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"people can be stunningly unobservant." - steven king

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"Dude, I'm kind of concerned that you're trying to catch diabetes," Delilah eyed Spencer a few hours later.

The two of them were stood in the BAU kitchen and Spencer was emptying the sugar into his coffee at an alarming rate.

"I'm trying to stay awake," Spencer said.

"Redbull," Delilah held up the can in her hand.

"Heart attack in a can," Spencer said.

"Diabetes in a cup," Delilah said. "You look exhausted. What's up?" she asked.

"Late night," Spencer said.

"Let me guess, it wasn't because of a book," Delilah said.

"It wasn't," Spencer said.

"And it wasn't a girl," Delilah said.

"How do you know it wasn't?" Spencer asked.

"You have no sex swagger. It's sleep deprivation, pure and simple. What's keeping you up?" Delilah asked.

"Sex swagger?" Spencer said.

"Let's skip that until we've had more caffeine," Delilah said. "Now, spill," she said.

Spencer looked down at his coffee for a few seconds before looking at Delilah.

"Do you ever have dreams?" he asked.

"Dreams? Yeah, man. I dream that I'm getting chased through the woods by the Kool Aid Man, like, all the time," Delilah said.

"I meant nightmares," Spencer said.

"Being chased through the woods by the Kool Aid Man isn't a nightmare?" Delilah frowned. "Then I have weird fucking dreams," she muttered.

She took a sip of her redbull, wincing as she swallowed the bitter drink down. She hated the taste, but it was more effective than coffee and she had to stay awake today.

"Back to you, anyway. Nightmares. You're having them?" Delilah asked.

"Yes," Spencer said.

"About the job?"

"Yes."

"How often?"

"Almost every night, now," Spencer said.

Delilah hummed, eyeing him for a few seconds before nodding.

"I have nightmares. But, uh, I'm probably not the person you should talk to about this," Delilah said.

"Morgan told me to talk to Gideon," Spencer said.

"You should," Delilah said.

"What do you have nightmares about? I mean, aside from the... Kool Aid Man," Spencer frowned. "Is it the job for you, too?"

"Sometimes," Delilah said.

"And other times?" Spencer asked.

"Spencer, look, I'd love to give you some magical advice on how to make them go away, or whatever self help shit people say when someone tells them something personal, but I'm not the right person to ask for advice on this kind of thing. Talk to Gideon, okay? He can give you advice. I can give you bad coping mechanisms or, like, make you a sad playlist," Delilah said.

"You're not very good at handling emotions, are you?" Spencer asked.

"Oh, no. Not at all. Why do you think I barely interact with victim's families?" Delilah snorted.

"That's a good point," Spencer said.

"I know. Talk to Gideon. He can help better than I can," Delilah said, smiling at him as she walked away.

"Hey, Hotch wants everybody at the round table," JJ called to them as she crossed the office.

"Great," Delilah sighed, chugging the rest of her redbull before throwing the can in the trash and heading to the conference room.

She walked in and sat down at the table, accepting the file JJ held out to her and opening it to look at the photos of two victims. Gideon, Hotch, Derek and Elle were also in the room, Spencer closing the door behind himself as he walked into the room.

"Mcallister. Western slope of Massanutten mountain in Virginia. 2 bodies discovered in the woods both with apparent blunt trauma to the head," JJ said.

"Skeletons?" Spencer asked.

"One of them. The second victim was just killed this morning," JJ said.

"How do we know there's a connection?" Elle said.

"They were found about 75 feet apart with nearly identical head wounds," Hotch said.

"Where's the rest of the case file?" Delilah asked.

"There isn't one. The sheriffs are on the scene waiting for us," Hotch said.

"Their location is only an hour away by plane," JJ said.

"What's the rush?" Derek asked.

"Well, there was evidence on the scene that could cause a bit of a public uproar," Hotch said.

"A satanic cult," Gideon said, holding up a photograph to his face before leaving the room.

Delilah flicked through the photos in her file, wincing when she saw the one of the pentagram with SATAN LIVES LOD written underneath it in what was probably red paint.

"Great," Delilah muttered.

•

•

Delilah sat on the sofa on the jet less than twenty minutes later, knees tucked up to her chest as she sipped on a coffee JJ had made her. Gideon was stood at the back of the plane, while Hotch was pacing the aisle.

"JJ, we need to, obviously, keep this out of the press for as long as possible," Hotch said.

"I'll do what I can," JJ said.

"Why is that so important?" Elle asked.

"There was a nationwide scare in the 1980s involving satanic ritual killing and abuse. The satanic panic, it was called. It began after the publication of a book about repressed memories being recovered through hypnotherapy. Memories of growing up with devil worshippers who use children in their rituals and ceremonies," Spencer said.

"Most of the claims were later found to be false or just impossible," Hotch said.

"Still, numerous therapists accepted the assertions as true and began searching for similar signs in their own patients. After one year, thousands of people reported the exact same repressed memories," Spencer said.

"The bureau conducted an investigation and concluded that most of the most of the ritual kills or abuse were more urban legend than anything else," Hotch said.

"You're saying that there's no such thing as devil worship?" Elle asked.

"Not at all. But most of the satanism that we've seen is juveniles damaging property, desecrating churches, cemeteries. To my knowledge, there has never been a proven case of a satanic ritual killing in the united states," Gideon said.

"Well, maybe there is now," Derek said.

Delilah looked down at the file with a small frown.

"We'll all head down to the crime scene when we land," Hotch said, finally sitting down in a seat.

Delilah swallowed a sip of her coffee, putting the empty cup on the table beside her and starting to twist her rings around her fingers.

Her phone vibrated against her hip and she pulled it out, clicking on the message from Liv checking in on her. Delilah texted back she was heading out on a case and would keep her updated on when she'd be home, then turned her phone off and put it in her pocket again.

•

•

Delilah walked through the woods with JJ, Gideon and Spencer, following them over to the crime scene where the skeleton was found. Gideon peered down at the scene, Spencer moving closer, while Delilah looked around.

"Good place to hide a body. Secluded, lots of trees for cover, though that could potentially contradict the satanic cult motive. Why leave a message like this concealed if you're making a statement about Satan? Especially in a small town that is probably highly religious. Then again, could potentially be the same reason it's hidden like this. Only the cult will know about it, which keeps their identities hidden from the locals, which protects them, even while making a statement like this," Delilah mumbled to herself, turning slowly in a circle.

She frowned as she squinted down at the dirt under her feet, shuffling her converse and moving the rocks and twigs on the ground.

A twig snapped behind her and Delilah flinched, turning around quickly. She stared at the man approaching them, relaxing slightly when she realised it was the sheriff.

"Mornin'. John bridges," he said.

"Yeah. We spoke on the phone. I'm agent Jareau, and this is agent Gideon, agent Bellerose and Dr. Reid with the FBI's behavioral analysis unit," JJ said, pointing each of the agents out.

"Hi," Spencer said.

"Thanks for coming out so fast," Bridges said.

"Yeah. Of course," JJ nodded.

"There was an in-service in Charlottesville last year said if we ran into any unusual homicides we were supposed to call you folks sooner rather than later," Bridges said.

"Yeah, they were right," Gideon said.

"Is this unusual enough?" Bridges asked.

"It certainly is interesting," Spencer said.

"You guys must get a lot of this, huh? Satanic stuff?" Bridges said.

"Not really. Who found the bodies?" Gideon said.

"A hiker found the first one at the trail and my deputies located this one while searching for evidence. We don't even know if it's a man or a woman," Bridges said.

"It's a man. The male pelvis is more narrow and the opening at the bottom is heart-shaped, as opposed to oval," Spencer said. He turned back to the body and squinted. "Melted wax?" he said.

"Candle wax?" JJ asked.

"Candles are used in rituals," Spencer said.

"They're also used on birthday cakes," Gideon said.

"Actually, they were originally used to protect the birthday celebrant from demons for the coming year. As a matter of fact, down to the fourth century, christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan ritual," Spencer said.

"What kind of doctor are you?" Bridges asked.

Spencer looked down awkwardly.

"Does LOD mean anything to you?" Gideon stood up after a minute, looking at the others.

"Uh-uh. I don't know of any significance in satanism, either," Spencer said.

"Well, I could have Garcia research this LOD thing if I could get a call out," JJ said.

"Not much of a chance of that out here," Bridges said.

"Are there any cults in the area that you know about? Secret groups? People you see you don't know much about people who stay to themselves mostly," Gideon said.

"This is a very religious area. Church on sundays, fellowship on wednesday, bible classes. If there was a secret group, I'd probably know about it," Bridges said.

Delilah almost flinched again. This was all too familiar; the small religious town, the woods, dead kids. The only part that was different was the satanism and no kids being missing right now.

"That's an inherent contradiction," Spencer said.

"Excuse me?" Bridges asked.

"He means if there was a group being secretive you probably wouldn't know," Gideon said.

"Look, people out here just want a quiet place to raise their kids. What I know is none of them are capable of doing this," Bridges said.

"You'd be surprised," Delilah said quietly, shoving her hands in her pockets.

Bridges looked at her with a small frown. Spencer slowly looked from Delilah, to the body, then back to Delilah, like he thought she wouldn't notice him looking again. Gideon, for the most part, kept his body language neutral, but Delilah saw his hand flex at his side.

JJ was openly staring at Delilah, a small frown on her face as she tried to study Delilah's body language. Delilah just shrugged, turning to leave the scene to meet up with the others.

•

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Delilah followed Sheriff Bridges up the steep hill towards the footpath where Elle, Derek and Hotch were waiting. Gideon, JJ and Spencer were behind them, the three of them struggling more than Delilah.

She supposed it was like riding a bike. If you grew up near woods like this and spent a lot of time there, you learnt how to navigate them, and you'd never forget it. It was muscle memory.

"Find anything interesting down there?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, it does look like some kind of ritual site," Gideon said.

He made it up the hill, helping JJ up the final part while Elle grabbed Spencer to pull him up.

"Have any of you ever heard the expression lod or the acronym LOD?" Spencer asked.

"Not me," Elle said.

"Cherish? Cherish? Sheriff Bridges!" a woman ran towards the barricades, face panicked.

"It's ok, Harris. Let her in," Bridges said.

"Was Adam Lloyd killed out here?" she cried.

"Who told you that, Veronica?" Bridges said, walking to meet the woman as she ran towards them.

"Was he? My daughter was with him. They were out running together this morning," the woman cried.

Bridges' face dropped.

"Oh, my god. I can't find her. Cherish is missing. Cherish is missing! Help me, please," the woman sobbed.

Bridges moved to comfort her, Delilah looking away from the crying mother. She stared out at the trees, twisting her rings around her fingers.

It was too familiar, too much. She needed to get out of these woods before anybody noticed she was spiralling, but she couldn't just up and leave. There was a missing girl still out there that they had to find.

•

•

"We're looking for someone who can overpower our victim abduct a girl from a traveled path without being seen," Gideon told Hotch and Delilah, walking over to them after sending Cherish Hanson's mom home.

"It certainly fits with the cult theory. More than one unsub to control multiple victims," Spencer said, walking over quickly.

"But, if the attack were ferocious enough, a single unsub could, too. Kill Adam and grab the girl while she's in shock," Hotch said.

"This is some rough country. We only went 1/4 of a mile, and we almost got lost," Elle said, walking over to them with Derek.

"The unsub has to be from this area. You don't just stumble onto a place like this," Derek said.

"JJ, where'd the sheriff go?" Gideon said.

"He's setting up a search party," JJ said.

"Tell him I want him to use volunteers from the area. Locals," Gideon said.

"Do you want him to know why?" JJ asked.

"No, not yet," Gideon said.

JJ nodded, walking away from them.

"Is it wise to alienate him?" Hotch asked.

"Well, he thinks we're looking for a monster. If we tell him we're looking for volunteers so we can profile who shows up he might call the whole thing off," Gideon said.

Delilah stared at Gideon for a few seconds before her gaze drifted to Hotch. He was already watching her, no expression on his face.

Gideon eyed them before walking away.

"So, Cherish was abducted. Where do we think it happened?" Gideon said.

Spencer hurried after him, not even looking over his shoulder at Hotch and Delilah as he started talking to Gideon. Hotch moved closer to Delilah, looking down at her.

"I know you don't want to talk about anything, but I'm here if you do," Hotch said quietly.

"It's just... It's just a lot right now. With Eli's anniversary tomorrow. It's... A lot," Delilah mumbled. Hotch nodded.

"That's understandable. Are you going to be okay to do this case?" Hotch said.

Delilah nodded.

"Yeah. Yes. Uh, where do you want me?" Delilah asked.

Hotch studied her for a few seconds.

"Go with JJ to help coordinate the search. You grew up in a small town, too, so you have that advantage to help rally people together. Take a minute to get yourself together, then you can come back and help with the sign ins. You'll help Garcia and JJ with background checks at the station after that," Hotch said.

Delilah nodded.

"I'm sorry for this. I... I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a burden and screw up this case-" Delilah mumbled.

"You're not screwing anything up or being a burden," Hotch sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I should've realised this might happen when I saw the crime scene photos. We all have cases that are difficult for us for personal reasons. It's okay to struggle," Hotch said.

"You're gonna make me do a psych eval when we get back, huh?" Delilah said.

"For my peace of mind, yes. And you'll take a day off to spend with Liv and get yourself together," Hotch said.

Delilah nodded.

"That's fair. Thank you," she said. He nodded, a small smile on his face.

"You're family. We look after each other," he said.

Delilah smiled weakly, turning and walking away to get to JJ.

She spotted her talking to the sheriff by his truck and walked over slowly, arriving just as the sheriff nodded agreement to something JJ had said.

"Hey," JJ looked at Delilah.

"I'm helping you coordinate the search," Delilah said.

JJ smiled.

"Okay," she said.

"Harris, I'm going downtown. Don't do anything until I get back, all right?" Bridges called to one of his officers, heading around the side of his truck with Delilah and JJ following.

"Hey, can I come with you guys? I need to call Quantico and have them research that whole LOD thing," Spencer hurried over.

"Yeah, sure. Hop in," Bridges nodded.

Delilah opened the car door and climbed through the seats into the back, JJ and Spencer taking the front with Bridges.

•

•

Delilah followed JJ, Spencer and Bridges out of the truck and towards the station, a man waiting for them.

"What's happened, John?" the man asked.

"Reverend Paul Burke, this is- I'm sorry, I forgot your names," Bridges sighed.

"I'm agent Jareau. This is Dr. Reid and Agent Bellerose," JJ said.

"They're with the FBI," Bridges said.

"FBI? It's true, then? Adam's dead?" Burke asked.

"Cherish Hanson's missing, too," Bridges said.

"Is there anything I can do?" Burke asked.

"Actually, yes. We're putting together a search party. Could you call the congregation?" Bridges asked.

"Of course. Of course. I'll go make some calls," Burke nodded.

"Thanks, Reverend. This way," Bridges said, moving towards the station again.

The three agents followed him quickly.

"Use any phone, doc, you just dial 9 to get an outside line. I've got an emergency phone list back here in my office," Bridges said, leading Delilah and JJ into his office while Spencer lingered behind.

He got them set up with the phone list and a phone for them to start making calls to organise the search, then headed out to speak to his son, who was talking to Spencer.

Delilah sat at the desk, grabbing the phone and dialing the first number on the list. She spoke to the man who answered, then hung up to call the next person.

"Delilah?" JJ said.

"Hm?" Delilah looked at her.

"You're quiet, today," JJ said, tilting her head slightly. "Quieter than usual. You okay?" JJ asked.

Delilah stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded and looked back at the list.

"Yeah. Just tired. Didn't get much sleep last night," she said.

JJ nodded, standing up from the seat she was sat in.

"Okay. You keep phoning and I will find you some coffee before we have to go back," JJ said.

"If I was the affectionate type, I'd hug you right now," Delilah said, starting to dial the next number.

"You can hug me later," JJ smiled lightly, leaving the room to go and find coffee.

•

•

"Man, this is one peyton place of a town. Most everyone lives well above the median income of the country. You got doctors, lawyers... One guy owns a bunch of shoe stores up and down the eastern seaboard," Penelope said into Delilah's headphones.

As Delilah and JJ were both looking at the background checks with Penelope, Delilah had plugged her headphones into her mobile so she and JJ could both hear Penelope and talk to her without anyone still in the station overhearing Penelope's background checks.

"Ha. Is he married?" JJ said.

"Yeah. Story of my life, sunshine. Reverend Paul Burke, looks like he became born again in prison," Penelope said.

"Prison?" Delilah said.

"Yeah, 2 years as a guest of the state of Ohio for embezzlement. I'm seeing a lot of tax sheltering and various hanky-panky here but I'm not sure what would suggest potential satanic cult members. Hold on," Penelope said.

"Wait, you got something?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, I got a guy with a ton of debts spotty work history, his house is in foreclosure. He's got a record, too, assault with a deadly weapon 3 years ago," Penelope said.

"Wait. Does it say what the weapon was?" JJ asked.

"Baseball bat," Penelope said.

"Our unsub used a blunt object," Delilah said.

"Bats are blunt, aren't they?" Penelope said.

"What's this guy's name?" JJ asked.

"Dent. Henry Dent," Penelope said.

"Ok. Here he is. Grid b-5. Ok, that puts him with... Elle," JJ said.

Delilah winced.

"They've got no phone service. We'll have to wait until they come back. Penelope, dig up everything on him and fax it over so we can have physical copies," Delilah said.

"You got it, Queen Lilah," Penelope said. "Call you back when I'm done," she said, ending the call.

Delilah sighed and tugged her headphone out, rubbing her face before propping her elbows on the desk and staring down at the sign up sheet.

"Coffee didn't help?" JJ asked.

"Not in the slightest. And I doubt we're gonna get any sleep tonight," Delilah said.

"Probably not," JJ said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, JJ watching Delilah stare blankly down, eyes unfocused. She was twisting her ring on her finger, strands of hair falling from over her shoulders to shield her face.

JJ's fingers twitched at her side, wanting to reach out and tuck the hairs away, but she didn't. She knew Delilah wasn't big on affection and JJ didn't want to snap her out of this trance she was in and scare her.

She hadn't missed how Delilah had flinched when they'd first met Bridges, and she hadn't missed how spaced out she'd been for most of this case.

"Lilah?" JJ said quietly.

Delilah hummed, forcing her eyes away from the page and blinking a few times.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked.

"I told you, I'm tired," Delilah said.

"I know it's more than that," JJ said. "You don't have to tell me anything. I just want to know how to help," JJ said.

Delilah stared down at the page again for a few seconds before looking at JJ. The bags under her eyes were tinged grey and she just looked quite pale in general.

"I hate small towns. I left mine at thirteen and never went back. This town is too familiar," Delilah said.

"That's understandable. I hate going home, too," JJ said quietly.

Delilah chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to fight off a yawn. She squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing them a few times before sighing.

"I don't like the woods," Delilah whispered.

JJ stared at her with a curious look. Delilah looked back at JJ, shrugging with a weak smile.

"They give me the creeps. These woods here are like the woods in my hometown," Delilah said.

"It's overwhelming being somewhere so similar to the place you left," JJ said.

Delilah nodded.

"Yeah," she said.

"How can I help?" JJ asked, turning on her chair to face Delilah.

"You can't. We just have to find the unsub and get this case over with so I can go home and sleep it off," Delilah said.

JJ studied her for a few seconds.

"Will you be able to sleep?" JJ asked.

"What?" Delilah asked.

"I can never sleep when I get back from visiting my hometown. I know this isn't yours, but it's familiar. Will you be able to sleep?" JJ asked.

"Honestly? No idea," Delilah said.

"Well, if you can't fall asleep, you can text me or call me. You don't have to face everything alone," JJ said.

Delilah's lips twitched into a genuine smile and JJ smiled back, feeling her shoulders loosen up. She didn't even know she'd been so tense, clearly anxious about Delilah's state of mind.

"Thank you, JJ," Delilah said quietly.

JJ chuckled.

"You don't have to keep thanking me for caring about you," JJ said.

"I know," Delilah said.

Delilah leaned back in her seat, hiding a yawn behind her hand. She closed her eyes again, rubbing her face a few times.

"Do you want to try and have a nap?" JJ asked.

"No," Delilah shook her head. "I barely sleep on cases, anyway. Never mind cases like this. I'll be okay," she said.

JJ nodded.

"Okay. I'll make you some coffee when Penelope's faxed these files over," she said.

Delilah reached out, grabbing lightly onto JJ's hand on the arm of her chair. JJ turned her hand in Delilah's, tangling their fingers together with a soft smile. Delilah smiled back, looking back at the papers in front of them to hide her blush from JJ.

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