A/N: This was origially 2 chapters but I made it into 1. Let me know if it's TOO long :D

Thanks for reviewing, please continue to provide feedback!

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, CBS does! I do own Cameron Mansfield.

Spencer Reid tapped his hand nervously against his thin leg as he watched Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss talk about their weekends. For him weekends were just the easiest times to get high.

No one wanted to ignore what he was going through but his acerbic manner had made it clear that he wanted to be left alone.

Everyone hoped that there was a window of time where Reid was going to get better. Sadly things didn't turn out that way and when Gideon left the team, suddenly the young doctor completely abandoned his recovery and slowly sank back into his state of lonely drug use.

Reid didn't even pretended to be focused on what Morgan and Emily were saying, he just stared blankly into space. He was, as always, thinking about when he could get his next fix.

"Uh, Reid, earth to Reid," Emily interrupted "you got something on you mind?"

He looked up surprised that anyone even bothered to acknowledge him, he had been tying to become invisible lately.

He opened his mouth to tell her he was fine when he was distracted by a girl walking out of Hotch's office. Reid was stunned by her soft beauty, long hair the colour of choclate, porcelain skin, and big blue eyes.

Cameron smiled in the direction of the team that she saw standing in the bull pen. As usual they had already noticed her. Though at times unwanted, her looks always managed to garner a lot if attention.

Emily turned her attention away from this new woman and looked to the team, now joined by J.J. and Garcia. "Who's that? Has anyone seen her here before?" Emily asked curiously.

Morgan, Garcia, and J.J. all answered no and Reid audibly gulped and shook his head weakly.

"Think its Hotch's new girlfriend?" Morgan asked jokingly.

Garcia gave him a light slap on the arm, "That's not even funny."

"I was kidding Babydoll; she's probably Jack's new baby sitter." He said with a light laugh.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Knock it off Morgan, he's bringing her over here."

Hotch led Cameron briskly over to the rest of the team and Cameron waved and smiled at them. In return she received smiles from the pretty dark haired woman and colorful blonde. The muscular male agent and serious blonde both nodded cordially and the thin young one looked away quickly. Cameron instantly knew that the young one was Dr. Reid.

Hotch cleared his throat, "Everyone I'd like you to meet Cameron Mansfield."

Cameron extended her right arm and Hotch introduced each agent one at a time "SSA Jennifer Jareau, SSA Derek Morgan, Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, SSA Emily Prentiss, and Dr. Spencer Reid."

When she shook Reid's hand he tried not to make contact with those startlingly blue eyes. Cameron definitely felt a slight tremor in his hand. She let go of his hand and moved a little closer, looked up and gave him a bright smile.

Reid managed a weak smile but this time he didn't look away, something in her eyes made him feel better. He felt his heart start racing. He saw her eyes and eyes and up close he sensed something wasn't alright with her either. When you're as screwed up as he was, it wasn't hard to see it in other people.

After this exchange Hotch continued with his story, "I've known Cameron since I was a prosecutor in New York, she was working with the NYPD. She was the one behind cracking the last case I ever prosecuted."

Garcia smiled, "Looks like we've got another smart cookie on our hands."

Cameron blushed, "Alright, enough reminiscing."

"Right, I bet you want to get settled in. I'll show you the ropes if you like." J.J. offered.

"Oh no, I'm not here permanently. I have a case that is right up your alley." She explained.

J.J. spoke up next, "You have a case? You're not one of my contacts from the NYPD."

Cameron shook her head, "I don't even work for the NYPD anymore. No, this case belongs to a cop friend of mine in Missouri. He didn't have an FBI contact, but I have several. I called Dr. Edwards, a friend from the New York field office because you guys were on a case. Aaron got the memo when you guys got back yesterday. I got here late last night but it wasn't until this morning that the case became official." Cameron turned her attention to Hotch, "Do you, ah, have anywhere where I can run everyone through the details?"

Hotch nodded, "Right this way, I'll let you set up. Everyone, be in the round table room in five minutes."

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

"Skidmore, Missouri, a very small town in Midwestern Missouri has recently had several reports of missing children. Five children told their parents that they were coaxed into a van by a man who called himself Patches."

"Hold on, they told their parents?" Emily asked. "How did they do—"

"According to the reports the children claimed to be returned home in what would have been only a few hours. They were taken at unaccounted for hours of the day, times when no one would have noticed that there were missing. All of the children are seven or eight years old and in the same class."

Morgan interrupted, "Isn't it possible they made it all up, you know trying to spice up the boring small town life?"

"That's what the Missouri police and I were considering but all of the children told their stories with incredible detail, and trust me they were all identical." Cameron took a deep breath and began again. "Then this morning another girl went missing, this time she wasn't returned. Police think that this case is probably connected with the others."

"Was she taken at an unaccountable time of day, like the others?" J.J. asked.

Cameron nodded, "Only this time, when she should have been returned she wasn't. It's been five hours and she's still missing, there's no ransom note."

Hotch stood up and the rest of the team followed, "We're going. If this girl was kidnapped by the same guy, he's escalating. The jet leaves in 1 hour, we'll continue the profile on the plane. Cameron, I need to speak to you in my office a minute." He said already half way out the door.

She scooped up her belongings, "Coming!"

Hotch opened to door to his office and Cameron followed him in quickly.

"You need to go back to your apartment and pack an overnight bag for the case. You have time to drive home now." Hotch said while looking through some files.

"Umm, well I walked to work this morning and I'm staying at a local motel." Cameron replied.

"Oh, that's fine I can drive you there myself. I keep my overnight bag at work."

"Okay then, let's go."

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

On they way to Cameron's motel, Hotch was starting to get curious, "So I was wondering," Hotch began, "why don't you want to join the BAU?"

Cameron smoothed an invisible wrinkle out of her grey dress pants, "Hotch, I am not a federal agent."

"I already told you, just complete a few field hours, pass health clearance and you're in. Everyone wants to be in the BAU."

"Not me. I am bringing this case to the BAU and lending my expertise. That's all." Cameron said trying to end the conversation there.

"You don't think you can lend your expertise to any future cases? You should stay, you just resigned from the hospital in New York—" Hotch continued to push.

"If you don't drop it I'll jump out of the car, moving or not." Cameron tried to lighten the mood.

Hotch parked the car and looked at her skeptically. She hopped out of the car, and smiled "Get over it Aaron, it's not permanent."

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

After handing out detailed case files, Cameron gave the team time to read through them individually. While they read she made herself a green tea in the rear of the cabin, trying to calm herself down. She could feel her emotional fatigue returning. She had tried to forget her problems, but she was struggling to remain in a state of denial. Her eyes started to well up as she headed back to the cabin.

Reid had, as usual, finished reading long before the rest of the team and he now proceeded to stare blankly out the window. He felt that terrible unsettling weakness again. When had things gotten so out of control? His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Cameron sit down beside him.

"Hey Spencer, you already finished?" She asked in a soft voice.

He cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah, I read fast."

"Hmm, I thought I was a fast reader." Cameron said, he wasn't sure if she expected him to respond, luckily she continued. "Aaron told me you were smart, he actually called you a genius. He's very literal these days." She added deliberately, again he took notice of that brilliant smile.

Her voice had a soft quality and he felt it calm him, maybe it even brought him closer to who he used to be. But he still couldn't stop thinking about the drugs, and he wondered if she could tell that those thoughts constantly ran through his mind.

He realized he was just sitting there staring into space and quickly cleared his throat again, "So, uh, where do you work now?"

"Nowhere." She answered frankly. "Right after University I worked for NYPD, I was there for a year and a half. Then I moved to California and I did some counseling in a hospital." She decided not to mention that her job was counseling drug addicts who were in the hospital.

"I was only there for seven months when I decided to move back to New York. I stayed there for three years. I worked at a hospital, counseling terminally ill children and their families."

"That sounds like a blast." His voice was cold with sarcasm. God, what the hell is wrong with me? He shook his head apologetically, "I'm sorry."

Cameron sighed, "It wasn't easy, but I think after all the criminals I talked to with NYPD, I was ready for a little…humanity."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah, I did, for a while anyways."

The agents stepped off of the plane at the airport outside of Skidmore and they were promptly met by the local officer in charge of the case. Cameron smiled and walked over to him and gave him a big hug.

"Hey Charlie," she said and then released her hug, "let's get to work buddy. We've got a missing girl to find."

He looked over at the team and gave a nod to show his gratitude.

"Let me introduce you to the team," Cameron rattled of everyone's names like they'd been working together for quite a while and she was far more professional then they'd expected, based on the hug they just witnessed. "This is Officer Charlie Malcolm, he is heading the investigation."

Hotch quickly got down to business, "We don't need to go straight to the police station. We have all read the case files, now we need to speak the kids and their families. We can split up and meet back in 90 minutes. Could you have a deputy take Morgan and Emily to the first two homes, J.J. and I'll go to numbers three and fours with you, and Cameron and Reid can go to number five and then talk to the family of the missing girl."

Officer Malcolm spoke up, "That's fine, although I don't have a spare deputy to take Cameron and Dr. Reid, but the last two children were neighbors, we can drop them off on our way."

"Sounds good," Cameron said with a nod, "we'll walk back to the station when we're finished." The team split up, not completely sure of what they'd learn in the next hour and a half.

Cameron and Reid left the house of the fifth child and walked towards their last stop on the next street over. Cameron looked over at Reid, who had barely spoken this whole time. Poor thing, he looks so tired. She frowned as he shivered against the wind, no hat, scarf or gloves. At least his coat looked warm.

"You look pretty cold Spence." She mused, moving a little closer to him, bumping his brown messenger bag with her hip.

"What? Oh yeah, I uh… forgot to bring my gloves. The weather station said it was like zero degrees with the wind chill. It's my own stupid fault." He spoke downwards.

Cameron cut in front of him and walked backwards. "I forget my gloves all the time. Or I leave them on the plane." She admitted, holding out two pale, bare hands.

He smiled at this and she continued to walk backwards, "I have a solution though. You see, I roll up the ends of my sweater around my hands and the scrunch them in my jacket, like this" she demonstrated for him with almost childlike sweetness.

"That's strange." He said testing it out for himself. "It makes sense though, basic insulation." He held his toasty stubs out for her inspection.

She reached out, jokingly inspecting his hands. She gently, casually ran her hands down his arms. In this moment she felt a rare connection and knew not to let it pass by. He started to feel instantly warmer, but it wasn't so much a physical warmth, it was foreign to him.

I don't deserve this feeling, what am I doing? He pulled his hands away and jammed them in his pockets.

Cameron gave a silent sigh and turned back around. After a few seconds she spoke again, "So where did you work before you joined the BAU?"

He squinted in the glare of the sun, "I didn't actually. I started university when I was 13—"

"Wow, you were still a child." She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"I guess," he agreed, "while I was there I got my undergrad degree in a couple years and seven years latter I joined the BAU."

"Don't be so modest, seven more years in University huh? Sounds like the perfect amount of time to earn Three PhDs." He stopped walking and she looked at him. "Hotch told me. Not bad."

He continued to walk and she followed him silently, she looked around at the street and pointed towards the house where the sixth child lived.

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

Reid watched as Cameron handed Clarissa Strauss' mother a tissue, he watched helplessly as both parents struggled to hang on. He didn't know what to say, he had no comforting words. Lucky for him, Cameron was full of them.

Mrs. Strauss sobbed, "Its our fault, we…we should have paid more attention when the other kids said that," she gasped, "that man took them and now our daughter is…" She buried her head in her hands.

Cameron tilted her head sympathetically, "Ma'am, please listen, this is not your fault. You can't blame yourselves."

"My wife's right, if people would have just listened to their children none if this would have happened. We should have…" The husband took a deep breath and looked away, blurry-eyed.

Cameron glanced at Reid who remained silent and then continued, "I understand you're scared. Stuff like this, children being taken from their parents, it should never happen. And when it does, you can end up driving yourselves mad with the 'should haves' and the 'what ifs'. All you can do now is wait, wait for us to find your daughter. You can't lose hope." Cameron said firmly, looking at the Strauss' with caring eyes. "We'll be in touch of we learn anything. You are doing everything your daughter needs now."

Reid looked at Cameron curiously, he never liked talking to victim's families. It was the worst part of the job.

Ms. Strauss looked at Cameron, "So you'll…"

"I promise you we'll find her, trust me." Cameron said with a comforting smile.

And for the first time in the hour since they had been there, the parents actually looked like they had some hope.

CMCMCMCMCMCMCM

"You don't seem to have a problem, with this type of stuff." Reid commented out loud on the way back to the station.

"What stuff?"

"Talking to thee victims, the families, all the bad emotional stuff. I can never do it." Reid admitted.

Cameron sighed, "I'm guess I'm just good at making sure that the families don't lose hope. I understand why its so hard for you, I struggle with it as much as anyone. I've always been the one who people are comfortable with. So I'm always the one to talk to the families, always the one to break the bad news. It eats me up inside. And no matter how many times I do it, it never gets any easier."

"Well that's comforting." Reid said lightly.

"You should find it comforting." Cameron pointed out, followed by a doubtful look from Reid. "I'm here to help you through the hard part." Her words clearly took on a double meaning.

"For now, I guess. But you're not staying?" He added as an afterthought, meaning it to be a rhetorical question.

She answered anyways, "No, I'm not staying."

"Clarissa Strauss, eight years old, went missing at seven o'clock this morning. Six hours later she is still missing." Hotch spoke to the police department which consisted of four officers.

"Two children, Anna Borski and Jessica Lawrence told us that this offender, Patches, took pictures of them." Emily added on to the profile.

"You think he's using them for child pornography?" A deputy asked incredulously.

Cameron had never been involved in a formal profile before, sure she'd presented informal profiles to the NYPD where she explained the nature of the offenders to the detectives. There was a moment of silence and she decided to speak up.

"No, I don't. I think this offender would be classified as preferential pedophile. We initially assumed that the children were all the same age and gender because that is what was available in the town. But I think he is actually a pedophile who is taking these children for a reason, to satisfy his sexual urges." Cameron offered this information and then looked to Hotch, who nodded in agreement.

"But did any of the children say that the man touched them?" Officer Malcolm asked. Emily shook her head, "Most of the children didn't even want to mention the pictures, those that did were reluctant."

"How can you call him a pedophile then? If he doesn't..." Malcolm looked uncomfortable.

"In my experience some pedophiles can only get off on souvenirs or pictures of their victims. They never touch the children and often use smells that remind them off the children to help with psychosexual release." Cameron clarified for the police department.

"These offenders are often nervous around people, even these children. They get anxious and can't enjoy the experience so they use pictures instead." Reid added quickly. "Most likely, you're looking for a man 30-35, probably slight with virtually no self-confidence. He is most likely not a parent and he wouldn't be married. In fact he is typically even more of a loner then most sexual offenders."

"How come he returns the children? He doesn't even blindfold them. He lured them into a car offering them a ride home or asking them for help with a sick animal. He then keeps them a few hours and the lets them go. Isn't he concerend about being identified?" Malcolm asked the team.

"The children all gave the same, fairly generic, description. He probably knows that people perceive him as bland, unmemorable. He also wouldn't have the confidence it takes to kill someone." J.J. explained to the department.

"That's why he let them go when he was done with them." Cameron finished

Hotch stood up, "The profile is enough to start canvassing. Look for people who fit the profile, ask the locals if they know anyone like this."

"Thank you Agents," Malcolm said and turned to his crew, "we can spilt up, and we should get most of it done by twilight." The deputies followed him out of the small room.

Only the BAU and Cameron remained in the room. Cameron deliberately doubled over in her chair and touched her toes. She took a deep breath, sat up and looked at Hotch.

"There's something I don't understand," she finally admitted. "Why did he keep this girl?"

"He probably had a stressor, something that made him escalate to this level." Hotch explained as he looked though the other agents notes again.

"But his actions are so far off script. Taking a child would make him incredibly nervous, it doesn't seem like he's escalating, it's almost like he changed MO entirely." There was a nervous edge to Cameron's voice.

"She's right Hotch, keeping this girl won't bring him any pleasure. It will do exactly the opposite." Morgan said as he paced back and forth.

"Couldn't that mean he's looking for something else?" Emily pointed out. Cameron shrugged and looked at Hotch.

"Okay, if he has changed tactics, then maybe his purpose for the children has also changed." Hotch considered for a moment. "So what does this tell us?"

The room was silent for a moment everyone was thinking, everyone was worried. Offenders rarely changed MO, and an offender like this should never have the confidence to change.

Reid finally turned his attention away from the small window in the office and looked at the team anxiously, "It tells us that Clarissa is in more trouble then we thought."

Hope you all enjoyed it!!! Please let me no what you think, any feed back would be rad!