Please review! :) I have more chapters of this done, just depends on if people like it or not if I post them. Check out my other story, "The Big Game", which is set a few episodes before this and is more JJ/Reid (Not in a relationship though...I like JJ/Will too much to do that haha).

Jennifer Jareau hung up the phone with the detective from New Orleans and sighed. He had sounded so distraught and miserable. She was definitely going to try and get this case, although it shouldn't be hard since it's technically considered a serial now.

I called the right people, filled out the right forms, and now my team was sitting in front of me in the BAU room, "We've got a serial killer in New Orleans who killed at least three men pre-Katrina. Until recently, the New Orleans Police Department believed the killer to have died in the storm."

Derek Morgan reached for his coffee while he digested the news, "And what's happened to tell them otherwise?"

Turning around and pointing my remote at the flat-screen, I pulled up more recent pictures, "A fourth body was found in the French Quarter last night. Same MO, young male, throat slashed, eviscerated."

Emily Prentiss shook her head, "A year and a half…that's a long cooling off period, are we sure this is the same unsub?"

I nodded, "He claims to be. He sent a letter to William LaMontagne, the head detective on the case."

Jason Gideon spoke for the first time, "LaMontagne have any leads?"

This was why the detective had sounded so morose. I sighed, "He died in Katrina. His son is actually heading the case now."

Morgan raised his eyebrows, "Huh, that can't be easy."

Our Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner started going over some papers, "Well, we need to go over the evidence for the first three murders and determine the pattern."

Shaking my head, I dropped a bombshell on my team, "Katrina washed everything away in the storm: the three victims we know of, their autopsy reports, witness statements, DNA test results…" I trailed off. They all got the point.

Apparently, all except Reid. He spoke up, "So all we have to go on is the latest victim?" He was fiddling with a pen. I know he only does that when something is on his mind.

I nodded and frowned.

"Until he kills again. Wheels up in 30," Hotch demanded.

Everyone started to pack up their things and leave but I stalled enough so Reid and I ended up being the last ones in the room. He was acting really odd: jumping at things and staring off into space.

"Spence," I put my arm out to stop him from leaving, "You ok?"

He shrugged, "Why wouldn't I be?" and tried to go around me.

I planted myself firmly in front of him, "Hey." He was avoiding my eye contact. "Look at me." Slowly, his eyes came up to face mine, "What's wrong?"

He sighed, "I just have a lot on my plate right now, a lot to think about."

I raised my eyebrows, "Since when has thinking left you acting like this, genius kid?" Reid cracked a smile and I grinned knowing I caused it, "You win this round, Spence, but you won't get away so easily when we get back." I turned so he could pass and patted his back as he walked by.

Reid shot a weak, "I'm scared," at me as he passed.

"You should be!" I called down the hallway after him, causing several people to look our way. He shot me a look because he hates attention. I just shrugged and laughed.

After calling the detective one more time to confirm that we had in fact, taken off, and were coming to help, I started to spread out newspaper articles on the lone table on the jet. I overheard Morgan questioning Reid and then talking about Spence's longtime friend. Maybe he could help get Reid out of this funk. After snapping at Emily and her apologizing for something she said, I decided to intervene.

"These are copies of the newspaper articles on the first murders, dating August 2005. It's all we have to go on." I passed out a copy to each team member. Emily looked dejected and confused. I shot her a look and mouthed 'we'll talk later' when I handed her a copy.

Hotch started stating facts, "He killed three times, stopped for 18 months and then started killing again."

Gideon put his glasses on to read, "You should have Garcia run a list of known offenders in the area, anyone who spent the last year and a half doing time."

"Or anyone who relocated after Katrina and recently moved back." Reid added.

"What is the victimology of killing a mechanic, a real estate broker and a cook? With ages ranging from 22 to 45?" Emily asked.

I held up the latest victim, "And this latest victim is a taxi driver. They just don't seem to have very much in common."

Morgan shrugged, "Besides being male walking the French Quarter late at night."

"Which is notorious for muggings off the main drag," I nodded.

Emily frowned, "Yeah, but this guy isn't in a rush to flee the scene. Slaughter like this takes time."

Reid piped up, "Cotello fantasized that the men he killed were his captives, and that torturing and mutilating them somehow made him a hero."

Gideon was staring off into space, "This city is barely back to life. Something like this could cripple its psyche."

I looked over at him, "So where do we start?"

Hotch turned to me, "Well, with no case file there's only one place we can start: Square one." He held up a picture of the latest murder. "Reid and Prentiss, you two go to the morgue. See what you can find out from the autopsy. JJ, you, Morgan, and Gideon go to the crime scene. I'll start going over the evidence boards and putting them together."

Everyone nodded and then went back to going over the files by themselves. I glanced at my watch; we took off about an hour ago, so that means we have little over an hour to go. Walking back to go get a cup of tea I looked pointedly at Emily and she got up to follow me.

Pouring my tea, I looked down the plane to make sure Reid was occupied, but I still kept my voice low while Emily blocked us from view. "So, you notice Reid, too?"

She scoffed, "How can I not? That's the fourth time he's bit my head off. On the last case, he told the homeless shelter director that the unsub, and I quote, 'could be in this very room as we speak'. She flipped and I was left to clean up the mess. He yelled at me about how I didn't know him that well after I brought it up." She paused, "Which is kind of true but he didn't have to say it like that."

I raised my eyebrows and handed her a mug, "Wow. You don't have to be a longtime friend to notice that."

Emily held her hands out, "Obviously!"

"Well, I'm going to talk to him when we get back to Virginia. Something's wrong and I've never seen him like this before."

She nodded, "Good, he listens to you."

We both discreetly went back to our seats. I spent the last hour of the flight chatting with Garcia on the laptop's webcam about the case, and occasionally other things, like sales in our favorite stores, but one look from Hotch always steered our conversations back on track.

Walking out in the sun, I led Morgan and Gideon over to the crime scene. A local cop held the crime scene tape up for us to walk under and I nodded my thanks. A young man in a striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up a little was standing in the middle of the alleyway. He was fit and his muscles were just visible under his shirt. He turned when he heard them approach and JJ saw the detective shield and gun attached to his belt.

William LaMontagne Jr. was solidly built and just a tad bit taller than me. His hair was a dark brown, short but not too straight today in this heat, and some scruff was just visible on his nicely-defined face. There were shadows of dark circles under his eyes, showing his lack of sleep. Other than that, he was quite attractive.

Was it just me or did his eyes brighten a little when seeing us walk up? Of course, we're helping solve his late father's case, he should be happy to see us.

He extended his hand, "You must be BAU? Will LaMontagne."

I smiled and shook, "Hi, Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone."

He looked back up at my face with a smirk, "Well ok then!" I paused, confused by his remark, but still had a smile on my face. He just waved his hand and said, "Pictured you different…"

I just stared with a dumb look on my face, I'm sure, until I remembered why we were there and introduced my team members, "Um, these are Agents Gideon and Morgan; this is Detective William LaMontagne Jr."

More handshakes were given as LaMontagne said, "I appreciate you guys being here." He looked down at the ground, "My father was too stubborn to ask for any help."

Gideon nodded, "Sorry for your loss." Morgan and I nodded our condolences as well before Gideon continued, "I understand you received a letter?"

LaMontagne nodded and held up a sheet of paper in a plastic bag, "Yeah, before they were lost in Katrina my daddy received two others. That one came addressed to him yesterday. They passed it on to me."

I looked at the letter, and then back at the detective, "Are you sure it's the same killer?"

Gideon answered me with a frown, "It's a detailed account of what he did with the body." He handed back the letter and then went to take a look around, with Morgan in tow.

I waited until they got a fair distance away before I turned my attention back to the man standing next to me. He looked lean and fit in the button-up shirt he was wearing, along with black slacks. His eyes found mine and there was a glint in them that I couldn't place.

"What did you mean when you said you pictured me different?"

He smirked again, "It wasn't a bad thing. More like a compliment." I raised my eyebrows and he continued his explanation, "Ok, I didn't expect a beautiful blonde woman to be the liaison for the FBI and come down to work on my case. I didn't see that coming at all." He shrugged, "That's why I said I pictured you different."

I blushed. I hadn't seen that coming, either. I just nodded my head and walked over to examine the perimeter of the crime scene. I swore I saw a smile on Will's face before I left, though. I tried to examine a brick wall very closely all of a sudden to try to focus back on the case. I could pretty much feel his eyes boring holes in my back at the moment.

Morgan stated something about hiding out in the alcove and I felt Will's attention change. I heard him say, "Yeah, all four murders happened within a ten-block radius here in South French Quarter."

I started to walk back towards the guys, "On any given night there has to be thousands of people walking through here from bars."

Will turned back towards me, "Tens of thousands. When I first started as a cop, I worked the Quarter. It's like being in the riot squad every night." His voice turned to a more reflective tone, "Every Sunday I'd get off work right around sunrise, wanting to pass out. My daddy would be waiting for me back at my house. Made me drive him around to Frankie and Johnny's for pool with the boys." He smiled.

Gideon interrupted, "Did your father tell you anything else about this case that we need to know?"

He took a deep breath, "He tried to, but you guys should see that for yourself." While he walked back towards his vehicle, Morgan and I looked at each other with confused looks on our faces.

Gideon just shrugged, "Let's go."

We caught up to the detective as he was unlocking his car. I went to get in our black SUV, but Gideon stopped me, "Ride with him. If we get separated you're the only one who has his number and we have no idea where we're going."

I looked over at Will and he gestured to the passenger side of his police car. I hopped in and we were off, headed to wherever this information Will's dad gave him was.

Will looked over at me as we waited at a light, "You're lucky I didn't make you ride in the back."

I tried to look offended, "I wouldn't have gotten in!" I countered.

He laughed, "I do have handcuffs…you wouldn't stand a chance."

I raised my eyebrows, "You would have assaulted a defenseless woman, all because you wanted to feel in control and make her ride in the back of your police car?´

"Defenseless? I saw that Glock on your hip!"

I laughed and shrugged. I had nothing to say to that.

We pulled into a driveway that ended with a house that was in ruins. A tree had fallen and destroyed half of it, and litter and debris covered the yard.

Will shut off the engine and went to open the door but stopped, "You know, you're the kind of girl my daddy would have loved to see me with." Then he got out and shut the door.

I sat in the car for a minute, stunned. What? No one has ever acted like this around me before. Of course, there were the occasional idiots that were drunk in bars that hit on me, but no one has ever outright said anything even close to the things that William LaMontagne has said to me. We've only known each other for what; I looked at my watch, barely an hour? I looked out the window and saw that Gideon and Morgan had arrived and all three men were waiting on me. I tried to compose myself and got out.

Will started to head towards the house with Gideon in tow. Morgan waited for me. "You ok?"

I tried my best to look confused, "Yeah, why?"

He shrugged, "Just asking."

I hurried to follow the others into the damaged house. Gideon held open the door for me and I ended up right next to Will again. We maneuvered our way through the rubble while Will explained, "This wall's still standing where daddy carved the message, right before he died." He stopped when we turned a corner and pointed to the wall, "There's no doubt he's still working from the grave."

All that was on the wall was the word 'Jones' carved into it. The letters were jagged and rough.

Morgan came in and looked around, "Jones; that name mean anything to you?"

Will shook his head, "Nah, I ran it through the database against every offender in New Orleans. You can imagine how many hits I got, but nothing came up in connection with this case."

"But, in your dad's final moments, it was the most important thing he wanted to say," I said.

He walked around a little and sighed, "I learned how to play the drums in this house; grew up with two dogs in this house. All it's gonna be now is the word 'Jones' carved into that wall.

Morgan gestured towards the wall, "Detective, if he had written the unsub's name on that wall, I think you would've found him by now. Jones is the one piece of the puzzle that your dad did know. He trusted you to find out the rest."

Will frowned and looked down, "Yeah, I know it, but I've poured over it a thousand times and I still can't put it together. I can't get it out of my head. It eats at me every day." He stared blankly at the name on the wall, looking dejected.

Morgan started going through some things in the house and I walked over towards LaMontagne, "You ok?"

He looked up at me and nodded, "Yeah…I just don't wanna disappoint him." He flashed me a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and then exited the house, joining Gideon outside.

Morgan and I followed him and we all headed back to the police department. This time, our ride was silent. When we got back, it was getting dark so Hotch ordered us all to check in to the hotel and get some rest. We would start bright and early in the morning with all the information that we'd gathered.

LaMontagne would likely be up all night studying the case, but for some reason, I didn't want him to be alone. I hung back when the rest of my team packed up, and pulled Hotch aside, "I'm going to stay for a while and try and help him out." I gestured at the figure in the office across from us that was slumped at a desk.

Hotch nodded, his face stoic, "Don't stay too late, we need you both focused and alert."

I nodded, "Yes, sir. I'll try to get him to go home." My team left and I turned around to open the door to Will's office.

The figure looked up from his slouch on the desk, "I thought you left?"

I shrugged, "My team did. I just thought you might need some help." I settled myself in a chair that was pulled up next to his desk.

Will rubbed his face with his hands and exhaled, "You should really go get some sleep."

I chuckled, "Same goes to you. We've done all we could today. There is nothing that you can possibly do here right now." He frowned and shuffled some papers around on his desk. He was distracted by something and I was determined to get him to open up. "Let's get out of here. Get your mind off the case for a while."

He looked surprised, "And where exactly are we going to go?"

I shrugged, "You're the local. You tell me."

This seemed to cheer him up. He stood up and stretched, "Then grab your coat, hun, and let's go."

We ended up walking to a bar about two blocks away. I had Pepsi and a salad while Will downed some beer and a hamburger. The later the night got, the more he relaxed.

We'd been there about an hour when I decided that my mission had been successful, "So, are you happy I got you out of that stuffy office?"

He grinned and sipped on his drink, "This is slightly better, I have to say. The view is phenomenal." I looked around until I realized he was talking about me. Then I just blushed. He broke the silence before it could become awkward, "So, Ms. FBI? Or is it Mrs.?"

I smiled sheepishly and then flashed him my left hand, "It's definitely Ms. FBI. You would have known by now if it wasn't."

Smirking, he replied, "So, haven't found 'Mr. Right' yet?"

"Not just yet. You?"

"I think you already know the answer to that."

I shrugged, "It gives me something to ask you," I said before the waitress came over with our bill. Before I could do anything, Will had paid and sent her back already. I protested, "Hey, this was my idea!"

"It's southern hospitality, cher. I wouldn't feel right letting you pay for yourself," He laughed.

I gave in, "Fine, but next time I won't agree so easily."

Will said, "Next time?"

I happened to glance down at my watch, "It's like eleven o'clock, Will! We should be sleeping right now."

He got up and threw on his jacket, grabbing mine from a coat rack next to our table and holding it out for me to put on, "Alright, I guess we can head out. I'd say this is better than sleeping, though."

I let my coat hide my smile while we walked back to the police station and to his car. I might have to agree with him on that one.

He drove me to the hotel and put his car in park in the front. I looked over at him before getting out, "Promise me you'll get some sleep tonight?"

He nodded and smiled, "Promise."

"Good." I hopped out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the door. I noticed he stayed until I was in the building before he left. I laughed and waved from inside the hotel before heading up to the second floor to my room.

Swiping the card and opening the door, I turned the light on before locking it behind me. I heard a groan from inside the room and was instantly alert, before realizing Prentiss was on one of the two beds in the room, now wide awake because of the lights shining in her face. I threw my hand over my mouth, "I'm so sorry Emily! I totally forgot we had to share rooms!"

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the alarm clock before sitting straight up, "What were you doing to be just getting back at eleven thirty at night?"

I shrugged off my coat and started getting ready for bed, "We were just talking about the case."

Prentiss didn't buy it, "Uhuh." She lay back down, burrowed under the covers and was silent until I shut off the lights and crawled into the other bed. Then the questions started, "So, what's he like? Is he nice?"

"He's really nice, Em, but all we did was discuss the case, I swear."

"You better have done more than that to be getting in so late. For God's sake he's adorable Jayje!"

I made a kind of groaning sound and turned my back to her, "NIGHT, EMILY."

She giggled a little, "Well, we'll have a couple more days here. There's still hope for you."

"GOOD NIGHT."