A few days later Spencer is riding to the BAU with Garcia, because obviously she wanted to give him a ride for his first day back. They talk about random things for a bit until they arrive at Quantico.
He walks in (or more accurately, hobbles in with his cane) to see Morgan, Rossi, and Hotch around his desk with a small cake.
"Welcome back pretty boy!" Morgan says as he wraps Spencer in a big hug, as does Garcia.
Rossi gives him a hug as well and says,"Good to have you back kid."
Hotch claps his shoulder, saying,"Welcome back Reid."
"Thanks you guys, I missed it here," he says with a smile, which everyone reciprocates, although Hotch's smile doesn't quite reach his eyes and Spencer can see the lingering guilt.
They eat the cake and talk a bit, and he can't help but look around for the others, but neither seem to have arrived yet.
Soon Emily and JJ arrive and Spencer quickly heads into the briefing room, where everyone else soon joins him. Garcia briefs them on the case; the team is headed to Kansas to investigate the murders of two college students. Both were twenty year old men who seemed well liked. Throats were cut and they were stabbed multiple times across their back and chest. The team heads to jet while Spencer heads with Garcia to her batcave.
"Hey Reid. I'm glad you're back," he hears Emily say from behind him.
He turns around and says,"Oh, uh, thanks," he replies managing somewhat of a half smile before walking off , leaving Emily to stand there and sigh.
The case only lasts a few days and they discover a professor on the campus was killing students that looked similar to the man he blamed for the death of his son in a car accident. Thankfully they were able to stop him before he could kill another student and now the team is headed home. Spencer is the one to determine it may be a professor doing this, and he's glad to finally be back and helping the team again, albeit not as much as he would like to.
The next few weeks are mostly uneventful, only one short case nearby in Richmond and other than that the team is in the office most of the time. Spencer's just waiting to get cleared to go back into the field at this point. Emily tries to talk to Spencer often and he always gives some quick response, but not much else. JJ also tries to talk to him but he ignores her or walks away quickly each time.
Finally he's cleared to go back into the field and Spencer is extremely ready. He's done a lot of work in the office and with Garcia since coming back, but he's just been waiting to be able to be completely involved with a case again. Honestly he needs it too, as he wants to keep his mind distracted from thinking about everything that happened for at least a little while.
The team has a case and Spencer makes himself some coffee before heading into the briefing room with the rest of the team.
"Alright my lovelies, you're going to Georgia and it isn't pretty," Garcia tells them, as some gruesome crime scene photos appear on the screen.
"Last night the body of twenty-five year old Brian Jones was discovered in a barn outside of Atlanta. He was tortured over multiple days and died by having his throat slashed. Jones was last seen seven days ago outside of a local bar."
Spencer pretends not to notice the glances he's getting from some of the team members and asks,"And what about the other victim?"
"Well, a day before Jones disappeared, local police found the body of nineteen year old Wendy Adams. She was also missing for seven days after having last been seen leaving her job at a nearby restaurant. She was also tortured and had her throat slashed. He also drugged them while he was holding them and branded them," Garcia says as the team all glances at Spencer, who is looking pale and she pulls up pictures on the screen that show a large one on Wendy's back and a large two on Brian's back.
"What'd he use to drug them?" Prentiss asks.
"He's giving them Dilaudid," Spencer says, trying to ignore the worried stares of the team.
"That's correct," Garcia says, unsure of what else to say.
"So, the unsub holds them for a week to torture them, kills and dumps them, and then finds a new victim within a day," Rossi says, trying to steer the discussion away from Spencer.
"Which means he's probably already taken another victim. Wheels up in twenty," Hotch says.
Soon the team is on the jet talking to Garcia as she goes over more information, although Spencer is just sitting silently.
"So most of the torture was done with a blade, although they both also had injuries consistent with the unsub hitting with his fists and other objects," she says.
"So this unsub is strong, and may use force for his abductions," Morgan says.
"He seems to have a lot of rage as well, considering what he did to the victims," JJ adds.
"But what I don't get is why does he drug them? He wants them to suffer, he needs them to. So why does he give them something that will ease their suffering?" Rossi asks.
"Maybe he enjoys giving them relief and then taking it away again and again?" Prentiss questions.
"Alright when we land, I want Morgan and JJ to check out the most recent dump site. Reid and Prentiss go to the bar Brian was last seen at and talk to the bartender. See if they remember anything. Rossi and I will go to the local p.d. and get set up," Hotch says.
Emily goes over to sit by Spencer, who is staring out the window, but she can see an emptiness in his eyes.
"Hey Reid," she says and he doesn't react.
"Reid?" she tries again and nudges him with her foot, which makes him jump.
"Oh hi Emily, what's up?" he asks, trying to play off his reaction.
"Are you alright?"
"Of course why wouldn't I be?" he replies and she gives him a disbelieving look.
"I know you still probably don't want to talk to me, but please talk to someone, it's okay if this case is getting to you. We all understand."
"I do want to talk to you, I just don't know what to say,"Spencer says, choosing to ignore the rest of what she said.
"I thought you were angry at me?" Emily asks, with a bit of surprise.
"I was. Can we talk about this later please?"
"Fine, but we will be talking about it," she says and he nods absentmindedly as he continues to stare out the window and wait for them to arrive.