NO GOOD DEED || S. REID

3.27

"HI. UH, IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS, THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE THAT MEANS I'M DEAD--OR I WILL BE."

Spencer stared at the screen, drinking in every perfect and imperfect detail on her face. Even with an eidetic memory, he wanted to be sure that he would never forget her face. He watched as she ran a hand through her hair. That had become a habit of hers that she tried hard to break because she hated the frizz that her hair would eventually become. He watched as the glittering diamond ring that sat on her left ring finger passed through the frame, his heart clenching at the thought of what that had meant.

He promised to protect her, to love her in life and in love because death wouldn't be enough to tear the two apart. Their vows to each other raced through his head, spinning around and choking him until he couldn't breathe.

"AND THAT PROBABLY MEANS YOU FIGURED OUT WHO NATALIE RUSHMAN IS, THOUGH I'D BE SURPRISED IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW. SHE'S THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO MAKE THIS VIDEO AS A JUST IN CASE."

The BAU had figured out who Natalie Rushman was the second she showed up. Her blonde hair wasn't enough to alter her appearance and the second she stepped foot into the BAU's offices, they knew who she was.

"I SUPPOSE I SHOULD GET ON WITH THE REST OF THE VIDEO. SPENCER'S MAKING US BREAKFAST NOW AND I'M SUPPOSED TO BE FINISHING UP MY CARDIO WHICH GIVES ME ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES."

Katharine smiled fondly at the thought of her husband.

"GOD, I LOVE THAT MAN. I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT HOW MUCH HE MEANT TO ME BUT THEN I'D BE DOWN HERE FOR MUCH LONGER THAN THIRTY MINUTES AND HE'D GET SUSPICIOUS. ANYWAYS, HERE I GO. MY NAME IS KATHARINE MAE REID, née MORGAN. I WAS BORN ON AUGUST FOURTEENTH, IN THE YEAR NINETEEN-EIGHTY-SEVEN. I'VE BEEN A SHIELD OPERATIVE FOR NEARLY SEVEN YEARS AND AN FBI AGENT FOR ROUGHLY THREE. I AM AN INHUMAN AND I SPECIALIZED IN COVERT AND UNDERCOVER MISSIONS UNTIL I JOINED THE FBI'S BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS UNIT, WHERE I WORKED AS A PROFILER AS WELL AS THEIR WEAPONRY AND COMBAT EXPERT."

Katharine paused and looked off the camera at something--or someone. Spencer could see her mouthing one more minute and he remembered that morning clear as day. He had asked what she was doing and she had told him that it was nothing. That Nina had asked her to videotape herself working out so that she could do something with augmented reality.

Spencer hadn't bothered to press the issue. It wasn't uncommon for Nina to give strange or odd requests. He had just learned to live with it. Katharine faced the camera once more.

"MY HUSBAND IS DR. SPENCER REID. TO HIM, I LEAVE EVERYTHING. MY LAWYER SHOULD BE IN CONTACT WITH YOU AS SOON AS NATASHA LEAVES... UH, NOW THAT ALL THE LEGALITIES ARE OUT OF THE WAY, I'M ASSUMING THAT NATASHA IS SHOWING THIS VIDEO TO THE PEOPLE I TOLD HER TO. MY TEAM, MY COUSIN, AND MY HUSBAND."

Katharine took a deep breath.

"MY TEAM. GOD, HOW I LOVED WORKING WITH YOU ALL AT THE BAU. I THINK WHAT I'LL MISS MOST ABOUT BEING ALIVE IS BEING ABLE TO WORK WITH YOU. YOU'RE ALL EXTREMELY TALENT PEOPLE AND I WISH THERE WAS ENOUGH TIME IN THE WORLD FOR ME TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TELL YOU THIS IN PERSON BUT SADLY THERE IS NOT. I LOVE YOU ALL AND NOT EVEN DEATH CAN CHANGE THAT."

Natasha paused the video, even if everyone could see that there were still five minutes of film left.

"She asked me to play the next segment for Derek and Spencer only," she said quietly. In her hands were a stack of envelopes. Spencer watched as Natasha handed an envelope to each of his teammates as they silently filed out the door.

When the door closed behind the last person, Natasha turned around and hit play.

"DEREK. I'LL START BY ADMITTING THAT I BROKE YOUR NOSE ON PURPOSE AND IF BY SOME ACT OF GOD I DO COME BACK TO LIFE, PLEASE DON'T BE MAD AT ME FOR THAT. THERE ARE MANY OTHER THINGS FOR YOU TO BE MAD AT ME FOR."

Katharine laughed lightly.

"BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED TO TELL YOU. I WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU. YOU WERE THERE FOR ALL MY FIRSTS, MY FIRST CAR, MY FIRST GRADUATION, MY FIRST HEARTBREAK, YOU WERE THERE FOR IT ALL. YOU WERE THERE FOR ME AND THE FACT THAT I CAN'T BE THERE FOR YOU NOW MAKES ME FEEL INCREDIBLY SAD. DEREK, YOU WERE MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER... YOU WERE MY PERSON.

AND SPENCER. NOT A MOMENT GOES BY WHEN I'M NOT THINKING OF YOU. YOU MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD, AS CLICHE AS THAT SOUNDS. MY ONLY REGRET IS THAT I DIDN'T MARRY YOU SOONER. I LOVE YOU.

I DON'T WANT YOU GUYS TO MOURN ME FOR TOO LONG. I WANT YOU TO MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIVES. KEEP THE GOOD MEMORIES WE HAD TOGETHER BUT DON'T CLING ON THEM AND FORGET TO LIVE. I LOVE YOU BOTH SO, SO MUCH.

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, THIS IS KATHARINE REID, SIGNING OFF."

The video froze on Katharine's smiling face. Spencer's eyes raced across her features once more, ensuring that he would never forget the way she looked. But even then, he could feel the memory of her laugh fading from his mind and as he desperately tried to hold onto her voice, he was already forgetting the way she sounded.

Natasha took the tape out of the television set and handed it to Spencer. "You know what her last words to me were?"

Spencer looked up at the blonde woman. He cleared his throat. "What-what were they?"

"She said, 'I don't think I've ever loved a person as much as I love him,'" Natasha cast her eyes downward.

Katharine had said those words right before the aliens began to attack. That was the moment that Natasha knew Katharine wasn't going to make it out of the fight. How she knew, Natasha would never know, but her last thoughts had been of the man she loved.

"Before me now there is only one real fact -- Death. The truth I have been seeking -- this truth is Death. Yet Death is also a seeker. Forever seeking me. So -- we have met at last. And I am prepared. I am at peace. Because I will conquer death with death."

Bruce Lee.

Katharine Mae Reid

Onto the next great adventure.

August 14, 1987 - July 24, 2018