LAUGHTER LINES, spencer reid.

chapter twenty one

LAUGHTER LINES
chapter twenty one.

Spencer woke up the next morning to the radio on his alarm clock. He looked down at the weight on his chest and found Gwen's curly brown hair. She was holding onto the fabric of his night shirt and the night before came flooding back to him.

For an hour, Gwenevere held on to him, shaking in fright. He didn't know how to get her talking when she wouldn't even look at him. Finally, she seemed to calm down enough, and all she would tell him is that Adrienne Foster was out of prison. He didn't really know what this meant, but he was willing to wait after a night of sleep to get some answers.

The weight on his chest shifted and Gwen moaned as she stirred awake. She lifted her head up and blinked. "What time is it?" she grumbled.

"Six thirty," Spencer answered as he turned on his bedside lamp. "How are you feeling?"

"Dismal," Gwenevere mumbled. "Terribly dismal."

"It didn't take long for you to fall asleep, though," Reid said. "I think the stress of yesterday's news tired you out."

Gwenevere sat up and looked at her hands. "I'm sorry if I ruined your night," she said as she began to pick at her nails. "I didn't want to stay at my parents, and going home was slightly terrifying."

"What did Adrienne Foster do?" Spencer asked. He tucked some of Gwen's hair out of her face. He smiled. "You're practically fearless."

Gwen gave him a faint smile and cracked her knuckles. "I saw something I shouldn't have. Adrienne kidnapped me to keep me from telling and when the police were at the door, she thought leaving a bloody mess would give her time to run."

"The scar on your arm," Spencer said. An image of the circulatory system flashed into memory. "She cut a main artery in your arm."

Gwen nodded. She massaged her arm as if it hurt. "I don't like to talk about it," she said. "Mostly, I can't figure out how I lived. I was told that Jacobs used his tie as a tourniquet."

"Why the arm?" Spencer asked. Most people went for the neck.

"Adrienne was smart, and she always liked Anatomy," Gwen said. "I think my arm was easier to get at because she caught my arm after I tried to punch her in the nose. I guess she figured cutting a big artery would create a grave enough situation for her to get away."

Reid's brow furrowed slightly. Gwenevere kept calling this woman 'Adrienne'. That didn't happen usually. It was normal to use a last name or no name at all. This told him that Adrienne Foster probably knew Gwenevere on some level. Gwen was in high school at the time, so Adrienne Foster had to be connected to some school or extracurricular activities.

"You should get ready for work," Gwen said. "I should probably turn my phone on. I'll have a few dozen calls from my mom and dad. They worry when I disappear without a word."

Spencer took this as an I'm done talking statement and slipped out of bed. He gave one last look at Gwen's forlorn face before he moved to the bathroom.

Gwen moved to the living room when she heard the shower turn on. She picked up her phone and turned it on. Sure enough, she found six voicemails from her mom and two from her dad. She listened to them one by one. The last message from her dad made her smile.