Chapter Text
Spencer had always felt different, that was nothing new. He'd been researching about his difficulties and had come across many different things, including autism. He knew there was loads of stigma around it, so hoped a better explanation came to light, it didn't. He was comfortable identifying as autistic, in his head it made absolutely no difference whether he was autistic or not. But he knew that loads of other people had existing assumptions, which he didn't necessarily want to be on the receiving end of.
He had done extensive research and fit every part of the diagnostic criteria, he knew who he was, so didn't feel the need to get a diagnosis. He wanted to ask for accommodations whilst he was at work, he struggled there the most because of his line of work. There were lots of social interactions and quite a few judgy people who he felt would benefit from being called out. But he didn't feel deserving of that, because he hadn't gotten a diagnosis.
This was why he initially reached out to his doctor, he wanted to see whether he could get onto the waiting list to be assessed. In 5 years, he'd either be diagnosed and 5 years older, or he'd be undiagnosed and still 5 years older. He didn't feel like he had anything to lose.
He had spoken to his doctor and she agreed that going forward with the assessment would be a good idea and gave him a questionnaire to fill out, this was to see if he met any of the initial requirements and whether his case would be urgent. The questionnaire was quite a few pages long and he didn't want to answer wrong so he took it with him and told the doctor he'd bring it back the week later because he had a work case to get to.
His phone was blowing up while he was running to the metro, it wasn't far but he'd had his phone turned off during the consultation and hadn't realised the team had been calling him.
"Hey Hotch, sorry my phone was turned off. Everything okay?" Spencer said, after answering the call from his team leader.
"Reid, where have you been? I've been calling for 10 minutes, I almost sent Morgan to check on you," Hotch replied, his stern voice created a pit in Spencer's stomach. He really hadn't meant to ignore the calls, but he'd booked the morning off, with the exception of new cases, and hadn't had a call all morning so thought he'd be okay for a bit.
"I'm really sorry, I was ... Sorry. Where do you need me?" Reid stumbled, he didn't want to freak anyone out with the fact he was at the doctor's, even if nothing was wrong. He didn't want to worry anyone, and it would ultimately lead to questions he wasn't ready to answer.
"It's wheels up in 15 minutes, can you get here in time? I've got the file with me so you can brief on the plane," Hotch responded. Spencer breathed a sigh of relief, Hotch hadn't pestered him about where he'd been and he could make it to the plane in time. He was only 5 minutes away now anyway.
"Okay, I'm almost there"
"And Reid..."
"Yeah?"
"You're not getting away with it that easily, I'll talk to you about your whereabouts when we get back," Hotch said authoritatively. Spencer gulped before humming a response and hanging up.
What would he tell Hotch, he definitely couldn't explain the real reason, he wasn't ready yet. He needed to wrap his head around everything a bit longer. And he didn't want to be forced to say it, he wanted it to be in his own time, looks like it's not going to be that way. He'd think about that later.
Spencer arrived at the plane a few minutes later, luckily he had left a go bag on the plane last time they were on a case, the police department rescinded the invitation just when they were boarding the plane. At least he didn't have to go back to his apartment or Quantico to grab one.
He looked at the tall steps in front of him, his heart was already racing after having run to the plane to get there on time. He hated these steps, they always made his heart rate increase but there wasn't another way onto the plane. He slowly started making his way up the steps, breathing steadily and taking a short break half way up. He'd hoped that this heart rate thing had gone away by now, it'd been almost 18 months. He made a mental note to bring it up to his doctor next time he went.
He tentatively shuffled round the corner into the jet and gave everyone a little wave as they all turned to look at the new addition to the plane.
"Hey Spence, didn't think you were coming," JJ joked, she gave him a small smile and went back to reading the case file.
"Hi, sorry I'm late. My phone was off and I didn't get the call," he muttered, hoping no one would question it any further, he already had to come up with an explanation for Hotch.
He sat down on the couch, putting his satchel to the side of him and pulling out his glasses. Hotch passed him the case file and signalled for the pilot to begin take off.
"Michelle Johnson was kidnapped 2 days ago from outside of a church in Burlington, Vermont. She was attending the Sunday sermon and took a phone call from her brother, she hasn't been heard from since. Her phone was left around the side of the church, assumed to be where she took the call, it was smashed and beyond repair, but it's been sent to Garcia to analyse." JJ explained, mainly catching Spencer up, but also recapping for the whole team.
Spencer could still feel his heart racing and when he thought nobody was looking he felt his pulse on his wrist, from previous experience, he could tell his heart rate was around 150 bpm and he felt a bit lightheaded because of it. He hoped this would go down soon but it usually took a few minutes. He looked in his bag to see if he had any water left, or at least something cold because they generally helped a bit. As he was rummaging, Rossi began to stare at him, Spencer could feel the eyes on him and closed the bag again because he couldn't find what he was looking for.
"What were you looking for Reid?" Rossi asked, curious about Spencer's panicked search through his bag. Spencer looked slightly pale and shaky, he was also breathing a bit harder than usual.
"Just some water, or something cold, I don't have any though," Spencer swiftly answered, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. He didn't want to explain why he was feeling this way because he hadn't even figured that out himself, and if Hotch noticed the questioning from Rossi then he'd not only ask him where he was this morning, but also about what was happening on the plane.
"There's water in the fridge you know," Rossi reminded him, wondering why Spencer didn't just grab some from there in the first place, he had before.
Spencer looked a bit stumped, how could he say no to that even though he'd just said he'd been looking for some? He couldn't get up and to retrieve it at the moment, he knew his heart rate would spike again and take even longer to go down.
"No, no, it's okay. I'll get some in a bit," Spencer smiled half-heartedly, hoping Rossi would just drop it. Rossi went back to his card game with Emily, now and again looking back at Spencer, who was just staring into space.
"Here you go kid, you look like you could use some," Morgan passed Spencer a bottle of chilled water. "The Pilot said we'll be taking off now so everyone needs to buckle up", Morgan continued, sitting opposite Reid in an armchair.
Spencer thanked Morgan for the water and buckled himself in, he really wanted to take a quick nap but knew he probably wouldn't get the chance because the flight was only a little over an hour long, and generally the team would go over the case and brainstorm before they met up with the local station.
After take off, everyone unbuckled themselves and gathered around the main table. Rossi and JJ next to each other on the right seats, Morgan and Emily on the left seats and Hotch perched next to Spencer who remained on the couch, but he scooted over closer to the team.
"Hey Garcia, what can you tell us about Michelle? School, friends, grades, family, hobbies, sports, that kind of stuff," Morgan asked.
"Well my fine furry friends, I can tell you all of those things. What do you want to hear first?" Garcia encouraged.
"Garcia, tell us about her family and friends first, we'll need to interview them when we get there," Hotch instructed.
"Well, Michelle's parents are Ilene and Gregory Johnson, they're both quite religious and attend church every Sunday at least, most of the time they also go multiple times during the week. Michelle has a younger brother, Frederick Johnson, who recently turned 18 and moved out, his whereabouts are currently unknown. Frederick seems to have gotten expelled from 2 schools and has been suspended too many times to count, troubled kid I'm guessing. Michelle's really popular in school, she seems to have been a part of most of the sports teams in high school and is now on the cheerleading and volleyball team in the university of Vermont. She has, what looks to be, 3 close friends; Clover Short, Lucinda Slater and Faith Haywood. But Hotch, she's friends with everyone and the photos I'm getting these names from are dated 2 years ago, they may not even be friends anymore."
"Okay, thank you Garcia. Is there any more information we should know?" Hotch wondered.
"Not from my initial search, but I'll keep digging. I'll update you. Stay safe my pretties" Garcia quipped.
"There may be a connected case from a year ago that was in the same area, Mary Daniels. She went missing May 2009, she was found 10 months later. She'd been raped, beaten and seems to have died during childbirth. The baby wasn't found, but it was concluded that she carried to term so there's a chance that the baby is still alive and with the Unsub" Hotch continued. JJ paled and turned away from the group a bit; cases like these always made her feel sick.
"What do we know about that case? Are there any similarities between the girls?" Emily asked, hoping that Michelle wasn't about to go through the same thing as Mary.
"They're both 19, and were taken outside of the same church in Burlington. Both Mary and Michelle were studying to become Early Childhood Special Education teachers, and Mary was in her first year of the university of Vermont when she was taken, the same as Michelle. They're practically the same person, blonde hair, blue eyes, popular with loads of friends," Hotch responded.
"Okay, so maybe they're a surrogate for someone significant to the Unsub, perhaps a mother, sister, daughter, possibly even a teacher, considering the similarities between the two victims,"Morgan pondered.
"If he's targeting Special Education teachers, or girls training to become them, then maybe he was in Special Education when he was younger, or at least had some form of disagreement with them?" Emily questioned.
"Okay, good. JJ, you and Reid go to the station to get set up. Reid, work on the geo-profile while JJ contacts the families. Morgan and Prentiss, get the ME report for Mary Daniels and see if she's still in the morgue. Try to find anything that the medical examiner missed. Rossi and I will go to the most recent crime scene. We'll meet back at the precinct 2 hours after we land," Hotch directed.
Everyone nodded at their assignment and dispersed. Spencer moved back to the far end of the couch and rested his head on the wall. Looks like he would be able to get a nap in after all, it wouldn't be long though. Spencer grabbed his headphones from his bag and placed them on his head, adjusting them to exactly where he wanted them. He let his eyes droop before falling asleep.
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