"When you find someone you can be yourself around. that's rare. That's peace. That's love. That's worth holding onto"
-Melissa Tripp-

Hotch has called the whole team to come in on a Saturday. Turns out, Reid's girlfriend has been kidnapped which was a shock to most the team because they didn't even know he had a girlfriend.

Reid then explains the backstory about his relationship, stating they started corresponding in letters, and only used codenames because she was afraid of her stalker. A stalker she's had for quite some time now.

"I have a wealth of knowledge I should be applying to this case. Behavioral patterns of violent stalkers. Tactical recovery strategies. But right now I can't focus on anything for more than 4 seconds at a time, which makes me the dumbest person in the room" Reid states and Maya sighs softly as she looks to Reid who genuinely upset about the situation and she can't find herself to make jokes and cheer him up because, frankly, it might not even work.

"Please help me" Reid begs, tears wanting to make their way down his cheek. Maya grabs onto Reid's hand, gripping it reassuringly and Reid just slammed his body into Maya's, hugging her.

Maya didn't know what to do but she knew she couldn't pull him away at a time like this. Maya shifted uncomfortably but she wrapped her arms around Reid.

Reid pulls away from the hug, sniffling in his tears. "We don't know if we have a case. So we'll be working on personal time. Does anybody want to leave?" Hotch asks and no one raises their hands because they want to help Reid.

"Good. Let's get to work" Hotch states.

The team gathers in the conference, gathering any information on Maeve by reading the description she wrote of her stalker. "Based on Maeve's description of the unsub in her letters, he seems like a classically possessive stalker" Derek mentions while Maya leans over, reading the same description.

"Yeah, definitely one who craves validation and recognition" Maya declares as she points to the sentences in the letter that show that.

"Why won't you see me? Do you think you're better than me?" JJ recites, reading letter after letter. "His suicidal ideation comes up a lot too" Alex notices, "When I find you, I'm to kill you, then myself" Alex reads and Maya scoffs disturbingly as she hears the words the stalker has said to this women.

"Murder-suicide is the ultimate I love you to these guys" Rossi declares. "Do you know when the unsub started to target Maeve?" Hotch asks, looking to Reid before everyone turns their head towards Reid.

"Maeve said it started out of the blue. My guess is it was some sort of incidental interaction, something she probably wasn't even aware of" Reid declares and Maya quietly clears her throat, "That's going to make the unsub hard to find" Maya states softly, scratching the back of her neck tiredly.

"I found her" Garcia cheers as she has come up with actionable intel. A woman with the same name, Maeve Donavan, who works as a geneticist and recently went off the grid.

_____

The team splits up to check on her various addresses, and even though Garcia comes up with a picture of the woman, Reid doesn't want to look at it.

Maya and Derek arrive at the victim's new place. A nice walkup that she's had to move to in order to avoid the stalker. "Her parents must've wanted to put some distance between her and her stalker, otherwise, we wouldn't have to walk this far" Maya says as she looks around.

"Yeah, but they may have made her an easier target" Derek adds before him and Maya arrive at the door to Maeve's home and see the door is slightly opened.

Maya places her hand on the gun in her holster while Derek opens up the apartment door. They enter the house and see a glass coffee table has been shattered by the couch. "Anybody home?" Derek asks loudly as he slowly enters further into the apartment, heading towards the kitchen first while Maya starts walking over to the bedroom.

"Clear!" Maya shouts before her and Derek meet back up in the living room area. "This is definitely a crime scene" Derek sighs as him and Maya holster their weapons.

"She put up a hell of a fight" Maya states as she steps over multiple pieces of broken glass that is shattered on the carpet. Maya runs the fight scene in her head, thinking that Maeve must've been pushed down as soon as she opened the door.

Maya walks over to where there is more glass and thinks that Maeve was hit over the head with a picture frame or even a large piece of glass that broke when she fell onto the glass table.

"But no sign of forced entry" Derek realizes and him and Maya both agree something about the scene is funny because Maeve has deadbolts on her door.

If she's got deadbolts on the door, how did the killer attack her without doing any damage on the way in? Who would she open the door for?

_____

Hotch talks to the parents, who are pretty sure that Robert "Bobby" Putnam, the fiancée that the victim broke it off with is behind the stalking.

The team rushes to the ex-fiancée's apartment, bringing Reid who can't handle the fact about not knowing that his girlfriend had a fiancée. "Just let us handle it" Hotch declares and Reid nods his head as he stands beside Maya while Derek knocks on the door, informing that the FBI is at the door.

"Who?" A women asks as she opens the door. "FBI. We're looking for Robert Putnam. Do you know where he is?" Maya asks, looking to the women who stammers over her words before stating that Robert is in the back.

"We need to talk to him" Hotch declares, his tough demeanor showing before him, and the team enter the apartment with the women's permission.

"Who are you?" Maya asks as she takes a look around the apartment. "I'm Diane, his girlfriend" She answers and Maya hums slightly before nodding her head. Robert comes out, and Reid recognizes him which causes him to immediately freak out about and to act unprofessionally.

"Where is she? Huh! Where is she you son--" Reid calls out, roughly pushing the man in front of him before Maya grabs onto him, pulling him away before he causes even more trouble.

"Reid, stop" Maya warns as the team looks over to Reid, knowing he could mess up the whole case.

"Out!" Hotch shouts and Maya quickly grabs Reid arm and begins dragging him out without hesitation. "I need to talk to him, Maya, please" Reid begs before Maya slams the door shut behind them.

"Reid!" Maya shrieks, pushing him away from the door. "He just recognized you" Maya states, motioning to the apartment where Robert lives. "A couple weeks ago, Maeve and I were going to meet. He was at the restaurant. I caught him look at me and something felt off about him" Reid rants and Maya shakes her head, watching as Reid tries to go back into the apartment but with one hand, Maya roughly pushes him away.

"You're not going back in there. If he did take Maeve and you know him, that makes you a material witness and you know that!" Maya argues as Reid groans in annoyance. "I didn't know his name or anything" Reid defends and Maya scoffs.

"Let's go" Maya demands and Reid looks between her and the apartment door, wanting to desperately go back in. "If you care about Maeve as much as you say you do, you'll go with me and we can talk outside" Maya declares and Reid immediately walks past her, making his way outside.

Before Maya can follow Reid, Derek exits the apartment. "Everything okay?" He asks and Maya sighs, nodding her head. "I feel like a babysitter" Maya confesses which makes Derek laugh softly. "Well, you aren't a very good one since Reid is no where to be found" Derek states and Maya groans in annoyance before rushing down the stairs of the apartment complex until she meets Reid right outside who paces back and fourth.

"Are you okay?" Maya asks, throwing her arms in the air before resting them in the pockets of her jacket. "Yeah, whatever" Reid snaps and Maya scoffs before she steps in front of Reid, stopping him from pacing and keeps him in place.

"I didn't mean to yell at you, but Reid a material witness isn't a joke" Maya says and Reid nods his head, knowing the consequences he could face if Robert actually had anything to do with Maeve's disappearance.

"Excuse me, Doctor- Agent" Diane calls out, looking between Maya and Reid. Reid being doctor and Maya being agent. "Agent Hotchner said he was done with me upstairs. Can you tell me what's going on?" Diane asks and Maya watches as Derek leaves the apartment complex.

"Nothing that concerns you" Maya intervenes, not allowing Reid to answer.

"Um, she means we'll be in touch" Derek rephrases. "Thank you" Maya says coldly, locking eyes with Diane who scoffs quietly before walking away from the conversation. Maya watches as she walks away and she knew she felt something weird but she ignored it and turned back to Reid, placing her hand on his back, trying to comfort him.

"2,412" Reid says and Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion. "It's the number of hours we spent communicating, counting phone calls and letters" Reid says and Maya looks to Derek who shrugs while figuring out how many days that it, "It's about 100 days. That's a long time" Derek states.

"What if that's all I get?" Reid asks, looking to Derek and Maya for reassurance even if they can't guarantee anything.

"Well, you can't think like that. You'll see her again" Maya declares but Reid shakes his head. "I don't know if I will" Reid says sadly.

"When we find her alive and you lay your eyes on her, what's the first thing you're say to her?" Derek asks before silence is the only thing the three of them can hear. "When we were getting off the phone a couple of months ago, she said, 'Bye. Love you'" Reid states which automatically brings a smile to Maya's face.

"I know it was a slip up-". "She still said it" Maya corrects before her smile grows wider.

"But I didn't say it back" Reid says, chocking up on his words. "Then that's what you'll say. When you see her for the first time, that's what you'll say" Maya states, placing her hand on Reid's shoulder watching as he forms a sad smile on his face.

_____

Back at BAU headquarters, JJ and Garcia are looking over the photos, when JJ notices that in one of the pictures Maeve's faces has been blacked out with eyeliner. Which means the stalker must be a woman.

That does also explain why Maeve let the unsub into the apartment, because she thought what everyone thought. That her stalker was a man.

"Reid, Diane" Maya states and Reid knits his eyebrows in confusion.

"Come on, you aren't stupid. Diane, Robert's girlfriend. She came outside the apartment and called you doctor. No one told her to call you that" Maya realizes and watches a face of realization relaxes on Reid's face. Reid quickly runs to Hotch's office when Hotch confirms that they never mentioned Reid's name to her.

Diane is the unsub.

_____

Over at their apartment, Diane shows up in Maeve's clothes and attacks Bobby with a bottle of wine but by the time the team gets there, she's already abducted Robert, despite him being seven inches taller and sixty pounds heavier than she is.

Hotch announces that they have to completely redo the profile based on what they've just learned. Garcia gives the team a call while they are still at Roberts house and gives them more information on Diane Huntington which is a fake name just like address. And all the phone conversations she had with Bobby (Robert) were from a burner phone.

"Okay, we know female stalkers are minimal. Only 10% of all cases are female" JJ states while the team gathers in the conference, rethinking everything. The profile, the case and the motive.

"What tops the list of motivators?" Hotch wonders. "Sexual intimacy" Maya answers. "Erotomania?" Rossi questions and Maya shakes her head, disagreeing.

"Think female scorned. We slept together. You broke up with me and now I'll do anything to get you back" Derek states. "Could that fit Maeve?" Hotch asks, "Could she have been in a relationship with this women?" Hotch adds and Reid shakes his head in shock, not wanting to believe Maeve could have been based on how long they've been talking.

"I mean, Reid. You didn't even know she was engaged. Could there have been more you didn't know?" Maya wonders, "The answer is no!" Reid snaps and Maya sighs as she looks away from Reid, not trying to anger him but help him.

"Since that doesn't fit her, what about celebrity stalking?" Maya asks to which Reid nods his head yes. "That fits better".

"But how? She's not famous" Alex states. "She's the star in her field, though" Reid defends and Maya hums knowingly, thinking that could be how Diane found Maeve but Reid feels like he can't work at the moment so Hotch asks him to chose a member of the team to hang out with for a few moments to see if they can collect their thoughts and Reid chooses Blake.

Blake and Reid hang out at a park chess table. Then as time goes on, Reid and Blake realize that Diane is probably somebody Maeve met through work, like someone who was passed over for a plum job, or whose thesis Maeve wasn't impressed with.

Diane Turner. The team has found Diane's picture in the school records. She was super crazy and doing suicide based research. She believed that the human body stops reproducing cells once someone has decided to kill themselves, thereby making it easier for them to kill themselves.

Maeve had dismissed the paper because there's no possible way to test for it, and it was obviously the rantings of a woman who was sad about the fact that her parents had killed themselves.

_____

The team, armed with newfound information about Diane's location, descends upon the building where Maeve and Reid are held captive. SWAT teams stand ready as Reid steps forward, a determined look in his eyes.

Reid holds up a sign through the security camera feed, offering himself in exchange for Maeve. Diane, watching from inside, smirks at the screen before accepting the offer with a chilling grin. "Finding me will be as easy as pie," she taunts.

As Garcia works her magic to pinpoint Diane's location, tension mounts. "Got it!" Garcia exclaims, tracing a rental property registered under Diane's deceased parents' names, just a stone's throw from Maeve's location.

The team, flanked by SWAT, storms the building. Reid, heart pounding, reaches a box at the foot of the stairs. Diane's voice echoes through the darkness, instructing him to blindfold himself as a twisted game begins.

Blindfolded yet composed, Reid ascends the stairs. He compliments Diane on her brilliance, even professing a false love to buy time. But Diane sees through his act, her laughter cutting through the tension like a knife.

With a sudden move, Diane seizes Maeve, pressing a gun to her neck. Reid, desperate but composed, offers his own life in exchange for Maeve's safety. Diane, disgusted by Reid's genuine display of love, makes a fateful decision.

In a gut-wrenching moment, Diane pulls the trigger, ending both Maeve and her own life in a single, tragic act. The gunshot reverberates through the building, sending the team into a frantic rush.

As the team bursts into the room, they find Reid on his knees, shattered by the loss. Maya, witnessing the aftermath, feels the weight of the tragedy. Blood stains the floor, and Reid's sobs echo through the room as he mourns the love he couldn't save.

Maya looks on, her expression a mix of sorrow and determination. She promised Reid he'd get to say what he wanted, but fate had cruelly intervened, leaving them all grappling with the devastating aftermath of Diane's twisted game.

Case Closed.

"Find someone who wants you as much as you want them"
-Unknown-