Chapter 4: Eye of the Storm
Spencer's POV:
We all sat around the table, omelette plates half full with forgotten food littered the space between pieces of paper. We had all the files scattered around the table looking at them.
"All of the killings have been limited to the city itself, the first two in the french quarter, the next two down in allies on bourbon street, and the last three right here in town square. We've set up cameras, but never seem to catch the guys." Klaus had said as Kol dragged over a wheeling whiteboard, the team cocking their heads confused as he pulls over a similar cork board.
"I write a lot, and use them to keep my ideas concise." He said as Emily rolled her eyes.
"Of course, british, handsome and charming, you are the epitome of heart throbs aren't you Mr. Mikaelson." Emily said as I coughed a chuckle into my coffee cup. Kol just smirked winking at her.
"You can call me Kol any day dearling." He said charmingly as Emily rolled her eyes. Kol tacked a map of New Orleans to the board putting push pins on the points where each person was killed. As he set them up, I studied them, studying the pattern until I shot up from my seat.
"They make a pentagram." I said taking a piece of twine from the counter wrapping it around the first push pin, going from push pin to push pin until I make an almost perfect star the string wrapping around to make a small star in the middle of the larger star.
"If my hunch is correct, the next three killings will happen here and here." I said putting a different colored tack at each point.
"I knew there was another reason why Hotch let you stay, besides being the team pretty boy." Derek taunted jokingly. I rolled my eyes and Angel laughed. It was the most amazing sound i had ever heard. I couldn't help but join in a little.
"Very funny Morgan, but we all know the reason Hotch keeps me is because he loves when i'm the only one who knows how to figure out who the unsub is." i said as he rolled his eyes.
"Now that we've sorted that out let's get back to the case." Rossi said and i nodded. We then get back to the case but every so often i would look over at Angel and see that she was doing the exact same thing and would smile when our eyes would meet. She's just so amazing i'd love to find out more about her and get to know her better.
Angel's POV: (a few hours later)
We had just finished up figuring out where the unsub would possibly strike next and the team had split up into teams leaving Spencer on his own so i volunteered to go with him so he had some form of back up. I walked to the front doors and waited for Spencer to meet me there. A few minutes after i got there, Spencer walked over and handed me a badge with my picture on it so i could follow him into the crime scenes.
"Thank you Spencer." i said and i walked out of the front door heading to where we were supposed to be and Spencer walked next to me silently. I took Spencer's hand and he smiled a little as we continued to walk and i could feel him start to relax more as we continued on to the crime scene.,
"So where did you go to school?" He asked as I smiled looking up at the stars.
"I went to Berkeley for my bachelors in communications, and then I transferred to Duke for my masters in anthropology and Norse culture." I said smiling.
"I-i-i have PhDs in mathematics, and some other stuff that I got at Caltech." He said softly.
"I know i-i sorta looked you up, i was really curious about you but was too nervous to ask you anything." i said blushing a little embarrassed to confess i was nervous.
"You were nervous?" he asked and i nodded.
"Yes i was i-i really like you Spencer." i confessed.I waited for Spencer to respond, but I could hear his heart beating faster as his cheeks blushed bright red.
"I uh, I-i-i erm, I-i um." He said softly trying to collect his thoughts as I waited terrified for his response.
"D-d-did you know that large penguin populations can be found in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa?" He asked and I sighed looking down.
"No, I didn't Spencer, but thank you for such a unique fact." I said as we finally reached the crime scene. Spencer and I didn't talk much while at the crime scene aside from comparing observations. We were looking at the three pools of blood where the bodies of the three victims were. Two of the victims were already being loaded up by the medical examiner, but Spencer raced over to look at the last victim before he too was carted up in the medical examiner van. We were on bourbon street a popular street for pub crawling tourists, all three of them were killed in an alley.
"If someone had actually bitten into their necks, it would be a more torn wound, this is almost like it's done with a narrow metal spike, something that could make a circular hole, but hard enough to puncture skin and muscle like that, maybe a sharp tipped screwdriver?" Spencer said as I nodded.
"You're right." I said simply as Spencer checked the crime scene for more evidence. Moments later he called one of the police men over.
"Did you move this trash can?" he asked pointing to a metal trash can on the other side of the alley.
"No, why would you ask a dumb question like that kid?" He asked as Spencer took a deep breath.
"First off it's Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. Secondly because it rained last night and if you look closely the ground in front of the trash can is dry meaning that the can was moved." He said moving the can out of the way. The second he did I smelled blood, fresh blood.
"Someone call an ambulance NOW!" He yelled. On the ground of the alley was a girl, she was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt printed with a logo of a bar down the street, her name tag said Lylian. She had two holes in her neck, but she was still alive. Spencer took off his sweater pressing it to her neck keeping steady pressure until the ambulance arrived. When they did, Spencer hopped into the ambulance with her turning to me with scared eyes.
"Hotch is going to meet you at the house, tell him what happened. I-i'm going to go to the hospital and make sure she's safe until she's more stable." He said as I nodded walking back home as the ambulance rolled away. When I got back to the mansion Hotch was waiting.
"You don't look happy what happened? I heard You and Spencer found a victim who survived, shouldn't that make you a little bit happy?" He asked as I shrugged.
"I'm happy she's alive, I'm just not happy for a different reason, a non case related reason." I said as I walked inside. Everyone else was still out.
"That reason would be?" Aaron pressed as I poured a glass of bourbon sitting on the couch.
"I told Spencer I liked him, and he doesn't feel the same way. I just wish he would tell me instead of changing the subject to animal facts." I said draining my glass of bourbon in one go pouring another. Aaron cocked his head confused.
"Penguins, Giraffes, Monkeys or kangaroos?" He asked as I rolled my eyes.
"What does the animal matter?" I asked impatiently as Aaron chuckled.
"Spencer isn't good with feelings and expressing them, especially with people who he's close with. So when he started here we started a system, Spence uses facts about animals to help with explaining how he's feeling. He's afraid of monkeys, giraffes make him happy, and kangaroos frustrate him, that's how we can figure out how he's feeling without making him feel uncomfortable." Aaron said as I looked down feeling guilty.
"What about Penguins?" I asked as Aaron smiled putting his arm around my shoulders hugging me softly.
"Spencer loves Penguins, that's how he tells us that he loves us, he feels comfortable with you. That code is a code only we use in our little family, he wants you to be part of that family." Aaron said as I put my head in my hands.
"I am so stupid. I thought he was trying to get off the subject because he didn't feel the same way." I said as Aaron shook his head.
"Spencer works in a different way then the rest of us, he came from a place where he didn't feel safe showing his emotions because of bullying and issues with his mom. It took us months to figure out what he was feeling, we had to profile a profiler." He explained as I shook my head.
"So that means…"
"He likes you too Angelfish." Aaron said messing up my hair as the rest of the team came back. I smiled softly knowing that for once I was glad to be wrong.