Silent Tears, Silent Fears takes place several weeks after Spencer's girl friend, Maeve is brutally killed (CM Season 8 Episode 12).
Once the team located Maeve, the team prepares to enter the apartment where she is being held. Morgan promises Reid that they would bring Maeve out alive. Unfortunately, Maeve was killed before their eyes, devastating Reid.
This story begins when Reid returns to work, perhaps too soon and struggles with his pain, anger and grief while looking for someone to blame.
BAU Headquarters- Break Room – Morning
Today was supposed to be Reid's first day back since Maeve's death. He had planned to return a couple of weeks ago but he couldn't bring himself to come back. Even now as the team slowly began to arrive, no one was really sure if he'd actually show up. Hotch was determined to be patient and give him the time he needed. The sight of Maeve being so brutally killed before their eyes was tough on the team and it was horrific for Spencer and the team wasn't sure if he would be able to survive it. The team had made several attempts to keep in touch with him and on several occasions Morgan had cleverly engaged him in a few cases. But once Spencer realized Morgan's plan he would quickly shut down again and retreat to the dark, depressing space that he had created around his mind and heart.
Morgan had taken it upon himself from the moment young Spencer had joined the BAU to look out for him and protect him. He knew his place was not like the rest on the team. His mind was the valuable commodity not his brawn or shooting ability. No, it was his mind, his rare ability to remember everything he saw and heard and it seemed that his life's destiny had led him to his special place on this team. Morgan knew that the things they had seen and experienced affected each one of them in profound ways. The job had spilled over into the private and personal lives of each of them. Reid had always seemed so fragile yet he had endured more than even the strongest of them could have handled and he wondered if this perhaps was his breaking point. Morgan had assumed the role of big brother and mentor to Spencer and Spencer looked up to Morgan and admired his strength and dedication to those he loved. Still, Morgan was worried about his friend. He didn't think he was ready to return but he also knew that his return would be a part of his healing.
Morgan was happy to see that Spencer had shown up. He looked frail but at least he'd still maintained his habit of drinking coffee with an overabundance of sugar. Trying to make things seem as normal as possible he greeted him in a familiar fashion.
"Hey Pretty Boy! You made it!" Morgan grabbed his coffee cup and waited for Spencer to finish filling his cup.
Spencer ignored Morgan and began pouring sugar into his cup as if he'd not heard his friend's greeting.
"Hey, Reid, you okay?" He was tempted to muss his hair but thought better of it.
"I'm fine. Thank you for asking." Still not looking up.
"Welcome back, genius." Morgan tried again to reach him.
Spencer continued to look down, focusing on his coffee cup. Morgan was puzzled, not sure what to make of his odd behavior. Spencer abruptly turned to leave nearly running into Morgan.
"Excuse me." Reid bolted toward the door but was stopped as Morgan gently grabbed his arm.
"Look, Reid, no one is expecting you to act like nothing's happened. We're here for you…all of us. If you want to talk, you know I'm right here…any time."
"Thank you but I think I've heard enough talking to last a lifetime."
"Reid? Come on talk to me."
"Morgan, don't you get it? I don't want to talk to you! The last time I talked to you, you promised to bring Maeve home safe and that's not what happened!"
"Reid, I'm so sorry about Maeve. I didn't want that to happen, you know that!"
"But it did, didn't it! No 'Sorry' will change that will it?"
"No I guess it won't. Reid are you sure you're ready for this?"
"I'm not sure about much of anything any more. But there is one thing I'm sure about."
"What's that?"
"I want you to leave me alone! Stop pretending to be my friend! It's all a lie!"
"Reid I am your friend! What are you talking about?"
"Oh yeah? Well friends don't break promises! You promised to bring her out safe and you didn't!"
"Reid, c'mon, are you serious? Are you blaming me for Maeve's death?" Morgan couldn't believe the conversation they were having.
Reid jerked away from Morgan's grasp and turned to look him in the eyes for the first time since the two began talking.
"Look Morgan, I don't want to discuss this any further. Just please leave me alone. We're not friends, okay? Just…just stay out of my life!"
Morgan was stunned. It was as if someone had stabbed him in the heart. He'd never seen Spencer like this and with all they had gone through together he never imagined ever having a conversation like this with anyone on this team. They were like family, practically living together, spending more time together than with their real families.
Rossi was standing outside of the break room in the hallway. He'd heard much of the exchange between Morgan and Reid. He wondered if he should have gone in to interrupt but something kept him still outside, unseen in the hallway. Reid brushed passed him without acknowledging him and the look in his eyes told him he was not ready to be there. Things were still too raw and judging by the conversation he'd just overheard, his emotions were irrational and out of control.
Rossi entered the room, pretending to not have heard anything. Morgan looked shaken as he stood leaning against the counter next to the coffee machine.
"I see Spencer actually came in." Rossi looked at Morgan trying to gage his mood.
"Um…yeah he made it in." Morgan was barely able to concentrate on Rossi.
"How'd he seem to you?" Rossi was still fishing.
"He seems a little shaky but he'll be okay."
"Are you okay?" Rossi looked at his friend, concerned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Morgan was confused by the question and Rossi now had his full attention.
"No reason. I know how you've been worried about him since all this happened."
"Yeah well; I don't think I need to do that anymore. He'll be fine." Morgan grabbed his cup and left the room.
Rossi could see the hurt in Morgan's eyes even though he had tried so hard to hide it and pretend the conversation with Spencer had never happened.
Hotch, JJ, Alex, Penelope and Reid were already seated around the conference table when Morgan and then finally Rossi arrived. Everyone examined Reid in true profiler fashion wondering if he were ready to jump back into the nightmare world of the BAU. They each had a folder in front of them, which represented their next case.
The case involved the killings of five men in San Diego, California. Each had been tortured and their tongues had been cut out post mortem; the cause of death was exsanguination when their wrists were slashed.
"They bled to death." Rossi stared intently at the picture of the victims.
"With this level of torture there was a lot of rage." Spencer seemed to have picked up where he'd left off two months ago.
"Look at the way he left them; definitely no remorse." JJ added.
"He dumped the bodies in high traffic areas which means he didn't care if they were found." Morgan added.
"The removal of the victims' tongues could be the UnSubs attempt to punish the victims for remaining silent about something important to him." Alex a linguistics expert, focused intently on the pictures.
"These men were all the same age, so our UnSub may know the victims. Garcia find out if the victims knew each other and get me everything you can find on them." Hotch ordered.
"You got it." Garcia began making notes on a yellow legal pad.
"Wheels up in thirty." Hotch stood and headed toward the door.
The team headed out of the offices. Garcia noticed Morgan's quiet mood and stopped him before he reached the door.
"Isn't it great that Reid is back?"
"Yeah Garcia, it's great. Look, I've got to go." Morgan didn't want to discuss Reid.
"Morgan, listen, I know you always keep an eye out for him but can you keep extra special care of him this time?"
"Garcia, Reid will be fine. He doesn't need me to keep an eye on him."
"What do you mean? That's what you do."
"Well, not anymore." Morgan rushed out leaving Garcia speechless and looking after him.
San Diego Police Dept. – Evening
Later that evening, the team arrived in San Diego. Once they entered the downtown main precinct, they were greeted by Detective Reese Romero a 20-year veteran of the SDPD. He wasn't used to asking for help but this case was way beyond anything he'd seen in all his years on the force. He had a small conference room already set up for the team and after exchanging introductions they quickly went to work.
After a while Garcia discovered that all of the victims attended San Diego Valley High School. All had been starters on the football team and were very popular. In their senior year, each victim had been questioned in the death of another student but were never charged. The murdered student was an honor student that was Harvard bound until he was brutally murdered on his way to school one week before graduation.
"The murdered student was named Michael Travers and he had a younger brother, Nathan."
"Where's the brother now, Garcia?" Hotch asked.
"Shortly after his brother's death the family moved to a small town about an hour north of San Diego, called Murrieta. Nathan seems to have dropped off the radar after he graduated from high school two years later."
"Keep looking, Garcia, these could be revenge killings; everyone on that football team could be targets." Hotch added.
"Garcia what about the parents?" JJ chimed in.
Garcia began frantically clicking and searching cyberspace.
"Bingo!"
"What is it Garcia?" Hotch looked up.
"The father died five years ago and mom died two weeks ago from a massive heart attack."
"That was the stressor." Said Morgan.
As the team was meeting, Detective Romero entered with the news that another man had been reported missing. Bertrum Myers was also on the same football team and had also been questioned about the murder of Michael Travers. Hotch and the others knew that they had less than eight hours to find Myers and time was running out.
"Hello, my Super Crime Fighters!" Garcia's voice sounded over the laptop in the center of the table.
"Tell me something good, Baby Girl." Morgan said.
"You're gonna love this, Handsome. Travers' family owned a carpet company in National City they have two locations both two miles from the dump sight. I've sent the address to your tablets."
"Thanks, Baby Girl. You're the best!"
"I couldn't agree with you more." Garcia loved knowing she'd contributed to the cases and especially if it was the break they needed.
"Morgan and Reid you go to the location on Palm Street, Dave, JJ and I will go to the Plaza location; Alex there are seven more potential victims that we need to find, work with Garcia and get them down here." Hotch ordered.
Morgan and Reid stood momentarily frozen. This morning's conversation had changed everything. Reid wouldn't even look at Morgan; Morgan kept looking at Reid searching for the little brother that he had gotten to know over the years and grown to care deeply for.
"You okay with this Reid?" Morgan expected Reid to lash out at him again.
"Sure. Why wouldn't I be? We have a job to do so let's do it." Reid shot a quick glance at Morgan and headed toward the door.
Rossi looked at Hotch as if he had lost his mind.
"You think that was wise?"
"What?"
"You don't think that the fact the Reid wants to strangle Morgan won't effect how they work this case?"
"Dave, Reid isn't really mad at Morgan. He's angry at what happened and Morgan is the target of that rage but if he's going to be on this team he's going to have to realize that Morgan couldn't have prevented Maeve's death."
"What about Morgan?"
"Morgan can handle Reid. Bottom line, he'll get the job done."
Rossi shook his head in disbelief as the two men headed out toward their SUV. He had told Hotch about Morgan and Reid's earlier conversation. They all were worried about Reid but no one more than Morgan and now it seemed that Morgan was the one taking the heat for the team's failed rescue of Maeve.
The drive to the warehouse was quiet. Morgan drove as usual while Reid sat silent in the passenger's seat. Morgan wanted to settle this craziness between them but he didn't know how and he didn't know what to say.
He knew it would be dangerous walking into a large warehouse that was unfamiliar and dark but it was even more so when your partner was distracted. Morgan had the difficult task of walking into the dark unknown with an emotionally crippled man who was angry beyond reason. This was the worse possible scenario that could end badly.
As soon as Morgan and Reid arrived, Reid immediately jumped out and headed to the warehouse without saying a word to Morgan.
"Reid! What are you doing?"
"I'm going inside. That's why we're here, right?"
"Yes, but we need to be careful. For all we know Travers is watching us right now."
Morgan looked at Reid as he continued to walk away. He wasn't listening to anything Morgan was saying. Morgan stood for a moment watching as Reid headed toward the side door and without hesitation walked in.
Rossi and Hotch had arrived at the other location and found that it was a small office. Shortly after entering they discovered it was empty. The two called Garcia and headed to the warehouse where Morgan and Reid had gone.
Gun drawn Morgan approached the side door and slowly opened it hoping to find Reid waiting for him but what he found instead was his worse nightmare.
"Come on in agent."
Travers flipped a light switch and the room was immediately illuminated. He was a large man and he towered over the small frame of Spencer Reid who he stood behind with a gun pressed to the side of his head. Morgan's heart dropped as he saw the terror on Reid's face.
"Take it easy, man. You're in control, just please be careful."
"I can't say I wasn't expecting you. I'm famous…all over the news…"
"So then you know you're not going to get away with this, right?" Morgan said calmly.
"I'm not really worried about that. I've done what I set out to do."
"Yea and what was that?" Morgan asked.
"Revenge."
"Revenge, for what?" Morgan focused on Travers watching for the first sign that he could put him down without injuring Reid.
"I still have a few more names on my list and you two are in my way."
"I'm sorry, Morgan. I should have waited like you said." Reid was shaking now as he watched Morgan.
"Don't worry about it kid."
Travers began walking backward with his arm around Reid, further into the warehouse. Morgan followed with his gun still trained on Travers.
"Let him go."
Morgan saw their latest victim, Bertrum chained to the wall bleeding and barely conscious.
"Drop your gun agent or I'll kill your friend before you can pull that trigger…NOW!"
"Okay, okay." Morgan slowly and reluctantly bent down and placed his gun on the ground. As Morgan stood up Travers moved his gun away from Reid, and pointed it directly at Morgan.
There was no time to reason, no time to change his mind. He was out of control and his plan to avenge his brother's death quickly unraveling. There were two federal agents standing in his way and he wasn't going to be stopped not when he was only half way finished. So, with a calm cool resolve, he looked at the agent across from him, steadied his hand and pulled the trigger.