I do not own any criminal minds characters, but I do own Deliah the Flying buffalo
"Please tell me you arrested Jenny." These were the first words Reid uttered after the greetings and exchanges of cheerful, "Merry Christmas" s were thrown around. Reid pulled himself back up on the bed from the position he had taken when Gideon was hugging him, him sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs dangling over the side. Reid looked around hopefully at his teammates but was met with a very sudden and uncomfortable silence. Everyone had forgotten that there was an insane woman out there with a vendetta against their young genius. Reid sighed. Of course they hadn't arrested her. "Do you know where to find her?" He asked. The team members shifted uncomfortably. "Do you know her last name?" Reid asked with annoyed finality.
"I'm sorry, Reid, you know more about her than we do." Morgan said softly, averting his gaze from the stricken look on the kid's face. "We only know she is a woman who hates you named Jenny."
"Come on, you guys. You're profilers. What else can you figure out?" Reid asked, furrowing his brows and pursing his lips, a familiar expression for the youngest team member. It meant he was annoyed, scared, thinking, or about to cry.
Hotch looked at his team. They had started on a profile but hadn't finished because they were more focused on finding Reid. "Mid to late thirties, nine to five job, menial career, most likely a waitress or office worker. We had to jump to conclusions. We . . . didn't have much to go on."
"How do you figure nine to five?" Reid asked.
"Based on when you were taken and when we called your phone." Morgan supplied.
"I don't remember you calling my phone." Reid said, befuddled.
"You weren't there, I don't think." Garcia said. "I tracked your phone before it was turned off or broken. You might need a new phone."
Blake continued their account of the events that had transpired in the young profiler's absence. "We went to the house that Garcia found-"
Reid moaned and sat straight up. "Please tell me you didn't blow yourselves up." He studied his teammates for wounds and finding none, he let out a sigh of relief.
"What?" Hotch was puzzled as to what Reid was talking about.
Gideon spoke up. "You went to the house, right?" Blake nodded. "Did she wire it with explosives?" The team shook their heads, wondering how they hadn't considered it would be wired.
"Thank god." Reid sighed, becoming prone again. The thought nagged at Hotch's mind. Why hadn't she taken the opportunity? If she really was a psychopath, murdering five people would have been no big deal, but instead, she had let them find their friend. Why? She wanted Reid dead. Why hadn't she allowed him to bleed to death in a ditch behind a rest stop?
Garcia was holding Reid's hand and stroking his hair. "Do you want anything Reid? Cookies? Cocoa? Coffee?"
Reid perked up at the mention of coffee but shook his head. "I just want that bitch caught." He said. The team was slightly shocked at hearing Reid curse, but realized what she had done to him had been really disturbing. They had found him with a skeleton's arm wrapped around his shoulder, lying in the freezing snow in a pool of his own blood. Lying next to the decomposed body of the man who had tortured and drugged him for two days and been the second man Reid had had to kill to save his own life.
"Can you remember anything about her?" Hotch asked gently.
Reid closed his eyes and thought back to the face of the maniac, moonlight glinting off her green eyes that had a look of sick, psychopathic pleasure. He shivered as he recalled her sticking her fingers in his wound to write the useless message on the wall. What a waste of blood. She certainly was insane. Why miss out on killing him and the team, then? It didn't make sense.
Reid furrowed his brow deeper and said, "Caucasian. Female, obviously. Curly hair, brown. Green eyes. Scary green eyes; so full of insanity. " He opened his eyes and blinked back into the present. His friends looked concerned at his last sentence, but he ignored their looks of worry and turned to look at Hotch. "She would have been pretty if she wasn't so. . . " Reid shuddered, not wanting to relive his pain again. He hated his family seeing him so vulnerable; so weak. He inwardly groaned as he saw Garcia's eyes full of sympathy as she continued to pet his hair. She was going to smother him to death.
"Let's not talk about it anymore." Garcia said. "Subject changer: flying buffalo named Deliah!"
The team chuckled at Garcia's insanity and the small smile she earned from Reid. "Who's Deliah?" Morgan chuckled.
"Weren't you listening? A flying buffalo!" Reid answered with a laugh. Garcia grinned down at him.
Hotch pondered Reid's description of the girl. She sounded familiar. He had seen her before. Hotch was sure of it. But where? Where? The unit chief started to wish he had Reid's memory.
After Christmas, each member of the team took turns staying with Reid. He had to stay in the hospital for another two weeks, one of which for observation. Reid was well protected by his team. They watched over him. Little did they know that Jenny was watching as well.
Gideon hung around the hospital a lot. He didn't have anything better to do than visit the tortured genius. Reid was glad for his additional company. He had severely missed his mentor. Gideon sometimes disappeared for a couple of hours; he never told Reid what he was doing or where he had gone, but Reid figured he was looking for Jenny. He wasn't looking hard enough. She was right underneath their noses.
Hotch was watching as Reid slept when Gideon walked in, an expression of frustration and anger worn on his wrinkled face. "No luck?" Hotch whispered, not wanting to wake the young survivor. Gideon shook his head dejectedly. Hotch sighed and looked at Reid. He hated that all their efforts to find this bitch were in vain. He hated failing Reid again. Something was still bothering him. "Jason. . . There's something that's been nagging me about this whole thing." The older man looked at him and sat down on the other side of Reid's bed. He nodded as an indication for Hotch to continue. "Why would she give us a clue? Why wouldn't she let him die? Hurting the team was never her intention. She had a chance to hurt us, but she didn't. Her sole intention was hurting Reid. So why let us find him? Why involve the team?"
Jason thought for a minute, then said, "Maybe she knew where he would end up."
"The hospital?" Hotch asked, gesturing to the room. Gideon nodded. Hotch slowly shook his head. "No, he's safe here."
"He is when we're here." Gideon said with a small smile.
Hotch knew this was true. As long as the team was there, no one would dare try to hurt their boy wonder. Boy Wonder? He was spending way too much time with Garcia.
As if on cue, Garcia burst in, singsonging, "Hello, my fine furry friends." She was carrying a light blue bag on her shoulder. Reid opened his eyes groggily and sat up, propped against the pillows. His face brightened when he saw Garcia.
"Garcia, do you have your computer?" Hotch asked, pointing at the bag.
"As a matter of fact, I did happen to bring my laptop along. I was hoping to get to watch some Doctor Who with my Junior Gman." Reid grinned, hoping to be able to see the Christmas episode with Peter Capaldi.
"I need you to check out all the nurses and doctors that work here. Look for anyone named Jenny." Hotch said. Garcia and Reid looked shocked as they realized Hotch thought the would-be killer was lurking around the hospital.
Garcia nodded furiously. " Yes sir." She said and she sat down in Hotch's recently vacated seat and began typing furiously.
"Well?" Gideon asked after a couple of minutes.
"A couple of Jenny's, but none matching Reid's description. One redhead, two blonds, and one with straight black hair." Garcia answered, staring at her computer screen.
"The hair doesn't matter. She could have dyed her hair or something." Reid said. "Any with green eyes?"
"Just the blond." Garcia answered, turning her computer screen to face Reid. He squinted at the picture of the smiling nurse on the screen. He shook his head.
The others let out a collective sigh of relief. Jenny wasn't at the hospital. Well, she wasn't on staff. That much they knew.
