"Some women fear the fire. Some women simply become it"
-Unknown-

ONE WEEK AGO

Maya steps into the execution chamber watch room. A curtain was covering the window to the other side, so she wasn't able to see Delilah just yet. Surprisingly, Maya was the only one who came to watch. Maya came alone because she refused to let Derek come with her. She needed to see this alone anyway.

Maya took a deep breath and sat down on one of the cold metal chairs, silence ringing in her ears. Suddenly a buzzer rang loudly before coming to a stop. The curtain covering the window opened and Delilah was lying on the gurney, slight tears in her eyes as she scanned the watch room until her eyes fell upon Maya who was the only person in the room.

Delilah's arm and legs were strapped down, making it impossible for her to escape. Sadly, she didn't even want too. Maya talked to Delilah a lot and Delilah wasn't even upset that she was getting death row. In a way, she thought she deserved it and maybe she did. She became her father. She became the villain that all the victim's families will talk about.

She will be known as a psychopath. A monster.

"Warden, you may proceed" A deep voice called out, pulling Maya out of her trance. The warden injected a serum into a tube that was attached to Delilah's arm. Maya watched as the clear serum made its way through the tube until it finally went into her arm.

Delilah's jaw clenched and she balled her fist up tightly, starting to feel the pain of harsh injection.

Maya's breathing became heavy as she locked eyes with Delilah and a smile grew on Delilah's face before she mumbled... "Thank you."

A tear slid down Delilah's cheek as her tightly balled up fist slowly started to release itself. Her head fell back onto the gurney, and she was slowly but surely leaving this world. Maya's let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and suddenly an eerie feeling entered the entire room, sending shivers all over her body.

Delilah's eyes began to close before she took one last exhale, her body finally falling limp on the gurney.

Maya cleared her throat and looked around the empty quiet room and stood to her feet. She looked back to Delilah as they proceeded to place a white cloth over her now dead body. Maya shook her head sadly and decided it was time to go.

She left the room and didn't stop walking until she was outside the building, getting into her car and somehow... she felt relieved.

Delilah was gone... forever.

PRESENT DAY

"Good morning" Derek cheers as he walks into his and Maya's bedroom where Maya is still asleep. He holds up a cup of coffee and sits next to Maya's sleeping body before she shakes her slightly, urging her to wake up.

"Mm" Maya groans as she flips the blanket off from over her head. "What?" Maya questions as she feels Derek adjust the hair that's in her face.

"Wake up, you have to pack" Derek states and Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion as she looks over at the clock on their bed side table. "Pack? For what? It's 9 in the morning" Maya declares, sitting up in the bed before Derek hands her the cup of warm coffee.

"The vacation, remember?" Derek asks and Maya finishes swallowing the coffee that's in her mouth before she lets out a burst of laughter. "You were serious about that?" Maya wonders, setting the cup of coffee down on the bedside table as she stood to her feet before she turns and looks at Derek who seems shock that she's doubting him.

"Listen, we've planned 2 vacations since we've been together and all of them have gotten canceled. I'm used to getting my hopes up" Maya states and shrugs as she steps in between Derek's leg, resting her arms on his broad shoulders.

"But this is the best vacation we've planned yet so... prepare your fine self to get surprised with the best vacation ever" Derek states, pulling Maya closer and running his hands down her back until they meet her waist.

Maya leans her head down, meeting her lips with Derek's and kisses him with passion before slowly pulling away. "I'll believe it when I see it" Maya says softly while Derek playfully rolls his eyes and watches as Maya walks away, letting out a disappointed sigh.

_____

The next morning, the team gets called in for a case. Maya and Derek standing in the elevator as they go to the right floor. "What about that vacation?" Maya asks, turning to Derek who scoffs jokingly.

"I'll reschedule the hotel room and plane ticket if this case goes on too long" Derek states and Maya hums slightly before the elevator door opens and the two of them begin to walk to the conference room, meeting with the rest of the team.

They do a breakdown of the case. The victim is Tara Harris, a teenager and clear she had a quick blow to the forehead and the killer stabbed her before slitting her throat. "But he didn't stop there" Hotch states before explaining the unsub used Tara's phone to upload an image of her dead body to all of her social media sites.

"He staged a selfie?" Derek questions, thinking this unsub is absolutely crazy while Reid thinks the unsub could be using the image to mock her since Tara did take a lot of photos on herself multiple times a day.

"This could mean he has self-image issues. He could feel ignoring in his everyday life" Kate states while Rossi wonders if Tara was the one who ignored the unsub and made him get so angry he resulted in murdering her. Retribution for rejection.

"Well, as of now, Tara is the only victim. What makes you think it could go serial?" Maya asks before Garcia clicks a button on the remote and shows that the unsub posted it on twitter with the caption 'Fear me. #Selfie' so he's clearly trying to indicate fear and prove that he's not scared to come for someone else.

He didn't just issue a taunt; he's showing he's just getting started...

The team goes over some of the details of the victim's life. Tara had hundreds of thousands of followers, the photo of her murder has been seen by millions of people. They start to think that the unsub had probably attracted her because stabbing is typically a substitute for sex. "I don't think we should rule out jealously either.

Tara was 16 and had over 200 thousand followers. Someone is bound to have a grudge" Maya voices, JJ agreeing with her.

Just as the team is wrapping up, Garcia announces that the media has gotten ahold of the case. Hotch and the team are now worried, because attention is what the killer craves, and the press covering it is only going to egg him on.

____

Later, Maya, Derek and Reid arrive at the crime scene where a large amount of news reporters stand outside. "Agents, can you tell us what happened here?" A lady calls out and Maya rolls her eyes as she continues walking and kneels underneath the crime scene tape.

"Will the selfie killer strike again!?" The lady asks, "If you keep recording yourself, yes!" Maya answers and watches as the lady widnes her eyes before she urges her cameraman to shut off the camera, satisfying Maya.

They enter the house and notice an open window in the house, knowing that's how the unsub must've gotten inside. "How did the unsub know where she lived?" Reid wonders and it turns out that Tara did a great job of setting herself up to be murdered. She posted her home location online all the time and talked in her posts that night about her parents being out.

Sometimes we bring heartache on ourselves...

Derek, Maya and Reid head upstairs to Tara's bedroom where blood and glass from the shattered mirror stain the floor. Maya sighs as she looks up from the ground and up at the shattered mirror which Tara had to be looking into when her forehead was smashed against it.

"She never saw it coming" Derek voices while Maya crosses her arms over her chest, watching where she steps.

_____

Charles Larsen. He's an older man that works at the mall. Garcia was searching for the web, as one does, and found that Charles Larsen posted a few photos of Tara just hours before her murder.

One of the photos being an inappropriate photo of her while she was at the mall yesterday.

Rossi and Kate quickly arrest the Charles, and Gotch threatens him with being charged if he doesn't give them a lead. Charles then lets them know that Tara was with a 'weirdo'. That 'weirdo' being her friend who talked to her minutes before her death.

The friend is confronted with the fact that he took down all of his selfies right after hearing about the murder because a bunch of photos all over the internet were hacked and a secret image was placed in their photos. It was the unsubs way of taunting a large group of people, claiming they're next off they see the weird skull like image their photos.

An urban legend known as... The Mirror Man.

____

The team has dinner at work, chatting about the case and the killer's possible motivations. Fame or Fear? "Could be both. This guy is obviously a sadist and he's enjoying that panic he's creating" Maya declares before she takes a French fry from Derek's to go box and proceeds to eat it.

"You have fries right there" Derek declares, pointing to Maya's box of food. "But you got chili fries, and I got cheese fries" Maya states before she swiftly takes another one of Derek's fries, sending him a sly smile as she chews.

____

The next day, another murder is found and the victim, Alexander Chase, also has quite a large following on social media. "This unsub clearly has a type" Maya states as she grabs the file from the lead detective on the case and reads through Alexander's file and looks through the crime scene photos.

Turns out, the unsub walked up behind the guy and shot a single nail from a nail gun through the back of his neck, killing him instantly.

"At first glance, victimology could be about their social media presence, but this is also the same mall Tara visited before she was murdered" JJ declares as she looks over Maya's shoulder, reading the case girl as well.

"Was another selfie posted?" Maya asks and the detective nods her head and proceeds to show the photo of the dead body and its captioned 'Fear Me. #Mirror Man'. Maya scoffs and shows JJ and Derek the photo as she rolls her eyes, knowing this unsub is getting too cocky and ahead of himself.

"Great, he's named himself" Derek declares, shockingly looking away from the photo as Maya hands the phone back to the detective.

"Guess the selfie killer didn't have enough ring to it" JJ states, removing her hands in the back pocket of her jeans as she gives Garcia a call, wondering if she can figure out the mirror man legend. She found a heck of a lot so she'll call back with any shocking information later.

Maya turns to Derek and can see the wheels turning in his head as he looks at the convertible that is still parked.

"What's up?" Maya wonders, slightly nudging his buff arms. "It's hard to sneak up on somebody in a convertible" Derek declares whole Maya slowly nods her head, understanding what he's getting at.

"Yeah, and he changed his murder weapon. He went from a shard of glass to a nail gun. Seems like a big switch" Maya states as she shuts the file in her hand, handing it back to the lead detective, who wonders why the unsub made the big switch of weapons considering they thought guys like this unsub liked using the same kill method.

Derek walks over to the convertible and adjust the driver seat and shows the back of seat where the killer imprinted a hashtag on the back using his nail gun from before. That's when they know, it's time to deliver the profile.

They profile the killer as a narcissistic sadist who is blitzing with weapons of opportunity because he sees the weapons as symbols of his victims vanity. The hashtag symbol is a popular method of topic tagging on social media sites. The murders are a statement and the unsub won't stop until he gets his point across and until he's had enough. Reid talks a little about Slenderman and poisoned Halloween candy, cases of people being taken in by urban legends and trying to make them real.

____

Later, Maya pours herself a cup of coffee from the lobby and turns around spotting Derek right behind her. Maya swallows the coffee that's in her mouth and slowly lowers her cup of coffee while adjusting the coffee pot on the small stand.

"Everything okay?" Maya asks, tilting her head slightly while Derek tries to find the right words to say.

"I cancelled the vacation but-" Derek starts off, raising his index finger before Maya could say another word. Maya let out an exhale through her nose as she closed her mouth, allowing Derek to continue his explanation. "But, I have another surprise" Derek states and Maya knits her eyes brows in confusion as she steps closer to Derek, closing the space between them.

"Can I get a hint?" Maya wonders and Derek places his lips onto, quickly pecking her soft lips before pulling away. "Nope" Derek declares, softly patting Maya's back before he walks away, leaving her speechless and wondering what the surprise could be.

Derek enters his office where Garcia continues to work. When he shuts the door behind him, he lets out a disappointed sigh before he takes a seat in his office chair, spinning it around while Garcia watches him intensely. He can feel her eyes on him, and he suddenly stops the spinning chair and locks eyes with Garcia.

"What?" Derek asks while Garcia tilts her head knowingly as if she's talking and Derek knows exactly what she's saying.

"Yes, I made another big plan, and I can't go through with it" Derek answers while Garcia groans in annoyance. "Derek!" Garcia shrieks and Derek sighs as he holds a baseball in his hands, already knowing he's messed up big time but hoping his surprise for later can make it all better.

"I know, baby girl, but I have another idea I just- I just hope she won't be disappointed by it" Derek states and Garcia sighs sadly but in awe, loving the fact Derek is actually and finally in love.

"That woman loves everything about you. I see it and so does everyone else. Whatever your surprise is, it will be worth it because she's worth it" Garcia states, smiling happily at Derek, who blushes hard at the thought of Maya and knows Garcia is right and there's nothing to be afraid of.

_____

Meanwhile, Penelope is frustrated because she can't figure out which #mirrorman story is the right one, but Derek has another idea. Get a list of every man who works in the mall, cut out all the people who were working that night, cut out all the people outside of their generous age range, then focus on anyone who displayed unusual online interest in the murders.

Garcia acts like he's unusually good at his job for thinking of this.

The same night, the team gets a call about another murder and the body is an absolute mess. A severe amount of overkill totally different from the previous victims. Why would the killer be so mad at him? Garcia immediately finds the video where the dead guy taunted mirror man, which is an especially stupid thing to have done when you live in the same neighborhood where a serial killer is murdering young hot intracules. Sometimes hardships are brought upon us.

The team decides to lower their age estimate because the killer has thrown a defensive tantrum because this is a killer obsessed with Instagram, which tends to skew considerably younger than that. The entire basis of their age guess was 'the killer has extensively planned his crimes', which doesn't seem like enough to make that kind of a restriction.

Maya and Derek walk into Garcia's office and watch her work her magic as she lowers the age guess based on the team's new insight.

It turns out there's just one guy who works in the mall and is talking about the killings online but doesn't have an alibi for either crime and she comes up with a teen named Connor Holt, who goes to 'Sunnydale High', has a juvenile record, and works in a hardware store, from which he could have stolen the nail gun.

_____

The team burst through the teens home and find him in his room, trying to escape. Maya sighs and walks over to the teenager, grabbing his arms and putting them behind his back as he escorts him out of his room. Before she can make it out, she notices Connor's various fanart of the mirror-man around his room.

In the interview with Derek, Connor reveals that he was the creator of mirror man, who was supposed to be a boogeyman for the insta generation, but he claims not to have been involved in sending the doctored photos. So, who put them together?

Derek then asks the guy who's the craziest person to know about mirror man, and he responds that there's a 15-year-old, William Pratt, whose parents were killed in a car crash the previous year who is absolutely bonkers for the thing.

Maya, Derek and Kate roll up to the mall just as the kid is arriving, and blare their sirens, alerting him to their presence and giving him time to grab a hostage and put a nail gun to her throat.

"Hey! Hey! Drop it!" Maya shouts out as she raises her gun at the teen who looks around with a scared look on his face.

"Where's Connor?! I want to see Connor!" William begs, refusing to let the women go. "He's at our office. Let the women go and we'll take you right to him" Derek promises, gripping his gun while pointing it directly at the teen who tries desperately to use the women as a shield.

"You're just tricking me" William states and Kate shakes her head in disagreement. "We just want to help you, William" Kate says as she slowly puts her gun in her holster, wanting to prove to William that she's not a threat. Maya narrows her eyes as she watches William's body language and notices the slight tears in his eyes.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" William asks and Maya sighs, "You can if you let that women go."

Somehow, a news van shows up and starts filming the standoff, giving him the chance to die in a dramatic fashion. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me" Maya mumbles under her breath as she and Derek continue to point their guns at the teenager.

"They're giving him an audience. What the hell do we do?" Kate asks, not taking her eyes off the kid while she continues raising her hands in surrender.

"You need to get out of here! Get back!" Maya shouts, holding her gun in her hand as she yells to the multiple reporters until William turns towards the camera, a large smile plastered on her face. Maya widens her eyes and places her finger on the trigger, but it was too late.

Two shots had already gone off and one of them didn't come from Maya's gun. William shot the innocent women in the neck with the nail gun and Derek shot William in the back, both of them falling unconscious.

Maya looks to Derek who looks in disbelief at what he's just done before she rushes to the innocent women, checking for a pulse while Kate kicks away the nail gun from the unconscious teenager. Derek calls for a medic and locks eyes with Maya who nods her head reassuringly, "You had to do it" Maya says softly while Derek harshly sniffles in his tears and feels the pulse of the teenage on the ground.

Maya shakes her head as she looks to the reporters. "Are you serious?!" Maya shouts as she stays near the women in the ground while she looks over to Derek who apologetically places his hand on the back of the teenager, feeling sorry he had to shoot him, but it had to be done.

_____

At the hospital, Derek refuses to leave until he gets any news about the situation. Maya walks in, removing her vest and takes a seat next to Derek who rest his elbows on his knees, rethinking the moment over and over in his head wondering if there was another way.

"You had to do it" Maya states, interlocking her hand with his, despite the dried-up blood on his hands. "What if there was another way? He's just a kid- What if I killed him?" Derek questions, locking eyes with Maya who shakes her head.

"I saw the shot, it was clean. William will be fine" Maya reassure, rubbing Derek's back comfortingly. "How can you say that so calm? I shot a kid on national television" Derek argues.

"You shot a serial killer who just so happened to be a kid" Maya corrects while Derek rubs his face tiredly and stressfully before one of the doctors enters the waiting room and it turns out both of them are going to be fine.

The creator of mirror-man, Connor, goes in to check on William, who is quite insane. He's not concerned about prison, he's just psyched to be famous. So, he takes a photo of himself and uploads it to Instagram, and that's that.

Case Closed...

_____

Later that night, Maya and Derek are in the car and are about to arrive at their apartment building but Derek drives right past it. "Um, you just drive past where we live" Maya states as she looks out the back window, slightly confused. "Yeah, but I still have that surprise to show you" Derek says, a sly smile growing on his face as he drives with one hand on wheel.

Maya chuckles softly before adjusting herself back in the passenger seat and looking out the window until Derek stops in front of a large beautifully decorated home. "Why did we stop
here?" Maya asks as Derek gets out of the car and walks to Maya's car door, opening it for her.

Maya knits her eyebrows with concern as she unbuckles her seatbelt and takes Derek's hand as he helps her out of the car, letting her get a good look at the house. "Wait, isn't the house you've been fixing up?" Maya asks as Derek walks her closer to the front door while nodding his head yes to her question.

"And why did you bring me here?" Maya asks as the two of them stop on the porch, looking into each other's eyes.

"Because I'm tired of living in that apartment. I want to live somewhere with a lot more space" Derek states and Maya tilts her head concerned while Derek pulls two keys out of his pocket, making Maya widen her eyes.

"You want to live here with me? In a house?" Maya asks, pointing to herself as if her and Derek aren't in a relationship. Derek chuckles and pulls Maya close, handing her one of the house keys.

"I know we didn't get to go on that trip but... I thought I'd surprise you with something else" Derek says as Maya peaks inside the house, noticing some furniture. "It's already furnished?" Maya asks and Derek shrugs, "Somewhat" Derek answers while Maya raises her one eyebrow with curiosity.

"Is there a bed?" Maya asks and Derek chuckles knowingly. "A large one, right upstairs" Derek answers as he swiftly unlocks the door behind Maya, a smirk growing on both of their faces.

"I guess we should get comfortable in it, you know, if we're gonna be living here and all" Maya says as she slowly steps into the house, kicking off her shoes. "Oh, yeah, test out of the new mattress" Derek adds, removing his leather jacket and tossing it on the floor while he uses his foot to kick the door shut and hand to lock the door before he lifts Maya up, her legs wrapping around his waist and he proceeds to carry up the stairs until they reach the bedroom.

Continuing their journey...

"Sometimes you have to stop being afraid and just go for it. Either it will work out, or it won't. That's the thrill"
-Unknown-