Here's a mini-chapter before the big one!

CHAPTER TEN POINT FIVE

MOVING ON

Spencer walked to the coffee shop out of pure habit. He'd stayed in the hospital all of three days, then had been discharged home. Now, it was the Monday after and he walked to the coffee shop, as he always had for the last year, and ordered a double espresso. He didn't see any sign of Sadie in the shop, or on the streets, and he knew full well that she had been shifted to the psych ward in Bethesda for 'evaluation and treatment' as written on her file. He took the cup and walked out the shop, his mind elsewhere and stood on the pavement, staring out at the city in a daze.

"I see you're up and about"

Spencer glanced at his side to acknowledge the older O'Connell, who was sipping something out of a cup himself.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the hospital? Or at work?" Spencer asked. Nolan shrugged, not that Spencer needed to see it to believe it.

"I am working" Nolan replied, "I'm figuring out where the remote is. That's important to my work, and cerebral too"

Spencer sipped his coffee while Nolan ranted.

"Why talk to me then?" Spencer asked. Nolan chuckled.

"Just wanted to make sure you weren't going to walk into oncoming traffic" Nolan replied, "It'd be a shame if you died here after I went to all that trouble to rescue you"

"A shame" Spencer repeated mechanically, "I wasn't going to walk onto oncoming traffic"

"My bad, in that case" he said, "Have a nice day"

"Good morning" Spencer greeted, as he walked away, down the street, and vanished into the crowd.

Spencer stared at nothing in particular, then turned to the street he had been waiting to cross. As the lights turned green, he walked with the crowd to cross the intersection, then went to the subway entrance by manner of routine. Everything was mechanical and routine now, he concluded, sipping his bitter, yet tasteless coffee and looking at the newspaper, though not reading a single word of it.

"Good morning" JJ greeted, when Spencer arrived at the BAU. Spencer nodded in response and went to his desk. She knew better than to ask him anymore, while the rest continued with their daily pile of paperwork. The team seemed to think he was fragile and needed protecting. Spencer didn't need anything of the sort, he just needed work.

"Guys, you need to see this" Aaron Hotchner said, appearing outside of his office and looking down at his team.

Spencer followed his colleagues into the conference room where there were displayed on the large screens, the gory victims of the latest psychopath to emerge from the mid-West. As he noticed the signature of the UnSub and the remains of the victims, theories began forming in his mind, and at last, Spencer was able to tell that the clockwork in his mind had restarted and he scoped for the finer details of the case, looking for clues that might point toward the UnSub.

"Work is the best remedy for grief" Blake said, as she accompanied Spencer to the jet. Spencer looked up from looking at the crime scene photographs and noticed the look of concern on her face.

"I know" he replied, "I know" he repeated. Blake pressed her lips together in a kind smile and Spencer mirrored her expression.

"So" Blake said, eyebrows raised.

"Let's get on with it" Spencer decided, then walked to the jet like nothing had ever happened.

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