𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗡 ━━ Spencer Reid

Interlude

Harper sat curled up on the couch, her knees drawn to her chest and a half-forgotten mug of tea cooling on the coffee table in front of her. The apartment was eerily quiet, save for the faint hum of the refrigerator and the occasional creak of the old floorboards. Boba, usually clingy, was curled up in his favourite chair across the room as if even he could sense the tension radiating from her.

The fight with Spencer churned in her mind like a storm, replaying in fragments she couldn't turn off. His tone, sharp and uncharacteristically impatient. The guarded look in his eyes when she'd pressed him about the medication. The way he'd stumbled over his apology.

Harper exhaled shakily, running her hands through her hair. You should've handled it better, she thoughts to herself. But what was "better"? She'd been patient, careful, and still, they'd ended up here - at odds in a way that felt foreign and deeply unsettling.

Her phone sat on the coffee table, screen dark. She'd checked it a dozen times in the past hour, half-hoping, half-dreading that Spencer would text or call. But there was nothing. The empty silence only deepened the ache in her chest. She didn't know if she wanted to apologise, demand answers, or both.

When her phone buzzed suddenly, the vibration loud in the stillness, she flinched so hard she almost knocked over her mug. Her heart leapt as she grabbed the phone, expecting - praying - it was Spencer.

But it wasn't.

Emily Prentiss.

Harper blinked at the screen, her brows knitting together in confusion. Emily had never called her directly, and the timing felt almost surreal. Her mind jumped to worst-case scenarios faster than she could stop it - had something happened to Spencer? Had he told Emily about their fight? Was she somehow related to a case?

She swiped to answer, her voice unsteady. "Emily? What's going on?"

"Harper." Emily's voice was clipped and professional, but there was an undercurrent of urgency that sent Harper's heart racing. "I need to tell you something, and I need you to stay calm."

The blood drained from Harper's face. She clutched the phone tighter, her knuckles white. "What is it? Is Spencer okay?"

Emily hesitated, and Harper's stomach dropped. "Spencer's been arrested," Emily said finally, her words measured but unmistakably grim. "In Mexico."

Harper's breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she thought she hadn't heard her correctly. "Arrested? In Mexico? No, I mean - what?" She shook her head, the room tilting slightly. "That doesn't make any sense. What do you mean? Why?"

"We're still piecing everything together," Emily said, her voice softening just slightly. "But it looks serious. Luke, Rossi, and I are heading down there now to try to figure out what's going on."

Harper's mind spun, her thoughts a chaotic tangle of disbelief and panic. "I'm coming with you," she blurted, already standing and reaching for her jacket without thinking.

"Harper, I don't know if that's a good idea—"

"I have to, Emily. Please." Her voice cracked, the weight of her emotions spilling into every word. "I can't just sit here. I need to see him."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Harper could almost hear Emily weighing her options. Finally, Emily exhaled. "Be ready in an hour."

The line went dead, and Harper stared at the phone in her hand, her pulse pounding in her ears. For a moment, she stood frozen, the enormity of what she'd just heard crashing down around her. Then, with trembling hands, she moved to get ready, her mind racing with a single thought: 

What have you done, Spencer?