Three days. It'd been three days since Spencer and Evie had even gotten a word out that hasn't been screaming. The past few days had mostly been silent, neither one wanting to apologize and neither of them wanting to start another fight. Every time someone said something, a rude remark would be made back and soon enough they'd be yapping at each other like noisy dogs. It was killing everyone on the team, and to be honest, it was killing Spencer. He started to realize as time went on, that it was in fact him that had started this. On the third day he was beginning to feel regrets for snapping at Evie and making her feel awful for doing what any caring girlfriend would be expected to do. He just needed to find the right time to say that.
It was almost time to leave work. They'd thankfully not had any cases lately. It was almost too convenient. Evie and Spencer would've been snapping at each other the entire time anyway.
Speaking of Evie, she was sitting at her desk across the aisle from Spencer, he head down and hair spilling over the side of her face closest to Reid to shield herself from him. Honestly, he didn't know why she hadn't left him yet.
Spencer cleared his throat, glancing over at her to see if she'd look; nothing. She kept her head down, her hand scribbling her pen across mounds of paperwork on her desk. Spencer sighed and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out behind him. He couldn't believe he let it get this way.
"Have a nice night, guys." Rossi's voice came from above the bullpen as he stepped out of his office. Spencer spun around to see him giving a nod goodbye to his teammates, and begin to make his way to the elevator. There were murmurs of goodbyes around them, but Spencer and Evie were silent.
Turning the other way, Spencer looked at the clock to see that it was indeed time to leave. He glanced back over at Evie for a moment to see her cleaning up her things and slinging her purse over her shoulder with record timing. She always did everything so could to get as far away from Spence as fast as possible.
Reid jumped up as she began to stand, wanting to get his apology out before he changed his mind.
"Wait, Evie..." he said before she could start walking away. Unfortunately, she did anyway, leaving Spencer behind with a dumbfounded look on his face.
Okay... he thought. She definitely had heard me...
"Evie!" he called after her, slinging his satchel over his shoulder and running after her, falling in step right behind her within seconds. She kept walking as if she didn't hear him, her brown-red curls gleaming while they swayed and bounced along her shoulders and back.
"Evs..?" he said, more questionably with a begging manner now. Still, there was no answer. They had reached the elevator at this point. Spencer sighed. At least she'd be trapped there and he could get everything out.
His plans were once again foiled however, when Evie didn't stop by the elevator doors where Rossi was still waiting for a ride down. She passed him quickly and quietly and pushed the door open to the stairwell that no one really used. Reid stopped and let his arms fall to his side in disappointment. He had tried to apologize and she'd just completely ignored him. Something in him made Spencer want to be angry about it, but mostly, he was just upset.
"Every relationship has it's difficulties." Rossi said, watching the elevator doors as if they would open any second. Spencer nodded and watched the doors as well, but his mind was elsewhere. Rossi was right. Every relationship had it's difficulties. Spencer just wondered if this was the one that he'd lose his Evie to.
Evie woke to an annoying ringing sound that wouldn't go off. It felt much too early for her alarm, and besides, she didn't wake up to her alarm beeping, she used the radio.
Opening her eyes, Evie noticed that she was once again alone. The other half of the bed was left unoccupied as it had been the last four nights. It had been lonely, she had to admit, but if Spencer was going to act that way then so be it. She couldn't hide the overwhelming desire to just fall asleep in his arms again, though. The only thing that let her put up with it each night was the fact that she knew Spencer and her were bigger than this. Evie had full confidence that the mood between them would eventually lighten up and she'd be back in his arms again. They just hit a bump in the road. It was a nasty bump, but only a bump nonetheless.
"Ughh..." Evie grunted, turning on her side to see her phone lighting up with a picture of JJ's smiling contact photo. Evie rubbed her eyes before snapping herself out of her lazy and tired mode, reaching over quickly to slide her phone open to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Evie. We have a case. You guys need to come in. I tried Spencer, but he wouldn't answer." JJ said, as if she was hesitant in even saying the word "Spencer."
"Alright, I'll go tell him. We'll be right there. Thanks, JJ." Evie grumbled tiredly before hanging up and dropping her phone with a small thud on the bed. She stretched out onto her back, looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep breath to relax herself and think for a bit. Maybe that's what they needed; a case. Saving other people's lives may bring them together. If that didn't, she wasn't sure what would work better than that.
The other day while leaving work, he'd tried to talk to her. At the time, she was completely taken off guard. At first she thought he was just mumbling another snide remark, but he seemed genuinely concerned. Evie wasn't exactly in the mood after fighting all day to talk though. She'd completely ignored him purposefully, but once she had gotten home she felt bad. Deciding to sleep on it, she'd went to bed pretty early last night, and it actually did wonders. Evie felt like she could finally clear her mind of all the fighting and see straight again. Hopefully Spencer would still be wanting to talk.
With Spencer in mind, she heard something from outside the door. It sounded like Spencer mumbling in his sleep softly, but it became louder and louder and more frantic. Evie pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes again, ridding of the tiredness that still resided. She stood on the soft carpet and made her way through the doorway and out into the living room.
She wasn't surprised anymore when she saw Spencer tangled in the blankets secured over him, thrashing around. He was borderline screaming now, looking terrified as ever. All anger forgotten, Evelyn rushed forward to drop on her knees beside the couch. She put a gentle hand on the side of his face and ran her thumb along his cheek bone.
"Spenceeeer..." she cooed, trying to coax him out of yet another night terror. He didn't wake up at first as usual, but within a few seconds, he jerked awake so fast that it startled Evie and she yanked her hand back. Reid was gripping the sheets around him incredibly tight, as though it was a lifeline. His eyes were wide and his face was pale. Evie wished it wasn't a normal thing for him to wake up to.
"Are you-"
"Yeah." he interrupted. Evie nearly screamed in that moment. She thought just for a second, that he had smartened up.
"Yeah, what."
"Yeah, what?"
"God, Spencer." she said, annoyed. She stood up and ran her hands through her hair in frustration while making her way to the bedroom. She left Spencer on the couch, trying to act as if nothing had happened for what seemed like the billionth time in the past couple of months.
The morning was silent. They got dressed, ready, and filled with breakfast pretty quickly since they had a case. Only about fifteen minutes had elapsed before they were both standing in the kitchen, awkwardly taking a few last sips of coffee on complete ends of the kitchen. Watching Spence, Evie felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness. She missed him. She missed him so much, and he was standing just ten feet away from her. She missed his smile, the way he got nuzzly, the way he used to look at her, listening to his heartbeat... she missed everything. Evie felt her heart drop down further and further however, while realizing he didn't. She had thought they'd get through this, but now, watching him not care at all about her being but ten feet away and completely in love with him, she felt like this may have been it. She wasn't enough for him.
"So..." she broke the silence, realizing it probably couldn't get much worse anyway.
"What."
"I don't know."
"Okay."
Evie huffed a breath of air, making the hair over her face blow away to the side. Spencer kept his eyes down at his coffee cup, extremely stubborn.
"Spencer, what do you want?" she asked, trying to seem as calm as possible.
"What do you mean?" he grumbled, tapping his fingers anxiously on the glass of the mug. Evie bit her lip and looked down at her feet.
"Well you don't seem to care anymore, so..."
"Why do you always make assumptions for me?" he asked, looking up to meet her eyes finally. Evie rolled her eyes.
"What are you talking about. I don't do that."
"You so do."
"I so do not!"
"You have no factual proof!"
"Why do you always have to be so technical!"
"Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be. George Orwell."
"Spencer, I don't care what George Orwell says."
"Well now who looks like the one not caring!" he snapped, slamming his mug down on the counter so hard that Evie was afraid it'd break. She jumped at the loud clank it made and watched as Spencer rushed to the other side of the room to snatch up his jacket off the chair.
"So what, you're just going to leave me like everyone else in my life?" Evie said. It had started out angry, but she choked a bit at the end. The same annoying lump in her throat was starting to creep up on her again. Nothing prepared her for what Spencer said next, however.
"Maybe I will."
Evie's heart stopped in that moment. She felt her chest tighten to the point where she couldn't breathe, and tears jumped to her eyes. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She felt so nauseous that she could pass out right there. Her body shook, her stomach tightened, and she stood their completely frozen while Spencer rushed out the door, slamming it shut with a bang!
Evie stood there for what felt like forever. Her vision blurred but she begged the tears not to fall. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't even believe this was happening. It wasn't quite a break up, but almost like the promise of one. Or maybe he hadn't meant it. Maybe he was just angry in the moment.
On the other hand, maybe this was a breakup. Maybe she wasn't good enough anymore. She'd never been good enough for anyone else, why would she be for him? Evie's mind raced with billions of possibilities. Her heart pounded so loud, she could barely hear herself think. Memories involuntarily flooded through her vision. Memories of his smile, of his lips on her own, of the feel of her hands in his hair, the sound of his laugh in her ear, the feel of his body on top of hers, the smell of him, the way he always put her happiness first. Everything rushed back to her, concluding on one final thought; never again.
Never again would that smile be for her. Never again would she be able to cuddle up into his chest and listen to the beating pound of his heart or smell the scent of his hair or his neck or his clothes. Never again would she be his.
Evie fell to her knees, sitting back on her heels and letting herself be consumed in quiet sobs. She didn't care about the tears that spilled over her face now. She didn't care that her eyes would be red at work, or her make-up washed away. She was losing the one thing she'd never thought she'd lose.
Somewhere between five or ten minutes later of just trying to stop crying, Evie pulled herself out of hysteria. She took a deep shaking breath and regained herself, trying to think straight from her crowded thoughts. This was Spencer. He couldn't leave her, he wouldn't. He'd said maybe. That was just some quick retort. It had to be, she had to believe it. If he didn't want her anymore, he would've said so four days ago.
Wiping one last tear from her face from the tissues in her purse, Evie stood and staggered towards the door, her legs tingly from falling asleep. Her eyes were red, her makeup was nearly altogether gone, and she could barely speak from the tightness that still remained in her throat. However, Evie wouldn't let it hurt her now. She was going to get to work, focus on this case, and when the time was provided, she was going to figure this out with Spencer once and for all.
What the hell had he just done? Spencer's hands were violently shaking as he pulled out of the parking lot of his complex. Had he just told Evie he'd leave her? Never in a million years would he ever have meant that. He hadn't even realized the gravity of what he had said until right now as he was pulling onto the busy road outside of their apartment building. He just needed to calm down. This had gone on long enough. His shutting out of people never resulted in anything good.
As he got out onto the busy street, Spencer contemplated going back. The only thing that held him back from that was the thought that Evie probably was already in her own car, not far behind him. He'd have to patch things up at work, and this time for real.
When Spencer arrived at the BAU, he got some weird looks from the team. It was most likely because Evie wasn't with him like she usually was. He always drove her to work. It just made sense that way. Now however, he walked to the round table room alone, anxious for her to arrive. He wanted to fix this and he wanted to fix it now. He loved her with everything he had in him. There was no way he'd ever let her go until the day she didn't want him.
Everyone gathered in the room, taking their seats. The space between the four walls around them was filled with low chatter throughout the team, everyone but Spencer. He was watching the door for when Evie arrived. She was the last one yet to come
"Hey, Pretty Boy. Is she on her way?" Morgan called from the other side of the table. Spencer glanced over at him for a moment before returning his eyes to the door and shrugging. He felt his team's eyes on the back of his head, but he didn't dare turn around. He knew him and Evie fighting was tearing apart their whole group and everyone was worried. He'd never meant anything to get this far. He just wanted his baby back.
"Well, um..." Garcia started saying. "I'm sure she'll be here in a mo." she finished, turning everyone's attention to where she stood up by the monitor. Spencer took one last look at the door, hoping to see her, but eventually turned away, disappointed.
"Alright, so you all are taking a full-paid round trip to Boston, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, it isn't under too great of circumstances." Penelope started off with, flipping the screen on to reveal three mutilated bodies in the middle of what seemed to be a dirty alleyway. There was poor attempt to cover them up, only a few torn sheets that looked as if they could've originated in the very dumpsters in the background of the photos.
"This unsub clearly shows no remorse for the victim's. He's confident. His lack of effort in hiding the bodies is apparent." Derek started out by saying. The team nodded in agreement, and Garcia soon cut in.
"Oh, that's not all, chocolate pudding." she said, making a few in the room roll their eyes and chuckle. Garcia clicked more pictures up on the screen. Two more bodies behind a brick building, another under a bridge, and two found in their homes, slashed to death. Spencer instinctively reached over to the seat next to him under the table, only to find it was empty. Usually he'd hold Evie's hand when the pictures got gruesome, which was every case. Now that she wasn't there, they seemed even worse.
"And notice the signs on their left wrists." Garcia carried on to say. She flipped back through the pictures and zoomed in on the victims' wrists where it seemed there was a symbol branded into the flesh.
"Dave..." Hotch muttered from his seat.
"Yeah... I know." Rossi said from his seat next to Spencer. The rest of the team looked at them in confusion, waiting for an explanation on an understanding that it seemed only they understood.
"One of the first cases I was on in the BAU was dealing with a gang in Boston that had a higher body count than any other known gang in the US. We had profiled that they had over twenty unsubs in their intermediate gang in Boston and over a hundred in their connected operation throughout the US. They like to believe they are the new age "Union" against the government and 'oppression' of America. They call themselves the "New Authority" and are a borderline terrorist group." Hotch began to explain.
As soon as he did, the door behind them opened and Evie walked in. Spencer turned and saw her rush into the room and immediately take the empty seat next to him. She kept her face hidden from him like usual though, so he could only see her brown-red curls as they brushed against the fabric of her blouse on her shoulder. Spencer bit his lip and watched her for a bit, aware that a few other's were staring for a bit as well. He wondered why they looked so sad...
"Um... anyway... We'd put a stop to their operations by taking out their leader and disbanding many of the smaller divisions... or so we thought, I guess." Hotch said, running his hand through his hair with what looked like exhaustion already from this case.
"Well... here we go again." Rossi muttered, pushing back in his chair away from the table.
"Wheel's up in twenty." Hotch said, taking a handful of files and walking out.
"He looks more stressed than usual." JJ observed. Spencer wasn't listening to much what the other's were saying however. He was focused on the way Evie was deliberately trying to hide from him. She turned away as much as she could and kept her hair over her face as best she could. He wondered...
"Hey, kid." Morgan said, snapping Spencer out of his thoughts. Reid looked over at him with questioning eyes. "You ready?" he asked him, a concerned look on his face. Spencer nodded and stood from his seat, planning on catching Evie on the way out of the room. Apparently now, however, as she stood up and nearly bolted out the door, avoiding him at all costs. Spencer watched her go, his heart falling a bit.
"She hates me." he muttered, reaching down to pull the strap of his satchel over his shoulder.
"Don't say that..." Garcia said as they all began to walk out of the room.
"It's true, and who can blame her." Spencer argued, not leaving room for much argument back as he bolted out the room the same way Evie did. If he couldn't fix his mess, he didn't know what he'd do.
Later on the plane, they went over the case a bit more. It didn't look like an easy one to conquer, but if Hotch and Rossi did it once, Spencer supposed their team now should be pretty effecient. He wasn't so sure about his performance as a person however. He couldn't concentrate at all once he'd caught a glimpse of Evie's face; her eyes were red. She'd been crying, and it was his fault. It might as well have torn his heart apart seeing her like that and knowing it was him who'd done it. He promised himself he'd never hurt her. He promised her that he'd never hurt her. He'd failed.
In the newly formed silence of the jet, Spencer took the time to glance over the seats to look at Evie who sat alone by the window, looking out and shielding her face from everyone. Reid bit his lip and wished he could take it all back. He didn't even deserve her.
Standing up, he knew he was going to fix this. He was going to fix this, and he was going to fix this now. Making his way down the aisle, Spencer thought of what he was going to say. Somewhere in between "I'm so sorry I'll do anything for you forever and ever" and "I'm a complete dick and am so lucky to even be sitting next to you" didn't even nearly sum up what guilt Spencer was consumed with right now.
Right before he was about to reach the seat across from Evie, the monitor on the plane switched on.
"Hello, my fellow crime fighters. Unfortunately in the mere time between the last time I saw you and now, there's been another victim. These people aren't too meticulous with their body counts." Garcia's voice projected throughout the jet. Spencer sighed and plopped down in a seat further away than Evie than he'd have like to listen to Garcia and the team talk a bit more about the case and how they'd split up.
"Alright... JJ, you and Evie go talk to the victim's families or friends they have left. Garcia sent you a list, start from the top and work your way down." Hotch began saying. Spencer felt himself washed over with disappointment. He was really hoping he'd be put with Evie to talk to her, but he had to remember that Hotch warned them to not let their relationship interfere with work. Unfortunately, it was a little late for that.
"Morgan, you and I will go to the crime scenes and Reid and Dave, go to the BPD to dig up the past files for this case and see if you can find anything of interest." Hotch said. Everyone nodded in agreement. This was going to be a long case.
The entire way there, Spencer didn't get one chance to talk to Evie. Everyone would always ask him, "Spencer, what do you remember from the last case reports?" or "Spencer, what are the statistics for gangs in the Boston area?". He knew that saving lives came first, but the way her eyes still watered... it was killing him from the inside out.
After watching Evie the entire plane right and subconsciously answering everyone's questions, they touched down in Boston. It wasn't long before everyone went their separate ways, leaving Rossi and Spencer alone in a room full of boxes of files at the Boston Police Department. The room was silent for the longest time, too. Spencer read through the files at lightning speed, refreshing his memory on the case (as if he needed to).
"So um..." Rossi spoke up in the deafening silence. "Evie looked upset."
That was all it took for Spencer to slam down the files in his hand on the table in frustration. It was filled with anger in himself, in this situation, in his ignorance, and partially in the fact that the files weren't really getting him anywhere.
"I know, I know..." Spencer muttered through a frustrated groan, letting his face fall into his hands propped up by his elbows on the table. He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face, wanting this nightmare to be over. "It was my fault. I've been trying to talk to her this whole time, and I can't think straight, and I know I promised Hotch I'd never let it interfere..." Spencer rambled on about everything that was bothering him like Rossi's statement was some kind of long awaited trigger.
"Reid, Reid..." Rossi stopped him. Spencer looked up at Rossi with hopeless eyes. He didn't know what to do. He screwed up, bad. "First of all, I'm the one who made up the 'no-relationship' rule, and if I do say so myself, you and Evelyn do a pretty good job of keeping it professional and focused on the cases." Rossi started off by saying. "But, kid... you're not going to go anywhere if you just watch her like a lost puppy." Rossi said, making Spencer sigh.
"I know, I know. I'll talk to her after the case and get this straightened out hopefully." Spencer groaned, burying his face in his hands again. "Maybe buy her flowers... or chocolate... or a yacht." he said, making Rossi chuckle.
"Well hey, don't take advice from me. I'm not exactly an expert on the whole relationship stuff." Rossi said, making Spencer smile while thinking about the running joke with the team about Rossi being married three times.
"Thank you, Rossi." Spencer said, smiling a bit in what seemed like forever. Rossi winked and nodded, turning his gaze downwards once again to the old case files. Spencer did the same, a little more at peace now that he knew what he had to do. He had to go to Evie after the case was over, and tell her how much he was sorry and how much she meant to him. He was excited to finally potentially be back in her arms again. He missed her cute little waist and the smell of her hair and the sound of her laugh. He wouldn't have ever guessed however, that he would never see or feel, or smell, or hear any of those things again.
Hours later into the case, they were finally getting somewhere. The new leader of the gang was profiled at the Police Department, and they already had a few leads. He was cunning and almost a performer; he could easily persuade people and grab follower's attention and rally them up for any cause. Spencer had described him as a modern day "Mussolini" in the profile. If this man was anything like Mussolini, it wasn't going to be an easy triumph against him.
"You know, it looks like these symbols were made with just a classic branding iron." Spencer told Rossi while giving the body of one of the victims a closer look. They were both at the morgue to examine the bodies and get the reports back.
"That's exactly what we've concluded." The medical examiner said from behind Spencer as he knelt down to get a closer look at the burned, charred flesh that formed a unique symbol, authentically the symbol used by the gang years and years ago.
"Have Garcia see what kind of businesses are able to create customized branding irons around here." Spencer said, seeing Rossi pull out his phone out of the corner of his eye. While Rossi was talking to Garica, Spencer took some more time closely investigating the body of the man that was the unfortunate third victim. They'd found that all victims were either people who knew too much, were enemies of the New Authority, or just someone who got in the way.
"She's checking records now for the specific mark." Rossi said, hanging up his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket. Spencer nodded and straightened, cringing at the pain in his back from bending over for so long to examine the evidence left on the cadavers.
Already, Rossi's phone started ringing. Spencer raised his eyebrows. That was fast for finding a connection as vague as this, even for Garcia. Rossi frowned down at the phone, and Spencer was quickly able to profile that it wasn't Garcia at all.
"Hotch, what do you need?" Rossi answered with, his brows furrowed. Spencer tried to detect his facial expressions and body language. A feeling in his gut told him that something was off. If he listened closely, Spencer could hear yelling in the background of Rossi's phone conversation with Hotch mixed with... were those gunshots?
"We'll be right over." Rossi said after less than half a minute. He slid his phone off and put it back once more, looking over at Spencer with a troubled gaze, already starting to move out the door.
"Get in the car and get your vest on. There's a shootout." Rossi said, fast walking into nearly a run to the parking lot of the morgue. Spencer followed behind, matching Dave's pace as they pushed past the glass doors of the building and into the cold air of the hustle and bustle of Boston's streets.
Their FBI SUV was one of the only cars there at the time, making it easy for Rossi to peel out of the parking lot and swerve into traffic, flipping on the lights and sirens.
"Is everyone okay?" Spencer asked hurriedly, reaching back to take his bulletproof vest off of the chair behind him and struggling to put it on under his seat belt that was nearly choking him on the sharp turns Rossi was making.
"So far. It's pretty bad. They have a big group of the gang cornered in one of their operational buildings in the alley between Public Alley 416 and Beacon Street." Rossi said, his attention barely in his words and mostly on the road as he swerved and maneuvered past car after car. Spencer was fine with that.
"Is... Is JJ there?" he asked, trying not to make it seem to obvious that he really just wanted to know about Evie.
"As far as I'm concerned, yes Evelyn is there." Rossi said, already knowing what Spencer meant. Not to say Spencer didn't worry about JJ. He always has been as protective of JJ as she is with him, but Evie had barely done much field work yet and she was his girlfriend. He wouldn't know what he'd do if he lost her. Spencer always would get nervous when she goes out into the field. He knew this wasn't a worry that just would go away eventually. He'd never truly feel comfortable with the idea.
"Almost there..." Rossi muttered, more to himself than Reid. Sure enough, they reached the alleyway by Beacon Street where it was apparent that there was commotion and chaos. Police cars flooded the streets all around the alley, and two FBI SUVs stood in different places among them, their lights still flashing with no one inside.
Spencer tightened the last strap on his vest and hurried to throw the door open, hopping out as fast as possible. He immediately knew this wasn't just a couple of unsubs when he heard how many shots were being fired in the air. It was deafening; the only thing he could hear. Somewhere among the shots, there were shouts of orders being given or maybe cries of agony... Spencer couldn't quite tell the difference in the ruckus.
"Reid, be careful." Rossi yelled over the harsh sounds splitting through the air. Spencer nodded and took his gun from his belt, holding it out in front of him and rounding the corner of the only building left standing in his way of seeing the sight of the shoot out. As soon as he saw it, Spencer wanted to grab Evie wherever she was, and shrink right back behind that building again. From inside the alley, there were gunman both behind trashy cars, from inside doorways, and even on second floor windows of the buildings surrounding them. Officers mixed with their agents were sheltered behind police vehicles lined up in the center of the street to divide them from the gang. Spencer saw Hotch, Morgan, JJ, and obviously Rossi was behind him. Where was Evie?
Spencer told himself not to think and just move in to help. He approached the closest cop car where Hotch and a few officers were crouched behind. It wasn't much of a cop car anymore though. The windows were all shattered, glass crunching under Spencer's feet as he approached. The far doors of the vehicle were blasted through with numerous holes the size of bullets. The seats were torn through just from the impact of the shots, and one of the tires was blown out, probably the cause of a bullet as well.
"Where's Evie?" Spencer didn't take time in asking Hotch as he positioned his gun to start shooting at the men dressed in black at the other side of the alley.
"Over to the right. She was able to get a bit closer up. JJ's keeping an eye on her." Hotch said. Sure enough, as Spencer glanced to the right, he saw Evie crouched behind the closest cop car to the gang there. It drove knives of nerves into his chest, but there was nothing he could do at the moment but try to find a good window to run across to the next closest car and just car hop from there until he reached her side to protect her.
"Down! Down!" Hotch yelled so loud, his voice cracked a bit at the end of the last syllable. Spencer felt his hand on his shoulder yank him down lower behind the car as the blaring noise of a machine gun boomed through he air, jolting the car in front of them.
"Where did they get all of this equipment?" Spencer asked loudly over the clanks of the bullets hitting the car. Hotch looked up at him and shrugged, keeping a hand on Spencer's shoulder as if he was afraid he'd jump up any second. Spencer stayed down though, and as soon as the machine gun firing stopped, he took his window.
Reid jumped up into what was still a crouch and ran over to the car JJ was stationed behind. Her gun was raised just above the hood of the car to get a good shot of some of the people out front. The setting sunlight reflected off of her blonde hair and reminded Spencer that if this carried on until it was fully dark, it'd get a lot harder than even this.
"How's Evie?" Spencer asked. "And you, are you okay?" he continued to question JJ loudly.
"What?" she yelled back. Spencer was barely able to hear even that. He waved the air, telling her to let it go and never mind. They shot along side each other for a while as Spencer continued to take consistent glances over at Evie on their right. She was stationed wayyyyyy too close for Spencer's liking, looking more vulnerable than ever. I've got to get to her... he kept thinking.
When Spencer heard some of the shots die down a bit, and once he observed a few men being taken out on the other side to thin out the risk, he ran around JJ's car, out into the open for what he hoped would be a mere second or less. His timing was risky though, and it was hard to see any risks through he smoke and dust kicked up from the constant rain of bullets.
In that moment, Spencer couldn't even keep the deafening shots straight; which ones were firing towards him and which ones were firing away. It made no difference at one point. Suddenly his whole world was being turned upside down; spun inside and out. It all happened in less than a second, but it all took effect in what seemed like slow motion.
Spencer had thought he'd marked where all of the unsubs stood on the other side of the street, but as he tried to make his way over to Evie, he realized he'd missed one. A man wearing a black turtle neck and black winter hat emerged from the dust. The first thing he saw in the midst of the cross fire was the barrel of the gun across the street, pointed right at him. There was no place to run or hide. There was no time either. He could only stand there as the black gun directed it's fatal bullet's path towards his chest.
The second thing he saw was only a flash of color at first. It was a person in his peripheral vision. He knew it wasn't Hotch, or Morgan, or JJ, or Rossi. They were all shooting from different spots behind him. Spencer's heart lurched as his eyes flickered to her for the fraction of the second he had. At the last possible point, she ran in front of him.
He didn't have time to yell out in protest. He didn't have time to even move his pinkie finger. In slowed time he watched in horror as the gun released, and almost at the same moment he watched her fall in front of him, the bullet burying deep into her abdomen. Spencer could hear someone cry out, and not until later would he realize it was his own horrified scream.
His one truest love hit the pavement, below the chaos of the shootout that carried on without her. Her gorgeous hair... her hair that always smelled of his favorite Eucalyptus and Rain. Her beautiful delicate body... her body that he spent so much time cuddling and kissing; it stilled. Her eyes... the ones that had caused him to fall in love with her in the first place, flickered with a glimpse of sparkling life one last time before they went empty and blank. His heart felt as if it was brutally ripped from his chest as he realized his worst nightmare had come true. Evie was dead.