Mine ~ Spencer Reid

Ch. 12 | Back and Better than Ever

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"Hey. Is Ned here yet? " Said JJ popping out into the bullpen, where you, Simmons and Alvez were looking over some case files that were yet to be approved by Barnes

"Oh, you mean lazy Ned, the anti-Penelope?" Simmons responded.

You looked to Luke and mouthed "His name is Ned?" with confusion spread across your face, he just laughed and turned back to JJ.

"He usually rolls in around 11:00." Matt continued.

"You want to wait for him?" Luke asked.

"No. Barnes is giving us a half an hour, and we're gonna need every minute of it to try and sell her on one of these cases." JJ stated. You hated seeing her so stressed.

"It's been two weeks since she took over. She can't keep us on the bench much longer."  Luke said as the three of you headed to the round table room.

"Let's hope not." you mumbled. You all walked into the room, and took your seats near the door, facing the screen and waited a moment before the devil of the fbi herself walked in the room.

"Two male unsubs have robbed 4 banks. In addition to getting away with nearly half a million dollars, they have left two bank employees dead. We..." 

"I don't know. Bank robbers killing bankers? Let's look at this from the POV of the media coverage. Who's the emotional victim? Honestly, half of the country is going to be rooting for the unsubs. What else do you have?" Barnes said interrupting JJ. None of you were surprised, this happened during every meeting.

"We think there's an angel of death working in Southern California. The unsub is targeting elderly immigrants that live in nursing homes." Alvez said passing Barnes a file.

"Immigrants. That's divisive. We need cases that unite the public. I can already hear people asking why they should care about a dead Mexican grandma." You rolled your eyes and internally threw up. This woman infuriated you.

"Anyone with elderly loved ones should care." Luke defended.

"The BAU is an elite unit. Your cases should play that way in the media." Barnes raised her voice.

"26." JJ said suddenly. You knew where this was going and oh man you couldn't wait to see it.

"I beg your pardon."

"That is the number of people who have died since you've sidelined the BAU. People die when we don't do our job. You... You need to let us do our job." JJ stated. God you were so proud of your friend and teammate in that moment. You  knew she had stood up to Barnes before but you weren't there for that unfortunetly. 

"Your job is to make the FBI look good for the public. If you would bring me an appropriate case, I would greenlight the investigation. " Lind spat as she stood from her chair.

"Ok." JJ nodded, knowing nothing else she could say could do any good. Suddenly, no good Ned- whose name you had just learned 10 minutes ago- stumbled into the room.

"Ned, where the hell have you been? You were supposed to do a deep dive on victimology." JJ snapped.

"I did. I made a victim list for each separate case with names, DOBs, last known addresses, employment, too." He responded, his voice cracking with practically every word. Sometimes you imagined ripping off his mustache and wander if maybe then he'll actually do his job.

"That's your idea of a deep dive?" You questioned, trying to not sound too mean.

"You wanted more?" He stammered in response.