Finally, a decent-lengthed chapter! Sorry for the shortness of the others, it's all still a drafting process. Don't worry, they'll get less confusing and more in-depth! Love y'all :)
We land abruptly a quarter after twelve. Everyone but Reid was fast asleep, myself included. We were chatting about the case for a good while until about 10:30. Garcia and Morgan were the first to crash, snuggled close and comfortable, followed by JJ then me. Hotch fell asleep sometime in the mix. I didn't strain too much attention on him - he seems to serious. How prejudice of me, but still truthful.
Spencer looks worn. He's got his hands covering his face like stress was taking more of a toll on him than ever before. He is cringing, almost, by the way he's constantly hunching over and struggling to focus. He keeps pressing on his temples. I want to help but I can't say anything other than,
"Are you...alright?" I immediately regret that. Of course he's not, and I just set myself up to a fuck-over!
"Yeah, I am. Just having some headaches." He tells me painfully. He's still hurting, even after he tries to straighten out and look positive. I give him a longing look, which he returns. I drop my gaze.
"What do you need?" I ask him considerately. "I'll get you whatever you need." I mumble to him. He just shakes his head, mumbling something along the lines of,
"What you'd be getting me is too risky." I lean back in my seat, taken aback by his murmuring that leaves me confused about whether or not I had heard correctly. I don't speak for a while. Everyone stirs awake and within a minute, we're all packed up and sluggishly exiting in a monotonous pattern. I chew on the inside of my cheek nervously. I'm here where look-alikes are being murdered, and more are bound to be found. Maybe I'm next?
Garcia speaks slowly to Hotch, hushed enough for the rest of us to not hear. I worry that she's spilling that little fact one by one and setting me up for disaster. I mean, who knows, she can be some backstabbing bitch who has all the access to the world! I cross my arms from the chill of thirty-some degree weather. I didn't really prepare to return to this place, so I was just wearing a plain white tee and some black shorts.
Next time I'll come prepared.
We stop at a lonely police station, where more files and bullshit I don't understand is handed to us. I recognize some of the officers, but none of them seem to recognize me. Good, I've grown or changed enough to be unrecognizable. Which is a shocker, considering this place was like an unfortunate second home for me.
Spencer notices me dozing off and gently nudges my side, which makes me wiggle away from the non-purposeful tickle. He arches a brow and a small smirk tips the corner of his lips. He doesn't do anything at first, but the minute we're outside of the station and behind the trail of team members, he waltzes behind me and tickles both of my sides, which makes me just about lose my lunch in giggles and squeaks.
"Reid!" I snap through laughter, slapping his hands. None of the team notices us through their own clamor. I turn to him, walking backwards protectively, holding out my hands to catch his. "You poke me again and I will-" He doesn't have to do anything else to make me jump out of my skin. Hotch does that for him.
"Reid! Hayes! Pay attention because we're gonna need you two as our pawns," He doesn't even need to look at us for the two of us to straighten back out side by side. All Spencer does is bump me with his hip slightly. I try to ignore him, leaving my only response a trail of giggles. Why the hell am I so giggly, flirtatiously crazy?
I clench my jaw when I see guns everyone has in their pockets. Garcia, JJ, Hotch, everyone. Reid has his own, too. I'm the only one left unarmed, which scares me. Yet at the same time, it makes me feel protected. I mean, hell, I would probably shoot my foot with a gun even if it was aimed dead at the sky.
"Garcia, how did you discover the cameras in my house?" Reid asks a few minutes later when we arrive at a happy little area of Prairie du Sac with suspicion and curiosity laced through his voice. I nod my head, giving Penelope a concerned gaze. She just raises an eyebrow and purses her lips.
"I just did a little electronic snooping. Y'know, going through the phones in your house and your laptop. Then I stumbled upon quite a few cameras, and from the sounds of it, they must've been small. I'm not sure how they were placed there, but I knew it wasn't like you guys placed them. So I tried to be a secretive little savior and texted you." She shrugs, rocking back and forth on her heels.
Spencer crosses his arms, a duller glaze over his eyes. Obviously he wasn't happy with her snooping, but yet again, she did save us from what could've been a world of fuckin' pain.
Fear prickles through me as Hotchner blabbers the plan to us. There's no question about Reid and myself being a few pawns in their game. The bait to their lines. The victims to their plan.
"They're hunting you, Lucy, and Reid seems to be someone they either want to eliminate or keep a close eye on. We'll be spending a while here, observing the onlookers who take interest in you two. They'll probably hit you guys before any other look-alikes. So unless someone else gets kidnapped before we find them, this should work out." Hotchner tells us firmly. "And you will both be armed at all times. Garcia will have constant watch and we'll call occasionally."
"So what, we're just left out in the open?" Reid asks with suspicion rising in his voice.
"Unfortunately so," Garcia informs us sincerely.
"But don't worry, there's much more to this. It's just information we must keep closed until it gets to that point." Something secretive, and I know it all too well, is hidden in Hotch's voice. I give him a dull stare that makes him look away to the distance, where a lonely Blue Spoon stands. I used to eat there every few days, when open campus was allowed before the Juniors ruined it for us. "That's your first stop, and you're sticking more in Prairie Du Sac than Sauk City." He nods at us sternly. "Prairie is where most of the missing reports have followed up. And their locations, which seem to be randomized."
Morgan pulls something out of his pocket and offers it to me. A small handgun, black, rests in his hand, like it's anxious to spring to live and get in action. Which, with me holding it, will never happen. "You've shot before," He notifies of his knowledge about me.
"Yeah, shotguns and rifles! Not little bitty things." I say glumly, taking the weapon and stuffing it in my back pocket. Obviously it's a bit big, but until we can get a holder, I'm stuck with this. Morgan chuckles.
"It's just as simple. You'll figure it out." He says.
"Yeah, but not before removing one of my feet!" I retort. All he does is roll his eyes.
"Go on, guys, and keep in touch." JJ tells us, shooing us like a mother tosses her children outside. I fumble with the gun in my pocket for a moment, then relaxingly walk close to Reid to the nearby building.
Sorry everything's a scattered mess at the moment! It's just a characteristic I gave it. Many questions will be answered soon!
