Echos of a Genius | Spencer Reid

A Blaze

Stephie

2 months ago:
I wake up in the dim lightly, machines beeping around me. My face hurts, then my stomach, and my legs, my neck. Everything hurts.

"Hey Stephie," JJs voice greets me, my eyes land on her at my bedside. Hotch is standing in the corner.

"Where's...Spence?" I have to pause in between the words, I barely have a voice.

"He's okay, everyone's safe." JJ looks at Hotch as if there's something she has to say that she doesn't want to say.

Hotch steps forward, his face grim. "Stephie, we need to talk. What happened... it was bad. Your father has escape authorities multiple times, we can't ensure your safety until he's been executed. He's on death row, I'm not sure how long this process will take, months, years, i'm not sure."

I try to sit up, wincing as the pain surges through my body. "What do you mean?"

JJ takes my hand gently. "You need to disappear for a while. Everyone has to believe that you're... dead."

My heart skips a beat. "Dead?" The word tastes foreign, unreal.

Hotch nods. "We've set everything up. Witness protection, new identities. But it means cutting off everyone from your old life. Even Spencer. Especially Spencer."

"No." My voice cracks, the thought of leaving him, of letting him think I'm gone... it's unbearable. "He'll know. He'll figure it out."

JJ's eyes soften with sympathy. "We know it's hard, Stephie. But it's the only way to keep everyone safe, including him. If Vance knows you're still alive, he'll never stop coming after you. It's only until the execution date."

Tears blur my vision. "How long?" I whisper.

"We don't know," Hotch replies, his tone measured but firm. "But until we're sure the threat is gone, you can't come back."

My mind spins. Leaving Spencer, leaving everything, vanishing like a ghost. It feels impossible, yet here they are, telling me it's my only option.

I swallow the lump in my throat, nodding slowly. "Okay. I'll do it."

JJ squeezes my hand tighter, her expression a mixture of sadness and resolve. "We'll make sure he's okay. But for now, you have to trust us."

I close my eyes, the weight of their words sinking in. The world I knew, the life I had... it's gone.

Present:
My days consist of the same things every day. This healing process hasn't been fun—it's been agonizingly slow, painful, and worst of all, lonely. I'm out here in the middle of nowhere, Canada, with no one to talk to. No friends. No Spencer.

The quiet is suffocating, and the isolation gnaws at me, wearing me down with each passing day. Hotch and JJ call when they can, but it's rare, and the conversations feel like mere lifelines keeping me tethered to my old reality.

The phone buzzes on the table beside me, breaking the silence. JJ.

I pick up, swallowing the familiar knot in my throat. "Hey, JJ."

"Hey, Stephie. How are you feeling?" Her voice is gentle, but I can hear the strain beneath it.

I let out a bitter laugh. "About the same. You know, hurting everywhere and hating this place."

"I know it's hard, Stephie. You're doing great, though. Just hang in there."

"How's Spencer?" I ask, the question burning on my tongue before I can stop it.