Just Neighbors | spencer reid

085

Jamie

Valerie's eyes are closed, refusing to look at me as I lay next to her. I'm on Spencer's side of the bed, my cheek pressed into the pillow, mirroring her position.

She is a mess.

There's no downplaying it. Her hair is untamed, a knotted mess around her tear stained face. Her eyes seem sunken in and her cheeks hollower than the last time I saw her. I can't help but wonder if she's eaten...

"Any progress?"

I turn around and wave my hand around angrily, Spencer's eyes widening at my 'shooing' motion. He quickly closes the door and I sigh, turning back to Valerie and almost shitting my pants when I make eye contact with her.

"Shit, Val." I place a hand over my heart. "Of course you look at me right when I turn back around."

I'm not surprised when she doesn't respond. From what Spencer has told me, she hasn't talked in days. Which is super unlike her because Valerie can talk for hours.

And I mean hours.

"Are you going to say anything? Anything at all? Not even an 'I'm sorry for staring creepily'?"

I sigh and drop the silly act when I realize she won't crack. Time to try a different approach.

"You know, I remember when you called me one day, after training with Derek, and you were talking about if....if you ever saw Lenny again that you would drop him on his ass so fast."

I try and keep my voice soft, scared I might trigger something. "What happened to that Valerie? The Valerie who called him a sick bastard to his face? You need to be that Valerie right now."

"I can't do it."

Her voice is scratchy, sounding how sandpaper feels. She sort of sounds like my grandmother who's been smoking since she was 14 but that's not relevant.

"You sure as hell can do it." I reassure her. "But you won't be doing it alone. I can promise you that."

She shakes her head, closing her eyes. I reach forward and tap her cheek gently, her eyes opening again.

"Don't shut down again. You have a son who needs his mama and a fiancé that is balding from worrying about you so much."

I swear I almost see the corner of her lips turn up before she pulls the blanket up to cover her face.

I quickly grab the edge of it and pull it back down. "You've been cooped up in this room for days and I'm pretty sure there's birds nesting in that hair of yours."

She rolls her eyes and turns away, putting her back to me. I groan, pushing my face into the pillow. She's going to make this difficult for me.

I push myself up so I'm standing on the bed, lifting my foot and shoving her lightly with it.

"You want to ignore Spencer? Fine. You want to ignore me? Fine, but to be quite frank you smell like shit, look like shit, and need to stop letting that douche of an ogre take over your life." I smile sweetly at her when she turns her head to look back at me.