Hi, guys! I'm sorry it took me sooo loonggg to update, but my beautiful twin nieces were born this week and I've been with them every free minute I've got.
I want to thank you all for reading and reviewing this new story of mine. I hope it lives up to your expectations.
DISCLAIMER: I do have one gorgeous nephew, two goddaughters and two twin nieces, but I do not have the rights of CM. And I don't own Strayer University or anything like that.
Enjoy! Let the fun begin!
Chapter I
It was 8 of a beautiful autumn morning. The sky was clear, not one cloud to be seen, the temperature was a bit higher than expected for this time of year; the chilly wind of the previous days had vanished into thin air, something more than appreciated by the morning joggers who run through the almost empty streets around the park in front of Strayer University.
The university parking lot was slowly coming to life with cars, scooters and trucks arriving from all four corners. SSA Dr. Spencer Reid was in one of those cars. After parking in the visitor's section, he went to the Psychology Department Building. He had a meeting in the 18th floor with Professor Edmund Ellison.
Spencer Reid arrived to his door and knocked. Immediately, the door opened and an old, white-haired man with kind eyes greeted the agent, smiling.
"Dr. Reid. It's so good to see you."
"Good morning, Professor. I brought the papers you asked me for." Professor Ellison was doing a research on the genetics of schizophrenia. Even though, Spencer Reid knew almost everything on the topic, he was more than willing to help develop new theories, and deep inside, he still hoped to find a cure for a disease that had had such devastating effects on his own personal life.
It was 8:50 when the FBI agent left the professor's office. He knew he'd be getting late for work, and in spite of the fact that his co-workers, mostly Morgan and Prentiss, were used to arriving late at the BAU offices, Reid felt compelled to be on time or even earlier. Even if he tried, he was a creature of habits and he seriously hated unpunctuality.
Heading at a fast pace towards the elevator, he punched Morgan's phone number into his phone.
"Morgan."
"Hey, it's Reid. Do we have a case?" asked Reid. If they did in fact had a case, he'd be in trouble because he was 10 miles away from Quantico and the traffic at that time of day would be chaotic.
"Not yet. You're running late! I didn't think I'd live to see this day" Spencer could almost hear Derek's smile.
"Yeah, yeah, very funny. I'll be there as soon as possible." He got to the elevator and, with his free hand, he pushed the button to call it. At the same time, a young man in black clothes that smelled of roast beef and gravy stood beside him. The music on his earphones was so loud that Reid could actually hear the singer's high-pitched yells. Of course, Spencer didn't understand what was interesting about that kind of music. For him, that sound was a mixture of drums, guitars and someone yelling at being torture. "Please, tell Hotch" he continued.
"Reid, it's OK to be late once in a while, you know? Daddy Hotch won't punish you for that"answered Morgan.
A young blonde girl came rushing towards the elevator section with a heavy backpack over her shoulder and as soon as the elevator door opened, she got into and pressed the key to go to ground level. She looked at Reid who nodded, indicating her that that was his intended floor too. The smelly man with poor taste in music, as far as Spencer was concerned, just stepped into the elevator, ignoring his two companions.
"Whatever, just tell him. I'll see you in 10 minutes." Then, the FBI agent closed his phone and stashed it in his pocket.
Reid hated elevators. He always felt the need to fill the awkward silence in them when strangers would meet in such small compartments, too close one from the other.
When the doors closed, the elevator made a strange noise and the screen, where it was previously informed that they were in the 18th floor, now was blank.
"Oh, great" said the girl, sarcastically.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing" offered Reid trying to calm his own fears.
"I didn't say I was worried" snapped back the young blonde girl, who clearly wasn't a big fan of politeness.
"Although, there are six elevator-related deaths per year, not to mention ten thousand injuries that require hospitalization" said the doctor, unable to stop his words from leaving his mouth, which sometimes seemed to have a life of its own.
If looks could kill, Spencer Reid would have joined his ancestors that day. The young girl obviously wasn't interested in the statistics of elevators' misfortunes.
Not paying attention to the word exchange between the rude girl and Reid, the smelly man gave a step forward, pushed the alarm button and went back to his spot to start humming to the out-of-tune tune of the song played in his ears.
"This is Frank, the security guard. Is everybody OK?" asked a voice coming from the intercom.
"Yes, we're fine, but this shitty thing is not moving. Can you fix it, please? I'm in a hurry" blurted out the impolite girl.
"We've already called maintenance. Just hold on a couple of minutes and you'll be out" added the guard.
The girl just snorted as a response, so Reid felt the need to thank the guard for his efforts.
"Thank you, sir."
None of the three occupants of the elevator seemed remotely interested in talking, so they remained in tense silence, waiting to be released.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty minutes passed.
"So, are you guys students?" asked Reid in a poor attempt to strike conversation with the two youngsters.
Of course, the black-clothed man didn't even hear Spencer over the singer's loud screams. On the other hand, the blonde, rude girl did hear him, but chose to ignore him putting on her earplugs connected to her phone and turning the music on.
Reid nodded and said: "Great." And the FBI agent went back to waiting.
Ten more minutes passed.
The doctor was trying really hard to ignore the fact that he was trapped in an elevator with two unwilling to speak people. He was getting nervous also because he would be really late for work. Morgan had said they didn't have a case yet, but the idea of spending the day with paperwork up his nose sounded better than spending one more minute in that elevator.
He grabbed his phone and called Morgan again.
"Hey, we have a case. Reid, where are you, man?" Morgan didn't even try to tease him, so it sure was some case, thought Spencer.
"I'm sorry, I was on my way" said the younger agent, toying with his tie.
"Well, hurry up."
"Oh... well, I'm just stuck in an elevator. As soon as I'm out, I'll - -" Spencer offered as an explanation, but he was interrupted by his colleague.
"What did you say?"
"What?" "Am I losing the signal here?" wondered Reid.
"I'm stuck in an elevator, but we've already called maintenance" explained Reid, again.
"Where exactly are you, Reid?" asked Morgan.
"I'm in the Psychology Department Building at Strayer University. Why?" "What's going on? Morgan doesn't react like this very often" Reid thought after answering.
"We have the image." The young doctor heard Penelope Garcia on the other side of the line.
"Image of what? This new case must surely be interesting. I wish I was there to see what is going on" kept saying the genius to himself.
"Morgan?"
"I see you."
"What?" asked Reid. "See what? What do you mean?"
"Kid, are you alright?" Morgan's voice was filled with worry.
"Yes, I'm fine. What the hell is going on, Morgan?" he snapped into his phone, exasperated, ignoring the curious look he received from the rude girl.
"Reid, I'll call you back. Just... wait for my call" said Morgan with concern tainting his voice. And before Spencer could answer or ask anything else, the call was over.
BAU Room
Everybody in the room was watching in disbelief at the image of their youngest team member in the elevator.
"Hotch, what are we going to do?" asked Prentiss.
"We're going to stop this son of a bitch before it's too late" answered Morgan, even though his name wasn't Hotch.
So, there you have it! Now, I must run to the hospital to see my baby nieces. Be good. Thanks for reading. See you soon...