"Reid, it's one am, what is your problem?"
"The unsub, the unsub is after her."
"Who?"
"Macy! The same car, in the same make, model, year and color as one of the ones by the orchard has circled her hotel room four times since I dropped her off. And she meets the base physical description, and the unsub doesn't have a red head yet. And…and… the phone cut off while she was calling me, and the unsub had gotten out of the car. I have my gun, and I'm going over there now. I suggest you get the team together unless you want our new member dead and our unsub off scott free." Then he hung up. Realizing he was dead serious, Hotch called the others and headed to the hotel Macy was staying at.
Spencer walked quietly along the lines of the hotel property, after driving entirely faster than ever before to get there. The person Macy had seen was trying to pick the lock. Macy had turned all her lights out and closed the blinds. The unsub check the window for a lock. They were impatient. They turned to the car, he could see it was a woman now. She pulled a large post from her trunk and hit the door once, squarely, and it fell to the floor. Spencer was sprinting now, gun in hand. He saw Hotch and Emily's cars screetching into the lot but he kept running. He was at the door, and there she was, Macy. She was lying face down on the floor with the unsub's foot in her back.
"Get down, hands on your head, face on the floor, right now or I will shoot." Spencer's voice boomed out, more confident than general, though when he looked down at Macy his eyes were fearful.
"You make one move to shoot me, and she gets its. And believe me, it won't be fast or pretty." She drew a switch blade and flicked it open. Just then, Hotch and the others showed up behind Spencer, all armed.
"Reid, I got-" Hotch started to whisper but was cut off
"I got this one, Hotch. Let me do this. I got her into this mess so let me get her out." Spencer gave Hotch a look and then turned to the unsub again. 'M'am, we are FBI agents. You need to step away from the woman, get on your knees, lean on your elbows and put your hands on your head. Right. Now." He cocked the gun. The unsub threw the knife at a window and threw herself to the ground. Hotch dove for her, and cuffed her. Spencer ran over to Macy, pulled her off the ground, and looked her over for injuries.
"I'm so sorry, Mace. I should have never asked you to come out here. This is all my fault." He shook his head and looked down at her, his eyes apologetic.
"Spence, this isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself for everything." Spencer surprised everyone then by grabbing her and hugging her tightly enough to lift her off the ground slightly.
'Thank goodness you're okay."
They all went to the station and Spencer hovered behind Macy the entire time until JJ pulled him away.
"Hey. She's important to you, huh?"
"She was my best friend at the university. We were in the same dorm, and we were both the awkward outcast types, and we struck up a friendship one day, on the way to class on a rainy day. We talked after we graduated, and I still consider her my closest friend. She was the first person I met that seemed to genuinely…understand me, I suppose. She helped me open up, I helped her. Her anxiety was bad, so some weekends I would just sit in her dorm room with her and calm her down. I was the one who figured out about anxiety animals, and helped her pick out Persephone. She helped me pull back when I babbled too much and just generally fit in better. We made a good team. That's why I offered her the job here. She's brilliant and intuitive and because I thought it would be nice, as much as I love all of you, to have a like mind around."
"What I wanna know, Spencer, is when you fell in love with her. I have never seen you take charge like that. You're always the good cop. But you would have shot that woman before she laid a finger on Macy."
"Hum. You would figure it out and have the guts to ask first. I guess… after we graduated. I was out here, she was in California, and I just felt like something was missing from my life. And one day I realized it was her."
Macy walked out a few seconds later, thoroughly shaken. She went straight to Spencer.
"I'm through being questioned. Hey. Spence? Can I…Can I crash with you? I don't really want to be alone at night right now…"
"Absolutely." He looked at her for a second before hugging her again. "We'll run by the hotel, check you out and grab your stuff."
He drove her to the hotel, keeping one eye on her. She bit her lip. He took one hand off the wheel and squeezed her hand.
"You'll be okay." He whispered. "You'll be okay." She nodded at him, but looked terrified at the same time.
He went with her into the room, placing his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. She gathered her things, scooping Persephone up off the bed and handing the cage to Spencer, so she could hold her cat.