Resident Genius 2.0 (Spencer Reid)

7. Protocols

AJ
When my mom dragged me outside, I was confused, until I saw that another mother with her son had made their way across the street and to my front yard.

"Anna-Jo, this is Spencer." My mom introduced me to this kid, who looked to be around my age, possibly 6. I nodded my head, giving the boy a small smile. Honestly, the moment my mom stopped talking, I had already forgotten his name. It was weird for me. I remembered everything that I had ever read (Eidetic memory) and heard, but I couldn't bother for the life of me, to remember this kid's name.

"C'mon, Anna-Jo. Be a good neighbour and shake his hand." My mom pushed me toward the boy, a smile plastered on her face. It was like she expected me to like the boy.

"It's okay. I don't like shaking hands with people." The boy admitted, pushing his slightly longer hair out of his face.

"Exactly. By touching things, you are coming into contact with millions of germs every day-" The boy seemed to smile at my knowledge.

"-and those germs could spread to you or others and make people sick." The boy finished off my explanation.

"It's rude to interrupt, you know." I smirked, watching as the boy blushed.

I jolted out of bed to the sound of my phone buzzing on my bed-side table. It dropped onto the floor, and honestly, I had no energy to pick it up.

"I think your phone just committed suicide." Bailey laughed as she picked my phone.

"Knowing my job, I wouldn't be surprised." I laughed, realising that I had a book laying open and upside down on the other end of my bed.

Knowing that Reid had just called me, I called back, confused.

"Spence? Why did you call me? Doesn't JJ call with new cases?" I chuckled. I quickly shut up once I realised that instead of calling him Reid like everyone does, I called him Spence. I had never heard anyone call him Spence, and I assumed that was because he didn't like that nickname.

"JJ is in a meeting with Strauss and Hotch. She's left Penelope and I in charge of alerting the team. We have a new case...and it's a doozy." Reid exhaled, hanging up. I was shocked to hear the line go dead, without Reid even realising that I had just referred to him as Spence.

With duty calling, I got out of bed and went through my morning routine.

———

Heading into work, I straightened my blazer and walked through the big glass doors, watching as Reid, Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi and Penelope watched Strauss' office with worry.

"How long has Hotch been in there with JJ and Strauss?" I questioned, confused.

"Over 2 hours. Apparently Strauss is conducting the yearly review of the BAU, but judging how long they've been in Strauss' office for, I think something's wrong." Rossi exhaled, concerned.

"Don't forget that we have broken protocols a few times, and you can only break a few protocols so many times before someone starts to notice." Reid mentioned.

"Speaking of protocols, what's the rule about dating?" I asked, putting my bag on my desk.

"Simply, you can date anyone you'd like, except for the members of your team. For example, Penelope is dating Kevin Lynch, who is a technical analyst for the FBI unit downstairs. As long as you don't get into a romantic relationship with anyone on this team, you're okay to date." Prentiss warned as Reid handed each of us a file.

"Lovely. Another murder to solve." Morgan rolled his eyes as we all got up and walked to the conference room, knowing that waiting for Hotch and JJ to return would be useless.