A/N: Scenes taken streight from SE7 EP2 Proof. I own nothing! Hope you like it! -A
When the Pain is Too Much
Chapter 8
The real fault is to have faults and not to amend them.-Confusius
"Hey!" JJ greated Reid as he stepped off the elevator. "Where have you been? I wanted to do brunch this weekend." He hardly looked up from his paper.
"I had to deal with some stuff with my mom- have you seen Garcia?" he asked. JJ and Emily were confused.
"Uh... she's with Rossi." He didn't even slow his pace. "He hates me," he heard JJ say.
"Hmm, he was just busy," Emily defended. "Let it go."
CM
"So, Beth got off here and headed northwest for her class," he said as a bus pulled away.
"It's amazing no one witnessed her abduction," JJ mused.
"Emily was burried six feet under and wound up in Paris," he told her bitterly. "Anything's possible, right?" He couldn't help the anger at the two women. It was irrational, he knew, and he really shouldn't have been made, but it wasn't something he could control.
"So, that is what this is about," she said.
"You know, maybe our UnSub's a little bit like Bundi (don't ask, I can't spell)," he continued, ignoring her. "He feigns an injury in order to get her to help him."
"You know, Spence, if you wanna talk about-" he cut her off.
"Maybe he tried another type, like 'Wow, you're really pretty. You should be a model. I can take your photo.'"
"I'll take that as a 'no,'" she muttered as he started walking away.
"Either one would disarm her," he said.
"Charm's quite the killer," she said, giving up.
"So are tears," he added. "Whatever his ruse was, the UnSub most likely used it to get her into his vehicle."
"Well, if Abby was last seen at a bus stop a few miles away, then he definatly had means of transportation."
"Hopefully the disposal site will tell us more," he added before walking away.
CM
"Again, he's disposing at an area frequently visited by homeless people," Rossi said.
"This is an equal distance between the last two dump sites," Spencer observed.
"Well," JJ said, opening the victim's mouth, "he burned her tongue with a chemical this time."
"So, he removed her ability to taste," Rossi said.
"Why would he do that?" a detective asked. Brace yourselves for a Reid Somewhat Relevant Fact of the Day.
"Well, historically, this type of torture was used to prevent someone from revealing a secret."
"Maybe she offended him," JJ suggested.
"Wonder what that's like," he mused sarcasticly. It was pretty obvious that this conversation had a double meaning.
"Her lips are extreamly chapped," Rossi said, trying to get things back on topic.
"She was probably forced to repeatedly participate in some sort of kissing fantasy," Reid observed.
"And when things go awry, he takes the offending sense away," JJ concluded.
"He tortured her in these clothes, which means the eighties are essential to his delusion," Spencer said.
"Maybe that's when this rejection occured and he held on to her clothes all these years," Rossi speculated.
"And now," JJ sighed, "he's attacking girls who remind him of women from that time."
"He's fixated on her type and remakes them to fit his fantasy," Reid added.
"But, why start now?" the detective asked.
"Something probably triggered it," JJ told her. "Instead of dealing with it, he's acting out." She shot a sharp glance at Spencer, telling him it had a double meaning meant for him. He met her gaze, but said nothing. He realized she was right.
CM
They were back in the police station. Spencer walked into a room and JJ followed him.
"Specne," she said, "we've gotta talk about this."
"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, not really expecting her to answer.
"I get it, okay? You're disappointed with the way we handled Emily."
"Look," he said shortly, "I've got a lot going on, alright?" He started to walk way.
"You... you know what I think it is?" she asked, stopping him. He looked her in the eye. "You're mad that Hotch and I controled our micro-expressions at the hospital, and you weren't able to detect our diseption."
"You think this is about my profilling skills?" he asked, giving her an 'are you really that dumb?' look. She shrugged. "Jennefer, listen. The only reason you were able to manage my preseptions is because I trusted you. I came to your house for ten weeks in a row, crying over losing a friend. And not once did you have the desentsy to tell me the truth."
"I couldn't," was all she could say. She couldn't meet his eyes.
"You couldn't, or you wouldn't?" She'd never heard his voice so icy, so venomous. It worried her. She was trying very hard not to cry, knowing the pain she caused her friend.
"No," she spat, "I couldn't." Spencer sighed.
"What if I'd started taking dilauded again? Would you have let me?" he asked before he could stop himself. He thought for sure that this would give him away, that, in that moment, all the pieces would come together and she would know. She would think he was weak, that he failed. So would the whole team.
"You didn't," she said, giving him an odd look. He could see it in her eyes that she was considering the truth in her words. She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. Spencer inwardly sighed in relief.
"Yeah, but I thought about it," he said darkly, lying through his teeth. He did so much more than thinking. Almost as mad at himself as he was at JJ, he turned to leave.
"Spence!" she called. He looked back as she stepped forward. He lifted his arms, giving her a questioning look and lifted her arms, daring her to say something. "I'm sorry." It's all she could think. A small, begging smile crossed her face.
"It's too late, alright?" he told her, continuing out. As he went, the team was in disbelief at the scene they just witnessed.
CM
Nervously, he rang the doorbell. As he waited, he bit his lip. A moment later, Morgan opened the door. A smile crossed the older agents face when he saw who was behind door number one.
"I thought you were gonna skip out on us," Derek said as he let Spencer in.
"So did I," Reid muttered. Together, they walked to Rossi's kitchen. They snuck in. "Sorry I'm late." That was lame, he decided. Regardless, he walked forward with a smile on his face.
"Yeah," Rossi said, giving him a sharp look, "and this is why I cook alone." Doing the half-smile, half-lip biting thing he did, the stood between JJ and Emily, smiling at the rest of the team when he stopped.
"So, uhh..." Emily said, holding up her hands, "when dowe get to drink the wine?"
"Almost there," Rossi assured her. "Okay. Start at the beginning. Eat what you cook. I'll supervise, but we're gonna do this all together. Just. Like. A family." They couldn't supress small chuckles at this.
"Okay, now?" JJ asked, holding up her glass of wine. Dave smiled, giving a small nod.
"Now." They all picked up their glasses and started clicking together with everyone else. Everyone was smiling, enjoying themselve.
Was Spencer perfectly fine? No, not really. Was he happy? You bet. He knew that he would be okay. He had to have faith in himself and his strength. Not to mention his amazing team, who were his even more amazing friends. And he had Gideon. He decided that he would tell them tonight about Jason.
His anger at JJ had evaporated as he had time to think things over. For now, he would enjoy the moment. And the food. Everything was as it should be for Spencer Reid and the rest of the BAU.
And that's the end, folks! Tell me what you think! -A