Strange Love// Spencer Reid// Criminal Minds

21

Madeline's POV

I was still trying to get myself together after we found the body of a little boy. Scott Yamada was dead, but another family has been taken. But we couldn't find the Unsub, nor the family he had taken.

"The Unsub is someone without a family, who is envious and wants to destroy the very thing he cannot have. He was raised in a dysfunctional family, which he lost or may have even murdered," I explained as we delivered the profile. "The abductions weren't chosen at random; he monitored the families on the Internet and picked them because their dynamics mirror his own, yet they project the appearance of a perfection that he fantasizes about."

"He blames the fathers for their mistakes, then punishes the families and make it appear as if the father is the culprit. The young sons are likely to be surrogates for the Unsub himself, and they may be at the age he was when a negative life-threatening event happened to him," Hotch explained. "Yet, he connects to them, therefore he may be at a state of arrested development. This doesn't protect the children, however, as evidenced by Scott Yamada's murder; the Unsub may have seen his death as a merciful act."

We found one person's name that has looked at each social media pages of the family that has the same background as our profile.

"It's him," Garcia said, typing. "His cell phone pinged at this family's address, sent to your phones."

We all took different SUV's, getting to the house within ten minutes. We got out, SWAT behind us as we strapped our bulletproof vest to our chests, our guns at our side. Morgan kicked in the door as we all split up, JJ and I taking the basement, where a gunshot rang out.

The mother laid on the floor as I kneeled beside her, searching for a wound, but there wasn't one. "There's no blood."

JJ grabbed the gun from the floor, emptying the magazine. "It's loaded with blanks."

The daughter and the husband wrapping their arms around the mom as we took a step back. JJ patted my shoulder softly, giving me a smile.

We wrapped things up, getting on the plane and going home. I sat in front of Reid from across the table as he read a book, obviously trying to ignore me.

"Reid." I said, intertwining my fingers on the table. 

He looked up at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Look, I know that we're not on the best of terms, but I thought that maybe we could grab a coffee?" I asked him. "We can just try to be friends?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." He said, not looking at me.

"C'mon," I smiled at him. "I didn't get to finish the menu."

He started to smile but caught himself. 

"Fine, I guess that I'll just have to finish the menu by myself," I said, sitting back. "What was next? Coffee del unicorn barf with rainbow sprinkles and pink whip cream?"

He let out a laugh, smiling at me. 

I laughed too, looking at him. "See? I miss you, can we grab a coffee?"

"Fine," he gave in, trying to hide his smile. "Just one."

I grinned. "Of course."

**

Reid's POV

We sat across from each other, a black coffee sat in front of me, some weird whipped creamed coffee sitting in front of Madeline.

"Read any new books?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"A few, yes," I said, taking a sip of coffee. "Written any new articles?"

"As much as I love being a journalist, I think I'm going to quit the newspaper."

"For the BAU?"

"Mostly, yes," she said to me. "I used to write articles about this stuff, but now I'm actually doing it, and I just don't have time to carry on both jobs."

"I understand." I nodded.

A silence fell between us and I was about to open my mouth to say something when her phone went off. I expected mine to go off after hers, but it didn't.

"Who is calling you at 12 o'clock in the morning?" I asked her.

She glanced at her phone before clicking the silence button. "My mom, she can wait, I'm enjoying my time with you."

I smiled at her, taking another sip of coffee. "You know, you're really good at this job."

"It's actually fun, but seeing the bodies and the murders, it's disturbing, how do you get used to it?" She asked me.

"I don't think you ever get used to it, it just becomes-"

Her phone went off again, cutting me off. She looked down at it before turning to me. "I'm going to answer it, get her to leave me alone."

I nodded as she answered it, pressing the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

She furrowed her eyebrows before standing up and turning her back to me. "Mom, calm down."

Her hands gripped the back of a chair as she seemed to struggle to stay on her feet. I got up, wrapping an arm around her waist, keeping her up. She hung up the phone before turning to me.

"It's my dad," she said, her voice barely over a whisper. "He's dead."

"Oh, Madeline." I said as I wrapped my arms around her.

She suddenly shoved me away, pushing her hair back with her hands. She was trying to keep it in. She was trying to push me away.

"Madeline, don't." I said to her.

"I'm going to go home," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Thanks for the coffee."

I reached out to her but she turned away and left me alone in the coffee shop. 

Madeline's POV

My hands were nearly trembling as I struggled to put the key in the lock, turning it and getting inside. I collapsed against my door as I sobbed, dropping my keys beside me. Soon, sobs were racking my body and I struggled to catch my breath.

Then, the panic attack ensued.

I was on the floor on my hands and knees as I tried to catch my breath. I closed my eyes, focusing on something nice as I tried to take deep breathes. Eventually, the panic attack subsided and I found my way to my bed, where I eventually fell asleep.

There was both grief and relief in the loss of my father. 

He was really gone.