Please Don't Go (The Story of Us Book 3)

Chapter 4- Improvement

3rd Person P.O.V.

Amanda's condition has improved a lot since the attack. Spencer felt like he could finally breathe for the first time in a while and as such had agreed to go back to work but since he still couldn't travel, he's stuck in Quantico. Stuck is a very loose term however as Spencer was actually overjoyed that he wasn't able to leave because Hotch had allowed both him and Garcia to work the case from Amanda's hospital room.

He wouldn't say it out loud but he was secretly happy that Spencer had forgiven him for what happened to Amanda. He can't forgive himself and he was going to find George Foyet and kill him but he's happy that Spencer has at least a little bit of the weight off his shoulders.

That's why he allowed Spencer to stay with Amanda. He understands the fear that Spencer has. The terror that Foyet will come back and take everything he holds dearly away from him. It's how Hotch feels about Foyet finding Haley and Jack and he doesn't want Spencer to feel that way. He wouldn't wish that feeling on his worst enemy. Kristen agreed to stay with Amanda, and her gun that she had gotten from Lacey, at the hospital while Spencer heads into work to be briefed on the case before he and Garcia head to the hospital to watch over Amanda.

As she sits by her best friend's bedside, she's reminded of how well Amanda fights and can't help but wonder how she lost to the reaper. This was a regular occurrence for not only Kristen but Aaron, Spencer, and Lacey as well. She had seen the 'crime scene' and knows that Amanda likely gave as good as she got but deep down she knows that she has to be missing something that made Amanda lose.

Meanwhile, JJ presents the case to the team. They are heading to Commack, Long Island, New York, aka Rossi's hometown. Three victims all with a bullet to the heart but with different mutilations in each crime. Once the briefing is over, Hotch declares wheels up in 20, and Spencer and Garcia head back to Saint Sebastian's. They ride up in silence, Garcia with her laptop and Spencer with his crutches. When they get to the room, Spencer smiles at the sight of Kristen reading Percy Jackson to Amanda.

He found it almost comical that a genius, someone likely smarter than him, could find so much joy in a children's book. She always begged him to read it, claiming it did an 'otherworldly' job of combining sarcasm and Greek Mythology. He knocks on the open door and Kristen pauses, looking up to the lanky man with a grin. "I knew you'd be back soon. You'd probably have an aneurysm if you were gone for more than two hours," she jokes and Spencer scoffs.

"I'll have you know that I left two weeks ago for 8 hours while Hotch stayed with her and I'm still alive so." Kristen giggles, enjoying their banter and the close relationship she had formed with Spencer over the past few months of waiting with Amanda. She could see what her best friend saw in the man and was happy that he loved her as much as she knew Amy loved him.

"Whatever you say, Spencie. Well, I have to go because we are trying out new appetizers at Night Club and I have the final say, so good luck catching this week's villain," she tells him, smiling and waving at Penelope before kissing Spencer on the cheek and heading out. Garcia watches as she walks around the corner, leaving the vibrant woman's sight before elbowing the resident genius in the stomach.

"Ow. What was that for Garcia?" He complains.

"She's cute and she clearly likes you," Garcia says in excitement as Spencer snorts at how wrong she is.

"She doesn't like me, Penelope," he responds, using her first name to grab her attention. "Besides being Amanda's best friend, she also has her eye on Hotch. Has for a while."

"What? Really?" She ponders this before frowning. "Doesn't that upset Amanda?"

"It didn't bother her that they were sleeping together but I think it bothers her that Hotch leads Kristen on while he waits for Haley to come back to him," he answers, moving Amanda's hair away from her face as he balances on his crutches, missing the awestruck look on his companion's face until she speaks.