September 5, 2017

Once upon a time going to court had been simply a line on a job description: show up, watch the defense team try to lie their way out and cheer for the prosecution. Before this year, the worst that had ever happened to Spencer Reid in a courtroom was to fall asleep. Morgan had drawn fake tattoos on his arm to teach him a lesson. Now? Well Court was still a snooze fest, but instead of tattoo drawings, he 'woke up' to this nightmare.

Was that a pre-arranged signal to kill my mother? Reid couldn't tear his eyes away from his own face on the courtroom TV screen. He looked almost...deranged. Tell me the truth!

I am! Cat's angry voice shouted back. You want to know the truth? Your mother is an Alzheimer's ridden moron who is getting dumber by the day and if she dies it's your fault!

He put his head in his hands. He didn't need to see himself throw the table across the room or to see himself advancing on Cat, pinning her to the wall. His hands around her throat.

I'm going to kill you. His own soft voice echoed in the empty courtroom. The tape froze and Reid finally looked up, facing the disgust in the eyes of the prosecutor. He kept eye contact, determined not to cower like a kicked dog.

The prosecutor finally turned his piercing gaze towards the bench. "This, Your Honor, is the video clip that Miss Duncan is arguing to withhold from the trial. Solid proof of the defendant's uncontrollable rage, a part of his character which the jury deserves to see."

"Your Honor, my client kept himself composed for nearly an hour while his mother was held hostage. It was not until he thought Miss Adams had ordered the murder of his mother that he reacted in such an uncharacteristically violent manner. I would ask that the Court deem the tape inadmissible after my client says 'I'm done playing games. Good-bye, Cat'. The defense also asks the Court to order a paternity test for the unborn child of Catherine Adams."

Speaking of nightmares, Cat hadn't stopped looking at him...coyly from the Witness Stand. She probably would have tried something more overt if it hadn't been for the warning in the angry eyes of her attorney.

"Objection! This claim is utterly ridiculous as is the fact that my client was transferred hundreds of miles in her present condition to perpetuate this...fantasy."

"Fantasy?" Reid couldn't help himself. "Is that what you call -?"

"Dr. Reid, it is your lawyer's job to speak on your behalf. Speak out of turn again and you'll be held in contempt."

Fiona's hand on his shoulder stopped him from rising and approaching the bench.

"Your Honor, the defense has even said that the defendant did not visit my client in prison prior to the pregnancy test results. Furthermore, the notion that a paternity test could lead to acquittal is..."

"Preposterous, I believe is the word my client used when the claim was first made on video." Fiona turned to him, barely moving her lips. "Stop it!"

"What's the matter, Spency? I thought you you wanted little Maeve to be yours." Cat was smiling...sweetly.

Reid forced himself to look away from Cat, his fists clenched under the table. Don't react, don't react. Half of his brain was itching to react, contempt charge be damned. What were they going to do? Throw him in a double jail cell? He was already in solitary, but the rational part of his brain knew better than to take Cat's bait. He had to hold on to what little credibility was left to him.

"Your Honor, it is Miss Adams who made the claim not my client. When her claim is proven to be true it will show that someone else had access to my client's semen. This would prove ample opportunity for another person to commit this crime. Withholding such evidence would be to violate my client's constitutional right to a fair trial."

Reid didn't envy the judge. He looked like a migraine patient. "With regards to Video Exhibit B, it will be entirely inadmissible."

That had to be the first time there were three calls of protest from the occupied tables: the defense, the prosecution and the witness' attorney.

Fiona couldn't believe it. She had lost more than one night of sleep over this damned tape. On the one hand, Cat mentions sending Lindsey to Mexico to dose Reid and it becomes apparent that she had inside information. On the other hand, there was -well, that. To strike it all out, would be a loss to both sides of the case.

The judge held his hand up, swiftly silencing the courtroom. Even a pin drop could have been heard with a loud echo. "It is my understanding that this tape will not in any way further the search for truth and may even cause further confusion amongst the jury. On the one hand, you have Miss Adams claiming to have somehow impregnated herself with the defendant's baby. On the other, you have the defendant claiming paternity belongs to a deceased guard who is therefore unavailable for cross-examination. Furthermore, the defendant's words and actions are called into question due to the safety concern for his mother. I will, however, allow Miss Adams to be presented as a witness for the defense and the paternity test will be ordered by the Court to be submitted within 24 hours of the baby's birth. Therefore, with the identification of the first victim confirmed, this case will move into federal jurisdiction. Court is dismissed."

Would this day never end? Back at the County Jail, Spencer went through the motions, walking alongside Timmons in a daze. His brain may have been misfiring, but he had NOT missed the slightly panicked look in Fiona's wide eyes as he'd been led out of the courtroom again. He'd have to stop looking back. He always hoped for some encouraging body language but all he'd ever gotten was gawking stares that were burned into his retinas.

"What's going on?" he asked, as soon as the door clanged shut behind them. "I'm not going to FCI Milan? Please say no. I can't go there. I can't."

Fiona's color seemed to have seeped out of her pores. "I specifically put in a recommendation against FCI Milan and for protective custody."

"I can't go to Milan, I can't!" He wouldn't make it out of there alive.

"Spencer, are you listening? I said that I -"

"Put in the recommendation? Yeah, I heard. We both know what the BOP's opinion -"

"I know you're worried, but we can't do anything else about that. Right now, though, I need your attention. We have more pressing matters to discuss. Take a seat."

He did, but that didn't stop him from tapping his feet and drumming his fingers. He had way too much anxiety to just sit still. What could be more urgent than impending death threats?

Fiona eyed the nervous ticks. She would have to address that, such behavior would send alarm bells to a jury but she'd have no chance of training that behaviour out of him today. "We've got a problem."

Well apparently this was going to be a 'state the obvious meeting'. "The case is federal, of course we have a problem." A posthumous acquittal meant almost nothing to him. "Shaw is going to have my head on a silver platter."

"That's not the problem. Well, turning federal is, but for a different reason. State and Federal laws differ widely."

She was stalling, this couldn't be good. "Get to the point."

"The point, Spencer," she paused momentarily. "The federal prosecutor is offering a new plea bargain. You don't need to make a decision today -"

"I'm not interested."

"Spencer, be reasonable!"

"I am! I'm NOT guilty. That's my plea, and that's final!" He had some very colorful descriptions for what she could do with that damned paper, but kept his lips pursed in a thin angry line. She was after all, just trying to help him. "What makes you think I'd consider it for a second? I didn't take any of the others. I didn't even take 2-5 years."

"As your attorney, it is my job to make sure you have the tools to make the right choices and you can't know the right one, until you know what those choices are!"

Point well made. He put out his hand, if only to give it fake consideration. He read the paper in two seconds. This had to be a joke. He gave her a raised eyebrow in response unable to articulate...anything intelligible.

"I know it's a lot of time, Spencer."

He gaped at her like a fish out of water until he found his voice - high pitched and terrified. "What kind of a deal is this?" He looked at the paper again, hoping his eyes had been playing tricks on him. 20 to life?

"It's the kind a defendant is given...to avoid the death penalty."

"The what?"

"Michigan doesn't have the death penalty, but the federal courts do. Since this is your third accusation plus post mortem mutilation - they could allege special circumstances."

"You think they will? You think they're going to try to execute me?" Flash backs to Sarah Jean Dawes assaulted his brain. Could he really meet a fate such as hers? To walk into a death chamber knowing he'd done nothing to deserve it?

"Spencer, sit down."

When had he stood?

Fiona held his shaking hands in her own."We can't know for certain yet - it would have to be approved by the Attorney General's office, but we do have to consider it which means there will also be additional considerations to make for jury selection."

How she could be thinking so far ahead was...beyond his comprehension. She did have a point, though. It would be nice to have a jury full of Gideon's type. He had been certain of her innocence before anyone else had even considered it.

"I'm sorry, I -" He was a stuttering, rambling mess of a man who would probably collapse as soon as he stood.

"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for, Spencer." Fiona folded her hands in her lap, resuming a professional distance. This case...his case had tugged at her heart more than any other but she could not allow emotions to cloud her judgement. Someone had to keep a clear head and that someone was certainly not Spencer right now. "Promise me you'll consider it."

Could he? Could he actually plead guilty? "Is it an exploding offer? Like the others?"

"No, there won't be a federal arraignment. You've already been denied bail. You have until jury selection begins so that gives you -" she took the papers back, flipping to the second page - "until November 23rd. Once a federal judge is assigned, I'll ask for a postponement if needed. When is the baby due, again?"

*"December 15."

"That's cutting it close. I'll try to get it postponed until the new year, no one wants to be in Court during the holidays anyway. That'll be time enough for the test result to be finalized." Fiona turned around, ready to discuss case strategy only to find Reid with his head in his hands. "Alright, that's enough for now." His head wasn't in the proper order to discuss case strategies. "You go get some rest. If you can. Guard."

Luke Alvez slammed a cardboard box on the metal table, startling the shackled occupant in the opposing seat.

Shaw grinned and laughed. A rare, humorless laugh. "Come now, Agent Alvez. You're trying to scare me and it won't work."

Alvez smiled back at him, mirroring his body language with the exception that his confidence wasn't faked and he didn't look like a shadow of his former self. Despite his arrogance, Alvez couldn't help but notice the bruises decorating Shaw's face. "Have something to be scared about, Shaw?"

"Not at all."

Alvez took a seat. Digging into the box, he pulled out a file folder only to return it and pull out one twice as thick. "So, how has Milan been treating you?"

"I get by."

"Hmm. I see you've met the Brahtva brothers."

"My lawyer said you had a deal for me? Or are you playing me for the fool? Because if this is merely a bait and switch -"

"No trick. You can help us out a lot. We need information."

"I'm no snitch. I'm done playing your games. Guard!"

"Not even for your son?"

Shaw stopped, mid step, turning sharply to Alvez. He motioned the guard back, resuming his seat. "Say what?" he asked as the door closed again. "You threatening my boy?"

"Not at all. Quite the contrary. You give me what I want and I will have your transport ready."

"Back to Millburn?" The disbelief in his wide eyes was almost palpable.

"To the East Coast, yes. Millburn, no. The warden wouldn't want you reopening old drug channels. But you would be near your son again, near enough get your weekly visits back."

"Why? You took him away, why would you be so willing to give him back?"

"The thing is Shaw, we have a suspect on our hands, and you're going to help us take him down." He pulled a photo from the top of his large file folder.

The picture was of a very familiar man on a surveillance camera. Shaw sat back down, his eyes wide. "Joel Matthews?"

To the untrained eye, the surprise seemed genuine but Alvez wasn't untrained. He had him, and he knew it. "Know him?"

"Yeah, we worked together at the FBI office in Detroit." Denying such a well documented fact would have been extreme folly. "But I don't know what he's been up to lately. Haven't seen him in months." Alvez could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"We know he visited you in Millburn quite often. He's the only one of your Bureau friends from Detroit to do so, in fact."

"See who's got the better friends. You didn't come once to see Reid. He told me so, after our 'deal'."

Alvez ignored the slight, choosing instead to pull two photos out of his case file. The first one was of a young brunette woman holding a red and white cooler in hand. "Have you ever seen her?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Her name is Lindsey Vaughn. She's a hit woman for the drug cartels who has pled guilty to 11 murders."

"If she's plead guilty, why do you need my help?"

"Because she's got an accomplice who is causing us a lot of trouble."

"I don't know -" Shaw's voice trailed off, his eyes wide and Alvez knew he had him. It was a photo of Joel Matthews now holding the portable red cooler in hand, standing right next to Lindsey Vaughn.

"This was taken at the Brownsville boarder crossing on February 15, 4 pm and before you say it's coicidence, we have a record of him calling her cell phone 10 minutes before this was taken. So either you tell me everything you know about Joel Matthews and get your son back, or you stay silent and get charged as an accomplice in which case, you can forget about parole in 13 years."

"You can't charge me! I didn't do anything -"

"Withholding information is called 'interfering with a criminal investigation' and protecting a criminal is called being an accomplice. So, yes, I could. He visited you in Millburn prison the very next day and I think you were all too...eager to hear what he'd been up to."

Shaw looked up from the photo, suspicion and doubt clouding his eyes, even as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Why? You took my son away from me. What could you want that badly that you'd be willing to give him back?"

"This about justice, nothing more or less."

"No. If that was true, you'd be questioning Matthews yourself." His face lit up in a maniacal, almost gleeful smile. "Reid's in trouble again...and you're trying to get me out of here before he gets transferred in."

Alvez said nothing. He handed him a notebook and pen. "It's time for you to decide where your loyalties lay. Do you want to stay in here with Reid and Brahtva brothers forever? Or would your rather keep your release date and reclaim your weekly visits with your son? The choice is yours."

Spencer Reid tried to get comfortable, leaning back in his seat on the prisoner transport flight. It was true, what Matt Simmons had said aboard the jet during his 'extradition transport' that had broken every rule in the book. Once you had the best, it was hard to go back. What he wouldn't give to stretch out on the sofa with a blanket. This plane was like a cattle car compared to the jet.

A series of cat calls and whistles broke his train of thought. The female inmates were boarding, some of them were treating the aisle like a catwalk as if the various prison uniforms and handcuffs were the latest fashion. He shook his head as one of them sat next to him. "Ma'am." Better be polite or she could make this trip even worse than he anticipated. Never doubt that things could get worse. That was the one thing this year had taught him. Rock bottom had a creepy basement.

*PS. I know the show says Nov 15, but that's exactly 9 months after Reid's arrest. J.J. said the timeline matches Cat's claim that the baby is Reid's but as we all know a full term 40 week pregnancy is 10 months. The show writers even know that, they got it right in the 'Angel Maker' episode.