Previous part of It Hurts.

***

"The Magic Position" by: Patrick Wolf

So let the people talk
It's Monday morning walk
Right past the fabulous mess we're in
It's gonna be a beautiful day
So do the bluebirds sing
As I take your hand
And you take my kiss
And I take the world
'Cause out of all the people I've known
The places I've been
The songs that I have sung
The wonders I've seen
Now that the dreams are all coming true
Who is the one that leads me on through

It was seven a.m. The alarm clock began buzzing. Reid moved his hand towards the buzzing sound with his eyes still closed, and his mouth hanging slightly open in a flaccid sort of manner. Once his finger flicked the off switch on the clock, Reid's eyes opened. Now the L.E.D. display read five o'clock and one minute. The bed across from him was empty. Reid knew Morgan must have woken up early and taken a shower. So Reid rolled onto his back. Looking up at the ceiling, he noticed a splotch of gray on the plaster in the corner of a wall. It was probably from a leak. Thinking about a leak made him think about the bathroom, and how there were no shower sounds coming from it. Reid glanced towards the door. The door was wide open. The light was out. There was no Morgan inside. And then Reid realized that knowing Morgan, he would be the last one up.

Reid sat straight up in bed. Morgan never came in last night from the parking lot. That was the first thought that flashed across his head. The next thought was how he had to alert the team. Not even bothering to put his shoes on, Reid jumped out of bed. His heart beat a million times per minute. It was as if his heart would rip out of his chest and begin dancing in front of him. Swinging the door too his room open, he ignored every statistic, every fact, every meaningless word in the dictionary that most people did not know that floated around in his head, and only kept one: Tell Hotch that Morgan is missing.

Reid looked out of the door, his hair swinging beside his head. Bare feet ran across the hard carpet. Hotch was in room 401 two floors above. Reid dashed to the end of the hallway, long legs carrying him faster than he ever had before. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he yanked open the door leading to the stairs, letting the door bang into the wall it was set into. Reid practically began flying up the concrete steps.

Tell Hotch. Must tell Hotch. Reid's brain had temporarily become a mash of a to-do list containing one item, and one item only. Tell Hotch.

Finally, after running up the flights of stairs, Reid yanked open a door back to the hallways of hotel rooms. Stepping through the door, Reid slowed his pace as to not miss Hotch's room number. He kept looking right and left at the doors, hoping he would see the number 401. There was no trick or plan to finding this room, as Reid would typically have. Instead he wandered through the hallways and hallways of rooms that seemed to occupy this floor. Eventually Reid found the room. His heart pounding. His brain threatening his skull with a headache.

Gulping down the lump in his throat, Reid began pounding frantically on Hotch's door. It seemed like forever until Hotch opened up the door. And even when he did, Reid pounded on air for a couple moments until he realized he was standing in front of the very disgruntled team leader in black flannel pajamas. Behind him stood a curious, yet surprised Rossi, who was wearing a dark maroon cotton bathrobe.

"Hotch-"

"Reid," Hotch said as seriously as ever as he stepped out of his hotel room, closing the door behind him. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Sir-"

Hotch was more mad than he had ever seen him, and by the circles under his eyes and Rossi in his room, Reid knew why. But the lump in his chest kept repeating to his throat. No matter how much he tried to gulp it down… it was still there. He gulped again.

"You better have a good reason for coming here this early," Hotch snapped.

And then Reid broke. Tears welled up inside his eyes. Morgan was gone. Reid was getting yelled at. Morgan was gone and he was getting yelled at. He could not take it. Reid needed everyone to know that Morgan was not there. Morgan was gone. He should be sleeping- just like everyone else… but instead he was gone. The thought rambled over and over again in Reid's head.

Hotch realized that what he said could not have caused the young doctor to cry. Placing a hand on Reid's shoulder, he eyed him with his black bushy brows furrowed. Reid had no reason to cry, unless something bad had occurred, which would be why Reid came knocking on Hotch's door in the first place.

Hotch opened his mouth to speak but what interrupted by Reid croaking out, "Morgan…"

"What about Morgan?" Rossi asked as he emerged from the room.

Hotch eyed Rossi, who was still in his bathrobe, "Go back in the room, Dave"

Reid looked at the two of them and said sharply, "It's fine, I don't care. All I care about is Morgan… he's gone."

"Gone?" Rossi asked incredulously. "As in 'missing' gone?"

Reid nodded. He was now officially fascinated by the pattern on the floor. His brain still had not begun functioning yet, and now that he had told Hotch, it seemed as though there was nothing else he could do. To tell the truth, he felt helpless. Rossi could tell that Reid was in no condition to work right now, and it only took him a few seconds to figure that out. Hotch, however, was having a harder time succumbing to the belief that he was missing an agent.

"How do you know he didn't just get up and walk out?" Hotch inquired simply.

Reid looked up at Hotch with tears in his large brown eyes and began rambling, "The- the bed was made. He hadn't slept in it. There was no one in the bathroom. And there's nowhere he could go at five a.m.- especially not when we have a case."

"He's right, Aaron," Rossi said.

"Take me to your room," Hotch requested quietly.

Rossi raised his eyebrows. "Why are you questioning the poor kid?"

Reid was still staring at that carpet, with the yellow circles that are partially inside the blue rings against a crimson background. He was so fascinated by it, that he barely heard Hotch say his name.

"Reid, did he go to your room at all?" Hotch snapped, as though he had been asking the question for quite some time.

He probably had.

The doctor irrevocably looked up from the carpet, with a kink forming in his neck, as he replied, "No."

Rossi's eyes opened wide from an epiphany, and he decided to tell them what he had just realized, "Morgan had told me to go to bed last night. I saw him walk up to this chick, and they started talking. I wouldn't be surprised if that was our Veronica Jennings."

Reid let his mouth hang open. All he wanted to do was go back to bed Find Morgan. Go pee. Although, definitely not in that order. He just wanted Morgan back.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them. Then the comforting hand on Reid's shoulder vanished. Hotch disappeared back inside his hotel room- probably to take a shower and put on a fresh change of clothes. Rossi just stood there for a few moments.

Apparently he had been standing around, waiting for him to think of something comforting to say, but all he come up with was, "We'll get him back, kid."

And then he disappeared back the hotel room.

Reid just sat against the opposite wall, looking at the red door to room 401 as he sat in the fetal position. After fifteen minutes he fell to his right, but staid in the same position. He felt like a little kid who only wanted to find his teddy bear again.

***

A bitter cold amount of something flew up in Morgan's face. The man allowed his head to hang, even after the vast amount of water had hit him. Now the bucket resided right underneath his flaccid head, where he could glare at the thing incessantly until she filled it up again.

"Wake up!" she had screamed in a very shrill sort of tone.

He had listened, obviously, after the first bucket of water had swung up at him. However, he still succeeded in making her believe he was asleep. For whatever purposes she needed him awake. And then her hand hit his face, causing his limp head to hit the wall behind him. Brown eyes glared at her. He had tried to move his hands and feet earlier, but they were latched onto a stone wall behind him with metal cuffs.

"There," she cooed. "You're awake!"

A grin showed on her face from ear to ear. It was malicious and flirty at the same time. She pulled it off quite well. Her black curls fell in her face, and she looked quite amazing. Not amazing in the sense of 'attractive' amazing, but amazing in the sense that there is a certain air about her that Morgan could not quite put his finger on.

"So, what do you have planned?" Morgan inquired, knowing he must be bolted to the wall for some reason.

She tilted her head. Her eyes glowed brightly, like a kid looking at candy in the window of the candy shop. Of course, Veronica knew what she really, really wanted. Nobody else knew what she desired.

So she always asked, "Do you know what I really, really want?"

"To be loved?" came Morgan's answer.

He made it sound so obvious. And yet, she slapped him for good measure- even though that was what it really was. She just… wanted to be loved. Somewhere along the line, being loved became the most important thing for her. And was she ever loved? No. Not ever. And people said she was crazy. Psht. How ridiculous. So she stood there in her thoughts, rounding them up, wondering what she should say next.

And so came the lie, "Shut your mouth, heathen!" She batted her eyelashes and finished, "Of course it's not that."

Morgan eyed to the side, as if contemplating what the Hell the answer could be, and so he asked, "Well then what is it?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No."

She smacked him again. "I want to have fun."

"You want to have fun?" Morgan said, incredulously.

"Yes," she drawled as she spun around with her circle with her arms out. When she stopped, her hands were back down at her sides, and she was still grinning. "I want to have fun!"

She walked up to Morgan, her thin hands with long sapphire blue fingernails. They tapped on his cheek. And that grin was still pasted on her stupid-looking face, which was really beginning to annoy Morgan… no matter how hot he thought she really was. This huge part of her was extraordinarily needy- he saw that. If only he could play on her neediness, and give her exactly what she wanted, she would let her free- or he would at least buy time until his team found him.

"Okay," Morgan nodded.

Placating her would be quite simple, really, if it truly was as simple as he believed it would be. So a smile spread across his face too.

"I'll let you free," she said with wide amber eyes, while pulling a key out of her back pocket. She unlocked his left foot first, and then his right. But before she let free his arm, she said, "Promise you won't run away."

"I wouldn't run away Veronica, promise you, all right?" Morgan said, a slight smile spreading across his lips.

And then she let him free- first with his left arm, then with his right.

***

"Okay, so what do we know?" Rossi said.

He had taken over the investigation since Hotch was over-the-top angry and Reid was permanently comatose inside that head of his. Rossi and Jareau were standing in the lobby with a corkboard standing on an easel. And on the corkboard were pictures of the victims, and everything else they had found out. They also had a picture of Veronica Jennings- black curly hair, amber eyes, beauty and all.

"That's her," Reid had said- tears in his eyes.

Hotch had pulled him away before he could say anything else.

So now Hotch, Reid, and all the other agents were facing out of the lobby, while their corkboard was facing the lobby. Reid had suggested that they do it in one of their rooms, but Hotch told him there was not much room. Plus, if anyone passed by, Jareau could give him or her a flier to watch out for Jennings.

"If only the police station were open this early," Prentiss had said at six a.m.

Alas, the police station opened at eight, so the team commenced in the lobby, where no one else existed during that time of morning. And now, as the team yawned with circles under their eyes from lack of sleep and lack of coffee, Rossi made a good point: they already knew who their unsub was. Yet they knew Garcia not be in until later that morning, they were out of luck- unless they could think of something to do themselves.

And so they sat in the lobby whose color scheme was that of dark mahogany and dark pink mixed in with some crimson. The stone fireplace had been lighted for Jareau's pleasure. It was brilliant the nice places the bureau put them up in, as an alternative to placing them in some hole in the wall. Prentiss had stretched herself out on a chaise upholstered with pink velvet fabric, and decorated with square pillows in some sort of fake silk- unless it was real silk. Whatever it was, Prentiss was eating a container of roasted peanuts over them. Reid and Hotch were sitting on a loveseat also upholstered the same kind of fabric.

"We know who our killer is: Veronica Jennings. Now we just need to find her," Rossi stated simply.

Nobody looked at Reid when he said, "And Morgan!"

"Yes, Reid. And Morgan," Rossi stated. He took another deep breath, since this was a difficult subject to talk about. After a certain pause, he continued talking, "JJ is over there getting a phonebook. We'll look up Jennings' address in that and then see if she's there. If not, we'll need to call in reinforcements."

Nobody needed to say her name aloud- they all knew who she was.

Garcia.

Jareau headed straight for the coffee table as she knelt before it and placed the phonebook on the coffee table. Flipping it open, she began searching for the 'J' in Jennings. Everyone leaned over the coffee table, watching Jareau as she searched for the name. A smile appeared on her face when she eventually found it.

"Ah, there we are," Rossi stated.

Reid looked as though there was some hope in the world. He combed his fingers through his long brown hair, eyeing Rossi and Hotch with wide eyes.

Rossi scanned everyone with his eyes as he said, "24 Jefferson Street."

Hotch stood and said, "We're not waiting."

The agents just sat and watched Rossi and Hotch do some sort of staring contest. It was not a sort of staring as a disagreement. Instead it was that of a silent bond between the two- as if Hotch was saying to Rossi that he was glad it was not him. Reid saw the rest of the team reading this, watching it, drinking it in.

"Now I know why you two couldn't accept Reid and Morgan," Prentiss said, with some sort of expression on her face- it was almost like a smile.

Hotch jumped on her, "What're you talking about?"

"It's all right. We understand. We'll go suit up," Jareau replied for Prentiss as she got up to return the phonebook and head upstairs.

After Prentiss left, Hotch and Rossi were left dumbfounded. Reid raised his brows and his face slowly slid into a grin- one that was bright and full of life. It might have been a dull version of what it usually was, but the fact that he was grinning at all was something. And so after Rossi and Hotch stared, slightly aghast at each other, they both looked at Reid.

"Did we do something wrong?" Hotch inquired flatly, with his eyebrows furrowed.

Reid finally stood, creating a little frown before he replied, "You work with a team full of profilers. They were bound to figure it out eventually."

Hotch and Rossi just watched Reid walk away. There was a certain bounce in his step that was not there before. Both profilers knew that it was not purely the thought of getting Morgan back, but that he was also glad of Hotch and Rossi's newfound karma.

"I'm sorry Dave," Hotch said as he looked down to the floor.

Rossi almost scoffed, but it turned into some sort of a laugh. "Don't be sorry. This' what I wanted all along."

***

"You'd be surprised. Some guys actually want to be kidnapped by some sexy amber-eyed chick," Veronica said with a smile and a mouth full of chicken.

Morgan looked down at his plate, "You're a good cook."

That was the only thing he could manage to say, anyway. In a way she was crazy, but Morgan could see many guys going after kinky sex kittens in anyway they can. Morgan had been kind of like that with the ladies, when he was fooling around: handcuffs, blindfolds, and etcetera. But he certainly did not sign up for this. However, the food was good. Veronica had been gone for about twenty minutes preparing it. And when it was cooking she pulled a round foldout table through the metal door and set it up in the middle of the room. Then she threw a red silk tablecloth over the table and placed a silver candelabra in the center. Veronica lit the three candles. After placing two chairs on either side of the table, she went back to check on the food. She had brought it out with a smile on a silver platter, placing it on the table. That was when Morgan sat across from her and noticed she had changed into a little black halter dress with a plunging v-neck and black sling-back shoes. She had served them both chicken- Morgan had requested the leg- and now they both ate.

Morgan took another bite out of the chicken and swallowed. He was just biding his time until the team came; he knew his kidnapping would be the last clue for them to find the killer. Plus, he had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, which caused him to ask this question: Why did you kill those men?

"Excuse me?" Veronica asked, narrowing her eyes.

She bent her elbow, her forearm straightened upward, and her hand holding a fork with a piece of chicken in it. Clearly Veronica was aghast by the inquiry. Either nobody had every asked her it, or-

"Veronica, why did you kill those men?" Morgan had a sensation crawling up the back of his neck.

Veronica put her fork down on the side of her plate, so the handle was hanging off. Her eyebrows were furrowed. Her face was taught. She looked as though somebody had punched her in the stomach, or called her a name, or… accused her of something she did not do. She looked down at her plate and placed her hands in her lap.

"Veronica, did you kill those men?" Morgan asked, feeling the tenacity of emotion wrap itself around his heart and squeeze.

This girl was sick, but he knew she could never kill anybody when the tears appeared in her eyes.

"Me? Kill anybody? You're asking me if I killed people! Derek, I kidnap attractive men for their pleasure when their girlfriends or loved ones tell me they need to have more fun and try something new. Sally Brewer told me you needed a little spark in your life. I was supposed to be that spark! And you're asking me if I killed anybody?" Veronica sat back in her chair, wiping her eyes and then crossing her arms over her chest. She then stated indignantly, "I didn't kill anybody."

"Sally Greene was the girlfriend of Owen Thompson… shit," Morgan said, figuring it all out in his head.

Sally somehow pretended to know Morgan- then she sent Veronica, who was only doing her job, whether it was illegal or not.

Veronica looked at her hands in her lap and said in a really small voice, as if she was scared, "Sally said you liked it rough… and after how you reacted to being bolted to the wall, I knew something was wrong. So I made dinner for you."

"It's a good dinner," Morgan told her, not only because he wanted her to feel better.

Veronica put her face in her hands. "God, I'm so stupid!"

"Hey, right now you've got bigger problems. You've got a team of FBI agents on your trail and they're tailing the wrong chick," Morgan told her.

Veronica looked horrified at the thought.

And there was a banging at the front door- a loud crash. The heavy metal door was opened from the outside, crashing into the wall. Before Veronica could stand, she was barreled over by the strong force of a man with short black hair, wearing a bulletproof vest that said "FBI" in yellow. Veronica screamed as she was being pressed into the cement floor, hands getting pulled behind her to get handcuffed. All the while she could hear Morgan yelling, but no one was listening to him.

Why wasn't anybody listening to him?

"Hey! You got the wrong girl!" Morgan said, looking at her helplessly.

"Hotch, Hotch!" Rossi pulled the man who was handcuffing Veronica off of her. "We've got the wrong person."

Morgan eyed Hotch angrily, although he knew Hotch was only doing his job and despised anybody who took his team away from him, "It's not her. Sally Brewer sent her to kidnap me. It's in Veronica's job description to give men the 'time of their lives'. The first clue was that I don't match the description, and neither does Brewer. She sounds like big nerd in college… and going after a man with a boyfriend? That's not cool."

"Shit. How did we miss that?" Prentiss inquired a bit shocked.

Veronica was still laying facedown on the cement when she said, "Does it matter? Can somebody take these handcuffs off now?"

"Sadly what you did was illegal. You'll need Reid to forgive you for what," Jareau said, standing over Veronica as she helped her stand up.

"You're gay?" Veronica addressed Morgan.

"Bi," came the answer.

Veronica smirked, "Well, that puts a new perspective on things. Who's the lucky guy?"

Reid stepped forward.

"He's cute," Veronica stated.

"Jareau and Reid, you two take Veronica to the station. We've got someone to go arrest," Hotch gave out orders.

Veronica followed Reid and Jareau out to one of the SUVs whiles she watched the other four agents get into the next SUV. Hopefully, she would get off with a simple sentence. Sally she hoped would get what she deserved- especially for screwing up Veronica's work.

***

Morgan kicked in the door with a simple swift movement of his leg. Everyone had their guns in their most secure positions. Morgan shifted inside the house, eyes grazing through the kitchen and the living room. When they caught onto the stairs, there was a slight wish in his head that she was not asleep. He stepped into the house all the way and jogged up the stairs. Hotch and Rossi followed close behind him, their guns at the ready. Prentiss was left downstairs, just in case they needed extra back up.

Morgan was ready to turn into the bedroom, while Hotch and Rossi were going to check the guest bedroom, when Sally burst out of the bathroom holding a pistol. It was pointed straight at Morgan's head. He could tell that her aim was dead on. But he kept his gun raised, no matter how his eyebrows were raised in surprise.

"What're you doing here?" Sally inquired, relinquishing the gun to her right hand that lowered to her side.

Morgan took a deep breath. This young woman had led them on a wild goose chase, had blamed an "almost" innocent woman, killed her boyfriend, and was now playing dumb. Not to mention she had ordered Veronica to kidnap Morgan, who no longer had any sympathy for the blonde who was holding a gun.

So he barked, "Put down the gun, Sally."

The woman steadied her stance and raised the gun. Once again, the pistol was aimed right between Morgan's eyes. It made the man slightly nervous that she appeared to know what she was doing.

"Put down the gun, Sally," Hotch said, now standing right beside Morgan.

"He was supposed to be with Veronica until I came and picked him up. She would be like his babysitter. Looks like the pretty girl couldn't even do that right. Where is good ol' V now anyway?" Sally chatted.

"We figured out it wasn't her. There were too many gaps in the profile, and I realized on the ride over here that there wasn't anything wrong with the profile," Morgan said.

Sally took a step forward. "Oh yeah? So what'd that profile say about me?"

"It said that when you were in school you suffered through bullying, abuse, anything that lowered your self esteem. The only thing you had were your books, and you made good use of them," Hotch began.

Morgan glanced at Hotch for a moment, realizing what the team leader wanted to attempt. "None of the boys you like wanted you. They were cheerleader types, every one of them. You got hurt."

"You messed up when you killed your own boyfriend," Rossi stated.

He was about to say something else when Sally began crying, lowering the gun to her side, when she said, "He was cheating on me… he was cheating on me with Chantal Priestly. God, I hated her in high school! She was the queen bee, and everyone did her pretty little bidding. Do you know what that's like? Being so insignificant like that? It's like high school came back to haunt me!"

Sally dropped the gun and Morgan moved rapidly.

He handcuffed her when she kept saying, "So I started killing guys who would fall for her. Guys who were dating girls like her! And I killed Owen last… because he was betraying me. He was going to be my last until this piece of sex with the eyes came along. And I knew he was just like him- just like Owen."

Morgan stiffened. He pushed Sally forward, and she easily began walking towards Rossi. Hotch picked up the gun Sally dropped on the wooden floorboards. Prentiss was standing at the top of the stairs, wondering what was going on. When she saw Morgan pushing Sally toward her, she dashed down the stairs and out to the SUV, opening the trunk where there was a screen built in to guard against a criminal escaping. Prentiss climbed up front and sat there, just watching Morgan take Sally from her house in the middle of the day and place her in the back. There was a slam of the trunk door, and then the side door opened. Rossi climbed in first in the middle, then came Morgan, who was obviously a tad flustered. Hotch climbed in the driver's seat and turned the SUV on.

"I'm not like Owen," Morgan stated, unable to get Reid out of his head.

***

Hotch was laying down on the hotel bed closest that was leaned up against the wall with the light off in the room. The only luminance came from an outside street lamp, whose light glowed in on the hotel room floor. Rossi lay against Hotch, his slight snore keeping Hotch content because of the fact of Rossi being there with him. And even though the two were cramped together in the bed, they were happily together, and everybody knew it.

But Hotch could not fall asleep. So instead he contemplated on the occurrences of that day. With the wheels in his head turning, a part of him wished that Rossi would tell him to fall asleep- to go to bed. However, it was not that easy. The jet was leaving at eight this morning, and at two in the morning, Hotch was not getting such a good night's sleep. He shifted his position. Since his arm was wrapped around Rossi, the other agent shifted too, with a groan.

"Aaron, go to sleep," came an exhausted murmur from Rossi.

Hotch sighed. "I can't, it just won't come."

Hotch slipped his arm out from under Rossi. He sat up, trying to focus his eyes in the dark. His eyes could make out the outline of everything in the room, thanks to the light from the street lamp. Sliding off the end of the bed, he was careful not to wake up Rossi. Maybe if he just wandered the hotel hallways for a while. Perhaps that would clear his head enough for him to sleep. But just as Hotch's hand was about to touch the doorknob to the outside, a lamp inside the room clicked on. The luminance lit a semi-circle of light around the beds, and barely hit where Hotch was standing.

He looked back and could hear Rossi say, "Come back to bed."

Hotch walked back to the bed and saw a disheveled Rossi who had the blankets down to his bare waist. The team leader knelt on the edge of the bed. Rossi spotted the circles under Hotch's eyes, yet he knew it would be a difficult task attempting to get him to go back to sleep.

"You should be sleeping, you have to wake up early tomorrow," Hotch said, getting ready to get off the bed again.

Rossi touched Hotch's wrist and stated, "I'm not the only one who needs to sleep. What's bothering you?"

"There's just something about this case that's not sitting right with me," Hotch admitted.

"Then come here and let's talk about it," Rossi suggested.

Hotch scooted up the bed and laid back down on the hard mattress. Rossi put his arm around Hotch. They were propped up by flimsy feather pillows. Once they were settled, Hotch placed his head on Rossi's chest, just listening to the man's heart.

Hotch took a deep breath. "Something in me doesn't want Veronica Jennings to go to jail."

"I don't think any of us want her to go to jail," Rossi answered truthfully.

Hotch looked up at the man with big brown eyes. He snuggled closer to Rossi, thankful for his warmth.

"She was just doing her job," Hotch swallowed.

Rossi sighed. "Her job's illegal. But I'm sure she can find a way around it in the justice system."

"I hope so."

"Reid, go back to sleep baby boy," Morgan said from a bed over.

Silence.

Morgan sighed. "I know you're awake. You know you can talk to me about anything."

Reid rolled over so he could look at Morgan, who was facing the ceiling. Morgan had been right, he was awake. It would take him a while to be able to talk about anything, in fact, he was not even sure if he could talk about this. Although, he knew he would end up breaking and telling Morgan everything he was thinking about. Morgan turned over to look at Reid. They could see each other's outlines in the dark.

The both of them had promised to take it slow, for Reid's sake. But Morgan could not help but want to hold him and sleep in the same bed. With an ounce of decision, Morgan got up and stood next to Reid.

"Move over, Spencer," Morgan grunted, slightly annoyed that he was not sleeping at two a.m.

Reid complied. In the dark, Morgan could see a vein of shock in Reid's expression. The boy's eyebrows were raised, and his mouth was slightly open. Morgan laid down beside Reid, putting his arm around the genius and looking at him with large brown eyes.

"I thought we said we'd-"

"Take it slow?" Morgan finished Reid's sentence. Reid nodded. All Morgan could do to reply was say, "After everything that happened today, all I want is you."

Reid nodded and faced the ceiling. After a couple moments he warmed up to the idea and snuggled into Morgan.

"I was damn happy when I found her awake," Morgan stated.

Maybe if he shared a little something from his day, Reid would share what he was thinking.

"Why?" Reid asked, thoroughly confused.

Morgan breathed out heavily, his chest falling. When it rose again, Reid had placed his hand on it because he wanted to feel it rise and fall under his touch. The motion was enough to make Reid feel pleased. Plus, he liked to feel the added movement of Morgan's beating heart.

And when Morgan finally answered, Reid was beginning to drift off, "I didn't want to be her rude awakening."

Reid yawned. "I'm just like her."

Morgan's eyes practically bugged out of his head. It was at this moment that Morgan felt like he should puke. Those four little words came out of Reid's mouth, and it was exactly what he had been thinking about earlier. But Reid was not just like her, and the genius needed to know why, and he needed to stop thinking like that. But all he could do for the next couple of minutes was hold Reid closer to him, and squeeze him slightly with his strong arm.

"You're nothing like her," was all Morgan could manage at first.

Reid huffed. "But our high school experiences!"

"But you're not a killer," Morgan argued.

Reid pursed his lips and was quiet until he fell asleep from the rhythm of Morgan's beating heart and breathing pattern. Morgan continued staring at the ceiling, thinking of how much he loved Reid, and eventually they fell asleep. So they slept there together, much against Reid's earlier protests of that day about sleeping together.

"Sally said Morgan was just like Owen," Hotch said.

For the past fifteen minutes Hotch had been listing off the things about the case that bothered him, and Rossi had been talking him through it. This was yet another topic of the case that Rossi was yet to answer. And he realized that sometimes Hotch was not as put together as it seemed. Rossi was glad to be able to be there for the man, as that was what people in love were supposed to do for each other, to help one another in any way they can, despite what it is.

Rossi just kissed Hotch's forehead and said, "Sally didn't know Morgan. She based her thoughts on what he looked like, his position, and what he was like in high school. But we know Morgan better than her. Not to mention she was a little screwy in the head. Plus, she made a mistake in leading us to Veronica, because Veronica led us to her. She bit her own head off and basically gave herself up without meaning to."

"Maybe she subconsciously gave herself up because she didn't want to do it anymore."

"Now you're sounding like Reid," Rossi told Hotch, this time kissing the man on the side of the lips.

"Maybe so," Hotch yawned.

"You ready to go to bed?" Rossi inquired.

Hotch nodded. Then he reached over and turned off the light. The two lay there until they fell asleep, both holding each other in each other's arms. And it was a wonderful thing for the two to behold, the love for each other.

Both couples had wonderful dreams.

And neither of them had to keep secrets anymore.