Here to Help!

7.

WARNING: angst, harassment, violence, swearing, hurt & comfort, talk about sexual harassment. again, read ONLY if you don't feel triggered or uncomfortable. if it does bother you, you should stop right here!

"Did you find anything out about this Michael guys?", Spencer asked as he and Morgan entered the conference room.

"Oh come on, boy wonder. I always find something out.", Garcia joked as she clicked the button and a picture of a man came up on the screen, "Meet Michael Dugan, 28, only child which grew up in Fairfax, Arizona but moved to DC when he was 8 years old because of his father's deployment. His parents are both deceased. After highschool, he attended college and studied to become a nursery school teacher. About three years ago, he started working at the central kindergarden aka the working place of out beloved mystery woman Ruby. He works in the same group as Ruby where they take care of 24 three to six year old kids. This was all I could found. He wasn't arrested, nothing. He seems pretty normal."

"But something definitley is not normal about this guy. When we left the work place, Soraya, Ruby's best friend, came up and told me that Michael and Ruby had some fights about work related stuff and that she witnessed him threatening Ruby at work once. Ruby told her some of this when she has been there the other night.", Reid told the team.

"So...you think Michael has something to do with this character change of Ruby?", JJ recaped at which Spencer nodded. "Yes, I think he is the trigger."

"Wow...okay, but we need more evidence then this to go up to him and confront or possibly arrest him. Otherwise, it could warn him that we know about what is going on and he'll take his revenge out on Ruby.", Emily said.

"She's right. We might now know that he is the trigger, but we need more.", Hotch sadly confirmed.

"Well...Linda, another co-worker of Ruby, gave me the number from which Ruby had called this morning. Maybe I could try and call her? Maybe I'm lucky and she'll answer the phone.", Spencer said.

"It's worth a try!", David agreed as Reid got up to go to his desk to make the call. He sat down in his chair, the lack of sleep finally consuming him and being noticeable. He felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, but nevertheless, he gathered himself before he typed the numbers in and pressed the call button . For a few seconds, he only heard beeping, telling him that the phone was still working. After a few more seconds which felt like a lifetime, he heard her voice. She sounded tired and sad, just like him.

"Hey...it's me!"; he carefully said because he did not know how she would possibly react.

"Spence...how did you get this number?", she asked, confusion in her voice.

"I wanted to come and see you at work today, b-but Linda told me that you called in sick for the whole week and gave me this number. Are you okay?"

"Spencer...I..."

"I miss you.", he suddenly said. A short moment of silence came up which was borken by the doctor, "please, come back home. I need you, Ruby. Whatever it is, we can fix it together like we always do."

"I-It's not that easy. I-I miss you too. So so much, but I can't."

"Why? What is holding you back?"

"I-I-I don't know to be honest..."

"Can we at least meet up to talk?", he offered, already thinking that she would decline the offer directly.

"I-I would love that. What about a dinner date? I might be returning back to work on Wednesday since the meds helped and I feel better."

"Yes...yes, this sounds perfect. Let's say I come and pick you up after work  and then we'll go from there."