Prologue:

March 7, 2009; 11:34 pm

The sound of footsteps echoed loudly throughout the deserted parking garage. Each set resounded and bounced back against the cement and concrete walls as the small trio reached their destination- a grey, old model vehicle that seemed to be the definition of "non-conspicuous" – the only give away to the vehicle being a key element of protected escape was the tinted windows.

The oldest of the trio led the to the door of the car, opening it for youngest - a young woman of 20 years with warm, dark chocolate brown layered hair pulled into a low messy bun and stunning jade green eyes which flashed with a mixed emotions. She was dressed in a simple tee and skinny jeans with a pair of well-worn Converses on her feet, as well as a backpack slung over one shoulder. The girl got into the car giving the oldest a mumbled thank you as she slid to the other side of the backseat, behind the passenger seat.

The older turned to the third member of the party, holding him back from getting into the car with the girl. "I'll text you you're set to depart. Be vigilant, he may be expecting this from us."

"Yeah, I already figured. We'll take more complicated routes then head out of town through the back roads. The safe-house is far from his comfort zone, I don't think he'll check there."

"Alright. Be careful," the younger of the two men was about to get into the when the oldest called out once again. "Reid," the younger of the two men looked up. SSA Dr. Spencer Reid's eyes caught that of his unit chief, Aaron Hotchner, as he continued, "Keep Nessa calm."

Dr. Reid gave a small nod as he continued to settle himself in the backseat next to the college junior. Agent Hotchner made his way around the car to the back passenger side window, which was lowered for the time being. "Nessa," started the agent. The said woman turned to the FBI agent, her green eyes finding the brown of Hotch's, which, despite the chaos of the moment, held an almost warm and reassuring look in contrast to the seriousness that seemed embedded in his face in the form of lines. He continued, "You'll be departing as soon as I give Reid the word. We'll get you to the safe house as fast as possible…," his gaze slightly intensified as he spoke added, "We're going to get him."

Nessa's eyes sharpened a bit with determination as she nodded. "Hotch? Promise me something…"

"Vanessa, I really can't-."

"I know, but-" she let out a breath she didn't realize until then, "Just make sure the others get to the safehouse safely."

Hotch looked at the girl a moment. At that very moment, he saw it. He saw the very emotion, the very determination that her father displayed on a regular bases while he was still his colleague. Yet with Nessa there was a much gentler edge, despite the obstacles that she had overcome and the hurdles that are up ahead, she still held a sort of innocence or kindness, something that her father rarely showed in the workplace. It was in that moment that he saw the same eyes despite their color, but he also saw how truly different she was from her father.

Hotch's attention returned to her plead. He gave her a small reassuring smile. "They're in good hands. We'll stop at nothing to keep them, and you, safe."

Nessa retuned the smile, her shoulders relaxing as she felt lighter just with that bit of reassurance.

"Thank you." Hotch nodded. He turned towards the young doctor beside her who gave his boss a nod.

'I'll take care of her.'

"Wait for my word Reid. The two of you…" He looked between the two, "Be careful." And with that, Aaron Hotchner left the parking garage, getting into a black SUV which held Prentiss, Mark, and himself.

Both Reid and Nessa waited until the Unit Chief was out of slight to roll up their windows. The officer driving them was currently as still as stone, almost unmoving if it weren't for the occasional twitch of the hand or shoulder rolling. It was within those silent and tense minutes, everything seemed to be warped for Nessa, almost surreal. Time ticked, but what seemed like hours, like a lifetime, really was a few passing minutes just sitting in the backseat of the car. She began to drum her fingers against her lap, a nervous habit she had developed from playing piano- she had unconsciously began playing a random piece and her fingers moved accordingly to the notes while her lap served as a makeshift piano.

At the moment, she was doing an incredibly fast paced version of Ode to Joy, that was until another, larger hand slipped into her left, fingers interlacing with her own, completely halting her movement. Within a faction of a second, she griped the comforting hand back in response and brought her right to caress the back of the hand as a way to gain some reassurance. She looked down at her lap from the window, a small, comforted smile finding its place on her lips. When she looked up she found Spencer's hazel eyes with her own jade ones, he's eyes giving off a sense of comfort but which still held a bit for seriousness and slight worry.

He gave her hand a small squeeze, letting his thumb run along the back of her smooth skin. He broke from her gaze and speared a glance the officer behind the wheel, who was currently looking out of his window at the plain concrete walls of the parking garage. Taking the distraction, Spencer leaned forward with a bit of hesitance, giving Nessa a reassuring, loving kiss on her forehead.

Nessa let out a breath as he moved back, and then moved to place her own chaste kiss on the young doctor's lips. A slight coloring appeared in Reid's cheeks, but then pushed aside his timidness and hugged her. He felt her wrap her arms around him. She needed this: she needed reassurance, comfort, and, during everything that had happened in that last five days, Reid learned, with slight difficulty, how to be that comfort for her.

"Everything is going to be alright."

"I know."

A sudden buzzing from Reid's trouser pocket broke apart the two and caught the attention of the driver, looking at the SSA through the rear-view mirror. Reid retrieved his phone and opened the text message, and sure enough, it was Hotch.

'You're in the clear to depart. Be safe.'

Spencer felt a sudden increase in heart rate; he knew this feeling. It was time, it was now or never. With a squeeze of Nessa's hand, he turned to meet the gaze of the driver. A swift nod and a quiet, "Let's go," Reid gave the exact directions that they would be taking. The driver nodded and they exited the parking garage in the dead of night.

Nessa never let go of the agent's hand. As they passed through the city's back roads and alleys, she just held on to him. She felt silly, of course, clinging on to Reid like that. But not once does she regret it. As they passed through a town about 15 minutes away from Ft. Belvoir, she began to feel uneasy. The agent next to her was quick to notice.

"You okay?"

"Not….not really. Something feels off. It's one of those feelings." She let go of his hand and began to go through her backpack.

"What are you looking for?" asked the eidetic genius.

She continued to rummage through her backpack. "My iPod, I need to listen to something to relax me." She had a look of disappointment as she found her device and, upon examination, threw it back into her backpack. "It's dead. I forgot to charge it." She gave a slight sigh.

Suddenly, a soft curious hum escaped her as she reached once again into the bag before closing it. "Um…do you mind if I….um…remember that time on the sofa-…."

Spencer blushed a bit but answered he shaky question with his own response, "….S-sure. I-I don't mind." He opened his arms wide as the jade-eyed girl gave a small smile as she unbuckled her seatbelt and laid against the genius' side. In turn, Reid moved slightly so that she rested more comfortable between his legs, her head resting over his heart, their hands linked. Safely wrapped in each other's presence, Nessa felt more at ease, so much so that she was able to nap for a few minutes, finally succumbing to her dreams and his offered safety.

It was nearly 30 minutes later that Nessa woke with Reid still holding her, keeping an eye out on the road as his hands ran up and down arm with a little uncertainty whether he was doing it right. She was about to sit up when she felt the forgotten envelope fall.

"Where are we?" she asked Reid , going through her backpack again for something to keep her mind occupied. As she searched, Nessa pulled out a envelope- one that wasn't in her box earlier that day, in fact she hadn't seen this before, and couldn't figure out how it ended up in her bag.

"Approximately 20 minutes from our destination. I got a text message from Hotch: The other's made it safely there."

"That's good," she leaned against Reid again, but her focus on the envelope. Nessa examined the paper again, her name written in Becky's handwriting on the front of it. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, finding a piece of folded paper that appeared to be a letter. Opening it fully, she let out a sharp gasp and threw the paper away from her as if it had burned her touch. Reid was a bit startled at her reaction. The driver caught the action as well and grew a bit worried.

"Sir, should I pull over?"

"No, keep going. We're almost there." Spencer reached over Nessa, who was more curled up against him and grabbed the paper. Hazel eyes widen, his heart began to race more the usual, and his mind was screaming. There in his hands, taped to the paper was a tarot card- The Devil, right side up. Next to the card in erratic hand writing: I'm going to get you. Don't think you can outrun me =)

Spencer was at a loss for words. Upon regaining his thinking ability, he reached for his phone and dialed for Hotch.

As the dial tone rang in his ear, Nessa just stared at the paper in the genius' hand. She felt on the egde of having a panic attack, her breathing was beginning to shallow, but she quickly regained control of herself, and just focused on Spencer's voice as he was finally answered by his Unit Chief.

"Hotch…we may have a problem….he sent another calling card…yeah the De-."

"WATCH OUT!" A shrill scream was heard as suddenly headlights appeared out of nowhere, racing towards the passenger side of the car. Nessa, in a split moment, heard Spencer drop his phone and pull her more towards him, using his body to shield her from the impact. The horrid sound of twisted metal, the cracking of glass, and the shatter. Nessa was vaguely aware of her screams or that of Spencer's cursing which turned into an agonizing scream. She felt herself being thrown from his grip and felt the glass shredding her arms and the twisting metal nearly trapping her. The motion of tumbling and turning and pain seemed to last ages, but soon, she landed on sharp glass, her head throbbing unlike she has ever felt. Her arms felt numb, she was disoriented, but she was alive. It look her a moment to realize what had happened- they had rolled over several times. She struggled to get up , her arms shaking under her. In the mangled mess of metal and glass, she caught slight of the driver at a distance, he was unmoving, his arm twisted in an un-natural angle, so were his legs. She looked around the wreckage and found the SSA among the metal about two yards away from her. Nessa tried to move her legs, but she found them much too heavy. She tried once more to lift herself up, but the arms gave out under the heaviness and pain that surged through her body. Turning her head sent sharp jolts through her body as she tried to call out to Reid.

"Spencer…" She rasped out her voice failing her a bit, tears clouding her line of sight. The pain was becoming too much. "Come on, Spencer. Can you hear me? Wake up." Nessa could vaguely make out the voice coming from the genius' phone in the distance.

"REID! REID ANSWER ME! ARE YOU OKAY? DAMMIT SPENCER. ANSWER ME! MORGAN AND I ARE ON THE WAY."

Reid's eyes fluttered at Nessa's calls. He let out a groan as he became aware of his soundings and the pain. As he came to, he moved his head to the face Nessa, who was only able to see rather large gash on his temple, which was bleeding heavily, as well as many other scratches and cuts that covered his body.

"You okay?" she rasped out once again, completely ignoring her own wounds.

He gave a stiff nod. "My shoulder," he rasped out, "I think it's dislocated. I can move it .I manage to turn my body so that we wouldn't receive much impact." She smiled at this; he was okay for the most part. Relief flooded through her as she caught sight of his eyes. "And you?"

"I'll live." The moment of relief was short lived when the two heard the distinct whistling of Frère Jacques coming closer. Neither of them could move at this point. Nessa caught boots come much closer in her field of vision. The boots suddenly stopped and moved between the two. The whistling fell to a low note when the UnSub took note of Reid, banged up, but still alive.

"Oh no," he mused, "This will not do." Then pain surged suddenly through Reid as the heavy boot made contact his ribs. A scream escaped him as he rolled a few more feet away from Nessa, his white button-up covered in shards of glass, medal and blood.. Happy with his work, he carefully scooped up Nessa, in his arms.

"No….stop…please…Spencer.." she called weakly. The UnSub sighed as he placed her on her feet, but quickly found that she could not stand; the pain of putting weight on her legs made her cry out. He held her against him and buried his nose in her now loose brown hair, holding her off the ground a bit, allowing her to use him as support.

"Don't worry, my beautiful little songbird." The dull glint of a gun appeared in front of him, trained on the agent on the floor. "The good agent won't bother you anymore."

Spencer started to move slowly, coming back to his senses. He turned to face Nessa and the Unsub, not so much looking at the gun but at Nessa. He was just about to say something, the form of a word on his lips when suddenly-BANG!

Nessa let out a blood shrilling cry at the sound, her vision was already starting to fade around the edges. The UnSub gave a small chuckle as he caught her again as she tried to race towards the agent, but failed due to the ever present pain and his death grip around her waist.

"No, no Darling. He won't stand in the way now." He scooped her up as she weakly fought against him, her eyes still trained on the genius' body among the glass and metal.

"Reid…Spencer…."

"He had to be put down Vanessa. He won't bother you anymore," he comforted as they walked around the wreckage to a truck, the same truck that had hit them, "It's just you and me now. We need to discuss things about your Daddy. I'm still very mad at him for locking me up and I have a bone to pick with him." He placed her gently in the back of his truck, making sure to use the utmost care by minding her injuries. "I wonder how he would react." He gave a dark chuckle at the thought. He looked down at her with crazed eyes, a large, thick hand smoothed out her hair. With a sickening, sadistic smile, he let his hands move along her body. "Now be a good girl and behave until we get home. Then we can really have some fun."

-x-X-x-

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