head ached, and she wanted to lye down. Why was everyone around her so angry?
"That woman is the love of my life! You don't deserve to know her!" The un-sub moved to the other side of the bed with two long strides and was now standing over Morgan. Val didn't look up; she just kept her hands pressed to Morgan's chest, her back to the un-sub. She was now seeing small spots of color, but when she tried to look more closely at one, it would disappear.
In one smooth movement Morgan pulled Val to his right side and raised his left arm with the gun pointed at the un-sub. "Drop the scalpel." He said in a demanding tone. He continued to pull Val so that she was behind him as he sat up. He ignored her attempts to keep pressure to the wound on his chest, and kept his eyes locked on the man before him.
"You think I am afraid of death? You think I am afraid of you? Give me Val and we will leave. And you can continue your miserable little life." The un-sub kept a firm grip on the scalpel, and reached for Val with the other hand. "Please give her to me, she is nothing to you, and the world to me."
Morgan kept his eyes and gun focused on the un-sub. He wasn't left handed, and his left arm hurt from the cut going across the bicep, but his hand was steady. "She's a friend, and right now she needs my protection."
The un-sub was outraged, "Your protection! You are not worthy of protecting her!" He lunged scalpel raised.
Morgan fired once, then again, and the un-sub stumbled backwards, his hand clutching the wound in his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground.
With a heavy sigh, Morgan leaned backwards, Val was behind him, she cushioned his back with her self and reached around him to put pressure on the cut on his chest that was bleeding again.
They could hear noise in the house, but neither of them made a move to get up or even move as the FBI agents and SWAT team made their way to Val's bedroom.
Morgan tilted his head back to look at Val, "Who was he?"
She was silent for a moment and when she did speak her voice sounded strained and distant, "Mr. Lawrence, he's my neighbor."
The bedroom door was kicked open and people flooded into the room. Everything went by in a daze for Val, some men came and took Morgan from her, then other paramedics were helping her from the room and into an ambulance. Everyone kept telling her not to go to sleep, but that was the one thing that she wanted so badly. The circle of faces above and around her swam like paint in water. The voices that rose and fell around her became the white noise that lulled her to sleep.
Reid sat on the bench seat in the ambulance staring at Morgan. "I shouldn't have left you." The remorse he felt was clogging his throat so it sounded barley above a whisper.
Shaking his head Morgan answered, "if you hadn't gone out to give them coffee, we may have never known that he was in the house, he could have taken her and we would have been in the next room. "In a way, you wanting to give coffee to those cops, saved Val's life."
With a grim smile Reid commented back, "And in a very real way she saved yours. The paramedics said that if she hadn't kept pressure on your wounds, you would have bled out."
Morgan leaned back on the gurney and closed his eyes, "Any word on how she is?"
"They rushed her to the hospital, said she lost a lot of blood from the cut on the back of her head, and they were fairly sure she had a concussion, we will be updated as soon as anything changes." Reid patted the blanket by Morgan's hand without quite touching him. "You saved her life."
"No." Morgan said keeping his eyes closed, "we saved each other."
****************************************************************
JJ smiled at Reid and Morgan in passing as she regrouped with Hotch, Gideon and Prentiss a few yards away.
"Any idea how he got in the house?" Gideon asked as way of greeting.
"The SWAT team found an open window in Val's office, that's most likely how he found the note he left for us at the last crime scene. All he had to do was hop the fence and he was in her yard, the office window opens up to Val's garden." JJ answered with a shrug of the shoulders.
Hotch crossed his arms and sighed, "So he waited until the outside unit that had a view of Val's backyard was half asleep, killed them, went back to his house, hoped the fence, and was in the house while Morgan and Reid were in the front room."
"How did he know how to cut up the bodies the way he did?" JJ asked with a slight frown. Even after so few hours of sleep, and the early hour, she still managed to look beautiful.
Hotch answered, "It was in one of the files that Garcia sent over to us last night, he used to work as a corner, that's how he knew the anatomy so well, but he left that job and changed his last name a few times, so we didn't make the connection."
"Would they have even known he was in the house if Morgan hadn't checked on her when he did?" Prentiss asked no on in particular.
Gideon and Hotch exchanged a meaningful look before Gideon answered. "If Morgan had checked on her five minutes later, we would be looking for her corpse right now, not seeing her off to the hospital for a head injury."
The silence that followed that announcement was broke by the sound if ambulance sirens piercing the predawn light. As one the group followed the progression of the ambulance carrying Morgan, Reid had opted to go with him for support.
Prentiss was the one to break the silence, "Did we ever find out what Dr. Stone gave Val as a gift?"
JJ smiled at her friend and crossed her arms, "The gun. He wanted her to have a way to protect herself."
"Which is exactly what it did in the end." Hotch commented.
"That and an FBI agent who has one hell of a good shot with his left hand." Prentiss said with a smile.
The team stayed in the area for a few more days to help with the paper work, and until Morgan was given the go-ahead to fly with his stitches. In that time Val was deemed stable enough to be released from the hospital. But she didn't go home, instead she stayed at a friend's house while the police cleaned out her house of all her personal belongings, and she put the place on the market. She didn't want to go back there, even to say good-bye.
Morgan and Reid stopped at the place she was staying on their way to the airport. It was awkward at first, for her to talk to the men who had protected her, but once she was able to relax she learned something. Morgan had spoken the truth, somewhere in the chaos of that night; Morgan and Val had become friends. She was able to relax and laugh, and knew that the bond between them would last, and the understanding that she shared with Reid warmed her. Her life had been turned inside out, but at least she knew she wasn't alone.
They boarded the plane and said good-bye to the sunshine of California. The weather in DC was definitely not as mild as it was right then on the west coast. Reid sat comfortably at the small table and pulled out his chessboard. Looking up he summed up his potential competition. Gideon was reading a book, JJ and Prentice were chatting in the galley, Morgan was fixing a cup of coffee and Hotch was flipping through a case file.
"Anyone up for a game to pass the time?" Reid asked hopefully to the plane full of agents.
No one said anything for several moments then Hotch sat down opposite of Reid and began placing the black pieces on their appointed squares.
Reid frowned, "I didn't realized that you played chess, I never saw you play before."
With a grim look Hotch placed the last pawn and looked up, "there is a reason why Gideon wont let me play with him anymore."
Casting a quick glance at the now smiling Gideon, Reid looked back to Hotch and paled a little, "There is?"
Nodding slowly Hotch's smile grew, he didn't say anything, he didn't need to. Intimidation was Hotch's best piece to play and he knew how to play it to well.
