Operation: Sand Leopard | Spencer Reid

Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Martinez

Warnings: canon typical stories, child brides, mentions of child abuse, mentions of masturbation, cute flirting that'll make your heart burst

Summary: Spencer gets to talk to Alijah again, and he gets very defensive of her. Later, you share some contraband in the darkness outside your CHU

Spencer rolled his neck, hoping beyond hope it would release some of the tension in his shoulders. It didn't, not that he really expected it to, which was probably why it didn't work.

Alijah's frustration with him yesterday made him nervous. The fact that she felt like she'd been lied to meant it would be that much harder to earn her trust, even if her previous case agent hadn't meant to.

You were so damned closed off you wouldn't even tell him the original agent's name. He'd learned that not even the unit had seen Alijah in the flesh, that they didn't even know who they were trying to protect, just who they were trying to catch.

What about this case made you so paranoid? Was it the fact that there was a child involved, or was there something you were keeping from the entire unit?

He just didn't know, and you likely wouldn't tell him.

Sighing, Spencer knocked on Alijah's cell door. He heard nothing on the other side, probably because nobody had ever knocked before, so he opened it slowly and stepped inside.

Alijah sat against the concrete wall with her knees held tightly to her chest, but when she saw him she relaxed.

"You came back," she said in relief, flashing him a small smile.

"Of course I did," Spencer replied as he made his way to his spot, sliding down to the floor. "I wanted to see you."

Alijah's chin wobbled, and she adjusted on the little cot. Her eyes were wide and full of hesitance as she quietly said, "I'm very sorry I was angry. I miss Teddy, but he won't come back."

Spencer frowned, but before he could say anything she asked, "Do you know where he is?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, but I can find out."

Alijah smiled wide, and she brushed away some of the tears in her eyes. "I would really like that."

"Can you tell me more about him?"

She relaxed into the wall and pulled a book out from under the blankets. It was the second book in the Redwall series; he recognized the name from the inside cover of the old copy you'd given him.

"He taught me to read English, I learned how to speak some of it as well, but I forgot," she said quietly, holding the book and watching it with a small smile. Her thumbs brushed against the frayed pages, and something settled heavily in his chest. "When he left, they sent me back to Sayeed."

"When was that?" Spencer asked, cocking his head at her.

"Two and a half years ago. I was eleven when I met Teddy. He took me from the house I lived in with my husband."

Spencer tried not to groan at her casual use of that word, husband. He didn't know enough Kurdish and it wasn't really his place to tell her that her so called spouse was a sex offender where he came from and a murderer.

If she'd only been here two months this time, how long had she been here the last? Where did Teddy keep her that made you want to hide her away in a dark room so nobody could lay eyes on this child?

"Did you like being with Teddy?"

She nodded emphatically, "He wanted to take me to America, to his wife."