Thanks all for the support!

Again, I don't own any of the characters except for Haley.

"What is this?" Hotchner asked Reid in anger, pointing to the van with the kids being loaded into it. "And who is she?" He pointed to the girl in the back seat. "You don't even know if this will convict!"

"I…I had probable cause." Reid, the motormouth, had only that meager bit to say in his defense.

"WHAT happened to your surveillance?"

"I was watching", Reid began quietly, "and suddenly I heard screaming. This girl was shoved out the door, the suspect hit her in the face, a-and" Reid said with the characteristic speeding up that was normal to his speech, "she ran off to the side."

"Wait-" Hotch began.

Reid rambled over his interjection without missing a beat. "I remembered her from therapy sessions where I worked with her, and Hotch…I couldn't just sit there and do nothing."

"You're lucky if this Un-Sub doesn't snap when this hits the media!" Hotchner shouted, stalking off. Reid leaned against the car, Dilaudid calling his name. He had to fight it, and he did, as was his custom, in a brooding state. His head was down, hair falling to the front, so he didn't look like a human being in the slight flashes of the red-and-blue police lights that played across his frame at predictable intervals.

Morgan came up, whisking him out of this state.

"You really screwed it up this time, kid. You know this Un-Sub, and if he doesn't snap, I don't know if he ever will. Hotch told me what happened. You can't let your head get in the way like that", he growled, "and I don't think you want any more victims with their guts torn out!"

Reid nodded, slumping his shoulders and hanging his head, crossing his arms tightly as if this action could both protect him and make him look less worthy of a scolding.

His speechlessness tempted Morgan to continue, but he figured it was better left alone before Reid reached his breaking point. As he understood it, Reid lived close to it as things stood, and would reach it in time. He gave Reid one last angry glance-he couldn't help it-and forced himself to walk away.

Prentiss, noticing Reid's pitiful posture, went over.

"What, you here to tear me a new one, too?" he asked somewhat bitterly.

"No", she said, hugging him. "I came over to tell you that even though I can't officially approve of your actions, you did the right thing. This UnSub is cruel, but it's better to aggravate him than to leave helpless kids to be abused."

"Thanks." Reid clamped his arms around her, nested his head on her shoulder for a moment, and sighed as he leaned back against the car.

"You okay?"

"I will be", Reid said, looking upwards at the stars as the frosty night air chilled his neck and nipped repetitively at his nose, clearly contemplating something far beyond Prentiss' own intelligence threshold.

Reid's phone rang, and he answered it.

"This is Spencer Reid."

"Hi, sweetheart!" It was Garcia. "Prentiss just sent me a text about Hotch and Morgan both tearing you a new one. You did right, and I'll do whatever I can on my end to make sure you have…oh! CPS just put Haley in your custody, it seems. Now, they'd like to know if this should be a permanent adoption or a one-month foster stay."

"Um…just a second. Let me check with her." He walked to the other side of the car and opened the right passenger side door, grinning boyishly.

Haley looked at him, not in the eyes, but looked at him nonetheless.

"Haley", he said.

"Yessir?"

"How would you like me to get you out of this system? I have a legal adoption by me with your name on it if you want it."

Haley's jaw nearly fell and she nodded in excitement.

"Yes, Garcia, it's a legal adoption."

"Alright! The paperwork will be shipped to your address by tomorrow afternoon! Now, is there anything else that Her Excellency may do for you?"

"Nothing else, Garcia; just know you're awesome." Reid smiled as he looked at Haley, and she herself beamed happily.

"Of course, sweetness, I am, indeed, awesome, and when I get back, know that you owe me a latte..." She trailed off and hung up.

Reid shuffled for a moment in his crouching position to put the phone away. Then he looked again at Haley.

"It's a legal adoption now", he said. "Get everything that's in your name, and we'll clear out of here."

She left, and he led the suspect to a police car, where he was cornered by yet more officers and interviewed again…and again…for the third time since they'd showed up.

Haley, however, didn't notice and wasn't delayed at all. She simply kept her head down and skirted the crowd of blue with an air of don't-notice-me nonchalance.

The interviews were finishing twenty minutes later, and Haley came out with a few small bags. She put them in the surveillance car and walked over to the police car.

"Ma'am, you can't go in there." An officer blocked her way, to which she stepped backwards, only to encounter another officer, and one on either side blocked her escape. She was wide-eyed with fright and only would trust Reid, whom she saw just beyond the officers. She bolted with an affrighted leap and was caught. Once in their hands, however, she went mostly limp, hanging her head and beginning to shake quite noticeably.

"Um…I think this is the one girl that we haven't interviewed yet, the one that nerd guy over there told us about", an officer remarked.

Haley nodded weakly, unable to do much else, before closing her eyes and again going limp, as if in defeat, forcing the officers to support the bulk of her weight.

"Hey, Reid!" another officer called.

Reid looked over and came in short order. He took Haley from the officers and stood her upright, soothing her for a moment so she could turn and face the questions. This was by no means an easy task, but it was helped by the fact that she was near the one person she knew wouldn't hurt her, even if extremely tempted and given the opportunity.

"I was just going to ask him if he put that big black warmblood horse in my name like he said he was going to", she explained defensively, eyes averted, nearly crouching. "I don't want him sent to slaughter or some facility where he's just a number."

"We're not worried about that", the first officer said with an air of professionalism. "We just wanted to know what happened on your end. What did you witness?"

"He came in and started beating me because I didn't get a high enough jump out of the five-year-old today", she said, pressing her back to Reid for reassurance, "and then he took me towards the knives. Told me he was going to slit my throat. I begged, like I do every night when he beats me and threatens me, and that's when he threw me out like he always does, and he punched me between the eyes, I guess as a warning. Then I ran off through the bars so I was in with the horses and out of his sight. Then Reid and some other girl got out of the car across the street. He called to me and told me to lock myself in the car, and he went with the other girl and arrested Master." As she spoke, one could not help but notice the speed of her detachment from her situation. At first, she was a bag of nerves, but with reassurance, she recited the happenings as if she were answering the written response portion of a test, albeit with sentence fragments.

"Master? Did he make you call him that so you never knew his name?" Reid asked.

She could only nod defeatedly and press close. He patted her on the head and rubbed at her shoulders. "An-and...and for the power", she was finally able to add hesitantly. "Like the rest of them", she added bitterly, slipping down into emotion again.

"It's okay", he soothed, "I'm your legal guardian. You know I won't hurt you."

"Kidnapping?" the officer asked.

"No. Let's just say I have a miracle co-worker."

"Computers?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Oh."

Hotchner intercepted Reid and Haley. "We need to go. There's been another discovery."

Reid nodded grimly and led Haley to the surveillance car, trying to shield her from the happenings around her, instinctively blocking her view of the house, carefully guiding her to the places with less people to worry about.