I do not own Criminal Minds, and my thanks to Skye for being my beta reader. As well thank you to everyone for all your reviews. I am happy that everyone is liking the story.

Chapter #29

Reid jogged back to the pool, carrying his brown cable sweater to where Ashley was resting on the lounge chair out by the pool in the backyard.

JJ, Prentiss and Rossi left after lunch. He suggested that they go for a walk, but by the time, they got by the pool, Ashley was hurting and she needed to take a rest.

He saw Ashley rubbing the small black and white tattoo of a dragonfly inside of her left wrist with her thumb where she stared out in the water. He knew that tattoo hid a scar from a suicide attempt. She looked up where she smiled at him.

"I couldn't find your jacket," he said as he helped her to slip on his sweater.

"Thank you, I'm sorry, I thought that I could go for a walk."

He shook his head, "Your body needs time to heal," he explained as he sat at the other end of the chair. He took her hands, warming them up for her.

"We're alone now," he quietly said. She nodded, thinking.

"Hey," he said, looking directly into her emerald green eyes. "What happened is in the past, is the past. It is just you and me from now," he said. "You do believe that, don't you?"

"I do, I just . . . Just," she started to say. She pulled her hands away from him and wrapped herself in his soft sweater.

"When I was at these parties, I would watch some couples interacting with each other," she said, moving her hands together, forming an invisible ball inside, "Some of them, I saw the little things like the wife wiping her lipstick of her husband's cheek, the wife laying her head on his shoulder, holding hands and the little looks that they gave each other. I knew that they loved each other. I didn't have that with Demon. I knew that he was my pimp. But I also knew that Demon could have easily handed me back to the Scorpions. And I was told that Harry left the Scorpions, they could have easily killed me. I was all alone. B ut with Demon, I had a clean bed, I had a roof over my head, I had three meals a day instead of going for days without food. I even had freedom. Hell even his drugs were far better than the ones I was using before. I knew my life was shitty, but at least it was better than it once was."

He slowly moved closer to her. "Do you think it was him that is responsible for the accident? Do you think that he was the one that attacked you at the hospital?"

"I don't know. He held my head away from him so I couldn't see him. His voice was a whisper. And from what I can remember, only people who were with me at the house were Darcy and his bodyguards. You know Bailey would be hopping mad if there was a person near the house." Reid closed his eyes, rethinking his approach. He pressed his hands together touching his lips.

"Ok, I understand you are telling me that you cannot make a positive ID. But can you honestly look me straight in the eyes, and tell me you believe that it was the Scorpions or someone else that was pissed off at you," he asked, waving his closed hands up and down in front of her. Ashley was taken aback that he swore, but she knew that his patience was starting to wear thin. She shook her head.

"Honey, you have to realize that you need to tell me his name. I know that you are not, doing it to protect me or you are afraid that I am going to think worst of you, but I am not. I swear. When Rossi and I were in the cafeteria, he told me that if it was anyone else, they would already be charged with obstruction of justice."

She looked at him, "Anyone else? So because I am your girl, I have special privileges?"

He shook his head, "Not exactly, but I promised him that once I got you out of the hospital, you were going to tell me his name. Ashley, if they decide to charge you, I cannot protect you. Please, tell me his name."

"His name is Julian Baratova. Everyone calls him Julian. I know that his mother was French, died when he was a kid. I don't know if his father is still living, but he is Russian. He is not a politician, but he has studied it. He wrote several books about it and is very well known. That is how Julian has the diplomatic immunity; he helps his father with his work." Ashley leaned forward, getting tired. Every part of his body wanted to stop this conversation, let her rest, but he had to press on.

"So why didn't you tell anyone about this? Why didn't you press charges?"

She straightened herself up, "It was basically my word against his. A word of a drunken drug addict whore to the word of a respectable Russian diplomatic."