Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds but wish I did

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When Reid's alarm clock rang on Monday morning, he swore loudly, feeling like he had just gotten to sleep after a restless night. His mind had been fixated on Melanie Masterson's murder and the answer that was just beyond his grasp. Something JJ had said was sticking in his mind. What if it wasn't the man who was having the affair that was the murderer but the wife, whose chance at the white house could be ruined by her husband's mistress. The more he thought about it, and remembered the glaring looks he had received from Gloria Ritchie, the more he felt he was on to something.

He set about making his coffee, then hit the shower. Just as he was coming out from the bathroom, his phone rang. "Reid"

"Good morning Spencer."

"Hi Janice, all ready for your trip to St. Louis?"

"Yes, I'm leaving shortly. I just called to remind you that Evan will be at Manny's and you're the contact for the school. I'll be back in four days."

"Okay, have fun." He scratched his head. "Do librarians have fun?"

"Of course we do, the misconceptions people have about librarians!"

"Hey, personally I love em."

"You would, bye Spencer."

"Bye Janice."

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When Reid arrived at Quantico, he asked Garcia to look up any information on Gloria Ritchie, Rona Meisner and Lana Moore. He then headed for the bullpen; he had some consults to work on.

Reid was into his second consult when his cell rang shortly after ten a.m. It was the secretary for the principal of Talbot Middle School. There was a problem with Evan Reid; he was, at this moment, in the principal's office. Spencer Reid as contact person was required to come to the school and talk to the principal about the conduct of Evan Reid. The secretary would not elaborate. Reid told her he would be there shortly.

What was this about? Evan never got in trouble.

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Reid arrived at Talbot Middle School, finding the hallways deserted with most of the kids in classes. He saw one boy in the hallway who directed him to the principal's office. Reid identified himself to the secretary behind the desk, saying he was here regarding Evan Reid. The secretary went into the office for a few moments and returned saying he could go in. Reid entered the principal's office to find a man in his fifties, slightly overweight with grey hair, a grey goatee and blue eyes that had seen too much, sitting behind the desk. In one of the two chairs in front of the desk, sat Evan. The principal was offering his hand, "Jake Senoff, how do you do?"

"Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, pleased to meet you," Reid shook the proffered hand. "What is this about, Mr. Senoff?"

"Evan has been brought into the office for fighting. There is a zero tolerance policy here at the school. Evan decked another student causing minor injuries which did require a visit to the school nurse. Since we have a zero tolerance policy, I think that…"

"Excuse me Mr. Senoff," Reid interrupted, "But before we discuss any kind of punishment, I would like to know what happened. I would like to speak to my brother alone." Principal Senoff stood and left the room saying something about giving them a few minutes. When the door closed, Reid turned to Evan, "Explain please."

"Okay Spencer, it's like this. There's this guy here, Julian Fitzgibbon, and he's a big bully. He's bigger than all the other kids and he's so mean. He calls Judy Harrison rotten names. She's kinda chubby and he calls her tubby, Porky Pig and a fat cow. He pushes Abraham Goldberg all the time and makes fun of him because he wears a yarmulke. Nobody ever does anything about it because his dad is some big wig in the education department. Well today he went after Manny. He made some really gross remarks to him in Spanish, getting on him cuz he's from Cuba. He said seeing Manny, he knew why they called it the Bay of Pigs. Then he pushed him on the ground and was kicking him. I wasn't going to let him hurt my friend so I used the hand to hand Morgan taught me and brought him down with a leg sweep and then I gave him a Phoenix eye jab. The guy had it coming Spencer and I'm not sorry, if they want to suspend me, that's fine with me."

As Evan spoke, Reid's lips pressed together, as the grim reminder of the bullies that crossed the path of the child prodigy in a public school, resurfaced. He remembered the abuse he had been subjected to at their hands, both physical and emotional. He also remembered how he had wished so fervently that someone, anyone, would come forward and help him.

But nobody did, partly because no one saw bullying as a problem. They thought bullying wasn't that bad, really. Nobody got hurt, at least not badly. It was only one step away from teasing wasn't it and we all tease, don't we? So if we say bullying is wrong then our teasing might be wrong and no, that just couldn't be. Reid remembered the looks on some of the kids' faces, the ones that really knew it was wrong; the ones who had been bullied before. He could see it in their eyes, the pity they felt for him but something else as well, relief, that if the bully was picking on Reid, he was leaving them alone.

Evan had stood up to this bully and Reid was proud of him. He'd be damned if he would let Evan be the one blamed for bad behavior. Reid stood up and opened the door telling the principal they were ready. Mr. Senoff started again, "As I was saying, since we have a zero tolerance policy on violence, I am going to have to suspend young Evan here for two days."

"Not unless you suspend Julian Fitzgibbon as well. He's just as guilty, more so actually and you know it. I agree that fighting is not a good choice but sometimes it's the only choice. It appears that Julian Fitzgibbon has been allowed to run rampant in this school with no consequences for his actions. That ends today. I don't care how high up in the education department his father is. You either take action against that boy or I will."

"Alright, Agent Reid, Dr. Reid, what do you call yourself?"

"Dr Reid will do."

"Alright Dr. Reid," the principal sighed, looking rather sheepish;" I'll see that Julian is suitably punished."

"I'll check and see that you do."

"There's no need for that."

"Forgive me if I think there is and don't think I can't find out. I investigate for a living."

"Now, I'll take Evan with me as a suspension this afternoon but no longer. He'll be back in school tomorrow morning. And Julian Fitzgibbon better not be here. Come on Evan." Reid said, as he headed for the door. Evan followed behind his brother.

"You sure told him," he said when they got out into the hallway. Classes were done for the morning and students were milling in the hallway. Evan saw Manny and waved.

"Evan, you okay, what happened with Mr. Senoff?"

"I got suspended for this afternoon, it would have been longer but Spencer had words with Mr. Senoff and I'll be back tomorrow."

"You can't go back to my house. Nobody will be there, Madre and Padre are both working."

"That's okay, I'll go to my house and your Mom can pick me up when she picks you up after school." Manny nodded in agreement to this plan. He said good bye to Spencer and went to eat his lunch.

They were going out the front door when three girls came up to them. Reid recognized one of them as Bethany. The other two were a petite brunette and a chubby girl with red hair and glasses. "Hi Evan, where are you going," Bethany inquired?

Evan explained about the half day suspension due to his altercation with Julian. The girls seemed impressed. "You know my brother Spencer," he turned to introduce Reid, "You know Bethany and this is Shauna Wayne and Judy Harrison." Judy Harrison looked at the ground then smiled shyly at Evan, gratitude evident in the sad green eyes hidden behind her wire rimmed glasses. It was a look Reid understood all too well.

Reid smiled, "Very nice to meet you ladies," causing the girls to erupt into giggles. Remembering the mall, Reid decided he better not hang around them too long, wondering how he had suddenly become a hit with pubescent girls. He turned to Evan, saying, "I'll meet you in the car Rambo," which sent the girls into another fit of laughter.

Reid waited in the SUV for a few minutes before Evan showed up. He looked questioningly at the boy. "Bethany asked me to be her partner for the science project. Isn't that great!"

"Yeah, that's great. Is Bethany good at science?"

Evan looked at his brother like he was from outer space, rolled his eyes and said, "Who cares!"