Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
A/N: Shout out to Hippichic81, OhSnapItsMadison, tannerose5, and southernbeauty13 for reviewing chapter 37.
With the location that Spencer and his teammates traveled to, and one of the victims being a drug addict I realized that I should have Spencer be affected by the case a bit.
Spencer entered the bullpen after lunchtime, and as soon as he reached his desk JJ and Garcia who were quietly chatting looked at him.
"How was Ava's first OT appointment today?" asked Garcia.
"It went pretty well, and Olivia and I decided that there will be a therapist coming in for home consultations when I'm on a case." said Spencer.
"Since this is my goddaughter we're talking about, I've already done background checks on their employees and volunteers." said Garcia.
"Olivia and I agreed that we wouldn't have background checks done since the employees and volunteers already have background checks done." said Spencer.
JJ and Kate watched the conversation with interest.
"You never know if the therapists and volunteers that are going to help Ava out is a relative of a past unsub, and none of the employees are related or acquaintances of past unsubs you caught." said Garcia.
When Spencer opened his mouth to protest, Hotch, who was standing by the railing spoke up.
"I gave her permission to perform background checks due to wanting to protect the sister of my goddaughter." said Hotch.
Spencer sighed as he sat down at his desk and JJ looked at him.
"Garcia did a background check on Henry's nanny before I could say no." said JJ.
"I might as well get to work since I am only working a half day today." said Spencer as he opened up his first consult.
The next day Spencer was sitting at the round table with his teammates.
"Bone up on your manners and your vitamin C deficiencies, crime tigers, because we are going to the peach tree capital of America, Atlanta, Georgia." said Garcia.
"What's in Atlanta?" asked Spencer.
"Local PD has invited us in for an equivocal death investigation." said Hotch.
"This is Albert Stillman. He is an investigative journalist for a local paper. 3 days ago he disappeared on his way to talk to a source for a story, and last night he was killed wandering into traffic." said Garcia.
"Wait. Equivocal death means we help determine homicide versus suicide, right?" asked Kate.
"Or death by misadventure." said Rossi.
"My point. So what happened to Mr. Stillman was tragic, but what's to equivocate? I mean, he had some sort of mental break, end of story." said Kate.
"Except that he had no history of mental illness." said Hotch.
"Could this have been drug induced?" asked JJ.
"Maybe. One of his most recent stories was an expose on an inner city drug ring, and he received death threats for that one." said Garcia.
"Dealers wouldn't let him loose in traffic, though. If somebody wanted him killed, why not just shoot him?" asked Morgan.
"We have to reconstruct his life to answer that question. Reporters like Stillman don't just snap. Something or someone drove him insane." said Hotch before giving a departure time and a minute later Spencer was at his desk calling Olivia.
"Have a case?" asked Olivia.
"Atlanta, Georgia for an equivocal death investigation." said Spencer.
"Do you think you can bring me home some fresh peaches?" asked Olivia.
Spencer lightly shook his head as he chuckled.
"Thinking about making peach pie?" asked Spencer.
"Yes, and I don't want the ones from the grocery store." said Olivia.
"I will see what I can do, and when I get back we need to talk about Halloween costumes since you don't want to do a Frankenstein theme this year." smiled Spencer.
"Want to talk to the kids?" asked Olivia.
"Yes please." said Spencer.
A few seconds later Spencer smiled when he heard Piper's voice.
"Hi daddy." said Piper.
"Hi Piper." said Spencer.
"Hi Dada." said Ava.
"Hi Ava." said Spencer.
"Hi daddy." said Albert.
"Hey there, Albert." said Spencer.
"Go bye bye daddy?" asked Piper.
"I'm going away for a few days Piper." said Spencer.
"We go to park en you come home?" asked Piper.
"We will Goober." said Spencer.
Spencer saw Hotch exiting his office.
"Well I have to get going, and I will call you guys at bedtime tonight. Daddy loves you guys." said Spencer.
Spencer heard his kids tell him that they love him, and after he heard the kids running away he heard Olivia's voice.
"Your father just came into the house with Einstein, so I will let you go and please stay safe." said Olivia.
"I will try to stay safe, and I love you Olivia." said Spencer.
"Love you too, Spencer." said Olivia before hanging up.
"You can see why Albert Stillman was nominated for awards. He wrote pieces on homeless children, police corruption, bankrolling local strip clubs." said JJ as she read an article about Albert.
"My kind of muckraker. Fights for the little guy." said Rossi.
"Those are also the kind of stories that put him in harm's way, though. Any one of them could have gotten him killed." said Spencer.
"It doesn't fit this M.O., though. We need to consider the likelihood that there is no unsub, that whatever happened to Stillman could have just been an accident." said Morgan.
"What do we know about the source he was going to see the night he disappeared?" asked Kate.
"Oy, I have an update on that, mademoiselle. I have been talking and working with Atlanta P.D.'s perfectly lovely I.T. expert." said Garcia.
""Perfectly lovely" is code for not as good as you, right, baby girl?" asked Morgan.
"Moi, throw shade? Never. Let's just say with a lot of my help, we've managed to narrow down the possibilities to a throwaway cell that called him hours before his disappearance." said Garcia.
"So it's a dead end, then." said Kate.
"Yeah, and not the only one. Stillman's editor has dealt us an "Aw, come on" surprise by filing an injunction to halt the autopsy of the recently deceased body." said Garcia.
"But we have jurisdiction here. That's pointless." said JJ.
"And suspicious. Thanks, Garcia. All right, when we land, Kate and I will go talk to the editor, find out what he's hiding. Dave, you and Morgan re-interview the witness who tried to save Stillman's life. And Reid and JJ, let's move forward with the M.E. We're not going to let an injunction stop the investigation." said Hotch.
"Duct tape residue was found on his wrist, ankles, and neck." said Dr. Wilson.
"So he was held against his will?" asked JJ.
"Yeah. It's the rest of it I can't explain. The victim's own skin was found under his fingernails. The fingernails were in turn gouged into different parts of his body." said Dr. Wilson as he showed what he was confused about.
"He broke them off scratching himself?" asked Spencer.
"Yeah. And kept scratching all the way down to his subcutaneous layer on his index and middle fingers." said Dr. Wilson.
JJ noticed track marks.
"Are these track marks consistent with heroin abuse?" asked JJ.
"Oh, yeah. Tox screen came back positive, too." said Dr. Wilson.
"When was the last time he shot up?" asked JJ.
"Based on scar tissue, I'd say about a week ago." said Dr. Wilson.
"Ok, so he was kicking when the unsub held him. One of the withdrawal symptoms of that is it feels like your skin is on fire. You can't help but scratch." said JJ.
"Think about this for a second. Stillman was bound, but the unsub cut him loose. He wanted him to scratch." said Spencer.
"That tells us this isn't torture. If it were torture, he would have never taken the duct tape off." said JJ as Spencer crouched down.
"What if it's an expression of his own pain?" asked Spencer as he briefly looked at JJ before looking at the body again, "Maybe the unsub wants his victims to feel what's going on inside of him."
"Which is?" asked Dr. Wilson.
"Welts on the skin behind his ear. Some sort of external irritant the unsub introduced." said Spencer.
"Saw that, too. Lab's running tests." said Dr. Wilson.
"I don't know, a bite, maybe?" asked Spencer.
Spencer was already at the disposal site when Rossi and Kate joined him.
"So, we found William Suri." said Rossi.
"Yeah. Garbage truck almost ran over him this morning." said Kate.
"Our unsub didn't hold him as long." said Rossi.
"Then he shot him pointblank in the head. Big change in M.O." said Kate.
Spencer quickly glanced at Kate and Rossi before turning his attention back to Dr. Suri.
"Not necessarily. He shows less signs of scratching, but the bite marks are definitely there." said Spencer.
Spencer leaned forward as he listened to Rossi speak.
"So, the unsub wants this guy to itch, the good Doctor doesn't play along, bang, he ends the torture early." said Rossi.
Spencer noticed something moving in Dr. Suri's nose.
"I don't think this is torture for the unsub. I think it's a delusion." said Spencer before looking at the crime scene investigator, "Can you hand me some tweezers?"
The crime scene investigator handed Spencer the tweezers.
"What kind of delusion?" asked Kate as she watched Spencer put the tweezers into Dr. Suri's nose and pull a cockroach out.
Kate groaned.
"Bugs." said Spencer as he examined the bug, "We need to deliver the profile."
"We believe the unsub we're looking for suffers from delusional parasitosis, a condition in which the patient believes that he's being attacked or infested by bugs." started Hotch.
"He takes his victims and covers them in insects, cockroaches specifically. We think it's to convince his victims that they share in his condition." said Kate.
"Is he trying to get them sick so he can kill them?" asked Officer Nash.
"Murder isn't his goal, attention is. Believe it or not, this unsub is crying out for help." said Rossi.
"He kidnapped an investigative journalist because he wanted Albert Stillman to write a story about the bugs inside of him. Unfortunately, because Stillman was suddenly experiencing opiate withdrawal, he was already hallucinating insects, and this led to a psychotic break." said Spencer.
"So the unsub changed tactics. He kidnapped a controversial research scientist who he thought would be more willing to believe him." said JJ.
"But we think Dr. Suri recognized his condition for the mental illness that it is. That's why he killed him so quickly." said Morgan.
"It is important that we do not label this unsub as crazy or insane to the media or press. He's desperate to confirm his own self-diagnosis and he'll be violent towards those who don't." said Spencer.
"And this kind of delusion goes hand in hand with conspiracy thinking." said Rossi.
"He probably believes the bugs are part of a plot involving the government to keep him sick." said Morgan.
"When he's alone, he'll be paranoid and disorganized. His body will be mutilated from self-harm. But his search for a fellow believer will give him focus and allow him to appear calm and rational." said JJ.
"We should be canvassing the entomology and infectious disease fields as well as reviewing hospital intake records. This unsub has searched high and low for treatment for his condition, and we believe that he'll return to one of these locations for his next victim. Thank you." finished Hotch.
After Spencer finished his dinner he realized that he really needed to stand up and move around and rock on his feet as he listened to his teammates talk.
"There's an inherent contradiction in who this unsub is." said Morgan.
"Only one?" asked Rossi.
"All right, humor me. This guy has a phobia of insects, right? So why subject his victims to the very thing he hates?" asked Morgan.
"It's not a phobia." said Spencer.
"Well, maybe not, but the bugs disgust him." said Morgan.
"Labels are important here. The original name for this was entomophobia, which is, yes, the fear/disgust at being bitten, being stung, or the fear of future infestation, but if you have delusional parasitosis, you believe you're already infested. Present tense, not future tense." said Spencer.
"So his worst fear has come true. What he wants now is exposure." said Rossi.
"He believes if society and the scientific community take him seriously, maybe he'll get relief." said Spencer.
"Yeah, but that's impossible if it's all in his head. The more people that tell him that, the more angry he's gonna get." said JJ.
"Which is why he'll take solace in people who are as frustrated as he is. Guys, there's a suspect pool we've been missing all along." said Spencer as he called Garcia and put his phone on speaker.
"I'm here for helping." said Garcia.
"Garcia, I'm going to run through a series of debated and controversial diseases. I want you to tell me if there are any support groups in the area." said Spencer.
"Hit me." said Garcia.
"Fibromyalgia." said Spencer.
"No." said Garcia.
"Chronic fatigue syndrome." said Spencer.
"Nope." said Garcia.
"Recurrent Lyme disease." said Spencer.
"Negative." said Garcia.
Morgellons?" asked Spencer.
"There's a Magellan's astronomy club that meets on Tuesdays." said Garcia.
"No, Morgellons." said Spencer before he decided to spell it, "M-o-r-g-e-l-l-o-n-s." spelled Spencer.
"Huh. Those vowels will get ya. Checking now." said Garcia as she started typing.
"I'll bite. What's Morgellons?" asked Rossi.
"It's a syndrome where sufferers believe they have disease-causing fibers under their skin. They collect them only to later be told by dermatologists that all they've found is lint, dead skin, or their own picked scabs." said Spencer.
"Sounds like it's on the OCD spectrum." said JJ.
"There's a lot of overlap. There's also patients who insist the fibers are insect-like in nature." said Spencer.
"Yeah, update. There's a Morgellons group that gets together tonight, actually. Just missed them." said Garcia.
"Garcia, we need an address." said Hotch.
"Done." said Garcia.
"JJ, you and Morgan go and see if they'll talk to us." said Hotch.
A few hours later Hotch woke up to mumbling. He turned on the bedside lamp to notice that Spencer was tossing and turning in bed mumbling Tobias, causing him to get out of his bed and work on waking Spencer up before he woke up their neighbors.
"Spencer wake up." said Hotch as he pinned Spencer's arms down to prevent him from being combative, "You're not with Hankel but in our hotel room." said Hotch as he continued to repeat the mantra until Spencer opened his eyes and when he noticed that Spencer's eyes were clear he let go of Spencer who pulled him into a hug that he returned.
As soon as they let go of each other, Spencer blearily looked at his unit chief who passed him his glasses, causing him to speak as soon as his vision was clear.
"I was dreaming about Hankel drugging me, and it doesn't help that we're in the city not far from the location where I was held captive for nearly three days." said Spencer as he felt his t-shirt clinging to him from the cool sweat he woke up with and grimaced, "I think I'm going to take another shower and change pajamas."
"That would probably help you feel better." said Hotch as he got off Spencer's bed.
Two minutes later Spencer was in the bathroom taking a quick shower while Hotch remade Spencer's bed, and as soon as Spencer was out of the bathroom Hotch was setting up Spencer's travel chess board.
"I hope you don't mind me breaking into your messenger bag to grab your travel chess set, but I thought that a game would probably help you go back to sleep while we talk about your nightmare." said Hotch.
"I take it that Jack has been teaching you how to play chess?" asked Spence as he sat across from Hotch.
"He's been teaching me, but I know that you're still going to win." said Hotch.
Spencer and Hotch started their game while they talked about Spencer's nightmare, and after Spencer beat Hotch both men went back to bed.
Six hours later Spencer and Rossi met up with Hotch and JJ.
"Where are we on the E.R. intake?" asked Hotch.
"Garcia weeded out the mental health transfers. No one fits." said Rossi.
"Our best bet is still the Morgellons group." said Spencer.
"When's their next meeting?" asked Hotch.
"Next week." said Spencer.
"It's too long to wait." said Hotch.
"We could take another shot at the leader. There's definitely something she was holding back." said JJ.
"You thought she wouldn't rattle." said Rossi.
"She won't. We're gonna have to find some other way in." said JJ as Hotch called Garcia.
"Top of the morning, fellow leprechauns." said Garcia.
"Where did Lisa Randall go after she met with JJ and Morgan?" asked Hotch.
Garcia started typing.
"According to her credit card... Drugstores. 5 of them, to be precise. And she bought a single item 5 times. Diaper rash cream." said Garcia.
"All right, thanks. JJ, see if she'll come in and talk. Reid, I need you to go to the drugstore." said Hotch.
Spencer nodded and a minute later he was asking an officer to take him to a drugstore.
Spencer approached Hotch with the diaper rash cream.
"I hope the brand that Livy and I used on Piper, Albert, and Ava will work." said Spencer.
"This will do." said Hotch as he put the diaper rash cream into the pocket of his suit jacket.
A couple of hours later everyone was cleaning up their workspace and Morgan looked at Rossi.
"Rossi, that was a pretty gutsy move. How'd you know it was gonna work?" asked Morgan.
"The doc at the CDC told us about something they wanted to try but never got around to. It's called a mirror box." said Rossi as he looked at Spencer.
Spencer perked up.
"Oh, I read about that treatment." said Spencer.
"What's this treatment?" asked Morgan.
"It's for amputees with searing pain in their phantom limbs. Basically, you take a patient, you put them in front of a mirror and you tell them to conduct a symphony, to wave, or just to relax. When their brain sees what's not there, the pain goes away." said Spencer.
"And since the unsub had dead nerves in his arm due to the shingles antiviral..." said Rossi.
"You could argue that his itch was the same thing as phantom limb pain, I mean from a brain-nervous system feedback loop." said Spencer.
"My hope was that the trick would make the itch go away, and it did, for a few seconds, anyway." said Rossi.
"I can understand being driven crazy by something you can't scratch, but killing people over it, that's what surprises me." said Kate.
"There is one documented case about a woman who couldn't stop scratching, even when she was asleep. She woke up one morning, realizing she'd scratched through her own scalp, her skull, and directly into her brain tissue." said Spencer.
Kate made a disgusted face.
"Ok, on that note, my ride's here." said Morgan.
At that moment Spencer, Kate, Morgan, and Rossi grabbed their bags to head to the SUV that was taking them to the airport.
A short while later everyone got comfortable for the flight home, and Spencer was sitting away from his teammates fiddling with his five year medallion when Hotch came over to him and noticed the medallion that he was fiddling with.
"Thinking about attending the next movie?" asked Hotch quietly.
"Yes, and knowing Olivia she is going to tell me to go." said Spencer.
"Olivia knows that you're coming home tonight?" asked Hotch.
"She doesn't, and I told Garcia that I want to surprise Olivia since I enjoy seeing the looks on Olivia's and the kids faces when I surprise them." smiled Spencer.
Olivia woke up to three toddlers on top of her, and what surprised her was the smells in the kitchen. As soon as she maneuvered all three toddlers off of her she headed into the kitchen and gasped when she saw her husband cooking up a storm.
"You didn't call to tell me that you were coming home today." said Olivia as she made her way over to her husband.
A grinning Spencer turned around and hugged and kissed his wife, and as soon as he released her, Spencer looked into his Olivia's blue eyes.
"I wanted to surprise you guys, and I saw a note from dad saying that he took Einstein to the dog park." said Spencer.
At that moment there were sounds of little feet, and all three toddler's eyes went wide when they saw their daddy as a smiling Olivia turned to what her husband was cooking to finish what he started.
"Daddy!" chorused Piper, Albert, and Ava at once as they ran over to Spencer who knelt down to their eye level and tightly hugged all three toddlers.
"I missed you three munchkins." said Spencer.
"I missed you too, daddy." said Piper.
Olivia looked at her husband.
"How about you help the kids get cleaned up for dinner while I finish what you started." said Olivia.
"OK." said Spencer as he herded all three toddlers towards the stairs just as William came into the house with Einstein who was excited to see Spencer.
An hour later Spencer was helping Olivia with dishes, and Olivia looked at her husband and noticed the exhaustion showing in his features.
"You OK?" asked Olivia.
"I'm going to attend a meeting in two hours since the case brought back some painful memories, and Hotch woke me up from a nightmare last night." said Spencer.
"Then you should go, and I will stay up for you." said Olivia as she thought about a bubble bath she and Spencer could take together after his meeting.
As Spencer fixed himself some coffee, John approached him.
"Thank you for sending me a text message earlier to let me know that you were coming so I could have time to read the case file and note that you were in the area where the case that changed your life forever took place." whispered John.
"So you know the problem that one of the victims had?" asked Spencer.
"I do." said John.
Spencer looked around and motioned that he wanted to go to a quiet corner and a minute later Spencer and John were sitting in a corner.
"I'm glad that after my sabbatical the budget committee decided that my teammates and I would no longer have hotel rooms to ourselves since I'm wake up much sooner from a nightmare when I'm bunking with a teammate." said Spencer quietly.
"Who was your roommate in Atlanta?" asked John quietly.
"My teammate who you usually correspond with at certain meetings, my usual roommate, and with me teaching his son how to play chess we ended up playing a game of chess while I talked about my nightmare." said Spencer.
"I'm glad that you're on Aaron's team since you have a caring unit chief." said John.
"He felt guilty about not doing anything to help me right after Georgia since he thought that Jason was helping me cope with the trauma, but when I confessed to him about the forced addiction I accepted his offer for help and he started keeping a better eye on me too." said Spencer.
John decided to lighten things up a bit.
"Have any new pictures of your kids that you would like to show me?" asked John.
A grinning Spencer pulled out his phone and started showing pictures to John.
"They keep on getting bigger every time I see a new picture, and Albert keeps looking more like you every day." said John.
"I know." said Spencer.
"How old are the twins now?" asked John.
"The twins are turning 17 months old next week, and Ava got diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome last week. I'm not upset that I passed down Asperger's syndrome to one of my kids since I'm well adjusted." said Spencer.
"Has she started occupational therapy yet?" asked John.
"She just started it on Monday, and I was able to take the morning off so I could go with Olivia and Ava." said Spencer.
"What additional therapies are you planning on having Ava do?" asked John.
"Livy and I decided on music therapy and therapeutic horseback riding, and we already consider Einstein an autism therapy dog." said Spencer.
"That dog is something else." said John as he thought back to meeting Einstein when he decided to visit Spencer at the Reid family home when Spencer was recovering from getting shot in the neck.
"Yeah he is, and I don't regret giving into Olivia asking me if we could get a dog since Einstein brings a lot of entertainment to Olivia, the kids, and I while being a good workout buddy for me when I take him running with me." said Spencer.
"And running is a healthy coping mechanism to reduce cravings." said John as he thought about the two other Reid children, "So how are the other two?"
"Early on next year Piper's going to be starting gymnastics." said Spencer.
"Now that will be fun, and I expect pictures the first meeting you attend after Piper starts gymnastics." said John.
"There will be pictures." grinned Spencer before continuing, "Albert has been escaping his crib and showing signs of being ready for potty training, so this upcoming up weekend Olivia and I will be busy transitioning Albert to a toddler bed while working on getting him potty trained."
"Other than getting shot in the neck over five months ago, I'm glad to see you doing very well, Spencer." said John.
"I think everyone is glad that I recovered very well with minimal PTSD." said Spencer when his phone vibrated and he saw a text from Olivia.
I THINK A BUBBLE BATH IS CALLING OUR NAMES TONIGHT, SO PLEASE HURRY ON HOME SO I DON'T KEEP YOU UP LATE TONIGHT. ~ OR
"A case?" asked John.
"Olivia asking me to hurry home since she decided that we would have a small date night tonight." said Spencer.
"Then you should head home." smiled John.
An hour later Spencer and Olivia were soaking in their claw foot tub while Spencer told Olivia about the case, and when there were done with their bubble bath Olivia gave her husband a massage that caused him to fall asleep.