"Things get rather interesting! Thnx for reading everyone! And hopefully I will have my new story 'Stranded in the Desert' up by the end of the month. Also I have a new poll up if you're interested…"

White Light-Chapter 7

Absolutely.

The blunt answer had caught SSA Aaron Hotchner off-guard. As William Reid admitted to him that he thought his son was suicidal at one point in his life, his voice distilling a mixture of emotions, something bordering absolution and knowing, Hotch realized at that exact moment that his youngest agent had tried to kill himself when he was a child. He sat up a little straighter and neatly tucked away the file-sized list of questions he still had for William about Reid. He had promised that there were no more questions; the least he could do was keep to his word.

"If you'll excuse me, Agent Hotchner, I have to go back to work." William said shakily. He stood up on unstable legs and watched as 'Agent Hotchner' did the same. With a dismissive nod from the other man, William brushed against Hotch on his way out. His hand hovered over the doorknob, though. He quickly snapped his head around as pulled the door open. "Don't tell my son."

"I am legally obliged to keep this conversation between us. You came forward with information about our case, and even though the statue of limitations is up, you're still a 'witness'." Hotch nodded.

"Good." With that, the door slammed shut.

~* WL *~

Aaron Hotchner walked out of the office a few minutes after William had. He came out just in time to see his youngest agent walk back inside the building with Greg and Morgan. He had noticed his two agents, especially Reid, who had a tendency to try and avoid the local police, had taken a liking to the goth-like agent. He wasn't sure if it was because of Greg's age or because of some other matter that he hadn't been informed of yet. Either way, he was glad that Greg and Reid seemed to be 'hitting it off'.

"Reid, did you guys find anything?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, actually." Morgan nodded.

"We found a common link between all the victim- a picture of them all in what is most likely a support group. Everyone that was hit was in the picture as well as some other children and an adult- an Annabelle Gradley." Greg added. He turned to Reid, he then passed the evidence bag to Hotch.

"He left the group, probably after he started to cope with his parents' divorce better." Reid said. 'There's a note on the back saying that he would be missed and instructions to stay in touch."

"She's not our UnSub, but she will be able to help us find the UnSub." Hotch nodded. "Good work."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to search for the girl with Reid. We both grew up in Vegas, and I'm certain that we'd have a better chance of finding her….with help of Garcia, that is." Greg asked. Hotch seemed taken aback by how uncomfortable Greg was in front of him, but he nodded his head anyways.

"You're right; call Garcia and have her help. We need to find Gradley. Morgan, I want you to stay back and help with profile." Then, he turned back to Reid and Greg. "Call as soon as you find anything at all. Are we clear?" Hotch stressed.

Reid raised his eyebrows; of course he would tell him if they found anything! Why would he ever think otherwise…?

"We're clear, sir." Greg nodded, obviously terrified of Hotch now. Greg quickly patted Reid's shoulder with his right hand and motioned for him to follow him out the door, which he practically ran to. Reid glared at Hotch before turning around and following the officer.

Once the two younger men were out of sight, Morgan turned to Hotch and mimicked Reid's glared. " 'The hell was that? What aren't you telling us?"

Hotch looked around the room cautiously before turning his attention back to Morgan. He just shook his head and passed him a case file. "Get back to work," was the only instruction he was given before his superior.

Prentiss watched the scene with concern, and when Hotch walked away, she came out of her 'hiding spot' and joined her teammate. "What was that about?" she asked, her voice low so she wouldn't be overheard.

Morgan had started flipping through the file before Prentiss had joined him, and now, as she stood next to him, he groaned and passed the file to her. She immediately took it from his hands, and when she saw its contents, she grimaced. It was another letter, just like the other ones the victims had received, but at the end, it was signed 'William Reid'.

~* WL *~

Greg dialed Garcia's number as he sat opposite of Reid in the black SUV. He waited for the peppy voice to answer, and when it did, he smiled and put it on speaker phone.

"Hey Garcia, this is Greg and Reid." he greeted.

"Aw, is boy-genius making friends with goth-boy?" she cooed.

"No, goth-boy's making friends with genius-boy." Greg smirked. "You should know that he's too shy to make the first move." That final statement earned a smirk from everyone else in the conversation.

"What can I do for you guys?"

"We need you to search a name- Annabelle Gradley." Reid replied. "She runs a small group, most likely a support group for young kids whose parents' just went through divorce. The group may not be official, though."

"I'll be able to find her." Garcia 'pshed'. Greg and Reid could hear her elegant fingers typing away at her keyboard when a sudden beep replaced their sound.

"Annabelle Gradley- 5561 Main Street, Las Vegas," she supplied.

"Thanks Garcia." Greg smiled.

"Aw, anything for me two favorite 'under 30's.'" she joked. On that note, they hung up.

Spencer frowned as he looked over the address. He kept his eyes focused on the road as his mind went over everything he knew so far. Unfortunately, Greg could tell that he had his 'thinking' face on, and he wasn't going let it go this time.

"All right man, what's bugging you?" the black-haired man finally asked. "And don't say 'nothing', because although I may not be a profiler, I know how to read people well enough to know there's something on your mind." When Spencer didn't respond right away, Greg sighed and told him to pull over.

"Why?" Spencer frowned.

"Because I know better than to let a genius drive when he might have a case-breaking epiphany any second. It's not a happy ending, trust me." Greg smirked, although they both knew that inside Greg was in fact just concerned about Spencer and wanted to talk.

Spencer sighed as he pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. Greg promptly got out of the car and leaned against Spencer's side of it. Spencer mimicked the action. Greg stayed quiet as he watched the cars whiz past them, and he waited for his companion to start talking before breaking the silence. After a few more minutes, Spencer finally caved.

"Annabelle Gradley." He sighed. "I'm positive I know her now."

"So you were thinking once we saw the picture, 'boy, she looks familiar!', and didn't say anything?" Greg frowned.

"It's not that simple, Greg." Spencer shook his head.

"Okay… so she was a neighbor or something, I'm assuming, and this was probably before she started her group for kids dealing with divorce." Greg waited for Spencer to confirm, but he never did. Instead, he stared straight ahead and tried to separate himself from the situation. Greg wouldn't have it, though, and he pressed his side against the car so he could force Spencer to look at him. "Spencer…"

"She was a neighbor, Greg, and it was before she started the group. At the time, she was a college therapists, and on occasions she worked at my mother's university." Spencer shared.

"Oh yeah?" Greg smiled. "Genius seems to run in the family, eh?" he joked.

"Yeah, so does schizophrenia." Reid mumbled. Greg's smile slowly disappeared, and he quieted to signal for him to continue.

"What else?" he asked after a long pause in the story.

"Nothing- she was just a neighbor." Reid shrugged. Greg shook his head, though, and once more, he motioned for him to carry on. Finally, Reid decided it to be pointless to argue with Greg, and he continued.

"Annabelle was also the one who stopped me from killing myself."

"The truth is confirmed! EEK! Oh, and someone(s) mentioned the hallucinations- they're not over with- not at all! Thnx for reading; feedback is appreciated ;) !"