Elle entered the BAU and practically collapsed into her chair. It was only 9am but she was exhausted. It didn't make any sense; she had gotten at least 8 hours sleep the night before. She yawned for what seemed like the fifth time that morning.
"Late night?" Derek asked.
Elle shook her head as she stifled another yawn. "It's probably just jet lag,"
"Oh yes, how was it with your mom?"
"Not bad but her stupid rabbit bit me," she held up her hand that was covered in a white bandage as proof.
"Guys we have a case," JJ said and they joined her in the briefing room.
Elle poured herself a glass of water, hoping that could help the drilling in her head. It didn't. She was struggling to focus on what Hotch was saying and the harder she tried to focus, the less she seemed to hear.
She pulled her jacket tighter around to try combat her chills. It felt like the air con was on full even though she knew that wasn't the case.
"Elle? Did I you hear what I just said?" Hotch asked.
"Uh no, sorry," she said.
"Are you ok?" Derek asked.
"I'm fine, I just have a headache," she said.
"Just try to pay more attention," Hotch said, he wasn't sure if his agent was just slacking off or if there was something wrong. She had just got back from a week off and she might be trying to get out of work due to being hungover, it was hard to tell.
"Yes sir,"
"Wheels up in 20,"
They all grabbed the files and left the briefing room to go get their bags. Elle hung slightly behind the others and quickly took some painkillers in the hope it would make her feel better before catching up with the team.
She sat around the table on the jet next to Spencer and just listened as everyone shared ideas. The medicine that was meant to have helped just made her feel even more tired. She had taken off her jacket and draped it over her since she thought it might make her warmer. They wouldn't arrive in California for a few hours so when the conversation had died down, Elle found her eyes closing and it wasn't long before she was asleep leant against Spencer.
JJ had been watching and noticed that Spencer didn't seem that uncomfortable with Elle being asleep against him. The young agent was known for being very averse to physical contact going as far as not shaking hands of anyone. It was even more surprising because Elle seemed to be unwell and Spencer was a bit of a germaphobe and he normally stayed awake from whoever was sick on the team. It was strange to say the least.
"Is Greenaway ok?" Hotch asked the young agent.
"I'm not sure, she feels warm though. She might have a fever and she mentioned earlier that she had a headache so I'd say it's likely she has the flu," Reid said, he spoke as if he was profiling her where as one of the other agents would have probably given a simpler answer.
"When we land, I want you to take her to the hotel and stay with her. You can help us from the hotel room because if Elle's sick then there's a chance you are too," Hotch said, he knew getting Reid to stay with Elle was a good idea since if he became sick then he'd already be at the hotel so Hotch wouldn't have to struggle convincing him to rest.
"Ok," he said.
They landed a few hours later and while the others all got off the Jet, Reid and Hotch stayed back to deal with Elle.
Spencer gently shook Elle's arm. "Elle, wake up," he said softly and Elle's eyes slowly opened. She looked around for a moment and guessed they must've landed.
"You're going to the hotel with Spencer, you can get some rest and you will not be working the case, understand?" He asked.
"Yes sir," she said and sorted out her hair. She felt a bit less tired than before but her headache was back and she was practically shaking as her body was wracked with chills. Her jacket didn't seem to be helping at all.
Hotch got off the Jet, leaving the two of them alone. They both got up and Reid grabbed their bags.
"I'm sorry you have to be babysitting me," she said.
"It's ok, I don't mind," he said which surprised Elle but she guessed he was just saying that to be polite.
They got a taxi to the hotel but made a quick stop at a shop so Spencer could pick up some things since the hotel wasn't likely to have anything. Upon getting to the hotel, Elle immediately headed to the bed and laid down.
Spencer set up the laptop Hotch had given him so he could stay up to date with the case then he went over to Elle.
"Can I take your temperature?" He asked.
"Sure," she said and let him put the thermometer in her mouth and they waited for it to beep.
"100.3," he read aloud. It definitely meant she had a fever which made him surer that she had the flu. He went to walk over to the desk where the laptop was but he felt something stop him. He looked down and saw Elle holding his wrist.
"Don't go," she said.
"Elle, I'm just going over to the-"
"Please," he noticed she looked she was about to cry.
"I'm just going to get the laptop on the desk then I'll come straight back, I'm not going to leave," he said and she nodded so he quickly grabbed the laptop then went back over to Elle. It was a double bed so he sat on the other side and set the laptop on his lap.
It was weird for him to see Elle like this, so vulnerable and so different to the Elle he was used to. She laid her head against him and it didn't take her long to fall asleep. Reid reached to the end of the bed and grabbed the blanket then draped it over her.
His phone started ringing and after making sure it hadn't woken Elle, he answered the call.
"Hey JJ, how's the case going?" He asked.
"Alright, we haven't gotten any closer to catching the unsub. How's Elle?" She asked.
"She's ok, she's sleeping right now," he said.
"An you're ok, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm good,"
"I have to go bye," she hung up the phone.
Spencer put his phone down then moved Elle's hair out of her face. In doing so, he noticed that her lymph nodes were swollen. That wasn't unusual for someone with the flu but he thought back to what she had told Derek that morning about being bitten by a rabbit.
He carefully undid her bandage and his suspicions were confirmed. In the place were she had been bitten, there was now a skin ulcer. He was pretty sure she didn't just have the flu.
"What are you doing?" Elle asked since he had woken her and she saw the ulcer on her hand.
"I don't think you have the flu; I need to call Hotch then we'll go to urgent care," he said.
"Ok...," she said, she was kind of worried about what could be wrong with her if she didn't have the flu but she trusted Reid.
Reid grabbed his phone and called Hotch.
"Hey Hotch, I'm taking Elle to urgent care,"
"Why? Is everything ok?"
"I don't think she has the flu; I think she could have tularaemia. It's a disease you get from rabbits," Hotch made a mental note to search the disease after the phone call.
"Keep me updated,"
"I will" he hung up the phone.
He turned to Elle and noticed she was already nearly asleep. There was no way she'd be able to make it to the car. He picked her up bridal style and she felt too unwell to object to it. He noticed she felt warmer so it was a good thing they were going to urgent care.
He laid her in the back seat while he drove there and luckily it didn't take too long to get there. They arrived and Elle was awake so she walked in but she felt a bit dizzy and disorientated so she leaned against Spencer to help her walk. Urgent care was quite empty which was good Because it meant they could be seen quicker.
"Elle Greenaway," a nurse said and Spencer and Elle stood up and follow her to go be seen.
"So why have you come in today?" The doctor asked.
"I think my friend has tularaemia because she has all the common symptoms and she was bitten by a rabbit last week," he said.
"I'll do some blood tests to find out because this could also just be the flu," he said and he took Elle's blood.
While he was gone, Spencer got a call from JJ and had to answer a few questions for the team to help with the case and it wasn't long before the doctor returned.
"Well miss Greenaway, your friend here was right. You have ulcer glandular tularaemia; it is the most common form of the disease and so I'm prescribing some antibiotics which you will need to take every morning and night for at least a week and I wouldn't recommend you work until you no longer have a fever. These antibiotics do have some side affects such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain but it should be mild," he said and handed them the antibiotics.
"Thanks," Elle said and they left urgent care.
"Well done Dr Reid, how did you even know about the disease?" She asked as they got into the car.
"I read about it a while ago when Morgan was trying to get me to go camping with him," he said.
"I'm glad you did," she said and Spencer drove them back to the hotel and texting Hotch with an update about Elle.
They got back to the hotel and Elle got straight back into the bed. She was relieved they knew what was wrong with her but the fact she had to take the antibiotics for at least a week told her that she wouldn't be feeling better anytime soon.
"You should take some of the antibiotics now," he said and despite not wanting to, she did as he suggested.
"You don't have to stay with me, you should go help the others with the case," she said.
"I'll stay, you're sick so you shouldn't be left alone," he said.
Spencer worked at the desk while Elle laid in the bed watching the Tv. Things were quiet and they were both comfortable doing their own thing. Spencer was startled when Elle leapt from the bed and into the bathroom with a hand clamped over her mouth then he heard the unmistakable sound of retching. He didn't know whether to go in or not because he didn't want to cross any boundaries but he was concerned about her so he timidly entered the bathroom.
She barely noticed that he had entered because she was quite preoccupied. He stood there awkwardly unsure about what to do since he didn't have much experience with sick people so he just thought back to what his mom did for him when he was young. He knelt down beside her and held back her hair for her.
She wiped her mouth with toilet paper then flushed the toilet before she leaned back exhausted. She meant to lean against the wall but Reid was practically behind her so she just leaned against him.
"I though antibiotics are meant to help, not make you feel worse," she said.
"The doctor did say there would be some side affects and this just means they're working," he said.
"I know, I know," she said and she got up and rinsed her mouth out with water then her and Spencer went back into the room.
"It's getting dark and the team will be back soon so you can go if you want," she said.
"Do you want me to go?" He asked.
"No...," she said quietly.
"Then I'm staying," he said. He turned off the laptop and then they both got into the bed. Elle listened as Spencer rambled on about random topics and she fell asleep to the sound of his voice. She had moved into a more comfortable position subconsciously which meant her head was now on his chest. Spencer stayed up for a bit longer but he hadn't slept in a while due stress so he laid down and went to sleep.
JJ was meant to be sharing with Elle as they were the two female agents so it would be less weird for them to share a bed. She entered the room quietly in case Elle was asleep and she was surprised to see Spencer still in the room. He was asleep in the bed with Elle. She saw Derek passing by and called him over.
"Oh wow, I need a picture of this," he said and took out his phone and got a quick picture before JJ could stop him.
"Looks like I'm sharing a room with you," she said.
"Do you think they're together?"
"I don't know, they'd make a cute couple though," she said and they left the room and headed to their own room.
Spencer woke up around 2 in the morning to Elle thrashing about in the bed beside him. He could feel an intense heat coming from her and figured her fever must be up.
"Elle, wake up. It's just a nightmare," he said and Elle woke up, breathing heavily.
"Reid, I don't feel well," she said.
"I think it's because your fevers gone up, I'll go get the thermometer," he said and quickly got the thermometer before returning to Elle.
He took her temperature and he had to make sure she didn't fall asleep while he did so. "101.9, we need to get it down,"
"Just let me sleep," she mumbled.
"I can't do that, how about a cold shower?" He asked and she groaned.
"Is that your ploy to see me naked?" She asked.
"What? No- no I'm just trying-"
"I'm joking, I don't mean it,"
"Oh well you can keep your clothes on but you do need to sit under the cold water,"
"Fine" Spencer helped her up and into the bathroom. He sat her on the toilet while he started the shower. Elle didn't want to get in the shower but she was too tired to argue so she sat under the cold water and it made her feel even more cold. She didn't believe that her temperature could be as high as Spencer had said because she was shivering.
"Just a few minutes longer," he said. He felt mean doing this to Elle even though he knew it was to help her.
A few minutes later, he let her get out of the shower and she felt a lot cooler to the touch which was a good thing. He handed her a bath robe and left in case she wanted to take off her wet clothes.
Reid sat on the bed and waited for her to return. The past day, he had gotten a lot closer to Elle and had seen a completely different side of her. He didn't whether he had feeling for her or not but it didn't matter since someone like her would never be interested in him anyway. She exited the bathroom in the bath robe and joined Reid on the bed.
"You should go back to sleep, it's only like 2am," he said.
"I'm not tired. Well, I am but I've been sleeping constantly the past 24 hours and I don't think I can fall asleep, I'm too awake," she said.
"Then we can just lay here until you are tired enough to sleep,"
"That's boring, let's go do something. I think it would be good for me to get some fresh air,"
"I'm not sure, it might make you feel worse," she gave him a pleading look and he ended up agreeing. She got changed- Spencer looked away and into the corner the whole time then they left the hotel.
"Where are we going to go? It's 2am," he said.
"Let's go to the beach, it'll be empty at this time of night so we won't have to deal with loads of people," she looked so happy about it so he agreed because it was the first time, he had seen her smile since she came into work sick.
They got a taxi to the beach; the driver gave them a bit of a weird look when they said it was where they were going but drove them there nonetheless. When the arrived, Elle grabbed Spencer's hand and dragged him down onto the sand. What happened next was very unexpected. She pulled him closer to her and then her lips were on his, her hands in his hair. His hands instinctively wrapped around her waist. Time seemed frozen around them and they seemed like the only people in the world. Spencer came to his senses and pulled away.
"Elle...I can't- we shouldn't... you're sick," he said and took a step away from her. The hurt was clear in her eyes but he felt like he had taken advantage of her.
"I'm not contagious and why shouldn't we? Do you not want this?" She asked.
"I do, it's just..."
"It's just what? Come on Reid just spit it out,"
"I don't want to hurt you and I'm not exactly the type of guy women go for and so I don't know what I'm doing. Also, you're sick and so you might not actually want this," he didn't look at her- he couldn't- her cheeks were a light scarlet colour.
"Oh Spencer, I don't care if you get loads of women or none. That's not why I like you and trust no one can tell me what to do even if I'm sick," he looked up at her and she was smiling. The moonlight shone on her face and he was reminded of how pale she was, he didn't want to ruin the moment but she shouldn't be outside.
"Take my jacket, you're shivering," he took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders.
"Please don't make me go back, let's stay out here just a bit longer,"
"Ok,"
They sat on the sand, listening to the crashing waves and Elle laid her head on his shoulder. He had his arm wrapped her and it just felt right.
"I love you Dr Reid," she mumbled, right before she fell asleep.
He hadn't been sure if he had heard her right but he played it over in his head and she had definitely said she loved him. A smile appeared on his face, she loved him. He kissed her forehead and since she was asleep, he decided it would be a good time for him to take her back to the hotel.
Spencer carried her into a taxi and she slept the entire way there which didn't surprise him because the trip to the beach probably exhausted her. He placed her in the bed and laid the blanket over her. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep so went and had a shower and once he was out and dressed, his phone started ringing. It was Derek.
"Hey pretty boy, I didn't know if you'd be up. There's been two more murders so our unsub is escalating. We could really do with your help," he said.
"Yeah, Elle's asleep so I'll meet you guys at the police station,"
"See you there," he hung up the phone.
Reid grabbed a post-it note and wrote a reminder for Elle to take her antibiotics and he placed the note and antibiotics on the bedside table. He was about to leave then he stopped, hesitated and went over to Elle, kissing her forehead before he left, thinking she would be ok.
While he was happy to help the team with the case, he was distracted. He had had quite an eventful past few hours and he was still trying to digest the fact that Elle loved him. The facts just didn't seem to add up in his head. He knew love was subjective but a nerd and your conventional hot, Hispanic love interest and their romance seemed a little cliché even to him.
Part of him wouldn't be surprised, if it was just a massive set up. He didn't think the team would pull something like that but he knew from experience that people sometimes took jokes too far.
They had interviewed the victims families and there didn't seem to be anything connecting all the victims. He was starting to get annoyed. The sooner they solved the case, the faster he could get back to Elle.
Reid had been helping the team for nearly 5 hours and he knew Elle would probably be awake and he wanted to be there making sure she was ok and had taking her antibiotics but instead he was in a random Californian police station, no closer to finding the unsub. He never thought he'd say it but right now he hated his job.
"Hey Spence, are you ok? You seem distracted," JJ said and handed him a cup of coffee.
"I've tried calling Elle and she won't answer her phone, her fever was really high earlier and I'm worried it might've gone up again," he said.
"You should go check on her, I'll tell Hotch where you're going"
"Ok thanks" He couldn't have left the police station quicker; he just had this but feeling that something was wrong with Elle and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't shake it. Since he trying to get in her room quickly, he kept fumbling with the key and he couldn't seem to get it in the lock. He eventually managed to do it and he entered the room.
Upon entering, everything seemed ok. She was laid asleep. The pills were untouched but she must not have woken up yet. He placed his hand on her shoulder to wake her up and instead of feeling heat radiating off her, she was cold which was a stark constant to that morning. He turned her to face him and his eyes widened in horror.
White foam lined the corners of her mouth and her eyes were wide open, that seemed to be staring into his soul, and clouded over. He tried to bite his lip to stop himself from crying but it was futile, he gently closed her eyelids and he erupted with loud sobs. You'd think he'd be ok with seeing a dead body due to his job but this was his colleague, his friend, the girl he was pretty sure he loved.
He should be stayed with her; this was all his fault. He held her cold body in the hopes she'd come back to life like some fairy tale but he knew it wouldn't happen. She had told him she loved him and now she was dead.
He needed to call an ambulance. By some miracle, he managed to stay composed on the phone to the 911 operator and when they arrived. He just stood in the centre of the room frozen, he wanted to move but his body just wouldn't. He watched them put her onto a stretcher and one of the paramedics helped Spencer into the ambulance since she didn't think he should be left alone. He didn't want to be alone either. He wanted to be with Elle but she was going to the morgue.
They would be doing an autopsy to find her cause of death and down Spencer sat in one of the waiting room chairs. He put his head in his hands and cried silently. This was all too much. Things weren't meant to be like this. She had been fine when he left her, she had been resting which was good. How did she go from that to being cut open on a cold metal table in the morgue? He was a genius but even he couldn't figure out how that happened.
A nurse went over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to jump. He looked up and she gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Would you like me to call anyone?" They asked.
"Aaron Hotchner, he's my unit chief, he'll want to know," the nurse handed him a piece of paper and he wrote down his number.
"I'll go call him, I'm very sorry for your loss,"
Spencer just nodded. He didn't know how he felt- he didn't really feel anything. He was numb. He looked around at the other people in the waiting room. There was a grandma and her two grandchildren. The kids were asleep and she had a worried look on her face. He guessed it was her kid that was in the hospital. The other person in the waiting room was a young woman who had tear-stained cheeks and her hair was a mess. Spencer guessed he looked pretty similar to how he did. She kept on touching a ring on her finger and he figured it was her fiancé that was in the hospital. While both looked upset, they had a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Spencer didn't: he knew Elle was dead and never coming back.
The team arrived and JJ immediately embraced Spencer into a hug. The others all stood around him.
"Oh Spence, what happened?" She asked.
"I just got back and she was... She was dead," he said.
"Do they know why she died?" Derek asked.
"They're doing an autopsy now," Spencer said.
They all stood or sat in silence, none of them knew exactly what to say. One of their friends was dead, they never got to say goodbye. Hotch got coffee for the whole team and handed it out since most of them hadn't gotten much sleep due to the case. It was a while before the pathologist approached them.
"It seems your friend died of meningitis. It's an awful disease that spread to her brain and so she was dead no more than 5 hours after and contracting it," They explained.
"Was there anything that could've been done to prevent this?" Spencer asked.
"It's unlikely, I'm sorry for your loss," they said before walking away. Spencer noticed the staff seemed to end their sentences with 'I'm sorry for your loss' as if that would make it all better.
The funeral was a month later, Spencer still wasn't over her death and he didn't think he would ever be. He put on his suit and headed to the church. He sat next to JJ and placed her hand over his as the priest talked to let him know she was there for him.
The ceremony was very formal and it was what you'd expect for a government agents funeral. Spencer knew Elle never wanted anything like this but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Afterwards, Spencer hung back while everyone else headed to the funeral reception.
He placed a single flower over her grave. It was favourite kind. He traced her carved name with his finger and tried stop the tears that threatened to fall but he was unsuccessful.
"I'm sorry Elle. I'm so, so sorry. I should never have left you," he said. He could hear her response in his head and he knew it wasn't real but that didn't matter, just hearing her voice was nice.
"We both know that isn't true, I would've died no matter what,"
"You were all alone, Its not fair. We never even got a chance, I never go to tell you that I love you,"
"Well, do you?"
"I love you Elle and I wish things were different"
"I love you too Spencer, maybe in another life,"