Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds and its characters. Hannah is my character.

Author's Note: The first few chapters will resemble the previous versions, but with some parts missing. I'm trying to make this flow better and I have a clearer idea of where this is going. Please review!

Chapter 2

Compulsion

Things became complicated after Spencer returned home from Seattle. Spencer hid his feelings from his team about their cases and the unsubs they chased, but Hannah always saw the aftermath. It didn't matter how well he hid those feelings, Hannah still read him like a book. Spencer acted different. He held her like a glass doll when they made love. It drove her crazy.

Hannah recognized these symptoms. Sexual assault cases troubled him. He thought not all men act like monsters and so he acted as though he could make up for those monsters. It happened before, after every sexual abuse case Spencer ever worked, but it frightened Hannah. She feared one day he might lose himself to his personal demons and his work demons, and she never wanted to lose the wonderful, nerdy, awkward Spencer Reid that Hannah fell in love with the night they met. Hannah felt blessed with Spencer, but he worried her.

She worried that someday something very drastic would happen and turn Spencer into someone else. Hannah feared that day and resolved she would never let him go over the deep end. More FBI agents suffered from burnout than those who escaped it, more so in the BAU.

After one too many drinks at Aaron's team and family barbeque, Hannah let loose all her anxieties and picked a fight.

"I hate what the field does to you! You bring it home with you. I know you try not to, but you do."

"How do I bring it home?"

"Ever since you got back from Seattle, you've treated me like a victim!"

"No I haven't."

"You've been acting like I'm made of glass." Hannah turned around and pointed at him. "After every rape case you work, you do it. And you keep doing it until another case takes the place of that nightmare. I love you, Spencer, and I know how critical your work is, but right now the BAU is driving me mad!"

Spencer stood frozen for a moment.

"Do you want me to transfer?"

"No! I don't want you to transfer. You do important work. I want you to stop shutting me out. I want you to talk to me, include me, not leave me to figure out what the hell happened out in the field by reading you and your actions."

"You want me to talk to you about my cases?"

"Yes, if that's what you need to do so you can talk to me about what's troubling you."

"No! Absolutely not. I won't have you psychoanalyzing me."

Hannah crossed her arms.

"Who the hell said anything about psychoanalysis, because I certainly didn't. Damn it Spencer, you can't shut me out forever!"

"Hannah, I'm trying to protect you!"

"Stop! I don't want that. I know what's out there in the world and I can handle it."

"No, you can't."

"Well thank you very much for making me fell like a fucking five year old!"

"Hannah, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yes you did!"

"I don't want to argue with you right now. You had too many drinks at the barbeque tonight and you're drunk."

"You always avoid a fight by saying I'm drunk. Stop it."

"Because you want to fight when you get too drunk!"

"That is not true!"

"We will continue discussing this in the morning."

"Fine!"

As he followed her up the stairs he noticed she walked past their bedroom, and headed straight for their guest bedroom. She slept there when they fought.

"You're going to sleep in the guest bedroom?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"I'm too angry to sleep next to you!" Hannah slammed the door behind her.

The next morning, Hannah slipped out before Spencer even woke up, a common occurrence after a fight. On her door he found a note:

I'm not asking for the gory details, just that you talk to me. I'm here for you, but are you here for me? If you think this is protecting me, then you don't know me as well as you think you do. Just ask Aaron. I've been listening to his troubles about these cases since you joined the team. He didn't even have to ask. I told him I would listen, which is exactly what I told you when you went into the FBI, but you seem to have forgotten that. I'm not fragile Spencer. I can handle a lot more than anyone thinks I can. - I love you. Hannah

He put the note in his bag, and left the house fifteen minutes later. On the way to work, Spencer ran various apologies and conversations through his head, but before he could apologize to Hannah, a new case and a firebug whisked the team to Arizona.


Aaron waited until the rest of the team nodded off on the plane before he sat down across from Spencer.

"What's going on with you and Hannah?"

"Did she tell you about our fight?"

"No. I last talked to her at the barbeque. I know something happened between you because I see it weighing on you."

"She wants me to talk to her about the cases instead of shutting her out. And she left me this."

Spencer pulled the note out of his satchel and handed it over. As he watched Aaron read it, he watched for micro-expressions.

"I love how to the point she is." Aaron said with a grin. "Talk to her. Open up to her. She can handle it."

"What if Hannah can't handle it?"

"She would have talked you out of joining the BAU instead of supporting you. Reid, Hannah's always there for you. Make the same effort. Talk to her about the cases. She wants to give you a healthy way to unload."

"That's healthy? Talking with her about what we see and what we deal with?"

"Reid, Hannah's much stronger than you give her credit for. Remember, I've met her parents too."

Spencer laughed. He loved Hannah's parents, but their odd way of preparing their children for the real world unnerved him. Hannah and her siblings called it 'Scare Tactics'. They watched films about drug abuse, eating disorders, runaway teens and teen pregnancy before high school, and toured treatment centers. Their psychologist parents worked with patients traumatized by various kinds of abuse and never wanted their kids to go down those dangerous paths, so they gave them reality checks wherever and whenever possible.

"Why didn't Hannah tell me before now that you talk to her about the cases?"

"I assumed you already knew. Hannah never said anything..." Aaron closed his eyes and shook his head. "She never said anything to either confirm or deny that belief. I'm sorry Reid. Hannah and I have steered clear of discussing anything private about you and Haley, so I thought that'swhy she never brought it up."

"What does she say when you talk to her about the cases?"

Aaron stayed quite for a whole minute while he thought about what he would say next.

"Hannah is insanely gifted in psychology. She's more than handled anything I've told her; she's helped me when the cases threatened to drive me over the edge. I would put her on the team, except for the fact that I fear she would execute the unsubs."

"I noticed that when I started at the Academy and talked to her about what we studied in class. That's part of the reason I stopped talking to her about this."

"I've been talking to her about everything, so you might as well. Trust me when I say this, it will help."

Head back on the rest, Spencer watched Aaron for a few seconds.

"Okay. I'll talk to her."