The Keeping of Words | Spencer Reid

19| Kintsukuroi

"Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you." – Veronica Roth

Bianca turned around, her eyes wide. "Wait," she said, with a gasp. "You mean I can finally meet your mother?"

"Yes," he assured her. "I think's well overdue." Reid had just asked if she would be up for traveling to Las Vegas sometime soon, and her response was a clear and enthusiastic of course.

"When?" she asked, hardly able to contain her excitement at the prospect of finally meeting Diana Reid. It had been two months since that day in the park. Two wonderful months finding their way back to each other and working through the heavy things. Eight weeks that he'd allowed himself to love her fully without fear, and to show her how much she meant to him. 

"Whenever you want to go."

"This weekend?"

He laughed. "I think I might need a little more time in order to request one of my vacation days. It might take a bit longer, since we're without a section chief." Honestly, he was happy to see that she still wanted to meet his mom. It had been so long since she had first asked him that question. As she had already proven though, that woman had an uncanny knack for recalling things when he was involved.

"Why now?" she asked.

He stared ahead at the bookshelf in front of them. "My mom gets confused easily, so I never wanted to introduce her to someone unless I was sure they were going to stay in my life and well... I guess it's hard for me to imagine a version of the future that doesn't include you in it." The smile that lit up her face went straight to his heart. 

His phone began to ring, and he hurried to silence it, not wanting to be interrupted. No sooner had he done so did it ring again, and he sighed just as a librarian poked her head around the corner, shushing him with a glare.

"Sorry," he whispered back. "Really, I am." He understood the sacred quiet of the library, but serial offenders did not, nor did they respect his free time. "Reid," he said into the phone.

"Why are you whispering?" JJ asked from the other end.

"Because I'm in a library and pretty certain that if I so much as sneeze above this volume the librarian is going to revoke my book-borrowing rights." Beside him Bianca was trying to stifle a giggle.

"Right... well, we just got a case. There's been four women found dead in South Carolina, and a fifth has just gone missing. All of the victims were strangled and sexually assaulted. How fast can you get here?"

"I don't know... twenty minutes?"

"Good, because Hotch wants wheels up in thirty."

"Duty calls?" Bianca asked, looking more than a little forlorn. He nodded, and she squeezed his hand. "Go on, then. Just come home safely."

"I will. And when I get back, we'll make that trip," he promised, already making his way out of the stacks.

He had promised her that. He had promised her.

That was before three days of investigation turned up records of missing women dating ten years back, the number reaching into the twenties. And it was before they turned up at the house of Simon Douglass in Charleston, a cookie-cutter home in a suburban neighborhood just around dinnertime.

The police presence drew the attention of the neighbors, many of them stepping out onto their lawns to see what was going on. Some shouted questions at them, while the officers urged them to go back inside. The commotion only seemed to interest the crowd more.