AN: Ok, so this came to me while I was… well I don't know what I was doing, but I wrote this! I hope you like it! I'm dedicating this to LacytheDemonicDuck. You'll find out why later!
Spoilers: 52 Pickup and 100
Warning: Character Death
Disclaimer: Um… I own the story line… anything you recognize is NOT mine…. That is all.
Austin brushed her bangs off of her face as she collapsed on the hotel bed. It was going to be a long night and it was only 3 pm. She had somehow convinced Spencer to come to his high school reunion. He had let her take a shower first and then jumped in after she got out of the bathroom. Austin checked the clock again. He had been in there for over an hour. She was worried, but she needed to finish getting ready first.
Austin smoothed down her short sleeve, knee length, maroon dress. She had just finished putting on her jewelry and makeup as well as finishing up her hair. Austin had decided to pull the top part up into a pony tail and curl it. She left her bangs down to frame her face. All she had left to do was put her shoes on. Austin grabbed the simple tan sandals and bent over to put them on, but was stopped by her stomach.
"Oh come on baby, I need to get my shoes on so I can make sure daddy's ok" she said, trying to bend over further to put her shoes on. She had gotten her foot through the single strap that crosses over her toes, but she couldn't fasten the straps.
"I'm fine" Spencer responded as he walked out in his suit. He wore black slacks, a maroon shirt, and a black tie. His socks matched and his dress shoes were in his hands. His hair had been parted perfectly and brushed. "Here, let me do that" he said. He knelt in front of her and buckled the straps before he set his hands on the baby bump.
"Stop being so difficult for your mother baby girl" he whispered before he kissed his daughter and stood back up, sitting next to his wife.
"Say I'm not being difficult daddy, mommy just needs to learn to work around me for a few more months" Austin said as she watched Spencer put his shoes on. "If you don't want to go, we can just get something for dinner and spend the night cuddling." Spencer shook his head.
"We came all the way out here, so let's just try it" he responded. Austin nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love you" he whispered. Austin smiled brightly as he kissed the top of her head.
"I love you too Spence. I know you're worried about tonight, but hopefully people have grown up, and if they haven't, you carry a gun now" she joked. Spencer laughed and wrapped an arm around Austin's shoulders.
"How did I get so lucky?" Austin smiled and picked her head up.
"You saved me" she answered. She always told him that he was her hero and that he had saved her in Georgia. He always responded that it wasn't just him or that he didn't do anything, but she venomously denied that he didn't do it. "Come on, it's time to go" she answered after a few moments of silence. Spencer nodded and stood up, pulling Austin to her feet gently.
It took all that Austin had in her not to laugh at the cheesy decorations. Even Spencer thought it was dorky. His hand never wavered from the small of Austin's back. He looked around the high school gym nervously, looking for any sign of his old tormentors. Austin could sense his nervous attitude and pulled his hand from the small of her back and grasped it tightly in her own. Spencer shot her a grateful smile and squeezed her hand gently. Austin gently tugged at Spencer's hand as she stepped more into the room waiting for Spence to follow. When he did, he led them over to a table close to the door for a quick exit if they needed to make one.
Austin bit her lip as she looked around. She wanted to find the people who turned her loving, heroic husband into a scared, timid boy and beat them into the ground. They had humiliated and hurt Spencer. If it wasn't for Spencer saying no, the whole team would have come with him so they could each have their turn at the people who had hurt him.
Austin frowned as Spencer pulled his hand away from hers. She looked over at him in confusion.
"Sorry babe, I need to use the restroom. I'll be right back" he said as he kissed her temple lovingly and stalked off to the small hallway where the bathrooms were located. Austin sighed and settled herself into a seat, trying to get comfortable.
"Hello, I don't think I remember you" a big, muscular guy said as he took a seat next to Austin. She could tell by the way he held himself that he was probably one of the popular guys. He was one of Spencer's tormentors.
"I didn't go here, but my husband Spencer Reid did" she replied, rubbing her daughter gently. The guy smiled and looked around.
"Oh yeah, Reid? Where is he?" the guy asked. Austin wanted to tell the guy in hell so he might make the trip down there.
"He's in the restroom. He'll be right back" she answered. The guy's attention was drawn to Austin's breasts. Being pregnant had caused them to grow, not helping Austin's problem. Where was Spencer when you needed him? she thought. Suddenly she could feel Spencer's presence behind her and smiled brightly when he set his hands on her shoulders. "Spence" she breathed. She didn't show it, but this guy was definitely giving her the creeps. Spencer could tell by the way she handled herself; he was one of the world's best profilers after all.
"Hey baby, I see you've met Justin" Spencer said. Austin leaned back and set her head against Spencer's stomach.
"No, we hadn't been properly introduced, but it's nice to meet you Justin" Austin replied. Spencer smirked at the hint of sarcasm she threw in that one statement. Justin stood up and met Spencer's height, inch for inch.
"Hey Reid, what's new with you?" Justin asked sarcastically. He thought that Spencer would be intimidated by his muscles, but Spencer had faced worse and wasn't nervous.
"I work for the FBI now" Spencer said, resting his hand on his Glock. After he proposed to Austin, Reid begged the guys to teach him how to shoot a Glock. He wanted a gun that he could use to protect his family and his little revolver wasn't going to cut it. Spencer, Derek, Dave, and Hotch took a weekend and headed to the gun range while the girls sat around Little Creek helping Austin plan the wedding. It turns out Spencer was better at shooting a Glock than he was a revolver.
Justin took an involuntary step back before he realized what he had done.
"Really? That must be a hard job" he replied, still eyeing the gun wearily. Reid nodded while Austin sat watching their reactions with a large smirk on her face.
"Yeah, but I love my job" he replied. The only drawback was not being home every night with Austin, but she understood the job. She refused to let him stop being the hero that she saw him as. "I work with a great team. What about you Justin? What are you up to now?" Spencer watched Justin's body language and knew that what the other man was about to say was going to be a lie.
"Oh, you know, the same old, same old" he responded. Reid nodded. "I'm happily married to a girl I met in college and we have two kids. We moved to California" he said. Reid continued to watch Justin. "We have a dog and a quaint little house by the beach."
"You can stop the lies anytime now" Reid cut in. Justin looked at him. "I'm a profiler for the FBI. I read people's body language every day. I can tell when someone is lying and right now, everything you just said was a lie. You're not happily married. In fact, you don't even have a tan line where your wedding band should go. You either never wear it, which I doubt, or you aren't married. You don't have kids because if you did, you wouldn't be wearing designer clothes. You would save your money for their college education. You don't own a dog, because the hairs on your pant leg are from a cat and you don't have a house because you couldn't even make eye contact when you said it." Justin looked at Spenser in shock. His life story took days to come up with and perfect. Spencer Reid, the dork of the class, had just unraveled it in less than five minutes.
"It was nice seeing you again" Justin muttered right before he left. Reid smirked and sat down in the chair Justin had previously occupied.
"That was awesome babe" Austin whispered as she leaned forward to give Spencer a quick kiss. As they pulled away, Spencer looked around and groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "What?" Austin asked as she looked around. She saw a small group heading towards their table. In the front were a small, petite blonde and another muscular guy. This was the group she wanted to take down for hurting Spencer.
"Reid" the blonde yelled in a high pitched voice. Reid winced slightly and sighed. Austin reached forward and grabbed one of his hands, squeezing gently.
"Here comes the bimbo crew" Spencer mumbled just loud enough for Austin to hear. She coughed to disguise her laughter. "Hi Brittany" Reid said. The blonde hugged Reid, who stood in shock.
"Hi Spencer! I've missed you! How have you been?" she asked. Austin looked at the woman in front of her. It was obvious that she had no brains, but plenty of good looks and money.
"I've been alright. This is my wife Austin" Reid said as he gestured to her. Austin attempted to stand up on her own, but quickly gave up and looked at Spencer for help, who was more than welcome to help her. Austin stood up fully and smiled. "Austin, this is Brittany. She was the lead cheerleader in high school" he explained. Austin smiled.
"It's nice to meet you" she responded professionally. Austin looked over Brittany completely. You didn't even need to be a profiler to be able to see that she was completely fake. Her roots were starting to show slightly, the Botox on her face was still active, her nose, boobs, and butt were obviously plastic, and her fingers were manicured perfectly.
"Likewise" Brittany responded. Austin rubbed a hand over her daughter to try and calm the baby down. It seemed as if she could sense the tension that surrounded her parents. Spencer noticed Austin's actions and realized how tense things had gotten. "So Spencer" Brittany went on, not noticing the change in the atmosphere, "I hear you work for the FBI now." Spencer nodded.
"I work for the BAU, the behavioral analysis unit. I'm one of the country's top profilers. We travel around to assist law enforcement officials with investigations of rapists, psychopaths, sociopaths, arsonists, spree killers, serial killers, child abductions, and hostage situations. We also conduct prison interviews and teach classes." The group looked sick at Reid's description of his job. Austin knew what it entailed, seeming that was how the two met, so she wasn't grossed out at all.
"Wow" one guy said. Another couple, who had turned green, had excused themselves, quickly leaving the group. Spencer smiled and looked at Austin. She smirked at him, knowing what he had planned to do, but Brittany quickly got over the shock of his job description and wanted to know more.
"Have you ever lost anyone?" she asked. Spencer and Austin both froze. Their minds both rewound back to Foyet and Haley.
"Yes" Spencer answered remembering several other times where they were too late to save the victim.
"Have you ever been hurt on the job?" Brittany asked. Her husband kept nudging her to stop, but she got pleasure out of other people's pain. Austin knew what she was trying to do, but she couldn't stop Spencer from reliving every moment from Cyrus, from Hankel.
"Leave" Austin demanded, watching Spence be tortured by his mind. Brittany sat and watched in fascination as Reid broke down, trying to fight the images, but losing the battle. Spence ran out of the room, but before Austin followed him, she turned to Brittany. "My husband did nothing to you. You are a monster. While you lay in bed at night with your husband, mine is out saving the world from different kinds of monsters. He is saving your children, your family, your friends, and your husband, even you. He and his team see things that no one ever should, but they don't give up because they make a difference in the world. They are normal human beings. They eat, sleep, breath, play with their children, make love to their spouses, joke, laugh, love. They have nightmares at night because of what they see, but nothing will change the way they feel about their jobs because they are a family and no one lets anyone else down. You always know that your husband will be home at the end of the day, but I don't get that luxury. Sometimes I pray that Spencer comes home safely because I get so scared that he won't. So the next time someone comes on to you and doesn't take "no" for an answer, think about whom they might be and who is going to stop them and who is at home waiting for their heroes." Austin said before she took off to find Spencer.
Spencer was sitting on the wall in front of the school. He had taken his nametag off and was folding it and unfolding it arbitrarily. Austin wrapped her arms around his torso from behind and leaned into his back, laying her head gently on his shoulder.
"So Brittany's off the list" she said. Spencer chuckled. Austin smiled and squeezed him gently, her stomach pressed flushed against him so her could feel their daughter moving around.
"Cassandra, or Cassie for short" he said. Austin lifted her head and milled the name around in her head. "It means 'She who entangles men'. It comes from a Trojan princess. Apollo gifted her with prophesy, but when she rejected his sexual advances, he cursed her so no one would believe her prophesies" he responded. Austin kissed his shoulder blade once before settling her head back down.
"I love it" she whispered. "Cassandra Lynn Reid it is." Spencer chuckled before standing up, he grabbed Austin's hand.
"Come on Mrs. Reid. Let's get you and Cassie back to the hotel" he said. As they made their way back to the car, Spencer wrapped his arm around her shoulders and Austin buried herself into his side.
"I'm sorry I made you come, Spence. And I'm sorry that people can't grow up and that you had a bad time tonight" Austin said. Spencer looked at her and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm sorry you came with me, but I'm not sorry about tonight. I had you and Cassie with me the whole night and there was no possibility of getting called into work. Now we can grab some dinner and stay in our hotel room and cuddle for the rest of the night" he responded, using her plans from earlier. Austin grinned and looked up into Spencer's face.
"Sounds perfect" she said.
"So how did the reunion go?" Morgan asked as soon as Spencer walked into work on Monday. Reid smiled and sat down at his desk.
"Really badly, but we were only there for ten minutes before we left. Then Austin and Cassie wanted Chinese, so we picked some up and went back to the hotel" he responded. Morgan looked at the man he considered a brother.
"I knew I should have gone with you" he exclaimed. Reid chuckled and took a sip of the coffee that Austin had made for him that morning.
"No, I'm pretty sure a very pissed off Austin scared the crap into people, without a gun" he replied smirking. It had taken hours for her to finally admit everything she had said to Brittany to him. Morgan chuckled and sat down at his desk.
"Touché" he replied. "That woman is seriously scary when she's hormonal" he said. Reid laughed and the day continued much the same as ever. "By the way, who is Cassie?"
Three years later:
"Come on Cass, we've got to go see daddy" Austin said to the 2 year old. Today was her least favorite day of the year, but when were anniversaries like these ever good? The little girl got up and let her mom change her before she fell back asleep on her mother's shoulder. Austin gently transferred the girl into her car seat before she jumped into the driver's seat and headed for their destination.
It had been a year today since Spencer Reid was killed in the line of duty. An unsub wanted to hurt Reid by hurting those he was close to. The unsub had broken into their home and kept Cassie and Austin hostage while Spencer had to try and figure out how to save them. He ended up trading his own life for theirs, which Austin was adamantly against. The unsub had shot him twice in the head while Austin watched. She couldn't get the pictures out of her head, their last kiss, their last goodbye. She hadn't slept in a year, but somehow managed to be the perfect mother to Cassie.
Austin and Cassie sat in the shade of the tree that hung over Spencer's gravestone. Austin told him stories of the past year while Cassie sat playing and wandering nearby. The team had decided to let them have today, they would visit him tomorrow. Austin's head whipped up when she heard the crunching of gravel.
"Cass" she called out. The little girl wandered back to her mother, not understanding that Austin was terrified of who was coming. Suddenly a brunette woman and her husband walked over to where they were sitting. The woman smiled at Cassie, but quickly averted her gaze from Austin. "Can I help you?" she asked tensely.
"I'm Brittany" she said. Austin froze. This woman was the cheerleader from Spencer's high school. The one who caused him to break down at the reunion. The one who Austin yelled at. "I came to apologize to you and your husband. I was a monster and you were right. I read about his death in a newspaper and knew that I had to tell you that you were right all of those years ago. Your husband is a hero and he gave his life up for you two. I can't imagine what that must feel like, but I have tried."
"Why are you here?" Austin asked. Cassie had gotten back up and started to wander again. Brittany's husband followed her so that the women could talk. Austin stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I needed to apologize. Those things you said to me that night didn't really hit me until after you had left. I was horrible and I needed to apologize for that, but I was scared. I had never done that before so I was hoping we would never see each other again. And then I heard about Spencer's death and I knew" Brittany stopped to gather her thoughts. "I knew I had to apologize and tell you how sorry I am about everything." Austin stood looking at the woman in front of her. She could feel the breeze and knew that Spencer was around keeping an eye on both of his girls.
"I cannot forgive you. My husband was a hero in every sense of the word. I cannot forgive you because it's not in my heart to forgive you for what you did to Spencer over the years, but I'm not the one you should be begging forgiveness from and he is dead" she responded. Brittany looked over at the headstone with tears in her eyes. Austin let her words sink in for a moment before she continued on. "Spencer would forgive you though. I'm not sure why he would after all that you put him through, but I know he would."
"I'm sorry" Brittany whispered again. Austin nodded and looked at where her husband laid.
"I can't forgive you Brittany. I won't" she responded. Brittany nodded and wiped her tears away while Austin just let them fall. "Now please leave." Brittany nodded and headed back down the gravel path. Her husband guided Cassie back to Austin and nodded at her before he took off after his wife.
"Momma" Cassie whined. Austin smiled.
"Give daddy a hug and a kiss then we'll go get some lunch" Austin said. Cassie made her way over to the stone where she wrapped her arms around it as best as she could and gave it a slobbery wet kiss. Austin smiled and kissed her fingertips before she set them over his name.
"I love you" she whispered. Another breeze blew by and Austin knew that she and Cassie would never be alone or unprotected. Spencer Reid would always watch over his girls.
Every year after the first, Brittany sends a bouquet of forget-me-nots, pink carnations, purple hyacinth, marigold, thrift, helenium, and black and dark crimson roses. Every year the card reads "I'm sorry, Brittany". And every year the flowers are thrown away without being taken out of the box.
Wow…. that was not where I was going with that, but that's ok because I think it worked out nicely. I actually really like what I did (well besides killing off Reid). Please, let me know what you think!