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Spoilers for 'A Force of Nature', Chapter Two

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'Weird, Alaska'

Chapter Twelve

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"How long will you be gone?" Reid asked.

"We're not sure yet," Hotch answered. "Christina Belkas' boyfriend comes back into town tomorrow; and we have several friends and family members we'd like to speak with. I'm not sure how long all that will take."

"When are you leaving?" Jacob asked.

"Right away," Rossi answered. "Our pilot will be leaving Anchorage to fly up to Fairbanks within the hour."

Jacob nodded. "I hope this gets us someplace. This case is really starting to get to me because I just can't figure out how I fit into it."

"Sheriff, it's probably something that won't make any sense to you until you know what it is," Morgan said.

"Then I will have a moment of clarity?"

"Most likely."

"Hmm…"

The entire group walked out to the SUV. Reid and Jacob stood and watched while Morgan, Rossi, Hotch and Prentiss climbed in. "Try not to cause to much trouble while I'm gone kid," Morgan commented as he started the engine.

"Very funny Morgan," Reid retorted. Morgan laughed as the vehicle pulled away and headed for the Weird Connection.

"Maybe we'll solve the case while they're gone," Jacob commented.

Reid shrugged. "We could."

"I have to finish my rounds. Then I'm expecting to hear from a friend in Army Records a little later. Are you coming?"

"Sure." The two men turned and headed back toward the school to continue their walk around town.

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"Are you sure about that Phil?" Jacob asked his friend on the phone a couple hours later. "Thanks a lot. Can you fax that to me?" He hung up the phone and turned to Reid. "My buddy Phil found the rest of the names from Australia for me. He's going to try and push my request for Korea through quickly; but he can only get so involved."

"Any little bit will help. He's faxing the names to you then?"

"Yes, right away."

"Sheriff…with so few military personnel in Australia, wouldn't you remember if any of them were also stationed with you in Korea?"

"I've been wondering about that myself. I would think I would, and that's another thing about this that is driving me crazy!"

"It could be there were in a different unit in Korea and you didn't come in contact with them. Or maybe they just passed through on their way to someplace else?"

Jacob looked at Reid. "Agent Reid, I didn't think to ask about the training command in Australia. That adds a few more possibilities to the list." He sighed. "I need to call Phil back. Excuse me for a moment."

While Jacob called his friend back Reid left the office and wandered over to the Café. Carla greeted him and asked where everyone else was. Reid told her they were headed for Fairbanks to work on another aspect of the case, and asked to order some food for himself and Jacob to go. Carla told him to sit down while he waited and brought him a glass of blended iced coffee to drink. Less than thirty minutes after leaving the office Reid was back carrying a bag with two large Styrofoam containers, two smaller containers and two cups. Jacob was still on the phone when Reid set one of the cups along with two of the containers down in front of him. Jacob looked up and then at the containers as if he hadn't realized he were hungry, finished his conversation and then hung up. "Carla says hello," Reid commented.

"Thank you Agent Reid," Jacob said. "I almost forgot about eating!"

Reid sat down on the other side of the desk and pulled out his own containers. "What did your friend say?"

"He said it will take a little while longer. He has already faxed the other names, however." He looked inside his containers. "Ah! Bacon cheeseburger with Swiss, seasoned fries and a salad! My favorites!"

Reid laughed. "I asked Carla what I should order. I mean I know what you have ordered since we've been here, but I wasn't sure. She said I was always safe with a cheeseburger, an omelet, or a pizza."

Jacob laughed out loud. "Yes, she knows me pretty well." He opened a container of Thousand Island salad dressing and poured it over the salad, and then picked up a fork and started to eat.

In between bites Reid asked, "Sheriff, what made you choose the military?"

Jacob shrugged. "It just felt like the right thing to do at the time. It's not for everyone, but it's not a bad life either."

"I am curious about something else…"

"What's that?"

"How did you find out about this job here in Weird as the Sheriff?"

"When I started thinking about leaving the military I started doing searches on positions available I felt I was qualified for, and the father of one of my army buddies suggested I look for opportunities in Alaska. This job popped up on the radar and Larry thought it was a great idea."

"Larry? The friend from Barrow?"

Jacob nodded. "Yes. I applied for the position, I was hired and here I am ten years later."

"You seem to like it here."

"It has it's good points."

"It is a little isolated."

"It is. It is also expensive and a major undertaking to go anywhere further than across the street. But I do love it here."

"I can tell."

The two men ate in silence for a few minutes before Jacob spoke. "So how about you Agent Reid? Do you like where you live?"

Reid shrugged. "It's not bad. It's a short plane or train ride to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston…"

"Do you go to any of those places?"

"I have been to New York City a couple of times on cases."

"What about on your own? As a tourist?"

Reid looked up. "I don't have much time for that. I work a lot."

"I get that Agent Reid. But you can't be working all of the time. Have you ever attended a symphony performance?"

"Just once."

"Baseball game?"

"I don't really follow sports Sheriff."

"Baseball is a great game. And there are so many statistics involved in the game I would think you would love it."

"I know a lot of the statistics Sheriff."

"But I bet you don't know what they mean, or at least the practical applications of the numbers involved." Reid stared at him. Jacob stood up, rinsed out his containers and tossed them into a recycling bin he had placed near the water cooler. "Didn't you say you liked Star Trek?"

"I love Star Trek!"

"Have you ever been to one of the conventions?"

Reid's expression brightened. "Yes, I have! Once in Las Vegas I went to a Star Trek convention."

"How often did you go to the movies while you were in school Agent Reid?"

Reid's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Ever been to a rock concert?"

"I don't follow a lot of popular music Sheriff."

Jacob sighed. "Forgive me if this offends you Agent Reid; but I so see myself in you! You can probably quote Shakespeare word for word, however you can't fully experience Shakespeare unless you see a play live. You think a Springsteen concert isn't better than just listening to a CD? You watch 'Star Trek'; do you think it would be the same if you had just read a book about it? You like Beethoven? How many symphony performances have you been to? One. You are going through life collecting facts, not experiences. You need to concentrate a little more on the experience and a little less on the facts themselves. When I was younger I was a lot like you are. I never figured out how to enjoy myself until my parents forced me to. They refused to continue to allow me to skip grades in school. I graduated at age sixteen, but it could have been sooner. I learned to have a life."

"I have a life," Reid protested.

Jacob smiled a sad smile. "Not enough of one, I don't think. Don't let your job and your statistics be your life Agent Reid." Reid watched as he walked over to the fax machine and pulled a couple sheets of paper off of it. Jacob glanced at the papers briefly before turning back to Reid. "This is the list of names from the training exercises while I was in Australia. It doesn't look like any of them were in Korea while I was there."

"I think we should check on them anyway. My I have the list to fax to Garcia?" Jacob handed him the list and Reid stood up and walked over to the fax machine. He placed the pages in the machine, sent Garcia a quick text message indicating what he was sending and what he needed her to do with it, and then pressed the send button. He shook his head and smiled when Garcia sent him back a text reading 'Your wish is my command, oh Junior G Man!' "She's the only one who can get away with calling me that!"

"Excuse me?"

Reid looked up. He hadn't realized he had spoken aloud. "Oh… Uh, Garcia referred to me as 'Junior G-Man. She does that sometimes, and she is the only one who can get away with it."

"I have a feeling she can get away with a lot of things."

"You have no idea Sheriff."

Within half an hour Garcia had sent Reid a list of home towns and current places of residence for every name on the training command list, as well as for the list of names of those Jacob had served with in Australia. "That was quick," Jacob remarked. "I only faxed her my list a few minutes before you sent the second one."

"You should see her go when she's in her own office with her own set up," Reid said with a grin.

"I can imagine."

Jacob watched as Reid took the lists and went over to two large maps he had hung up. One map was a small scale representation of Alaska, and the other a small scale representation of the United States. Reid picked up some push pins in two different colors. As he looked at each name on the list he inserted two pins corresponding to the name into the maps; a red one for their hometown, and a blue one for their current town of residence. Partway down the first page he stopped and slid the board with the map of the USA aside. Behind it was a world map. He scanned it briefly, and then inserted a blue pin on the Island of Guam. By the time he had completed both lists he had a dozen pins indicating residences outside of the United States, with the rest scattered across the country. None of the current residences were in Alaska or close to Boulder, Colorado. "I'm going to need some more pins for the list of names from Korea," Reid commented.

"I have a couple boxes of them. Dooley will have more at the General Store." He walked over and looked at the blue pins on the world map. "Hmm… Guam, still in the military; Philippines, still in the military; Germany, military; Tahiti?" He laughed. "Extended vacation? Job offer?"

Reid looked at the list. "No occupations listed."

"Well, I have to find out how the hell this guy ended up in Tahiti!" He looked at the list. "Name isn't familiar, so it's obviously not someone I know well enough to call and say, 'Hey, what are you doing in Tahiti there, friend?'"

Reid laughed. "Have you ever been to Tahiti?"

"In the middle of winter, when I'm freezing my ass off and cursing the dark, my mind puts me in Tahiti, or Fiji or Hawaii or back in Australia; some place tropical and warm. But in real life, no I've never been to Tahiti."

"You should go then."

Jacob shrugged. "Katrina and I have talked about it."

"Katrina?"

Jacob looked at him. "Really Agent Reid. I know you all have been checking up on me. Like I said before, I would be surprised if you didn't check up on me. Certainly someone must have told you about Katrina."

Reid cleared his throat. "Well…we did have Garcia look into a few things. As far as Katrina, Deputy Talbot did mention her name. But he didn't mean anything by it."

"Of course he didn't. No one ever does. But that doesn't stop any of them from talking about it and anything else that comes up about me."

"I…guess the town likes you."

"I know they like me, and I like them as well. However, that does not mean most of them aren't gossips; or that butting in isn't considered an Olympic sport around Weird."

"I have my own personal version of that with my team." Reid made a face. "It's as if it were their mission in life to butt into my personal life and run it, if possible."

"Like a family."

"Yes, like a family. An overbearing, nosy sort of family!"

Jacob chuckled and reached for his ringing office phone. "Hey Colin. Run any vehicles off the road lately?" He listened for a moment and then groaned. "Thanks for the warning. Bye." Jacob sighed and looked at Reid. "That was an Edith alert from Colin, the one who almost ran us off the road with his Land Rover the other night. He just left the café and said she is headed this way."

"You could sneak out."

"Not enough time, she would see me."

"Back door?" Reid suggested.

Jacob sighed. "No, I am still the Sheriff. I'll just have to stay and deal with it." He sat down at his desk and a couple minutes later Edith walked in the door. "What can I do for you today Edith?"

"You can stop those damn kids from getting into my shed!"

"What? Someone is breaking into your shed?"

"It's those damn kids again!"

"Which kids would that be Edith?"

"Don't get smart with me Jacob! Those kids from the high school!"

Jacob sighed. "Which ones Edith?"

"The same ones as last time!"

"Edith, the kids you accused last time were down in Fairbanks at the time."

"That doesn't mean they didn't do it this time."

"Okay Edith. Why don't you go on home, and I will meet you out by your shed in about twenty minutes."

Jacob sighed after Edith walked out in a huff. "What now?" Reid asked.

"I go over there and look at her shed and promise to investigate the break in."

"Does she actually have a break in?"

"Probably, but not by the local high school kids. She won't listen to me, Wade, Colin or even Louisa when we tell her to put a decent lock on the shed door. She keeps pet supplies out there, and the local wildlife can smell them."

"So she has bears breaking into her shed?"

"You got it." Jacob stood up. "I'll be back later." He pulled on his jacket and headed out the door leaving Reid in the office."

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When Jacob returned to his office nearly two hours later Reid was still at the board, but with a lot more push pins stuck into his maps. There were more red pins than any other color, but Jacob noticed the other pins were now a mixture of blue and several other colors. "Agent Reid, what happened to the blue pins?" he asked.

"Oh, Dooley had some red ones left over from Christmas, but he didn't have any boxes that were all blue, so I am using multicolored ones to mark the current residences. Any color but red so I don't get them mixed up. As long as I know the red ones signify the hometowns it doesn't really matter what color the others are."

"Makes sense. I take it the list from Korea came?"

"Part of it did; however I'm still waiting on some more names." He turned to look at Jacob. "What happened with the shed and the bear?"

Jacob made a face. "Try explaining to a stubborn old woman for over an hour it's an animal breaking into her storage shed when she's convinced herself it's 'those damn kids' as she puts it."

"Maybe she just wants attention," Reid suggested.

"Oh I think she does." Jacob sighed. "We put on another lock, but who knows if it will work this time?" He leaned back in his chair. "Take a break Agent Reid. Carla sent us over a couple pieces of cheesecake." Reid set his list and his push pins down and sat across from Jacob to eat a piece of cheesecake. He definitely did not have to be asked twice.

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