"Y'know, finding out I had a secret sister wasn't as bad as i thought." Elijah hummed as he sat on the couch.

"So how was the family?" Reid raised a brow.

"Great, Kai is such a sweetheart." Elijah smiled,"He was very excited when I told him he got two uncles out of it."

"Really?"

"Really."

"That's adorable." Reid chuckled.

"I know, and he's adorable." Elijah told him,"..Makes me want kids even more."

"One day." Reid took his hand,"Times are changing."

"One day I'll be able to call you my husband." Elijah squeezed his hand.

"Can you imagine how big the wedding would be? We'd have everyone from the BAU." Reid hummed.

"Rossi's house will fit everyone." Elijah told him.

"You have a point. It fit JJ's wedding."

"I think all BAU weddings should be there, for the tradition."

"I love it." Reid chuckled.

"Just like I love you." Elijah leaned in and kissed his forehead.

"You're being sappy." Reid smiled.

"I know, so not like me." Elijah rolled his eyes.

"I think you're tired."

"I must be."

"Go sleep then." Reid nudged him.

"Sleep with me and I will." Elijah shrugged.

"In what way?" Reid leaned forward.

"What way do you think?" Elijah raised a brow.

"I can never tell with you." He pointed at his chest.

"Am I that hard to read?" Elijah chuckled softly.

"Sometimes." Reid leaned toward, gently moving his hand to Elijah's cheek as.. Both of their phones vibrated.

"Fuck me." Elijah groaned, picking up the phone,"What is it?"

"Wish I could." Reid muttered, listening into the conversation over the phone.

"..Is Spencer with you?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah, why?" Elijah raised a brow.

"..There's a dead body at Gideon's place. We're all on our way, we don't know if it's him or not- But Spence and you need to come." She sighed.

"Oh shit." Elijah blinked,"Uh.. Yeah, we'll be there."

"I'm sorry. We'll see you there." Fleur hung up.

"What is it now?" Reid looked at him.

"Baby, there's a dead body at Gideon's cabin." Elijah spoke slowly,"They don't know if it's him, but we need to go there."

Reid blinked, taking the information in,"..What?"

"I know you two were close but.. It might not be him." Elijah tried to reassure him as he stood up.

"Right.. Yeah. It won't be him." Reid nodded, slowly grabbing his scarf.

"Yeah.." Elijah nodded slowly.

He knew Gideon meant a lot to Reid, he was practically a second father for him at some point.. But Elijah just didn't share the sentiment.

"Can you drive?" Reid asked.

"Of course." Elijah nodded.

"Thank you." Reid sighed.

*********************************

Elijah sighed as he pulled up outside Gideon's cabin, with everyone else already there.. He knew this was going to be bad either way. Reid took a shaky breath as they got out the car, slowly walking into the cabin where the others were stood around a body covered by a sheet.

"Are.. Are you sure?" Garcia looked to Hotch.

"It's Gideon." Hotch confirmed.

Reid walked out, covering his face as he began to cry.

"Give him a minute, kid." Morgan told Elijah.

"I will." Elijah nodded as he looked down at Gideon.

They waited for hours, three to be exact for the coroner to come out, everyone offical. Gideon's body was placed in the van and Hotch began to speak.

"There are no fresh tire tracks. We'll keep the roadblocks going. He's got a three hour head start. He's got a high powered rifle. He shouldn't be approached without backup."

Rossi watched the SUVs and cop cars drive off and sighed.

"Is this how it's gonna go, all my friends dying off? First Erin, then Harrison, and now Jason." Rossi shook his head,"Disease is one thing.. But murder?"

"I hadn't talked to him in years." Hotch admitted.

"Me neither. How does that happen? Back in the day, I would have bet my life that we'd always be close.. But maybe we never were." Rossi sighed softly, "You know,, it could be taht after all these years, I just rewrote our history."

Meanwhile inside, the girls and Elijah were going around Gideon's cabin.

"So you guys haven't seen Gideon in like, eight years?" Kate asked,"He didn't say goodbye or anything?"

"He left Spencer a letter." Elijah shrugged.

"The way to love him was to let him be." JJ sighed.

"It sounds intense." Kate nodded.

"More like passionate." Fleur nodded.

"He had that reputation. I guess that's what it takes to be one of the godfathers of the BAU." Kate hummed.

"He was a legend." JJ chuckled.

"I was excited. He was teaching this class and I signed up, but he only lectured twice." Kate told them.

"Because he found the Footpath Killer ane came back to the unit." JJ recalled.

"I heard that's why he jumped ship." She nodded.

"There was always a method to his madness. Maybe because he followed his heart." Fleur guessed.

"So.. He retired and got into these birds?" Kate looked around.

"Birds have always been his thing.. I'm not sure why." JJ tilted her head.

*********************************

"Out of respect, I kept him covered." The M.E told Morgan, Reid and Elijah as they stood at the table.

"We appreciate that." Morgan nodded.

"The cause of death was hypovolemic shock due to ballistic trauma. Three points of entry, left shoulder, right abdominal wall, and right tenporal." She explained.

"Did he suffer?" Morgan asked.

Reid took ahold of Elijah's hand, holding it tight.

"Not for long. His brain stopped working before he was able to process his last breath." She answered,"After the final shot, he was gone within a fraction of a second."

"Would you excuse us, please?" Morgan looked up, looking back at the boys.

"Of course." The M.E quickly left them in the room alone.

"Did you hear any of that?" Elijah squeezed Reid's hand,"He didn't suffer."

A tear made it's way down Reid's cheek and he wiped it with his sleeve, shaking his head.

"Hey- Listen to me, okay? Sometimes you put up these walls and you block us out. And you can't do that, not right now." Elijah sighed softly.

"We need you, kid.. Gideon needs you. I'm gonna step right out there, and when you're ready.. Let's go get this son of a bitch." Morgan rubbed Reid's arm before he left.

*********************************

"Okay, Gideon fuelled up every 350 miles, he probably stopped at some diners along the way 'cause you know the man could live off milkshakes." Garcia told them as she typed,"Definitely took his sweet time going down the coast, but booked it back from Jacksonville and instead of coming here, home, his cabin, he stayed one night in Roanoke."

"Why? It's only an hour away." Kate shook her head.

"Spence?" JJ turned as Reid walked in.

"I just don't understand any of it anymore. I guess I'm just looking for it again, for the belief I had in college, the belief I had when I first met Sarah and it seemed so right." Reid read out Gideon's diary.

"That's beautiful." Kate told him,"Who's Sarah?"

"Gideon's first love." Garcia realised,"..You're remembering the letter Gideon left you."

"I'm thinking maybe he rushed back and stayed in Roanoke because he was finally happy. What if he found someone like Sarah again?" Reid looked down at the book in his hands before walking out.

"How's the kid?" Rossi asked Elijah.

"Not great.. But he'll get his head back in the game." Elijah told him.

"Rossi, this is crazy. Gideon and I used to walk around scenes like this all the time. He'd always say to me, 'Morgan, I'm the UnSub. How did I do it?' Morgan sighed.

"Well, first, I shoot my target from a distance, wounding him. Then I move in for the kill." Rossi gestured with his hands as they looked around the room

"Gideon has the strength to shoot a few rounds into the door.. But he misses me. Because I've weakened his dominant hand." Morgan realised,"Gideon didn't have the strength to hold his gun steady."

"So, I stand over. I get off on this. My face is the last thing he'll see.. And then I finish him." Elijah looked down at where Gideon's body once lay.

"Most of the gunfire was from here to the door, right? So then why did Gideon shoot over here, to this wall?" Morgan pointed,"Looks like it was on purpose, shots gotta have to mean something."

Rossi picked up the portrait on the ground with a bullet hole through it,"The devil's in the details."

Elijah nodded slowly, looking between the portrait and the floor.. Why?

"I'm gonna take Reid a ride, okay?" Rossi looked at Elijah.

"Of course, be safe." Elijah nodded.

Rossi sighed, walking out of the room.

*********************************

"Go ahead, Dave." Hotch answered his phone, putting it on speaker.

"Hotch, I think this is it, but I need to fill everyone else in. The last thing Gideon did was shoot a bird painting. I think he was trying to tell us that his killer is the same one from a case we worked on in 1978." Rossi sighed.

"So it was someone he locked up." Kate nodded.

"No, those murders went unsolved.' Rossi shook his head.

"So, if this wasn't about revenge on Gideon, if he didn't lock the guy up, then what was this?" Morgan asked.

"Maybe he went after Gideon because he was back on the case again?" Rossi raised a brow.

"The Unsub was strangling twenty-something brunettes. Garcia, were there any female bodies found in Roanoke County in the last few days?" Reid questioned.

"Let me check the crystal web ball." Garcia typed,"Yes, an unidentified woman in her fifties was found in a shallow grave just outside of Salem."

"Was she strangled?" Elijah tilted his head.

"That's the mystery. There was no foul play." Garcia sighed.

"Was there a dead bird in her hand?" Reid asked.

"What? Ew, none of that fowl play either." She shook her head.

"What's the significance of the bird?" Hotch questioned.

"Those little brown birds were the UnSubs obsession." Rossi remembered.

"So how did Gideon get back on the case?" Kate wondered.

"He saw the story in a national paper and it obviously piqued his interest. What are the chances that the same woods and the same ritual make headlines again?" JJ sighed.

"But the signature was missing." Elijah pointed.

"That's why he drove to Roanoke. He needed to make sure it wasn't just a coincidence." Fleur nodded.

"Well, clearly it wasn't." Morgan crossed his arms.

"And this woman would have been in her twenties back then. Age wise, that's his type." Garcia looked up.

"Gideon must have thought the same thing. If she was a victim, she was held captive for thirty-seven years." Kate realized,"Who knows what he did to her in all that time."

"What if he stopped killing because he found the victim he really wanted, and held onto her?" Reid suggested.

"Her recent death could have sent the Unsub into a tailspin." Morgan agreed,"He's probably gonna want to find someone new."

"And if it's anything like what he did before, he may hunt and kill until he finds the right one." Fleur nodded.

"We'll meet you in Roanoke, Dave." Hotch hung up before turning to JJ,"Stay with Garcia."

"I will." She nodded.

"Okay." Hotch walked off with the team.

*********************************

"Today's victim, Josie Behdart, twenty-three, single, she walked to work. Local cops just found her cell phone in a trash can and, surprise, no cameras." Kate explained.

"And all the original reports confirm that each of the victims was taken within a mile of this library." Hotch added.

"This guy's got a precise comfort zone. It hasn't changed since '78. My guess is there's another significance to this location." Morgan nodded.

"A library could be his ideal hunting ground. A haven for the lonely. Let me check it out." Reid walked forward.

"Gideon's plan on coming here was to prove his hunch, so he would have gathered enough to make a clean arrest, and that's when he would have called us in." Kate hummed.

"Except, he didn't get the chance. The UnSub identified him first." Hotch realised.

"Where did he spot him?" Elijah raised a brow.

"The places where the UnSub was hunting. Local hangouts. Where else would Gideon have gone?" Hotch sighed.

*********************************

"The librarian remembers Gideon. He got a temporary card, checked out these books in the morning and ekft them in the drop box on his drive home last night." Reid told them as he walked in, setting down the books.

"He left the library and came here to read books." Fleur sighed.

"It's classic Gideon and classic profiling. He sat right here to let the Unsub know he was watching." Morgan nodded.

"And it worked." Kate added.

"If Gideon was so sure he lured the right guy, why didn't he tell us?" Rossi questioned.

"It's like the UnSub was his white whale. He wanted to catch him on his own, and his last move was when the UnSub targeted him." Fleur sighed.

"The age of the victims has stayed the same as the Unsub has aged. It speaks to his arrested development." Hotch crossed his arms.

"So the questions what it's always been. Why then? Why now?" Morgan asked.

"This is it. Nelson's sparrow. It's what the Unsub left in their hands because it's behavior matched that of the insecure victims." Rossi pointed to a picture of the bird in the book.

"So the UnSub really knew his birds and where to find them." Morgan nodded slowly.

"Is there some kind of bird lovers club in the area?" Elijah raised a brow.

"Garcia, are there any nature centers or bird watching chapters in the area?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, there's an old-timey bird watching group called The Flappers, median age of like eighty-nine. They started in the '60s. Most of the members have gone extinct." Garcia informed them.

"And chances are the UnSub and his victims weren't apart of that group so where else would he meet them?" Kate wondered.

"Tara was his ideal." Hotch told them as he showed her picture.

"What made her so special?" Fleur sat up.

"Tara's mother said she was broken." Rossi recalled.

"And he knew that because he spent more time watching her than the others." Hotch nodded.

"So he was able to study her, not just glance as she passed by the widnow." Kate added.

"She was recently out of high school when she disappeared. Maybe he knew her from there." Morgan suggested.

"She wasn't very social." Reid shook his head.

"Well, neither was he." Elijah shrugged.

"They were both in their twenties when she taken. If they weren't friends in high school, maybe they worked together?" Hotch asked.

"Tara's mom said, right out of school, she bagged groceries." Reid nodded.

"I've got Tara working at Joe's on Main, Summer of '76 through '77." Garcia typed.

"Are there any employees at Joe's supermarket who started in the '70s and are still there?" Hotch questioned.

"Well, that's nearly forty years ago in a galaxy far far away that wasn't using my magic binary boxes, but yeah the place is still family owner and operated. Give me a hot minute." Garcia sighed as she hung up.

*********************************

They found their Unsub, a man named Donnie Malik, and as the others entered his home, Rossi and Elijah confronted him as he tried to run.

"Mallick!" Rossi yelled at him, gun raised.

"You can lock me up." Mallick slowly placed down his gun on a cabinet outside,"I still win. I got my girls.. And I killed Jason Gideon."

"You're right. You'd be a big deal in prison for killing a federal agent. A legend if you killed two.. Or three." Elijah hummed, lowering his gun and raising his hands.

Mallick swiftly grabbed his gun, aiming at Elijah but Rossi quickly shot Mallick.

"It's.. Finally over then, huh?" Elijah looked down at Mallick.

Reid and Hotch quickly ran outside after hearing the gunshots. Reid stared at Mallick's body for a moment before running to Elijah, hugging him.

"You're okay, hun. It's over." Elijah rubbed his back.

"We got him." Reid whispered.

"He can't hurt anyone else." Elijah nodded slowly.

*********************************

The team finally managed to make it home, after a tiring night.. Reid tried to find comfort in knowing Mallick was caught, but.. Elijah just wasn't feeling the same. Elijah spent his whole life, a majority of his career even, faking and lying... But he just couldn't fake sympathy for a man who didn't care about him.

"..Elijah?" Reid asked as he stood in the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Elijah turned to him.

Reid took a shaky breath,"You.. You didn't care."

"Excuse me?" Elijah furrowed his brow.

"About Gideon."

Elijah sighed, shaking his head,"Reid- It's complicated."

"He was.. He was a father to us, to me. And you just, didn't care. I could see it in your face."

"Spencer, you don't understand." Elijah took a step forward.

"Then tell me." Reid looked at him.

"Even if I did, would you believe me? Or would you believe Gideon?" Elijah crossed his arms.

"Wh- What do you mean?"

"If I told you how he acted with me.. Would you chose my side or his?"

"Acted with you? He- He was fine with you."

"Reid- Gideon hated me." Elijah stepped back.

"No, he didn't. He loved you, he loved all of us." Reid shook his head,"I seen how he was with you.'

"So.. You just never noticed anything?" Elijah questioned,"The glares from a distance, the subtle ways he'd tell me stop acting like myself?"

"I just.. I never assumed he did it on purpose. The glares, he could've just had a resting face like that." Reid told him.

"He didn't want me around you."

"What? Why?" Reid shook his head.

"Because I'm a bad influence.. Because he was scared I'd 'infect' you." Elijah dug his nails into his arms.

"Infect?" Reid blinked,"..You mean because you're gay."

"Secrets out." Elijah shrugged.

"He wasn't like that, i- I opened up to him about my feelings for you and he never acted like that to me."

"I fucking knew it- After everything, you're gonna take his side.." Elijah could feel himself tearing up,"After all we've been through, you don't believe me?"

"No, no. It's not that I don't believe you, Elijah." Reid walked forward,"I just-"

"No, it's fine. I get it. You would rather believe the man that walked out on you eight years ago than the man who stayed." Elijah turned away from him.

"It's not like that." Reid scoffed.

"Then what is it like, Reid? Huh?"

"Just listen to me-"

"Why? You're not listening to me?" Elijah turned back around.

"I am!" Reid cursed,"I'm listening to you.'

"Then why are you still choosing Gideon over me?" Elijah questioned.

"You're my fiancé, I'd chose you any day over Jason."

"But.. You just.."

Reid shook his head,"I can't do this right now."

"..I'm going to my dad's." Elijah started walking to the door,"Don't call me."

"Elijah-" Reid followed him.

"No.." Elijah looked back at Reid before walking out to his car.

Reid cursed, turning around to the kitchen window and he watched Elijah get into his car.

*********************************

Elijah had narrowly avoided breaking down in his car as he drove to Rossi's, slightly regretting not bring his phone to at least text him. He shook his head, getting out of his car and heading for the door.

Rossi was already waiting at the door, opening it up,"Figlio?"

"Can I.. Stay here tonight?" Elijah asked him.

"What's going on?"

"..Reid and I had a fight."

"A fight? Over what?" Rossi let him inside.

"Gideon." Elijah sighed.

Rossi led Elijah over to the couch, sitting down,"Explain."

"Well, he confronted me and accused me of 'not caring' about what happened to Gideon." Elijah began,"But even after I explained myself, he took Gideon's side."

"I remember you mentioning about Gideon a while back.. About your sexuality." Rossi recalled.

"He always tried to be discreet about it but.. You could tell that he treated me differently." Elijah shook his head,"But no, he never treated Reid any different so.."

"Gideon.. Was my best friend. The love that I have for him will never change, but if he never accepted you.. There's nothing I can do to change that, however, you have me. And I will never judge you for what you like in life." Rossi took Elijah's hand,"For Reid.. He never had that father figure, so when he had that father figure who accepted him.. He clung onto it. Let him have tonight to think things over, I'll drive you back tomorrow and you two can talk, hm?"

Elijah rubbed his eyes, nodding slowly,"Yeah.."

"Sei mio figlio e ti amo. Spencer will understand." Rossi assured him.

"Ti amo anch'io, papà." Elijah smiled softly, leaning against his shoulder.

"You've got your room." He patted his arm.

"Thank you." Elijah nodded.

"Do you want something to eat?"

"No, no.. I'll be fine." Elijah shook his head.

"When did you last have something?"

Elijah bit his cheek,"This morning?"

Rossi gave Elijah a look,"I'll make some pasta."

"You know me too well." He sighed.

"Go, I'll bring it up." Rossi clapped his hands.

Elijah smiled softly as he stood up, heading upstairs to his room.. God, he was so grateful for Rossi.