â§ Broken ribs suck. You donât just âwalk it off.â Breathing hurts. Laughing hurts. Existing hurts. Characters with rib injuries wonât be doing heroic sprints.
â§ Concussions arenât instant naps. Dazed vision, nausea, dizziness, maybe even personality changes, but theyâre not going to collapse neatly like in the movies.
â§ Blood loss is sneaky. Itâs not just about dramatic pools of blood. Itâs dizziness, confusion, and the body getting cold as circulation tanks.
â§ Adrenaline lies. Someone can take a serious injury and not feel it until the fightâs over. That âI didnât realize I was bleeding until laterâ trope? Very real.
⧠Twisted ankles are brutal. One bad step and suddenly running is off the table. Even walking hurts like hell. Perfect way to ground a chase scene.
â§ Burns linger. Even small burns hurt more than most people expect. Blisters, infection risk, constant pain, itâs not just a cool scar later.
â§ Dislocated shoulders = useless arm. Characters canât keep swinging a sword or firing a gun. Theyâre basically fighting one-armed until itâs fixed.
⧠Shock is a thing. Pale skin, trembling, rapid heartbeat, and eventually disorientation. A character might not even realize how bad their wound is.
â§ Stitches arenât magic. Getting sewn up is painful and recovery takes time. Theyâre not instantly battle-ready after a needle and thread.
â§ Scars tell stories. Some fade, some donât. Some stay sensitive forever. Donât forget the aftermath when the wound becomes part of the character.
hiii, i hope you're well! i saw that you are taking requests for spencer and i really like your angst fics so i was wondering if you could write one with unrequited love?
preferably bau!reader who has feelings for him but he doesn't and she watches him get with someone else and everybody knows how she feels about him but he is oblivious, ending is up to you but i love me a sad ending heheh đž
transgression [ s.r ]
Youâre in love with Spencer Reid. Heâs in love with somebody else.
WARNINGS: SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE MAEVE ARC, LOTS of misunderstanding, Spencer is kind of a bad friend, lots of arguing, major character death
spencer reid x gn!reader || ANGST || 8.2k || masterlist!!
a/n: sorry for the delay, but i did warn you it was gonna be long so- also i listened to ceilings on repeat whilst writing this so take that as you will đ«¶
did i bend the maeve arc to my will for this fic? yes. yes i did.
Spencerâs migraines had gotten increasingly worse over the last few months, and after a few consecutive days of hounding him, heâd finally decided to go and see a medical professional about it.
Youâd expected him to come back with news about how his brain stem was too active from how hard he was working himself, or that heâd managed to raise his blood pressure to an unhealthy high from all the stress he was under.
Instead heâd told you that they couldnât find anything physically wrong with him and that heâd been referred to a geneticist to check if the cause of his sudden mind-numbing aching was due to an underlying condition that might have been passed down from his mother.
Heâd come back and forth to you for weeks about his phone calls with the doctor.
How she was helping him with his sleep deprivation.
How she was helping to manage his diet.
How she loved classic literature.
How she and him had spent four consecutive hours on the phone debating over the logistics of a novel they both enjoyed.
You could see the change happening before your eyes, and you werenât the only one either.
âPretty boyâs chipper this morning,â Morgan joins you at the kitchenette, his eyes following Spencer as he takes a seat at his desk with all of the enthusiasm of a golden retriever puppy whoâd been let off his leash for the first time.
You hum with a nod, focusing your attention on the two cups of coffee you were making, heaping tablespoons of sugar into Spencerâs Doctor Who mug to satisfy his insatiable need for sweetness. âTheyâre reading a book together,â
âReally?â You respond to Morganâs raised eyebrow with a short nod and another hum.
âThoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton, apparently she finds the religious analysis âfascinatingâ,â You canât help the small contemptment that seeps into your tone as you reiterate what Spencer had told you to Morgan, and you can practically feel his pitiful gaze as he watches you make your coffee.
âIâve heard of that book before from somewhere,â
âI tried to get him to read it a few months ago,â You take a sip of your coffee at the end of your sentence, barely able to taste it over the scolding water but not finding the mind to care.
You leave your conversation with Morgan at that, taking the two mugs in your hands and walking back into the bullpen, placing Spencerâs mug in front of him and walking around the cluster of desks to reach your own.
Heâs sure he doesnât need to verbalise it, but Morgan feels increasingly sorry for your situation, noting how you skirt past Spencerâs âthank youâ without a response as you bury your head in your files.
he canât imagine how much the fact that Spencer had seemingly formed a crush on his geneticist ripped you apart.
And the worst part? Heâd never met her in person.
All scientific laws of attraction be damned, Spencer Reid had fallen in love with someone heâd never met in the span of three months, and you weâre resigning yourself to sit on the sidelines and watch as the man you had been in love with for six years find the happiness that you longed for with somebody else.
How you managed to keep up your facade you didnât know.
Youâd offered him change for the pay phone heâd call her from when he was running short. Youâd let him rant to you about her opinions on a novel that you had failed to get him to read. You made excuses for him to leave the office early so that he could spend his time on the phone with her.
You were the one that sent him to the hospital and caused him to meet her in the first place.
He never hesitated to remind you of that fact, thanking you vicariously every time he relayed his conversations with the doctor back to you.
As the weeks progressed he stopped calling her that. She wasnât âthe doctorâ anymore. She was Maeve.
He didnât call you by your first name and youâd known him for ten times longer that heâd known her. He didnât even call Morgan by his first name and those two were practically brothers.
And that part was probably what hurt the most.
Maeve.
A name of Irish origin meaning âintoxicatingâ. How fitting.
Apparently the Irish goddess of love and desire was named Maeve. You could see the glimmer in Spencerâs eye that told you his Maeve was just as important as the mythological goddess he was describing.
His Maeve.
âSo why havenât you two actually gone on a date or anything?â You take a sip from the mug in your hands, swivelling your chair back and forth with your foot as a pivot. âYouâve been talking for what, four months now? Surely itâs about time you actually met her in person,â
âItâs complicated,â Spencer sighs as he collects the loose papers he was working on in a pile. He didnât want to divulge Maeveâs issues without her permission.
âYouâve been saying that for the last six weeks Spencer,â You roll your eyes as you discard your half-empty mug on the table. âIf I didnât know any better iâd say youâre putting it off,â
Spencer shook his head adamantly at your suggestion. You couldnât have been more wrong. He did want to meet her. Desperately. Heâd wanted to meet her since the end of their first phone call. But he also wanted to keep her safe.
How do you meet up with somebody whoâs hiding from a stalker without endangering them?
âI do want to meet her. Itâs just- sheâs dealing with something personal and itâs put a rift our plans, thatâs all,â
âSo itâs her not wanting to meet up with you then?â You raise an eyebrow at him over your desks.
âLook itâs- You donât get it okay? It was a mutual understanding from both of us.â You can hear Spencerâs tone become more defensive as you spoke, and you raised both of your hands in surrender.
âOkay, iâm sorry for prying-â You ended your apology with a laugh, trying to keep the conversation lighthearted despite feeling your heart deflate in your chest at the way the friendliness his his eyes fizzled out the longer you looked at him.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Spencerâs late to work this morning.
Itâs 8:06 when he finally walks through the glass doors, the coffee you made him stone cold after sitting lamely on his desk for the better part of twenty minutes. He doesnât so much as offer an apology as he picks up the mug and makes his way over to the kitchenette to pour the coffee down the sink.
You follow behind him in a mix of intrigue and a want to refill your own mug, swilling it out with some water as you watch Spencer load a coffee pod into the machine. âPhone call last longer than you expected?â
âHm? Oh- yeah, we were discussing the literary analysis of Annabelle Lee,â Spencerâs demeanour seems to brighten immediately once heâs given an opportunity to discuss the details of his phone call with Maeve, although the beginning of his ramble is quickly cut off by the beeping of the coffee machine.
You wait patiently for his coffee to finish before you begin making yours, raising an eyebrow as Spencer pulls out a regular teaspoon instead of the usual tablespoon heâd incorrectly use to load his coffee with sugar.
Your intrigue only heightened when he pulled a carton of milk from the mini-fridge. Not even normal milk. Soy milk.
âSince when do you drink coffee like a normal person?â
His eyes flickered from his mug to your face as he tipped a single teaspoon of sugar into his drink before replacing the bag back where it came from. âItâs a part of my managed diet, Maeve thinks that my increased sugar intake might be one of the risk factors for my headaches,â
âDid she tell you to put soy milk in it too?â You donât know why you have the urge to be petty, Spencer had long since needed to change his coffee drinking habits for the sake of decreasing his sugar intake and Maeveâs suggestions were beneficial for his health.
It was just the fact that it was her that ticked you off.
âShe did actually, it provides the same amount of riboflavin as cowâs milk, which acts as a soothing agent whilst also helping constrict inflamed blood vessels, but without all of the excess fats in regular milk that might make my migraines more frequent, itâs genius really,â
He thought that her ideas were genius. Him. Mr âI have three PhDs and an IQ of 187â, thought someone elseâs ideas were genius.
Youâre sure that he already knew the benefits of milk alternatives, and yet he attributed the ârevelationâ of what they could do to Maeve. Of course he did.
âWhen was the last time you made a decision for yourself?â The question comes out much harsher than you intend it to, and you can tell by the way Spencer furrows his eyebrows that heâs taken offence to it.
âSorry, that came out wrong,â No it didnât. âIâm just a little surprised that someone as independent as you is so⊠willing to follow blind instructions,â Your attempt at saving yourself half-works, that wrinkle between his eyebrows disappears and you can see that the glimmer in his eyes is returning slowly.
âSheâs a doctor, of course iâm going to follow her suggestions,â
You give him a soft nod as you pick up your mug from under the coffee machine. âYeah, no, that makes sense, itâs just a little surprising is all,â
You donât give him a chance to respond to you before youâre walking away from the kitchenette to retake a seat at your desk, fearing you might say something out of pocket if you continue the conversation any longer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
You were really pissed off now.
Youâd arrived back in Quantico three days ago, and you were still piled up to your neck in paperwork.
Maybe you wouldâve had it finished by now if Spencer would stop talking about the fact that he was â-finally going to meet Maeve in person,â.
You had half the mind to snap and tell him to just shut up, although by the saving grace of Morgan you thankfully didnât have to.
âReid, give their poor ears a break man,â Your thankful for Morgan in times like this. He knew you were knee-deep in your feelings for Spencer, and he knew that every time Spencer so much as spoke Maeveâs name it carved another hairline fracture in your heart.
You were close to shattering, and Morgan could tell.
âOh- right, sorry,â Spencer offered you an awkward smile which you mirrored back at him.
âItâs alright, donât worry about it,â You shake your head in a polite dismissal of his apology before turning your head back down towards your files.
âI take it youâre nervous then?â Alexâs voice cut through the beginning of an awkward tension between the two of you as she entered to bullpen with a cup of coffee in hand.
âWell- I mean- you knowâŠâ Upon being unable to find a sufficient response, Spencer resorts to shrugging into his chair. âI just donât want to ruin anything,â
âBut arenât you curious what she looks like?â Alex raises an eyebrow with concern like Spencer was he son going on his first ever date.
âit doesnât matter what she looks like I mean- sheâs already the most beautiful girl in the world to me itâs just-â
You donât stick around to hear the rest of the conversation.
You sudden upheaval from your desk stops Spencerâs sentence as his eyes follow you across the bullpen and out of the glass doors, followed shortly by Morgan as he jogs after you.
âHey- Wait up a minute-â Morgan catches your arm before you have a chance to get in the elevator, and as you turn your eyes towards him he can see the beginnings of tears forming in your eyes.
âI donât know how much longer I can do this..â
Morgan can do nothing more than pull your head into his shoulder and wrap his arms tightly around your back with a soft mutter of your name. âI know kid, I knowâŠâ
âHe thinks sheâs the most beautiful girl in the world,â You turn your head up from Morganâs shoulder to meet his eyes, a single stray tear cascading down your cheek, illuminated under the florescent lights. âHow am I supposed to compete with that..?â
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Incidentally, Spencerâs date with Maeve didnât end up happening. Conflicting work schedules or something, you werenât really listening.
Maybe all of your subconscious thoughts had leaked into reality and finally gave you momentary release from the crushing defeat of having Spencer go on a date with someone else.
Maybe it was them punishing you further by forcing you to sit through him rant about the book sheâd left him at the front of the restaurant.
It didnât help that you already had a headache that made it feel like your eye sockets were being kicked by an annoying kid sat behind you on an aeroplane, leaving a dull ache in itâs wake and making you just want to bury yourself in a hole and hibernate.
âAnd right at the back she wrote âLove is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone; we find it with anotherâ itâs a quote from-â
âThomas Merton. Yeah, I know.â You dig the knuckle of your left thumb into cavity of your eye socket over your closed eyelid, hoping to relieve some of the tension thatâs lingering there and disrupting your thoughts.
âThomas Mertonâs âLove and Livingâ specifically,â If Spencer noticed your discomfort he didnât acknowledge it. âItâs a collection of his essays on the importance of love to live, so for her to have written it specifically knowing that I would read it means-â
âReid.â
Your tone stops him from continuing any further, and he blinks at you with that sweet puppy-dog expression that would usually have you weak at the knees.
âNo offence, but I donât care about your over-the-phone girlfriend or the quote that she wrote in your book.â Your tone carried a harshness to it that Spencer wasnât used to hearing from you. It was cold and detached and not like you at all.
âAre- you okay?â
âNo, Reid, Iâm not, and if youâd bothered to ask about my life every once in a while instead of using me like a human diary maybe you wouldâve realised that already.â
You practically slam your file closed as you speak, pushing your chair out from your desk and leaving him sat in shock at your sudden change in attitude.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
After a bit of introspection, Spencer did realise that he hadnât been treating you very fairly. He hadnât asked you how your life had been in 3 months and 26 days. Four of those days heâd spent in damn near radio silence. He wasnât sure he could take it much longer.
He missed you.
It was a bit ironic considering you sat directly opposite him for almost eight hours a day five days a week, but after youâd snapped at him last week, he truly realised just how much of his day he spent socialising with you, and just how much he missed talking to you.
So he decided that he was going to apologise.
And what better form of an apology for being dismissive of your feelings than putting a personal effort into something for you.
He walked into the office that morning with a leather bound copy of The Parasite by Arthur Conan Doyle stored cautiously in his messenger bag, pages scrawled with annotations from Spencerâs own reading of the novel that he hoped would be insightful to you as you read it yourself.
Heâd remembered you saying how much you wanted to read the novel a few months ago, so he figured giving it to you as a personalised apology would show that he really did care about you and had listened to what youâd told him.
âAre you busy?â Spencer asks, though he already knows the answer to the question.
Heâd been watching you from the other side of the room all morning, hoping for a moment or two of eye contact to see if there was a possibility of a conversation. A look from one to the other; even a smile wouldâve been enough to make him feel validated and content. And he would have been willing to settle for that.
But you never looked up. Not even once.
"Mhm," You continue to not spare Spencer so much as glance as he speaks, turning over the page of the file you were working through.
âCan I take a minute of your time?â He tried to catch your gaze again, only to be met by your continued focus on your work. The last thing he wanted to do was disrupt your work routine, but he also knew that he needed to talk to you sooner rather than later.
âPlease,â he said softly. âItâs important.â
You exhale heavily through your nose, exasperation written clearly in your expression as you leave your pen as a page marker to close the manilla folder on your desk. You turn your head upwards, raising an eyebrow and opening your hands to agitatedly indicate for him to continue.
You wouldnât lie and say that it didnât hurt being so openly cold towards Spencer, but youâd reached a breaking point, and you couldnât bare sitting idly on the sidelines and letting him tear your heart to pieces anymore.
Spencer was relieved that youâd granted him your attention, but the look you directed towards him was enough to make him wince. You werenât looking at him through a lens of indifference but rather cold, hard disappointment.
He took a deep breath, trying to gather the right words for what he had to say.
âIâm sorry,â
He seemed almost breathless as he spoke, like heâd just finished a tangent about something without taking the time to breathe. âI know that Iâve been spending too much time talking about Maeve and not enough paying attention to you.â
"You donât say," You mutter the words under your breath to yourself, but your sure that Spencer heard you based on the way his eyebrows knit and the small gleam of hope in his eyes dwindles to barely a flicker.
He was trying not to react to your snide comment. Spencer knew that your tone didnât leave any room to deny your meaning. Heâd been selfish in talking exclusively about his relationship and hadnât realised how it was affecting you.
âIâm sorry,â Spencer repeated. âYou mean so much to me and I havenât been showing that.â
"Thank you," Your thanks are polite but dismissive, like you were acknowledging his apology but choosing to not actually consider it as one, and it left Spencer with an expression of clear frustration.
He was used to being able to read your facial expressions and emotions in the past, but now you were just an unreadable wall of disappointment. He had hoped the apology would've been enough, but it was clear that you werenât going to let him off that easily.
Time to pull out the last resort.
He bent over and fumbled with his bag for a few moments before pulling out the novel heâd brought with him face up.
âI uh⊠got you this,â He holds out the book towards you. âYou said you wanted to read it right? So I uh.. annotated it for you to make it more enjoyable,â
You take the novel from him with a raised eyebrow as your eyes scan the cover, a clear flicker of confusion in your expression.
Spencer noticed your expression and furrowed his own brow in confusion. You didn't seem to recognise the book. In fact, the look on your face made him wonder whether you even knew this book existed at all before this moment.
âI hope you⊠like it,â he said nervously. âI was going off what you'd talked about before. You mentioned the book was a classic?â
"I⊠have never seen this book in my life,â
âB-ButâŠâ Spencer knew this was going to be awkward at some point, but he'd hoped not this early into the conversation. He could feel his cheeks burning from embarrassment, and it was only getting worse as he searched your face for an answer to this awkward situation.
âI⊠swear I heard you mention it once.â
You give him a short shake of your head and a pursed smile of awkward thanks as you put the book down on your desk.
Spencer looked away, embarrassed beyond belief. He hadn't even been able to deliver an apology properly, let alone make you feel special like he'd originally intended to.
How had he gotten it wrong? He had an eidetic memory for godâs sake.
When you put the book down on your desk, his eyes flicked back to the book. He'd spent almost 4 hours annotating and researching it and now it felt like all that effort had been wasted.
If you hadnât mentioned it then who had? Someone mustâve. Someone he obviously equated with you to the point where heâd somehow managed to override his eidetic memory to mix the two of you up.
It takes him a few moments before you hear him whisper out a name under his breath, the palm of his hand dragging down the front of his face at the realisation.
"MaeveâŠ"
The mention of her name had your eyes flickering away from the leather cover and right back to Spencerâs face, awkwardness completely rid of your features and replaced with a mix of negativity that Spencer wasnât sure he wanted to dig into.
"Are you serious?" Your words come out less questioningly and more accusatory, and you hold the book up so that he can see it once more, the gold embossing on the cover glinting under the overhead light as if to only taunt Spencer further for his mistake.
âYou apologise for continuously disregarding me for your girlfriend by giving me a book that she showed interest in?â
You could see Spencer's face fall as your words sink in.
He hadn't even taken the time to think over what he was apologising with. It was almost as if his brain automatically just reverted back to his girlfriend's interests as an escape from dealing with his own guilt and sadness.
"Damn it," he whispered to himself. And in that moment he realised he'd just committed the biggest crime someone could make when trying to apologise.
âLike you constantly flaunting your relationship in my face verbally wasnât bad enough.â
"I'm sorry I-" he says again, voice teeming with sincerity and guilt.
"You are truly and utterly unbelievable Spencer Reid." Your words didnât carry anger as much as they did disappointment, and he could see the astoundment in your eyes as you pushed your chair backwards to stand, dropping the book straight in the trash bin by your desk before walking off.
Itâs where it belongs; Right alongside the small sliver of respect you still had for him.
Spencer could've said so much more: he could've admitted how ashamed he felt for his careless actions and he could've apologised again and again a million times if it meant you'd stick around and give him a chance to make it up to you.
But you had already made it clear that you weren't in the right state of mind to discuss this matter further.
The best thing he could do now was give you space as he watched you walk away, a deep pain in his heart that slowly ate him alive from the inside.
Heâd well and truly fucked up.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
âOh sweetheart, whatâs wrong?â You were bordering tears by the time you reached Garciaâs office, unintentionally interrupting her lunch break with Alex in the process, though the two seemed to care less about the interruption and more about the fact that you liked like you were about to cry your eyes out.
You take in a sharp breath through your nose as you try to tape together the cracks in your composure, although with every one you seal three more seem to appear in itâs place.
âI-â You can barely get the first word out before the tears start rolling down your face, and Alex immediately stands from her seat to guide you to sit in her place.
âHey, youâre alright, slowly,â Alexâs hands find your shoulders and rub reassuring circles against your shirt. The slow breath you take in doesnât stop the flood of tears thatâs blurring your vision, and you only manage to get out a single word, but itâs all the two need to understand whatâs got you so overwhelmed.
âSpencer-â
âI swear I am two seconds away from smacking that boy over the back of the head,â You can hear the clear frustration in Garciaâs tone. âSurely heâs got to realise how much heâs hurting you by now,â
âHe does⊠I lashed out at him and then left to come hereâŠâ You rub your eyes with the back of your hand alongside a small sniffle, trying to rid your vision of itâs blurriness from your tears.
âGood, the boy deserves to have some sense knocked into him,â You appreciate Garcia taking your side, but you canât help that small lingering feeling of guilt that invades the back of your mind.
âHeâs just in love, itâs not his faultâŠâ The words almost physically pain you to say. The verbal acceptance that Spencer Reid was indeed in love with somebody. Somebody who wasnât you.
âThat doesnât mean that he should be disregarding you though sweetheart,â Alexâs tone is soft and almost maternal, and your sure that it doesnât help how emotional you are.
Garciaâs right hand reaches forward to straighten out the collar of your shirt, unintentionally crumpled as you try to wipe your face of your emotions. âYouâre his friend, and you have been his friend for longer than heâs known this girl heâs talking to, itâs not fair for him to completely push you to the side,â
Garcia was right. Itâs not fair. Nothing about how Spencer had been treating you since heâd started speaking to Maeve had been fair. And you were done making excuses for the boy just because you knees deep in your feelings for him.
You didnât deserve to feel guilty. You didnât deserve to feel bad for lashing out at Spencer for apologising for not showing interest in your life by further proving just how little heâd actually payed attention to you. You didnât deserve to cry because he was the most stupid genius to ever live and couldnât see that you were hopelessly in love with him. You didnât deserve to suffer by his hand.
It wasnât fair.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
âMaeveâs been kidnapped.â
You have to consciously suppress the small voice in the back of your head that celebrates the possibility that she might not be a part of Spencerâs life for much longer. Itâs a horrible thought. You should never wish ill upon anyone, no matter how much you internally despised them.
Still, that part of you that was still petty, that was still infuriated with Spencer and Maeve, wanted you to tell Spencer straight to his face that you werenât going to help him find her and that it was karma for how heâd treated you.
But you werenât a bad person.
As much as you might hate her, she was still important to Spencer.
âI have a wealth of knowledge i should be applying to this case, but- i canât focus on anything for more than four seconds at a time⊠which makes me the dumbest person in the room-â Spencerâs eyes are full of desperation as they scan across your teammates.
âSo please help me⊠Please help me find herâŠâ The desperation in his voice is heartbreaking, the remnants of tears staining his face as he explains the context of the situation through broken sentences.
âWe donât have an official case, so weâll be working on personal time,â Hotchâs voice is much quieter than youâre used to. Softer, more considerate. âDoes anybody want to leave?â
You can feel his eyes linger on you as he asks the question, and you subconsciously purse your mouth into a tight line to stop yourself from impulsively pulling out of the investigation.
You might be detrimentally frustrated with him, but you did want to help. Even if it ultimately resulted in your downfall.
Hotch gave you a short nod before turning to the rest of the team. âGood, letâs get to work,â
It didnât take Garcia very long to track Maeve down, mostly attributed to her unique name and specialised job.
Dr. Maeve Donovan, a professor at Mendel University who took a sabbatical leave 10 months ago.
The group split into different groups once theyâd found her, JJ and Morgan heading off to a loft her parents owned, Alex and Rossi heading to the lab she used to work at, and you and Hotch, accompanied by Spencer, going to speak to Maeveâs parents.
âReid,â Garciaâs tone is soft as she looks over her laptop screen towards him as he begins to stand from the conference table. âI have a picture of her, do you want to know what she looks like?â
âNo,â
Spencerâs answer is immediate, joined by a shake of his head.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
You and Spencer watched from behind the one way mirror as the interview progressed.
Spencer practically storms out of the office after the questioning is over, and Hotch has to remind him to calm down as they reach the apartment of Robert Putnam with Morgan and Rossi in tow.
When the door opens the five of you arenât greeted by Robert, but rather a girl, a girl who looked very confused.
You invite yourselves inside at the girlâs recognition that Robert was inside the apartment.
âAnd who are you?â
âIâm Diane, his girlfriend,â She raised an eyebrow as the five of you looked around, confusion cut short as Robert rounds the corner questioning the sudden voices coming from his living room.
âHey babe whatâs-â
âRobert Putnam, FBI weâd like to-â Spencerâs voice cuts him off harshly as he rushes to speak, although he stops his sentence halfway as a flicker of recognition falls across his features and his anger turns to dread.
âHey, I know you,â Robert doesnât have the time to say anything else to Spencer before Hotch forces him out of the room, shutting the door behind him to speak to Spencer privately whilst you Morgan and Rossi remained inside.
Hotch returned a few minutes later. Spencer didnât.
You end up taking Hotchâs place as you push yourself out of the apartment with a small âexcuse me,â to follow after Spencer as he walks out of the apartment building.
âSpencer- wait up a minute-â
He doesnât stop at your call, and youâre practically running down the stairs by the time you get to him, already out of the front doors of the apartment building.
âHey-â You take a second to catch your breath before turning your eyes back towards him again. âAre you alright?â
You could see the flicker of confusion in his eyes as he met your gaze.
The last time you spoke to him you threw away any remnant of your friendship with him in the bin alongside the book heâd given you, and now here you were, chasing after him to make sure that he was okay.
âWhy did you agree to help?â
Your face falls from concern to surprise at his question, and he takes it as a sign to continue.
âI know that you donât like her, so why are you here?â You could see the beginnings of tears forming in his eyes, clearly overwhelmed with how the investigation was going.
âSheâs important to you Spencer. Like her or not I care about you. So therefore I care about her,â You donât think as you speak, words spilling out of your mouth with no conscious filter.
âIâm sorry.â Spencerâs apology elicits a sigh from your mouth, and you shake your head softly at him.
âForget it, letâs focus on getting Maeve home safe alright?â He obliges to your request with a purse of his lips and a small nod, turning his eyes towards the ground.
âWhatâre you thinking about?â His eyes fall on yours once more at your question, round with confusion and glistening with the starts of tears. âI can see it in your face, youâre calculating something in your head,â
He exhales through his mouth in a small laugh. Youâd always been able to figure him out, and not just because you were a profiler.
â2,412 hours,â His tone is uncertain, mixed between gratefulness for you observance and something far more upsetting. âThatâs how long Maeve and I have contacted each other counting letters and phone callsâŠâ
âThatâs what-â You take a second to do the calculation in your head. â100 days?â
â100.5âŠâ He runs his hand backwards through his hair, pressing his eyes closed like heâs afraid tears will spill from them if he doesnât. âWhat if thatâs all I get?â
âIt wonât be SpencerâŠâ
âYou donât know that-â
âYes Spencer, I do,â You have to consciously suppress the sigh that threatens to leave your mouth, pushing your lingering distaste for Maeve down with it. âShe is going to be fine, I promise,â
You and the team spent the next thirty minutes rebuilding the profile from the bottom up.
âCelebrity stalkers are usually non violent,â
âYou want to tell that to John Lennon Rossi?â Spencer looked up from his lap towards the group at the table, having separated himself from the group to sit on a sofa lining one of the walls so he couldnât bias the profile.
It wasnât going too well.
âWhat was it that Mark David Chapman said after he shot him?â Spencer stood from his seat, anger flaring in his nostrils. ââIt was like all of my nobody-ness and all of his somebody-ness collidedâ,â
You could hear the rise in his tone as he worked himself up the more he spoke.
âSpencer-â
âMaeve is somebody. And this- bitch is a nobody.â
âSpencer.â
Spencer caught your gaze, and immediately fizzling out of his eyes and replaced with guilt. âIâm sorry- I canât be very helpful right now I should leave-â
âYes you can Reid, you have 100.5 days of communication with this girl and a recall everything verbatim,â Morganâs gaze is entirely concerned with Spencerâs outburst.
âThereâs too much of it, and I canât sort through any of it clearly-â Spencer is clearly on the edge of breaking, and you can tell heâs not going to be able to keep his composure for much longer.
âThen pick one of us and weâll go through it with you,â Hotch leaned his elbows against the table, his voice again portraying that soft, parental tone that said he knew how overwhelmed Spencer was getting.
Spencer didnât even say anything, his eyes just silently flickered over to you and you knew you couldnât refuse him.
You return his silence as you get up from your seat and pat your hand on his shoulder for the two of you to exit the room together.
Time to torture yourself for the sake of Spencerâs wellbeing.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Diane Turner, a research assistant working for her PhD in the same lab as Maeve. A student who had her thesis rejected because it contained a heavy sample bias that included both of her parents.
It took a while, but Garcia eventually managed to track down a loft that was owned under Dianeâs parentsâ names, less than 10 minutes away from Maeveâs apartment.
âTake your gun and vest off,â Dianeâs voice is harsh through the receiver attached to the front of the building, and Spencerâs eyes flickered up from the silk blindfold in his hands to the metal box.
He doesnât question the orders as he immediately begins stripping the vest from his torso, dropping it and his gun on the floor.
âNow come in alone.â
âSpencer.â You call out to him as he reaches for the door handle, and he gives you that look that makes your stomach do flips in your torso. Except this time itâs not that pleasant fluttery feeling, but instead an existential dread at the fact that he might not walk out of the building alive.
âIâll be okay,â He gives you a nod of reassurance as he pushes the door open, and you find yourself clenching your hands around your gun to stop yourself from following after him.
The six of you wait outside for what feels like hours, and you lean back and forth on the balls of your feet as you become increasingly restless with the situation.
Then, a gunshot.
And a second.
And your heart drops in your chest.
Youâre not entirely present as you rush into the building with the team following behind you, gun raised at your eyes.
Spencer had to be okay. He had to. He was going to be fine. You were going to walk into that room and he was going to be perfectly fine.
You hoped Maeve was alright too. As much as she was unintentionally causing you literal hell, you knew that she meant everything to Spencer.
You knew that heâd choose her over anything. Heâd choose her over you.
And right now you donât care. You just want him to be okay.
You force the door open to the loft with your foot, gun pointed straight ahead at the first person you see.
âStay back-â Spencer practically shouts from where heâs half lying on the floor, right hand clutching tightly at his left bicep, trails of blood cascading down his fingers and onto the floor.
âStay back stay back donât shoot-â
You let out an audible sigh at the fact that Spencer wasnât critically harmed, although upon a whimper of his name from further across the room you turn your eyes up to the noise.
And you finally meet the girl thatâs caused you ten months of hell. Held at gunpoint.
That small voice in the back of your head tells you that this might be your chance to finally rid her from your life, to let her succumb to whatever Diane had planned and leave Spencer to you.
But you take one look at the desperation in her eyes and any loathing that remained in your mind immediately fizzled out.
It wasnât her fault. Of course it wasnât. She was just a girl that happened to be in love.
âDiane,â Spencer pushes himself to stand, and you can see the pain in his face as he does. âThereâs still a way out of this,â
âYou never wanted me. Never!â Diane pushes the gun sheâs holding hard against Maeveâs neck, and you can see her eyes squeeze closed as she attempts to keep herself from crying. âYou lied!â
âI didnât.â
Spencer shakes his head adamantly, and you glance over at Hotch as you spread across the back of the room, guns raised in Dianeâs direction. âDiane, I offered you a deal, and you can still take it,â
âMe for her. Let me take her place,â
You only have a view of the back of Spencerâs head now, but you can tell by the tone of his voice that his expression is a pure display of desperation, one that youâre happy you canât see because youâd lose your composure in an instant.
âYou would do that?â Dianeâs question is angry and accusatory, tears rolling down her face as she presses the gun against Maeveâs neck once more.
Spencer nods with no threat in his tone. âYes,â
âYou would kill yourself for her?â
âYes.â
You practically feel your heart stop.
âThomas Merton,â Maeveâs voice is almost exactly as you imagined it to be. Soft, smooth and, as Spencer had called it all those months ago, âdipped in honeyâ.
âWhoâs Thomas Merton?â Dianeâs tone contrasts Maeveâs tenfold, pitchy, uneven and overrun with manic anger.
âHe knows,â You can see Maeveâs eyes flicker, and you assume that they meet Spencerâs as his shoulders drop. âHe knows.â
âWhoâs Thomas Merton?â Diane shakes Maeve in her grasp as if to intensify the urgence of her question, and you tighten your grip on your gun in instinctual response. âWho is he?â
âHeâs the one thing you can never take from us,â Maeveâs voice is confident and defiant despite the clear tears in her eyes.
Thomas Merton couldâve been something between Spencer and you.
âNo.â
You can see a clear change in Dianeâs expression at Maeveâs words, and she lowers the gun from Maeveâs head only to hold it up against her own, staring directly into Spencerâs eyes.
âWait-â
Spencer barely has time to shout the word before the gun fires, and you flinch at the sound as you watch Maeve and Diane both drop to the floor, dark red blood pooling around the two.
You can feel the tension in the room as everyone computes what just happened, guns lowering slowly as their eyes lock onto the two women on the floor.
Youâre not focused on that. Youâre focused on the tightness of Spencerâs shoulders as he takes sharp breaths in and out of his nose.
The way he seems to forget about the bullet wound in his arm as his legs give out underneath him.
The way a sob that leaves his mouth despite the fact that he tries to muffle it with his hand.
The way that Spencer broke.
He's crying. Big, heaving, heart-wrenching sobs.
His shoulders are trembling.
His hands are shaking.
His head is hanging downwards so that his hair is covering his face.
You approach him slowly, kneeling down at his side and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
His eyes slowly shift from Maeve, his sobs only seeming to amplify as he meets your gaze. His eyes are red and closely with tears, his cheeks running hot and his lips trembling.
You donât speak, knowing that youâll break if you do. Instead, you guide his head into your shoulder and let him crumble in your arms, grieving the loss of the love of his life.
Youâre sure youâre going to cry yourself to sleep when you get home, but right now, you needed to be strong. For him.
âIâm so sorry-â Spencer speaks through broken sobs as you hold him, the rest of the team moving to secure the scene.
âShh,â You shake your head against his softly, rubbing the palm of your hand up and down his back as you let him cry until he physically couldnât anymore.
âI treated you so horribly-â He pulls away from your shoulder to look into your eyes once more. âIâm so sorry- Please donât leave meâŠâ
You purse your lips into a line, your expression full of so many emotions Spencer canât distinguish any of them.
âIâm not going anywhere,â You pull his head back into your shoulder, leaning your head against his. âI promiseâŠâ