Enjoying Your Company //

chapter fifty four

Spencer's POV:

During my seventh rereading of "The Moon is Down", I hear Nessa's frustrated sighs linger  from the adjacent bathroom. Without looking up, I stand, maneuver my way through the room, and lean myself along the wood threshold. I tuck my lips as I finish the last word, peeking over the novel to see Vanessa, struggling with the zipper of her formal black skirt. She had on a cream colored turtleneck under a dark pin strip suit jacket, paired with glossy black heels.

"You okay?" She did a double take to the mirror, running a hand through her hair.

"I just-ugh." She grunts. "I don't like this, everything about it is making me woozy. I mean, this is, way, out of my league. I shouldn't even be doing this. It's not me, I'm not me. I don't feel like myself, I don't even look like myself, right now." She took a breath. "I look like a friggin suit." Nessa paused, meeting my eye. "No offense." She whispered, frantically pushing some hair away. I give a snidely scrunched face, she set her hands on the sink, recollecting herself. "I don't even know what to say..." She admitted, exhaling. I step forward, the book meets the counter as my hands greet her waist. Sending a wave of instantaneous relief through her.

"Okay." I sooth, massaging slightly. I wait, counting a few seconds in the momentary silence. "Now, clear your mind. Take a breath."  Moving my hand to the troublesome zipper, sliding it all the way to the rim. Nessa rested herself against me. "Here's what you're gonna say." I lean her a bit, gesturing for her hair band. She complied, and I begin to move my hands through her hair as I spoke. "You're going to keep the conversation focused on the locations. He's going to try to get inside your head, derail you, even make you angry. Don't give in." She closed her eyes, inhaling steadily. "You can't let him." I separate some hair with my fingers. "Look for any changes in behavior. Listen to what he says, the words he uses, the way he talks about the victims." I finish a pony tail, leaving a layer of hair underneath for a half up half down to extenuate her gently curles. "Use their names. This is about them, and their families." She turned to face me. "Not him." Her eyes seemed distant as her body relaxed. "I'm gonna be right there with you." I say, my hand around her cheek. She leaned into me, shutting her eyes with a furrowed brow. "Hey." I lift her by the jaw. Her eyes, one more time. "You can do this."

"Yeah, we can." She nodded, assuringly.

Vanessa's POV:

I walk through the prison. My heart in my throat, fiddling with the ring through my sweating palms. Eyes, followed my every move as we walked down the cells. Inmates whistled, barking obscenities, making me shift to burry the uncomfortable feeling rising inside me. Spencer's arm wrapped around my back as we made our way out of the cell block and into the vacant hallway. Towards some members of the team.

"There they are." Rossi greeted, getting Hotch's attention.

"You two ready?" He asked, dissecting our micro expressions. "Good. Guards are waiting by the gate." He turned to me, the air left my lungs. "When you get to him you're going to keep him on track, get him talking about the burial sites. He's going to try to sway you into another topic, don't let him, move the conversation to the victims." I felt Spencer shift beside me. "He's got a card up his sleeve, but so do you. He's taken this deal to speak directly to you. That's what this is about. Use it to your advantage." I nodded apprehensively, trying to remember his every direction. "You have your ring?"

"Yes." I croak.

"Good, tell him you're married. Make sure he sees it."

"Won't that make him mad?" I ask, feeling my face go pale. Rossi noticed my tense physique.

"Yes it will, which is why I'm sending Reid in with you. He'll be more likely to confess to try to impress you." Hotch informed me looking to Reid. "Understand?" Spencer nodded, lips twisted.