Chapter 27: Debriefing

A few days later, Dr. Spencer Reid found himself in the office of Harry Kabotchnik. Reid had heard JJ mention her boss once or twice, but this was the first time he met the man. He was physically large, almost intimidating. He had several folders on his desk that he appeared to be reading.

"So, Dr. Conklin is custody," Kabotchnik said nonchalantly. "So is Shaw and most everyone related to the Archimedes Group."

"So, it's over," Reid said, with just a hint of victory in his voice.

"Over? It's barely begun. Sure, we have Conklin. That doesn't mean any of this is over. We don't know that we have everyone he's ever worked with. We don't know if Conklin and his group were connected to anyone else. Having them in custody gives us leverage to find out more. It stops them from doing more damage. It's a good start, but it is nowhere near the end."

There was an intensity in Kabotchnik's eyes that Reid thought spoke of both an intelligence and passion that was just as intimidating as his physical size. "So where does that leave us", Reid asked.

"It leaves me with a few questions, Dr. Reid. The first one is this – is time travel possible?"

"I'm sorry?"

"This whole thing – your involvement with Conklin, I mean, started because he thought you could move his cockamamie project to fruition. So tell me, is time travel possible?"

"It sounds like you think it isn't."

"No, I don't. But I could be wrong. The problem is the line between what's possible and what isn't keeps moving. In 1776, everyone thought it was impossible for a bunch of farmers and merchants to defeat the most powerful fighting force in the world. But the 13 colonies won their independence, and now the US is a superpower. It used to be that flying is impossible, but now not only do we routinely fly across the country and the world, but we even flew to the moon and back. So, I repeat – is time travel possible?"

"Maybe someday, but not now. There are a number of barriers no one can breach yet. Just the sheer amount of energy needed to power any apparatus used to travel through time is beyond even the most advanced engineering abilities of, well, anyone."

"What about that thing you told Conklin about the error in the math. Was that real or were you just messing with him?"

"You mean the error in the proposal that was part of my exit interview?"

"Yes, that one. Was there an error with it?"

"It wasn't really an error. The math is wrong, but the term error indicates a mistake. I put it in on purpose, in case someone might actually try to do it."

"Why?"

"Like I said in the proposal, it shouldn't be done. Is someone actually working on it? Seriously working, I mean?"

"Outside of Conklin? Who knows? But someone asked him to work on it, so obviously someone, somewhere is at least open to it. Which brings me to the next point."

"Which is?"

"Why did you include this in your exit package?"

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't a joke - you took it way too seriously for it to be a joke. You even admit you put incorrect information so if anyone took it seriously, they would fail. Did you think that someone was working on it? In other words, Dr. Reid, did you know or have reason to suspect someone like Conklin was working on this? Is that the real reason you quit the FBI? To draw them out?"

"That would be impressive. If that's what happened, but it didn't. It was just a coincidence. I honestly just took a step back and decided it was time for a change. I thought including this would cause a stir, but not like this. I certainly never seriously considered some one would be trying to actually build a time machine."

"Maybe not, but you have demonstrated certain …abilities. You know there will be more people in both the public and private sector trying to recruit you. Some just as ruthless as Conklin."

"And?"

"You got lucky this time with the way everything worked out. There's no guarantee it will work out like that a second time."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You're going to tell me you can protect me if I work for you."

"The government, not me. You would have resources for protection and.."

"No. I am done with government work. Not for the FBI. Not for you. Certainly not if in some government think tank somewhere, they are actually trying to make a functional time machine. If you need anything else, you know where to find me. But unless it's giving evidence against Conklin, I am uninterested."

Elsewhere there was a debriefing of a very different kind going on.

Emily was in Garcia's office, and the two ladies were having lunch.

"I hope this is the end of all of this covert ops stuff," Garcia said.

"What do you mean," Emily asked as she ate her salad.

"I mean all of this - doing things off the books and telling Hotch, working with JJ but we can't say anything. I mean, I don't mind helping especially if we're keeping someone from hurting Reid and his mom, but keeping secrets from everyone is just too much."

"Hopefully this is the end of people trying to force Spencer to work for them."

"He is never coming back, is he?"

"Probably not."

"Don't you want him to come back? I mean, I know you say you don't to convince him to come back, but you try to recruit him to help us all the time."

"I do not."

"You call him whenever we have a case."

"I call him to tell him I will be away. It's what you do when you're in a relationship."

"Not to get help?"

"I don't mind picking his brain once in a while, but I have to stop asking him. That's why you and I are working on that geographical profiling program. So we don't have to ask for his help. Hopefully Hotch will find someone to fill the empty slot soon."

"What's that look?"

"What look?"

"That haunted, guilt-filled look."

"I do not have a guilty look."

"I don't need to be a profiler to recognize a guilty look, so what is it for?"

"I don't! I mean… I don't"

Garcia gave her a meaningful look.

"All right, fine. It's just…sometimes I just don't want him to come back, all right?"

"Why? Is it because of fraternization rules? Because I've been researching that lately and…"

"And they wouldn't stop him from working with me, I know. I've looked them up too."

"Really?"

"Look, PG, the morning after …the first time we…I mean when girls night got interrupted…"

"And you and Reid got busy" Garcia smiled slyly.

"I got up and I was making coffee for us when I saw something in the trash."

"Oh?"

"It was an invitation to a faculty dinner. I just got fired up about him going to it."

"Why?"

"I just…I had this image of being married to a professor."

"Really?"

"It sounds stupid, and I don't why I kept thinking about it except…"

"Yeah?"

"I think I like that he's not in this world of serial killers and sexual sadists anymore. And when I met his mother...Well, I have a new reason to try to keep him out of this world."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to have a family with him someday. It would be easier if one of us wasn't travelling the country after killers. Plus, maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe someday, I wouldn't want do either. Maybe if I left the BAU too, maybe he could live closer to his mother. Maybe we could be more of a family. I mean…I don't know."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"No. Not yet. He's still getting his balance about being a professor and not an FBI agent. Besides, any changes like this…it's a long ways off. I just want enjoy what we have now. Don't tell anyone any of this, not right now. We've all had enough upheaval recently."

"Sure, what's one more secret?"