spencer reid's daughter

four

Spencer stared at the school, his mind racing with the dozens of ways to kill the bastard inside. His hands were clenched at his side, his head pounding with the sound of his pulse. He jumped when Jennifer approached and grabbed his hand, rubbing her thumb against his soft skin.

"It's just me, Spence, what are you thinking about?" JJ asked, looking away from the school and towards Spencer.

"The many ways I can kill that son of a—." Spencer stopped himself, inhaling a deep breath as he tried to calm his nerves. "JJ, it's the anniversary of Hazel's death today, this doesn't just happen out of the blue."

"I know Spence, I don't understand yet, but we will," JJ rubbed his back gently before walking away, leaving Spencer once again alone with his thoughts.

"Hotch, I think I've got somethin!" Derek yelled, his ears covered with a pair of headphones. Spencer and the team ran over, listening to what Derek was going to say. "The audio's working again, we have a name."

Derek paused and turned towards Spencer, nodding towards Aaron who stood behind him. "It's Tate Hankle, kid."

Spencer blinked in confusion, running his fingers through his short brown hair. "No, that's impossible, that cannot be Tate Hankle in there with my daughter." Spencer's breathing turned into hyperventilating, flashes of the night seven years ago burning across his vision. His stomach began to churn as Aaron grabbed his arm, leading him away from the team and to the black SUV with Emily close behind.

"Reid, you can't be here it's too personal now, you and I both know you're not thinking rationally," Aaron turned towards Emily, whose face seemed just as pale. "You two need to search Tate's house, find how he knew how to find her, find anything on him."

Emily nodded and walked Spencer to the SUV, climbing inside and driving from the school. She exchanged glances between Spencer and the road before clearing her throat. "I know this is hard Reid, but we will not let him get away with this again. I promise you this."

"I just want to be able to believe you," Spencer rested his chin against his fist, staring at his reflection in the car window. His cheeks were flushed pink, sleepless bags drooping from his eyes. "I don't know how much longer I can do this, Emily, if i don't get her back? I haven't even been able to tell Colette the truth after seven long years."

"You're just protecting her from the trauma you deal with every single day, there's no problem with that," Emily shook her head, continuing to drive. "We both know though, you have to tell her the truth eventually."

Spencer only nodded, staying silent for the rest of the trip to Tate's home. The house was fairly small, a single story with uncut grass in the front yard and broken windows. Spencer squeezed his eyes shut before climbing from the SUV, following Emily into the house.

Once inside, the first thing Spencer Reid saw was his face plastered all across the wall. Hundreds of photos of him working a case, inside the safety of his home, driving Colette to school; Tate had been stalking him for years.

"He knows everything about me, no wonder how he knew where we were today," Spencer shook his head, closely examining the pictures. He paused at a few, taken from Spencer's home. "Emily, this was taken inside my house, how the hell did he get in there?"

Emily shook her head, picking up a large binder from a table and flipping through the pages. "This is ridiculous it's—it's every news article about you or our team or Tobias in the past ten years."

"That was before his attack on Hazel," Spencer scanned through the news articles, his fingers brushing against the pages as he read.

"You and Hazel, Reid," Emily corrected, walking across the room. "He beat you senseless and shot you in both of your legs. You couldn't come back to work for months. You're allowed to be personal."

"You know, Hazel's last words towards me were to make sure Cole wouldn't forget her," Spencer forced a chuckle as he shook his head, laughing becoming his only coping mechanism. "Yet, that's the exact thing I did for years after her death."

"You were just protecting her, but now she's old enough to understand the truth about her mother. She deserves to know." Emily fumbled around opening drawers before pausing, her mouth gaping open.

"Emily? What is it?" Spencer approached her as she dialed Aaron's phone number, pulling her phone to her ear.

Inside the drawer were at least ten bottles of Dilaudid, the name Tobias Hankle written on the top. A small piece of paper was taped to the bottom with the words "For Spencer" written in black ink.