Love On The Field - Spencer Reid x Reader

PART XII

'Dear Holden, they say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Since you were almost in harm's way, I thought I'd share some art. Should make you feel better. Here's my gift to you. Sunny.' Those were the words Spencer had used to attract the Mill Creek killer's attention on the classified they had just published. Hopefully, his attempt at replicating the Hollow Man's language pattern had worked and Holden had fallen for it. In the meantime, the tactical team prepared the scene in the middle of the woods.

"You'll be surrounded." Gideon told Y/N, kneeling beside her as she sat on the ground already covered in brownish leaves. An officer doing some small touch-ups to her makeup.

"I need you to relax as best you can." Derek said kneeling by her side too and placing one of his hands on her shoulder. "This guy, he's gonna want to get close to you and he's going to want to examine you."

"Should I let him touch me?"

"Since you're a gift and not a marked victim, he might try to make you his own, but we're not gonna let him get that far." He assured her.

"We need him to get close to confirm he's the killer." Gideon stated.

"There's nothing normal about this guy. Nothing." Derek commented standing up and directing the rest of the team around.

"Do you have any questions?" Gideon asked her.

"No, let's do this."

"Okay, down you go." He said gently helping her lay on the ground. "Close your eyes. Try to relax." He suggested carefully covering her face with more leaves.

The sound of footsteps slowly vanishing in the distance informed Y/N that the team had surely taken some distance from the scene and found different places to hide. Allowing herself one last deep breath she tried to focus on her body and what it was going through. Concentrating on her breathing, she tried to control it by counting the seconds as she inhaled and exhaled. Her heartbeat rate coming down into a relaxing pace.

The next sound she heard came from a single pair of footsteps approaching. It alerted her of the incoming presence of what could only be the killer. Forcing herself to remain on her calm state, she focused on her breathing again. As the leaves ruffed beside her, she could feel his body dropping to his knees. With careful movements he slowly removed the leaves that covered her face unavailing it to his own delight.

"Hello." He murmured softly. A slow hand caressing the edges of her face with extreme care. "Gosh, you are pretty." He said sitting on the heel of his feet and pulling a red lipstick out of his jacket. His ritual unchanged.

"FBI! Get down!" Derek yelled coming onto him and pushing him to the ground. "Stay down!" He ordered.

"We got him. One down. One to go." Gideon stated watching as officers picked the killer up in handcuffs.

The unsub did not say a word during their trip back to the station. In the backseat, between Derek and Y/N, neither did he take his prying eyes off of her. A devilish smile playing on his lips. And Y/N had to force herself to keep her eyes on the front because otherwise she would not have been able to fight the urge to punch it away.

"Let's stop right here." Gideon said, keeping an eye on them through his rearview mirror.

"It's going to be tough to push through this crowd." Sheridan said watching the group of people standing at the building's entrance waiting for the killer to step off of the vehicle to confront him.

"That's the idea." Gideon stated.

"We're getting out. Secure a path to the door." Sheridan said to his officers, following Gideon's orders and stopping the vehicle.