Hotch walked into the conference room. "Let's get started."
JJ sighed, picking up the remote. "Eight brutal muggings in the D.C. area over the past month. Two of the victims were also sexually assaulted. Every victim was found without any of their personal possessions, except their ID."
"That's a change - could be a sign of remorse?" Rossi suggested.
She swallowed, pressing a button on the remote. "Each victim is severely beaten with several injuries, including dislocated shoulders, fractured ribs, and facial injuries. The third victim needed reconstructive surgery due to the severity of the damage."
"These are just muggings, what makes the case federal?" Derek asked.
She eyed Hotch, who nodded. "Not only were there two sexual assaults, but the latest attack was on a federal agent."
Emily raised an eyebrow. "Anybody we know?"
She sat down in her chair, visibly wincing before bringing up the images.
Garcia's breath hitched in her throat. "No…"
Biting down on her lip, she sighed. "He was found on a street corner a few nights ago around 2:00 a.m. He fired a warning shot to get them to stop, and it scared them off. They took off with everything in his bag and his credentials. I told the police chief we'd take the case without letting the bias affect the outcome."
"But it's Reid!"
"I know. But because of him, we have a physical description on all three unsubs." She held the file out to Garcia, "and we can have our resident tech genius look through the system and try to find them."
She pouted, but gave her a nod, opening the file and taking the photos out, handing them to JJ. "I refuse to see him like that," she explained, picking up her bag, "but I'll get on it," she finished, walking out and going to her lair.
Derek froze before turning to Hotch. "I thought you said he was going to see his mother for a few days?"
"I understand if any of you are upset, but I had to give Reid my word I wouldn't tell any of you what happened. I got the call from the hospital early yesterday morning and went to check on him. It's hard for him to function on his own, but he's taking time to himself to heal up and adjust. Now, let me just make one thing clear. He doesn't want anyone to feel bad about what happened," he started, eyeing Emily, "or pity him. Now that we're on this case? I don't want any of you bothering him for anything. Have I made myself clear?"
They all nodded in agreement and looked through the case file.
JJ sighed, looking at the clock. "I promised Will I'd pick up Henry at daycare today. He's working and can't get off to drop him off at the babysitter-"
"Say no more. Go drop him off and be back in an hour," Hotch said, putting pictures up on the evidence board.
She nodded, getting up and setting the case file on the table before walking to her office, pulling on her jacket.
She felt slightly guilty lying to Hotch, but she needed to visit Spencer to check on him. Ever since the time they separated before the Hankel case, she felt obligated to watch over him and protect him whenever she could. Pulling up to the apartment building, she got out and walked up the stairs, stopping in front of his door and knocking.
Spencer whimpered, sitting up on the couch. He had fallen asleep watching one of the Star Wars movies, and had several nightmares involving what had happened to him. He bit down on his lip after he shifted off the couch and limped over to the door. Hotch had said when he'd come to visit, he would call first, so he wondered who could possibly be at the door. He looked through the peephole and saw JJ standing there, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. He groaned to himself, wondering if Hotch had betrayed him.
"Spence, I know you're in there. It's JJ, open up," she said, knocking again.
He bit his lip, unlocking both locks and taking a deep breath, wincing before opening the door.
She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. "Spence…"
"It's not as bad as it looks," he explained.
She looked at him sympathetically. "Can I come in?"
"It's… it's not really a good time," he started, leaning against the wall.
"Please?"
He bit his lip, pushing the door open and limping over to the couch.
She walked in, closing the door behind her.
"Can you lock it?"
She nodded, setting both locks and pulling on the door, making sure they worked. She then turned back to Spencer and walked over, sitting beside him. He instinctively shifted away from her and she sighed. "Oh, Spence."
He shook his head. "Please don't," he whispered, pulling the blanket over himself. "It's nothing."
She sighed. "We got the case, Spence. I know what happened."
He looked up at her. "Does the team know?"
"Yeah, the case came across my desk, and I recognized your face on the images. I read the file and… you could've told us."
"I couldn't. Emily would've felt guilty for not arguing to give me a ride, Morgan would get pissed off and try to find these guys on his own, Garcia would do nothing but pity me, and Rossi would probably use his mob connections to make something happen to them once they are found. Then there's you, who's here to check up on me when I quite obviously just need to be alone."
"What you need right now isn't being alone. You need your family to lean on, and we want to help."
"There's nothing that could be done. All I need to get over my injuries is time for the wounds to heal." He adjusted the sling on his shoulder, wincing. "If I need anyone or anything, I'll reach out to you, but for now, I just need to be left alone to get over this."
"Have you taken anything?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I haven't taken a Tylenol in a few hours-"
She got up, walking to his bedroom and grabbing the bottle, going back to the couch and handing it to him."Anything else?"
"JJ, I'm fin-"
"Anything else?" she repeated.
He sighed. "I haven't been able to make coffee the last couple of days, I could go for a cup-"
"Say no more." She got off the couch, walking to his kitchen. She came back a few minutes later with a cup of coffee. "Four sugars?"
He nodded slightly, taking the cup from her and sipping it. It wasn't quite how he liked it, but he was grateful that she helped. "So you know everything?" he asked, setting the cup down on the table.
"Stitches on the forehead, two swollen eyes, broken nose, split lip, fractured ribs, dislocated shoulder, concussion, and hurt the same wrist on the side with the dislocated shoulder."
He winced, thinking of every injury, remembering the pain of it and running a hand through his hair. "Yeah."
She reached over, patting his arm. She couldn't help but feel upset when he backed away from her touch. "I know you want to do this alone, but we're a family, Spence. We worry about you and we want to take care of you. We want you to be better so we can have you back."
He swallowed, nodding. "I know. If you guys have any questions, feel free to stop by."
She got up off the couch. "And if we don't have any questions?"
"Hm?"
She smiled slightly. "And if we don't have any questions, can we still stop by?"
He thought about it and sighed. "Yeah. Just promise me something?"
"Anything."
He bit down on his lip, chewing on it. "I need you to promise me the same thing you promised Garcia when she was hurt. Don't look at me like a victim. I'm still the same Spencer, I'm just injured."
She considered it and nodded. "I promise. I have to get back to the office. Should I spread the message?"
"Please."
She leaned over, kissing his cheek. She then walked over to the door, unlocking it and walking out. He got up, locking the door behind her and sitting back on the couch. He didn't want any of the team to find out about him, but now that it was a federal case, they were going to know everything, and he wasn't sure he was ready for that invasion of his privacy.
Spencer was slowly depleting his supply of ice, making ice packs every few hours to put on his swollen and otherwise injured body parts. He laid back on his couch with them strategically placed over his eyes, ribs, and knee. He attempted to watch TV while doing so, but it only gave him a headache, so he sat in the silence and hoped the Tylenol would kick in so he could get some sleep.
JJ walked back into the conference room, sitting down. "Anything yet?"
Derek shook his head. "Garcia's still running everything through her software, hoping we can get a match on any of Reid's descriptions."
She looked around the room. "Where's everybody else?"
"They went to interview the other victims," he explained, reading through the case file.
"Good, maybe I can go talk to Spence-"
He shook his head. "We already tried that one. Hotch won't let any of us talk to him."
"Then he's going to be really pissed off at me."
He looked up at her. "You went to see him?"
She sighed, nodding. "Will's off today because Henry was running a fever this morning. I had to see him, Derek. Please don't tell Hotch."
"How is he?"
She bit down on her lip. "The pictures are nothing in comparison to the real thing. He's limping, he's bruised everywhere, his eyes are nearly swollen shut, he can't do anything for himself… God, Derek, he can't even leave his apartment."
"What makes you say that?"
"There are takeout boxes in the trash: it's obvious he's been ordering in the last couple days. He can barely walk a few feet without being in pain, and he triple checks the locks on the door before he relaxes enough to hold a conversation. I've never seen him this scared, not even with Hankel."
He leaned back in his seat, running a hand over his scalp. "I can't wait to find these sons of bitches so I can inflict some of the pain they made him feel."
"I can't say I'd stop you," she said honestly. "He made me promise him something."
He looked at her, eyebrow raised. "Oh?"
She took a deep breath, sighing. "I had to promise him we wouldn't look at him or treat him like a victim. He still has to be Spencer."
"How are we supposed to do that when he's presented to us as a victim?"
She shrugged slightly. "If we talk to him, we have to talk to him, not at him. And we need to be there for him without smothering him. He said he'd call if he needs anything. I'm hoping he stays true to that."
Garcia walked in a while later, laptop in hand.
"What do you have, Baby Girl?"
She groaned, frustrated. "Not enough. I'm not sure Reid's description was accurate, because I put in the exact descriptions, and it gave me over 300 names to match the 3 people."
Derek sighed. "That can't be right."
She turned the screen toward him. "361 to be exact."
He looked over at JJ. "You know what we have to do."
She shook her head. "No, absolutely not. I'm not doing it. I'm a media liaison, and I'm out of this." She packed up her files. "I need to get a press conference ready, and I need to do anything else."
"JJ, he needs to talk about it-"
"I'm not bringing it up to him and I don't want you to, either. He's scared enough. We don't need to add to it by telling him 'Hey, Spence, by the way? Your description sucks. Please relive one of the worst moments of your entire life.' I can't believe that you want to do that to him."
"I want to find the bastards that did this so they can get what they deserve. If that means putting him through a cognitive interview-"
She put up her hands. "Then it's on your hands, not mine. And you're checking with Hotch first, because I'm not having you do this behind his back." She picked up the folders, walking to her office and closing the door.
Derek groaned, running his hands over his face.
"She's just protective over him, sweetie. We all are, and we're all going to be on edge this whole case, but we need to stay focused," Garcia started, rubbing his shoulder.
He bit down on his lip, nodding. He took out his phone, calling Hotch.
"Morgan, do you have anything?"
He sighed. "Nothing yet. Listen, Hotch, Garcia put the descriptions he gave into ViCAP, and we got over 300 results. There has to be something else he's not telling us that can help us narrow this down, and we need to find out before somebody else gets hurt. The first and the fifth victims were sexually assaulted. If I'm right, the next victim will be too. We need a better description from him."
Hotch thought for a minute and sighed. "You want to give him a cognitive interview."
"It's the only way to get a better description. If we just ask him outright, he might freeze up and give the wrong information, just for it to be over with. None of the other victims ever saw their faces. He did."
He paused and finally gave in. "Do you have his address?"
"I can get it from Garcia."
"Then you have my permission. Morgan?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful. Remember that right now, he isn't your co-worker. He's your job."
He took a deep breath, sighing. "Okay."
"Let me know how he's doing."
"I will."
He hung up, turning to Garcia, who held out a piece of paper with his address.
"Let him know we care."
"No problem." He pulled on his jacket and stuffed his phone into his pocket.
"And that we're here for him and that he doesn't need to be scared, because they didn't just attack him. They attacked all of us."
He nodded in agreement, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
"And Derek?" she called after him.
He turned around to face her. "Yeah?"
"Tell him I love him, and I want my Boy Wonder back soon?"
He smiled slightly, nodding and grabbing his keys off his desk before walking to the elevator.