Author's Note: Hello, everyone.

Here's the next chapter. After I finish this story, I plan on writing a one-shot prequel and sequel. I also want to thank you all very much for your reviews as well as your patience. I really do appreciate it and I do look forward to hearing from all of you.

This chapter has been re-updated.

Please, do enjoy my story and please review; constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Chapter 16:

- Any fool can be a Father, but it takes a real man to be a Daddy!

– Philip Whitmore

A crack formed in Reid's head when Müller began taunting him. He had the damn nerve to tell him that he deserves to be Maddie's father, not him. Looking back before all this happened, Reid was the one, if not the only one, who calmed Maddie down and was given temporary custody of her. He fed her food. He clothed her. He sheltered her. He tries his hardest to protect her.

He…had always been there for her when she needed him, not Müller. Müller was the simple son-of-a-bitch who took the lives of the family. But what really ticked him off was him saying he wouldn't Maddie live without him.

Finally reaching to the end of the steps, Müller snickers to himself. When he gets in front of him, he bends over,

"Come on, Doctor. It's time for you to realize that you underestimated. I don't make mistakes…"

Müller could suddenly feel Reid's fingers twist around his neck, pressing and closing. The pain and the swelling feeling to Reid's legs after the fall was suddenly gone. The skintight clutching at his throat parted him without any air. His eyes were broad with alarm and escaping his body were scruffy gasps as Reid continued to clutch. He releases his grip and Müller falls to the floor, starting to coughs viciously. As he tries to catch his breath, Reid pulls him off the floor by grabbing on his shirt, pushing him back up against the wall. Reid's eyes seared intensity at Müller's sleepy eyes.

"You just did…you just made the ultimate mistake with me…you made me angry!" Reid snarled before raising his fist.

After many hours of nonstop driving, the rest of the BAU team—along with a number of local police officers, rescue and SWAT team members—they finally reached to the old Müller family estate. As they got out of their vehicles, SWAT and rescue began setting up their weapons while Hotch signaled the local police to search out the rest of the land. Garcia did warn them that the land was about fifteen-to-twenty-five acres.

Hotch began to observe the grand estate from where he was standing outside. Waiting for the right time to move, he couldn't help but have this feeling. The house looked completely dark from the outside. Rossi soon noticed it.

"What? What's up with you?"

"I don't know. Something's just not right."

"I know what you mean," Prentiss and JJ joined in on their conversations. "You don't think that…"

"Look. If anything, the lights will flick on. Right?"

Distress came to the team's hearts and minds as soon as they heard a crashing sound coming from the inside. They all sprinted toward the front of the house, grabbing their guns out of their holsters. Hearing nothing but a deadly silence for a few moments, there were sounds from inside and they sounded almost like indistinct pounds. Fearing the worst, Morgan slammed down the front door with his foot followed the rest of the team.

"FBI!"

"FBI!"

They move quickly, carefully around the grand foyer when they heard more of the thud noises from the formal living room. Rushing into the living room, they saw someone tossing around someone else like a rag doll before repeatedly pounding on them. Morgan rapidly soon realized,

"Oh, god…! Reid! Reid!"

Morgan rushes over to Reid's side when he sees him with his fingers around Müller's neck. Hotch and Rossi helps Morgan while JJ and Emily grabbed a hold onto Reid's arms. Struggling to pull him off,

"Reid, man! Reid…!"

"Calm…down!"

"Get off him, Reid!"

"Reid! It's…over! He's gone! He's…GONE!"

Finally pulling Reid away from Müller, Reid began to start crying softly while hyperventilate and shaking. He took a good look at his bloody knuckles before taking a better look at what he did to Müller. Putting his hands to his face,

"I…I…I…"

Emily and JJ kneeled down and wrapped their arms around Reid, trying to consoling him. "Reid…"

"I...I just…I…"

"Reid…it's finally over. It's all over now. You and Maddie…"

Maddie!

That reminded him. He pulls himself up from the floor and away from the team. He rushes out of the room, but not before almost tripping on himself when he ran into the furniture.

"Reid! REID!"

"Don't try and stop me! My daughter needs me!"

"Reid!"

As he ran up the stairs, he could feel an impulsive pain in his ankle, but he could honestly care less about himself. In fact, he didn't care if he had to tear apart or turn the entire estate upside down. He just wanted to see Maddie was safe and unharmed. Reid felt dizzy, slightly lightheaded and could feel his heart beating in a hasty beat. Rummaging around the seven rooms of the left wing of the second floor, he felt as if he wanted to collapse with all the energy he had left in his body.

Putting his hand to his heart as he hobbled into the right wing, his eyes began to solely focus on this creaked door he saw in the corner. Opening the door some more, he sees a flight of stairs leading up to another upstairs room.

With every step that he took, he could still feel his ankle in agony. Nevertheless, he finally made his way up into the attic. He couldn't understand why, but he began to hear this almost-silence noises nearby. Following the source of the sound, he ends up facing a large antique truck chest sitting by the attic window. With great caution, he quietly walks over to it—little by little—opens it and took an intense gasp.

Inside the truck chest was Maddie as she was lying on her back and with her fingers laced together. She even had a dark-colored hand-stitched knitted blanket over her body; possibly to keep her warm and clinging onto an antique porcelain doll. Reid could feel his legs collapsed to the ground as his eyes began to water. Getting a much closer look at her face, he could definitely see the bruises and cuts—including a wound on the base on her forehead. Leaning over her, Reid sees two of his tears ran off his nose and land on her cheek before crying even harder.

Maddie's eyes flapped when she began to feel something wet on her face. Slowly rising up as she rubbed her eyes with her hands, the vision from her sloe eyes began to brutally haze. "Dad-daddy?"

"Yes, Maddie?" Reid could hear the cracks and gulps of air in his voice.

Maddie could feel her body fall against Reid's chest, catching her in his arms. "Don't ever leave me…" She rasped. "Please…daddy..."

"Never." Reid began to let out a hearty sob as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her ever so tightly in his arms, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Maddie cried into his chest as he kisses the top of her head. "I will never ever leave you or let you go. I love you too much to leave you."

"Sir," Reid looks up and sees one of the medics walking over. "You need to get you two to the hospital right away. We've already secured the rest of the estate."

Reid looked down at Maddie, who was already fast asleep and holding onto him. "Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

While Morgan, Prentiss and JJ looked around the rest of the formal living room, Hotch and Rossi watches Müller's bloody and brutally battered body being lifted from the corner and zipped into a body bag.

Just looking around the living room, it just had to be one of the deadliest and bloodiest scenes they've ever encountered to date. Blood was splatted on the wall—from the hardwood floors to the fireplace—and blood was also splatted on the dark-wood bookcases and furniture. The glass on the bookcases were shattered, as well as some of the antique items that was on the floor. But what really got to them was the amount of blood clotting on the corners of the wall. Morgan walked over to them, watching the medics take Müller's body away,

"You want me to tell you what I think happened or do you just want to…"

Hotch shook his head, "I just…I can't believe…"

"I know."

Prentiss and JJ joined in, having bags of a bunch of videos in their hands. "We're going to…take these for evidence. You know…just in case…"

Overhearing footsteps, they see a number of medics coming downstairs; not to long before they see Reid, holding Maddie wrapped in the blanket, in his arms. The team stares speechlessly at Reid as he stared long and hard at them before walking out.

"This just seems unreal, you guys," Prentiss said with a look on her face. "Reid actually..."

"I know, Prentiss. And I think I know why."

As soon as Reid steps outside, he looks down at Maddie, who was still asleep before looking up at the night sky. The sky almost looked like the Starry Night painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was bright, clear, clouds passing the white, shining full moon and the vivid stars in the sky. Before walking into the ambulance, he looks up to the stars twinkling and said,

"You can all rest in peace now."

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