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Location: BAU Office, Washington D.C., Virginia
“We got a case!” JJ called out to the rest of the team as she made her way to the meeting room. Behind her, she could faintly hear Morgan and Reid finish their conversation while following her to the room. Clicking the projector on, JJ made sure the case was set up on the screen for everyone to see before turning towards the table and started to hand out the case files. “Park City Police Department has been dealing with an increase of missing person’s reports for the past two years since the snow-in of 2013. Sadly, for them all hopes of finding the missing people were lost when a pair of snowboarders found a mass grave. They found all twenty-three reporting missing person.”
“I feel a ‘but’ about to be included somewhere.” Prentiss looked intently at the screen for any clues that may help.
“They were still finding bodies.” Reid looked up from the case file. “The MEs have found at least thirty bodies by the time they sent in the case file.”
“Grab your go-bags. Wheels up in twenty!” Hotch called out as the team all left to their desks to grab their go-bags.
---
Location: Park City, Colorado
The station was bursting with deputies and MEs from stations close by. This was the scandal of the year but pushing aside the fact that this would lower the amount of tourists to the mountain, it was a personal blow to John, himself. John Lang had been Sheriff for the past fifteen years to the city and he had been a big contributor to every single resident and tourist that has entered the city. He was as protective of the city’s people as he was his family, but to know that there had been murders going on and he never realized it was a blow that he wasn’t sure he would ever recover from. Lang had already spent so many hours researching, stressing, and searching for every single missing person on the mountain just to find out it was for nothing. Sighing deeply, Lang bent over placing his head in his hand.
The city’s biggest attraction being the Ski Resort Alta brought it a lot of people, but not many people realized that the majority of the city’s tourists were families and college students. Babies, children, and students that most likely didn’t even know their own sexuality yet and out of all of them, they could consider themselves morbidly lucky that the twenty-three reports were all around 18-23 years-old. How was he supposed to call their parents and inform them that he had found their children, but they would be coming home in caskets. A knock at the door dragged Lang away from his depressing thoughts.
“Sheriff.” Deputy Michael Jefferson called from the doorway. “The BAU team is here.”
“Thank you, Jefferson.” Sheriff Lang got up from his office seat. “Let’s go greet them.” Walking into the entrance hall, Lang was greeted by a group of six individuals all dressed in certain ways that matched up with citizens ideas of what FBI agents look like and others looking like they belong in the library. “Hi, thank you for arriving so soon. I’m Sheriff John Lang.”
“Thank you for calling us. I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner. This is SSA David Rossi, SSA Derek Morgan, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA/Doctor Spencer Reid, and the team’s Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau.” Hotch waved a hand towards each team member as he called their name, prompting them to either smile, nod, or for Spencer, wave awkwardly.
“This is Deputy Michael Jefferson and Deputy Greg Michaels. We set up a room for you with everything Agent Jareau stated you would need.” Sheriff Lang quickly led the team to the back room where it not only had a clear view of the entire station but had multiple white boards and bulletin boards set up as was requested. “One of my deputies went out to gain a better map. We have multiple that is good for the city, but the one that I thought would best help with this case belongs to Old Man Jacks.”
The team nodded in thanks as they made their way into the room. Reid immediately made his way to the bulletin board where two maps were set up and a space was left empty for the last map. While the rest of the team double checked to make sure they had everything they would need.
“Team, you know your tasks.” Hotch reminded the team of the tasks they had discussed on the jet. Nodding in agreement, the team split up to do their own small tasks. Morgan and Hotch left with Sheriff Lang to interview the snowboarders, Scott Falls and Faith Hernandez. Prentiss and Rossi left with Deputy Jefferson to check over how far the MEs have progressed in the time between them sending the case file and the team arriving. Reid and JJ were left at the station. Originally, JJ was tasked with helping Reid set up the room so that all of the evidence and pictures were ready, but he quickly persuaded her to join Deputy Michaels in the main room to help with the brewing chaos. Reid was left to setting up the pictures of the victims on one of the whiteboards and then using the other to set up the evidence found.
---
(Three days pass)
The team sat around the room. Each and every one of them were reviewing the information that they had collected. So far the only thing they could connect to the unsub was the fact that the disappearances happened year-round and not during certain times of the year.
“I just don’t understand why after the snow-in of 2013?” JJ questioned from her place by the doorway. “It’s something that bugged me. They lost many people during those months, but why were they loosing even more people after it? It was one of the worse winters Colorado ever experienced.”
“With how much snow and avalanches this mountain experienced, especially during that year, it really isn’t that surprising. The terrain changes a lot with how much snow the mountain usually gains and lose every year, but during that year, the mountain gained almost five times their average. The areas that your tourists would know intimately were no more. Plus winter, like a lot of holidays, has a plenty of supernatural lore connected to it.” Reid’s head snapped up from the notebook he was flipping through while he was talking. Turning to the bulletin board, Reid quickly dialed Garcia’s number.
“Hey, sexy.” Garcia purred. “What can I do for ya?”
“Garcia, can you look up the snow-in of Park City and check if they ever had a local resident that they couldn’t reach? They would have to live somewhere away from everyone else and the snow would really cut them off from everything – people, water, food – all of it.”
The sound of her nails clicking against the keyboard came over the phone. “Reports say only one family was cut off – the Bloodworth family. They were originally a family of five, but Grandpappy Mark and Mama Jade both perished during the snow-in. The weird thing is they never found their bodies. The siblings just told the police that they went out to scavenge for food and wood, but never came back.”
“That good, but how did you make that kind of connection, Pretty Boy?” Morgan may be a good BAU agent, but even he could admit that there were plenty of times where Reid left him in the dust.
“Oh my god.” Garcia breathed in shock. “Reid, is this-“
“A fake wendigo?” Reid finished her question. “I think so. Or at least a family of them.”
“Wendigo? Like that show you and Garcia watch on your bonding nights?” JJ questioned.
“The show is called Supernatural and yes, a wendigo. In lore, they are humans that are pushed past their limits because of starvation, which results in them turning to the next available food source each other. I’m pretty sure the two Bloodworths that passed away were due to the extreme weather thus giving the ones who survived the food they needed to make it.” Reid explained.
“It doesn’t help that their property has majority of the snow trails located either right above or below their location and it’s all surrounded by snow, cliffs, and trees. It would be super easy for them to snatch anybody at any given time.” Garcia slipped in.
“Head to the SUVs. We’re bringing all three of them in for questioning.” Hotch stood up and headed out to call the Sheriff and his men.
---
Everything was going according to plan. JJ and Morgan went up to the front door while Hotch and Prentiss covered the back. Reid and Rossi along with the group of men from the police station were spread out around the house making sure they wouldn’t be seen. One minute Morgan was knocking on the door and the next two of the Bloodworth siblings were being arrested while the third got away with Reid in tow.
“FUCK!” Morgan slammed his fist into a tree, ignoring the blood that spilled from his cut knuckles.
“Hotch!” Prentiss came running out of the woods. “We lost them both.”
“The tracks show that your agent was able to get away from Haiden. Only problem now is that Haiden is literally hunting your agent down.” Sheriff Lang added in.
“Team fall in!” Hotch called out to his team. Once they were close enough, he guided them away from everyone else. “I’m calling Percy about Spencer.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” JJ questioned. The team hasn’t spent as much time as they would have liked with Percy just yet; too many cases have been pulling them all across America for that to happen.
“No, it’s a good idea. While my son cannot help physically, he does have connections to people that can and I don’t just mean the higher up individuals.” Rossi urged his boss to continue with his original plan.
“I’ll call him while we head back to the station.” Hotch pulled out his phone and made the call.
:Percy, it’s Hotch.:
;Hey Hotch. What’s up? Spence said you guys were on a case.;
:We are. We went to arrest the unsubs, but one got away with Spencer as his hostage.:
;I’m on my way.;
Hotch pulled the phone away when he realized that Percy had literally hung up the phone before he could tell him where they would be.
Pulling into the station, Morgan noticed someone who shouldn’t have beat them to the station. “Hey, is that Percy?” Morgan pointed with one hand while making sure the other was on the steering wheel.
Following to where Morgan was point was Percy leaning against the outside building with a pair of shades covering his eyes. Pulling up to the parking stall right in front of Percy, the team slowly made their way out of the SUV.
“Is there a private place we can talk?” Percy asked.
Nodding, Hotch lead the team and Percy back to the meeting room they were given. Taking a seat, Hotch watched slightly disconnected from reality as his team followed his actions. It took a little while but eventually Percy followed suit.
“What happened?” Percy asked.
“We were dealing with a family of cannibals that believed they were wendigos. JJ and I had just walked up to the front door when the door slammed open and the female attacked JJ. While that was happening apparently the second sibling tried to go out the back door where he tried to attack Hotch. We didn’t realize that the property had tunnels leading out of the place until after both siblings were handcuffed. One of those tunnels was right near where Reid was stationed.” Morgan started to explain.
“Myself and a couple other deputies tried to track them down, but all we got from the tracks was that Reid escaped the unsub, but now he’s hunting Reid.” Prentiss finished off. “After that we called you and came back here to come up with a plan.”
Percy sat in silence. He understood what they were telling him, but at the same time, it was like he wasn’t fully awake. Shaking his head, Percy took a deep breath. “Thank the gods you called me as fast as you did. They should still be in the area.”
“Who?” Rossi had an idea, but he wanted to make sure he was on the same page as his son.
“I was visiting the Huntresses when you called. They were packing to leave the area, but I’m sure I can get them to help us. They surprisingly love Spencer.” Percy got up from his place and grabbed a water bottle. Rummaging through the drawers, he found a large flashlight; he turned it on and sat it up straight. Placing the water bottle on top of the flashlight, a large rainbow was created above it.
“Why is it surprising that they like Pretty Boy?” Morgan questioned.
“The huntresses hate all men. It took me awhile for them to consider me a friend much less a brother like they do now.” Percy explained. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a drachma. Throwing it into the rainbow, Percy called out, “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Connect me to Artemis, please.”
The rainbow ripped before it revealed an auburn-haired girl around twelve years old. “Perseus. Have you found Spencer?”
“He was taken by one of the people the team was hunting down.” Percy cringed, both at his given name being used and the fact his lover was taken. “I’m asking if you can hunt him down. The unsub along with his two siblings are cannibals who think they are wendigos.”
Artemis nodded. Turning her head to someone of shot, she called out, “Lieutenant, how much longer till we can depart?”
“We’re ready to go now, My Lady!” Thalia called back.
Turning back to her little cousin, she gave him a small comforting smile. “Go out and pretend to be searching for him. I’ll Iris Message you once we have captured that disgusting thing and Spencer.”
“Thank you, cousin.” Percy bowed his head.
“Of course. And if you don’t want the male, I can always turn him into a jackalope and have my girls hunt him for his actions against Spencer.”
Looking towards Hotch, Percy couldn’t help, but to mentally plea for the man to say yes. Seeing the shake of his head, Percy sadly declined the offer before cutting the connection. “Let’s go fake hunt for my boyfriend.”
“Yeah no. Sorry Rich Boy, but you gotta stay here.” Morgan placed a hand on Percy’s shoulder to push him back to his original seat. “Technically you’re not a cop so you don’t have the clearance to be searching with us. Just call when you get the message from Lady Artemis.”
Percy crossed his arms cover his chest with a pout on his face and agreed while watching the team make their way out of the room to go fake look for his boyfriend. “I should be out there with the girls.” Percy mumbled.
---
Percy knew the team had finally returned when the noise level reached an all-time high. He had already called Morgan about the Huntresses finding both Spencer and the other guy about twenty minutes ago, but he knew that the team would want the paramedics looking him over before bringing him back to the station. Making his way through the station, Percy was greeted by a sight he knew he would never get tired of – his lovely, sexy, smart-as-hell lover smiling and laughing as he walked with his team inside. Leaning against the wall, he watched with a content smile on his face as his lover and his best friend joked around.
“Hey, Spence!” JJ called from the back of the group next to Hotch and Rossi. “There’s a surprise up ahead waiting for you.”
Spencer looked back at JJ in confusion before looking ahead again only to meet a pair of sea-green eyes that he fell in love with on the night him and his lover first met. “Percy!” Spencer walked a little quicker to hug his boyfriend. No matter how accepting his team was, there would always be people that were the opposite especially when working in their line of business. So even though he desperately wanted a kiss, a hug would have to do for now.
“Since Spencer was cleared by the paramedics, why don’t you two head to the ski resort? The jet isn’t set to leave until tomorrow afternoon.” Hotch suggests with a small smile.
Agreeing immediately, Spencer says goodbye to his team before leading Percy out of the station. “Can you vapor travel us to the ski resort?”
Percy nodded silently as he guided Spencer to where he had originally popped up when he arrived at the station. Glancing around, he made sure nobody was paying them any attention before wrapping himself and Spencer in water and Mist before pulling forth enough power to send them to the ski resort. Popping out in a darkened corner at the end of the ski resort, Percy finally asked, “Why do you guys have rooms at the ski resort?”
“It was the only place Garcia could find that had room for all of us.” Spencer held Percy’s hand as they made their way inside and to the elevators. Clicking on the fifth floor, Spencer laid his head on Percy’s shoulder. “Luckily, I have my own room.”
“Good. When we get inside I want to check you over.”
“But the paramedics…” Spencer lifted his head to look at his boyfriend.
“I know, but its more to easy my state of mind. I know the paramedics cleared you, but I need to check too.” Percy explained.
Humming in agreement, the couple silently made their way down the hallway until they reached the room labelled ‘526.’ Pulling out his card, Spencer walks into the room and immediately sits down at the bed and bends over to untie his shoes one at a time before slipping them off and yanking his socks off as well. Vaguely, he notices that Percy had already stripped down and was making his way into the bathroom. The faint sound of rushing water let him know that Percy was getting the shower ready. Standing back up, Spencer quickly unbuttons his pants and lets them slide to the floor and then moves on to take off his sweater vest and the long sleeve button shirt underneath it. Leaving the clothes were they landed, Spencer shyly turns to his Percy, who had come back out of the bathroom.
Percy closes the distance between them and immediately tips Spencer’s head back and pulls him into a long, loving kiss. Pulling away, he guides his intellectually gifted lover to the bathroom. Letting Spencer going inside the shower first, Percy called forth his healing ability to use the water to check his boyfriend. Slowly, the water gathered together and slipped from the top of Spencer’s head all the way down to his toes, healing his bruises and scrapes along the way.
Humming in gratitude, Spencer took a half step backwards so his entire back was leaned up against Percy’s chest. “Thank you.”
“Of course, babe.” Percy laid his head down on Spencer’s shoulder.
Silently, the couple stood in the shower and let the warm water flow over them. Lifting his head from Spencer’s shoulder, Percy leaned forward and grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the little stand near the window. Pouring a little into his hand, Percy pulled Spencer’s hair gently so his head was tilted back. Massaging the shampoo into his hair, he slowly went through the motions of washing then rinsing his boyfriend’s hair; reaching over again, he grabbed the conditioner and repeated the process.
This was the first time Spencer had been in this much danger since Percy and him had met all those months ago. They both knew it would happen again. It was pretty much in the job’s description, but no matter how much danger Spencer faced, he wouldn’t give up his job. He felt like he made such a big impact on people’s lives when he caught the bad guys. No other job would value and use his intelligence in such a way. Percy knew this from the first night they had met. Even though Spencer had only made a small comment about his job, the way his eyes lit up let Percy know how important his job was for him. And he had no right (even as Spencer’s lover) to get in the way of that. All he could do was support him when he comes home, lend an open ear for when it gets to much, and all do all of the other little tasks that they slowly added into their daily lives that helped Spencer with all that he saw and could never unsee.
Reaching over one last time, Percy grabbed Spencer’s personal bottle of body wash. Personal because Apollo had made it with the assistance of Hermes so the body wash would help relieve any aches within Spencer’s muscles. Tilting the bottle upside down, Percy let gravity pull the soap out as he moved it over Spencer’s shoulders and then lowered it over both of his thighs, both locations were where Spencer usually ached after long cases. Placing the bottle back in its original spot, Percy slowly gathered the soap from Spencer’s shoulders and started to massage his entire upper body; from his shoulders to his arms then hands to his back then moving on to his chest and stomach. He bent down and repeated the process with both of Spencer’s legs before pulling him back under the water to rinse off. Nudging his boyfriend to the bathroom door, Percy silently let him know he didn’t need to return the favor. As soon as Spencer stepped out of the shower, Percy quickly went through the motions of washing himself off and getting out to.
Turning off the shower, Percy grabbed the last towel on the rail and followed his boyfriend out of the bathroom and into the main room where he was laid out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Drying off quickly, Percy threw his towel onto a random chair then reached over and wiped down his lover. Throwing the towel with his own, Percy coaxed Spencer to lay under the blankets as Percy turned off all of the lights and closed the curtains, darkening the room completely.
Joining Spencer in bed, Percy pulled his lover into his chest and opened his mouth to say the only thing that was needed in that moment. “I love you.”
A quiet, but heartfelt “I love you too” was returned before the couple fell asleep in each other’s arms.