Honesty - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

11. Act Normal

"Normal is an ideal. But it's not reality. Reality is brutal, it's beautiful, it's every shade between black and white, and it's magical. Yes, magical. Because every now and then, it turns nothing into something." ~ Tara Kelly

The Daughter

Thankfully nobody mentioned anything with either Spencer or I on the jet, and I remained entirely focused on the case.

We were in LA investigating a serial arsonist who increased his kills by two with each fire he set.

Morgan was still suspicious of gang activity, but the rest of us were convinced it was the working of a solo arsonist. Of course, this was difficult to establish for me as I was the one partnered with Morgan in Spencer's absence.

"I'm telling you, none of this says 'gang'." I said defensively to Morgan.
"Yes, it does. The fires aren't in specific locations, they're out in the public, victims are random within the high-risk community. C'mon Mel you've got to see the connections." I rolled my eyes and sighed just as we entered the conference room back at the station.

It would seem that the team were on the webcam to Garcia so Morgan and I were silent as we slipped in at the back of the room. He immediately crossed to the coffee table and poured us both a cup, passing me one silently as the team listened to the facts Garcia was relaying.

"Therefore we can assume that the Unsub is seeing himself as an Angel of Mercy and sees himself as doing a public service by cleaning the streets of these vagrants." Reid's voice came from the cam and I looked up to the screen to see his face peering down at us excitedly.

I choked on my mouthful of coffee and turned, choking to spit it back into my cup.
"You okay?" Morgan asked, everyone turning to stare at me. 

I kept coughing, nodding my head and hitting my chest, subtly slipping out of the conference room with a reddened face.

What was he doing with Garcia? Why was he at work? Why was he working this case with us?

I had so many questions reeling around in my brain as I cleared my throat and chucked my coffee.

"You alright?" Prentiss asked as she approached me.
"Totally fine." I lied. She narrowed her eyes but nodded her head.
"Well we have a list of people to check out, so let's go."

The Doctor

"Did you see that? She just left as soon as she saw I was there," I said in a small pathetic voice. "She hates me." I concluded.

"Oh come off it," Garcia scoffed. "You are so full of yourself Doctor. Get down off your high horse, that girl does not hate you. She l-" I arched an eyebrow as Garcia cut herself off. I looked at her bluntly as her cheeks blushed and she cleared her throat. 

"She luckily doesn't hate you," She said in a high-pitched tone. "She just needs time, okay? You know everything she told me, so I'm the only one that knows what's happened between you. She doesn't hate you, Spencer. Believe me." I did believe her, but it still didn't change the way I felt.

*

"That's it!" I shrieked. "That's him! That's the Unsub!" Garcia and I had managed to narrow it down as the team were splitting to cover more possibilities. "Who's there? Who's with him?!" I gasped, yanking my phone out of my pocket. 

"Mel and Morgan." Garcia blurted. Without even thinking about it I hit Mel's speed-dial and in a few seconds she answered.
"Melanie you have to be careful, it's him, he's the Unsub. Bryan Martin, the guy you and Morgan are about to question, it's him." I gushed quickly.
"O-o-okay," She stuttered, clearly surprised by my sudden phone-call. "We'll let the others know. Thanks."
"No problem..." I opened my mouth to say more but she ended the call; thankfully so.