Hello again. Loads more tension and angst await...
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine. Though I would like this bathroom...
The young agent heard Sienna's footsteps patter down the hall and close and lock the front door behind her. Within seconds he sprang up from his position on the bedroom floor and raced to the door's threshold.
Okay, I can beat this, Reid thought. All I have to do is not touch the doorframe and I'm all set…
He reached out and took hold of the doorknob, holding his breath. There was nothing. No alarms. No buzzers. Just silence.
So far, so good.
He then tried ever-so-carefully to turn the knob without touching the frame. Try as he might, though, the knob simply wouldn't turn.
It's stuck, Reid thought. What if I try using two hands?
He placed his other hand on the metal of the doorknob only, trying with all his might to turn the latch. It still remained fast, not moving even a fraction of an inch.
Panic began to rise in the young agent's chest. Oh God, he thought. The doorknob is balanced so that a person has to touch the door to open it…
But she never said the door itself was wired…
Latching onto that small hope, Reid gently placed one hand onto the metal door, hoping to be able to brace himself enough to work the latch and pull the door open. The second his fingers brushed the surface, the door began to vibrate and loud, piercing wails assaulted the young man's ears. Behind the steel door, Reid could feel something moving.
It's the bars, he realized sadly. She was right. I'm not getting out this way…
Determined now, the young doctor raced into every room he could open, trying desperately to pry even one of the windows open a fraction of an inch. Though he must have tried ten windows, not one of them would budge, even a centimeter. As the last one refused to move, Reid began beating his fists against the thick plastic, hoping that someone would notice the racket he was making.
There was no one to be seen.
Where the hell am I? he wondered.
Trying to calm himself down, the young agent stared hard out of the window. Though the inside of the 'apartment' looked almost exactly like his own, he just now realized that the outside was vastly different. There was no brownstone across the street, no sets of rowhouses lining the block, no neighbors or cars or even little elm trees placed neatly in a row on his side of the street.
There was, however, a lot of cement. Abandoned structures littered the skyline as far as Reid could see, and the road was deserted of any form of life. The young agent stared down towards the street; it was at least a good twelve stories up, a far cry from his usual four-story perch.
Even if I got the window open, there's no way I can survive a twelve-story drop, he realized. And no matter how loud I shouted, there's no one to hear me…
Reid laid his palms flat against the window, leaning his head against the glass. He closed his eyes, and started breathing deeply to mediate the overwhelming fear and hopelessness that was starting to work itself through his system.
She's done it again, he thought. Last time it was absence of; this time I'm surrounded by familiar things—and yet, the result is still the same. I am a prisoner, even in what looks to be my own home.
At this last thought, Reid lost it and sent a shelf of books flying.
Damn it! How the hell did she get me in here? Why wasn't I aware of being moved?
The young doctor ran his fingers through his floppy mane of hair, and realized two things—that he wasn't about to let her take his hair again and that he really wanted a shower.
Resigning himself, he made his way to the second door down the hallway—after all, he thought, if she's really followed the floor plan of my apartment, this will be the door to the bathroom.
Upon opening it, however, Reid stood in complete shock.
It was a bathroom. However, it was more bathroom than Reid had ever experienced, at least in his own place. Red tiles lined walls, and there were gold fixtures that held all sorts of things: soap, linens, fluffy towels, and bath salts. His feet stood on black marble plates that engulfed the floor, pausing only to allow a tall bathroom sink, a toilet, and the largest whirlpool tub he'd ever seen—all in matching black marble.
Though mildly impressed, Reid began to wonder. Why go to all the trouble of recreating my apartment and then have the bathroom done to her liking? he wondered.
He stood there, in his pajamas and bathrobe, staring at the opulence. He almost didn't want to bathe in there; it seemed to the young man that he was giving in to the crazy woman if he made use of the bathroom of his dreams.
But I can't not use it, he realized. Even if I forgo the bathing and wash in the kitchen sink, eventually I'll have to…
He quickly stepped out of the bathroom and made his way to the bedroom—he almost thought of it as his, but remembered that this was not his home, no matter how much it looked like it.
Reid stepped over to the closet, hoping that there were clothes in it. To his surprise, there were—many of them his own.
How did she move my clothes…?
At the moment, however, he didn't really care. Rummaging through the piles of fabric, he quickly pulled out a pair of jeans and a rust colored sweater vest. Another dive in found his underwear and a cream-colored turtleneck.
This'll work, he thought.
As he gathered his clothes together, wondering if he should put on more, his eyes trailed over a set of three pictures that lay in a black frame. Picking up the bundle, he walked over to study the photos more closely.
The first picture was one of himself and his mother, during one of her 'good' days. The third picture was of him fast asleep after a particularly hard case. Morgan and Emily had managed to take the shot, and Garcia had deemed it 'so cute' that she made copies for everyone.
The middle picture was of him and the rest of the team, sitting at a very large dinner table. Reid remembered this picture: it had been at Thanksgiving, and everyone had gone to Hotch's for dinner. Haley's cooking had been wonderful, and he had managed not to trip over, burn, or otherwise destroy a single thing in the house—a rare achievement. The meal had gone on for hours, with everyone telling stories and generally enjoying each other's company. Haley herself had taken the picture of all seven of them, relaxed, smiling, and not worried about being called out to save the world from another monster.
Reid had kept this photo, even though there were a couple dozen others like it; it had been the first time he'd really felt like he was part of a family. Sure, he loved his mother; he always would, but it had been difficult growing up practically by himself, with his mom getting worse as time went on. Here, though, he felt like he belonged somewhere.
Seeing the photograph made Reid fill with both sadness and anger. He was sad because he knew he had to find a way to overcome this latest obstacle in order to see 'his family' again; and angry that such a deranged person like Sienna Nolan could have taken him away from everything he loved and knew—not once, but twice.
If it takes me the rest of my life, I am going to get out of here, Reid promised himself. I will not be 'kept' like some highly intelligent housepet in a glass cage.
The trick is, how am I going to do it?
Swallowing hard, Reid suddenly realized that now was one of those times he would need to step inside that bathroom again.
Might as well clean myself up while I'm at it, he thought. After all, last time I couldn't even get a drop of water…
Reid thought about that. What's changed her method? he wondered. Last time she wanted to humiliate and destroy me to torture Gideon, and suddenly she's got me locked in what looks like my own home for her own personal amusement. Why the change?
Setting those thoughts aside for the moment, Reid stepped into the bathroom and began to remove his bathrobe.
The water was heavenly. It was warm in all the right places, the whirlpool jets bubbled merrily and Reid could feel the last few hours of stress and tension melt away underneath a mountain of lavender soapsuds.
If only I didn't have to leave this room, he thought. I could get used to more baths like this…
Suddenly there was a creaking sound coming from the living room.
Footsteps tapped against the kitchen tile. "I'm home," sang a voice that snapped the young doctor out of his reverie.
Oh hell.
Reid looked around at himself underneath the bubbles. He was sitting in the tub completely naked, having let himself forget that the crazy woman would come back.
After this I take a bath with underwear on, he swore to himself.
"Spencer? Where are you?" The tone in Sienna's voice changed from happy to mild concern.
At least she's not pissed yet, he thought, looking quickly at the scars up and down his arms and legs. Dear God, I don't think I can survive another 'punishment' like that…
There was a soft tap on the door. "Spencer? Are you in there?"
Reid remained silent. He willed himself not to move a muscle, to avoid making a splash.
The footsteps padded down the hall towards the bedroom.
Thank God, he thought. She didn't come in…
A few seconds later, the door swung open. There, clad only in a see-through bathrobe, was the figure of a woman Reid had hoped desperately never to see.
"Well, there you are," she crooned. "I was looking for you—didn't you hear me calling?"
"N-no," Reid lied, hoping it would satisfy her. Trying to stay as calm as possible, he asked, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I decided I'd take a bath—it's crappy outside, lots of smoke and whatnot," she said, stepping closer to the huge tub. "You like?" she asked him. "I saw the catalogs in your bathroom and decided to make just this one little upgrade…"
Reid's stomach began to protest. He desperately tried to quell the urge to leap out of the tub and vomit.
"Anyway, the tub's large enough for two…"
Reid was trapped. He was certainly not about to share a bathtub with this insane creature, but he wasn't about to run out of the tub with nothing on, either. He felt completely exposed—even more so than when this woman had cut his boxer shorts off of him a little more than a year ago.
As her robe dropped to the floor, his eyes clenched shut. He heard the sounds of her feet stepping over the tub walls and the water settling around her own stark form.
It was too much. Not wasting a second, Reid leaned out, reached for a towel, nearly threw it into the water to cover himself and raced out of the room, running down the hall and locking the bedroom door behind him. As an afterthought, he pulled the large dresser in front of the door, ensuring that his captor couldn't' just unlock the door and let herself in.
Once he was certain that Sienna couldn't reach him, he sank onto the bed, feeling ashamed and violated.
What does this woman want with me? he wondered.