Please Note I do not own Criminal Minds, any of the characters, or any other copyrighted content that appears in this story. This is just based off my own personal musings after a vivid dream after watching the show. Rated T for Language and Intense Content.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I'm super busy with school. I've got 2 chapters written, so I'll post them ASAP

I couldn't tell you exactly when they arrived, but when I woke up I found one of them sitting next to me. Her blonde hair was pulled gently up into a ponytail that made her soft facial features stand out. Immediately I could feel the tension tighten in my chest even as the fear seemed to ebb away. She sat there, ever patient. I'm sure that's why she was the one who handled the media, but I couldn't figure out why that made her the one to come see me.

Maybe they thought having a woman would be more comforting than having a man there, but all I could see was another woman to end up in his basement.

"Hey, Annie. I don't know if you remember me. My name is-"

"Agent Jareau. JJ. You're with the BAU." My voice was soft but there was still determination left in me. Did they really think I would ever forget any of them? Any of it?

She let the silence encompass us while I tried to regain my bearings. There was that annoying fatigue that always lingered after drug induced sleeps, but other than that I was alert. "I need to get home. I have classes to study for and a cat to feed."

I heard JJ sigh as I pulled myself out of the hospital bed and slid my shoes back onto my feet. I didn't even bother looking for my blood stained shirt and just resigned to wearing the scrubs they had given me.

"I'll take you home to gather some of your things, but we need to move you to a safe location. Your parents are under police protection in Tahoe until we get this situation resolved." JJ stayed with me every step of the way. I think she knew I just wanted to run. However, I had no intention of resisting the FBI.

Better in a safe house than a jail cell.

Turned out I had already been signed out into police custody at the hospital, so I was shuffled into one of those oh-so very familiar SUVs they loved to travel in.

"Agent Prentiss."

My acknowledgment of the brunette sitting in the driver's seat was less than exuberant which is why I think the two women were silent the entire ride to my home. They reminded me we were only here to gather the necessities, to which I insisted my cat was indeed a necessity.

I stacked up my piles of clothes while my cat snoozed in my open suitcase, not concerning himself with the orange tufts of fur he was leaving behind to cover my clothes. Once he and my wardrobe were packed up, all that was left were the items in my bathroom.

Yes, I could have just bought a new tooth brush and more shampoo, but I needed my things to save my sanity.

What I found inside, however, I could have done without.

Scrawled across my mirror in I don't want to know what was a message from him. The red color of his writing stood out harshly in contrast with my otherwise orange bathroom, capturing my attention.

"Until next we meet… you WILL be mine."

Emily's voice startled me out of my frozen state and JJ was there to quickly usher me away. They called in a crime scene unit to secure the area as the two agents rushed me to the police station while the safe house location was changed. They were worried about something being compromised, so I was forced to wait patiently in a small room I think was intended for interrogations. My cat meowed sadly from his crate, but I didn't move. Letting him out would have just taunted time.

Kind of like letting me out of that basement just to suck me back in.

I realized what a sad reflection of my life that had become, but didn't have time to dwell on it as yet another agent walked in.

"Doctor Reid, right?" His hair was longer and was wearing an awful pair of glasses last time I saw him, but the youthful – yet troubled – naivety still exuded from him.

"Good memory." It was an ironic comment – or maybe it wasn't irony, I was too tired to really care – coming from the man with an eidetic memory. Still, it made me smile, which made me realize how rarely I had done that in the past few months as my muscles contracted and pulled the corners of my mouth upwards just in turn served to make me more depressed.

Rascal, my neglected tabby, whimpered dejectedly as I watched Reid observe me. I couldn't help but wonder if he was profiling me, but wouldn't dare ask.

"So, are you my new babysitter?"

His gentle laughed eased my nerves, but his answer didn't really convince me. "I just figured it would be good to keep you company and see if maybe you wanted to talk?"

That unsure hesitation was still in his voice, mixed in with the rushed words, which made it nigh impossible to tell him no, even though I just wanted to forget.

I mean, what did he want me to say? That I regret escaping from that basement because now two people were dead for talking to me? That in that moment when I thought he had caught me I was ready to throw myself against his knife just to make it stop? That there hadn't been a day where I hadn't thought about ending it all since breaking out of that basement?

That everything was crumbling around me?

"I'm fine." My voice came out sharper than I had intended and the profiler knew I was lying before the words even came out. "How would you feel if everyone you knew, that you cared for, ended up dead for it? I should have stayed in that basement and died with those other girls. I shouldn't be alive." My voice fell as my eyes drifted to focus on my trembling hands that rested on top of the table. I could feel the pity exuding from him, which only made me more disgusted with myself.

Reid gave me a soft look as he seemed to chew on his words. "I would be a mess." For some reason, I believed he was being honest. "But you aren't and that's what matters. You're alive and we're going to keep you that way." He squeezed my hand awkwardly before excusing himself to answer his buzzing phone.

I'm still not sure whether I wanted him to stay or not.

I don't know how long I was actually in that room, but it felt like days before the oldest agent on the team, David Rossi, came in to escort me to the vehicle. Even though he looked the part, he seemed to be uncomfortable – if only slightly – around people young enough to be his kid.

Or maybe it was just me. It wasn't like I was very easy to talk to, what with my withdrawn and cold nature. I told myself it was because I was trying to protect everyone else, but I knew it was really because I was losing my ability to function in society.

He had taken so much from me already.

We sat silently in the SUV while he drove me around until I realized we had finally made our way back into the mountains. I won't pretend it didn't unsettle me to be heading back up there, but we weren't headed anywhere near where the part was, so I did my best to shake it off.

"We're here."

Agent Rossi's voice, which still held that slight New England accent, snapped me back to reality as we pulled through an iron rod fence. I took a deep breath as we pulled into the garage and waited for the door to close completely before getting out of the car.

The first thing I did was let my poor cat out, who proceeded to seek out his litter box and hide inside of it. I could empathize with his need to escape, but I didn't exactly have a box to go hide inside of.

The house was so empty I felt like my heartbeat would reverberate off the walls along with my timid footsteps. I only took a moment to dump my bag inside my room before making my way towards the commotion in the kitchen.

All I could make out was the smooth and deep voice of Derek Morgan ordering people to take different positions around the house to check for any holes in security. "Check the blind spot on the south side." He put down the walkie he was talking into just long enough to give me a blindingly white smile before returning to his work.

I won't even pretend that I minded the attention from him. He was beyond gorgeous.

I sighed boredly before returning to my room and collapsing to my bad. Rascal had found his way to me and has burrowed himself inside my covers, snoring softly. I couldn't help but feel hopeless in that moment. Instead of him being in a jail cell it was me trapped inside this damned house.

Again I was interrupted from my contemplation, this time by a demanding knock at my door. The roll of my eyes couldn't be prevented as I pulled myself off the bed and opened the door.

There, standing in front of me, was the tall, dark haired man with the gravelly voice who saved me.

"I'm so sorry this is happening again."

It was Agent Hotchner.

It was my rescuer, back to protect me.