Short chapter – but wanted to update! I'm going to try and work on another chapter tonight! xoxo
(xxxxx)
Halloween had passed, fall was officially here, and it seemed the serial killers were coming out in droves. Spencer and the team were taking case after case. Much to his relief, there had been no sign of Carter's father since the package delivery a month before.
Once Carter seemed to lower her defenses, she approached Spencer about the job she had accepted as the Disney princess. He was very excited for her, though a bit uneasy about her being away that close to the end of her pregnancy. He obviously wasn't going to stand in the way of a huge opportunity, but it seemed to add another notch in their growing anxiety.
Between the stress of her father and being pregnant, Carter was easily agitated and took out a lot of her anger on Spencer. He didn't help much on his end. With exhaustion from his job and concern for his wife and child, he was just as snippy with her. The wedge was beginning to grow deeper between them. The tension so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife.
It was a cold, rainy night the first Wednesday in November. Carter was scheduled for an appointment the following day to find out the sex of the baby. She was in the kitchen cooking soup and sandwiches for dinner, while Spencer worked on paperwork he hadn't completed at work.
"Zeus, drop it! Drop it! Give me the damn remote!"
Carter walked out of the kitchen to see Spencer on one side of the couch and Zeus on the other, with the TV remote control in his mouth.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"He has the remote control and won't drop it," Spencer said angrily.
"He thinks you are playing with him," Carter replied. "Zeus drop."
Zeus put the remote down on the floor and wagged his tail.
"Sit," she said and he obliged. "Stay."
Carter walked over and picked up the remote and handed it to Spencer.
"Great. He ate a few of the buttons. I'll have to buy a new one," he said as he walked over to the trash can and tossed it inside.
"It's not like you watch TV that much anyway," she said as she opened the back door to let Zeus out.
"That's not the point! He's eating everything in the house! We buy him toys, he eats our things!" Spencer snapped.
"He's teething, what do you expect? You gonna have a fit like this when our child chews on something?" she growled back.
"That is completely different and you know it!" he said angrily.
"It's not different at all," she said as she stalked back into the kitchen. "Dinners ready."
"I'm not hungry," he pouted.
"Fine than!" she cried as she tossed his bowl of soup into the sink.
"What is your problem?" he said folding his arms across his chest.
"You are my problem! All you ever do is bitch about the dog! You aren't even here half the time! Why the fuck do you care what the dog does?" she said with her hands on her hips.
"Because he keeps eating all my things! If you would maybe train him, perhaps he wouldn't eat everything!"
"He's a dog! He's going to eat things! It's a phase he will grow out of!" Carter yelled.
"I never wanted a stupid dog! I don't want to wait for him to grow out of eating my stuff! Take care of the damn thing and it wouldn't eat everything!" he yelled back.
"I do take care of him! By myself! Because I'm always alone! Because you are always gone! Just like it's going to be when I have this baby!"
"You knew this when you met me! Quit trying to guilt me for doing my job!"
"Well, I hate you and your stupid job!" she cried before storming out of the room.
Spencer grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Let go of me!" she shouted as she tried to break free of his grasp.
"No! You are not walking away after saying that to me!" he said angrily.
"Let go! Let go of me!" she growled as she tried to pry his fingers off of her.
Finally, he let go and she ran from the room. He watched her go with a frustrated and broken heart. He knew she was just upset, but the words still hurt him deeply. He walked to the back door and opened it to let in Zeus, who had been scratching at the window.
He hurried past Spencer and raced off to find Carter. Spencer followed him slowly. When he reached the top of the stairs, he could hear Zeus whimpering outside of their bedroom door. Carter had obviously shut the door, keeping the dog and Spencer from entering the room.
He lifted his hand to knock when his cell phone rang. He looked down and sighed. Of course, they had a case.
(xxxxx)
Spencer climbed onto the jet with a frown. He saw everyone giving him curious looks, but nobody said anything at the moment. Which was probably for the best as Carter had given him the iciest cold shoulder he'd ever seen. She didn't even let him in the room to say goodbye. She tossed his go-bag out and slammed the door shut, locking it.
He was trying not to be terrified that she would want to divorce him. He knew in his heart that she was just stressed and so was he, but it didn't help his irrational side create scenarios of her leaving and never seeing his child.
"Earth to Reid."
Spencer looked up to see Derek staring at him.
"Hmm?"
"You ok?" Derek asked.
"Uh, yeah, sorry," he apologized.
"Come on Reid. I can see the gears turning, what's going on?"
"I really don't want to talk about it right now. I'm tired and I just want to get some rest before we get to Texas," he said.
Derek put his hands up in surrender. Spencer sighed and tucked himself closer to the window before shutting his eyes. He couldn't stop hearing Carter's voice saying "I hate you," over and over again. Times when an eidetic memory sucked.
(xxxxx)
The weather was atrocious the following day in Texas. It was raining heavily and there were tornado watches for most of the surrounding counties. Spencer and Alex were at the victim's home, analyzing the crime scene when his phone rang. He looked but didn't recognize the number.
"This is Dr. Reid," he said.
"Dr. Reid, this is Samantha at Dr. Cullen's office. Your wife was scheduled for an appointment with our sonographer this morning at 10:30, but she hasn't arrived. We wanted to make sure everything was ok," the woman on the other end stated.
"She might've slept in or forgot, let me give her a call and get back to you," he said.
He hung up and noticed Alex watching him.
"Carter didn't go to her doctor's appointment this morning," he said, trying to stay calm.
She looked concerned as he lifted his phone back to his ear and waited as the phone continued to ring, unanswered.
"Hey, it's me. Give me a call when you get this. Just want to make sure you are ok. Love you."
He hung up and looked anxiously at Alex.
"Go, I can handle it from here," she assured him.
He seemed hesitant to go, but something inside him was screaming something was wrong.
"Spencer, go. Everything here will be ok," Alex said again.
He nodded and walked outside to get an officer to take him back to the station.
(xxxxx)
Spencer's heart raced when he pulled into the driveway. The lights were off. Maybe she was sleeping. She was probably still mad at him. To be on the safe side, he took his gun out of the holster and turned the handle to the front door. To his dismay, it wasn't locked.
His first sign of concern was that Zeus didn't greet him at the door. He walked into the kitchen and looked around to see that it was empty. He opened the supplies cabinet and took out a flashlight. He slowly walked towards the stairs and his heart dropped when he saw blood stains.
He moved with more speed. His heart racing. He reached the top of the stairs and headed for the master bedroom. He could hear Zeus whining softly. He shined his light into the room and saw the blood-soaked dog watching him. His ears were back and he was whimpering.
Spencer turned the light on in the bedroom and nearly threw up at the sight of the room. Things were ransacked, clothes and items all over the room. He saw a man face down in a pool of blood. But the worst sight was his wife laying lifelessly on the bed. Her arms were tied to the bedpost. She was naked and covered in blood and bruises. He shook as he reached over to touch her throat.
He dropped to his knees as he took his phone from his pocket.