A Bit Of Death

Victoria Hale

Reid's POV
When we get in the car Aaron drives and I ride shot gun, JJ and Rossi sit in back. Aaron and I are both tense so I slip my hand into his as he drives, our hold is tight and reassuring but neither of us can relax. Finally Rossi speaks up, "you guys okay...you seem a little...tense," I swallow and nod.
Aaron says "we'll be....okay" but he's barely focusing on the question. They give us worried looks but neither pry. Aaron has never liked rape cases and I've never been comfortable with sex, only privately with Aaron. When we arrive at the station I slip my hand out of his and we all walk in, even though we aren't holding hands we walk so close that our shoulders are basically touching. We quickly greet the sherif and get set up, there's no private room for us so I pull over a case board and put up a map. I circle the locations and then sit on the edge of a desk and look at the map. Aaron talks to the sherif and JJ and Morgan interview family and friends. When Aaron finishes talking he comes over and sits next to me on the desk edge, I keep looking at the map and sigh, he rubs my back but I can tell we are both on edge.
I lean into him and say "I'm missing something..."
We look at the map and JJ comes over and says "it turns out our first two victims liked to go to the same café after class to do homework at night"
Aaron nods and says "we should find out about our other three victims, the unsub could find them there and stalk them for a while, what was the café?"
"Little Lucy's". I nod and stand up to add it on the map, I take a step back to get a better look.
"Wait..." I say, still putting things together.
"What?" Rossi asks and I step closer and start to circle things.
"you see before we didn't have the the café. The café is southeast of the park. I originally thought it had something to do with all five victims liven in the same dorm locations, but look. They're last known location was in the park, also where they're found. But with the café it's different. If the first two would hang at the café and the park they probably had a schedule. Therefore with the park being almost perfectly between the dorms and café the café could be the hunting ground but our unsub could be homeless. Or at least this is their comfort zone" I ramble but JJ and Rossi seem to be trying comprehend what I've said and I see a hint of a smile of Aaron's face, but it's gone almost instantly. After some more research and digging it becomes around 2 am. I'm reading essays from a creative writing class all of our victims took, I'm looking for similarities in inner personalities or anything to connect our victims more. I start to fall asleep on the floor, my back against a desk and papers covering my lap and the floor around me.
As I'm drifting off a hand pushes back a strand of my hair and Aaron whispers "come on spence" and helps me stand. He wraps an arm around my waist and lays me on the couch near one of the case boards. I start to protest but he stops me and says "you need rest".
Once again I try and say "no no, I'll get coffee".
He shakes his head and sits on the couch with me, looking me in the eyes he begs, "please, you need rest and you know it. Maybe at least an hour?"
Finally, I give in and nod, he whispers "okay" and stands up. Immediately I fall asleep.

Hotch's POV
I give spence about an hour, then I crouch next to him and place a hand on his face and gently stroke him. He mumbles something inaudible so I kiss his forehead and say "come on spence, we are at the station". His eyes fly open and I say "shhh hey hey hey shhh calm down. I'm here spence I'm here. What's wrong?" He closes his eyes for a moment trying to control his heavy breaths.
Eventually he sits up and mumbles "It came back, I thought it was gone". I give him a confused look and he tells me "my nightmares about tobias," but when he speaks his voice is so small and quiet that I almost miss it. He rests his head on my should and I rub him back.
I turn my head so I'm talking into his hair when I say, "it will take time but you are safe and with me, don't you forget that". He nods and after a moment more we stand and he heads back to his papers. Finally our unsub list is narrowed down to three people. While we all discuss the possibilities and try to figure out who, I stand up and ask "spence can we talk?"
He tells me "okay" and I lace my fingers with him as I pull him into an office to talk privately. I kiss him slowly but it's filled with passion.
Leaning back I ask, "I just want you to hear me out okay?"
"Okay" he says again and I sit us on the sofa.
"So I know you won't like to hear this but just listen. I don't want you in the field, I never do. I want to keep you safe because I love you...but I can't keep you from hunting the unsub. Sometimes I'll send you out and sometimes I'll keep you at the station. Sometimes I'll go out or stay here. Or even both of us stay or go. But I'm making the decision based on how I do with the others, by the situation. I never want you to take it personal if I don't send you out. But if you aren't okay for whatever reason, case related or not, I want you to tell me, we can talk together and decide if you should go or not..." I stop not knowing what to say next.
He kisses me gently and says "you know I love you and trust every judgement you make". I nod but still don't want him hurt. He tilts my head up so I'm looking him in the eyes and he says "if I had my way you'd never leave to find an unsub". I smile and we kiss one more time before heading back out to the others.
Right as we walk in spence stops and I turn to him and say "spence?" Drawing everyone's attention to him.
He stares straight ahead at the case boards and says "it's her" pointing at a woman named Victoria Hale. Then as if something snapped he rambles saying, "it's her because in order to rape these men you'd have to be very fit. Even if she's very fit you have to remember that these men were regular gym people. Even a fit women couldn't rape them but Hale's the only one with medical experience, her parents, and steroids, her drug history. With enough medical knowledge you can easily use a combination of drug store medicines to make someone easy to control, so she".
Morgan cuts him off and says "ok then where do we look?"
Spencer thinks before saying "the park, she's probably hunting and/or dumping now".
I nod and say "let's go". We quickly grab our vests, I slip off my jacket and slide it on and spence takes off his waistcoat. I watch as he pull the vest on and he silently curses at the vest when he realizes it's inside out. Chuckling I help him quickly readjust and then rush out to the SUVs. I jump in the drivers seat and speed off, as we near a corner I say "hang on" as spencer grips the handle tightly. I slam the breaks and we all head off in pairs, spence and I take the bridge, when we spot two people we split up. I sneak around the bridge to cover both sides.

Reid's POV
As I approach the figures I can start to hear the muffled cries from the victim and passionate moans from Hale. I can just make out Hotch on the other side and I move in closer to clearly see a male victim with his pants down and hands tied behind his back, he is sitting on the ground, his back against the bridge side. There's what looks like a dress on the ground near me, but it's too dark to see clearly. Hale is naked on his lap and it looks like she's in the middle of an orgasm.
I cringe at the sight as Aaron gets closer yelling "FBI," but she doesn't stop. The man continues to try and fight back but I notice his feet are also bound, all Hale does when Aaron speaks is slightly tilting her head to quickly glance at him but doesn't act on his presence. Aaron doesn't hesitate and so I follow his lead, he runs up and pulls her off because she's clearly unarmed and the victims were all strangled. She cries out and tries to fight back. I quickly tend to the victim and cut his hands and feet free, then untying the gag. Just as I finish I hear Aaron shout in pain and then gasp "spence" as I turn to see them. Panicking I find the courage to help grab her and cuff her. She drops to her knees defeated and the rest of the team is in view, heading towards us. They probably heard Hale's screams. I leave her on the ground for the team as Aaron stands bent over holding his chest. I guide him to the ground and he chokes out "go to him".
I whisper "okay" and crouch next to the victim who has managed to fix his clothes so he's decent again. I place a hand on his shoulder and ask "are you okay?"
He breaks down and says in a wobbly voice "I can't, why...I don't".
In a calm voice I tell him "it's okay, your safe now, you're okay".
Finally the team reaches us and Rossi places a hand on my shoulder and says "Hotch". I nod and make my way to Aaron who has now collapsed on the ground.
Worried I say "Aaron".
He gasps and says "I'm okay...its just...h-h-h-hang on".
I gently hug him and say "shhhh Aaron, focus on my voice and try to breathe slowly. Shhhh". Behind me Hale and the victim are taken away to the station and hospital. With some effort I manage to support Aaron and get him standing, we stop and I let him move on his own time. Thankfully we aren't too far from the SUV so I help him lie down in back. When we reach the station it's about 3:45 and there's bad weather, we all stay at the station since our flight is delayed. I help Hotch to the couch I slept on earlier, I have him take an Advil first and then I tell him to sleep. After he lays down I place a bag of ice on his chest but don't look closely since I know he's tired. He falls asleep with the ice on his chest. I know to keep it on if for about 15 minutes and then alternate 15 on 15 off. I fall asleep on the floor, my head on his upper chest.