A/N: Okay, here's chapter 3 guys! I was going to use the actual cases that happened in Criminal Minds, but I had a suggestion from a friend of mine who is also a Criminal Minds fan and a really good writer that I just use key plot points, and make up my own cases. So here goes!
Oh, and this chapter is told from both JJ and Reid's POV, the day after JJ got drunk.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of it's characters.

When JJ woke up the next morning, she felt like jackhammers were going off in her head. She'd only gone out for a drink with Reid… what on earth had happened?

JJ pressed her fingers to her temple as her headache throbbed painfully. Spencer would normally have cut her off if he had seen her getting too drunk. And unless Spencer had gotten drunk himself (which he had sworn to never do, and nobody doubted his promise) he would've stopped her from drinking, stopped her from having an almighty hangover while she was at work. Something must have happened. Spencer, or JJ herself, or both of them, must've done or said something to make Reid unable to cut her off- or not want to cut her off.

JJ glanced at her clock and cursed loudly. She should've left for work 10 minutes ago! She began running around the room, gathering the first items of clothing she could find that would be appropriate for her to wear to her job as the team's media liaison, when she noticed the piece of paper lying neatly on her bedside table, on top of her FBI-issued gun and badge. JJ instantly recognised the neat, old-fashioned handwriting as Spencer's, so she opened the note and began reading.

I'm so sorry JJ, the note began,

It's my fault you're so hung-over, I should've cut you off. I stayed until I was sure you weren't going to be sick or wake up, and then I went back to my apartment. I turned your alarm off, because I knew you would want and need to sleep. And don't worry; I talked to Hotch as well, told him you were going to be in late today. Didn't tell him exactly why, though, I just told him you'd been kind of sick last night when you were with me and I wanted you to be absolutely fine. He's going to want to talk to you as soon as you get in; I think we have a briefing and you don't need to bring your go bag, we have a case but I think it might be local. Sorry again!

Spencer.

As soon as JJ finished reading the note she relaxed a little, knowing that Spencer had bought her some leeway so she could be late for work unnoticed. Spencer could be so sweet sometimes, despite how clueless he was; it was one of the things that made them so close.

Something troubled JJ though, and she read through the note again. Not once did Spencer mention why he hadn't cut her off. And if he had been so level-headed that he had been able to bring JJ home, write the note, get back to his own apartment and call Hotch to excuse JJ's lateness, he could not have been drunk. Making a mental note to ask Spence about that when she saw him before the briefing, JJ began getting ready for work at a much slower pace than before.

JJ's head was still throbbing painfully when she arrived at the Bureau, but she had popped some Tylenol before she'd left and it wasn't as bad as it had been. JJ paused in the entrance to the bullpen, still unnoticed by anyone she knew, as she surveyed the room. Hotch, while his door was wide open (probably waiting for JJ, like Spencer's note said he would be), was busy working in his office. The other senior member of the team, Gideon, Garcia was nowhere to be seen; she was obviously in her own little room, surrounded by technology. Prentiss and Morgan were both sitting at their desks in the bullpen, working and talking to each other at the same time. The member of her team that JJ was looking for, however, Spencer, was over in the tearoom, pouring liberal amounts of sugar into his coffee. JJ chuckled under her breath and walked over to him.

"You know, too much sugar can be bad for you- especially mixed with the number of coffees you drink," JJ remarked.

Spencer turned around hurriedly, spilling part of his coffee down his shirt. "JJ!" he exclaimed, trying quite clumsily and unsuccessfully to wipe the coffee off with a napkin. JJ shook her head and took the napkin from Spencer. She felt a shiver go through the young doctor's body at her touch, and wondered vaguely why that was. Maybe it was just because he wasn't used to that kind of physical contact.

"JJ," Spencer repeated, quieter and much calmer this time, although there was still the sound of something in his voice that JJ couldn't quite place- most likely because she'd never heard it there before. "How are you feeling?"

JJ winced- Spencer's comment had reminded her of her throbbing head. "Like a truck and a steamroller collided with either side of my head at the same time." Noticing the concerned, guilty look on Spencer's face, she quickly added, "But I'm okay, Spencer. Really."

"I'm sorry I let you get you drunk, JJ," said Spencer. "I should've cut you off so much sooner."

"Yeah, why didn't you?" JJ asked. "You aren't the type of person to let me do this for no reason. Did I do something for you to let me keep drinking?"

"No, JJ," Spencer replied. "You didn't do anything."

"Did I say something?" JJ asked. Spencer began to reply, but stopped. "So I did say something," JJ realised, her heart dropping.

"I- er, well yes," Spencer was so nervous, much more than usual. What on earth was going on?

"Spencer, what did I say?" said JJ. Spencer remained silent, twitching his fingers like he did when he was thinking, or sometimes when he was nervous- or both. "Spence, if I said something to hurt you, I'm sorry. I was drunk. You know I didn't mean it."

Spencer's demeanour changed with JJ's words- he was still quite nervous, but now he seemed almost… sad. "It was nothing bad, JJ, trust me," he said, his voice no longer shaking. "I was feeling pretty lousy, I guess. Just fishing for compliments. You said I was good-looking."

JJ had to smile at that one. "You don't look that bad, Spence," she laughed. "Are you sure that was it?"

Spencer almost seemed to hesitate before nodding. "Yes. That was it."

Relief filled JJ's mind and body. She thought she had said something to seriously hurt Spencer, and he had wanted to punish her by getting her drunk. Which was a stupid thought really, because Spencer would never be that vindictive. With one last smile at her friend and a cup of water now in hand, JJ headed off to talk with Hotch.

As JJ walked away towards Hotch's office, Reid turned back around and busied himself at the coffee machine again, just so he could have something to do with his hands and nobody could see the look of utter disappointment and sadness on his face. He had known without a doubt that JJ would not remember anything she had said while she'd been drunk, but a tiny yet strong part of him had still held out hope that she had meant what she'd said. JJ words had completely crushed that hope; she had not meant a word she said.

"How you doing there, kiddo?" said Morgan, coming up behind Reid.

Reid jumped again, but this time managed to not spill his coffee. The tiny distraction gave Reid time to compose his expression and himself, and he turned around to face his co-worker. Morgan stood there with a huge grin on his face. "So how did last night go?" Morgan asked.

"It was just a normal drink between friends, Morgan," Reid said as he reached for the sugar again.

"Come on, pretty boy," Morgan laughed. "What really happened?"

Reid hesitated for a moment. He knew he could not, would not, tell Morgan what JJ had said. Morgan would just laugh, make fun of him, and be absolutely no help at all. Even worse- he'd tell JJ. "Well, JJ did get drunk, but that's it."

Morgan's smile grew wider. "JJ got drunk? You let JJ get drunk?"

"Ssh!" said Reid hurriedly, looking around to make sure nobody had heard Morgan's outburst. "Hotch just knew JJ was going to be late this morning. He doesn't know that she has an almighty hangover. So don't mention it, okay?"

Morgan chuckled again. "Okay, kiddo. Whatever you say." Both Reid and Morgan looked up as Hotch and JJ left Hotch's office. JJ headed towards the BAU room with files in her hands, and Hotch headed down into the bullpen towards Prentiss's desk. "Looks like we have a case," he said, walking across to where Hotch and Prentiss were talking.

Reid breathed a sigh of relief as Morgan walked away. He'd managed not to slip up and tell Morgan what JJ had said, and Morgan hadn't noticed the way Reid's eyes had followed JJ as she'd walked across the bullpen and into the meeting room. God, she was so beautiful…

Reid shook his head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. He couldn't think that way about JJ, he just wasn't allowed. She was his co-worker, his friend. Even if JJ did love Reid back (because he was sure now, that he did love her), they couldn't be together. The FBI's rules were strict: fellow employees could not date.

Reid sighed heavily before walking off to the meeting room with his coffee. It seemed that he was doomed to keep his feelings a secret.

"We've got a bad one," JJ began as the last team member- Garcia, entered the BAU room and closed the door behind her.

"Where?" Prentiss asked as he looked down at his file.

"Here, in D.C.," JJ replied, pressing a button on the remote in her hand. The image of a young, blonde woman filled the screen. "Monica Rymer, 24, was the first victim, found just over a week ago, but had been dead for over a month and a half." She pressed the button again, and a middle-aged woman with short brown hair appeared. "Caroline Myers, 53, found buried not far from Monica, killed a month later and found five days ago." JJ pressed the button a third time, and the image of Caroline was replaced by the image of a woman with thick, curly black hair. "And Denise Richards, 33, found yesterday. She had been dead for only a week."

"These victims may all be women, but they all look completely different. And they're all different ages," Morgan mused. "What makes us the D.C. police think they're connected?"

"The fact that they were all found within metres of each other, in the same park," JJ replied. "And when they were found, they all looked like…" JJ swallowed. "This."

JJ pressed the button on her remote again, and an image of Monica Rymer's dead body appeared. The team, despite everything they had seen, were shocked. "They had all been tortured. Badly," Hotch finished for JJ.

"All in the same way," Reid continued, reading over the case file. "All with burn marks, ligature marks, severe bruising, and deep lacerations caused by a carving knife."

"All the marks were in the exact same place on each woman's body," said Hotch. "And there's more."

"In each of the victims tox screens, their system was filled with Dilaudid," said JJ.

"Why, though?" Reid mused.

"That's what we need to find out," said Hotch. "Garcia, I want you to see if you can find any connection between the three women. We need to know if these victims were random, or if the UnSub specifically targeted them." Garcia nodded and left the room, visibly repulsed by the image of Monica Rymer's body. "Prentiss and Morgan, I want you two to go to the crime scene, see what you can find there. JJ and Reid, you two are coming with me to the precinct. Reid, you can get started on victimology. Work with Garcia; see if you can find anything to tie the victims together."

Hotch stood up, gathering his files. "This UnSub's timeline is escalating. He's spending less and less time with each victim. We need to stop him before he gets out of control."

As the team filed out of the room, JJ tried to catch Reid's attention. He had been ignoring her throughout the entire briefing. He had only looked at the case file, the board, even their other team members. Not once had he even glanced at her.

Reid made to walk past JJ out of the room, the last one to do so. "Reid!" said JJ, catching his arm and pulling him aside. "Reid, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Reid replied, but still not looking at JJ. "We've really gotta go." This time JJ was unable to stop Reid from walking past her and out of the room after Hotch.

Now JJ was worried. Reid had never acted like this around her. While he was always nervous, he had never completely avoided JJ like this. Despite what Reid had said earlier, JJ knew that she had said something to him while she was drunk. And now she was determined to find out what it was.

A/N: I think most of you Criminal Minds fans will see where this is going with the little hint I dropped in there! And now JJ wants to find out what she really said to Reid... this is gonna get interesting! Like all Criminal Minds cases, there is more to this one than first meets the eye!

Oh, and in case you guys were wondering why I put Gideon as going away on holidays, it's because I don't know that much about his character to write about him, and I felt his relationship with Reid could interfere with my ideas for Reid/JJ. I just felt he wouldn't fit. As always, please review!