AN: This 12 chapters-length story changes the usual point of view of the show, focusing on the victim instead than on the Unsub. I rated it T, though there will be some violent scenes and disturbing moments (as you know, Criminal Minds isn't a walk for the park, is it?), so if in any moment someone thinks I should rate it M, let me know. The story mixes the team and their investigation of the case, Berenice's thoughts and fears and the growing romantic feelings Spencer and Berenice will experience for each other. I'll post one chapter a week or some. Reviews and PM are always welcome! Thank you for reading!
Obviously, Criminal Minds' rights are not mine (I wish), only Berenice and others OC are mine (Kat, Ginger… well, you'll know them!).
"There is no need to know danger in order to fear it: indeed, it may be observed, that it is usually unknown perils that inspire the greatest terror." -Alexandre Dumas.
Chapter 1: Unexpected Meeting
Berenice was leafing absently through the newspaper as she repositioned the round sunglasses over her nose. Reading the newspaper always pained and angered her, but she knew that was how she should feel given the current world situation. She rested her chin on one hand and lifted her finger to bite the skin around her nail, painted in pink and green, as she let out a snort through the nose.
"Do you want something else, Miss?" the waiter asked, startling her. It was the third time he went to ask, and she still had the same bottle of Coke as the first time. Still, she grinned, showing her teeth, and shook her head.
"No, thank you. I'm fine."
The waiter smiled her back and walked away, she rolled her eyes under the sunglasses. She ran a hand through her black hair with shades of red in some strands and dropped her eyes back to the newspaper. She wondered why the waiter wouldn't leave her alone. Men used to look at her, because of her appearance, her hair and her dress drew attention, women looked at her too. That didn't bother her. But to interrupt her Coke before entering to her class, it did. It was her time of peace, before the roar of the crowd. Four year old children could be really loud when they proposed to.
The waiter kept looking at her, though she couldn't see him. The sun stole red flashes from her long wavy hair, with lots of volume. Her mouth was large, full, maroon painted lips, and although she wasn't tall, she was voluptuous, full of impossible curves with a narrow waist. She wore an open black coat and underneath, that she kept on because she was sitting on an outside table of the café, a red dress with black dots long to her knees, with a flared skirt and with a V-neck that caused the waiter to go over and over to see if she wanted something else. A black patent leather belt with a silver spider buckle closed around her waist, and she had pale legs crossed at her ankles, with flat shoes, patent leather too, but this time red. In one of her calves, covered by semitransparent tights, she had a tattoo of a girl with her back against a tree. The waiter didn't know what the tattoo was, nor would have recognized the ones he could not see. He had not seen her eyes yet, they were behind large round glasses that made her look like a prettier and Caucasian version of Yoko Ono. Her purse imitated the shape of a mouth, red lips closed with a zip between them.
The waiter stiffened when he saw a figure running on the opposite side of the street, across the road at high speed, the cars had to brake to avoid running over that little person. The little girl ran to the woman in red, and at that time someone called him from inside the cafeteria and he turned away. Berenice was thinking about Colin, one of his students who had problems at home, when a soft voice pulled her from his thoughts.
"Miss." She said, and Berenice raised her head to meet a round and pale face, with big blue eyes and blond matted hair. She was a girl of about six years, and her face was vaguely familiar to her. Her eyes were glazed, and you could tell she was trying not to cry. Her blue dress had some dark spots. Berenice took off her sunglasses with a frown and leaned toward the girl.
"Is that blood?" She asked, placing her hands on the shoulders of the child.
"Miss, can you help me? I am very hungry."
Berenice blinked several times and swallowed.
"Sit down, sweetie." She said, turning her torso to look for the waiter. When the boy went out, Berenice ordered another Coke and a sandwich. They were outdoors and even it was cold, it was a sunny day, one of the few they enjoyed every year.
"Thank you." The girl said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
"My name is Berenice." She said. The girl half smiled.
"What a name."
Berenice nodded.
"Yes, it is very weird. What's your name?" Berenice said. "Where are your parents?"
The girl pouted and her lower lip began to tremble, her eyes filled with tears. Berenice's heart was pounding; she knew that something serious had happened to this child.
"I don't know." The girl whimpered. "I don't know where I am."
Berenice smiled warmly.
"Oh, I see. You're lost. Don't worry, as soon as you finish the sandwich we'll go get the police and they will bring you to your parents."
The waiter brought the order and left quietly. The girl began to eat hungrily. Berenice hadn't that story clear; the girl should have been lost for a long time for looking that way. Her eyes wandered all over her, from her dirty hands to the table, where they found the newspaper. The wind was moving the pages, and Berenice slammed her hand against the newspaper to stop them, the little girl jumped in surprise.
"Sorry." Berenice whispered, grabbing the newspaper and moving her fingers a couple of pages back, to the image that had caught her attention. In it, a girl smiled broadly, two front teeth missing, making her smile even lovelier than it already was. She had blond hair, thin and straight in two braids and her eyes shone with joy. Beside her, a replica of the girl, just ten years older, also smiling, blond hair fell loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes almost closed because of the big smile. Berenice's eyes moved down, the words that accompanied the photo:
GINGER AND LESLIE HARRIS STILL MISSING
The six year old girl from Denver, Ginger Harris, remains missing with her teen sister Leslie, 16. Both disappeared on Dec. 15, and three weeks later, Denver police have not got any clue. The FBI has joined the case, under the assumption that the author of the kidnapping could be the called "Crawler", already famous for his kidnapping and murder of couples of sisters, always composed of a child and a teenager. Although there is no evidence linking the murderer with the kidnapping, the FBI believes it is potentially suspicious, and that gives a margin of one month for finding the bodies. Three weeks after their disappearance, time runs against the girls. The hearts of Americans…
Berenice stopped reading and looked up at the girl, who was eating in silence.
"Ginger?" She whispered, and the girl raised her wide open blue eyes to her. "Ginger, many people are looking for you."
The girl nodded, chewing slowly.
"Where is your sister? How did you come to Seattle?"
The girl swallowed.
"He told me to come to talk to you."
The blood drained from her face while Berenice threw her shoulders back and looked around, turning her head frantically from side to side, looking for someone, anyone, who was observing her, who seems suspect, who was accompanied with a blonde teen. She found nothing, but she stood up.
"Ginger, dear, come with me, give me your hand."
The girl obeyed and grabbed her hand, finishing the sandwich. Berenice left the money under the sandwich's plate and slung her purse over her shoulder, putting her sunglasses on again. She swallowed and it hurt, her throat seemed to be closed, refusing to let anything pass through. Her heart was pounding in her throat, pounding in her ears, hitting her ribs. The little hand holding hers was sweating, she hurried to follow the great strides of Berenice. The subway, she thought, once inside it he couldn't follow us. Once inside I'll ask where the police station is.
She felt cold sweat forming on her neck as she turned the corner.
"Ginger, honey, this man who has told you to come and talk to me, is the same one your sister and you have been the last few weeks with?" she asked, realizing that the girl must be so scared as she was, and possibly more confused. The girl was breathing hard, trying to keep up, while Berenice pulled her hand.
"Yes. Leslie's still with him. She was asleep when we left."
Oh, oh. That didn't seem a good thing.
"How was he? Was he nice to you?"
Ginger shrugged.
"He wasn't bad with me. Although he barely gave us food. But he was very bad with Leslie. Very, very bad."
Berenice sighed slowly. She had read other articles that talked about The Crawler. He kidnapped a little girl and a teen, and the older always showed signs of sexual violence, but the younger didn't. And the older girl always was dead for a longer time than the little one when they found them. Berenice couldn't help wondering why the kidnapper had let the girl go, and why he had sent her to talk to her.
"Well, baby, now it's all over. With me you'll be safe."
"Really?" Ginger said, and the lump in her throat was so obvious that Berenice had to hold back tears.
"Yes, Ginger."
"Okay." the girl said with a small voice.
Suddenly, someone grabbed Berenice's arm firmly and she stifled a scream, turning her head towards the stranger. He was young, tall, skinny, thin face and slight stubble, the brown hair above his shoulders was tousled. He looked at her with dilated big brown eyes.
"FBI." The boy said as she tried to get rid of his grip, containing a scream, and he dropped a little his hand until his arm entwined with hers, as if they knew each other of a lifetime. "Act normal." He whispered, looking at her with a fake smile.
Berenice looked down at Ginger, who shook her head. The boy wasn't the kidnapper. Berenice sought eagerly the agent's hand, and squeezed it hard, trembling. She wasn't alone. And possibly the young man was armed. The boy squeezed her back.
"I'll make you a summary." He said. "We are pursuing a kidnapper…"
"That took the girl and her sister, yes." Berenice said, and the agent looked at her with raised eyebrows, surprised that the woman knew the situation of the kid. "He asked the girl to come and talk to me. I was taking her to the subway to get to the police station."
The FBI agent nodded, stunned by the new information. This was no time to think, though it was hard to him to stop reflecting about the unusual data he just received. He looked to his left and saw one of his companions resting against a wall. At the time he saw him moving his lips, a voice sounded in his ear.
"Nobody follows you, Reid. Keep walking, the Unsub will appear. We got you covered." The African American mansaid from the other side of the street, directly to his earpiece. The boy nodded slightly, and Berenice, who had followed his gaze, whispered:
"There are more agents?"
He nodded.
"All over the street. Someone called the police because the girl had been seen a couple of blocks from here. We thought she would be alone, and that the Unsub would come to get her back. Truly, we didn't expect the girl was accompanied."
Berenice shrugged, mentally beating her head for not calling the police when she recognized the girl, instead of taking her by the hand through Seattle. The boy's hand gave her another squeeze undoubtedly noticing her nervousness and restlessness.
"I don't know how I've been so stupid. I didn't even think about calling the police."
The agent looked around, trying to act casually, but noticing anything suspicious.
"Don't beat yourself up. Not everyone reacts well under pressure. In addition, you're helping us to…"
The boy's voice trailed off and she looked at him, noticing his frown. In his ear a female voice shouted: "Behind you! He got a gun!"
The agent pulled Berenice, and she pulled the girl, to put them behind him while a bullet blew in the air and touched his side, piercing his shirt and causing a severe pain. He winced, but the sharp cry after him was what prompted him to pull the trigger to the man who had fired. He was wearing a black mask and was dressed all in black, the agent's bullet went near his shoulder and the shouting began.
"FBI, put the gun down!" Several voices said at once, his teammates ran toward the Unsub, who looked around and ran, the African American man, a black-haired man and a brunette woman went after him. The boy dropped down on one knee, but he turned to the woman, who protected the sobbing girl, surrounding her with her whole body. The young man put a hand on her back and saw a bleeding wound in the side of the woman.
"Are you okay?" He said, pulling out his phone and dialing the emergency number.
The girl raised her head and looked at him, her green eyes were wide, her sunglasses were broken on the floor.
"Yes." she whispered, her voice muffled.
"Send an ambulance to Union Street, Seattle, there's a victim of a shooting." The boy paused before adding: "I am an FBI agent, come now." He ended, and hung up. "Sorry." He said.
She shook her head.
"Are you kidding me?" The woman said, a grin spreading across her face although the pain she was feeling on her side. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That was awesome! You saved my life!" She looked at Ginger for a second and then looked back at the boy. "You have saved our lives."
He smiled, feeling a little awkward.
"That's incorrect." He said, looking at the girl's wound carefully, checking that it wasn't deep. "You have saved Ginger's life."
Berenice smiled at hearing him say the name of the girl.
"What's your name?" A soft voice said beside her. The little girl was looking at the agent with tears streaming down her face. The boy hesitated before answering:
"Oh, ah… I'm Spencer." He cleared his throat. "Dr. Spencer Reid."
