Chapter 1: Beginnings

"Hey Pretty Boy." Morgan says as he walks into the bullpen,"Holy crap! You look like hell." Reid sighs as he closes the file he was looking at.

"Thanks Morgan." Reid says which sounds nasally. Morgan sits on the corner of his desk.

"Reid, you ok?" JJ asks as she walks to the youngest member looking concerned. Reid knows that they are worried but he feels annoyed. He concludes him being annoyed due to him having a possible fever but he won't know for sure until he gets home.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to baby me." Reid states trying to not seem so annoyed. His eyes were giving him a headache so he had to wear is glasses. He didn't really like his glasses since they made him look nerdy or that's what a few cops told him. When he opens his eyes he sees the team looking shocked; he didn't know he closed his eyes until he opened them.

"Reid?" This time it's Prentiss, who had just gotten there since she was still wearing her scarf and coat but her bag was on her desk. Reid sighs at the never ending questions. He's fine; why won't they believe him?

"I'm fine. I promise, I'm fine." Reid says as he gives them his puppy eyes. It works on the girls but Morgan only gets more worried. Reid watches as the girls walk off to get coffee. He takes a minute to breath.

"Baby boy, what's truly wrong? I won't tell the girls or Rossi but Hotch and I need to know what's going on with our beautiful boyfriend." Morgan whispers just loud enough that Reid could hear how worried he was but also how much he loved Reid.

"Fine. I'll tell you and Hotch, but can I do it at home? I don't want to cause a scene." Reid begs desperately. Reid doesn't like to beg but it almost always works on Morgan and like normal Morgan nods, "I'll hold you to it." Just as he finished that sentence Hotch comes out of his office.

"We have a case. Briefing room in 10." Hotch goes back to grab a few things. Reid watches as he grabs his messenger bag with Morgan following close behind.

"I'll go get the others. You will go sit down. We'll finish talking after the meeting, don't think I will forget what you promised." Morgan said sternly. Reid nods wordlessly as he walks into the briefing room and sits in his spot messaging his forehead. He hears Hotch clear his throat which he quickly looks at his boss.

"You ok? Do you need someone to take you home?" Hotch asks, staring at Reid.

"I'll be fine it's just a small headache, possible fever. But I can handle myself so don't worry. Please Aaron, I'll be fine." Reid says to Hotch. Hotch sighs as he sits down.

"Fine but I don't want you to come on the case if you don't feel good. Do I make myself clear?" Hotch says in his boss voice which leaves Reid no room to argue.

"Yes sir. I'll try to be helpful from here. Aaron, please don't tell Derek. I don't want him to worry anymore then he does." Reid softly requests. Hotch secretly smiles and ruffles Reid's hair.

"I won't. But do try to take it easy. Don't want you to be in the hospital, now do we Spencer?" Hotch asks jokingly. Reid gives him the statistic of how many people really do end up in the hospital because of a small cold. Hotch nods to the others as they walk in and sit down.

"Morning everyone."Hotch start out. Reid goes through the file as Hotch talks, "Selena Ray was reported missing 2 days before they found her body washed ashore. She was missing her brain; her eyes, ears, and mouth were sewn such." Hotch flips through the pictures.

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." Morgan says as he flips past the picture of an x ray that showed a cross that was embedded into the girls chest near the breast bone.

"Yes, in the file you'll see that with her body was a cross. There were 3 other victims; all within 3 weeks of each other."Hotch says as he shows pictures of the 3 other victims.

"So he's doing this as a religious act?" Prentiss asks.

"It could possibly be. Religion has been traced all the way back to 9130–7370 BCE but no one knows when it really started since most religions mirror each other. But the first documented religious killings were-" Reid stops himself as he coughs into his fist but continues to talk through his coughing fit, he hopes they understand what he said but he normally loses their focus as soon as he opens his mouth. once his coughing fit is over he takes a deep breath and continues.

"In the US people rate Islam, Christianity and Hinduism as the most violent religions, 64%, 9% and 4% of people said so; Judaism was rated last at 2%. There are three factors lead believers into uncivil behaviour. (1) The irrationality of belief and (2) the legitimization given to actions by beliefs in higher authorities, without the teaching of any critical and skeptical way of judg-"Reid pauses as he breaks into another coughing fit, this time he decides to stop talking as he takes a drink of his coffee. Everyone is watching him worriedly.

"Reid? Are you sure you're ok?" JJ asks. Reid nods quickly hoping they would just drop the subject. It works because they drop the subject and continue to talk about the case.

"We are going to a small town in Wisconsin to help them with the case. Garcia, you will be coming along since you will need to hook up to their computers and so you can help them go through their security tapes. Reid will be staying behind to do a geographical map and go through the police files. Wheels up in 30." Hotch says closing his file and leaving. Everyone, except Morgan and Reid, does the same until it's just the two of them alone.

"Pretty boy, you're not ok; are you?" Morgan asks as he holds Reid's wrist so he can't escape the questions.

"Derek, I-" Reid cuts himself short, "I don't want to make you worried or stay because of me." Morgan takes Reid's hands and kisses his knuckles.

"Spencer, when you don't tell me what's wrong makes me worried more. So please tell me what's wrong."

"I'm getting sick. It's nothing bad but I have a headache and might have a fever. Please don't be worried." Reid says as he grips Morgan's hand slightly.

"Thank you for telling me baby boy. I'll still worry about you but I know you can handle yourself. I'll see you when I get back. Aaron and I will take good care of you when we get back. I also expect you to call everyday when you wake up and when you go to sleep, do you understand?" Reid stares at Morgan,"Do I need to get Aaron?" Morgan teases. Reid blinks and shakes his head.

"I understand and no you don't. I am going to go say bye to him though. Then I'll say bye to both of you at the doors." Reid says as he walks to Hotch's office. He knocks on the door and walks in before Hotch says something.

"Hey Spencer. What's wrong?" Hotch asks as he walks to Reid. Reid smiles softly but sadly as well.

"Derek is forcing me to call him everyday when I wake up and before I go to sleep." Reid pauses as he squeezes his fingers together with his other hand. Hotch waits for Reid to continue, "I'll miss you both." He adds as he slowly looks at Hotch.

The older blinks then hugs Reid, "I'll miss you too, and yes you have to call everyday; regardless of what Morgan and I are doing." Reid hugs back tightly and softly kisses Hotch's cheek.

"I will. I promise, I will." Reid promises as they stand there hugging each other.

When they part Hotch prabs his bag. They both leave Hotch's office to see everyone waiting for their leader. Hotch, Morgan, and Reid had told the team that they were together before Prentiss joined and they didn't bother telling her. Rossi knew because he walked in on them making out which caused Reid to freak out as he ran to the bathroom, a slightly annoyed Morgan and Hotch, and one extremely confused Rossi. But that's a story for another time.

"Everything ok?" Prentiss asks. Both of the men nod. Reid stops at the glass doors watching Garcia, JJ, Prentiss, and Rossi enter the elevator.

"Spencer, will you be ok without us at home?" Hotch ask, Morgan nods in agreement, "Will you be able to handle Clooney while you're sick?" Reid hugs them both.

"I'll be fine. I can handle myself and you know it." Reid smiles when he feels strong arms wrap around him.

"We'll be home soon. We love you." They both say at the same time causing them to laugh.

"Love you too. Now get going before you're late." Reid says as he let's them go and goes to his desk as the other two leave smiling.