Chapter 2: Reid Loses Maeve
In Reid's case of Maeve Donavan getting kidnapped by her stalker, Reid called Hotch into his office to tell him everything he knew about Maeve's disappearance and about her stalker. And then Hotch had Reid tell the rest of the BAU family. Reid asked everybody to help him find Maeve before her stalker could make Maeve disappear forever. Garcia discovered Maeve's full name and address online. Morgan and JJ checked out her apartment and confirmed that Maeve had been abducted. The BAU team interviewed Maeve's parents and then Maeve's former fiancee, Bobby Putnam. Then Garcia and JJ figured out that Maeve's stalker was a woman, not a man. And Reid figured out that it was the woman who was with Bobby at his apartment, Diane Turner. Diane then kidnapped Bobby and she shot him dead in the same place where she was holding Maeve.
JJ, Rossi and Reid went to Diane's apartment. There was no sign of Diane, Maeve or Bobby inside. But, Rossi noticed there was a camera monitoring them. Reid offered himself for Maeve's freedom to get Diane to tell him where the two of them were. Diane called Reid with the address of where she was holding Maeve. Hotch, JJ and the others didn't like Reid's exchange idea, but they let Reid try it.
Reid entered the building alone and unarmed. He tried lying to Diane and said that he loved Diane and not Maeve to Maeve's face while trying to get Diane to exchange Maeve for him. Diane then kissed him in front of Maeve just to gloat. But, Diane could tell by the feel of the kiss that Reid was lying to her. Maeve was trying to untie herself. Reid and Diane fought and Diane's gun fired. The rest of the BAU team entered the building to help Reid. Diane was holding Maeve at gunpoint from the right side of her in front of Reid.
"You lied to me!" cried Diane. "You never loved me!"
"No, I didn't lie," said Reid. "Diane, you can still walk away from this. Me for her. That was the deal."
"You would do that?" asked Diane.
"Yes," answered Reid.
"You would kill yourself for her?!" asked Diane.
"Yes," said Reid.
"No," whispered Diane.
Diane held her gun up to the left side of her head and fired it.
"Wait!" yelled Reid before he heard the gunfire.
The BAU team were all shocked to see that Diane's gunshot had penetrated both her skull and Maeve's skull, killing both of them in front of Reid by murder/suicide. Diane and Maeve were lying dead on the floor with a big pool of both of their bloods across their heads. Reid immediately started sobbing uncontrollably. The rest of the team felt defeated this night. Diane Turner won.
A week after Reid and the BAU team had attended Maeve Donavan's funeral, Hotch had given Reid as much time off from solving cases as he wanted. After losing Haley to Foyet, Hotch completely understood what Reid was going through now. And, after recently losing Will, so did JJ. Early one January Saturday morning, JJ climbed up the stairs to Reid's apartment and she knocked on his door. Reid didn't answer. So, JJ used her spare key Reid gave her to let herself in.
JJ saw that the whole apartment was in shambles. Books were scattered all over the place. The window shades were all pulled down. And she found Reid awake, miserable and sitting on the floor with Maeve's book in his lap. JJ sat down on the floor next to him.
"Hey," said JJ.
"I don't want you to be here, Jennifer," weakly said Reid. "I want to be alone. Please leave."
"No," firmly said JJ. "You're not answering my calls. You're not answering your door. It's been a whole week now since the funeral. I'm not going anywhere, Spencer Reid!"
"You don't understand," said Reid. "I was so close to finally having a romantic relationship of my own, and an unsub has taken it away from me before it even really started. How can the fates be so cruel?"
"I might not understand how it feels to lose something special before it even really started," said JJ. "But, you loved Maeve, right?"
"Right," answered Reid.
"And Maeve loved you, right?" asked JJ.
"Right," tearfully answered Reid. "She told me she loved me."
"Well," said JJ. "I loved Will and Will loved me. And three unsubs have taken Will away from me seven months ago. They took something special away from me. And that is a feeling that I understand completely. I don't know how the fates can be so cruel, either."
JJ started to cry herself.
JJ continued, "But I do know that you were there for me after I've lost Will. And I've made the stupid mistake of pushing my best friend away when I needed you the most! And, I'm so sorry I did that. And, now because you've lost Maeve, I want to be here for you no matter what. And I'm not taking 'no' for an answer! Let me hold you, Spence."
JJ and Reid hugged each other. Reid started sobbing uncontrollably on JJ's shoulder from the pain of his loss.
"I'm sorry, Spence," tearfully whispered JJ. "I'm so sorry."
JJ was crying along with Reid from the pain of her own recent loss.
"Thank you for being here for me, JJ," admitted Reid. "I really needed this."
"I...I needed this, too," admitted JJ. "And, you're welcome, Spence."
JJ and Reid cried in each other's arms the rest of the day. On Sunday morning, JJ had gotten Reid out of his apartment and they walked over to the chess park together.
"Do you know what really hurts from losing Maeve, JJ?" asked Reid.
"Tell me," said JJ.
Reid answered, "I was hoping that after we had arrested her stalker, I could someday marry Maeve. One night before we started searching for Diane, I had dreamed that I was about to get married in a church."
"Married?" said JJ. "Tell me about it."
"All right," said Reid. "I found myself standing at the altar wearing a black tuxedo. I heard an organ playing 'Here comes the Bride.' I looked around the room. And my mom, Hotch, Beth, Jack, you, Henry, Rossi, Blake, Emily, Gideon, Elle, Seaver, Morgan and Todd all appeared sitting in the front rows smiling and witnessing my wedding. And Rossi, Gideon and Morgan gave me two thumbs up."
"Wait a minute," said JJ. "Wasn't Garcia at this wedding?"
"Yes," said Reid. "She appeared standing in front of me as the minister who was going to marry us."
JJ smiled, "Of course. I...I always thought that if any one of our team had gotten married that Garcia would be the one who was crying at the wedding."
"No," said Reid. "You, my mom and Emily were doing that. Emily looked over at Gideon and Elle and she said, 'Our boy genius is all grown up!'"
"Oh, my God," laughed JJ. "Please tell me more."
Reid continued, "The bride, who I was sure was Maeve had appeared standing next to me wearing a white wedding dress with her veil down covering her whole face. Garcia asked me, 'Do you have the ring?' and then a ring appeared in my hand. Garcia told me to place it on the bride's finger and I did. Then Garcia said, 'I now pronounce you smart and smarter! Let's get to it, you two!' and I said, 'Get to what?' and Garcia said, 'Kiss her, dummy!'"
JJ was laughing hard saying, "I'm sorry. I...I love this wedding dream! What else happened?"
Reid answered, "I lifted the veil to kiss her, but she had no face."
JJ stopped laughing.
"No face?" asked JJ.
Reid said, "No eyes, nose or mouth. She just had a blank face."
JJ gasped.
"And then I woke up," finished Reid. "I think Maeve had no face because I didn't know what she looked like yet. But what also hurts is that after we had gotten married, I wanted to have some kids with her. Just like Hotch has Jack and you have Henry. And, now that will never happen."
Reid sat down at the chess board table and started crying again. JJ sat down on the other side of the chess board table.
"You still can, Spence," said JJ.
"What?" asked Reid.
"You still can have kids someday," said JJ. "Maybe not with Maeve now, but someday you can still have kids with someone else who is special to you."
"I'm not going to find somebody else who is special to me, JJ," cried Reid.
"Yes, you will," said JJ. "You're too good a person not to. This may feel hopeless to you right now, Spence, but someday you will be a father."
"Thanks," said Reid.
"Anytime," said JJ. "It's cold! Let's walk some more."
Reid got up and he and JJ walked away from the chess board table.
"Spence?" said JJ.
"Yes?" said Reid.
"Tell me again about Garcia marrying you and Maeve," smiled JJ.
"No," muttered Reid.
JJ rested her head on Reid's right shoulder.
"Please?" said JJ.
"All right," said Reid.
"What was Garcia wearing?" asked JJ.
"She had a pink bow in her hair, matching pink lipstick, contact lenses, and she was wearing a black dress. She asked me, 'Do you have the ring?' and then a ring appeared..."
JJ started laughing.
When JJ and Reid returned to Reid's apartment and climbed up the stairs, they found nut baskets all around his apartment door on the floor. JJ lifted a card from one of the baskets and she read it aloud.
JJ read, "'I thought that these nuts and seeds could give you some serotonin in your beautiful brain to help make you feel better and happier. Miss you! PG.' Oh, Garcia..."
It was just over two weeks after Maeve's funeral. In an attempt to get Reid to talk to Garcia over the phone to cheer her up, Morgan had gotten Reid to consult over the phone on a San Francisco case involving an unsub who was draining people of their blood to paint with it. But, nobody expected Reid to join the BAU team in San Francisco to help them finish the case and catch the unsub. The BAU team members were all happy to see him. JJ hugged her Spence.
After they flew back home to DC, Reid asked Morgan, JJ and Garcia over to his apartment to help him tidy it up. They put all of his books back up on the shelves and taken down his home wall of San Francisco case evidence. They opened up all of the window shades to let the sunlight back in. Then Morgan hugged Reid and left. Garcia also hugged Reid and left. JJ hugged Reid the longest and she put her hands on his face and then she went home to Henry. Reid returned to Quantico and the BAU the next morning.
One evening in March after a case ended, JJ met Garcia in her lair and they FaceTimed Emily Prentiss in London on the computer screen. JJ was telling Garcia and Prentiss about Reid's wedding dream. And, all three ladies were laughing hard.
"I love this wedding dream!" laughed Prentiss.
Garcia laughed, "'I now pronounce you smart and smarter?!' I said that?!"
JJ laughed, "Yeah! And then you said, 'Let's get to it, you two!' and Spence said, 'Get to what?' and you said, 'Kiss her, dummy!'"
JJ, Prentiss and Garcia were laughing so hard that they were all crying.
Prentiss laughed, "'Kiss her, dummy?!' Oh, my God!"
JJ said, "Oh, Spence said that me, Diana and you were the ones who were crying at the wedding, Emily. And, you said to Gideon, 'Our boy genius is all grown up!'"
Prentiss's eyes widened and her jaw dropped from hearing that. The three ladies laughed even harder.
Garcia laughed, "Oh, my God! 'Our boy genius is all grown up?!' I love our Boy Wonder's imagination! 'Kiss her, dummy!'"
Prentiss calmed herself down saying, "Yeah, but wait a minute. Reid...Reid said that the bride had no face under her veil. What...what does that mean?"
"I don't know," said JJ. "He thinks it means that he didn't know what Maeve looked like yet."
"It makes sense," said Garcia. "He said that he dreamed about this wedding before he saw Maeve's face."
"So, how is Reid doing?" asked Prentiss.
"He's well...Reid," answered Garcia.
JJ put her right hand on Garcia's left shoulder.
"You should have seen the five nut baskets Penelope left by Reid's doorstep, Emily," smiled JJ.
"Five?" said Garcia. "I left him seven baskets."
"Spence says one of his neighbors might have taken a couple of baskets while we were out walking in the park," said JJ.
"And, how are you doing, JJ?" asked Prentiss.
"Oh, one day at a time," answered JJ. "Hotch taught me that after Will's funeral. I'm trying to teach that to Spence now. It's gotten a little easier for me after six months."
"I wish that I had found Will sooner for you," said Prentiss. "Then maybe I could have taken him to the hospital sooner."
"No, Emily," said JJ. "You didn't shoot Will. This wasn't your fault. Izzy Rogers is in prison and her three accomplices are all dead now. This was their fault."
"Yeah, what she said," said Garcia. "Don't put the blame for this anywhere near you!"
Prentiss felt relieved.
"Thanks, guys," smiled Prentiss. "If Reid ever does get married, I'm going to cry and say, 'Our boy genius is all grown up' just to make that part of his dream come true! Thanks, JJ. Reid's wedding dream has just made my day!"
JJ and Garcia smiled at Prentiss. A man came up to Prentiss with a case file for her.
"Oh," said Prentiss. "I have to go now, guys. If there's more from that wedding dream in the future, call me again! Please give Reid my love. I love you guys! Bye!"
"Goodbye, Emily," said JJ.
Garcia said, "We love you, too, Em!"
Prentiss turned off the FaceTime call.
Garcia groaned, "I miss her already!"
"Yeah," said JJ.
JJ and Garcia sadly leaned on each other.