Enjoy! Look for my story in the cue. I update more frequently than it shows sometimes.

Chapter Seventeen:

"You all seem like wonderful women," William Reid said at lunch. "I wish you the best of luck. Please treat my son with the respect and kindness he deserves and he will treat you like a queen."

Bella nodded. "He already does."

Macy sighed in the war room. "Could this get more boring?"

"His lady friend will be meeting them later," Shawna said. "That should be interesting."

"It better be," Macy said and switched monitors. "She's prepping her now."

"So, Agent Jareau—"Faye began.

"Please, it J.J." she said.

"So J.J. Tell me about your relationship with Spencer."

"Spencer is my best friend," she said with a smile. "He is the godfather of my oldest son."

"How long had you been working with him?"

"Eleven years," she said.

"That is a long time. What is the thing you like the most about working with him?"

"His ability to find patterns no one else can see."

"Did you miss that while you were working cases without him?"

"His lack of presence was felt."

"Do you think his coming on the show is a mistake?" Faye asked suddenly.

"It is what Spencer wants so it doesn't matter what I think."

"But I'm asking you for your opinion," she said.

"And I really don't think it matters," J.J. said tensely.

"So, you think it's a mistake," Faye said. "Moving on. Two of the four woman are blonds, what do you make of that?"

"Getting back to the last question—" J.J. said.

"We've moved past it," Faye said brusquely. "Two of the woman are blond. He was in a relationship with Lila Archer, another blond. Spencer like trends and patterns. Some call it a type. Did you ever fit his type?"

"Are you asking if I was ever romantically involved with my coworker?" J.J. said disbelievingly.

"Did you ever find yourself physically attracted to Spencer Reid?" Faye asked.

Shawna looked to Macy, but she silenced her with a glance.

"Absolutely not!" she shouted.

"Why not?"

"He just isn't my type," she said angrily and pull her mic off. "I am done with this line of questioning."

"I'm not," Faye calmly. "If you care about him you'll come and sit down and finish this interview."

"You're fishing for a story where there isn't one," she said coldly.

"Don't you want to know how I hooked Spencer into joining the show?"

"With empty promises," she said.

"You haven't met the women yet."

"No one comes on this show for love," she said.

"Do you feel bad seeing your friend on this show that mock with your friends over a bottle of wine during the rare days off you have?"

"Wait," J.J. said. "Did you interview my friends?"

"No," she said. "I profiled you."

J.J. sat down and sighed.

"Tell me how you really feel Agent Jareau."

"Conflicted," she said putting the mic back on. "I want him to find love here because that is what he wants. I'm just afraid I'm going to walk into that room and find a bunch of women who only care about being photographed with him. I'm afraid he has already found love with the wrong person."

"You're afraid to see him get hurt again."

"I don't want to lose him again," J.J. said. "I don't want him to be manipulated by some other woman. He doesn't deserve that."

"We have a special relationship expert to consult on this unique Lonely Heart. Would you like to meet her?"

"Yes," she said. "Definitely."

Shawna looked to Faye. "Who is this woman?"

"An off-the-books consultant Faye is using," Macy said and patted her on the shoulder. "You don't have to know about everything."

…

Cal closed the door behind Faye, Macy, and J.J.

"Hi again," he said and kissed his wife on the cheek.

"So, what the heck was all of that?" J.J. asked angrily.

"Blackmail," Macy said. "We're going to share that footage recut to Spencer if you don't answer our questions."

"You're going to blackmail a federal agent?" she said dubiously.

"Hey, I wanted to go the direct route," Faye said. "And ask if Ava and Mel are undercover federal agents but Macy wanted some insurance."

"What?" J.J. said. "No, none of these women are federal agents."

"That you know of," Macy said.

"Absolutely not!" J.J. said.

"I got confronted with a pair of women who claimed they were," Faye said.

"Could there have been a deep-cover operation to sneak women onto the show that were agents?" Macy asked.

"Possibly," J.J. said. "But not likely."

"Why not?"

"Because the FBI doesn't want him back," J.J. said. "Because of the prison term, combined with this, he's a PR disaster."

"But he was framed for the murder," Cal said.

J.J. shook her head. "He shouldn't have been in Mexico to begin with. He exercised poor judgement."

"He doesn't know he won't get back if he tried," Faye said.

"No," she said sadly. "He doesn't and please don't tell him."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Faye said. "I really do have his best interests at heart."

"You have a skill for reading people," J.J. said. "Where did you learn that?"

"My dad raised me and he was a con artist," Faye said. "I helped him pick pockets as a kid for fun between projects to scheme people out of money."

"How did you avoid becoming like him?" she asked.

"I don't really think I did in some ways. But I figured out he was a criminal when I was fourteen and then called the cops on him. It wasn't easy but I had a feeling my life would turn bad if I didn't do something."

J.J. stared at her intently. "You have more in common with Spencer than you know."

"That's her story," Macy said impatiently. "Now can we get back to psychos trying to rig the game?"

"I can get our technical analyst to look into them," she said. "Then I'll get back to you."

"We don't have that kind of time," Macy said. "Spencer needs to cut one of those women in six hours."

"I can do it now," J.J. said and pulled out her phone. "Just one ridiculous question: Why the cross-dressing?"

"We created Linda Boreman and this 'safe house' specifically in the event we found out our show was being compromised by federal agents," Macy said. "I like having contingencies and so does Faye. If you must know, Linda Boreman is the name of the actress who played 'Deep Throat' in the movie Deep Throat. Faye's husband could be trusted and his mother was a Hollywood makeup artist."

"This is nothing compared to when I dressed up as Dorothy Gale once," he said with a laugh.

J.J. just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

…

Kayla Stone, Sarah Tanner, Mika Dickson, Mel Greenaway and Ava Merick were all fake names. All were FBI agents fired over the last five years for insubordination. They didn't want to protect him. They wanted to recruit him for their terror cell to plot against the bureau.

After a long talk with J.J., Reid chose to eliminate Bella.

Cal received the text. Macy's final attempt at getting Reid to find love was put into play.

Author's Note:

Sorry if this chapter is messy. I'm moving fast. I'll have this story done sooner rather than later.