"You don't need a plaster for a cat scratch." Fleur sighed, looking at Morgan as they sat in the offices.

"But it stings." He crossed his arms.

"Elijah, tell him." Fleur pointed.

"You're overreacting and you'll be fine." Elijah didn't look up from his notebook.

"See?" Fleur hummed.

"Come on, have you seen what Marie did to me?" Morgan turned.

"I bet I've seen worse." Elijah shrugged.

Morgan showed Elijah the scratch on his hand, it was tiny.

"You.. Have got to be kidding me." Elijah blinked,"Reid, I think I need a magnifying glass."

"I have you covered." Reid opened his drawer before spinning his chair over to him, handing him a magnifying glass.

"Do you want to see Morgan's scratch? Big, tough, SSA Morgan's scratch?" Elijah tried to hold back his laughter

"Stop messing." Morgan held his head.

"I'm serious-" Elijah looked away as he tried to compose himself, clearing his throat,"I'm being serious."

"It's sore, alright?" Morgan pointed.

"Let me see." Reid leaned over,"Derek.."

"What? What is it?"

"That's.. Oh my god." Reid lifted the magnifying glass,"When did Marie scratch you?"

"Last night." Morgan sighed.

"And you didn't go to the hospital?"

"What- Am I supposed to?" Morgan looked at his hand.

"It's going to have to get cut off." Reid looked up.

"You said i was fine." Morgan turned to Fleur as Elijah slid under his desk.

"I.. I thought you were." Fleur sighed and went under the desk with Elijah.

Elijah was holding his bag to his face to try and hide his snickering.

"Oh my god." Morgan shook his head,"Prentiss, are you hearing this?"

"I am." Emily chuckled.

Fleur covered her face, looking at Elijah.

"Morgan- Morgan-" Elijah couldn't form a sentence.

"I'm so sorry." Reid sighed.

"Babe- He's joking." Fleur laughed.

"You're kidding." Morgan blinked.

"Yes, I'm joking.' Reid hummed and leaned back in his chair.

Elijah was still on the floor laughing, he couldn't pull himself together.

"You- Really man?" Morgan pushed Reid's seat back.

"I said sorry." He chuckled softly.

"Sorry- I'll show you sorry." Morgan leaned forward, ruffling his hair.

"Hey-" Reid tried to escape from Morgan.

"Oh, that was- Heh, that was funny." Elijah pulled himself up.

"Reid, Howards." Hotch walked over.

"Shit- Ow." Fleur jumped, banging her head on the desk before pulling herself up.

Elijah wasn't able to keep his straight face for long, laughing at Fleur.

"Yes sir?" Fleur sat up.

"I need you both to come with me, everyone else will be staying here." Hotch pointed,"Grab your bags."

"Where are we going?" Reid looked around.

"To a prison, I've got to interview an old Unsub there."

Fleur nodded,"Yeah, that's fine."

"We're leaving soon." Hotch pointed as he walked off.

"Yes sir." Reid nodded.

Elijah managed to compose himself enough for him to hug Reid.

"I'm only going for a little bit." Reid assured him.

"I know." Elijah told him.

"Don't worry." Reid nodded.

"Make sure you look after the children." Fleur pointed at Morgan.

"Trust me, I will." Morgan patted Elijah's back.

"Good." Fleur hummed.

"Stay safe, never trust prisons." Elijah shook his head.

"I know." Reid nodded.

Elijah kissed Reid's forehead,"I mean it. Both of you."

"We know." Fleur assured him.

"They'll be fine." Morgan nodded.

"It might even be only for a day."

"I get it." Elijah sighed.

"See you soon." Fleur waved.

"Bye, chérie." Morgan winked.

Fleur smiled and kissed his cheek before leaving.

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

"Yeah, JJ? No, it's a personal matter. Yes, thank you. I will take care of it when I get back." Hotch paced as he spoke on the phone before hanging up.

"Everything alright?" Reid looked up, playing with a snow globe.

"Yeah, fine." Hotch nodded.

"We could do this interview another time." Fleur suggested.

"Well, he's scheduled to be executed next week." Hotch shook his head.

"We can take the lead if you need-" Reid began.

"Reid."

"Sorry." Reid muttered.

Fleur patted his back, putting her notebook away.

"Agent Hotchner?" A man walked in.

"Yes." Hotch turned, holding his hand out.

The man shook his hand before turning, "You must be Agent Howards and Dr Reid. Abner Merriman, Assistant Warden. You're here to see our infamous inmate Hardwick."

"Yeah, he agreed to meet with us as part of our Criminal Personality Research Project prior to his execution." Reid nodded.

"I've read some of your studies in police journals." Merriman told him,"Serial killers are a bit of a hobby of mine. Chester's the only one I've met in person though. I bet you've met quite a few."

"Yeah." Reid nodded excitedly.

"Sir, we'd very much like to get started as soon as we can." Hotch cleared his throat.

"Oh, of course, of course, forgive me." Merriman nodded,"We don't exactly have an interrogation facility but I do have a small room that you could use. You're not armed?"

"We secured our weapons before we arrived. It's not our first time in a prison." Fleur nodded.

"No, no, I suppose that's true." Merriman patted Fleur's shoulder as he walked past,"I have to say, when I heard he contacted you, I was surprised."

"Why?" Reid tilted his head.

"Chester Hardwick, he doesn't really talk much. To anyone."

"Well that usually changes when someone is about to die." Hotch shrugged.

Merriman them lead them to the room,"The door, of course, will be locked from the outside and this button here, sounds audibly and flashes the lights to signal the guards when you're finished."

"Thank you." Fleur nodded, taking out the crime scene photos.

"Are these the crime scene photos?" Merriman pointed.

"Some of them, yes." Reid hummed.

Merriman picked two up,"God. I knew what he did, of course, but.. I never saw.. Twenty-three victims like this?"

"Sometimes in these interviews they talk about things like crimes they were never charged with, so it might be even more." Reid sighed.

"Is it ever less?"

"No." Fleur shook her head.

"Please." Hotch held his hand out, taking the photos,"Paying attention to these objects projects a kind of importance onto them. When he comes in, I want to give him the opportunity to show us what parts of the crimes he thinks are important."

"Mhm. We're just going to talk, right Chester?" Hotch looked at him.

Chester stayed quiet, although he smirked slightly at Hotch as the guard unchained him.

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

Emily, JJ, Morgan and Elijah had gathered in Rossi's room. His office was a mess, files on the floor.

"Hotch is in Connecticut, right?" Emily asked.

"With Reid and Flo. They left last night. They're doing a custodial interview. Chester Hardwick." JJ nodded.

"Damn." Emily shook her head.

"He doesn't need anything else on his mind when he's dealing with a guy like Hardwick." Hotch sighed.

"So what the bloody hell do we do?" Elijah looked around.

"You got any idea what Rossi was working on?" Morgan asked.

"I think Garcia might know. He was at her place last night." JJ told them.

"What? Why?" Morgan blinked.

"I'm really not supposed to say, because he wanted to keep it between us." Garcia spoke from behind them.

"He might need our help." Emily told her as they walked towards her.

"He didn't ask anyone for help." Garcia sighed.

"Love, Rossi is a guy who colour codes his handwritten notes in his notebooks. Blue pen for evidentiary items, red pen for supposition and theory." Elijah sighed, shaking his head,"The man is a fussy, anal-retentive, neat freak who never leaves anything out of it's place. I would say the state of that office is a scream for help."

Garcia bit her cheek,"He's in Indianapolis on a twenty year old double homicide. He said it's time someone pays for it. And he was upset."

"Indianapolis?" Morgan raised a brow

"Yeah, he took a commercial flight this morning, he picked up a Bureau SUV half an hour ago."

"The jets available." JJ turned to them.

"Let's go." Morgan nodded.

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

"Sit down." Hotch nodded to Hardwick.

Hardwick walked around the room,"I'd like this window opened. I'll answer any question you have, but only if this window is open."

"Go ahead." Hotch then turned,"Reid."

"You were born April 4th 1950?" Reid looked up from the file.

"Does my birth date really matter?" Hardwick asked as he opened the window.

"It's customary for us to start at the beginning. We want to try and know as much as we can about your childhood." Fleur nodded.

"There's nothing to know. It was average. I lived in a nice house on a quiet street." Hardwick stared out of the window,"I ate cereal, I went to school, I watched cartoons."

"I don't have time for this. You didn't live in a nice house on a quiet street. You grew up in a series of projects in East Bridgeport, each one worse than the last. You spent your teenage years peeping into your female neighbours windows, and burglarising their underwear drawers when you got the chance. And you set one hundred small fires for which you spent two years in juvenile detention." Hotch spat.

"We've done extensive research, Mr Hardwick. We talked with almost everyone you've ever known, including.. Your mother." Reid told him.

Hardwick turned around,"Good old Jean? I'll bet she was a real treat."

"Good old Jean's down the street in a state hospital." Fleur crossed her arms.

"At this point, lying to us isn't really possible or helpful." Reid nodded.

"Well then you're wrong." Hardwick shrugged.

"About what?" Hotch asked.

"I started a lot more than one hundred fires."

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

"There's not really much to this file, Garcia." Morgan shook his head as he looked at it.

"Yeah, well there's a latent fingerprint that's making it's second run through AFIS as we speak. As soon as I get results, I'll let you know. And then there's also apparently some crime scene notes that Agent Rossi wrote up that I'm still splunking for." Garcia explained.

"So he was on the actual crime scene with local detectives?" Elijah raised a brow.

"Could be why it bothers him so much." JJ pointed.

"Well, I highly doubt this was his first scene." Morgan shook his head.

"Yeah, but it was a bad one. The weapon was a long handled axe." Emily sighed.

"Yeah, but we've seen way worse since he's been back." JJ crossed her arms.

"There's nothing else cross referenced? No other crimes tied to this?" Emilt asked.

"No, nothing I can find." Garcia shook her head,"I mean, certainly nothing with these signature elements."

"Okay, so it's a double homicide, yes, but a single occurrence with no apparent issue of state lines. Was there a request from the local authorities for the FBI's help?" JJ looked over.

"I don't think so."

"So then why is this a BAU case?" Elijah raised a brow.

"I don't think it was." Garcia admitted.

"Alright Garcia, I want you to double-check any unsolved murders in Indiana or the surrounding states near that time. Something as brutal as this doesn't seem like a one-time thing." Morgan pointed.

"You got it." Garcia signed off.

"What is it?" Elijah sighed, staring at the case file,"What is it about this case for him?"

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

"What do you want to hear? How Papa kicked me and Jean's ass every single day? Is that the kind of thing you want to hear?" Hardwick asked.

"If its true." Reid nodded.

"Nobody gives a damn about the truth." Hardwick scoffed before looking out of the window,"Temperatures dropping, it's that time of year. Warm days, cold nights."

"It'll be summer soon." Fleur nodded.

"But not for you." Hotch added.

"No, not for me." Hardwick turned around.

"Let's talk about the specifics from the case." Reid looked down at the field,"Why did you choose Sheila O'Neal?"

"You got to show me a picture. I don't know the names." Hardwick shrugged.

"Is that what all this was about? Some chance to relive all this?" Hotch asked.

"I have an excellent memory. I thought you wanted to hear the truth? The truth is they meant nothing to me. They were toys. A diversion. And from the moment I decided to kill them they were dead. They begged, they cried, they bargained, and it didn't matter because they didn't matter. Sometimes I wish I was normal. That I'd had a regular life, but I didn't." Hardwick sighed.

"Why did you ask us here?" Hotch sighed.

"I wanted to smell the air."

"What?" Fleur looked at him.

"They've got me on death watch. 24 hour-a-day isolation, and I will be until they take me to the death chamber. So, I wanted to smell the air one last time before I die" Hardwick explained,"Thank you for giving me that."

"Let's pack it up." Hotch sighed.

"Shouldn't we at least-" Reid tried.

"No, now." Hotch pointed.

Fleur bit her cheek before she began packing the photos up.

"Have a nice trip, Chester. You're going where you belong." Hotch pressed the buzzer once. When no one came, he pressed it again.

"It's 5:17. Evening yard started at 5. The guard staff's outside with population. There won't be anyone to open that door for at least thirteen minutes." Hardwick smirked as he picked up a crime scene photo,"And it took me less than five to do this."

Fleur looked at Hardwick before looking down at the picture. Surely he wouldn't do anything.. He was outnumbered.

"While you were doing your research, maybe a question or two about security tones would've been a good idea." Hardwick commented as he put the photo down.

"I heard the tones." Hotch nodded.

"So you planned to be locked inside with me? With no guns or weapons?" Hardwick scoffed.

"I won't need a gun."

"There's no way they're going to execute me next week. Not after I kill three FBI Agents. You saved my life by coming here." Hardwick hummed.

"But unfortunately for you, we're not all five foot tall, one hundred pound girls." Fleur shrugged.

"All your life, you've gone after victims who couldn't fight back, and the rest of the time you spent looking over your shoulder." Hotch removed his jacket and tie, throwing them aside,"Worried about that knock on the door, scared that someone would be waiting on the other side, like me, waiting to put you away. At your core, you're a coward."

Hardwick then went to lunge at Hotch.

"Chester, do you wanna know why you killed those women?" Reid quickly spoke up.

"What?" Hardwick slowly looked over at him.

"Earlier you said you wished you were different. I can tell you why you killed them. Why you are what you are." Reid told him.

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

The others finally found Rossi at a bar, a drink in front of him.

"Non dovresti davvero bere questa roba." Elijah commented, sliding the drink away from him.

"If you're buying, I'm drinking." Emily chuckled.

"I don't think any of us could afford this place otherwise." Morgan looked around.

"Yeah, I know I can't." JJ sighed.

"Go home." Rossi shook his head.

"We thought you might need some help." Emily told him.

"You're wrong." Rossi shrugged.

"Come on, Rossi. Bounce some theories off us. Frsh eyes can't hurt." Morgan crossed his arms.

"This isn't even a BAU case." Rossi pointed out.

"Maybe not yet, but I can make anything a BAU case if I want to." JJ hummed,"It's about paperwork and I know the paperwork."

"Why do you care?" Rossi turned to face them.

"Perché lo fai, papà." Elijah put a hand on Rossi's shoulder.

Rossi looked at Elijah, giving him a small smile.

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

"You can tell me.. Why I did the things I did?" Hardwick asked slowly.

"I think so, I do. Your mothers bipolar and almost certainly an undifferentiated schizophrenic. Your father suffered severe shell shock in the war. What we now refer to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Far as I can tell, he remained clinically depressed for the rest of his life. 53% of all serial killers have some sort of mental illness in their family. And in your case both your parents suffered from psychological disorders, which they largely took out on you. They beat each other as much as they beat you, so violence became a natural expression of love for you. There's something called the hypothalamic region of the limit system. It's the most primitive part of the brain. It wants what it wants without conscience and without judgement. It-It's what makes babies cry when they're hungry, scream when they want affection, become enraged when a toy is taken away from them. In most children, a healthy relationship with their mother counters their hypothalamus and maps the child's brain into healthy emotional responses. Your hypothalamus never learned control. It still operates on that primitive level. Your records indicate that you display the symptoms of satyriasis. You're obsessed with sex. Sex and love are cross wired with pain in your mind. Additionally, your hypothalamus won't allow you to stop seeking the desires that it wants, so you became a sexual sadist. No sexual partner will ever willingly submit to the painful desires that you have, and the only way you can serve them is by making them a partner compliant. Making sure that they do exactly what you want them to do. And you ensure that by killing them. Earlier you said your victims never had a chance. But I think you know deep down, it was you that never really had a chance." Reid finished.

That's when the door buzzed and two guards walked in.

"Is everything alright in here?"

"Fine. We're done." Hotch grabbed his tie.

"Is it true? I never had a chance?" Hardwick asked Reid as he walked past.

"I don't know, maybe." Reid shrugged, practically running out.

"You okay?" Fleur patted his back.

"Yeah- Yeah, I'm good now." Reid nodded quickly.

"He's a creep." Fleur muttered.

"I know." Reid sighed,"But at least I learned something from Elijah."

"Which is?"

"Stalling, lying myself out of a situation."

"You did great." Fleur hummed.

"Thanks." Reid smiled softly.

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

"I was here on a serial rapist in 88'. It was pretty short work. The guy wasn't going to win any IQ contests. The day after we collared him, the local Detective was driving me to the airport and hears a cry on his walkie of kids screaming in a house not far from where we were. He asks if I mind taking the job in with him. We were first on the scene. Inside we found.." Rossi sighed.

"Found this." Morgan sat down the case file.

"The axe had been left behind, but it had been wiped clean. Turns out it belonged to the family. The oldest daughter, Connie, told me her father bought it on Christmas Eve a few months earlier. To cut down a Christmas tree. Now I always associate the whole thing with Christmas. Never been able to put a tree up myself again." Rossi drank his whiskey.

"Ay." Elijah muttered, looking at the drink before shaking his head,"So he never hurt the kids at all?"

"Not physically." Rossi shook his head.

"But he would've known the kids would be in that house." Morgan pointed.

"He only hurt the parents and then he left." Rossi nodded.

"Okay, so using a weapon found at the scene and not eliminating all potential witnesses, that makes him disorganized." Emily began.

"But he left no evidence, which suggests he's organised." Morgan shook his head.

"There was a fingerprint." JJ added.

"But it was behind the bedroom door, I don't even think he knew it was there. There should have been other prints in places but they were wiped clean. There was an open glass door, a drinking glass left in the kitchen. And that one good print was not a match anywhere. I've been over this a million times. I keep thinking, if there was just one more piece, one more thing to go on, the answer was right in front of me." Rossi leaned back.

"He might be dead." Emily suggested.

"I have to be sure."

"Rossi, if he's dead, you may never really know." Morgan sighed.

"When we arrived on the scene, before any of the other units got there, I could hear them. Before I even got out the car. It was a warm morning and the windows were open in the upstairs bedroom. And their voices floated out into the street. They were crying out for their mommy and daddy. Three terrified children screaming for their murdered parents. I've seen so much death and pain but that sound.. It's been twenty years and I can still hear them screaming every night. Crying. If I can't tell them for sure that whoever was responsible will never do it again, that screaming might never stop."

"We'll find them, d- Rossi." Elijah patted his back.

Rossi looked over at Elijah, patting his leg,"..Fine, let's go to the kids' house."

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

The team soon pulled up outside the house where the children stayed, a blonde woman stood outside.

"Hi Connie, I brought the team with me-" Rossi began as they got out of the SUV.

"You need to stop this." Connie cut him off.

"Excuse me?" Rossi blinked.

"Look, we thought if we didn't call you back the last couple of times that you'd just give up and leave us alone." Connie shook her head.

"I'll.. Leave you kids alone." Rossi sighed, turning away.

"And you'll stop it with the gifts too?"

"Gifts?" Rossi turned to her.

"What are we supposed to do with a bunch of toys that remind us of the worst day of our lives?" Connie asked.

"I never sent you any gifts." Rossi shook his head.

The kids and the team shared a moment of realization before Connie allowed them inside the house, her and her siblings gathering all the toys they could find.

"This is it?" Rossi asked.

"It's all we could find." Georgie nodded.

"We threw a lot of them away." Alicia shrugged.

"I wish you would've told me about this." Rossi sighed.

"We thought you were sending them. At first we kinda liked it. Then it just became a bad reminder." Connie shook her head.

"These are incredibly cheap, aren't they?" Elijah looked at the toys, picking up a stuffed animal.

"Where would you even buy toys like that?" Morgan asked.

"And why?" JJ added as she took photos.

"How did you receive them?" Rossi tilted his head.

"They're usually left on the front porch at night." Connie told him,"Mine was found in my car this time."

"So he's following you." Rossi realised.

"There was a pickup outside fhe.. Where I work. I just.. I always thought it was you." Connie shook her head.

"What did you remember about the pickup?" Rossi tilted his head.

"All I saw was the shape and the headlights."

"Morgan, obsessional crimes is your specialty." Rossi turned to him.

"Well, there are two kinds of obsessional offenders who would send gifts to survivors." Morgan began,"Sadists, who want to make the family keep reliving the crime or guilt-laden offenders, desperately trying to find some way to apologize."

"Sadists usually use something they know will remind the family of the person or crime. Jewelery, newspaper clippings." Rossi added.

"These don't look like things you would send to inflict pain on someone." Emily shook her head.

"So, guilt laden." Rossi nodded.

"You know, they actually look like the type of thing a child would send." Elijah nodded slowly.

"Okay, well, it's rare, but an UnSub who feels this much guilt sometimes commits the crime unintentionally. They tend to be developmentally disabled, extremely low IQ offenders and generally, well.. They're physically large and they're very strong. Strong enough to hurt someone accidentally." Morgan continued

"Like Lennie in 'Of Mice and Men'." Emily pointed.

"Exactly." Morgan nodded.

"He needed help then. There wasn't a fragment of evidence left st the scene. Thats no low IQ." Rossi shook his head.

"Well, usually they're assisted by an older relative and it's almost always a parent. And this parent rationalises that the UnSub would never try to hurt anybody. In a lot of ways, this type of UnSub, they're sort of overgrown children. JJ, when you get Garcia on the phone, tell her we're not looking for other homicides here. Get her to look into a string of less serious offences in this area. Parks, playgrounds, involving children but not necessarily children that have been injured or abused." Morgan told her.

"Got it." JJ nodded as she walked off with her phone in hand.

"See, an UnSub like this, when they seek out children, they want to play with them, they don't really want to hurt them. But it's their size that frightens people."

"This could be that piece you were looking for." Elijah turned to Rossi.

After a few minutes, JJ returned and Garcia spoke on the phone.

"Okay crime fighters, I've got the information you were looking for, but it may lead to more questions than answers."

"Oh, of course." Emily sighed.

"There are scads of open petty crimes as described in the very area of Indiana in the last twenty years. But here's the rub. A large potion of them only occur in the last week of March and the first week of April every year. And then it gets weirder. Because the same kind of crimes crop up in the Springfield, Illinois for the next two weeks. And then Des Moines, Iowa in the couple of weeks after that." Garcia hummed.

"So, he's travelling." Morgan nodded.

"On a specific schedule for years?" JJ tilted her head.

"Maybe he's a salesman?" Emily suggested.

"Who takes a developmentally disabled partner on a sales call?"

"What about a carnival?" Rossi asked, looking at the pile of toys.

"Carnival?" Alicia looked up.

"We went to a carnival the day before. It was the last thing we did as a family." Connie told them.

"Did anything happen?" Emily turned to her.

"No." Georgie shook his head.

"No, we had to leave early. There was this clown that made me a balloon animal. It didn't even look right, but then he kinda followed me around. He didn't really do anything but my mom got afraid so we left." Connie explained.

"You never told us that." Georgie looked over at her.

"I didn't even remember it until now." Connie sighed.

"Penelope, pull permits. Find out if this carnival is still in business." Rossi ordered.

"This Betty is ready." Garcia hung up.

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

The team pulled up at the site where the carnival was. Thankfutheythey'd gotten there quick enough as they were still packing up.

"You guys look around, Eli and Prentiss come with me." Rossi nodded.

The trio spotted a man barking orders near the entrance as Morgan and JJ walked further inside.

"You look like you're in charge." Rossi nodded.

"You pulling out in a hurry?" Emily raised a brow.

"That's the way this business works." The man, Landon, picked up a crate of glass bottles,"Got to be set up where the money is. Right now, that ain't here."

"Where you headed to next? Springfield? We'd like to talk to you about one of your clowns." Rossi crossed his arms.

"Clown? This ain't a circus. Clowns are for the circus." Landon shook his head.

"You don't have any clowns at your carnival?" Emily tilted her head.

"What about a guy who makes balloon animals?" Elijah raised a brow.

"We might." He shrugged.

"Might?" Rossi blinked.

"Sometimes."

"How long's he been with you?" Emily asked.

"Look, what is this?" He turned around.

"This guy would've been complained about. Kids are uncomfortable around him. You'd have gotten reports from parents." Elijah crossed his arms.

"I can't remember every complaint I get, Mister." He shrugged.

"It's not 'Mister'. It's Agent Deans. FBI." Elijah took out his badge,"Now, do you have a son?"

"A son?"

"Well, the guy we want to talk to, he'd have been a big problem for you." Rossi nodded,"You'd have gotten rid of him a long time ago, unless.."

"It would've been difficult for him to hold down a job for long, much less twenty years." Emily shrugged.

"Twenty years? I really ain't got time for this-" He tried to turn away.

"Make time." Elijah grabbed his shoulder.

Landon then slowly nodded,"Alright. He didn't mean to hurt those people. It was my fault just as much as his. I got busy with one of the rides breaking down and he wandered off. He just wanted to see the little girl again. He liked her. He wanted to play. He would never hurt anyone. He went into the fathers room by mistake. He came after him with an axe and he hit Joey with it so he got mad. That's all- I mean that's understandable. I mean, isn't it? He gets hit with an axe and he gets mad? He was sorry as soon as he did it. He even put them back in bed. He just got angry. And I was too late! I couldn't save them. But every year I take him back and I make him remember what he did. I even make him pick something from the joints to give them. He never forgets, never. I make sure of that. Look, he's a good boy." He rambled.

"Daddy! Daddy!" The heard cries from further inside the carnival grounds,"Daddy!"

The four of them quickly ran over to the shouting, Elijah and Rossi holding Landon back as Emily ran to help Morgan.

"Don't hurt him!" Landon shouted,"Don't fight Joe!"

"Help me, daddy! Daddy, help!"

"I need your cuffs." Morgan looked at Emily,"Mine aren't long enough."

"He won't fight you! Don't you hurt him!"

"Help me!" Joey cried as Emily and Morgan cuffed him.

"He's a good boy, he's a really good boy." Landon sighed.

"Daddy, help me! Daddy!"

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

"When did you say they should be getting back?" Fleur looked over at Reid.

"Approximately.." Reid looked at his watch as the elevator dinged,"Now."

"Right on time." Fleur stood up.

"Flo, how was Connecticut?" Morgan hummed as he walked over.

"Ultimately uneventful. We nearly got killed." Fleur kissed Derek's cheek.

"Start with that, why don't you?" Morgan sighed as he held her waist.

"It was great. Reid talked our way out of it." Fleur shrugged.

"That's true." Reid nodded.

"You both survived." Elijah hopped in, still trying to tie his shoe.

"What the- Did you take your shoes off?" Reid got up.

"No- I stepped on my lace and it came undone." Elijah sighed.

"He also fell over after tripping on said lace." Emily nodded.

Reid sighed, putting some sanitizer on his hands before kneeling down and tying his lace.

"Thank you." Elijah mumbled.

"Welcome." Reid hummed.

"I'm glad you're both okay." Elijah hugged him.

"Me too." Reid sighed, hugging back.

"What's Kevin doing in Rossi's office?" Emily raised a brow as Rossi walked over.

"Oh- Sir. He wants to talk to you." Reid looked up at Rossi as he sat back down.

"Agent Rossi. We need to talk. About Penelope." Kevin walked out of the office,"Man to man."

"Man to man." Rossi nodded, walking up to his office.

"What about Penelope?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know.' Reid shook his head.

"Garcia and Kevin sitting in a tree" Fleur sang.

"No." Elijah gasped, crossing his arms,"You're kidding me."

"Just when I thought nothing scandalous was going to happen around here." Emily laughed.

"What? What do you mean?" Reid blinked.

"Didn't you hear Fleur?" Morgan chuckled.

"The song meant something? No. No, I missed it." Reid looked up at them.

"Yeah it- Nevermind." Fleur shook her head.

"What?" Reid looked up at Elijah.

"I'll explain it to you later, hun." Elijah patted his shoulder.

"But-" Reid looked between them all.

"I will tell you later."

Reid nodded, looking down.