the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

073. under the skin

Bedelia is sitting on the couch in Luke's place, rubbing her very pregnant stomach. Spencer walks over, holding two plates of food.

"Here." Spencer gives her one plate.

"No drink?" Bedelia pouts.

"I'll get you a drink in a minute." Spencer promises. "How are you feeling?"

"Pregnant." She sneers. "When this little brat gonna come out? She was due a week and a half ago."

"Well, maybe she wants to stay because her mom's been calling her a little brat for the past month." Spencer says.

"Oh, ha, ha, ha." Bedelia fake laughs, rolling her eyes. Spencer's lips quirk up in amusement. "Better than her dad calling her ugly."

"I didn't--" Spencer sighs. "I'll go get you some water." He says, leaving his plate of food by her.

Bedelia glares down at her stomach.

"I love you, honey." She says. "So, please, for the love of God, get out of me. Trust me, it will make both of us feel much better."

+++

"This deceased gentleman is John Doe number 2." Penelope states. "He was found about an hour ago deep in the woods of the Ellis Pines Regional Park."

"Might be harder to tell with John Doe number 1, but with 2 here, it's pretty clear animals didn't tear off his skin." Luke says.

"There's no question we're dealing with an unsub wrestling with violent sexual impulses." Spencer says. "However, neither the staging of the bodies nor the removal of their torsos' skin speaks to the same manifestation of lust violence expressed in Everett Lynch's previous kills."

"That manifestation is evolving, and I think it started the moment he thought about cutting off my face." Rossi says.

"But he didn't or couldn't because he had at least enough control over himself to understand that killing an FBI agent would bring the full weight of law enforcement down on him." Matt says.

"Our original profile of Lynch didn't indicate any sexual fluidity, and without that, I don't see how we'd be able to shift his victimology from women to men." Tara says.

"Also, why would our guy go from burning his victims trying to make it look like an accident?" Luke asks. "And now he's just leaving them somewhere where they can be obviously found?"

"Right now, I don't want any of us to presume anything about this case." Emily says. "JJ, Bedelia, Spence, I'd like you to walk the crime scene at Ellis Pines."

"Wh-what?" Bedelia stammers. "I-I'm over nine months pregnant."

"And I've kept you benched the last three weeks, now you get your wish. As long as you're physically up to it." Emily says.

"Physically? Yeah. Yeah, definitely." Bedelia says. She looks at Spencer who gives her a sympathetic look.

"Good." Emily nods. "Matt, Luke, Baltimore county is sending a new pathologist in. I need you to coordinate with whomever that is." Emily tells them. "Tara and Dave, focus on victimology. Whoever we're dealing with here is still clearly on the hunt."

The team files out, Spencer and Bedelia being last.

"I'm telling you, I think she hates me." Bedelia loudly whispers.

"No, she doesn't." Spencer argues. "You guys hashed that out, anyway. This is the first time either of us have been paired off with JJ in weeks. It will be fine."

+++

The three are in the woods and have to climb down a hill in order to get to the body.

"Aw, crap." Bedelia mutters.