This chapter is based on ep 15x6 "Date Night." I've changed a lot but there are several exact quotes /scenarios from the show.
Bad
Adjective
1. having a harmful effect on.
2. failing to conform to standards of moral virtue or acceptable conduct.
3. Injured, diseased, or painful.
4. decayed; putrid.
Max is in Spencer's apartment now.
Spencer had told her a good bit about Catherine Adams, and his team filled in the rest of the gaps for her just now.
She was obsessed with him, wanted him miserable, but most importantly—- wanted him to doubt himself.
She wanted to screw with him.
She was sick in the head, successfully killing dozens of men, but Spencer ended her fun.
Perhaps in another life, Max could have been like her, if she would have been less successful at managing her emotions, stifling the sometimes intrusive thoughts.
Give in to the impulses.
"They're on their way up," Emily says in her ear, "she likes theatrics, so be ready for anything."
Cat Adams was back to play, and unfortunately for Cat— people always underestimate Max.
"Make it good" she hears a woman say on the other side of the door.
Max doesn't feel just nervous as the door knob turns, she feels… excited.
Cat's eyes meet Max's the moment the door opens, but Spencer's are closed.
He has her against the door frame and he is kissing her hungrily.
I guess he's "making it good," Max thinks.
Max used to like Spencer's doorframes.
Like the one leading to his bedroom he firmly pushed Max against once via a gentle hand around her neck…
Or the ones he leaned against as he talked to her,
The ones he taped or poked at sometimes as he walked through them,
The one he white knuckled when she was on her knees for him.
Or even her own door frame, that matched the one she watched now where he leaned over her after the gala, daring her to kiss him for the second time.
Now she thought she'd like to rip them all off the walls and set them on fire.
"Look surprised and hurt," Max hears Emily say through her piece, and Max thinks she hears a tinge of disgust in Emily's voice.
Max makes a fiend look of surprise and Cat's full interest is no longer spit between Max and Spencer, it's fully on her.
Cat smugly pushes him off of her and Max hears a popping noise as his lips leave hers.
His gaze follows Cat's and they meet Max.
Spencer stands there for several beats as if in shock, and Cat leans into the doorframe, fixing her hair.
His face falls, and Cat's lights up, looking between Max and Spencer in triumph.
"What are you doing here" Spencer says, shaking off the shock and running into the apartment, grabbing at Max.
One of the agents who had escorted the two up quickly detains Cat in the hall.
"I told you to stay with Michelle and Bright!" He says, his face is frantic.
"Sorry to ruin your date," she says cooly, and Spencer looks at her incredulously.
Luke pushes himself past the other agent with a panicked look on his face, but maintains his commanding voice saying "get her out of here, get her out of here," he makes a motion towards Max.
"No, no, she will kill them if I leave," Max says, pulling away from Spencer and walking to Luke.
"Kill who?" Spencer says, following her.
"Eloise and Sammy. I got a call from Sammy. He told me to come here or…"
Max sees the gears turning in Spencer's head and he says, "they are the kidnapped mother and child?"
Luke's phone chimes. He reads the message and he says, "The team recovered Eloise, she is alive and unharmed."
Of course Max knew this already.
"Max," Emily says in her ear, "it is very important that you keep playing along, Spencer will know what to do."
"What about Sammy?" Spencer says.
"Still missing," says Luke, "I say we put Cat back in her cell and we regroup."
"No," Spencer says, "bring her in here and leave us alone."
"Dude," Luke says with a warning tone.
"Here, you can monitor us with this" Spencer says, calling his cell phone with his landline and handing it to Luke.
He leaves the land line face up by the receiver.
Spencer turns to Max and says, "Follow my lead. We can outsmart her together, let her gloat, she loves to gloat. Don't show fear, she will use it against you,"
Luke is reading a new text on his phone and he eyes Max with understanding, not daring to say anything out loud lest they be overheard by the woman in the hall.
He nods his head to Spencer and opens the door.
The agent in the hall lets Cat go and allows her to walk in, Luke exits behind her and closes the door.
As she walks in she gives a satisfied smile to Spencer and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before making eye contact with Max.
'We're all here, what do you want to talk about?" Spencer says.
Cat scoffs, "So, so much," she looks Max over before walking past her and then turns her head back to Spencer, "She's cute" she says, as she starts fingering furniture and other items in the room.
She continues her tramp around Spencer's apartment, as they watch her, touching things as she goes, finally she looks to Max, "Did it make you mad that I was kissing your boyfriend?" Cat asks.
"Say no," Emily says in Max's ear, "try to bring the conversation to Sammy."
"No," Max says simply, her eyes are locked on Cat as she paces around like she owns the place.
Cat takes note of the phone off the hook, monitoring them.
But Cat doesn't know Max also has the FBI in her ear.
"Why not?" Cat asks with a coy smile.
"I kind of have some other things on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Are you going to hurt Sammy?" Max says.
Spencer's eyes bobble between them, he's speechless.
"Not if I don't have to. Honestly, if he is a good boy, he might even learn something from this whole experience."
"What does that mean?" Max says.
"Normally Spencie and I spend our time together playing games," Cat plops down in one of Spencer's chairs, "but tonight I've brought you all here to make a point…. You can do so much better," she looks between them with a smirk.
"With you?" Spencer says, finally.
"I'm not talking to you," Cat says, rolling her eyes and pointing to Max, "I'm talking to you."
Max follows Cat's lead by sitting down on the couch across from her, refusing to break eye contact.
"Because girlfriend, you need to know the truth about your boyfriend," Cat finishes.
"Alright Max, Cat is going to start saying things to discredit Spencer now." Emily says, "just let her say it."
"I know a lot of things about Spencer," Max says, going of script slightly.
Emily had advised against challenging Cat directly, but Max was starting to enjoy this.
"So you know he has a type, right?" Cat makes a motion between herself and Max, smiling before saying, "bad girls. Maybe that's why he hasn't taken you to visit mommy yet."
"Bad girl," Max thinks. "She knows. Here we go."
Michelle and Malcom roll up in the back of an FBI vehicle, a unit having continued to Michelle's apartment to set watch after retrieving Max, and Michelle some how convinced the agents to bring them to the scene.
Michelle jumps out of the car before the agent can put it in park, running to the first familiar face she sees.
"Agent Rossi!" Michelle yells chest heaving.
He approaches her with his hands raised, "Ms. James, your sister is safe and unharmed, we have her in the back with the medics, but this is a secure crime scene…"
"I know, she called me and told me."
Rossi notices Bright walking up to them and he cocks his head.
"Hey…" Rossi starts, "I know you."
"Malcom Bright, sir, it's a pleasure seeing you again, but unfortunately, we need to talk about Max."
"We— we know about her past," Rossi says, lowering his voice.
Michelle and Malcolm eye each other.
"She told us before she went in," Rossi continues.
"Went in?" Michelle asks, "tell me you did not let her in the same room with that psycho."
"She's… she's assisting Dr. Reid in obtaining the location of your nephew," Rossi continues, "we are monitoring them next door."
Michelle's body goes ridged, "Then I want to be a part of the surveillance for her legal protection. I don't want her to be pushed too far."
Meanwhile, back in Spencer's apartment.
Bad girl.
Max eyes go to Spencer's and asks "what did you tell her?"
Spencer turns to eye Cat. He's wondering if she is talking about her past.
"I had to say a lot of things tonight, he says slowly, but I didn't tell her--"
"Oh, he's said a lot of things tonight," Cat cuts him off, "he also said that you're not me, and that no matter what, he can't get me out of his mind."
"Everything I said was a lie to save Michelle's family," Spencer says seriously.
Cat laughs and says, "did that kiss look like a lie?"
"No," Max says, per Emily.
"Thank you," Cat says clapping her hands, "see, now we are getting to the heart of the matter," she lets out an exaggerated sigh and her voice changes slightly to mock Spencer's familiar stammer, "you see, everyone thinks that Dr. Spencer Reid is just this nice, bookish, uh, genius, who, uh, always saves the day and has all the answers and zero mommy issues right?" Cats looks Spencer up and down before continuing, "But, I know the real him."
"Oh yeah?" Spencer snaps, "who's the real me, Cat?"
Cat leans forward and locks eyes with Max, "the real Spencer Reid throws women agains walls… and hisses that he's going to kill them."
Max eyes cut to Spencer as she says, "what is she talking about?"
Spencer quickly shoots back, "that was a very different situation."
Cat makes Spencer retell the story of his mother's kidnapping, her getting under his skin, and the interrogation between them becoming physical.
Cat doesn't let Spencer skimp on the details, including the fact that she was pregnant and that she claims the altercation led to her miscarriage.
This was new information to Max.
"That's not true," Spencer says softly, his resolve deflating.
"Oh, it's true," Cat says, "check my medical record."
"You choked her out against a wall?" Max asks, eyes full of meaning.
Max waits for Emily to say something, but she stays silent.
Max realizes she is on her own.
Rossi brings Malcolm and Michelle to Max's apartment with the rest of the team refocusing the rooms attention on them as they close the door.
"I'm Miss. Brenner's attorney, and I am here to monitor the situation and make sure she does not say something incriminating, or that anything that happens tonight can be held against her in a negative light."
Emily removes her headset and gives Rossi a look before eying the two new comers.
"Max chose to give up information about herself to assist in this situation, we didn't even know about this until she walked into the door."
"Good, so it looks like you guys like your jobs," Michelle says, eying Garcia.
"Miss. James, I know this is a highly emotional situation for you, but don't you think with the additional dynamics of your nephew, it is a conflict of interest for you to be here?" Dr. Tara Lewis says, her tone is calm but Michelle scoffs arrogantly and looks around the room.
"From what I hear, I am right at home if conflicts of interest are the topic," Michelle says.
Emily puts a hand up to the others who go to argue and says, "Is there something else we need to know about Max?"
Michelle's cocky resolve falters a little and she looks to Malcolm who still stands near the door chewing at his thumb.
"We're worried about what might happen if Max is pushed too far." Malcolm says, lowering his hand.
"Max will say what she needs to say to save Sammy," Emily says.
"I'm…," Michelle's facade has completely faded now and there are tears in her eyes.
Malcolm steps forward, emboldened by his friend's need for help, "Miss. James is worried what her client might do if she is… overly provoked."
"Maybe we should pull the plug," Luke says with a nervous tone.
"Reid trusts her, he wouldn't let her in there otherwise," JJ says.
Emily reaches for the headset, "you can stay, but we're keeping her in there for now, It's time the rest of the world starts trusting Max Brenner, too."
"You choked her out against a wall?" Max asks, eyes full of meaning.
She's thinking of the times she lost consciousness at her brothers hands when she was a little girl, thinking each time he was killing her, unsure what happened or how much time had passed when she finally woke up.
Spencer and Cat say a few more things, but Max is listening to Emily who had returned, "sorry Max, you're doing great. She had the miscarriage months later, it was completely unrelated. But right now we need tears, if you can't do tears, fake anger."
"Stop, look," Cat hums as Max lifts a stony look to Spencer.
"I thought you were decent," Max says.
Spencer deflates more, and Max can tell he thinks she means it.
Cat moves from the chair to crouch on the floor in front of her, like a mother getting down on a child's level to explain a hard truth.
"Good, because men are all the same, but you know about that don't you, Harlowe?"
"Don't call her that" Spencer snaps, his lip curls.
"What are you going to do? Throw me against a wall? Choke me, or do you only do that to pregnant women?" She snaps back, "because that's where this is going, right? First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes whatever your name is today with a baby carriage? What happens when she has one of her little… episodes. It's the trauma. But— that's why I'm the way I am, right? What if she starts to get nasty like me and gets under your skin."
"She is nothing like you," Spencer says, making Cat laugh again.
"Maybe you're right," Cat says with a sneer, "because I hear she kind of likes it, the choking thing."
"Why are you doing this," Max says to Cat.
"Because I want you to see it, I want you to see that he is no better than whoever hurt you before," Cat says
"Stop," Max says.
"Come on, sweety. Aren't you a therapist? If you talk about it, you'll feel better. Tell us about your daddy and big brother… because… that's the reason, right? Tell us why you like it a little rough."
"Shut up," Spencer says to Cat.
But Cat keeps going, "Didn't you think it was weird when you didn't even have to ask him to grab you by the throat? Damn profilers."
"So it was your idea," Spencer says, "the pictures."
"Had to see what I was missing out on," Cat winks at Spencer, "though unfortunately I had to survive on Julliette's descriptions."
There is silence for a beat as the women stare at each other unblinkingly.
Max lets out a laugh. It's inappropriate, but at the same time, communicates how absolutely ridiculous this all was.
"It's none of your business," Max says, finally.
"It is exactly my business, in fact, it's my speciality. I mean, what about one of those agents that testified against you, what were their names again? I can have Julliette and baby Sammy go over there if you want, they could take care of one of those mean ole guys that turned the world against you... Because honestly, she nods to Spencer, the transference is a little sick."
"It's all about abusive men," Tara says to the room, "she's going after the boyfriend she took the rap for. That must be the lesson she is teaching Sammy. How to get revenge."
Garcia, can you find the ex?" Matt asks.
Already done," Garcia states, pressing enter, making the phones in the room chime.
"Rossi, let's set up a perimeter in the area. Julliette is most likely waiting for the message from Cat before striking, if we can stake out the area, we will already be close by as soon as the exact location is pinned," says Matt.
"You'll need to stay hidden though, if you go in guns blazing, Julliette might kill Sammy, you'll need to catch her off guard at just the right moment."
"Matt and I will take care of that," Rossi says, already suiting up, "we'll go alone so she won't notice."
"Say yes," Spencer says as if he had a revelation, "give her what she wants."
Max eyes snap to Spencer darkly.
"Hmm," Cats says, "see he wants you to get me to make a little phone call so they can trace it," she gets up from the floor and returns to her previous seat, "they're so good, the FBI." She looks at Spencer as she says the last part and licks her lips.
"You're doing so good, Max, Emily says in her ear, Max flinches from surprise having forgotten her for a second, "you're so close, say whatever you have to bring it back to Sammy."
"Just tell me what I have to do to save Sammy," Max says.
"Tell me how you found the strength to get yourself away from those nasty men," Cat says, "tell me why you shot them that night, and I promise I will let Sammy go.'
"Tell her something," Emily says.
Max gets up slowly and paces around the room in thought. She looks at Cat once more before walking to the phone, still off the receiver.
She hangs it up with a click.
"Max what are you doing," Spencer says, fear in his voice.
Max paces around the room some more as she gathers her thoughts.
She stops and turns to face Cat, "you already know, don't you. You've been talking to him."
"Well, Juliette talked to him, she talked to me, so I want to hear it from you, make sure I'm not getting my wires crossed."
Max nods her head and frowns as if she has accepted defeat in a normal game of chess.
She crosses her arms, grabbing at her left sleeve and rubbing the fabric between her fingers.
"I had thought about it for a while… I got… tired of what Brian was doing to me. Even at that age I realized that it could only get worse. Now I know for sure it would have escalated," she looks at Spencer who narrows his eyes, "but after the thing with the redhead I knew it was time."
Cat smiles an evil grin.
"I woke up from being choked out and I was home alone, so I was pissed. I knew they had a woman, the redhead, in the basement," Max rings her hands together and walks a few steps closer to Cat.
"She was my brother's, but he and our father were at a baseball game, so, I went down there to check on her…"
"Max stop talking" Spencer says taking a step towards her, "stop talking right now."
"No, look, give me your phone," Cat says, taking Max's cell phone from her and beginning to type, "look I'm going to enter in the text, if you stick the landing, I'll hit send."
"He had roughed her up pretty good, but not enough that she couldn't have made it…" Max continues, "but…like I said, I was mad, so I thought I'd get him back, and… I…." Max makes a motion across her throat.
Cat smiles, thumb hovering over the phone
"I put her in a bag, and drove daddy's pick up truck to the bay. I was just tall enough to reach the peddles," she shrugs, "I had driven plenty of times before when the boys were too drunk."
"I thought you said you never could remember doing anything to any of the women," Spencer says in a small voice.
"I was just a little girl trying to survive" Max says, putting her hands up in mock surrender.
Spencer looks away from her.
"Jeeze," JJ says.
"Don't mess with Max," Luke says, eyes wide.
Michelle smiles.
Cat presses send and giggles, "wow you really do have type don't you. Quite a dilemma, too, she just admitted to murder."
"S-she'll get out of it," Spencer says, though somewhat unconvinced.
"Maybe, but you two are done," she looks between the two with delight.
The phone in Cat's hand chimes with a picture of Sammy on the screen.
Max snatches the phone and runs out of the door, Cat's laughter ringing behind her.
When she opens the door Emily is already there waiting.
"I got something," Max says, Emily puts a hand on her shoulder and begins to lead her away.
Max turns to look at Spencer who hadn't moved, when their eyes meet the look on his face breaks her heart.
"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior." -Viktor Frankl