So... The story is that I'm putting this chapter up now (During the weekend), and the final chapter wil be posted either late Tuesday evening, or early Wednesday morning, depending on my work ethic when it comes to homework, and if I'm up to posting a chapter between Classical Mythology and Philosophy (Which I probably will be; I just need to remember to actually post the darn thing instead of reading... What can I say? Some of these stories... Very addidcting).

Warning for Whump! ...It's quite had to write it, especially because there's an extremely handsome picture of Matthew on my desktop, so please bear with me. (...Poor Spence) **whimper**

I own nothing pertaining to Criminal Minds!

….

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. ~ Elie Weisel

"Ten-four," Prentiss replied, hanging up the speaker and looking over her shoulder. "HEY, GUYS!" she yelled. "I think I found Reid and Ellie!"

At the sound of Prentiss' voice, Morgan looked up. "You found them?" he asked.

"I think so," Prentiss replied.

Hotch was ready. "Kurzbard, Prentiss, JJ, you're with me," he yelled as he ran to the car.

Morgan hopped down from the Ambulance. "You're not leaving me out of this, Hotch," he said. "I'm coming, too."

"No," Hotch replied. "You are going to the hospital."

"Screw the hospital, I'm fine," Morgan replied.

"You will go to the hospital, Morgan, and that's final!" Hotch demanded.

Morgan stared his supervisor in the eye. "I made a promise to Spicer," he growled. "I promised him that I would find his daughter, and that I would keep her safe." His eyes blazed. "Not to mention a member of my own family is out there. I haven't forgotten Georgia. I know you haven't either, Hotch. This guy is even worse than Hankel, and if he's got Reid, God only knows what that son of a bitch is doing to the boy." Morgan was glaring at Hotch now, fire in his eyes. "I'm going, for Ellie, for Spicer, and for Reid. And so help me God, don't you try to stop me, Hotch."

The older agent looked at his sub-ordinate for a moment before nodding. "But once this is over, you will go to the hospital, Morgan." Hotch replied. "And that's an order."

Morgan nodded once before slipping into the SUV with the others.

_CM _S6_

Ellie had finally woken up a few minutes ago and until recently had been riding on Reid's back, piggy-back style. Now, as they reached the foot of a hill leading to an empty street, Reid set her down, and she took his hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Reid shook his head, glancing around. "I don't know, Ellie," he admitted. "Right now I want to see if anyone here has power. I need to call my friends. They can't find us if they don't know where we are."

Ellie nodded, gripping his hand tightly. A second later, she let it go, terror etched in her face.

"Spencer," she cried. "It's him! The bad guy!"

Reid looked up in time to see the UnSub running down the street toward them, the echo of a gunshot preceding his arrival. Farther back, Reid could see the camper van, and the crumpled body of a man in a driveway.

Despite his physical body type, the UnSub was clearly going very fast. Reid wasted no time.

"Ellie, listen to me," he ordered, taking her arm and looking into her eyes. "I want you to run as fast as you can down the street, making as much noise as possible. And whatever happens, don't stop. Promise you won't stop running?"

She nodded.

"Good," Reid replied. "Now go! And don't stop!"

And with that, Ellie turned and ran, her bare feet pounding the pavement as she screamed. "HELP ME!"

Meanwhile, Reid turned to face the UnSub, who immediately collided with the young profiler. Reid acted quickly, shoving at the man. But his efforts were wasted as the UnSub ripped the boy's arms behind his back. Reid yowled, his foot kicking back in an effort to harm the UnSub in return.

"Stop struggling," the UnSub ordered, leaning closer to his captive, and breathing in the young man's face. "It'll hurt less." Reid snarled wordlessly in reply; the man's breath smelled of cigarettes, smoke and foul breath.

"Just remember you brought this on yourself," the UnSub chided, right before slamming Reid's head into the pavement. The younger man lay stunned for a moment, until he heard the sound of metal handcuffs locking themselves onto his wrists. Immediately, Reid bit his lip in order to keep from whimpering; all he could think of was a shack in Georgia, vials of drugs, pain and fear.

_CM _S6_

Hotch was driving at speeds of at least 80, eyes blazing. In the passenger seat sat Kurzbard, his hand already on his sidearm. In the backseat sat Morgan, Prentiss and JJ, the two women sitting on either side of the man, who was slightly fuming, his nostrils flaring.

As they turned a corner, Hotch slammed on the breaks, the vehicle jarring to the side. Morgan looked up to see Ellie Spicer, running as fast as she could, sobbing. JJ quickly opened the door and slipped out, Morgan right behind her.

"Ellie!" he cried. "Ellie, it's me, Morgan. It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"He's got Spencer!" she wailed. "He has Spencer. I-I think he's gonna… I think…"

Morgan cursed, pulling out his sidearm and running back the way Ellie had come, Hotch, Prentiss and Kurzbard following from behind moments later.

_CM _S6_

Reid moaned as the knife trailed its way down his arm for the seemingly 100th time that night. His tie had been shoved into his mouth in order to keep him from screaming after the first attacks from the UnSub's knife.

The UnSub himself hadn't even pulled the profiler back into his van; instead, the killer sat by the front wheel of his van, Reid held tightly in his grasp, his body resting between the older man's knees. The younger man's hands were restrained behind his back with his own handcuffs, and his feet scuffed the pavement with every shallow slash the UnSub made.

Reid let out a muffled gasp as the UnSub suddenly began chopping at his hair, yanking and cutting the boyish curls off with precision. Reid immediately began struggling again, his muffled, garbled protests evidently lost in the night, and the folds of his tie.

"Shhhh…" the UnSub soothed as he continued his task.

"Drop the knife!" a voice yelled suddenly.

"Hrmmmph!" Reid cried in surprise and relief.

Hotch moved forward slowly, his gun poised to shoot in his outstretched hand.

"Let my agent go," Hotch demanded, "And I won't shoot you."

The UnSub laughed. "You think you can tell me what to do?" he taunted, pulling Reid closer to him, the knife now resting on the boy's breastbone.

"I know I can," Hotch replied. "You've killed hundreds of people all across the country in the span of 20 years, including a cop. And now you have a Federal Agent at your mercy, so you decide to taunt me with his life. You have nerve, you realize that."

"I did it all for you," the UnSub hissed, stroking Reid face with his free hand; Reid struggled again, grunting his displeasure. "And Detective Spicer, of course. Shame he had to go like that, when the fun was just beginning."

"What fun?" Hotch hissed.

The UnSub smiled. "This fun." He replied, aiming the knife for his latest victim's throat.

A gunshot cracked off in the night, making everyone in the street jump. The knife fell from the UnSub's hand and he slumped forward, clearly dead. As Hotch lowered his gun, Prentiss ran forward, retrieving her battered teammate from under the man's corpse.

Hotch looked up to see Morgan holstering his still-smoking gun. He didn't say anything, just nodded. Morgan waited for his team leader to turn his back before getting in a couple good kicks at the UnSub's dead body.

Then, Morgan walked over to Prentiss and Reid. She had just pulled his tie from his mouth and was undoing the handcuffs while he leaned on her shoulder, gulping deep gasping breaths of relief.

"You alright?" Morgan asked when Prentiss had finished, concern in his voice.

Reid glanced at him for a moment before nodding. "Yeah…" he muttered. "I wanted to stop him from hurting Ellie, so I let him catch me. I was hoping you'd be nearby, and come quickly. Ellie made a lot of noise when she was running away," he paused, wiping at his bleeding forehead with his free hand. "Whatever happened to calling me 'Pretty Boy,' though?" he added.

"Right now, I'm just glad you're alive, Kid," Morgan replied, wrapping his arms around Reid's shoulders, the light of the rising sun lightening the sky just over the eastern horizon above them.

Later that morning they would run their UnSub's dental records and prints through the system, and come upon one Billy Flynn, a sad man who had lived his life with no education, his only companion being the open road, and the people he hunted. After the case was officially closed, Detective Kurzbard would officially retire, claiming old age.

Reid and Morgan would both be rushed to the hospital to join Rossi. Ellie would be reunited with her aunt when she arrived at the hospital with the two agents, situated in the ambulance they all arrived in together.

But for now, it didn't matter. None of it did.

The dawn had come.

….

A/N: I warned you about the whump! And yes, it's very duifficult to write whump when your desktop photo is MGG. ...It's also hard to read Harry whump when you have a poster of Daniel on your wall. :)

Anyway, the next and final chapter will be posted for sure by Wednesday night, so you can read my little story, then turn around and watch what really happens! I'm dying to see what'll happen... And what secrets will be in store for them! I LOVE SECRETS! :D :D :D

Please review! And PLEASE check out some of my other stories...

*~N_CBAU~*