Hi guys! I'm very very sorry if someone is OOC here. My knowledge of Criminal Minds is limited, and this is my first attempt at writing Charlie. I hope you enjoy anyways and if you have any ideas of how I could continue the story I would love to hear them!
Reid groaned a little to himself as the cellar door he had just been very rudely thrown through slammed behind him. Why did the unsubs always pick him to kidnap? Why not any of the other people on the team? Maybe Morgan was right about him being a trouble magnet.
He groaned again as he sat up, this time out of pain instead of a frustrating sense of familiarity at his abduction. The unsub had snuck up on him from behind, leaving Reid with a huge headache in a dusty storm cellar and the BAU with a missing genius. At least he probably didn't have a concussion.
"Are you okay?"
Reid jumped slightly as a female voice made itself known in one of the dark corners of the cellar behind him. He hadn't known there was anyone else was there.
"Um, yeah I'm fine. I almost forgot how much getting hit with a baseball bat hurts. Just wanted to refresh my memory is all."
He babbled in the general vicinity of the corner, since he still couldn't see the person who had spoken. She laughed, a pretty sound that didn't fit in among the dust and the cobwebs. A scuffling followed as she hopped down from her perch near the door Reid had just been tossed through.
"Good. I was gonna jump 'em when the door opened but they were too quick in closing it. You'd think they'd at least stick around to introduce their captives. I'm Charlie, by the way."
She told him, looking alarmingly calm considering the situation. She clapped her hands together quickly to get rid of the dust then ran them through her red hair to dislodge a spiderweb that had gotten caught in it.
"Dr. Spencer Reid."
He introduced more formally than she, hoping silently thet she wouldn't want to shake hands. Luckily, she didn't seem too interested and plopped herself down on a raised mound of dirt that loosely resembled a stool.
"You might as well sit down. I'm pretty sure we're going to be here for a while."
She motioned to another mound of dirt directly across from her grandly, like it was a fancy couch. Reid considered it for a moment then folded his lanky form over it, taking a minute to find a position where his long legs didn't splay out awkwardly.
"Why do you say that? We could be rescued fairly soon or find a way to escape."
He told her diplomatically after he had settled. She raised an eyebrow.
"Dude, I've been down here for like two hours. I searched the entire place. Trust me, there is no way to escape. Also, the cops in this town couldn't find an Orc in Mordor. What makes you think they can find us after they've been searching for the others for months?"
He smiled at her analogy, taking note of the Star Wars shirt under her professional jacket.
"My team will find us eventually."
He told her, not doubting that they would. The eyebrow quirked again.
"Team? Oh, you're with that group of Feds we saw in town the other day. I knew you looked familiar."
"Uh, yeah. The BAU, actually. It stands for Behavioral Analysis Unit."
He answered in anticipation of her next question.
"Profilers? That's cool."
He just nodded at that, unsure of what to say next. They sat in semi-awkward silence for a minute or so before Charlie clapped suddenly, making him jump a little.
"So, Doc," She put on a serious expression.
"Shall we play a game?"
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
It seemed like the safest answer to Reid, considering what his dare had been last time. He began to doubt his choice, though, when Charlie's face broke into an evil smile.
"Most embarrassing moment in front of a coworker."
He groaned, which only made her cackling louder.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"Fine. We were at a high school, looking into a string of students disappearing, and..."
He could feel his face turning pink.
"I got shoved into a locker by one of the seniors."
To her credit, Charlie managed to keep a straight face for almost four seconds. Then her mouth started twitching into a smile, which she tried, with no luck, to turn into a sympathetic expression. Pretty soon, she was howling with laughter.
Reid waited for her giggles to die down before using his turn.
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
He searched for a question to ask.
"Worst job you've ever had."
It was kind of lame, but Charlie didn't even have to think about it before she answered.
"Richard Roman Enterprises."
Reid blinked in surprise.
"That's the company that blew up, and took the owner with it. People lost a fortune in stocks. You worked there?"
Charlie nodded.
"Yep. I quit before that, though."
"Why?"
"Mostly because my boss was an evil monster. I met two of my best friends because of it, though, so I guess it wasn't that bad. Truth or dare?"
"Truth"
"I'm booored. Wanna play would you rather?"
"We played that twenty minutes ago."
"Oh, yeah. What are your thoughts on Doctor Who?"
"New or old Who?"
"Both"
"So you think I should ask her out?"
"Totally. She definitely likes you."
"You think?"
"Yes. Heck, I even like you a little and I swing a whole 'nother way."
"Um, thanks, I guess?"
"You're welcome."
"Ugh, this is taking forever. Someone better rescue us quick."
"Well, we are in the middle of nowhere. It's probably pretty hard to find."
"That's no excuse. My friends can track a wendigo through the woods in the middle of the night, and yet, they can't find a dusty old cabin and its even dustier cellar?"
"They can track a what?"
"A, uh, wounded goat?"
"That's not what it sounded like you said."
"Well, maybe you should get your hearing checked."
"Ten bucks says my friends find us before your team does."
"My team is a bunch of highly trained FBI agents. I don't think so."
"So you'll take the bet?"
"No!"
"Why?"
"I'm not going to take your money."
"Or you're just afraid of losing to a girl."
"I'm a psychologist. I know when someone's trying to manipulate me."
"Twenty bucks?"
"You're on."
"Got any fives?"
"Go fish."
"Dang! Hey, I thought you had an eidetic memory. How come you didn't remember you had playing cards in your pocket until fifteen minutes ago?"
"You're just trying to distract me from my eminent victory. Got any twos?"
"I'm not trying to distract you. Go fish."
"I think you're cheating."
"How do you cheat at tic tac toe?"
"I don't know, but you are. You've beaten me every time."
"Actually, it's mostly about probabilities. There is only a finite number of moves you can make, and by extrapolating from the moves already played, you can begin to-"
"Okay, I get it. I call X."
"So, you remember everything you've ever read?"
"That's right."
"Read me a story. Anything but Twilight."
"No."
"You're no fun."
"I have to pee."
"That's not good."
"No kidding, genius."
"Maybe they'll find us soon?"
"We both better hope so."
"Aaaand, we have officially hit the six hours mark. You think they forgot about us?"
"Probably not..."
"That's very reassuring, thank you, Doc."
Charlie managed to hold it for another hour, somehow. They both bolted to their feet when the very distinct sound of gunshots could be heard from outside.
"Finally. That only took them forever."
Charlie complained, ducking behind one of the wooden beams as a stray bullet found its way through the wooden door of the cellar.
"At least they didn't forget about us."
Reid offered from next to her where he had taken cover.
Charlie opened her mouth to say something that was probably snarky when the door burst open, interrupting her.
The biggest man Reid had ever seen came through the doorway, then flattened himself against the wall next to it, as the steady stream of bullets he had brought with him had no sign of letting up.
"Hey Charlie. Who's your friend?"
The guy asked, waving and ignoring the bullet that almost took off his hand.
"He's an FBI agent, Sam. And it took you guys long enough. Where's your brother?"
"He's supposed to be the distraction while I get you. I think he's taking out the warding that kept Cas away, though."
"Oh, I was wondering why he didn't pop in here."
There was a sudden blinding light from outside and the gunshots stopped abruptly.
"I guess he did it. Let's go."
Sam said, peering around the corner cautiously, the shotgun in his hand held tightly. When nothing happened, he stepped outside and gestured to the two of them to follow.
When they stepped outside, Reid stopped short. There were ten or so women, lying on the ground, unconscious or dead, he wasn't sure which. Noticing his shocked stare, Sam laughed.
"Don't worry. They're just unconscious. Cas musta whammied them."
Two more people came running around the corner, one of them bearing another shotgun, though the other was unarmed.
"We gotta problem, Sammy. The Feds are right behind us."
The guy with the shotgun said. He must be Sam's brother, Reid guessed, which made the trenchcoat guy Cas.
Sam glanced back at Reid.
"They're probably here for him. Charlie said he's an FBI agent. I don't know about you, but I'm not really looking forward to another run at the top of the most wanted list."
Well, that didn't sound very good. Reid heard the faint sounds of sirens approaching.
Dean nodded.
"Yeah, me either. Cas, maybe you could do your thing? Just from when he saw us?"
Cas nodded seriously and stepped forward. Reid took a step back.
"Don't worry, dude. You'll still remember my awesomeness and everything, just not the part where you saw a couple of murderers. Supposed."
Charlie said, attempting to sound reassuring. She didn't.
But, it didn't matter because Cas was suddenly right there, impossibly fast. Reid tried to protest, but the other man placed two fingers on his forehead and suddenly what he was going to say didn't seem so important. As his world went black, the last thing he heard was Charlie asking if they could go get some pie.
When Reid woke, the first thing he saw was Morgan's worried face peering down at him. Pretty soon, Hotch and the rest of the team joined.
"You okay, pretty boy?"
Reid realized he was still in the cellar. He didn't know why that surprised him, but it did. There was also a very noticeable absence of Charlie. Somehow that didn't surprise him, which confused him even more.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"
Morgan's expression lost some of its worry and took on anger instead.
"Turns out our unsub was part of some weird cult. They grabbed you because they were afraid we were going to take away one of its members, and apparently that didn't make them very happy."
He helped Reid sit up carefully.
"You need an ambulance?"
Reid considered it for a moment then shook his head.
"I don't think so. All I've got is a bump on my head. Did you get the unsubs?"
"Yeah. It was really weird, though. As soon as we pulled up they practically came running out to meet us. They confessed before we could even get a word out. Kept going on about how an angel was going to come back and punish them for their sins. They're either crazy or trying to look that way for the insanity defense."
Reid took in the information and took a moment to think.
"This might sound like a weird question, but there wasn't anyone down here with me, was there?"
His teammates looked like they were revisiting the idea of an ambulance.
"Noooo..."
Morgan said slowly.
"Did you...see someone else down here?"
"Nope. Just wondering. Can we go now? I want pie, all of a sudden."
"Yeah kid. We'll go get you some pie."