Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A/N: This is the last chapter folks. Thank you so much for supporting the story, adding it to your alerts and favorites but most of all for your reviews and PM's. They mean a lot. You're the greatest. And, as always, a special thanks to mablereid for the help and encouragement.

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The sun was starting to set through the picture window in Kayleigh's living room, the purples, oranges and yellows melded together in a fantastic medley of color. She sat on her sofa, silent, just staring at the sight she'd despaired she might never see again.

"Are you okay?" The voice beside her said softly. "Can I get you something? I'm not much of a cook but…"

He stopped speaking as she reached over and took his hand. "No thanks, I'm okay. I just want to sit here and… recover."

"I know," Reid said. "The kidnapping's bad enough but then you have to deal with the aftermath, the hospital, the tests and the cognitive interview from law enforcement when all you want to do is scream 'leave me alone'."

Kayleigh nodded. "Thanks for getting me away from the press like you did. I couldn't have gone through that. I don't know how you managed to lose them."

"They teach us all kinds of driving skills in FBI training at the TEVOC, that's the tactical and emergency vehicle operations centre; slalom, offensive, evasive…you know that kind of thing. Don't tell Morgan. He always wants to be the one in control of the vehicle. I think he forgets sometimes that I had to pass the same tests as he did to become a field agent."

She gave him a slight grin. "Your secret's safe with me." She paused. "You said…you know… in the basement and the way you talked just now…"

"I had an incident a few years back where an unsub got a jump on me and had me captive for a couple of days. He was extremely psychotic so it was a tough time."

"I'm sorry," Kayleigh looked into his soulful eyes. "There's more isn't there?"

"That's for another day," Reid replied.

Kayleigh nodded. "So, how did you figure out it was Joyce?"

Here it was, the moment of truth.

"We got a search warrant for your place."

"A search warrant," she repeated as her hand let go of his. "So you really did think I was the killer?"

"No, no I didn't. That's why I wanted the search warrant."

"It was you who asked for it?" She moved over putting some space between them.

"The search warrant was supposed to be for looking for some of the killer's murder weapons but that's not why I wanted in here, it was just my legal way to get in," Reid babbled before coming up for air.

"And you were looking for…?"

"Your handwriting, I analyze handwriting and if we could compare it to the note, I could prove to my team that you and the killer were two completely different people." He paused for a moment. "I took pictures of your paper for your Ethics in Law class. It's a very good paper actually. You should get an A."

"So then you didn't actually search my place," Kayleigh heaved a sigh of relief, looking around the room. Nothing appeared to be out of place.

Reid didn't speak for a moment. "Yeah, we did, well the others did. I just stayed in your computer room and took pictures of your paper with my phone. JJ and Emily went through your bedroom so none of us guys saw your personal stuff."

"My personal stuff…my personal stuff…" she shouted as she stood and backed away from him to the china cabinet where she picked up an intricately carved redware pot with feather designs all around it and held it up for him to see. "This is all my personal stuff."

What could he say to that? They had invaded her privacy in a big way in the one place she had the right to feel safe from the world. And it had been his idea…to prove he was right.

"I still don't see how analyzing my handwriting led you to Joyce," she said angrily, her arms crossed in front of her.

Okay, get ready to have your butt kicked out of here in ten seconds.

"You mentioned her in your journal." He winced as he spoke, preparing himself to be slapped across the face.

Kayleigh gasped as both her eyes and her mouth opened to their limits. "You read my journal?"

"Not me," he put up his hands. "Hotch thought we should read it. Emily was the only one who read everything and she only read the parts out loud that had to do with the murders or the FBI." He went on to tell her about the team's looking into Tyler's death and discovering the cover up at CPD that led them to Joyce. "So you see if we hadn't read it we wouldn't have known about Joyce and we might not have found you." He hoped that would smooth things over a bit.

"Did she read the things I said about you?"

"Um hmm," he nodded.

Kayleigh's face flushed and she turned, running her fingers over the feather motif on the pot, refusing to face him. "I bet you all found it really funny," she said finally and Reid could hear the tears in her voice.

"No, nobody thought it was funny. I was kind of embarrassed because women don't usually give me a second glance."

"Yeah, right, don't they have women working at Quantico?" she asked still not facing him.

"Yeah, of course they do," Reid replied.

"Do you guys have to have physicals?"

"Of course," Reid was not getting the point to this at all.

"There must be something really wrong with your eye charts then." She gave a slight laugh before bursting into tears.

Reid wasn't exactly sure what to do. He wasn't used to crying women but his instincts took over and he stepped forward, turned her gently to face him and put his arms around her while she cried on his shoulder for what she'd been through, for the people who'd been killed, for her mother, for Tyler Burgess and last of all, for Joyce.

Finally the tears subsided "I suppose I should thank you then; if you hadn't gotten the search warrant who knows where I might be now," she said as she stepped back from him, wiping her face with her hands. "I guess that's the end of that."

"I certainly hope not," Reid replied.

Kayleigh's beautiful green eyes, that were now red from crying, looked into his, "What are you talking about?"

"I hope that's not the last time you cry on my shoulder, not that I want you to cry a lot or anything, just that…" he looked at the floor. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I was… around a bit. I mean it's only a couple of hours drive from DC and I'm certainly willing to make the trip if you're willing to…"

"Is it because of what I wrote, because you don't have to take pity…?"

"Pity, are you kidding me? I've had to fight my team this whole case because they thought I was here because of my attraction to you rather than because of the validity of the case."

"Really," her eyes widened.

Reid nodded.

"Well then," she replied in a mock Victorian manner. "I have no problem with keeping company with you Dr. Reid." She stepped closer to him and put her head on his shoulder and her arms around his neck while his arms encircled her again. "No problem at all."

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Reid closed the cover on his report and headed for Hotch's office. Hotch had gone home for the day, as he was wont to do more often since Haley's death, so Reid opened the door and placed the file in the unit chief's in box. Heading back to the bullpen he passed Rossi's open office door.

"You're late leaving," the older agent said.

"I wanted to finish my report," Reid told him.

Rossi got up from his desk and came to the doorway and leaned against the door jamb, crossing one leg in front of the other. "I owe you an apology. You were right to look into the case when I'd outright rejected it. You followed your gut and stuck to your guns, even when we all believed it might be Kayleigh, and I applaud you for that."

"Thank you, thanks for saying that. I'm sorry if I was…difficult and for bringing up Zoe. I know how badly you felt after her death. I thought if I looked into this and it was nothing, no harm, no foul. At least it wouldn't be on my conscience."

Rossi nodded, "How's Kayleigh doing?" He asked.

"She was pretty shaken up by the whole thing but she's strong, she'll be okay."

"You're right about that. She was wonderful in a tough situation trying to talk Joyce down. She did as well as any negotiator I've ever trained. Whatever area of the law she chooses will be lucky to have her, just between you and me; I hope she chooses the bureau." A slight smirk came to Rossi's face. "And are you going to personally be around to make sure that she's okay?"

Reid's face flushed slightly and he looked down before facing Rossi again. "I'm going to try as much as I can. I hope I don't blow it, you know I'm not very knowledgeable about women."

"Well," Rossi said, turning back into his office to grab his jacket and turn out the light, "you're in luck because I happen to have a lot of knowledge in that area. Let's say I buy you a drink and we talk about it."

"Rossi, you've been divorced three times!"

"I said I had knowledge. I didn't say I was good at it."