Reid leaned back, rubbing his face with his hands. He looked at the paperwork on his desk and sighed. They had just come from Maine, and the case was exhausting. The man had no patterns to his killings. He would kidnap somebody in public, hold them for a few days, three at the most, then kill them by stabbing them near the veins. He would dump them somewhere, anywhere - a dump site, a meadow, a deserted parking lot - and let them bleed to death.
Reid had arrived at the last minute, right before the unsub slashed the young girl - only 15 years old. He was forced to shoot the man after he came after Reid with his knife. Now Reid was feeling what he always did after he had to shoot somebody: remorse.
Due to the crappy hotel and stress from the case, Reid was tired, and even his daily dose of coffee wouldn't help much. He was still at the office, all of the lights off except for the one in the hall and his desk light. Reid was far behind with his paperwork, so he denied the offer of drinks from Rossi.
After Reid finished his paperwork, he opened his drawer and took out his notebook. Under the lap of papers, he caught a glimpse of the magazine that was still buried under everything. He smiled a bit and pulled it out. Reid stared at Lila's picture for a bit, and then he had a quick flashback. Obviously, he could remember it clearly.
When Reid had heard the click of the gun, his heart jumped. As Maggie talked, Reid was becoming desperate to rid the feeling of a ball on fire in his stomach. He said the first thing that came to his mind, and, to his surprise, it had actually worked. Afterwards, he had embraced the shaking Lila, and she kissed him on the cheek after the team left the room to take Maggie to the car.
Thinking of it, Reid could feel the burn of her kiss. He smiled at the feeling, and making a quick decision, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number that was not only memorized, but tugging at his heart for years.
The phone rang, once, twice, three, four times before somebody picked up.
"Lila?"
"Spencer?"
"Hi," he smiled, the sound of her voice comforting.
"Hi. This is random."
"I know. I just... needed somebody to talk to, I guess."
The next time she spoke, he could hear the smile in her voice. "Then start talking."