The Interregnum: Chapter 2

by Helena Fallon

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spencer Reid arrived at the College Park complex well before 10 a. m. to allow himself over an hour to go through the formal transfer procedure which included being allocated a new locker, registering his firearm, which had been issued at Quantico, a new ID badge aswell as filling in forms for next of kin and present address. The admin staff who dealt with him were very welcoming and had been expecting him so things went very smoothly and filled in the time before actually going to the Crimes Against Children Unit.

He went to the locker room to hang up his heavy overcoat he was wearing over his grey wool jacket. Spencer had needed the black overcoat today as winter had finally kicked in with a bitterly cold northern wind. The autumn had been unusually mild and this sudden cold blast reminded people that it was the first week in December. There was also his 'emergency' bag that contained clean clothes and toiletries that he placed into his locker and Spencer absently wondered what his BAU colleagues would be doing today. Reid cast an eye over his appearance in the full length mirror by the locker room door before going on to the CACU. The young agent was satisfied that he looked neat and tidy with his charcoal dress pants, sage green shirt, darker green tie and black sleeveless cashmere wool vest under his grey jacket. He had even had his hair cut and re-styled at the weekend and although not short he had deliberately had the curls cut off. Unfortunately, his hair had the tendency to curl the longer it grew and he didn't want to look like the undergraduate here so he now had a more sober cut with a parting slightly to the right. However, it was still longer than his male colleagues at Quantico and looked thick and glossy as it just graced his ears. Jo had said that he looked very much the young professor when he put on his new gold rimmed spectacles. However, today he was wearing his contact lenses, a decision that he had regretted when he had got out of his car on arrival as the gusty wind blew grit into his left eye. He had fought the urge to rub the eye knowing that he could make things worse and had put his head down and briskly made his way towards the main building, one hand holding his large holdall and his other in his coat pocket. It had hurt like hell and his eye was watering with the body's natural attempts to rid itself of the foreign body by the time he reached the main reception. The receptionist was very sympathetic, as she wore contacts herself, and had just pointed him towards the haven of the men's room after he had used his BAU badge to identify himself.

The CACU was predominantly female but a hive of activity and he was not noticed when he first walked through the glass doors. The Black American receptionist was on the phone but smiled a greeting and signalled mouthing silently that she would be with him in a minute. Spencer judged her to be late 20's or perhaps early 30's and she had a friendly manner. He was transfixed for several moments by her shocking pink fingernails that also had tiny ruby coloured gems decorating them. Her hair was a shock of tight curls and she wore large red metallic looking circles as drop earrings that accentuated her long neck and high cheekbones.

"No…that's fine, I'll see that Amanda signs for it personally. Thank you…Have a nice day," she finished and replaced the receiver.

"Sorry, Can I help?"

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm here to see Dr. Cole."

"Spencer!" a voice hailed him from the inner sanctum of the bullpen and Katie Cole herself suddenly strode out towards him with a big smile and her hand proffered for a firm handshake.

"Dee, Spencer is joining us to cover for Danielle's maternity leave," she informed the receptionist who smiled at him again.

"Oh good we don't have many men here," she greeted him enthusiastically and eyed his left hand for a ring.

"Dee! Don't you dare frighten him away before I even get him to my office…Besides, I'm sure Spencer is spoken for…"

"Oh Yes…I am," he replied thankful that he could honestly say he had a partner.

"Oh, has your partner moved with you?" Dee asked and Spencer felt that he'd put a stop to any flirting by being very open.

"Yes, Jo works for Fairfax Estates so we looked at property over the weekend and is organising our move here from the Washington office but she will be back in this area this afternoon."

"Really, you'll have to call her and have her drop by so we can all meet her," Katie said pleased that this young man had not come alone. Dee shrugged but kept her sunny disposition and Spencer knew that he had met the woman who would know all the gossip in the building from the janitor up. He followed Katie to her office and closed the door.

"Help yourself to coffee," she invited and he noticed she had a plain white mug of half drunk muddy liquid on her desk. No doubt security rang her when he had left the admin office and began the trek, via the locker room, to this floor.

The office was cluttered, white walls were hardly visible because of the shelving that held books and folders and seven tall battleship grey filing cabinets stood along one wall. On top of two of these cabinets were a couple of pots of flowering cacti and a bonsai which looked like a miniature oak. She had no diplomas on the walls nor photographs that would give any clue to the person who occupied this space. It was a working space and her private life didn't belong here but she was not unfriendly and everyone here called her Katie but it was obviously her way of keeping work and leisure separate.

Spencer went and sat in the easy chair opposite her desk. His new boss had resumed her seat behind her desk and had picked up her own mug. Spencer noted the defensive gesture and knew that the 'friendliness' was a very professional act with her staff.

"I must admit that I'm very pleased to have got you to cover for Danielle but I understand that a lot has happened to you since we worked on the 'Peter' case," she began and Spencer was alert for her next lot of probing questions.

"Yes, I had a spell at the Clinic after being kidnapped and tortured by an Unsub," he freely admitted.

"How do you feel about that time now?"

"At the time it was distressing but I think I have come through the experience more aware of myself and I faced some things in my past that I'd been avoiding. The best thing to have happened was that during the sick leave was the time I met and consolidated my relationship with Jo…She's the sister of a friend but we had never actually met until April and she's very central to my life now."

Katie smiled with genuine warmth, "I'm very pleased for you because we prefer people who have strong relationships because this job is emotionally demanding. I'm sorry about Dee…she's incorrigible!"

Spencer smiled and thought fondly of Garcia, he was going to miss Penelope's crazy friendship because Dee was not a Garcia.

"It says here that you are having extra random drug tests, but you don't go to meetings?"

"Why should I?" Spencer said and watched her look surprised at his challenge.

"Usually dilaudid is highly addictive and support meetings can help with the cravings," she quickly countered.

"But I didn't take the drug willingly, it was given to me while I was bound and with my background experimenting with drugs, even at college, was not an attraction," he replied with a forcefulness that lead to Katie raising a questioning eyebrow.

"My mother has schizophrenia, there was no history of the disorder in her family but she had been a willing participant of the Berkeley drug scene in her youth and the doctors believe that there could be a connection. Add to that, I was her carer from the age of 10 and saw how powerful drugs were…if she didn't take her medication she was in another world and the reaction to the medication was very dramatic. I like to keep control of my mind. That is what I found really distressing with the kidnap, I had no control over being given dilaudid and of course the effects were an escape from the captivity but it was a false escape. I don't drink excessively either, in fact I don't go to bars often. If I did go to a bar with the team I would usually just have a coke or soft drink…My mind is unique and I don't want to destroy it," he replied seriously and Katie thought that the youthful looking man seemed to be transformed before her eyes. This was a mature agent and not the one she had met over a year ago who had seemed in the aggressive woman agent's shadow.

But then he was speaking again and Katie listened re-evaluating the agent before her.

"I don't mind the extra testing, it proves to the Bureau that I'm clean and therefore I don't see the need to attend meetings. I went through de-tox at the hospital in Georgia and the craving were there at first in the Clinic…There was no way that I was going to be given access to drugs after detox and I was still recovering from the physical injuries. The time at the Clinic at first dealt with the physical healing and that included counselling for the dilaudid cravings which were there at first but they receded then came the hardest part…the psychological healing. Now that started some weeks after and I even ended up with three of the best Mental Health services staff at Quantico, including Max Pentall himself. They were superb, they saw through me and helped me see my strengths and a way back to my normality."

"Your normality?" she asked fascinated by this unexpected openness.

"I'm a genius, my sense of 'normality' varies a little from the other people around me…and that is not to imply superiority on my part. It's just that I have very broad interests, my thinking is fast and divergent, very creative at times, and I can easily get bored with the mundane so I have mental games to play with myself when the day job is having a 'slow time'…do you understand?"

Katie nodded and began to realise that she had not anticipated this. Knowing someone is a genius and then having them come to work with you was very different to the few very rare children, she had met over the years as a child psychologist, who had genuinely been assessed as a genius rather than just of high intelligence. She stared at the sensitive large brown eyes and the young face with sensual lips and golden brown hair. He was very attractive despite his gangling figure and hoped that he was not a 'Casanova' with those looks but she had not heard those sorts of rumours about him.

"It was your contributions to the successes that the BAU have had that I wanted to employ here. We need someone with a fresh view of things. I think sometimes that we sense that there are connections that we are missing because we have been looking at the problem for too long and can't see the wood for the trees. So we need your new eyes and new thinking. The pay off is the experience of being a deputy and the admin that accompanies it but I understand that you're already been doing the group dynamics reports for the BAU so you're half way there. Taking you away from the BAU will make it easier for you to return at a more senior level…and that is the plan of the Bureau so I hope you will make the most of the opportunities here to learn all you can about management. You have the psychology but now the hardest part is to put it into practice and with these women…You handled Dee well, I mean it, ring your Jo so we can all meet her and the women will instantly settle down when they see a working relationship. The men here are all married with families and actually most of the women are in relationships, some are married, and there are those with children. Dee has twins but her partner left her for a younger version…He likes them under 20! Dee has an on-off relationship with a chef called Harry," Katie confided.

"Danielle has been my deputy for two years now and before that she worked with Josh Kramer in his Organised Crime Unit on intelligence…she has a good mind for sifting through data and her organisational skills are very good. We don't have many men here because of the obvious reason that most of the children are abducted and abused by men. I'm sure you noticed how people stopped to listened to your reply to Dee, especially when you said Jo…I knew that you were not homosexual because Max is too sensitive to the nature of this work to have done that to this unit."

"That's a shame, being homosexual does not make you a paedophile," replied Spencer in defence of the men who may be good agents but keep their sexual orientation quiet.

"We know that but the media would jump on it and of course many parents just have a general fear of paedophiles…quite rightly, but they automatically see homosexual as different and therefore dangerous. No matter how often you try to explain that a homosexual is sexually attracted to men not children it still doesn't get taken on board. But then some religious groups see homosexuals as deviant to Gods' laws. Just as long as you understand that it is a sensitive issue here, not because of personal intolerance within this unit but due to the problems of how the wider world views our work," Katie explained and wanted this sensitive young man to get his girlfriend there to dispel any thoughts on the matter. It was always a problem with sensitive sweet looking men, there would always be some people who would assume that they were gay. It was all nonsense but old wives tales still existed.

Katie continued, "The men here are very good on the internet pornography and Tony is the expert on tracking paedophiles and all things to do with the sex offenders national register. He's in court today, and possibly tomorrow, but the guys were pleased that they were going to have another man around… I think they feel a little out numbered in the bullpen," she said with a smile and Spencer thought she was trying her best to be welcoming but he sensed her need to know the people in this unit and by knowing them she felt more in control.

"By the way, how is Gideon these days?" she suddenly changed direction.

"He's recently resigned and we think he's gone to see his son," Spencer replied neutrally and wondered just how much Max and Quantico had told her…or was she just testing his reaction to the changes?

"Oh…my! It's all change for the BAU then. We all heard about the appointment of Hotch to the Director's Special Team but I guess we all thought Gideon would be holding the fort again back at Quantico in his absence."

"Gideon's resignation was very recent, it was delivered last Friday, so I doubt it has been put on the internal general bulletin site with all the other changes that have been going on since then."

Katie nodded and wondered if Reid would be pulled back to replace Gideon but then dismissed the thought as they would have stopped his transfer before today and besides, she re-assured herself, he was being sent to her to train him up for senior agent responsibilities.

"You want me to ring Jo now?" he asked sensing the importance of this act and it would deflect her from asking any awkward questions about Gideon.

"Would you while I go and find Danielle?" Katie asked softly not wanting to make it an order. But the agent before her smiled and looked impossibly young and it made her feel old…she was old enough to be his mother.

He took his cell out of his trouser pocket, "No problem, Jo will be more than happy to oblige…She's never been to the BAU so this will be an experience, her first visit to a FBI unit!"

Katie moved to the door and smiled leaving him to invite his partner. She quickly found Danielle in her office checking the paperwork for a recent successful case. She looked up at Katie's arrival.

"I hear Spencer Reid survived his first encounter with Dee," her dark eyes twinkled with mischief.

"I've left him calling his girlfriend…once the unit has met her it will settle down."

"You sure it's a good relationship?" the milky brown African-American asked.

"I don't think Max would have backed my request if he'd not had a stable home life. He's not like I remember, he's matured a lot since he was last here but then a lot has happened to him."

"You've not frightened him off yet anyway," Danielle said, "He's very young but the BAU is no easy ride as you know."

"Yeah and he was Gideon's protégé but he's shown acumen for the work and his Doctorate in Criminal Psychology was the thing that originally swayed the interview board when he applied. So far he has shown considerable potential and rumours are rife that he has the ability to be Gideon's successor."

"That's a lot to have on a person's shoulders," Danielle replied thoughtfully, "Is it time for me to meet the genius…I've never met a genius before."

"Oh this one is very sweet natured on the surface but he's got a backbone of steel beneath his boyish appearance," Katie answered her deputy and they exchanged knowing looks. You couldn't be weak in this department or you would go under very quickly and they considered themselves to be one of the hardest, alongside the BAU, to work in effectively for any length of time.

They walked back together to her office and found Spencer quietly awaiting their return, he rose to greet Danielle and Katie made the formal introductions.

"Is your Jo coming to join us this afternoon?" Danielle asked before Katie.

Spencer flashed her a warm smile, "Oh she jumped at the chance. At the moment she's organising the furniture, she has brought the stuff over from her apartment…When she moved in with me she kept her much smaller apartment as an office and a safety net in case it didn't work."

The two women nodded in understanding.

"So you've found something already?" Katie asked.

"I told you she works for Fairfax Estates…It was no problem, I've kept my apartment in Alexandria so I really let her choose the place here, but you'll be able to ask her yourselves this afternoon. Jo thinks she'll be here around 3 o'clock if that's all right?"

"Perfect," replied Katie and knew that the bullpen would be anticipating the arrival.

"Well if you are not going to be frantically apartment hunting then you can get to work here and into a routine sooner than we thought," Danielle said with some enthusiasm, "Not that we're slave drivers but we usually give new agents a lot of time in their first week to get the accommodation sorted out but you seem to be eager to get stuck in."

"Well, I guess the sooner I get started the sooner I learn the ropes and don't upset the smooth running of the unit."

Danielle nodded and Katie thought that this man had terrific potential and he and Danielle had already slipped into an easy working relationship and she was already telling him about her plans for his first day with her…

"Go on get out of here I've got work to do!" Katie dismissed them but was pleased to see the two tall figures leave happily together. But she wondered what had happened for Gideon to resign? She had always thought him the type to keep working as long as he could and he had not reached retirement age. Katie pushed the questions to the back of her mind for another time when Spencer was more settled and perhaps he would reveal a lot more about the real reason for his mentor's departure.

The rest of the day seemed to pass very quickly being introduced to new faces and he noticed how many wore wedding rings or referred to partners and found out that more than half the people in the unit had children themselves. Danielle filled him in on the cases they were working at that time. They were hoping to move against a private club soon where they suspected under-age girls were being used for entertainment and possibly prostitution. This case had become the top priority because of the data gathering over the previous months and had been handled very carefully so as not to frighten off the perpetrators or the club would suddenly close and disappear. They had an undercover agent working the case after a tip off from the Philadelphia office, who had raided a similar joint and that had thrown up another name in their area who appeared to have initially a clean record. However, this man, a Brian Rankin, had some questionable associates and he had money invested in a couple of ventures, one a bar in Annapolis and the other a disco venue in Baltimore, which the DEA were keeping an eye on but had nothing concrete against the management.

At lunchtime, Danielle and Katie took him down to the cafeteria and they were enjoying quiche salads and coffee although Danielle was being virtuous with her orange juice. No one talked about the caseload because it was a time to get to know each other. Katie revealed that she was a doting 'Auntie' to four nephews ranging from 6 to 14 years. Danielle talked about her husband who was lecturer in law at the university and his mother lived with them and helped with childcare. It was a happy relationship for all concerned because both were only children and Danielle's parents had both died before her son was born.

"Ah, Dr. Reid," a voice said and they all looked round to face an older well groomed man with grey thinning hair and neatly trimmed grey beard. This neat man of meduim build laughed showing well cared for teeth and he had china blue eyes that had a penetrating look.

"Goodness Adam!" protested Katie in mock shock; you just have to stop creeping around. Spencer this is Adam Priest, he's in charge of the outpost here."

"Just call me Adam, everyone else does," he said proffering his hand which Reid shook firmly, if briefly, and thought that he had shook quite a few hands recently but everyone here seemed to like that formal greeting at first. "I like the 'outpost' tag, Katie, anyone would think we're in the wilds of Dakota." He sat down on the vacant chair at their table.

"I don't want people to hear too much about how nice it is here or we'll attract the riff-raff from New York…you know what that place is like!" Katie replied mischievously.

Adam shook his head in amusement, and turned his attention to Spencer.

"I'm sorry I was busy when you first arrived at 8:30, but I liked how you sorted out the usual admin procedures before going up to see Katie," he said, "I usually like to see people as they turn up but with all the changes, due to the cuts, things are a bit hectic and we're still adjusting ourselves to the numbers of civilian staff we've lost. We consider getting you quite a coup especially as New York were angling for you," Adam explained.

"Really! Well actually I wouldn't have gone because my partner was attacked in New York and isn't comfortable in that city any more," Spencer replied firmly and Adam's eyes bore into him and he held Spencer's steady gaze for a few seconds before Adam nodded in understanding.

"The lady is all right otherwise?" he asked with concern.

"Oh yes, it happened over 4 years ago now but her friend was murdered in the apartment they shared and she disturbed the murderer who then attacked her. Jo had the best counselling care afterwards and has a very supportive family. We've been to the art galleries there on the day shuttle but we leave before nightfall. She's Judge Alan Petersen's daughter…" he added knowing that this man would probably want to satisfy his curiosity over the case.

"Virginian Supreme Court?" he asked softly and Spencer nodded. Adam noticed that the two women looked surprised at the name-dropping.

"Sorry, but you have a tough assignment and we hoped that you would have a steady background," added Adam honestly but he liked this agent's understanding of the subtext. Priest had heard a lot about the genius under Gideon's wing and he was beginning to see for himself that he was indeed an able agent.

"I have, she's calling in this afternoon around three so if you're around…" Spencer invited feeling that he was surprising himself at his openness with these people. However, Reid realised that they needed to know that he was strong enough to cope with this placement, not just on paper but in the reality of day to day living and working.

Adam chuckled, "Oh a very wise move with the CACU's resident Man-eater! I'll try to drop by for a few minutes to say hello but she'll come to the usual Christmas get together won't she? We usually have our partners come and it's only for a couple of hours at the end of the normal day shift but everyone is quite friendly here."

"I'm sure that Jo will try to make it, she had planned to be at the Quantico one before things changed so I don't think there will be a problem."

"That's good…" his cell sounded and he looked at the text message, "Sorry I've got to go…But glad you're here and I'll be seeing you around no doubt."

They watched him walk briskly from the cafeteria.

"Adam's a good man. We thought we might loose him because he's 60 in a couple of months. But he really backs us when we need it," said Katie thoughtfully, "That was a smart move to be open about your Jo with him…I know that you're normally more reserved and you're making a special effort with us, I... we appreciate that…"

Spencer felt a twinge of embarrassment that she had seen through him but he had to hit the ground running and he didn't want the baggage of Quantico weighing him down. He was here on his own and could play it his way right from the start. Spencer looked up and saw the smiling friendly and encouraging faces of both women and gave them a shy smile back.

Spencer liked Danielle, the last time he had been here she had been in court and Amanda Gilroy had dealt with them. Amanda remembered him and they had chatted earlier, and she had even asked about the female agent who had been with him back then. So he had said that Elle had resigned a few months after her return from sick leave and she had nodded sensing that he would rather not fill in anymore details. Spencer sensed that with Danielle you got straight answers to questions and she didn't like secrets when it came to the running of the unit. Her open and honest approach with her colleagues was respected and because of it she kept in check any female rivalries that sometimes surfaced with groups of women. He was still weighing up Katie as a boss, she was a much more complex character but he had time to observe because he had been warned that he had a lot of admin procedure to learn.

The afternoon was spent getting to know the men in the unit and they ranged in age from 32 to almost 53. They were a talented and committed group of men who were experts on the use of the internet and how it has been hijacked by paedophiles for their own ends. Carl, the oldest was an American with a Japanese grandmother and had inherited the small, square powerful looking physique of the Japanese genes. His once black hair was now peppered with grey but it was still thick and abundant and cut short in a way that reminded Reid of Hotch. Carl and his wife, Patricia, had a son who was studying at Georgetown and a daughter hoping to go to John Hopkins to study pre-medical courses.

Chris was the youngest and had only been with them since February. He had recently become a father and proudly decorated his desk with the latest photographs of the 5 week old son who was called Ethan. The redheaded and freckled Chris had moved from Dallas after a spell in white-collar crime where he had honed his computing skills. He had become interested in the CACU after stumbling across an under-age prostitution racket during what on the surface looked like a straight forward case of credit card fraud.

Mike and Rick were both just turned 40 and experienced agents. Mike was from New Hampshire, and was happily married to Janet. They had two children, a son of 8 and a girl of 11. He had the physique of a lean basket ball player and confessed that had been a dream in his adolescent years until he realised that he had better start studying because he wasn't going to get the Sports scholarship and earn his living on the circuit with a fat pay cheque. Mike had settled down in his last 18 months at school and got good enough results to gain a place at Stanford and followed his interests in the sciences and geography.

Rick came from Arizona, he was of Latino descent and really called Ricardo but he hated his name. He was darkly handsome, a neat man of medium build, who was by his own admission a passionate modern ballroom dancer. Rick was married to a dental nurse, Claudia, who shared his past time and they had three children, two boys, aged 3 and 7, and a girl of 5. The absent Tony was alluded to and Spencer could see from his empty desk that he too was a family man with three sons, staring out from a photograph, and a picture of a blond woman with short hair was in a silver frame.

"That was Tony's wife, Gina, she died from breast cancer 18 months ago, it was in her family…Gina's mother and sister died from it too. The boys are 12, 14 and 17 and a credit to their parents. Tony's unmarried sister, Bridget, moved here from Connecticut to care for Gina and the boys and stayed. She works as a nurse at the local hospital, but works in a specialist clinic so she only does normal daytime hours to be home with the boys as much as she can," explained Carl.

Spencer nodded and sensed a strong bond of support for each other among these men.

"So your lady is going to drop by this afternoon?" Rick asked enthusiastically, "We'll have to listen and watch carefully, you understand…it's our ladies back home they'll want to know the details…You know women…they like all those little details…"

Spencer chuckled, "Well, it's the little things that women notice so much about their own sex…and lets face it …we may love them but there is still an element of mystery about the fairer sex," he confided and the men nodded their agreement. This small group of men shared a moment of male bonding, something that Reid had never really felt back at the BAU. Morgan had been far too fickle with his relationships, but Spencer hoped that he was treating Angela well. Hotch obviously adored his Hayley but he was not the sort of person to suddenly open up about their marriage to the youngest agent on the team. Gideon, his mentor, enjoyed female company but had still kept his off duty liaisons private. But then Spencer also had to admit to himself that he had deliberately kept his private life out of the BAU for as long as possible. Here it was essential that his co-workers could trust him because of the nature of some of the crimes they touched upon.

"I'll make sure to introduce Jo to you all. I'll admit that I would not have been prepared to take this placement if she had not been with me…Let's face it… you need to have someone to go home to after a day here."

"Yeah," agreed Rick while the other men again nodded their agreement, "But your Jo has come with you so it will make it bearable."

"Your Jo's going to come to the Christmas get together here, isn't she?" asked Chris, "I mean my Faye is really looking forward to it."

"I hope so, she was planning to go to the Quantico one so I don't see why not. But you can ask her yourselves…stress how much your wives will be looking forward to meeting her…I'm sure she will get the impression that she will be missed if she doesn't come!"

A young male agent, who Spencer had seen at the main reception desk that morning, escorted Jo to the unit. It was a little after 3 o'clock and Katie and Danielle made a beeline for her. Jo was talkative about the small house they were renting in Berwyn Heights and the things that she had arranged to be brought over that day from Alexandria.

"I packed things up yesterday, there wasn't that much because we're just using things from my old apartment to start with. Uncle Jeff got the team together so they just had to collect things and then drove them over. It all helps being family," she said in answer to the surprised looks.

"So what do you do at Fairfax Estates?" asked Dee who was interested in this very feminine woman with the badly scarred left hand.

"I'm the interior designer…so my aunt and uncle were delighted that Spencer was not moved too far from the Washington office…"

"You're Joanna Petersen!" asked Amanda in surprise.

"Yes, the Bevan's only niece. I've worked for them a long time, in fact even before I went away to study."

"You know, I've lived in two Fairfax apartments and I always wondered who thought out the interiors…It's a real pleasure to meet you, Spencer didn't say of course…."

Jo smiled, "Well I just work like everyone else and just because it's a family business doesn't mean that I don't have to pull my weight…and there's a lot more to interior design than just dressing a room…"

The details of who Jo was and her work were quickly digested and they got on to discussing family and children in particular. Suddenly she had brought out her photographs of Ben and Lydia and these were pounced upon. Spencer let the women interact without him as he slipped to the sidelines to observe. He knew why Katie had wanted Jo here and Jo was playing her part to perfection right down to the photographs…

"Oh look…and Spencer says he doesn't have much experience with children…Look at this Katie," Danielle beamed to her boss holding out the small photo album.

Katie went over and was shown a photograph taken a few months before of Spencer holding Ben while reading a book to Lydia as they sat together on a couch at their grandparents. On the back of the couch sat a sandy coloured tabby cat that appeared to be looking at the book from above Spencer's left shoulder while a black labrador had it's large head resting on his feet.

Katie smiled at the image, and Danielle gave a slight nod of satisfaction, this man would be fine with children. Danielle personally thought that children would probably sense his innate gentleness and see him as like a big brother because he just seemed so unthreatening.

Spencer kept his word and introduced Jo to his minority group of males and she happily talked with them about their wives and families and said that she was looking forward to Christmas and would make sure that the date was free in her diary. Spencer Reid marvelled again at how Jo mixed so easily with people, just like her parents and had that gift of remembering people's faces and the little personal things they revealed about themselves. Jo used the skill in her work when she met clients, who wanted her to design their living space for them, and she listened carefully to their likes and dislikes and their interests to give her ideas to make them a home not just a living space. Spencer admired Jo's ease with such gatherings and knew that some of her confidence had rubbed off on him since meeting her and he always felt confident at social events with her. Part of his brain thought that his BAU colleagues would have been amazed at his performance today. Reid knew that he had not been as awkward as he had been when last here and he had certainly made the effort to be chatty to all the staff that he had to supervise in Katie's absence.

At 5:30 the day shift came to an end and people began to make their way home. The young couple left together with Spencer saying that he'd try to work normal hours tomorrow to get into the routine as quickly as possible.

"They're very sweet together," said Dee after they had passed through the department doors.

"Did you see those defence wounds?" Melanie blurted out, "Jo said that she disturbed the murderer of her friend and he attacked her…"

"She's pretty well balanced considering that happened to her," Amanda added.

"Did you notice how Spencer held her damaged hand when they left…It looked so natural and not put on for our benefit," Lindsay said and looked towards Danielle and Katie to judge their reactions.

"They make a nice couple," Katie pronounced and turned to go back to her office.

Danielle grinned at everyone and the bullpen felt satisfied that the newest member of the unit would fit in.

Danielle slipped in to see Katie.

"Jo's special," Danielle said to Katie as she looked up to accept the files her deputy had brought with her.

"Yes, interesting that he didn't tell us exactly what she did when we first spoke this morning, but he told Adam whose daughter she was," Katie remarked thoughtfully.

"Katie! I don't think there is anything very sinister in that. I just think Spencer is normally very private about his personal life and here he has had to open up more than he probably normally does…and he's done that so we can begin to trust him quickly. Jo made it pretty obvious that they are a committed couple and those pictures with her niece and nephew…Dee got the message and so did everyone else in the bullpen…It was 'hands off he's mine!' from Jo and Spencer looked like the cat who regularly gets the cream."

Katie laughed, "Yeah he really just sat back and let her protect him didn't he!"

"Well it worked, we were all girls together and she delivered the answers and we respect her for it. I think Spencer is going to be just fine here. He's obviously apprehensive about his lack of work with very young children…He seems more confident about working with older ones because the BAU have had more cases with over 5's than under. The guys all seemed happy chatting to Spencer earlier and he made a point of taking Jo over to talk to them aswell. Jo was very relaxed about it all and I think she'll be very supportive besides she has been coping with the aftermath of his BAU cases."

Katie nodded but she felt that Spencer Reid was still a big unknown whose reputation was already growing. She felt unsure about what he read about her with those beautiful expressive brown eyes. Gideon had seen through her but he was now gone and she had coped with Jason Gideon's scrutiny…Max Pentall seemed to think Reid a very capable psychologist but did she want an able psych analysing her at that moment?Katie stopped her rambling thoughts and reminded herself that she was excellent at her job even if her private life was a shambles.

The young couple got into Jo's Lexus that she had let Spencer use for work. Alan Petersen had been eyeing the old Volvo for some time as a possible 'renovation' challenge. He had renovated his own 1978 Volvo over the past 10 years and he cherished his metal baby, keeping the Volvo in pristine condition in one of the garages near the old stable block. The family had been exerting gentle pressure on Spencer to let Alan renovate his car for him. Margaret said that taking old cars to pieces took his mind off the pressures of his day job and out of the house when she was organising one of her charity meetings. Craig added his voice to the plea and said that Spencer's car would be returned better than he had ever seen it. Spencer didn't doubt that but it was just a case of getting a replacement car.

Marilyn quietly came up with the answer by suggesting that Jo gave Spencer her three year old Lexus and she could have a new one as her 'bonus' perk from the 'Fairfax Estates' Christmas pot. It was something of a tradition at their company that everyone got a bonus, in proportion to their wages, if the company had made a profit during that year. The teams of builders, maintenance men and office workers had all worked well and the company had made a handsome profit during the year. Although the majority of the profits would be re-invested in the company's future projects, everyone at Fairfax Estates would be getting a Christmas bonus with the December pay. This year it was decided that Jo was to get a new car and Marilyn had asked Spencer to 'please let Alan renovate your Volvo for you…He'll get so much pleasure out of it.'

"So are you going to let Dad play with your Volvo?" Jo asked as he headed towards Berwyn Heights.

"Yeah, I like driving this car…power steering, automatic…"

"And it's reliable," Jo added mildly.

"Are you suggesting my car isn't?" Spencer asked a little hurt.

"Spencer, your car needs a little TLC which my Dad will willing provide while he renovates and makes it just like new…You've seen what he did to his own old Volvo!"

"Yeah…it's a beauty," he agreed with admiration in his voice for Alan's mechanical abilities and patience.

"And best of all it will keep him out of Mom's way and doing something totally different to the law."

Spencer smiled, he wondered how many people knew that a Supreme Court Judge was happy getting oil and grease all over his fingers and enjoyed taking old Volvos apart and re-building them.

"Why don't you let him have it to renovate as a kind of Christmas present?" Jo asked suddenly.

"That's an idea, I mean I've no idea what to get your parents…"

"They don't want anything expensive they just like the unusual thing…the car would be just right and you could drive it over on Christmas Day and watch his surprise when you hand him the keys! Perhaps we can give Mom that embroidered fire screen we found in Annapolis on Saturday."

"Ok, I'm not very good at these things…."

"Spencer you're doing just fine," Jo assured and thought what a nice atmosphere there was to the office where he would be working despite the distressing cases they dealt with.

Spencer pulled into the driveway of their little house. It was the smallest building in the street but to Jo's delight it had a large attic bedroom that was full of light. Spencer had been walked around two apartments but had felt no real enthusiasm for them. The first house they had viewed on the Saturday had been larger but it just didn't feel right for either of them. This was the last property and Spencer suspected that Jo had already thought that it might be appropriate because she had deliberately left it to last.

The door opened into an entrance that was filled with natural light and doors to the downstairs rooms all came off this vestibule. The study looked out to the side and the driveway to the garage and it was big enough for a desk and several bookcases. The living room looked out to the front but there were glass doors through to the dining room that had a view onto a small courtyard garden. Jo had put her circular mahogany table and cream leather covered dining chairs in this room The dining room also had French doors that opened out onto the courtyard area which was perfect for them as neither would probably have the time to tend a garden. The occasional pruning of boundary shrubs and the watering of pots of flowering shrubs and flowers were manageable but there was enough room to entertain out here and the patio area had been attractively paved. The kitchen was the size of the Alexandria apartment and Jo had tried her dining table and chairs in here but they didn't look right. She had made a mental note of the sort of table that would be right for the kitchen units that had lime wood doors.

Upstairs were three bedrooms, two with ensuite shower facilities and the smaller third bedroom was next to the bathroom. Jo had brought her few pieces of bedroom furniture from her apartment but she was going to do some serious furnishing when there had been some decorating. There was another flight of stairs that lead to a large loft room with another small en suite shower room and could have been used as a guestroom but Jo had marked this out as her studio, the place had such good light that it was perfect for painting.

"You want me to decorate?" Spencer asked, as Jo rattled on about her plans for decorating and furnishing the house, but secretly hoped that she didn't want his help. He walked into the living room that appeared featureless and only contained Jo's cream couch together with her television and DVD player. Spencer suddenly realised how much he missed his apartment and all the very personal touches that made it home. He noted that Jo was chatting away and forced his tired mind to listen.

"No, I don't need your help… I've organised the Fairfax workmen to do that while we're working, I don't like the lilac and apricot colours upstairs. I have plans for these two main rooms…I want feature walls with distinctive designs to give them some character. Don't worry it will all be done while you're working and I'll get some more furniture and it will soon be transformed. Fortunately my cream couch will go with most colour schemes so we can sit down comfortably tonight. By the way, I have brought your chest because I thought you might like it here with you and I've some of my artwork to go up after the decorating. I've bought the plants from the bathroom and kitchen and I also remembered the bonsai…I thought we ought to keep that with us, and the terrarium… I've put them in the dining room for the moment…Is that all right?" she asked a little unsure because he seemed very quiet and subdued.

" It sounds all right, I mean your apartment's furniture is fine and I don't mind your bed…It's strange really, I mean we still want the Alexandria apartment to be left as much as it is…" he fumbled with his words. Home for him was his apartment and the reality of this house was beginning to hit him. They would obviously need more furniture because the pieces from Jo's tiny apartment were just lost in this larger space.

"Yeah, I understand but I'll soon make it our Maryland house. I'm putting up different artwork here, I mean I like how the Alexandria apartment looks and its ambience... I've put your lute in the bedroom," she added.

Spencer suddenly smiled he had been wondering where she had put it.

"I've brought my computer but I've not a desk for the study yet but my bookcases are in there now. I'll order furniture on-line from our usual suppliers…I'll get trade prices if it gets delivered to the Fairfax Estates warehouse and the guys will deliver the stuff for us as it comes…It's quite a quick run for them if they avoid the commuter traffic. I'll probably replace the drapes but I know your preferences so one night you'll return and it will all be transformed into a home!" she assured, and watched him as he seemed to be trying to get his bearings in the house.

"Fortunately the kitchen has all the necessary appliances we need and I'll get a table and chairs later this week. I was just about to go out food shopping when Aunt Marilyn brought some things over and filled the fridge and freezer…" she added thinking that he looked tired.

"Really!" said Spencer surprised at the generosity.

"Yeah, she didn't like the idea of us starving on our first night here. I met both sets of neighbours at lunchtime. Kerry and Gene live that way," Jo pointed to the left, " and he's a vet, he works with a practice in College Park and they have two boys aged 4 and 2…very lively pair. On the other side are Maitland and Jill and they have a daughter of 7 months and a 3 year boy. Maitland is high school teacher and also works in College Park. I told them what you did and they seemed to relax, Jill says that there are a couple of other FBI families on the estate and she thinks that the men are both based in Baltimore but they don't talk about their work."

"Right," Spencer replied and thought that Kramer would be able to tell him if he was really curious but at that moment he just wanted to eat and watch the news.

"Why don't you sit down and I'll get dinner…a surprise."

Spencer nodded, he suddenly felt very tired with all the stress of his first day at the unit and all the new faces he had assimilated and his initial profiles of his new colleagues. He switched on the television and sank down on to the couch but he never did hear the news as he drifted off to sleep.

The next few days were spent shadowing Danielle and getting to know the bullpen and Robert the computer technical analysis expert who lived in a windowless room next to Katie's office. He was a mild mannered African-American who preferred his office to socialising with the bullpen. He was a Tolkein fan and seemed to know the Lord of the Rings Trilogy inside out. It did not surprise Reid to find out that Robert's daughters were Arwen, Lorien and Rosie and was relieved when he said that his twin sons were James and Michael because his wife had insisted on naming them. Spencer thought Judy must be a wise woman because she had probably saved the poor boys from being teased for such names as Bilbo, Frodo, Merry or Pippin or perhaps he would have chosen Faramir or Aragorn…

"Something's amused, you are you going to share?" asked Danielle. His desk was at right angles to hers in the office and he now looked across at her and grinned. It was almost 10 o'clock on Thursday evening and they were waiting to hear how things had gone on a raid.

Danielle thought how young and vulnerable he looked when he smiled.

"I was talking to Robert and he told me about his children's names…"

"Thank God Judy insisted on naming the twins," Danielle stated with a grin.

"Exactly, I was just thinking of the possibilities if Daddy had named them…"

Danielle shook her head in mock horror, "Parents and the naming of their children…with some, all sense goes out of the window."

"So are you thinking of any names yet for the new one?"

"Well, my eldest is Edward after his great grandfather…if it's another boy, I like Eric but Paul likes Ryan. I like Amelie and Sophie at the moment if it's a girl but I may change my mind about that. If Edward had been a girl he was going to be Amy,"

"Nothing exotic then?"

"No, good solid normal names…You wait it'll happen to you one day then you'll realise just how difficult it is to name a child. I can understand the tradition of family names now it saves a lot of bother…"

"But later there's the confusion between father and son unless you add junior or the third!

"How pretentious!" Danielle laughed. It was a silly way to waste a few dragging minutes waiting to hear if a sweep of a private club had picked up underage girls. The phone rang and Reid was instantly reaching out….

"Reid…Good! Yeah I'll get the interview rooms ready," he looked up and grinned at Danielle, "A 6 month waiting game has paid off."

"Katie will be fighting to get Rankin in court, he's a slippery eel. We thought we had him a couple of years back but couldn't make the evidence stick. Bet she'll take the questioning personally,"

Spencer nodded and headed for the door to personally check that rooms for the underage girls were ready and enough female agents to shadow one to one the girls. He was still surprised when he did see the five girls brought in, each loudly protesting that they hadn't done anything wrong and that they were 18. Reid knew differently, he had helped Amanda identify them when Gerald had taken undercover pictures and film at the 'club' for members only.

They were all skinny, scantily dressed in tiny metallic mini skirts, shiny thongs and virtually see through blouses without bras. They had FBI jackets drapes over their shoulders but the girls seemed to resent them despite the cold night. Faces were made up in an attempt to make them look older but up close two girls particularly had the look of adolescents who were still experimenting with the pouting look of some of the fashion models in the teen magazines. Cheap perfume filled the corridor as they were escorted along, their high stiletto heels clattering on the floor en route to the individual rooms.

"Everyone a runaway," muttered Amanda Gilroy as she handed Spencer the initial paperwork, "The oldest one is 15 if we're right about her identity. The men were taken to the nearest precinct protesting innocence about underage girls, but when we got to the club Solitaire, the one we think is Linda Varley, was lap dancing. Tara, the redhead, who we think is really the mousy coloured Bryony Caulk, was providing services in a private room, so we have one guy for statutory rape. He's pleading innocence, she's claiming she's 18 and it's none of our business…The other three were pole dancing and the management were taping the floor show and they already had their blouses off."

Reid nodded; this was going to be a long night tying this all tightly together for the prosecutors. Chris, Tony, Mike, Carl and Rick were all interviewing the patrons at the precinct in Annapolis. Gerald and Katie were going to question Rankin, the club owner, personally in an interview room two floors above them and well away from the girls.

Reid maintained an air of detachment, this case didn't have the same distressing affect as some might have because there appeared an element of connivance from the girls themselves. A familiar pattern emerged; the girls had all runaway from dysfunctional homes of some kind, usually these were homes where drink and violence, or drink, drugs and violence were common and all too often sexual abuse added to the decision to leave the family. Bryony Caulk appeared very hard smitten, but her sexual precociousness, even with the few male agents and law personnel, hinted at sexual assault at a young age and playing the vamp was second nature to her.

"It's so sad, " Danielle said from the observation window outside the interview room, where Amanda was trying to get Bryony to admit who she really was, "She was probably sexually assaulted by her father and or other male relatives and the only way she knows how to get some form of acceptance and affection is to use sex has her meal ticket and it's her only measure of success."

Reid stood, hands in his pockets beside her, he had been four days in the job and felt old and jaded already. He had seen runaways before, some then got into bad company and drifted into crime to survive while others deliberately hit the streets, thinking they were strong enough to cope with the pimps, drugs and violence that were always in the background. They would probably be taken into care and sent back to their home cities but were just as likely to runaway again at the earliest opportunity. He knew he couldn't allow this case to affect him because in the scale of things it was not as shocking as other possible scenarios that could come his way. The Peter case had shocked him, the kidnapping of a young child was more shocking, child pornography was shocking but looking at these girls he felt that the battle for them had been lost a long time ago because of the home experiences. He doubted that they would say anything against their male relations who had possibly initially sexually abused them, and even if they did, defence lawyers would argue that they were lying unless they could make a watertight case against the adults concerned. These girls had harmed their own case by running away and getting 'work' with Rankin. Although the CACU suspected that Rankin and his associates deliberately targeted a certain type…the adolescent runaway who was already sexually abused so they wouldn't need to ' break them into the work'. Spencer thought that was the distressing part, these young women had experienced abuse for some time before their escape. But these girls thought that they would be in control of their own destinies by running away but ironically they couldn't break free of the sexual exploitation.'

"How's it going?" the two agents suddenly turned to face Katie who had crept up on them in her rubber-soled shoes.

"She's still holding out that she is not Bryony Caulk," Danielle said.

"What do you think of her, Spencer?" Katie asked the silent pensive man.

"I think her life experiences have scarred her to such a degree that she doesn't trust anyone. She would like to think that she can cope in the adult world but doesn't see that she is being exploited as much in that club as she was back at home. She will more than likely end up back on the streets because she can't break that cycle…We need as children to trust our parents and immediate family and she had that trust shattered at an early age…Do we have anything on her family?"

"Father in and out of juvenile detention, a couple of other children by different women and then he got arrested for dealing with coke. The usual, met up with another set of inmates and further involvement with drugs once out…Mother has no criminal record but had a succession of lovers while Bryony's father was in prison…they could have abused her. Mother seems to have left her occasionally with her friend while she went off with the latest lover..."

"Just another child from a dysfunctional family then," said Reid cynically, his barriers firmly in place so as not to get personally distressed.

"Awful to say, but yes…We would probably have more success with rescuing younger girls but this group didn't do themselves any favours by running away and never attempting to confide in an adult about the abuse they possibly suffered before doing so. Like you said…you have to still trust adults to confess the horrors of your life," said Katie but she was testing how the newest member to the unit was coping. She caught Danielle's eye and she gave a slight re-assuring nod at her boss. Katie was pleased because if Reid couldn't cope with this then he'd soon go under when things got really bad…when they were dealing with much younger children. "We still have a duty to prosecute Rankin for exploiting these girls and I suspect they were very popular for a fee. We have already identified two paedophiles who were at the club although the man with our fake redhead here was unknown to us and so far the checks on him are clean."

Reid nodded and thought that catching psychopaths was a world away from this but the effect on lives was still as devastating.

"How's it going with Rankin?" Spencer asked.

"He asked for his lawyer straight away but they were both shocked by the evidence we had. Gerald's undercover filming and photographs were shocking and as Rankin is seen in the company of these girls and in compromising positions…I left him wanting to make a deal with Roy, our lead prosecutor. Don't worry Spencer," she assured the newest unit member, "Roy is a grandfather and a devoted family man, Rankin won't get very far unless he's prepared to spill the beans big time!"

"Off you go now," Katie said to her deputy, "Spencer and I can cope with the situation here."

Danielle smiled and wished the pair of them goodnight, leaving Katie and Spencer staring into the interview room at one feisty and defensive teenager. "We have to wait for social services to turn up to transfer these girls to a secure unit…"

"Are they all being as unco-operative as this young lady?" Reid asked.

"No, the youngest pole dancer has admitted that she's Annie Bentham from Culpepper in Virginia and she's only just 14. Her aunt reported her missing a year ago…I think she's our weakest link in this outfit and Melanie is building up a rapport…She's already said that her mother's new boyfriend was a little too friendly for her liking but her Mom didn't believe her. Mom was picking up the pieces after her husband just walked out and then never paid maintenance and has since disappeared…We may be able to help her but it depends on just how cynical and bitter she has become."

Spencer nodded, a lot had happened to him while growing up but sexual abuse was not one of them. Katie's cell rang and she answered it. After a few minutes she ended the conversation and turned to Reid.

"Come on, we have some ladies from Social Services heading to my office…More paperwork and you will need to know these people…"

Spencer turned and walked beside his new boss to meet more contacts and amass yet more paperwork that went with the position.

He had not been at the CACU a week and they had successfully tied up a case the unit had been working on for half the year. There was a certain satisfaction to having pulled off a very tight case and the whole unit felt pleased with themselves. Roy had come to see Katie while Spencer was dealing with the paper work the ladies had brought with them from the Social Services department. Katie said afterwards that she would have to do some checking, after some sleep, but this case may be just the beginning of something far murkier. Reid was also told that Roy would be back for a working lunch and things would be discussed further then with himself and Danielle. Spencer had begun the paperwork but eventually the print began to blur before his eyes and he decided against more coffee and called it a night…the admin would still be waiting for him after some sleep.

Spencer wearily parked the Lexus in the drive and noted by the car's clock that it was almost 3 a. m. and had been thankful for virtually empty roads all the way to Berwyn Heights. He knew he had probably left it too long before heading homeward and was pleased that the journey home was much shorter than the Quantico to Alexandria drive. Spencer could smell paint and wallpaper paste as he entered the house but he was too tired to explore to see what changes had occurred since the decorating team had descended yesterday as he had left for work. He wondered again about what more had come out of this case for Katie to say that things could be getting murkier but then forced his brain to switch off from work. Spencer slipped into bed and snuggled up to his warm and cuddly Jo before his eyes closed and exhaustion soon took over and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

End of Chapter 2.