Quiet. The only sound in the room was the composed dual breathing from the two bodies. The temperature had dropped in the room, making it uncomfortably cold. Riley Parker shivered in her sleep, moving closer to the warm form of her boyfriend, Spencer Reid. His arm reflexively pulled her closer, protecting her from the chill. They slept on.
But not for long. In the stillness of the night, a loud pounding invaded their serene, private world. Neither were bothered at first. Reid and Riley were immobile, entangled in their sheets and wrapped in the essence of each other.
The pounding sounded again, more severe. With a loud grunt, Reid began to wake up. He listened. The silence resumed and Reid wondered if he had only dreamt it.
His eyes landed on the sleeping Snow White in his arms. Her curly black hair was loose and wild, spread over her pillow. The covers were pulled over her, just over her torso. Reid's arm was draped over her stomach under the sheets, feeling her soft skin, rising and lowering as she breathed. He leaned in closer to her, burying his nose in her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of roses. He closed his eyes. It had just been his imagination.
There it was again. Someone was here. Sitting up, he saw the clock on Riley's bedside table. Almost 2:30 in the morning. What could possibly be so important, it had to be told at 2:30 in the morning? The intruder didn't sound to be going away. Absorbing one last moment of comfort, Reid leaned in, pressing his lips against Riley's collar bone, kissing her flesh deeply. He watched as her own lips curved into a small smile, sighing contently. Reid could stare at her for hours, but their visitor was getting impatient, pounding even louder.
Reid climbed out of bed, his skin contracting as it hit the cold. The room was all but pitch black. The street lamp streaked through the half open blinds onto the floor, but it gave little help. Reid's eyes tried to adjust to the dark in order to find something to cover himself with. Answering the door in the middle of the night was unwise enough, being naked wouldn't help.
The streak of street light hit the floor near the foot of the bed. Reid's eyes discovered Riley's silk rose robe lying there, having been abandoned there when they'd gone to bed.
Quickly, Reid grabbed her robe and pulled it on. He hoped whoever was out there, continuing the banging on their door, could be gotten rid of quickly. Reid also grabbed his gun off the dresser… just in case. He had learned from his mistakes.
Moving through the apartment, Reid switched on a few lights. With more light, the harder it would be to get back to sleep, but better safe than sorry. Besides, he had the day off tomorrow, he had plenty of time to sleep in. The pulsation on the front door sounded again. Reid clutched the gun as he reached the door. Checking through the peep hole, he saw it was unnecessary. Surprised, he set the gun aside and quickly unlocked the door to greet their late night visitor.
"Dad," Reid said, startled.
"Hello, Spencer," he said. He looked the same as he had a few years ago, when he, Morgan, and Rossi had investigated the murder of Riley Jenkins.
The shock was not going away immediately. "What are… what are… you doing here?"
"I'm sorry I'm here so late… but it's an emergency. Can I come in?"
Reid nodded, stepping aside for his father to enter. He locked the door quickly, just in case anyone had followed him here. Reid's eyes flashed on his gun, just reassuring himself it was there.
He turned to greet his father, "… why are you here, Dad?" Reid asked, wasting no time. "Is every okay with Mom?"
"Yeah, she's fine…" Reid noticed his father staring at him, appalled and curious. Reid only then realized he must look ridiculous in this attire. He amused himself a moment, hoping it might make his father regret leaving all those years ago.
Before he could explain, both men were startled from a soft cry down the hall. "Spencer?"
Riley appeared in the living room, wearing only her Penguins' jersey, just enough to cover her body to the top of her thighs. Her hair hung loose around her and her eyes were tired behind her glasses. She froze once she spotted their visitor; backing away slightly, nervous. "What's going on?"
"Uh… Riley," he said, indicating for her to come over. They might look ridiculous, but there was no preventing it now. "This is my father, William Reid. Dad… this is my girlfriend… Riley."
He looked suddenly relieved. "Nice to meet you, Riley," he said, offering his hand.
"Likewise," Riley replied. She glanced at Reid, annoyed. "There's my robe. Why are you wearing my robe?"
"Because people often get offended when one answers the door in the nude," he said quickly. "Um… Dad, why don't you sit down? We'll just change and be out in a few minutes."
They parted ways and headed back into the bedroom. Dressing proved much more simple once the light was switched on.
"What do you think this is about?" Riley asked, tossing a pair of Reid's sweatpants at him.
"I really can't say," Reid replied, watching as his love pulled on a pair of pajama pants. She discarded her shirt for a spaghetti strap top and cardigan. "Your jersey was fine."
"I'm attempting to look more presentable," Riley informed. "This was not the way I planned to meet my boyfriend's father."
She buttoned up her white cardigan and grabbed a brush off the dresser. As she dragged it through her tangled hair, her eyes lingered on Reid, sitting on the bed, in his sweats, holding his t-shirt while staring at the floor. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I haven't seen my father in two years." He said, finally looking at her. "Not since… he told me the truth… about why he left. We resolved a lot of issues, but…"
"-You still haven't gotten over the hurdle." She finished.
Reid smiled at her. There was such a positive quality about dating your former therapist, however immoral it initially might be.
Riley smiled back as she walked over and kissed him on the top of his head. "Take your time. I'll make coffee."
…
Twenty minutes later, William Reid still sat alone in the living room. Riley finally arrived with three cups of hot coffee for them. "I'm sure Spencer will be out in a minute," she assured, handing him a mug. "He just got back from Detroit a few hours ago, he's a little tired."
"I'm sorry for showing up so late." Will said again, taking the cup graciously.
"That's alright," Riley assured.
"It's nice to meet you regardless, though. I… didn't know Spencer was seeing anyone." He took a sip of his coffee. Swallowing, he set his cup aside. "How long have you been dating my son?"
"Oh, um…" She had to think for a moment. "Well, we met about two years ago… we've been serious for… over a year now."
"Wow," he said, fully understanding how his son's life was progressing without him. "And what do you do for a living?"
"Oh, I work for the FBI, too." She replied. "I'm a psychiatrist for the Bureau."
"Really?" William sounded impressed. "You're so young. You're not a genius too, are you?"
Riley giggled, sitting back with her own mug. "No, just an over-achiever. Something your son enjoys pointing out frequently."
At that moment, finally dressed, Reid came into the living room. "What do I enjoy pointing out?" he asked, almost suspiciously.
"The fact that I'm a nerd." She replied as Reid took a seat next to her. He grabbed the third cup and moved it to his lips. Before he drank, he shot her a questioning glance. "What?" she asked.
"How strong did you make it?" He asked.
"It's not that strong!" She assured. "Trust me, we don't have the money to replace the carpet."
Rolling his eyes, he slowly took a sip. It met his liking and he drank more. "Told you," she muttered, taking a sip of her own.
Reid set the coffee down, ready to get to the point. "Okay, so, Dad… what's going on?"
Will Reid cleared his throat, not really sure how to bring this up. "Spencer… you know I wouldn't come to you like this if this didn't need immediate attention. And if it were just me… I wouldn't bother you at all."
He was leading up to something big. Reid glanced at Riley, who seemed just as perplexed as he. Will continued. "For the past few months… I've been receiving some… threats."
"What kind of threats?" Reid asked.
"At first it didn't seem like anything. I'm a lawyer, I get hate mail all the time. I ignored it, I expected whoever it was to get bored and go away." He took a deep breath, as if to calm down. He reached into the bag he'd brought and extracted a smile pile of white folded pages. "The letters started becoming more threaten and they began to arrive more often… pretty soon I was getting one every day."
He handed the papers to his son. Reid took them, unfolding the top one and read it over. They were hand written, barely legible. He read them silently; it was faster that way. Specific words jumped out at him as his eyes traveled. Dear Mr. Reid… You cannot even begin to understand the disease you have set on the world. Disease spreads, and therefore allows more death and evil to grow… It is with your life and the lives of others that the world shall be cured from your poison."
He read over the next few pages quickly, handing the first letter over to Riley. She read them at her own pace, a little startled by the language. "For someone sounding so angry… he uses elegant language. Well educated."
"He doesn't use any contractions. He wants to give the illusion that he's smarter than us." He looked over the words again, more for the sake of reading between the lines. "Do any of the letters say what he plans to do to you?"
"Some are… more intimidating than others." He flipped through the unread notes until he found a specific one. "'A body at rest tends to stay at rest', a dead body, Mr. Reid, forever remains at rest. Your body will remain as the lives of the previous have been slain.' The one I got today… were much more descriptive. More… detailed."
"Does your firm deal with any dangerous criminals?" Reid asked.
"No," he said immediately. "We deal mostly with contracts and wills, divorces and prenups. We rarely even go to court."
"You mentioned you weren't the only one being threatened." Riley remembered as Reid continued to read.
Will hesitated. Reid looked up from the letter, growing more and more anxious with each passing silent second.
"Dad," he asked. "Who else is involved?"
He took a deep breath. "Your mother."
"You said Mom was fine!" he called. Riley reached out and grabbed his arm, as if afraid he would lunge at his father.
"She is fine, Spencer, she's okay! She doesn't realize what's going on." He explained quickly.
Reid took a deep breath, calming down. Riley brushed his arm a few times before she released him, still watching him cautiously. "What happened?"
"When the letters began to get more intense, I had a suspicion I should check on your mother." He said. "She told me about the letters you were sending her lately, and she showed them to me… She had four or five letters matching these mixed in with yours."
"She thought they were from me?" Reid asked, picking up another unread one.
"Spencer, she's on a lot of medication, you know that." His father explained. "In fact, they told me while I was there they had to up her dosage because of a lot of nightmares she was having. She probably didn't understand."
"Nightmares?" Riley asked.
"I asked about those. Apparently she'd been having a lot of bad dreams. Waking up in the middle of the night, screaming, covered in cold sweat. All her dreams seemed to be about Spencer."
Riley thought over that information. "Really," she muttered, thinking. Reid's attention went away from the notes, interested in her idea.
"What are you thinking?" Reid asked.
"I'm think maybe she doesn't consciously know what the letters mean, but her subconscious is at least somewhat aware." She looked at Reid, swallowing nervously. "Spencer… I think your mother believes… these letters are about you, that's why she keeps them with yours."
A mother knows a voice said in his mind. "Why would she assume these letters are about me? Why wouldn't my dad realize that?"
"No offense, Mr. Reid," Riley said apologetically to Will, then turned back to her boyfriend, "But… your mom's a genius. Whatever part of her brain is still functioning normally was able to figure out what these threats mean. She's been getting these letters, I'm sure, for awhile and somewhere in that time… she figured out they're about her son." She shrugged. "I wouldn't be able to say definitively without talking to her, and even then, it might be difficult on so much medication."
Reid thought for a moment. "Then let's talk to her,"
Riley looked disbelieving, answering with sarcasm. "You… want to get her on the phone?"
"No," he answered. He looked to his father, "We should talk to Mom, ask her about these letters. Maybe… even if consciously she doesn't know, she may tell us something useful. And we can ask her about her dreams."
"You want to talk to her?"
"No, I want Riley to examine her." Reid said, looking back to her.
Startled, Riley gaped at him. "You want me to do a mental evaluation on my boyfriend's schizophrenic mother. Because that doesn't have disaster written all over it."
"Please, Riley," Reid asked, taking her hand.
Like she actually would say no. Heaving a sigh and rolling her eyes, an effort to make him feel guilty, she agreed. "Alright, I'll… work out my schedule for later in the week."
"Thank you," he said, reaching over. He gave her a quick grateful kiss. Reid looked back to his father. "I'll talk to Hotch and we'll fly out to Vegas at the end of the week."
"Thank you," Will said, standing up. "It's settled then. Just give me a call when you know when you'll be arriving."
"You're leaving?" Riley asked, standing up. Reid followed suit. "But it's late. Do you have a place to stay tonight?"
Will glanced at Reid for a moment. The unsure, uncomfortable expression on his face was enough to tell him his son did not want him there. "No, I'm staying at a hotel near the airport in D.C. I need to be back to work by tomorrow."
"Okay," Riley replied, taking a questioning glance at her boyfriend. "If you're sure."
"Riley," Reid said as he patted her shoulder. "Why don't you go to bed, I'll be there in a minute. I'm just going to show my dad out."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Reid nodded, kissing her on the temple. "I'll just be a minute."
"Okay," she replied, still skeptical.
Will moved towards Riley before she escaped down the hall. "Thank you for the coffee, Riley. It was so nice to meet you."
"Likewise," she said again. "We'll see you soon."
Heading down the hall, the father and son stood alone. Reid led his father towards the door, opening it for him. "She's lovely," Will mentioned.
"I know." Reid replied, smiling. "She's fantastic."
"Is it serious?" He asked.
Reid nodded, having a couple of looming plans he wasn't about to divulge to his estranged father. "Yes. Very serious."
"I just wish I had known about her before I showed up." He said as Reid opened the door, letting the cold from the hall waft in.
"Well… Dad," Reid muttered. "We don't exactly talk."
"True," his father answered. There were a lot of unresolved issues between them. Issues that couldn't be resolved at 3 o'clock in the morning. "But I read through a lot of the letters you sent your mom. And it's interesting, for being 'very serious'… you never mentioned her to your mother, either."
His reasons for not revealing his romance to his mother were his own. Reid had never been this serious about a girl before. Unsure how his mother would react, Reid wanted to tell her in person. Although, even after visiting her a few times over the last thirteen months… he never did mention Riley Parker.
"I'll call you tomorrow about when we're coming," Reid said, changing the subject.
"Goodnight, Spencer." He said.
"Goodnight," Reid said quickly. He closed the door without another word, shutting his father out. A perfect metaphor.
