safe inside, criminal minds [ 1 ]

006. near death

Danielle walks into the BAU, holding the visitor card in her hand. She walks into the bullpen, spotting her brother at his desk.

"Hey." She grins, quickly making her way to his desk. Spencer looks up, eyes widening  at his sister.

"Hi. Wha-what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were visiting." He frowns.

"Mm. I wanted to surprise you." Danielle reasons.

"Why?" He asks.

Danielle's excitement dims as her anxiety grows and she nervously bites her lip, holding out the envelope to him. Spencer frowns in confusion, taking the object from. He looks at who it's from and sits up, quickly emptying the envelope and skimming over the first page.

"You got in?" He asks and Danielle nods. "You got in?" He smiles and she nods again, a grin slowly forming on her face. "You got in!" He lets out an excited laugh, shooting up and pulling her into a tight hug. Danielle lets out a small laugh, hugging him back. "This is amazing. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks." Danielle chuckles, her cheeks tinting red.

"What's all the excitement?" Derek questions.

"She got into the training academy." Spencer informs, a proud grin plastered on his face.

"Oh, really? Two Reids in the FBI, huh?" Derek remarks.

"Ah, don't worry. Only one's a crazy genius." Danielle says.

"Great job, kid." Derek tells her.

"Thanks." She gives him a small smile.

"Yeah, congrats." Emily softly smiles at her.

"I, uh... I figured I could stay with you for a few days while I go talk to them in person. Figure stuff out." Danielle says.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Spencer nods.

+++

Spencer and Derek are on the way to the house while they're on the anthrax case. Derek glances over at Spencer, noticing the genius' consistent fidgeting and inability to sit still.

"Reid, what's going on?" Derek asks.

"Hmm?" Spencer looks over at him. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're not fine. You won't stop moving. And, look, you're always pretty fidgety, but it is ten times worse, man." Derek says.

"I just... Dani's still here." Spencer says. "She said she was gonna go to the grocery story. She doesn't like any of my food."

"And it's killing you not to call her and tell her to stay home." Derek says.

"Yeah." Spencer mumbles. "I know I can't. I mean, they-- they're tracking our devices so they'd know if I warned her. Plus, it's unfair to the rest of the city if she gets a warning and nobody else does."

"She's your sister, Reid." Derek points out.

"Yeah, but--"

"But nothing, man. If you wanna find a way to warn her, you do that." Derek states.

"How can I warn her without just completely revealing everything?" Spencer questions.

"You're a genius. I think you can figure it out." Derek says.

Spencer sighs, staring down at his phone that's in his hand.

"It's not right." Spencer mumbles.

"Reid, we both know you can't lose that girl." Derek says.

Spencer gnaws at his lip while he finds Danielle's contact in his phone. His thumb hovers over the call button as he stares at her name. Pressing the button, Spencer puts the phone to his ear, biting on one of his nails while he listens to it ring.