ALERT, ALERT! A.N RIGHT HERE!

I'm sorry, this was the longest I have ever gone without updating, but school and life got very hard for me recently and I just had to take a step back and re-evaluate. But I'm back-ish now and you'll get more regularly irregular updates.

Once again I do not own Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do own my own made up characters and this plot line

PS OMG Poor Reid, Meave dying was awful! I thought he was going to go back to drugs there for a while. Thank goodness he didn't (And also I'm sad that he didn't, it was a good opportunity for angst.)

ONTO the story!

…-….

The conference room was quiet, only the occasional crunching of chips or the slurp of a drink broke it. The 7 BAU members were stumped. There hadn't been another murder in two days and they had no leads beside the drug dealers they had yet to question, or find for that matter. The last murder was brutal; the young woman had been badly raped and beaten. She was alive when she was found and died later of complications during surgery. That alone was enough to depress the entire team, but they still had Spencer on their minds. The young man whom Hotch had shot in the head. Morgan had somewhat forgiven him, but he couldn't fully forgive him. The ex-agent was his best friend; he just couldn't forgive the man who shot him. JJ was angry at herself, she had let Reid become a drug addict, and she had lied to him and broken his trust. Hotch felt the same and all of the agents together sitting at the large rectangular table made the room foul with sadness.

"It's been two days." Hotch mumbled quietly, and five since he shot Spencer in the head. They still hadn't told his mother, and none of them were looking forward to that conversation.

"We could go over what we have so far?" Rossi suggested. His head had started to hurt due to his side mission to find out where Spencer really was. He knew that the kid wasn't rotting in some body bag somewhere. He just had to figure out where he was before telling the team.

"We did that about three hours ago and nothing new has come up, so we would just be repeating the same things." Emily said. Garcia nodded in agreement. She had been flown out on the night of the last murder, needing to be with her family in a time of mourning.

"I need to get out of here." Morgan muttered, standing up suddenly and making his way from the room. Garcia, being ever faithful to her best friend stood to follow, only to be held back by Emily. Morgan needed some alone time.

…...

"THIS IS GETTING TOO FUCKED UP! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Ralf yelled. The four guards flinched at the pitch his voice had reached.

"What have you found? These murders are by fuckers in my organization and I want them dead." He asked more quietly but with the same ferocity his voice always held.

"We know that they're using experimental drugs on the girls and then raping and beating them until they die." Gray supplied. He was staring at Dmitri and Darius as he said this because he had decided to profile the murderers. He didn't want his team getting too close to him so he was trying to solve the murders for them. His profile pointed toward the brothers of the guard.

"Yeah and they're definitely sick with some mental illness. Because, seriously, how can you not be if you're that sloppy with killings that the feds come looking for you." Lily sneered causing Reid to elbow jab her. He didn't want them to know that they knew that they killed those girls. Although, she wanted them to know, Lily wanted to have them arrested so that she and Reid could finish their original mission. It had been almost 6 months since they had started and they were looking to finish as soon as possible and get back to their lives.

"Please, they're testing drugs, it would probably get sloppy." Darius said, smirking. On the inside though, he was fuming. How dare that bitch call him sloppy!

"Whatever he is, you find him, and then once you do, kill him. Make sure to bring me his head." Ralf said and motioned for them to go.

As the guards left, Lily felt something off. Her usual alert feeling, like something bad was about to happen. She shrugged it off as a little bit of paranoia due to being undercover for so long. Lily and Gray went to the underground parking lot of Ralf's business building and got into the Nova. Reid drove and got them back to their apartment faster than expected.

"I'm going to go up and take a nap or something, I'm dead tired." He yawned as he got out of the car.

"I think I'm gonna go for a drive, keys?" He tossed them to her and she got back into the Nova and drove away, leaving Reid to their apartment.

What the two didn't realize though is that in the shadows, Dmitri and Darius were watching them, waiting for Reid to climb the stairs and go up to his apartment where he'd be all alone.

…..

Morgan walked through the busy streets of Las Vegas slowly, wanting to take the time to think and be alone. Women walking by, however, had different ideas and had been trying to give him their numbers and take his. He refused of course, he was on the job but he did consider it. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the roar of an engine off to his left. It was the muscle car that he had seen on the night that the team had arrived in Las Vegas. The dark paint glittered in the sun light and gave a haze around it from the heat. A young woman in light wash ripped jeans, high heeled sandals and a pink tank top got out. Her hair was long and curly, golden brown in color, and painstakingly familiar. Morgan could swear that he knew that woman, so he did the logical thing and followed her.

Lily Charleston, also known as Charlie Moscoe, walked leisurely down the strip, trying to clear her head. She wanted just a few minutes to herself where she didn't have to be Lily Charleston, the drug dealer, and could instead be Charlie Moscoe, the good person. Her feet hurt, she had no idea why she chose to wear those sandals, but she did, because Charleston wears them. She was so frustrated with being Lily Charleston; she was tired of faking every action. Tired of guarding a piece of scum like Jack Ralf, she was tired of handing out drugs so runners could get people, innocent or not, addicted to them. Overall, Charlie was just plain tired. No job had ever gotten her that down before. Although, no job she had ever done had been that involved in drugs.

Charlie was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize she was being followed. She continued her walk and by the time she made it to the end, her head was effectively clear and she started taking in her surroundings, a little too late though. Suddenly a hand reached from the dark alley way she was walking by and wrenched her in. She had no time to fight back before a needle was thrust into her neck and the plunger was depressed. She felt a warm tingly and awfully familiar feeling start to spread through her body. As fast as she could she elbowed her attacker in the gut and turned to face him. Her vision was becoming blurry and her heart sank as she recognized the effects of the drug. Her muscles were running on failing adrenaline and she slowly sank to the ground, unable to stand. Her attacker reached for just as her entire body was about to hit the ground and he lifter her.

"N-no." Charlie whispered as whoever drugged her lifted her into a vehicle. He dropped her roughly onto the floor and then someone else taped her hands and ankles together behind her back. Her mind was sluggish but all she could comprehend was the blind panic she felt as she was kidnapped again. She was never supposed to be terrified, she was supposed to keep her head in situations of peril, but all she could think of was the fact that her kidnapping was exactly like it was when she was 16. How she was just walking harmlessly along and was grabbed from behind, drugged and then taken away in some asshole's van.

Morgan had lost sight of the familiar woman in the crowd after following her to the end of the strip. He decided to turn around and head back to the station, his mind was free of the clutter and he was prepared to work. As he was walking back a dark navy van drove past and Morgan's heat thumped loudly with adrenaline. The team had profiled that the killers had a dark van or SUV to transport women in the dark, or to transport drugs. He quickly memorized the plate number and hurried back to the precinct.

….

Reid stretched on his bed, lazily coming out of a deep sleep. He needed that nap more than he had realized. The clock beside him said 5:30; dinner time, his stomach agreed. Assuming Charlie would be out in the kitchen making them dinner, Reid allowed himself to relax a little longer. Only when he realized that there were no sounds of Charlie making anything did he get up. He all but ran into the kitchen, looking for his partner, he also searched every room in their flat, hoping that maybe she had taken a nap as well. Having not found any sign of her, Reid ran down the stairs to look in the garage, the Nova wasn't sitting in its usual spot, it wasn't even there. A sense of dread started to fill Reid's chest and he dashed back up the stairs and grabbed his cell. He pressed number 3 on speed dial and waited as it wrung.

"This is Jake."

"It's me, there's something wrong. Charlie has been out for four hours and hasn't checked in." Reid exclaimed quickly.

"What do you mean, where is she?" Jake asked. You could hear the tension in his voice.

"She told me she was going for a drive and then I took a long nap and woke up and she wasn't here!" Reid roughly ran his fingers through his short and styled hair. He was pacing back and forth through the kitchen waiting as Jake told Aaron to make some calls.

"Anything?" Spencer asked desperately.

"No, Steve and I are going to come to you, just wait there." Jake replied and then the line went dead. Spencer stood there for several moments just listening to the dial tone, and hoping that Charlie would walk back into their flat with a smile and ask him why he looks so worried.

Spencer stopped pacing and tried to get a handle on himself. He had to start thinking like a profiler again instead of a dealer. He had to think, not panic, think! His brain was slightly more jumbled with worry but the only people he could think that would have taken Charlie were Darius and Dmitri. They were the only ones who had the balls to kidnap her. The always fought back whenever she insulted them and never once had they backed down from the threat of a fight with her.

"Great, not only are they murders but they also just kidnapped one of the best fighters I have ever met." Reid muttered out loud. He ran a hand through his hair again, trying to think of what to do.

By the time Jake arrived, Reid had mapped out an entire plan in his head. He wasn't sure if Jake would agree to it, but it was the best plan he could think of.

"Alright, we are going to need to do something in the next 48 hours because if this is about Charlie's undercover work, I don't know how long she can withstand torture." Jake told him in his captain voice, but Reid could profile him easily. He knew that all the big bravado Jake was showing was just an act; he was a worried wreck on the inside.

"I have a plan, but it's a little risky." Reid told them.

Steve ended up agreeing with Reid while Jake was hesitant. He wasn't sure if that was the best plan of action, seeing as how they had yet to take down Ralf. However Reid handed over all the information that they had gotten on Ralf and it was enough to arrest him and hold him in prison for most of his life.

"C'mon Jake, this is Charlie we're talkin' about here, your little sister, the one you promised your mother you'd look after." Steve said, making up Jake's mind for him.

"Alright let's do this."

….

Morgan had returned to the station over four hours before and the profile had already expanded even more. They were still stuck on the van though because it had fake plates on it. They were looking for the make and model instead. The whole police station seemed to have been picked up and was back on its feet now that the case was moving forward again. The team had moved the board of evidence out into the main room of the station. From their new vantage they could see out the front door and the bullpen.

JJ was staring in a sort of trance out the front door windows; she was the only one on the team unable to truly grasp the fact that Reid was gone. She knew he was dead but she couldn't bring herself to recognize how and why. She hated the fact that he had been addicted to Dilaudid, that he had switched to heroin when it couldn't get him off anymore, and how he died running away from his family. Suddenly as she was watching the front door, three tall men walked in. One was a large, heavily muscled black man, the second was a tall, muscled golden brown haired white man and the last guy was scrawny in comparison to both of them. He had his face hidden by reflective sun glasses and a fedora. He wasn't too thin himself because you could see his muscles in his black v neck t shirt. He had more of a runner's body with a bit of model thrown in. JJ's eyes widened in realization, she was staring at Reid Gray, the infamous drug dealer, the man who had hired Spencer to work for him. The man who got Spencer killed!

"Hotch!" She snapped and he too looked toward the door, as did the rest of the team. They all realized just who they were looking at and quickly made their way to the front of the station.

"Sir?" Officer Moscoe asked as Hotch brushed past him in his beeline to the front door. Danny followed his gaze and his eyes locked with his big brother's.

"Holy shit. Wait! Sir!" Danny shouted, calling the attention of the station.

"Arrest that man!" Hotch commanded to the Chief, who in turn got his handcuffs out and started toward Reid.

"Wait." Jake commanded right back and flashed the chief his merits. They said that he was Captain Jake Moscoe, special ops Marine Core. Steve showed his as well. The team and the chief paused in their attack and Danny pushed through the crowd to stand beside his brother.

"What's going on here?" Morgan asked, taking a step back. JJ had been staring wide eyed.

"Is he some sort of witness or something?!" JJ yelled, steeping closer to Reid who still had yet to say anything, "He got my best friend killed! And you, who are supposed to be on the good side are helping him?!" She all but screeched, letting out her anger.

"I'm not a witness." Reid told her quietly. He slipped off his hat, and his sunglasses, "And I'm not dead either." JJ took two shaky steps backward. The man standing in front of her was Spencer Reid, ex federal agent, dead drug addict, best friend…

"Knew it." Rossi muttered slyly under his breath.

…-…

So there you have it, the long awaited chapter 16. I hope you all enjoyed it. And I really have to thank you all for the reviews. You guys are so wonderful for hanging onto this story and reviewing to tell me to get my ass in gear and write. Thanks so much!

~Love SpiderKate