"The stars are proof that even on the darkest night there is little light"
-D.J-

THE MORNING BEFORE

Maya lays in bed sound asleep, cuddled next to Derek in their large bed, the feeling of the soft fabric of their comforter continues to keep them in a deep sleep. Maya interlocks her hand with Derek as she pushes her back closer to his chest, feeling as if they aren't already close enough. Derek groans happily and tightens his hold on Maya as they lay sound asleep in bed despite the bright morning sun shining through their thin silk curtains.

Maya's stomach begins to bubble, and Mayas eyes open immediately. She places her hand over her mouth as she gags quietly until she has the urge to throw up. Maya throws Derek's arm from around her and lunges towards the bathroom in their room, quickly slamming the door behind her as she kneels down towards the toilet and releases into it, letting it all out.

"Wh- Maya, you, okay?" Derek says sheepishly as she rubs his eyes tiredly. "Uh, mm" Maya mumbles to herself, keeping her hand on her stomach as she fights the urge to not throw up again, "Yeah, I'm fine. I promise-" The escapes Mayas lips before she releases into the toilet yet again, wiping the sides of her mouth as she cringes at the rancid odor before flushing the toilet and proceeding to wash her hands and brush her teeth.

What could possibly be wrong?

PRESENT DAY
(the day after)

Derek sits in his office, looking through files when Maya stands in the doorway sending the door a swift knock before inviting herself in anyway. Her hands immediately go to rest in her back pocket, and she stands in-front of Derek's desk and watches as he looks at her with a sparkle in his eyes.

It seems like every-time he sees Maya or hears her speak he falls more and more in love and Maya could recognize it with every glance.

"Hey, um, when we get home, we should talk" Maya says, looking down at Derek, whose eyebrows twitch with worry. "Why? Everything, okay?" Derek asks, sitting up in his seat, tapping his pen vigorously on his desk. "Totally" Maya sighs before she pats Derek on his shoulder, leaving him utterly speechless as she leaves the room, greeting Garcia on her way out.

"Hey, we got a case" Garcia says, the same thing she told Maya, raising up a file before she notices Derek is in some kind of haze where he's staring straight ahead, not able to hear the words escaping Garcia's mouth, though, he can see her lips moving with ease.

"Woah, you look- shocked. I'm not a profiler but I'd say since Maya just left your office this has something to do about her" Garcia says as she steps further into Derek's office with a concerned look on her face. "I think Mayas going to break up with me..." Derek admits and Garcia chuckles until she realizes Derek isn't laughing and immediately stops.

"What? Did she say that?" Garcia asks and Derek shakes his head, "But- But she said when we get home, we have to talk and then she patted my shoulder then left. No love you, no- no smile, nothing" Derek explains frantically as he goes to sit next to Garcia, who shakes her head frantically, "I don't- I don't think she would do that" Garcia says, her voice not sounding tempting or believable.

"What if she's gotten tired of me? Has she realized she doesn't love me?" Derek questions, which begins to get Garcia flustered and before she can answer his questions Hotch calls for them in the conference room, leaving Derek's question unanswered and leaving him in shock.

____________

"You guys are heading to Los Angeles because earlier this morning Isabella Jayne was found in her home in Atwater Village, along with Gertrude Smiles who was discovered in her house in Eagle Rock 5 miles away. Both women had been wrapped up and left in their bedrooms, Gertrude in a rug, Isabella in her own sheet" Garcia explains as she shows the crime scene photos up on the screen, her voice sounding cringe in disgust as she explains the women's murders and what they had been wrapped in.

"Looks like they were suffocated" Natalie realizes before Derek mentions that suffocating gets the unsub off, just like most unsubs who use strangling techniques, but this unsub is different. The unsub is completely encapsulating these women.

"Sounds like remorse. Maybe the unsub knew his victims on a romantic level" JJ thinks, while Hotch furrows his eyebrows, think JJ could be onto something since both the victims were single. The unsub could've had a relationship with them. "Or they're surrogates for someone he feels guilty about killing" Maya voices, brainstorming, while the team nods their head in agreement.

Hotch then mentions that women's homes showed no signs of forced entry, which means the unsub was able to talk his way into their house. "They had to trust him enough to allow a man walk in their house without even thinking" Maya says, as Derek thinks he must've had used a ruse as well.

"My gut says ruse. Charm and Harm. He smooth talks women to gain their trust, and then when they let their guard down, he kills them" Rossi says, but Maya shakes her head.

"A charming man isn't going to get me to open my door all the way and let him roam around my house. It's more than that" Maya disagrees while JJ announces that whatever ruse he's pulling works since the victims were killed one day apart, meaning this could turn into a spree.

____

On the plane, the team talks about whether the killer may be projecting his fetish onto his victims and thinks that they could use some kind of a mummification community to help them find him.

Then, Garcia calls in with news about the next victim, and they're officially calling the unsub a spree killer.

"The motivation for spree killers is typically personal and retaliatory with an ultimate goal in mind" Reid explains, "Well, spree killer Christopher Dorners motivation was payback for being fired by the LAPD. He killed families of sheriffs and police officers" Natalie explains while JJ sighs and shakes her head as the same question travels through her mind...

What's driving the unsub and why now?

_____

Maya and Hotch arrive at the field office and Hotch opens the door, allowing Maya to enter first and as soon as she enters, she gets a strong scent of meat and other foods. Maya scrunches up her nose as she and Hotch walk through the field office, seeing some officers enjoying their lunch while Maya keeps the back of her hand, up against her nose.

"Are you alright?" Hotch asks, looking over to Maya, who can't find the urge to talk, and nods her head but doesn't look very convincing. "Are you sure? You look sick" Hotch states and Maya stops in her tracks as the motion in her stomach slows down and she's able to take deep breaths without the feeling of nausea running through her.

"I'm fine. Perfectly fine" Maya says before another fellow agent walks up to them and introduces herself to Maya as Agent Natalie Colfax. She greets Hotch since she has already met him in the past.

"I didn't think I'd see you so soon" Colfax states and Hotch sighs sadly, "Neither did we. This is Agent Regan."

"What do we know about the latest victim?" Hotch wonders, Maya putting her listening ears on as she immerses in the talk about the case. "Patricia Brannon. She was 48. Lived alone in Silver-lake. She worked nights at an animal hospital as a veterinary tech" Colfax explains as Maya and Hotch follow her to the field offices conference room where the team will be setting up on the board that's given to them.

"Do you know who found her?" Maya asks, crossing her arms over her chest. "Some super in her apartment complex. He came by to fix a leak" Colfax states as she turns the board to face Maya and Hotch and shows the crime scene photos of the other two victims.

"I read the file of the other two victims and they both lived in private homes" Maya states as she looks over to the Agent, who nods her head. "It's a bold move to kill in an apartment complex because it's easier to be seen or heard by neighbors but this- this unsub had no problem with that" Agent Colfax states, knowing the risk of killing in such a public place before stating that she has identified three known sex offenders who are into extreme bondage. Two had alibis for the murders, but the third still hasn't been contacted.

Could he be the killer?

_____

Derek, JJ and Rossi arrive at the crime scene and Rossi, who is driving, takes the key out of the ignition and looks over to Derek, who rest in the passenger seat, patting his hand nervously on his leg while he looks out the window, not realizing that they've made it to their destination.

"Morgan, what's going on? You've been gloomy ever since we've landed" JJ calls out as Derek sighs and looks between his two friends, who he considers family and knows that he can't lie to them.

"Maya came into my office this morning and said we need to talk then patted my shoulder like we- like we were friends or something" Derek explains and Rossi and JJ lock eyes, shocked that Derek is making a big deal out of situation like this.

"Wow, player Derek is really gone, huh?" JJ jokes and Derek scoffs, upset they would make a joke when he's obviously upset. "Okay, okay. Sorry. But- you think she's going to break up with you or something?" JJ asks, to which Derek nods his head.

"Listen, I know I've had my fair share of women, but maybe, hear me out, she just wants to talk" Rossi adds as he places one hand on Derek's shoulder and shakes him slightly before exiting the car, along with JJ and Derek, who shortly follows after them.

The three of them approach the complex and find that although there's a fence with a security gate around the complex, the front door is broken, and anyone could get in. They marvel that the killer went unnoticed when the units are so close together and all face the courtyard and assume that the killer must be a master planner.

They briefly discuss how the killer has been finding his targets. Could he be following them back to their apartments, and that's how he knows they're alone inside, and ready to be murdered?

Not on the timeline this guy's working on. He's killed three people in two days by just knocking on their doors when they're just home from work. They can believe that he's following them home, but how could he possibly know whether they were alone in there?

_____

Natalie and Reid look down at the body of the recent victim Patricia, who is still covered up, because they are waiting for the ME doctor to get back. In the comfortable silence, Natalie and Reid sent over quick glances at each other and although neither of them knew what to say.

Everything they wanted to say was in their eyes. The way they looked. They way their lips curved into a slight smile or how slowly they both leaned into each other before the doctor walked in, forcing them to pull apart and wait for the ME to start talking.

Natalie clears her throat and scratches the back of her head while Reid swiftly places his hands in his pockets and greets the doctor, so it doesn't become awkward.

The conversation goes on and the two of them learn that the killer kills them by wrapping them while alive, then pushing down on their nose and mouth to cut off their air. They also learn from the doctor that there was no sign of sexual assault so the unsub must be doing this as some kind of ritual because he's not getting off on the women sexually.

"What kind of ritual?" The doctor asks and Natalie and Reid look over at each other, "Right now, only he knows."

_____

Back at the field office, Maya finds out that the third guy they had suspicions about was arrested a while ago for a DUI, which takes him off the list and leaves them with no suspects.

One thing they do get is footage from the murder site and see the killer always kept his head down while approaching the camera's field of vision, so all they have is his height, skin color, hair color and cut, the fact that he held a hand to his neck whenever he passed a camera to keep it from recording a distinguishing feature, and that he used a flip-open badge to identify himself. Which suggests that he's pretending, or actually is, to be an FBI agent, rather than an LAPD officer, because they have large, bulky badges that they generally wear clipped to them.

"He could be one of us" Hotch states while Maya looks out the large glass windows to look around the other officers and agents in the field office. "We need to have Rossi meet us in the SCIF" Hotch advises but Agent Colfax knows if they all leave at once it'll be suspicious and if someone of authority is the unsub, they'll make a run for it because he knows they are onto him and they need to catch him.

"Then I'll stay here and see if anyone's behavior changes" Hotch states as Maya and Agent Colfax rise from their chairs and exit the conference room, taking a quick look around before going to grab Rossi, who is talking to another agent at their desk.

"Hey, come on" Maya says softly before Rossi begins following her and Agent Colfax, who escorts them to a secret room. The SCIF, which is where secret information is held.

The team now has to consider that the killer might be an actual local FBI Special Agent, which shouldn't be hard to figure out, since all of these murders are happening during the day, and FBI Agents have to account for their time pretty precisely on any given day.

"Let's be honest, would an agent really kill in his own backyard where his own people can identify him?" Rossi asks. "It's worth a shot. Headquarters tracks every FBI Agent 24/7/365, weather they're working, or off duty" Maya explains before Rossi calls Garcia, who is ordered to track all the cellphones for all the male agents in the Bureau over the past week.

With that order, Garcia finds two FBI men who were in the vicinity of the crime scenes. The problem-while both were in the vicinity at the first crime scene, just one was near the second, and the other at the third.

Could they have been working as a team?

That would be strange, given how oddly specific the fetish is. Then they get a phone call about the newest victim, and those two guys are eliminated as well, since they've been across town all day.

_______

Maya meets up with some members of the team including, Reid, Morgan, JJ and Natalie to check out the crime scene of where the newest victim was found by her husband. JJ and Reid discover that the latest victim was married, and her husband was just out for a window of three hours - is the guy getting reckless, or has he just been lucky up to this point?

Derek speaks with other residents of the apartment complex while Maya and Natalie do the same. While Derek continues to talk with the girl in front of him, he continuously looks over at Maya, who comforts one of the newest victims' neighbors since it's a shock she's been murdered in the comfort of her own home.

He waits for Maya to make contact when the women walk away but instead, she turns her back towards him and he watches as her hand travels to the front of her but stays low and he realizes she's resting her hand on her stomach while her other hand pushes the loose strands of hair out of her forehead. Rough day he supposes.

The four of them, Maya, Derek, Reid, JJ and Natalie, come together in the courtyard as Derek finishes talking to a possible witness. While talking in the courtyard, they notice a lady peeping through the blinds, which is just the kind of snoop they're looking for.

"Looks like someone knows what's going on" Natalie mumbles as the team walks to the women's door and knocks on it, letting her know that they know she's home, which makes her open the door, allowing them to introduce themselves.

The snoop tells the team that she saw the guy (the unsub) leaving the apartment and noticed the spider web tattoo. Which confirms that the whole FBI thing was a dead end, but Maya still thinks it's useful, though, since he knows how to 'copy the FBI'. She also thinks that he's been super-accurate in the way he shows his badge and talks to civilians.

The team gets ready to leave the apartment complex and Maya gets in the car with Derek, thinking that someone else will join along by Reid and Natalie joined JJ in her SUV. Not wanting to seem suspicious, Maya puts on her seat belt and smiles warily at Derek as he enters the car.

"I feel like we haven't really talked today" Derek says as he starts the car. "Really, I think we've talked- a lot" Maya stammers over her words as she turns to look out the window.

Derek furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "Is everything okay? With us? You've been acting so- distance and- and quiet" Derek asks as he looks over at Maya, who won't turn her gaze away from the window.

"Everything's fine. Just tired, that's all" Maya answers softly, not much expression behind her voice, which only irritates Derek, causing him to scoff annoyingly and put his seatbelt on before he starts driving back to the field office.

_____

After the team figures out the spider web tattoo has something to do with prison, they realize that the unsub is not with any type of authority. And when they realize that the unsub that it's not a coincide how he understands how FBI walk and talk, they know they need to give a profile and get the sketch that the snoopy old lady in the apartment complex provided.

The team believes they are looking for a white male in his early 40s, who is posing as an FBI agent. The unsub is using fake or stolen credentials as a ruse to gain entry into the homes of vulnerable women. The cobweb tattoo on his neck symbolizes a very long prison term, most likely from violent crimes and that's where he was able to pick up his criminal sophistication.

____

Later, Rossi and Derek drop by the second victim's house an notice cops just down the block and go to check on the ruckus. Turns out there was a home invasion robbery/murder there on the day of the suffocation attack. Could there be any connection?

They then ask Garcia to get the details and she starts with the info that she's found 11K paroled prisoners with spiderweb neck tattoos and thinks that's not going to be a good lead because they also have hair color, height, skin color, approximate age.

Garcia continues to do her research and finds out in each suffocation murder there was the rape or murder of another woman one block away a couple of hours before the attack. This means, during the exact time window that they were canvassing the area around the scene of a brutal murder, another woman was killed within the canvassing area.

_____

"The urge to kill must come from listening to police radios and finding where a murder or rape has happened. He then goes to the same block or the area around it and kills someone else" Rossi explains as the team comes together in the conference room and talks about the information they've gathered.

Garcia checks to see if any murders have happened recently but she comes up empty and the team knows they don't have time to waste so they need to come up with a plan fast. Fake a murder, then hang out in the area waiting for him to go and try to break into a house.

Hotch then adds that one of the girls, JJ, Natalie or Maya will be playing as a wife whose husband is leaving all week on a business trip and maybe the team can catch him red-handed. "I think with Maya's skills, you could manipulate him and he'll try and follow you home" Hotch states and Maya clears her throat and stammers over her words, trying to find the right words to say so she can turn down the offer.

"Things could go wrong, maybe I should just watch from the sidelines" Maya states, resting her hands on her hips as she looks to Hotch. "Well, he gets off on strangling so, it's highly unlikely he'll try anything else. You'll be fine" Hotch says as the team exits the conference room, leaving Maya alone before she looks down at her stomach and sighs, "Yeah, I'll be fine..."

_______

Later that night, the unsub drives down the road of where the fake murder has been reported too. He sees multiple people put at night, some walking their dogs, or taking items out of their car. He then slows down when he sees a woman standing at her doorstep with a man wrapping his arms around her while his suitcase stands right next to him.

The people are seen to be Maya and Derek. Maya kisses Derek on the cheek before she clears her throat, watching as Derek catches a glimpse of a car slowing down in front of them. "I'll see you later" Derek says softly before he walks to his car and enters it while Maya waves goodbye from the front doorway.

In the car, the unsub stares at Maya with a mischievous and menacing look in his eyes. He's picked his next victim.

"You think that's him?" JJ asks, her voice echoing in Maya's ear piece. "Has to be. He sat there way to long and he came down the street as soon as the murder was reported" Maya says as she goes into the kitchen where Natalie and Rossi are putting on their vest and reloading their guns, ready to hide in the house while the ruse goes on in the house soon.

"You're going to do great" Rossi compliments and Maya sighs and nods her head. "Yeah, I hope so" Maya whispers to herself before a knock is heard at her door, causing her to whip her head in that direction before Rossi and Natalie head to their respective hiding spots while Maya adjusts her hair, hiding the earpiece, as she heads towards the door, hearing more knocks echo throughout the house.

Her hand rests on the doorknob before she twist it open and sees a man in front of her as he fixes the collar of his button up. "Hello, who are you?" Maya asks, her voice turning soft and innocent as she looks to the man in front of her, analyzing his body language before he digs into his pocket and shows her his credentials.

"Oh, is this about what's going on down there?" Maya asks, opening the door a little bit wider, showing to him that she's starting to trust him. "Yes, ma'am it is. I was wondering if I could- uh, ask you a few questions" The man says as he coughs harshly before smiling at Maya, who, in her head, sees him coming claustrophobic while wearing the suddenly tight button up.

"Sure, of course, come in" Maya asks as she fully allows the man to enter her home and smiles as he steps foot inside.

"There was a murder and me and my team want to know if you've seen anyone suspicious lately or just a couple hours ago?" The man asks as he pulls out his notepad and takes a seat on the loveseat while Maya stands near him, her arms crossed over her chest as she tries to recall any weird activity lately but lets the 'agent' know she hasn't seen anything.

She watches as he adjusts his collar and catches a glimpse of black ink on his and sees a small row of spider webs before he fixes the collar to cover it back up. "Would you like some water?" Maya asks, smiling down at the unsub as he nods his head and gently pounds on his chest.

"Thank you" The man says as Maya makes her way to the kitchen to grab a glass and stands at the sink, letting the water run down the drain.

She hears the man get up from the living room loveseat, but stays in character and doesn't move. The man starts walking closer and closer towards the kitchen and when he arrives he sees Mayas back is towards him. He lifts up the sleeves of his shirt and slowly goes towards Maya, who then fills up the glass with tap water.

Maya can feel the air getting thicker, so she knows someone is approaching her. "Now!" Maya shouts as she shuts off the water and swiftly turns around and slams the glass of water onto the unsubs head, watching as his hair and face get soaked, along with a scrap on his forehead from the glass slicing him.

He groans in pain and starts to lunge towards Maya, who swiftly moves out of the way and pushes the man up against the counter as Natalie, Derek, Rossi, JJ and some officers crowd the house as Maya roughly puts the unsubs hands behind his back.

One of the officers rush over and help Maya before roughly slamming the unsub on the ground, causing him to scream in agony for having been caught.

Derek walks over to Maya and looks into her eyes as he rests his hand on her cheek while the unsub is being taken away into custody. "I'm okay" Maya reassures Derek, who is more worried than she is, before she places a kiss on his lips, which he willingly gives back before she starts to walk away with the rest of the team, leaving him wondering what's really wrong with Maya.

Case closed.

_______

Derek dropped Maya off at home, and she still wanted to talk so she had him go out and get some ice cream before they did so. It was a weird request, but Derek accepted it and went to the store himself, but the pending conversation was still on his mind, and he gave Maya a call and while he was trying to find her number in his phone, a random guy shoulder checked him 'on accident' and quickly apologized.

Derek hits call on Maya's number and at home, Maya looks down at his number confused. "Hello?" Maya questions as she rest on the couch, opening up a pack of Oreo cookies. "Are y- Are you eating my cookies?" Derek asks right before Maya is about to put one in her mouth, "Um, no no" Maya says as she shows her head, as if Derek can see her.

"Whatever," Derek laughs jokingly as he continues to walk to his car in the parking lot while also holding a bag of ice cream that Maya wanted, "Just please tell me you aren't breaking up with me" Derek urges and Maya furrows her eyebrows in confusion and widens her eyes.

"Breaking u- Why would I be breaking up with you?" Maya asks as Derek stammers over his words, "I don't know, you patted my shoulder" Derek answers shamefully, making Maya chuckle before she covers her mouth, trying to hold it in.

"Derek, I am not breaking up with you but I just have to talk to you about something and I don't know how you'll feel about it, that's all" Maya says as she shrugs her shoulders and relaxes in the couch. "Don't know how I'll feel about it?" Derek questions into the phone as he feels this overwhelming headache coming in out, but continues to keep his voice calm and collected.

"Can you at least give me a hint?" Derek asks, "Uh, nope" Maya says and Derek sighs as he stops in place. "If I'm coming home to your stuff packed or, hell, my stuff packed, I think I deserve to know" Derek says and Maya scoffs jokingly.

"Jesus, Derek. I'm not breaking up with you and I'm not kicking you out your own house. What I'm going to tell you is... a good thing, maybe, I don't know, just come home and find out" Maya rants as she sits up on the couch while Derek chuckles and continues to walk to his car before someone else bumps into him, causing him to wince in pain.

"You should watch where you're going man" Someone's voice echos over the phone, causing Maya to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" Derek questions angrily, "You heard me" The man continues while Derek wonders if he's got a problem and suddenly drops the bag of ice cream onto the ground, starting to feel himself getting dizzy.

"Derek, what the hell is going on?" Maya asks but doesn't receive a response. "It's nothing, baby. It's nothing" Derek says as Maya continues to hear someone on the other end, thinking something is wrong, but doesn't want to make assumptions despite her being worried.

"Derek, what's going on?" Maya asks as she stands to her feet and Derek places his other hand on his car while keeping the phone to his ear. "I don't know" Derek groans and Maya's breathing starts to pick up.

"I was just walking- Maya, I need help. I don't kn- Ah!" Derek shouts over the phone. "Derek! What is happening!? Derek!" Maya shouts over the phone as she hears a clattering sound and the sounds of struggling.

"Call Hotch, Maya! Call him!" Derek says before the line cuts off, leaving Maya in complete and utter shock...

TO BE CONTINUED

"I only sleep to dream of forever with you"
-Perry-