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IF YOU WERE to tell Ben that he would be spending his morning with Spencer Reid, he would believe you. But if you were to tell him that he was also going to be standing in front of two of his team members, he would think you were lying.
Now, on any other occasion, he would be fine with being introduced to his team members, but they were currently asking him questions about a serial murderer who had been killing men. It was not how he was wanting to spend his morning.
"I'm sorry, I really don't know anything." One of them, a brunette with pretty facial features, sighed, giving him a comforting smile. Her name was Elle Greenaway. From the stories that Spencer had told him about the girl, she was absolutely badass. "I know this may seem out of this world for you, but do you mind if I ask you one more question regarding your boss, Lia Michaels."
Ben furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of her name, wondering why the hell she had been brought up in the conversation. "Um. Yeah, go ahead." He told her, trying to ignore the line of customers that had started to form in front of the counter.
"Has she been acting weirder than usual? Almost hostile?" Ben had to process the words once more before what she was asking finally dawned on him. Next to Elle sat Spencer, a frown plastered on his lips as he watched two of his colleagues bombard Ben with questions. "I mean, yeah. She was acting different but I didn't think much of it. I just assumed that she was pissed off because I closed the store early. Why?"
When neither Elle nor the man who stood beside her, Morgan, answered, he turned to face Spencer. "Spence, can you tell me what's going on here?" Both Morgan and Elle turned to look at Spencer with confused looks on their faces. Spencer already knew Ben? Well enough for him to call him Spence? Spencer turned to face the two of them, an eyebrow raised in questioning. Elle sighed and went silent for a moment, slowly nodding her head.
Spencer returned the nod and looked back at Ben, frowning at his disheveled he seemed about the whole situation. "We have reason to believe that she might be behind all of this." Ben was absolutely flabbergasted. He couldn't believe what Spencer was implying. "Excuse me?" Ben asked him, not knowing what to say.
But then he got to thinking. It didn't sound like it was too crazy. She had always had these spurs of weird behavior. "If you could tell us anything about her, it could help us tremendously." Ben cleared his throat as he straightened his back, starting to mess with a loose string on his apron. "These men that were murdered, are they older, brunette?" All three of them gave him a look of shock, almost like they were wondering how he knew that.
That confirmed his suspicions. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, suddenly growing a lot quieter. "I don't know if this might have something to do with it, but Lia was always super protective over me when she found out about. . . about my home life. My dad was never really the nicest person to me. Lia found out about my situation seven years ago today." He explained. He pursed his lips as he directed his attention to the coffee machine beside him. "She had always said that one day she would get justice."
Spencer felt his blood start to boil at those words. He didn't like how genuinely traumatized Ben looked while talking about his father. Elle nodded slowly. "Okay. I need to ask you a few more questions." Ben nodded, swallowing down the lump that was beginning to form in his throat.
"Your father. . . did he maybe have something specific that he did to you?" Ben felt like crying. He had buried these memories deep inside of him and now he was having to live through them vicariously again. "Uhm. He. . . he. . ." If there was a word that meant more than outraged, that would be exactly what Spencer was feeling at that moment. They were pestering him too much. Spencer wanted to tell Elle to shut the fuck up and mind her own business, but he also knew that this could help them tremendously. "He branded my left shoulder. The letter J."
Elle hummed and wrote it down. "I know this is hard for you, but could you tell us anything about Lia that might help us find her?" Ben let out a shaky breath but nodded, biting down on his lip. He shuffled on his feet and cleared his throat once again. "I know that she mentioned she was going to take a vacation. She said she was gonna be out of town. Somewhere rural. I don't know anything else besides that, I'm sorry." Ben told them, trying to rack his brain for anything else. It was unlikely for him to forget simple things like this, but his mind was blanking at the mention of his father and the things he used to do to him. Suddenly, his shoulder was burning.
"That's more than enough. Thank you." Elle told him, giving him a comforting smile. He nodded slowly, letting out a breath. He was not a fan of whatever was happening. He didn't know why they were asking so many questions about Lia, but at the same time, he felt like he did. She had always been so protective of Ben but he never would've thought that it would get her involved in something dangerous.
He watched as both Elle and Morgan started to walk off, but Spencer stayed right where he was. He didn't even look like he was going to try to move. "Ben." Ben slowly looked up to look him in the eyes, but he immediately looked down again. He felt ashamed for some reason. "Ben, please look at me." Ben sighed and looked up at him once again, his eyes glossy with tears.
"If you ever need anything at all please let me know. I know this probably wasn't the way you wanted me to find out about this." Ben laughed a little, nodding his head.
"It's more of a tenth date kind of thing." Spencer couldn't help but get flustered at the mention of a tenth date. He could only hope that this would work out and that he would get to do a tenth date. "It is, isn't it?" He smiled at him.
"Reid!" Spencer turned to face the glass door of the café, looking at a very annoyed Morgan who was ushering him to move. "I've got to go. I'll keep you updated about everything, okay?" Spencer gave him a genuine smile, muttering a quick apology before turning on his heel, heading toward the door. Ben felt a feeling grow in his stomach. It replaced the feeling of dread that had settled and made him feel warm.
"Ah, fuck," he whispered to himself. He knew exactly what this feeling was. He was falling in love. He was definitely 100% falling in love with Dr. Spencer Reid. However, he didn't mind the new thoughts that filled his mind. Anything was better than the memories of his past. Spencer Reid was an awfully good replacement.
The way his eyes morphed into small crescents with subtle wrinkles at the corners when he smiled. The way he tucked his hair behind his ears when he got a little nervous. The way he bit his lip when he was busy jotting down some notes.
All of these images filled his mind, replacing the ones he severely despised.
He shook his head to try and push back the thoughts. He turned around and walked up to the front counter. "I'm so sorry about that," he apologized to the customers who had been waiting patiently for him to stop being questioned. "What can I get for you?"
