Chapter One: The Request

Genius is a relative term. Relative to the rest of the world, Spencer Reid was a genius. Relative to Cat Adams, he was a child.

Well… that's what Cat Adams had convinced herself.

To spend every waking (and sleeping) hour cramped up in her small solitary confinement cell was worse than hell for her – but her overly imaginative mind could transport her body to fanciful places with all the people and things that Spencer Reid had made sure she would never see again.

That stupid, stupid man.

"He's obviously not that stupid since he managed to trick you." A voice in the back of her head would remind her. She hated that voice.

Her failed escapade in Mexico had occupied her mind for so long, and now that it was over, she felt empty inside. She felt bored – and when a psychopath is bored, bad things happen.

Or so she told herself. She liked thinking she was dangerous – capable of anything, not restricted by iron bars.

Nevertheless, the truth was that Cat Adams was trapped. Her claws had been clipped and her masterful mind numbed by the monotony of solitary confinement. Even when her child was taken from her to be put in the foster care system, she had felt a pang of regret. Boredom had coaxed out a practically non-existent material instinct. She was never going to see that baby again.

Her favorite place to go in her mind was a grand room, ornate and almost obnoxious with its décor. That stupid man was there.

Then, it all changed.

"What do you mean I have a visitor?" Cat growled, shielding her eyes from the light that flooded into her cell from the open door.

"I mean exactly what I said," the gruff older man snapped handcuffs on and led her out.

Cat's heart beat fast, a maniacal spark lit in her eyes. Finally, something to do.

Her thin frame and sallow skin seemed almost pitiful in the unforgiving lighting of the interrogation room. She waved at the one-sided mirror, her mind sorting through all the people who could possibly be behind it. Silently she hoped, but she didn't believe the BAU would be that stupid.

The door opened and Agent Prentiss entered. Cat raised her eyebrows and looked at the table.

"Cat Adams," Prentiss seated herself across from the inmate, "I am here on behalf of the United States Government."

Cat's eyes snapped up rapidly.

"What?" She hissed.

"The United States Government would like to present you an offer."

Cat leaned in across the table, her face nearly touching the face of the FBI Agent. She searched for fear, intimidation, weakness, anger, anything in her eyes. All she found was determination. She leaned back and crossed her arms, staring at the singular light bulb on the ceiling, which cast its gloomy illumination on the grey room around them.

"No."

"Miss Adams let me assure you that you are in no position to refuse this offer."

"I want to talk to him," Cat realized she sounded like a child crying for their dolly, a momentary break of character had given way for a sentence she had not planned to speak. She had just handed them a shiny Reid-shaped bargaining chip.

But then again, if he ended up being the bargaining chip, she didn't really mind.

Prentiss sighed, staring at the woman in front of her. She knew she couldn't let the NSA negotiate with this woman by themselves, that's why she was here. However, Reid – he didn't even know this was happening. After Mexico and prison, she doubted he could handle anything more. Yet, the NSA wasn't going to stop, and Cat wouldn't talk to anyone else. After all, she had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Slowly she stood up; this seemed to satisfy Cat immensely. Undoubtedly, she expected Reid to walk in immediately.

"Have a good day, Miss Adams."