Spencer


In the morning Reid was woken up by his phone ringing, "Garcia?"

"Mornin' sugar pie!" Penelope was far too chipper this early in the morning. But when Reid's eyes caught the time, it was one twenty six in the afternoon. Why hadn't Morgan woken him up?

"Did you find something on a Kells?" Reid asked, swinging his feet out of bed.

"Nothing," Garcia responded. Then why was she so happy?

"Alight, talk to you later," Reid was about to end the call when Garcia told him she wasn't done.

"I didn't find anything on a "Kells," per say. But! I did some snooping and get this, Nexus is a last name. More digging and you've got yourself a Keller Nexus," Garcia sounded quite pleased with herself. Reid was pleased with her too.

"Address?"

"Sending it to you now," Garcia said and hung up, before Reid could thank her for her work.

Taking a quick shower, and getting dressed, Reid met up with his team at the NYPD precinct around two thirty. "'Bout time you showed up, pretty boy," Morgan greeted him, smirking.

With Reid now present, Hotch gathered all the NYPD officers and was ready to give them a profile. "We are looking for a white male, between ages twenty to thirty. His target is young girls, who from what friends and family have told us they are into the punk rock type scene. Which means this man may also dress this way. All of his victims have been kidnapped from public places indicating that he is either very skilled in abducting them or is charming enough to lure them away from friends. Maybe offering rides if the girls have been drinking."

"Alcohol isn't allowed at these concerts, why do you think they'd be drunk?" An officer asked.

"You've never snuck a flask into a venue?" The woman sitting next to him teased, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

Morgan continued with the profile, "He most likely lives close, but outside the city, he keeps the girls for indefinite amounts of time before he grows tired of them, so he'd have to be in a rural area, not a lot of neighbors, so no one can hear the girls scream while he rapes and tortures them."

Reid's turn, "We also have reason to believe that these girls aren't his real target."

"Why do you say that?" An officer in the back interrupted.

"Because we've found that all victims were taken from concerts, where a girl with the stage name Nexus was performing. She has black hair, blue eyes and fits the profile for the unsub's victims. The bodies all had one other thing in common, their left eye was damaged beyond repair in some fashion. Nexus keeps the left side of her face covered at all times so we are speculating that she may be blind in that eye."

Prentiss stepped in next, "We think he is infatuated with her, she's the one her truly wants, but he can't get close, or these girls are just practice for when he can. He goes to these concerts to see her and when he can't get her, if he doesn't already have a victim, he takes girls who resemble her, until they no longer can hold up the fantasy he's created. The girls who he kept the shortest amounts of time were naturally blonde or brunette, most likely their roots began to show, breaking the facade that they were Nexus so he disposed of them."

Hotchner took over once again, "Be on the lookout for anyone who seems out of place, he'd be standing farther back from the crowd, watching, looking for their next potential victim."

With the profile given, J.J. made some calls and scheduled a press conference for the net day, to warn the public. After what happened yesterday, Reid was a little nervous about approaching Hotch, but gathering up his courage he went over and talk him what Garcia had found. "Let's go talk to her."

Without much to do the whole team, excluding J.J. climbed into the black SUV parked out front and drove to the other side of the city. Next to the apartment building was a little coffee shop that Reid was dying to go into.

"What do we do now? Knock on every door, until we find our girl?" Morgan asked.

Reid was about to make a comment about how they could check mailboxes or see if there was a call button, but someone familiar caught his attention. There was a young woman, with red hair, holding a tray with two coffees in it, walking back to the apartment building. She'd been with Nexus last night. Her roommate? Reid followed after her quickly, with his team close behind, "Hold the elevator, please!" Reid called.

Her hand pulled the doors open and she looked up at him with bemused dark brown eyes. "Hey, you're that dude from last night!"

"Uh, yeah," Spencer replied, not sure if he liked being called a "dude".

Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss were behind him, and the redhead chuckled, pointing at Hotch, "Is that your dad?"

Hotch didn't look happy, "No, I'm Agent Aaron Hotchner from the FBI BAU, this is Dr. Spencer Reid and Agents Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan. We are here to speak with a young woman named Keller Nexus. Do you know what apartment is hers?"

"What do you want Keller for? Is this because she kissed Toothpick last night?" The woman asked, Reid could tell from her posture and the defiant tone of voice hat she was very protective of her friend.

Reid could feel Prentiss' eyes on him, and Morgan stifled a chuckle. "We think she is the target of a suspected serial killer."

The woman blinked up at Reid with confused eyes and stepped out of the way of the elevator door, the team climbed on with her. "I'm going up to see Keller now." She hit the button for the top floor. "I'm Shea, by the way. Shea Ross."

The ride was quiet and a little awkward but Reid stood as still as possible not to draw too much attention to himself. The elevator shook to a halt, and the doors slid open, Shea got out first and led them down the hallway there were two doors on opposite sides but the large window at the end of the hall Shea was walking down had an excellent view of the ocean.

"Ocean view! My kind of girl," Morgan said.

Shea passed the tray with coffee to Reid, who debated stealing a sip from one of the cups, and pulled her keys from her purse, unlocking the door, she motioned them inside. The apartment was neatly decorated, with light gray walls and a mix of paintings, some vibrant and full of color and life, others with black and white.

"Hey, Shea! That you?" A voice Spencer could never forget, even if he wanted to, yelled.

"Yeah!" Shea called, "I brought coffee!"

"You're the best," She called.

A door swung open and banged against the wall, Reid startled a bit and bumped into Morgan who chuckled at his jumpiness. A woman with shiny obsidian black hair, all but ran across her kitchen and snatched one of the cups.

Morgan choked behind him and both he and Hotch averted their gaze, it took Reid a moment to figure out the odd behavior from the older men but he soon realized what was causing them to act so strange.

The girl wasn't wearing pants! Reid blushed crimson, and turned his gaze the a painting on the opposite wall. But the image was burned into his brain, and he was certain that even without an eidetic memory he'd have been able to recall every detail. Behind his eyelids Reid could still see her standing there holding a steaming cup, her hand on her hip, wearing a red lace bra and panty set, with a black button down shirt, that hardly covered her backside, only the center most button with done, giving everyone in the room a perfect view of her flat belly.

Shea was chuckling, and Reid glanced at her nervously, the girl was looking at her in confusion, "What? I get foam on my nose?"

Shea pressed her finger against her cheek and pushed until she was looking at Reid. "I remember you. We sort of met last night."

Reid's heart was hammering in his chest, she was smiling so sweetly, she looked like a little angel as she leaned up against her counter. "Yes, ahem, um, yeah, w-we did."

Taking a sip of her coffee, she waved her finger around in small circles as she tried to think of something, "Spencle, right?"

Morgan laughed behind him and Hotch cleared his throat, "I, um, i-it's Sp-Spencer, actually. Spencer Reid."

"I was close," she defended, grinning, setting her coffee cup down, and holding her hand out to him, "I'm Keller."

A sudden bemused expression came across her face and she dropped her hand before Reid could shake it, looking down at herself she pressed her lips together and let out an awkward chuckle, "I'm also not wearing any pants."

Reid scratched the back of his head and shook his head at her.

"Well this is a great second impression to have with FBI agents," Keller mumbled. Holding up both index fingers, she turned and walked out of the room.

Shea smiled and lead them over to a little sitting area that had three couches of varied sizes and patterns and two armchairs, that were turned in a way that face a large tv hanging from the wall, and the seat Reid took, faced a large window. "Keller is quite the character," Shea said, catching Spencer's attention.

"How'd she know we were FBI?" Hotchner asked, getting to the point.

"Spencer told me last night," Keller answered, she was still wearing the black shirt, but had done up a few more buttons and had a pair of leggings on with a white diamond pattern going down one leg, while the other was solid black.

"I-I did?" Spencer asked.

"I remember you mentioning something about BAU," Keller came up behind him and jumped over the sofa to sit next to him. "Didn't know what the fuck it was. Shea said it stood for Banana Apple Unicorn. But we looked it up."

"Smart," Morgan commented.

"She tries to be, and it was bad, not banana" Shea quipped.

Keller stuck her tongue out at her friend, before turning to Hotch who was sitting across from her, "So, what does the FBI want with me? Are you going to tell me there's some crazy killer after me?"

"Yes," Hotch deadpanned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back the fuck up! I was joking! There is some whack job out there coming after me?" Keller looked at everyone in the room, landing on Spencer last and glaring at him. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"Th-that's what I was there for," Spencer mumbled.

"Do you know who it is?" Keller asked Hotch.

"Unfortunately not. But we do know whoever it is has kidnapped and murdered six young girls, who all look strikingly similar to you," Hotchner explained.

"Are you blind in your left eye?" Reid blurted.

Keller shifted uncomfortably and gently bit her lower lip before answering. "Why?"

"This person is damaging these girls eyes enough that they wouldn't be able to see. Which is why we think he's after you, we did some research on you and there are no photos anywhere of you showing your left eye," Prentiss said.

The BAU gave Keller the profile though from her stiff posture and the way she'd pulled her legs up to her chest, Reid wasn't sure she was paying any attention to them. Shea kept shooting Keller worried looks, but Keller avoided eye contact with everyone in that room.

"I can't believe it's happening again," Keller whispered so low that Spencer was sure he was the only one who had heard what Keller had said.

"I'm sorry. Again?" Spencer asked. What did she mean again? Had the unsub found Keller before? I'll have to have Garcia look into the unsub's M.O. and see if there were similar murders in other cities.

"It's not important," Keller said.

"If something like this has happened around you before, it could be pertinent to this case. It could potentially mean that the unsub has been after you longer than we thought," Hotch pleaded, wanting the information Keller was refusing to give.

Keller glowered at Hotch and Reid leaned away from her. He'd seen that look before, when killers were cornered and went down shooting, his hand itched to grab the gun holstered at his hip, "No, it's not important! It happened years ago and I don't want to talk about it!"

Lunging to her feet Keller retreated to her room, slamming the door behind her with a loud crash.

"Wow, I haven't seen her that mad in two years," Shea mumbled, breaking a heavy silence that had settled over the room.

"How long before she cools down?" Morgan asked.

"From my experience with Keller, anywhere from a few minutes to a few months," Shea explained, standing up and stretching. "But, I say we should go get coffee, and come back in an hour or so to see how she's doing."

Everyone stood and made for the door, but Shea stopped Spencer before he could even take two steps. "You stay?"

"Why me?" Reid questioned, baffled.

"Keller likes you, I can tell, and I've tried to get her to open up to me before, but she's got a lot of walls around her, and she's keeping a lot of hurt inside them. Maybe you can get her to tell you some things she won't share with me," Shea told him, her look was pleading and she glanced at Keller's door. "Give her a few minutes and then knock."

She shooed Prentiss and Morgan out, Hotch had left as soon as the door was opened for him, "And a word of advice, you want anything out of Keller, you'll have to give something of yourself first."

Give something of myself? What did Shea mean by that? Spencer tossed to idea around in his head while he paced around the little apartment.


Keller


To say she was pissed was an understatement, Keller paced back and forth around her room. "What happened to Misty wasn't my fault. Was it?" Keller looked at the stuffed bear on her bed, hoping that somehow it would answer her, telling her this was some drunken dream. Why would some serial killer be infatuated with her? Must be crazier than the average psycho.

Climbing onto her bed, Keller picked Misty Bear up and looked into her glass eyes. Kicking her feet under the covers Keller made the decision to sleep through the rest of the day, Keller was just beginning to settle in and get sleep when a small tentative knock put her on full alert, and her previous annoyed attitude came back full force. "Go away, Shea!" Keller growled, flopping onto her right side, and pulling the covers over her head.

"It's, um, it's Spencer," A small, nervous voice said.

Keller debated cursing him out, and telling him to get the fuck out of her house. But this wasn't entirely his fault, he and his team were here for her, they only wanted to protect her from this serial killer who was quite possibly after her. She couldn't completely fault him for just doing his job. "Leave your gun on the table," Keller demanded, she didn't want that thing in her room, this was her safety zone.

There was a muffled clatter of metal hitting the wooden surface of the table outside Keller's door and then creaking as Spencer opened it. "Shoes too, please." Keller didn't know if Spencer did or not, and didn't poke her head from under the sheets to see if her demands were met either.

There was heavy silence that stretched on and on, Keller was curious what Spencer was doing out there. He better not be going through my stuff. Keller peeked out, glare ready, but his back was to her and he was analyzing a painting on the wall, it was one she'd done the year after she moved to the city. It was of the Grim Reaper, with a dark cloak and large black wings, and a skeletal blonde woman, fighting over Death's scythe. "Not my best work," Keller commented, and snorted when Spencer shrieked and spun around to look at her.

"No, no, it's very good," Spencer assured her.

"We are fighting for our lives everyday, but eventually Death always wins," Keller murmured, she avoided Spencer's eyes and thought about the second painted she'd hidden away in the back of her closet, it corresponded with the one on her wall. The backgrounds were nearly identical but the Reaper was now airborne his large dark wings taking up most of the canvas, he was holding his blood coated scythe with the human woman dead under him. Her work reminded her too much of Misty, so she put it away until she could look at it and not feel regret for what happened to Misty.

"That only means we have to fight harder," Spencer said, coming over to the edge of Kellers bed.

Keller looked up and him and gave him a slow grin, "I suppose it does. Cheating here and there doesn't hurt that much either."

Spencer laughed softly, "I've dodged my fair share of bullets."

"Are you being serious? Because no offence but you look like more of an indoor guy, not a field guy getting shot at every other day," Keller mused looking Spener up and down, he had indeed taking off his shoes like she had asked, and his fucking socks didn't even match. Is he really an FBI agent? Or was my previous idea right? That grumpy looking asshole is his dad?

"Yeah, um, I am a field guy," Spencer said squinting his eyes at her. That look did odd things to her belly, and she wanted to pull him into her bed.

"Have you ever gotten shot by someone?" Keller asked.

"No, I haven't," Spencer answered.

"Shot someone?" Keller whispered.

Spencer hesitated a moment before speaking, "Yes."

They were silent for a while, Spencer was the first to break the strenuous eye contact and Keller looked around her room, nervous that Spencer might think she was messy. But with all things there was a method to the madness that surrounded her. "You've asked me some things. May I ask you some questions?"

Keller looked up at Spencer who was squinting at her again, patting the place on the mattress beside her, she waiting until Spencer sat down, before scooting away, "What do you want to know about me?"

Spencer looked like he was deep in thought, his lips fluttered quickly like her was talking quietly to himself, finally he looked her in the eye again and asked a question far simpler than Keller was expecting. "Do you like living in New York?"

Keller squinted at Spencer the, the way he was doing to and then giggled to herself, she couldn't see hardly anything and being short an eye didn't help, "I actually hate living in cities," Keller admitted.

Spencer looked a little shocked by this, "Then why stay?"

"My careers mostly. There are a lot of people in cities who like the type of art I do, and art auctions help me sell some of my paintings and such. Also when it's nice out I like to sit on the curb with my paintings and let people look at them" Keller explained.

"You didn't mention your singing career," Spencer told her.

"If you try and analyze me, I'll kick you out too," Keller warned. "But, I didn't mention it because, singing was more a means to an end. Bars will pay a couple hundred bucks for entertainment, and when I was younger, I needed money. I didn't live somewhere people appreciated my paintings."

"You are a lot different from the girl who kissed me last night," Spencer observed, his mouth quirking up into a grin.

Keller blushed and covered her face with her hands, lowing her head and laughing, "Shut up!" Coming back up Keller smiled at Spencer, "It's because Nexus, is more of a persona I use around crowds. I guess the easiest way to say it is, Nexus and Keller are two different people."

"You have a separate personality?" Spencer asked.

Keller chuckled and shook her head, "I wouldn't go that far, but did you ever have a different version of yourself in your head? Someone who could say and do things the real you would never dream of? That's what Nexus is for me," Keller explained quietly, that's who Shea had met three years ago, Nexus, and that's who Keller was for her. Keller was uncomfortable on stage and in large crowds, but Shea was right at home, and after three years, Keller never mentioned that the life Shea had planned for them wasn't one that she wanted.

"That's very interesting, and it is a thing too. It's called the id, ego and superego. The id is the unorganized part of our personality, the part that controls our most basic human needs. Particularly sexual desires. The ego pleases the id in realistic ways, benefiting it in the long run. And the superego, is taught to us by our parents and other outside forces, reflecting cultural rules," Keller sat stunned, while Spencer rattled off the info like he was reading directly from a book, his fingers fidgeted as he spoke and when he was finished he looked and Keller and laughed a bit at himself for getting carried away, "Sorry."

"It's fine, but truth be told, you lost me after you stopped talking about sex," Keller teased nudging him with her shoulder.

Spencer stuttered for a moment, before he finally realized that Keller was picking on him, "In most societies people, especially women, are quite uncomfortable talking about sexual intercourse, it's seen as taboo, to talk about certain desires and previous partners."

Keller snorted and shook her head at Spencer, "I'm all for breaking statistics."

"Is this Keller or Nexus I'm talking to," Spencer asked.

"We are one in the same, our personalities blend together, but at the end of the day, I always put Keller first," Keller murmured, more to herself than to Spencer. She wasn't sure when it had happened but Nexus had become more than just a persona that Keller used on stage.

Keller shifted until her side was pressed against Spencer and she took comfort in his solid presence, while he was thin and lanky Keller could feel the cords of muscle he had. Must be from chasing down bad guys.

"What else can you tell me about this case?" Keller asked, she'd been zoning in and out hours ago, her mind flipping between the conversation and into the safety of her own mind. Keller listened carefully as Spencer told her everything he knew about the cases, stopping him a few times when he got to rambling about different statistics and getting him back on pointe.

While Spencer had been explaining the case Keller ending up with her arms wrapped around one of his. "If this guy is just plucking girls of the street, how are you going to protect me, Spencer?"

Spencer cleared his throat, "Well, the FBI would put you in protective custody, move you out of the city into a safe house. Then the FBI and the NYPD will work together and try to lure him out. There is a possibility that with you and Shea no longer performing for a while he may get sloppy, try and seek you out and when he makes a mistake, we'll be there to catch him. But first you need to come to the station with us," Spencer informed her, his little stutter was gone, Keller assumed he was just getting more comfortable around her. She'd have to fix that later.

"I'm not going into protective custody," Keller snipped.

Spencer was about to say something when his phone started to ring, pulling his phone out, Spencer squinted at the caller idea before accepting the call and putting his phone to his ear, "Hey, JJ. No, Hotch got kicked out. Yeah, Morgan too. No, I'm still with her. OK, I'll bring her in."

Spencer hung up and gave Keller a sullen look, "Where are you taking me?"

"We have to go to the station. Another girl has been reported missing."