Everything was going so well. They had found out who the unsub was with 100% certainty, and he was very compliant when they went to arrest him. They didn't even need to talk him down.

That's exactly why they should have seen it coming. All of a sudden, the unsub struck Hotch with a syringe and he dropped to the ground. His tall frame made a thud as it hit the ground, and as melancholic a fact as it is, they had heard that sound hundreds of times. This time it was different, though, forever etched into their minds. It sounded louder, more pronounced, more dramatic. Certainly more life-altering.

Processing of the fact their leader had just been incapacitated was slowed as a powder was tossed at them. They all gasped, then cursed themselves for inhaling it with even more force than otherwise. Morgan recovered first, remembering he was the second-in-command. Rushing forward, he roughly grabbed the unsub and cuffed him, making sure the hard metal dug into the delicate skin on his wrist.

They were all panicking on the inside. What the hell were the dosed with? What the hell was Hotch dosed with? Would he be okay? For goodness sakes, they weren't even sure if he was alive!

The others recomposed themselves and watched with wide eyes, even though they weren't surprised. Hell, they wanted to give the unsub, Williams, a rough treating, too. Morgan pushed the unsub towards Emily and JJ. "Get him out of here."

Rossi knelt down next to Aaron, checking his pulse, muttering, "thank god," when he felt that it was strong and steady. While Hotch's heartbeat was normal, Rossi's was still erratic and quickened with sheer panic.

Reid knew what his strong suits were and wandered over to the unsubs desk and picked up one of the notebooks. It was fancier than the others, leather bound instead of just a standard composition notebook. On the front it was engraved, "E. Williams," in neat cursive. Reid flipped through it speedily, snapping it shut only a few moments later. The noise made a deafening crack in the air, which was cause for concern. Usually Reid would gently shut books, so closing it with such force was definitely notable, a small tell that he was both anxious and angry.

"Morgan?" There was a worried quiver in his voice, which the others picked up on. It was their job to read behavior, after all.

"Yes?" False confidence laced his voice. On the inside he was in pure chaos mode, as their Unit Chief was incapacitated so it was all on him to give out the orders. That was a lot of a responsibility.

"I think Williams cracked the code to de-aging and anti-aging solutions. And if he's correct, then I am almost certain that was what the liquid and the powder was, respectively." Reid seemed far too nonchalant for Rossi and Morgan's taste. They would have thought it was a joke, except they knew even their so-called 'socially oblivious' Reid knew what was appropriate and what wasn't. Plus, they knew that while Reid had trouble dealing with emotions, he could mask his feelings just as well as any of the others. He was acting composed, but on the inside he was feeling a range of emotions, none of which were calm.

Rossi piped in, "What the hell does that mean?"

"If he properly created what he meant to, which I believe he did, then Hotch will be, uh, turning into a child. And we will not age for a long time. Hell, if just one of us inhaled all that powder we'd be practically immortal. According to my calculations, we will all probably have our ageing process halted for the next twenty years." He could barely understand it, so it was a real shock for Morgan and Rossi who hadn't looked through the notebook. That probably wouldn't help their comprehension anyway, as it was filled with scrawlings of long, scientific words that sounded anything but elegant and complicated diagrams.

They glanced down at Aaron. They noticed that his wrinkles were already subsiding, and his hairline moved forward just a fraction of an inch. The dark circles under his eyes faded just a little. Reid recognized him to look like he had in his early BAU days. There was a difference, even if it was subtle.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I mean, remember what the detective said, how the little girl looked exactly like her childhood best friend. What if it was? That's why they were all not reported missing, it's a lot easier for an adult to go missing than a child. I mean, as long as the victims were socially isolated and worked low-profile jobs. If he wanted to experiment, that would explain why it was such a humane killing. He couldn't leave witnesses, but he had no satisfaction from killing them."

There was a lull before Morgan nodded. "That makes sense."

"Okay, but where the hell do we go from here?"

If they were to go to a hospital, the story would blow up with a particularly loud and scandalous blast. Everyone would talk about it, not to mention the fact that many scientists would want to poke and prod them. It made the whole team sick, to think of being seen as a experiment by doctors, especially knowing that there would surely be sick people like Williams who would try to do it without their consent. Just the knowledge alone that this had drove a man to kill was enough for them to know better than to bring this into the public's bright, glaring spotlight.

After informing Prentiss and JJ of the developments, or lack thereof on Hotch's part, they all brainstormed what to do. After they threw around some ideas, some rather ridiculous like having Reid stand in as a doctor despite the fact they had all time and time again reminded him he wasn't that kind of doctor, they finally settled on Morgan's brilliant idea of calling Dr. Kimura and asking her if she or a trusted colleague could check them out.

Reid shakily punched her number into his phone and tapped his foot anxiously as it rung. "Dr. Kimura speaking."

"It's Reid, Dr. Spencer Reid. I. . .my team and I have a situation and we know after the whole anthrax fiasco that you can be trusted with sensitive information and that you can handle intense pressure professionally."

"What's wrong?"

"An unsub drugged us with something we suspect to be his own experiment, and his notes suggest that Hotch was given something to reverse the aging process, and that myself and the others were given something to halt it. Judging by the fact Hotch is already looking a little younger, I think this may be more than theoretical."

"I'll need to see those notes. And I'll need to have someplace to meet you guys." He admired her ability to stay calm, act as though this was an everyday occurrence. Maybe it was for her.

"I can give you a photo, but I can't physically hand over evidence. If need be, I can copy it all down from memory, too. As for meeting you, would the hotel work?" He knew it wasn't ideal, but it was their only option.

"Yes. I look forward to seeing you, Dr. Reid. You can text me the address of the hotel, I may not be there for a while though. I suggest you check everyone's vitals every hour. I trust you know how to do that, even though you aren't a medical doctor," Dr. Kimura chuckled, attempting to add levity to the impossibly difficult situation.

When she arrived, Dr. Kimura got right down to business, practically pushing Reid to sit on the bed for an exam. It would have been humorous given other circumstances.

After assessing everyone to make sure they were okay besides the obvious, and looking through the notes, Dr. Kimura agreed with Reid. She said she'd have to run some more tests in the lab, and that she'd call them if anything unexpected came up in those.

"Agent Hotchner may be passed out for a long, possibly up to the next twenty two hours. Don't worry about that. I will keep in touch about the lab reports with you, Dr. Reid. For the rest of you, if you ever need a doctor, you come to me. Even just a common cold. We still don't know what we are dealing with, fully. That should be all."

A/N: This is going to be my first multi-chapter fanfiction. I decided to go for something a little outside of my comfort zone and went for a de-aging story. Of course, I put a twist on it (as Reid is usually the child in these fics, w/ Hotch as the step-in Dad.) Please give me some feedback on this, it'd be very appreciated.

xoxo walkthepathofdaydreams