Mellifluous {Spencer Reid}

SEVENTEEN.

SEVENTEEN; THE SLAUGHTERMAN

The BAU team walked out of the round table room to organize their go bags, Aurora picked hers up off the floor where she threw it, opening it to make sure nothing had broken, nothing had she thanked god for that. The three other women surround her as she sits at her desk. She looks up at them with raised eyebrows. "yes?" They glare at her, "well I'm not just gonna tell you here!" Penelope groans and motions for them to follow her.

The group of 4 walk up the stairs into Penelope's office and shut the door "ok spill" Penelope spins and gestures for her to sit in the spinney chair as the others sit on the table, Rory laughs at her, unsure where to start "oh god I don't even know where to start, well, he made me dinner, it was the best pasta I have ever eaten, did you know Spence could cook? I did not! we just talked and then we went to watch a movie, and he had made us chocolate covered strawberries" they let out a collective "awwwwwww" and looked at her, urging her to continue, Aurora blushed, looking down "oh my god did you kiss him?" Penelope says with excitement, Aurora holds in her smile, looking down, the memory of his lips moving in sync with hers spinning around in her mind, "oh my god you did, what was it like?" JJ asks, sitting at the edge of the table, clearly invested in the two's romantic night, "it was amazing, I kissed him first and then basically fell asleep in his arms, I woke up to the closing credits but it was like 1am by then soooo" she cuts off, knowing what it would sound like if she said she had slept over, "oh my god did you sleep with him?" Penelope stands up, waiting for my answer to celebrate, "ye-NO! Well we slept in the same bed but not like that! Come on guys you know I wouldn't, not this soon" the three women burst out laughing , and Aurora cant help but grin, laughing with them.

A knock on the door interrupts them, "Come on ladies, Wheels up" Hotch's voice rings out, then gets up and walks out. When she meets his eyes she can't help but smile and blush, looking away, she had to remember that they were at work.

--

Spencer sits with his book on the jet when he feels someone sit down next to him, looking up he sees Aurora smiling over at him, plugging a headphone in and getting comfy under the thin blanket she had packed, grabbing out her book she keeps one hand under the blanket, slowly sliding her hand over to meet his, he takes it into his and they both smile discreetly while they continue to read. each other's presence soothing them.

"Alright everyone, Garcia is on the line" Hotch calls out, Spencer and Aurora jump apart, scared they have been caught out. Everyone got up and moved over to where Hotch and Rossi were sitting. with Pen's face on the screen "what've you got Garcia'' Reid's voice calls out. "Ok so I looked into slaughter houses in the comfort zone, and I came up with zip, our unsub likes to snatch his victims in inner city areas and dump them on the outskirts of town, but this is Atlanta, there isn't exactly a raging farming scene down there?" Rory sighs, she knew it was a stretch. "Babygirl, check for abandoned or family run slaughterhouses and butcher shops in both Atlanta and surrounding states, he definitely grew up around this type of thing, and what he did to those women isn't something you can do by just picking up a knife and having a go, he's been trained" Penelope nods, jotting down what Morgan was saying "ok chickens, I will hit you back when I've got something, Garcia out.'' She hangs up the phone and Hotch shakes his head "remind me to have her drug tested'' the team laughs. Penelope could worry them sometimes, but they all knew it was just her personality.

The pilot gives them a notification that they were landing in 5 and Hotch begins to give them their tasks, "ok so when we land I want Reid and Hearst to go tp the ME's office, Morgan and Prentiss I want you to walk the streets of the areas the victims were taken, talk to anyone who may have seen someone out of place, JJ the families of the first victim are at the local precinct, talk to them, I wanna know everything there is to know about them. and Rossi you're coming with me to the dumpsite. Does everyone know their assignments?" The team nods in Hotch's direction, packing up their stuff into their go bags "oh and there are a few flats connected to the Precinct so we will be staying there, but there are only four rooms, so some of us will have to double up, not to worry, they all have couches." Aurora and Spencer make eye contact confirming that they would be sharing a room.

The two lovebirds sit in comfortable silence as Spencer drives the Black SUV to the ME's office. Aurora breaks that silence "ok so what do we know about butchers techniques"  She looks over at him expectantly "Well, we know they use a Butchers Knife, and usually long strong cuts, they don't like it to be not clean cut. and they drain the carcass of blood before they make any attempt to break the skin." Aurora nods, Spencer's eidetic memory coming in clutch, she had googled Butchering techniques on the Jet "what I don't understand is that he goes for junkies and prostitutes, what we have learnt from eating all of the serial killer cannibals is that they don't like drug users, they say it makes them taste bad, so why does this guy choose them?" she looks over at him, he seems so be deep in thought before coming to a realization. "These are his dry runs''

--

Over at the dump sights the Cadaver dogs start to bark, Rossi and Hotch run over to where they start digging, they grab shovels and start digging, they dig far enough to find three metal drums, they realize that the three drums were located right underneath the first three victims. That's when they smell it, "well I think we know what's in those '' Rossi points out as they call over the crime scene techs to get them out.

Hotch answers his phone "Hotchner" he hears Reid's voice on the other line, "we think these are his dry runs, he isn't actually eating them, he is just practicing on high risk victims of opportunity before he gets enough experience to work his way up to targets who he will perform the acts of cannibalism that he fantasizes about." Hotch nods calling Rossi over to him, "yep he certainly isn't eating these ones, we have found three drums of human flesh so far." Reid nods and the second voice, Aurora comes through "the last victim was from a week ago, he seems to be getting a victim per week, so we might be looking at another victim by the end of the week." Hotch sighs "got it thanks" He hangs up the phone and turns to Rossi, "we need to gather the team at the precinct, it's almost dark" 

--

The team sits around the conference room of the precinct eating Chinese takeaway, Reid still couldn't use his chopsticks, no matter how hard Aurora tried to teach him, she even tried the rubber band trick "don't bother Rory, I tried that with him years ago, he is hopeless" JJ calls out, Aurora just laughs as Spence just lets out noises of complaint. "Ok so who's in what room?" Hotch asks the team, Emily and JJ look at each other "We'll share" Hotch nods, Spencer and Aurora are avoiding eye contact with each other and Hotch, not letting anyone in on the fact that they desperately wanted to share a room. "Well Morgan can share my room but you're taking the couch kid" Rossi is the next to speak up, Morgan grins in Spencer's direction, "great, Reid, I'm sure you won't mind taking the couch in Aurora's room, and I get my own. Ok wonderful, meeting down here at 8am sharp, go get some sleep you'll need it." Everyone stands up and grabs their bags, the girls and Morgan sending the blushing couple smirks, knowing full well that Reid was not taking the couch.

Walking up the stairs the duo pair off, "goodnight everyone" calls Hotch as he shuts his door, "don't forget to use protection kids" Rossi calls from inside his room, Morgan's laughter echoes as he closes their doors. "don't forget the walls are thin!" Emily calls out as her and JJ retreat to their room also, With Flushed faces, Aurora and Spencer shut their door planking down their bags "you do know you are not sleeping on the couch right?" She looks at him, eyebrows raised, and he smiles with relief, "I was hoping you'd say that." she grins and unzips her bag.

"Hey Rora?" she turns around, "yeah?" he walks up to her, "I've been thinking about doing this all day." He takes her face in his hands and she hops up on the kitchen bench to reach his lips as they connect, moving in synch with each other as she wraps her legs around his waist and he holds her close to him, lips moving together, Sparks flying and the desperation was echoed in the way they held each other so close, almost like they were terrified the other would disappear. The euphoria flowed through their bodies. Pulling apart for air, she smiles at him, not moving her legs, "you, Spencer Reid, are one of a kind" he smiles widely at her, "as are you gorgeous" she blushes and jumps down off the kitchen counter, "I'll be right baaaaack" she sing songs as she grabs her bag and walk to the bathroom to change, he chuckles to herself, the aftermath of their kiss still leaving him wobbly.

She walks into the bedroom in only his jumper from the night before, seeing him in his usual sleepwear, that she loved so very much, his eyes flick up and down as she walks in, he pats the space next to him in the bed. "Goodnight my beautiful, sweet dreams' ' she blushes and smiles at his words, his arms wrapping around her, and sleep begins to wash over her "goodnight Spence" She says, but he was already asleep.

And for the second time, they slept soundly, in each others arms.