Reid Me A Love Story (Spencer Reid)

Now It's Personal

June came quickly, and the heat bearing down one afternoon was insane. Diana was sweating when she walked into work. Morgan looked her up and down, confused.

"What did you do, walk here?" he asked the younger agent. She slammed her bag down on her desk, fuming.

"My car's AC broke," she explained in a heated tone. "DC traffic sucks. I'll take Chapel Hill traffic over it any day."

"Well, it looks like you're getting that wish," Hotch told her. "We have a case. Everyone to the briefing room, now." They all rushed there, noting his grimmer-than-usual tone. Once everyone was seating, Garcia came in.

"Alright everyone," she began. "Here we have a bit of a jailbreak situation. Late last night Collin Drebb escaped from Chapel Hill Jailhouse in Chapel Hill, NC."

"Drebb?" Diana said, feeling like she was suffocating. Garcia nodded. "No. No, oh my god."

"Diana, what?" JJ asked. The girl shook her head.

"He was a man who ten years ago did a huge shooting at Chapel Elementary," she explained. Prentiss nodded.

"I remember hearing about that," she put in. "There were casualties in every grade, but a first grade class got the worst of it. Three kids killed out of what, twelve in the class? And a fourth was in a coma."

"The assistant teacher was killed as well," Rossi put in. "And the teacher-"

"-was me," Diana finished. "It was my class." Everyone stared at her.

"Um, he escaped and they want us to help. Diana..?" Garcia asked.

"Yep?" she asked, determination plastered on her face.

"Are you going to help us?" she asked.

"Of course," Diana replied. "Besides, after we catch him maybe I can see my family." The team transferred to the plane fairly quickly, unable to waste a second.

"Only seven percent of people have ever broken out of this prison before," Diana explained as the jet took off. "The security is some of the best around. Only two percent of the seven were ever found again, and I'll be damned if Drebb isn't part of the two percent." Rossi nodded and they began discussing motives.

"Diana, any ideas?" Hotch asked.

"Well, there's the obvious-the ten year anniversary is in, like, five days. There's no way it's

coincidence. This has got to be connected. But how?" She clicked her pen open and closed, thinking hard.

"Well, maybe he wants to...do it again," Morgan suggested carefully. All of the blood drained out of Diana's face.

"Shit," she said loudly, a rare thing for her. "Hotch, we need to get Chapel Elementary extra security. Like, fast."

"They're already on it," he assured her. "Nobody dangerous is getting into that school."

"Good," she muttered. Over the course of the flight, Diana purposely avoided Spencer's gaze. But as everyone was getting ready to land, he slid into the seat next to her.

"Diana," he said softly. "Are you okay?" She finally looked at him and he was startled to see she was nearing tears.

"No," she said. "No, I'm not okay. I'm scared and I'm sad and I'm worried all at once." He squeezed her hand, which was the most he could do while they were working. He looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, Di. We'll get him. This time for good." He wasn't quite prepared for the next question.

"What if more kids die?"

He couldn't lie and say nobody would, and even if he did she wouldn't believe him. Instead he held her hand again-pushing it, he thought,-and said, "It'll all be okay. I promise."

Empty words, Diana thought bitterly as he moved to grab his stuff. She discreetly wiped her eyes told herself not to be so hard on him. He was doing his best.

When she stepped off of the plane, she couldn't help but smile. It felt like home. They were ushered to the police station, and they got to work immediately. They talked about everything they remembered, and everything they couldn't. Nobody could think of a reason why he'd break out other than to re-attack the school. The team left the police station at around two thirty, only after Diana almost fell asleep standing up. She was dead to the world as soon as her head hit the pillow, and was awakened the next morning by the smell of coffee.

She sat up and saw the other girls standing a few feet away, talking. Both were fully dressed. Diana had a small heart attack when she saw the time.

"You didn't wake me up?" she asked frantically as she dug through her bag for clothes. Prentiss shook her head.

"We were about to wake you up," JJ said. "We figured you could use an extra few minutes." Diana got ready in a flash and despite being the last one up, she was the first in the station that

morning.

"How much caffeine has she had?" Morgan asked Emily as he watched her trying to solve everything at once.

"Two and a half cups of coffee already," Spencer answered, appearing at Morgan's side. "But that's only about half a cup more than usual for her.

"Assuming you're talking about me, now you know why I'm so perky in the mornings," Diana called without looking up. "Guys, this is so frustrating. The anniversary's in three days, we have to catch him by then."

"We will," Spencer assured her.

"You don't know that," she shot back. "And there's no way of telling what he's doing in between then and now."

"Actually there is," Hotch said striding into the room. "A man was taken from his home earlier today. The wife called the cops when she woke up and he was gone, back door was broken-glass smashed-and a coffee cup layed in the floor, broken."

"Does 'this man' have a name, Hotch?" Morgan asked.

Hotch took a deep breath. "John Smith."

Diana let out a little gasp and dropped her coffee cup, which also broke. Spence rushed over to her, wrapping his arms around her. Morgan and Prentiss had their mouths open in shock, and JJ and Rossi stared. The last time a family member had been taken hostage-Hotch's wife-had been killed.

"Reid, go with Diana. Both of you take an hour off, and Diana decide if you are emotionally able to keep working."

"I am," Diana said, wiping away her tears with almost an air of impatience. "I don't need an hour off, I need to keep working-"

"Smith, you're taking an hour off or you're off the case now. That's an order." Diana grabbed her bag and looked at Spence.

"Let's go," she said, and she left the building without another word.