THE ROUND TABLE
Like Knights of the Round Table, they sat. Files covered the table with gruesome pictures of the latest villain and the team picked them apart as if they were nothing more than puzzle pieces. The death and the blood and the darkness, they were just pieces of their job. They could talk about how much they wished things like this never happened, but then there would be no need for them. The entire team would be lost in this world because this was who they were, this is what they must do to survive. Sometimes Reid wondered if that made them like the monsters they fought.
"Hello my beauties," Penelope floated into the room, he blonde curls bobbing against her made up face. Though there was tragedy afoot and she was going to show them the awful, she tried to keep a positive energy flowing through her. It was how she stayed out of the darkness they all lived in. Penelope Garcia, the beautiful black sheep.
"What do we have?" Hotchner made sure to get right down to business. The quicker they learned about the monstrous act, the quicker they could hunt down the monster, torches ablaze.
"Three families in Berlin, Connecticut," Garcia started, the images of the families flashing onto the monitor in front of them all. "In all situations, there was a mother, a step-father, a boy and a girl."
"Another family annihilator?" Morgan threw in a suggestion in the form of a question.
"Only thing is," Garcia pushed a button and the faces of three little boys moved their way onto the screen. "In all three cases, the little boy was left alive. They were each dropped off near the Hospital, only a few minutes after what has been confirmed as the time of death in each case."
"So, are we going to assume that the unsub is male?" Reid threw in his own opinion. "Coming from the same family setting?"
"It could be a father," JJ added in more to ponder over. "In all these cases, there was a step-father. Maybe the unsub feels that his family was taken over by another man and is using these families as surrogates to take out his frustration."
"Whatever the case may be, these murders are happening only days apart," Hotch closed the file folder in front of him and brought himself to his feet. "We need to get there as soon as we can before this happens again."
"Excuse me," a young man in a suit walked through the doors into the conference room. "There is a woman here who needs to see Dr. Reid. She says that it is urgent."
Reid was immediately shocked that someone was there to see him. No one had ever come to his work to see him. The only woman, besides those he worked with, who knew he even worked there, was his mother. She would not leave the hospital and make her way all the way here, not without the hospital contacting him and letting him know.
Everyone rose to their feet, along with Reid and headed out to the bull pen. That is when Reid saw a ghost from his past and every memory he had of the two of them came racing into his brain. He could see them when they were seven, chasing each other around the playground. He could hear himself reading her stories when they were pushing into their teen years. He read to her to help her sleep when she would sneak in through his window at night. Her parents more than likely having been fighting. And then finally he saw the final scene, her walking away from him, crushing everything he ever thought he was. And now she was here standing in front of him.
"Can we help you?" Morgan asked, walking up her and taking a seat on the edge of the first desk he came to within five feet of her.
"Hi," she smiled at Morgan but then moved her smile to Reid, it dropping as quick as it had started. "I just need to speak with Reid, if that is alright?"
"Actually," Reid could feel the anger building up inside of him when he began to speak. He could not remember the last time that he had been this angry at anyone. "We have a case we need to get to, so now is not a good time."
"Please," she reached out and grabbed Reid by the arm, forcing him to turn and face her. He refused to make eye contact. "Just give me five minutes of your time and I will let you go."
"Then talk," Reid moved himself away from her, not wanting to feel her touch against his skin. He was all too familiar with the touch. At one point in time it was the only thing that mattered and now it burned against his skin. "If you have something to say to me, you can say it here and now, so I can be on my way."
"Fine," she straightened herself up and clutched her purse between her slender fingers. She was smaller than Reid had remembered. Her eyes looked more tired and her body frailer. "I know that you hate me and what I am about to say is going to make you hate me more."
"Maybe we should let you two have a moment," JJ suggested, beginning to walk past the them both but Reid put out his hand to stop her.
"No," Reid shook his head. "I would prefer it if you did not leave us alone."
Everyone stood still, eyes fixed on them so tightly it was as if they were expecting them to burst into flames. Maybe they were, that would have been a lot better than just standing there, all that pain and anger boiling up inside of him. He wanted to flee, he wanted to yell, he wanted this to not be happening.
"Come on Joanna," Reid could not take the silence from her any longer. He realized that is the first time he had called her by her whole first name, and it was bitter against his tongue. "Why are you here?"
"When I left," Reid already knew that he was not ready for anything she was going to say. She was going to jump in and start with the single most painful day of his entire life. That sounded like a fantastic idea to him. "I thought I was doing what was best for me. Then a couple months later, I found out that I was pregnant."
There was a gasp from every team member that surrounded them, eyes wide, moving back and forth between Reid and Joanna. Though he was in shock as well, a part of him felt that they were over-reacting. He was supposed to be the one who gasped but instead he stood in disbelief. It seemed impossible for him have gotten her pregnant. Sure, they had slept together, being as they were technically a couple, but Reid a father? That seemed hard to believe.
"What are you saying?" Reid spoke almost too low to be heard, still trying to process the information that she had just laid on him.
"Can we please talk in private Spence?" She begged, tears starting to well up behind her eyes. Though he had no desire to be alone with her, he knew that this was something that did not need to be discussed in front of his entire team. Sure, they would get all the information out of him later, but now was not the time or the place for that.
"Fine," Reid motioned for her to follow him back toward his beloved round table, not before making sure that things were squared away with his team. "Can I meet up with you guys in Connecticut?"
"Sure," Hotch agreed, patting him on the shoulder. "Call me if you need anything."
The team was quick to make an exit, avoiding the awkward situation that had developed. That left Reid and Joanna alone with one another and that was almost worse than the awkwardness. He ushered her into the conference room but continued to avoid any kind of eye contact as they walked.
"Look, I know that I am a genius and all," Reid finally allowed himself to look in her direction, needing to get all this figured out. "But what exactly are you trying to tell me?"
Jo opened her purse and pulled out a photograph. She clutched it between her fingers before handing it over to him. Reid hesitated but took it from her, his eyes quickly darting down to the girl captured in it. She looked to be about ten or so in the photo, which time wise would make sense. Her hazel eyes stared up at him through brown curly locks.
"What is her name?" The anger was still there but all he could seem to care about was this girl who looked like the spitting image of himself. Mostly, he was waiting to wake up in his bed, clinging to a book that would answer for this dream.
"Actually," Jo moved back and forth on her feet, obviously feeling nervous, as she should be. "Her name is Spencer. Spencer Reid Bradley."
"Why are you telling me all of this now?" Reid's mind was racing and he felt like he was on the verge of passing out but he was not going to give Jo the satisfaction. She had hurt him enough already.
"When Spencer was four, she was diagnosed with Lymphoma. She went through treatment for a long time but finally, when she was six, she was in remission." Jo pulled a chair out and sat down, Reid did the same, feeling that he was not going to like anything he was about to hear. "Things were getting better, until a year ago. We went in for some routine testing and the tests came back abnormal. Her lymphoma is back. Only this time, the chemo is not working."
"So, she is dying?" Reid asked out loud, not really to Jo but just to make sure that he fully understood what was being said to him.
"They gave her six months to a year," Jo sunk down into her chair and he could finally see it. He had seen the tired look when she came in but now he could see how broken down she truly was. He wanted to reach out and take her into my arms but he knew that right now would be an inappropriate time for that, given their history.
"Six months?" Reid was feeling rather stupid today for being the genius that he was. None of this was making sense. He has a daughter and to top it off, she is dying.
"A week ago, we had a meeting with the Make-A-Wish foundation." Jo continued talking, almost in a rambling manner. "I thought she was going to ask for a trip to Disneyland or Europe or something, she always wants to go places. But she didn't. She likes to read, she got that from you. I told her how much you also loved to read and she was happy that she had something in common with you."
"She knows about me?" Reid looked back down at the photo and ran his finger over the face of the girl.
"She knows all about you," Jo nodded her head. "I never kept you a secret from her. I told her everything I know about you. She knows that you not being in our life is my fault. She does not blame you for not being around."
"What did she wish for?" He tried to change the subject, anger forming again. He knew that he was going to start yelling, even though that was not really what he did.
"To have her…" Jo put her face into her hands and her shoulders began to shrug up and down. She was crying and he couldn't do anything more than be angry with her. "She wished for her Dad to read her a book."
Reid could finally feel the tears form behind his eyes and words choke into the back of his throat. This little girl that he had never known knew all about him and he was what she wanted right now. She was dying and she wished for him. Part of him wanted to run away but the rest of him knew that he could not. He was not going to be like Joanna.
"I would like to meet her," Reid stood up and straightened out his pant legs. "If that is alright?"
"Yes, of course," Jo stood up quickly, reaching for the picture but he pulled it away. "I can drive us if you like."
"How far away?" Reid questioned, wondering where they had been all this time.
"About twenty minutes," she refused to make eye contact with him. Not only did he have a child but she lived only minutes away from him. The joke that he felt was being played on him only seemed to get sicker.
He made his way quickly to the elevator, the run in him taking over but he slowed, making sure she was behind him. He was not going to run away. Not because he owed it to Joanna but because he owed it to himself and his daughter.
The elevator doors closed and his heart raced in him chest. He felt that it was going to break through his ribcage and land on the floor at his feet. With all that he had been through, he had never been as scared in his entire life. Not like he was in this moment.
"I can't believe you did not tell me sooner," Reid began again, the words coming out even with him trying to hold them back. He did not want to talk to her at all but he could not help himself.
"Can we not do this?" Joanna looked over at him with blood shot eyes. "The only thing in this world that is keeping me alive is dying. I think I have been punished enough for my mistakes. So, if we can just get this over with, that would be great."
