𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇- spencer reid ✔️

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓. Celia hadn't slept a wink, and she hadn't even bothered trying. With the nightmares plaguing her, and the fact that her aunt and uncle had been attacked in a home they were supposed to be safe in, Celia was terrified to fall asleep. By now, it was three in the morning, and Celia was sitting in the library, working on her dress. Everyone else was asleep, which was why she wasn't too concerned about the consistent hum of her sewing machine. She was hyper aware of every single noise in the house; every creak of the floorboards, and every thrum of the furnace. She couldn't deny the fact that she was on edge, and Celia was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was only a matter of time until she'd be under attack.

In her twenty-six years of life, Celia had thought about death quite a bit. She had never experienced a tremendous loss of her own until her grandfather had passed away. Sometimes, she'd find herself thinking about her own death before she came to the conclusion that she didn't want to die. She liked the life she had, and there was still so much more that Celia had wanted to achieve before she was dead. She was still young, and she wanted to grow old and have a family. Needless to say, since her family had started being targeted by a psycho with a vendetta, Celia had thought a lot about dying.

A knock came at the door, and Celia flinched. Her eyes shot toward the door, and when it opened, she stopped sewing for a moment and she was ashamed to say that her mind automatically went to the worst case scenario. "Celia? Why are you up so late?" The voice belonged to Spencer Reid, who was rubbing his eyes, his voice groggy like he'd just woken up from his sleep.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied. She contradicted her statement with a yawn, and the man in front of her furrowed his brows as he took in her current predicament. "Why are you up?"

"Same reason as you," he replied. He seemed to always be up at strange hours, now that Celia thought about it. Sometimes, she'd wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, and she'd notice the light on in the guest bedroom he'd been staying in. Just like Celia, there was something keeping him up at night. "Did you even go to sleep?" Since Celia was still in her clothes from earlier, there was no doubt that he already knew the answer to that question.

"I have a lot of work to do," Celia defended quickly, gesturing to the dress on the table that was nowhere near being done yet. "I'll sleep when I'm dead." She wanted to laugh at the irony of her statement.

"Are you sure that's it?" He raised an eyebrow at her. Clearly, Spencer thought she was full of shit, which, she was. Celia was beginning to find it annoying with these profilers in the house, because they could see right through her. She could try and convince herself she was okay, but they always knew she wasn't. When Celia nodded, she couldn't help but notice how he deflated slightly before he continued to stare at her. He knew she was lying, and so did she. She might as well tell him the truth.

"I'm... scared," she said quietly after a moment of hesitation. It felt strange to actually admit it out loud, but it was true. "With the nightmares, and everything that's happened, I'm scared of what might happen to me if I fall asleep." She rubbed her tired eyes and willed herself to not fall asleep at this table right now. She was on the brink of exhaustion, and fighting sleep was difficult. "But if you tell anyone I said that, I'll kill you."

Celia was supposed to be strong. Like Seb was. If they knew how she was feeling, then they'd try and look after her. But she could look after herself. She didn't need her brother's pity or anyone else's. This was her burden to carry.

"You want some company?" He didn't say anything about her previous comments, which surprised Celia. She tried to hide the surprise on her face as he sat in one of the cushioned leather chairs and leaned back to make himself comfortable. "I won't be able to fall back asleep, so I'll probably stay awake. Just so you know."