The Ghost of Princeton ||Spencer Reid||

great wall

SPENCER

"You sure you're okay?" I asked, watching Cressida carefully. We were back in the round table room, she was sitting on the table, holding her ribs gently. They were bound, but only bruised, which meant she should recover in a few weeks.

"Yeah, I mean I could be dead so..." She trailed off. Thinking of that terrified me, and I didn't want to do it anymore.

"Earlier, when I asked if you were trying to get shot..." I trailed off, looking up at her since I was sitting in a chair.

"You want to know why I said 'yes and no'." She said, pushing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not suicidal, so don't worry on that front. Um, I was trying to stay alive actually."

"Cress, I don't understand." I said bluntly, she smirked.

"Cooper was going to shoot me, I knew that. There was nothing I could do to stop him, because in the process of putting a rift between them I had taken away everything from him. All I was able to do was manipulate where he would shoot me. He was in the military, he would have shot me in the head and I didn't have any protection there. So I... I directed him to shoot me in the chest." Of course, because that's where her vest was.

"That's why you kept going on about the jumper." She nodded at my words.

"I realised that the clothes I wore while they had me... they were only his. It meant something to him, me wearing his clothes, and I theorised it might have been something more to do with romantic intention than possessiveness. So I played on that and it worked."

"And did that by implying that there was something going on between us." There was something heavy in my chest as I said those words. It was almost painful, the knowledge that she wasn't mine in that way.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I would have asked you about it beforehand but I only realised it when I was walking to the meeting spot and by then it was too late."

"You don't need to apologise, not for something that kept you alive." I said, putting down my pen on the table. There was no way I would be able to focus for the rest of the night now, so there wasn't much point in trying.

"I feel like I do, everyone heard it and it affects you as much as it affects me. Some people might think it has some meaning behind it." Right. Because of course there was no reason behind it. I looked away from her and towards my paper.

"Right..." I whispered, and her warm hand was on top of mine.

"Hey, I just mean that it wasn't true. There hasn't been anything between us, not in that capacity. I don't mean-"

"Okay, you two." I turned towards the door where Hotch was standing, pulling my hand out from underneath Cressida's in the process. "Cressida, with your injury I want you to go home and rest. Spencer, you can do your report from home and bring it in tomorrow." He told us, I nodded.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Cressida asked, to which Hotch shook his head.

"You've done more than enough for us, all you need to do is work out what your next steps are going to be from here." He said.

"And what about Cooper?" I asked, his eyes flicked to me.

"We'll catch him the second we have something that'll lead us to him. The other two will be tried and then put into prison for a long time."

"And what about my safety? If Cooper is still out there..." Cress trailed off.

"We'll get him before something happens. That I promise you. Now go, I'll speak to the both of you tomorrow." He said before walking away.