Come Downstairs and Say Hello; S.R.

End of Case 2

Jo had sat back in her seat, staring forward at Ted, who was now sat across from her, and rocking back and forth. The telephone was ringing.

"Ted.." she spoke calmly, "please believe me when I tell you that I'm the only agent on this train. Just me." She leaned forward, "I'm the only one. Please, let everyone else go." Ted shook his head.

"Dr. Bryar, we need to get this woman help." Reid said.

"Who's gonna help me?" Ted whimpered.

"The higher authorities can help you." Said Reid. "They're not what you think, they're not the enemy. They can help you, Dr. Bryar." Ted stood up, and shot the telephone. Jo jumped, and Elaine started to cry.

"Not anymore." Ted grumbled. Jo was beginning to lose hope, and her head hung low. "It's not gone." Ted spoke, "you said when the chip came out, it would go away." Jo looked up. Nobody had spoken to Ted. "It's-I still hear it." A sound?? "You said there was only one, Leo." An imaginary person. "I can still feel the buzzing...the burning..." Jo wasn't trained in this type of mentality.

"Dr. Bryar." Reid shook Jo from her brainstorming.

"What?" Ted pointed the gun at Reid, and Jo stood up.

"Spence!" She hissed, the last thing she'd ever want being for him to get hurt.

"It's all right, Jo." Reid promised, slowly standing up with his hands in the air. Jo watched his movements as if they were the only thing keeping her from death. And as far as she was concerned, they were.

"Is there another one?!" Ted yelled. Reid smiled, sighing lightly.

"You know there isn't." He said. Jo was extremely skeptical with where he was going, but she still trusted him. "If there were, Leo would've told you."

"Make it stop!" Ted yelled.

"I know what it's like." Reid said. Jo met his eyes, but he quickly moved them back to Ted.

"Make it stop!" Ted repeated.

"I know what the voices are like." Reid continued, "The voices, they won't stop. They've been talking to you since you were a child."

"You're lying to me." Ted whimpered.

"That's Leo speaking." Reid said with a smile, "That's not even Dr. Bryar." Reid's smile disappeared, and a look of demand came across his face, startling Jo slightly, "Why don't you let him think for himself, Leo?" He asked, now looking behind Ted.

"You...do you see him?" Ted asked.

"Yeah, He's right there." Reid responded, and Jo smiled. "Why don't you let him make his own decisions?" Reid looked back at Ted. "The voices, they help you, right? It's where you get your ideas from. While the other kids were outside at the playground, you were inside. Reading, studying, learning. The voices wouldn't stop. They helped you understand things that other people could never realize." Reid's eyes were now on the ground as he continued speaking, telling Jo this all came from his heart. "And then as you grew older, it became a responsibility, right? A responsibility to use that ability, to use your knowledge." Ted had walked closer to Reid, who now had his hand on the back of the seat Jo sat in. Jo stared nervously at Ted, who now stood right next to her, him and Reid a couple feet apart only.

"Strong theory." Ted said, "The theory of everything."

"Then m-theory encompassing all the strings, unifying the theories." Reid said, "You know, it's funny. Most people say that M-theory can never be proved because the mathematical tools do not yet exist." Jo bit her lip again, feeling as though Reid had gone too far. "But you see it, right? You can see different strings unifying the dimensions. The gravitational infinities canceling each other out. You see them, right, Dr.Bryar? You see them because you have the tools." Reid paused, "Your mind is that tool."

"Shut up!" Ted screamed to a space beside him, fortunately not at Reid.

"And I have to believe that if you put your mind to it, you'll realize that only you can make Leo stop. You can make him stop by understanding him, by understanding that he is a liar, and he only wants bad things for you. I need you to believe that, Dr. Bryar." Ted looked around for a second, and Jo took the opportunity to kick him in the legs, Reid grabbing his arms and holding them above his head. A shot rung out in the train car, and Jo shut her eyes tightly.

When she opened her eyes, she turned to see not only that Gideon had rushed in, but that the middle aged timid man with the glasses was holding a gun, and had shot Ted.

"I had to." He said, "He was gonna kill us. I had to, god forgive me." Reid stared down at Ted's body, sweat beading on his forehead.

"We need an ambulance." He mumbled. Gideon nodded.

"Alright. Get Starling out of those cuffs, will you?" He asked. Reid nodded, and went over to Joey, who was leaning back, her eyes closed. Reid found the key on the side of the officer's belt who was shot, and kneeled down to get her out of the handcuffs. The moment her left hand was free, Joey leaned forward, throwing her arms around Reid, who stumbled back and yelped softly in surprise. She let out the deepest sigh that day, snuggling her head into his chest.

"Next time you do something like that...make sure I'm not there to witness it.." she mumbled. Reid rubbed her back, chuckling softly.

"No promises." The pair walked out of the train, Jo taking in a large breath of fresh air. She reached up and touched the wound on the back of her head, wincing. Reid looked at her, "you should go to the hospital." Jo shook her head.

"No, don't worry, I'll be fine." They sat down in the open trunk of a cop car, Gideon walking over to check on them.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm more than alright." Jo smiled. Gideon walked off, and she turned to Reid. "You're so awesome." She blurted. He blushed, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Really?"

"Yes! You totally saved my life back there!!" She leaned forward, making eye contact with him. They sat silently for a bit, just looking at each other, and Jo frowned, "What you said in there...."

"The guy was a delusional psychotic. I was playing into his fantasy." Reid said, brushing a stray hair behind his ear. Jo nodded, and looked at her lap, before looking at Reid once more.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Reid seemed shocked by the question, and he stumbled over his words.

"Yeah...y-yeah, I'm-I'm fine. Why don't you go to the hospital. I'll see you there, okay?" Reid said. Jo nodded, and watched him walk off, sighing.

"Happy first week back at the job, Jo." She mumbled to herself before walking to the ambulance.