A year after leaving the BAU, Spencer Reid is restless and struggling to adjust to civilian life. Not finding any fulfillment or respite in it, he decides to take a position with Homeland. On assignment he meets you, a former Master Gunnery Sergeant...
Warnings: Mentions of prison arc, anxiety, past traumas
Summary: Spencer heads off to Iraq, Reader meets the new guy
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"Spencer, you don't have to do this," JJ pleaded with him as they walked toward the airstrip. "Please, don't do this."
"He'll be fine, JJ," Luke told her, though he didn't seem too sure, much to Spencer's chagrin.
They made their way through a hangar at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, a military installation in east DC at midnight. Spencer finished his last meeting with Defense Intelligence and now he was on his way to Iraq.
"The place is called Mortaritaville, Luke! He's barely out of prison and-," she insisted, but Spencer pulled himself to a stop and held out his hand.
"I'm right here, you know? And I'm three years out of prison. It's been a long time since I was at Millburn."
"But-, but... Mortaritaville, Spencer! The place is a death trap and you're not a Ranger like Luke. You don't know what it's like in a place like that," JJ said, her big blue eyes watering with tears.
Spencer softened a bit. He was still the only one who knew what she lost in Afghanistan because of Tivon Askari. She was just worried about him, as she always was, one of the few big sisters the BAU had given him.
But he wasn't in the BAU anymore. He'd left for teaching over the last year, and he was growing antsy. He'd asked Luke for any ideas, and he had some contacts with the DoD and Homeland Security, so Spencer signed up for an assignment.
"JJ, I spent two tours at Camp Anaconda," Luke grumbled, flashing her a stern look. "I know what it's like, and I know Reid can handle it."
"Again, I'm right here."
Luke set a firm hand on Spencer's shoulder and squeezed tightly, and it eased some of the anxiety that had been coursing through him. He knew JJ was right, he had no idea what he was walking into over in Iraq.
But he had to go. He needed to do something besides sit in his apartment and wallow in his pain, needed to do something besides stand over dead kids and think like their killers.
"Agent L/N is the best I've worked with. I met her while I was serving in Afghanistan, and she'll make sure you get what you need," Luke told him softly with that reassuring lopsided smile of his. "You're doing psyops, which is basically what you've been doing here for fifteen years. You can handle yourself, especially after Millburn."
"Just promise you'll come back," JJ begged, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and clutched him tightly. "All of you, okay? Don't leave pieces of yourself behind."
Spencer hugged her back and kissed the top of her head, his chest pounding once more with fear at what might happen during the next few months in the desert.
