Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

Acquainted with the Night

Emily could not believe it when she opened her eyes and there was daylight pouring through the curtains. She hadn't awoken once throughout the night, not a single nightmare had plagued her dreams. Hell her headache was even almost gone! She climbed out of bed and stripped yesterday's clothes off before hopping into the shower. She let the hot water run over her body, taking away the remaining tension in her body. She felt a new sense of hope this morning, as if the misery from the past week was about to come to an end, but of course things were never that easy.

Reid tried to toss his coffee cup in the trash from the bench he was sitting on, but of course his fatigue and lack of coordination caused him to miss. The cup hit the sidewalk before bouncing and rolling towards the gutter. He shrugged; he couldn't be bothered to pick it up. His eyes were red and glossy and burned in the sunlight. He hadn't slept a wink last night. The nightmares of small boys at the hands of an unsub had tortured his subconscious until 4:00 am when he finally gave up and went to get coffee. Three coffees later and his legs were as jittery as a Parkinson's patient, but unfortunately the coffee didn't make his mind anymore awake. He looked at his watch, 0730. He stood up slowly and made his way towards the Sheriff's station. Who knew? Maybe today would be their lucky day.

At 1030 the team received the news that a fourth boy had gone missing on his way to school. James Tucker, a 12 year old boy had left for school at 0730 and not shown up for the 0800 bell. His parents were hysterical, his mother sobbing as she told her story to the deputy at the front of the station. JJ stood beside her, comforting her with hushed whispers in her ear. Reid always wondered how JJ knew exactly what to say. He himself was socially awkward and dreaded any moment when he might have to talk to a victim's family. Reid pinned the fourth picture up on the board, a blonde haired, blue eyed boy.

At 1:30 pm Reid felt he could barely keep his eyes open. He had been pouring over the case notes all morning, and the words were starting to blend in as one. He closed the file and walked out into the sunshine to wake himself up. The rest of the team was gathered around the Sheriff listening intently. Reid was about to walk past them when he heard Hotch's command.

"Everyone in the SUV's, we need to check this out immediately." Reid hopped into a car with Rossi and Hotch, and together the two SUV's sped out of town. About a mile and a quarter down a gravel road, Reid saw Morgan pull the SUV in front off to the side. Hotch followed and all the team members poured out of the vehicles. It was then that Reid saw it. It was Brady Plaskett, half buried in the dirt. His body was bruised and bloody, his face swollen almost past recognition. In fact Reid was sure if he had not spent the last 2 days studying the photo to the point of obsession, he himself might not have known who it was. JJ stood in the corner with her hand over her mouth, probably thinking about how lucky she was to have her son at home safe and sound. Morgan and Prentiss walked over to the body and started spouting off any detail they noticed. The boy was naked, beaten and bloody, the worst possible way to find an eleven year old boy. Emily slipped a blue glove over her hand and began prying apart his fingers. Inside his clenched fist there was a rolled up piece of paper. Reid moved closer to Emily as she began to read the note aloud.

``It was never supposed to be this way, but you Sheriff Rosen had to go and get the FBI involved. Send them away or you will find more of the precious children in this town killed in even more gruesome ways. This isn`t a warning, it is an order. You will be surprised at what I am capable of. ``

Reid shivered. The unsub was clearly a male. It was obvious in the way he had worded his letter. While Reid had been assuming a male suspect all along it was nice to finally have some confirmation, maybe they were getting somewhere.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going over the crime scene with a fine toothed comb. The area was dusted for footprints and fingerprints. The K9 unit was brought out in an attempt to find the scent of the killer. But once again nothing of major significance was found. Reid sat back at the station, going over the note again and again trying to find any sort of clue from the wording or the handwriting, but nothing of significance jumped out at him. By 1am Hotch ordered the team back to the hotel, they needed rest and fresh eyes to go over everything in the morning. One by one the team filed out of the station and down the street to the hotel.

Reid`s mind was reeling as he unlocked his door. He had brought the case file with him as he knew sleep would not be coming anytime soon. He needed to find these kids, and hopefully save them from the same misery he had endured. He was almost positive he was too late though. Perhaps Brady was the lucky one in all of this; his suffering had ended, while the rest of them had been left behind to face new horrors every day. Reid tossed the case file onto the desk, before walking into the bathroom for a hot shower. Reid nearly fainted when he was met with a bloody arm hanging from his bathroom ceiling.

Emily closed the door to her hotel room and let out a sigh of relief. It had been a tough day, a new abduction and one of the victims turning up dead. Reid had kept it together fairly well considering. Emily had kept an eye on him all day, and other then looking distracted from time to time, he seemed to be tolerating the news fairly well. She was just about to kick off her shoes when she heard a loud banging at her door, and Reid screeching for her to open up. He flung himself into her room as soon as she opened the door, panic apparent all across his face.

``Reid! What is it?" Emily asked.

"Emily, there is a boys arm in my room. It's tied to the ceiling. It belongs to one of the boys, I know it!"

Emily ran out of her hotel room and down the hallway to Reid's room, where the door sat ajar. She went into the bathroom and sure enough there hung an arm from the elbow down. She studied it closely and noticed in the boys hand, there was another scrunched up note.

Reid stuck close by Emily's side as they went and alerted Hotch, who alerted the Sheriff and soon there were close to 20 people in Reid's hotel room. Hotch threw on a pair of gloves and pried open the little boys hand. The second note read,

"Agent Hotchner, perhaps you have more sense than Sheriff Rosen. Take your team and leave. I plan to finish what I have started and I will not allow your team to get in my way. Unless you want more dead children and maybe even some dead agents I suggest you listen to my order."

The note was sealed in a plastic bag and handed over into evidence to be searched for prints. "Well team, its 4am. I don't suspect any of us will get much sleep but there isn't much to do until we get the coroner's report on our first victim tomorrow. I advise you all to go back to your hotel rooms and get what sleep you can. I anticipate that we will have another big day tomorrow." The team began to disassemble as they closed one another out for the remainder of the night. Reid followed Emily to her hotel room door.

"Would you mind if I bunked in your room tonight on account of the fact that my room is now a crime scene?" Emily shook her head.

"No of course not, come on in."

The two of them laid side by side, wide awake in the darkness.

"Emily, do you believe in God?"

"Reid its 4 am. I am really not in the mood for a deep religious conversation with you at the moment."
"It's not like you're going to sleep anyway," Reid retorted.

"I don't know Reid, can you just drop it," Emily cried in a wary voice.

"Fine," Reid grumbled. "Then answer this; what type of life will these boys have if they survive this ordeal? They are young and impressionable and going through more than most adults could ever imagine. They've probably watched each other be beaten and maybe even killed. And you know as well as I do that the coroner's case is going to come back positive for sexual abuse. How will they come back from that? What I went through isn't half as bad and look at how negatively it affects me, and now you? How do they heal from this?"

"It will be a long process Reid, just like yours has been. Everyone is different it is hard to say how they will cope."

"I'm not coping Emily. It's been 6 days, 18 hours and 32 minutes since I told you about Nigel and I haven't slept, I haven't had a clear mind and I certainly haven't contributed anything to this case. And now after today's events it's hard to believe I will ever sleep again. This is going to ruin their lives Emily!" Reid was weeping by this point, but Emily did not interrupt, instead just reached for his hand. "I can't stand this Emily. I know what they are going to have to go through, how they will never entirely heal. How they will become more acquainted with the night then the day, because the darkness makes it impossible to sleep. What am I supposed to do Emily? I can't sit and pretend anymore, I'm done acting like I'm okay!" Emily pulled Reid into a hug as he broke down entirely in her arms.

"You don't have to pretend you're okay Reid. I know you're not, the team knows you're not. Let us all help you. No one should have to go through this alone, you don't deserve this Reid. It's okay to open up and ask for help. I know I'm not the best example when it comes to asking for help, but I can't help you alone. Be a bigger person then I was, let your friends in."

Reid was crying even harder now. "I don't know if I can Emily."

"Well at least think about it Reid," Emily said before she began hushing him. "Reid tell me you'll at least think about it," Emily coaxed.

"I will," he sobbed. It seemed to Emily like hours had passed before Reid's sobbing began to slow and his breathing evened out. She held him for a long time, making sure he was actually asleep before she backed away. She felt terrible for Reid, the best she could hope right now was that he had exhausted himself so much, that not even the nightmares could wake him tonight.