Paranoia - s.reid

Distorted

After Matt's wife had been taken hostage, Spencer had felt a sense of protectiveness in him grow. He'd been protective over Liz the entire near 15 years he'd known her, but it'd progressed when he had to comfort his colleague.

"I know how it feels." He told Matt sympathetically, receiving a worried glare in response. "God, Ellie's been held captive more times than I can count and every time it never gets easier."

Matt sighed. "What do you do?"

"I do my job, and I keep telling myself she's strong, she'll be fine. I'm not one to believe in silly things like this, but every time I've always twisted my ring three times," Spencer twisted his wedding ring once. "it's almost like a charm. She's come back to me every time, so it must be doing something right?"

He gave the doctor a tight, teary eyed smile. "Yeah, right." He twisted once, then twice, then thrice. "3."

Spencer's little superstition had done something, Kristy had returned home that same day. 

He wouldn't let his wife go in on this alone, and she didn't mind when they entered the storage unit with a large array of SWAT. Within minutes, they'd found a body. 

The couple stood over it as a SWAT agent unwrapped the coverings on said body. "Still warm, this kill is fresh."

"Owen."

They'd escorted him out of the building, watching the ambulance leave as Emily layed a hand on Liz's shoulder, making her jump. "We were too late."

"We tried. Now we need to tell the team."

"Get off me!" A loud ruckus had caught the group of three's attention as they launched.

"Drop your weapon!" Owen stood, arm around a paramedic's neck and a blade in his hand.

Surprise was evident on their faces. "Owen! Hold it! Wait." Liz raised her hand at the SWAT around them, forcing them to lay down their weapons. "FBI Special Agent Owen Quinn, badge number 2310er5. Owen, look at me."

A sense of realization had struck him. "Liz? Reid? Prentiss?"

She nodded. "You're safe now, Owen. You're home."

He let the paramedic go. "How long?"

"Don't worry about that right now." Spencer dismissed. "We need to make sure that you're ok."

"What year is it?"

The young agent shook her head at him. "2018."

"No!" He fell into the arms of Emily and Liz.

"You're safe now, you're safe."

"No, I'm not!"

------

"Who remembers this agent?" Emily displayed the picture to her team.

"That's Agent Owen Quinn. He worked here until he quit a year ago. He worked in the violent crimes apprehension program on the 5th floor, but he aspired to be a profiler."

Matt shrugged. "So, why'd he quit?"

"He was convinced there was an unsub we missed working up and down the northeast corridor. He named him the Strangler."

"Naming the unsub. That's exactly what we don't do."

Rossi piped up. "That wasn't his only mistake. We reviewed his report, he started with a single victim. A woman in Maryland who'd been strangled and had the hyoid bone at the front of her throat removed, but she was his only confirmed victim."