AUTHOR: LosingInTranslation (losingntrnslatn, Jennifer)
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!
RATING: T - Teen
SPOILERS: Through US Aired Episodes of Season 4
WORD COUNT: 1416
SUMMARY: The BAU is asked to investigate an unusual missing persons case that has a very personal connection to the team.
A/N: This is one of those monster epics I am so well know for in the CSI fandom. It is completely written and I am going through the edits with my betas as quickly as possible. There are a total of nine chapters, and I will post them as I complete the edits. It is most definitely a case file fic, with a lot of interaction between the entire team. I hope you enjoy it.
REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.
Chapter 8
Opening the door with a push, Elle rolled her eyes and begrudgingly waved him inside. "You came all this way…might as well come inside."
Spencer cautiously stepped forward and glanced around the room. "Thank you."
Elle huffed at his obvious curiosity. "Go ahead…look around. I'll get us some drinks." She went to the kitchen while Spencer tried to decide if he should take her up on the offer.
As the sound of ice falling into glasses reached him, he chose to take a seat in the living room instead. "I just came here to talk."
When she entered the room with two glasses of iced tea, Elle was shaking her head. "I'll admit I'm kind of surprised Hotchner didn't just send the marshals in first."
"It's just me." Setting his bag down in his lap, Spencer answered her attack. "Nothing official." As he took the glass from her hand, he concluded, "I came here on my own."
She eyed him suspiciously and took her seat on the sofa. With a faint smile playing on her lips, she leaned back and crossed her legs. "You never told Hotch you knew where I was, did you?"
"I promised you I wouldn't."
"Promises." She sneered at his answer. "You people and your promises."
Spencer sighed with the weight of his knowledge and her insinuation. "In the end…the only thing that's truly yours is your word."
Elle turned and placed the glass on the side table. "In my experience…in the end…it just isn't enough." When she turned back to face him, her expression had turned to stone; cold, hard and completely devoid of human emotion. "Promises, like people, never last."
"What's happened to you, Elle?" If not for the deep sincerity in his voice, she might have laughed at his question.
Instead, she used her dark humor to deflect it. "You mean other than being gutted and left for dead?"
"We weren't the ones who left you." Her surprise at hearing his statement showed on her face. "You left us." Elle's expression clearly demonstrated her desire to slap him for that, but his follow up left her gasping. "You left me."
"Spencer, I-…" The words caught in her throat.
"Don't…it's not important now." His dismissal was worse than his accusation. "I came here to give you a chance to explain."
The steel was back in her gaze when she asked, "Explain what?"
"Don't play that game with me, Elle. I helped teach it to you." Spencer was deadly serious. "Tell me what happened with Gideon."
And with that, the real game was on. She relaxed into the sofa and kicked her foot in a playful rhythm. "What would you like to hear first, Dr. Reid? The quiet nights on the sofa? Or how about the hot afternoons in his bed? Tell me, Spencer, what exactly do you want know about me and Gideon?"
"Stop it…" He shook his head, as though it would help dispel the graphic images she tried to implant there. Elle was trying to deflect his attention by using his eidetic and visual memory against him, but she forgot who she was dealing with. "I don't deserve that."
She stopped bouncing her foot and sat forward. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you, Spencer. But these questions…they'll only make it worse. Just leave it alone."
Resignation heavy in his voice, Spencer answered, "But I need to know."
"No, no you don't." Elle seemed to withdraw from him with her refusal. "You don't need to know any of this."
He nodded carefully, knowing she spoke the truth. "Fine…but I want the answers anyway. If for nothing else, so that I can understand what happened."
"There's nothing to understand." Her anger began to surface when he refused to give in.
"Let me be the judge of that. Tell me what happened, Elle. Make me understand this madness, please?" He was not going to let her off without the answers he had come for.
She wanted to lash out at him in anger; anger for making her think about it, anger for bringing it all back. Elle knew it was only a matter of time, but it was still making her angry. "Why do you need to know about how he turned hyper-vigilance into a damn science; double checking every lock and never taking his eyes off those awful monitors? That's going to help you understand?"
"It won't, but maybe…I don't know. Maybe it can help me understand why, so that I can… So that I might be able to-" The words caught "in his throat and his mind struggled to find a valid reason for his need to know.
"Knowing Jason woke up screaming every night will put your mind at ease?" Elle grew more emotional with each question. Will it make it easier for you to know how alone he felt through all of it, even with his son…even when he was with me? How nothing took away his guilt, nothing cured his pain, nothing could give him peace, nothing but…"
"Why?" Spencer was horrified by her anger soaked questions as he choked out the words. "Why did you do it?"
Her answer was preempted when the condo door burst open and a swarm of U.S. Marshals filled the space, their guns drawn, their voices crowding out all other sound. They quickly hooked her up in shackles, and Elle glared at him with such an icy stare, Spencer could feel it in the base of his spine.
After they ushered her out the door, Hotch and Rossi filed into the room.
Spencer stood up and straightened his bag before speaking to the two men before him. "You had me followed?"
Before they could speak, J.J. came into the room holding his book on Chaucer. She looked away from his pained gaze and opened it to the inscription. "'Anger, sickness, or planetary influences, wine, sorrow, or changing of disposition often causes one to do or speak amiss. One cannot be avenged for every wrong; according to the occasion, everyone who knows how, must use temperance.' Spencer, thank you for your patience. Maybe one day I'll find the temperance in that quote. –Elle." She closed the book and woefully returned his gaze. "When you left this behind, I knew you were in trouble. I got the address from the letter you used as your bookmark." His eyes fell at her admission.
"But why the Marshals?"
Rossi nodded and softly admitted, "They found the body this morning, in an unmarked grave about a thousand yards from the first house. That was enough for an arrest warrant." When he saw the condition of the bunker house, Reid had known Jason was gone, but it was hard to hear the words spoken aloud.
"How did-…" He found it difficult to give voice to his conclusion. It was tough for him to imagine Elle as capable of murder, but knowing she could be responsible for Gideon's murder was too much.
"We're waiting for the autopsy to confirm…" Rossi paused when he saw Reid was not looking for a gentle explanation. "Small caliber gunshot wound in the back of the head."
Spencer closed his eyes tight, Rossi's words cut into him like a knife. "I just-… I can't believe I was so wrong."
"None of us could have seen this, Reid." Hotch put a hand on Spencer's shoulder. "It goes against everything we know as profilers. But the evidence doesn't lie."
Nodding solemnly, Spencer recited the same thing he had heard a million times before, "People lie, evidence just is what it is."
His words struck home with all of them. After a few moments of silence, J.J. looked at her watch and said, "We should get to the airport. The Marshals have to process her at their facility here in Seattle, but then they're taking the red-eye to D.C. If we're going to get any rest and be ready first thing in the morning, we need to leave now."
"Right… Thank you, J.J." Hotch moved as though he was about to leave and then he reached into his jacket pocket before he turned back to Reid. "I think you dropped this in my office." He casually slipped Reid's credentials into his hand.
Spencer felt his cheeks warm with his shame. With all his human deficiencies, he failed to see that even without Gideon, he was never really alone. He promised himself in that moment, he would never take the team for granted again.