Chapter Text
☀︎ Sunny ☀︎
"You did this to me..." I groan over the trashcan outside our office. We haven't even made it in this morning before my morning sickness took over.
"I'm sorry." Spence says apologetically with a smile as he rubs my back. Another wave of nausea hits me as I throw up once more.
The moment my stomach settles we make our way inside. I was excited for today Penny and Derek are coming back from their trip to London to see Emily. I've missed them terribly, but also the hormones have made me super emotional about everything.
Especially after Emily moved overseas. That was a tough pill to swallow. After everything between us, it stung to have her leave us again. At least this time no fake deaths had to happen. I was at least thankful for that.
Keeping this pregnancy a secret until the second trimester has been harder than I anticipated. Between my morning sickness that really came at any time of day, and my utterly weird cravings. But mostly the emotional mess that I've been, for example I instantly started crying when I saw a stray dog wandering the streets of Seattle in our last case. You can imagine the looks of concern coming my way as I tried to fight for my life to think of an excuse for my hysterics.
I'm pretty sure Hotch and JJ are on to me. Of course they haven't said anything, respecting my decision to keep this a secret until I feel ready to share the news. It's not that I don't want everyone to know, but after everything that happened with our sweet Angel. I just can't....theres a fear underneath all my happiness that something might happen again and take our little blueberry from me. Don't worry Dr. Craver has been working overtime to ease my mind about it. She even tells me it's normal to feel like the other shoe is gonna drop after experiencing a loss like ours.
Spence and I are walking hand in hand to our desk when I hear Pen's voice shout across the bullpen in a British accent. "Sunday Talulla Reid!"
I turn around to see Penny in full Union Flag attire as we run to one another before hugging each other as we bounce in excitement. My stomach already starting to turn from the movement. I pull away to get a better look at her.
"Is it possible you got more beautiful after I left? Jesus you're glowing like an ethereal fairy from one of your slu*tty books!" She exclaims making my cheeks heat in a blush. "Here...for my bestie!" She hands me a British tea gift box. I roll my eyes teasingly. Derek pulls me into a hug the moment Pen lets me go.
"Funny, bringing up my traumatic experience without coffee."
JJ turns the corner with a smile, "Hi! Hey! You guys are back!" She comes to give Pen a big hug than Derek.
"How is Emily doing?" Spence questions looking between the two of them.
"Brilliant and lovely!" Pen keeps her British accent as she speaks.
"Her apartment is off the chain." Derek says trying to get a fist pound from Spence but he holds Derek's fist giving it a shake and making D laugh.
"You mean her flat." Pen corrects him, "You have to take a shaky old lift to get to the top, but the view is brilliant. For my favorite bloke." She hands Spence a mug with The Union Flag. I'm a little jealous he gets a mug. I also start to tear up watching him get a gift and seeing how excited he was for it.
"Hey, I love it! Thank you!" He smiles at her. She hands JJ a little double decker bus.
"How was temporary duty?" Spence asks Derek.
"Oh, it was around the clock. I thought I'd get a little more of a vacation, but..." He shrugs.
"Did you watch the olympics at all?" I ask next.
"I did see a little track and field. But the Queen bee here, she saw everything." He points toward Pen as her smile grows. "Emily is for real hooked up over there. She sends her love. And tea of the month starts next week." She informs us.
"Joy...more tea." I roll my eyes.
"Ohhh....I miss her." JJ states next to me which makes me go down a rabbit hole of emotions thinking about all the family dinners we have missed for two months without her.
"Sun you okay?" Derek looks at me concerned as I wipe my tears.
"I just miss our family being all together...." Spence pulls me into his arms as he helps wipe my tears. I'm a freaking mess.
"It's okay Space Buns, she promised to come visit soon." Pen tries to cheer me up but it makes me want to cry even harder.
"It's still not the same." I whisper. Spence leans a lingering kiss on my forehead.
"Hey, how's the new? Is she nice?" Pen questions us, changing the subject.
"Yeah, she is." JJ answers her.
"I'm just asking. Reid, do you know when she was recruited she was 24?" Pen turns her gaze on my fine ass husband. These hormonal emotions are giving me whiplash.
"I've guest lectured in her forensic linguistics class before."
I nod my head, "He makes the hottest professor." I state making the group laugh.
"Keep it in your pants Sunny...." Pen chuckles, "And of course you have, cause she's a professor and an agent, which is so impressive." Her voice turning sarcastic. I don't think she likes the idea of Emily being replaced.
"No, really Pen, she's great. You know I wouldn't steer you wrong." I try to reassure her.
"Mm-hmm, and driven, clearly. Berkeley grad, double major, bureau star of the unabomber case. And she teaches at Georgetown...." Penny has caught a case of my word vomit. Spence looks down at me with a wide smile, his dimples on full display. "When she's not doing that, she's SSAing at the Washington field office, and she has her Ph.D. does that mean I have to call her Doctor?"
We all look at each other with knowing looks causing Pen to stop for a moment in irritation. "What? I did some research on her 'cause I couldn't sleep on the plane. And my point is, clearly, she is smart and capable, but is she nice?"
JJ and Derek clear their throats trying to let Penny know that Alex is coming up behind her as she continues to word vomit. It was actually nice not being the one to embarrass myself this time. Pen grimances once she realizes what they are hinting at. Spence has the most adorable frown, that makes me want to kiss his face a dozen times.
"Oh, dear god, this is happening, where I talk and the person is behind...." She whispers as Derek nods his head. "Me." She turns around stunned.
"The origin of "nice" is 12th century middle english, meaning foolish or stupid. I hope you're referring to the modern use of the adjective....you must be Penelope. I'm Alex Blake." She introduces herself.
"Nice to meet you. Really, actually nice in the nicest of ways nice." Pen stumbles on her words as Derek steps next to her introducing himself. "I'm Derek Morgan." He holds out a hand for her to shake.
"Welcome back."
"How was Seattle?" He questions making small talk. Spence stands behind me, his arms wrapped around me as he slyly rubs my belly.
"The unsub made Ridgeway look like a saint. He even used his own kid to bait the victims." She answers him, making me tear up at the reminder of what we learned.
"Well, we've seen that before. No doubt we'll see it again." He confesses. God I hope we don't until after I'm done being pregnant.
Rossi comes walking in telling us to not unpack. I spy a box of pastries in his hand as he makes his way towards the round table room. Hotch comes walking in after him, "Garcia the files." He doesn't stop his pace following Rossi straight to the room.
"Yeah. The files. Oh, god." She turns around to head for her office.
Spence drops his arms as we follow our team, I have a pep in my step knowing I'm about to get food. He grabs our reusable coffee cups off his desk, handing me, my peppermint and ginger tea. Apparently it's supposed to help soothe my morning sickness. He's been reading all the daddy to be books as of late.
I snatch a chocolate croissant from the box sitting in the middle of the table before taking my seat. Everyone starts to do the same before Hotch begins briefing us. "A few hours ago there was a prison transfer to the county hospital in Abilene, Texas. The ambulance crashed and the prisoner escaped."
I was shocked to see Strauss walk in with the files as she starts handing them out to each of us. "He's wearing the EMT uniform, and he's armed with the guard's weapon." She explains further.
"Aren't the U.S. Marshals on this?" Derek questions.
"Yes, they are, but they need your help because this is what they found inside." Strauss grabs the clicker pushing play on a video. It shows the bloodied dead bodies of the EMT and guard in the back of the ambulance. My stomach turning as I put my half eaten croissant down. Hold it together long enough to get through this brief.
"The EMT and the driver died in the accident. The guard, however, suffocated." Strauss explains.
"What's on his mouth?" Alex questions when the video gets closer to the guard. His mouth looks sewn shut, why does this seem familiar.
"It was sewn shut."
"So the prisoner is the silencer." Alex states look towards Hotch and Strauss.
"Or this guy's a copycat." Rossi counters.
"Forensics confirmed it's the same unique double-knot ligature he used in all 3 murders." Hotch informs us.
"Holy Bologna Billy Butcherson!" My eyes widen when I realized I used my outdoor voice.
"Agent Reid that is entirely inappropriate behavior for an FBI agent." Strauss gives me a menacing glare.
"My apologies ma'am. Won't happen again." That's a lie but she doesn't need to know that.
"His last known victim was in 2004 and he was never caught." Spence clears this throat taking the heat off me while he explains.
"So he didn't go dormant by choice. He was locked up." I say looking towards Hotch as he nods his head, at least he didn't give me a disapproving look.
"Why not just escape? If he hadn't sewn the guard's mouth shut, we would never know it was him." Derek states.
"Because he wants us to know he's back." I tell D. A photo of our unsub pops up on the big screen, one of his eyes drooping, freaking me out. "Ugh" I flinch not meaning too. Hotch and Strauss both give me a narrowed look as I grimace mouthing my apology.
"We got his face. What's his name?" JJ questions getting the attention off of me.
"John Doe. He was pulled over in '04 for a traffic violation. No registration, no tags. He carried no I.D." Hotch tells us. How the hell do you just cease to exist? There has to be some record of him.
"No way he did 8 years for that." Alex states looking down at her file.
"They searched the car and found a gun with a silencer." Hotch further explains.
"A silencer. He was practically telling them who he was and no one made the connection." Rossi shakes his hand in front of him pointing towards the picture of him.
"It's a Federal offense. Carries a 30 year minimum sentence. But it was actually what he did inside that guaranteed him life without parole."
JJ's brows pinched together listening to Hotch before speaking up as she looks at her file. "He killed two men while inside."
"And never said a word." Spence adds.
"Mm-hmm. He spoke with his fists." I nod.
"Remaining silent for 8 years takes a hell of a lot of self-restraint." I turn to look at Derek standing behind me while he spoke.
"Maybe it was a conditioned response." Spence looks at him too when he offers a suggestion to why he might have remained silent.
"Garcia's gathering all the files from '04. We'll catch up on the plane. Wheels up in 30."
☀︎ ♖‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ♥︎ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅♖ ☀︎
My legs are resting on Spence's lap as we both look through our files on the leather couch of the jet rubbing my calves with his free hand.
"Did any of you work on the silencer case?" Alex questions not looking up from her file.
"That was during my extended sabbatical." Rossi looks over towards her.
"We all consulted, but nobody made the trip to Texas." Hotch adds.
"Except for me, I was busy dealing with Daddy issues." I give her an awkward smile, as she nods her head. By her third day with us, she finally asked me about dear ol' dad. Normally I would run away from those types of conversation, but we actually had a long chat about my experience. Especially being the daughter of a serial killer working in the FBI. I guess it's a testament to Dr. Craver's abilities as a therapist. Lady knows what she is doing.
"Why did you not make the trip to Texas? 3 women in 4 months." She looks at all of us surprised, "It's a textbook kill rate. An undeniable signature. Obvious surrogates." She scoffs in disbelief.
"We weren't invited by the local police." Hotch looks up at her for a moment before looking back down at his file.
"Aren't you tired of that?" She questions him.
Derek scoffs nodding his head, as Hotch says welcome to our world.
"The women he killed were beaten and left in open ditches. That physical representation of his anger is missing this time around." Derek says.
"He must do something else that satisfies him." JJ suggests as she sits on the armrest of the couch next to me.
Spence speaks up, "The signature is the same, but his victimology couldn't be more different. The guard was clearly a victim of necessity. But if he's in need-driven behavior such as sewing mouths shut, how can he control that and only do it to the guard?"
My god why do I find him so attractive when he profiles.
"Maybe he just ran out of time?" JJ suggests.
I shake my head, "Or he could want the guard to suffer in silence. Literally making his victims shut up." I counter suggest.
"It seems obvious, but, uh, there may be something to that." Hotch says looking over towards me and Spence as we nod our heads.
"Then the question is why?" Alex states.
"Morgan, you and JJ go to the M.E., Reid, Sunny, and Dave check out John Doe's cell. Blake and I will head to the U.S. Marshals." We all nod our heads at Hotch's orders. I'm just glad I don't have to be seperated from my husband.
☀︎ ♖‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ♥︎ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅♖ ☀︎
When we get to the prison, Rossi is the first to shake the Warden's hand. "Warden, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Rossi" He looks back at me, "This is Special Agent Reid, and this is Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Reid."
Spence does his usual wave while I give the seemingly too young to be a warden a warm handshake. He nods his head at the three of us, "Nice to meet all of you, I'll have one of my CO's take you to John Doe's cell."
He gestures for a tall menacing looking officer to escort us, if I was a prisoner that man would strike the fear of god into me. He makes Morgan look like a baby. He doesn't smile once, which I can't trust people who don't smile. It's weird. The scar that goes from his temple down his face til it meets his top lip makes me wonder if his left eye is real or not.
I clutch my stomach protectively when we talk through the prison halls, men slamming against their bars making disgusting and wildly inappropriate remarks towards me. A few making kissing noises and others make crude innuendo's of what they would do to me. Spence tucks me into his side protectively while Rossi does his best to shield me from view. The CO yells at the men but it doesn't matter because men like them don't care.
Once inside our unsubs cell, I let out a breath. We all seperate looking through each item, he had an impressive collection of books for a prisoner. My sweet husband didn't stray far from me, keeping less than a few inches apart. Usually the comments and gestures wouldn't have phased me, but being here pregnant. The fear of something happening that's out of my control, it makes it hard for me to concentrate.
"Everything points to a solitary existence." Spence breaks the silence.
"The most worn book is "The Count of Monte Cristo." I look up to meet my favorite shade of hazel brown.
Rossi walks over towards us, "Of course it is. The hero's only reason for living was to seek vengeance. Maybe he relates." He pulls three legal pads off the books to hand to Spence.
"It's in french." I state.
"I didn't see that coming." Rossi keeps looking over the books. My gaze glued on my husband as his tongue pokes out the corner of his mouth while he scans the legal pads.
"Looks like he wrote a lot, too." Rossi says but at this point nothing is going to pull me away from staring at Spence. My eyes our locked, and my hormones are going wild.
"He's been pent up physically and verbally far too long." Spence says without looking up from the legal pads.
"So he gets into his first fight within days of being here. It got him a week's worth of solitary." Rossi starts to work through a theory.
"That pattern escalated until he eventually killed an inmate..." Spence trails off.
"He got out of solitary and killed another." I finish off our little web theory.
"So he silences his victims before he gets inside. His actions get him silenced while he's here. Ironic?" Rossi questions.
"Fortuitous. Looks like he has two forms of expression, silence and rage. We need to find out why he's operating in these extremes." Spence holds up the notepads, "Maybe it's in his writings."
We grab all the legal pads in the cell, before Spence tucks me back into his arms and Rossi stands close enough to block me from view as we walk back through the hallways. My mind starts running through possibilities of why our unsub would stay silent for so long, on the car ride to the station. There has to be a connection for why he's staying silent and why he silents his victims. I don't think his actions made his silence...I think maybe...just maybe he has a severe speech impediment or stutter. That would keep a man silent for 8 years if he worried about being ridiculed for it. And if I'm right, his victims look a hell of alot like the person who ridiculed him as a child for his speech imperfections.
We pull up to a brick and mortar building, nothing about it stands out from the plethora of stations we have frequented. The sweet old woman manning the front desk points us towards the conference room in the middle of the station. Most of the walls were made of windows as we come up on Hotch and Alex talking.
"We've got ourself a reader over here." Rossi says making our presences know as they both turn to face us walking in.
"In multiple languages." I inform them while Spence hands out a legal pad to them both.
"Spanish, English, and German. Are the primary languages for Texas." Alex points out.
"He reads in French, but most of his own writings are in english. His handwriting is the size of courier type, and so far I've read 50,000 words."
I'm so turned on right now. I shift in my spot trying to stop my racing hormones.
"And?" Alex questions looking up to Spence from the legal pad.
"The small print tells me he's methodical, not always social. The narrow spacing indicates a tremendous amount of irritability." He goes on to explain.
"It looks like stream of consciousness. Interesting. His reading comprehension suggests above-average intelligence, but his writing is inferior. Could be what he grew up hearing." Alex suggests.
"You two should guest-lecture together. Oh wait." Rossi jokes.
"I would pay so much money to see Professor Reid again." I wink making Spence blush.
Derek pulls me out of my dirty memories, "He literally put words in the guard's mouth." He walks in the room with JJ holding up a biohazard baggy with a sentence written on paper inside.
"That's new." Rossi comments.
"Well, we think this is what we were missing. The words give him the pleasure the beatings used to bring." JJ states looking between all of us.
"Maybe we had this wrong. What if the ritual is sewing the mouths shut? His signature used to be the beatings but now it's putting words in their mouths."
"Just when you think a signature doesn't get more solid than that." JJ's brows raise.
"What did he write?" I question curiously.
"Gazing through to the other side."
"It's not anagram. Is that a phrase in anything you've read so far?" Alex questions as I shake my head no.
"No. It's not a well-known literary reference either." Spence tells her.
"The words mean something to him, he wouldn't had shared them otherwise." I point out getting a nod from Alex.
"It's gonna get dark soon. He'll be on the move." Hotch speaks up.
"You want us on the road with the marshals?" Derek asks him.
"No, I think we should concentrate on remote locations. He's not just escaping detection, he's a recluse. He'll be attracted to isolated locations."
Hotch gives us our orders, wanting Spence and I to figure out if we can find any connection to what was left in the guards mouth and the unsubs writing we found at the prison. We get set up at a table, Spence walking in with my reusable coffee cup full of tea, a pizza, and a bag that had lemons, carrots and peanut butter.
He leans down kissing my forehead before setting the food on the table for me. "Spence I don't think you understand how much I love you." I whisper before I start crying again. He leans down wiping the tears from my eyes.
"I have a pretty good idea." He flashes me that dimpled smile that make my heart skip. He turns to grab the jar of peanut butter opening the lid and removing the seal before opening the bag of baby carrots and dipping it into the peanut and feeding it to me.
"Do you think the crying will stop soon?" I question him wiping the last bit of tears away.
He feeds me another peanut butter carrot, "Once your body has adapted to the higher levels of hCG, the symptoms usually wear off, but some women will experience them throughout their pregnancy."
This makes me cry again, "I'm going to be the percentage of women that cry the entire time...that just seems very on brand for me." I meet his amused gaze tearfully.
"You cry beautifully." He kisses my cheek standing so he can cut my lemon in half.
I'm holding on to the peanut butter jar, eating my carrots like their candy. Once the lemon is cut I open the pizza box squeezing the lemon over it and soaking it with it's juice. My mouth already watering just thinking about eating this.
Hotch walks in his eyes going straight to the lemon being squeezed over the pizza, then to the peanut butter dipped carrot dangling out of my mouth. He raises a suspicious brow. I look at Spence with wide eyes. We're gonna have to tell him. He seems to understand what I'm thinking as he nods his head.
"Soooooo we're pregnant." I smile awkwardly.
Hotch's lip twitches into a rare smile as we walks over to us to pull me into a hug, then Spence congratulating us. "I had my suspicious." He states once he steps back.
"I figured as much." I shrug.
"I'm happy for you both. You're going to make wonderful parents."
"Thank you Hotch." Spence bites back his smile, he is so excited having someone else know. It was adorable.
"Lemons and pizza?" Hotch questions looking down at my dinner as I nod my head yes. "Haley had some odd cravings. She wanted me to make her a pickle slushie."
I groan happily, "Oh my god that sounds like heaven!"
Spence gives Hotch a narrowed look, no doubt cursing him for giving me the idea knowing it's the only thing I'll be thinking about until I finally have it.
"Sorry." He gives my husband a sympathetic look. "If there is anything that you need, you know where to find me." He gives us a nod before walking out the door.
I turn to look at Spence his smile wide as his hand comes to cup the base of my head pulling me into a chaste kiss. He needs to be careful, I'm not liable for what these hormones will do. "Does it feel more real now, knowing someone else besides us and Craver knows?" He questions against my lips stopping my answer when he kisses me again.
"To be honest I can't think straight when you kiss me like that." He smiles against my lips leaving a lingering kiss to them before fully pulling away. His hands moving to cup my barely there little bump. And by barely there I mean bloat.
"Thank you." He whispers looking down at his hands cradling my stomach.
"For what?" I question slightly confused.
"For making my dreams come true."
