Reid tentatively entered the dark room, glancing around.
"Charlie?" he called as he closed the door behind him, sealing off the light from the hallway.
A dull blue glow from the window at the end of the hallway offered a reflection off of a lamp and the metal components of the furniture, but a dark shape protruding from the couch caught his eyes. He stepped forwards and said her name again, and she looked up at him. He was close enough in the faint light to see her face. Her eyes shone wearily and her cheeks shimmered with tear trails. Between the dark moons underneath and the hooded eyelids above, he recognized the shine of cold, hard, paralyzing terror in the deep blue irises.
"What happened?" he asked immediately, grabbing her arm.
"He's back," she said flatly.
"Who's back?" he asked, concerned.
"He's back, Spencer. I saw him, he passed me on the street today," Charlie continued like she hadn't even heard his question.
Reid stayed silent for a split second as he realized she was talking about her stalker before he firmly asked, "Are you sure?"
She nodded emphatically.
"Okay. We'll have to tell Hotch so he can--" he started, but a firm, "No," from Charlie stopped him.
"What? Yes, we're telling him. Last time you didn't tell anyone you almost got killed! I am not letting you risk your life like that again, and neither will anyone else on the team," he argued.
She stared blankly at nothing, a grim look on her face.
The rip of Velcro sounded abnormally loud in the dark apartment as Reid undid the fasteners on his vest and pulled it off, handing it to Charlie with an instructive, "Here. Put it on, we're going to Quantico."
The grim look on her face morphed into one of incredulity and she opened her mouth to argue but Reid thrust his bulletproof vest at her again and repeated, "Put it on."
She wiped her face and let out a growling sigh but snatched it from his hand, strapping it on over the tank top and baggy pajama pants she was wearing and shoving her bare feet into a pair of moccasin boots an getting up from the couch.
Reid grabbed her arm and pulled her after him, warning, "Stay close," as he cautiously peered into the hallway and then exited her apartment, his gun drawn ahead of them as they made their way through the building and outside to the SUV, Charlie resigned but dutifully following behind him, hopefully to safety. Not that there was much of that for her now considering the circumstances.
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Criminal Minds One Shots
Hayran KurguA collection of story blurbs containing cut material and alternate scenes from my book Unknown- A Criminal Minds Fanfic but also some random Criminal Minds stories featuring the members of the BAU and the character Charlie McDowell. Not all stories...
