checkmate

009 » THE DOUBT

After Reid leaves, I stand by myself in silence for a few moments, processing his words. "I am better than you."

It's foolish to believe so, but he can't really think that, right? I'm dumb to think that maybe he's just... joking? No matter how cruel he's being, I've deep down convinced myself he's joking.

Or maybe he does think that. Maybe his inflated ego has led him to believe that he is better than me. But despite that, I'm going to prove him wrong. I'm going to show him that he is not better than me, that little cunt.

Sighing to myself, I grab my coffee mug and leave the conference room, heading down to the office kitchen. It's disappointing to find Reid in there.

God, I think to myself, preparing for yet another horrible interaction, he'll either ignore me or treat me like shit. Again.

"Following me now, are you?" he scoffs, shooting me a withering glare.

"You wish," I mutter. "Dick." I whisper the last word, silently hoping to myself that he doesn't hear.

As I reach out to pour myself another coffee, he grabs my wrist, pulling me back slightly. "Ow, what the fuck?" I yell. "Dude, get off!"

I slam my mug down as he speaks. "What did you just call me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I definitely should've said, 'my lovely, handsome, really kind coworker who I admire and appreciate ever so much', shouldn't I?" I scowl at him, yanking my arm from his grasp. "Don't fucking touch me, or I will snap your arm in two."

Sighing to myself, I hurriedly leave the kitchen and head into the bullpen. I trudge over to my desk and drop myself into my chair, grabbing my bottle of water.

···

Upon arriving in Roseburg, Morgan and Reid head to check out where the boys were abducted from, thankfully relieving me from the stress of having to put up with Reid's shit, while the rest of us head to the police precinct. We talk briefly with the captain- he introduces us to the detectives who will be working the case with us- and he leads us to a room where we can set up.

As we start off the discussions, I begin sticking photographs up on the whiteboards, including pictures of the boys and the areas they were taken from.

"So," Rossi starts, "we're looking for a guy who's recently lost a child..."

"That's our stressor, but we need to find out the trigger," Prentiss states.

One of the detectives, Detective Miller, who stands beside me as I turn away from the board to face my team, speaks up, "Aren't those... the same thing?"

"A stressor is pretty much the overall stress that is put onto the unsub, and a trigger is what basically... flips a switch in their head, and makes them start committing the crimes," I explain, trying to put it simply.

"Oh. Okay," the dark-haired man responds with a nod. "So wouldn't his kid dying be the trigger, though? Man, if I were a criminal, my child dying would... y'know... nevermind."

"Triggers are more often than not just smaller things, but it's enough to tip them over the edge," JJ answers.

"Right..." he says slowly, nodding. "Okay."

"Alright, Prentiss and JJ, you two talk to Leo's parent, and Y/L/N and myself will talk to Adam's parents," Hotch instructs.

Nodding, I follow Hotch out of the room, Emily and JJ with us, too.

···

Two hours and way too many stressful conversations later, we've barely gotten anywhere with the case. I sit at a table, on the phone to Garcia, asking for a list of all children who fit the victimology who have passed away in the past six months.