Mini Reid (Book 3 in the Boss's Niece series #Wattys2016)

Moving In

"How is it that I've been here longer than you and yet, you got an office before I did?" Spencer asked as he placed a box into my new office.

"Have you ever asked for one?" I asked.

"No."

"Would you ever accept one if it was given to you."

He hesitated before saying, "Probably not."

"Exactly!" I laughed. I walked over to him, wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a quick peak on the lips. "Don't be mad."

"How am I supposed to be mad at you?" he asked.

I smiled and hugged him close.

Spencer had really changed in the past year and 9 months. When I first met him, he was socially awkward and never showed this much affection. Ever. Not even when we got together. He started changing after we got together. Now, he's completely different.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's cute that he was willing to change for me. I think we've all changed the past few years at the BAU.

Spencer and I started unpacking my two boxes. One had pictures that I was gonna put on my desk. The other had my "professional" stuff and just random stuff that I had at my desk.

"What's this?" Spencer asked, showing me a little, arcade prize, finger puppet.

"Garbage." I mumbled, taking it from him. "Justin 'won' it for me. Stupid cheapskate."

Justin was my first boyfriend who abused me until I finally got the courage to leave him. The year before, he killed my best friend and started sending me and Spencer threatening messages. Even though we arrested him, he escaped. He bombed my car and made me lose my memory. Then, he kidnapped me. He threatened to kill Spencer, but I killed him first and the rest is history.

"He's gone." Spencer reminded me.

"I know." I said, smiling at him. "I killed him."

He laughed and continued unpacking one of the boxes. I placed the pictures on my desk. One was of me and my dad when I was a baby. One was of me, Uncle Aaron and his son, Jack, from about a year ago and one was of Spencer and I on our wedding day.

"Was that really 6 months ago?" he asked.

"Yeah. I can't believe it." I replied.

Once we were done unpacking and I organized my office, I flopped into my chair and leaned back.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." I said.

"Don't rub it in." Spencer replied. "But, I'm your husband, so this is my office, too, right?"

I looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"No."

Spencer rolled his eyes and went to leave.

"Well, I gotta do BAU work. I don't need to be here and be insulted by you." he said.

"You're such a baby!" I called after him as he left.

I leaned back again and stared at the ceiling, smiling. This was so great. It felt like home already. Figurative, of course.

•

After a few mintues of relaxing, I had set up my laptop and started to do some work. About an hour later, JJ, came up and knocked at the door.

"Hey. All moved in?" she asked.

"Oh yes." I replied, laughing as I spun in my chair to face her. "What's up?"

"New case. Meet in the Confrence Room in about 10 minutes?"

"Alrighty. Be there soon."

"Great."

JJ smiled and left. I turned back to my laptop, finished my work and walked to the Conference Room. I walked in and took my usual seat in between Spencer and Penelope.

"Hey, Doctor." Penelope said, nudging me.

"Hey Sexy." I said, nudging her back. We both laughed.

Penelope and I always called each other little pet names. It started as a joke, me imitating her little flirts with Derek, but, after a while, it became a natural thing for me to walk into work and go, "Hey, Hot Stuff." to which Penelope would reply with, "Hey yourself, Sexy Beast."

"Hey, you're married now. No more flirting with other brainiacs." David Rossi joked.

I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"Let's get started." Uncle Aaron said, bring our attention back to the matter at hand, our job.

"Okay. Recently, there have been a string of kidnaps, possible rapes and murders in San Diego." JJ started. She clicked a button and up popped a picture of a woman and a man, both with cut marks on their necks and wrists and both were naked. I shifted and cleared my throat. The cut marks looked an awful lot like the ones that Justin gave me when he kidnapped me.

Spencer put a reassuring hand on my back.

"It's okay, Mel." he whispered.

I nodded.

"I'm fine." I said. "Continue."

"There has been six victims so far. The first were Mary and Jonathan Witlock. Both were kidnapped in their home. A week later, they turned up in a local park, both naked. Mary was sexually assaulted, but the Jonathan wasn't, making me wonder why he was left naked." JJ continued.

"Any DNA left on the crime scene?" I asked.

"Not sure. They're checking now." JJ replied. "The next couple was Amy and Theodor Powers. Kidnapped 5 days after Mary and Jonathan in their home. So far, Amy has been dumped in the same park in the exact same place as Mary and Jonathan, naked and sexually assaulted, just like Mary. Theodor, on the other hand, has not shown up yet and it's been 9 days."

"What about the last two?" Alex Blake asked.

"Jenny and Harold Hudson. Kidnapped the day before Amy showed up. They were last seen in their house the night they were kidnapped. They had friends over. One returned later that night to get a jacket and Jenny and Harold were no wear to be found."

"So, our UnSub kidnaps married couples, possibly rapes the women and leaves both naked in the woods." I said. "That's not weird at all."

"Are any UnSub's not weird?" Derek asked.

I shrugged.

"Wheels up in 20?" I said.

Uncle Aaron nodded and we were all off.