The Ghost of Princeton ||Spencer Reid||

malnutrition

CRESSIDA

They were all staring at me through the glass. While I couldn't see them, I could still feel the weight of them, of their confusion. I hadn't thought about this part. About them all knowing exactly what I had gone through.

That Garcia would have to watch the videos, and knowing her she started from the beginning.

The first video was after I had been with them for three weeks. By that stage I was still fighting outwardly. War had thrown me around, kicked me while I was down, hit me when I was up. That hadn't been the worst of it either.

The part that made me crack was the starvation.

When they realised kicking me around wouldn't work they had to change tactics. So they stopped feeding me.

I'd never gained that weight back.

They never started feeding me properly again. The hunger pains were a part of my life now, constantly there but also not. It was because of them that I had found out how long it takes for your body to start ignoring your constant pain. For survival it was easier to block it all out, pretend it wasn't there so you could focus on how to get your next breath, your next glass of water and your next half a meal.

I didn't even want to think about all the deficiencies I had. About where my health truly was at this point, because it wouldn't matter if I was dead. If the BAU didn't help that's where I would end up.

They would come after me.

The door slowly opened and my eyes lifted from the smooth surface of the table to his honey brown eyes. I couldn't stop the tears as I let out a breath of relief. Couldn't stop the sobs from racking my body and my face from falling into my hands. They couldn't see me like this. They couldn't see me fracturing in front of them.

But I couldn't stop.

Having Rossi interrogate me kept my mind thinking that this might not even be real. That they might throw me out. But if he was in here then this was really happening. I was going to be free.

"Cressida." His voice was quiet as he walked over to me and dropped to his knees, his hands on my shoulders to force me to look up. There were tears in his eyes too, but he was keeping his emotions in check much better than I was. "You're safe." He said, which made my tears fall harder. Was this pain or joy?

"You're safe." He said again as he slowly wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me against him. He didn't let go until my body stopped shaking from the tears, until my breathing calmed and heart rate settled. Although the second I did he left me, moving to sit across the table where I hadn't even realised Morgan was already seated. Had he been there the whole time?

"You're awfully skinny." Morgan pointed out, I furrowed my brow.

"They starved me to make me cooperate, which I didn't like to do. Is this really how you want to start this?" I asked, letting the calm facade I had before fall away. I was exhausted, and I didn't have to pretend otherwise anymore.

"And a British accent?" He asked next, I was about to retaliate but Reid got there before me.

"Morgan, she has dual citizenship." Although his words were simply factual his tone was sharp. And his eyes were slightly squinted. Something was wrong.

"Sorry." Morgan said, almost genuinely. It didn't feel like it was for asking me those questions though. Maybe he felt sorry for thinking I was lying. I assumed they all thought that. "Reid tried to catch us all up but..." Morgan trailed off.

"I understand. It's hard to condense everything into a fun little summary for you. I doubt I could do any better than him, and I don't know what he's told you." I said, although my eyes never left Reid's. We were finally face to face, after all these years he was in the same room as me.