Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Warnings: AU (Reid is 17, but the BAU-team are the same)

AN: I've done it. I have ended my first story of Criminal Minds and I am very pleased to see how it has turned out. Thanks to everyone who read this, reviewed it and/or made this a favourite. Enjoy the last chapter and please, let me know what you think about it!

Chapter 9

Morgan had the faint urge to cradle his head in his arms and wait for this madness to simply end. In stead, he watched how the front door of the house remained closed, a teenage boy with long, brown hair just having disappeared through it. He had shouted Spencer's name, wanted to run after him, but he couldn't.

Inside that house was a murderer who currently had an entire family under his control. If Morgan had run after Spencer, there was no telling what Daniel would have don then. And so the dark skinned agent wished he knew what Spencer was planning, but his mind came up with a dozen different scenarios. Perhaps Spencer wanted to talk to Daniel, make him surrender. Or maybe he had played them all and believed Daniel actually cared for him. Or maybe-

Hotch's voice called him back to reality, "I told you he shouldn't have been here!"

Morgan cringed slightly at the accusation that lay in his boss' voice, but he chose to believe in Spencer. "What do you want me to say, Hotch," he said in a tight voice, "that I'm sorry? I guess we'll just have to trust Spencer this time."

Hotch shook his head, grinding his teeth together. "This is madness."

"I know," Morgan sighed, more to his own than to his boss.

The leader of the SWAT-team stepped forward, a slightly worried look in his eyes which wasn't something Morgan was used seeing in these kind of guys. The first thing you learned on the job was to hide away your emotions since they could endanger the entire operation. "There is a young boy in there and now a teenager," the man who Morgan only knew as Christopher said, "chances are they'll get hurt."

"Do everything in your power to prevent that," Hotch said in his usual stoic voice. He shot Morgan a dangerous glare, but Morgan ignored it. "Getting the boy and Spencer out is priority."

Christopher nodded when suddenly, he turned on his heels and faced the house again. "Snipers report movement inside the house," he announced.

Both Hotch and Morgan turned to look at the house as well. They watched with confusion how the front door opened, a thin, blonde woman rushing out while holding her son tightly in her arms. Her cheeks were wet with tears and she seemed reluctant to walk towards the collection of police, SWAT-members and FBI-agents. Morgan couldn't begin to image what was going through Donna's head at this moment.

It was Prentiss who stepped forward, leading the wife Donna away from the house and safely towards one of their black SUV's. Morgan could see Prentiss talk to the woman, soothing her and the boy, probably telling her everything would be alright. Was it all a lie?

"Why would he release the wife and son suddenly," Morgan thought out loud, gazing at Hotch with a frown on his face, "it makes no sense."

Hotch nodded after a few seconds of silence. "Probably because he has Dean Isner and Spencer Reid."

Morgan bit down on his lower lip. If Spencer got hurt or worse, killed then wouldn't it be his fault? He had allowed the young genius to come along and he had been an idiot to think that Spencer wouldn't try and do something stupid – or smart. They had Donna and her son back safely after all and Morgan couldn't help but feel strangely proud.

Christopher spun around to face both agents again. "Snipers have a clear shot of both Daniel Murray and Spencer Reid."

Morgan's eyes widened. "Spencer is a victim here," he said hurriedly, "not a target."

Christopher's eyes turned almost apologetic, "He's holding a knife."

"Take out Daniel Murray," Hotch ordered, "we'll see how Spencer reacts then."

"Hotch!"

But the Unit Chief ignored Morgan and nodded once towards Christopher who relayed the order to his snipers. Morgan saw red and felt his hands turn into fists. "Hotch," he tried again, "you can't do this. Spencer is just a kid."

"And he won't be harmed if he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Damnit!"

A shot echoed through the air, followed by the breaking of a window and Morgan could only stare at the house, holding his breath in the process.

-o-o-

A shot rang loudly.

Spencer held his breath, his vision swirling before his eyes as he watched Daniel's eyes turn empty. Blood oozed from a bullet wound in his chest and Spencer staggered back as Daniel fell forward. Dead. It didn't happen like in the movies where everything turned into a slow motion; in reality, it all happened too quickly and Spencer did not know what to do.

He threatened to fall down himself, but two strong arms held him up. Only now did Spencer realise that he was still holding the knife and with trembling hand he dropped it, disgusted with himself for even holding the weapon.

"Breathe," Dean Isner ordered him. Spencer only realized now that those two strong arms belonged to the former bully. "Come on, Spencer, breathe."

He did.

Inhaling deeply, he felt tears invade the corners of his eyes, but he tried to fight then. Slowly, very deliberately, he turned to look down at his shirt and arms only to see it covered with blood. Daniel's blood. His gaze travelled up his arms, his shoulders, his chest but he only saw blood and when he touched his face with the tip of his fingers, they reddened instantly.

There was blood everywhere and Spencer only began shaking uncontrollably.

"Where in here," Dean shouted, getting the attention of whoever had entered the house, "hurry!"

Heavy footsteps filled the house and it was only a moment later that two members of a SWAT-team entered, their guns raised. They quickly checked if Daniel was still alive and removed the gun from his dead grasp. Spencer could only stare at them, barely aware that he was being lead from the room. Only when he stood outside in the hallway, Dean just behind him, did his eyes fall on the one FBI agent he had grown to trust. The tears he had forced back only moments ago now ran freely across his cheeks, but Spencer no longer cared.

Morgan rushed towards him, his hands falling on his shoulders and worry consuming his eyes. He didn't seem to care about the blood covering the young genius while that was all Spencer could think about. "Are you alright, kid?"

What was the point in lying? "No."

Morgan helped him walk down the stairs and exit the house. They moved towards an ambulance and Spencer didn't care when two medics instantly began checking his pulse, his heart rate and breathing. He was barely aware of the hands touching him, but he could feel the intense stare of Morgan. Carefully, Spencer raised his arms, noticing how much he was still trembling and his breath hitched in his chest when he became fully aware of the sticky blood covering his skin.

"Reid, look at me," Morgan kneeled before him, taking both Spencer's hands into his own, "you did good in there. You saved Dean and his family, do you understand?"

"The blood..." Spencer's voice broke and balled his hands into fists, trying to stop the trembling, "the blood..."

"It's alright," Morgan assured him. One of the medics handed him a wet towel and Morgan gently began cleaning away the red substance, making sure he didn't make any rough and sudden movements. He had seen this a million times already and he knew Spencer was in shock.

Spencer knew this as well.

Morgan continued to clean Spencer's skin, touching it as if it were highly delicate, but Spencer didn't even notice anymore. He watched how Dean ran across the front yard of the house towards a black SUV and he watched how a little boy rushed towards his father. Dean cried openly when hugging his son and wife and Spencer wished he could see his mother.

"He is so different," he whispered to Morgan, trying to distract himself from the image of a dead Daniel laying at his feet, "Dean seems...nice."

Morgan offered him a smile, his movements halting for a short second, "You are a good kid, Spencer- I mean Reid."

Spencer chuckled sadly. "It's alright," he said softly, "it doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"No," Morgan shook his head, "it doesn't. It's over and you should feel relieved and happy, scared and confused. That's normal so don't feel embarrassed about it."

Spencer's voice became barely audible, "I understood him, Morgan, I understood everything Daniel wanted."

Morgan sighed and stopped cleaning away the blood again. In stead, he grabbed both Spencer's hand and looked straight into his eyes. "That doesn't make you a bad person," he assured the young boy, "if anything, it made you capable of taking control of the situation. For a moment there, you were a brilliant profiler."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Morgan focused back on the towel and blood, "that's what we do, Reid. We try to think like the unsub, we try to understand him which makes it...easier to catch him I suppose. It isn't always pretty to look into the minds of disturbed people."

"It isn't always pretty to look into my mind," Spencer said nervously.

Morgan frowned.

"It could have been me, you know," Spencer explained, swallowing heavily as more tears escaped his eyes. He stared at his hands which now lay folded into his lap, the trembling having stilled a bit. "Did you know that schizophrenia is genetically passed?"

Morgan blinked. "Reid..."

"I hate them," Spencer's voice was something between harsh and sad, "I hate them and I never felt sorry to learn they were dead. They bullied me, hurt me like they did so many others and finally one of them wanted revenge. It could have been me."

"It wasn't," Morgan said in an earnest voice, appearing unaffected by Spencer's words, "I like to think that I know you and you're not capable of hurting anyone because you don't want them to suffer like you have."

Behind Morgan, Prentiss appeared and she smiled kindly which suddenly turned apologetic. "Am I interrupting?"

There was a short silence, but Reid shook his head as Morgan began cleaning away the blood again.

"Dean asked me to say thank you," Prentiss said.

Spencer scoffed and turned to look back at Morgan. "I want to go home," he told him, "I want to see my mother and I want to forget about all this."

Morgan only nodded. "Sure."

-o-o-

Being back in Quantico felt like coming home to Morgan. It meant another case had ended, another unsub was gone and people had been saved. This time, however, he felt like he had actually left something behind. Spencer Reid wasn't someone he would forget easily and he hoped the boy would be alright.

He was only seventeen, but already he had lived through too much and Morgan couldn't help but worry. Or perhaps he should seek comfort in the fact that Spencer was a brilliant mind. Surely he wouldn't do anything stupid? But what was Spencer Reid first? A kid or a genius?

A deep sigh escaped his lips and he noticed Prentiss staring at him with a slight frown creasing her brow. "What?" he asked softly.

"You're thinking about him," Prentiss stated, leaning back into her chair. There lay no accusation in her voice, only an understanding and Morgan knew they would all be thinking about Spencer in the coming months.

"Yeah," he admitted.

Prentiss smiled. "He'll be fine. He's strong."

"I hope so."

-o-o-

Five Years Later

-o-o-

Spencer glanced around. It wasn't the first time he had come here, but it was his first day working here so there were feelings of nervosity. Making his way to the elevator, stepping inside and waiting until he could get out on the right floor, Spencer forced himself to take in deep breaths.

He stepped out of the elevator and glanced around. He noticed many faces, but instantly was drawn towards the ones he had come to know so well. Prentiss and Morgan were sitting at their desks, working through a stack of paperwork and Spencer felt exited. Today, he would be sitting there.

It was Prentiss who first noticed him and she almost jumped from her seat, hurrying towards him with Morgan now following her closely behind. "Welcome," she smiled, "it's good to have you on board, Reid."

Morgan beamed, a smile reaching all the way to his eyes. "Hey, kid."

"I've told you," Spencer said, not able to suppress a smile of his own, "I'm no longer a kid."

"That's right," Morgan laughed, "you're a profiler now. You're one of us."

Spencer laughed. "I like that thought."

-o-o-

The End

-o-o-