Eidetic - A Criminal Minds/Spencer Reid Story

Chapter Fourteen - Hey, Brother

"If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius." - Joseph Addison

ONE WEEK LATER

*Vivian Santos*

When I woke up, I looked at my phone, saw the date, and was instantly filled with dread and sadness. Today was the anniversary of my brother's death, and I was not in the mood to mope around work all day. I debated with myself for the longest time about calling in sick. Maybe I should just tell Hotch the truth, he would understand, wouldn't he? I know he would.

Before I could even dial Hotch's number, my cell phone rang in my hand and his caller ID popped up on the screen. "Hello?" I answered softly.

"Hello, Viv, I was just calling to check in. I know that today is kind of significant to you and I was calling to see if you wanted the day off," Hotch said. Of course he already knew. Hotch knew about a lot of things.

"Yeah, Hotch, I would really appreciate that," I replied.

"Take all the time you need. I'll see you soon." He hung up, and I gently tossed my phone back on my nightstand. Falling back onto my bed, I curled up in the sheets, laid on my side, and looked at the picture of Daniel I had on the nightstand.

I remembered that fateful night so clearly and so perfectly. I was asleep when the police detectives arrived at our house, but I woken up by the sounds of my mother's heavy sobs. When I walked downstairs, I saw the police officers and knew that the situation wasn't good.

The following weeks after Daniel's death, I went into a deep depression. I shut myself off from everybody else, and I didn't talk to anyone about what I was feeling. Not even Cecilia knew how depressed I was. I was even hooked on heroin for a short time because it offered a temporary fix to my pain. It wasn't until my parents found my stash and forced me into rehab that I figured out I couldn't be like this forever. If they hadn't sent me away for that short time to get my shit together, I probably would be out living in the streets.

After I fixed myself some breakfast, I found a photo album I had brought with me from home filled with pictures of Daniel and I from when we were kids. We were six years apart, but we were very close. He watched over me, gave me advice, and was even a little overprotective over me when it came to boys. Cecilia even had a crush on him for a little bit when we were in middle school.

My thoughts went back to the murder case and how it still wasn't solved after eleven years. You would think that by now there would be more leads, but nope. The monster that took away my best friend is still out there, living his own life. My goal when I joined the FBI was to solve the case myself and finally serve justice to the cold-blooded coward who left my brother for dead, but that soon proved to be a lot harder than I thought. There were bureaucratic knots I had to go through and everyone who had previously worked on the case seemed to have forgotten it altogether. It was hard, but even I had find a way to move on eventually.

Around midday, I heard my phone buzz on the coffee table, and I wasn't surprised when I saw that I had a text from Spencer.

From: Spencer
Hey, Hotch said you weren't coming in today. Give me a call?

I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anybody, but I knew he was worried about me. If anybody should know the real reason why I didn't come into work today, it was Spencer. Besides, I guess he was pretty much my boyfriend at this point. I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hi, Viv," he answered sweetly. I laid down on the couch and wrapped a blanket around me with my free hand.

"Hi," I replied softly. "How's work?"