𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇- spencer reid ✔️

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆?" 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑. Celia had been trying, for his sake, to hide the evident worry on her face. She was hoping that she was doing a good job at hiding it but clearly not. Her brother had texted her saying that a few people had already pulled their business upon hearing the truth about their grandfather, and Celia was certain that if she looked, her sales would be down as well. As hard as Sebastian was trying to do damage control, he was only one person, and there was only so much he could do to change the public opinion of their family. She'd seen what people had been saying, about them, about Alastor Clairmont. That he was a liar, a cheat, and a terrible person. 

Perhaps all of those things were true, but why should Celia and her family be held accountable for the mistakes of their predecessor? It wasn't as if they were the ones who committed such horrible acts. In fact, most of the Clairmont family was completely unaware of what really went on behind the scenes. 

"Nothing's wrong," Celia lied through her teeth. He raised an eyebrow at her, "I know you better than that. You're lying," he pointed out. Damn profilers. Of all the people in the world that Celia could have fallen for, she fell for the one person who read her like a book without even trying to. "Whatever it is, just tell me, please."

"I don't want you dragged into this mess," she admitted. She wanted to keep him far away from her and anything relating to her family right now. Celia didn't want to bring Spencer, or anyone, for that matter, down with her. This was her burden to carry, her mess to clean. 

"I don't care," he told her. "We're a team now, you and I. Your messes are now my messes, so let me help you, please."

"It's probably better if I just show you," Celia murmured, reaching into her pocket and grabbing her cellphone. She went and pulled up the article and handed it to him, and watched the way that Spencer's expression slowly changed as he read it. It took him less than a minute to read the entire thing, and he paused for a moment before he passed the phone back to her. "If you need to go back, I understand-"

"I'm not leaving you," she informed him. There was nothing she could do at home right now, so she'd rather be here for him. People were going to hate her family no matter what they decided to say, so the best thing for her to do right now was to ignore it. At least until she was ready to face it head-on. She wasn't sure she had the mental capacity to handle an issue like this at the moment. "Don't even try it."

"Your family probably needs you," he retorted. She shook her head, "I want to be here with you. There's nothing I can do there, we just have to wait for it to pass."

"It's not fair," he stated. 

"I agree," Celia sighed. She hated the fact that before, when she'd google her name, the only thing that would come up were articles of her achievements, all the milestones in her career thus far. Now, the only thing people would see when they thought of her name was her grandfather, and the kind of person he was. "I spent my whole life carefully curating this image of myself, only for it to be completely ruined."

"It's not ruined," he reached over, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Celia shook her head and tried to avoid stressing even more. "Isn't it?" She questioned, her voice sounding as though she'd been defeated. Celia Clairmont spent so much time fighting that she wasn't sure she had it in her to do this anymore. "You know, I think I really hate him. Is that bad?"

"Your grandfather?" Spencer guessed, and Celia nodded shamefully. Was she wrong to hate him after he had loved her all her life? "You know, no one would blame you if a part of you still loved him. After all, you knew him better than anyone else did, so it's normal to feel disappointed."