Strange Love// Spencer Reid// Criminal Minds

3

Spencer's POV

I was sitting at my desk, reading Madeline's article about Derek. I've read it three times already; I could see her talking about it. When Madeline talked, her used her hands, she furrowed her eyebrows when she talked, losing herself into her words.

Her articles were different only because these were where she organized and put her thoughts. 

"Spence?"

I held up a finger, reading through the comments on her article. 

"Spence, what are you reading?" 

JJ looked over at my screen as I turned and looked at her, hiding my monitor. 

"Ah, it's that girl, Madeline, right?" she smirked. "Someone has a crush."

"No, I don't," I said, exiting out of the tab. "She took a quote from me, I wanted to see how she used it."

"In the comments?" Emily chuckled.

"My lovely friends, we have a case." Garcia walked by and towards the conference room.

I followed everyone there, sitting around the table in my usual spot.

"This is Megan Chertow and her friend Bina Sukarto. Both 17, found 2 nights ago in a parking garage, carotids severed," Garcia said, the pictures appearing on screen as I looked through the file. "This is John O'Heron, 61. He was found dead in a wooded area 4 days ago, blunt force trauma to the head."

"Different M.O. And completely different victimology," Rossi asks, "How are the cases linked?" 

"Their eyes have been removed." JJ says, raising her eyebrows. 

"Oh, he's an enucleator." I said in surprise, looking through the file, absorbing it all. 

"There's a name for this?" Garcia asks, making sure to not look at the screen.

"It's a rare subset of criminal behavior," I explain. "But there have been case studies of assaultive enucleators; the overwhelming majority of them suffer from diagnosed mental disorders."

"And they're usually males, lack social skills, their kills are disorganized and sloppy," Hotch continues. "The typical enucleator gouges the eyes out, but he doesn't normally take them with him."

"This guy did and we need to figure out why." Emily says.

"Now, as you all know, Oklahoma doesn't like the FBI too much, so we'll need someone to help us deal with them and the media outbreaks across the state," Hotch says. "Since JJ isn't our liaison anymore, and Garcia has to stay here, we can't leave until we have someone."

I looked up and met Hotch's eyes. "I have someone in mind."

"Who?" Hotch asked.

I opened my mouth to say something but JJ cut me off. "Madeline Brookes."

"Reid's girlfriend." Emily smirks.

"She's not my girlfriend, we're strictly just friends," I said. "She writes amazing articles on our cases and knows how to handle herself and others, she'd be perfect for this case."

Hotch paused for a second before continuing. "All right, can you ask her?"

I nodded and pulled my phone out, dialing her number. 

She answered after the second ring. "Spencer? Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," I chuckled, turning my back to the team. "You know how you've always wanted to go on a case with us?"