Hey all, here is the next chapter for this fic. It's shorter than the last, but its still just as good (at least I think it is...). I got lots of good feedback on the last chapter, so thank you for that. For everyone in the states, I want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

By the way, these next few chapters were written with the help of my old friend, Darcy. She's great and I think you'll enjoy her writing. With that said, I hope you enjoy and please remember to review. Happy reading. x

All rights go to the owners of Criminal Minds, except for my original character.


Not Like This

Chapter Twenty-two: Old Friends in Strange Places

January 5th, 2015

The sound of her clicking boots must've been familiar, because when Jamie Carter entered the bullpen with a travel mug of coffee in her hand, she was instantly greeted with a bright smile from Dr. Spencer Reid.

"Good morning, Dr. Reid." Jamie quipped as she stepped up to her desk. The coffee was set on the far side of her desk, she trudged off her coat and placed her purse on the desktop.

"Morning, Agent Carter."

Jamie let a smile slip onto her face as she sat down in her wheeled chair. Opening her laptop, Jamie squinted as the bright screen greeted her still-adapting eyes. She typed away on the keys, sending clicking noises throughout her vicinity as her nails tapped on the letters and numbers. A notification in the bottom right hand corner caught her eye as it appeared. She clicked on it, letting it lead her to her email. She sighed silently to herself, seeing that it was from her mother. It had been awhile since Jamie had called her. The last form of communication that was passed back and forth between the two was a "Happy New Year" text. Clicking on the unread email, Jamie braced herself, not knowing what kind of content the email would contain.

"Jamie,

How are you? I haven't heard from you in some time, besides our one sentence text messages. Let me know you're doing okay. I also thought you'd like to know that everything is okay here at home. No need to worry about anything. Again, let me hear from you. I miss you and love you.

Mom"

"Everything okay?" Spencer wondered, eyes peering over the divider towards Jamie's desk.

Her hazel eyes lingered on the white screen for a moment longer. There was a tinge of guilt flowing through her. She was usually so good with keeping in touch, but with the new job, her contact with those outside of the workplace or those not within law enforcement diminished. Jamie turned her head slightly to Spencer, but not all the way. "I got an email from my mom."

"Oh, how is she doing?"

"I wouldn't really know…"

"…did something happen between you two?" The change of tone in the genius' voice was clear.

Jamie shook her head, saying no. Her eyes turned back to the screen and she inhaled through her nose. "I just…haven't been good with keeping in touch these days."

"It happens to the best of us," Spencer told her, "Some of us tell ourselves that the job comes first."

Shutting her laptop, Jamie leaned back in her chair and turned to face her friend, "That's not too far off for me, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a family to take care of like some of these guys do," Jamie explained, "So, what else am I supposed to give my all to?"

Spencer nodded slightly, his mind picking apart Jamie's words. "Well, maybe you will someday." With that, he turned away from her, getting up from his seat and collecting papers into his hands. He walked away, leaving to some place outside of the big, glass doors of the sixth floor.

Jamie watched him leave, her mind picking apart Spencer's words. "…maybe you will someday."


"The Las Vegas Police Department has requested our help with a series of murders that have been taking place over the past two years," Garcia briefed the team, passing out the case files as she did. "The last five murders have occurred within the past two months. The bodies have been found in very public areas and have been spread throughout the state of Nevada. The most recent are clustered in this area," she motioned to a bunch of red dots on the screen. "The medical examiner has confirmed that each victim had been incapacitated with a large dose of Haldol before the unsub…slit their throat and left them to bleed to death."

"What exactly is Haldol?" Morgan questioned, his eyes immediately adverting to Spencer, knowing he would have the answer.

"Haldol or Haloperidol is a drug that's used in hospitals and psychological institutions to keep a patience from acting out violently," he explained, "It's used to treat certain types of mental disorders, but can also control the symptoms of Tourette Syndrome."

"Why did it take the department so long to classify it as a serial?" Jamie wondered.

"In the beginning, there were no discernable similarities at all between the victims," Garcia continued, "They're all different ages, different ethnicities, they all had different occupations, and none of them seem to have ever crossed paths with one another. For some reason now, the murders are closer together, too."

"Have they found a connection now?" Rossi asked, setting down the file onto the table top.

"Yes, so, after the medical examiner was through with all of the bodies, it was clear that each of the victims were being medicated for some enfeeble mental illness. In your files, there is a list of each of the victim's names, along with a list of diagnosis and medications."

"Do you think it's possible that we're dealing with an "Angel of Mercy" killer?" JJ offered.

"That would make sense," Spencer spoke up, flipping through the loose-leaf paper in his hand. He took out one of the pictures, studying it for a moment. "Look at the pattern of the victim's wounds. See, there's little to no bruising around their injection sight of their medication…"

"I see it," Jamie agreed, "The cut on the throat looks clean, precise, like they knew what they were doing. We don't see any overkill here, either. So, it's likely they have some form of medical training."

"That's uniform with what the medical examiner found, too," Garcia said, nodding her head. "The report says that the cuts were more than likely made by a surgical scalpel and the unsub cleanly cut through the major artery that's there."

"Garcia, when we leave, I need you to cross reference all of our victims' psychiatric and psychological treatment facilities and see if any of the same individuals worked at all or most of the treatment centers." Hotch ordered, giving her his classic, stern look.

"Consider it done."

"What about the way the blood is sprayed on the wall in these photographs?" Morgan wondered out loud, pulling a couple from his file. "These victims weren't cut until they were completely immobile. It's possible that this unsub is smaller or maybe physically handicapped in some way..."

"They need some way to overpower their victims." JJ finished his thoughts, earning her agreeing nods from the other members.

"Also, note that the first five victims were all suffering from bipolar depression and were killed either in or around their homes; but the others ranged from depression, schizophrenia, lunacy and those victims were killed in public places." Rossi mentioned.

"So, something happened and the unsub had to change the way they killed their victims." Jamie added.

"Precisely, see here, initially the victims seem to have been specifically selected to fit a certain need and the unsub had to have been somewhat familiar with their home."

"Then, the selection became much less specific, seems random, right along with the increase of moderate risk victims."

"So, we need to figure out what happened that prompted the unsub's change in their pattern," Hotch said, standing from his seat at the table. "Reid and Carter, I need you two to go to the morgue, see what you can find from the latest victim. Morgan and JJ, go interview the latest victim's families, and Dave and I will go straight to the police station to begin the victimology. Wheels up in thirty."

As everybody was collecting their papers and shoving them back into the folders, Morgan bumped Spencer on the arm playfully and asked, "You going to see your mom, kid?"

Spencer moved some of his hair out of his face, hands busy placing his file into his bag. "Probably, it'd be good to see her."

"She'd like that," Jamie agreed, poking into their conversation, "It's been a few months since you've seen her, right?"

"More than a few."

"Oh, Carter isn't in the loop on this?" Morgan teased.

"Ha, ha," Jamie faked, "Get your kicks somewhere else, Morgan."

"Yeah, I don't think anybodythinks that's possible." JJ joined briefly before walking out of the briefing room.

"I'm just saying, "Morgan continued as he, Jamie, and Spencer exited the room, "It just seems that the two of you have gotten a little…"

"…a little what?" Spencer asked, face a wary form of confusion.

"Don't read into it, Spencer," Jamie told him, speeding up her pace to pass the two, male agents. "Don't feed his habit!" she hollered with humor, leaving the others to watch her hair bounce as she strutted away.


When the team landed, everybody got into their respective vehicles and drove to their destination. At the morgue, Jamie and Spencer were face to face with the latest victim. A woman, Jody Williams, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of two who had just been released from her third stay in a facility due to a fourth, unsuccessful suicide attempt. With that, came her delusions, relating back to her schizophrenia.

Jamie stared down at the woman's body, feeling sad for her. If it weren't for the illness that took over her life, how would she live it? Where would she be, or what would she be doing at that very moment? Those were questions that ran through Jamie's mind. The medical examiner's report sat on the counter behind her. She turned around and grabbed it off the surface with her gloved hand, opening it to read its contents once again. As she read on, Jamie couldn't help but shake her head to herself. "Besides the four suicide attempts, it seems like Jody was just beginning to get herself back on track…"

"You know, statistically, the strongest predictor of successful suicide is the number andseverity of previous attempts," Spencer informed. He took one of his gloved hands to turn out Jody's wrist. It revealed a collection of old and new jagged, vertical scars in different lengths. "Schizophrenia is a lifelong debilitating illness and judging by these here, her next attempt would likely have been her last." His voice trailed off a bit and he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Jamie. Spencer straightened up and paused for a second, his eyes glued to the ghostly corpse on the table.

Jamie didn't pretend not to see it, either. She studied him for a moment, her eyebrows coming together in confusion. She couldn't remember a time in her employment with the BAU where he froze like he did; thinking harder, she came to realize that she couldn't remember, because it had never happened before. Setting the file back behind her, Jamie stepped out from beside Spencer and looked at him in the face. "Hey..." she tried, noticing how Spencer's posture was very stiff. She took one of her hands and slowly, but gently, placed it on his shoulder in comfort. "What's wrong, Spencer?"

Then, somehow, he shook himself out of his bizarre freeze. He looked down at Jamie's hand on his shoulder, then he let his eyes trail to meet her. "I'm fine," he claimed.

"…are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course," he answered, pulling off his gloves and disposing of them with Jamie following suit. He cleared his throat, something that Jamie had picked up as one of tells, letting her know that he was uncomfortable. As she was about to say more on the matter, they were joined by a woman in a white lab coat. Her hair was shiny blonde and neatly pulled back into a ponytail on her head.

"Do you agents need anything else today?" she asked, eyes focused mostly on Jamie. The female agent noticed the sad looks in her blue eyes as she spoke to her, but when the woman turned and saw Spencer, her whole demeanor changed.

"No way…" she practically gasped, still staring at Spencer. Her mouth was dropped open, but her hands remained in her coat pockets.

"Hanna?" he questioned, not seeming to believe who was standing right in front of him. Then, he almost toppled over as the woman came at him with a tight embrace, which he returned.

"Spencer, what are you doing here?!" she questioned him in a high, sunny voice. Releasing him from her hug, but keeping her hands on his shoulders, Hanna looked at him with her now, bright, blue eyes.

"I'm here in town working on this case." Spencer told her, pulling out his shiny badge from his pocket and flashing it, which made Jamie mentally scoff to herself as she watched the scene play out.

"Oh my god, you're with the FBI?"

A smile came onto Spencer's face as he cast his face downward. He nodded his head and laughed a small laugh, "Yeah, yeah, I am."

Hanna patted him on one shoulder, "That's amazing! You're dream came true, huh?"

"So, what are youdoing here?" Spencer wondered, repeating her question from moment earlier.

Hanna took a step back and slide her hands down her white lab coat. "I'm the assistant M.E." she declared, not skipping a beat with the open proudness. "God, how long has it been? Twelve, thirteen years?"

"Fifteen, actually." Spencer corrected her. The short moment of silence that occurred between the two seemed to make Spencer realize that there was still another person in the room with them. He looked at right side, seeing that a warm body didn't occupy the space anymore. So, he craned his neck behind him, turning his body with it. There was Jamie, leaning against a counter with her arms crossed over her chest on the other side of the room. Her face played an amused look, but underneath the façade, she was mildly annoyed.

"I'm so sorry," Hanna apologized, walking towards Jamie with an extended hand. "My name is Hanna Lynch. It's nice to meet you."

Jamie undid herself, her mood still sharply intact, but extended her hand to shake with Hanna's. "SSA Jamie Carter."

"Sorry about that," Spencer said to Jamie, walking towards her and Hanna.

Jamie didn't respond to it, instead, she changed the subject completely. "We should go meet with the rest of the team." she told Spencer, a tinge of authority coming through in her voice.

"Right," Spencer agreed. He turned to Hanna, giving her an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, but we really have to go."

"It's alright," Hanna told him. Jamie watched as the woman's hand went into her coat pocket and pull out a business card. Hanna looked around not seeing what she needed. She turned to Jamie and smiled a little, "Do you have a pen I could borrow for a second?"

Jamie showed no emotional reaction to her request. While she kept eye contact with Hanna, Jamie reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a blue pen. Her boots clicked on the hard floor as she walked to hand it over to Hanna.

Hanna took the pen with a thank you and wrote down her number on the back of the white card. "Call me," she told Spencer, handing him the card with flirty eyes. "We should catch up if you have the time."

Spencer accepted the card, looking at her writing for a moment and placed it in his back pocket. "For sure. I'll let you know," When he turned around to see Jamie, he didn't see her at all.

Jamie had left the room, deciding to give the "old friends" a moment to themselves. She stationed herself out side of the building, knowing that Spencer couldn't miss her when he came looking for her. The wait for her colleague to come out didn't take too long, so when Jamie heard the doors click open, she turned her head to see Spencer exiting the building. "Are you finished, Romeo?" she questioned, kind of bitter.

"Huh?" Spencer asked, not catching onto her tone or her slight assumption.

Jamie let her eyes roll slightly, "Never mind, let's get going." She walked back to their SUV with the keys in hand and Spencer following right beside her. They got into the vehicle and Jamie wasted no time starting the engine and began to drive, not even bothering to buckle her own seatbelt.


There wasn't a person in the world, who would disagree about the amount of tension that was filling the air between Jamie and Spencer. Jamie kept her eyes on the road in front of her, her knuckles sometimes going white as she clenched the steering wheel. She wasn't going to bring it up, until she saw Spencer pull out Hanna's card from his back pocket. Her eyes diverted from the road for a moment, being pulled to the sight next to her like a magnet. She pursed her lips, focusing her attention back on the road ahead. "Are you going to call her?"

"Yeah, I don't see why I wouldn't." he answered, spinning the card between his fingers.

Jamie didn't want to push it, but at the same time, she wanted to know. "How do you know her, again?"

"We went to school together," He answered, his tone indicating that the matter was now settled.

Jamie couldn't help the laugh that came out of her. "You went to school together?" From that statement, a lot of things went through Jamie's already busy-as-ever mind. "We went to school together." … now if that didn't sound familiar.

"I was also friends with her brother, Ryan. Hanna was two years behind us. I haven't seen her since we were kids."

Jamie spared a glance at Spencer, raising an eyebrow at him. She didn't comment for a while, letting the drive go silent once more.

"Do you think she liked me?" Spencer wondered, breaking the silence.

"Um, well what's not to like? I mean, I would know, right?" Jamie joked, knowing that it wasn't remotely funny to either of them. She sighed loudly, eyes still frozen to the black pavement in front her. "Spencer, call the girl if you want to," From the corner of her eye, Jamie could see Spencer turn in his head and look at her. She didn't have to see his expression to recognize the tone in his voice as he spoke.

"Is that supposed to be like, you giving me permission or something?"

"You're joking, right?" Jamie asked him, not fully convinced that he was serious.

"Not at all," he answered. "I saw you in the morgue, in front of Hanna, and you didn't look too happy."

"We have a caseto work, Spencer. You don't see the others picking up girls or guys while on the job, do you?"

"Pick up? No, Jamie, she's an old friend," Spencer tried to reassure.

Jamie shrugged her shoulders, "You don't have to explain yourself to me."

"…good." Spencer whispered, tucking the card back into his pants pocket.


Thanks for reading and please remember to review. I would really appreciate it.