I do not own Criminal Minds. My Thanks for my sister for being my beta reader. Please Read and Review.

Chapter #42

The music was blaring loudly where Ashley stood by the bar wearing nothing than a royal purple tank dress with a deep cut in front giving everyone in the club a nice view of her ample breasts. She also wore silver rhinestone heels and a blonde wig to help conceal her true identity. All she needed now was a cape to go with this. A teacher by day and a stripper by night, yeah, she was a superhero. She even put on waterproof concealer on her scorpion tattoo. She wasn't sure how the customers feel about them.

She washed down her fifth and sixth aspirin of the day. She was in so much pain from her bad hip. All this dancing, as well working during the day, still teaching her classes had put a quite a strain on her hip. She had one more dance to perform before she can go home. And she already had a few offers from the men to go home with them. At least, she still had it, but the only person that she wanted to go home with was Reid.

She was happy that he was finally home, but she could already tell that the case was bad. And telling him, that she had gone back to stripping didn't make matters any easier, but she refused to start lying to him. This one, she was going to be open and completely honest, even if it kills her.

She kicked herself for not asking him if she could crash at his place. She was so not in the mood for sex, but she just wanted to be in his arms, listening to his heart as they slept and maybe sweet talk him into giving her a foot rub.

She scans the club with the music blaring in the background which was starting to give her a bad headache. The club was dark with lights flashing. There was main stage that the strippers performed for the general audience.

However there were several mini stages at either side of the club with chairs lined up for the customers to watch and give them money. Private booths were behind the bar for the customers which she loathed. They were supposed to be for private lap dances, but she suspected other things occurred since she had witnessed a couple of girls slipping money into the manager's hand.

The weasel even suggested at her that a few customers wanted more than a lap dance from her where she could make almost twice as much in one shift. He stopped when she did something that she thought that she would have never had to do. Mention Darcy's name and he backed off. She knew Darcy wasn't going to be happy about that, but she would deal with him later.

She just want to get through this shift before she loses her temper and slap another customer who offered to take her home. She swallowed the remaining water in her glass before setting it down at the bar.

"Baby, you don't need that. Why don't I buy you something better," a man sitting at the bar where he raised his hand up to touch her.

Ashley automatically took a step back. No shit, I definitely need something stronger to work here, she thought. She also thought of a few places where she can tell him of where to put that drink, but instead, she smiled sweetly.

"Oh thank you, sugar, but I have to say no. I am a recovering alcoholic."

She left that man and started wandering around the bar, leaving her self-respect and pride behind as she started to offer lap dances to the customers.

"Come with me," she heard Reid from behind. He grabbed her wrist and led her away from the table that she was talking to. He held on to her tightly as he walked over to a corner in the club.

Ashley stopped, twisting her body around where she held on to his arm, giving it a slight twist. She knows that she wasn't hurting him much, but she did not like the fact that he dragging her away like a caveman.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," she said, as she twisted his arm a bit, hurting him a bit more. He nodded his head. She let go of him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? In case you forgotten, it is 2008, not the stone age. You had no right of dragging me away like that," she angrily said.

He stood up, "I don't like you stripping while every guy here is ogling over you." She crossed her arms, realizing there goes her night of being held, not to mention that foot rub.

"So dragging me like a caveman makes you feel better? Well suck it up, Princess. You knew that one of my jobs was a stripper. In fact, I told you that in the hospital that I will be stripping to pay this off." Reid taken aback of what she had said.

"Really, I know that you are in severe pain right now because of your hip. You can hide it well in front of them," he said as he pointed out to the crowd. "But not from me. You know that Julian is still out there, somewhere. He can still come after you. It's not safe for you to be here."

"And I told you before that I am not going to let the bastard run my life. I have bills to pay and this is how I do it when I really need the money."

Reid let out a groan as he threw his hands up in the air. "You know what, that is fine. But I am not going to stand around here while there is a target on your back."

She could not believe what a jerk Reid was being. Instead of him asking are you alright, can I give you a ride home, or even I want to stay and watch you.

"Fine, there is the door," she said as she pointed to the direction of the door. "I got to get back to work." She stormed off where she saw Morgan standing there at the bar, watching the entire event.

He was about to say something, when she held up her right index finger up at him, "Don't," she threatened.

She headed back to the dressing rooms on the other side of the club where hardly anyone was there. She sat by all herself at a dressing table with a mirror in front of her, leaning forward, covering her face with her hands. She could feel tears were building up and she wanted to cry. How could Reid do this to her? She looked out the door, hoping, waiting for him to come after her.

"Hey Bobbie," the manager called out. That wasn't who she had in mind.

All of the dancers had stage names like Bambi, Angel, or some kind of candy name. She picked Bobbie which according to porn star's name guide, the first name is the name of your first pet and the last name is the name of the street that you lived on when you were a kid. So Bobbie Nickels was her stage name. Although some of the customers thought it would be cute to pay her in rolls of nickels. It wasn't.

She didn't bother answering him; she pulled a Kleenex from the tissue box and wiped her eyes. She then pulled her red duffel bag underneath the table where she dug out her lipstick from her bag. A tall muscular man with black hair that was slicked back with way too much hair gel which barely reached the bottom of his neck. His gold chains rattled through his hairy chest as he entered the room without knocking. The smell of his cheap cologne nearly knocked off of her feet, but she managed to stay on her ground.

May I come in would have been nice, she thought to herself as she waited for the little worm to speak. He pulled up sleeves, once again trying to impress her with his muscles or lack of muscles. She was starting to become very tempted to talk to Darcy about him, get him to put the fear of God in him, to leave her alone. She wasn't in prostitution business anymore and she was sober and intended to stay sober.

"Was that man bugging you," he asked.

She shook her head no, "That idiot is my boyfriend," she said. "He won't be coming back." He nodded his hair, running his hand over his greasy hair where Ashley felt a shiver down her spine. He flashed a smile which Ashley again cringed.

Crap, now he thinks that I am single and he is going to put the moves on me. But am I single? Did we just break up?

"Someone requested you in Booth three," he announced as he beamed like a peacock. With him beaming like that, she knew that the guy was important and mostly likely a sleazeball just like him. She glanced over his shoulder where the private booths were. She nodded her head, as she quickly applied her lipstick before she walked past him.

Drawing in a deep breath, she forced a smile on her face as she entered the booth. She turned around, not seeing the customer and pulling the curtains tight.

"So honey, what can I do . . . Christ, Darcy," she said as she turned around, seeing her best friend sitting in the chair. The booth had enough room for a leather armchair for the customer and a full length mirror where the customer can watch. She wasn't sure if she should be more surprised that he was here or he was alone.

"Where are your goons."

"They are around."

The music started playing where Ashley shook her head. Oh bloody hell, she thought. If he requested a lap dance, he was going to get one. She seductively moved her hips at him.

"You don't have to do this," he said.

She stopped, "So why are you here. I thought you told me that if I needed to, I can drop your name here."

"I did, but the fact that you dropped it, tells me that you were in trouble."

"I'm fine." He leaned back into his seat.

"No you are not. You told me that the only way that you would go back to stripping if things were bad. And you are stripping here, not exactly a nice place for a girl to work here, especially a girl who still bears the Scorpion's mark. I can even see the drugs being passed around. If you are going to insist to be stripping, I can make arrangements to work at a better place, that is safer and no drugs."

"I am not changing places. The money is very good and the hours are flexible. I don't have to cancel any of my classes. I have that tattoo covered with a concealer. And yes, the temptation is there, but I am not going to use. I have too much to lose if I do," she said. "And I told you the reasons why."

He slides his fingers together, making his arms into a triangle shaped with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair.

"Ashley, we went over that contract with a lawyer, I don't remember anything about you paying for the damages."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Neither do I, but I did signed it and gave them my word that I would do everything according to the contract."

"I want to see it."

"I don't exactly have it on me," she said, holding her hands out, showing him what she was wearing. He gave her that "Don't be an ass" look.

"I still don't like you working here. I know your hip has been giving you grief."

"I'll live."

He closed his eyes, "Honey, I saw what happened between you and Dr. Reid."

"Christ," she said under her breath. He offered his hand where she took it. Darcy pulled her closer to him where she ended up sitting his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and quietly cried on his shoulder. He held her in silence.

"I don't know what just happened. I told him that I would have to do this to pay off the hospital and Bailey's bills." she finally said, looking at him. Darcy reached inside his coat pocket, where he pulled out a handkerchief, offering it to her. Ashley carefully dried her eyes, without ruining her makeup.

"Sweetheart, there is a big difference of being told and actually seeing you doing it."

She looked at him, "So he should have dragged me away like that?"

He shook his head no, "Absolutely not."

"So he doesn't like me stripping. Well guess what, I don't like it when he breaks our dates cause he gets called away. But I don't tell him that he should quit being a profiler. I know it is dangerous, I know that there are times that I have seen his job affecting him."

Darcy shook his head no, "I don't know much about profiling, but I am pretty sure that he doesn't take his clothes off or have drunken men offering him some sleazy proposition." Ashley looked at him, now confused.

"Sweetheart, we're men. We're idiots."

"Not exactly a newsflash. But what does this have to do with us?"

Darcy moved his head to one side, "I want you to think of this question carefully. How many serious relationships did Dr. Reid have before he met you?"

Her stomach dropped, now understanding where Reid was coming from. He even told her in the hospital that he had never been in a serious relationship before. This whole thing was completely new to him.

"I am not going to defend him. He had no right dragging you away like that. But when I watched Dr. Reid and Agent Morgan entering the club, I saw Dr. Reid's reaction when he saw you all dressed sexy and talking to other men, he had the look of fear," he explained waving his hand in front of her.

Ashley seriously looked at him, not only what he had seen with Reid's reaction, but how did he know that was Morgan standing at the bar? Then again, it shouldn't surprise her what he knew about the FBI. But what did Reid have to afraid of?

"I know, physically Spencer is not strong, but he has a gun and he was with Morgan."

"No, not that kind of fear. He was afraid that you were going to find someone else, someone else better than him."

Ashley was dumbfound it, she couldn't believe of her best friend was telling her. She had never seen Reid doubting himself before.

"Do you trust him?"

Ashley was still trying to wrap her head around to this conversation. "Huh, of course I do. I trust him with my life."

"Do you trust him to be faithful when he travels?"

"What, that is a dumb question to ask. I know Spencer; he would never cheat on me. He knows that he has my heart, he knows that he is the best thing that happened to me."

Darcy interlocks his fingers with hers, "Ashley, believe it or not, sometimes, we need to be reminded."

"So what do I do now? I don't want to call him, he should be calling me."

He agreed. "For now, finish your shift. I am going to stay until the end, and make sure that you get home safe. But there is one more thing that I want to tell you." She nodded her head, waiting for him to continue.

"If you are going to be using my name here and working here, I have a condition that I insist on you using." She let out a sigh, knowing it wasn't going to be good.

"Someone will be picking you up and taking you here and driving you back home. They are also going to be staying in the club with you."

"You mean a bodyguard." He nodded his head. "Oh goody," she said. She was too exhausted to get into another fight.

"Alright, but no limo. I don't want to have anymore attention brought to me."

Darcy agreed and let go of her hand. Ashley watched him reaching inside of his jacket pocket where he pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a few bills from there and held it out to her.

"I'm not a charity case," she said.

"What charity case? This is for your lap dance," he explained as he still held out the money for her.

"What lap dance," she asked as she stood up.

"This lap dance, silly."

"Darcy, I never gave you a lap dance, I sat on your lap." She took his hand that wore his gold Rolex watch.

"Which I need to get ready for my big number," she said sarcastically after noting the time. She let go of his arm and left him alone in the booth.

Stepping outside of the booth, she realized, charity case or no charity case, she needed the money.

"Oh bloody hell," she cursed under her breath. She went back in where Darcy was still sitting in his chair and holding the money.

"I owe you," she said, taking the money, tucking it inside her dress.

"I know. I am thinking that you cook at least three romantic, gourmet dinners for my date."

"Deal," she said.