A/N: Here I am with the next chapter! Yay! Not too many team moments; a lot of italics and H/R in this one though, but uh oh, who am I to spoil my own story!? I was kinda sad, though. I had 19 followers, but then someone unfollowed my story... (It's funny for you but horrible for me!) Was the last chapter so bad? But then someone followed and clicked the favorite button so, yeah, I'm super happy now!

Guys, I want to thank you all for great reviews! They are really important to me and give me motivation to write! Love you all!

Disclaimer: No. I. Do. Not. :(

'She's dead, Spence!' someone yelled. Spencer didn't answer. He just sat where he was sitting, on the ground, looking at his mother's body.

'She's dead because of you! You and your trust! You should've stayed in that laboratory. She wouldn't have been dead if you hadn't run away. It's ALL your fault!' the voice snorted.

'I miss her too...' Spencer finally answered, looking steadily at the direction from which the voice was coming from.

'What are you talking about!? You're the only one, who should miss her. No 'too' in your speech. No 'us' in your speech. You know our deal, right? You remember it, don't you?' the voice laughed.

'Well, it's funny, I have an eidetic memory, you know? I can't really forget anything." Spencer answered. 'But I kind of hoped you would forget...'

'I'm sorry to disappoint you. I would never forget such a deal! Now! Give me it! Give me!' the voice yelled, clearly excited about receiving a thing Spencer apparently promised.

'Please, just take it slowly... Alright?'

'I wouldn't try to risk you dying but taking it slowly wouldn't be so much fun! So, this time you'll have to forgive me. You know me - I love it when you're in pain, so I'm going to eat directly from our little deal. Now, I believe you have to wake up. They're going to worry about you. Enjoy our contract!'

"Hi guys..." Spencer yawned as he entered the office fifteen minutes later.

"Hi Reid, didn't have much sleep last night?" JJ asked, smiling playfully.

"Yeah, well, I got distracted by a case..." he answered, trying his best to be convincing. Well, he wasn't.

"Spence, you know, if you want to talk, we're always here... We know, how much you loved her..." the blonde woman said, coming closer to her friend.

"JJ, I appreciate what you're willing to do for me, but... I don't really want to talk about it..? Please?" he pleaded silently, already feeling the effects of 'the deal'.

"Of course, Spence. I just need you to remember what I said." she answered, putting her hand on his shoulder. As soon as her palm touched the fabric of Reid's vest, he yelped and jumped away, completely scaring poor blonde and a few other people in the office.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I have to go." he stuttered and entered Kingston's office. Fortunately, it was safe, no one was there. He looked at his hands and tried to ignore the blood covering them. It's not real. he thought. It's part of the deal. he added, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down. It didn't succeed, however. He started hyperventilating, he looked down and saw more blood dripping from him. He felt dizzy, but when he tried to sit down, he felt the touch on his arm and screamed. It was only the chair, but to him it was his father. His school bullies. Setton. "Fuck... Go away... Go... Go away..." he muttered, holding his head, trying hard to keep conscious. He couldn't fight such amount of memories at once. And the voice in his head knew that too well. But then again, it was all about his suffering.

He stumbled to the floor, the touch of it on his knees startling him even more. He held himself as close to him as possible, trying again to calm down and failing at it horribly as well.

The memories started flooding him. Badly.

'I love you Spencer...' his father murmured in his ear, getting closer and closer to the little boy lying on the bed who pretending to be asleep. 'I love you so, so much...' he gasped, getting rid of his trousers and sliding the hand under the boy's pajamas.

"Stop it..."

'You're the best, Spencer... You're so beautiful...' William said as he caressed his son's belly and head at once. 'You're so smart... You're so intelligent... You're so kind... You're so gentle...' he took his pants completely off and with one, simple move, moaned loudly, feeling young boy shivering and crying in pain. 'And you're so damn tight too!' he laughed softly.

"No, please, stop it... Please..."

'Hey, Reid! Come over here! We gotta talk about somethin' with ya!' James yelled after the little boy.

"Oh God, stop it..."

'Ya' know, your daddy told us somethin' hot 'bout ya'!' they all laughed loudly at that.

'Spencer'

'Spencer'

"Spencer..."

"SPENCER!"

"Stop it... Please, just make it stop..."

"Spencer, open your eyes! Spencer, wherever you think you are, you are not there! You're here, with us!"

Hand on his shoulder.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T! PLEASE, DO-HO-HO-N'T!"

"Spencer, it's me, it's Hotch... I'm not going to hurt you... Spencer, you're not there. You're here. With us. You're safe... Please, Spencer, open your eyes, you'll see!" Hotch begged, afraid of touching his subordinate again. It wasn't necessary, however. Spencer reluctantly opened his red eyes and looked up. The relief washed over Hotch's face when he saw that the young boy was now pretty much aware of his surroundings.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I-I don't know... I don't know what was that, I'm so sorry, it won't happen again, I promise..." he stuttered, looking at his hands again.

"Reid, Reid!" Hotch interrupted. "It's alright. It's not about the work now. It's about you. Are you OK?" he asked, concern in his voice and all over his face, especially in his eyes.

"I-I'm fine, I promise, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I'm fine. Really." he answered quickly, maybe too quickly. And definitely too nervously.

"Reid... Spencer." Hotch spoke up softly. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You are really important to us, you're not guilty, not even a bit. So we're not going to get mad at you, OK? Come on, lets get you to the bathroom so you can wash your head and, I promise, you'll feel far better, OK? Do you want to do this?" a nod. "OK, do you want me to help you?" a nod. "Alright, let's go then." Hotch smiled and waited for the young man to get up from the floor. He looked at the rest of the two teams gathered in Kingston's office and nodded them to leave them alone. They left without a word and Hotch slowly guided Reid to the bathroom.

He didn't say a word, watching in silence as the boy washed his face but he did react, when Reid started shaking again.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" he asked, getting closer but not touching the genius.

"There's so-so much bl-blood here Ho-Hotch..." he stuttered, getting pale again.

"Spencer, there's no blood. It's only water... Come on, look at me." he demanded softly. He smiled, when Reid did as told. "Great, you're doing great. Look in my eyes. Look through my eyes. I know you can do this. Right, just like that. Can you see any blood? There's no blood anywhere, Spencer." he said convincingly and looked at his subordinate again. "If you ever see the blood again, anywhere, you can look through my eyes. Then, you will know there's no blood. And there will never be even a drop of it. Okay?" he took a hold of the young boy's shoulder and smiled, when he didn't pull back.

He was shocked, however, when the genius came closer and buried his face in the older man's chest, sobbing softly. Hotch looked stunned for a moment but then smiled softly and wrapped his arms around his subordinate, rubbing soothing circles on his back and patting his head delicately all along whispering 'It's alright' 'It'll be fine' 'You're strong enough to fight it' over and over again.

When, after almost twenty minutes, Spencer seemed to grow weak, Hotch sat on the floor and hugged the boy closer to himself protectively. He waited until the boy fell asleep, all the while rubbing his back and playing with his curls. When he was positive that the boy had fallen asleep deep enough, he took him in his arms and walked out of the bathroom.

"Where can I lay him down?" he asked Kingston quietly so as not to wake the boy up. John nodded for Aaron to follow him and they entered his office again. There, Hotch could lay his subordinate down, and pull the blankets around his soft frame. He sat on the nearest chair and sighed softly.

"Poor kid..." he whispered to Kingston.

"Did he tell you why he panicked before?"

"No, yes, kind of, I guess..." there was a space, silence filling the room. "When he was washing his face, he saw blood everywhere. I managed to calm him down, but I don't think the blood was the only thing he saw earlier. Something bad is going on inside of his head and I just can't guess what it can be..." the anger in his voice was clear.

"You care about him, don't you?" Kingston asked softly.

"Of course I do, he's a part of my team."

"I didn't mean it like that. You care about him." the silence once again filled the room, interrupted only by Spencer's steady breaths. Hotch looked at him, all negative emotions leaving him as he caressed Reid's hair.

"I do." he finally whispered. "That's why I am so angry with Morgan. He had Reid, he had him. Spencer was willing to do everything for him, he loved Derek. And he treated him... He treated him like some sort of a trash before he knew Spencer was a mutant. Look at him... He's so innocent, so kind, so... perfect... How can anyone treat him like that? How could he? How?" he asked, his voice trembling with emotions again.

"Yeah... He's too innocent to have to go through this hell. And, what's worse, he thinks he's alone on his journey... Please, prove him wrong..." was the only words Kingston could say out loud before a soft whimper caught their attention. They looked at their youngest and saw him curling into a tight ball, tears streaming down his face. He was clearly having a nightmare.

"No..." he sobbed. "Stop..."

"Spencer..." Hotch whispered, shaking Reid's arm slightly. "Spencer, wake up, it's just a bad dream..." he added. Aaron smiled softly, when he saw Reid's eyes flutter. "That's right, open your eyes. See, you're here, with us. We won't let anyone hurt you, OK?" a nod. "Great, come here." he smiled, hugging the genius close. He laid on Kingston's couch and took a better hold of Spencer. "This way, I will shield you from all the bad dreams, okay?" a nod. "Great, take it easy, deep breaths, you're safe. You're doing great, that's right..." he soothed again, until he was positive the young boy fell asleep again.

"I'll leave you two." Kingston announced. "We'll work the case and whenever you're ready to join us, we're waiting." he added, smiling and closing the door behind him. As soon as they were alone, Hotch kissed Spencer's forehead and hugged the young man closer, protecting him from all the bad things in the world. When he felt the young boy relax even more in his arms, he couldn't help but smile softly and kiss his hair lovingly. Spencer Reid certainly deserved as much love as possible and probably even more for how great of a person he was despite every bad thing that happened to him.

"You're the most perfect being in the world, Spencer, I'm proud of you." he whispered and fell asleep as well.

They both slept quietly and safely for what seemed to be infinity.

Bad thing, though, is that the devil does not sleep.

A/N: Liked that? Hated that? What should I improve? Let me know, your opinion is really important to me! Again, love you all and hope to read from you all soon! (Wow, what a letter-like author note)