Resident Genius 2.0 (Spencer Reid)

30. Sworn to secrecy

JJ
Hotch and Rossi had been especially distant with the team, like they knew something that the rest of us didn't. The more I tried to figure out their secret, the harder it became. I even asked Prentiss for help, but that didn't seem to work.

Weirdly enough, no one else seemed to notice the secret meetings, the glances that Hotch and Rossi shared. I often found that when Hotch and Rossi were in Hotch's office, the door was locked, meaning that whatever they were talking about, they didn't want anyone to hear.

As far as the Vegas case went, there were no updates. No cases had come across my desk, which meant that Prentiss, Morgan and I had been doing paperwork since we got back.

When I asked Garcia to possibly hack into Hotch and Rossi's phones, she immediately shook her head and rejected my request, which confused me, until she revealed to me what she found the last time she hacked into Hotch's phone.

I had no idea how else I was going to be able to find out what Hotch and Rossi were hiding, until I found Rossi alone in his office one night when everyone but Hotch had gone home.

Walking up to Rossi's office, I shut and locked the door behind me.

"Good evening JJ. Is everything okay?" Rossi asked as he closed a case file, placing it on the already tall pile on his desk.

"There's no point beating around the bush, so...here goes. What is going on between you and Hotch? I can see it, even if no one else can." I asked, watching as Rossi leaned back, confused.

"To what are you referring to?" Rossi questioned, leaning back further in his chair.

"Don't play dumb with me, Rossi. Ever since we got back from Vegas, you and Hotch have been especially distant, always sharing worried glances and having secret meetings." I crossed my arms and glared at Rossi, who exhaled, seeming defeated.

"It's better that we discuss this with Hotch." Rossi shook his head, walking with me to Hotch's office.

The moment we entered Hotch's office, he looked up, seeing the concern on Rossi's face.

"Seriously, enough with the glances. We're not kids." I rolled my eyes, sitting on one of the two chairs in front of Hotch's desk.

"There is something going on that none of us know about, isn't there?" I questioned, not bothering to skip ahead.

"JJ, whatever is going on, there is a reason why only Rossi and I know about it." Hotch glared at me.

"Really, Hotch? The moment any of us try to hide something from you, we can't. You find out. What's the difference here?" I scoffed, watching as Hotch rolled his eyes.

"The difference here is, I'm your superior, and I choose who gets to know what information." Hotch crossed his arms, his tone getting more stern.

"We are a TEAM, Hotch. We solve problems as a team. You and Rossi are hiding something from me - and more importantly the team, and pretending that everything is okay." I tried not to yell, but I couldn't help it.

"There is no 'I' or 'WE' in TEAM. That's why we don't lie to each other." I glared at Hotch and Rossi, both of them exhaling.

For the next hour, Hotch and Rossi took turns exposing the whole situation to me - everything from Spencer's lies to his connection to the Vegas murders.

"We have a pretty solid pile of evidence that leads to Spencer being our UnSub, which is why we're keeping all of this on the down-low. The more people who know, the worse it becomes." Rossi insisted, watching as Hotch took a sip of whatever was in his coffee mug.

"Does she know?" I asked, wondering about AJ. I hadn't seen her in 5 years, and just thinking about her reminded me that she probably had two children who would be 5 years old right about now.

"I've already called her. She said she would let me know when she's landed." Hotch smiled, seeming happy that AJ was returning to Quantico after 5 years.

I excused myself from Hotch's office, leaving Rossi and Hotch to talk amongst themselves. As I walked back to my desk, I smiled at a photo that AJ had sent me 5 years ago. It was a picture of AJ's first sonogram, which - upon seeing it for the first time - made me cry.