Spencer Reid One Shots

Unsub Has A Knife To My Neck

    "So this guy is killing single women because he thinks they're pathetic?" Prentiss asked, cringing at the crime scene photos racked up on the board at the small-town Minnesota P.D. we were occupying. "Then why no overkill?"

    "Maybe it's because he thinks they're dirty? Doesn't want to be there for longer than he needs to?" Rossi suggested, but we all knew that we didn't have enough evidence to prove anything. Hotch looked at the board and frowned.

    "We need more, people. Split up, take some uniforms with you and start knocking on doors. We have half a profile but it's the half we need to find this guy, the other half may have to come when we see him. If it doesn't, it'll be after he kills another woman, and that is not happening on our watch."

    We split up into teams of two. Hotch took Prentiss and Rossi took Morgan which left me and Reid canvassing together. I wasn't upset with the pairing, but it did feel a bit tense.

    Just a week before, Reid had asked me to move in with him and I had said no. When he asked me why, I couldn't come up with a better answer other than "I can't", and we parted on rocky ground. We hadn't broken up, but every since then, we had been incredibly professional towards once another, but hadn't discussed the event.

    "I can take the left if you take the right." Reid suggested. I nodded and went to my line of houses, wondering if he suggested that as a way to get away from me. I didn't have time to think about it because the door to my first house cracked open. I smiled politely at the man and held up my badge.

   "I'm Agent Anderson with the FBI, I'm canvassing the area looking for a witness to the murders that have been going on. Do you have a minute?"

    The man looked at me from the crack in his door and nodded, opening it farther. He took and step back and allowed me to come in. I stepped inside and was immediately assaulted by the smell of men's cologne. I closed my eyes for just a second to sneeze, and in that second I was grabbed by the back of the hair and slammed into the wall. My vision went blurry and spots flew across my eyes. I could only barely see the man through my spinning head, and I held up my hands weakly.

    "No, no, we can talk, we can talk first. I'd love to talk with you."

    "No." He spat. "You're just another one of the dogs without an owner, sad and alone. You have no one. You don't want to talk."

    That was it. The missing piece. He didn't kill women because he hated them, they were mercy killings. He believed in partners.

    As he came toward me again I raised my hand to shield myself but a heavy knock on the door unfocused the man. He looked between me and the door, frantic.

    "Sir open up, this is the police."

    Reid. He must have noticed I hadn't come out, or something was wrong, it didn't matter, he was here.

    The man cringed and grabbed me by the hair again, pulling me through the hallway. I clambered for a grasp at his arm but I was still too disoriented to get a good grip.

    Reid kicked the door open and the man pulled me up, holding my arms in the back with one hand. I felt the cold sting of a knife at my throat. It was so close to me that I could even feel the dried blood on it from the other women he had killed.

    I hissed in pain as I felt the knife nick my neck.

    "Drop the knife!" Spencer ordered, a note of panic in his voice. "Drop it or I will shoot!"

    "Knife down, no no no! She has to die! She has nothing, she is nothing!" The murderer screamed at Reid, pulling me farther into his home. Reid took a tentative step forward and I gasped in pain as I felt the knife nick me again, deeper, as the man grew more threatened.

    Has nothing, is nothing. If I have something, maybe I can convince him I'm not who he is meant to kill. These kills are compulsions for him, not choices.

    "Spencer," I cried out, pain echoing through my voice. "Spencer sweetie put the gun away."

    "Sweetie, sweetie, sweetie." I heard the man mumble under his breath, repeating my words back to himself unconsciously. Spencer looked at me and slowly put his gun back into his holster. I heard members of the police force begin to circle the house.

    "Spencer," I said again, looking my boyfriend directly in the eyes, "I want to move in with you. Actually, I want to marry you."

    "I want to marry you too." He said. Even though I knew he was just catching on to what the unsub's delusion was, it made my heart flutter to hear him say that.

    "You make me whole, Spencer." I said. I felt the knife shake in the unsub's grip, and I felt the subsequent drops of blood roll down my neck.

    "You're everything to me." He said, stepping forward. The unsub squeezed my arms tighter, whispering under his breath.

    "Everything? Everything?"

    "I love you." Said Spencer, looking straight into my eyes.

    "I love you too, Spencer."

    The unsub let me go and began to scream the word "love" over and over. I grabbed the man's arms and twisted them behind his back, just like he had to mine. The officers outside all rushed into the house, and I heard the squeal of SUV tires outside as the rest of the team finally arrived.

    Spencer ran over to me and as an officer took the unsub from my hands, Spencer took me into his arms. He held me tightly and kissed the top of my head. He pulled away and gently tipped my chin up with two fingers, his light eyes examining my multiple cuts. His hands never left me, afraid to let go.

    "They don't hurt that much." I said.

    "I love you." Was his only retort.

    "I think all I'll need is a band-aid, maybe an alcohol rinse."

    "I love you." He said again. I saw Hotch walk in past the cuffed perp. He came straight to us and frowned down at me, looking at my cuts.

    "Are you alright?" He asked. I gave him a thumbs-up and he frowned harder.

    "I was doing my round when the guy slammed my head against the wall and held a knife to me. The guy wasn't killing women he found alone because of convenience, Hotch. Them being alone, to him it meant that they were single, and single meant miserable. He was trying to save them from loneliness."

    Hotch nodded, and Reid examined the side of my head. I winced when he touched it and he immediately pulled his hand away from my head and moved it to my arm, but his other was still tenderly on the side of my face. Hotch cleared his throat to get Reid's attention, but Reid didn't look away from me.

    "How were you two able to get out of the hostage situation? He was unstable, on the brink of losing it." Morgan asked, walking in behind Hotch. I smiled and waved hello to him. He raised an eyebrow.

    "She figured out that he was killing women who weren't being loved, so I told her that she means everything to me." Reid explained, not looking at either of our teammates. He examined the side of my head again. "She did an incredible job and I love her."

    "Reid!" I exclaimed, a blush rising in the presence of our teammates.

    "You could have died and we spent this week not talking because of a stupid fight. If I have to tell you I love for every moment for the rest of my life, I will, because there's nothing else that's truer in the world." He said easily. Morgan whistled long and low, impressed. I just stood there with my jaw slightly open. Reid closed it with his gentle fingers and smiled.

    "I love you."

    "God, Reid. I love you too."