A Spencer Reid Story: Love and Loss

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The team had been given a week to recuperate from the loss of their teammate and an extra week in paid vacation to be used at their discretion. The first few days Spencer sat alone in his apartment, reading books, watching movies; anything to distract him from the constant stab of loss he felt in his heart. He was laying leisurely on his couch with his favorite book when suddenly his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello, Dr. Reid.”

“H-Hi Spencer. It’s Cat. I know we haven’t talked in a while. In fact I’m sorry for calling you so sudden, but…. Um”,  he could almost hear the uncomfortable tone in her words. “Would you like to go out to dinner tonight? If not it’s okay, I mean it was just a suggestion. I don’t even know how busy you are or not…” She began to ramble nervously, already assuming his rejection.

“Wow, Catherine, yes hello! Um, yes I’m free. Dinner sounds great. I’m tired of living off the Ramen stash I had in my cabinet. I need to get out of the apartment. It’s great to hear from you.” He suddenly felt a small glimmer of light, a fresh human interaction that could act as a distraction. It was almost as if he could hear her smile on the other side of the phone.

“Great, would you like to do 8 pm? At that small little Italian restaurant next to the coffee shop where we met? You know? Mangia Mia?”  She twirled a curl of her hair as she spoke. Aislinn smiled as she noticed Catherine’s enthusiasm with how the phone call she was going.

“Yes, that sounds great Cat. I’ll meet you there.” With that he hung up and put his phone on the coffee table. Well that was an unexpected surprise. It felt really nice to have some sort of distraction. He hadn’t completely forgotten about her, but obviously with certain events, she was anything but the first thing on his mind. Although he silently cursed himself for not thinking of her in the first place when he was let home. He half expected the team to get together in this time of leisure and mourning, but Hotch and Rossi’s family were taking advantage of the vacation time and he had already been out with Emily and Garcia once, and while it was pretty fun, it was a bit too feminine for his taste. Morgan had checked in with him a few times, today was the only day he hadn’t. He stood up, it was only 11 am so he had plenty of time to just hang out, get ready, whatever he wanted before he met up with her.

He stood up and went to the door to check his mailbox, inside was a small brown package.

“That’s strange… I don’t remember ordering anything.” What could it possibly be? A book? He brought it and some bills back into the apartment, placing them on the table. He took a letter opener and sliced open the packing tape, revealing a small tin box. His senses kicked into overdrive, wondering what it could be. Was it a possible threat? Something didn’t seem right.

He slowly opened the tin box,, when he could see the contents he gasped and backed away slowly. Within it lay a small crystal vial and one needle. At the top of the lid said:

“Don’t let her die in vain, Dr. Reid.”

He slowly picked the vial up, not even having to guess what liquid lay within it; his old friend, his old enemy, dilaudid.

He gritted his teeth. Who would have sent this to him? How could they? He pushed the tin away, confused, vulnerable, and strange. There was a deep dark part of him that wanted to give  in. That wanted to just let it all go and follow the instructions. Then there was the other part of him, who wanted to throw the tin away. His rational mind struggled with his urges for quite some time. He closed the tin and sat over by his couch, ignoring it. He flicked on the TV, turning on some silly infomercial about some kind of new product. Some hours passed, he studied literature, watched a movie, listened to some music, ate some lunch. The surprise of the package had worn off, and there it sat, staring him down. At around 7 pm he decided to get a shower. On a last minute impulse he grabbed the package and brought it into the bathroom with him, placing it on the sink. Should he shatter the vial like he had done previously?

Wait why am I even thinking about this? I should have gotten rid of it hours ago.

But she had died on his level. She had died because of him. It was all his heart, and even the anticipation of meeting up with Catherine couldn’t quell that sadness. He grabbed the needle and drew in the cloudy drug, there was also a small band in the box. He sat in his tub, staring at the prepped syringe. He rolled up his shirt sleeve and tied the band tight around his arm, with such ease as it had become second nature to him.

In just a few seconds the needle was placed into his arm, the drug entering his system, and Spencer Reid was no longer clean. His head lulled back as he passed out, the dilaudid compromising his system.

Catherine tapped her fingers against the table. It was now 9 pm and Spencer was no-where to be seen. The waitress took pity on her, bringing over some chips so that Cat wouldn’t starve waiting for her “date.” She had gone out of her way to straighten out her hair a bit, so that it composed of more relaxed curls. She had tried to call him but it went right to his voicemail. With a dejected sigh she stood up, deciding that she would just go home, and accept the fact that the famous Spencer Reid had just stood her up.