✓ | 𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘 · ͟͟͞͞➳ spencer reid

CHAPTER 14 ━━━

# ! | CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- shit hits the fan

━━━ IT'S BEEN ABOUT
two hours on the plane and no one has said much. Emily and JJ play cards with Rossi and Morgan, Hotch watches Meryl like a concerned parent. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Spencer reels on Meryl and raises his voice.

"You didn't think any of us needed to know that you were being internet stalked by a clinically insane, criminally sophisticated guy who you wrote an entire book with? That didn't seem like vital information, Meryl?" Spencer snaps harshly, standing over where she's curled up in a corner seat with a heating pad on her stomach and an ice pack on the back of her head, courtesy of a very insistent and slightly terrifying JJ.

Morgan's eyes sharpen and he stands. "Take it easy, pretty boy," he warns, putting a hand on the younger man's shoulder, only to be shrugged off. Hotch's brows lower. In the time between finding Meryl and getting back on the jet, he'd developed a protectiveness over her, but could understand why Reid may feel betrayed.

Spencer spins on Derek. "No, okay? I'm not going to calm down. She lied to us and put herself in danger for what? So we wouldn't worry about her? Guess what! That didn't work! Because every day I saw her get approximately seven phone calls that she silenced." He turns back to Meryl, who watches him curiously. "What happened to you that was so bad you had to go and get all untouchable, huh? Was it your dad? Was it whatever happened that gave you those goddamn scars?"

"Alright," Hotch barks, standing up and looking at Spencer with a ferocity that changes the entire energy of the cabin. "Take a seat, Doctor Reid."

The wavy haired man raises a hand up run it through his locks and Meryl flinches perceptively, breaking his anger right down the middle. He sits adjacent her, stunned. "Did you think I was going to hit you?"

Emily and JJ watch as Meryl levels him a gaze void of any emotion. The turn of her surface level smirk is sarcastic. "You just emotionally slapped me in the face, figured you might want a physical effect too."

"Meryl-" Spencer chokes out. His hands twitch in his lap like we wants to reach out to her but then he thinks better of it. Lucky for him, Meryl speaks again.

"To answer your questions, calling that man my father feels like a misuse of the word but I'll do it for convenience. When I was twelve, he stabbed me in the stomach so I couldn't 'ruin another bastard's life with offspring'. Direct quote for you there. Perhaps you can see why I didn't want anything to do with him for a while. Brother watched, helped him bat me around a few times. Scars are from the Scarecrow Killer. I'm the bitch that took him out, let me connect those dots for you." A silence falls over the plane then. The Scarecrow Killer, Thomas Williams, was a man who terrorized six women in 2007. He would assault them, torture them, rape them, whatever it took to get them to cry and when they did, he would add another slice through their lips. When there were five wounds, he would kill them off, stuff them with straw, and stake them out on the side of the road. His final victim had done him in with a clean slice to the carotid, a woman by the name of Sandra Seaver.

Meryl shrugs. "Sandra was my first undercover ops identity, it was my first case, too. He made me drop my clothes and cell when he first kidnapped me so my tracker was gone. I got out, though. One big happy ending, yeah?"

JJ is crying softly in the corner, Emily right there with her. Hotch and Rossi exchange shocked glances, and Morgan looks like he's about ready to punch Spencer in the throat. The latter, like JJ, has tears flowing freely. Meryl thanks the lucky stars as the plane lands quickly and the ramp descends. She uncurls and packs away her things, masking the deep, thrumming pain that circles through her whole body. She locks eyes with Morgan, who nods a tiny amount and grabs her bag along with his.

"This has been fun, folks. I'm off to go see my lady in red," she quips, referencing Garcia.

Morgan is at her heels, throwing one last shady glance at Spencer. "Right behind you, sweet thing."

When they both leave, Emily grabs her bag and follows. Spencer raises his eyes as JJ stands.

She frowns and shifts her big blue eyes, obviously trying to hold back more tears. "You can't do that to people, Spence. You just can't." With that, she leaves.

Spencer looks to Hotch and Rossi as they grab their bags and he does the same. "Is she going to forgive me?" he whispers, earning a glance from Rossi.

The agent quirks an eyebrow. "I wouldn't."

When it's just Reid and Hotch, the older puts a hand on Spencer's shoulder. "Take a seat."

He does as he's told. "Listen, Hotch-"

"Be quiet, you've said enough," Aaron says calmly. "What I just saw was an act of extreme unprofessionalism and I should write you up. But it would only make Murph feel worse than she already does, because she cares about you."

Spencer drums his fingers against his thigh. "I really, really like her, Hotch."

Surprisingly, the older man snorts. "Some way you have of showing it. Go fix it, Reid. Maybe not tonight, though. Garcia might go all unsub on you."

"God," Spencer groans, dropping his head into his hands, "what was I thinking?"

Hotch's brow lowers. "You weren't. And for someone who loves thinking, that's not usually your forte. I know you were worried about her, we all were, but you have to have confidence in your team and confidence in yourself, but also have confidence in Meryl. Even if you now feel even more protective of her. She let you in, Reid. I wish you could've seen that."

Spencer raises his head. "You think her walls are gonna go back up?"

Hotch looks at him earnestly. "You're a profiler. You tell me."

They both get off the jet then, Spencer's phone beeping with a text.

Garcia
WHAT. THE HELL. DID YOU DO.
Read 7:34 p.m

He feels tears prick at his eyes again. Good question, Garcia.