#they go to my school they’re automatically my opps

[telugu-girl-13]

omw to the temple! but i KNOW im gonna see like five million people from my school, especially people im not friends with anymore, and my moms gonna make a point to talk to them—wish me luck!

[sweetyyhippyy]

Part of You. Spencer Reid x OC! Character. Chapter 7.

(not my gif)

Summary: Bridgett’s life gets turned upside down with the news that her sister is missing. The team travels to her home town to help find her.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x OC! Plus size character, Bridgett Mendez

TW: Mentions of rape throughout this whole chapter (If this makes you uncomfortable, do not read or engage), underage dating (17 year old and 26 year old), mentions of a gun, talk about death, finding a dead body, language. If i missed anything let me know.

Word count: 5.9k

A.N.: This chapter has a very dark and heavy story line, if you don’t feel comfortable reading the chapter with all of the trigger warnings up above, please do not read. This is mid season 6 Spencer (pre Emily’s “death”).

~ ~ ~

“You do!” Spencer laughs, his hand resting on Bridgett’s knee, his thumb slowly going back and forth against her knee cap.

“I do not! You’re the one that snores in my ear when you’re sleeping behind me and spooning me.” Bridgett teases back, shoving his shoulder playfully.

“Just when I’m extra tired.”

“Oh so that would be all the time.” Bridgett laughs, touching his cheek with her fingers. “What do you want to do this weekend? Hoping we don’t have a case interrupting it.” Spencer moves his hand up Bridgett’s thigh, staring at her intensely.

“You.” Spencer says quietly. Bridgett smirks at him, taking his wandering hand and holding it in hers.

“Is that so? Well I think that sounds like a pretty busy weekend.”

“Yeah I think it will be.” Spencer replies, making her heart flutter a little bit, taking her hand and kissing it.

“Bridgett, I need to speak with you. My office.” Hotch says, whizzing past her toward his office.

Bridgett and Spencer look at each other with wide eyes.

“You think he noticed?” Bridgett asks, hopping off Spencer’s desk onto her feet.

“Yes he noticed! I was basically 2 seconds away from making out with you!”

“But why didn’t he call both of us in?”

“You have to separate the suspects in order to get the full story.”

Bridgett glares at him, walking away quickly up to Hotch’s office. When she walks through the doorway she sees Rossi sitting in as well.

“What’s going on? Am I in trouble for doing what I was doing with Spencer?”

Rossi raises an eyebrow, glancing over at Hotch, now wondering what she was doing with Spencer.

“No. Shut the door and sit please.”

Bridgett shuts the door carefully, the walk over to the chair seeming like a mile away.

Hotch sighs, “When was the last time you spoke to your sister?”

Bridgett furrows her eyebrows, her mind instantly swimming, “On Sunday evening. We always call each other then. Why are you asking about her?”

“When was the last time you spoke to your parents?”

“I don’t.”

“When was the last time you had any contact?” Rossi questions, flipping through a folder in his hands.

“My mom called me about,” Bridgett pauses, thinking back in her mind, “A year and a half ago. She left a voicemail about how she was leaving my dad because he got another woman pregnant. But I’ve heard that so many times and I don’t care to speak to her anyway so I didn’t call her back. What’s going on?”

“Celeste is missing. Your parents reported her missing an hour ago. We just got the call about 20 minutes ago.”

Hotch hands her the missing person’s flyer, her sister’s senior picture with all of her information on the side. Bridgett’s heart drops into her stomach, staring at the paper in her hand. She automatically dissociates from the situation, everything in the room going dead quiet, tears welling up in her eyes.

“When?”

“Your parents last saw her Monday morning on her way to school.” Rossi says.

Bridgett comes back to reality, eyes flickering between Hotch and Rossi, her blood boiling. “Wait, wait. She’s been missing for 4 days and they just barely reported her missing? They haven’t seen her in fucking four da-“ Bridgett laughs in disbelief, rubbing the middle of her forehead in circles.

“We’re taking the case on. Your sister isn’t the only young girl missing. 3 other girls, ages 18-20 years old were reported missing within the past month.”

“Were any of them found alive?” Bridgett questions.

“Bridgett, we don’t know if they’re connected.” Hotch says trying to get her to calm down.

“I know I’ve been a cry baby every day of my life since you’ve known me, but I’m a big girl, I can handle the truth. I know you know if they’re connected.”

The two men give each other a look before turning back to look at Bridgett.

“It’s not for certain but we do have reason to believe they’re connected. And no, none of them were found alive. But that doesn’t mean your sister isn’t alive. We want you to do the briefing on the jet. I’m going to tell the team wheels up in 20.”

“Can I have a minute before we go?”

“Of course. We’re going to find her, Bridgett. I promise.” Hotch says, making a point to look into her eyes.

Bridgett gives him a small smile, trying to keep her tears at bay. As soon as both of them leave Bridgett breaks down, tears falling down her cheeks onto the paper still in her hand. She didn’t have to be as smart as Spencer to figure out who Celeste was with. She just hopes that she ran off with him and it wasn’t a violent end.

**** Bridgett sits by herself in the back of the jet while everyone else was up front talking. Spencer tried to ask what was the matter, but Bridgett just told him that she needed to be alone for a few minutes. He knew she was upset, but he couldn’t tell why, and he couldn’t hold her to make her feel better.

Hotch walks up to Bridgett, handing her the case file. She stands up and walks to the rest of the group, her hands shaking and her heart pumping fast as everyone gives her a questioning look as to why she was about to brief everyone and not JJ.

“Umm, so, we have 4 missing women in Erickson, Texas. Ages 17-20. Makayla Weber, Vanessa Davis, Elizabeth Jensen; all of whom have been found dead. Signs of rape before being choked to death and dumped at random… and my si-“ She pauses, sighing shakily, “My sister… Celeste Mendez was reported missing this morning.”

Everyone’s faces are a mix of shocked, horrified, sympathetic.

“My parents barely reported her missing a few hours ago even though she’s been missing since Monday night. And I didn’t tell you this back at the office, I’m sorry, but I know who the unsub is.”

Hotch raises an eyebrow, Rossi still stone faced.

“How do you know?” Derek asks.

“Garcia, can you search the name Joshua Wolfe please? E at the end of Wolfe.”

“Okay give me a sec… no criminal record, a few speeding tickets over the past few years, but nothing serious.”

“Are there any newspaper articles written about him? From high school?”

“Yes, star football player, quarterback, got The Erickson Tigers to state championship 3 years back to back, multiple offers from different schools for full ride scholarships for football.” Penelope says, listing off all of the “great” things written about him.

“Yeah he was all of those things. But he’s also a pervert. He’s dating my sister. He’s her soccer coach and when Celeste came to visit me 4 months ago she told me that they were seeing each other. I flipped, told her how disgusting it was, that it’s illegal, she didn’t care. She was ‘in love’ with him.”

“How long have they been seeing each other romantically?” Emily questions.

“Since early July, so about 7 months or so. She was 16 at the time. She kept saying that because the age of consent is 16 that it wasn’t illegal, but she doesn’t understand because she’s blinded by what she thinks is love but is just him manipulating her into falling in love with him and thinking he loves her back. It’s all part of his game. He makes you feel special, and good, and then he…”

“What? What does he do?”  JJ asks, giving Bridgett a comforting hand squeeze.

“The thing to know about Joshua is that because he was a star athlete, he of course, got all the girls. He was handsome, athletic, popular, but he didn’t take kindly to being turned down from sex… I would know.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asks, her face reading that she already knew where this was going.

Bridgett looks at everyone’s eyes, all of them knew without her even saying the words. And worse of all, Spencer knew too, and she had to admit to her boyfriend in front of all their friends that one of the worst things that could happen to anyone, happened to her.

“My senior year, everyone was at the homecoming game, and I was a part of the student council. We helped set up concession stands, announced the homecoming court, all that. And when everything was all done and we had cleaned up for the night, my parents weren’t answering the home phone, and I had told my friends that I didn’t need a ride home so I was stuck. But Joshua saw me sitting in the parking lot, and asked if I needed a ride home. Of course I took it because it was Joshua Wolfe, all the girls wanted him, he was a charmer, handsome, had it all. So he drives past my house to this look out of the town, everyone goes there on dates to have sex, and I knew what he was trying to do, but I didn’t want it. He kept trying to kiss me, and stick his hands down my pants. So I got out of the car and tried to walk away, but he pulled a gun on me… told me if I didn’t get back in the car he was going to shoot me. So I got back in. Told me to get undressed and go to the backseat or he would shoot me. So I did. And then he forced himself on me. I told him I didn’t want it, but he didn’t care. He… he raped me. Then he pretended like nothing happened, threw my clothes at me and told me to get dressed. He took me back home. I told my mom what happened… and she had the audacity to tell me, that if I really didn’t want to have sex, I would have fought him off harder. That I should have made him get off me. So I called a friend and she took me to the police station. I talked to the sheriff and he said he didn’t believe me. That if what I was saying was true, that reporting it would be damaging for Joshua’s future career opportunities. I didn’t even get sent to the hospital for a kit. He got away with raping me. It got around at school that I reported him raping me, one of the girls I went to school with, her dad was an officer, so she told everyone. And it wasn’t hard for the rumor to circulate. But then Joshua came up with a story that I was drunk, kept making moves on him, he felt bad because I was crying that nobody would ever have sex with me because I was fat, and had sympathy sex with me. Of course that was the story everyone believed. I was the girl who cried rape and nobody ever let me forget it. I hated him, I have never hated a person as much as I hated him. And it was like he got off on me hating him, seeing me get taunted, and crying about the shit people did to me and said about me. People would follow behind me in the hallways and scream ‘rape’ at me, thinking it was funny. None of the teachers ever did anything about it.”

Bridgett couldn’t even look at them after the story, she couldn’t stand to see the sympathy in their eyes. She didn’t even want to know what Spencer’s face looked like right now. The jet was oddly quiet, everyone processing the last few minutes. Bridgett finally sits down, tears dripping down her cheeks remembering all the shit she went through the last 7 months of high school. JJ gets up out of her seat and hugs her tightly.

“Oh my god, Bridgy… honey I’m so sorry.” She whispers.

“You think he preyed on your sister to get back at you? He ruined your life in high school, maybe he knew how close you and your sister are and it was just another jab at you.” Spencer asks, finally saying something.

“It could be possible, yeah. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Did your sister know about the rape?” Rossi asks.

“No. She was 10 at the time and it was never something we talked about in the house because it was my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault, you know that right?” Derek says quietly, placing his hand on Bridgett’s knee.

“I know that now. But 17 year old me didn’t. I believed my mom. I know Celeste is with him. They probably ran away together or something, I’m just scared that if he is the one that killed the other missing girls, it could happen to Celeste. Has he been at school?”

“Records show he was at work on Tuesday but hasn’t been back since. I have the last known address and am sending it to you now.” Garcia interjects, Bridgett looks up at the computer screen, Penelope had tears in her eyes as well.

Hotch hands everyone the case file before everyone goes off to read up on it. Bridgett stays sitting in the chair she had been, zoned out, not noticing Spencer coming to sit next to her until she felt a tight grip around her body. Bridgett relaxes into him, letting tears flow freely into his chest. They don’t speak to each other, Spencer respecting that she needed to let it out, he holds her head gently, slowly going down her hair to comfort her.

*** The team sets up at the police station, getting all the information they needed from the sheriff, the same sheriff that she reported her assault to years ago and didn’t take her seriously. Bridgett stays back from him, not confident in herself that she wasn’t going to yell at him.

“We’re heading out, checking out Joshua’s house. Reid, stay with Bridgett.” Hotch says. Rossi and Derek leave out of the doors.

“I wanna go.” Bridgett demands, standing up from the chair she was sitting in.

“You know you can’t go. We’ll keep you updated when we know anything.” Hotch replies.

Bridgett slowly walks over to Spencer, he pins the map of the town on the board in front of her. She wraps her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. His heart breaks because he knew how lost and upset she was, and he really couldn’t do or say anything to help her. He turns around to face her, her eyelids were red and puffy, she looked exhausted. Spencer cups her cheeks in his hands, kissing her forehead twice, he didn’t care if the rest of the local police saw.

“I’m glad you talked about what happened. Probably not the setting you wanted to talk about it, but still glad. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart.” Spencer speaks softly.

“I’ve wanted to tell you, but it’s so hard for me to talk about. That was the first time I ever got through it without crying a lot.”

“It’s okay. It’s hard talking about traumatic experiences. Have you ever talked to anyone about it?”

“A shrink? No. I probably should but I don’t know, it’s nerve racking.”

“Bridge, your parents are here.” JJ says, stepping into the room.

Spencer let’s go of Bridgett’s face, letting her walk out of the room into the hallway. “I wanna go in there.”

“Are you sure?” JJ asks.

“Yes I’m sure. They’re not going to talk to anyone else. They don’t like cops. I have a better shot at getting them to say anything.”

JJ sighs, finally nodding her head. “If you need to step out, we’ll be in the next room. Don’t let them get to you.”

Bridgett nods her head, walking to the interrogation room door, stopping before grabbing the door handle. She takes deep breaths, wiping her face with her hands to try and look less of a mess. She counts to 10 slowly before walking into the room.

“Mom. Dad.”

They both look up at Bridgett, her dad staying stoned face while her mom’s face softened.

“Hi mija.”

Here we go.

Bridgett sits down across from them with a sigh, opening her case file and pulling the missing persons report out of the folder, sliding it across to them.

“Why would you wait 4 days after your daughter is missing to report it? She never came home from school Monday and you didn’t think it was the slightest bit weird?”

“No. The past few months it’s been happening.  Her leaving and not coming back for a few days. It’s mostly her leaving Friday morning and not coming back home until Monday night after school. But we called her on Wednesday and she didn’t answer her phone. She had a game Tuesday and she wasn’t there.” Her mom explains.

“She never missed a game.” Bridgett mutters. “And do you know who she was leaving with on weekends?”

“You’re the one that talks to her all the time, you don’t know?” Her dad snaps, hitting his palm on the table.

Bridgett stares him down, “Do you know every single detail about all of your kids? I bet you couldn’t name us in birth order. In fact, you couldn’t even tell me the color of my eyes. I’m there for Celeste since you guys clearly aren’t.”

“Bridgett.” Her mom saying her name in a warning tone. “You still need to respect your father.”

Bridgett laughs, “I need to respect him? He doesn’t know the meaning of the word respect! Look how he treats you! And the way he’s been treating you the past 24 almost 25 years!” Her voice raised in volume quickly, her voice ringing through the room. “Let me tell the ‘Parents of the Year’ something, she’s been having a sexual relationship with Joshua Wolfe, her high school soccer coach. She told me about it when she came to Virginia a few months back.”

Her dad gets up from the chair, making it fall to the floor and walking out of the room. Bridgett turns back toward the mirror, motioning for someone to go get him. She sees two of the local police follow after him as Emily walks in, sitting down next to Bridgett.

“Why does that name sound familiar? Joshua?” Her mom questions.

“Really? You don’t remember that this man raped me and you told me that it was basically my fault! You victim blamed me! And then the people you’re supposed to go to for help tell me that I’m going to damage his career if I cry rape! Nobody believed me and I had to emotionally and mentally live with the fact that I never got any help for my sexual assault! I warned everyone about this asshole and nobody believed me! And now my sister, my whole life, is missing and he needs to be suspect number one! I don’t give a fuck if he was a football star and a good kid, I know he has Celeste and you couldn’t even pay attention for 5 goddamn seconds to know something in your own child’s life!” Her eyes were cloudy with tears, her voice breaking and hoarse.

Emily stands up, trying to pull her out of the room. “Bridgett, you need to walk away.”

“Oh this shit again? He wouldn’t do something like that, Joshua is a respected person. It was so long ago.”

“And I’m still traumatized! Maybe if you paid an ounce of attention to your kids, one wouldn’t be missing and the other wouldn’t live states away to get away from you!” She yells, walking out of the room.

Spencer meets her in the hallway, enveloping her in a hug. He shushes her, stroking her hair. “Come here. It’s okay, you did good.”

“That’s the reason I left. That’s why Celeste was planning on leaving after graduation. I shouldn’t have ever left her.”

“It's going to be okay. We’re going to find her.”

“I’m taking her back to Virginia. She’s not staying here anymore.”

“Guys, we gotta go,  they found Joshua.”

***

Bridgett automatically recognized the white vintage pickup truck parked in the driveway, the same one he had that night. Rossi, Hotch, and Derek were waiting across the street at the other house, a few other police cars parked in the street. Everyone hops out of the car, walking over to the other half of the team.

“He’s in there. We don’t know if Celeste is in there for sure. He’s saying she is but he won’t come out. Rossi’s trying to talk to him, coax him out.” Derek explains.

“He wants Bridgett.” Rossi says, moving the phone away from his mouth.

“No.” Spencer says from behind her.

“What do you mean no? I’m going in there.” Bridgett says, checking her vest and gun to make sure everything was in order.

“I agree with Reid, it’s too risky. Especially with how emotionally impulsive you can be.” Hotch replies.

“Bridgett might have the best shot of getting him to tell us where Celeste is. One of us will follow behind you and stay by the door outside, and we’ll be listening in.” Derek says.

Bridgett looks around at the rest of the team, waiting for the okay from Hotch, even though everyone already knew that Bridgett was going to do what she wanted.

“Morgan, stay with her, but fall back just enough where you won’t be seen. We don’t know what’s going to set him off. Bridgett, say the word and we’ll move in.”

“Got it.” She says, walking up to the house with her gun drawn out in front of her. Once she gets to the door she knocks on it, seeing Derek duck out behind an overgrown bush off to the side of her. The door opens, Joshua standing behind the screen door. He still looked the same as he did in high school, a 5 o’clock shadow on his face.

“I knew you would come running to be your sister’s savior. Look at you, filled out since the last time I saw you.”

Bridgett looked at him in disgust. “Where’s Celeste?”

“Why don’t you come inside and find out?” He asks, opening the screen door. She follows behind him, keeping her distance. Bridgett looks around the house, everything was neat and tidy, not a pillow, picture, or knickknack out of place.

“You need to answer my question. Where is she?”

Joshua sits in a chair, his arms laying flat on the arm rests.

“How much is it killing you inside to know what your sister and I do? That I had both you and her. And at the same age.”

Bridgett draws her gun on him, walks toward him slowly, “Where. Is. She? You have 15 seconds before I shoot you right in the middle of your goddamn forehead. Tell me where she is Joshua!”

“Well if you shoot me how are you going to find out where she is? Sit, talk to me a while. Let’s catch up.” Not so much as a blink coming from him when Bridgett drew the gun on him.  

Bridgett rounds the corner of the couch, sitting across from him, gun still drawn on him. “You want to sit and chat? Let’s sit and chat, Joshua.” She spits, narrowing her eyes at him.

“She loved me. Loved all of me.”

“Mother fucker. Where is she? I’ll fucking kill you myself!”

“Got both the sisters on my scorecard.”

“Fuck you! Your piece of shit. Where the fuck is she? You don’t get it. My team has my back, just like all the boys on the team did after you assaulted me. They’ll vouch that you pulled a weapon on me, I’ll shoot you, clean shot. I’m the best shooter on this team, I don’t miss. Tell me where she is!”

The door opens behind her, the team flooding in, all of their guns drawn on him.

“Drop the bull shit, Joshua. Tell us where you have Celeste.” Derek yells, stopping next to Bridgett.

“Celeste found out about the other girls. She realized that she wasn’t the only one in my life, figured out what I had done to them. She threatened to call her big bad big sister, and I knew what I had to do.”

Bridgett drops her gun, her patience officially running out and charging him, kicking his legs from under him, his whole body hitting the floor with a thud. Bridgett climbs on top of him, wrapping her hands around his throat.

“Tell me where she is!”

“44th and McLeary. The Stephenson's old house.” He chokes out, his whole face cherry red. Bridgett holds her hands against him for a few more seconds, watching him struggle for air. Derek picks her up off of Joshua, handing her off to Spencer.

“Cuff him. I’m going.” Bridgett runs out of the house to the car, jumping in the driver seat. She sees Spencer slide in next to her in the passenger seat. The back doors open, Rossi and Hotch in the backseats waiting for her to floor it.

*** Bridgett presses on the brake pedal firmly, the whole SUV stopping suddenly. She puts it in park, not taking the keys out but jumping out. Hotch and Spencer block her path, stopping her in the middle of the driveway, both of them holding her back.

“Wait here. Do not let her in yet. We need to clear the house.” Rossi says, Hotch following behind him with their guns drawn. Bridgett watches them walk into the house. Spencer holds her against his chest, trying to get her to relax.

“I wanted to kill him. I looked in his eyes when I was choking him… and if Derek would have let me, I would have killed him.”

“Trust me, you’re not going to have to worry about him again. He’s not going to hurt you or your sister anymore.”

“We found her…” Rossi’s voice rings in their ear pieces.

“Celeste! I’m coming.”  Bridgett runs into the house, her heart beating fast, a new wave of adrenaline coursing through her body. She goes to the back of the house and sees both men standing in the hallway.

“Bridge wait, she’s not… she’s gone”  Rossi says, holding her arms. “You don’t want to see her like this. You don’t want that to be the last memory you have of her.”

Tears instantly started flowing down her cheeks, her whole body going numb. She gripped onto Rossi’s arms, collapsing against him. Bridgett sobs into his shoulder. He whispers ‘I’m sorry’ into her ear over and over again, trying to hold her up.

“No, I need to see her. I need to see if it’s her.” She cries.

Rossi looks at Hotch, waiting for his approval. Once he nods his head Rossi let’s her go. Bridgett walks forward, staring at her sister lying lifeless on the floor.

Celeste was left in just a tank top and underwear, her tan skin was now pale, her lips dry and a hint of blue on them. Her cheekbone had a purple bruise on it, one long bruise around her neck as well, dried blood under her nostril. There was a pool of dried blood surrounding her body. She drops to the floor next to her, moving her hair out of her face. Holding Celeste’s hand, crying over her body.

“No! Oh my god no. Celeste, baby come on, wake up. You can’t go. Call a medic, she needs help.” Bridgett calls out behind her, frantically looking to the three men behind her. Spencer drops down next to her, rubbing her back in comfort.

“Bridge, she’s gone.”

“No! Not my baby. Not my sister. I’m so sorry, Celeste. I’m so sorry. Baby I’m so sorry. Please. Please come back, Celly, please.”

Bridgett falls into Spencer's chest, clinging to his button up shirt and screaming in agony. Bridgett kept repeating Celeste’s name, screaming for her to come back. Spencer held Bridgett like you would hold a child, trying to keep her head against his chest and trying to shield her eyes from Celeste.

A few minutes passed, the rest of the team arriving at the empty house and heading to the back, Bridgett still inconsolable in Spencer’s arms.

“Bridge, Bridgett, honey your parents will be here any minute, we gotta get you up” Emily says, bending down to be eye level with Bridgett. Bridgett shakes her head, the rest of her body shaking against Spencer as she tries to catch her breath.

“I know you don’t want to be here when they come to see Celeste. We’ll just go to the backyard, get you calm, cleaned up, and then we’ll head over to the station.”

“Come on, babe, let’s get up.” Spencer says softly, looking down at her.

“Don’t leave me. Please?”

Spencer wipes the tears from her face, kissing her cheek. “I’m not going to leave you. I’m right here.”

Bridgett finally sits up, Emily helping Bridgett to her feet, giving her a big hug. Once she looks around the room she sees the team standing back in the hallway, their faces reading sympathetic. Bridgett clings onto Spencer’s arm as they walk toward the back of the house to the sliding doors to the backyard. Bridgett sits on a tree stump off to the side of the yard, Spencer sitting right behind her. She couldn’t form thoughts, focus on anything around her, stop crying, it was like she wasn’t in control of her body or mind.

“Bridgett?” Spencer calls her name, shaking her shoulder softly.

“Hmm?”

“Emily asked if you wanted anything to drink.”

Bridgett looks up at Emily standing above her. Trying to figure out if she had been standing there the whole time.

“Just water, please.” Her voice was frail and hoarse from all the screaming.

Emily nods her head, walking back inside the house. Spencer hugs her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. Bridgett rests her arms on top of his, stroking his knuckles absentmindedly. Spencer wanted to say something, but it needed to be better than just “I’m sorry.”

A few minutes later a piercing scream travels through the house and out of the back door to where Spencer and Bridgett were sitting. Bridgett picks her head up and looks through the window into the house, seeing her dad make his way out of the hallway and dropping to his knees. Both of them could hear her mother’s gut wrenching screams come from inside. As much as Bridgett hated her parents, they shouldn’t have to bury their child. No parent should.

“Hey, let’s go to the car.” Spencer says, trying to distract her.

“No. I wanna be here when the coroner picks her up.”

“Why don’t we go to the front yard, we can wait in the car, in the air conditioning, and you can see when they get here? I don’t want you to pass out from being in the sun and crying. Not to mention you haven’t eaten since before we left Quantico.”

Bridgett agrees after a few seconds, shakily standing up and walking with Spencer to the front of the house, sitting in the passenger seat next to Spencer, the cool air blasting against her warm face. Spencer handed her a granola bar, Bridgett rejecting, there was no way she could stomach food right now.

“Bridgett, I know you’re upset, and your world just stopped, but that doesn’t mean you can stop taking care of yourself. You need something in your system.” Spencer says, opening the wrapper for her and handing it back. Bridgett takes it, breaking it in half and taking a bite.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult, I just don’t know how to process this right now.”

“You’re not being difficult. You’re mourning. I want you to know you’re not going through this alone though. Okay? I’m right here, baby.”

“I know, thank you for being here, Spence.” Bridgett whispers, touching her hand to his face.

They sit in the car in silence, watching police walk in and out of the old worn down house. Finally the coroner’s van pulls up, a man and a woman stepping out. Bridgett steps out of the SUV, watching them take the gurney out of the back of their van. Spencer comes up next to her, holding her close to him. It felt like forever before they came back out wheeling her sister’s body in the white sheet, out of the house. Bridgett’s tears start back up once again watching Celeste be removed from the last place she was alive. Her parents followed after, they were holding each other and crying, her father and Hotch on both sides of her mom escorting her out of the house.  

“Once we get back to the morgue you’ll be able to come in and identify the body. Your parents said that you’d be the one to identify her.” The man says in passing to Bridgett.

“We still have to identify her even though we know it’s her?”

“For our records, yes. We need a signature that you identified her. I am very sorry for your loss, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” She says quietly.

“Come on, I’ll drive.” Spencer says from behind her, enveloping her in a tight hug.

***

It had been hours since they found Celeste. Bridgett had to identify the body at the morgue, which mentally drained her even more. She couldn’t believe that her sister was gone, it didn’t feel real even after seeing her on the table with the blue sheet covering her.  

Spencer opens the door to her hotel room, letting her walk in first. Bridgett slowly shuffles in, stopping in the middle of the room, staring at the floor. She feels Spencer’s hand on her shoulder.

“Bridgett, you should lie down. It’s been a long night.”

She shakes her head, not moving her body from its place. “Why is this happening? Why her? Why did he do this?” Tears start to flood her already sore eyes, her heart feeling empty. Her hands fly to eyes, pressing her palms against her eyes to prevent more tears from falling.

“I know there’s nothing I can say or do to make this feel better, but I am so sorry, Bridge.” Spencer towers over her, hugging her tightly. Bridgett breaks down into his arms for the 10th time that day. Her whole body convulses against him, violent sobs coming deep from her chest. Spencer rocks her back and forth, letting her get everything out.

“I-I should hav-ha-ve never left her. I should have stayed h-home until she was done with school. That way I could have protected her.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. It’s not your fault. None of this is. Hey, look at me, baby.”

Bridgett lifts her head, Spencer taking his thumb and swiping it across her tears.

“I’m not going back to Virginia until you go back.”

“Why? No Spence, the team needs you.”

“They’ll be fine. You need me more. I told Hotch about us and that I want to be here with you to help you through the planning process and everything after. I don’t want to leave you alone and have you deal with your parents alone.”

Bridgett sniffles, trying to compose herself. “You told them about us? Why now?”

“I dunno. I figured it’s time. Especially since I’ve been by your side the entire day. Is it a problem that I told them?”

“No. Not at all. It’s actually one last thing for me to worry about whenever we do go back home. Thank you for wanting to be here with me.”

“I’m always going to be here for you, Bridge. I always have you.”

[leslierosales]

At the top of this year I was blessed to travel to Cuba, and I gotta say that my trip was uhh-may-zing! Pictures couldn’t righteously capture the beauty and essence of this country. This trip came together super last minute… 3 days before I had to travel to be exact. Not too many people knew that I was going, so it hit folks by surprise when I just popped up on social media with a Havana geotag.

After this pic went up, folks slid in my DM’s asking great questions about traveling there, where to stay and the whole visa process. It was easy and quick… And if you have the funds and airline credits, anything is possible. Here’s the breakdown:

12/28/16 9:00a pst : My homegirl talked me into meeting her in Cuba, she found a Southwest flight  for $67 from Fort Lauderdale to Havana. Even tho I avoid Southwest, Spirit and SoulPlane equivalent airlines, it was a no brainer that I hop on that deal. I was all ready gonna be in ATL for New Years so a quick Delta flight from ATL to FLL (used a Delta credit) was easy.

12/28/16 10:00a pst : Upon booking my flight Southwest directed me to a link to apply for a visa. There are only 12 reasons that they allow a US Citizen to visit, and “Tourism or For Pleasure” isn’t one of them. I applied under “Journalistic Activity”… because technically I write, take pics and blog. Plus I had a letter from an actual print magazine stating that I was visiting to write about my travels =) The visa cost $50, and I was approved within 30 minutes. Easy.

12/28/16 12:00p pst : I realized that my passport expires this March… They really take it serious when your passport expires within 6 months of travel, other countries might not let you in or your visa won’t get approved. So make a mental note to renew your passport at least 8 months before it actually expires. I called my travel agent and she was able to squeeze me in with an appointment at the Passport Agency the next morning.

12/29/16 10:00a pst : Got to my appointment at the Agency. Took new and cute Passport pic ($14 at the agency… Better to just go to CVS where they charge $5),  turned in my renewal app,  paid $110 to renew my passport and $60 to expedite it for next day service.

12/30/16 2:00p pst : Picked up my new passport! Went home & packed!

12/31/16 : Travelled to ATL and turned up.

01/02/16 : Travel day to Havana. I landed in FLL 3 hours before my flight departed. At the airport is where you pick up your visa then check into the flight. I didn’t have any trouble, and no one asked me any extra questions. Visa pick up and check in was easy breezy. One of our other travel mates had a hard time at his check in gate flying out of NYC. They were telling him that he couldn’t get on the flight because he’s not “authorized” to go. [Hater shit] They eventually let him on the flight and he made it to Cuba. The flight was about 50 minutes, which was perfect because I couldn’t have stayed in a Southwest plane longer than that, lol.

  THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE LEAVING THE US

Your cell phone carrier isn’t covered there, and you’ll automatically start roaming on their service… It’s expensive, so make sure you keep your phone on airplane mode while you’re there.

They sell wifi cards and have wifi hotspots within Havana, so you’ll have some contact with the outside world. It’s spotty tho.

Your debit and credit cards won’t work there, so bring enough cash and add on extra to that. Because once you run out of cash there, you’re screwed. I brought $1k with me, and spent no more than $300. A couple folks I travelled with ran out of cash, so I was able to cover them. [PayPal and Venmo transfers are clutch!] NOTE: When you transfer money especially on PayPal… Don’t put “Cuba” in the description. They’ll freeze your account and investigate you, lol. It happened to my homegirl!

If you can avoid it, don’t check a bag in. It takes a LOOONG time for bags to come out in baggage claim.

  Havana is beautiful! According to US standards, Cuba is a poor country. The buildings are old, cars are old, technology isn’t up to date, streets aren’t all paved, and food is scarce. However, they don’t know that they’re “poor”. They were rich in culture, and happy in love. EVERYONE was nice, like ridiculously nice. Never once did I feel in danger in an area that we would call “sketchy” in the US because of how it looked. It felt good, to be surrounded by so much culture and substance that I didn’t even care that my phone had no service. Being cut off from the US bullshit was freeing… No news updates about Trump bullshit, no social media, no distractions. I was 100% focused on life, and the moment I was living in. I was aware as fuck.

We stayed in an AirBnB in the Miramar neighborhood that’s a 10 minute drive from Old Havana and a 30 minute drive from the airport. There were 4 of us in a 3 bedroom apartment, at $85 per person for 2 nights. Our cab rides would range from $5-$10 per trip, split between 4 people. For $50 total, we took a 1 hour tour of the city in one of those old school drop tops. Fly shit! Later on that night we had drinks at the Hotel Saratoga, dinner at Los Nardos, and went to a nightclub called Sarao’s.

Notes: A full dinner entree ranges from $7-$13. The country does have a food scarcity, so the later in the night you go eat, a lot of food won’t be available anymore. Los Nardos ran out of chicken and fish by the time we got there at 9p.

  01/03/16 : Travel to Varadero, Cuba. For $100 ($25 per person), we hired a driver for the day to drive us from Havana to Varadero roundtrip (2 hours each way). I mean… The car was a bucket, but it got us there and back and it didn’t break down, lol. For the day we stayed at the Barcelo Solymar Resort, and through the resort we got a tour package that included a driver, snorkeling in Coral Beach, a tour and dip in the spring waters of the Saturn Caves, a ride to the beach for photo opp’s, and back to the resort for $36 per person. Again… Pictures don’t do any justice to its beauty!

  After we got back to Havana later that night, the 4 of us invited our driver to dinner with us. He was cool and funny, like an old uncle that has lived his life and is all about the turn up. We told him to take us to the best Italian restaurant he knew of, and so he did. It wasn’t the best, lol. At least the bill came up $30 total. After dinner, we went to a salsa spot called Casa de la Musica where a Spanish artist who looked like Drake’s father was performing. The vibe was authentic Cuba, and I loved it. People watching in other countries is the shit. Drinks are cheap…. $3-$5 for a cocktail, not bad.

01/04/16 : Morning frolic before my afternoon flight. We got up at 8am to take another walk around Old Havana, since me and one other person was leaving that day. We walked through the streets and made our way to Plaza de la Catedral and went into their Catholic Church. I never pass up an opportunity to send a quick prayer up and THANK the most HIGH. Spanish architecture is so elegant, monumental, and classic to me. I wouldn’t mind walking around and getting lost in the those streets just to enjoy the buildings.

  My American Airlines flight (used a credit) was at 3:30p so I left Miramar by 12p…. A 20 minute drive took an hour during Wednesday afternoon traffic. The check in lines at the airport are long, so is the passport control line, and the TSA line. Give yourself at least an hour in time to get through all 3 lines. The only cafe at my terminal ran out of food by 2:30p… Shit is real out there. You can buy bottles of rum and Cuban cigars through Duty Free. If your luggage is maxed out or you don’t check in a bag, I suggest getting your liquor from there. Note: Duty Free line was long, too. My flight was delayed an hour, which I was told is normal there. So keep that in mind if you have a connecting flight to your final destination. Luckily for me, I was flying into Miami and staying the night so the delay didn’t affect me.

I would absolutely go back and visit, I need to since I wasn’t there long enough. Travel and housing was pretty inexpensive and they’re prices are beyond reasonable. I suggest going before they realize how much more money they can make from tourism and before Trump fucks shit up for us.

  Traveling to Cuba: New Year, New Passport Stamp At the top of this year I was blessed to travel to Cuba, and I gotta say that my trip was uhh-may-zing!