Follow the Leader
Post-ep to Annihilator 13X15
When he found her, her head was in her hands, the office dark, save for the light from her computer screen. Knocking softly on the jamb as he went past, he opened the door and entered.
"You okay?"
She wiped at her eyes and cleared her throat.
"I'm writing my report."
He took that in. "Need any help?"
"You weren't even there."
He held his tongue for a beat, trying to decide if she was angry with him, or not. Coming down on the side of 'not'.
"Right. I'm sorry about that. Emily pointed out that my refusing to go on the case just gave Barnes more ammunition. But I was pretty certain Emily would have been gone by the time we got back, and I couldn't let that happen."
JJ relaxed a little into her chair. "In that case, I'm glad you did it. But, boy, in the moment? You definitely threw me. I had no idea how to react."
"I really am sorry. I knew I was creating a problem, but I didn't know how to be in two places at once. I wish I'd been better prepared, maybe had chance to think it through better. Which reminds me to ask….why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"About Barnes. When she first called you in…why didn't you tell me? Maybe I could have helped you." He saw that familiar look come over her face, and preempted her response. "You didn't have to protect me. I'm not really all that fragile, you know. In fact," making a show of checking his watch, "I'm not due to be fragile again for another 93 days."
He'd won a smile. "That stupid schedule."
"That, it is." Considering the context of their conversation, it made him wonder. "Do you think Barnes had something to do with setting it up?"
She was surprised at the question. "The condition of your reinstatement?"
He shrugged. "It would be less crazy that what she did an hour ago."
A huge sigh marked JJ's deflating again. "I don't know what to do. I feel like I've failed the team. Emily. Even Hotch. Me and my big mouth."
"Hotch?"
She nodded. "This was his office when I first arrived to the BAU. He'd taken over from Gideon, and he got the team through that awful time afterward. He taught me so much, and he led us all through so many things. So many…."
Her voice drifted off into reverie.
"You didn't fail him, JJ."
It was instinctual with him, defending her. Even when he was defending her to herself.
"Yes, I did. I stepped into his shoes after Emily, and two cases in, the team's been torn apart. That's some legacy."
"It's not you. She's got it out for the BAU. If it hadn't been you, it might have been me, or Rossi, or any of the others. You only did what a good leader is expected to do. You defended your team, and the work we do."
"And made her angry enough that she went right to the Director, and got permission to dismantle us almost completely!"
Reid came around the desk and turned her chair to him, squatting in front of it.
"You didn't do this. You didn't fail anyone."
She kept on, as though he hadn't spoken. "Maybe that's why she chose me, because she thought I was the least qualified." Snorting soft derision at herself. "I guess she was right."
Reid turned her chin to him, demanding her eyes.
"Stop it. Don't let her win this." His bad knee demanded that he rise again. "There's something going on. I don't know what it is, but I know that we're going to find out. And then we're going to put a stop to it."
"We? Aren't you banished to the educational exchange program?"
He shrugged it off. "Class prep and reading student papers isn't exactly a full time job, especially not for me."
"But what about the others? She's pushed Rossi out the door, and sent Emily and Tara to God knows where. And Garcia!"
They both knew their tech analyst wouldn't survive anywhere but the BAU.
"We'll figure it out. We've got tonight, at least. Let's call the rest of the team, and set up a brainstorming session."
Her brows raised. "Are you kidding? They all went to O'Keefe's. I don't think anyone will be in shape to brainstorm tonight."
"Well, there are the two of us. Maybe we can just brain-cloud."
She laughed, as he'd hoped she would.
"Okay. Right now, I need a lightning bolt of inspiration about exactly what to put into my report."
Reid pulled up a chair, and craned his neck to look at her computer screen. "Let's see what you've got." He read it in under a minute, then turned to look at her again. "Now tell me what's not there. In fact, tell me the whole thing, from beginning to end. Just tell me how you saw it, don't filter it for the Director."
So she did. Barnes preempting her newly-bestowed authority by issuing assignments on the plane. Rossi's report that the woman had been making comments referencing his age. Her leap to a primary suspect, and her intrusion into Tara's interview of the suspect's girlfriend. Her attempt to manipulate that interview. Her treatment of the LEOs and her attempt to create an alliance with JJ over it. Her not-so-subtle messaging to Luke that she thought he'd purposely allowed Scratch to die. And, above all, her putting a witness in danger, and forcing the BAU to kill their unsub.
Reid listened in silence, which prolonged as he digested the information. JJ's eyes stayed on him as he thought, unspoken hope in them.
Come on, Spence, you'll have perspective on this, I know you will!
When he was ready, he leaned back and enumerated his points on his long fingers.
"She inserted herself into virtually every aspect of the investigation. She attempted to implant misleading information, and she attempted to isolate each of the suspects. Then she created a false narrative, and delivered it to the authorities."
JJ's eyes were narrowed in confusion. "You're thinking she planted the evidence on the suspect we found dead?"
"No! No, JJ. That's not the investigation I'm talking about. She's inserted herself into the investigation of the BAU. She's not just conducting it, she's orchestrating it to meet some end that only she knows."
"Well, it's obvious the end she's aiming for, isn't it? She wants to end the BAU."
He didn't agree. "She could have done that. Well, not for long, because I think it's a good bet the Director either doesn't know about it, or has some other reason for giving her carte blanche."
"So how do we figure out what's actually happening? How do we know if it's Barnes, or the Director? How do we figure out why they want the BAU to end?"
"We profile them."
"We don't even know them, not really. And we can't exactly set Pen loose on their personnel files."
He gave her a look. "Jennifer…"
Paradoxically, his use of her full name came across as affection.
"What?" The bewildered student.
"We don't investigate them, we profile them. We look at their behaviors. And we brainstorm, like we always do."
JJ threw her head back in frustration with herself. "Honestly, I think I'm too addled. She made me so angry, Spence!"
"Okay, let's start with that. You said yourself that she tried to form an alliance with you earlier in the case, right? And yet, by the end, she'd infuriated you."
"Because she was so damn careless! She could have gotten that witness killed! It was such sloppy work on her part, thinking a Kevlar vest would keep the woman safe!"
"You'd expressly told her not to, right?"
"But she doesn't answer to me. I answer to her."
"Do you think she was purposely trying to sabotage the case?"
JJ could only shrug. "She seemed genuinely upset that the unsub had been killed. I can't see how that goes with purposeful sabotage."
"Unless…." His voice held a hint of 'aha'.
"Please tell me you have an idea."
"I'm not sure if I do. But she sounds conflicted. Bitchy, mind you, but conflicted. She was genuinely regretful that her actions had a negative consequence, one that you pointed out to her was likely to happen, and yet she acted on it. Could it be that she didn't have a choice?"
"What do you mean? We had the situation under control, and she purposely upended it. How could she not have had a choice?"
The look on Reid's face told her that he was thinking aloud.
"What if she's being manipulated by someone? What if she's just a pawn?"
JJ wasn't sure she could go there. "She's the Assistant Director of the FBI. Who could be using her as a pawn? The Director?" Unable to keep the incredulity from her voice.
"Maybe not the Director. Maybe someone wanting to discredit the Director by throwing suspicion upon two of the FBI's most elite teams. She's already done in the IRT, now it's the BAU."
"But who would want to do that?"
"You know what they say…follow the money. Someone under investigation might just want to divert attention by ruining the reputation of the investigating entity."
JJ still wasn't quite on board. "It would have to be someone pretty influential. A high profile investigation of some sort."
Both sets of eyes widened as their thoughts proceeded in the same direction. There were several high profile investigations under way, as there always were. But there was also that high profile investigation.
JJ broke the silence. "You don't think…"
"It would make sense, wouldn't it? Disgrace the leadership by disgracing the FBI's elite units."
"So, we're thinking she's being run by someone else?"
Reid's eyes shone fire. "Not only someone else, but possibly even a foreign power. It's probably not a coincidence that she went after the IRT first."
JJ still hadn't quite let go of her guilt. "Hotch was still here, then, when she disbanded the IRT. Maybe she just waited for the right opportunity."
Reid squatted in front of her again. "She hasn't met the right opportunity, JJ. She's met her most formidable opposition. You showed her that on the plane. More importantly, you showed the rest of your team that you have the spine to stand up to her, and whoever is behind her."
JJ took him in, the look of sincerity on his face, the encouragement in his eyes, and, suddenly, she knew the truth. Had known it, for a long time, even if she'd left it unacknowledged. She offered him a weary smile of appreciation, and told him.
"Thanks, you know I love you for that. But I think we both know who our real leader is. It was you who stood up to Barnes when she wanted to barge into our case. You, who reached out to Emily and brought her back to us. And you who just now rescued me from a pity party and got me doing my job again."
She leaned forward, catching his hands in hers.
"I know I don't say this enough." Maybe not ever. "But I look up to you, Spence, and not just because you're my best friend. I respect you, I rely on your wisdom….and random facts…" Making both of them smile. "Seriously, you have always led me, by your example. You've even shown me how to be a better friend. I'm not sure we'd be best friends if you hadn't shown me how."
His legs demanding to be stretched, Reid stood, and pulled her up by the hands holding his.
"For the record, I've never had a best friend before, so I think you must have been pretty good at it already. And for the rest…..thank you."
JJ studied him, a smile of surprise on her face, replaced by one of affection. He hadn't dismissed her praise, nor denied the reasons for it.
You know, don't you. You know who you are, and what you can do, and you're comfortable with it. You don't need to be acknowledged for it, do you? For you, it's enough just to be who you are.
The Spencer Reid she'd met nearly thirteen years ago had been an insecure, socially inept, brilliantly geeky man/boy, who had, inexplicably, captured her heart. The Spencer Reid she was looking at now had lost none of his brilliance, but nearly all of his innocence. He held a hard-won maturity, and a certain degree of gravitas. And, most importantly, he still held her heart.
JJ reached up and pulled him into an embrace.
"I'm so glad you're here. I can't imagine trying to do this without you."
He returned the embrace and squeezed her tight before letting go. Then he smiled down at her.
"You won't have to. Now, enough of brain-clouding. Let's call our team and get to work."