--So, i wrote this for a friend of mine. Hope u like it! Later chaps will be rated M, just a warning now. Enjoy!--

Chaos Theory

1

Since You've Been Gone

Edenton, North Carolina

It had been two years. Two whole years since anyone had seen him. The day he had disappeared was like any other. The last time Morgan had seen his friend he'd looked over his shoulder and waved on his way out the door. Then the next day…It was like he had vanished off the face of the Earth. In an instant, he was nothing more than a memory.

Forensics found nothing; police found nothing, his apartment looked like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. His car was parked in its usual spot, cell phone and wallet inside, and everywhere around it was clean. They had nothing to go on. Absolutely nothing.

Morgan stared down at the scratched bar underneath his arms, holding a shot glass between his hands, thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Hotch.

"We can't just give up on him!" He had exclaimed. Hotch shut his office door and crossed to his desk.

"Morgan, we've had cases piling up for months. Other people need our help."

"So that's it, you're just gonna let Reid die?!" He bellowed.

"Morgan," Hotch said calmly. "I understand why you're so upset. Reid was my friend too. And if he were here right now he would tell you how improbable it would be for him to still be alive after a year and a half. You know that." Morgan shook his head, blinking furiously.

"No," He said firmly. "Until I see his body he is not dead. I won't give up on him, Hotch. I can't." Hotch nodded.

"None of us are, Morgan. But we do have to move one just in case we never find him. Do you think He would want us to leave these other people calling to us for help? Because I don't." He said. Morgan bowed his head, sniffed and looked back up.

"I'll go to wherever we need to go. I'll work on any and every case we have. But when we aren't doing anything I'm workin' on this." He said sternly. Hotch immediately handed him the case file.

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything else." He said.

Morgan shook his head, bringing himself back to the bar. He brought the glass closer to his face, staring at the amber liquid.

"Happy Birthday, Kid." He whispered, knocking it back a second later.

"Hey," A familiar voice said behind him, a warm hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Baby Girl, I'm okay." He said. She sat on the barstool next to him, looking like she didn't believe him.

"Gorgeous, I may not be a profiler but I can tell when you're upset." She said, smiling lightly. He shook his head.

"I know He's out there somewhere, Penelope. I'd know if he wasn't. And I can't let him go, I just can't." He said quietly. Garcia put her hand on his shoulder again, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I know you can't, Derrick. I get it," She paused. "I had to move on. I had to let Him go, Sugar. It hurt too much to hang onto Him."

"I know, Garcia. It's alright." He mumbled. She squeezed his shoulder again.

"If He's out there we'll find him. Or He'll find us. It's not like He's stupid." She said, smiling. He attempted one back, staring at his hands.

"It's His birthday." He stated. She nodded.

"I know. He's 25 now, right?" She asked. He nodded. "J.J.'s been crying off and on all day. Gideon hasn't talked much. Hotch hasn't either. Emily didn't talk to him much, and Rossi's never met him so..." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I sure do miss that little genius." Morgan swallowed, nodding again.

"We should get back to the case," He said. She nodded. "Have we found the guy's house yet?" She shook her head.

"My search engines are still going trying to find the guy's name. As soon as they do that we can find his house." She assured. He nodded, standing and tossing a twenty onto the counter.

"We should get back then."

Edenton Police Station

Gideon rubbed his temples, trying not to think at all. His head ached terribly from attempting this. The boy's face was still as fresh in his mind as it was the day he went missing. He remembered mentoring him to the best of his ability, broadening his thinking, opening his mind to anything. He was like a son to him.

"You alright?" Rossi asked, sitting next to him.

"Just thinkin'." He said truthfully.

He smiled to himself, thinking about the first time Spencer had beat him at chess.

"I never got to meet Spencer," Rossi said. "What was he like?" Gideon smiled again

"He was smart, very smart. Genius. He wasn't arrogant about it, though. He wasn't arrogant about anything. He was always trying to prove himself. And he had the ambition to do it. But no matter what he did it was never good enough. That's what he thought, anyway. And he loved to learn."

"Sounds like a good kid." Rossi said, smiling lightly. Gideon nodded.

"Today's his birthday." He said quietly.

"That explains a lot, then." Rossi glanced over at J.J., who was blowing her nose.

"Uh, sir," The two men turned. Garcia was looking at Gideon, looking anxious. "I, I think I found the guy's house."

Bullet proof vests were fastened in place, guns were loaded, their attentions were heightened to "on edge".

Hotch was grateful for the distraction. He couldn't take the silence around him much longer. He'd been wondering a lot lately what it would be like if Reid was still here.

We'd get answers to a lot of questions a lot faster. He thought, trying to laugh about the awful situation. He had to. If he didn't he'd go insane.

He truly did think Spencer was dead. And he didn't like to think about how he died. Spencer wouldn't just leave. No, there was something wrong. He'd known that since day one. And he hoped the son of a bitch that took him burned in the lowest depths of Hell. Spencer was almost –if not totally- innocent. He'd never hurt anyone in any situation that wasn't life or death. So for anyone to hurt him had to be damnable.

"Hotch, you in there?" Morgan asked. Hotch nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." He said.

There was no car parked in the gravel driveway, or anywhere near the property for that matter. Nevertheless, they had to go through their routine of bashing in a locked door and running from room to room yelling "Clear!".

Hotch checked all of the corners in the living room of the rickety farmhouse and the kitchen.

"Clear!" He shouted, lowering his gun.

Morgan opened a door that led to a basement and quickly went down it, gun pointed down the darkened hall. Hotch walked toward the back rooms where other officers were quickly clearing them one by one.

He walked in what he assumed was the man's bedroom, holstering his gun and looking around, trying to see what he could understand about this man that he hadn't known before.

That's when someone yelled from downstairs.

"HOTCH!"

--uh oh! Ok, so that's chapter one. Tell me what u think! (How'd ya like it Lizzie?)--