Ineffable - S.REID

39

・゜゜・．FIVE MONTHS LATER .・゜゜・

A few months after she had been reinstated into the BAU, they were taken to a case surrounding an Unsub who murdered a survivor of a school shooting/bombing, not so coincidentally on the ten year anniversary of that occasion. Clara hadn't quite been permitted to go into the situations that they knew would be really dangerous, just as her risk of getting some serious side effects if she happened to hurt herself again was higher as she had only just physically healed completely. So she mostly dealt with the news, questioned people after they had been put into custody or stayed in the various precincts to work on the boards or have those great ideas that helped solve the case.

She stood with Rossi and Morgan, dealing with the news people outside the house that Hotch was attempting to gain entry to. They answered pretty much every question asked by the news crew, of course never giving away any information they shouldn't and often shrouding the useful information in things that they wouldn't immediately understand. "All right feel free to call me if you have any other background questions. My phone number is 702-555-0103," Morgan almost yelled to the entire group of questioning journalists. Clara, recognising that phone number instantly, felt her brow creep up onto her forehead.

"And what's your name, sir?"

Morgan smirked discreetly, "It's Dr. Spencer Reid. R-E-I-D."

As they walked away from the crowd, still buzzing with questions, Clara frowned and asked, "What's your plan here Mr Muscles?"

He shrugged, "Just a little practical joke."

-

Clara poured all of her attention and focus into making their evidence board. She used a methodical method to place all the photos and various documents together, connecting it all with red lines. It was a specific type of art, one that she was rather reluctant to enjoy given the nature of the cases. They would call in information and she would quickly add it, making sure that it was always up to date. That way, she knew everything and had the best chance of piecing everything together. Once everything was in its place, she took a few steps back and got to thinking. She sat on the table, mind going through dozens of pathways as she clicked the lid on and off of her whiteboard pen. "Anything yet?" Rossi asked as he walked into the room, interrupting her focus completely. Not that she had anything good anyway.

"No it's all too all over the place for the moment," she sighed softly, annoyed at herself starting to brew within her mind.

As Rossi began to tell her about how he had discovered that he had a daughter and a grandchild, the rest of the BAU walked in with a certain quickness to their walk that everyone knew that they had a lead. They caught Spencer in the middle of a ramble, one which continued even when the BAU stopped in front of the evidence board. "There's a medical condition called pain asymbolia, where patients register harmful stimuli without being bothered by it. They've been documented holding their hand over an open flame because their brain doesn't send pain signals to the central nervous system."

"Sounds pretty rare. You sure the Unsub has it?" Rossi asked, reluctant to believe that such a thing could be happening with their Unsub.

Spencer nodded, "The crime scenes prove it. This Unsub displayed an unusual level of savagery towards his victims. And he smashed through a glass display case but there were no cuts on Jerry. That means he most likely punched through it as a show of force. The only way the human body could withstand that level of pain is if he couldn't feel it at all."

"It must take a major toll on someone's emotional development."

Spencer's cell rang, for the second time during their conversation. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket, declined the call and put it away again. Clara raised a brow at the action but Morgan chuckled softly, attempting to hide it with his response. "A significant contributor to their sense of empathy."

Clara began to open and close her pen again, the clicking catching Spencer's attention, as she asked, "Do all people with Asymblia have a lack of empathy?"

"Most feel empathy just fine. Which makes me think the rest of our profile is accurate. Loner, invisible, outcast, boiling rage..Son of a bitch!" he yelled as his phone rang again, this time answering the call. "Hi! This is Dr. Spencer Reid. I actually can come to the phone right now to tell you that your mother-"

"Reid."

Clara laughed under her breath, attempting to cover it up with her sleeve rather effectively whilst he turnt a slight shade of pink and tucked his phone away again.. "Sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know what got into me. Where were we?"

"The bomb going off next to him probably caused it, right?" Clara theorised to distract attention away from him, ignoring Morgan's discreet laughter.

The group, all agreeing, nodded and Hotch was quick to direct their next steps and plan of action.. "I will crush you," Spencer muttered under his breath as he collected his papers, not even looking in Morgan's direction.

"What?" Morgan almost laughed, making a point of being loud to counteract his previous quietness.

He furrowed his brow booking at Morgan quizzically, "Huh?"

Once again, Clara was left alone with her thoughts. Hotch knew about her reluctance to enter the field again and, even though it was against protocol completely, he consciousnessly left her without field work jobs. The day she had returned, they had come up with a signal so she could make it known that she was ready without anyone else knowing. She would forever be grateful for that, it took the pressure off completely. She sat in the room, going through some paperwork that could be filled out before the Unsub was actually caught, for the next hour and a half. She listened to music whilst doing so, having it so loud that it drowned out the majority of her thoughts. When she looked up to pick up a new file, she noticed the door to the room open out of the corner of her eye. She took her headphones out and drew all her attention to Spencer, who quickly asked, "Do you know where Morgan's headphones are?"

"Yeah they're here," she responded whilst moving in her chair, spinning around to grab the headphones and his ipod from the very top of his bag. She had figured that Morgan had sent him to get them, for whatever reason, but by the look on his face she could tell that was not the truth. "What are you doing?"

He smiled giddily, "Payback."

-

On the plane home, Clara wasn't really sure whether Spencer had fallen asleep on her shoulder. She could tell by the weight distribution of his head that he was trying not to put too much pressure on her shoulder, something that a person that was truly asleep would not be able to do. It was also rather obvious that he had deliberately slowed his breathing but it did not mirror the same rate of his actual sleeping breaths, she knew those like the back of her hand. Even though all that, she let herself enjoy the moment and just read her book in perfect peace. Until Derek Morgan flinged off his headphones and her ears filled with fake screaming. Morgan chuckled, "Okay kid that was cute, is that all you got?"

Spencer in reply snored fakely, his lips curled up in an adorable smile. As Morgan's laughter died away, his phone began to rang. He smiled ever so slightly at the name reflected back at him and hurried to answer it, "Hey babygi-"

This time, instead of being cut off by some witty remark from Garcia, he was cut off by more screaming. It seemed louder this time, rattling in his eardrums. Spencer could not hold it any more and laughed in his sleep, attempting to cover it up by moving his head on Clara's shoulder. Rossi, sitting next to Morgan, picked up a piece of white cloth with his pen and offered it as an act of surrender. Morgan was quick to refuse it, clearly plotting something within his mind. "All right, Reid, it's on. Just know that paybacks are a bitch."

As he snored fakely again, Clara could not help but chuckle to herself. "Something funny Davia?" Morgan questioned, his brow quirked.

"Not at all Mr Muscles," Clara quickly dismissed, discreetly high fiving her 'sleeping' boyfriend under the table with the hand not holding her book.