Copycat//Criminal Minds FanFic

Remembering

Morgan was sitting with his legs over the side of the bed. He turned and punched the headboard, startling the rest of the team. "We should be able to find him! This guy is just copying others, so why can't we remember enough to find him?"

"Morgan, you know that that's exactly what makes it impossible to find him. We can't tell what he is going to do. We only know that the original killer would do," Hotch reminded him.

JJ shifted in her sleep on the recliner. They hadn't woken her. She was already unstable.

"Well obviously he's following the same pattern pretty closely," Morgan fumed.

"Morgan," Rossi warned.

"Let's think of what Reid was able to find out for us. He got the unsub to say that he had worked with us before that that his life had been threatened in some way or other. Garcia, do you think you could bring up a few cases that involved an agent being taken hostage? This would be one of the more recent cases."

"I'll do my best. I'm no magician." Garcia's joke fell flat. The real magician they needed was who they were trying to find.

Prentiss yawned.

"Get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow," Hotch said.

Prentiss was about to refuse, but Rossi cut her off. "We'll wake you up if anything happens and we'll take turns watching the laptop."

Reluctantly, she nodded and curled up in a corner with a blanket.

____________________________________

Reid was reliving all of his regrets. He had already sent his mum away. Nathan Harris laying on a hotel bed, bleeding to death. Adam Jackson. Gideon. Elle. Haley. Rebecca Bryant. Randall Garner. All of the people he wished he could have helped, but couldn't. His final memory was Tobias Hankel. The last time Reid had seen him, lying on the ground, dying from Reid's shot. Reid remembered Tobias thanking him and asking if he would be reunited with his mother.

"Get up boy." Someone kicked the leg of Reid's chair, causing it to jerk.

Reid shook his head as he came back to the present.

The unsub stood over him.

Reid swallowed, his mouth dry. His head ached from where he had been hit earlier. Today? Yesterday? Reid couldn't be sure. Time was immeasurable. "What do you want?" he managed.

"It's almost time for you to choose."

____________________________________

Hotch was shaken awake by Prentiss. "Hotch, he's back on."

Hotch moved his stiff body over to the bed and watched over Garcia's shoulder.

Reid looked horrible. Dried blood was on the side of his face from his beating earlier that night.

"Choose," came the voice of the unsub.

"No. Kill me," Reid said.

"It won't work. Your death has already been set."

The team looked at each other in dismay.

____________________________________

What? Reid thought to himself.

"There is nothing you can do to change your fate. You brought it on yourself. The only thing you can control is which one of your team dies."

Reid shook his head. "I'm not going to choose."

"I will kill them all."

Reid stared at the man. Tobias was easier than this...

The gun reappeared. The barrel spun. "Choose. You're not meant to die like this."

Reid was even more confused. He didn't say anything.

____________________________________

The man was impatient. He took the gun and hit Reid hard over the side of his head. The crack was audible over the laptop speakers.

JJ sat up in her chair. She saw the rest of the team gathered around the laptop. Immediately, she walked over.

Reid's head was bleeding again.

"Reid, just pick one of us," Hotch said allowed, as if Reid could hear him. "Please."

____________________________________

Reid's head was spinning. He couldn't think straight between the drugs and the beatings. "I... can't..."

The man advanced on him again, hitting him in his knee. Reid cried in pain.

"Choose."

Reid whimpered and tried to think of something to help the team. His mind wasn't working like it should.

"Now!"

Reid stammered something unintelligible.

The unsub fired the gun. No gunshot, only a click. He had a few more seconds.

____________________________________

"Come on, kid," Morgan pleaded.

Everyone held their breath.

"Give us something."

____________________________________

Reid looked around the room from the corner of his eye. Something, anything... Suddenly, something struck Reid. He recognised this man's voice. It hadn't hit him until now, of all times. Quickly, he figured out a way to hopefully get his point across.

"Penelope Garcia. She's escaped death too many times."

We have only a few more chapters until the unsub is announced. 

YAYY!!!

Anyway...