Summary: The team gets called to Boston when a series of murdered men found by train tacks follow the trail of a famous circus. What seems like a few murders turns into something they weren't expecting. Everyone is a suspect, even the leading trapeze artist with pretty blue eyes. It gets dangerous, and when secrets start to get out, everyone is in danger, especially the girl with pretty blue eyes.

A/N: If enough interest is shown, I will continue the story.

Nobody likes to be woken up at 2am, but if you work at the BAU, it becomes normal. That doesn't change the fact that when Spencer Reid got the call at said time, he groaned audibly while his boss was still on the line, then hung up.

Good thing he didn't give a girlfriend or anything, or else this job would seriously get in the way. Good thing he got to walk through his apartment alone, to leave for who knows long, to return back to the apartment the way he left it; empty.

Usually he didn't think about it, but when he did, it stung all the same. He couldn't help that the loneliness was eating at him, but at least it was only when he thought about it. Which he tried not too.

When he arrived to the BAU, he came in at the same time as Emily. As soon as they got to the presentation room, she said, "This can't be good." They sat at the last two spots.

"It's not." Hotch said ominously. "Two days ago, a John Doe was found beaten to death." he pushed a button on the clicker, a picture showing on the screen."

"A midget?" Derek asked, while everyone studied the picture of the man covered mostly in tattoos.

"The politically correct term is little person." Spencer quipped.

"Men from across the country are being found with no identification, not in any system, and no one is looking for them, beaten to death have been showing up." Hotch went on.

Derek looked skeptical. "Yeah, I'm sure there are hundreds, or thousands of cases like that. How would you know if they are related to this guy?"

"It has taken years to notice something was going on, and even more to connect them. Men with tattoos, or copious traces of stage make up, some still in a full on clown make up, all found within a mile of train tracks." Hotch said. Spencer immediately picked up on where he was going, but it was Rossi to point it out.

"The circus?"

"Exactly. It seems like a long shot, but FBI Agent Malcolm Fitzgerald is confident, requesting our help. He seems certain there is something going on. There are hundreds of people in the circus that could have done this, and they want us to profile these victims and the circus hands."

"Sounds tedious." Derek muttered.

"Is there a sexual component?" Spencer asked, staring at the picture on the screen.

"Agent Fitzgerald says there is urine found on them, he believes that has sexual drive."

"Gross." Spencer turned to find Garcia sitting in the corner, off away from the table.

The comment went unnoticed. "Is it safe to assume they connected the death dates to what circus was in town?" Spencer asked.

"Yup, so far they are consistent, which is why the agent is even more positive. Bernards Extravagant Traveling Circus."

Spencer recognized the name. "Third most popular circus, following Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, and Cirque du soleil."

"So, we are going to be spending the next few weeks with circus freaks?" Derek asked, grinning. "Sounds fun."

Penelope begged and pleaded to go, saying something about Boston's amazing computer system and how she needs to be there if they are meeting 'circus folk'. Hotch agreed immediately, not caring either way.

Twenty men so far fit the description, and Spencer had to admit, it was too much of a coincidence. Something had to be going on. It was the perfect murder too, because cops rarely paid any attention to the nomadic lifestyle, and they tended to live in their own society, live by their own rules. Most of the time, people who joined the circus dropped off the map, and stayed off. Other then tax records, it would be impossible to see what they were up to. Also most of the time, they joined for the reason of staying off the map, dissapearing.

They landed in Boston, where Bernards Extravagant Traveling Circus had arrived only hours before, at dawn. Spencer, Rossi, and Derek were sent to go there right away. They would be under a cover though, searching for a 'missing' girl, who of course didn't exist. They would keep the cover until they got more evidence that suggested foul play going on.

They went to a field where it would be set up, and there were hundreds of people running around, setting up. They looked to be working hard, fast, and meticulous. It seemed like a big hive of workers meshing together like a well oiled machine.

Rossi seemed to be searching for someone who didn't look too busy, and the only warning Spencer got that he found it, her, was when Rossi's face seemed to peak interest. "Excuse me, Miss?"

A small, delicate looking girl who was about to walk past them stopped, looking at Rossi with these round, dark blue eyes framed in long, dark eyelashes. Her raven hair cascaded past her shoulders in loose waves. She had these soft, yet painfully noticeable feminine curves Spencer would have to be blind to not see. "Yes?"

Rossi flashed his badge. "I'm Supervisory Special Agent Rossi, these are my colleagues Supervisory Special Agent Morgan and Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Reid, we are with the FBI." her blue eyes flickered to Spencer and Derek, and Spencer was automatically intrigued by them; it was such a rare dark blue color, especially with her dark hair and light skin. But they were something else, that's for sure.

Spencer watched to see her facial expression to see any admission, but she only looked slightly confused. "That's a mouthful." she voiced softly.

"Try introducing yourself like that all the time." the two laughed. "We are looking for someone, do you have a moment?"

She nodded, turning her whole body toward him. "Yes, of course."

"We are looking for 14 year old Cali Hall." Rossi said, pulling out the photo of the fictisous computer generated girl, which had been used in many similar situations. "She ran away, leaving a not behind talking about running away with the circus."

The girl examined the photo, and amused smile playing on her full lips. "No, I haven't seen her, and I haven't heard of anyone wandering around looking for a job yet, but its still early." she laughed. "It's impossible to run away with the circus nowadays. That doesn't stop teenagers from trying." she shrugged. "When ever we find someone looking for work we send them to Ron, he runs this place, and he will call the police if they are underaged."

"Do you think your boss would mind if we hang around, examining the area? Or would we need to talk to him?"

She shook her head. "No, by all means. This happens more then you think; having cops or detectives here on the day of arriving to a town is part of the norm of routine around here-" suddenly there was a loud crashing noise. It was an incredibly long pole, whish Spencer assumed was the center that held up the tent. "Shoot, I have to go." she said, looking over her shoulder, her eyebrows pulling together.

"Thank you very much." Rossi said.

She twirled around on her feet, yelling, "Damn it Jerry, you're going to kill somebody! I told you to be careful!" Spencer watched her retreat, amused.

"Well," Derek began, in a very Derek tone of voice that was somewhere between amused and teasing. "She doesn't look like a circus freak." he glanced to the younger boy next to him, "Spencer, are you watching her walk away?"

Spencer tore his eyes away, looking at Derek. "What- no. I was just blanking out, she just happened to be there." he said quickly and awkwardly. He didn't like what Derek was implying; his mother would kill him if she ever knew he objectified a women he didn't even know like that. It was only a brief second, damn it...

Derek raised an eyebrow at Spencer, grinning. "You were checking her out, my man-"

"Was no!" Spencer interjected.

"-Can't blame you though." and then he winked.

"Boys." Rossi said. "We have a job to do, lets forget about Spencer's girlfriend and move on." Great, now Rossi was in on it. She obviously wasn't his girlfriend, because he had only just met her, he didn't know anything about her, he didn't even know her name, she only knew him as 'Dr. Reid', they hadn't even spoken. If they were dating, they would have had a history together, but no, he only met her five minutes ago. Derek and Rossi apparently didn't understand the term 'girlfriend', but seeing as how Rossi has been divorced so many times he could get a marriage gold card and Derek can't hold a girlfriend, maybe that's not surprising.

Spencer shook his head, that was too far. He was just being grumpy.

They looked around the field sight, occasionally asking someone about the 'missing' girl. Spencer watched the nameless girl out of the corner of his eye. She hopped around energetically, helping out everywhere. She walked with so much grace and poise, Spencer had to assume she was some sort of performer. He would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued, mesmerized even by her, and those damn blue eyes. She wore painfully(painful for Spencer, that is) tight designer jeans and a form fitting glittery, silver tank top.

And he was well aware he couldn't keep his eyes off her which was ridiculous; she was just another girl in another town on another case. But he had this feeling when he saw her that was so frustrating because he couldn't explain it. It was like this weird, instinctual feeling, like she meant something. But she didn't mean anything.

Not yet, anyway.

By noon they were back to the police station, and there wasn't much going on. They walked into a room with windows and a large glass table for them, two bulletin boards sitting in the corner. Everyone, including Penelope, were seated there. "What did you find?" Hotch asked when they walked in.

"Nothing suspicious." Rossi answered, following suit as the other two boys went to sit down.

"We did find the future Mrs. Reid though." Derek grinned.

Spencer felt his face go hot. "We did not!" first it was his girlfriend, now its his fiance.

"Come on, man. You couldn't keep your eyes off of her!" Derek said.

"Dr. Spencer Reid has a thing for a circus girl?" Emily asked, without looking up from the file she was reading.

He wish he could say the same for Penelope, but her eyes were glued to him and she looked way too happy. "Sounds like my kind of girl; A circus freak." Why did Spencer always get ganged up on. "What did she look like?"

Derek let out a low whistle. "Way out of his league."

"Hey!"

"Guys, we need to focus." Hotch said, to which Spencer was grateful. "Garcia, I need you to go back ten years, follow the BETC where they have been in those years, and men found during the time without identification. John Does."

"Right, sir." she said, standing up and running out of the room.

"The rest of us need to go though the case files we have so far."

That turned out to be tedious, going through each one individually and discussing it. So far there were eighteen men, so far. "These men don't make it easier by living off the map; they aren't in the system," Derek was saying. "I mean, can people really just up and leave home for nomadic lifestyle?"

"Alright, lets just think; what kind of people live in the circus?" Hotch said, leaning back in his chair.

"People who are able to pick up, leaving everything behind." Emily said.

"Unattached." Derek added.

"In a circus, its extremely tight nit, a giant family." Spencer said, staring at a file. "They almost live by their own rules and society. They bond over the fact that they are all outcasts."

"So who would want to kill them." Hotch asked. "What reason would they have to kill someone in their 'family'?"

Spencer shut the file. "To hide something."

It got to be late, and they had to take off for the night. Spencer had been planning to just go to the hotel for the night, but JJ, Penelope, Emily, and Derek had plans to go see the performance. Mainly, it was Penelope who wanted to go. "Its the circus, come on. We have to go, I have never seen them and I have heard they are super amazing." They were forcing Spencer to go, but he only put up a halfhearted fight. The girls got all dressed up, ready to go out on the night.

When they got to the sight, it looked completely different. It was all set up now, and Spencer was amazed how fast and efficient they put it up. There were lights hanging everywhere, from trees to poles, there was a colorful ferris wheel, and old fashioned carousel, booths filled with promises of games and prizes, and vendors filled with fatty greasy food. It was all colorful and breathtaking.

But all of the rides, vendors, and booths were closed because soon the circus would be starting.

They all sat together in the large tent, and Spencer found himself searching for blue eyes.

Lights dimmed, then colorful lights pranced around while a mans voice announced the Bernards Extravagant Traveling Circus. The nights went on and a man stepped out, decked out in true ringleading gear. The gloves, red tailcoat with gold straps, the whole thing. "Good evening, ladies," he bowed. "-and gentleman!" he waved his hands. "Was anyone here for our noon show?" there were some screams. "Welcome back!" Spencer could tell why he was Ringmaster, he had such a good voice for it. Calm, yet charming. "Now that the beautiful kiddies are gone, I would like to remind you if you so please, our beautiful ladies in the tent next to this one will be putting on their show soon." there were some cat calls, and Spencer bit back disappointment when he realized the blue eyes might very well be in the peep tent.

"But now, for our extravagant show!" music began to play and hundred of people and animals poured in from behind tent flaps. Spencer, releaved, found her right away. Three elephants lead them way, each with a women on top of them and he found her on the first elephant. Behind the elephants, clowns, acrobats, men on unicycles and women dancing poured into the ring. Men and women were juggling, spitting fire, doing flips.

But all Spencer saw was blue eyes.

She wore a sparkily ruby red corset type, hugging her bodoss, and a tutu like skirt the frilled out, revealing long, milky white legs. A thin, red see through veil like material hardly covered her shoulders. Some gold and red jewels covered her chest area, and some red fake jewels had been glued to her shoulder, and down her arm. She had red eye shadow, thicker looking eyelashes and her hair cascaded down her shoulder. "That's her!" Derek was saying. Spencer tried to hide his face.

"Woah, she's really pretty!" Penelope said. "Now I see what gets boy wonders attention."

Spencer groaned.

Spencer watched as the people, except the Ringmaster, the elephants and the girls left after the first number. The blue eyed girl was the first to jump off the elephant, and onto the pole in the middle. The same pole that had fallen earlier that morning, that now held the tent up. She slid down and the others followed suit. The crowd applauded. Blue Eyes, what else could he call her, bowed gracefully. They went into a performance with the elephants, doing tricks, and funny things that made the crowd left.

He didn't see her until much later, during the aerial act where he found out her, those other two girls, and three men were trapeze artists. He watched amazed as she did gravity defying stunts, swinging, flipping, twirling. It must have taken a lot of trust to do that, because if someone lost their grip... well, there was no net. "They are known for their trapeze act." Penelope hissed to him. "Isn't it amazing?" Yes it was.

It drew to an end, the Ringmaster telling them the carnival would be open for, "-one more hour". As they piled out, Penelope led the group to get some greasy food, which Spencer declined when offered some.

Derek was finishing a corn dog while staring at something over his shoulder. "Hey, its her!" Spencer turned and sure enough, Blue Eyes, still in her costume, was walking by, alone. "Kid, you'll thank me for this?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for-" and then Derek shoved him a good six feet, causing him to stumble into the girl, almost knocking her over. He caught himself, grabbing her waist to prevent her from falling. She held onto his arms, looking at him in shock. "Oh, I am so sorry-"

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going-"

"-I tripped-"

"-I didn't see you."

"It's my fault." the two stopped and stared at eachother. She had to crane her neck to see him, the tip of her head not quiet reaching his shoulder. "Sorry."

She smiled. "Its fine." quickly, he pulled away from her. "You're the FBI agent from this morning." she noted. "Did you find the girl?"

He was about to ask what girl, but then he remembered the cover. "Oh, no. My team has been assigned to watch over this area," he lied. "so you will see a lot of me." Oh, did he just say that? Crap.

But she was still smiling. "I'm Molly."

He swallowed. "I'm Spencer. You were-were really great." he stuttered out, wanting to kick himself. You also look great, aren't you cold? Due to the lack of clothes you're wearing? he didn't say that out loud.

"Oh, thanks." she said, her cheeks flushing. An awkward silence started to strangle the situation. "The other man said you were a doctor?"

He shrugged. "I have doctorates Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering, I'm not an actual doctor doctor."

She raised an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

He cleared his throat, tugging at his tie. "I'm twenty-six, as of last week."

"Huh. You're young, but I bet you get that a lot so forget I said that." she laughed shyly. "Where did you go to school?"

"Cal Tech."

"Oh, so you're a genius." for some reason, she seemed to falter.

Spencer laughed. "Something like that."

She began to fiddle with one of the fake jewels that were low on her stomach. "Well, I should go. I'm kind of tired."

Spencer nodded. "Yes, of course. It was nice talking to you."

"It was my pleasure." she said sweetly. "I'll be seeing you around, Doctor." she waved her fingers and waltzed off. Spencer could only watch after her, an unfamiliar feeling in his stomach.

Suddenly a hand clasped on his shoulder. "You're welcome."

"Shut up." Spencer mumbled.