This is a filler chapter, and not great. Just a warning. As usual, thanks to my reviewers (QuirkyRevelations and NatNazzy)! Nazzy, I thought about it...and that maight just happen after all ;)

Reid paced the floor of his hotel room, incredibly nervous. The whole drug aspect of the case was making him incredibly nervous, as he himself was in the same situation as those people that the UNSUB had targeted. He was scared that he would find himself a victim, but almost more scared that his team would question why he knew so much about drug use. That his team would find out he was also an addict.

He went for his bag, desperate, as usual, for a fix. The stress that the case was causing was leading him to use more and more often, and although he despised himself for it, he couldn't stop.

Drawing out the needle and small vial of Dilaudid, he rolled up his sleeve. After preparing the drugs, Reid injected himself in the crook of his elbow. He waited for the rush, but it didn't come. Frowning, he waited some more, but the rush still never arrived. Desperate for relief, he added more Dilaudid to the needle and tried again. Finally, that which he craved arrived, after more Dilaudid than he had ever used before. He relaxed on his bed, riding the high as it crashed through his body. Then, as it subsided, he fell asleep.

Reid awoke after less than an hour, stomach cramping. Running to the bathroom, he barely made it before he vomited. He knew he was crashing, and felt it, but he had never crashed this hard before.

As soon as the contents of his stomach were gone and he had cleaned up, Reid knelt on the floor, head against the cool porcelain of the bath tub. Letting his mind work as best as it could, which was a mere fraction of that which it could normally do, he tried to figure out what had happened.

It took several minutes for him to go through the facts he knew about drug addiction. Finally, he reached one that seemed perfectly likely.

He knew that the body adjusted to drugs, and that over time it took more and more drugs to achieve the desired high. He had used more Dilaudid than he normally did, and that was why he was crashing so hard. He was revolted with himself. He wanted so desperately to get clean, but instead he used more drugs than he did normally.

Reid sat there for the better part of an hour, until he felt well enough to drag himself back to bed. It was late, and he needed sleep. Sleep to make his brain function well enough to work on the case. Otherwise his team would realize something was wrong, and he couldn't have that. They were already suspicious enough, especially with the way he had treated Gideon and Prentiss, and he couldn't possibly make that any worse.

Done with the day, he curled up uncomfortably and fell asleep.

The next morning was no better. Reid had a pounding headache, and nothing, including the drug itself, would make that headache dissipate. He was miserable, wanting nothing more than to just curl up in bed with all the curtains drawn and the lights off. But he had to go into work.

Groaning, Reid managed to stand, albeit shakily. He dragged himself to the bathroom, turning the shower on cold, hoping it would help wake him up. He jumped out of the shower two minutes later, teeth chattering. His head was still pounding, but at least he was awake. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he headed out into the room proper to search through his go bag for something to wear.

Five minutes later he was heading out of his room, hair still damp, but presentable in dress pants, shirt, sweater, and tie. Hopefully, no one would realize how awful he was feeling.

When he reached the police station, he was greeted by the set faces of those of the cops and his team who were already there. "There's been a new body found," Hotch said. "Thirty-three-year-old Elizabeth McNally. She was sexually assaulted-his MO's changed. This is the first that any of the victims have shown any sign of assault."

"That's a significant change," Morgan said. "Adding a sexual element to his ritual. Considering the number of victims who were female, it's not just a random choice."

"Drugs?" Reid asked.

"We're still waiting for the toxicology report from the ME, but it's likely," Hotch said.

JJ broke in. "And he's escalating. He had a pretty constant time range between kills before, but he's cut his cooling off period almost in half."

"That means we should be on the lookout for another attack within a week," Reid replied.

"I'll tell the police to be on the lookout," Hotch said. "We can't put these people under protection, since they're not the type who would ever admit to an addiction. JJ, hold a press conference, make sure people know what's out there. This doesn't seem like the type of UNSUB to get off on the attention, so it's worth the risk."

Reid took a deep breath. He knew he would have to be alert, and be very, very careful not to reveal himself.