Chapter 2
She needed a smoke. The stress of the morning was crawling under her skin. God, she wished that they had slept together. Then there would be a definate worry. I had sex with my partner. Boom, something to sweat over. But, kissing and cuddling didn't compare. In short, she was screwed. It was all a blur. Had she told him she loved him? In the haze of her memory, she saw herself kissing his chest, muttering "Kocham ciÄ™." That was Polish for 'I love you." So, had she said it for real or was that part of a very real dream? The knowledge had been a burden to her for months, ever since that awful day at Barton's house.
"Reid, wait up!" she yelled and began to chase Reid, who was chasing Barton. Today, she had chosen to wear girly shoes. For the rest of her life, she would curse that choice. The heel snapped and she fell. In the five seconds she took to take off the errant shoe, she heard the crack of gunfire. "No!" With her shoes off, she ran outside. Reid lay on the ground, bleeding. With no hesitation, she pulled out her own gun and fired, hitting Myers in the gut. No harm done. "Help that guy," she ordered Barton and she stumbled over to Reid. She took off her jacket and pressed it to the wound.
"Cutler," he whispered her name sweetly and she choked back a sob.
"You're gonna be okay man," she said and pressed a bit harder. "Just...breathe sweetie, okay?"
"Sweetie?" Reid smiled through the pain.
"Shut up man." Cutler opened her phone and called 911. "Two shot, one a federal agent." She gave Barton's address. "Hurry! If anything happens to my partner, I will kick you in the balls so hard your great-grandchildren will feel it."
When the others arrived, Cutler handed Morgan her gun and made for the ambulance. He grabbed her.
"I have to go with him," Cutler said. "He's my partner."
"Hotch may be in trouble," Morgan said.
"Spence is in trouble!" Her eyes swam with tears.
"Fine, go." Morgan let her go and she bolted into the ambulance. The EMTs made room for the scary lady.
"You okay Spence?" she asked and took his hand.
"I'm in pain but otherwise I feel okay," Reid answered.
"Bullshit." Cutler rubbed his hand and he closed his eyes for a second. Her heart rate shot up and she gasped. That was when she knew. There was a reason her heart was pounding and her eyes swimming.
She was in love with her boy genius friend.
As Cutler took a long, moody drag on her cigarette, a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey." It was Lance Sweets, a profiler that worked out of DC. They had taken a few seminars together. Like her and Reid, he was young and brilliant. What separated him from them was that he was always cheery. At times, Cutler found it a bit creepy. Now, it was what she needed. "Hey," Cutler answered.
"I thought you quit smoking," Sweets said.
"I had a weird morning."
"How bad could it have been?"
"Does waking up in my partner's bed excuse me?"
"Whoa," Sweets took a moment to stare at her. "Yeah, it does." Cutler proceeded to tell him everything, from the bar, to the singing to the cuddling to the morning after. "So, you ran away?"
"Yeah. I know that makes me stupid, but getting involved would be a bad idea."
"How so?"
"Because...it just is." Cutler glared at the younger man and blew smoke from her nose. "I may be crazy about him, but I know when something is a bad idea."
"Maybe you're just scared, because of your-," Sweets was cut off by a kick to the shins. Cutler ground out her cigarette. "Just remember: 'Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love'- Leo Buscaglia."
"You know Sweets, if that Booth guy shoots you, I'm buying him a beer," Cutler called as she made her way into the BAU building.
Inside, she was met by Emily, who offered her a bottle of body spray to cover the smell of cigarette smoke. Cutler sprayed and her eyes wandered the bullpen. She saw Reid and felt like crawling under her desk. That was exactly why them being together was a bad idea. Not just anyone saw her body. That had been drilled into her by her grandmother. But, he hadn't seen all of her. Just enough. When Cutler went to grab a coffee, she saw her reflection in the microwave door. Some of her makeup had smeared away and some of the gray bags under her eyes were visible. Of course, she thought and went to the bathroom to touch up. That was the problem. Like her eyes, with Reid there were too many shades of gray.
"Hey, we got a case," Emily said. Something made her ask what was wrong. "You okay?"
"Um, yeah," Cutler muttered.
"What happened last night?"
"Nothing." Cutler's eyes hardened. "I slept on his couch. I woke up with a minor hangover. Apparently, I sang a lot. That's it."
They all gathered in the conference room. Cutler sat between Emily and Morgan, which was not her usual seat. Guess who that was next to?
"Colony, Ohio. It's a suburb along the Ohio river. In the past three weeks, three students from the same high school have been found murdered.
"Jeremy Hart, 17, was found hanging from his bedroom light two weeks ago. There were defensive wounds on his arms and face and at his feet was an battered copy of To Kill A Mockingbird.
"Leslie Rose, 15. She was found in a storm drain last week, strangled and raped. At her feet was an issue of Seventeen from 1990.
"And finally, Xavier Moore, 15. He was found behind the football field two days ago, also strangled and beaten quite badly. At his feet was a metal lunchbox. People are still working on opening it."
"What makes you think that they're all connected?" Rossi asked.
"Because of the mementos left by the bodies. They are all from the early nineties. The local PD theorizes that it may have something to do with the old high school being torn down next week," JJ said.
Less than an hour later, they were off to Ohio.
