Title: Chances
Author: tippingjug
Fandom: Criminal Minds and a little of CSI
Pairing: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Rating: R
Warning: First time writer, read at your own risk..., WiP
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they are a property of CBS. I am just playing with them because a rabid bunny would not stop biting.
Summary: Spencer is still recovering from having shot someone in L.D.S.K and has to go to Las Vegas for a case where his team mates will learn more about him and he will get in trouble and maybe find love....
Author note: My summary sucks, please someone kill me now.

***

Spencer Reid opened his eyes warily, and glanced over to his beeping alarm clock with a groan. He turned the clock off with a little huff, he wasn't looking forward to work today. He killed someone yesterday, it had not fully registered yet but he was not really looking forward to suffering the crunch while he was at work. After a hot and cleansing shower, Spencer dressed for the day.

Hotch had told him he would be picking him up that day and so it was that he did not really need to rush through his morning duties. Spencer realized that he still had a lot of time to waste, so he made himself a light breakfast and some coffee. After eating, he started cleaning his flat, he knows that someone always comes to clean his tiny flat everyday, but he could not really care, it was something he always had to do in the morning, it was like a ritual to him.

After realizing that there was nothing else he could clean, he packed his bag. He took out all the contents of his bag and laid them out on the table neatly. There was a whole slew of writing utensils and coloring materials and two notebooks, one was for work and one was for his random thoughts and mad scribblings.

There was a Mensa Sudoku puzzle book, he noticed that all the puzzles were filled in, looking at the names beside the puzzles, he realized that everyone had taken a pot shot at solving the puzzle. Going through them quickly, he saw that Morgan and JJ had mistakes in theirs, he took out an eraser and a pencil and made the correction.

At first, he hadn't realized that the others had taken an interest in his book, so he was bemused when he found that someone else had done some of the puzzles. Later, those who had done the puzzles begin writing their names and their time down after finishing the puzzles, leaving Spencer to check though their answers for them.

He went to his dresser and retrieved another book and put it into his bag, the old one going into his bookshelf, he smiled when he realized that this was his fifth finished book. Going back to his bag, he pulled out his i-pod, it was the only thing that kept him sane at times, he loved classical and trance music, Morgan and the others had been amused when they found out what type of music he listens to.

Finally, there was his bag of toiletries that he always had with him as there was just no way of telling when he would have the time to come home to freshen up. Along with that, he always had at least a changes of clothing with him. There were also the odds and ends he had accumulated over the last few trips, he took those out and kept them in the drawer that was for that express purpose. He repacked his bag a couple of times before he was satisfied with the arrangement of the things inside.

Just as he put the last of his sharpened pencils into his bag, the doorbell rang. He stood and answered the door, it was one of his neighbours. The old lady had, for some unknown reasons, taken to him. She always made sure to visit him to check up on him, today after her customary check, she passed him his mails. He thanked her and closed his door behind her, he opened the letters, throwing out all the fliers and opening up the bills, he glanced through them before tacking the bills onto his fridge, knowing that his housekeeper will make sure that they are paid.

Next were his personal mail, there weren't many of those, it was just the usual letters from his grandparents and one from the hospital his mother was staying in, telling him of her condition. There was also one from his cousin reminding him to at least visit when he was free. When he was reading, his cellphone suddenly rang, Spencer reached over and answered it.

"Hey Reid, I am almost there, you come down in five minutes." Hotch said.

"Yeah, okay," Spencer replied. He put on his shoe and stepped out of his house with his bag, grabbing his keys, wallet and phone along the way. He locked up and went down into the parking lot, he had only to wait for a minute before Hotch's black SUV pulled up in front of him.

"Morning Hotch. Thank you for picking me up." Spencer said when he climbed into the car.

"No problem, I do own you one for last night. Are you sure you are okay?" Concern was thick in his voice, he examined Spencer's face properly and tried to judge his condition.

"I am fine Hotch. Like I said, you kick like a nine year old, there isn't any bruising except for my face." Spencer replied matter of factly, he had not been hurt by Hodge at all the night before, as a profiler and a law enforcement personnel, he knew what Hodge was trying to do from the start.

Hotch smiled at him and turned out of the parking lot. Along the way, Spencer talked and talked on anything but what had happened the night before, Hodge listened to him with a small quirk of his lips and nodding or grunting when needed.

As they pulled into the parking lot of their office, they met Morgan and Elle outside. The four of them made it into the building together, Morgan poking fun at Spencer along the way. When they got into the office, no one else was there yet so the four of them settled in to do their overflowing pile of paperwork. They greeted Gideon when he came in a little later. Gideon had made it a point to talk to Spencer for a few moments to make sure that he was holding up before retreating into his office to do his own work.

Elle was the first to finish with her work and walked over to the coffee machine, she got coffee for everyone and made it to their individual liking. After that she fussed over Spencer, she applied cream onto his face and tried checking him for other injuries to his mortification. Morgan had teased him, and Gideon and Hotch had smiled indulgently as they watch him try and avoid Elle's probing. JJ soon bustled in with an arm full of files, she handed a file to each of them.

"We have a case that would be taking us to Las Vegas. There were a series of murders there that had troubled the local law enforcement. Over the last three months, there were a total of twelve murders that had not seemed related at first. However, a team of investigators from the graveyard shift, realized that all the victims were wearing clothes of the same colour, and upon further inspection, it was discovered that they had the same types of fibers on their bodies." JJ briefed them, Spencer was reading the contents of the files as he listened to her.

"How is it that they miss the connections in the first place." Morgan asked.

"Because the victims are of different ages, social settings and most disturbingly, different sex. The first three was females, then there were two males and then another five females and finally the last two were males. All had large amounts of arsenic in their blood dating from one week prior to death, but they had not died of poisoning, instead, they had died of suffocation. There were no visible signs of struggle or defensive wounds on any of the victims. The bodies were all found in different parts of the city." Spencer replied while still reading through the file at warp speed.

"The plane is leaving in an hour." Everyone nodded and they split up to prepare. Spencer checked that the overnight bag he had left under his table was packed with the things he needed before going back to reading the file. He could not see the reason the UNSUB was choosing the victims in particular, he was fairly sure that it was not a random act, there was just too much planning and precision in their work.

After a short half hour, everyone left for the airport. The car dropped them in front of their jet and left, within an hour of receiving the case-notes, they were in the air and heading for Las Vegas.

***

The BAU was in the air and Spencer felt restless; they were going over to Las Vegas. He wondered if he should go visit his mother and his grandparents while they were there. He finally decided that if he had the time, he will visit, if not then some other time. With that resolved, he settled back down to read his files, giving them his full attention once more.

"Hey guys, look at the pictures of the vic. Do they remind you of someone?" Morgan asked from his chair. Most of the others had been concentrating on the information and had not really looked at the victims' photographs, but after hearing Morgan's question they focused on the pictures instead.



"Wavy brown hair, brown eyes, tall, skinny, pale, and the thing that stood out the most, is the strong facial features - Reid, this sounds like you." Morgan looked up at Spencer with worried eyes. The others also took a good look at the victims and came to the same conclusion as Morgan.



"Reid, I want you to be careful when you get there." Hotch turned to Spencer with a serious look on his face.



"There is only a very small chance that I could become the next victim, but I do promise to be careful." Spencer was uncertain whether he was offended that they actually were treating him like a child or touched at the team's obvious concern for his wellbeing. "I don't live in Las Vegas anymore and it is obvious that the UNSUB knows their victim's movements very well; they must have been stalked prior to their kidnappings." The others understood Spencer's change of subject. The plane landed, and they gathered their belongings and alighted onto the tarmac where there were two SUV parked near the plane.



"Good afternoon agents, I'm Detective Jim Brass." The older man shook hands with Hotch, but it was clear from the man's voice that he was not happy to see the feds.



Spencer knew that most state police disliked having the FBI take over their cases, or even interfering from a distance. Sometimes the FBI office took over cases and kept the findings from the local law enforcement, even though they had first contact with the case. He figured he would be irritated too, if his cases were pulled from him. He looked at the others and knew that they also guessed the reason for the detective's hostility.



"Good afternoon, Detective Brass, I am Agent Hotchner and this is the BAU team. This is Agent Gideon, Agent Morgan, Agent Greenaway, Agent Jareau and Doctor Reid. It's nice to meet you." Hotch had his famous smile on his face, the detective looked at Hotch with a raised eyebrow.



"You are the nicest FBI agent I have met in a long time."



The others had to laugh a little at that blunt statement; it was a common knowledge within the Bureau that some of the out-station agents could be too arrogant for their own good.



"Bad experience with the Bureau then?" Hotch asked lightly.



"You can say that." The detective answered with a slight shrug. "So, headed to the hotel first?"



"No, we'd like to take a look into the murders first if you don't mind. We can sleep later." Gideon told the detective with a slight up-tilt of his mouth.



"Alright then, we'll head on over to the crime lab for the briefing." Detective Brass headed into his SUV and the group split into the two separate cars. Spencer took the car with Hotch and Gideon in the detective's car, the rest piling into the second car that was being driven by a blond woman. Spencer thought that Morgan must be in heaven, being surrounded by beautiful women.



"Sorry about the agents you previously met. Not all of us are like that." Gideon told the detective as they turned out onto the freeway.



"No problem; it takes all kinds, I know. Anyway, Dr. Grissom will be doing the briefing later. He and his team were the ones who pieced the serial murders together. His team will also be there, they are actually the graveyard CSIs, so if they look a little less than perky don't blame them."



"How did everyone miss the fact that this was a serial killer's work in the first place? I don't mean to slight your police department, I'm just curious," Gideon asked softly, the detective did not look offended by the question.



"Well, the first ten murders were discovered by the morning and swing shifts. It was not until the eleventh and twelve bodies were found by the graveyard shift that Gil figured out that it was a serial killing. He and his team spent the most of last night and this morning digging up everything in the evidence vault and going through it. The last body was found last night at around 3am and the graveyard shift has been all over it since." Spencer looked at the detective in interest as he spoke; he had not changed his _expression and he looked ready to fall asleep even as they talked.



"Are you talking about the Dr. Gil Grissom the entomologist?" Gideon asked; a sudden light in his eyes.



"Yes."



Spencer suddenly understood where Gideon was going. "The top entomologist in the US and probably the world, one of the youngest coroners in LA, and an expert in animal anatomy despite never training in that field? He made the Las Vegas crime lab number two in the US, has one of the most efficient and coordinated teams around and has fostered some of the best CSIs in the country. That Dr. Grissom?" Spencer rattled off the things he had once read in various files and articles. The detective looked impressed.



"I didn't know his reputation had traveled that far. And yes; you're right on all accounts." Spencer gave him a little smile when the detective turned back to look at him.



"I have always wanted to meet him; it's too bad I never had a reason until now," Gideon said. Spencer looked a little surprised at Gideon, but he supposed that it should not really shock him; Gideon always had an interest in meeting fellow law enforcement workers who had done well in their fields.



Spencer settled down beside Hotch in the back seat, leaning a little on the older man as he felt weariness from the last few days settling in. Hotch patted his head absently and Spencer smiled at that; he have begun to think of the man as an older brother, even his nagging felt endearing to him. Spencer soon drifted off into sleep with Gideon and Detective Brass talking amiably to each other up front.

***

Hotch glanced down at the sleeping man - or child, as he sometimes thought of him - affectionately. When Reid had first joined the BAU, he had been awkward and uneasy with even the slightest of touches, but recently he had become more receptive, even initiating human contact on occasion.

He had hated the necessity of kicking Reid the night before and talking the way he had. He had thought that their relationship, built on trust and acceptance, would be destroyed. The awkwardness and uncertainty shown that morning by the young man only seemed to prove him right; but now, with him leaning willingly on him, Hotch felt that maybe all was not lost.

By the way Reid was talking and acting, it seemed that the full weight of the events the night before had not caught up to him yet. Hotch knew that when it did, it would be devastating; he just hoped that he would there to help the younger man. He had told his wife that he thought of Reid as a younger brother and she had agreed; the way Hotch took care of Reid reminded her of how Hotch actually took care of his own younger brother.

Hotch glanced to the front again and noted that Gideon and Detective Brass were still talking. Brass seemed a lot friendlier now that Gideon had opened him up. Hotch relaxed into his seat and listened to the both of them. Suddenly Detective Brass asked, "Is Dr. Reid asleep?"

"Yes. We had a very tough case last night and he was forced to kill our UNSUB. He must not have slept well last night," Hotch answered softly, not wanting to wake Reid.

"I understand. So, he's a doctor? Looks too young for it - in fact, he looks too young to be a FBI agent. How old is he, anyway?" The detective looked at Reid curiously through the rearview mirror as the agents laughed softly, having heard similar questions often in relation to the youngest member of the team.

"He just turned 24 recently. He was the youngest FBI recruit we ever had; he joined us three years ago and has been with us ever since. He's called 'Doctor' because he has a total of three PhDs, and is our very own statistics expert." Gideon answered with a smile, gazing fondly at the sleeping youth.

"Whoa, so he's a genius then?" The detective looked again at Reid.

"Yeah, but don't ask him that. He'll just tell you that there is no way to measure genius." Hotch answered, chuckling.

"Ah, modesty goes a long way. We'll be there soon, so you can wake your little genius up." Hotch nudged Reid before realizing that he was in a surprisingly deep sleep. He gave him a shake, and the doctor shot up like a rod.

"Wha...?" Reid rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking very adorable and childish.

"We're almost at the crime lab; thought you might want to take some time to gather your thoughts," Hotch told Reid quietly, Ried blinked and nodded to Hotch in understanding.

Soon, they pulled up in front of the building and got out. The second car pulled up beside theirs almost immediately, a laughing Morgan emerged from the front seat. He walked over to Reid and pulled the still groggy doctor into the building behind Detective Brass. The others shook their heads and followed, Reid just looked at Morgan in irritation as Morgan poked fun at him.

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They walked into the building and noted that the place was largely composed of glass, so everyone could see what the lab techs were doing in their individual laboratories. Spencer looked at all the equipment inside and the intricate work within. Thoroughly fascinated by the going ons, he tuned out Morgan's voice telling him about his discussion with the girls.

Finally, Morgan seemed to realize that Spencer was not listening to him, so he fell silent and followed the young doctor's lead through their new surroundings, if studying them with a little less interest. They eventually made it into a small meeting room and stopped outside. Most of the people within the fishbowl briefing area seemed to be asleep.

The only alert one in the room was an older man with brown hair and graying temples. He looked up from the file in his hands when he heard Detective Brass's knocking. He stood up and opened the glass door and gave the group outside a tired smile.

"The team has been up all night and is exhausted; I told them to take a nap. Why don't we move to the other meeting room and we can have our briefing there? Let me gather the things I need; I will meet you there in five." Grissom told Hotch, who was standing near the door. Before Hotch could say anything, Grissom was already back in the room and picking up papers. Hotch and the rest of the team stared at Grissom in bemusement before the detective's laughter snapped them out of it.

"He's always like this, drives most folks crazy. Follow me." Detective Brass led them along a hallway and entered a larger room with less comfortable chairs but more table space. All of them gathered around the table and started taking out their things. A moment later Grissom came in with two handfuls of papers.

"I am Agent Hotchner and this is Agent Gideon, Agent Greenaway, Agent Morgan, Agent Jareau and Agent Dr. Reid." Hotch held out his hand to Grissom, Grissom blinked a little at the offered hand before taking it.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Gil Grissom." Grissom gave a little half smile. After letting go of Hotch's hand, Grissom begin to pin up pictures and crime scene photos on the board at the head of the room. The BAU team looked at the photos closely as they went up, and made notes when needed.

Finally, satisfied that everything was up, Grissom turned to the BAU team and studied them, when his eyes landed on the youngest on the team, he frowned a little, apparently picking up on the fact that he resembled the victims in some ways. Spencer was glad when he saw that the man was not going to say anything, though.

"All the victims seem to be wearing the same type of clothing." Gideon noted out loud.

Grissom nodded, "Correct. The cloth analysis produced nothing special on the material - all common, plain white cotton. But because the clothing was all handmade, we have come to the conclusion that the killer him- or herself most likely made the clothing. All the victims were dosed with arsenic one week prior to their deaths, but they did not die of the poison, they were suffocated. Because of the absence of any defensive injuries, we think that they were most likely subdued by the poison during their kidnapping and were then unconscious while they suffocated, approximately a week later. The bodies were all posed in a crossed arm position and all looked peaceful: the hair was neatly combed and the faces were made up. There were no signs of sexual assault or any other wounds on their body. The victims were found in dump sites near a graveyard. We cross checked the victims with missing persons and discovered that all the vics had disappeared just over a week before turning up dead. The killer has not made any contact and we have no suspects."

Gideon sat back in his chair, "The UNSUB is most likely a middle aged female. Judging by the care she took with her victims, she is probably a mortician, or has been one before. She has an extensive knowledge in drugs and poisons and their uses, and how to control the symptoms of poisons, so most likely she studied pharmacology or was trained as medical personnel. She would seem to be a gentle and caring person, difficult to dislike and hard to agitate. She excels in everything that she does and has a meticulous personality. She likely suffered a severe trauma recently and is having trouble coping, that's what set off her recent behavior. She would have some kind of association with two people, one male and one female, and they would have wavy brown hair and hazel eyes with strong facial features, most likely siblings. Something would have happened to them that pushed the UNSUB over the edge of sanity. The UNSUB wants to find closure and is acting them out by taking such good care of the victims before killing them and later dressing them. She is most likely stalking the victims before kidnapping them."

Spencer had written down the entire disclosure in his notebook and he looked up to find everyone looking at him again. He bit down the urge to roll his eyes and looked down at his notebook, but before anyone could say anything, a tall black man knocked on the glass door. Grissom waved him in and he entered, taking in all the faces in the room.

"This is Warrick Brown one of my CSIs. Warrick these is the team from the BAU." Grissom said, Warrick nodded at the feds and they introduced themselves to him individually.

"The others have woken and are freshening up, they would be here soon." As if on cue, the rest of the team entered the room. Grissom introduced everyone, and Spencer had to sigh when all the other CSIs noticed him and stared at him a little longer then was polite.

"Forgive me, but you seem to look like the male victims." The other CSIs winced at their coworker's bluntness. Spencer remembered that she was introduced as Sara Sidle. He squirmed a little in his seat, wondering what to say.

"Yeah, he does. But we have already made him promise to be careful and he had agreed, so that should not be too much of a problem." Morgan answered for him, Spencer smiled a tiny smile in Morgan's direction in thanks and Morgan shrugged back at him. After that little glitch, the rest of the meeting was spent in discussion as Grissom updated his CSIs on the profile.

***

The CSIs and the BAU split into groups to check out the twelve different sites. Grissom was with Hotch and Greg, Gideon was with Catherine and Jim, Morgan was with Warrick and Sara, the last group was Nick, Spencer, Elle and Sofia. JJ stayed behind to look through articles for clues and to run interference with the media.



Each group was to check out four locations and meet up a few hours later. Nick, Spencer, Elle and Sofia had been allotted the sites that were close to the same main drags.




"What do you think?" Nick asked when he and Spencer were looking through the tall shrubs beside the road.




"This is a very public area, and from what I can see, it would have been an area with a lot of witness. But if the UNSUB were to dump the bodies via another route, rather then the most obvious one, I can see how she would have gotten away with it," Spencer answered. Indeed, the shrubs were so tall they acted like a wall, even Spencer, who was far from short, could not see above most of the shrubs.




"That could mean she approached from the desert area instead of the freeway. The rest of the sites on our route could also be accessed in this manner. That would mean that she has an extensive knowledge of the desert, or she explored this area for some time to learn how to navigate the back roads." Nick walked around the dump site, checking for anything the CSIs might have missed on the first walk-through.




The rest of the time was spent in similar activities, but nothing new was found. Nick and Spencer got along well, having realized that they shared many similar quirks. At around seven, they drove back to the crime lab. They met up with the rest of the teams and congregated in the meeting room. JJ had dinner waiting for them when they entered the meeting room. Spencer and Nick tucked themselves into a little corner of the room and ate, the two of them talked animatedly about birds and their migration patterns and anything else that related to ornithology.




They were so involved in their discussion that neither of them realized the interest the rest of the occupants in the room had taken in the both of them. The CSI team had not seen Nick that relaxed and animated in the presence of another person since his incident with Walter Gordon. And after Kelly Gordon ODed in front of him, he became even more withdrawn. The CSIs had mixed feelings, being both happy that Nick seemed to be coming out of his shell again, but at the same time a little upset that Nick's coworkers and close friends had not been the ones to elicit the smile. And one in particular had to stifle the ranging jealousy within, having to repeatedly tell himself that it was his own fault that his friend had been pushed away.




As for Spencer, none of his colleagues had ever seen him smile so much to a stranger before, it had taken almost a year before he had become more open with them and another year before he smiled as much, but now he had a grin plastered on his face and was very animated as he rattled off a series of statistics to his avid listener. Most had very mixed feelings, but one in particular ground his jaw in jealousy, he had to sit on his hands to stop himself from tearing the two apart. Gideon and Grissom just smiled their little mysterious smiles, they had known that this might happen and had paired them together on purpose, knowing that at the moment the two most fragile persons on their team needed outside support.




As the next shift of lab technicians filed in for work, they passed the meeting room. This prompted Grissom to move.




"Alright, everyone gather around. The graveyard shift is starting and I want to finish with our meeting so that we can get things moving." The meeting went on for a few more hours while all off them pored over notes and evidence, testing all the evidence and going through all their information to make sure that everything was in place.

***

Morgan woke suddenly and without obvious cause. He stayed very quiet, slowly reaching for the gun he had left by his head. All of a sudden he heard it again, it was a tiny whimper, and then another, and another. It was coming from Reid and it sounded like a nightmare.

He got up from his bed smoothly and padded softly to Reid's bed. A weak light filtered through the windows, and he examined Reid as best he could with the partial illumination. Spencer was wrapped tightly in his blankets and only his head emerged from the cocoon. His face was contorted in fright and Morgan felt his heart ache for Reid. Whatever his nightmare was, it was hurting him.

He sat on the bed and shook Reid's wrapped shoulders lightly. When there was no response, he frowned. He heard another whine from Reid; it must be getting worse. He seemed louder and more pained than when Morgan first heard him. He shook Reid a little harder, but that only seemed to make Reid's whimpers more desperate.

"Reid. Reid, wake up." Morgan rubbed Reid's back as he called out to him. He realized that Reid was shivering, with a deeper frown, he pulled Reid into his arms and held him against his chest. His wide palm made soothing circles on Reid's back as Spencer shuddered and moaned in distress. Suddenly the younger agent's eyes flew open in panic and he started to hyperventilate.

"Reid. Reid. Spencer, listen to me, breathe. Breathe in, breathe out, breath in, breathe out. That's right; you can do this: breathe. Shh baby, I got you, shhh. Just breathe," Morgan babbled as Spencer shivered in his arms. He held him even tighter when he heard the unmistakable sound of sobbing.

Morgan deduced that Spencer was reacting to the incident the night before, and wondered why it had taken so long to set in. Spencer felt warm and comfortable in his arms, but he felt guilty for enjoying the feeling while Spencer was obviously very distressed.

Morgan stared down at Spencer and became concerned when he saw that the doctor's eyes were glazed over. This could mean that even though the eyes were open, Spencer was not really aware or even awake. As he rocked Spencer and rubbed the other man's back, they both relaxed. An hour after his episode, Reid fell asleep on Morgan. Not wanting to move him, Morgan leaned against the headboard and fell asleep holding Spencer.

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The next morning, Morgan woke up with a mildly pressing need to use the toilet. When his brain started working a little better, he realized that he was not the only person in his bed. Wondering which girl it was that he had picked up the night before, he slowly tried to move. Then, the memories crashed into him like a tidal wave. He hadn't picked up some random girl; this was Spencer.

Taking a quick survey of his surroundings, he noted that Spencer was sprawled on top of him, still cocooned in his blankets, and Morgan himself was not wearing anything but his white boxers. He looked down into Spencer's face and felt his heart skip a beat. Spencer was sleeping and his golden brown hair was spilt on Morgan's chest, his ear was pressed onto Morgan's heart. One long fingered hand was clutched to the top of the blankets and dried tear tracks ran down his face.

Compared to the night before, his face was now a study of serenity. Morgan had thought that Spencer was too pretty for a man from the very first moment he had laid eyes on him. Now that they were up close, he decided that it was the truth. Spencer had long eyelashes that brushed softly against his cheeks and Morgan had always had a weak spot for nice eyes.

He ran his eyes over Spencer again, wondering what he was doing all the while. He moved away a few inches, freezing when Spencer's lids flickered a little. When Reid settled down again, Morgan signed in relief. Slowly, he eased himself from beneath Spencer and got off the bed. He padded to the toilet and eased himself, when he was done he showered, while he was there he took care of the hard-on he was sporting from lying under Spencer.

As he jerked off, he tried to picture the various busty babes of his acquaintance, but the image of the wide-eyed Spencer kept intruding on him. When he finally came, it was to the image of Spencer's sleeping face. Cursing himself for even thinking of his very innocent, male colleague in that manner, he went about dressing for the day.

Once he finished, he glanced over at Spencer, he felt his breathe catch. Spencer was sleeping on his front, facing him. The tightly wrapped blankets had loosened and Spencer had one bare arm stretched out above him and a bare shoulder was also bared for him to see. With great difficulty he tore himself from the scene and he all but ran from the room.

As he was waiting for the lift, the realized that he had been thinking of his younger colleague as Spencer instead of Reid, and did Morgan actually call him 'baby?', 'Oh yeah,' he thought to himself, 'I'm screwed.'

***

Spencer woke slowly, hearing running water, rustling clothes, and a closing door. He frowned slightly; feeling exhausted even after what appeared to be a full night's sleep. Slowly, he pulled himself out of the cocoon of blankets. Looking around, he noticed that Morgan had been up for some time already and had left the room. He wondered why Morgan was up so early; usually the older agent was the last to wake.
 
Shrugging off the bed linens, he moved to the restroom, deciding to take a bath instead of his usual shower. He filled the tub with hot water before dropping in some of his favorite peppermint bathing oils.
 
Usually when they were on such trips, he would not indulge himself as he could imagine what Morgan would say about that. They usually ended up sharing one room and he had no desire to have Morgan teasing him endlessly about his love for baths.
 
But since Morgan had already left, he decided it didn't matter, he was tired and felt horrible. He could not recall the events that had transpired the night before; he just hoped that he had not embarrassed himself. But since Morgan had not woken him up; he might not have disturbed the other man.
 
When the tub was full, Spencer slid into the hot water, and all the weariness slipped from his bones. As he relaxed, he started reviewing the case mentally.
 
Half an hour later, Spencer noted that he was getting pruny. He got up and drained the tub. He rooted around the bathroom, and to his dismay, discovered that he had forgotten to bring a change of clothes with him. Wrapping a robe around his body, he stepped out into the room. He flushed when he realized that Morgan was back, sipping on coffee and reading the newspaper.
 
He was mortified, but to his surprise, Morgan had not even reacted to him. Spencer quickly moved to his bag and took out his clothing, but his movements seemed to have alerted Morgan to his presence as he suddenly looked up at Spencer. He did not know what to make of the expression on Morgan's face, he had never seen that look on the man's face before, and it was making him feel funny.
 
Without a backward glance he rushed into the bathroom and dressed quickly, having felt quite naked under Morgan's scrutiny. Still blushing crimson, he walked awkwardly out into the room again, Morgan had turned back to the paper but he had put down his coffee and was fidgeting in his seat.
 
"Good morning, Morgan." Spencer greeted politely as he took a seat opposite Morgan at the table placed in front of the window.
 
"Morning genius, got you some coffee. We will be having breakfast with the others in an hour or so. I also got you berry yogurt to tide you over till then." Morgan indicated to the two cups at the edge of the table. Spencer was slightly surprised at that, he loved yogurt but had never realized anyone noticed. It was a very sweet gesture and so unlike Morgan. But he shrugged, who was he to complain, so he smiled brightly at Morgan in thanks.
 
"So what are you reading?" Spencer asked as he ate his yogurt.
 
"I was looking through the papers and I found the obituary. Look at this particular one, does this look like one of our vics? I cannot remember the names of all the vics so I don't really know if this was one of them or not." Morgan held out the paper for Spencer's inspection.
 
"This is not one of our vics and look at the date of the death, it happened before the first killing occurred." Spencer looked at Morgan with wide eyes, they both knew what that means, this might be the one the unsub knew and by the look of things, this might be posted by the unsub. Morgan flipped opened his phone and called Gideon, after a few minutes of discussion Morgan put down the phone.
 
"Gideon says that we can meet up in half an hour, they just woke up." Morgan told Spencer who nodded and went back to his yogurt. After he finished his yogurt he sipped at his coffee as he watched the goings on below their hotel window. He thought that the hotel they were staying in this time was really nice and it was high up and overlooked the strip, it was too bad that he was too tired the night before to appreciate the sights.
 
He had grown up here and never once thought that he would be happy to be back, here where there were so many bad memories. He smiled as he made up his mind to visit his mother and grandparents, he would have to tell Gideon that later. After finishing his coffee, he started cleaning up the room.
 
Whenever he and Morgan shared a room, Spencer had to clean up, Morgan had the tendency to throw his things around the room carelessly. When he shared with Hotch or Gideon, he did not have that problem because the two of them were neat freaks. He picked up the clothes Morgan had left around the room and folded them neatly before placing them and his own dirty clothes into a laundry bag, he hooked the bag to one of the hook by the door. It would ensure that the cleaning crew would do the laundry for them.
 
He straightened the things in the bathroom and placed their bags neatly in the closet. He packed his and Morgan's gears in their handheld bags, making sure that no sensitive information or objects are left behind in the room while they were out. And because he was so engrossed, he did not notice that Morgan was staring at him unwaveringly.
 
As he was going through some of his files again, a knock came from the door, Spencer who was the nearest went to answer the door, outside were Gideon and Hotch. Spencer and Morgan took their bags and their coats and went outside with the two of them. They walked down the hall and went to the room closest to the elevator, Elle opened the door and awhile later the whole team was on their way down to the lobby.
 
They made their way to the small restaurant in the hotel's lobby and settled down for breakfast. Once they were finished they went outside and got cabs to get to the LVPD, when they got there the CSIs were not present yet but Detectives Brass and Sofia were there to meet them.
 
"How did the meeting go last night? Anything new?" Brass asked them, the BAU were sitting around the table and the two detectives sat near the door waiting to see if there was anything they could help with.
 
"Nothing new last night, however, this morning, while Agent Morgan was looking through the newspaper, he came across this," Gideon passed the obituary to the detectives, after taking a look, the article was passed on to the rest of the BAU team who have not seen it. "We think that the unsub might have something to do with it, or the person who have put this up knows the unsub."
 
"I will go and check this out." Brass said. Gideon nodded and signaled for Morgan and Elle to follow. The three of them left soon after making copies of the obituary.
 
"Where are the CSIs?" Gideon asked the other detective Sofia.
 

"They will be in later." She answered, Gideon nodded to her.

***

Gideon had been watching Morgan closely; he had not missed how distracted the normally attentive man had been during breakfast. Then he had noticed the frequent looks Morgan had been casting towards an oblivious Reid. It was not until he noted how heated the looks were getting that he understood what was going on, it seems as if Morgan was interested in Reid and the interest did not look innocent at all.
 
He finally had to get Morgan out into the field and far from Reid when it became obvious that his mind was not on the job at all.
 
Reid was his usual awkward self, he seem to be coping well with the events of their last case. Gideon had, for a minute, been worried about just how normal Reid was acting, but then he realized that it was Reid, so he had probably thought his way through the situation already.
 
But Reid also seem to want to keep the topic of shooting that guy far from any conversations, he will twist the topic away when he felt that someone might be heading in that direction.
 
Gideon knew that he was not the only person who had noticed that; Hotch, JJ and Elle had all given Reid worried looks too. Gideon sighed; he could not help but feel protective of his younger colleague. Gideon treated him like a son and cannot help but worry and fuss over the younger agent. The last few times when Reid had been hurt or put in a dangerous position, Gideon had to use all his years of experience to reign in his protective instincts and keep his cool.
 
He looked over at Reid and frowned, the bruise from two nights ago was still there, and it had already turned an ugly yellow green in colour. Elle had applied healing cream onto his bruise the first thing in the morning and it was healing nicely, however, it made Reid look even younger and more delicate looking.
 
He wondered what he should do with Morgan's situation; the man was a player and would no doubt be the first to admit that. He did not want Morgan to hurt Reid; the younger man had a fragile psyche, not to mention being innocent and inexperienced in such situations. Signing, he knew that worrying would get him nowhere, he would just have to wait and see, frowning once more, he turned back to his notes.
 
"Gideon?" He looked up in surprise; the object of his paternal instincts was standing in front of him. Reid was fidgeting and looked very nervous, he wondered what was wrong.
 
"Yes Reid?" He kept his tone soft and soothing to calm Reid down.
 
"Umm...you know how I grew up in Vegas.... um....I have family here so...ahhh...umm, can I go visit them sometime while we are here? Before you say anything, I would like to tell you that if you do not think we have the time, I would understand. It is just that I thought it would be nice to go see my relatives and all that." Reid was rambling, an obvious sign that he was very nervous. He patted the young man's hand and made him sit beside him, he noticed that the rest of the BAU team was listening in, Reid seldom said anything about himself and his life, so when he does, everyone listens.
 
"Sure Reid, go see them for awhile. It's okay with the team; we are really at a stand still until Morgan can get back with some more information for us. But one of us would have to go with you cause we have a killer out there that targets individuals that have very strong resemblance to you." Reid looked uncertainly at Gideon.
 
"Um...alright, I will think about it." Reid stood and walked over to the chair he had been sitting on and lapsed into silence. Gideon knew that Reid is a very private person and would not like the idea of someone following him around, but it was for his own safety. Before he could say anything else, his phone rang.
 
"Yeah" Gideon answered the phone.
 
"Gideon, we just left the office of the newspaper that did the obituary. They don't know who it was that placed the obituary, but they have the check that was used to pay for it. Garcia traced the check to the owner's address; we are going there now." Gideon thought for a moment.
 
"Is the credit card's owner male or female?"
 
"Male, but we don't know the relation this person had to the person in the obituary, we are going to find that out now."
 
"Hang on; I want Hotch to be there when you do the interview."
 
"Alright" Gideon hanged up the phone and sent Hotch on his way to the address Morgan had given, Hotch immediately left with Sofia in tow. Gideon hated the waiting part and hope that this was the break in the case they were looking for.

***

"So did we miss anything?" Spencer looked up from a book he was reading to see the graveyard CSIs filing into the room.
 
"We might have a lead. Here, look at what we found in the papers this morning." Gideon handed a copy of the obituary over to the CSIs. The group gathered behind Grissom, who had taken the offered paper, to take a closer look.
 
"This is an obituary." Catherine pointed out. Gideon nodded.
 
"Look at the picture on the far right of the obituary. Does the person in that picture look familiar to any of you?" The CSIs nodded in agreement.
 
"This woman, though she looks like our vics, was not one of them. At least one we had not known about prior to seeing this obituary. The time of death stated for her would have been before the death of our first known victim. That would mean that this might be the original individual the unsub had known, or she may be a new victim that we had not been informed about." Spencer said as he paced about the front of the room.
 
"The obituary is very vague, it only gives the time of birth and death, and a name, nothing else." Grissom said as he studied said picture.
 
"Yes, we will hopefully know more when the others get back." Gideon said as the door opened; Morgan, Hotch, Elle and the two detectives came into the meeting room with grim faces attached.
 
"So what have you got?" Gideon asked the group.
 
Hotch frowned a little harder before answering, "We waited outside of the suspect's house for some time before finally meeting up with him. His name is Will Lanecork, and is a small time business owner. He claimed to have been saving money to put up the obituary. He also claimed to have posted one for his son a month ago and had just only gotten enough money to put one up for his daughter."
 
Morgan took over from Hotch at this point, "The siblings Jerry and Ivy looked very much like our vics and from what we have learnt of their deaths, they had definitely not been the victims of our unsub. We have come to the reasonable conclusion that they are the missing link in this investigation." Gideon nodded and gestured for them to continue.
 
"The two siblings are named Jerry and Ivy Lionel. Will Lanecork had been their step-father, but according to him, he had been very close to the two of them and had always treated them as his own.
 
"Jerry was older then Ivy by a year. Their mother had died five years ago from lung cancer. Apparently the siblings had left Las Vegas after her death, they had since been staying in Chicago with their aunt while they studied there." Elle took over from Morgan at this point.
 
"However, about three months ago, Ivy was kidnapped. Later, her mutilated corpse was found by police in a shallow grave. Forensics had determined that she had been raped before she was killed. This happened in Chicago, but the police there have not been able to find her murderers and have no suspects either.
 
"Jerry was later kidnapped too, and like his sister, he was brutally killed after being raped. They found a lot of semen samples on him but because they were all mixed up, no suspects could be prosecuted. However, while Ivy had been killed in Chicago, Jerry had been killed in Indiana, so there is no link between both murders and rape.
 
"According to their step-father, the two were well liked and popular among their peers, they were smart and very involved in school affairs. However, both were deeply religious and were very conservative in their thinking, and had joined campus campaigns to stop sex before marriage."
 
Hotch came to the front of the room and took over from Elle. "Jerry was a student leader and would be graduating this year with a major in chemistry. Ivy is a student volunteer and is looking to graduate next year with a major also in chemistry. Although not twins, they acted like twins, often with the same interest and same ideas. They also had a lot of common friends among them."
 
"So our unsub was unsettled by their deaths and is disturbed by the way they had died. The white of the victims clothing might mean a need to preserve purity. I want to cross reference all their contacts with Las Vegas and see if we can find anything. Morgan, Elle, JJ, you are going to Chicago, interview all the friends of the victims and see what you can find, interview the aunt too. JJ contact the Chicago police and have them assist in the investigation. Also look into the deaths of Jerry and Ivy, see if you can find anything from there." Gideon snapped out, everyone nodded and JJ called to have a flight arranged.
 
"The plane will be ready in two hours." JJ announced.
 
"Alright, in the mean time, we will work from here and see what we can find." Gideon said, he released Morgan, JJ and Elle, allowing them to get back to the hotel to pack and ready for their flight.
 
After a short dinner, Hotch, Spencer and Gideon sifted through the evidence with a fine tooth comb, wanting to not miss anything. Warrick, Catherine, Sara and Greg were called off to investigate other crimes leaving Nick and Grissom to help the BAU team.
The remaining BAU team members only left when the graveyard shift was over, when they had gotten back to their rooms, all of them fell asleep in exhaustion.

***

It was already late morning when they had gotten the chance to get to bed, so when Spencer finally woke, the sun was getting ready to set. He reflected that this was the first time they were attached to the graveyard shift, and it was already proving to be really tiring.
 
After an hour long soak to shed the fatigue, Spencer got down to the business of cleaning the room while waiting for Gideon's call.
 
Morgan had left in a rush the day before; since Spencer had already packed everything else for him, all he had to do was to pack his own personal toiletries. That, Spencer had also left in a neat little packet by the sink.
 
Much to his exasperation, Morgan had managed to leave a mess for him to clean up. Spencer wondered how the man lived, his house must be a real mess, he made a metal note to ask him about it one day.
 
After making sure the room was neat and tidy, Spencer sat by the window. He looked out at the city that was just coming alive with colours and lights dispassionately. It was a rather hot and dry evening outside, he could even feel the heat seeping in through the window panes, he was once again glad that he did not live here anymore, having never liked the desert heat and dryness.
 
He had been thinking about Gideon's conditions, and guessed that it really was best if someone did tag along. After some pondering, he finally decided to ask Gideon to go with him, he had a feeling his mother would approve of Gideon as his semi-guardian-like-person. And Gideon would have a kick trying to figure his mother out.
 
He realised that he really did want to visit his mother, he missed her terribly; even if it had been years since he had really been able to see his mother as a mother and not some neurotic woman that had made his life so complicated.
 
According to the doctor's report delivered to him a few days ago, she was doing a lot better and was responding to the new set of treatments. He really hope that he would be able to see her as she once was; gentle and loving, patient and nurturing.
 
He shook himself out of reminiscing about his mother, he really should not hold onto such childish hopes. Anyway, he had other obligations right now, the case was moving at light speed, so he would have to put the visit off till after the case was over.
           
Spencer was so absorbed in his thoughts that he was startled when his phone rang, he hurried to answer it, and despite his melancholy thoughts moments ago, he had to smile when he heard Gideon's distracted voice floating from the background. "Hello?"
           
"Hey Reid, good, you're awake." Hotch said hurriedly, "meet you in five, is that alright?"
           
"Yeah." Spencer grinned in amusement when he realised that Hotch was not listening to him. He was saying something to Gideon rather crossly, it seems like he was not the only person that was exasperated by their roommate. Hotch hung up aruptly, cutting off the rest of the conversation. Spencer shook his head a little, he had been interested to know what had gotten Gideon so distracted and Hotch so irritated.
 
Spencer took his bag and put on his shoes before padding out of his room. Making sure that the door was locked securely behind him, he wandered down the hall to the room of the other two men.
 
Hotch answered the door, wearing the darkest scrowl on his face, when he knocked; he let Spencer into the room before closing the door firmly behind him. Spencer looked around the room and was surprised to find that it had papers, pictures and photos strewn all over. It seems Hurricane Gideon had struck and scored; and Hotch was really none too happy about it.
 
But the clean up operation was already in the works. Gideon was arranging the scattered papers into piles before putting them neatly into crime scene case files. Meanwhile, Hotch was keeping the pictures and photos in several large manila folders.
 
Spencer greeted the two men in his usual subdued manner, and waited long enough to hear some mumbled responses back before picking his way gingerly across the room to sit on one of the cleared beds.
 
When the two older men were done, Spencer joined them in a last check to make sure that none if the papers, pictures or photos were left behind in the hotel room. That done, the three men left the hotel and hailed a cab, heading for the Las Vegas crime lab for another gruelling day of crime solving. (Had to write that...was watching some crack detective Bugs Bunny cartoons and was tickled into adding that into the story XD)
 
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When they got to the crime lab, Spencer was not surprised that it was only the detectives who were there to meet them once again. Upon reaching the room they had taken over for their own use, Hotch and Gideon took out the files and folders, laying out the papers, pictures and photos as they had in the hotel room. Looking carefully at them now, Spencer realised that they were making a, so-called, trail.
 
The rest of the evening was spent going through the reports that had been called in by Morgan, Elle and JJ, all were on the interviews they had done so far that day. Spencer sighed when he realised that they were going nowhere fast. Fustrated and annoyed, he and some police officers found themselves back at the crime scenes again that night, taking pictures and analysing the scenes, again.
 
The places where all the bodies had been found were near graveyards, but that was where the similarity ended. Some were left in high traffic areas, while others were left in obscure areas with little to no traffic.
 
For example, the latest body had been found three days after the victim's body had been dumped, that had been due to the remoteness of the dumping ground. It was all so unpredictable, the dumpsites seemed to be too random. Spencer felt that he was missing something, something very important, he just could not put his finger on what it was.
 
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That night, shortly after the Grissom and Nick had arrived, detective Brass burst into the room in a rush. "A couple just walk in to report that their young daughter is missing; and get this, the girl fits the profile of our vics."
           
"What? When did that happen?" Hotch asked.
           
"Not too sure, when I heard the couple's complaint and saw the picture of the girl, I thought I would get you guys first and ask questions later." Brass explianed.
           
"I want to interview them; if it is okay with you." Gideon asked Grissom. The man nodded, and everyone filed out behind the detective. Brass got the parents into an interview room and had them seated as comfortably as possible given the situation. Grissom and Gideon entered the room a little later, leaving Hotch, Spencer and Nick to watch from the small room behind the two way mirror.
           
"I am Dr Grissom for the LVPD CSI and this is Agent Gideon of the FBI, we have a few questions we would like to ask you." Grissom said in a clipped tone, he had his note pad out and was looking at the parents steadily. (Okay, I actually love Grissom but his stare sometimes freak me out...creepy! -.-)
 
Gideon was suddenly reminded of that expression on Grissom the one time he had seen him examining one of his bug specimens. He noted how the two in front of them seem to shrink a little; he sympathised, he would have felt rather like a bug too if he was pinned with that look.
           
"Why are we being interviewed by the two of you, is there something wrong, have you found Tammy? Is she alright?" The mother asked anxiously, looking rather pale and shaken. She shrunk a little more at the unblinking gaze Grissom bestowed solely upon her. (O-O)
           
"We do not know as of yet, why don't we start from the beginning. You are?" Gideon asked, his voice deliberately low and soothing to counter Grissom's rather alarming mannerisms.
           
"I am Franklin Chester and this is my wife Rose Chester." The man answered, seeming to have relaxed a little.
           
"Alright, Mr Chester, when did you realise that your daughter had gone missing?" Gideon still had his voice pitched low and soothing since it seemed to be helping the distraught parents calm their nerves.
           
"Yesterday actually, but we think that it might have been even longer then that. You see, she always called to check in with us every five days, so when she hadn't called the day before, we started to worry. At first, we thought that she might just be too preoccupied, but when she hadn't called yesterday, we became really worried.
 
"We went to her apartment just this evening to check on her. She wasn't there, and the mail had not been collected for six days. We made a few calls and none of her friends or colleagues have seen her for almost a week. They had thought that she was busy with something and had not wanted to disturb her.
 
"You have to understand, she is an artist and there are times when she is inspired, she would go for days without contacting anyone. Most of her friends knew better then to contact her before she did, she could get really upset if disturbed while she is creating her 'masterpieces' as she calls them." Mrs Chester sobbed the last few words out, one could tell that she was hurting badly.
           
"We came here immediately after we confirmed that she was truly missing. She's a good girl, a little too artistic and distracted, but she's a good girl, she would never ever run away on her own delibrately." Mr Chested added. The couple was clinging to each other and Mrs Chester was crying into her husband's chest.
           
"Mr Chester, we understand, we will try our best to find her. Is it alright if we searched through her apartment? It might give us some clues." Gideon asked the couple, they nodded and handed over a set of keys.
           
"We'll go and check out her apartment, if there is anything, we will call you." Gideon said as he saw the couple out of the room. Gideon made sure that the couple was led out of the station by a police officer and that someone had arranged to take them home.
 
It was a grim and silent, but determined group that gathered back at the meeting room.
           
"It's been six days already. There is a possibility that she is already dead or will be killed tomorrow. We need to move fast." Hotch said.
           
"I'll take Nick with me to the apartment. We will keep you posted." Grissom told Hotch.
           
"I'll go along with the two of you." Gideon addressed Grissom, after a little hesitation, Grissom agreed, but had Gideon promise to stay out of their way. Gideon agreed, acknowledging that in this case, Grissom was indeed very good at what he did.

***

Morgan was not having a good day.
On top of a nagging headache and brain-numbing fatigue, constant thoughts of one very brainy young man (that are turning more indecent by the hour), possibly the most horrible weather in the history of humankind, he had been trudging through the list of contacts interviewing person after clueless person.
It was enough to demoralize even the strongest of wills.
Morgan had half the heart to call it a day after having spoken to yet another clueless person. He had met with dead-ends after dead-ends, it was no wonder the detectives here had never made any headway into the solving of the siblings' murders. For being so popular, there seem to be very little anyone actually knew about the siblings' private lives.
There were also no successes on the other fronts either.
JJ had been in the Chicago police department the majority of the day, sorting through the evidence files of the Lionel siblings. That had been a complete waste of time as it was obvious from the clues that there had been no links between the two crimes at all. It had just been the siblings' rotten luck to have been targeted for these random acts of violence.
When Morgan and Elle had seen the contact list of the siblings' the day they arrived, they had decided there and then that the only way they would ever finish interviewing the people on the list anytime that week was to split it between the two of them.
Elle had managed to finish interviewing everyone on her list ahead of Morgan, but like Morgan, she had found absolutely nothing of interest to them or their case. That was also the reason why Elle was available to meet Morgan at the location his last contact to help with the interview.
 Earlier on, when she had realized they had came to a road-block, Elle had faxed the list over to the Las Vegas crime lab, hoping that somebody there might be able to see something they might have missed. Spencer had looked at the list and then had it cross referenced within an hour and managed to root out the interviewees with possible connections to Las Vegas and were contacts of both siblings.
That was when they realized that there was one really important person they had yet to speak to, and that was where they were headed off to. Morgan had swore up and down when he had realized that the most crucial person had been allocated to the bottom of his list, he wondered if he had forgotten his brain somewhere back in Las Vegas.
As he was rounding the street to the house of the last contact, and possible crime suspect, he heard his mobile phone ringing from the backseat of his car. After a little struggle with the steering wheel and a near unwelcome meeting with the curbside later, he had the phone in his hands, breathing a little heavy he snapped his phone open irritably, all the while cursing whomever had the nerve to call him at that moment.
            "Agent Morgan." He snapped angrily, a small sound of discomfort emitting from the other end made his heart skip and he felt all the anger draining out of him like a really leaky faucet. He would recognize that sound anytime, anywhere.
            "Hello Morgan, it's me, Reid." Spencer replied a little uncertainly, "Did I catch you at a bad time?" Reid cleared his throat uncertainly, a muted voice was heard asking Spencer something or other in the background.
            "Hey Reid, sorry I snapped at you, and no, you did not catch me at a bad time." Morgan grinned at the blatant lie.
He glanced at the side-view mirror and he could not help but realize that he was grinning like a loon. He thanked his lucky stars that he was alone at the moment and that none of the people who he knew could see him now or they would be sure to give him hell.     
Suddenly, Spencer spoke up again, pulling him away from his thoughts, "I've called to inform you that we have another missing person that could very well be linked to our case. The girl's name is Tammy Chester and she is a splitting image of Ivy Lionel.
            Her parents had just reported her missing, but it has been six days since she was seen by anyone. Gideon had gone with Grissom and Nick to search her apartment for clues of her disappearance while Hotch and I are looking through Tammy's calls and credit transactions to see if we can find anything. Hotch wants me to ask if you have anything new we might be able to use."
            Morgan signed and rubbed his face tiredly, "No, nothing new since the last time I updated Hotch. We are headed over to interview the last person on the list. I will call after we are done there." Spencer hummed, than made sounds that seem to be some kind of agreement before he hung up.
            "Spencer is one weird kid." Morgan looked at his cell phone in amusement before flicking it shut. He started the engine up again and drove up the street, he stopped and parked his car after spotting Elle. She had parked her car outside of a small wooden house and was standing outside her car with her slender hips propped against the car's bumper.
            He got out of the car, and after greeting Elle, told her the contents of Spencer's call while digging through the backseat of his car for his notepad. When he was done he looked up and noticed that she was looking at him funny. "What?"
            "You called him Spencer." Elle said, Morgan shifted uneasily, cursing himself for the slip up.
            "Well, his name is Spencer you know." Elle's stare intensified.
            "No one calls him Spencer but JJ, and that is because she thinks that she is his mother. Morgan, do you have something to tell me?"
            "Huh? JJ thinks she is Spencer's mom? When did that happen?" Morgan asked partially to dodge out of the real issue and partially due to real curiosity.
            "Everyone knows that! Even Gracia thinks so and quit dodging my question." Elle looked at Morgan exasperatedly.
            "What question? Oh look at the time, we better get this done a.s.a.p, Hotch is waiting for the report and everything..." Morgan side-stepped Elle and hopped up the steps to the house and rang on the doorbell twice.
            "This isn't over yet." Elle hissed when she reached his side, Morgan just looked at her innocently as he rang the bell again.
            A tall red headed woman opened the door on the fourth ring. "Can I help you?"
            "FBI. This is Agent Morgan and I am Agent Greenaway, we have some questions to ask you, can we please come in?" Elle asked with a smile on her face. The woman gestured them in.
            "Are you Elise Kelly?" Morgan asked when they had sat down on the chairs the woman had indicated.
            "No I am not; I am her sister, Carey Kelly. Elise is not here at the moment. May I know what this is about?" The woman answered with a little tilt of her head.
            "We are carrying out an investigation and we would like to ask her a few questions regarding the deaths of Jerry and Ivy Lionel." Elle said.
            "Oh, those poor dears, I knew them as well, is there anything I can do to help with the investigation?" The woman had a look of sadness on her weathered face.
            "What were they like?" Elle asked softly.
            "They were very sweet, both of them. Jerry came every few days to help tutor my son in math, never accepting a cent from me. Ivy was a regular here too, coming to stay over with Elise every other day or so. They were very good friends despite having an age difference of so many years between the two of them. Elise misses Ivy very much, had to get out of town after her funeral. I miss the two of them; they always lightened things up whenever they were here." Carey had a far away look in her eyes.
            "Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt them?" Morgan asked.
            "No, everybody loves them, they were so nice and warm to everyone." Carey answered.
            "Is there anyone you can think of that had been totally devastated by their deaths, to the point where they acted differently and seem to be in their own world?" Carey frowned deeply.
            "Many people loved them and many were devastated and horrified by their deaths, but I can't think of anyone who had a sudden change of character since then." Carey answered after a long pause. Elle and Morgan nodded.
            "Thank you for your time Madam, we will stay in touch and if you have any information you think is of use to us, please do give us a call." Morgan and Elle stood and shook hands with the woman before leaving the house.
            "Well, that was another dead-end." Elle said grouchily as they stepped off the porch.
            "Yeah, well I will call Hotch and inform him we have nothing more here. I think it is time we move the investigation back to Las Vegas." Morgan replied.
            "Hum, I agree. Well, that's it for today, see ya back at the hotel then. I am in need of some good old Zs" Elle nodded to Morgan as she got into her car and drove off after executing a perfect turn.
            "Show off." Morgan mumbled good-naturedly, he picked up his cell phone and dialed Hotch's number.
            "Hello?" Morgan felt the little green eyed monster stirring within his chest as he heard Reid's voice coming off the other end.
            "Reid, what's up, why are you answering Hotch's phone?" He asked suspiciously, wincing when he realized that he sounded very jealous. He wondered how far gone he was when he remembered that most of them have had periodically answered each other phone's whenever the other person of the team is unavailable.   
            "Oh, Morgan, Hotch is off at a meeting with some officials, he was expecting you to call in your report so he left the phone with me." Spencer answered levelly, Morgan signed in relief when he realized that Spencer hadn't noticed anything amiss from him.
            "A meeting with officials at this time of the night?" Morgan asked incredulously when his brain finally registered what Spencer had said.
            "Yeah, they were worried when they learned that a few of the recent unsolved crimes had actually been linked to each other. They are wondering how it was that no one had realized that the killings had been linked till now. They are afraid that if this got out into the public, it would be bad for the image of the city as a whole."
            "Ah, politics. So am I supposed to report to you then?" Morgan could not help it, baiting Spencer was his favorite past-time after all, and he did have the cutest reactions.
            And as Morgan had expected, "I will assure you that I am perfectly able to take down your report and inform Hotch of its contents in its fullest." Spencer replied indignantly, Morgan could just imagine the look of annoyance on his face and immediately regretted that he was not there to see it himself.
            "Alright, alright," Morgan chuckled, "well, Elise Kelly was not in town, she had left after Ivy Lionel was buried. But her sister Carey Kelly was here and we spoke to her. She had nothing new to tell us."
            "Right, so we have no leads there either. I will inform Gideon and Hotch."
            "Yup, thanks genius, have a good night!" Morgan took a last poke at Spencer before clicking the phone off, laughing as he imagined the pout Spencer was sure to be spotting at that very moment.
After stowing his phone into his pocket, Morgan slipped into his car. He drove out of parking at a leisurely pace and then down the street. But as he continued the drive to the hotel, Morgan had a feeling that they had all missed something really important, and no matter what he did he could not shake the feeling.
However, as much as he wanted to follow through with his gut instincts, he was too weary to continue. Maybe, with a little more rest he would figure it out tomorrow.

***