Elijah sighed as he fiddled with his sleeves, looking out the window as Rossi drove him back home.. He was nervous.

"You will be fine." Rossi assured him.

"I know.. I'm still nervous." Elijah sighed.

"You will be."

"..Thanks for helping me out last night." Elijah turned to him.

"Of course. You're my son." Не smiled.

No matter how many times he heard it, being called 'son' by Rossi always made him feel better. But.. That's when Rossi pulled up in front of his house.

"I'll be out here if anything happens."

"Thank you." Elijah nodded slowly as he got out of the car and walked towards the house.

After a minute, Elijah finally unlocked the door to the house. When he entered, he saw Reid sleeping on the couch, the cats laying on him. Elijah sighed and walked to the couch, kneeling beside it.. He felt so bad for last night, already wishing he could've changed it.

Reid shifted and opened his eyes,"Eli?"

"Hey Spencer." Elijah ran his fingers through Reid's hair.

Reid sat up, making sure not to wake the cats,"Elijah, I'm so sorry for last night."

"Don't be, everything's fine now." Elijah shook his head.

"It's not. I should've realised what he was like- But I was so blinded by wanting a father figure I completely ignored what he was like towards you." Reid sighed softly.

"Reid, it's okay." Elijah told him, taking his hand and squeezing it,"You looked up to him for so long and.. I never wanted to taint the image you had of your father figure."

"Come here." Reid opened his arms.

Elijah smiled, immediately curling up in Reid's arms, resting his head in the crook of his neck.

"I hated fighting." Reid muttered.

"Me too.. That's why we don't fight." Elijah mumbled.

"Forgive me?"

"Of course."

Reid kissed Elijah's cheek,"I love you."

"I love you too." Elijah held on tightly.

"Did you sleep at Rossi's?"

"A little bit." Elijah nodded.

"Well.. Let's sleep now." Reid told him.

"Please." Elijah sighed.

"Fine by me." Reid chuckled.

*********************************

"Officers Keith Rivers and Rudy Hightower, both career prison guards, both married, kids, nothing out of the ordinary." Kate looked up from the file.

They were flying to a prison where two guards had been murdered.

"The uniform itself could be the target. Kill a guard, any guard, it doesn't matter which one." Morgan shrugged.

"What about the sock in the mouth?" She asked.

"It might be some kind of warning to keep quiet, you know, like, 'put a sock in it." Rossi suggested.

"It could have also just been a gag to, literally, keep the victims quiet." Elijah added.

"Well, either way, we're probably looking at more than one UnSub. This would be very difficult to pull off alone." Hotch agreed.

"Multiple Unsubs in a prison, sounds like a gang." Kate pointed.

"But gangs have gang leaders and the murders could lead back to one of them, and by them, I mean him." Fleur showed a picture of an inmate.

"Julio Watson, founder of the Southside Crips Nation." Morgan nodded.

"He transferred in a month before the murders started. Wonder if it's a coincidence." JJ sighed.

"Excuse me, sir. Even I am befuddled. I found almost nothing on this prison, but this is what I do know." Garcia shook her head as she appeared on screen,"The Reagan Federal Penitentiary was opened in 1869 just outside of Liberty, Texas. Oh, the irony, I know. And then it was scheduled to be shut down, but Citadel Corrections Company bought it last year from Uncle Sam."

"The business of incarceration is extremely lucrative and virtually recession proof. Citadel Corrections Company has more than quadrupled their holdings since they were founded twenty years ago. They now have nineteen facilities all across the country. 59,603 prisoners in their charge." Reid explained.

"Guess I had it wrong all this time. Crime does pay." Rossi shook his head.

*********************************

Once the team arrived at the prison, they got out the SUVs as a guard and the prison warden walked out.

"Agent Hotchner, it's nice to see you. Thank you again for coming all this way." He looked around at them.

"Hopefully we can help, Warden." Hotch shook his hand.

"Oh, Agent Rossi. Hey, it's great to meet you." The Warden, Tate, turned and shook Rossi's hand.

"Likewise, Warden." Rossi nodded.

"This is our team. This is Agent Callahan, Agent Deans, Agent Jareau, Dr Reid, Agent Howards and Agent Morgan." Hotch introduced everyone.

"This is Captain Shavers, head of security. He can help you with anything you need." Tate told them.

"Call me Dale, please. And welcome it's good to have you all here." Dale hummed,"Right this way."

Tate pointed and another guard buzzed the door, opening it up and they walked inside.

"Gun lockers for your weapons and ammo are right here." Dale pointed as everyone put their guns in the locked safes.

"Obviously we had to move Officer Rivers' body, but per your request, we left everything else as it is." Tate explained.

"Thank you." Hotch nodded.

"Thank you for coming." Polinski, another officer, nodded.

"Polinsky, I want those sign out forms logged in before the next shift. Make sure we get them visitor badges." Tate pointed.

"Close." Dale nodded, and the doors were promptly shut,"If you don't mind, I've got a few things that I need to tend to, but I'll catch up with you ASAP."

"I'm sorry there's no cell signal inside the walls. We had to jam it." Tate sighed.

"You got inmates smuggling phones in?" Morgan raised a brow.

"Yeah, it's been a problem, one of many." Warden sighed.

"What about Wi-fi?" JJ asked.

"We got you set up as close to the router as possible, but it's still glitchy. It drives me nuts. Back when I worked on the Hill, I couldn't survive without my phone." Tate chuckled.

"I've got a teenager at home who knows exactly how you feel." Kate nodded.

"Don't we know it." Fleur hummed.

"Well, we have got a good old fashioned landline and a fax machine for you, though." Tate told them.

"I thought i was the only one that still used those." Rossi pointed.

"You are." Elijah mumbled.

"And there actually is a pretty decent signal outside, so you're not completely cut off. We'll provide your meals. Foods not much to speak of, especially breakfast, so you may want to grab something over by your hotel to bring it in." Tate explained.

*********************************

"I bet all the inmates know exactly what areas are covered by surveillance." Morgan pointed as he, Kate and Elijah spoke with Dale.

"That they do." Dale sighed.

"The lock's not picked, so they either stole a key from a guard or took one off the vicyim." Kate added.

"But how did they get him all the way back here?" Morgan wondered.

"They either waited or lured him here somehow." Elijah shook his head.

"And look at this shelf. It's pretty high. It had to take at least two attackers to get him up here." Morgan pointed.

"What's the deal with the shoddy surveillance?" Kate turned to Dale,"I mean, this is a big hallway. No cameras?"

"Ask our corporate office. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did." Dale sighed.

"What do you mean by that?" Elijah raised a brow.

Dale was quiet, not answering Elijah.

"Come on, you can level with us." Elijah assured him.

"I requested cameras, dozens of times, but I got shot down because upgrades cost money." Dale sighed,"You want me to level with you? Okay. These CCC college boys have their heads up their asses. The Warden's a fair enough man, but he's one of them. Twenty years I've been here. They don't care about us or this place. The only thing they care about is a bottom line, and my guys are dying because of it."

"Captain, DSEG supervisors are ready for you in the main office." An officer spoke over Dale's radio.

"Copy that I'll be right up." Dale sighed,"Can you three find your way back?"

"Yeah, we're good." Morgan nodded as Dale walked off, and he slowly looked at the other officers down the hall,"You know, guys, there's one other possibility we need to consider.. What if a guard is actually involved?"

"It just means we've got to be careful of who we can trust." Kate sighed.

*********************************

"There's a couple more guys that we should talk to. So far no one knows anything, but if they do, they're just not talking." Morgan crossed his arms.

"Maybe this has nothing to do with gang related activity." Fleur suggested.

"The one thing they all have in common is no love for Hightower and Rivers." Kate told them.

"This could be personal. Maybe someone had beef with those two." Morgan suggested.

"We need to complete out profiles. The answers in there." Hotch turned to Reid,"How much time do you need?"

"Uh. One hundred and twenty-six minutes, approximately." Reid explained.

"Well, hurry." Hotch nodded.

"We should go help finish those interviews." Morgan sighed.

"I'll join you in a minute, but first I'm gonna go outside and check in with Garcia." Hotch told them before walking off

*********************************

"Can't see anything on the surveillance footage. They cut the lights in the hallway and the cameras don't have IR." Hotch walked into the room after they had talked.

"How'd they get access to the power?" JJ asked.

"Same way they got into that closet. One of the guards is definitely in on this." Fleur pointed.

"Maybe not willingly. There have been cases where inmates have manipulated prison staff with threats." Elijah told them.

"Guys, I've been looking for connections between our victims, and I think I may have found something." Reid looked up,"Before our dead convict, Randall Jefferson Jones, achieved privileged status, he just happened to be cellmates with Devon White."

"Okay, so why does Devon's name keep popping up?" JJ raised a brow.

"I thought the same thing, so I kept searching which oddly enough led me back to Hightower and Rivers. They filed more disciplinary write ups than any guards in the entire prison, and guess who got a lot of them." He pointed.

"Devon White." Kate nodded.

"Yeah, but for relatively minor infractions. Improperly made bed, non regulation clothing. They once put him in solitary confinement for hiding candy bars under his bed." Reid explained.

"I wonder why they wrote him so hard." Elijah furrowed his brow.

"Here's the strange thing though. He has no history of phsycial violence in his past, yet he made frequent visits to the infirmary for injuries related to fighting." He added.

"Do we have medical files here?" Hotch questioned.

"No, we had to check the infirmary." Reid sighed.

*********************************

"Before the CCC took over, Devon White was a model inmate. He never got written up. Not one infirmary visit. None of that started until Officers Hightower and Rivers were hired." Reid explained.

"And that's right around the same time they started exchanging all that money. That bank activity has to have something to do with this." Morgan sighed.

"If they were paying off bets, what could they be betting on?" Kate asked.

"Some kind of regular poker game, maybe." JJ suggested.

"Sports, maybe a fight." Morgan added.

"What if it's some sort of sanctioned violence right here at the prison?" Reid looked up.

"You mean, like a fight club?" Elijah raised a brow,"I mean, I have heard of that happening in prisons."

"Maybe it was their own sadistic version of that using inmates." Reid pointed.

"That could explain why Devon was fighting." Hotch nodded.

"So the sock in the mouth and the seven broken fingers must be related to a specific event. And if I'm guessing, an event involving Devon White." Morgan crossed his arms.

"Our presence here is forcing the issue." Hotch sighed.

*********************************

After finding another dead body, with evidence from the murders, everyone gathered up in their small office they made.

"You really think this butler guy did it?" Fleur looked at the file.

"It's possible. And our profile may have lead Shavers right to him." Hotch nodded.

"But if this is about foul play, why would Shavers want him dead?" Morgan asked.

"He may have known too much about something the captain's trying to hide." Reid suggested.

"You think the Warden knows about all of this?" Kate looked up.

"I don't think so. I think he's just trying to save his job." Hotch shook his head.

"So what's our next move?" Fleur sighed.

"We proceed as planned. We keep conducting interviews until we find out what happened to Devon White, and then we figure out if Butler or Shavers had anything to do with it." Hotch explained.

*********************************

Elijah had been sitting in an interview room himself, waiting for the guards to bring in someone to interview. Although, when they eventually did, it was a man Elijah had prayed he never had to see again. He looked older, more tired and rough but.. He recognized that man as James Boese. James stopped, tilting his head before he grew a smirk as he sat down.

"Mr Boese, I'm here to ask you some questions about the.. Incidents happening around here." Elijah told him.

"We're not on first name bases anymore?" James gasped.

"No." Elijah shook his head.

"Wow.. You've changed Eli."

Elijah sighed,"Did you know Devon White?"

James leaned forward slightly as he glanced at his left hand,"Is that a ring?"

"I've always been a jewelry person, you should know that." Elijah shrugged.

"No, no.. Well- Yes, but this is different. You never wore rings on your marriage finger."

"Guess I have you to thank for it though, so thanks. Take it or leave it."

James hummed,"I bet.. Your little boyfriend doesn't know how to make you feel the way I did."

"You're right, he doesn't make me feel the way you did.." Elijah nodded slowly,"Because I don't feel completely powerless."

"Oh come on, you loved me."

Elijah looked down,"How about you just answer my question?"

"Yeah, I knew Devon." James rolled his eyes.

"What was he like?"

"He was always going to the infirmary." James shrugged,"We were in different blocks."

"I'd keep you away from regular inmates as well." Elijah commented.

"Don't say it like that, Eli." He hummed.

"Why not?"

"Because you're being mean about me, I only helped you."

Elijah blinked,"Go on?"

"You were struggling." James moved forward,"I helped you with that struggle."

"I was struggling, you're right, and you took advantage of that." Elijah leaned forward.

"You say tomato, I say tomato." James shrugged.

Elijah looked back to see the guard had left, presumably waiting outside and he bit his cheek.

"James.. Listen to me. We need your help." Elijah lowered his voice,"Have you noticed anything suspicious from the guards?"

James tilted his head,"Sometimes.. Most guards in jails are corrupt."

"Trust me, I know." Elijah sighed.

"You just have to keep an eye out, especially for the guards you wouldn't think of." He warned.

"First helpful thing you've done, thank you." Elijah nodded as he stood up, knocking on the door,"We're done here."

"Come back and visit me again soon, hm?" James turned to him.

"I'll consider it." Elijah shook his head.

*********************************

"Is it okay if I call you Tom?" Fleur hummed, sitting down, "You reported direct to Officer Rivers?"

"Yeah, he was my block commander." Tom nodded.

"Do you remember this inmate?" Morgan handed over a picture of Devon.

"Yeah, he looks familiar." Tom answered.

"You took him to the infirmary four different times." Fleur sighed.

"His name was Devon White. He was on D-block." Morgan told him.

"Yeah, yeah. Devon, I remember him."

"Do you remember anything about his transfer? The infirmary visits?" Fleur asked.

"Nope, uh, nothing."

"You okay? Would you like some water?" Morgan tilted his head.

"Yeah.. Yeah, sure." He nodded.

Morgan stood up, walking over to the water fountain, tilting his head,"Tom, well, it's just a little odd.. Devon lived on your cell block. And you saw him at least five times a week. But all you got is, yeah he looks familiar?"

"There's a lot of guys on D-block.. You mind?" Tom reached for the water and refilled his cup.

"Okay, I'm just gonna cut to the chase here, because you seem like a man who is scared and carrying a burden. Maybe it's just stress, I don't know but it seems like you're hiding something and it's eating you up." Fleur leaned forward.

"Is there something you want to tell us, Tom?" Morgan raised a brow as Tom shook his head,"Something maybe about cell number thirty-four."

Tom waited a minute before he spoke,"You gotta keep my daughter safe, please."

Morgan looked to Fleur and nodded, looking back at Tom.

"Shavers and his guys, they're like their own little gang." Tom admitted.

"What did they do to Devon?" Morgan questioned.

Tom took a shaky breath,"He told me if I talked, they'd hurt my daughter."

"How did this all get started?" Fleur asked.

"They'd round up a few inmates. Misfits. You know, none of them affiliated. They'd pick the quiet ones because they knew they'd be weak." Tom explained,"They made Devon and Butler fight. Those two, i guess they were, uh, close. Like, more than friends. And when they refused.. They only got it worse from Shavers and his gang. I wasn't supposed to be down there, but I was looking for Rivers. Devon's lying there, all bloody, and Butler's freaking out.."

"They made you get rid of the body so you were an accessory?" Fleur sighed.

Tom nodded, looking down at his hands.

"You helped them kill Hightower, Rivers and Jones too?" She tilted her head.

"I couldn't kill anybody.. It was Butler and I don't know who else." Tom shook his head,"I just- I got them keys and stuff."

"Will you testify to all this?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"How was Randall Jones involved?" Fleur looked at him.

"Jones? Their lap dog? He'd help them out. He'd round up guys, get them information. Whatever they needed." Tom sighed.

After a bit more of questioning, the keys to the interview room could be heard. Although it wasn't a guard.. It was the inmates rushing in. Tom armed himself with batons as the trio attempted to fight back against the criminals. They were outnumbered. Tom had been shanked, holding his side as he tried to stand up. Fleur had been grabbed by an inmate, a knife at her throat while it took two men to hold Derek.

"Okay- Okay!" Morgan held his hands up in surrender, they had no choice.

They had managed to cuff Fleur and Morgan, taking them to the recreation room. But one of the doors was locked.

"You smell good." The man holding Fleur hummed.

Fleur rolled her eyes, turning to the man and headbutted him.

"You get that bitch under control!" Their leader yelled.

"Just let her go, man!" Morgan pleaded.

"Oh, I like her." The inmate hummed, going close to Fleur.

"Tu sens le sac à merde." Fleur spat.

"In here- Come on, let's move." Their leader beckoned them to follow.

They lead them into the recreation room, shoving Derek onto the ground.

"Gather round! I want everyone to see this. Give me this." Their leader,, Weeks, snatched the baton from another inmate.

"Hey, I want to have some fun with this one first." The inmate holding Fleur tilted his head.

"Leave her alone!" Morgan yelled.

"Weeks!" An inmate walked in with his own crowd,"What the hell are you doing, man?"

"Mind your business!" Weeks pointed.

"I'm making it my business."

"This ain't your show. Now, go on, get out of here!"

"This ain't got nothing to do with you, Watson." The inmate holding Fleur pointed.

"The hell it don't. These is Feds, you idiots! Anything happens to them, we all end up on death row." Watson cursed.

"Listen to him, man. He's right." Morgan sighed.

"Shut up!" Weeks shook his head.

"Nothing good can come from hurting us. If you let us go, it can help some of you!" Morgan nodded.

"Look- We know about Shavers." Fleur sighed.

"We have enough to shut this whole place down. With your help, Shavers, all of them.. Maybe even the whole Citadel Corrections Company." Morgan told them.

Meanwhile outside, the rest of the team were walking to the control room.

"He's got the entire block locked down. There's no way fo get in or out." A guard sighed.

"Can't we shut the system down?" Reid asked.

"It's in override. The only way to do that is from inside the booth." He shook his head.

"Open it." Tate pointed.

The guard tried to open it, but it wouldn't.

"It's bolted from the inside."

Elijah walked past him and started tapping in the window,"Just open the door. We can work this out. Come on, Dale, let's do this the easy way!"

Dale stood up, slowly grabbing the gun, facing towards them.

"Dale, don't-" He tried.

Nothing Elijah could say would change what Dale had decided to do.. Placing the gun to his temple and shooting himself. Back inside the recreation room, the argument was still going on.

"Stay out of this, Watson." Weeks pointed.

"It's too late. I'm already in it." Watson scoffed.

"Somebody, please.." Tom fell to his knees, clutching his side.

"He needs help." Fleur cursed.

"Oh, I got his help. Come on." Another inmate, John, grabbed Tom and pulled him to the corner.

"Come on John- Just let him go." Watson sighed.

"I'm just gonna help him!" John began kicking Tom.

"No!" Fleur shouted as everyone began shouting over each other.

That's when a shot rang out, with the window breaking and John falling to the ground. Dead.

"Everyone down!" Morgan instructed.

Everyone did as Morgan told them to, with him having to tackle Weeks to get him down as the rest of the team and SWAT breached the recreation room.

"We need a Medic in here, he's still alive for God's sake!" Fleur called out as she knelt beside Tom.

"You alright?" Hotch asked as he walked in.

"Yeah." Morgan nodded.

"Flo- Are you okay?" Elijah questioned, kneeling beside her.

"I'm okay." Fleur sighed, looking down at Tom.

*********************************

Elijah sighed as he flopped onto his bed, already just done with the day.

"Rossi told me what happened.. James was there?" Reid walked in.

"I was hoping he wouldn't tell you." Elijah shook his head.

"You should've told me."

"Look, I handled it. I was fine."

"God- If I saw him I would've killed him." Reid cursed.

"I know." Elijah rolled over to look up at him.

"Are you okay?" He sat down on the bed.

"No." Elijah answered, not even having the energy to lie.

Reid sighed and hugged him,"I'm sorry."

Elijah leaned into his shoulder,"Why can't he leave me alone?"

"He can't hurt you here."

"Y'know.. I think he was jealous." Elijah chuckled slightly,"He saw my ring."

"I got you first." Reid hummed.

"Because he tried to kill me." Elijah added.

"I wouldn't kill you." Reid raised his hands.

"Trust me, I know you wouldn't." Elijah hummed, ignoring his phone as it buzzed.

"You want to get that?'

"But it's just gonna be another case." Elijah groaned.

"Let me see." Reid kissed his cheek, grabbing Elijah's phone.

Elijah smiled slightly, leaning back in bed.

"Hotch?" Reid answered.

"Reid, is Elijah there?" Hotch asked.

"He's.. Sleeping. Why? Do we have a case?"

"No. It's just.." Hotch paused,"They don't know how it happened, but James managed to escape."

"..What?"

"James is on the run, they haven't been able to track him down." Hotch told him,"They just called me and I wanted Elijah to know."

"I'll let him know." Reid sighed.

"Thank you." Hotch nodded.

Reid hung up, placing his phone down and laying beside him,"No case."

"Thank god." Elijah hugged onto Reid's side.

"Let's just sleep now, hm?"

"I'd like that." Elijah smiled.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you more." Elijah whispered back.

"You know, statistically when someone says-"

"Statistically I think you should be quiet." Elijah pointed before kissing him.

Reid chuckled and kissed back, before pulling away,"The kids are watching."

"They'll need to learn someday." Elijah rested his head on Reid's shoulder.

Reid bit his cheek before he kissed Elijah again. Elijah smiled into the kiss as he cupped Reid's cheek.

*********************************

Fleur sighed, staring out the kitchen window after making herself hot chocolate. Morgan walked up behind her, placing his hands on her waist and resting his head on her shoulder.

"Hey.. You okay?" Fleur looked back at him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay after all that." He sighed.

"I'm fine. We didn't get that hurt." Fleur nodded.

"You could've gotten hurt."

"I've had worse than a few tough guys." Fleur chuckled.

"I know." He shook his head.

"Are you okay?" She looked up at him.

"I'm okay, babygirl." Morgan assured her.

"I hope we never go through that again." Fleur sighed.

"I can get behind that." He nodded.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Fleur looked at the fridge.

"That depends, what do we have?" Morgan asked.

"Have a look, I'm not your maid." Fleur laughed.

Morgan chuckled, shaking his head as he peered into the fridge.

"Well?" Fleur hummed.

"Hm, I don't know." Morgan sighed.

Fleur tilted her head,"Takeout?"

"Definitely."

Fleur chuckled and grabbed her phone.