I do not own Criminal Minds. And my thanks to Dragonsmaiden for being my beta reader. Please read and review.

Chapter #9

Reid drove Ashley's car to her place just outside of Quantico. He pulled up in the driveway of a small bungalow house and parked her car behind her motorcycle. They got out of her car in silence.

Reid got his bags from the backseat of the car, while Ashley went to the front door to unlock it. He heard her dog barking at the door.

"Bailey, down," she ordered. She set her backpack by the door in the small foyer before grabbing the collar of her mahogany boxer and leading him to the sliding door by the kitchen.

Reid had already set both of his bags down in the foyer right beside hers. He walked out of the foyer and Bailey started barking at him.

"Bailey, for Pete's sake, it's Spencer," she said, holding tight to the collar. She opened the door with one hand and led him out.

"Now go, do your thing," she said, letting go of the collar." She came back in, sliding the door behind her.

"I'm sorry, I was hoping that he would be used to you by now."

Reid smiled at her, "Maybe he doesn't want to share."

She crossed her arms in front of her, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Do you want something to drink?" He shook his head.

"Please sit."

Reid had been to her place on a few occasions; either to pick Ashley up for their dates, or to have dinner and watch movies, or to just simply hang out. With the exception of her table on the far side of the wall, which she used for her scrap booking, everything else, she kept neat and tidy.

Reid sat down on the cream color couch, which had an afghan slung over the back. He looked over to the other side of the couch, seeing two matching arm chairs against the wall on the other side of the room, beside the TV, which was sitting on a TV stand with a DVD player on the middle shelf with the DVDs movies neatly stored below. A small round coffee table was in front of the couch, which had her sketchpad and a notebook of her upcoming classes sitting on. Reid saw a metal basket underneath, which had several balls of yarn and something that she was working on, but Reid couldn't really make it from his position. Her guitar sat in the corner with a whiteboard above it, which had a few words scribbled on it. He tried to read what they said, but the writing was barely legible. He sat on the couch and waited quietly.

Meanwhile, Ashley took her cell phone out of her bag and turned it off. She didn't want to be disturbed tonight. She set her phone on the counter and opened the fridge door. She poured herself a glass of orange juice.

She joined Reid in the living room where she took down a small silver framed picture that was hanging on the wall with her other pictures.

"We have been going out for what, almost two months now? Did you ever wonder of why we've never had sex?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I just thought it was because you weren't ready." She handed him the frame.

He took it and Ashley turned on the lamp beside him that he could see the picture clearly.

"That is my son, Charlie."

"He's handsome."

"He was. He would have ten years old now." Reid looked up at her. Ashley sat on the other side of the couch.

"I was fifteen years old when I became pregnant. My mom told me that I either had have to an abortion or get out. So, I left and had Charlie. Raising a child while you are a kid isn't easy, I never regretted it though and I still don't. He was a good baby. My best friend and her mother helped me from time to time. Her mother tried to talk to my mom and try to make peace, but it didn't work out. Actually, she made her daughter change his diapers and such. I think it was to show her that is what happens when you have baby. Anyway it was her birthday and her mom agreed to baby-sit Charlie while we went out for pizza, I think. I honestly don't remember what it was. I just remember that I was happy that I could go out with her and be a teenager, even if it was only for an hour. Just have fun and talk; do something that didn't include baby stuff."

Ashley paused, "That was until the police came and told us that her mother was murdered and my son was missing. Ten days later, his left foot was found. A friend of mine gave me drugs to help me sleep. Then it was to help me to get through the day without losing it. I just wanted to feel numb and it wasn't long before I started taking them with vodka and beer. It was just a matter of time I was an addict, and even then I still didn't care. I wanted to feel numb, I didn't want to feel the sadness or the guilt of leaving him."

Ashley stood up. She stepped closer to Reid where she pulled down her jeans a little, revealing a tattoo of a black scorpion on her bad hip.

"And I became a scorpion." She sat back down on the other side of the couch. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Only that they are a biker gang. Thought to be as dangerous as the Hell Angels. They deal in weapons, drugs, and prostitution." When he said the last word, he looked at Ashley where she nodded her head.

"I think that is how of that guitar player knew, I am not a hundred percent sure, but I think he might have been one of my johns. The scorpions treated their women like property. I was forced to do tricks on the street. If I brought them enough money, they would give me the drugs to get high. If I didn't bring a certain amount of money, they would beat me and rape me. And they like raping their woman with their guns." Reid cringed. "That's why your gun scares me a bit."

She drew in a deep breath before continuing, "During one of their beatings, they nearly shattered my hip," she explained gesturing at her bad hip.

"I was also forced to strip and steal. I did whatever they told me to so I wouldn't get beaten or raped. That is why I don't really care for sex. I would just lie there and let them to do what they wanted. I really do not want to do that to you." He nodded his head.

"I met Harry and he took pity on me. I don't know why; but I'm not complaining. He taught me how to fight, how to use household items as weapons, how to survive. He also taught me other skills like cooking. He figured out if I cooked and did their laundry for them, I wouldn't be forced to prostitute. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it didn't. That was until they found out about Harry's help. That is when they sold me to someone."

"Who," Reid asked. Ashley jumped when Bailey barked.

"I need to let him in or else he is going to wake up the neighbors." She stood up, placing her glass down on the table.

She slid open the door, letting him in. She closed it, locking it before turning around to find Reid standing there. She could only stare at his black shirt.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She tensed up for a few moments before relaxing. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tight. She buried her face into his chest.

Meanwhile Bailey sat on the floor, cocking his head at Reid giving a little whine.

Reid pulled away from her, placing his hands on either side of her face. He then gently kissed her.

"It's ok," he whispered. "You don't have to finish the story tonight."

She nodded her head, "Thank you."

He let go of her face and took one of her hands in his, "I'll hold you if that is alright." She nodded squeezing his hand lightly.

Reid led her to the bedroom, shutting the door behind them. Her bedroom was large with her bed sitting at an angle in the corner of her room.

"I should take out my contacts and change," she quietly said, pointing to her bathroom. He nodded, letting her go of her hand. She went to the bathroom.

When Ashley came out of the bathroom she was wearing a white nightshirt and her glasses. She noticed that Reid had already brought his suitcase into the room and was already wearing his red stripe pajamas.

He set his cell phone down on the nightstand beside her bed and pulled back the covers when he saw Ashley standing behind him in silence.

She knew that this wasn't about sex; it was about comfort. She still felt nervous.

"No sex, I promise. But I still would like to stay with you; if that's okay," he said, holding out his hand. She took it and he pulled her close to him.

"Just that," she stammered. "Oh bloody hell," she pulled away from him, to look him in the eyes.

"I like you a lot. And I really don't want to screw this up."

Reid touched her face, "It's ok."

He pulled her in again and continued "Now let's try to get some sleep. Tomorrow we will have breakfast and take Bailey out for a walk." Ashley nodded and climbed into bed. She took off her glasses, setting it down on the bedside table next to Reid's cell phone.

Reid climbed in on the other side of the bed while Ashley turned out the light. Reid laid on his side, spooning behind her. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist. She laced her fingers with one his hand on her stomach.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she heard. "I didn't take the Dilaudid by choice." Ashley rolled onto her side, facing him, silently cringing, now lying on her bad hip.

"No, no," he said, looking at her. "Lie on your back, you are going to wreck your hip again," he said as he slide his arm underneath her head.

"Please go on," she whispered.

Reid took a deep breath before he told her about Tobias Hankel. Reid told her how a man who suffered dissociative identity disorder held him prisoner. He told her how one of the personalities had injected him Didaudid thinking he was helping Reid. She could hear the pain in his voice. When he was done, she edged closer to him, touching his face.

"Whoa," she said. "That does explain your hesitance of opening up in meetings." She pulled him closer to where Reid laid his head on her shoulder. It was her turn to hold him.