#criminal mindsfic

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

... A Thousand Words: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Summary: A man commits suicide and leaves behind tattoos that tell a story about the victims he's killed, and the one that's still alive.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

"How's Reid doing?" Derek asks.

"It doesn't even seem to faze him. He's just sitting there in the corner turning pages. Have I told you how in love I am with him?"

"You don't have to say it," Emily chuckles.

"I told Pen to send you a list of tattoo parlors in Tallahassee that might recognize this work," you say to Rossi.

His phone pings and he looks at it. "Just got them." He looks at Emily. "Want to check these out with me?"

"Sounds fun," she nods.

Both of them take a company car and leave. Hotch returns to the group.

"I got a few more hours out of the media," Jj says.

"We'll take what we can get."

"Prentiss and Rossi are going to check out some tattoo parlors." John is off to the side shaking his head and sighing. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah."

"Did you ask him about calling her Becky?" you chuckle.

"He'll be alright."

"I hope so because we still have no indication that this girl's even alive."

The coroner's office comes and takes the body away in a body bag since they need to process it. You watch them take it away with Derek and John.

"Are you sure it's okay to move the body?" John asks.

"There's no reason not to anymore. We've seen this guy's show."

"Have you seen anything like this before?"

"Like what?"

"Everything. The suicide, the clippings, and the journals?"

"I think it's pretty safe to say that no one's ever seen anything like this," Derek answers.

One of the tattoo artists, once he saw the pictures of the art, compared it to 'The Illustrated Man', the book Spencer mentioned earlier. The man didn't recognize the artist who did the work but knew the art had been free-handed. Free-hand portraits are gnarly to do on skin and don't always come out the way they want it to, but this artist did a damn good job at it. All the portraits look the same in the sense that the same artist did all of them, but they weren't done at the same time because some of them were faded and others looked newer.

The tattoo artist took one look at the rose on the dead man's arm and knew immediately that it didn't fit. There had been something underneath it and the rose was just a cover-up. He could tell that a cross had been underneath it because whoever did the rose didn't do it very well. Only pieces done that shitty must have been done in prison meaning the unsub did time. It would explain why a fifty-year-old didn't start killing until he was forty, and why rapists become killers after they've been in prison. They learn not to leave a witness.

The blank spot on the dead man's back not only represents 'The Illustrated Man' but it makes him exactly like him... the movie version of him. In the movie, there is an open spot on the man's back so people can see the future.

"Rossi and Prentiss think he may have done time, and that one of the tattoos may have been done in prison," Hotch says.

"I wouldn't doubt that," you scoff.

"I've got Garcia running everything through the biometrics database." Hotch sees the confusion on John's face and explains. "It catalogs all the prison inmates and their tattoos. They have detailed photos of everyone on every inmate."

"No, no, no, no," Spencer mutters and jumps up from his spot. "Guys? That blank spot isn't the only one he has."

"What do you mean?"

"He talks about the blank space where we assumed Rebecca's portrait would go. He talks about how once he fills that spot, the artwork will be complete. It's not the only blank space, is it? He has the one on his back in the middle of the tree branches. Why would he talk about completing the artwork when he hasn't? I need to see the body again."

"I'll go with you," you say.

"I'll call the ME and let him know you're on your way," Hotch says.

While you're on your way to the ME's office, you learn that Penelope has been a busy bee. She ran the covered tattoo through the biometrics database where it analyzed color, design, and texture. There's a ninety-five percent chance that it's from one of the four major institutions in the Northeastern prison system. The string of missing women began in 2000, so she went back from that year and found fifty-three similar tattoos on forearms like what your dead guy has. Of those fifty-three, ten were released prior to 2000. Of the ten, four are convicted rapists. Of the four, none of them trace back to Tallahassee. When given the name Bob, Penelope found a man named Robert Matthew Burke who was convicted in 1991 for eight years of rape and was then released in October 1999. The women went missing at the start of 2000.

John immediately recognized the name as soon as he heard it. Robert was a registered sex offender who was an ex-con out of Virginia. He got a traffic ticket near FSU the night Rebecca disappeared. John went to his apartment to question him about Rebecca but he could never find him. John finally got a hold of him on the phone and asked if he could come down and do a DNA swab and an interview on Monday.

That's what changed. He knew it was a matter of time before John caught up to him. He wasn't about to go back to prison so he killed himself.

You and Spencer arrive at the ME's office and are taken to the main room where Robert's body is. You and Spencer both put on gloves so that you can touch the body without ruining anything for the police. Spencer runs his fingers across his back with a frown.

"If these tattoos are a fetish, what enjoyment does he get out of the ones on his back? He can't even see them," you say.

"There's something here. I can feel the raised ink." You touch where Spencer is touching and feel the skin raised as if there is ink there but you can't see it. "Do you have a black light scanner?"

"Sure."

"I've read about this. Tattoos are put on with invisible ink so that no one can see them." He grabs the scanner from the ME and runs it across the back slowly. Invisible ink now shows itself. There are lines intertwining through the portraits and the tree branches. Once the ME turns off the lights, you can see them much better. "Oh, man. Look, there's one over here, too."

"They lead to the blank spot. Look over there," you say.

"What is that?" Spencer asks.

"It's an embryo in a womb. The partner is a woman and she's having a baby. I'm assuming his baby." Spencer continues to look at the invisible ink while you call Hotch. "Hey, Robert has invisible ink on him. Turns out the blank spot on his back isn't blank. It's an embryo. He's having a baby with his partner, a woman."

"Do we know if she has the baby yet?"

"The tattoos have dates, the embryo doesn't."

"Dating is prominent in the tattoos and the journals, and they're calendrical in their abductions. It's hard to believe their baby's birthdate wouldn't be exceedingly important to them," Spencer says while you hold out the phone to him.

"She's probably still pregnant," Hotch says when you place the phone to your ear. "We found out where he lives but it's not a place where he'd keep women for a whole year. This partner must have a house. Get back here. We need to update the profile and narrow the search."

You and Spencer finish what you're doing and head back to the cabin.

"The partner being pregnant can help us. We should have Garcia try and find her through doctor visits or medical records," Derek suggests.

"I don't think there would be," you say. "He basically lived off the grid which means she did, too. Judging by the photographs of what they did to the victims, it's safe to say they live in isolation."

"We've seen his hatred for women, and yet he teams up with her. What kind of woman could change him?" Hotch asks.

"Maybe they met in prison?"

"No, Garcia already went through all of that. He had no female visitors," Emily says.

"What about prison staff, doctors, and religious volunteers?"

"No. We went through a long list of all the vendors who were there during his incarceration. None of them resurfaced in Tallahassee."

"What kind of a woman would go to prison to fall in love with a rapist?" John asks.

"Someone vulnerable, emotionally fragile, and drawn to violent men. Someone in her life made her that way. It's a classic abuse cycle. What if that's who she was there to visit?" you ask.

"It's worth a try." Emily takes out her phone and calls Penelope, placing her on speakerphone. "Hey, you know the visitor logs from the prison we looked at?"

"Yeah, I still have them right here."

"I need you to check the dates for me. Were there any women who visited another inmate while Burke was there but then suddenly stopped visiting when Burke was released?"

"Give me one second while I look." She pauses. "Juliet Monroe went to visit her father in prison once or twice a year from '92 to '95."

"What was he in for?"

"Rape and she was his primary victim."

"He raped her and she still went to visit him every year?" John asks.

You think back to your rapist and how if he was in jail, you'd be perfectly fine to let him rot. You can't imagine wanting to visit your rapist in jail, family or not.

"She's repeating the cycle she grew up with," Rossi says.

"Yeah, she went from visiting him once or twice a year to once a month from '95 to '97. That's when Burke was serving his time for rape. Then she increased her visits to once a week all through '98 and '99 until they stopped completely in October of that year. That's when he was released. She owns a house in Northern Florida."

"Garica, get us that address."

As soon as it was sent over, your entire team headed over there with John and his team. You don't have to step foot inside to know there is a child inside the house and a dead woman.

"There is a dead woman inside the house," you say. "I can feel it. There's also a child. I'm thinking Juliet had her baby."

Where there is a door, officers and agents enter through them. The sound of a baby crying reaches your ears the second you step foot into the house.

"In here!" Someone is in the far back room but you have to clear the other rooms before you can get there. "Please, help me! In here!"

You make it to the back room and see Rebecca chained to the ground by her neck with a baby in her hand. On the mattress in the corner is Juliet limp and cold. She is dead. She must have died giving birth. Rebecca is a crying mess and stuttering so badly that she can't get a single word out.

"Give me the baby," you say and put your gun away. "It's okay, give me the baby." You take the baby from her arms so she can get help. John moves in as soon as she is cleared. "Hi, sweetheart. You're going to be okay."

"Becky, are you okay?" John asks.

"I just want to go home. I just want to go home," she cries.

"Yeah, you're going home, honey. You're going home. It's okay."

Paramedics come and look over Rebecca and the baby. The unsubs are dead but Rebecca is saved as well as the baby. His parents are monsters but that doesn't mean he has to be. You hope he goes to a good home with loving parents. While on the plane ride home, Emily and Spencer are playing a game of poker to pass the time. You and Emily are on one side of the table and Spencer sits across from you.

"Three cards, please," Emily asks.

"Three cards for the lady." Spencer passes them out to her. "I'm going to take one card."

You look at her hand to see her have three Jacks and three threes. That's a tough hand to beat. You look at Spencer with a poker face. You'd never give her hand away.

"One card? A straight or a flush, Dr. Reid. What are you trying to fill in?"

"Well, considering the odds of filling in an open-ended straight with one card are five-to-one against, while a one-card flush draw is more like four-point-five-to-one. I guess you'd say if I was smart, I'm drawing to a flush. Hmm. I think I'm gonna go all in on this."

Spencer slides all of his pretzels into the middle of the pile. Instead of money, they're trading snacks. Emily nods and slides all of her peanuts into the pile. Both of them are all in. Derek comes over with one earbud in his ear, interested in how the game is going to end.

"So, are you?" Emily asks.

"Am I drawing to a flush, or am I smart?"

"Either," she shrugs.

"Well, I'm... I'm a genius, but actually, I was drawing a full house." He lays his cards down. "Eights over sixes."

"I always forget you're from Vegas," she sighs.

"Yup."

He reaches for the pile and starts to pull it toward him but she stops him.

"Ooh, I'm sorry, not so fast. I, too, have a boat." She lays her cards down. "Jacks over threes."

The look on Spencer's face almost has you laughing.

"You drew three cards to a full house? That's like a hundred-to-one against."

"Ninety-seven-to-one. Looks like you're out."

She pulls the snacks in toward her. Spencer grabs the cards with a frown and tries to figure out how the hell he lost.

"Hey, Prentiss. Sin to win?"

You and Prentiss look at each other with a smirk. You shift in your seat and look at Derek who looks desperate for an answer.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on, now, I gotta know. What the hell is a sin-to-win weekend in Atlantic City?"

"Derek," she sighs, "I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, but there are some questions that if you have to ask them, it means you probably couldn't handle the answer."

She gets up and leaves the table with a smirk.

"There is a whole other side to that woman," Derek chuckles and sits back down to do his own thing.

"I never lose," Spencer frowns.

"You've lost against me," you chuckle and move to sit directly in front of him.

He keeps looking at the cards without looking at you.

"You use your body to distract me. That's cheating."

You giggle. "Then let's go for another round right here right now. I can't exactly 'use my body to cheat' now can I?"

"Fine." Spencer pauses. "No feet stuff."

"I can win without even touching you."

There is a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He loves a challenge.

"Wanna bet?"

"What do I get if I win?" you grin.

"I'll read that book you want me to read about that stalker who chases you through the woods."

Your eyes light up. You've been wanting him to read your dirty books in hopes he might recreate some of the scenes.

"What if you win?" you ask.

"You have to come with me to see that Russian film I've been wanting you to see."

"Deal," you smirk.

Spencer shuffles the cards and passes them out to you and him. Let the games begin.

"I have seen children successfully surmount the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul." - Mohandas Gandhi

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Retaliation: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Summary: Everyone can see just how much you're suffering, Spencer more than most. When he confesses to the team about your nightmares, Derek takes matters into his own hands.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

News of another murder comes in at the house that belonged to Dan Otey so your entire team heads over there immediately. The only people left behind by the crime are Dan's wife and son who are upstairs. Dan is dead on the ground downstairs, and Schrader and his partner are long gone.

You turn to the front door and see Dale and his partner come in. You can't get much out of the partner but you know it's a man with brown hair. Dan and his wife are trying to protect his crying son but they ordered her and the son upstairs. The partner goes up there to make sure they are taken care of while Dale shoots Dan downstairs. God, will you ever be able to escape this feeling? Will you ever not take other people's pain and think it's your own?

"His wife and son were home," JJ whispers. "The partner took them upstairs while Schrader destroyed the place. Emily is with the wife right now."

You walk upstairs and stay outside the bedroom door where Dan's wife is. You don't make yourself known but you're close enough to hear their conversation.

"Dan had turned everything around. He was clean. Life was finally good, but I was always afraid to believe it, you know? Because then he could be taken away."

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Did you get a good look at the man Dale was with?"

"Uh, white, mid-forties, short hair? I don't know," she sighs.

"Have you ever seen him before?"

"Dale, yes. The other guy, no."

"We're trying to figure out how Schrader knows his partner."

"I have no idea."

"How did they talk to each other?"

"They didn't. Dale trashed the place and the other guy took us upstairs. He kept pushing me and Jason. I didn't know what was gonna happen," she sniffles.

"Did he hurt you?"

"He just scared us. He locked us in the back room and told us to shut up. Jason wouldn't stop crying."

You stare at the wall in front of you and let the tears fall down your cheeks. God, you hate crying. You wish you never had this gift. It's two AM by the time you get back to the station. Derek is in one of the empty office rooms talking on the phone so you gather with the rest of the team to talk about the case.

"Schrader gets off on power. Power, money, and revenge are what motivate him. He spent eleven years in prison and comes out as a murderer who needs a partner, somebody as bold as him. Where did they meet?"

"Schrader was away and patient. The minute he got out, he hooked up with his partner before killing Stacy on his way to kidnap his daughter. What's missing from his day?"

"The money," you say quietly. "He took his daughter but left the money. It doesn't make sense. Did he have another plan on how to support himself in Canada?"

"He's only known a life of crime. He's incapable of change. Time away proved that," Spencer says.

"Otey's wide said the partner locked them away like he didn't want them to get hurt. He was protective."

"They're both dominant personalities, but they sound like they played good cop/bad cop. It's been four hours since the accident. Do you still think I'm in shock?"

"Let's find out. Y/N, would you do the honors of giving a cognitive interview?"

"Sure," you mutter and get up.

You bring Emily to an empty office to give yourself some peace and privacy.

"Are you doing okay?"

"Fine. Let's just focus on you."

"Y/N..."

"Emily, drop it. I am not talking about this with you. Okay?" She nods and you grab her hands so you can focus on her energy and her experience. You'd rather be alone right now but you're the only one who can see clearly what happened. "Start from the beginning. Just talk about it and I'll pull what I need."

She begins the story of what happened and you use her energy and words to paint yourself a pretty picture. You close your eyes and picture yourself in the backseat of the car, next to Schrader.

Emily was in the passenger seat and Bunting was driving the car. The road was dark and lonely but that didn't stop Schrader from yapping his mouth the whole time. One small four-door black car passes by and he's looking out the window as if he is looking or waiting for someone.

Another car passes by them but this time, it's a big truck. It looks like a worker's truck with yellow lights attached to the top, only they were off. As soon as the truck passes by, Schrader takes off his seatbelt. He bends over as if he is sick and lifts himself out of the seat to pull his arms under himself so he can get his cuffed hands to the front and not the back.

Emily thinks he's actually sick but she can't see what you can see. When Schrader gets his hands in the front, he puts his seatbelt back on. Suddenly, the worker's truck from before comes crashing into the side of the car where Bunting is.

The car flips multiple times down the ditch where Derek found the car. Emily is pretty out of it but Schrader leans over and wraps his cuffed hands around Bunting's neck and starts to strangle him. Once Bunting is dead, he climbs over the seat and fishes for the keys in Emily's pockets, but she is too dazed and hurt to do anything about it.

Someone comes from the truck and Emily believes it's someone coming to help. However, he opens Schrader's door and helps him out, saving him. His partner. No matter how hard you try, you can't put a face to the partner. All you know is that he's a white man wearing jeans and boots.

They struggle for a bit and you know it's because Schrader wants to kill Emily. She knows there is a partner. She's seen both of their faces, but the partner won't allow it. He drags Schrader away before anything else can happen. That's when she gets out and crawls to the street where Derek intercepts her.

You let go of Emily's hands and take a step back from her to collect yourself. She looks tired from having to relive that but she'll be fine. You leave the room and address the team, telling them everything you saw.

"The partner took Otey's family upstairs and protected them from Schrader, just like he did with Emily," you finish.

"Do we really think a good guy hooked up with a criminal like Dale Schrader?"

"Y/N, can I talk to you for a second?"

You look back and see Derek in the empty office where he was making his phone call. You leave the group and join him inside, and he closes the door behind you.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No. I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I know you're not okay even though you say you are."

"Derek, can we do this some other time? Or never, I prefer."

"Y/N." It's the way he says your name so softly that makes you shut up and willing to hear him out. "I've noticed you're spaced out a lot, distracted, and anxious. I know what happened at the house of our last case. I see it here. You're terrified. You're living in fear." 

You can't say anything because you know it's true.

"What's your point, Derek?"

"Look, prison changes people whether you're in there for years or two and a half months." Again, you can't say anything about that. "You don't have to talk to me about this but you will talk to someone."

"What do you mean?"

Derek hands you a paper with people's names and phone numbers on it.

"Those are therapists the FBI are willing to send you to to help you out. You can choose who you go to."

"I'm fine--"

"No, you're not. You'll have weekly sessions until the therapist deems you okay."

"Derek!" He only shrugs in response. "You're really forcing me to go to therapy?"

"No, I'm not forcing you to do anything, but you'll go if you want to keep your job."

He leaves the office and you look at the paper in your hands. You scoff angrily and watch him talk to the team as if he didn't just order you to go back to a different kind of prison. This time, it's an emotional one.

By the time six AM rolls around, you're not any closer to figuring out who the partner is or where Schrader might be. You're on your fifth cup of coffee while everyone else is having their second. You might be killing yourself with the caffeine but you need it if you're going to stay awake.

"So, how did Schrader get this guy to sign on?" Derek asks.

"Good people do bad things. I'm just saying, it happens."

"Maybe, but this partner wouldn't let me die. He protected Otey's family. On the same day, he helped a convicted felon escape custody. His loyalties are all over the place," Emily sighs.

"The guy sounds desperate. Maybe he needs some money. I mean, Schrader's got a lot of it still out there. He could have promised him a cut."

"I don't know," Emily disagrees. "He's an accomplice to three murders and a kidnapping. Is there enough money out there for you to sign on to something like that? I think it's something bigger than the money. Maybe Schrader's threatening him. Whatever it is, it'd have to be big."

What's the point of discussing with the team anymore? What's the point of anything? You're too tired to think so you're too tired to actively engage with anyone on the team. You'll do what you can to help but you'll need to be told what to do instead of taking initiative which you used to have.

"We caught Schrader because he kidnapped his daughter. He was emotional and his guard was down. Clearly, family means more to him than we thought. Schrader's ex-wife forced him to give up custody of Jenny. Maybe he wants this guy to know what it feels like to lose his family, too."

"It sounds like revenge to me."

"Maybe it is."

"Do we have anything on Schrader's case? Any potential victims?" JJ asks when she walks into the station after getting some sleep.

"The usual--judges and lawyers."

"They're all accounted for this morning," Derek says.

"If it's revenge, then it's gotta be someone who put him away. If it's not the officers who put him away or the judge who sentenced him, then who is it?"

Hotch gets Penelope on the phone.

"Garcia, I need the names of every law enforcement agent Involved in the Schrader case."

"You know everybody."

"Yeah, but I want every single employee the year that he was arrested."

"Give me a minute."

"A whole minute? Come on, baby girl, are you losing your touch?" Derek grins.

"Oh, watch your pretty mouth. Personnel records come at you now."

Maybe Schrader is using someone on the police force as his partner, someone he is threatening.

"Who is still active?"

"Most."

"Would he risk using an active officer?"

"Depends on how much he hates them. Has anyone retired?"

"Two of them. Mat Massey and Jeff Messick. Both are married with kids, white, and in their fifties," Spencer reads from the file Pen sent over.

Why are you even here? There is nothing stopping you from getting up, walking out of this building, and never returning. Wait, there is one. Spencer. He's been so kind and good to you. You could never leave him no matter what you're going through.

"Can I see those pictures?" Emily asks. She shakes her head when she doesn't recognize either of them. "They aren't the partner. Why wouldn't he go after one of the officers who arrested him? It makes the most sense for revenge."

"Wait a minute, guys, listen to this," Derek says. "There was a witness who never testified on Schrader's behalf. He might have seen that as a betrayal. When he gets out of prison, he can use him to get what he wants. Garcia, I want you to run a history on a witness from the Schrader case, Joey Short."

"Alright, Joey was born in 1966 in New York City. He didn't hold a lot of jobs except for in construction. He was in and out of rehab."

"Where is he now?"

"His last known address was ten years ago."

"Did he do time?"

"No."

"Come on, Garcia. People don't just disappear. This guy's got a history with a lot of holes in it. He went to rehab. You know, maybe this guy had to walk the walk."

"He was undercover," Hotch says.

"That makes sense. Those guys are up for anything, and they take big risks professionally and personally. It explains his behavior, too. Good guy doing bad things."

"Garcia, what's his real name?"

"It's not here," she says after a few seconds.

"If Schrader can find it, so can we. The guy needed to be Schrader's friend so they're probably around the same age. Look for academy graduates in the early nineties. Did any of them not go into police work?"

"Baby, I don't follow you," Penelope frowns.

"If he went undercover, then anything tied to the academy would have to be severed. I mean, the guy graduated but had to immediately start working his history as Joey Short. He went into construction, made his contacts in the bank robbery world, and then he met Schrader. He earned Schrader's trust, turned him in, and got out of the game."

Penelope works quickly through the list of men that fit the description Derek gave.

"Okay, here are a couple of guys that look like they dropped out."

"Are there pictures?" Emily asks.

"Sending them to you now."

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)