Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Warnings: AU

AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews! They make me happy! As promised, here is the next chapter and I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm not going to ramble this time because I knew it's pointless. Here it goes...

- The Wounded -

Chapter 6

Spencer folded both his hands around the mug standing before him. The coffee he had received from the blonde FBI agent was gone and the stone was now cold, but somehow, Spencer felt a reassurance holding it. Perhaps it was because it offered him something to hold on to. His mind was still spinning with a thousand different thoughts and emotions.

Only a few hours ago the entire situation with the murders had been distant, as if it wasn't really his concern in the first place, but now that Mr. Cameron had been murdered as well... A shudder ran down Spencer's back and he swallowed heavily, trying to make some sense out of everything. Did he even feel sorry for his death? Was he to blame? Mr. Cameron might have...different tastes, but he did have a family. Had a family?

Spencer held his breath, not wanting to think about those kind of questions. He suddenly longed to be home, to feel the presence of his mother and look upon her with a faint smile. Was it sad he wanted to be in her arms right now, safe and sound? Spencer refused to think so. He might be a genius, but that didn't mean he could handle this situation entirely on his own because as much as he tried to convince everyone around him, he wasn't an adult.

When the door of the interrogation room opened, he watched agent Morgan enter and instantly locked eyes with him. "I want to go home," he said, watching the profiler's reaction carefully, "Please, can I go home?"

Morgan sighed heavily and halted just before the table. For a moment it appeared as if he wanted to fold his arms before his chest, but Spencer noticed how the agent suddenly changed his mind, keeping both his arms besides his body. Perhaps he was trying to come off as less threatening? Spencer wasn't in the mood to go analysing body movements.

"This is where you are the safest, kid," Morgan said, his voice surprisingly soft, "we can protect you here."

"I don't need protection," Spencer continued to stare into Morgan's eyes, "the profile tells you that. I'm not a victim, I will never be. If anything, the unsub wants to help me."

There was a short pause and Spencer knew Morgan was weighing down his words. "We can't keep you here since you're a minor and technically we need your mother's approval for even having you here. So I guess you're free to go, but let us help you at least."

The mere prospect of going home made Spencer smile and he could only nod his head. He didn't care what Morgan had in mind when he spoke about 'protecting' him.

-o-o-

When Spencer finally found himself standing in the small hallway of his house, he felt exhaustion creeping up to him. The time at the police station had drained him and Spencer longed for some sleep. He gazed back through the window of the front door to find a black SUV parked just outside and he wondered how long the car would stay there.

Slowly, he turned his gaze to his left and saw that his mother's bedroom door was carefully shut, telling the young genius that Diana was not about to exit her room any time soon. She usually left her door slightly ajar, claiming that she wanted to hear her son's every movement and breath in the house, but not today. She only closed her door when she was extremely paranoid and for once, Spencer couldn't blame her.

"Thanks for bringing me home," he said while turning on his heels and finding Morgan and Prentiss standing in the kitchen already. He walked closer towards them and noticed how they were both examining the close environment as if searching for more clues. "Could you please go now?"

The question had left his mouth much harder than he intended.

"I would much rather stick around just a bit longer," Morgan said in a playful voice, yet Spencer knew exactly what he meant by that. They didn't want to leave him from their sight, believing that the unsub might contact him again, perhaps even personally. They wanted to be around to watch his every move.

"I know," Spencer sighed softly, looking directly into Morgan's brown eyes, "but I have to talk to my mother. I'm sure she hasn't eaten all day and as long as you two are around, she isn't coming out of her room. So please."

Morgan and Prentiss exchanged a quick glance before nodding and already, Spencer felt relief flood him. "All right," Prentiss said, "but we are going to place a discrete car down the street so that someone is nearby all the time. I know you don't like that, but it's for your own good."

"Thanks."

-o-o-

Hotch, staring at the board with all the evidence, pulled open his phone and held it before him. "Garcia, you're on speaker." Since Prentiss and Morgan were with Spencer Reid, that only left him, Rossi and JJ currently in the police station.

Garcia's words came somewhat unexpected. "How did the meeting with that kid go?"

"It went fine," Hotch told her, rolling his eyes as he felt there was little time to be discussing Spencer Reid at the moment. They hadn't gotten any closer to finding the unsub and as every hour passed, the chances of finding another body grew. "Tell me you got something."

"I narrowed down your list of potential suspects to forty," Garcia started rambling, "I know that's still a lot, but I searched for all males between twenty and thirty that went to the Las Vegas high school which is a large school and only put those on the list that have a steady day job, don't seem to have much of a social life and live in an apartment or a small house."

"Or profile also says the unsub is fit and strong," Rossi added, a faint frown creasing his brow, "have you been able to include those factors?"

"No," Garcia said, sounding disappointed, "because these men don't usually go to an actual fitness club."

Hotch exhaled. "Our unsub is somehow connected to Spencer Reid," he said, putting together the different pieces of the puzzle, "Garcia, can you search for anyone that had a close connection to him during high school? Perhaps they went to a same club or something?"

There was a short pauze with only the clicking of a keyboard coming through the call. "I am looking through data which I pulled from old year books. Spencer Reid wasn't in many clubs during high school, but I do have four names overlapping between these two lists."

"Read them," JJ said, walking towards their white board and picking up a felt pen.

"All right, let's see," more clicking of a keyboard, "there is one Lucas Hale, a Chandler Dorian, Ryan Summers and Daniel Collins. I will send addresses right about...now."

Hotch suppressed a smile trying to break through. "Thank you, Garcia. Let us know if you find anything else."

"Garcia out." The line disconnected and Hotch closed the phone.

"All right," he turned towards the rest of his team, "that narrows it down. I'll get Morgan on the phone, he should be with Spencer and perhaps he can recall any of these men and point us in the right direction." He dialled a new number and waited patiently for an answer. Morgan's phone quickly sounded through the line. "Morgan, is Spencer with you?"

"No, we're on our way back to the station. There is a protective detail before his house right now."

Hotch silently cursed the situation. They couldn't afford to lose any more time now that the day was coming to an end. There was a chance already that their unsub was killing someone right now. "We need to talk to him again," Hotch said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "we have four names and we need to know if he remembers anyone. Perhaps he'll recognize someone."

"We'll go back. I'll call when I'm have something."

-o-o-

Spencer pressed his ear against the wood of the door and closed his eyes, trying to remember how long he had been standing there. "Mom, please open the door, it's me, Spencer."

For the first time in what felt like hours, Spencer received an answer, although it wasn't one that gave him comfort. "You're working for the government, aren't you," Diana's voice was filled with accusation.

"No, mom," Spencer sighed, not in the mood for another crisis. It had been such a tiring day and all he really wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep. "I would never do that," he told her through the door, "I know how much you would hate that fact. I'm just your son and I really want to see you. I need to see you."

Tears had begun to well up in his eyes and Spencer had noticed the insecure tremble in his voice. He knew his mother had as well.

There was a short silence followed by the turning of a lock and Spencer quickly stepped back, watching his mother finally gazing at him with intense eyes. Spencer didn't know why he did it, but he rushed forward and threw his arms around her shoulders. Diana tensed under his touch, but finally relaxed and returned the hug. "What did they do to you, sweety?"

Spencer inhaled deeply, enjoying the way his mother had called him sweety. It was far better than traitor or spy. Could it really be that this was his mother holding him? "Nothing," he said, letting go of his mother, "I just missed you, that's all."

"Look at you," Diana's eyes moved up and down her son's body, "much too thin. Have you eaten properly today?"

Spencer was slightly taken aback by his mother alertness. It had been a long time since she was this...sane. He once again hugged her, knowing that the moment wouldn't last very long, hours at most and so he wanted to make most of it now. "Let's eat," he said, finding a worried mother staring back at him, "because I am hungry."

"I'll cook something," Diana smiled.

Spencer chuckled, "You can't cook, mom. Let me take care of it."

Diana smiled and nodded, following her son towards the kitchen. "Someone came by this afternoon," she said, starting to bite her nails as she spoke. It was a habit she could never leave, betraying that she always felt something was wrong anyway. "He seemed like a nice young man, you should have more friends like him."

Spencer froze and turned on his heels to look at her. His voice was barely stronger than a whisper, "He was here?"

"He talked to me about your high school period," Diana explained, unaware of her son's sudden distress – which was very unusual, but Spencer simply kept on staring at her, "about how you were the best at playing chess. I told him you still are, but he knew that of course, he appeared to know quiet a lot about you actually."

Spencer swallowed heavily.

Diana merely continued, "He said he wanted to come by again so I told him you'd be home soon enough, that the police couldn't keep you long at the station."

His heart beat in his chest as if it were trying to leap away from him and panic rose in his mind. No, this was more than panic, this was terror and Spencer bit down on his lip. He needed to stay focused. "He knows I spoke to the police?" His voice shot in the air which did cause his mother to look at him strangely. "What was his name, mom?"

"He's your friend, honey," Diana almost seemed to reprimand him, "how can you not know the name of your friend?"

"He's not my friend, mom!" He took a step towards her and grabbed her hand tightly, gazing straight into her light eyes. "He's dangerous and you should never let him into the house again."

Diana eyed him suspiciously, but it wasn't her voice that made his blood run cold suddenly.

"It hurts to hear that, Spencer."

Spencer spun around, finding himself standing before a strong, young man who seemed to have come from his mother's bedroom as well. Coldness washed over the young genius as he realised that the unsub had been here the entire time already, he had been here while Morgan and Prentiss had been present. Spencer whimpered softly and stepped back.

The intruder had short blond hair and soft brown eyes in which something lay hidden; something Spencer couldn't quite place. It was a gaze he had never seen before in his eyes, in Daniel's eyes because he would never forget a face. Spencer never forgot anything. He stumbled back even further, finding himself trapped between a murderer and an utterly confused mother. He needed to act quickly and set priorities so he turned to look at Diana, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Please go to your room, mom," he said, keeping his voice as smooth as possible, "I need some time with...my friend." He watched Diana nod happily and felt her hand on his cheek for a moment. Oh, how he missed his mother.

"I won't bother you," Diana told him, dropping her hand back to her side, "I'm sure you have a lot to talk about." She disappeared then, leaving her son all alone with the murderer of five men. Slowly, he turned back to Daniel and his eyes instantly fell to the sharp knife resting in Daniel's hand. "I'm sorry," Spencer apologized, "I didn't mean to say those things about you."

"You're right, Spencer," Daniel sounded very nonchalant, but the knife kept twisting between his fingers, "I am dangerous because I did do horrible things. Don't you agree, though, that they had it coming? I never intended to kill that filthy man who ever laid a hand on you, but seeing him pissed me off."

Spencer nodded quickly, too quickly. "You protected me," he said, hoping that he knew exactly the right things to say to keep Daniel busy. There was a car right outside that was meant to protect him so why wasn't anyone busting in his door already? He needed to buy time, that was all that mattered. "I'm thankful for that, Daniel."

Daniel took a step closer towards him. "No," he said slowly, "I don't think you are. I did those things, I murdered those men because they made our life a living hell. I thought you would be glad they were dead, that I made them suffer."

"Honestly, I didn't feel anything when I learned they had died," Spencer hated it that he was speaking the truth this once, "but that's all behind us. They can't hurt us any more, no one can. High school is over, Daniel, and we should just move on."

"How can you say that?" Daniel sounded disgusted and he raised the knife until it almost touched Spencer's cheek. Where only a moment ago his mother's hand had rested, now lay the sharp tip of a knife. "We were miserable and I thought we had a bond. If we didn't have each other, then who did we have? We must stick together, Spencer, even now because there is still one bastard out there-"

"No," Spencer shook his head, "enough killing, Daniel, just stop. Turn yourself in, they'll understand why you did it."

Daniel snorted. "Don't lie to me," he said threateningly, "you've never been able to lie to me."

"I'm sorry," the young boy cried as the tip of the knife cut into his skin. He could instantly feel blood trickling down and he wanted to run away, but he found himself frozen, unable to move. "I'm sorry, Daniel, I won't lie to you again."

"I know you won't," Daniel smirked and his hand propelled forward, hitting Spencer in this face.

Spencer's world swam before his eyes, his vision blurring and his legs giving out and just before he hit the hard and cold stones beneath him, he fell unconscious, still wondering when someone would be busting down the door to help him.

AN: Ha, that was so much fun to write, but not easy. I'm sorry if Diana is OOC or if her paranoid schizophrenia isn't correct, but I'm not a doctor or psychiatrist. Anyway, what do you think?