TITLE: In Two Minds

AUTHOR: Laragh

STORY RATING: PG-13 to R

DISCLAIMER: Willow, Tara and any other characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise belong to Joss Whedon, FOX, ME and a whole host of other entities, none of which are me. The Criminal Minds belongs to CBS Television Studios, Jeff Davies and the CBS network.

SUMMARY: What happens when the BAU is sent to investigate a seies of abductions in Sunnydale, California? Criminal Minds crossover!

SPOILERS: Up to season 5 of Buffy, Up to season 6 of Criminal Minds (but nothing specific)

EMAIL:

FEEDBACK: Pretty please with sugar on top!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay so just to clarify a few things, this is set early season 5 in Buffy, *but* with some major changes. First off, there's no Riley, mostly just because I kinda forgot he was in the show as I was writing this (not used to writing quasi-canon stories), it's set before the whole Key thing happened, so it can be assumed Dawn is around but isn't mentioned as she wasn't significant yet and I've also made it so that season 5 in set in the same timeline as the current season of Criminal Minds, ie the present. Is that super confusing? I'm sorry if it is. Also, 'Family' didn't occur (or hadn't occured yet) and some of the details of Tara's past are different. Anyway, if there's any confusion, ask me and I'll clarify! Hope you enjoy and feedback=love!

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." - Joseph Conrad

Dark Garage, Unknown Location

He lifted the hood of the trunk of the car and turned his flashlight on, shining it on the body that lay in there. He felt his rage begin to bubble over when he saw the familiar yet distinctly different features of the person he sought.

"Wrong," he said, his voice tinged with venom and anger as he slammed the trunk closed and glared at the other man who standing beside the driver's seat side of the car, "Try again. And this time, get it right."

Quantico, Virginia

Jennifer 'JJ' Jareu grabbed the incoming fax as it came through the machine, putting it amongst the other information she'd been sent on the latest crime spree they'd been asked to investigate. She closed the file held it in her arms as she walked out of her office and into the open-plan offices of the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI, her place of work and the place she often considered, whether she liked it or not, her second home.

"Please tell me that's the file from the last case we closed and you're just finishing up," Derek Morgan said hopefully, sitting on the desk of Spencer Reid and throwing a baseball in the air, "I promised I'd show Reid how to throw a proper curveball."

"The baseball pitch, not the Iraqi informant," Reid clarified, before a confused frown graced his features, "Though I'm not sure I could throw the man even if wanted to, to the best of my knowledge he's under strong protection of the German police."

"Sorry, guys," JJ said with an apologetic smile, ignoring Reid's statement as she was quite used to his random spurts of information, "We have a new one. I need everyone in the briefing room in 5."

Derek sighed and dropped the ball onto the table, letting it roll slightly before it came to a halt where Reid picked it up and seemed to examine it scrupulously.

"Did you know the yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile in length if laid out on a flat surface?"

"I sometimes think the same thing about your brain," Derek muttered before standing and turning on his heels towards the boardroom as Reid frowned again, not having heard what his colleague had said.

Ten minutes later, the entire team – SSAs Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Aaron 'Hotch' Hotchner, Morgan, Reid and their technical analyst Penelope Garcia all sat around the large circular table as JJ stood at the head, a large projector screen behind her filled with separate images of three unconscious girls, each lying on what appeared to be a dirt road.

"Jessica Davies, 20 Alison Johnson, 19 and Sandra Williams, 19," JJ said as she used the remote in her hands to flick through their images, "All have been abducted over the three days - one a day- then found within a few hours of their abduction, mostly before someone's even had a chance to report them missing, on the same stretch of road, all unconscious and with no memory of where they'd been since they'd been taken when they woke up."

"Using some kind of substance to keep them asleep?" Derek asked as he flicked through his copy of the information in front of him.

"Nothing found in their systems," JJ shook her head, "We're operating on the assumption that the unsub is using chloroform or something similar. Here's the weird part though, when the girls are found, there's only small cuts and bruises on them, consistent with a minor fall or most likely, being thrown onto the ground."

"Any signs of sexual assault?" Emily asked from her seat.

JJ shook her head.

"None. By all accounts, whoever is doing this barely even touches these girls. There's no apparent reason why he's abducting them."

"There's always a reason," Hotch replied stoically, "Or else we wouldn't have jobs."

"They all have blonde hair and blue eyes," Reid commented, "That can't be a coincidence. And they're all around the same age."

"No such thing as coincidences," Derek replied, patting Reid on the back with a wink, "You think you would've learned that by now. Hey, JJ, is there a bit of a personal reason why we're taking this case?"

Derek raised an eyebrow at his blonde-haired, blue-eyed colleague, but JJ just shook her head.

"I didn't even consider that. This came straight from the Governor, there wasn't much choice in taking this case. Apparently his daughter knew one of the girls from high-school."

There was a series of understanding nods from around the table, until Garcia spoke up.

"What's he doing with them?" she asked, confused, "I mean, if he's not hurting them and he's not...doing anything else with them, why take them?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Hotch said, standing up, as if to assert his power over the group, "Garcia, you're coming with us for this one."

"Yes, sir," Garcia replied, jumping up excitedly, "I am at your ever loyal and humble service."

"We're gonna need all the help we can get," Hotch continued, almost to himself, "I'm gonna call the director, get Kevin assigned on this case with us. Anyone else would take too long to fill in on how we work, he can be debriefed on the place. Garcia, can you...?"

"Yes, yes of course," Garcia said, scurrying off to go call her boyfriend and fill him in, before quickly turning back to group, "Where exactly are we going?"

Hotch snapped the case file closed in his hand as his other hand went to his cell phone, dialling the number for the director.

"Wheels up in 20, everyone. We're heading to Sunnydale, California."