A/N: Do not own anything of Criminal Minds. If I did, do you think I would be wasting my time on the computer, when I could be snuggling with Shemar Moore and Matthew Gray Gubler? No, I wouldn't be.
Thank you,
Fangs of a Girl
"Reid? Yo, Reid! You in there, buddy?" Derek Morgan called, waving his hands in front of Spencer Reid's face. He shook himself out of the daze he'd been in for the past five minutes and blinked, regaining sight of what was really in front of him.
"Oh, sorry, sorry. I was--," he stopped, not able to finish his sentence.
"Staring into space," Morgan finished for him. Reid looked down at his lap and then back up at his friend.
"Yeah… that," Reid mumbled, embarrassed.
"You okay, kid?" Morgan asked, looking at Spencer concernedly. He nodded and turned to look out of the jet's window. Morgan decided to leave him alone for a little while, at least until they got closer to Los Angeles. Hotchner, Gideon, Elle and JJ called the current case file to Morgan and Reid's attention, but even when discussing the unsub or the victim, Spencer seemed distracted. Everyone noticed it, even Reid himself. During the last leg of the flight, Morgan decided to confront Spencer again. He plopped down next to the skinny genius, who was staring out of the window again, and tapped his shoulder. Reid jumped and turned toward Morgan, his hand immediately going for the gun on his waist. Morgan leaned away from Reid, laughing.
"Chill, out, genius! It's just me. Remember me? Derek Morgan… your friend?" Morgan said, still laughing. Reid sighed, shook his head and apologized.
"You're really out of it today, man! What is wrong with you?" Derek asked. Reid shook his head again, and then ran his hands through his hair. He looked at Morgan with a worried look on his face. He got it immediately, just by looking in Spencer's eyes.
"It's been awhile since you were down here, huh?" Morgan asked. Spencer nodded.
"Yes it's been a while. It's been an entire year! I haven't even seen her, or heard her voice or touched her. We'd completely lost contact by the time I was back in Quantico," he said, spilling his guts to Morgan, "To be completely honest, I miss her… a lot."
"And I bet she misses you too," Morgan said, sounding pretty sure of himself. Spencer chuckled and said, "Somehow, I highly doubt that!"
"All I'm saying, is that maybe you should give her a call. She shouldn't be that hard to find," Morgan said, patting Reid on the shoulder.
"The unsub is known to be horrendously violent and notoriously angry. He would have been charged with assault multiple times in his life, but he seems to have escaped all of them thanks to friends in higher places, such as the mafia. He's most likely a white male in his late twenties to early thirties with severe anger issues. He's almost childlike in behavior, hence the major temper tantrums that lead to assault," Reid spouted out, not looking directly at the team. He'd always had a problem with public speaking, even when it was just his friends or fellow agents listening to him.
"So where's the connecting factor with all of these victims?" Morgan asked. JJ looked up from the file and said, "They all have children between the ages of six and ten, and they all go to the same school."
"They also live in the same basic neighborhood," Reid pointed out. Gideon nodded, thinking.
"We're not looking for a teacher. With that many assault charges and a violent history, a school would never hire him," he said, leaning back in his chair.
"But he's got to live close to the school in order to learn more about the victims' families, or at least notice them," Hotchner added.
"Maybe he does work for the school," Morgan mused, walking over towards Reid. Reid looked over his shoulder at Morgan, who winked at him, making Spencer suddenly very nervous. Reid stepped farther away from Morgan and felt something slip into his hand. Spencer turned toward him and squeaked, "What do you mean?" He cleared his throat and repeated the question.
"Reid, did you just hit puberty?" Morgan asked him, laughing.
"No," Reid said, his voice cracking again, "What do you mean, Morgan?"
"I mean, maybe he works for the school, but he doesn't work there full time. Maybe he doesn't have that much interaction with anybody," Morgan explained.
"Like a crossing guard or a janitor," Reid responded, "What did you just put into my hand?"
"What?" Gideon asked, confused.
"Morgan, he just slipped something into my hand, a piece of paper," Spencer said, sounding more and more nervous.
"Relax, Reid, we'll talk about it later," Morgan responded in a calm voice.
"No, I don't think he would be a janitor, that's too much time inside with the children," Elle concluded.
"I was just thinking that," Gideon said, agreeing.
"What was it, Morgan?" Reid said, still arguing with Derek, "Tell me what you just handed me."
"I really don't think you would want me to tell everyone in the room what I just handed you, Reid. Just saying," Morgan said, once again very calm.
"Tell me, Morgan." Reid had a very determined and angry look on his face.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Just tell me what it is!" Reid shouted.
"It's Lila Archer's number!" Morgan shouted back. Reid blushed and sat back down in his chair, then looked down at his shoes, his hair falling down in front of his face. Everything was silent.
"Lila Arch--," Elle started, but was interrupted by Reid jumping up out of his chair and attacking Morgan, throwing him to the ground.
"Reid, what are you doing?!" Hotchner exclaimed. Reid had his hands on Derek's throat, giving a feeble attempt at choking him.
"Can someone get him off of me?" Morgan asked. Hotch and Gideon ripped Reid off of Morgan's body and Morgan stood up, fairly unharmed.
"What the hell was that, Reid?" Hotch asked.
"It was out of line was what it was!" Morgan yelled, "Can I get at least one punch for that bullshit?" Gideon and Hotchner looked at Reid and then back at Morgan.
"Yeah, go ahead," Hotchner said, stepping away from Reid. Spencer looked up to see Morgan's fist hit his jaw. Reid was down on the ground now and his lip was bleeding from the hit. He moved his hair out of his face and stood up.
"You didn't have to call Garcia just to get her number! I'm not a little kid you know. I can handle myself!" Reid yelled.
"Reid, I did you a favor!" Morgan said, trying to explain.
"No you didn't! You babied me, just like you always do! You never let me do anything for myself," Reid yelled back, "Now with Lila, just let me handle it on my own, okay, Morgan?" Reid licked his bottom lip, tasted blood and sat back down in his chair. He ran his hands through his hair and turned to Gideon.
"We should go to the school to find out who's been hired as a crossing guard in the past six months, right?" he asked Gideon. Gideon nodded. The whole room was silent as Reid stood up, paper still in his hand and walked out of the room.
"Reid's right. We should go do that. Elle and Hotchner are coming with me. JJ, Morgan—figure him out, will ya?" Gideon said, and stood up, followed by Elle and Hotch, who left the police station.
Reid sat outside of the police station, staring at his cell phone. The numbers had been typed in, just not dialed. Hotchner, Elle and Gideon had left the station ten minutes ago, and Morgan had not yet found him. He wanted to call Lila, he really did. He missed her more that he could even explain. He was about to press 'Call' when Morgan sat next to him on the bench, putting an arm over his shoulder.
"Nice job in there, kid!" Morgan congratulated Reid.
"Th-thanks. I didn't think I could actually pull it off," Reid said, closing his phone and putting it back in his bag. Morgan looked down at Reid's hands, which were shaking badly. He frowned.
"You did it, Reid. It worked, just like I said it would. You've got plenty of time now to call the girl," Morgan reminded him.
"Yeah… it worked. I didn't expect you to hit me though," Reid added, sitting up more.
"Well I didn't know you could even get me to hit the ground. You've got power, dude," Morgan said, grinning.
"Yeah, right. Liar," Spencer chuckled.
"I'm serious! It was unexpected. So, um… did you call Lila yet?" Morgan asked. Reid looked at Morgan and shook his head.
"No. I haven't called her yet. I'm scared to. What if she's forgotten all about me?" Spencer said, obviously nervous and concerned.
"There ain't no way that girl could have forgotten you, Reid," Morgan said. He stood up, smiled at Reid and went, "Go get her, tiger."
