Sorry for the long time between chapters. This should be the second to last one, and then the epilogue. It's not quite so long as the others, but I like this chapter. Enjoy!

6

Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food. ~Austin O'Malley

"So we know that Lisabetta Borgias is killing women because her mother, who I assume is the body we found in the tunnel, repressed and punished her because of her sexuality," Rossi explained, leaning back casually in his chair. The team and Adrienne were gathered around a table in the sheriff's office once more, comparing what they had found on their respective searches.

"The mansion was the easiest place to hold and starve the women until she raped them and transported them to the meadow," Morgan continued, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head comfortably. The solution was nowhere in sight. Unless they could figure out where Lisabetta Borgias was hiding, no one was safe. She had seen them and knew that the FBI was after her. Borgias was probably devolving into a frenzy as they spoke.

"We still don't know why she chose that particular meadow, or why the women were raped in the anus," Emily pointed out. Flicking her eyes over to Reid for a moment pulled a silent chuckle out of Emily. Reid was watching Adrienne out of the corner of his eye, trying to be discreet and failing. The half-smile on her face told the FBI agent that the Doc knew Reid was watching. Beauty and the geek, how cliché.

"And we're sure that she's not gone to the meadow?" Rossi asked, turning to Hotch and JJ who were standing against the window.

JJ shook her head. "I already called the officer on guard duty, and had the sheriff send up another man to help. No one has entered or left that field since we taped it off."

"I don't think that she would return to the field," Hotch said slowly. His brain, which had felt like it had stalled itself, began to work again. "That place is no longer sacred. We've defiled it. She would have returned to the mansion or her house to protect her plants. But she's not there, we already checked."

"You don't think that she could be looking for Addy, do you?" Reid asked, looking around the table. Some one had better say no. Reid needed assurance that his superhero wasn't in danger. Even watching her have an emotional break down in the morgue could not make the Doc human in the eyes of the boy genius. Addy Cain was still the savior of his personal universe.

Adrienne, who had been staring off into space, snapped her gaze back into focus on Hotch. A moment of understanding passed between the two of them, something unknown to the other agents in the room. The two of them knew where Lisabetta Borgias was hiding, and it wasn't good.

Before Hotch could open his mouth to reveal their revelation, JJ's phone rang. "Agent Jereau," she answered promptly and professionally. "What? No, of course. Are you sure? We're on the way."

Snapping her phone shut, JJ looked up at the team in horror.

"JJ, what's wrong?" Emily demanded. Everyone in the room shifted forward in their seats. Whenever that look alighted on JJ's usually calm face, sirens followed.

It was Adrienne who answered, in a hollow voice, "Borgias is in my cousin's hospital room. She's going to finish what she started. She's going to kill Esmerelda."

-
The trip to the hospital was a blur for Reid. For once, it was convenient that the team never thought to let him drive. Reid would have wrecked the SUV for sure, in the state he was in. Horror had numbed him, for some reason. It was irrational, he knew. He had never met Esmerelda Thomas. There was no emotional attachment to her.

Adrienne sat next to him, holding his hand and staring out the window. She got car sick, he remembered suddenly. Addy couldn't sit in the back seat because she became violently ill. Why was she sitting back with him?

"Spencer," she said again, shaking him lightly. "Are you alright?" Her eyes, so blue, stared up at him. Addy would know. Addy always knew. She would be able to see the unrestrained terror he was feeling.

Carefully, Adrienne leaned her head on Reid's shoulder. "Esmy will be fine Spencer," she promised. "None of this is your fault."

"But if I had just answered the email-"

"Spencer, I should have sent the email sooner. The mayor and sheriff should have trusted me more. The culmination of human error from all parties involved is what caused this. Blame can't be placed solely on one person. You know that," she insisted, clasping his hand in both of her own.

The small, fine hands that encased his own so gently almost made Reid sigh aloud in relief. As reason flooded back into his mind, a new knowledge came along with it. Spencer Reid was in love with Adrienne Cain.

-
Hostage situations never ended well. Hotch knew that. There were countless statistics, all which pointed to the fact that either Lisabetta Borgias would commit suicide by cop or Esmerelda Thomas would end up on a slab in her cousin's morgue.

"Where are they?" Hotchner demanded of the first policeman he saw. "Has she made any demands?"

The young man gulped, his throat bobbing like a bobber on the water. "Ms. Borgias is up on the third floor, room 308. Miss Esmy hasn't woken up yet, and Dr. Hill is tied to a chair," the man answered. His voice was so thick with a southern accent that it took Hotch a few moments to process his words.

"And the demands?" Rossi prodded, coming up beside him.

"She wants Ms. Addy. She won't talk to anyone until she sees Ms. Addy," the young man replied promptly. "And Sheriff Jenkins wants to talk with y'all. He's just inside."

Not needing any further prompting, Hotch and Rossi ducked under the police line and headed for the automatic doors of the hospital. Parents always tell their children that hospitals are a good place and you shouldn't be afraid of them because the people inside are there to make you better. What a load of bull.

Jenkins was standing at the desk next to Skippy. The young assistant ME appeared to be having an emotional breakdown.

"I passed her in the hall!" Skippy yelled, spittle flying onto Jenkins's mustache. "If I hadn't left when I did, I might be trapped in there too!"

Jenkins reached out a hand to try and comfort the young man, but was slapped away. "Now Franklin," the Sheriff warned. "You gotta count your blessin's. If you had been trapped in that room, we'd not even know what was goin' on. You're a hero, son. Start actin' like it."

"You don't understand," he sighed, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. With his knees drawn up to his chest, Skippy looked like the teenager he was. "I should have protected her."

"Esmy will be fine," the Sheriff assured the distraught kid. "Addy ain't gunna let her cousin die by the hand of this she-psycho. And with the FBI here, Lisabetta don't stand a chance. Now I gotta go with the agents. Don't do nothin' stupid, Skippy." With one last firm look at the assistant ME, the Sheriff led Rossi and Hotch toward the stairs.

"She wants to talk to Addy," he explained as they made their way up to the third floor. "That's all she's said. Refuses to talk unless Addy is in the room. She's usin' Esmy as leverage."

Rossi nodded. This was a common reaction when these kinds of people got cornered. They prolonged their own demise, taking down as many people in a hail of bullets as they could. Borgias just wanted to make sure that Adrienne and Esmerelda were caught in the crossfire.

"I'm going to try and talk her out," Hotch explained, handing his weapon over to Rossi. He kept his spare at his ankle, just in case. "We don't want to let Adrienne in that room."

"We'll be watin' for the word out here," Jenkins promised, gesturing to the policemen lining the hall. All had their weapons drawn; this was personal.

-
"Spencer, calm down," Adrienne said once more. "I'm right here, Esmy is fine, and none of this is your fault."

They were inside the hospital, sitting on a couch in the waiting room of the ER. Reid was holding his head in his hands, muttering to himself.

"Spencer!" she finally snapped. Reid's head shot up, startled. His brown eyes were troubled and shell shocked. Rather than the cartoon favorite of a slap, Adrienne gave Reid a quick kiss on the lips.

"Ahhh!" he yelped, holding a hand to his lips. Adrienne would have giggled, had there not been a murderer holding her cousin hostage.

"Are you listening?" she asked, blue eyes piercing through the fog of his guilt. He nodded mutely. "Good. Esmy is fine. Hotch is going to get Borgias out without any trouble. The other victims were not your fault. What happened to me was my own fault. You can stop worrying," she assured him kindly, caressing his cheek with her thumb.

"But-" Reid began to protest. How was any of this her fault? Why was she not worrying about- then he stopped. The doctor's eyes widened comically. "You kissed me," he muttered, face heating up.

Adrienne chuckled. Before she could say anything, Rossi came jogging into the room. "Adrienne, we need you," he panted.

The Doc was up in an instant. "What's happened?" she asked calmly. It was a professional voice for a professional situation, Reid thought.

"Hotch can't get her to talk. We need you to get Borgias to give herself up," Rossi explained quickly. "We've gotta hurry-"

"NO!" Reid exclaimed. He had just gotten her back; Reid could NOT lose his super hero again.

A cool hand rested on his arm. "Spencer, it has to be done. Besides, it's me," she declared with a cheeky smile. "What could go wrong?"

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it. ~Michel de Montaigne