Copycat//Criminal Minds FanFic

Sleepless

He woke in a cold sweat. The man had invaded his dreams again. He reached for his alarm clock. 3:48 am.

He rolled onto his back knowing that there was no way he would be able to get back to sleep. He squeezed his eyes shut anyway, only to be met with the image of the frowning figure.

Go away, he thought in vain. Leave me alone.

You know what you need to do to make me go away, the man replied.

He knew. He just didn't want to admit it.

You'll be back, even if I do it.

I will, but won't it be nice for a little quality time to yourself? You need your rest. Eventually, it will happen. Eventually, you'll give in. You always do.
____________________________________

Reid hurried into the BAU. He was running late. Again. He looked up at the conference room and saw Hotch already filling the team in on the new case.

Great, he thought to himself.

Dashing up the stairs and down the hall, he tried to think of some excuse, even though he knew it would be useless. He wasn't that good of a liar, to begin with, and lying to a group of profilers was pointless. He silently opened the door to the conference room. No one said anything, but everyone looked at him. He tried to smile a sorry but had to hold back a yawn instead. He quickly slid into the seat next to Morgan.

Morgan looked over and gave him an I'm talking to you later look. Reid ignored him and focused on Hotch.

"The Unsub is unique in the fact that he copies many killers instead of just one. The only thing that connects the murders is an apology that he leaves at each victim's house: 'I'm sorry for what I've done. I had no choice. Please forgive me.' We're leaving in twenty minutes." Hotch took a call on his cell phone as everyone else filed out of the room.

Reid ignored Morgan, who was following him and went to the coffee machine. He hadn't had time to stop by Starbucks and was already feeling like he was falling over.

"You gonna tell me what's up?" Morgan asked, leaning on the wall next to the machine.

"I don't know what you mean. I just didn't wake up on time." Reid couldn't decide between hazelnut or almond flavouring.

"Keep telling yourself that, kid, maybe someday it will be true." Morgan gave Reid a meaningful look as he left.

In frustration, Reid just punched a button. He sighed as he raised the coffee to his lips and took a sip. He made a face at the taste of apricot coffee.

"Reid, man, wake up! It's time to go." Morgan shook Reid's shoulder, shaking him awake.

"What?" Reid asked as he shook his head, trying to clear it.

"You fell asleep," Morgan chuckled. "It's time to head out to the jet. Come on."

Reid looked in confusion at his desk for a minute before the day's events came back to him. Blinking hard and yawning, Reid grabbed his overnight bag and his shoulder bag before running to catch up with the rest of the team.

In the SUV, Reid started on his second coffee of the day. Morgan had been smart enough to grab him one.

]]]]]"I don't think it's going to help much," Morgan had shrugged as he'd given Reid the coffee. Reid had thanked him profusely and promised to buy him dinner while they were where ever they were going.

Morgan was sitting up front with Hotch while Reid was in the back like usual. They were talking about the case. Reid was hardly listening.

"What do you think Reid?" Hotch asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.