Ineffable - S.REID

06

・゜゜・．ONE MONTH LATER  .・゜゜・

The latest case that crossed the BAU desk was, at the beginning stage, rather confounding. With more bodies came more information, all of which just added to the web of confusion their unsub was busy spinning whilst working towards whatever his goal was. They had figured out a profile rather easily, as that was normally the easier part of the job, but the reasoning behind the murderers was rather more difficult to grasp. Each crime scene varied but had one key component, a somewhat dislocated body of a man in a box all of which were in various states of emasculation.

Clara, JJ and Spencer had all been left at the station while the others were out inquiring with the locals. Prentiss and Morgan were at some clothing shop, Hotch and Rossi searching elsewhere. Reid had been tasked with geographical profile, as usual. JJ was looking through files and checking to see if anything had been missed. Whilst Clara just stared at the suspect board and attempted to make some sort of sense out of a large number of dead ends. Suddenly, sick of staring at the letters and knowing that her mind needed a refresh, she sighed and stood from her chair, "Coffee?"

"With soy milk please, if you can," JJ responded, looking rather grateful that she had offered.

"Spence?"

He nodded and smiled, looking up from his work to do so. The second that she turned to leave the room, in search of their coffees, his gaze found the maps once again. Silence befell JJ and Spencer for a few minutes, as they both focused in on their work, until JJ eventually decided to bring uo the thought that she had been mulling over previously. The cause of her raised brow.

"Nickname terms huh?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Spencer responded after a seconds too long hesitation, the words had been stolen from him previously. He turned in his chair and stood, walking over to the board to start to move a few photos around in order to help him with the geological profile.

JJ's suspicions only grew at Spencer's response, reaching the point where she would rather easily piece together a picture. Even with how difficult he was to read sometimes, profiling made it a heck of a lot easier. "And she knows your coffee order."

He shrugged, "I drink a lot of coffee."

JJ sighed softly, quickly glancing at the door of the room to check it was still closed and that Clara was not walking through it. "Spencer come on, it's not difficult to see the way you look at her."

Spencer blushed but turned away from JJ and back to the board, hoping that she would not see it nor piece together why he had reacted in such a way. "That doesn't matter," he cleared his throat as he wrote something else on the board, underneath the photograph of the first body.

"Why not?"

JJ noticed how his shoulders tensed at her question, how his usual relaxed manor fled at an instant and was replaced with something that she hardly recognised. His voice came soft, almost reluctantly, "She wouldn't like me that way so there's no point in dwelling on it."

"Why wouldn't she like you?" she asked softly, sympathy pouring from her eyes yet he did not see it.

In the silence that followed her question, Spencer turned and returned to his seat, flicking through the various papers on his desk before he eventually stopped. He hated feeling JJ watching his every move. "Because I'm weird... I slouch, my hair's too long, my ties perpetually crooked. Plus she's.... And I'm just..."

"Just what?"

"Not good enough, I suppose," he divulged at nearly a whisper, clearing his throat quickly afterwards as if that would stop the words from registering in her brain. Despite the fact that he had been pining over this girl for years, he physically could not bring himself to make any sort of advantages in the direction he so wanted it to go. "A-and I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship over something like that so it's better just to keep it to myself I think."

JJ, wanting so desperately to put that thought out of his mind as she so hated seeing her friend upset, began, "Spencer..."

But she found herself cut off by the swinging of the unoiled glass doors, squeaking so terribly that Clara winced as she came in. "The usual," she smiled as he placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, making sure the handle was turnt in the correct direction. He smiled thankfully and she lingered on it for a second too long before tuning to JJ. "And coffee with soy milk for you," she smiled once more, this time slightly softer, and placed the mug in front of her. "Have I missed anything?" she proceeded to ask as she settled down back down in her seat, immediately going over the new additions to the board.

"No, no leads," JJ quickly responded, bringing the mug to her lips.

Clara nodded and headed back in her chair, staring at the board for a continuous minute. She never made a sound, until she began to click her pen near her ear, gaze never unwavering focus. Spencer listened for five clicks, to check that it wasn't an accident, before he looked up to check if she had figured something out. The look on her face said it all. "Clara," he prodded, almost coaxing the information from her mind.

At the sound of her name, she tore her focus away from the boards and the thousands of words that had begun to swirl and piece themselves together in her mind. She was glad he had waited for as long as he had before saying anything, thinking that she would not have come to the conclusion if she hadn't had that time. Her gaze met his and he watched as the idea solidified in her mind, forming the words that tumbled from her mouth at an enviable speed, "Same looks, same hair color to fulfill a fantasy right? What if they're not that but instead fitting a pattern. The boxes, the wrapped box in particular. Painted nails. Same brand of jeans. Dislocation. What if they're puppets?"

"Puppets?" JJ echoed, disbelief mixed with confusion clouding her words.

"How would that tie in with the crucifixion?" Spencer wondered softly, spinning in his chair to look at the board and the images of the crucified hands.

"That's what I don't get," she sighed softly, going back to clicking her pen next to her ear. "Maybe ritualistic, form of punishment for not conforming to the idea of his puppets?"

JJ, starting to get subtly aggravated by the constant clicking, suggested, "Based on a traumatic event in his life?"

"Or just holes in the hands to hold them up," Spencer added, giving Clara the final piece of the puzzle to snap everything into place as her mind so desperately loved to do. JJ, knowing that the idea was completely wrapped up and almost confirmed, headed out of the room to call Hotch and Garcia to confirm further details like who exactly their unsub was based on the other evidence.

Clara, with a newfound joy that she had (hopefully) stuck the case together so that they could all go home, now looked to Spencer. As he took the last swig of his coffee, she noticed that something was undoubtedly off about him. He seemed less at ease, shoulders more tense than usual. "You okay? It's not a headache again is it?" she wondered aloud, hoping the answer would not be one that would lead to her convincing him to go to the hospital.

"No," he responded, smiling vaguely. "Just distracted is all."

"Oh, well let me know if you need to talk about it." Spencer nodded and as Clara reached for her bag, to take out her book, she received a text from Garcia. After quickly scanning the text, she continued, "God that was quick, address. You coming?"

Spencer and Clara both stood and hurried out of the room to head to the location. He grabbed the keys to the car whilst she held open the door, ensuring he would not have to touch the surface. He had told her a couple nights ago about his germophobia with certain things and, of course, she wanted to do all that she could to make him the most comfortable. And he, of course, appreciated each gesture immensely. It just didn't really help with the longing he was beginning to feel in his heart.