"Right, where do you want these?" Elijah asked, holding the decorations in his hand.

"How about hanging from the door?" Reid suggested.

"Right." Elijah nodded, grabbing a stool.

"Do you- Please be careful."

"I am so careful."

"That stook has three legs."

"And?" Elijah raised a brow as he sat it by the door.

"It has one more leg than you and still isn't sturdy." Reid walked over

"Look." Elijah stood on top of it,"See?"

"Careful." He held his waist

"Reid, I'm not going to fall." Elijah sighed.

"Still."

"Watch." Elijah hung up the decoration,"Tada."

"Well done." He hummed

"Right, catch me." Elijah jumped into his arms.

"Remember I'm not too strong." Reid laughed and caught him.

"You're strong enough for me." He hummed.

"Thanks?" Reid chuckled.

Elijah kissed Reid gently, cupping his face,"God, I love you."

"And I love you." Reid hummed.

"Now, decorating. How did we do?" Elijah looked around.

"I think we've done great." Reid placed Elijah down,"Are we dressing up this year?"

"Well, I want to.. But I don't know what I want to be." Elijah shrugged.

"We could do as a duo?" He suggested.

"What did you have in mind?" Elijah raised a brow.

"I'm not sure."

"Well, we'll think of something." Elijah assured anything.

"Hopefully." Reid nodded slowly.

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

"Already looking so festive in here." Morgan hummed.

"You say that like it's Christmas." Fleur chuckled.

"They're both holidays, babygirl." He turned to her.

"I don't know what one I like more." Fleur looked at him.

"Well, I certainly prefer Christmas." Morgan shrugged.

"Because you get gifts?"

"You don't see a bunch of people in masks."

"You can't be scared." Fleur laughed.

"Hey, I never said that." Morgan pointed.

"You're scared of masks." She smiled.

"Shut that pretty mouth of yours."

Fleur hummed,"Or?"

"I'll do it myself." Morgan smirked.

Fleur bit her cheek,"So, the decorations-"

"What about them?" Morgan put his hands on her waist.

"Very scary." Fleur nodded.

"Good, just what we want."

Fleur hummed,"I love it."

"I'm glad." He smiled.

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

"What do you mean, he's not going?" Garcia blinked,"Every kid loves trick-or-treating."

"Henry's scared." JJ shook her head,"One of his little buddies told him that Halloween was the only time when all the real monster come out because they can blend in."

"Never thought about that. Good monster strategy." Rossi pointed.

"You did tell him it wasn't true, right?" Elijah asked.

"Of course I did, but he's convinced." JJ sighed.

"Childhood fears are resistant to adult logic. Sometimes you just have to wait it out." Rossi told her.

"For how long?"

"Well, if he's twenty-three and this still worries you, then you've got a problem." He chuckled.

"Well, see, the thing is I think I am partly to blame." JJ sighed, getting up.

"How?"

"The other night Will and I were up late, we were having some wine, talking about some of the cases we've worked on, and at one point, I said it felt like there was no end to all the monsters walking around, and.." JJ began as they walked to the Conference Room.

"Henry snuck into the room to listen to the grown-ups." Elijah nodded.

"Yeah. We need a cone of silence for our house." JJ hummed.

Once they walked into the Conference Room, Garcia began with the case.

"For those of you who love a good mystery, please unleash your inner Agatha Christie, 'cause this ones a real humdinger." She began,"Gary Ellard, Barry Deaver, Paul Hicks, Terry Rogers. Over the course of the last month and a half, these four men have gotten in their cars in La Grande, Oregon, and driven into the never-to-be-seen-agains-ville, poof, gone. The last victim Terry Rogera disappeared twenty-four hours ago."

"Forensic evidence point us anywhere?" Fleur asked.

"Uh, point would imply there is evidence, and there is no evidence, at least for the first three victims." She shook her head.

"No Forensics, no witnesses, no random demands. Maybe these guys just voluntarily decided to hit the road." Morgan shrugged.

"Four sudden disappearances in a community this small, this isn't about seeking greener pastures." Rossi sighed.

"Based on last known sightings, we're dealing with a sizeable geographic area. He's efficient and well organised." Hotch mentioned.

"It's not easy to make four people vanish and stay vanished." Morgan shook his head.

"It has been done before, though. Political kidnappings frequently require holding multiple adults simultaneously." Reid explained.

"Or they're already dead. Nothing says 'can't be found' like a shallow grave in the middle of nowhere." Rossi shrugged.

"Assuming they are alive, how is the UnSub controlling them?" Fleur asked.

"And for what purpose?" Elijah questioned.

"The time between abductions is shortening with each victim. Wheels up in thirty." Hotch closed his file.

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

"Garcia, anything on the last victim, Terry Rogers?" Hotch asked her.

"Only than he's unemployed and lives in a cabin in the woods." Garcia shrugged,"But primitive, like no flush toilet primitive."

"That doesn't fit with the victimology of the other three." Morgan shook his head,"Ellard coaches track and field at a local college, Deaver's a small business owner, and Hicks is an attorney."

"All married with young families." Fleur mentioned.

"Another difference, the first three victims were all born and raised in Le Grande. Terry Rogers only moved to town a couple months ago." Rossi added.

"Garcia, anything on the last victim, Terry Rogers?" Hotch asked her.

"Only thar he's unemployed and lives in a cabin in the woods." Garcia shrugged,"But primitive, like no flush toilet primitive."

"That doesn't fit with the victimology of the other three." Morgan shook his head,"Ellard coaches track and field at a local college, Deaver's a small business owner, and Hicks is an attorney."

"All married with young families." Fleur mentioned.

"Another difference, the first three victims were all born and raised in Le Grande. Terry Rogers only moved to town a couple months ago." Rossi added.

"Do we know where from, Garcia?" Reid asked.

"Rhode Island. Though there's a five month gap between Terry being in Rhode Island and then arriving in Oregon. Where he was and what he was doing is a big fat blank." Garcia answered

"It says here that vomit was found in the vicinity of his abduction." Morgan looked at the file.

"Uh, thank you for reminding me about that disgusting detail, Dreamy D. Yes, that vomit has been collected and is being analyzed as we speak, and I'm very glad that I have this job and someone has that one and it's not me."

"Rodgers is the obvious anomaly of the four, but there's no apparent overlap between any of the victims." Reid added.

"It's almost like the Unsub was selecting his targets at random." Blake agreed

"Blake, Morgan and Deans go talk to the families of the victims. See if there's anything that links them that's not on paper. Dave and I will go to the abduction site. Reid, JJ and Howards go to Terry Rodgers cabin. He's the one we know least about. Maybe he made himself obscure for a reason." Hotch sighed.

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

"Mrs Deaver, did your husband give any indication at all that something might be wrong the night he disappeared?" Morgan asked

"No, not at all. Barry was supposed to coach our son's Little League game that night." Geena nodded.

"So he wasn't depressed or preoccupied?" Blake questioned.

"Nothing. It was a day like any other day... This is what happens to other people, you see it on the news, you know. Give it what, thirty seconds of your time? Shake your head, go back to whatever stupid thing you were doing. Washing dishes or putting away laundry. You never think it's going to happen to you." Geena teared up.

"We'll do our best to find him, Ma'am." Elijah assured her.

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

"Tread marks were inconclusive, probably from a pick-up truck." Sheriff Corwin told them as she walked in before noticing their map,"What's that?"

"The likely routes our four victims took on the day they disappeared." Blake answered.

"Gary Ellard, apartment, DMV, was a no-show at his morning class at Eastern Oregon University." Morgan pointed,"Barry Deaver, home, gass station, never made it to his karate group. Paul Hicks, home, daughter's preschool, doctor's appointment, he was supposed to meet a client over here but never showed. And we already know about Terry Rogers."

"And all this tells you what?" She asked.

"It's more about what it doesn't tell us. None of the lines intersect." Hotch nodded.

"I just had a chat with Terry Rodgers personal trainer. She said he never talked about his private life." Rossi walked in.

"He's shelling out for a personal trainer? This is a guy with no indoor plumbing." Elijah shook his head.

"She said he was dedicated. Not in great shape, but dedicated." Rossi sighed.

"Hey, you're talking to the room, PG." Morgan told Garcia as he called her.

"Mm, if by PG, you mean parental guidance strongly advised, I say PA, prudent advice. Okay, here's what happened. I checked all the employees and vendors and delivery people who work at the supermarket where Terry Rodgers bought his groceries and there were no red flags. Also, Barry Deaver, the second victim, I found his car." Garcia hummed.

"Where?" Hotch asked.

"Impounded. It was abandoned three weeks ago on Fish Hatchery Road, picked up by Gus's Towing Service, where it has been collecting dust and racking up storage fees ever since." Garcia explained.

"Where's Fish Hatchery Road?" He questioned.

Rossi pointed on the map,"Off the beaten track, like Terry Rodgers. Looks like the UnSubs hunting grounds are rural and remote."

"Well, to have ended up there, Barry Deaver must have gone on a diagonal, north first and then headed west towards his karate class." Elijah crossed his arms.

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

"There's got to be something else that links these victims." Hotch sighed.

"They were all athletic. Ellard teaches track and field, Deaver has a martial arts studio, Paul Hicks had tendinitis from playing competitive tennis." Rossi told him.

"But Rodgers' trainer said that he was out of shape. Did the medical examiner determine Rodgers time of death?" Hotch asked.

"Three hours from when he was found at the river." Blake nodded.

"So the UnSub kept Rodgers alive for the entire day before drowning him." Rossi sighed.

"Go ahead, Garcia." Hotch answered his phone.

"Okay! I've got something. It's been really bugging me. I can't figure out what Terry Rodgers was doing those missing five months. I mean, you can't sit on a park bench in this country and not leave a paper trail."

"But you figured it out." Elijah nodded slowly

Kayleigh

"No, this is me venting. What I did figure out was what Terry Rodgers was doing in Rhode Island before he went AWOL. Check it. He was married, divorced, married again, currently way behind on child support payments to wife number two, and that's all I know. So if you'll excuse me, I have more digging to do." Garcia hung up.

"Owes child support. Could explain why Rogers vanished for five months." Blake shrugged.

"And why he lives off the grid. Hard to find." Rossi nodded.

"And that's what links him to the other victims. They all fathered children." Hotch realised.

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

"We believe the UnSub that we're looking for is a woman, who is highly organised, she's thorough, and she's patient." Hotch began to give the profile.

"Based on the complexity and sophistication of the abductions, we think she is most likely between the ages of thirty and forty." Reid continued.

"She's familiar with the rural area surrounding La Grande. Either a native or someone who's lived there for a while." Fleur added.

"We think she's keeping her victims in isolation in the countryside, which means she has access to land or a structure that is remote, hidden and private." Morgan told them.

"She's abducting exceptionally health conscious men, ideal specimens, if you will." Blake sighed.

"Specimens. For what?" Corwin questioned.

"Possible breeding." JJ nodded.

"The ability to father children is something we think she's looking for in her victims." Hotch explained,"They're all age-appropriate, and they are all fathers."

"But why kill the last victim?" Corwin asked.

"She may have seen them as being flawed. He was the least phsycially fit of the four, and he neglected to pay child support." Reid informed her.

"Making him undesirable." Blake added.

"The victims may be surrogates for a man that she wants but she can't have." Morgan nodded.

"Because she killed the last victim, we have to consider the possibility that the UnSub is engaged in some sort of elimination process." Fleur explained.

"Preselecting a handful of prime candidates and then whittling them down one by one until she has her ideal breeding partner." Elijah crossed his arms.

"And if this is the case, then the killings just begun." Hotch nodded.

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

"That was Hotch. The doctor told him the placenta was scraped completely out of the uterus. Every bit of it." Rossi sighed as he put the phone down.

"You know, the placenta does carry special significance in many cultures. In ancient Egypt it has it's own hieroglyph. And the Ibo tribe in Nigeria considered it to be the child's dead twin." Reid hummed.

"Well, that would be helpful, if our Unsub was an Egyptian or Ibo tribeswoman, but.." JJ shrugged.

Reid looked down, thinking of something.

"I can hear the high-pitched whine from your IQ all the way over here. What us it?" Rossi questioned.

"It could be placentophagy." Reid looked up.

"What?" JJ blinked.

"Consuming it. In the wild, it's common for animals to eat their own afterbirth. It's super rich in nutrients." Reid explained.

"Woah, woah, woah, wait." Elijah held his hand up,"So this Unsub might have harvested this last victim.. For food?"

"Mhm." Reid nodded.

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

"Sheriff, the surgeon who operated on Cheryl Winslow said that whoever did the C-section might have done one before." Hotch told her.

"If she did, we never heard about it. Nothing like this has ever happened in La Grande." Corwin shook her head.

"Well, we can keep looking, expand the search radius to nearby towns." Morgan suggested.

"Or look at farms. My grandparents had a farm in Pennsylvania. Once my grandmother had to deliver a calf by c-section to a cow in distress." JJ explained.

That's when Hotch's phone rang,"Go ahead, Garcia."

"I have got something. Emma Kerrigan. She runs a small juice and vegetable stand at the farmers market, and she works part time giving out free samples at the health food Co-op. I'm sending you her picture now." She hummed.

"That sounds like our Unsub." JJ nodded.

"Where does she live?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, Piping Rocks Farms, west of town, with one hundred acres, belonged to her husband's family."

"Wait, she has a husband?" Fleur blinked.

"Had. Died in a car accident a year and a half ago, leaving her and a ten year old daughter." Garcia answered.

"Let's go." Hotch nodded.

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

After managing to catch Emma, in the midst of trying to 'heal' her daughter, the team headed back to the headquarters.

"I assume you're not trick-or-treating either?" Rossi turned to Morgan.

"Ah, I've already got my treats, Rossi." Morgan hummed.

"Then, I'm buying dinner." He chuckled.

"I'm in." Derek nodded.

"Ah, excuse me, everybody. I have an announcement to make." JJ told them as she walked in,"As im sure some of you were aware, Henry was a little nervous about going trick-or-treating this year. But he's decided to go anyway."

"Great. What changed his mind?" Rossi asked.

"The BAU did. I told him that he should go out on Halloween and try to figure out which monsters were real and which ones are not." She hummed.

"So he wants to be a profiler?" Fleur tilted her head.

"Ah. He wants to be his favourite profiler." JJ smiled.

Henry then came out with Garcia.. He was dressed as Spencer.

"Yeah! Wow! You look great, Henry." Reid laughed, crouching down.

Garcia leaned down to Henry, whispering,"Tell him."

"E equals mc squared!" Henry smiled.

"The monsters don't stand a chance." Fleur gasped.

"Oh, Henry. I think I've got just the thing to make that costume even better." Elijah pointed before reaching into his bag.

"What?" Henry turned to Elijah.

"Well, I did buy this for myself, but I've decided that since you're my favourite nephew.." Elijah walked over to Henry and handed him a black cat plush,"You deserve a little sidekick to help you catch the monsters."

"Thank you." Henry smiled, taking it.

"You're welcome, little buddy." Elijah ruffled his hair.

"Let's go get some candy." JJ took his hand,"Thanks Eli."

"Just doing my job." Elijah shrugged.

"Watch out, pretty boy." Morgan hummed.

Reid smiled, shaking his head. God, they all loved that kid.