Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Author's Note(s): Okay, so I realise it has been a while since I updated and for that I am tremendously sorry. In my defence, my laptop has been broken for the past two and a half weeks and apparently it took the repairmen a stupidly long while to fix it. Can you imagine how painful that was? I mean what is a girl supposed to do with her life without a computer? I could read no fanfic updates, couldn't check the latest Harry Potter or Lost news AND I had no MSN on which to harass my friends. I had to like…go out and be social to pass the time. Sheesh, what is the world coming to when a girl has to go out and make nice in order to idle away the hours? It's a hard life.

Anyway, enough of the excuses that I'm sure half of you don't believe (I know I don't believe most the excuses some fanfic writers give for not updating :p). As always I am enormously grateful to those of you that reviewed, rogueandkurt, Carla-Leigh, didi2009 (Hehe thank you for the motivation, without it you probably would have had to wait an extra couple of days for the chapter because of my general laziness :p), Dr. Cameron, SLITH, RavennaNightwind, smokeylove, IheartTV and summersparkle. You guys are awesome. Also a huge thanks to everyone still reading. Thank you for being so patient with me. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Easier to Lie
Chapter 14

The car journey passed in an invariable silence; both agents lost in their own thoughts. JJ drove because she still hadn't forgiven Reid for his little stint in the snow the previous day. She didn't fancy another injured limb and was taking no chances.

JJ suppressed a yawn as she glanced at the map Reid was holding to make sure she was driving in the right direction. It was utterly ridiculous that they were still looking for this guy; surely they should have caught him by now. By the looks of things he was no genius and Reid was fairly sure he was in a psychotic break. It should not have taken them as long as it did to finally have a vague idea of where to look for him.

Everyone was far to distracted, JJ concluded. They were all too wrapped up in their own problems to devote their full attention to the case. As soon as they had caught this unsub, JJ fully intended to go and sort things out between herself and Emily. They were both adults after all, and avoiding each other wasn't helping anything. Hotch would have to come to terms with the fact that his marriage was coming to an end. And most importantly, Reid needed to stop doing drugs. These things were no small feat, JJ realised, and they all had a long journey ahead of them.

Not for the first time, JJ's mind floated to Gideon. He would have known what to do. There was just something about that man that was soothing, he could solve people's problems with a few kind words and a sad smile. The thing was, JJ wasn't even mad that he had abandoned them. She understood completely. Sometimes their job could be utterly soul destroying, and doing it for as long as Gideon had was bound to have had some kind of adverse effect. If anything JJ simply felt sympathy for the older man and wished that he was having better luck with his life than the rest of his team currently were.

She shook her head in a feeble attempt to empty these thoughts from her head for the time being. While some crazy killer was on the loose, JJ decided that keeping her mind clear of distractions was probably the safest way to go.

As JJ slowed the car to a stop, Reid jumped slightly as though shocked that they had actually arrived at their destination. She chose not to comment however as the young doctor took in a deep calming breath. Obviously his own thoughts had been along the same cheery path that JJ's had been on.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," said Reid in an oddly high pitched voice.

"Maybe what isn't such a good idea?" replied JJ with a sigh, she was not in the mood for Reid's cryptic utterances.

"Us wandering off into the dark with a killer on the loose," said Reid after a brief pause.

"We are F.B.I. agents! We can't not look for a killer because…" then JJ trailed off, realising what he was getting at. Herself and Reid, looking uncomfortably similar to the unsub's preferred victims, sauntering around the unsub's favoured killing grounds possibly wasn't the wisest of plans. Damn it!

Neither of them spoke for a minute and JJ desperately tried to keep her fear at bay.

"We could call Hotch…" said Reid tentatively.

"No," JJ snapped, "If Hotch thought we were in danger he wouldn't have sent us here alone."

"Yes but Hotch isn't exactly fully focussed on the case right now, he probably didn't even realise" Reid pointed out.

"He said he was sending Emily to meet us."

Reid seemed to think about this for a moment, "Well then maybe we should wait for her."

JJ was all for this idea, but her innate stubbornness would not allow her to be cowed by this unsub, regardless of past experiences.

"No, we'll go and have a look around now. Emily will call us when she gets here."

"But what if…"

"Lightning doesn't strike twice, Spencer. We'll be fine," JJ tried to force as much conviction into her voice as possible.

Reid looked unconvinced but then reluctantly agreed. So they took the torches from the glove compartment and set off into the darkness.

Immediately JJ regretted her decision to leave the car, it was impossible to stop herself from jumping at the slightest noise or the rustle of leaves. And though she didn't see it due to the fact that she was to busy concentrating on controlling her own reactions, Reid was having the exact same problem.

This wouldn't be nearly as bloody frightening if it wasn't for all the trees, JJ thought angrily to herself. JJ hated the woods with a passion. But she kept walking forward, torch held firmly ahead and searching for signs of a deranged killer. She let out a small, nervous laugh as she realised that this was really both hers and Reid's worst nightmare. Her with the woods and him with the dark. She turned to express this thought to Reid – who wasn't there.

Her breath caught in her throat and she spun around, "Spence?" she choked out softly.

"You told Hotch what now?" said a furious Emily, as her friend sped down the road to where she knew the closest most likely target would be.

"I may have told him that you weren't entirely well…as an excuse for you not to answer the phone," Charlie said in a stilted voice, she obviously knew she was treading on thin ice right now.

"Why?" asked Emily, trying her utmost to keep a lid on her rising temper.

"Well if I had said you were just sleeping he would have told me to wake you up…"

"Of course he would have! This is my job, Charlotte!" Emily hollered, throwing her arms up in the air with exasperation.

Charlie flinched, but whether it was at the use of her proper name or the tone it was said in, Emily wasn't sure.

"I am truly very sorry. I just didn't want you dragging yourself around the streets of New York with a grand total of an hours sleep in the past two days," said Charlie, and whilst she sounded sincere, Emily knew she would do the exact same thing if the situation were to arise again.

Shaking her head, Emily let out a deep breath, "I hope you know I'm not getting you a birthday present for this."

Charlie shot her an appalled glance before taking a sharp bend, "See, this is what I get for being nice to people. I give and I give and this is what I get in return?" then a small smile curled her lip, "Besides, maybe after your case is over Mr. Tall, Dark and Hansom will be feeling guilty enough to help you through this sudden bout of sickness you have. Or don't have as the case may be…"

"Yes, nothing screams 'good times' like your boss attempting to nurse you back to health from a fake illness," Emily retorted sarcastically.

"Are you saying you wouldn't enjoy a little TLC from Agent Hotchner?"

"He's my boss! If you're implying I have romantic feelings for him…"

"Are you denying it?" said Charlie in that same amused voice.

"I do not fancy Hotch," spluttered Emily.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much…"

"Grow up! We are on the way to a potential crime scene! In fact, why are you even here? This could be dangerous," said Emily, aware of how defensive she sounded and hating herself for it.

"Exactly, you think I'm going to allow you to go traipsing off alone in the dark in your fragile state?" Charlie told her, and then added, "Plus you don't know the way."

"I'm not in a fragile sta-"

"Spare me the lies please," interrupted Charlie, sounding genuinely annoyed for the first time during the conversation.

"You're staying in the car when we get there," said Emily, changing tactics.

"We'll see," was all Charlie said in reply, taking another bend.

Emily glared at her friend before turning her head to look out the window at the street lamps that seemed to be flying by. If she were honest with herself, Emily was rather glad she wasn't on her own.

After what felt like only a few minutes, but in reality was a good half hour, Charlie slowed the car to a stop outside a foreboding looking woodland area.

"That's not a park," said Emily, suppressing a thrill a fear.

"There is a park in the middle. From this side the trees aren't very thick so it will only take us a few minutes to get to it. Your friends came from the other direction and that's a longer walk so we'll probably get there the same time as them," said Charlie, peering out curiously into the darkness.

"Right."

Emily took a torch from the boot of the car, "There's only one of these," she said, waving it in Charlie's face, "You'll just have to wait here."

Even in the darkness Emily could see Charlie rolling her eyes, "Not going to happen. Let's go."

For a moment, Emily realised she couldn't move. For some reason her legs didn't seem to want to obey her. But noticing the knowing stare her friend was giving her, Emily forced herself to walk forward and not think about the crippling fear that had gripped her heart.

They walked in silence for a minute until Charlie said, "It's actually rather creepy in here at night…"

"I'm inclined to agree," replied Emily, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

There was a faint cry somewhere ahead of them.

"Did you hear that?" said Emily, this time completely failing to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Hear what?"

She heard the cry again, it sounded oddly JJ-like. Making a snap decision, Emily ran forward towards the voice, leaving a confused Charlie behind her.

Emily burst through the trees at exactly the same time as JJ.

"Reid!" JJ was shouting.

"JJ?" said Emily fearfully.

"Emily!" JJ cried, running forward and throwing her arms around the older woman with tears streaming down her face, "I don't know where Spencer's gone. He was right behind me but now I can't find him."

"Is this what they taught you at Quantico?" said an out of breath Charlie, who had just caught up with the two, "You hear potential danger so you barrel off into the darkness after it with no forethought?"

Emily ignored her, "How far back where you when you realised he was gone?" she said to JJ.

"I don't know," JJ sobbed into Emily's shoulder, "About five minutes running distance."

Suddenly, a strangled cry rang out through the trees and the three women looked up in horror.

JJ let out another heartbreaking sob and let go of Emily, "Come on! We have to go and find him."

Fully prepared to follow JJ back into the heart of darkness, Emily took her gun out and they both moved forward.

"Oh no you don't!" said Charlie, pulling back on the two agent's jackets, "You can't go in there on your own. Call your boss."

"You're right," said Emily, quickly fishing around in her pocket for her phone. Then without thinking, she shoved the phone into Charlie's hands, "You call him and tell him where we are."

Then with that, Emily and JJ ran towards the pain filled cry they had heard, leaving an annoyed Charlie behind them.

Author's Notes: So I switched perspectives in this one because…well basically because I wanted to :)

Again, I am sorry for the lack of update for a while. I promise there won't be as long a gap between this chapter and the next one (which I've already started).

Before I go, did you all enjoy the new episode? I did.

Anywho, thanks for reading!

Much love,
Rubiks