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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you all enjoy this chapter and it was worth the wait. Please read and review!

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Chapter 4: Behind the Scenes

The next morning

Although the case had ended with the unsub dead, there was still a lot of red tape to go through. After working diligently, there were no other victims to discover or families to notify. CSI had swept everything clean, collected evidence and written most of their reports.

Garcia had managed to shut down Hankel's website from his computer and she organized most of his files to put on a compact disk for evidence. That's when everything changed. The team came to the conclusion that the deaths were the only thing Tobias Hankel recorded. But Garcia had inadvertently uncovered the truth when she came across several video files of the victims that hadn't been posted. Videos the BAU hadn't seen.

She searched through the recordings and found that several hours of footage were taken before the victims were murdered. Some contained fighting and yelling, while others contained frightened tears and begging. In the background, a quiet voice was heard reading Bible verses or angry dogs barking and jumping. She hoped with every fiber of her being that she wouldn't come across any videos of Reid, but in the back of her mind she knew she would be wrong.

Garcia held her breath, and instantly regretted watching the first video picturing her young friend. She was frozen to the spot with tears in her eyes. What they hadn't known, is that one of the victims had been tortured; Spencer Reid. She yelled for Hotch and Gideon and they immediately dismissed her. A police officer took her back to the hotel to calm down while Emily stayed with the two elder agents.

Technically the case had been solved. There was no procedural reason to watch the videos. Aside from their natural need to know what Reid had been through, there was one question the agents couldn't answer. Why? Why was Reid tortured when none of the other victims had been? They had their suspicions but none of them could be sure unless they looked at the evidence. And that meant, watching the tapes.

Gideon was the one to press the play button. When the screen came to life, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Reid was sat on the familiar wooden chair with his hands cuffed in front of him. His eyes wondered, carefully watching the figure just off the screen. A few moments later the figure stepped into view with a booming voice. "Last chance boy! Will you confess?" the boy slowly shook his head and looked wearily at 'Charles'.

At the boys answer, 'Charles' stepped forward and set a large bucket on the ground next to the chair. He roughly grabbed Reid's wrists and opened one side of the handcuffs, only to re-cuff his hands behind the chair instead. He grabbed fist full of hair and pulled Reid's head back before putting a cloth sack over his face.

Understanding sliced through the trio of agents and despite knowing what was about to happen, they cringed. 'Charles' reached down for the bucket full of water and began to slowly pour it over the sack covering Reid's face. As expected he instantly began to struggle and choke. He twisted and pulled at his binds, trying all he could to turn away from the drowning sensation.

'Charles' stopped pouring and set the bucket down again. Finally he removed the sack and let go of the boys hair. Reid lunged forward and coughed several times, water shooting out from his lungs. Before he fully caught his breath, his head was yanked back again. "Change your mind yet boy?" Reid sputtered between coughs and gasps, "P-pleeaas…. I din't do anyt.." before he could finish, the sack was back over his head.

His cries were ignored and cut off by the sound of gaging and coughing. This went on for minutes and they all sighed in relief when the bucket was finally empty. The sack was removed a final time and Reid immediately gasped for air. He was absolutely soaked and visibly shaking. It took several minutes for him to calm his breathing and once he did, 'Charles' leaned down and whispered something only Reid could hear. Reid let out a choked sob and 'Charles' walked toward the camera and the recording ended.

Gideon, Hotch and Prentiss stood in silence for a few minutes.

"How many more like this?" Gideon asked, pacing away from the computer. Emily knelt over the device and scrolled through. "Looks like there are four more that we haven't seen.", she replied as calmly as she could.

Gideon said nothing else, so Hotch made their next decision. "Okay, we'll take a break and come back to this later. Prentiss I want you to call and check up on the girls but don't talk to them about watching the videos. Then get back to what you were doing before. I'm going to call Morgan."

With that, Prentiss walked out the door and Gideon went to follow her. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in ten." He said without looking back. Hotch sat down and felt himself melting into the chair. After taking a few minutes for himself, he pulled out his cellphone and called Morgan.

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The next day.

Morgan had been alone in the hospital room for the past two hours and was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at Reid. He's known the whole time that his avoidance is due to fear, but he hadn't paid it any mind. Every so often he would peek behind the book he was reading to look at the monitors and read the numbers displayed on the screen.

Morgan was by no means a doctor but he had enough first aid training in the past to know that the kid wasn't doing well. His worry caused him to look at Reid's face and really take in all of the damage for the first time since he was admitted.

His face was littered with bruises; the most prominent one being on the left side of his forehead. Part of the wound was wrapped in a bandage that hid the stitches in his hairline, but the angry yellowish purple bump wasn't fully covered. He hadn't seen what caused that particular injury but he didn't envy those that had.

What little Hotch had told him about the video recordings made his hands shake. The terrifying memory of seeing Reid tied to a chair being beaten was more than enough to overwhelm every one of his senses. He couldn't imagine having to see more. He swallowed thickly and looked away from his friend once again.

He went back to reading but found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. Frustrated, he closed the book and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He squeezed his eyes shut tight when images of finding Reid in the cemetery flashed through his mind. The fear he felt not knowing if his little brother was dead or alive. The adrenaline he felt when digging for his body. The determination he felt when trying to resuscitate him. The massive wave of nausea that overcame him when he felt the bending and crunching of ribs and slick blood beneath his hands. It all felt as real as it had when it first happened.

Morgan knew without a doubt that he was having a flashback. He breathed through it and reminded himself that this was a normal response to an abnormal situation. Once he had calmed himself, he looked up to see that Reid's vital signs had fallen once again.

He cringed. Dropping his book to the floor, he scooted his chair even closer to the bed. Mindful of Reid's bandages, he gently took his friends hand in his own. The cold was off-putting. The rise and fall of his chest was hardly visible and if not for the steady beep and wheeze of the machines, Morgan would be fully convinced that death had just taken him.

"Hey kid…" Morgan struggled to find his words and he hoped with all his heart that Reid would be able to hear him once he decided what to say. "I know you're not thinking about giving up on us now. You've fought too hard and too long to just give it all up." He reached up and brushed some hair behind Reid's ear.

"Look pretty boy, I know you've gone through a lot of bad things in your life and you've seen things that no one should ever have to see. This case… God you must have been so scared." His own words caused a painful lump in his throat. "But you can't leave us okay? There are too many good things you haven't gotten to experience yet… so you have to wake up." Morgan cleared his throat and squeezed Reid's hand a little tighter.

"As soon as you're feeling better I'm taking you on a vacation." Morgan laughed to himself at his next thought. "Hell I'll even go to Comic Con with you next year. I'll dress up and everything." He looked over at the monitor again, hoping to see improvement, but instead, it seemed to be worse. He looked back at Reid sadly and said, "Just… stay with me, okay little brother? I need you."

"We all do." JJ said from the doorway with tears in her eyes.

Morgan reluctantly let go of Reid's hand and stood up to meet JJ. She reached out to him and he hugged her without hesitation. "I still can't believe this.", she whispered.

Morgan squeezed her tighter. "I know… I know.", he soothed.

After several moments, they pulled away and sat at the window together.

"Did Hotch tell you?.. about the videos?" JJ asked. Morgan simply looked to the floor and nodded.

"I hadn't even thought about what happened off camera." JJ went on. "He went through so much more than we thought. I don't know what I expected, but…. God, he was tortured. And I still don't understand why..." JJ let her tears fall then.

Morgan took her hand and slowly turned to look at Reid across the room. He couldn't stand to see him that way; beaten and tortured. Spencer Reid never should have been a victim. There was no reason to target him. All the kid had ever done was good. But he knew that Tobias didn't need a reason.

"Tobias was a sadistic psychopath." Morgan started. "He was on a mission and as torn as his mind was, he was organized. He watched his victims, discovered their sin and kidnapped them to make them pay for it. After forcing them to confess he killed them in whatever way his alter personalities saw fit."

"Why are you telling me this as if I wasn't there?" JJ demanded. "Just like the rest of the team, I saw what he did and then I had to watch him do the same thing to Reid!"

"JJ, he didn't do the same thing to Reid." Morgan explained. "The other victims weren't physically tortured because Tobias already knew what they did. Taking Reid messed up his order. The only reason Reid was taken in the first place is because Tobias' personalities couldn't just kill him without cause. He added the torture as a way of forcing Reid to confess to committing a sin so that he could justify his actions and kill Reid with a clean conscience."

"He survived by bonding with Tobias." He saw the information registering in JJ's mind. "Raphael judged and questioned him. Charles tortured him. But Tobias kept him alive."

JJ blinked. After about a minute, she stood up, brought her hands to her face and wiped the tear stains away before speaking. "You all keep telling me that this isn't my fault… but it really is isn't it?" Morgan went to speak but JJ waved him off. "No really, I know protocol better than anyone! And Spence, he just… he'd never been out on his own and I'm not even an agent! If I had his back… if we had just waited instead of splitting up, Reid wouldn't have been through all those horrible things! We both would have been safe!"

"This isn't your fault Jennifer." The deep and serious voice of their boss startled JJ into silence.

"It's my responsibility to keep the team safe during cases. Sending you and Reid out on your own was my call and it was irresponsible." Hotch explained. "Like you said, you aren't even a field agent yet, and Reid is just a kid. Neither of you are even required to carry a gun. I didn't think about the possibility that I could be sending you to interview someone dangerous, let alone the unsub himself. You were only out there due to my negligence…" he sighed. "None of this, is your fault." Finally, JJ nodded.

"How's he doing now?" Hotch asked.

"I'm worried." Morgan replied. He looked at the monitor and frowned when he saw that vitals had gotten worse. "He's really weak. His vitals have been dropping the last few hours. I called a nurse and she had the doctor come check in on him about half an hour ago."

Hotch took a breath. "And?"

Morgan shook his head. "There's nothing else they can do. Doc says it's all up to the kid now."

"The case is done. We can go home at any time but I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'll be waiting for Reid here." Just when Hotch finished his sentence Garcia came into the room with a large gift bag and three balloons.

"Hey." Garcia greeted, while buzzing around the room and pulling things out of the bag. First came two battery powered candles. "I just came from the gift shop. It's so dark and dull in here! I want him to feel nothing but good vibes when he wakes up." She set flowers near the bed and arranged several Doctor Who figurines around the vase. Then she pulled a grey and white stuffed cat out of the bag and carefully tucked it under Reid's arm.

"Here. These are for you guys." She handed the bag to Morgan, leaned down to kiss Reid's forehead and sat down next to the bed.

Morgan smiled at what remained in the bag. There were snacks, notebooks, a chess board, a deck of cards and even a yoyo.

JJ peeked over Morgan's shoulder and smiled. "I guess we better get comfortable. Looks like we're going to be here for a while."

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It was early evening now and knowing that everyone would be hungry Prentiss stopped to pick up some sandwiches while Gideon waited in the car. She dreaded the awkward silence that she knew would continue once they were back on the road. On the other hand the silence was nice after such an emotionally charged morning.

Hotch headed straight to the hospital that morning, but Gideon insisted on going to view the last of the videos. He hadn't said much since they left the scene. But really, what was there to say? Knowing that the youngest member of their team, their family, had been through such a terrible ordeal was bad enough. But seeing it with their own eyes was even more devastating.

Prentiss stopped at a red light and turned to look at Gideon. His blank expression worried her but she said nothing. Once she parked the SUV they headed upstairs in silence.

However, the silence was interrupted by the sound of loud voices, rushing feet and most frightening of all the frantic beeping of machines. In that instant they hoped all the commotion was caused by any other patient. Anyone but him! But then, they heard crying that sounded all too familiar. Garcia.

Prentiss looked to Gideon with wide eyes and they both rushed around the next corner praying that they were wrong. But no. The rest of the team was standing just outside of Reid's room.

Morgan stood in front of the window with a hand pressed to his mouth. Garcia was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, trying to catch her breath through the tears. JJ's body was rigid as she held Garcia's hand with a numb expression. Hotch's stony mask had been replaced by a face that had aged twenty years in the last sixty seconds. He looked exhausted, and more surprisingly, afraid.

In just a few seconds all of their hope had been crushed, by the flatline displayed on Spencer Reid's heart monitor.

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