This is a revision of the chapter I posted earlier this week. I had a few mistakes that were inexcusable that I needed to fix. Thanks Kasey64 for helping me out! Nothing major has changed though so you don't have to reread this chapter if you don't want to.

Disclaimer: You know the drill...I'm poor and don't have enough money to own the show.

Thanks for all the well wishes and comments! You guys rock!

I gotta tell you guys that I lied...this is not the last chapter of this story. I have one more that needs some finishing touches before I can publish it. I tried to fit it all into this one, but I was getting upwards of 7,000 words so I decided to split them. So good news!

Please forgive my writing mistakes! I'm not perfect.

Enjoy!

Reid could hear the airboat getting closer and closer to the dock. The sound of the fan was soon overwhelming his ears and blocking out the crackling fire coming from the smoldering house. If at all possible he curled his body into a tighter ball and waited for the inevitable.

Reid covered his ears with his palms trying to block out the roaring sound and efficiently silencing any voices that may be coming off from the boat. He could feel the vibrations of the boat getting closer and anticipated that at any moment the driver would have to turn off the engine to coast into the dock. The agent wanted to force his head up to see whomever was on the boat, but the fear of finding John glaring at him kept it buried in his trembling legs.

He heard the boat's fan cut off and knew that he was moments away from salvation or death. Reid constricted his body position to its maximum point and held his breath as he felt the boat bump into the quay.

A muffled sound reached his ears through his palms. The genius was too overcome with fear to even try to register what the sound meant. In fact, he was more focused on the heavy footsteps thumping across the dock to worry about a meaningless noise. Based upon the tremors Reid knew that whoever was approaching him was quite large and muscular. Their footsteps were calm and cautious, almost like they were trying to observe the huddled form before them.

Reid was positive that John was approaching him based on the tauntingly slow steps. The man was prolonging his captive's anticipation of what was to come as another form of mental torture.

The hand that landed on his shoulder nearly made him jump out of his skin. He hadn't expected a gentle touch to be John's first contact with him after blowing up his house. What he thought was going to happen was a kick in the ribs and another trip into the swampy water of the bayou. But no…he felt gentle fingers shake his shoulder with concern instead.

"Reid! Reid, it's me Morgan! Look at me! Are you alright?"

The words that were once muffled became clear when Reid finally removed his hands from his ears. He registered the familiar voice and decided to take a look to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Slowly he turned his head to the left and allowed his eyes to peak out from their hiding spot.

Relief flooded through his body when he saw his best friend in the whole world crouching down next to his huddled form. "Morgan?" he whispered.

"Yeah, it's me kid. We're here. We've finally found you," Morgan said with a big smile on his face.

"How?" Reid asked, incredulous that his plan may have actually worked.

"The smoke cloud. We followed it here," Morgan explained quickly starting to get worried about how weak his friend sounded. "Are you okay?"

Reid ignored the question and muttered, "It worked…it actually worked."

"Reid! Reid! Focus kid. We need to get you out of here. Can you stand?" the worried agent asked as his boss finally climbed on the dock after calling in to the other boats.

"Can't leave," Reid responded quietly with something close to shame lacing his voice.

"Why?" Hotch asked troubled over his agent's reluctance to get away from the place he was being held against his will.

"Because of this," Reid answered finally unwinding himself from his scrunched up position and shaking the bulky chain that was attached to his metal collar.

A growl escaped Morgan's lips when he saw the manacles and chains that were attached to his friend. He scooted closer to Reid and started inspected his bindings. Morgan could tell that the kid was humiliated at being found in such a state by his coworkers so he tried to do the examination as quick as possible. Unfortunately, the chains were sturdy, strong, and locked tight. Morgan looked at the collar last and he must have lingered there too long, for Reid tried to pull away from his friends prying hands.

"It's okay, I'm done," Morgan said gently to the jumpy agent. He looked up at his superior who was hovering over the two agents and said, "We need a key. They are way too complicated to pick in a reasonable amount of time."

"Reid, do you know where the key is?" Hotch asked knowing that the answer wouldn't be a good one.

"John has them."

"Where's John?"

"John leaves every morning around five to do his job. He won't be back until dusk. Please, I don't want to be here when he gets home," Reid choked out looking up at Hotch with pleading eyes.

"You'll be long gone before he ever arrives," Hotch assured the boy. They wouldn't let that man near Reid again. The only disadvantage to finding Reid alone was that they couldn't put the man behind bars where he belonged. They were going to have to work with the state and local police to come up with some sort of search plan to find Mr. Brookins. "Morgan, go see if there are any bolt cutters on the boat. Oh, and grab the first aid kit too."

The agent didn't like being told to leave his newly found friend but did as he was instructed. Once they were alone Hotch took the opportunity to inspect his injured agent more closely.

"Reid, where are you hurt?" he asked as he reached his hand out to the young agent.

The genius shrunk away from the hand and stuttered out, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"Reid, I can tell that you're not fine just by looking at you. You're trembling. I bet if I touched your forehead it would be burning up. What else is wrong and don't tell me you're fine again?" Hotch said scolding the boy for his stubbornness.

"My leg. I was bitten by an alligator two days ago. I think it's infected," Reid said purposefully avoiding some of his more embarrassing injuries.

"I can tell that there's more," Hotch said with a no nonsense voice.

Reid really didn't want to tell him about how John etched the word "slave" into his abdomen or beat him with a belt, so he settled on something less demeaning.

"He broke four of my fingers," Reid revealed holding up his hands.

Hotch gasped at the sight of the mangled digits on both of Reid's hands. All of the digits in question were bruised and swollen, but the two index fingers looked like they were twisted about at unnatural angles. "Why?"

"I did something that he told me not to do," was all Reid would say as an explanation.

Morgan chose that moment to come back to his friends. He tossed the medical kit to Hotch and said, "There aren't any bolt cutters on the boat. Not that I expected there to be anyways since they're usually tour boats. Reid, did this guy keep tools anywhere?"

"Yeah, there is a tool shed around back, but I don't know if it survived the blast."

"I'll go take a look," Hotch offered, hoping that leaving the two best friends alone would allow Reid to open up more about his injuries. "Morgan, take care of his leg and fingers while I'm gone."

"Huh? Reid…man…what's up with your fingers?" Morgan asked missing out on the earlier explanation.

Reid held up his hands and showed off his wounds. "Sometimes I would forget an instruction that John would give me so he broke my fingers as punishment," he explained glossing over the details again.

"Wow, I didn't think you could forget anything," Morgan said unconvinced that his friend would be so stupid as to forget John's instructions four times.

"Well, you would be surprised at how much your mind blocks out when you're in a situation like I was. There were too many other things distracting my thoughts so his directions weren't always at the forefront," Reid answered afraid that he was revealing too much information.

"So what did you do?" Morgan asked while taping the fingers on Reid's left hand together.

"Um…I…ouch!" he exclaimed hoping to divert the other agent's attention.

"Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean to hurt you," he apologized.

"It's okay."

"Alright, now which leg is hurt?" Morgan said after finishing the fingers and successfully sidetracked from his previous question.

"My right one," he said keeping his answers simple while he pulled his pant leg up to his knee exposing his whole right shin.

There was a shabby bandage wrapped around the limb from the last time that Reid was able to treat it. Morgan slowly unwound the gauze and shuddered when he saw the angry bite wounds. They were definitely infected. There was puss oozing out of a few of the puncture marks and they were all red and swollen around the edges.

"Damn kid, how did you manage that? It looks like you got bit by something," Morgan said marveling at the injury.

"Um...an alligator bit me two days ago. I tried to clean it, but I didn't have much to work with," Reid said trying to hide the pain in his voice when Morgan started to apply an antibacterial cream.

"You've sure been through the ringer in four days, haven't ya?" Morgan asked trying to lighten the mood. He knew his best friend was hurting, but he didn't want his buddy to dwell on it.

"You could say that," Reid said quietly.

The two fell into silence after Morgan finished bandaging the alligator bite. Hotch came back moments later empty handed.

"The shed was destroyed in the blast. There were tools strewn about everywhere but nothing that could help us. I did manage to find where the chain is secured and I think you and I could dig out the stake, Morgan. Reid, do you want to come with us or are you good here?" Hotch asked Reid, hesitant to let him out of his sight so soon after finding him.

Reid, not wanting to move any more than necessary said, "I'll stay here. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Reid watched their retreating figures as he leaned his aching back against the pylon once again. He started to think about the best way to go about keeping the rest of his injuries hidden from the team. They were just too reprehensible to discuss with his family. How do you tell someone that you were raped? How do you explain that you just laid there and let it happened? How do you admit that your body responded even when your mind was against it? You don't. He knew that if they ever found out the team would never be able to look at him the same way again. They would probably find him dirty and disgusting because that's how he saw himself. And he saw how everyone reacted to Morgan after they found out about his ordeal as a child; they treated him like glass for months. He refused to stand by and let them look at him with pity and sympathy in their eyes day in and day out. He didn't want them to have to use kid gloves whenever they interacted with him. So, Reid swore right then and there that his friends and family would never find out about the horrors he endured at the hands of John Brookins.

In order to make sure they were kept in the dark Reid decided that he couldn't let any of them ride with him in the ambulance that Hotch was sure to have waiting for him when they got back to civilization. That way no one would witness the lash marks on his back from his beating or the burn on his stomach. In addition to that, he was not going to allow the hospital to check for any type of abuse. There was no way he was going to let his rape be recorded into his medical records. Finally, he was going to demand that the doctors clear with him any information that they want to disclose to the team. Since he knew that none of his injuries would require for him to be sedated he was pretty positive that his plan would work. He just needed to fight the fever a bit longer and not act too much out of it when dealing with the medical professionals.

Ten minutes later Morgan and Hotch came back from their mission covered in dirt. Hotch was gathering up the long length of chain as he walked. The sight made Reid shudder because it reminded him of a dog owner winding up a leash. Again mortification overcame the genius at his predicament and he did his best to not let it show on his face.

"We finally got it loose," Morgan said showing Reid his dirt encrusted hands. "We had to dig it out with our bare hands. Man, was that sucker deep. You wouldn't have had a chance on your own. Hotch and I could barely get it out working together."

Unfortunately, Morgan's statement had Reid blushing red at the obvious jab at his muscle strength.

Hotch, noticing his agent's embarrassment said, "Yeah. Let's get in the boat and get out of here."

"We're leaving already? Don't you want to process the scene?" Reid asked with surprise.

"You're more important right now. We need to get you to the hospital and have those injuries properly taken care of. Anyways, there's a team of state police officers coming out to process everything. Since this place isn't technically in the borders of any city or town they're going to assist us in sorting everything out. The rest of the team is going to meet us back at the police dock," Hotch explained.

Reid just nodded his head to indicate that he was processing the information. Moments later he felt a hand grip his bicep to help him up. Wincing in pain, the feverish boy struggled sluggishly to his feet. The genius's high temperature was really taking a toll on his coordination and when Morgan's hand released him Reid felt his body swaying.

"Steady there pretty boy. Let me help you get into the boat," Morgan said grabbing his friend's arm again. "Hey man, what happened to your back?"

Reid was taken by surprise by that question. He had forgotten about the burning pain coming off of his posterior. "What?"

"Your shirt is shredded and you have marks all over the place," Morgan explained.

"Yeah, well…the explosion kinda flung me into the water. When I woke up I noticed that my back felt a bit singed but I didn't think anything of it," Reid said hoping he would drop the subject.

"Wow, add another injury to the list for you to get check out," Morgan responded letting the topic go.

Reid grunted in agreement and focused his attention on getting into the boat. It took a few minutes but the injured agent finally made it down the dock ladder and into the waiting vessel. Instead of sitting down in the bucket seats that were positioned in front of the massive fan Reid optioned to curl himself into a ball on the floor of the boat. Hotch didn't question his choice and gently laid the coil of chain next to him. Reid assumed the same position that he was found in and put his head down for the journey back.

Deep in the shadows of the cypress trees was another airboat lying in wait. The passenger on the boat was observing the actions of the officers milling around his property. He had been in that position for hours, seething as the remains of his former home was dissected by the authorities.

He knew the moment the explosion ripped through the swamp that the boy had something to do with it. He had immediately set course for his house and decided on a plan of action for dealing with his defiant but irresistible slave.

He had just completed the final turn before he would come upon his private channel when he noticed another boat 200 yards ahead of him. Knowing that whoever was in that boat meant bad news for him he quickly turned his boat around and went down a parallel channel. Luckily, the other boat was too far ahead to even notice his vessel and the cypress trees provided excellent cover to hide him from their view when he coasted into his position.

From his position he was able to watch the large black agent scale the ladder up to the dock. The man, Agent Something-or-other, gently touched the boy and roused him out of his stupor. Soon another man he had never seen before joined the mix and it looked like they were going to release the boy from his fetters. John growled when the men successfully released the chain from the ground and coaxed his slave from up off the dock. Fury consumed him when he realized that the one storyteller that he enjoyed the most was being stolen from his grasp.

The need to turn his boat on and speed away to take back what was his was overwhelming. He had never felt a desire so strong before now. Unfortunately, John knew that tailing the boat wasn't an option because there were sure to be more authorities riding around in this part of the swamp due to the boy being found. The best option for the moment was to sit still, wait for the state police to disperse when the sun went down, and then go and find shelter for the night.

John swore right there and then that while he may not be able to get back his property now he would in the near future. And when he finally had the boy back in his clutches he would make sure that the kid could never leave him again.