Hey all, here is the next chapter for this fic. I thought I'd take a moment to hare with you that I just finished writing the chapter we've all been waiting for...seriously, its about time. It's coming up soon, so stay tuned. 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-three: Jealousy & Uncovered Truth

When Jamie pulled into the parking lot of the Las Vegas Police department, she was the first one to exit the vehicle in a swift manner. She stomped into the building, her hair and jacket flying back as she went against the windless air. Her eyes caught sight of where the rest of the team was and she turned a sharp corner, entering the room. Promptly, she seated herself in such a way that she received wondering looks from JJ and Morgan.

"What?" she asked them, pretending that she hadn't just stormed her way into the precinct.

"Uh, are you alright?" JJ wondered.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Then, Spencer had joined the rest of the team in the room. He made brief eye contact with Jamie, but dropped it as he sat himself down in a chair on the other side of the room…away from Jamie. It didn't go unnoticed by their teammates, but they had other issues at hand.

Jamie stood up and walked herself over to their whiteboards that were filled with pictures, maps and push-pins. She crossed her arms over herself, bringing her leather jacket further around her as she did. "What did you guys find here?" she spoke, leaving it open for anyone to answer.

"Apparently, none of the victims have worked at any three of the facilities that treated the other victims." Hotch informed her.

"We did find one other similarity between the victims, though," Rossi claimed, "They all have at least one child under the age of eighteen who lived with them at the time of their death."

"Reid was right about the wounds," Morgan added, getting up from his seat and joining Jamie at the whiteboards. He took one finger and pointed at the photographs, "The wounds on the throats of each victim are positioned to sever the carotid and there is almost no over kill, like we said earlier."

"So, we have a controlled unsub that definitely has medical training…" Jamie concluded.

"The last victim's family confirmed that the she had been released from the hospital only three days prior to being attacked and had mostly been staying at home except for a trip to the hospital pharmacy to have prescriptions refilled the day she died," JJ mentioned, "Unfortunately, the other victim's children were either already living out of state with relatives or were too young to be able to contribute much information."

"What if we're thinking about this the wrong way?" Spencer said, getting to his feet and walking over to the maps on the whiteboards. "Think about it for a minute, who would have access to information that told them someone was mentally ill and where they reside?"

"Social workers." JJ offered.

"Pharmacist, too." Jamie contributed.

"Pharmacy Technicians," Rossi volunteered, "They don't have access to medical records, but they can certainly learn about someone's illness by their prescription."

"And where they live." Morgan finished.

"Look here, the killings are all bunched around these shopping centers, all of which have a pharmacy in them and the most recent murders have all been with in a one mile radius around the hospital that the latest victim went to get her prescription filled." Reid pointed out, indicating the three busy areas on the map.

"I'll have Garcia see if anyone has worked at any or all three of those pharmacy locations," Hotch said, standing to his feet and looking at his team. "We're ready to deliver the profile.

With that, everybody left the room and gathered in front of the local police officers and the lead detective on the case, Detective Younan. Once everybody was ready to listen, Hotch made the team introductions and began the profile. "The unsub we're looking for is most likely white, between the ages of thirty and forty, and while it is possible that it is a male who is small in stature, it is more likely a woman. That way, the unsub is able to control their victims."

"The type of killer we're dealing with is what is known as an 'Angel of Mercy' killer," Rossi informed, "She most likely works in a helping or caretaker profession that has exposed her to a great deal of trauma and pain. It is likely that she views killing these people as a way to spare others and herself from pain."

"Since this unsub targets the mentally ill and specifically those with children, we believe that she had or has a family member or other type of dependent with a mental illness that she cared for over an extended period," JJ said, "It's likely that she felt that this relationship robbed her of her independence or youth and is trying to prevent the victim's children from suffering a similar fate as the one she endured."

"Does the unsub believe that she's doing the victims and their families a favor, then?" one officer asked through the crowd.

"Oh, she thinks she is," Jamie answered, stepping a bit out of the lineup, arms covering her chest. "But it goes so much deeper than that. This unsub feels as though she is saving these children from a situation that she wished she could have been saved from. So, she's ending the lives of those who she sees as her caretaker, the one who robbed her of a childhood or protection for that matter."

"The unsub likely lives alone, but is able to maintain social relationships very well. She will appear to be normal and kind, maybe even overly so." Spencer added.

"We have our technical analyst back at Quantico going over employment within the pharmacies that each victim had their medication prescriptions filled," Hotch mentioned, "If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask any of us."

After they completed the profile, the team allowed time for questions and encouraged the officers to place extra security in and around the hospital where the latest victim had resided before her death. Along with that, they also forwarded a copy of the profile to all of the hospitals and institutions in the area, asking them to report anybody or anything that seemed out of the ordinary. It was late in the day and everybody was tired from their work. Luckily, it was time to call it quits.

"There isn't a whole lot we can do until we hear back from Garcia," Hotch told the team as they were gathering their belongings. "Everybody get a good night's sleep and we'll meet back here, seven sharp. Goodnight." He left the room first, leaving the rest of the team.

"I feel like I could sleep for two days straight," JJ said out loud, stretching her arms outward.

"Hey, what is that?" Morgan asked, looking over Spencer's shoulder.

Jamie looked up to see what was going on and not surprisingly, he was curious about the small, white card in Spencer's hand. She watched, not saying a word.

"I, uh, a friend of mine is the assistant M.E. and she gave me her number to call her." Spencer explained, seeming wary.

"My man!" Morgan cheered, slapping Spencer playfully on his back. "You're calling her, right?"

"Wait, what?" JJ wondered, leaning herself on the conference table, interested in the rare conversation. "Who's her?"

"Reid has a nice lady friend." Morgan teased with a sly smile.

Rossi walked up to Spencer, patting him on the shoulder in a fatherly way. "Good for you, Reid."

"So, what's her name?" JJ asked.

"Hanna," Jamie answered for them, standing from her seat. She walked over to the group, her face not showing any amusement, "Her name is Hanna."

"Yeah," Spencer nodded along, "And she's not my 'lady friend', either. Hanna is just a girl I used to go to school with and I was friends with her brother, Ryan."

"Go call her!" JJ encouraged with a smile.

"Yeah, have fun 'catching up'." Morgan teased, using air quotes as he spoke.

Spencer regarded everyone in the room for a moment before inhaling deeply and exhaling. He picked up his bag and put it over his shoulder. "You know what? I will. I'll see you guys later." He smiled to himself and headed out the door.

"I'm taking off, too," Rossi informed the other three. "There's a glass of scotch that's calling my name." The older man walked out the room, leaving Jamie alone with Morgan and JJ.

The room felt crowded, even though it wasn't and Jamie felt like she needed to escape before anything could be said. "Alright," she said, clapping her hands outward in front of her. "I'm going to get going, too." She walked as fast as her feet could take her, but apparently, it wasn't fast enough.

"Hey, Carter!" Morgan called just as Jamie exited the room.

As much as Jamie wanted to walk off and pretend that she didn't hear his booming voice call her name, Jamie backtracked and popped her head into the room. "What's up?"

Morgan shook his head, "Nope, you can't play innocent with me. Get in here."

Jamie made a confused face at his sudden authority and she spared a look at JJ, who just shrugged her shoulders. So, Jamie slowly stepped back into the room and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "Oh, no. Am I in trouble?" she asked, the sarcasm hard to miss in her voice.

"What's going on with you?" Morgan questioned, looking at Jamie sternly.

It was Jamie's turn to shrug her shoulder, "What are you talking about?"

"You're upset, aren't you?"

"Okay, Morgan, you're going to need to be a little more specific, please."

"About Reid and Hanna?"

Jamie dropped her mouth to say something in response, but no words came out. There was nothing to say, other than a stone-cold "yes" and she didn't want to admit it. "If I pretend to not know what you're referring to, am I free to leave or did someone die and make you boss?"

Morgan scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I knew it," he claimed.

"Jamie, are you jealous?" JJ asked her, eyebrows raised slightly.

Jamie broke the eye contact she was holding with them and let her eyes wander around the room. There was no escaping this conversation now, so, she just had to deal with it. She sighed and took her hand from her warm pockets, using them to pull out a seat from the conference table and sat herself down in it. "It's not that I'm jealous-"

"Oh, really?"

"Fine! Just stop with the third degree, okay?"

"So, you are jealous, then?" JJ asked for confirmation.

Jamie ran her hands down her face and used one hand to prop up her chin on the table. "So, what if I am? It's not like it means anything."

"Did you talk to Reid about it?'

"Not really. I mean, you know him just as well as I do to know that he's sometimes clueless when it comes to this kind of thing."

Morgan gave a small chuckled and sat down on the table next to Jamie. "I'm not trying to argue with you here, Carter, but let me ask you this. Why are you jealous?"

"What do you mean why?"

"There has to be some reason as to why you aren't happy for the guy."

Jamie rolled her eyes, "It's not that I'm not happy for him. It-it's just that…"

"There's a lot of history there…" JJ finished for her, sounding sympathetic.

"Thank you," Jamie told her, standing from her chair, "At least someone gets it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my hotel bed." Jamie walked off, not saying another word or waiting to be interrogated by Morgan.

Yes, she was jealous. She would admit that to herself and only to herself. After New Year's, Jamie thought that she and Spencer had gotten a lot closer than they were before that. They joked around more with one another and they shared smiles when the others weren't looking. Even though it had been what seemed like a lifetime, Jamie couldn't deny that their recent interactions had stirred up some old and new feelings. There was no way to tell if Spencer felt the same, the only way to do that would to be to speak to him about it…and she was avoiding that at all cost. It would be awkward, no doubt; therefore, the only conversation she would have with him, would be inside her head. Although, if he did feel the same, he wasn't admitting to it, either; but, Spencer was busy "catching up" with Hanna. Just the name alone, Hanna, made Jamie cringe and all she could see was the woman's shiny blue eyes and her bouncy blonde hair.

Jealousy had never looked good on Jamie.


It was one o'clock in the morning and Jamie couldn't go to sleep. She sat on her bed, the television on, but the volume on mute. Her mind was running ramped, which she hated. It wasn't good for her health, mentally or emotionally. She was supposed to be focused on the case and getting a good night's rest, but, of course, it seemed impossible in the moment.

She was only human, for crying out loud.

Knock, knock, knock

Jamie's head moved towards the sound before her mind even processed what had just happened. Realizing that someone had knocked on her door in the middle of the night, Jamie got out of bed. She slowly tipped toed over to the door, looking out the peephole. She was confused, but at the same time, a feeling of relief came over her. Unlocking both locks, Jamie turned the door knob, pulling open the door and came face to face with Spencer. They didn't say a word to each other, Jamie just stepped aside, giving Spencer a silent "come in".

He walked into the room and stood in the middle of it, not saying a word.

Jamie closed the door behind her, locking one of the locks out of habit. Her eyes raked over Spencer's sleepy form and eventually she came to look at his face. He looked somewhat sad, twisted with some kind of disappointment, maybe. Suddenly, Jamie felt vulnerable, as she was just in her pajamas with the unwelcome tension flowing through the air. Taking a step closer, Jamie covered herself with her arms and asked gently, "Is everything okay?" It was a genuine question. She didn't care that he had gone out with some other girl, she just wanted to make sure that he was alright. When he didn't answer her right away, Jamie stepped closer and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should sit down…"

"Huh?"

"Spencer, what's wrong?"

"It's just something that Hanna said to me when I dropped her off at home."

Jamie wasn't sure where to go from there. He had come to her room for a reason, right? "And you came here to talk about it?"

Spencer didn't answer her verbally, but when he sat down on the edge of her bed, she took that as a yes. She sat down beside him, placing her hands in her lap, "Did everything go alright, or…?"

"Yeah, no, things were great," he started, "We went to a diner, had dinner and coffee, talked about all kinds of things."

"Am I being pushy if I ask you to elaborate?" Jamie half joked.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, because its personal, but…"

Without any warning or thinking whatsoever, Jamie grabbed Spencer's cold hand in her warm one and locked their fingers together. "Hey," she told him softly, "Come on, it's me."

Spencer squeezed her hand slightly, and Jamie could practically see the gears turning inside his head. "She was telling me about how her dad moved her and Ryan out of town when we were younger. That explains why we haven't seen each other in so long, at least. But that's not the point. She got really defensive when I told her I was sorry about her dad having to be put in a facility."

"A facility for what?"

"Addiction, he was also suicidal."

Jamie scrunched her face and shook her head, "Sound like a cheery reunion."

"Listen to this, after we-when I dropped her off, she said that she didn't need those people in her life and that she's better off without them."

"Okay, who was she referring to?"

"Her dad, her brother…"

Now, Jamie was confused, "What do they have to do with anything?"

"I'm not sure," Spencer admitted, still squeezing Jamie's hand.

"So, what's bothering you about the whole thing?"

"Just-it was the way she held herself, the way she spoke like she needed to defend herself…"

"Well, maybe something happened that made her change," Jamie offered, "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

Spencer nodded, agreeing with Jamie, even though he didn't really want to drop the subject. "And I'm sorry for earlier, by the way," he told her, dropping her hand.

"Are you kidding?" Jamie asked, laughing slightly. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I was…excuse my language, but, I was such a bitch. I had no right to act the way I did."

Spencer turned his head, looking at her with his tired, hazel eyes, "Why were you acting like that, anyway?"

Jamie gawked at him, incredulous, "Seriously, Spencer?"

"Am I missing something here?"

Jamie sat back further on to bed, crossing her legs. "You know what, I'm just going to say it, okay? We're adults here and…"

"…and what?"

Huffing, Jamie prepared herself for any kind of reaction that Spencer could have. In her mind, the situation could go two ways: One, he would run for the hills and two, maybe he would feel the same way. "I was jealous, okay?"

Now, it was Spencer's turn to gawk. The doctor stared at Jamie, unsure of what to say. He cleared his throat, three times too many, "You-you're…huh?"

"…I know you have a better vocabulary than that."

Spencer shook his head, as if he was trying to get himself out of a daze. His eyes met hers again and he said, "Are you messing with me right now?"

Jamie scoffed at his question, "Are you messing with me right now?"

"No, not at all."

"Ditto."

"I just don't understand why, though."

Jamie rolled her eyes and sighed, "It shouldn't be that hard to believe…." The two sat in silence with one another for a few moments and then something came to Jamie's mind. "Somebody once told me and I quote, '…feelings, like the ones I had for you, don't just go away.'." Jamie knew that he would remember those words, but she wasn't sure if he knew that she remembered. He knew it now, though.

"What are you saying?"

Jamie shrugged, "I'm just telling you the truth. I guess…I don't know, just seeing you with somebody else brought back more feelings."

His eyes got wide and he turned his body to fully look at her, "More feelings?"

There was no verbal response from Jamie, she just gave him her doe eyes and a small, sideways grin in the corner of her mouth.

"You-you can't just mess with my head like that," he told her, standing up from the bed.

"I'm not messing with you, Spencer," Jamie claimed, she too, getting up from the bed.

"How did we even get here? Like, how did this conversation turn into this?"

"You're the genius here, you should know."

Spencer sighed deeply, and ran a hand down his face, the other placed on his hip. "I think I should go now," he said, beginning to walk towards the door, but Jamie stepped in front of him.

She stared up at him, literally and shook her head, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"What?" he asked quickly.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't feel anything, that's there's nothing here, whatsoever."

Just as she expected, he gave no answer. So, she turned around and unlocked her door, opening it for him to exit and he wasted no time leaving the room. Jamie poked her head around the door frame, watching him return to his room without a word. Where that sudden bravery came from, she had no clue, but she was positive that it had done more damage than she intended it, too. Closing the door and locking it once again, Jamie returned to her bed, turning off the light and shutting off the silent television. She wrapped herself in her blankets and silently shamed herself as she laid in the dark. The team had an early morning and she was sure that when she woke up, everything would be screwed up with her and Spencer like it had been in the beginning.


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