My eyes slowly opened as I stirred from sleep. The first thing I felt was relief, I hadn't had another nightmare, my dreams were normal for once, well, as normal as a dream can be. The second thing I felt was the arm that was wrapped around my waist. I looked down to see an arm thrown across me, and quickly recognised it to be Spencer's. My back was pressed up against his front as he held me.

I turned my head slightly to see that he was still asleep. I felt my cheeks heat up and my heart grow warm as I stayed still, simply allowing myself a moment to enjoy it. My stomach fluttered in a pleasant way, and the pressure in my chest deepened. It felt comforting, domestic even.

I didn't know what to do, whether to wake him up or pretend to be asleep until he woke up. My decision was taken from me when Spencer began to stir. I turned my head and closed my eyes, waiting to see what he will do when he's awake. Spencer groaned gently and tightened his grasp on my waist, before he seemingly froze up.

He took a moment, I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my head. He kept his hand where it was for a few moments. He sighed before he finally spoke, causing me to jump slightly.

"I know you're awake." Spencer said into my ear. I fought back the shiver that threatened to run down my spine at the sound of his morning voice so close to my ear, it was deeper than his usual tone.

"Damn profilers." I huffed lightly

"You're a profiler." Spencer pointed out. He then gently pulled his arm away and shuffled back, giving me space that he thought I wanted. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know how that happened."

I rolled over to look at him. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were flush as he ran a hand through his tousled curly hair. "Don't be. I slept well for the first time in a month."

"Good. That's good. Can I use your bathroom?" Spencer asked

"Course." I said with a nod. He climbed out of bed and headed into my bathroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts. While part of me felt flustered and almost giddy, the other part of me felt guilty. I worried that Spencer wasn't comfortable with what happened, and if that was the case, I don't think I would be able to forgive myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spencer had to leave earlier than I did so he could go back to his apartment and get dressed, not wanting to show up to work in the same clothes he was wearing yesterday. So I had to travel to work alone, as I usually do. I felt well rested for once, which was nice, but I suspect that the nightmares will be back again tonight.

The entire team, minus Penelope and Derek, were all in the debrief room. Spencer was sitting beside me, I kept shooting glances at him, but the minute he would look back at me my eyes would dart away like I had been scolded.

"So where's Garcia and Morgan? Are they finally having that love child?" Rossi asked in a joking tone as he took a seat. The moment he said that, Derek walked into the room behind him.

Derek placed his hand on Rossi's shoulder. "Heard that."

"Busted." Rossi said quietly

"Uh, Garcia's taking some personal time." Hotch said

"Is everything okay?" JJ asked

"I hope it wasn't those burritos we had yesterday." Kate said worriedly

"No, she's fine. Keven Lunch will be presenting the case." Hotch said

"Hiya. Hi. Sorry." Keven said with a wave as he walked into the room

"Where we going?" Spencer asked cheerfully

"Seattle, Washington. Over the past few weeks, two gentlemen between the ages of 35 and 40 have been killed, both with radically different MOs." Keven said

"First victim, Dan Chen, was strangled and dropped off on the side of the road. The second victim, Joe Hadley, was run over by a car." Keven brought up the pictures of the crime scene and the victims

"The intimacy of strangulation suggests a personal attack, literally and figuratively, the need to kill in a hands-on manner." Spencer said. When he said the word intimacy, my heart jumped and my mind went back to this morning, what is wrong with me?

"While crushing someone with a car presents as distant and removal from the kill." JJ said

"What makes you think they're connected?" Kate asked

"The victims' cars were found about two miles from each other, and they have similar mutilation around their mouths." Hotch explained

"And he crosses racial lines." Derek said

"Well, if you consider that and a similar geo-profile, maybe we have two different killers." Rossi said

"We could be looking at a team." JJ said

"A disorganized one." I added

"Or the UnSub's just experimenting, trying to figure out how he or she likes to kill." Derek said

"Similar to Herzog and Shermantine." Spencer said

"And so we need to get to Seattle quickly. If he's evolving, he could strike again soon." Hotch said

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we were on the plan to Seattle, a third victim was found only four miles from the others. This man had been drowned and had oral mutilation. Spencer, Derek and I headed to the M.E to find out more about the bodies as soon as we had landed. Going to see the bodies was never something I enjoyed, but it had to be done.

Spencer found Roman numerals on the roof of all the victims' mouths. The numbers were three, four and five. Which probably meant that one and two hadn't even been found yet, or if they had been, it hadn't been connected to our case due to the UnSub picking different MO's Everytime.

We headed to the police precinct afterwards. Just as we were stepping out of the elevator to the cafeteria, Derek's phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the same before ending the call and sticking it back in his pocket, ignoring the person on the other end.

"Why don't you answer that?" Spencer asked

"It's Garcia. I don't know what to tell her, Reid. She's going to see Greg Baylor's before he gets arrested. Go figure." Derek said

"It's PTSD." Spencer said

Derek sighed heavily. "Her nightmares are PTSD, Reid. She's taken this to a whole nother level."

"You know Garcia. She carries a laptop, not a gun. She can't even look at crime scene photos without needing pictures of panda bears to counterbalance them." Spencer said

"I tried to walk her back from the ledge, but I think she's already jumped." Derek said

"I was like that after I shot the LDSK." Spencer said

"Philip Dowd." Derek said

"At first I felt nothing. And then...Gideon was right. It just hit me. I started to obsess. Looked up photos of him when he was in the Rangers. I studied cases he worked when he was a cop. I...Even patients he treated while he was a nurse."

"Why?" Derek asked

"I just wanted to get inside of him. And I wanted to try to understand why our paths crossed and see if there was some way that he could have been stopped before I came along." Spencer explained

"What made you finally move on?" Derek asked him

"All the people he killed. I put their photos on my wall. They had lives, too." Spencer stated

"I understand that. The first person I ever shot kept me up at night. I felt inconsolably guilty. But then, I got an invite in the mail. The victim I had saved was getting married, and she sent me an invite. I never thought twice about it again. Penelope will come around eventually." I said

Derek sighed. "I hope so. How are your nightmares?"

Automatically, I glanced over at Spencer only to find he was already looking at me with a soft gaze. I swallowed and looked back at Derek. "It varies."

Derek glanced between us with a confused and curious expression. "Ok."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late at night now, it wouldn't be long until we were allowed to go back to the hotel, and I would probably be struggling to fall asleep again. I found myself standing in the kitchen of the police department, debating on whether to have a coffee and risk it keeping me up, or have a drink of water and maybe go to sleep.

Derek came into the kitchen and began to make himself a cup of coffee beside me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just don't know if I should risk coffee or not." I said

"Will it make it harder to sleep?" Derek asked

"Yeah." I nodded

"Then you have your answer." Derek said

I nodded and opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water.

"Alright, I have to ask you something. What is going on with you and Reid?" Derek asked me suddenly

"What?" I asked, feeling caught off guard.

"Come on, you can't tell me that there isn't something there. And the two of you have been acting weird all day." Derek said

"Well...it's complicated." I said

"Oh? Come on, pretty girl, spill." Derek said

"It's nothing." I stated. Derek was smiling widely, causing me to look at him in confusion.

"You like him." Derek said with a wide teasing grin. "And, You wanna know a secret? He does too." Derek said

"I don't...How do you know?" I asked him, causing him to laugh boyishly

"I wouldn't need to be a profiler to know that he likes you. He looks at you when you aren't looking, and the look he gives you isn't hard to mistake." Derek said

My cheeks flushed involuntarily at his words and a strange warm feeling twisted in my chest. I had never thought that Spencer would feel the same way, but when I really thought about it, the signs were there.

"Is that why the two of you have been acting weird?" Derek asked with a knowing look in his eyes

"Weird?" I asked him

"Yes, weird. You two kept looking at each other this morning, and you've hardly spoken, which is not like you two at all." Derek explained

I sighed, running a hand through my hair and checking that no one was nearby. "He came to my place last night."

"Oh?" Derek said with a wide smirk

"It wasn't like that. He wanted to check up on me, because I hadn't told him I had been having nightmares about him being shot." I said

"Why didn't you tell him?" Derek asked

"I didn't want to worry him. Every night I lose him, every night I have his blood on my hands and I hear that gunshot." I explained

"I understand. So, why the weirdness?" Derek asked

"He stayed over." I admitted. Derek's eyebrows raised high and a teasing smirk appeared on his face.

"Not like that. No. But, we slept in my bed. I didn't have a nightmare, I had a good sleep. But, when I woke up, he was...he was holding me. And now everything feels weird." I admitted

"I see. You got close and now neither of you know how to handle it." Derek said

"Something like that, yeah." I said

"So, why don't you talk to him?" He suggested

"And say what?" I asked

"What you really feel." Derek said

"I'm scared to lose him. He's like one of my best friends." I said

"You won't lose him. He feels the same, I'm certain of it. Plus, the two of you would make such a great couple." Derek said with a smile. I returned the smile, the thought of the two of us being together made me happier that I would have expected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My heart was beating rapidly but time seemed to be passing me by in a blur. My hands shook as I pressed them firmly into Spencer's neck. His head lolled as he fell in and out of consciousness. Tears spilled down my cheeks and I fought back a sob as I felt his pulse slowing.

"Please, Spence, please. Keep your eyes open. I need you." I begged through a sob

"I-Nat." Spencer muttered before his eyes fell closed. My heart dropped and I let out a shattered breath. Tears fell down faster as I felt for his pulse with my blood soaked fingers.

I couldn't find it. "Spencer." I shook him by his shoulders, still no response. "Spencer, please." I shook him more firmly before placing my head over his chest, still nothing. I let out a choked sob, why wasn't he waking up.

Hands grabbed at my shoulders, trying to pull me away from him. I tried to fight back, I wasn't ready to let him go. I don't think I ever would be.

The moment I was dragged away from him. My eyes shot open and I gasped harshly. I sat up in bed and grasped at my chest, hoping to somehow ease the sharp pain that rested there as my heart pounded against my ribcage. I took in some deep breaths, trying to slow my own breathing and calm my nerves.

I raised my hand to my face to find that my skin was tear streaked and wet. I hastily wiped at my skin and eyes, trying to dry my tears. For a short moment, I thought it was real. I thought that he was dead. But then I remembered that he was just in the next room, he was okay.

A knock sounded on my door and my head shot over. I briefly switched on my phone to see what the time was, it was 2:35 am. Who would be up at this time, was it something to do with the case.

I stood up from my bed and sniffled, still trying to wipe away tears and look a little more presentable. I opened the door only to be greeted with the worried face of Spencer Reid.

"You were calling my name. I heard through the walls. Are you okay?" He asked me worriedly

At his question, and the sight of him being alive and well, tears welled up in my already bloodshot eyes again. I shook my head and he immediately stepped forward, quickly wrapping me in a tight hug. I practically melted into his embrace, burying my head into the junction between his shoulder and his neck.

"It's okay. I'm here. Everything's okay." Spencer whispered soothingly as he ran his hand down my hair comfortingly. I felt tears run down my cheeks as I held him tightly.

After a couple of minutes of just holding each other, I finally felt myself start to calm down. My muscles relaxed and my breathing evened out. I didn't want to let go of him, I could stand here all night in his arms if he would let me.

"I'm sorry I woke you." I said into his shoulder

"No, it's okay. Do you want me to stay?" He asked me

"Please." I said softly

Spencer nodded and gently released me. Part of me wanted to complain, but the other part of me was too exhausted to. Spencer shut the door and then placed his hand on my back and led me back to the bed. I lay down on the mattress and pulled the covers over me. Spencer climbed into bed beside me and held his arms out towards me.

I wasted no time in attaching myself to his side, cuddling into him like he was my lifeline. It felt good to be held like this. I don't remember the last time someone held me this tenderly, this tightly. I finally let myself relax and after an hour of enjoying being held by him, I finally drifted off into a dream of no terror and no death.