Dark Academia- Spencer Reid

Chapter 34

Spencer had been working double overtime back at the BAU. When Spencer wasn't working to help the team out with the investigation, he was working on other paper work for completed cases, lecturing at the academy, and sleeping.  He felt like he hadn't seen Zena in a month, however the PhD holder was known to have a flair for the dramatics.

Zena hadn't gone into the office in three weeks. She spent all of her time within the walls of the university, immersing herself in her passion. She found solace in the smiling faces of her students, the lavender aroma from her diffuser in her office, and shockingly paper grading.

As she was sitting in her office chair grading papers and listening to a band that one of her students recommended, her phone began to ring.  She decided to ignore it, she didn't want to interrupt her train of thought while grading a research paper.  However, when the call went to voicemail, the phone began to ring again.  Deciding to continue to ignore it, Zena turned the phone to buzzer and carry on grading.  Rather than a loud ringer, the desk she was working on was now furiously vibrating nonstop.

"What the fuck could be so important?" She finally dropped the red pen and went to grab her phone.  As she turned over the phone, she saw the contact photo, a picture of her brother Cyrus when he was 16 making some goofy face.  She gasped and set the phone down once again.  After thinking about what to do, she decided to use her office phone to call Spencer, he picked up on the second ring. 

"Hey, Z.  Do you want to do Indian for dinner tonight? I'm leaving the office early for the first time in forever!"

"Spencer, you guys need to get over to my office. Cyrus is calling me nonstop, and I think you should probably trace the call."

"Zena, do not leave your office.  Lock the door, close the blinds, shut the lights off and sit under the desk.  Do not answer the door for anyone until we get there, okay?"

"Should I answer the phone or wait?"

"Do not answer the phone, we need Garcia to trace the call like you said.  In order to do that we have to have him on the phone for a certain amount of time.  I'm worried if you answer now then the conversation won't last until we get there."

"Ok, I'll wait. See you soon."

Zena waited 45 minutes, when she heard a knock on the door, and the ring of her office phone.  She went to answer the office phone, hearing Spencer's voice.  "Hey, it's us.  You can open the door."  

After opening the door, the team bursted in.  Waisting no time, they began to brief her on what she was going to say, how she would try to prolong the conversation, all while Garcia was setting up a complicated contraption to her cellphone.

When the briefing was finished, everyone walked away to help Garcia, everyone except for Hotch.  "I know this couldn't have been an easy decision to make.  You've protected Cyrus his whole life.  But you made the right choice in letting us know.  I'm proud of you Barbarage," he told her, placing his hand on her shoulder.  She smiled up at him, a genuine smile.  Hotch had always known how to comfort Zena in tough situations when she needed it the most.  "Thanks Aaron."

The team waited for Garica's signal to answer the phone.  When she did, Zena was told that she would need to hold the conversation for at least 4 minutes.  And while that didn't seem like a lot of time, when someone is in trouble, they don't want to reveal too much.  Garcia gave the signal, and Zena answered the phone with all eyes on her.

"Hey, Cy! It's been ages.  How is your thesis coming?" She both sounded and looked extremely calm. Hotch had forgotten how good she was at keeping her emotions in check and performing her tasks.

"Z what took you so long? I've been calling for like the last hour."

"I know, I'm sorry.  I was lecturing and accidentally left my phone in my office. Typical me.  Are you okay? You sound worried?"

Cyrus grunted into the phone.  "You have no idea what I've been through lately.  We can't all have glamorous lives like you."

"Glamorous? Trust me, nothing about my current lifestyle is glamorous.  What is on your mind, dude?" She was doing her best to get him to stay on the line.  Every second felt valuable to her.

"I took a break from school, decided to travel. You know how much I always loved road trips."

"Oh that sounds wonderful.  Where are you right now? Get me a postcard from each state you visit." Garcia gave her a thumbs up, it was a great way to try and get him to disclose his location without being obvious.

"I, um, I cant tell you.  Just know that I love you.  Hey, when you are done with your break from the BAU maybe you can give me a tour of the facility?"

Zena paused for a moment, playing their conversation back in her head.  "That would be wonderful Cyrus, such a great idea.  But I don't remember mentioning that I was on leave.  How did you know that?"

Cyrus took a sharp breath, realizing that he had made a major mistake. "Um, maybe mom told me and I misremembered."

"You never call her mom. Cyrus, are you in town? Do you need help?"

"I need to go, Zena.  Bye." With a click, Cyrus hung up the phone.

Zena sighed a breath of relief that it was over.  "Penelope, please tell me you got a hit," she said exhaustedly.  It is mentally straining to have to coax someone into telling you their location, even keeping him on the phone was tiring enough.

"It's loading.  You did a fantastic job, Zena.  That was some skillfull work. If everyone I worked with was like you in these situations I would literally always find out where they are.  Oh shit, I know where he is," Garcia told her.

"Well, where is he?"

"In the building."