Spencer Reid had a secret, and now you have a funeral to attend... and your own secret to keep. Or not.
(Rewrite of the Emily & Doyle arc, with Spencer taking Emily's place).
Spencer Reid had always been an odd, secretive man. Upon first glance, he seems unassuming, but that small, warm smile hid a quiet torment; a pain unlike any I'd ever seen before.
His secrets came to the light one at time. Slowly, cautiously, and with enough warning that he could move us out of the cross hairs. When we learned about his mother, we didn't think much of it. When we learned about his addiction, it was painful, but difficult to call it a secret.
We all thought we knew him so well. Or at least, I did. I could only speak for myself. After all, the others had tried to warn me in their own way.
I should have listened. Maybe I had been a fool not to listen when he told me not to interfere. Perhaps it was really all my fault not to believe him when he'd never given me a reason not to. Because each time that I was faced with a secret from the ever-elusive Spencer Reid, he had made sure that I was safe.
That was why this phone call had been so painful.
We had failed. He wouldn't see it that way, though. He would only blame himself. But placing blame didn't feel so important while I was staring down the barrel of a gun.
"Spencer?" I asked when the phone static crackled.
"Where are you?"
"Promise you won't be mad," I laughed.
He didn't.
"Where are you?" he repeated, instead.
I wanted to answer. I tried to talk until the line cut off or the red string of fate was severed with lead. But the second my mouth opened to tell him the truth, what I had known to be true for so long, it was not me who spoke.
It was the man on the other end of the gun, with a wicked smile and a trigger finger that did not hesitate like the other secrets had.
Author's Note: Hello friends both old and new! For those who may recognize it, this work was posted before, on here, Tumblr, and Ao3. I am republishing it as I edit it. The chapters will be different lengths from they are on the other platforms, so there will be "more" chapters. While there are some additions, most are grammatical and formatting edits.
I hope that you all will enjoy this work, which is based in large part on my own experiences with grief. Because of this, I will remind you all now that I HEAVILY moderate my comments. Disparaging comments about me, my work, or any other authors will be deleted. Please refrain from treating my comments like your own personal stand-upshow. It's insulting to the work and detracts for other readers.
This work is NSFW, 18+ ONLY. If you comment about being a minor, you will be muted. Thank you for respecting my boundaries!
If you want to avoid spoilers, do not read further. However, please keep in mind that you may be exposed to heavy, triggering topics. I will try to place Content Warnings in the comments of each Chapter Summary, so you can choose whether you want to read each section.
Old and new readers alike, I hope you all enjoy!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
