Strange Love// Spencer Reid// Criminal Minds

20

Reid's POV        1 month later

Morgan was right. Madeline did need me. I did need Madeline. But now, now things were different.

Madeline was a trainee on our team. She was apart of the BAU. Apart of our team. After what happened to her, she decided that was wanted to help people, that this was the right path to take.

I'll admit, she was good at her job. But seeing her everyday, it was like being hurt all over again. After the accident, we both drifted apart. She was doing her job, I was doing mine, he never crossed paths again.

And then she walked into the BAU next to Hotch. 

And suddenly, we were strangers again.

Madeline was trying to repair what we had. So was the team; putting us together on cases, "accidentally" putting our rooms together. Madeline told me to embrace it, I told myself to ignore it.

We got a case in Kansas, meeting in the conference room in 10 minutes.

"An entire family went missing from their home in Kansas City, Kansas," Garcia said. "Last night a road crew found John, Tricia, and they're all dead, all shot to death and left at the side of a highway. Uh, they were tipped off to the location by a drifter who is now M.I.A."

"And the youngest child, Scott Yamada, is still missing?" Emily asked.

"The murder weapon was an unregistered 9-millimeter," Madeline said, reading the file. "It was found near the bodies. There were prints on the gun that were the father's, and there was gunshot residue on his hand."

"So, he drove his family all the way out there and murder-suicide himself?" Morgan asked. "Seems unusual."

"Kansas needs us now, if we leave now we can be there in 2 hours," Hotch said, getting up. "Wheels up in twenty."

We all grabbed our bags and started towards the jet, where Madeline took a seat next to me, smiling softly. I turned away, looking through the file again. We did victimology, arriving in Kansas early.

"Madeline and Reid, go to Ravenwood Camp and talk to the owner, that's where the Unsub first saw the families," Hotch said. "Morgan and JJ, talk to the families friends, Emily and Rossi go the M.E. about the previous families and I'll talk to the detective on this case."

Madeline's POV

When we arrived at the station, Reid and I took an SUV, going to the Camp outside of town. The car ride was silent, other than Reid, who was tapping his fingers against the wheel to the beat of the music that quietly played through the radio.

"You're nervous," I said, looking out the window. "Why?"

"I'm not nervous." He lied, sass lining his voice.

"You always tap your fingers when you get nervous, I noticed it two years ago," I said to him. "Why are you nervous?"

"It's just..I'm not used to having you on cases with us."

"Well, get used to it." I said, not looking at him.

We arrived at the Camp a few minutes later, getting out and finding the owner fairly quickly.

"Do you know what the biggest problem in America is today?" Jason, the owner, asked. 

"We're losing the war against antibiotic resistance." Reid said and I couldn't help but smile.

"Smartphones," Jason said, motioning for us to follow him. "I saw this family in a restaurant the other day and no one was talking to each other. They were all on their phones. Texting, tweeting, emailing, whatever."

"Pretty extreme view." I said, looking over the cliff where the mountains were in full view. 

"Not when you see the result of eliminating modern-day distractions like we do," Reid said. "Families ride horses together. They hike. Roast marshmallows. They reconnect."

"Sounds idyllic," I said to him. "Let me ask you this. Did the Yamadas or the Acklins seem troubled to you?"

"They pretended like they weren't, but you can't hide that stuff. From what I recall, Mr. and Mrs. Yamada argued in their cabin at night," Jason said. "The Acklins? Hardly spoke to each other the entire week they were here."

"So, I guess you might say that their stays weren't exactly successful." Reid suggested. 

"We're not miracle workers. We just want to start the healing process."

"Do you get angry when it doesn't work?" I asked him. "Because you sent multiple emails to both families insisting they return to Ravenwood soon or they'd regret it."

"No offense," Reid said. "But you kind of strike me as the type of guy who needs to get his point across."

"So you think what? I hurt them?" Jason scoffed.  "There's this thing called marketing. My tactics may be aggressive, but they work."

"So, you're not a murderer," I rolled my eyes. "You're just a businessman."

After a full day of nothing, we decided that we all needed a full night's rest. Of course, I got "accidentally" roomed with Reid again.

I smiled, reaching to take his hand as he unlocked the door. Another habit. He quickly snatched his hand away, his smile falling.

"Just because we're rooming together doesn't mean we're getting back together." He said, setting his bag on the bed.

"Right," I said. "Sorry."

"I'm going to take a shower." He said, going into the bathroom.

I sighed heavily, falling back onto the bed. "Way to go, Madeline."