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A/n hey all, here's the next chapter for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think and thanks to you all for your wonderful reviews. And thanks to my outstanding beta REIDFANATIC for helping me whip this story into shape.
The jet touched down on the tarmac at the very instant the sun dipped below the horizon. The bright golden light that had streamed into the cabin suddenly went purple, and Reid blinked his eyes in surprise at the change. The rain that had seemed to be never ending was gone. The sky was rose and violet with golden clouds at the horizon.
The plane slowed and stopped. Reid sat still, hoping to be the last one off the plane. If he were quiet enough, he might become invisible and Morgan wouldn't ask him to come out for a drink with them.
"Hey Reid… You do know that plane landed, right?"
Too late, he should have known that Morgan wouldn't just let him be. "Yes Morgan, I noticed," he said shortly.
Maybe he'll take the hint and leave.
"Then why are you still sitting there? Prentiss and I are going out for a drink and we're meeting Garcia later."
"Not tonight Morgan," He said with as much finality in his voice that he could manage.
Morgan blinked, but stood his ground "Come on Man. You got to stop moping around. I told you -"
Reid shouted him down. "I said no Morgan! I'm going home."
Morgan watched in astonishment as Reid stood, grabbed his bags and pushed past him to the exit.
"What's the matter with him?" Emily asked bewildered.
"I think I know some of it, but I'm sure there's more to the story."
Reid reached his little house half an hour later. He parked, grabbed his bags and made his way into the house. The slamming of the door behind him didn't help his frustration. Morgan didn't know when to quit sometimes and it was beginning to get on his nerves. Why couldn't his partner understand that he wanted to be left alone to figure things out?
The house was quiet and empty. No other human being marred the silence that he used to think he liked. Now the silence seemed to press on his ears like thick molasses. Coming home to emptiness wasn't fun anymore, now that Katie filled his thoughts despite his logical brain telling him to forget her. Perhaps he should have taken Morgan up on the drink instead of getting mad and telling him off. The problem was, if he called his friend and apologized, it would set a bad precedent. Morgan would just think he could "talk" Reid into going another time without a fight.
It was fully dark when he emerged from the shower and went to the closet for a pair of jeans. He also pulled a long sleeved denim shirt the color of cranberries out of the back of his closet. He dressed, adding one burgundy sock and one dark blue sock to the ensemble. He took a battered black leather jacket from the hall closet after donning his Converse shoes. His keys were on the table in the entryway off the living room. He picked up the keys and put them, with his wallet, into the front pocket of his jeans. His Glock went into the waistband of his jeans, and was hidden when he pulled on the leather jacket. He added his badge to the other front pocket of his pants.
His car started on the first time for a change. It wasn't that his salary, or the money he won on weekend trips to Vegas didn't cover maintenance on the old car, he just didn't have time. When he did have time, he always forgot about the car till he tried to start it. One day the car was going to leave him stranded by the road somewhere, but for now it was running fine enough to get him where he needed to go. Though it was about that time to make another trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, and always he'd promise himself to get the car repaired. The thought of buying a new car never crossed his mind.
It took half an hour, but he eventually found what he was looking for. It was a club he'd found just driving around in the days when the cravings for Dilaudid was a fire in his brain and he couldn't sleep. It was before he found his support group. It had seemed to call out to him and overpower the desire for the liquid poison he had been battling with to stay sober. It was called "The Back Alley."
He parked the old Volvo at the end of the street. The club was a remolded warehouse that was rectangular in shape and huge. It sat back from the street and at an angle to the southeast corner of the block. He could see the strobes flashing in the high windows and people entering the large double doors at the center of the facing wall. He'd just parked and hadn't left the car, but he could hear, and feel, the low pounding bass underlying the music that radiated from inside the club.
The music got louder as he walked across the blacktop parking lot to the entrance and joined the people shunting into the entrance. The smell of sweat and smoke twisted around him as he entered the dark interior. Strobe lights pierced the crowd that writhed around him. Bodies swayed, and twisted, and jumped on the dance floor as heavy metal roared and blocked out everything, but the desire to get lost in the music. He let himself get caught up in the crowd. It jostled him into strangers that held onto each other like they would drown if they let go.
The wave of music and the crowd moved him to one side of the warehouse where he washed up against a table like the tide of the ocean on the beach. He blinked against the strobe and saw that the table was empty. Small red votives candles were the only illumination besides the pulsing red and blue lights.
A waitress in black leather and stiletto heels maneuvered through the crowd like she had been born in chaos. Reid waved her away and she smirked at him as she swerved off in the opposite direction. He watched the dancers closest to him, and ignored several different come-ons from women and at least two men. He was here for the music not companionship. The screaming guitars and thumping percussion was just the thing to drive out all the grotesque things he had to deal with everyday. There was just something about the loud music that shut down the images that careened around his brain and made it so he couldn't sleep.
The music changed at the same time someone walked up to him. In the dark, strobe filled light, he saw Katie standing next to his table. He blinked, sure that she was an illusion, but when he opened his eyes again she was still there.
"Come dance with me…"
"What… no, I thought you -"
"Dance with me Spencer Reid."
The order, delivered in the musical voice that had haunted his dreams and waking hours pulled him to his feet. He followed her into the crowd despite wondering what she was doing there in the first place. He'd never seen her there before…
"You're so tense Spencer. Loosen up," She shouted over the crowd that was pushing them closer together.
She waved her hands over her head and let her body writhe and sway to the loud hammering music like the rest of the crowd. This kind of dancing was more Reid's style than the formal ballroom dancing his mother had taught him when she was in her right mind for a while when he was thirteen. The freedom and abandon that came with just moving to the beat of the music could be very intoxicating, more than anything he ever found in a needle. It didn't matter who you were on a dance floor. Everyone around them was after the same thing - leaving their cares and problems behind.
"What are you doing here?" He yelled over the noise.
"The same thing as you," She said.
"What's that," He was getting tired of shouting. He was getting tired of the games with her!
"You know, or you wouldn't be here."
"Why are you speaking in riddles? One minute you seem terrified to be with me, and the next you don't care where we are or what we're doing. I don't understand what you want."
She smiled and danced a bit closer to Reid. He could smell lilacs over the smell of sweat that was the most pervasive scent in the air.
"Just relax…"
"I thought you had a boyfriend."
"Don't spoil it."
He could see the effort it took for her to keep the terror out of her eyes. It was completely incongruous to the way she was acting. It didn't make sense… Why couldn't he profile her? What was blocking the skills he depended on?
"I'm not; I just want to know why you're here." He finally said, not expecting an answer, but needing one all the same.
She frowned and took his hand, pulling him through the crowd to a hallway that led off to rest rooms. She was much stronger than she looked and he couldn't get free of her hand.
"I'm here because I need you."
"What do you need?"
"I can't tell you."
But she could tell him, he could see it in her eyes. She was waging some horrible inner battle that didn't make sense to him.
"Why, I want to help you. Is he hurting you? "
"Reid…" A strong voice was shouting over the crowd.
A familiar, strong voice, which was the last one Reid, wanted to hear. He turned around and saw Morgan struggling through the crowd with Garcia and Emily in tow.
"Katie, those are my friends, come meet -" He'd turned back and saw that she was gone. He looked around and couldn't see her. Where had she gone? Why did she keep running away from him?
"Reid…" He turned around again when a big hand fell on his shoulder. "Hey man, what's wrong?"
"She was just here."
"Who…"
"You know who," Reid shouted.
"What's wrong Reid," Garcia added her voice to the din and confusion around them.
"Nothing… I have to go."
"Reid… Where are you going?" Emily shouted.
"I have to go find her."
He elbowed his way through the crowd, ignoring some angry looks and furious oaths thrown at him by the people he knocked over in his hurry. He disappeared fast in the gloom of the dance floor leaving his friends to stare after him.