Hey everyone, sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been really busy lately and I was stuck in one particular spot that took me a while to write myself out of for some reason.

However this chapter is my St. Patrick's Day gift to you, and it's extra long, just the way you like it ;)

Reviews = love!,

tastybitsodp

Chapter 8: Paige's POV

In less than an hour we were on the jet. It had been a difficult process, explaining to my parents why I was leaving the day after I'd arrived. After a tearful farewell (on my mom's part), a silent hug from my dad, and a hug from Grant with a promise to give my love to my brother, who I hadn't even seen yet, I carried my bags out to the rental car that JJ and Spencer had used to get to my house.

The drive to the airport had been silent and tense.

I sat in a window seat on the jet, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. JJ sat across from me, and Spencer, surprisingly, sat next to me. The tension between the three of us was almost physically palatable. After a few minutes I couldn't take it and turned to Spencer.

"Babe, I just have to tell you..."

"Ssh," he interrupted, taking my hand. "Paige, I love you," he said. "That's going to have to be enough for now. I need to stay focused on the case...finding Morgan. Until then..." he leaned in and kissed me. He pulled away too soon for my taste, but I couldn't really kiss him the way I wanted to anyway, with JJ sitting right there.

"I understand," I said. "I want to find him too." For the first time I saw the fear in his eyes. He was worried about his best friend, and I was worried about him too. I wished that Spencer and JJ could fill me in about what they knew, but I knew that they had to keep everything within the team. I went over the last time I talked to Derek in my head. I smiled as I remembered his teasing offer to help me with anything I needed...anything. That made me think of something.

"You know," I said to Spencer, "I don't think he was planning on going anywhere." Spencer looked at me.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"When he was dropping me off, he told me if there was anything I needed, food or someone to talk to, he would help. I know him, he wouldn't promise that if he was leaving town." Spencer nodded. I could tell his mind was a million light-years ahead of mine, thinking things I probably wouldn't even understand. JJ's eyes connected with mine, and I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was.

Twenty minutes later, I felt Spencer's hand go slack in mine and I tore my eyes away from the window to see Spencer falling asleep, his head lolling to the side. Gently, I guided his head until he was lying in my lap. I covered him with my blanket and absently ran my fingers through his long hair. It felt so natural, loving him. JJ cleared her throat, and I looked up at her to see she was watching us.

"You're good for him," she said quietly so she wouldn't wake him. I smiled down at him, hearing his quiet breathing.

"I hope so," I said, just as quietly.

"I've never seen him with someone as long as he's been with you," she said. "I've never seen him so happy." I looked at her steadily, waiting for the point I assumed she'd make any minute. "Don't screw it up," she said simply. I smiled.

"I don't intend to," I said.

Spencer's POV:

Reid tried to keep his mind purely on finding Morgan, but seeing Paige made him distracted. He had so many questions for her that would have to remain unanswered until Morgan was found. Why had she felt that she had to go to Maine without him? Who was that guy she had been with, the one who had put his hand on her waist and whispered in her ear? Then he chastised himself for feeling jealous. Hadn't it been him that had been friendly with Lila, only a couple days before?

He forced himself to think back to Morgan's house. Rossi and Prentiss were going over it, probably right at that moment, to try and differentiate between what in the house had been moved by Morgan and what had been moved by the unsub. The most obvious thing was the note, but they theorized that the unsub (they still hadn't determined if it was male or female or any variation in between) had moved things around, given his home a touch that was purely theirs.

They were profiling the unsub as a stalker, someone that Morgan had met, even briefly. The stalker had seen their interaction as a relationship, and had kidnapped him (or killed him, the logical part of his mind insisted), as punishment for not participating in the relationship and for resisting their attentions. The stalker most likely has narcissistic personality disorder, and therefore assumed that their actions had no consequences. The stalker assumed that the note left would be perfectly reasonable to them, and they wouldn't pursue. How wrong they were.

Reid knew it was only a matter of time before Morgan insulted or betrayed the unsub, no matter how well he played along. These stalkers were highly sensitive and anything, word choice or even a glance, could set them off, and once that happened, violence usually followed. It was possible that they had a criminal record. The stalker was also probably highly intelligent, yet unemployed and with a trail of failed relationships behind them. This was probably a person who had tried to contact Morgan almost incessantly in tiny ways, and if Morgan responded, even just picking up the phone when they called or saying hello to a person on the street, then they took that as a sign that he loved them too.

He was so tired. It had been well over twenty-four hours since he'd slept. He wondered if it would be okay with Paige if he just rested his head on her shoulder. That would be so comfortable...He tried to snap himself awake, but the moment he did his eyes fell shut again.

The next thing he knew he was very comfortable, and he could smell Paige's signature scent, a mixture of vanilla and cherry blossoms. He could feel her fingers running gently through his hair. For a moment he forgot that Morgan was missing and that they were on a case. For a sweet moment he forgot about Paige being angry with him and running away. All he could feel was her fingers in his hair, the warmth of her body as his head rested on it, and a deep profound happiness.

He could hear her speaking, and he listened because he didn't want to open his eyes or sit up just yet.

"So Spencer is his godfather?" she asked.

"Yes. He spoils Henry rotten, he and Garcia both do. I swear I haven't had to buy him a thing since he was born," said JJ. Both women laughed quietly.

"I've never seen him around kids," Paige was saying. "Whenever I mention them he gets this panicked look on his face."

"Yeah when Henry was born he was pretty freaked out," JJ recalled. "He's very good with him now though. Henry calls him Uncle Spence." Reid decided that he'd slept long enough.

"Are you two having fun?" he asked, sitting up and stretching. "Don't you have anything else to talk about?" Both women smiled guiltily. By default, his mind left the happiness that had occupied it moments before and refocused on the darkness that ate at his heart; Morgan's disappearance. "I need to call Garcia," he said, getting up and moving away for privacy. The slight feeling of merriment evaporated as if it had never been.

"This is Garcia," she said after the first ring. Spencer felt a pang at the worry and pain in her voice. She wasn't her usual cheerful, witty self.

"Hey Garcia its Reid, I have a partial profile I need you to take down." He told her everything he'd thought of from the information Paige had given him. "Can you pass that on to Hotch?"

"Sure," she said. He could tell she was devastated by Morgan's absence. He couldn't imagine what she was going through. He knew that she loved Morgan in almost the same way and depth that he loved Paige. Knowing that he was missing and in danger was too much to handle.

When they landed, Paige went directly into the BAU office like she belonged there. Baffled, Reid followed her in, wondering where she was going. He watched in amazement as she hurried up the stairs and turned the corner into Garcia's office. He caught a brief glimpse of Paige wrapping a sobbing Garcia in a hug before Paige kicked the door closed behind her. He was glad that Paige was here. Normally Morgan was the one that helped Garcia through the hard parts of the job, and now that he wasn't here…

Reid took a deep breath and followed JJ into the conference room. He hoped that the rest of the team had come closer to finding Morgan than they were before he left. As he entered the room he could tell that wasn't the case. The mood in the room was edgy and quiet. Every person there looked exhausted and yet determined. Hotch's eyes snapped to him when he walked in.

"Did Paige know anything we didn't," he asked in his direct way. Reid told the team about Morgan's promise to be there for Paige, and how it confirmed that Morgan hadn't been planning on running away with anyone. It wasn't particularly helpful information. They had already determined that themselves because of the state of Morgan's apartment.

"So far, I can only think of two scenarios," said Reid. "One would be that he was lured somewhere by a woman, possibly using a ruse like needing help, or that he was overpowered by a man."

"You're saying a woman wouldn't be able to overpower Morgan?" asked Prentiss. Reid shook his head.

"It's highly unlikely unless she used a weapon, and with Morgan's training he'd be able to see if she had a concealed weapon. No, it's much more likely that it's one of those two scenarios."

"Okay, let's work off of those," said Hotch, and the team got down to work.

Two hours later, they had created a list of all the people who could possibly want Morgan dead, from well-known serial killers to jealous boyfriends. They had also compiled a list of women that Morgan had been involved with. The list was long, and even Hotch raised his eyebrows when he saw it. They were going through the lists, eliminating the people that weren't in the area the night before. They were making many phone calls, and Garcia was working her fingers to the bone tracking down credit card receipts and addresses for each person.

It was another two hours before Reid remembered that Paige was still in the office. He excused himself to get some coffee and found Paige in the kitchen, snacking on a stray granola bar she had found. She smiled when she saw him, and the sight of her made him feel a little better.

"How's it going?" she asked him. Reid sighed in frustration.

"There isn't much to go on," he said. "I feel so…" His voice caught and he struggled to hold back tears. Paige wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her face into his chest. He held her close to him, feeling her warmth and inhaling her scent, just absorbing the comfort she offered. She lifted her face for a kiss and he obliged. He could feel her desperation and her need to be close to him and it fueled the need inside him.

He backed her up until her back hit the kitchen counter and he lifted her so that she sat on it. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed even closer to him, her hands sliding up his neck and tangling themselves in his hair, tugging gently. He slipped his hands under her baseball jersey, his fingers skimming the soft skin of her stomach and tracing the contours of her waist. He wished they were somewhere private so that he could slide off her jeans and…

"Ahem," said a voice behind him. He untangled himself from her with difficulty, feeling like a hot coal that had been thrown out into the snow. Paige's cheeks were flushed, her breathing heavy. Prentiss looked from one to the other, her eyebrows raised. She sighed. "I understand," she said. Reid felt a flicker of relief that she understood the need for comfort at a time like this. "Hotch wants you back in the conference room," said Prentiss. "He wants your input on another possible scenario."

"I'll be there in a minute," he said. Prentiss nodded and left. Paige let out a slow breath. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "I let things get out of control." Paige shook her head.

"I needed that as much as you did," she said. "I just wish we hadn't been interrupted." Their eyes locked for a hot moment, but he looked away at the clock.

"Paige," he said exasperatedly. "It's almost four am. You need to sleep." She shook her head.

"I want to stay and help, in any way I can."

"No offense Paige," he said. "I can't really think of a way you could help. I would feel better if you got some sleep. I can bring you to my place." Paige stuck out her chin in defiance.

"Even if the only thing I can do to help is make coffee," she said. "I'm going to do it. Derek is my friend too and I'm not just going to sleep until he is found." Reid felt a flare of love for her.

"Okay," he conceded. "But if you need some sleep there is a couch in Morgan's office you can curl up on." Paige nodded and smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "It means a lot that you would let me stay." She turned and started taking mugs out of the cupboard. "I'll be there in a minute with coffee."