spencer reid's daughter

seven

If Tate didn't kill him, Spencer was definitely getting his ass beat by Aaron Hotchner. Spencer avoided eye contact from his boss as he strapped on his bulletproof vest, halfway listening to Penelope nervously ramble on about her worries of him going inside.

Aaron finally approached Spencer, his eyes stern as he watched Penelope walk in the opposite direction. "Reid, this is very stupid, you should not be going in there alone, I'm not even verifying these actions."

Spencer tighted the strap on his vest before looking at Aaron, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Hotch, my daughter is in there, she's all I have left. I'm armed, I'm not an idiot. Making this stupid, careless decision may be the only thing that could keep her alive."

Aaron only nodded, taking one final glance towards the school. "Stay safe, get out of there, don't do anything to get yourself hurt."

Spencer pushed past Aaron, taking a final glance towards his team. Penelope had her back turned, almost unable to look Spencer in the eye as if she knew the outcome. Jennifer and Emily were discussing quietly, their faces full of worry. Derek had his arms crossed over his chest, staring Spencer down as he walked.

"I'll be fine, I need to protect my daughter. After twenty minutes, if neither Colette or I come out, SWAT is automatically supposed to come in, I'm just trying to keep things as unviolent as possible." Spencer reassured Derek, before turning and walking up the steps to the school. Taped to the small window of the door was a piece of paper that simply read 'It's unlocked. Come in alone.'

Spencer uneasily opened the school door with a loud creak, stepping inside the empty hallway. His black shoes against the marble were the only sound that he could hear, Tate and Colette being nowhere in sight.

As Spencer reached for his gun in the holster, he watched the familiar face of Tate Hankle walk down the steps. His figure caused Spencer to shiver, repressed memories beginning to uncover. "It's wonderful being able to see you again, Doctor Reid."

Tate approached closer to Spencer, his clothes soaked with dry blood. His hands were covered in fingernail scratches, they were fresh. Spencer clenched his fists, staring Tate in the eye.

"Where is my daughter? We made a deal, I'm here." Spencer watched as Tate slightly shrugged his shoulders, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Did you really say to let her go? I couldn't remember." Tate laughed at himself, keeping a healthy distance from Spencer. "If you want her, you're going to have to fight for her. Just like the old days, you remember?"

"Vividly." Spencer was becoming so angry he couldn't see straight. It was so tempting to pull the gun from the holster and shoot Tate in overkill until he died, but he had no clue where Tate hid his daughter.

"Come on Reid, how long has it been since you've seen your daughter? Five hours?"

"Seven hours, thirteen minutes, twenty-two seconds." Spencer corrected, the words tearing at his throat.

"Right," Tate seemed almost annoyed Spencer knew off the top of his head. "How are you sure I haven't killed her? No one was listening to the audio while you were getting ready to come in here."

Spencer's mind began to race, every detail he had read on Tate's life over the past few years filled his brain. "You—You wouldn't, it's not part of your M.O, you cannot even force yourself to hurt Colette, more like kill her. With the others, it's simple, but when you broke into my home seven years ago, you left Colette without a scratch."

Tate shrugged, trying his hardest to keep a straight face. "You see right through me, Reid. Unfortunately, you couldn't be more wrong. There's a reason you haven't heard her since you came inside."

Spencer's breathing hitched as he stared at Tate, his hands beginning to tremble. He pushed Tate out of the way and ran up the stairs, ignoring the heavy footsteps of Tate behind him. Near the middle of the hallway, Colette's legs stuck out from inside a vent and Spencer immediately realized she wasn't moving.

He ran to her aid, pulling Colette gingerly from the vent while Tate hovered only to watch. Colette's face was pale, her neck bright red and scratched. Tate had strangled her.

Spencer quickly checked for Colette's pulse, to find a very slow and dying pulse. He began to work quickly, applying fifteen chest compressions on Colette in hopes to keeping her stable enough for the SWAT teams to come inside.

"You know, strangulation is the one of the worst way to die, which is why suicide victims usually decide to hang themselves?" Tate kneeled beside Spencer, trying to seem as compassionate as a sociopath could. "They believe they deserve the pain of cutting off their airway and slowly dying. She held on for—."

Spencer turned and punched Tate in the jaw, sending him backwards against the floor. He pulled his gun from the holster, pointing the barrel against Tate's temple, his face flushed red of anger. "I'm going to shoot you, and watch your tiny, narcissistic brain splatter across this floor like paint. I've been wanting to do this for the past 2,555 days. Nothing is going to stop me now."