Chapter Two

A successful team beats with one heart- Author Unknown

Spencer was last to get on the plane. The rest of the team were already settled in their usual seats busy with individual tasks. Happy with the familiarity of the scene he made his way towards the back to take his own usual place. On his way down the aisle he jumped as someone rose from their seat. But a burning sensation on his arm caught his attention more than who the person was. He hissed in pain as hot liquid burned at his bare skin. Both his hands were occupied: one with a laptop, the other with a book so the only thing he could do was withstand the sting.

"Oh g--I am so sorry!" He recognised the unique accent of Detective Lewis and momentarily forgot the burning. She put down the cup of tea she held and picked up a napkin. "I am such a klutz sometimes; it's being somewhere new and on a plane..." She said, blabbering nervously. Spencer suddenly tensed visibly as she pressed the napkin to his arm, soaking up the brown tea. The burn soothed quite quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't get any over your shirt did I?" She asked looking up at his torso.

"No." Spencer said quickly, stepping back a little, worried she may try and dab the napkin over the rest of him. She looked surprised by his reaction, and he instantly regretted moving back. "Sorry." He said trying to relax.

"For what?" She replied smiling up at him. It was a true smile that reached her eyes and made them sparkle slightly. Spencer had a hard time looking away but diverted his gaze down to the table she was sat at. The case file was spread over it, notes scrawled over the papers. He cleared his throat trying to regain his composure.

"Do you need any help with that?" He asked, gesturing with a nod to the file. She glanced down and then back.

"Only if you have time." She said and Spencer noted the slight relief in her tone. He sat opposite her and placed his laptop on the spare seat.

It had been ten minutes of looking over the same notes before the plane suddenly jolted into life. Spencer looked up as he heard Detective Lewis in take a sharp gasp of breath. Her fingers clutched the seat so tightly her knuckles whitened.

"You don't like flying?" He asked, slightly amused.

"That's an understatement." She seemed to relax a little at his words so he decided to distract her as best he could. Conversation was not a speciality of his, but talking about the case always came easy.

"So is there anything else you have found out about the unsub?"

"I think there is something I haven't seen." She responded, relaxing again as she spoke. "Something about the way the victims are displayed." With a slender finger she pointed to the photos. "Have you ever seen a case where the unsub takes so much time over displaying the body?"

"A couple." Spencer replied. "But those cases are rare and usually the unsub ended up being female."

"A woman?" She asked, more to herself than to him. "Maybe that's it!" She exclaimed suddenly gathering up the photos and laying them out against each other. "Look." She gestured for him to sit next to her. He hesitantly obliged and looked down at the pictures. "The victims were poisoned, which is a common method of murder for female serial killers. Not only this but the victim's make up and clothes are so perfect. The murderer must have done it themselves."

"You think the unsub is female?" Spencer asked, understanding her train of thought.

"I am positive on it."

"But why would a female want to collect the beauty of other women?" He asked. It seemed far more likely for a male to want to collect beauty.

"I…I don't know." Detective Lewis replied disappointedly, she put her hand to her forehead and continued to look through the photos. Her expression was one of frustration and Spencer really wanted to help. It was going to be quite a journey anyway, so he took up the papers again and began to scan them for any relevant information.

A new revelation in the case and Lauren still felt like it got her no closer to catching the killer. Slumping back into the seat she sighed heavily. She turned to Spencer who was avidly reading through every paper in the case file. His eyes read through the lines at a speed she had never seen. How could anyone even comprehend all that information so fast?

"So what are you a doctor of, Dr Reid?" Lauren asked. He looked to her almost not seeming to realise she had asked a question.

"I, uh, hold a few doctorates: maths, engineering and chemistry." He replied absent-mindedly before returning to look at the papers.

"Wow." It was real shock in her voice, she really was impressed by this man's achievements.

"But I also have BAs in sociology and psychology." He added not even glancing away from his speedy reading.

"As if the doctorates weren't enough." Lauren mumbled under her breath. Spencer looked back obviously not catching her words but she simply smiled and readjusted herself in the seat. She couldn't get over the fact she was in a tin can in the sky that could plummet to the ground at any moment. She looked out of the window as rain lashed against the glass. "It looks pretty nasty out there." Spencer bent his neck to see out of her view.

"The statistics that planes crash in bad weather are much less than plane crashes caused by total pilot error." He smiled reassuringly. Lauren's grip tightened on the seat as her expression became somewhat horrified at the thought.

"Not that we'll crash at all." He said back tracking on his previous statement. But it was too late, Lauren was now more terrified than before.

"You're not scaring her with your statistics are you, Reid?" Morgan asked as he moved towards them. He was followed by the rest of the team who were now gathered round the table.

"So what do we know about the unsub?" Agent Rossi asked.

"With Dr Reid's input," Lauren began still unwilling to let go of the seat. "I am certain the unsub is a woman."

"A female?" Morgan asked. Lauren nodded.

"It would fit." Hotch said, and Lauren was reassured by his agreement. "The murders were committed with poison."

"And she obviously takes a lot of care with the body, not common in male killers. Maybe she wants to gain some kind of recognition from it?" Agent Prentiss asked.

"Only 26% of female serial killers do it for the attention they receive from it. But they usually don't kill without having some kind of relationship with the victim." Spencer added.

"When we get to New York our first task should be seeing if these victims have any one person that's common in their life." Rossi said.

"Didn't you do that at that the NYPD?" Morgan asked.

"We did, but we were focused on a male unsub." Laured admitted, annoyed at her own one track mind.

"It doesn't matter, we know now." Hotch said, as if coming to Lauren's defence. She smiled at him weakly in thanks.

"We will be landing in 2 minutes, could everyone please take a seat and use the seat belts provided." The pilot's voice sounded around the plane and Lauren felt a little more at ease knowing she would once again be on solid ground soon enough.