The Beauty and the Geek

Spencer POV...

"Hi. Table for two for Spencer." I tell the hostess walking into the restaurant and she leads me to my table.

"Here you are."

"Thank you so much." I tell her and she walks away

"You're welcome."

I sit down and clear my throat then place a rose on the table, I look behind me when someone says my name, "Spencer?" I turn and see her standing there

"Cat?" I asked getting up

"Hi!"

"Hello." I greeted

"Nice to finally-" She started to say coming in for a hug but I back up

"Oh-sorry, I have a- a germ thing. Oh. I'm kind of weird with hu-hugs." I tell her and we stand there for a bit

"Can I sit down?" She asked

"Yes, please. Oh, yeah. Of course. Sit down." I told her and we sit down and she takes her coat off, I was about to open my mouth to say something but then close in

"First time doing this?" She asked me

"Yeah. I mean, yeah."

"Yeah, I-I still get nervous, too. Really, it wasn't until an hour ago that I was like, wait, we've been trading emails back and forth, but I still have no idea what this guy looks like." She tells me

"Hence the..."

"I know. And then I was like, wait, he's going to bring a red rose, so we need to go to a nicer place, which is why I switched the restaurant last-minute-" She explained

"Not a problem at all."

"And now I need to change and put something nice on for this place, 'cause I was totally under dressed, and my whole wardrobe makes me look like a Kardashian." And I looked at her confused, "You don't know who that is, do you?" She asked me

"No, oh, yeah, Robert Kardashian. He got O.J. Simpson off. You-you don't look like his daughters." I say to her

"Yeah, no, I was making a joke about them."

"No, it was good. It was a good joke." I reassured her

"No, it wasn't." She says and we chuckle, "Can we start over? Hi, I'm Cat."

"Hi-hi, I'm- I'm Spencer."

"It really is nice to meet you, in person, finally." She tells me

"It's nice to meet you."

"Tell me a little bit about yourself. Do you really have 3 Ph.D.s?" She asked

"Yes. Um, I-yeah, I do, I have 3 Ph.D.s."

"What was your favorite book that you read last year?" She asked me

"Um, honestly, I've never read a book I didn't love." I said to her

"Tell me about your wife. If you don't mind." She says and I suddenly I get more nervous

"I'd, uh, I'd rather not talk about her."

"Might as well get it out in the open, right? That's why we're here. How long have you been married?" She asked me

"4 years." I replied, it wasn't really a lie, I've been married for 3

"When is she due to give birth?"

I cleared my throat, "Uh...A couple of- a couple of months. Should we talk about price now, or..."

"Slow down, tiger. What exactly are we negotiating here?" She asked me

"You know."

"I want to hear you say it." She says and I look around the table avoiding eye contact, "To have her killed."

"Let me see your ring." She tells me and hold my hand out to her, "You know what that is? A noose. Only it doesn't kill you all at once. It kills you slowly, day by day. You ever feel that way?" She asked me

"I feel that way all the time."

"Take it off." She says to me

"Why?"

"As a sign of your commitment. To me." She answered and i take the ring off putting it in her hand

Elizabeth POV...

"If she sticks to pattern, she'll take him to a secondary location and kill him." JJ says to us over my ear piece

"We're not gonna let it get that far." I replied sitting in a covered booth away from Spencer, "Aaron, do you have a visual?" I asked him

"Just hacked in." Garcia tells me

"All right, Reid we have you over her left shoulder. Do you copy?" Aaron asked him and there was a pause, "All right, all agents stand by. Dr. Reid will give the green light. Don't move until we have it." He tells us and I continued to sit there listening in on the woman sitting with my husband.

Spencer POV...

"24-karat?" She asked me

"Mm-hmm."

"24k times... 4 years means this ring should be dinged and nicked. But the sucker is brand-new." She says putting the ring in her purse, "You're not married." She tells me and I hear a click

"What was that? Was that what I think it was?" I hear Garcia ask over my hidden ear piece, I knew Liz heard it as well and probably wanted nothing more then to rush over here to me and kill her, but she can't

"Everybody hold." Hotch says

"Why are we here, Spencer?" Cat asked me

"We're here because you belong to a network of 4 hit men who've been operating in the shadows of the Internet. You're known as Miss .45. My team and I have been hunting for months, and I knew that if I boxed you in, I could arrest you with as little resistance as possible."

"Your team being the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI?" She asked and I nodded my head, "You guys are good. You're the only ones that got close to us. But we got kind of close to you, too, didn't we? Hi, Penelope." She says leaning a little closer to my microphone, "Do you know why I'm so good at my job?"

"Because you kill without compunction or remorse."

"That only gets a girl so far in life. No, it's because I think through every potential outcome and then I plan accordingly. You see, I didn't walk into your trap. You walked into mine." She tells me


"Where's your head, Spencer? What are you thinking about?" She asked me moving over to me in the booth

"I was thinking about entropy." I tell her and she puts her hand on my chest moving it downwards

"Mm-hmm."

"It's the thermodynamic measure of the degradation of matter and energy in the universe. To put it another way-" I said with a slight jump in my voice as she grabbed my gun

"There's your gun." She says and the waiter walked over

"Good evening."

"Hi, uh, you know what? We've been having so much fun getting to know one another, we'll let you know when we're ready, ok? Thank you." She tells him and he smiles then walks away, "Now that we got that out of the way, will you do me a favor and tell Blondie McBlonderson over there at the bar to disappear." She says and I look a JJ

"JJ, stand down." Hotch tells her over the radio, she sets her drink down, gets up and walks over to us walking by.

"Thanks for playing, sweetie." Cat tells her moving back to her side of the booth

Elizabeth POV...

I sat there and watched JJ walk into the kitchen area then I take a drink

"If she learns how many agents we have outside, she'll start shooting. Elizabeth, get ready to take her out." Aaron tells me

"Yeah."

"Reid, do not let her get up from the table." Aaron ordered him

Spencer POV...

"All right, you're in charge. Tell me what you want and I'll see if I can get it here for you."

"Anything I want?" She asked me

"Anything you want."

"Like a million dollars in unmarked bills, maybe a plane to Aruba?" She asked

"Is that what you want?"

"And you'll say you'll bring it here, but the real plan is to distract me from what is, I'm sure, an impressive law enforcement response just outside that door. Is that the plan?" She asks me

"That's the plan." I tell her

"Ok, let's talk, but let's talk about something interesting, at least. Tell me about me."

"You, you're a black widow hit woman. You specialize in seduction and you're patient. You learn everything you can about the men you're hired to kill, physically, psychologically, and emotionally, because you want them in as compromised a position as possible so they don't see it coming when you pull the trigger." I point out to her

"And when I do it really well, they pull the trigger themselves. Give me your phone."

"Why?" I asked her

"Because I know what I want now. I want to play a game with you. You like games?" She asked me

"I do."

"Do you win?"

"I always win. Give it to me." She tells me and I grabbed my phone out, "Ok, here's my game. You have 30 minutes to answer every question I ask. And if you lie, I'll know. Because I've spent the past 10 years of my life studying men and their lies before I kill them. Do you believe me?" She asked

"I do."

"That was true. You're getting this. Now, here's how we'll know who wins at the end of 30 minutes. If you win, you'll drag me out of here in handcuffs. But if I win, you will escort me out like a gentleman, to make sure I exit safely. What do you say, Spencer? Think you can win this one?" She asks

"Considering everything you've put Garcia and so many people through, you're going to have to shoot me in the face before you walk out of here." I tell her

"Game on."

"What do you want to ask me?" I asked her

"How you found me, of course. A professional learns from her mistakes."

"We got our big break in the case at the end of last year. I didn't learn how big until I came back from some time off." I said

"Why'd you take time off?" She asked

3 days ago...

"Hey, you!" Savannah tells me opening the front door to hers and Morgan's house

"Hi."

"Welcome back. Come in." She says moving aside and I walked in

"Thank you."

"I know you're not a hugger. I don't care." She said and pulled me into a hug

"Hey, get your greasy hands off my girl." Morgan tells me walking into the room, "Nice to have you home, kid." He says holding up his fist and I put my hand on it

"Good to be back."

"Let me get my stuff." He tells me and walks away

"That thing you called about, here's some updated stats." Savannah told me hand me a file

"Thanks." I put it in my bag

"Stats? Stats from what?" Morgan asked her walking back in

"Medical research. Shop talk. Things you wouldn't be interested in."

"Well, I can tell you what I am interested in, and that is you." He tells her pulling her to him

"You gonna love me forever?" She asked him

"Yes, I am."

"Forever ever?" She asked and my phone beeped

"For ever, ever, ever."

"Guys. Garcia and Hotch need us ASAP for a briefing on the 4 hit men."

Now..

"Stop."

"What?" I asked her

"You didn't tell me why you took time off."

"It's not relevant." I tell her

"That's not the game. The game is you answer every question I ask. Is it a secret?" She asked

"No."

"Is it dirty?" She asked again

"No." I tell her again

"Then tell me."

"It's not important to your story." I said

"Out of curiosity, is it me you don't want to tell or the people listening in?"

"Is this really how you want to spend your 30 minutes?" I asked her

"Yes." She told me then thought about it, "No. Ok, so you were saying you showed up for work that morning and..."

"We learned that someone unexpected decided to talk." I tell her

"And who would that be?"

3 Days ago...

"Brian Cochran from the NSA. I've placed him on 24/7 lockdown at USP Terre Haute. The network has proven that they can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime, and now that they've targeted Garcia, we can't afford to lose another lead. Cochran used one of the hitmen to target DEA supervisor Graff." Hotch tells us as we sit in the round room

"But we can press him on that to get him to cooperate." Morgan tells him

"Well, fortunately that won't be necessary. He had a breakdown in solitary confinement and he was already willing to make a deal."

"We need to go talk to him." Liz tells him

"Garcia and I already did."

"That is, we video-conferenced with him. He was limited in what he could tell us about the hit people. He didn't know their names, but he did know all of their areas of expertise." Garcia adds

"How specific do they get?" I asked her, "Most successful hit men are basically just Swiss army knives of murder." I point out

"Well, take the O.G. hit guy who got us into this mess, Giuseppe Montolo. Remember him? He was a genius at making hits look like an accident. The others, depends what you're looking for. Take the guy that's still out there who's responsible for shooting poor Mr. Graff. He's known simply as the sniper. He can make a T-zone shot from over 2,000 meters."

"Which means he's ex-military. Not necessarily ours, but he's definitely trained." Morgan mentioned

"So who's number two?" Tara asked Garcia

"That would be the chemist. He works with poison. He specializes in hits that don't leave a trace."

"He sounds delightful. What about number 3?" Elizabeth asked

"Well, that would be the bomber. According to Cochran, he's responsible for this." Garcia tells us showing the images, "It's a chemical fire in Tianjin, China. Apparently a bureaucrat didn't pay his bribe on time."

"You know that's conspiracy theory garbage." JJ points out

"But what is credible is Cochran's insistence that he was trained by Mossad. Jack Garrett's following up on leads." Hotch tells her

"That leaves us with number 4, the one with the highest body count of them all." Garcia says

"And who's that?" I asked

Now...

"Me" Cat says to me

"Yes"

"Wow, that was really impressive. Yeah, the way you just made all those brilliant deductions with all that information that was just handed to you on a silver platter. Quick question-are you guys really profilers or are you just lucky? Because this, what I'm about to say-is profiling. The reason you took time off from work was to deal with the same girl who broke your heart." Cat says to me

"No."

"The death of a parent, then." She says and I shift my eyes

"No."

"Ah, hello, I'm getting close. It's mom or dad in the billiard room with the candlestick." She says and I just look at her, "Oh, you're mad at me, aren't you?"

"Not even a little bit."

"Yes, you are, I can tell." She says

"No offense, but you're not really worth getting angry at." I tell her

"So you figured out what the 4 of us did, and then what?"

"We profiled that you operated as spokes on a wheel. Somehow it had to be centralized, how you got jobs, who paid you. Somebody did all that for you." I told her

"You found the Snowman, didn't you?"

3 Days ago...

"Great. So who's this Snowman?" Liz asked

"Cochran says he's the I.T. expert. He's the key to the whole network." Hotch tells her

"But if he set it up, he's not just gonna tear it down because we ask nicely." Morgan points out to him

"He will because he was kidnapped by one of the hitmen and held against his will in a safe house."

"I wonder how that feels." Garcia says

"Even if they have him under duress, he's still gonna be impossible to find." JJ mentions

"We will find him... With this." Hotch says holding up a flash drive

Now...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm confused. What just happened there?" Cat asked

"When we arrested Cochran, we found a flash drive, one that gave us access to a specific shadow of the Darknet, one we didn't even know existed. Garcia used it to find the website that Snowman set up for all of you. Once we had the website, we had geography, specifically, the safe house you were keeping him in. So we waited until the shift change when we knew we could take two of you down at once."

"Well, well, well, you took the chemist and the sniper out of commission, huh?" She asked

"Did you know?"

"I knew something was off. They didn't bid on some contracts. And this isn't the kind of job where you get to take time off to be with your... Mother? Is it your mom? It's gotta be your mom." She says but I stayed quiet, "Why'd you take time off from the FBI?"

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Spencer, why did you take time off from the FBI?" She asked again

"You can ask me as many times as you want, and you can continue to waste your time, but I'm still not gonna tell you." I said to her

"Then you're cheating, and I don't like cheaters."

"You don't get everything you want just because you're pointing a gun at me under a table. You're not the first killer to point a gun at me. You're not even the first woman to point a gun at me. Sorry." I say

"You're really gonna take this all the way, aren't you?" She asked me

"Yeah."

"So am I." She says

"Elizabeth, go." I hear Hotch tell her in my ear piece, No

"Look at my face. Does it look like I'm bluffing?" She asked me

"I know you're not bluffing."

"I'm gonna ask you one more time. Before you say no, I want you to consider something." She says and puts her hand on my tie covering my mike, "I'll kill the fed walking toward me first." She tells me and my heart stops, "A stationary target's easier to hit. After that it's a free-fire zone."

"Fine, I'll tell you." I said to her

"Sorry, what was that?" She asked me

"I'll tell you. Liz, stand down." I tell her and turned my head to face her, I saw worry and anger on her face, "Please." I begged and she looks at me then Cat then walks away

Elizabeth POV...

"Welcome to the locker room." JJ tells me as I walk in to the kitchen

"I hate the locker room." I replied uncocking my gun

Spencer POV...

"My mom has schizophrenia, and the doctor has changed her medication, which seemed to agitate her, and so I went to the treatment center to help her." I confess to her

"That's it?" She asked

"That's it." I tell her

"You just risked your life over mommy's pills?"

"It's the truth." I said

"It's part of the truth. You're holding something back. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna penalize you by adding 10 minutes. And keep in mind that the only reason you're not dead right now is because I did learn something important."

"Oh, really? What's that?" I asked her

"Your backup. I flushed them out. It's just you and me now. So when we left off, the score was you had two of our guys and the Snowman. You must have thought you were home free." She tells me

"No. If anything, the case was harder."

3 Days ago...

"I can't tell you much about them. It's not like we had a lot of heart-to-heart conversations while they handcuffed me to a computer." The Snowman tells us

"Do you know any of their names?" Tara asked him

"No. But I know their bank accounts."

"How long do you think we have before the other two realize the network's been compromised?" I asked

"Two days, maybe. They like being independent contractors, so they always work jobs separately. And, uh, they rely on me to coordinate all their online traffic."

"Which I can help fake." Garcia tells him

"Yeah. We have the facade covered on our end, but they also have back channel communications that I can't account for. Especially the bomber."

"Why him?" Liz asked

"I don't know. All I know is when they would rotate watching over me, he never showed."

"I know why. He's paranoid. Most explosive experts are. Blow everything up, you live in fear that you're next." JJ mentions

"We need to lure out the hit woman. If we can take her alive, she'll lead us to the bomber." Hotch says

"We have to give her a target worth coming out of hiding for." Morgan adds

"That means me, doesn't it?" Garcia asked them

"No."

"Sir-" She started to say but Morgan cut her off

"Garcia, that's not gonna happen. It's too dangerous to leave you out there exposed like that."

"You have a record of all the kills she was paid for?" Hotch asked the kid

"I have records of everything."

"All right. Even a contract killer can have a victimology, a pattern of which she's not aware. We need to find that." Hotch tells us

Now...

"But first we had to get the data that we needed from the Snowman. From that we could start to build the profile that would lead us to you. When we knew what we were looking for, the pattern was obvious."

3 Days ago...

"These 3 hits-they were all men who wanted to kill their wives." I tell Hotch handing him the files

"That's the oldest motivation in the book. Why are they special?" Liz asked me

"She took their money, then killed the men who hired her."

"All 3 of them had children." Hotch mentions and I shifted, Liz wasn't going to like this

"Maybe children are the line hit men won't cross?" She asked

"The chemist and the sniper both performed jobs that involved families. Theoretically, if the price is high enough, a hit man shouldn't have morals. I think these kills are personal to her. Personal enough to risk double-crossing her contract." I point out

"Maybe something similar happened to her." Hotch says

"And that's how we get her to come to the table. I pretend to be that kind of client." I tell them and saw Liz look at me

"How do we know that's gonna work?" Hotch asked me

"We don't. It's a calculated risk based on her M.O., which is categorically different than the men."

"They're cold, clinical, long-distance. She's up close and personal." Liz tells me

"She knows that she has to be more careful because she actually wants to kill her targets. I'm going to pretend to be a husband who wants his pregnant wife dead."

"Well, I'd want to kill you if you told me that." Liz says and I put my hand on her arm

"Exactly. Then all we have to do is set the right meeting spot. A bar or a restaurant we control so the odds are better of us taking her alive."

"That's our best strategy." Hotch tells her and she sighed, "But there is one flaw."

Now...

"You. You're the flaw. You're not married and you don't have children." Cat says to me, As far as you know

"I'm the person on my team who's the closest to your age, and I knew that if I lost control of the situation, you'd be more likely to negotiate with a peer."

"You have zero control here. None. I outflanked you from the beginning." She tells me

"Some of your moves were pretty obvious." I point out to her

"Such as?"

"Such as showing up armed. Such as changing the venue at the last moment." I said

"I needed a restaurant full of innocents in case this was a trap." She says

"If you really suspected this was a trap, then why show up at all? Even when you first laid eyes on me, from the bar, from outside, from wherever you were, you should have seen through me and kept on moving, but you didn't. You couldn't. Because you can't get to the man you really want to hurt, so you need to hurt any man who reminds you of him." I mention to her

"That's kind of boilerplate psychology, isn't it? I'm just another girl with daddy issues."

"You'd be surprised how many killers do what they do because of their parents." I say to her, "If it's so boilerplate, why don't we test that theory? How hard did you look for him?"

"Very hard."

"And how disappointed were you when you realized that you will never find him? You needed some other outlet for your rage, and for a while this worked, but it also tripped you up. Can I tell you a little secret? Everything eventually falls apart. The trick is accepting when it's over." I tell her and for a moment it looked like I was getting to her but then the timer on my phone beeped

"Except it ain't over, is it?" She asked me

"Do you really think I'm just gonna let you walk out of here?"

"You profiled so much about me, except you forgot to ask the most important question. Why would I make you sit here for 30 minutes?" She asked

"Because you're stalling."

"Then you don't know me at all. Did you guys show up here without an escape plan? Or is that what just another girl with daddy issues do? Maybe if you hadn't fallen victim to your own gender bias, and, yes, all men have gender bias, even you, Dr. Reid, you would have recognized that your entire strategy was based on one faulty detail." She says and it clicked

"You're not here alone."

"And my partner? Less paranoid than you think." She says

"You planted a bomb in the building."

"We're on the move" JJ says over the radio and right now Liz popped into my head

"I didn't. My job was to keep your entire team focused on us, so he could do what he does best." Cat tells me


Elizabeth POV...

"Hotch, we've got interconnected c-4 charges down here." JJ tells him

"How many?"

"There's 6 charges. They're connected to the city's gas line. She could take out the whole block." I replied

Spencer POV...

"There are innocent people here." I tell her

"Yes, there are. So let me remind you what we're playing for. Not only will I walk out of here, but you will make sure I leave safely. And from where I'm sitting... It looks like I've won. You need to pay attention to this part. I'm going to tell you the terms of my victory. I want you to move all of your backup away from this building. If I walk out of here and I see one cop, I will incinerate us all."

"I can't do that." I said

"Spencer-"

"It's not me. What you're asking takes time." I point out and she grabs my tie

"This is to whoever's in charge. Unless you guys want to be responsible for the biggest FBI disaster since Waco, you will back off now." She says and lets go, "Watch this."


Elizabeth POV...

"JJ, say again. The bomb has a cell phone trigger?" Aaron asked her

"That's right. All she has to do is call the number and boom."

"The fail safe will still kick in. Same outcome-can't move 'em, can't submerge 'em." I point out

"It'll take us hours to get the gas turned off on the whole block. If we alert anyone, then the panic could set her and the bomb off." Aaron tells us

"SWAT's on the radio with the bomb squad. They say our only chance is to get our hands on that cell phone. If we shut down the trigger, we can remove the charges." JJ mentioned


Spencer POV...

"Look at that. There they go." Cat says and I see waiters heading over to tables

"All we want to do-"

"Minimize the collateral damage. I get it. I'm not mad. It'll give me the cover I need to slip out. I just need to know it's clear, so do me a favor and tell your boss that nobody leaves until it's safe for me to."

"Reid, perimeter agents are pulling back. You have to let her go." Hotch tells me over the radio

"Well?" She asked

"Repeat-all agents, do not engage or pursue until the bomb is defused." Hotch says

"Spencer..."

"You can leave." I tell her and she grabs her coat and purse then gets out of the booth, "But you won't."

"I'm sorry?" She asked me

"Double or nothing. I need to sit back down."

"Reid, what are you doing?" Hotch asked me but I ignored him

"Wow, now you're stalling." Cat says to me

"You played your trump card, but I have one, too." I tell her

"Thanks for dinner. I had fun." She says and starts to walk away

"I found your father." I tell her and she turns to face me

"No, you didn't."

"Look at my face. Am I bluffing?" I asked her, "I'll tell you where he is. But you need to sit back down and listen to the rest of my story."

"No. Tell me now. Or I'll-"

"Detonate the bomb?" I asked cutting her off, "You're not gonna do that, Cat, because then you won't learn anything. You said you were good at your job because you think through every outcome. Well, guess what- so do I."

"All right. Finish the story." She tells me sitting back down

"To prepare for this dinner, I had to learn everything about you, starting with your real name."

Earlier tonight...

"Foster care records locked, loaded, and searchable." Garcia tells me as I join her and Liz putting on my tie

"According to the emails she sent me setting up tonight, her name is Cat. So let's assume her name is Catherine." I tell her and I failed to do my tie so Liz pulled me to her and started doing it

"Give me more." Garcia tells me

"Suspicious death for mom, and her dad most likely went away for manslaughter." I add

"Keep it coming." She says

"Rampant abuse. She would have been in a world of pain." I tell her and Liz gets my tie fixed then fixes my collar, I put my hand on her face and she puts her hand on mine

"Sadly that does not rule out any Catherine's." Garcia tells us

"Her first kills were most likely in the foster environment. Cross-reference all those families the Catherine's went into with accidental deaths of foster dads, and focus on those that have multiple abuse complaints leveled against them." Liz tells her

"Ding."

Now...

"Catherine Adams. Daughter of Daniel Adams, who did in fact leave the country in 1987 but returned in 2012. Based on confidential records in rehabs and sober living houses, which in turned pointed us to flophouses and soup kitchens. He couldn't put 24 hours together sober. And you can probably imagine my surprise when I discovered that he actually lives right here in D.C." I tell her

"Where?"

"It's not that simple. He was in bad shape when I found him."

"He didn't remember me?" She asked

"The alcoholism shredded his brain. I'm sorry."

"You're not sorry. Sorry is what people say when they don't understand." She tells me and looks at me, "Wait. Your mother-tell me."

"Is-is this part of the game?" I asked her

"No. The game's over."

"When I looked at her medical chart, it-it didn't make any sense. The medication that they gave her should have been helping, but I couldn't figure out what was making her so angry. So, I, uh, I went to see her. The moment I walked in her room, I saw it. For 3 seconds... She didn't know who I was. I, um, I had her tested that morning, and I found out that night... That she had early onset of dementia. Most likely Alzheimer's." I tell her

"Did you test yourself?" She asked but I stayed quiet, "No, you didn't. You were too scared."

Elizabeth POV...

"Did you know?" JJ asked me

I sighed, "Yes" I tell her and she put her hand on my shoulder

Spencer POV...

"I thought I dodged a bullet when I turned 30 and didn't have a schizophrenic break like her, but, uh, this is somehow bigger and scarier because I can actually see it happening. All the memories that we used to share are just dying. I can't stop it. I can't help her. All I can do is find people that I can help." I tell her

"Is that really why you showed up tonight? To help me? Do you know how many men have told me that they wanted to help me? How do you think that worked out for them?" She asked me

"Hotch, she just armed the bomb." JJ says over the radio

"Aaron, we need to pull back." I hear Liz say and for a moment I couldn't breather because now my wife was in danger

"You're right. You don't need my help. You don't need anyone's help. You are completely in control." I tell Cat then the next thing I knew I see Morgan and Tara apprehend a lady at the bar

"Hotch, we're clear" JJ says over the radio and I feel relieved but Cat grabs me and we both stand with her gun pointed at me

"Don't!"

"FBI. Everybody stay calm, please." Morgan tells everyone

"We're gonna be smart about this and talk it out. Aren't we, Cat?" Tara asked her

"That's up to you."

"Get everyone out of here." I tell them and Tara tells people to go, "Morgan, you, too."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Guess we're right back where we started. You and me with a gun." Cat tells me

"Reid, it's time." Morgan says to me

"No."

"We don't have a choice. We have to do it." He says

"Do what?" Cat asked him

"Morgan, shut up."

"There's one thing he hasn't told you yet." Morgan tells her

"That's not true. He's lying. Don't listen to him." I say to her

"What haven't you told me?" She asked me

"Nothing. I told you-nothing! Nothing!"

"What don't I know?" Cat asked

"We brought your father here." Morgan tells her and I sighed

"Here? He's here?" She asked him

"He's right outside. Reid thought he needed every bargaining chip he could get."

"Morgan, I'm begging you, don't. Don't." I begged

"Every bargaining chip he could get to convince you to do the right thing." He tells her

"How is this the right thing?"

"Your father killed your mother. And there's no statute of limitations on murder, so you really need to think about your options right now. You shoot him, I will kill you. Or if you surrender, you will live to testify against your father." Morgan says

"That's not good enough." She tells him

"We can arrange it for the two of you to drive into custody together, and then you can remind him of who you are."

"If you give her this, she wins. Don't do it." I pleaded

"Kid, I am trying to save your life. Now let me do that." He tells me and we hear a beeping, "Their bringing him in right now."

"You're really upset about this, aren't you?" Cat asked me

"This is what you wanted, isn't it, a chance to finally hurt the man who deserves it?" Morgan asked her

"They all deserve it."

"He deserves it the most." Morgan tells her and I shake my head

"Only if Spencer escorts me out."

"Deal." I tell her and she drops her gun, Morgan walks over and hands me cuffs and I cuff her, we walk out of the restaurant and see the van sitting there

"Wait." She tells me and we stop, "Ok, I'm ready." I lead her over to the van and opened the doors showing no one else inside, I ld her into the van sitting her down on the seat, "You lied to me."

"If it makes you feel any better, I really- I did look for him. But...I couldn't find him, so, yeah, I did make it all up." I tell her chaining her cuffs to the floor chain

"Not all of it. You don't pull a story about a parent losing her memory out of nowhere. Your mother and the Alzheimer's, that's true. I won."

"How so?" I asked her

"Because I will get out of here."

"Yeah, in 20 years, maybe, if you're lucky." I tell her

"Yeah, that's fine. You know why? Because in 20 years...I'll remember your name, but you won't remember mine." She tells me and I get up and exit the van


"So...You want to come in, decompress a bit?" Morgan asked me as we made our way to his front door

"I'm good. I'm probably just gonna go home and be with Liz and Alexander"

"That was an intense case." He says to me and I chuckled

"Yeah. It's over. Network's gone."

"Yeah. Reid. That medical research that Savannah gave you, was that..." He started to ask me

"Yeah."

"You are gonna get yourself tested, aren't you?" He asked

"One of the data points that her research told me about was age. I'm, uh, too young to display the chromosomal signs, so I'm just gonna have to... Learn to live not knowing." I tell him and the door opens, we turn to see Garcia walking out with Savannah following her

"Oh, my God."

"Oh, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is happening right now?" Morgan asked

"You're what's going on. Right now is what's- you are here. Do you know what's happening right now? It is-it is done. The Dirty Dozen is done. Yes, done. I'm in it! It's..."

"How much did she have?" Morgan asked Savannah and I started to smile

"She started out with Jaeger"

"Jaeger?" Morgan asked

"I love you," Garcia tells him pulling him into a hug, "I love you. And you- I love you so much." She tells me and looks at Savannah, "And you, I should be jealous of you because you're so hot. But I'm not. I'm not. I promise you I'm not. I'm not. I promise. No, I'm not. 'Cause you know what? All I feel in here is love. I just- I am feeling- I'm full of love. So much love. I'm wearing too many clothes." Garcia says walking back to the house

"Uh, I got this" Savannah said following her

"You sure you don't want to reconsider?" Morgan asked me

"I think I'm ok. I'm just gonna- I really just want to go home." I tell him and started to leave but he stopped me

"Hey, kid. Can I tell you something?" He asked me

"Yeah." I said and he pulls me into a hug

"I just, uh..." He starts to say but I knew where he was going

"Yeah."

"You know?" He asked and I wrap my arms around him

"I know. I know."

"Good. Because I mean it." He says and I pull away, "I'll see you tomorrow."


I leave Morgan's and I start walking when I end up at a park, I look at the swing set and walk over sitting on one. I get lost in my own thoughts when I hear leaves rustling

"Hey handsome" I hear Liz say and I looked up at her

"Hi beautiful." I respond and hold me hand out for her to grab which she does and sits on my leg, "Are you okay?" I asked her

"I think it should be me asking you that" She says and I gave a small chuckle, "But yes I'm fine, I'm worried about you though"

"Why?"

"After what happened tonight, bringing up what's going on with Diana, I know how you get." She says and I kissed her

"As long as I have you, nothing can bring me down, I'm just glad you're safe" I tell her putting my hand on her stomach, "Both of you." I said and she puts her hand on mine and kissed me again

"I love you" She says

"I love you too"

A/N: Wow that was a load, this took two days to write, not for lack of trying but because I have been working like crazy. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and I should have the next update tomorrow hopefully. Until then my fine furry friends