Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Author's Note(s): Your kindness never ceases to amaze me. A massive thank you to Angelus-Summers, rogueandkurt, IheartTV 'tv-lovin-hottie' (Hehe didn't you briefly change your name at some point?), smokeylove (No I wasn't intending to make it a pairing to be honest. They are both in a pretty bad place right now and I'm not sure that would be a good start to a relationship), bumblebee917 and Dr. Cameron.

Easier to Lie
Chapter 4

"Reid! Will you slow down!"

Surprised, Spencer looked sideways at JJ, who was clinging to the inside of the car door as if for dear life. He took his foot off the accelerator pedal until they were going at what JJ seemed to deem a respectable speed.

"Better?" Spencer asked.

"Yes," JJ replied, pursing her lips.

Spencer grinned. He hadn't felt this good in the long time. For the last week he had been giving himself a smaller dose of dilaudid than he usually would. As much as it pained him he knew it had been for the best. But after trying to sleep in that horrific hotel room last night he knew he couldn't take it any more. Until the end of this case he was going to up his dosage again. How was he supposed to concentrate on the case when he was experiencing such awful withdrawal symptoms anyway? It was better this way. So this morning he had given himself a little more than he normally would have done and was feeling worlds better for it.

"How much further is it?" asked JJ, consulting a dog-eared map that Sheriff Regal had provided for them, "You know this actually has a smudge on the place we're going to."

"Don't worry. I checked on the internet before we left. I know where we're going. Should be there in about fifteen minutes," said Spencer, hoping he sounded reassuring.

Oddly, JJ still looked rather uneasy as she turned to look out the window. Spencer tried to ignore it though; she had looked like that since they started this journey more than an hour ago. Spencer felt that a more important question than how this man found the bodies was what on earth he was doing so far from home so early in the morning. It was a fairly long drive.

Snow was so beautiful, Spencer thought wonderingly. It was falling down gently, already covering the roads and fields in a thin white blanket. He wished the window wipers on this car were more effective though, they were rather slow and it was making for a difficult driving environment. Perhaps that was what was making JJ edgy.

"What is the guy's name again?" said JJ, interrupting Spencer's thoughts.

"David Canavan," he said immediately, "Says he was going shopping in Staten Island but overestimated how it would take him to get there, so he went for a walk and stumbled across the bodies."

"Are we here?" JJ said.

"What?"

Spencer looked forwards just in time to see a small house before he passed it. Without thinking he slammed on the breaks.

The car screeched and skidded across the ground before coming a stop with a jolt. Spencer was dimly aware of JJ exclaiming a list of expletives as they were thrown forward against their seatbelts.

"Ow!" JJ cried.

Spencer quickly undid his seatbelt and tried to steady his erratic breathing.

"JJ! Are you hurt?" he said, frantically trying to assess if she had any injuries.

Cradling her hand to her chest, JJ looked up with fury in her eyes, "Yes I'm hurt! I think I've sprained my wrist. What the hell possessed you to jam on the breaks?"

Spencer fumbled for words before offering a weak, "I…don't know."

A disgusted look was all he got as response as JJ used her good hand to open the car door and get out. He jumped to follow her and soon they found themselves at the front door of David Canavan's house where a feeble looking old man opened the door.

With a delighted smile, Spencer noted how heavy the snow was becoming. It was very pretty. He resisted the sudden urge to run out into the field and try to make snow angels. It would be silly because as soon as he did they would just fill up with snow again.

Instead he followed JJ into the warmth of the house, which in Spencer's opinion would be more appropriately be called a shack for it seemed to be half made of wood and shabby windows to keep in the heat.


Two hours, a cup of tea, and several chocolate biscuits later, Spencer and JJ were finally leaving Mr. Canavan's home. He had insisted they stay for a while and warm up. He had even bandaged JJ's wrist to stop herself from injuring it anymore. At first JJ had declined the offer of tea and biscuits but Spencer decided it would be rude to refuse him as well. He had seemed so upset when JJ had announced they were leaving so soon.

Now he regretted it. The snow was thickening and it was becoming increasingly difficult to drive. They should have left earlier.

"Hey, JJ?" Spencer said.

"Yes?" she replied. By her tone he could tell she was still annoyed with him for making them stay so long.

"Maybe you should call someone and let them know we are all right," he said, bracing himself for a snappy reply.

"I already tried," JJ said in a resigned voice, "There's no signal out here."

Damn.

"I don't think I can drive for much longer," Spencer said, thoroughly ashamed for not having thought of this potential problem, "The snow is too deep and I can barely see through the window."

He felt more than saw the glare that JJ shot in his direction.

Then, as if on cue, the engine seemed to splutter and cough. Spencer gripped the steering wheel tighter, as though that would stop the car from dying. Die it did though. Almost as though a cheesy writer of fiction were doing their best to make Spencer and JJ's life even more awkward than it already was.

As the car slowed to an eventual stop, Spencer leaned forward to rest his forehead on the steering wheel with a huge sigh. For a good five minutes neither of them moved or said anything. Spencer could practically hear the stream of swearwords running through JJ's head though.

The drugs were loosing their initial potency. Spencer could feel his endless source of energy slowly draining away. Every day this happened, and every day he felt a stab of terror when he realised he would have to fall back into reality where the world was so harsh and cruel. He tried to pull himself together and think of something to do. He looked up and turned to JJ. She was staring blankly at the snow that coated the front window, making it impossible to see.

"What are we going to do?" she said after noticing him looking at her, "We can't stay here. We'll freeze."

Spencer almost flinched at the tone of her voice. It was not one of anger as he was expecting, but one that could almost pass for cold indifference if not for the underlying hint of fear. He looked out of the side window; it was the only one that it was still possible to see out of. The only thing for miles around was what looked like a barn about a mile away.

"We are going to walk to that barn over there and see if we can find something to keep us warm," Spencer said, hoping he sounded like he knew what he was doing.

Thankfully, JJ didn't argue with him. He didn't miss the tension in her movements though. Or the growing look of apprehension on her face. It didn't occur to him at the time that taking JJ to a barn highly reminiscent of the one by Tobias Hankle's house while she was in this fragile state might not be a good idea.


Author's Note(s): I know I promised tears, tantrums and troubles, but the leading up to it was taking a tad longer than I was anticipating…so I'm going to break it down into two chapters and post this now as I think it would be preferable than waiting another day for me to finish it properly.

Next chapter could either be the second half to this one or I could go back to the rest of the team and do one about them realising that JJ and Reid are missing and such. Please let me know what you would prefer :)

Thank you again for reading!