A Time To Love | Spencer Reid

Chapter 23-Funeral

  You woke up the next morning still in his arms. Like usual, he was up before you.

  "Good morning Sunshine." His voice was raspy. He rubbed a hand through his messy hair and smiled when he put it back on your hip. You smiled too.

  "Sunshine?" You furrowed your eyebrows. "You never call me that." He laughed. "What! It's fine but.. What?"

  "Remember the case in Alaska? The Butcher Baker?" You nodded. "Well on the way home I watched you fall asleep. Not creepily..You just looked so...peaceful. I knew that I wanted to be with you forever. Derek walked over to me and started interrogating me." He laughed. "Well he knew it before I did and he pushed me to ask you out. That's why I was so nervous that next week. I just couldn't find the right way to ask you out." You blushed. "Until one day I said screw it. And I went to your apartment and well... you know the rest." He smiled. You looked up at him and kissed him.

  "Dr Reid was nervous? Nooo." You teased. He shook his head at the name. He knew how to get back at you.

  "Don't call me that." He used his low husky voice and tried to throw you off. You stayed strong by biting your lip. You got up before he could do anything else. You smiled and ran out of the room. He smirked and chased after you.

  You attacked him at the door connecting to your bedroom. You fell on top of him laughing. He moved a piece of hair away from your face.

"You're so cute you know that." And he pulled you in a sweet, soft kiss. When the laughing subsided you both got up to go to work. This time you had a case.

  In the car your phone buzzed. It interrupted your singing and you quickly reached for it in the center console and read the number. It was the one that called you the previous night. You silenced it and put it away.

  "Who was that?" He asked.

  "No one." You stopped singing. You knew you were going to have to take that call eventually.

—————

  This case was in state and involved what you believed to be a ring of child abductors. Cases with children were always hard. A small boy named Leon Harris was found wandering the streets. His parents were nowhere to be found and he was connected to the case. You and Reid were sent to interview him and get as much knowledge as you could. He was only 5 and didn't really understand anything that happened.

  When you arrived at the hospital you were directed towards his room. He was screaming, yelling, kicking, anything he could do to get the nurses off him. He shouted for his mom.

  "Guys cool it!" All the nurses were male and you felt the child wanted a women, someone smaller and more comforting. The nurses backed out of the room when you showed them your badge. You knelt down to get to his level.

  "Hey there buddy." You offered a small wave. Your voice was soft and calm. He listened to you. He exchanged a small nervous wave back.

  "This is my partner Spencer." He knelt down to seem less intimidating. You put a hand on his leg. "Is it okay if he joins us?" The boy slowly nodded. "Okay. Do you remember what your attacker looked like?"

...

  You continued to question him. When he got uncomfortable and you knew you were going to lose him, you started to sing softly. It was something your brother did when you were scared. It calmed him.

  You got as much as you could before he started to become restless. Spencer watched how you acted with small children. You got low and used words they could understand to connect with them. Your voice was soft and soothing to their ears. He fell even harder for you.

  You always wanted a kid. If you did have one, you wanted to give them a better life than what you had.

  When you turned to leave he quietly asked, "Can you sing again?" You looked at Spencer, telling him to wait a minute. You knelt back down and softly sang the same song. Spencer stood over you, smiling.

  When you finished he hugged you. His tiny arms only went so far and you did the rest. You rubbed his back before standing up.

  "You did great buddy. Now get some sleep for me okay?" He nodded and fell into the bed. A social worker came in to watch him. You both make it back to the district.

  You wrapped up the case quickly. Soon finding the pair of unsubs that kidnapped the children and tried to auction them off. Leon went home within the next couple of days to stay with his aunt. You visited him before he left and he ran up and hugged you, like he had known you all his life.

Before he left you gave him a stuffed teddy bear. "It's so you'll always remember me. When you get scared, squeeze him tight okay? He'll make you feel better." You would tell him. He immediately fell in love and clutched onto the bear. He wrapped his arms tightly around the bear, securing it as he walked. You and Spencer both smiled as he rubbed your shoulder.

...

  After hours, you sat at your desk, looking blankly at your phone.

  "What's on your mind kid?" You looked over at Rossi. You held up your phone.

  "I keep getting a call from a funeral home." He sat up in the chair and raised an eyebrow. "Clarke left me as her next of kin. If anything happened to her, I decided." He put his hand on your leg. "Now she's dead and I have to follow her plans for a funeral." You covered your mouth and cried. He leaned over and hugged you. "I mean- i-I have to.." He nodded.

  "If you need any help with that, with anything, expenses or support, I'm here. We all are." You nodded.

  Spencer walked over to pick you up and Rossi motioned him to the side.

  "She needs you."

  That was all he needed. He nodded and pulled you up into a hug.

  In the following days you planned your best friends funeral.

—————

The sun shone brilliantly and the virescent color of the spring day under it's glare was offensively bright and cheerful. It was as if they, meaning the world, conspired to show you how it would go on without her. It shouldn't. Everything should be as grey and foggy as your emotions, it should be cold and damp with silent air. But the birds still sang and the flowers still bloomed.

  You wore a black dress and stood over the coffin and put your right hand on it. Your left arm was around Spencer's. He also joined in. He wore a black suit and pants. He stood tall, providing as support to help you stand upright. You set the flowers on the black coffin as a tear fell down your cheek. They were about to lower the coffin when Spencer asked if they could wait. You looked over in confusion and he pointed behind you.

  There was your team, walking up the small incline of the cemetery. They all wore black and the girls had flowers in their hands.

  "I asked them to come." Spencer explained. You looked back at him and hugged him.

  "Thank you." You muttered into his chest.

  They all hugged you and dropped a flower on the coffin. It meant a lot that they came. Derek was like your big brother, the girls were your sisters, and Hotch was a father figure to you. You looked up to both him and Rossi. They stood beside you and watched as the coffin was lowered into the earth. You watched through your tear-stained eyes.

  You weren't ashamed to cry in front of your team, you had before. You were a very emotional person but you loved her. Now she was gone. A light had been extinguished forever in your heart.

  You buried her in the same cemetery as your brother. When your team silently walked to their cars you asked if you could take a detour.

  You approached your brothers grave.

  "I made it big bro. I survived."