Most Beautiful Thing

Pairing: Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid

Summary: A new case lands with the BAU, and the M.O. hits uncomfortably close to home.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Warnings: Slash. Torture. Mentions of past rape. People will be hurt. Probably a bit cliché, sorry about that .

Chapter 1: Target

You'll never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have – Bob Marley

I came into the office at seven a.m., rubbing my eyes tiredly. We had arrived back from our last case shortly after four that same morning. The case had gotten to me, and I had been unable to get to sleep, so I had settled for just grabbing a shower at home before going back to the headquarters. The unsub had killed children; 10 before we got there, and four after. It would have been three if I hadn't missed a glaringly obvious hint, and I was beating myself up over it.

'Wonder boy?' I looked up from pouring the coffee to see Garcia look at me with an arched eyebrow and a slightly exasperated smile. Wanting to ask why I was back so soon.

I smiled and sipped at my coffee. 'Hi, Garcia.'

It did not seem like she was about to say anything more, and currently I did not really feel like speaking, so I stepped around her and went towards my desk.

'Reid!' she said sternly. 'Why are you here? You just got home three hours ago.'

'I need to get my report done.' I shrugged.

'You didn't do it on the plane?' she asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Partially. I missed parts of it.'

'That does not sound like you, Sherlock.'

I gave her a forced smile.

'Don't worry, Garcia. I'm alright.'

'My door is always open, honey,' she said with a smile and left for her own room.

'Thanks, Garcia.' I might not be much for sharing my private issues, although it always made me happy to know that they cared enough to ask. I had never had that before I joined the BAU.

The rest of the team slipped in between nine and ten, all looking to be different degrees of tired. None seemed to have gotten a lot of sleep, but cases with children always got to everyone. It's always worse when the victims are kids, people that haven't had a chance to live their lives yet.

'Is everyone here?' JJ asked, coming out of Hotchner's office.

'Yes,' Prentiss answered, getting to her feet.

'We have a new case,' JJ said. 'I'll meet you in the conference room.'

We gathered our things and followed JJ into the room. This would never stop. No matter what happened on a previous case, there would always be a next one that we needed to get to. I could not let myself delve too much into the mistakes I had done on the last one, when needing to put my focus on the next.

The pictures that were put on the wall made me pause, and I squinted my eyes to see clearer. I knew some of these people. The board was divided in two, the left side contained pictures of people I knew I had seen before.

I sat down on one of the chairs, not letting the pictures on the left side out of my sight. Where had I seen them?

'There are two cases here in Virgina,' JJ said. 'Starting with the ones on the left; we have four kills during the last three months.'

It made me frown. We never took on two serial killer cases at the same time, preferring to be focused on getting inside the mind of one unsub at a time.

'All are killed in the same way,' JJ continued, making me focus on her again. 'They are tortured for hours before it seems like the unsub loses control and stabs them to death. The torture itself seems quite subtle, mainly blows to the abdomen area and smaller knife wounds. But the killing is brutal. He stabs them with anything between 30 and 50 hits.'

'He might be angry with them,' Morgan said. 'He's not getting what he wants from the torture.'

'The victims are between thirty and fifty-five,' Hotch said. 'The first one is Dr. Donald Brown, age forty, worked at a private practice. Second is… Jeremiah Dales, age thirty-two, worked as a chemist and is currently getting his Ph.D. The third is Gordon Wells, age fifty-five, worked as a professor in physics at the university. Fourth is Trisha Daniels, age thirty, she worked as a programmer and mathematician.'

I sighed. I knew where I'd seen them.

'A doctor, a chemist, a physicist and a mathematician?' Prentiss said, lips pursed in thought. 'They are all knowledge workers, but that is not much of a connection. There must be something else.'

'There is,' I said, quieter than I usually do.

'Reid? You know something?' Hotch said when I didn't continue.

'I knew them,' I said and eyebrows on everyone in the team shot upwards. 'They have all been at seminars I have attended. They have been there either as speakers or attendee.'

'So he might be searching for his victims at such seminars?'

I nodded. 'It's possible. They all had some very interesting theories that I discussed with them. Jeremiah was working on a disputation regarding GM foods, I thought…'

'Reid.' Morgon shook his head, making me fall quiet. The contents of the work was unlikely to be connected to the case anyhow, so I continued on my train of thought, using Morgan's hint to categorize the information on exactly what he had been working on as irrelevant. Or TMI as Garcia would call it.

'They were all working on some quite controversial theories. But it is uncommon for someone to target so many different fields of science. Usually someone would focus on their own area of expertise.'

Hotch sighed and closed his eyes slightly, looking as though he realized something. 'Unless they are targeting you.'

I raised my eyebrows, not having considered that simply possibility yet. As disconcerting as the thought was, it did have merit.

'The other case, has some similarities to this one. But the profile is much more clear, here he has a preference. It is uncertain whether or not it is the same unsub as there are some distinct differences.'

'These men have been found on a nearby location as the other dead,' JJ said. 'They have been missing for about a month before they turn up dead. More care is taken with these victims. They are laid gently onto the ground, arms by their side, and a single red rose on the chest.'

'Actually, it's more burgundy,' I said, making everyone look to me.

'Does it mean something?' Morgan asked and I shrugged.

'I'm not sure. A bright red rose typically symbolizes love. Burgundy, is used more at funerals, to represent mourning.'

'So he mourns the losses of these men?' Morgan asked.

'Maybe,' I said, and turned to Hotch. 'What did he do to the for the month they were gone?'

'They have had broken bones and bruises,' Hotch answered. 'They all have signs of having had various degrees of violent sex with another man. Finally, he kills them with a single stab wound from behind, straight through the heart.'

I wanted to throw up. I had seen the pictures of these men on the board, and I understood how Hotch had made the connection to me. I could very well be a target here. Who did I know that could have done this?

'He likely has a temper issue,' Prentiss said. 'He mourns their passing, but he cannot keep from raping and, ultimately, killing them.'

'They probably don't match his fantasies.' Morgan added.

'The victims are all tall and lanky with brown hair?' I asked and Hotch nodded.

'Reid…' Morgan breathed and I gave him a quirked smile and a small shake of my head, trying to tell him to leave it.

'These victims connection is that they look alike. It is sexual in nature, the other is violent.' Hotch looked at me. 'If this is the same unsub, then you may be the common denominator, and it is likely that this person is targeting you, Reid.'

'It could appear like it, but we cannot get hung up on that,' I said. 'It might be two completely different unsubs, or there is some other connection between these murders,' I said, hanging on to hope. It could not be my fault that these people were dead.

'Reid, JJ and Morgan, you go to the site where they found these four,' he pointed at the left side of the wall. 'Prentiss, Rossi and I will go to the sites of the others.'

I stood up to leave when I looked at the dates that were printed on each case file, and it struck me as odd.

'Hey,' I said and everyone turned to me. 'There has only been three rape victims found?'

'To our knowledge.'

'If we look at the dates they are lost and found…' I muttered and stepped up to the board and started writing down the dates. 'Our first rape victim went missing approximately one month before the first torture murder, and was found one day after. Within one or two days, the next rape victim went missing. This seems to fit for all occurrences. Except that we do not have a fourth missing person here.'

'Daniels was found less than twelve hours ago,' Morgan said.

'Which means we have at most 36 hours to find this guy before he kills another one.'

'He might have already killed him,' I said.

Morgan smiled, and lifted an eyebrow. 'Positive much?'

I shrugged. 'Actually, I'm being realistic. Time of death typically seems to be within twelve hours after the torture victim.'

'We assume he's alive until we find a body.' Hotch said. 'Morgan, get Garcia and have her find all locations that these people might have visited within a month of their disappearance and death. Also have her check for people reported missing after the last rape victim was found. We'll meet up at the local police station.'

I gathered up the files and we went out to the car with rushed steps. We were on a time limit.

I jumped in the back and tried to keep focused. What if all of these people had died because of me? Maybe I was being very self-centered, but I could not think of another denominator that would fit as well as I. All of the rape victims were similar to me, and all of the torture victims had at one time or another spoken with me regarding some of my theories.

'Oh gods,' I groaned as I realized what was going on.

'Reid?'

'I just realized, all of the torture victims have, at some time, discussed and somewhat disagreed with me on some of my works.'

'Somewhat disagreed?' Morgan asked, putting pressure on the first word.

'Well, it is difficult to fully disagree with something proven by mathematics. However, they were all thinking I had missed some parts. I truly enjoyed discussing it with them.' I sighed and quirked my lips, remembering the debates we'd had with each other.

'I'll call Hotch,' JJ said, and I let her become a distant noise in my ears.

'Hey, Reid,' Morgan said silently, as to avoid disturbing JJ on her call. 'Maybe you should sit this one out.'

I snorted in annoyance. 'And let all these people continue being killed because of me? No thank you.'

'You don't have to go the scenes.'

'I'm fine, Morgan.'

'However distantly, you knew these people.'

'Yes, I know. I can handle it.'

'Alright.' He shrugged and left it alone.

Once we got to the crime scene, I wasn't so sure I could handle it anymore. Trisha was young; she was excited about her career. Instead of going forth to become a prominent mathematician, she had been killed. Because of a conversation we had had.

'Reid, try to remember everyone that have disagreed with you. In person or on paper.'

'I remember, but there are many that don't see eye to eye with some of my writings. Without anything to narrow it down, we're in the hundreds.'

'There are that many not agreeing with you, genius?' Morgan said, eyebrows raised in surprise. I gave off a short, amused laugh. It would be hard for him to believe that other people didn't trust me as implicitly as my team did.

'Yes, it is quite common in any area actually. Sometimes people have spent many years working on something that may be disproved in my paper. And sometimes it is simply something that they are working on that they wish to discuss. On occasion the discussions get heated.'

'Heated discussions about mathematics,' Morgan said in an amused tone. 'Yeah, I can get why.'

'Actually, all of these four are people that I have discussed our works with in person.' I squinted my eyes slightly. 'I have spoken to them all on seminars during the last half year.'

'Good! I'll call Garcia, maybe she will find something more if she knows which seminars to start looking into.'

I nodded absently and looked at the spot where Daniels' body had been found. There was nothing sexual about these kills at all. Anger permeated the unsub's actions. He was angry because they had opposed me. The unsub would have to be someone that idolizes me. It is more than likely he did these things to the torture victims to make me happy.

But why did he pick people to rape? Why would he risk scaring me off? He couldn't control himself. He needed my approval, and he would try to get it from a substitute. If he didn't get it, he would kill him. But why would he use a substitute rather than me?

'Reid?' JJ asked.

I looked up from the pavement and on JJ instead.

'There is nothing here. The body has simply been dumped, I do not think we will get any more from it.'

'Let's go,' Morgan said and we went to the local police station. We arrived before the rest and, after I had gotten some coffee, we went about setting up a crime board in a conference room the police had prepared for us.

We were putting up the pictures of the victims when Morgan's phone called.

'Hi sweet-cheeks, you're on speaker,' he said and placed the phone on the table.

'Hey gorgeous, I'll save the naughty for later.'

Morgan chuckled. 'What do you have?'

'So, all of the torture victims have been on the same seminars as our kid.'

I rolled my eyes. 'I'm here, Garcia.'

'As I said; our kid. They are all taken within a week of when the seminar was held.'

'Are there any recordings of the seminars?' I asked.

'But of course, my sweet.'

'Look through them,' Morgan said. 'Track Reid, and see if anyone is watching him,' Morgan said.

'Will do. I always love watching our sexy genius.'

'You're contradictory. You cannot both see me as a kid and a sexy genius. Unless you have some preferences you haven't told us about.' I frowned.

She laughed softly. 'Only for you, baby.' She hung up when the rest of the team walked inside.

'Was that Garcia?' Rossi asked. 'Has she found someone else missing?'

'Not yet.' Morgan answered. I never quite understood his and Garcia's communication, but in this case I could only assume that the absence of her telling us could only mean that she hadn't found anything.

'She could confirm that all torture victims have been at the seminars as I.' Not that that had been entirely necessary since I had already told them this. But a paper trail is something of a requirement in our line of work. 'She is looking through the recordings to see if she can find anyone suspicious. I believe that he tortures these men because he feels that they have wronged me. It is likely that he shows their bodies to his rape victims, to gauge their reaction. He is looking for approval.'

'Can you remember anyone like this, Reid?' Hotch asked, and I furrowed my brows. I had been asking myself the same question since we were sitting at the roundtable at the headquarters. 'He would have stayed at a distance, but always watching you. He would seek your approval, through letters or through friends, but never directly. He is probably young, possibly a student. He idolizes you, so he's probably close to you at any time he is able.'

I shook my head.

'Nothing. I can't remember anyone. I am typically observing people around these settings, and I haven't seen anyone.'

'It's alright,' Morgan said, but he sounded disappointed. It was nothing against my own disappointment.

'It's not! I need to remember whoever this is!' I burst and they all looked at me in various degrees of surprise and compassion.

'Reid, come with me,' Hotch said and I closed my eyes, breathing slowly to calm myself. He couldn't take me off the case!

We found an empty office and went inside. He closed the door and shut the blinds, making me slightly apprehensive.

'Reid, you need to tell me if you can do this?'

'I can!'

'Are you sure? If this man is going for you, you are his ultimate prize. It might be better for you to leave the state until he is caught.'

'And risk him following me? No, Hotch. I'm on this case. We'll get him before he gets me.'

'Are you sure?' he asked again, looking at me with a steely gaze.

'Yes!'

He sighed deeply. 'Very well. Stay here.' He left the room.

I suddenly felt very tired. I had made a mistake by not sleeping during the night, and now I was being stalked. I highly doubted I would get much sleep before we caught this unsub.

The door started opening again and I lifted my head, not even having realized that I had put it down on my arms on the desk.

Hotch held the door open for Prentiss, and closed it once she was in.

'Reid, I do not want you to be alone until we catch this guy,' Hotch said.

I raised an eyebrow, dreading how he would continue this conversation.

'I want Prentiss to move in with you, or you to move in with her during the duration of this case. She will join you on any seminars, and all events you normally go to when you have free time off work.'

'Free time?' I asked with a small smirk before I went serious. 'On what grounds?'

'What?'

'On what grounds do we move in together?' Hotchner squinted his eyes, looking rather surprised at the question.

'As a couple,' he said. 'That will be most natural.'

'Hotch… I have friends at these seminars… People that know me.'

'Which is why she will go as your girlfriend.'

'Yes. Problem is, they wouldn't believe it,' I said, trying to make him understand, but he looked entirely confused.

I heard a small snort from Emily and looked up at her. She had a small, knowing smile on her face.

'I guess Morgan would fit better, huh?' she said in humor and I sighed. I couldn't exactly oppose to that statement however, so I looked at my hands on the desk.

'You're…? Why didn't you tell us?' Hotch asked, almost sounding as though I had betrayed him. He managed to make me feel guilty.

'It's never been pertinent to the case.' I said and Hotch took a deep breath.

'Prentiss, get Morgan, please,' he said and she was out of the door before I had time to stop her.

'I can do well enough on my own, Hotch. I am an FBI agent!'

'I would not let anyone on the team be alone with a serial killer that has them on their radar.'

'It's unfair!'

'How is it unfair?'

'I'll disrupt Morgan's life.'

'You'll never disrupt my life, kid,' Morgan said as he entered. 'What can I do?'

'I don't want to let Reid be alone while this is going on.' Morgan nodded, apparently agreeing. 'I need someone to be with him, whatever he does.'

'I thought Emily…' he started and then narrowed his eyes and looked a bit closer at me. I could feel myself blushing and his lips quirked into a smile. 'I see.' He nodded. 'I should have seen it.'

'You don't have to…'

He smirked. 'Shut up, kid. I'll move in tonight.'

I shook my head in exasperation. I was too old for a baby-sitter.

'Good, it's settled. Let's get back to the case.' Hotch said and we walked out of the office.

'Boyfriends don't call each other kid, by the way.' I said with a small smirk to Morgan and he chortled in surprise.

'Honey, then?' He grinned, making me shake my head.

'This is going to be a very trying period. I need coffee… want some?'

'Sure, thanks, pretty boy.' I glared at him and he shrugged. 'What? You're my boyfriend, right?' He grinned mischievously and I rolled my eyes.

Where was that coffee machine when I needed it?