By the time Penelope pulled into Reid's apartment complex, Emily was all caught up on Spencer's drug relapse. If she hadn't felt like the scum of the earth before, she certainly felt that way now. How could she have let this happen to him? No wonder he was so angry at her. Derek pulled in only seconds behind them and they raced into the building, running up the steps quickly. When they reached the third floor, Derek pounded on Spencer's door.
"Reid, open up!" he hollered. Clearly not caring about the neighbors.
He knocked furiously again, when he heard Reid shout he was coming. They heard the locks unclicking before he swung the door open. He looked disoriented. His hair was a mess and his eyes were glazed.
"What?" he growled.
"Can we come in?" Penelope said politely.
"Sure, it's only like 3 in the morning. Who needs sleep anyway? It's overrated," he said sarcastically moving to the side.
Once everyone was in the entryway they stared at him expectantly.
"Can I ask what do I owe this pleasure?" he said faking a smile.
"Are you high?" Derek asked bluntly.
"Well we're getting right down to business aren't we," he said giving them each a dirty glare. Especially Emily. "No Morgan, I'm not high. I'm tired. I was sleeping. I was woken up by you three pounding like angry villagers."
"Let me see your arms," Derek insisted.
Spencer rolled his eyes. "I suppose saying no is out of the question?"
"You voluntarily show me or I'll roll them up myself," Derek stated.
"See what trouble you cause," Spencer said to Emily before rolling up his sleeves.
Emily recoiled at the hurtful comment. Derek and Penelope visibly relaxed at Spencer's clear skin.
"We didn't mean to accuse you. I just know …" Derek began.
"That the she-demon is back and I wouldn't know how to handle it so I'd go on a drug binge again. I get it, but you can all chill because I didn't go get drugs. I have no intention of getting any drugs. I just want to sleep," he said rubbing his face.
Emily tried to hold back her tears, but was proving to be unsuccessful.
"Reid, I know you're upset, but I think you are being way too hard on Emily," Derek said.
"Is that so? Ok, well how about I just go pretend I'm dead for a while and then I'll come back in like 5 months and we'll reevaluate this situation," he said mockingly.
"Reid," Penelope said defensively.
"I'm sorry, Spencer. I really and truly am so sorry. I wish I could go back in time and do it differently, but I can't. I never meant to hurt you or any of you. I can see that I'm only causing more problems and I can assure you, you won't need to worry. I will stay out of your way and as soon as I possibly can I will find a way to transfer out. I'm glad you are ok. Morgan, Garcia, I'm going home. Goodnight," she said tearfully as she turned and left the apartment.
Penelope ran after Emily, leaving Derek alone with Spencer.
"Come on man, this isn't you," Derek said in disgust.
"The real me died with Emily Prentiss. I will never get over what she did and I kindly ask that you let it be. I know you are worried about me, but I'm still going to meetings and I have no desire to take Dilaudid. I just want to sleep. So please go home and I'll see you tomorrow," Spencer said void of emotion.
Derek shook his head and walked toward the door. "What happened was messed up, but she doesn't deserve this. I don't like this Spencer Reid and I don't believe for one second he died a long time ago. He's still there and you're too much of stubborn ass to let him out. So you keep those walls up all you want, but don't expect me to have your back when you act like this."
Derek shut the door, leaving Spencer alone and angry.
(xxxxx)
Spencer, Derek, J.J. and Emily took off running toward mansion. Once they opened the front door, Derek and Emily ran upstairs, while Spencer and J.J. checked the downstairs. Throughout the house the sound of "clear" could be heard. Spencer walked into the kitchen and ducked just in time as a bullet flew past his head. It hit a glass cabinet that showered down on him. He jumped up to follow the unsub out the backdoor, yelling into his com-link. As he burst through the back door and ran full speed towards the man, he heard J.J. running behind him. The unsub was nearing a fence. If Spencer didn't act now, they would lose him. Stopping in his track, he let two rounds go. The second knocked the unsub off his feet.
"Nice shot," J.J. said as she ran past him.
They reached the unsub who was lying face down moaning and holding his leg.
"My knee! You shot my knee!" the man cried.
"You're lucky that's all I hit," Spencer said as he turned the man over to handcuff him.
Suddenly behind them there was a loud explosion. Spencer and J.J. turned around to see the entire house engulfed in flames. A few police officers reached them and offered to stay with him until the medics arrived. Spencer and J.J. nodded and ran off towards the house. When they reached the front yard, they both looked around for their team. J.J. spotted Rossi and Hotch over by a giant tree.
"Where's Morgan and Prentiss?" J.J. asked.
"Still inside," Rossi said with a look of fear on his face. "They aren't responding."
"What?" Spencer said as he reached them.
"Morgan? Prentiss? Do you copy?" Hotch said into the com-link.
There was no response. Spencer could feel his heart racing and head spinning. He needed to get inside and save her. He couldn't let anything happen to her. Especially not after what he said. Spencer started to run towards the front door, but Rossi had reached out and grabbed him around the waist.
"No way, Kid. It's too dangerous," he said holding him back.
"Let go! I need to get in there!" he shouted as he tried to push away Rossi's hands.
"Reid, it's too dangerous. The fire department is nearly here," Hotch said with authority.
Spencer threw his hands into his hair and looked at J.J. who was staring back at him with the same fear in her eyes. They both watched the giant mansion burning brilliantly as they silently prayed.
"Morgan? Prentiss? Do you copy?" they heard Hotch say again.
With that they heard a loud window smash. They took off running toward the sound. When they reached the back yard, Spencer spotted Derek climbing out the second story window.
"Morgan!" Spencer shouted as the team ran closer to where he was climbing down a drain pipe.
Once Derek landed on his feet, he began coughing.
"Morgan was Prentiss with you?" Hotch asked as they reached him.
"I'm right here."
They looked up and saw Emily climbing out the window next. Spencer nearly fell to his knees in relief. He watched as she shimmied down the pipe and waited to help her get down the rest of the way. She was surprised to see he was the one helping her.
"Thank you," she said before letting out a loud cough.
"Are you ok?" Spencer asked her as they walked away from the burning building.
"I think so," she said before sitting down in the grass.
"We were just heading to the stairs when the entire downstairs blew up," Derek said in a bit of shock. "Knocked us both off our feet." Rossi was looking Derek over while he told them what happened inside.
Spencer kept looking Emily over and noticed her arm was blistering.
"Come on, we need to get you to a medic," he said helping her to her feet.
Once the fire department arrived and the scene calmed down, Spencer walked over to the ambulance to check on Emily. She was sitting on the bumper as one of the medics rolled gauze around her arm.
"How's the arm?" he asked.
"It's fine. Second degree burn. Nothing serious," Emily responded avoiding eye contact.
After the medic finished and walked off to check on Derek, Spencer stood alone with Emily.
"Emily," he started.
"It's ok. I'm fine. You don't have to worry," Emily said getting up and walking off.
"Wait, please let me talk," he said following her.
Emily stopped and looked at him with so much sadness in her eyes that it actually hurt him. He had caused that pain and all because he was afraid.
"I'm sorry. For everything. I'm sorry for the way I treated you and what I said to you. I was scared. I have never felt so depressed … so alone than when I thought you were dead. I have been through a lot of shit in my life and I've never wanted to die before … until I lost you. When you came back I felt relief and shock and my love for you came rolling back. But then I thought about losing you again and how I couldn't bear to feel that way again. So I put up a wall to keep you out. To protect myself from that pain," he said as he shook with emotion.
"Spencer, believe me I understand why you did what you did. I wish none of this ever happened and I could take it all back, but I'm here now and I won't go anywhere ever again. I would never make that same mistake twice. I can't live without you. I've tried and I can't," she said as tears slipped from her eyes. "I came back for you. I wasn't supposed to come home, but I decided I'd rather die than spend another minute without you."
Spencer took a deep breath as tears filled his eyes. He tried to blink it away when he felt Emily's arms around his neck. Without caring who was watching, Spencer wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He pressed his lips into her hair kissing her.
"I love you Emily," he said.
Emily pulled back from their hug with a look of surprise on her face. Spencer lifted his hands to her cheeks and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.
"I've loved you from the moment you stepped foot into the BAU. The moment you first spoke Arabic and saw how you weren't just a knock out, but brilliant as well," he said.
Emily pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him feverishly.
"Does that mean you love me too?" he asked leaning back a bit.
"Hell yes it does," she said before pulling him back to her mouth.
Behind them, they heard someone clear their throat. Breaking the kiss they turned to see Rossi, Hotch, Morgan, and J.J. staring at them. J.J. wore a smile, Derek and Rossi had smirks, Hotch held an unreadable expression.
"We'll talk about this later?" Spencer said wincing.
"Yep," Hotch said before walking off.
"Oh we'll talk about this later too," Derek grinned as he walked away with Rossi and J.J.
"Well, this should be fun," Spencer said turning back into Emily's arms.
"We'll figure it out. We always do," she said as she kissed him again.
