A/N: This is the third full length series in my A Tangled Web universe. This is where we actually get into the show. I'm not going to do every episode and I'm not going to tell the whole story every time. Anything that is either a direct quote or very close to lines spoken in the episode are going to be underlined. I'm finally done with grad school and everything that goes with it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the Boston one shot and the Thanksgiving one shot. As always, I couldn't have done this without my amazing Beta Charmony. Truth be told she rewrote at least half of this. And now without any further ado: A Tangled Wed 3: The Saga Begins.

I don't 'em. I've just borrowed them to play with for awhile and I will return them, albeit slightly used.

Spencer sighed as he slowly headed down the hall to his father's classroom. Six months had passed since that fateful day in Boston and while Gideon was much better, the young man wondered if he would ever truly be healed. He paused in the doorway and caught his father's eye, tapping the folder he held in his hand. Gideon stopped teaching, raising an eyebrow at his son in a silent question. Spencer nodded in answer before turning away. He waited outside in the hallway until his father caught up with him.

"It must be bad if they sent you to get me."

"Four women found murdered in four months. Each one was missing for a week before being killed. Now a fifth one has been taken and we don't have much time."

Gideon glanced sideways at his son. "Hotch knows you came over here?"

A faint smile touched Spencer's mouth. "He's the one who sent me. Said it was better me than a couple of suits. He and Morgan are at the office waiting for us."

A short time later, the quartet gathered around the evidence board looking at the crime scenes and the pictures of the four women.

"They want you in the field with us," Hotch said as he shot a sideways glance at Gideon.

Spencer stood at the back of the room watching not only the agents from the field office, but also his father. He knew that even though Gideon had found some measure of healing and comfort in stepping away from the field, his confidence had been severely shaken. Even now it wasn't back up to where it had been before the bombing. He closed his eyes, dreading the thought of what would happen if they didn't find the missing woman. Shaking away his morose thoughts, he turned his attention to the dry erase board and the maps posted on the wall.

As Hotch continued to speak at the front of the room about what little they knew, his gaze wandered to a dark haired agent in the back who was watching both Morgan and Hotch with an expectant and almost defiant look. He'd heard her name mentioned briefly. Greenaway, one of the Seattle based agents had called her. His mouth twitched into a brief smile. "She wants to join the BAU," he thought to himself as his attention was pulled back to the conversation at hand.

"When do we sit down with your task force?"

"Four o'clock this afternoon."

"That doesn't give us a lot of time to come up with an accurate profile," Morgan said as he stared at the agents.

"Well Heather Woodland doesn't have very much time either."

Spencer glanced back over his shoulder. He recognized the steely determination in his father's voice and stance, but he also knew that accuracy was the key to finding the right person and giving the right profile. He vaguely noted Hotch asking his dad where he wanted to start and Gideon's reply of the last murder scene.

Spencer froze as he stared at the barking dog. Despite several attempts by his parents both as a child and as a teen, he still disliked dogs on a basic level. Especially ones that barked incessantly, which seemed to happen around him quite frequently.

"Sorry, Sandy's not usually like this," David said as he pulled his sister's dog away from the young agent.

"It's okay. We call it the 'Reid effect'," Hotch remarked dryly. "If it wasn't for his younger siblings, I'd be worried it would happen with kids too."

"You look too young to have gone to medical school."

"They're PhD's. Three of them actually."

"What, are you a genius or something?"

"I don't actually believe that intelligence can be quantified. I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute." Spencer paused as he realized that David was staring at him with a wide-eyed expression of disbelief and Hotch was attempting to contain his smile. "Yes, I'm a genius." He swallowed hard and felt relieved when David's gaze shifted to Hotch. Studying his surroundings, he looked for any clues that might explain how Heather had met their unsub. His gaze landed on a stack of car magazines that while not unheard of for a woman to read, were certainly unusual. He picked up the top issue and squinted at the picture as a thought crossed his mind.

"Is your sister in the market for a Datsun Z?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?" David asked as he took Sandy into the kitchen. Hotch came to Spencer's side.

"He got her trust by posing as a seller and then took her for a test drive. There's an instant relationship that implies trust between a buyer and seller. That's how he caught her," Spencer said holding up the magazine.

"We need to get back to the office."

Morgan was comparing and contrasting parts of the evidence as Gideon started at the map of Seattle and the surrounding area in front of him. His agents' voices faded into the background as he attempted to make sense of what they knew. As pieces of the puzzle started settling into place, he interrupted Morgan's monologue.

"Alright enough. Hotch tell them we're ready."

Morgan's mouth dropped open in shock. "We're ready?" he repeated incredulously. His gaze swung back and forth from Gideon's departing figure to Hotch's calm face. Finally his eyes turned to Spencer. "Reid? Are you good with this? We got a woman who's only got a few hours left to live, an incomplete profile, and your dad is about to have a nervous breakdown."

"They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore," Spencer and Gideon, who had slipped back in the room unnoticed by Morgan, replied in unison.

"It's a major depressive episode," Spencer added as Gideon left again.

"Yeah, I know that Reid." Morgan sighed as he looked at his younger colleague. He couldn't help but wonder if Gideon was flying off the handle because he was desperate to prove something to himself and to the team. Not to mention the rumors about the director being unsure of Gideon's place in the field. He realized Spencer had gone back to scribbling something while completely ignoring what he had said. "You are worried," he said as he put a hand on Spencer's shoulder.

"He's better, but he's not completely healed. He still blames himself, even after talking to my mom, my uncle and the psychologist. He's pushing because he's afraid people will see him as weak after what happened."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Reid!"

"Yes, but not everyone makes a mistake that gets six agents and a hostage killed. And yes, before you ask, Dad knows that. But it hasn't stopped him from taking all of this very personally." Spencer read the flash of guilt in Morgan's dark eyes and instinctively knew what he was thinking. "Don't think that. You needed to be with your mom more than you needed to be with us. You didn't do anything wrong."

Morgan frowned, then sighed. "I know. I just feel guilty, like I should have been able to do something to maybe have prevented the bomb from going off. I was in the bomb squad for heaven's sake."

Spencer stood up. "I know. And I know that's why you feel guilty for not being with us, but the past is the past and you can't change it no matter how much you want to. All you can do is move forward." He sighed softly, tossing his pencil onto the desk. "We'd better get out there. Dad will never forgive us for not being there when he gives the profile."

Spencer watched his father deliver the profile from the back of the room, while Morgan stood beside him and Hotch leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest. Everyone seemed to be listening intently, with some taking notes. However, something was nagging in the back of his mind that kept him from focusing completely on his father's words. The pieces didn't all fit together quite right. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Sir? I think I may have someone who fits the profile. His name is Richard Slessman."

Gideon spun toward the young woman that Spencer had noticed when they first arrived. "What else you got Greenaway?"

He watched her take a deep breath. "I think I know a way to get him out in the open."

Shortly after Elle successfully removed Richard Slessman from his home without violence or bloodshed, Morgan stepped into an upstairs bedroom with a frown. "This is a little boy's room." He spun around slowly in bewilderment. "We're missing something."

Elle came up the steps. "There's no sign of Heather Woodland. I don't think she was ever here." She paused as she came to Morgan's side. "So what do I need to do to get that position at the BAU?"

"Trust your instincts," Morgan replied. He turned as one of the local agents called his name. "What do you have?"

"We found his computer and his password."

Morgan froze as one of the agents typed in the password written on a note below the computer. "No wait, don't do that!" He grimaced as the entire computer shut down. "It's a dummy password."

"What does that mean?" the officer asked.

"It means when it comes back on we're going to have a hard time trying to get back into the system." He took a deep breath as the screen came back on. "Ok let's see what we have."

Elle leaned closer. "What is that number six at the bottom of the screen?"

Morgan shook his head. "The number of tries we have to break the password before the software automatically wipes the hard drive and everything on it."

"But there could be something that leads us to Heather on there? Can't you break the code?"

The dark skinned agent raised an eyebrow at Elle. "In six tries?"

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Spencer spoke up as everyone stared at his dad. "Samuel Beckett."

Morgan rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Try not. Do or do not," he retorted quickly before turning back to the screen. He bit back the chuckle that bubbled up at Spencer's next statement.

"Yoda," the young agent stated.

Gideon made a face as he finally placed the quote. He couldn't believe that he had missed a famous quote from one of his eldest son's favorite movie universes. He spun away from Spencer and studied the books on the shelf behind him. He abruptly pulled a book from the stack with a sinking feeling as he stared at the cover. Flipping through it, a second feeling of dread washed over him as he found a copy of the front page article that detailed the bombing in Boston.

"I want to talk to him."

Gideon hurried outside, feeling grateful as the cool air washed over him, helping to clear his head and calm his nerves after his conversation with Slessman. The bile still rose in his throat as memories of that day in Boston threatened to break through his control. He didn't even realize that Hotch had followed him until the other man spoke.

"Hey."

"He said 'isn't she the girl?' If she was dead, he would have said…"

"Wasn't she the girl?" Hotch finished the sentence.

"She's alive somewhere."

Hotch took a deep breath hoping to lead into his next question. "Was Slessman right about CPR?"

Gideon snorted. "If you really want the statistics of CPR go find my son. If you think I can't do this job then just come right out and say so."

"It's not that I don't think you can do this job. I know you can. I just don't know if you're okay because I also know you can't be two people at the same time."

Gideon looked away as Hotch's words hit close to home. Then all of a sudden the missing puzzle piece fell into place and he couldn't help but smile.

A look of confusion crossed Hotch's face. "What? What did I say? What is it?"

"An explanation for the conflicts in the profile."

Hotch caught his breath as Gideon's words sunk in. "Two different behaviors and two different people. Slessman has a partner."

Gideon nodded. "There's a second killer."

"You've reached Penelope Garcia and the FBI's office of supreme genius." Garcia tapped on her keyboard as she answered the phone. She waited to hear what sort of witty response Morgan would answer with.

"I need you to work me some magic here." Morgan didn't bother with the light hearted banter. There was too much at stake for the usual give and take. "This software is called Deadbolt defense and our missing girl's only got a couple hours left. What can you tell me?"

"Then you got a problem." Garcia hated to be the bearer of bad tidings but she knew Morgan needed to know the truth. "Deadbolt is the cream of the crop when it comes to encryption. You won't break it unless you can either get in this guy's head and pluck out the password or convince him to tell you what it is."

"I thought I was calling the office of supreme genius."

"Well gorgeous, you've been rerouted to the office of too freakin' bad." Garcia smiled even though Morgan couldn't see it. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

"Thanks anyway." Morgan couldn't be angry with the bubbly tech analyst. It wasn't her fault that Slessman had top of the line equipment. He sighed as he stared at the screen, wondering just how far into this guy's head he had to get in order to break the code.

Gideon and Elle watched as Hotch talked to Slessman's grandmother. They both felt sorry for the frail lady as she thought about Hotch's questions. With the oxygen tank close by and her hands shaking, the little lady was the picture of sadness.

"Charles Linder was Slessman's cellmate. He was dishonorably discharged from the military so he could have been the one protecting Slessman." Elle grinned triumphantly at Gideon. "And the prison where they were incarcerated is less than a mile away."

"Let's go," Gideon replied as he spun around and headed for the door. Maybe they were finally making some headway.

Morgan rummaged through Slessman's room and bathroom trying to find anything that would help him figure out the password. He'd already tried a couple of things, the more obvious ones, but predictably all that had done was drop him to four attempts. As a bottle of pills caught his eye, he realized that Slessman was an insomniac. He began to study the bedroom in a new light trying to determine what made the young man tick. As the musical link became clear, he called for the other agents processing the house to come help him go through Slessman's extensive CD collection.

Hotch hurried toward Reid as he stood waiting by the fax machine. "Did you get Linder's address?"

"It's coming through now," Reid absentmindedly answered. He looked up at Hotch as he went by. "Why is the director wanting a field assessment on Gideon?" He avoided using the word 'dad' as they were in the middle of a bustling FBI field office.

Hotch sighed as he turned back to the young doctor. "Don't worry about your father Reid. It's just protocol."

"Well are they nervous about him being in charge?" Spencer pressed the issue, even though he was fairly certain Hotch wasn't going to answer the question.

"Aren't you on your way back to Slessman's house to help Morgan?" Hotch countered quickly. He didn't want to have his agent worrying about anything other than the missing girl. He knew he had to keep Spencer on track rather than focusing on his father and his placement with the BAU. He turned away hoping that the move would end the conversation. However, he once again misjudged Spencer's determination for answers and his thirst for understanding.

"Do you know why he always introduces me as Dr. Reid?"

Hotch sighed again as he faced Spencer. "It's because he wants people to respect you and he knows that they see you as a kid rather than a capable agent. He's protecting you as best as he can without being obvious about it. Trust me, he'd love to be able to introduce you as his son but he's afraid it would be counterproductive for you and keep you from being able to do your job." He looked down at the piece of paper in Spencer's hand, hopeful that the move would finally end this line of questioning. "What's the address?"

Spencer quickly read over the words and a certain fact stood out to him. "I don't think it matters anymore."

Elle hung up the phone as the guard left Gideon's side. "We've got a problem. Hotch just called and said that Linder is dead. Happened two months ago in a car crash. There's no way he could be Slessman's partner. We just lost our best lead to finding Heather."

Gideon shook his head. "There's got to be something somewhere that we're missing. The guard is getting one of the other guards who knew Slessman and Linder. His name is Timothy Vogel. Let's see what he has to say."

An hour later, Gideon and Elle sat in the car waiting to see if their hunch was right. Gideon watched the young woman who wasn't much older than his son. He was impressed by what he had seen so far, noting that Elle had a sharp mind and keen eye for detail. She wasn't a full-fledged profiler but she was obviously interested and willing to learn.

His thoughts on Elle were interrupted as Vogel's Datsun pulled around the corner and took off down the road away from the prison. Elle pulled out and followed at a safe distance while Gideon called Hotch.

"Your leverage has a name; Timothy Vogel. We're following him now."

Spencer sat cross legged on Slessman's bed, CD's and empty cases scattered around him. He spun a disk between his fingers as he tried to figure out how to break Slessman's password. He looked around at the mess on the floor and almost fell over as the answer came to him. It was so obvious, he couldn't believe it had taken him this long to think of it. Grabbing a particular case, he jumped off the bed and headed for the attic. Along the way, he grabbed a paper clip, straightening it as he went. He could hear Morgan muttering to himself in frustration as he entered the room.

"I've been thinking about the CD's."

"We tried that Reid. We've searched and sorted through Slessman's entire collection of heavy metal CD's. There's nothing there."

"Unless we have overlooked the obvious," Spencer answered as he carefully inserted the paperclip into the side of the computer. A thrill of relief went through him as the drive popped open and revealed its secret.

"How did you figure that one out?" Morgan asked in amazement.

"It was the only empty case," Spencer replied simply as he handed the case to Morgan.

"It's Metallica. What in the world could Metallica say that would make me go to sleep?"

"Enter Sandman," Spencer replied as he studied the back of the CD case in Morgan's hand.

Morgan stared at the younger agent. The kid's observations never ceased to amaze him and the answer was so obvious that it had been staring them in the face the entire time. "Enter Sandman, of course!" He typed in the words, praying that they were right and not merely wasting another guess. "If this doesn't work kid, I don't know what to try next."

"It'll work," Spencer answered with assurance. "It has to," he muttered more quietly.

"No kidding," Morgan muttered back as he hit enter. The computer paused for a moment then to both men's amazement and relief, began to boot up. "Oh my G**!" Morgan gasped as a program automatically started. "Gideon was right. Heather is alive." He grabbed the phone, dialing as he moved. "Gideon! Heather is alive. Reid and I are watching her right now. But we can't tell where she is."

"I'll call Hotch and let him know, but we lost Vogel so you two need to find me something we can use."

Morgan glanced up at Spencer. "We have to figure out where she is. She doesn't have much time. Your dad said they lost Vogel so he's probably heading to this location right now."

Spencer nodded and began to pace, closing his eyes to think. As a thought came to him, he spun and crouched by Morgan's side.

"Can you show me the last twelve images lined up next to each other?"

"Yeah." Morgan made a few quick keystrokes, wondering just what was going through his colleague's mind. As the pictures appeared on the screen, Spencer leaned forward with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"The light is changing positions. It's moving or swaying from side to side. Almost as if the earth is tilting back and forth."

"Not the earth doc, the ocean." Morgan and Spencer's gazes met.

"She's on a boat." Spencer said quickly.

"And that boat has to be near the shore because the signal wouldn't transmit from the middle of the ocean."

Spencer continued watching the screen as Morgan paced away from the laptop. Long minutes passed in silence until between one frame and the next, the younger agent noticed the situation was getting worse for their victim.

"Morgan, he's inside. He's in the frame of the picture," Spencer said anxiously as Morgan joined him at the computer.

"Get Elle on the phone," Morgan barked back at him. The doctor hurried to dial the number before tossing the phone to the older agent.

"Hotch got the location from Slessman. Gideon and I are at the shipyard now. We're going in," Elle responded after Morgan explained the reason for his call.

"You need to wait for backup," Morgan said firmly as he headed for the stairs.

"If we wait for backup, that girl is dead," Elle replied steadily.

"And if we had waited in Boston…"

Elle cut him off. "I can't. You told me to trust my instincts. I'm going in. We'll be fine."

Morgan hung up and increased his pace. "Come on kid, we gotta get down there."

Spencer hurried after his friend as he prayed his dad would be ok. He was terrified of what would happen if Gideon was too late to save Heather. His father would be absolutely destroyed if the worst were to happen, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing a second father. They jumped into the car with Morgan at the wheel as they raced toward the shipyard, both men hoping they would get there in time. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sharp crackle of the radio.

"We need medics. Two injured and one casualty."

Spencer bit his lip. "That was Elle's voice."

"Yeah," Morgan replied in a near whisper. He pressed down on the accelerator, urging the car to get to their destination in record time. As they drew closer, they could see the flashing red lights of the ambulance and the blue lights of the squad cars. "There's Hotch."

"And Dad's sitting on the back of the ambulance," Spencer gasped. He was out of the car almost before it stopped. "Da….Gideon!" He quickly corrected himself. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Spencer."

"He dared Vogel to shoot him. Then he insulted him until he did," Hotch said wryly. He nodded to Gideon and brushed Spencer's shoulder before walking away to give them a moment of privacy.

"You're not supposed to get shot by the unsub, let alone dare him to shoot you," Spencer pointed out the obvious.

Gideon chuckled. "Yeah I know, but it worked. Besides I'd rather him shoot me than our kidnap victim." He stood up to pull his son into an embrace. "It's just a scratch."

"Maybe so, but I'm still letting you tell Mom that you dared the unsub to shoot you."

Gideon looked up as Hotch sat down beside him. "You and Haley pick the baby's name yet?"

Hotch chuckled before recounting all of the names that reminded him of serial killers, with Gideon answering with the last names as if he were reading Hotch's mind.

"There's just too many of them."

"It's hard to feel good about catching one of them when you know there's fifty more still out there."

The two men sat in silence for a moment before Gideon asked innocently, "How's your report coming?"

Hotch chuckled sheepishly and scratched his head, wondering not for the first time why he thought he could put anything past his friend and mentor.

"You didn't think you could hide that from an old profiler now did ya?" Gideon asked with an exaggerated drawl and an easy wink, letting Hotch know he wasn't mad.

"You know you saved that girl today. You can feel good about that." Hotch chose his words carefully. "I'm going to tell them that I think you're still a good field agent and that it would be a mistake to not let you come back to the unit full time. I don't know if they will let you come back as the unit chief or not but I'm willing to step aside if they want me to."

Gideon shook his head. "No. You earned unit chief. I'm not going to take that away from you. Besides, I kind of like having someone else in charge, taking responsibility. And you're right. What we did today was a good thing. It's nice to have that happy ending every once in a while."

"At least until you get home and your wife finds out how you managed to get shot on your first case back." Hotch patted Gideon on the shoulder. "I don't think I want to be in your shoes on that one."

"Yes, well I think my son wants to be a fly on the wall for that conversation," Gideon answered dryly.

Hotch laughed. "I bet he does." They both glanced over at the two agents asleep at the other end of the plane. "Welcome back Jason. It's good to have you back with us where you belong."