Lost in a Memory

Conclusion

He leaned on the his forearms on the hood of the truck, his head hung, his eyes closed. His hands clutched together so tight they shook. His vest was dropped on the ground beside him, discarded in frustration.

Special Agent Jason Gideon looked defeated.

He looked how Morgan felt.

Morgan had wanted to go over to the truck and do something to make the man look up, look around, say something. But what was there to say?

FBI search teams had been tarring up every inch of ground between the clinic and the Dommas home for over four hours without a hint of hope. They had torn panels off the walls of the clinic, seeking out hiding spots, crawl spaces, anywhere anything could be hidden that might tell them where Reid was.

"Morgan." Elle called as she walked up to him. "How's he doing?" Elle wondered, tilting her head to where Gideon leaned against the truck.

Morgan looked over his shoulder at the older agent again. "Man, I think he's falling apart. If we don't find Reid, healthy and alive, he's going to have another break down." He turned back to Elle, shaking his head. "And I don't think he'll come out of it this time."

Elle ran her hands through her hair. "Then we find him." she said, doing her very best to sound like saying it was all they needed to get the job done. Just incase it wasn't, she offered her friend a smile. "Come on."

Gideon finally looked up when he heard the two approach. "Hotch?" he asked.

Holding up her cell phone, Elle answered "JJ called. Hotch is gonna be alright. Lost a lot of blood, but he's awake and raring to go. She's picking up his wife now."

Gideon nodded slightly. Then he looked at Morgan.

"He's not here." Morgan answered the unasked question. "Just double, triple checking now just because no one really wants to give up." He shrugged. "We have agents at the Sheriff office, going through every file and computer… and coming up empty. If Jackson had anything stashed away, it isn't there. It isn't here. It isn't in his home. It isn't in the twelve mile between here and Dommas'. And it isn't at Dommas'." He stopped when he realized his voice was beginning to rise with frustration. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing "He had fifteen deputies. Eight are looking legit, but they're in custody until we're sure. Four others were found with bullets in the back of the head. Three others are in the wind."

"Sounds like Jackson did some cleaning house before Abby got to him." She could almost thank Abby for shooting that bastard, if it wasn't for the fact that Elle hated Abby as much.

"Or Abby did." Gideon mumbled. He had no doubt that te girl was more assasine than anything else. She never stopped until the job was done. Just so happen the job today was Reid.

"Thing is we don't know if the missing three were with Jackson or Abby. And we still don't know where Dommas is, or if he's even alive. And the CIA has disappeared and not taking our calls." Morgan admitted.

"That little weasel Spence ran out on us?" Elle huffed.

Morgan nodded. "Along with the busted up laptop."

"So," Gideon spoke up. "We don't even have that lead. We don't have any lead. We have exactly nothing."

His two agents exchanged glances, not entirely sure what to do or what say. They'd profiled and hunted down hundreds of insane killers in their time. And this was the first time they were left, standing, helpless, with nothing left to do but…

The cell phone in Elle's hand rang.

She glanced down at it, reading the display, then looked up at Gideon. "You're calling me."

Gideon frowned. Taking the phone, he answered it with the speaker on. "Abby?"

"Ah, sweet Jason, you hurt my feelings. Did you really think a pair of handcuffs were going to keep me in my place?"

"Abby, where's Reid?"

"What? No how do you dos and don'ts? Not even a thanks for taking care of Jackson?"

"Thanks for shooting the bastard!" Elle snapped. "Where the hell is Reid?!"

Gideon quickly held up his hand, silencing her.

Angrily, Elle crossed her arms over her chest, her hands clenched in tight fists. She was so sick of this damn hide & seek spy crap.

"Amazing how, with one little hand gesture, you can shut that trap."

"She can see us." Morgan hissed, spinning about, eyes scanning the surrounding area.

"Derek Morgan, aren't you the loyal bull dog?"

Gideon stepped away from the two agents. He looked at the phone as if Abby was standing right there in front of him. "I'm tired. I want to go home, Abby. I want to get drunk and pass out. I want my friend." Gideon admitted. "Please, Abby, where is Reid?" He closed his eyes as if he couldn't stand seeing himself ask what he was going to ask next. "Is he alive?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Abby?"

"You know I'm right. He can be used as a weapon. I had to take care of him."

Gideon grabbed the front of the truck to steady himself. He hadn't expect it to hit him in the gut like that. He already knew she would kill him as soon as she had him. He had already been prepared for her to say he was dead. Still, he felt the words come at him as if… as if heaven and hell was beating down on him with all the rage and dissapoinment they had to offer.

"Don't look so defeated, Jason. The Senator never meant him any harm, and, at the end of the day, I still work for Senator Dommas." There was a laugh. "For three hours you guys have been tarring this place right down to the building code, and not one of you thought to, oh, I don't know, look in the back seat of your own car!"

Gideon's eyes snapped open. "Go!" he ordered Morgan and Elle, but the two had already spun about and were running to where their vehicles were parked only ten yards down the dirt road, right where they had parked them when they had first arrived.

Morgan nearly tore the back passenger door off. "Son of a bitch." he gasped at what he found inside.

Reid laid across the back seat, bruised, bloody, unconscious, but alive.

"We need an ambulance!" Elle yelled to the agents that had followed, attracted by their sudden movements.

"Damn the ambulance." Morgan growled. "Get in! I'm driving!"

"He's alive. Drugged again. Sorry about that. I told him he wouldn't remember anything about the last few days. But, considering the options here…"

Gideon looked down at the cell phone. "Why?" he wanted to know.

Again there was a pause.

"Abby?"

No answer.

So he changed the question. "Abby, where's Dommas?"

"Safe. And don't go hunting for our missing men. They won't be bothering you. Just… just do me a favor?"

"Depends."

That earned him a chuckle from the phone. "Special Agent Jason Gideon, honest to the end." Another pause. "Don't make me wrong about that kid. I don't want to get chewed out for not ending a threat when I had the chance."

"Gideon! You coming?" Morgan wanted to know as he climbed into the driver's seat.

Gideon took a step toward the car, but stopped and looked down at the phone again, as if he might be leaving her behind.

"Hang up the phone, Gideon. Go take care of your team." Incase he couldn't do it himself, the phone clicked, signaling her ending the call.

Hotch listened to the story. A part of him wanted to jump up and pace the room, frustrated as hell that, after all that, they didn't have one boss in jail. The rest of him just wanted to groan, pull a pillow over his face, and stay there for a week or four.

Gideon walked back and forth across the foot of Hotch's hospital bed, bouncing his son in his arms and speaking to the child as if the whole tale was all about trolls under bridges and knights in shiny armor. "And, waiting at the front desk when we arrived, was my cell phone."

"Abby got here before you did." Hotch concluded. "Who is she? Where' Dommas? Is there still a rouge unit out there? Are there any questions we have answers to?"

"Three." his wife spoke up. When the two men looked at her, she smiled. "You, Aaron, are alive, home, and safe. Agent Reid is alive, home and safe." She walked across the room to stand in front of Gideon and held out her arms. "And that smell?… that would be a dirty diaper. May I?"

"Ah." Gideon held out the baby with the best icky face he could come up with without cracking a smile.

The mother took her child and, with a glance at her husband, slipped into the bathroom.

Gideon watched them until the door closed before he offered a smile at Hotch. "You have beautiful family, Aaron."

Hotch's eyes narrowed. "Is Reid safe?" he wanted to know, not allowing the subject to be changed. "Jason, you knew what was going on… or at least part of it. You not telling me… we walked right into a trap."

"I didn't know about Jackson…" Gideon protested.

"You knew something!" his agent snapped. He stopped and took a moment to calm himself. All getting angry would do is give him another headache and a tag team of nurse and wife chasing Gideon away.

"I didn't know how it influenced what was going on." Gideon admitted.

"That's why you should have talked to me." He started to wave an arm, but the IV pulled and he winced. "This is my team, my people. Jason, what they did to Reid…"

Gideon ran a hand over his face. "I know. I know." he mumbled. He turned away for a moment. "Abby was right, Aaron. This country is protected by secrets. We're all protected by secrets. We all keep them." He turned back to look at Hotch. "And Reid is a code breaker."

"That doesn't make him a weapon." Hotch reminded him. "We're profilers, Jason. We're all code breakers. It's our job to reveal secrets." He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "We need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Gideon nodded. "Morgan and Garcia are going to take a look at Reid's home security and…"

"I mean the secrets… between you and me. We're a team, remember?"

Gideon met Hotch's eyes. He tilted his head to one side. "I will remember, Hotch." he promised. He smiled as Mrs. Hotchner and son returned. "Get some rest. Enjoy your family." With that, he left the room.

A few doors down was Reid's room.

Gideon wasn't surprised to find the rest of team all crammed into the room. What did surprise him was that Reid was the only one awake.

Morgan was stretched out on the empty bed, Garcia tucked in beside him, her head resting on his chest. Elle and JJ had taken the chairs. Elle's head laid back against the wall behind her, snoring softly, Galen, the kitten purring in her lap. JJ managed to curl up almost completely in her chair, her legs tucked beneath her, her head resting on her folded arms.

With a smile and a raised eyebrow, Gideon glanced at the wounded man of the room.

Reid held a finger to his lips, warning him to be quiet.

Gideon chuckled. Carefully closing the door behind him, he walked over and sat on the side of Reid's bed. "Remember me?" he asked in a whisper. His smile faded when Reid looked at him with a black eye and slightly swollen jaw.

The young agent started to smile back, but winced when his split lips protested. Gingerly, he touched them as if checking to see if they were bleeding again.

Gideon plucked an ice cube from a cup on the bed stand and offered it to his young friend. "You alright?"

Foregoing the smile for a nod, Reid took the offered relief and held it to his lips. "Smart kid in an LA high school, remember? Jackson kicked only slight harder than Hotch."

The older agent couldn't help but grin. He glanced at the sleeping team. "They're tired."

"They haven't slept in awhile."

Again Gideon raised one eye brow, but this time the amusement was gone. "What do you remember?"

Reid blinked and looked away. "Not much since Friday. Morgan said I was drugged."

"Alpha/Omega mean anything to you?"

"Beginning and end. Greek letters." Reid answered, frowning at the odd question. Knowing he was being tested, he admitted "I know I saw things that… bad things… but I don't remember what they were." He shrugged. "Probably for the best I don't remember, right?"

Gideon looked at him long and hard, before, finally, smiling. Patting Reid's legs, he agreed "For the best." Standing up, he suggested "You should get some sleep too." He started for the door.

"Gideon?"

He stopped and looked back.

Reid was looking up at him, really looking at him, as if he was trying to see inside his head. "Alpha/Omega file… Did you recruit me because I was in that file? Or was I in that file because you recruited me?"

Gideon's heart stopped. For a very long time he stared at him, searching for an answer. Then he gave the only answer he could: "File? What file? Do you remember a file?"

Reid blinked at him, before he managed another shrug. "I don't remember anything about a file." he lied.

Jason Gideon smiled. "That's for the best."

Lost in a Memory

The End

To the Reader:

Sorry this took so long to wrap up. Life and war got in the way. But I'm back now and hope to do a lot more writing in my varies fandoms.

But before I go, I just wanted to dedicate Lost in a Memory to all the reviewers that hung in there with me. Without them, this story would never have gotten pass….

"Red and blue lights flickered on top of the sheriff's car, lightening the morning with a rotation of color."

-- The Chronicler