Before you read a little triggerwarning to... nearly everything... so please imagine the list here. 

I won't write episode to episode and every storyline in this show, because that would be to much.  

And english is not my first language so please excuse my gramma and spelling mistakes.

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"The beginning is always today."

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Parker Gallagher stood in front of the mirror and considered what they should wear to the date this evening. They held a red wool sweater in one hand and a blue one in the other hand.

"The red one or the blue one?" they asked loudly and addressed their boyfriend who was standing in the living room waiting for them– like most of the time.

"The blue one," the young man replied. He liked that sweater, because it flattered their body and they looked so cute in it at the same time.

That made the profiler chuckle– needless to say, they put on the blue wool sweater. Parker and their boyfriend were really looking forward to the date. It had been so long since they had one.

"When was our last one again? Three months ago?"

"Three months, two weeks, five days and 14 hours."

The young man was now standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Parker rolled their eyes and turned away from the mirror to their boyfriend.

"Of course," Parker mumbled. They sounded annoyed, but the young man knew that was what Parker loved about him.

He walked up to his better half and put his arms around them. He laid his chin on their shoulder and the couple looked at their reflections in the mirror.

Unfortunately, the young man's cell phone rang at the same moment.

"Sometimes I hate our job," Parker muttered as Spencer answered his phone.

~~~~

The team had a new case and Hotch, the unit chief, asked Spencer and Parker to bring Jason Gideon back on the team. Gideon had been on hiatus for a while and was now supposed to come back.

Parker was happy about the decision. They mist Gideon and the BAU wasn't the same without him.

Today Gideon was giving one of his lectures to a group of students when the young agents entered the room.

The older man looked at them questioningly, while Spencer just silently pointed to the file he was holding.

"Excuse me," Gideon addressed the students and left the classroom with Spencer and Parker.

The older Profiler wasted no time and asked directly, why they were here.

"They're calling him the Seattle strangler. 4 victims in 4 months," Spencer began to explain as they walked down the corridors.

"He keeps them alive for 7 days. The handle serves as a crank," Parker continued.

"Allowing him to control the rate of suffocation," Gideon voiced his thought while looking at the pictures in the file.

"To prolong it?" Parker asked.

"To enjoy it."

"Seattle's hit a wall?" Gideon asked.

"Physical evidence is nonexistent. There are no tangible leads," Spencer explained.

"And another girl is missing," Gideon said and entered his small office.

He went to his desk and continued looking through the file.

"I looked the case file over. I'll get some thoughts to you asap," Gideon said.

"You're gonna be with us in Seattle asap," explained SSA Aaron Hotchner. He and SSA Derek Morgan also entered the office.

"22-year-old Heather Woodland," Morgan said, giving Gideon a picture of the latest victim.

"Before she left for lunch, she downloaded an email with a time-delayed virus attached. The killer's virus wiped her hard drive and left this on the screen."

Hotch gave the other agent a picture of the screen where the message read, "For heaven's sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself."

The message was similar to the one the Lipstick Killer left on the crime scene in 1945.

"He never keeps them for more than 7 days, which means we have fewer than 36 hours to find her," Hotch said.

"They want you back in the saddle," Derek added.

"You ready?" Parker asked.

"Looks like medical leave's over, boss", commented Spencer.

"They sure they want me?" Gideon asked uncertainty.

"The order came from the director."

"Well, we'd better get started."

~~~~

Joseph Conrad said,

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

In the Jed, with which the team flew to their place of action, they discussed the case further.

"His first victim was 26-year-old Melissa Kirsh," Spencer read the file. "Stab wounds, strangulation–"

"Wait, wait. Back up. Back up," Morgan interrupted. "He stabbed her... and then strangled her to finish her off?"

"Other way around."

"Why do you think he started using the belt with the second murder?" Gideon asked, looking at Spencer and Parker.

"Strangulation with your bare hands is not as easy as one would believe," Spencer began. "He tried, probably found that it took too long."

"So he stabbed her instead," Parker added. "And realized it would be hours cleaning up the blood. Next time, our boy's got a method- the belt."

"He's learning, perfecting his scenario. Becoming a better killer."

~~~~

As the team arrived at the FBI field office the agents walked into the bullpen area with desks and other agents.

It was much more... confusing than in Quantico, where everything was orderly. Parker was a little nervous. The young agent didn't like crowds, and right now there were too many people.

Spencer put his hand on Parker's shoulder.

The two didn't really show any affection– they were at work after all– but he knew the small gesture made them feel better.

Parker gave Spencer a small smile as he walked past them.

"This is special agent Gideon," Hotch tore Parker out of their thoughts. "Special agent Morgan, our expert on obsessional crimes, special agent Reid."

"Dr. Reid," corrected Gideon Hotch.

"Dr. Reid," Hotch repeated. "our expert on... well, everything and special agent Gallagher, our expert on Dr. Reid. And after 2 years busting my butt in this office, I hope you all remember me."

While Hotch introduced the team members, they went to the boards on the wall and looked at what the local team had put together so far.

"He's willing to travel with the body," Gideon pointed out.

"Then he drives a vehicle capable of concealing one."

"1 in 7.4 drivers in Seattle owns an SUV," Spencer explained.

"Explorer with tinted windows," suggested Morgan.

"Explorers rate higher with women," Parker pointed out

"But how do we know it's his car?" Morgan asked. "Ted Bundy drove a VW Bug."

"What about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotch suggested.

"Jeep's are more masculine," Spencer disagreed.

"We all know how an unsub feels about asserting his masculinity," Gideon said, turning away from the board.

"When did the bureau become involved in the case?" Hotch wanted to know.

"After the fourth body. He dumped that one out of state."

"On purpose?" Parker asked.

"If so, knowledge of law enforcement does suggest a criminal record," Spencer said.

"Or that he watches television. May I?"

One of the other agents handed out the file he was holding to Morgan.

"So, you wanna see our suspect list?" the agent asked.

"No, we won't look at a suspect list until after we come up with a profile. It keeps our perspective unbiased."

"When do we sit down with your task force?" Gideon asked.

"4:00."

"An accurate profile by 4:00 today?"

Morgan sounded skeptical and Parker and Spencer also exchanged an irritated look. That wasn't much time.

"That's not a problem," Gideon assured.

'Is it?', they asked themselves. Don't get it wrong, they trusted Gideon, but a few hours wasn't enough time to deliver a working Profile– even if Gideon was involved.

"Agent Gideon, where would you like to start?"

"Let's start at the site of the last murder."

~~~~

Gideon and Morgan drove to the crime scene while Hotch, Spencer and Parker drove to the missing woman's brother, David Woodland. He was at the victim's house taking care of the dog.

The dog, a golden retriever, saw Hotch first and then Spencer. And when Sandy saw the young genius, she barked at him.

"Sandy, no, no, no. I'm so sorry."

"No, it's ok. It's what we call the 'Reid effect'. Happens with children, too," Hotch joked.

Parker would have written this event in their journal if they hadn't been distracted by Sandy. The dog was let loose by David, and walked slowly towards them, tail wagging.

The young agent squatted on the floor and started petting the dog.

"And that's the 'Parker effect'", added Hotch and couldn't help but smile a little.

"I'm Agent Hotchner. These are agents Gallagher and Dr. Reid."

"You look too young to have gone to medical school," said David, amazed.

"They're PhD's. 3 of them", mumbled Spencer and looked around the living room.

"Are you a genius or something?"

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified- but I do have an I.Q. of 187 and an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute," Spencer answered the question unhelpfully.

"Yes, he's a genius," Parker replied for their boyfriend.

Spencer continued looking around while Parker got up. Sandy didn't seem to like that and she barked at Parker.

"Sandy, you get a lot of attention, don't you?"

"Yeah, Heather loves this dog. I feed her when Heather's away. Usually, she's fine, but... lately, she won't eat. It's almost like she can sense something's wrong."

"Not sense. Smell," Spencer spoke up. "Our apocrine sweat gland releases secretions in response to emotional stress."

David looked from Spencer to Hotch and then to Parker.

"Sandy's worried because she knows you are," Parker translated Spencer's explanation.

It was like Hotch said - Parker was the expert on Spencer.

"David, does your sister drive a Datsun Z?," Spencer asked. The young man stood at a small shelf and scanned the mail.

"No, but she's in the market for one. How'd you know?"

In response, the young genius held up a magazine about said car. Sandy suddenly barked another time and David took her to another room.

"There's an immediate relationship established between a buyer and a seller, a level of trust. If I want to coax a young woman into my car..." Spencer said.

"– offer her a test drive."

~~~~

A short time later, the team found themselves in the field office and put their information's together.

"Okay, then how about the fact that on one hand, we have paranoid psychosis... but the autopsy protocol says what?"

"Adhesive residue shows he put layer after layer of duct tape over his victims' eyes," Spencer said, spinning in circles on his chair.

"He knows he wants to kill them, but he still covers their eyes. He doesn't want them looking at him, apparently," Parker summarized.

"Paranoid."

"Okay, but then he takes the body and dumps it right out in the open, murder weapon nearby," Morgan pointed out.

"It's not the MO of a paranoid convinced he's being watched or surveilled–", said Spencer, still spinning in his chair.

Parker grabbed the armrest, bringing it to a halt. Before Spencer got dizzy, which could happen quickly with something like that.

They continued arguing for a few moments until Gideon interrupted them.

"All right, enough. Let's tell them we're ready."

"We're ready?" Morgan repeated in disbelief as Gideon left the room.

"Reid, Parker. You're good with this?", the profiler addressed the two of them. "We've got a woman who's only got a few hours left to live, an incomplete profile, and a unit chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

For the last part, Gideon had come back into the room because he had forgotten his keys.

"They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore," Gideon said and disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

"It's called a major depressive episode."

"I know, Reid."

~~~~

A few minutes later, the young agent found themself with their team and other important people in the briefing room.

"Parker, I want you to present the profile," Gideon told them.

The young agent looked at Gideon in surprise. They hated speaking in front of people, it always reminded them of school...

Also, they had never presented a profile and strongly denied that anyone would take them seriously.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Parker asked.

"You'll manage," Gideon assured.

Parker looked at Spencer, who just gave them an encouraging nod.

The young agent wasn't convinced, but moved to the front where everyone could see them. They took a deep breath and, despite the skeptical looks of some, began to speak.

"The unidentified subject is white and in his late 20's. He's someone you wouldn't notice at first. He's someone who'd blend into any crowd. The violent nature of the crime suggests a previous criminal record- petty crimes. Maybe auto theft. We've classified him as an organized killer- careful. Psychopathic as opposed to psychotic. He follows the news, has good hygiene. He's smart. 'Cause he's smart, the only physical evidence you'll find is what he wants you to find. He's mobile, car in good condition. Our guess- Jeep Cherokee, tinted windows. The murders have all involved rapes. But rape without penetration is a form of piquerism, and that tells us he's sexually inadequate. Psychiatric evaluations will show a history of paranoia stemming from a childhood trauma- death of a parent or family member. And now he feels persecuted and watched. Murder gives him a sense of power. Organized killers have a fascination with law enforcement. They will inject themselves into the investigation. They will even come forward as witnesses to see just how much the police really know. That makes them feel powerful, in control. So, you have already interviewed him."

~~~~

The team quickly had a suspect, Richard Slessman. The weird thing was that he didn't really fit the profile. The FBI searched the house. They didn't found the the victim, but they found a GO game in the occupied attic.

"What kind of game is it?" Agent Elle Greenway asked.

She was the one who lured Slessman out of the house so he could be arrested since he didn't live alone

"In China, it's called wei-chi. Here we call it "go". It's considered to be the most difficult board game ever conceived," explained Spencer.

"Chairman Mao required his generals to learn it," Gideon added.

"It also looks like he's playing himself."

"How can you tell?" Elle wanted to know.

"This might provide an advantage, actually," Spencer said, spinning the board around. "Go is considered to be a particularly psychologically revealing game. There are profiles for every player- the conservative point counter, the aggressor, the finesser."

"What kind of player is Slessman?" Hotch wanted to know.

Spencer took a good look at the game board before looking at Parker. Just two weeks ago they wrapped up a very, very long GO game– the game went on for several months and in the end Spencer won.

It wasn't surprising that he'd won– Parker didn't mind losing.

But after all the years of knowing each other, being friends, and dating, Parker had become a natural opponent.

"Do you recognize it?" Spencer wanted to know. The small grin on his face challenged Parker.

"I'm going to win the next game," Parker whispered so only Spencer could hear.

"Of course."

Parker stood next to Spencer and also looked at the board and the arrangement of the stones.

"Slessman is a... extreme aggressor."

The FBI couldn't find any incriminating material in the house, so they had to try to get into the suspect's computer.

"What's the number 6 at the bottom of the screen?" Elle asked.

"Number of password attempts before the program wipes the hard drive," Morgan explained.

"There could be an email, or a journal in the computer, something that tells us where Heather is," Elle said.

"Do you think you can break in?"

"In 6 tries?" Morgan replied.

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better," Gideon just said.

"Samuel Beckett."

"Try not. Do or do not," Morgan replied.

"Yoda," Parker explained as Gideon looked at them questioningly.

~~~~

Gideon found out that it wasn't just one, but two UnSubs. Mrs. Slessman, the grandmother, had come to the station and was kind enough to answer Hotch a few questions.

With her help, the team quickly had a second name, Charles Lindner, a former cellmate.

Parker and Spencer sat in the office feeling useless as there was nothing, they could do but wait.

"We get an address on Linder?" Hotch asked when he walked past the couple. Then he stopped and handed the list of suspects to another agent.

"It's coming right now," Parker assured. "Does senior management want a field assessment on Gideon?"

"Don't worry about it," Hotch said.

"Are they nervous about him being in charge?" Spencer probed further.

"Aren't you on your way back to Slessman's house to help Morgan?", the older profiler changed the suspect.

For Hotch, the conversation was over and he walked a few steps away before Spencer asked him another question.

"Do you know why he always introduces me as Dr. Reid?"

Hotch stopped, turned around and walked back to Parker and Spencer.

"Because he knows that people see you as a kid, and he wants to make sure that they respect you. That's why he had Parker present the profile," Hotch explained to the two.

As Hotch spoke, the fax came with the requested information.

"What's the address?"

"Don't think it matters anymore."

Linder was dead.

~~~~

Winston Churchill said,

"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see."

Spencer and Parker made their way to Slessman's house. There they helped the police to search through the young man's many CDs. Slessman needed them to fall asleep.

Derek thought this was the best chance of finding out the password.

"We've gone through all the CD's now. Maybe he had a certain system," Parker mumbled, leaning against the wall.

Spencer was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't really heard them. His brilliant mind was working on a solution. He looked around the messy room and his eyes fell on the only CD case with no CD inside.

Where could the CD be? The young man wondered and already had an answer.

He grabbed a case of a certain CD, grabbed Parker's hand, pulled them onto their feet and they left the room.

Parker, having no idea what Spencer was thinking, just followed him back up to the attic. Morgan paced back and forth there.

"Oh, come on! I need a password. I need a password," mumbled Morgan. "What am I looking for? What could I possibly be looking for?"

Derek sat back down in front of the laptop as Spencer and Parker crossed the room and stood next to their colleague.

"I've been thinking about the CD's," Spencer said.

"Oh, Reid, come on. We tried the CD's. We searched, sifted, and sorted through every one of this guy's head-banging heavy metal collection. We gotta find something, or this girl is dead."

"Think we may have missed the obvious," Spencer replied.

The young man opened the CD compartment of the laptop and a CD appeared.

"Reid, what made you think of this?" Derek wanted to know in amazement.

"It was the only empty case," Spencer explained.

"That's my smart boy," Parker said with pride in their voice. "Sorry, my smart man", they corrected themselves.

Spencer, who wasn't used to praise apart from Parker, felt his cheeks turn pink and couldn't help but grin.

"All right," Morgan interrupted the moment, looking back and forth between Spencer and Parker. "I'm an insomniac who listens to Metallica to go to sleep at night. What song could possibly speak to me?"

"Enter Sandman," both suggested.

~~

'Sandman' was the password they were looking for.

The laptop turned on and a live feed opened from where Heather was being held.

While Hotch tried to squeeze out of Slessman where Heather was, Gideon and Elle waited for an address.

"Morgan, can you show me the last 12 images lined up next to each other?" Spencer asked.

"Right there. You see that? The light bulb hanging from the wire?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Morgan wanted to know.

Parker looked at each picture individually and then realized what their boyfriend meant.

"It's shifting positions like it's swaying... like the earth is tilting."

"Not the earth, Parker. The ocean."

With this information, Hotch was able to get Slessman to talk. Gideon and Elle were able to save the young woman. While the second UnSub was shot in the process.

~~

As soon as the sun was up, the team found themselves with other investigators at the crime scene at the Shipyard, where the two UnSubs held their Victims.

"So what kind of report do they want on him?" Morgan asked as Gideon walked past him and Hotch.

"I suppose whether he's fit to be a field agent," Hotch said. "You know, Haley and I were looking at a baby names book. Guess what Gideon means in hebrew."

"Mighty warrior," Spencer said as he and Parker stopped by their colleagues.

"Appropriate," Parker agreed, having Hotch and Morgan each a coffee they brought with them.

"Also Jason means 'Healer'. A cool meaning, if you think about it."

~~

The team flew back the same day.

Hotch and Gideon chatted quietly, Parker and Reid shared the couch and a blanket– the moment the jet took off, they fell asleep. And Morgan sat in one of the armchairs asleep too.

Nietzsche once said,

"When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you."