Chapter Twelve -

Reid, with all of his free time, spent every second of the next two days working on his profile. Every time Morgan sent him new information he was document it, compared it to similarities from past cases and it became a piece in his profile puzzle. Finally, he was done!

"Perfect." He said, admiring his work. He took out his cell and dialled Hotch's number. After a couple rings, a very groggy voice came over the other end.

"Aaron Hotchner." He mumbled.

"Hotch, it's me!"

"Reid! What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just called to let you know that I'm done! How are you guys coming along?" Reid asked happily.

"Reid," Hotch growled. "It's 4:30 in the morning in Portland right now."

"Hehe, oops. Sorry. Still, I thought I'd remind you that if our profiles are too similar, I get extra points for having it done first."

Hotch sat up in his bed.

"Send your profile to Garcia. I don't want you making any changes too it after claiming to be finished first. We're hoping to present our profile later this morning, we'll send it to Garcia after that."

"Sounds good to me. Oh and Hotch? You're going down." Reid said with a smirk.

"Don't count on it." Hotch replied, dead serious. He hung up and then turned on his bedside light. He got up and sat down at his desk, looking through their almost-finished profile, making slight changes here and there. It wasn't that he didn't want Reid to come back, because he did. However, he wanted him well enough to work. And also... Aaron Hotchner could not stand to lose a bet.

**********

Six hours later -

Hotch leaned against a table, yawning.

"You look awful." Prentiss commented.

"Reid called at 4:30 this morning to tell me he'd finished his profile. After that, I was already awake, so I figured I'd stay up and make a few minor modifications to our profile, just to be on the safe side." Hotch told her, gingerly sipping his steaming coffee.

"Wow." Prentiss said. "You two are really competitive, aren't you?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Hotch said, smoothly. "I was simply perfecting the profile of a dangerous offender, in order to bring him to justice more efficiently."

Prentiss smiled.

"You keep telling yourself that, Hotch."

When the police chief had gathered all their officers, the team began to describe exactly who they might be looking for.

- Between the ages of 25 and 35.

- Because he is unable to normal relationships, he most likely has a job that allows him to be on his own, without much interaction with others.

- Has a means of transportation - perhaps a company car.

- Very intelligent

- Has a job that pays well.

There were a few other details, which Hotch and the others relayed over to the police officers, before sending them out to try and catch the guy.

"Now we just have to wait until we find the UNSUB." Hotch said.

"That could take a while." Morgan told him.

"Morgan's right." Gideon agreed. "Look at the profile. UNSUBS with high levels of intelligence are generally much more difficult to find."

"Yes, but the MO tells us that he will kill again, probably within the next couple days. I just want to get this bastard off the streets." Hotch said.

Morgan smirked at him.

"And you want to prove to Reid that you're just as smart as he is."

"I don't have anything to prove to Reid." Hotch said, indignantly. "Our job is to bring in the bad guys. And while Reid is an important member of the team, I think it's important to show him that the world isn't going to end if he takes a few days off."

"The kid lives for work." Morgan reminded him.

"I know." Hotch said. "And I want to teach him that there is more to life than what goes on in the BAU. Haley and Jack were the best things that have ever happened to me. And if he spends every single day of his life in the office, he'll never get a chance to have what I had. I screwed it up for myself. I want him to learn from my mistakes."

The team looked back at their leader, astounded at the deep, caring statement. They were speechless.

"Plus, I really HATE losing a bet." Hotch added, and he pressed past them, to go send their profile to Garcia.

***********

The next day -

"We got him!" Morgan said, victoriously, as the team watched the police handcuff their UNSUB, whose name they now knew what Jacob Simms.

"Now we get to see who lost the bet!" JJ announced. The whole team huddled into the briefing room and Hotch opened up his laptop to show Garcia on live video feed.

"Garcia, call up Reid. We just booked our UNSUB." Hotch said. A few minutes later, a second feed appeared next to Garcia's. It was of Reid, anxiously leaning in toward the camera.

"I just received the UNSUB's personal information." She said. "I'll start at the top. Hotch, you wrote aged between 25 and 35. So did Reid. UNSUB's age? 31. One point each."

Prentiss stepped up to the white board, and made a T-chart, putting a point under both Hotch and Reid's names.

"Hotch, you said the UNSUB grew up with a physically abusive father, and Reid, you said the UNSUB grew up with a father who sexually abused him... both are correct, sad as that is."

Prentiss gave each side another point. The comparing went on for a few more points, and by the end of it, Hotch's team was ahead by one.

"Reid, it seems that you have another point here, that Hotch didn't even bother to talk about."

"I do?" Reid confirmed.

"What is it?" Hotch asked, practically on the edge of his seat.

"Well, I don't know how he knew this, but here, Reid wrote that the UNSUB would have... brown hair." Garcia pressed a picture of the UNSUB against the webcam to show them. He did, indeed, have brown hair.

"Reid, how could you possibly know that?" Hotch demanded.

"You cheated." Morgan accused, in pretend disgust.

"No, I didn't! I swear!" Reid said, his voice getting squeaky the way it does when he gets put on the spot.

"He didn't cheat." Garcia said. "He's just a genius."

Reid smiled, but still looked super confused.

"Well, I guess since Reid submitted his profile first, that means that he gets to come back to work! Sorry Hotchy." Garcia said.

"Don't call me Hotchy. And Reid, on Monday, you'd better have a logical explanation for knowing the UNSUB's hair colour." With that, Hotch closed the laptop, leaving Garcia and Reid alone.

"Garcia... I never wrote that the UNSUB would have brown hair. It's essentially impossible to determine the hair colour of any given perpetrator when it's irrelevant to the case like that."

"I know, baby boy. That's why I wrote it for you after I was sent to UNSUB's information."

"But that's cheating." Reid said.

"Well, yes. Technically it is cheating. But Morgan only asked you if you cheated, not me. I missed you so much while you were gone. I wanted you here to fill my daily quota for random facts and useless information."

"Thanks Garcia." Reid said, smiling and blushing slightly. "It means a lot that you would lie to Hotch like that for me."

"Any time, Reid. I'll see you on Monday!" Garcia blew him a kiss, and then signed out. Reid grinned to himself.

*********

Monday -

"I don't understand." Hotch said.

"I knew that the UNSUB would try and blend in in a crowd, and one of the best ways to do that, is by making yourself look like everyone else. And lots of people, most people, have brown hair." Reid explained. He had rehearsed his lie earlier that morning.

"I still don't understand. That isn't enough to go on."

"Oh well. What does it matter now? I'm back, Hotch. Because I won."

"Well, I don't want you to start guessing, on the slim chance that you will be right."

"Don't worry Hotch. I won't." Reid stood up to leave Hotch's office, but Hotch stopped him.

"Garcia cheated for you, didn't she." It was a statement. Not a question.

Reid cringed. Busted.

"Yeah, but --"

"It's okay, Reid. I can see you're ready to be back with us. But you understand that it's okay to take time off, right? We give you vacation time for a reason."

"I know, Hotch. But I'd rather be working. I'm stressed out when I'm doing anything else." Reid with a small smile.

"I understand that, but... Reid, you're 26. It might be a good idea to, you know... do things? I mean outside the office. Talk to Morgan, for example. He's out clubbing every night."

Reid looked back at his boss, and blinked absently.

Hotch sighed.

"Okay, just promise me you'll take a holiday this year? At least one?"

"Alright Hotch. If it's that important to you. Sheesh." Reid said. And then he left.

Hotch leaned back in his chair. That last comment reminded him of the previous week, of something that a 6 year old might say. It also reminded him that Reid was still, pretty much a kid. And like a kid, he shouldn't be exposed to so much sorrow and horror all the time. No one should be, regardless of age.

Hotch looked at the picture of his wife and baby that was on his desk. How he wished he could be with them more often. He looked up at the clock and saw that there were still seven hours left until he was allowed to go home, and see them. But he couldn't wait that long.

He grabbed his coat, and on his way out, reminded Reid to make sure he was caught up on all his paper work.

"Yes sir!" Reid said, thrilled to be back, even if it meant doing paperwork.

Hotch smiled to himself as he left the building. It was good have Reid back. Because even in the midst of all the horror, he still always found a way to brighten up everyone's day.

A/N - Alright, well, that's it! Sorry to end on a kind of serious note. And I apologise also for the fact that I totally strayed from the original plot line! You guys know how it is! Plz R/R and thank you for being so awesome!