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wrinkledparchment · 2 years ago

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the absence of everything (iii)

Summary: Based on 1x22 | 2x1 - After your trip to Vegas was rudely interrupted by a suspicious manila envelope being delivered to your hotel room, you and Spencer have to cut your vacation short to go back to Quantico. Although you and Spencer try to resume your professional relationship after sharing a bed, Spencer realizes just how much you mean to him, and can finally put a name on what he feels, once and for all.

Word Count: 6,030 words

Author’s Note: So... I’ve been gone for so long but this series is probably the main thing I still receive praise for in my notes. I’m currently focusing more on writing for HL but I’ve had this in my drafts forever and I decided to feed you guys!! I hope you like it... upon rereading it, some of my favorite fluffy lines I’ve ever written are in here. How did I manage that.

Content Warnings: Your general criminal minds ish, death, stuff like that. Some fluff content for you guys!!

Series Taglist: @liviasaugusta @l0ve-0f-my-life @imsuperawkward @nxstalgicnxbxdy @marciscaspar @april-14-blog @sweetreid @essenceproxima @sammypotato67 @idkanymore-05 @slep-slop @squirrellover1967 @irjuejjsaa @yomama-umbridge @holybatflapexpert @rosignoelle @ladyravenclaw @yours-truly-r @spenciepoo338 @masieofthevalley @throughparisallthroughrome @afuckingshituniverse @ladyravenclaw @irjuejjsaa @danandphilfan6 @yasminwashere @mayempress @kys-things

the abscence of everything: i | ii | . . .

“It is me. I am his madness. For years he’s been looking for something to put his madness into. And he found me.” – John Fowles, The Collector

. . .

The coffee table in your Vegas hotel room had cluttered manila envelopes, the key and note given to Spencer, and a piece of missing evidence from your father’s murder scene. Rage bubbled in your stomach, so as Spencer called Gideon on the hotel room phone, quickly putting it on speaker, you paced around, unable to stop seeing your dad’s case files and his dead, mutilated body over and over again.

“Gideon, [Name] and I both got a package, I got a key and a note reading ‘She will die unless you save her, Doctor Reid. Call Gideon. He knows.’ She got two binded pieces of paper from a book her father was binding and repairing when he died.”

Gideon finally let out a sigh, “Yeah, I got a Nellie Fox baseball card from 1963 and a head in a box. Everyone on the team got something, but Elle was hit hard. She was framed for murder in Montego Bay, Hotch and Morgan went down to get her released and bring her back to Quantico.”

You walked closer to the phone and stopped chewing on your nails, rage bubbling inside your chest. “Gideon, whoever the hell this was had access to missing evidence from my father’s murder investigation. Meaning, this son of a bitch is the guy who robbed and killed my father. This is personal.”

“Don’t worry, [Name]. We’re going to find him. Get on the closest flight back here and Garcia will tell you where we are, we’re going to get this guy as soon as we can.” Right after he finished, Gideon hung up, leaving you and Spencer to race to get to the airport in time.

You left your rental car at the airport kiosk, signing it out and rushing after Spencer to get on the flight back home. It was all a blur, blended together to create your perfect disaster. You were stressed, overworked, and ill-prepared. This was the case you’d joined for—to find your father’s murderer and lock the bastard up.

You’d searched and searched and searched, and the criminal found you. Just as you’d eased out of work mode, just as something besides work and murder and blood filled your mind, he stole you away. Because of course he did. Because he was looking.

Spencer was a mess, but not for the same reason. You were obviously under duress, but you were so scattered that he felt like he couldn’t do anything. He did his best, carrying your bags for you, getting you iced chai while waiting for boarding. When you did get on the plane, he immediately lifted the armrest between you back, and pulling out Dante’ Inferno, handing his leather-bound copy over to you.

Your fingers ran over the spine of the book, feeling the indents where the title was, the smooth texture everywhere else. Fine craftsmanship, it must’ve been from a passionate, talented individual bookstore owner with a knowledge of binding. It reminded you of yourself, the care and attention devoted in the craft.

“You’ve got a fine copy here, Spence,” you smiled, as much as you could. “My dad would’ve loved it.”

“Do you think you can still bind books well?” he asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I’ll never forget.”

He nodded, smiling something bittersweet, “We’ll find your dad’s old book. And you’re going to fix it.” You smiled again, a little more genuine, and flicked open Spencer’s copy of Dante’s Inferno.

“I’ve got supplies in a closet somewhere,” you recalled, voice soft and quiet in case it suddenly broke. You didn’t want to cry, and you shouldn’t, not here, but it was becoming harder to not be vulnerable with Spencer. “I dream about him every night.”

Reid nods, moving his hand to rest on your knee, moving his thumb gently, allowing you to continue. “I’ve been waiting for a lead, since before I was even in the FBI academy. I’ve been waiting for 8 years and now that I’ve finally got it… just when I was happy, too.” You pause for a minute, letting one tear roll down your face but holding the rest in. “I see his body everywhere I go, can’t stop remembering how the blood felt on my hands, how lifeless he looked. I miss him, even after all this time, and now that I’ve finally got a chance to figure out who did it, I don’t want to.”

Spencer pulled you closer, looking out the small window to see the bright blue sky and all the clouds. Your breathing was still erratic, your heart still broken. And he hated how in the moment you needed him most, he couldn’t figure out what to say. “I’m here,” he murmured, over and over again until he was sure you knew what he meant.

. . .

Even though Garcia’s explanation was rushed, you vaguely understood what was happening. She refused to look you in the eye, too, possibly because Gideon had told the team about what you’d found and how it was connected to you personally. It didn’t matter though, because you’d just pulled up to a possible unsub’s apartment.

The alleyway in which all the cars were parked was also crowded by other FBI members, all unguarded, meaning the unsub wasn’t there. The local police, and an extra car were also there, you assumed some sort of medical examiner, and there was probably a body.

You and Reid were authorized to enter after flashing your badges, and neither of you were asked to put on vests. Walking in, the both of you grabbed gloves, Spencer just holding them while you slid them on and followed him over to the crime scene.

It wasn’t overly graphic, compared to other things you’ve seen, but it was traditional to become emotionally numb in the job. No matter what, someone had died here, an ‘unrepentant bad man’ or not. The bed, and with it, the man named Frank Giles, was lying in the center of the room, a sword plunged into his chest and sticking upright.

Elle, Hotch, Morgan and Gideon all stood in the room, Hotch reading something written on the sword out loud to the rest of the team. “To learn of what should next be done, leave the blade til’ the hour be none.”

Spencer stepped closer, watching as Hotch asked Elle to step back. “The bed’s in the middle of the room,” Hotch began, Morgan interrupting for a second, “And maybe the light from here casts a shadow and points to something.”

Derek quickly began explaining his theory, “Well midnight is 00:00 hours in 24-hour time. Would that be none?” Hotch dismissed this quickly, stating that there would be no shadow at midnight, until Reid finally spoke up.

“3pm.” Everyone turned to him first, then you, then back to him. Obviously, Gideon did tell everyone that this was connected to your father’s death. And surprisingly, you looked very calm for someone about to embark on their quite literal personal case, the one you’d joined for. “Hey guys, Garcia told us where to find you.”

Hotch nodded at you, barely acknowledging how personal of a situation this was for you, but quickly dismissed it, listening to Spencer talk about medieval terms for hours of the day, then asking for lighting equipment so he could replicate the 3pm sun.

While people walked in and out with various standing lights, Gideon finally walked up to you. You turned to him, offering a quick nod and smile before quickly dropping it when he mentioned your dad. “You know you can’t let your past affect this case,” he states, and you nod. “It’s obviously personal, and I know this person is targeting you, but you can’t allow yourself to make mistakes because of your past with the unsub.”

Sighing, you agreed with Gideon, instead moving next to the shadow as Reid adjusted it, and you knocked on the wall until you heard a hollow sound, ripping away the wallpaper without need for Hotch’s command. Underneath all the wallpaper was a box, and you immediately grabbed it.

Reid stopped you, “Are we sure it’s safe?”

Hotch quickly dismissed him and allowed you to examine it. You played with the lock for only a few seconds before looking back up at Reid. “Give me the key.” Without hesitation, he handed it over and you shoved it in, and to nobody’s surprise, it fit perfectly. You lifted the lid, and familiar music had began to play, one that Reid had played for you during the classical music quiz.

“Forellenquintett,” you and Reid murmured in unison, the rest of the team looking up at each other before shrugging it off. Reid reached inside to grab the note from the music box, reading it out loud to the rest of the team.

Never would it be night, but always clear day to any man’s sight.

Elle scoffed, walking off, “Well, that was worth it.”

Gideon ignored her, speaking right afterwards. “The lid. Little tab right under the lock.”

You quickly fiddled with it, revealing a CD and a lock of hair that nearly perfectly matched yours. You hummed under your breath in disapproval and disgust, Derek and Elle working together to put the lock of hair in an evidence back and grab the CD for review.

After heading back to the table room, you and Reid sat next to each other, which was your usual spot. For some reason the team seemed to eye the both of you, suspicious about what had happened in Vegas and why you two were still together when you should’ve left before that.

You carefully watched the TV after someone slid in the CD. A dimly lit desk with cluttered items all around it, and a very large throne behind it. A man wobbled into frame, clearly injured by something, which the team noted.

“I assure you, you’ll all understand in the end why it must be this way. You might even thank me. You know now you’re on a quest; a young girl’s life depends on the successful completion of it. As you can see, she’s quite beautiful . . . and in distress.”

You clenched your fists when you saw the girl come into frame, screaming at the camera, begging for something. You wondered if everyone on the team recognized just how much, even from the little they all saw, how she looked like you.

“Now please listen closely for there is one rule, and this rule must be followed. The one rule is only the members of your team may participate in the quest.” He began to list your names, and displayed pictures of each of you in the video, you and Reid in the same frame taken during one of the previous cases. “A quest must be completed in a proper way, or it isn’t a quest, is it? That’s it. One rule. Simple.

“Now, you will be receiving an item soon that will hold the final clue you’ll need to finish the quest. You will find you also need a book which has inspired many an adventure like mine. Believe me when I tell you, I truly hope to see you all soon. It will mean a successful end to this adventure for all of us, but especially [Name].”

With that, the clip was over and all that was left was static. Reid had tensed after he’d mentioned you by name, and it didn’t fly over the heads of any of your coworkers either. The unsub knows you so well, doesn’t he? Pictures of you and Reid together, knowledge of just how to tick you off, and additionally, he knows what happened to your father the last night he was alive and is plunging that knife of knowledge right into your heart and twisting it. Involving all your coworkers in it, making it clear that all of this, it’s all for you.

You were the subject of madness, the main target of all of this. You were the ‘protagonist’, he was the villain, and everyone else—the dead, your coworkers, the girl he’d kidnapped—were all side characters in the story. But Reid, standing right next to you in the picture while everyone else was photographed individually, that said something to you. He knew about whatever was happening between the two of you, so much so that it was terrifying because he probably knew better than either of you.

Suddenly, the team was active. “This guy’s got pictures of us?” Elle exclaims.

Reid fiddled with the pen in his hand, “What do we do now?”

Hotch eyed you, noting how tense you seemed when only just minutes ago, even with a dead body in front of you, you were eerily calm. “The lock of hair’s being analyzed for DNA. There might be something on file.” JJ walked out, vowing to figure out who the girl is. Hotch nodded, “Let’s get the clues up on the board. Maybe we can make some sense of something.”

Elle immediately objected, “Wait, we’re going to play this guy’s game?”

Reid sighed, glancing at you for a few moments, “Do we have a choice?”

Everybody stayed silent, Spencer’s words lingering in the air while Gideon and Hotch went to a different room. You began quietly pinning the clues in the evidence bags to the board, not saying a single word to anybody else in the room. Elle found the soft crumple of the evidence bags relaxing, eyes closing softly until Hotch interrupted her nap and sent Anderson to take her home.

Soon enough, yet another piece of evidence, a list of number sets in a strict pattern, though it may not seem like it without a keen eye. Just as Spencer opened his mouth, you beat him to the punch. “Sets of numbers, page number, line number, word number. It’s a cipher based on a book which he expects us to know.”

Derek stares back at you, Spencer’s mouth opening and closing like a fish. Sure, you were quicker sometimes than he was, but you seemed so rigid, it was odd to them. “Yeah but what book?”

“Well, this ‘quest’ is clearly meant to be personal to you, [Name],” Derek proposed, “Meaning this is a book he expects you to know.” Spencer sighed, walking over to grab the ripped pages the unsub had sent you and examines them, reading the words hoping he’d remember reading this book at some point but he doesn’t.

“Dante’s Inferno?” Reid questioned, even though he obviously knew it wasn’t.

“Both of us would recognize it. Whatever book my dad was fixing that night, it was that book. Specifically, a first edition. Let’s see… that was eight years ago. Do you think memory recall would work?”

Elle and Derek simply stood off to the side while you and Reid debated each other, glancing at each other occasionally. Yet, the body language was the same as it always was, and maybe what had changed was the way Elle and Derek read the situation.

“When you got there, the book was gone; how would you know which one he was supposed to be working on?” Spencer rebutted.

“I was closing, I must’ve—” you stammered, “I must’ve known what book he was working on, I have to!” Soon, you were pacing around the room, muttering things underneath your breath and attempting to retrace your steps from 8 years ago that also occurred across the country.

Derek set his hands on your shoulders, holding you in place and stopping your pacing. “Okay, [Name], calm down, we can always try memory recall, and if not, the clues should be in the evidence—this guy is meticulous, I’m sure he’s accounted for this.”

Suddenly, Gideon walked back into the room, looking at the four of you. Spencer was still staring at the evidence board, Hotch leaning back in his chair, and Derek and you standing in the middle of the room. “[Name], you don’t have to relive that memory if it’s not necessary. How would we proceed if we didn’t have all these clues? What’s the first thing we’d look at?”

“Victimology,” you swallowed, both thankful and displeased that Gideon was looking out for your wellbeing. Everybody was watching you so closely, especially because this was a personal case to you, as if they expected you to break down at any moment.

“And we have a victim, Rebecca Bryant. Hotch and I will follow the mailman lead. Derek, take JJ and find out everything you can about Rebecca. Reid, [Name], stay here and find the book. If anybody can do it, it’s you two.”

Everyone else left the room, Reid and you staying. Sure, Gideon didn’t want you to relive the worst moments of your entire life, but you were so close. So you shut the door to the roundtable room and turned back to Reid. “I want to do memory recall.”

. . .

The chair you were sitting on was soft and sturdy, so you let yourself lean back, and you closed your eyes. You breathed, waiting for Reid to begin. You tried to calm yourself, enough to the point where your anger flooded away and all you could do was think. See your memories in a clear light.

“I’m going to try and calm down first, can you guide me?”

Spencer nodded, breathing along with you. “What is your favorite memory?”

You focused in on the word, smiling; favorite. You could hear Spencer’s giddy laugh echoing in your ears, bright city lights clouding your vision. The hood of your black rental car from Vegas reflected them, the smaller model of the Eiffel tower standing tall, neon signs and main strip casino windows. The cool, night breeze in your hair. You could still feel Reid’s lingering presence in the passenger’s seat, the way he looked at you with those doe-y, hazel eyes. His pupils were inflated, shrinking again when he turned away to change the stereo.

You could feel the pain in your toe when you stubbed it on the hotel bedframe, you could feel the newly replaced bedsheets of the hotel against your legs, and you could see Spencer standing over you, smiling so widely when you laughed. The way his warm skin felt against yours, how gentle he was with his arms around you.

You imagined the pool water as he splashed it back at you, the water droplets against his skin and the way he slicked back his wet hair. His laugh and shy smile after you told him he still looked like a rat when he was wet. The understanding look when he listened to your struggles with the BAU, your life story, the interest in your past and your hobbies.

After all the memories you’d made yesterday had flashed through your head in a matter of seconds, you registered what it meant. When you thought of happy, you thought of him. Some of your favorite moments in life were with him, being around him, watching him. Him, him, him. This feeling—it was consuming you, and it felt so delightful. You wanted it to devour you, and you let it.

“Yesterday,” you whispered after a minute of reliving the best day of your life. You didn’t open your eyes, but you could hear Reid shift in his chair and you smiled, assuming he was blushing. Profiler or not, he knew what that meant.

He sighed, “Are you ready to go back?” You nodded. “It was eight years ago. How old were you?”

“I was sixteen, and about to graduate high school.” You still remember how frustrated and overwhelmed you were. The night before you discovered your dad, you had the closing shift along with a massive pile of homework and colleges to apply to. You sat behind the wooden counter, combing through your homework as fast as you could, eager for your father to come and take an overnight shift in working with the books.

“What time was it?”

“It was five minutes until the clock struck 11,” you said, which was the beginning of your father’s shift at the bookstore. You were packing up your homework and college applications back into your bookbag, noting on a stray piece of paper all the leftover homework and applications you had to pour over in the morning. You were so tired, but you wanted to thank your father for taking the shift tonight and letting you rest.

“My father is coming in,” you tell Spencer, reliving the last moment you saw him alive. The door rang, signaling his entrance. His hair and shoulders were wet from the rain outside, something you didn’t remember about the scene until now. He smiled, asking you how your day went.

“Okay, sweetpea,” he had begun, “are you ready to go home?” You nodded to him, but not before helping him with his bags. He looked at you, smiling while you followed him down to the book storage, an icy cold basement.

You watched, setting out his materials for him while he brought out the book, which was partially bound but tattered still, especially the cover, and you had to take a double take, pausing and hearing Reid’s voice. You weren’t listening, but rather going through the evidence in your head.

JJ’s butterfly, Reid’s key, and a lock of hair all on top of a piece of bloodied parchment. You could see the dainty, cursive letters, shocked as to how you’d not remember the cover when you worked at a bookstore. You gasped, nearly crying as you remembered the last thing you’d seen your father doing alive.

You tried to shake it all out of your head, the unsub wanted to get to you. This quest was curated for you and him, a chess game, and you needed to have a level head to win. Sitting straight up, your eyes shot open and you and Reid shared a glance, him smiling proudly. You handled yourself so well.

“The Collector, by John Fawkes,” you stated, rushing over to the board where all the evidence was pinned. You took off the butterfly, the lock of hair, the key and the bloodied paper and set them in front of Reid.

“These are all on the first edition front cover, a bloodied piece of paper as a background, the key, the lock of hair and the butterfly all on top. Not only do they have a personal significance to us, but to the book. I should’ve known sooner,” you berated yourself, explaining quickly before walking off, ready to call the nearest library for their first edition copy of The Collector.

. . .

Reid, Garcia, and you had all stood around, them solving the cipher and writing the message on the board. Elle had been sent home earlier, so you were a team member short, but you were closer than you’d ever been on solving your dad’s murder. So close you could almost imagine him, smiling down at you and telling you that you were doing a good job. That’s all the encouragement you needed.

Hotch had berated Anderson for only dropping Elle off rather than staying at her house, stating that the unsub had all of your personal information. You begged Hotch to let you go to her house and stay, but he said he had needed you too much because of your connection to the case.

Instead, you watched as Reid and Garcia went over the cipher with the librarian. You walked away from the team when Hotch called you. “Yes sir?”

“Elle was shot at her house, I’m at the hospital now, I need you and Reid to keep working on those clues. I’ll update you when she’s out of surgery.”

Your stomach twisted, wondering why in all hell the unsub took Elle. This was your quest, the team were all there to aid you. Why would he hurt Elle instead of you? Instead of your family or someone you were close to? You nearly cried out as you broke into tears—this team, the BAU, is your family. And you’ve brought all of them into danger just by being here.

When you walked back into the room, you’d discovered that Reid had called his mom to be flown into Quantico by the federal agents there, and that you’d be meeting his mom for the first time. She was involved in this case now too, and you wondered if you should stick around after this. If all of this, if Elle’s shooting was your fault.

. . .

You leaned against Reid’s desk as he fiddled with the evidence bag that the poem was in. “Your mom’s safe,” you said, “agents just picked her up and she’s flying over here now. Garcia told me.”

Reid didn’t even dare to meet your gaze, staring at the poem still. “I forgot she always used to read me this poem,” he started. “And I realized that nobody knows things like the fact that JJ collects butterflies except for me. People tell me their secrets all the time, and I think it’s because they know I don’t have anyone to betray them to… except for my mother. I tell her pretty much everything in my letters. Did you know that I write her everyday?”

You smiled, leaning forward, “I did, Reid. And I know that you feel guilty about not seeing her two days ago. That you write all of those letters to make up for the fact that you think you don’t visit her enough.”

He looked up at you, a clear question in his eyes. How do you know?

“Reid, during my memory recall, when you asked what my favorite memory was… I’ve been alive for twenty-four years, and out of any memory—the ones with my best friend, the good days here, my childhood—I chose Las Vegas. Not because of the beautiful city lights, or the fancy car, but because you were there with me, just us.

“I told you about my father not because you don’t have anyone to betray me to, but because I want you to know. Because I trust you whole-heartedly, and if anybody in this world should know me best, it’s you.”

Spencer finally held his eye contact with you, swallowing hard. You let your words hang in the air before putting your hand on his shoulder and squeezing, allowing it to linger there for a few seconds before walking back to Garcia’s lair, wanting to soak up all the information she might have.

You heard the signature ‘beep’ of Garcia hanging up on someone, and shut her door gently before striding over to her desk. “What’s going on so far?”

She didn’t lift up her eyes to look at you, typing furiously on her computer, “I’m searching for Rebecca Bryant’s biological family, turns out she was adopted by the Bryant family and her real last name is Garner.”

Penelope filled you in further on the details, actively working to unseal her adoption papers and find out what happened to the original family; after all, the victimology is the first thing you look at.

Could you consider yourself a victim? He’d been taunting and tormenting you and your entire team, he was most likely the man who had killed your father, or at least knew what happened or was involved somehow. Your father had been murdered prior to Rebecca’s disappearance, and you considered why this man would have been involved with your father’s murder and Rebecca’s disappearance.

Were you actually a target?

You went to sit back at your desk, looking at your old piece of parchment paper with your favorite canto of Dante’s Inferno written in cursive, the fifth, the canto of Francesca. The most famous line written in bold and in the original Italian, “Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,” or “Love, that excempts no beloved from loving in return.”

The bullpen was a shuffle of people, other agents you didn’t interact with that much, that didn’t come with you on cases, and tons of other people rushing around, going through files, making phone calls. Spencer strided over from the small kitchenette to sit at his desk, which was connected to yours, sitting across from you with a small wall of transparent glass in between.

He smiled at you, a warm, small smile that frequently was exchanged between the two of you. Sometime in between your talk at his desk and the hour or so you went without seeing each other, there was a microscopic layer of tension between you, beginning right where your desks separated.

The shuffling of the bullpen dulled the ache of the tension, and so did your eyes slowly closing to rest for just a few minutes as Reid spent his time half-dozing off while reading a printed out version of The Collector. Reid finally broke this silence when your head began to tilt to the side as you fell into a tiny cat nap. He called for you, with no response, so he got out of his chair and poked you in the forearm.

You wiggled a bit in your sleep, shifting around trying to find some semblance of comfort in your uncomfortable office chair. He takes a moment to stare just for a bit at your face. Looking at your eyes gently closed, your face peaceful even in this painful position, his mind fogged with the soft midnight laughter you traded with each other in the Vegas hotel room. He imagined the weight of your head on his chest, your arm laid over his stomach, your face and warm breath against the crook of his neck.

He realized quickly the words that came along with the happy memories made along with you. The constricting yet freeing feeling stuck in his throat and squeezed around his heart, the sort of euphoria you associate with the warm feeling of sun on your skin and driving a convertible along the coast. That beautiful, powerful, devouring feeling of knowing that someone has you. You’re theirs, completely and utterly.

The feeling of pure joy when you stop daydreaming and start remembering memories instead. When the words to describe this feeling escape you because all you can think about is that one, special person who has altered the course of your life forever. When you can no longer write romance because none of the words you put onto a page can do this feeling--this love--justice.

He was in love with you. He felt it in everywhere he looked, everything he did, and every moment he lived.

Spencer took a quick look around the office, and gently prodded at your sleeping form again until you open your eyes just a little, squinting against the bright lights of the bullpen. He held out his hand, which you, in your sleepy, half-awake state, took with no hesitation as he guided you into the conference room and turned off most of the lights.

He showed you to the couch, sitting on the far end, leaving you room to lay down and take the rest of it while the two of you rested and waited for Spencer’s mother to arrive. The crown of your head was just barely touching the side of his thigh, and eventually, moving and wiggling around in your sleep made you lay your head straight in his lap.

He felt the sudden movement and then the weight, and stared down at your side profile, admiring the way the dim lights highlighted your face perfectly. He brushed hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear, and he swear he saw a ghost of a smile on your face. He fell asleep, fingers still intertwined and resting in your hair.

Spencer dreamt of city lights and midnight laughter and Vegas hotel rooms. He dreamt of walking up behind you while you made pancakes in the morning and piling kisses all along the side of your neck and face, arms wrapped around your waist and the way your body would be decorated in stripes by the morning sun.

He was woken up by the distribution of weight changing, your head shifting to stare up at him, hair surrounding your face in a pile on his lap. The sleepy smile that graces your face twists his stomach into knots and melts his heart.

You seem to not mind the fact that your head had wound up in his lap, and instead, you muttered a small, sleepy, single word. “Coffee?”

He almost laughed, just stunned by how natural the domesticity and comfortability between you two felt. Like the wall that had built between you--separating your pinkies from intertwining, separating your fates from inexplicably linking--had suddenly vanished. There was a mutual understanding there--you make me feel safe, you make me happy, you are mine.

He slid out from underneath your head, turning around just before he reached the exit to look at you, splayed across the couch comfortably, the dim 5:00 am moonlight gleaming through the windows, and your eyes, shining even brighter back at him with a giant smile on your face.

In the small kitchenette, he tidies himself up as much as possible, fussing with his hair while coffee brewed, and just as he finished pouring the both of you a cup, a group of FBI agents gathered around the entrance with a blonde, tall and pale woman that was Spencer’s mother.

“That’s why you’re so skinny, you know,” Spencer’s mother, Diana Reid stated only a few seconds after walking into the bullpen. Spencer turned his head, setting down the pot of coffee. His mother’s eyes were sunken just a bit, dark circles underneath, worry lines accenting her face. “Too much coffee.”

Her frame was cramped up, shoulders tightened and her body looking even more frail by the minute. Her short pixie cut looked untamed, and Spencer wondered how stressed she had been. He knows that she hates planes, and the government, and basically anything else where somebody might be watching her.

Schizophrenia tends to do that to a person. Even the smartest people get unlucky, get ill in a time where there isn’t much help or refuse it themselves. Spencer lives every day wondering about his mother’s happiness and well-being, but knows she is taken care of in her facility. He writes her everyday, and thinks about his childhood memories, about his father and mother and how he wanted a relationship that was nearly the opposite of that.

They loved each other at one point. Enough to have him and raise him together for a few years, and all he can think about is how much he would love and cherish his wife, his children with her, and how no matter what got in the way, he couldn’t see himself ever letting go.

All these thoughts, worry for his mother, himself, his future, his children float through his head and pass by in a few seconds. The next few seconds consist of you, whether his mother would approve of you and just how much she might adore you for seeing you make her son so happy.

Finally coming back to reality, he nodded at the FBI agents who had brought her here. “Thanks a lot guys, I’ve got her.” Walking forward, he looks at the horrified look on his mother’s face, eyebrows raised and hand coming to cover her mouth, glancing around the FBI bullpen, clearly unnerved by where she was.

Once the FBI agents have disappeared around the corner of the hallway into the bullpen and Spencer takes a few more steps towards her, she lets her hand drop from her face. “You know I’m terrified of flying,” she states, shaking her head for emphasis.

Spencer gives a small, fake smile. “I know mom, I’m sorry.”

Spencer glances over his mom’s shoulder, seeing you come out of the roundtable room and begin walking over to where he and his mom were standing. Still obviously upset, his mom continues, “Well then why did you have those fascists arrest me?”

He can hear your footsteps echoing throughout the mostly quiet bullpen, and he tries to calm his mom down before you arrive here, to introduce yourself.

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid slow burn best friends to lovers au 20k #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x gender neutral!reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds x reader #bau #bau x reader #matthew gray gubler x reader #mgg x reader

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stahlop · 5 years ago

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Once Upon a Time 1x22 “A Land without Magic” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21

Here it is! The final episode of season one!!! And wow! A lot of things happened so, hopefully I can make this review not a novel.

Summary: Henry is in a coma after eating the poisoned turnover and Emma finally believes. Gold sends her on a quest to help save Henry, who is dying because magic is unpredictable here. Meanwhile, Charming escapes Regina’s castle with the help of an old friend and has no choice but to make a deal with Rumplestiltskin in order to save Snow White.

Opening: Curse cloud (and the first time it’s not before the opening scene)

Character Observations:

Emma: Well Emma the bad ass is back! She is kicking ass, taking names, and not taking shit from anyone! Especially Regina. Emma brings Henry to the hospital and has found the time to bag up the turnover so it can be tested. Whale thinks it must be something else because he’s showing no signs of poison. Emma starts going through Henry’s backpack for clues about what else might have made him sick. Emma sees the storybook and thinks that it’s almost like magic, then she picks up the book and WHAM!!! She sees flashes of Snow and Charming getting married and holding her and fighting for her and putting her in the wardrobe! Holy shit! We see in her face that she finally believes!!! And then Regina enters, and Emma’s face goes into lion protecting her young from a predator. She throws her into a supply closet and starts screaming at her that this is her fault. Regina is still trying to take the high road until Emma tells her Henry ate the turnover. Emma is yelling at her that it’s all true and Regina finally admits that it is. Emma is crying that she was going to leave town, but Regina says that as long as Emma was alive Henry would never be her son. Emma wants her to fix it but Regina can’t Emma asks her is she has magic and you can see she’s still struggling with saying that. Regina tells her that was the last of it, it was meant to put Emma to sleep and magic here is unpredictable. Emma realizes that Henry could die. She is so broken now. She wants to know what they can do. Regina suggests getting help. Emma realizes she means from Gold. Regina tells her he goes by Rumplestiltskin and Emma’s face is priceless. She’s all ‘Seriously?’ They go to see Gold and he tells them about the true love potion and that its made from Emma’s parent’s hair and that he used a drop of it on the curse parchment for safety. Emma realizes that this is why she’s the Savior. Gold tells Emma she has to retrieve it. He and Regina make veiled references to where and how, but don’t give her any direction, except that she’ll need her father’s sword. Emma goes to talk to Henry. Let’s him know that he was right about the curse and she believe now. She’s sorry that she didn’t believe him before. This scene is a big step for Emma. She can’t deny that everything Henry has been telling her is true anymore. The fact that she’s able to believe that instead of continuing to make excuses for anything magical is a huge thing for Emma, as she’s never believed in anything before. Emma goes to see August and sees that he’s almost completely made of wood. Emma is now freaking out and wants his help, which he can’t give. She tells him that no normal person can do this quest. He turns into wood while reassuring her that she can save them all. Emma realizes she has to do this. She meets Regina in the library and she shows her the hidden elevator that will take her to where she needs to go. Emma wants to know why Regina can’t go with her to talk to her ‘friend’. The elevator is hand operated so Regina has to lower her down. Regina also says her ‘friend’ is trapped in a different form and doesn’t want to see her. Emma lets Regina know, under no uncertain terms, that if Henry dies while she’s down there, Regina is dead. Emma heads down in the elevator. We see Emma walking through the caves that are underneath the town. She comes across the glass coffin. We see that flicker of knowledge come across her face that she knows that belonged to her mother. She backs up, right into Maleficent, in dragon form. And if Emma wasn’t freaked out before, seeing a fire breathing dragon would probably do it. Emma does what any red-blooded American would do, she tries to shoot the dragon. Which, of course, does not work. Emma is basically playing duck and cover with Maleficent until the dragon falls down. Emma goes to look and for some reason is shocked when the dragon flies up toward her. Emma is still trying to shoot the dragon (enough with the gun) when she sees the sword she discarded. She grabs it, yells ‘hey’ at the dragon and throws the sword into Maleficent’s chest. The dragon explodes and disintegrates into dust leaving behind the golden egg. Emma gets back into the elevator but it gets stuck a little from the top. Gold is there and says Regina left her and just to toss the egg up. Emma doesn’t trust Gold, but has no other choice. When Emma finally gets out of the elevator she sees Regina tied up by Gold. They’re about to go after him when the hospital calls to let them know Henry is taking a turn for the worse. The women get to the hospital and Henry is dead. Emma tells Henry she loves him and kisses him. Suddenly, there is the rainbow whoosh and Henry is awake and telling Emma he loves her too. Emma notices that people are starting to act strangely and Henry is pretty sure Emma didn’t just wake him up but broke the entire curse. Mother Superior/Blue Fairy confirms this. We end with Emma and Henry looking as the purple curse cloud of doom starts coming toward them in the hospital. I will say this, I didn’t expect Emma to believe in about 2 seconds flat. I get that she felt that might have been the only explanation and that’s what triggered the flashes from the book, but she’s been in denial all season. So now I’m really interested in how she deals with this in the next season.

Evil Queen/Regina: So, the Evil Queen is upset because Charming has escaped. The Huntsman (hi Graham!) says he’ll find him, but she is alerted to where he is from a shimmering sound from the mirror. She sends a pulse through the mirror and Charming ends up in the Infinite Forest. And that’s all for the Evil Queen in this episode, because it’s all about Regina.

Regina enters the hospital about to go all mama bear on the Doctor Whale and the staff when Emma comes out swinging, literally. She grabs her and swings her into the supply closet and Regina is like WTF! That is, until Emma tells her Henry at the turnover. Then Regina’s smug expression turns into a horror struck one, because that turnover was meant for Emma. Regina finally admits that everything Henry has been saying is true and she’s basically been gaslighting him all season. Emma cries that she was leaving, but Regina admits that if Emma was still in the picture, Henry would never fully be her son. Seriously? Regina has been far from mother of the year. She’s blatantly gone out of her way to make Henry feel unloved and crazy. Is this the winning thing again? She wins Henry if Emma is gone? Regina admits she can’t fix this because she used up all her magic and it’s unpredictable. Emma correctly guesses Gold can help and Regina lets her know he’s really Rumplestiltskin. They go to see Gold. He reminds Regina that all magic comes with a price. She angrily says Henry shouldn’t have to pay it, and Gold says Regina should’ve paid it, and yet, this is what happened. Gold explains about bottling true love and Regina is shocked. I’m assuming she thinks that he could use this to break the curse without an actual true love’s kiss somehow. Emma and Regina just want to get the potion and save Henry. Gold tells them it has to be Emma. Regina claims that Henry is her son and Gold reminds her that technically, Henry is Emma’s son and she has to be the one to get the potion. Emma just wants to know where this damn potion is. Gold asks Regina if their ‘friend’ is still in the basement and Regina is stunned that he hid it with her. Gold corrects that he hid it in her. Gold shows Emma Charming’s sword and Regina is just annoyed as all hell by this point. I think she’s finally figured out just how much of this he planned and how she was just a pawn in it all. Emma and Regina go to visit Henry in the hospital before they go on their quest. Regina actually apologizes to Henry. Jefferson appears and taunts her about how difficult it must be not knowing if you’ll ever see you child again. Regina spits out that it isn’t a good time and Jefferson mocks that it’s not a good time for her but a perfect time for him. He wants her to make good on their deal. Regina tells him it’s null and void since Emma didn’t eat the apple. So she’s screwing him over, again. Regina is done with Jefferson since he won’t actually do anything to her. Regina meets Emma at the library. She reveals a hidden elevator. Emma wants Regina to go face whatever she’s going to face with her, but Regina says someone has to control the elevator as it’s hand operated. We next see Regina tied up after Emma has defeated Maleficent. She says Gold manipulated all of this. On first viewing it seems she’s talking about their current situation, but I think she’s actually talking about the whole curse. They’re about to go after him when the hospital calls. Regina and Emma enter go to the hospital, but it’s too late. They are crying. Regina is crying on Whale’s shoulder when Emma kisses Henry and enacts true love’s kiss. Regina is actually impressed that Emma woke Henry. Impressed until she realizes that Emma actually broke the whole curse. She starts sounding like a petulant child whose favorite toy was taken away. Mother Superior/Blue Fairy tells Regina to hide. Regina makes sure that Henry knows that she truly does love him before running off. We see her crying in Henry’s room into his pillow, knowing she’s lost everything, especially Henry. It’s too bad she had to practically kill Henry for us to see how much she does love him. We end with Regina seeing the curse cloud coming and she gets an evil smile on her face, either because she thinks they’re going back to the Enchanted Forest or she knows magic is coming back.

Rumplestiltskin/Gold:We see how Rumplestiltskin manipulated everything. He finds Charming in the Infinite Forest and tells him there is no way out. He steals Charming’s mother’s ring and enchants it to help him find Snow. Rumplestiltskin wants to make a deal for the ring. Charming is not about that so they sword fight. Rumplestiltskin is a good sword fighter. He wasn’t before he became the Dark One. Charming actually manages to slice Rumplestiltskin’s face, but he heals himself and bests Charming. He tells Charming they both want the same thing. For Charming to be with his true love. He shows Charming the true love potion. Charming asks Rumplestiltskin what he knows about true love. Not as much as Charming, but he knows. Charming is shocked that the Dark One has been in love. What happened to her? She died. Rumplestiltskin warns Charming not to let love slip away. It’s the most powerful magic in the world, powerful enough to break any curse and must be protected. He wants Charming to put the potion in the belly of a beast for a rainy day. Rumplestiltskin is waiting on the shore after Charming has put the golden egg the true love potion was in into Maleficent. He gives Charming the ring back. He changes Charming’s clothes into the outfit we saw him wearing in the Pilot when he woke up Snow. Charming wants to know what Rumplestiltskin is getting out of all this. Rumplestiltskin says he’s a fan of true love and also what it creates. He already knows that their child will be the key to breaking the curse and getting him to the land without magic.

Gold knows immediately that Emma now believes when she and Regina enter his shop. He says a lot of colorful things that frustrate both Emma and Regina, but the basics are that he has a true love potion that he’s hidden in someone beneath the town. He finds himself pretty clever doesn’t he? Gold meets Emma at the elevator shaft after she’s recovered the egg. He tells her that Regina abandoned her and to throw him the egg. Emma doesn’t trust him, but she really doesn’t have a choice at this point as the elevator is stuck. Gold promises Henry will be fine. Turns out he tied up Regina to get the egg from Emma. Gold opens the egg and sees that the potion is still there. He hears the front door bells and hides the egg. He tells the person the shop is closed but when he turns he sees Belle! This whole conversation is wonderful. The expression on Gold’s face is the most real we’ve seen him since before he turned into the Dark One. He is, understandably, in complete shock at seeing Belle and that she is alive. He hugs her and cries. Belle is confused and asks if she knows him. He tells her no, while trying not to cry, but tells her she will, because he knows the curse is about to be broken. Gold and Belle are walking in the woods when Belle suddenly remembers! She loves him and he loves her. They approach the Wishing Well and he tells her about the water's properties to restore things that have been lost. He drops the potion in and purple smoke starts billowing from it. Belle asks what it is. He says he’s bring magic back because magic is power. Now, here is where I have issues. I’m not sure if Gold wants magic so he himself can be powerful, or if it’s the only way he can get out of town or what. But if his whole reason for coming to the land without magic was to find Bae, and Bae left because of the magic, then why make himself have magic again? And now Belle is back in the mix and she left because he didn’t want to give up his power. So Rumplestiltskin really hasn’t learned anything from this whole curse ordeal.

Charming/David: Charming is taken from the Evil Queen’s cell is going to be beheaded when one of the guards saves him. It’s the Huntsman! He gives Charming his weapon and provisions. He tells Charming that he gave up his heart for Snow, don’t let his sacrifice be in vain. Charming is off to find Snow White when the Evil Queen sends him to the Infinite Forest. He is found by Rumplestiltskin who steals his mother’s ring and offers a deal. After a sword fight, Charming is on a quest to put a golden egg containing the true love potion in the belly of a beast. Charming is at Maleficent’s castle. He threatens her and asks where the beast is. Maleficent says she’s the beast. Charming quips he’s going to need a smaller egg. Maleficent turns into a dragon. Problem solved. At least Charming has fought and slayed a dragon at this point in his life, unlike Emma who tries to shoot Maleficent when she fights her. Charming sees the little fire flaps on the side of Maleficent’s neck and gets her to chase him throughout the castle. He gets above her and drops down on her and throws the egg into the fire flap. Pretty easy overall. He runs through the stained glass window into the ocean below. Rumplestiltskin meets him on the shore and gives him back the ring, now enchanted to find Snow. Rumplestiltskin poufs him into princelier clothes and we are back to the opening scene of the Pilot. He’s racing down the shoreline on his horse. He finds Snow in her coffin with the dwarfs. He gives her one last kiss and she wakes up. This time we see him propose and she says yes. Snow is apprehensive about King George and the Evil Queen. Snow wants them to take back the entire kingdom together.

David talks to Mary Margaret. He says he was wrong not to believe her and that he keeps making wrong decisions and he doesn’t know why (the curse!). Ever since waking up from the coma nothing has made sense (the curse!), except for her. He’s telling her this because he’s leaving town. Kathryn is no longer going to Boston but she already put a down payment on an apartment. David wants a reason to stay (that’s your cue Mary Margaret), but Mary Margaret can’t give him one. David is heartbroken. David is packing up his truck. He is just to the Leaving Storybrooke sign when the curse breaks. His expression when his memories hit is amazing. He’s like “I’m Prince Charming. I have to find Snow! What the hell has been going on these past few months? I can’t believe I was about to leave my true love!” Mary Margaret is walking down the street, dazed, when David calls to her, by using her real name. She sees him, they run to each other. They say their iconic lines and they kiss! We end with them getting consumed by the curse cloud while they’re still in the middle of Main Street.

Jefferson: He confronts Regina about his reward for helping her a few hours ago, I guess it is. She says the deal is off since Henry at the apple and it was meant for Emma. Jefferson is pissed he got screwed over again. Good thing he has a contingency plan. While Henry starts flatlining, Jefferson punches in the code to go to the psych ward. He gives tea to the nurse on duty which knocks her out. He grabs the keys and opens up Belle’s room. He tells her to find Mr. Gold and let him know that Regina had looked her up. Belle is confused, but he promises that Gold will protect her. He is insistent that Belle let Gold know that Regina locked her up though.

Questions:

How can Whale say Henry is showing no sign of poisoning when they haven’t done any tests yet? He just came in, what is he supposed to be showing? Not all poisons make you foam at the mouth. With how he presented he could have been slowly poisoned throughout the year.

Does the Evil Queen have some sort of alarm set on her mirror to alert her when it finds Charming?

If the Evil Queen can send and find things through her mirror (fireball in True North, sending Charming to the Infinite Forest) why hasn’t she been able to find Snow and do something to her previously?

Was Kathryn not going to law school anymore? Why is David going to the apartment and Kathryn isn’t?

How was Charming planning on finding Snow White before? Did he know where the dwarfs house was?

Why does Rumplestiltskin need to know how to sword fight? Can’t he just use magic to get what he wants? Or is it just for fun?

If Rumplestiltskin hadn’t made the true love potion and put it on the curse parchment, how would the curse been broken?

Is August dead or will he be a wooden man now that the curse is broken?

Why does Jefferson think Regina would keep the deal? Besides the fact that she can’t be trusted, he was right there when she said she was using all that was left of her magic. How did he expect her to be able to change the curse?

How does Jefferson know about Belle in the basement? Or the code to the basement? Or that Belle is Rumplestiltskin’s true love?

Why doesn’t anyone tell Emma she has to fight a dragon? Are they afraid she won’t do it if she knows? Seems she should be a little more prepared before fighting it.

How far did Emma have to travel to find Maleficent? She was under there for a long time. It was dark when she went down and light when she came out.

Why is Snow worried about King George? Didn’t they already secure his kingdom? Or did he escape when Snow came to rescue Charming?

Why did no one stop Regina from leaving the hospital? Mother Superior and Whale were right there, why didn’t they lock Regina in a room somewhere?

Like Emma asked, why didn’t they go back to the Enchanted Forest?

Observations:

The Infinite Forest where the Evil Queen sends Charming looks a lot like the same forest the Evil Queen sent Hansel and Gretel in 1x09 True North.

Emma passes Snow’s coffin, which the last time we saw it, was on the outskirts of town in 1x05 That Still Small Voice by the cave in.

That was pretty flimsy stained glass that Charming could just run through it so easily. He didn’t even get a scratch on him.

Well, know we know where Regina stashed Sidney. He’s down in the hospital basement psych ward.

Emma throws her sword at Maleficent the same exact way Charming threw his sword at the Evil Queen at their wedding (1x01 Pilot).

For some reason I noticed that Regina’s hair is at least 3-4 inches longer than it was last week.

And there we have it. The final episode of season one! Everyone has their memories back. Henry isn’t dead. Belle is out of the psych ward and back with Rumplestiltskin. Henry is Emma’s true love (aww to mother/son true loves). Regina better watch her back unless she gets her magic back. What is that curse cloud doing?

I will not be taking a break, so next week I’ll start on season two! Thank you for joining me for season one.

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff @mariakov81

#once upon a time #once upon a time review #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time 1x22 #once upon a time a land without magic

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