𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧

『5』

"Easy there, tough guy. Have some coffee with your sugar." I heard Derek tell Spencer. I adjusted the bag around my good shoulder and leaned against the wall.

"I need something wake me up." Spencer poured more sugar and stirred the drink.

"Ooh. Late night?" Derek smirked.

"Very." Spencer answered unknowingly.

"My man." He chuckled.

"Not that kind of late night." Spencer clarified.

"So, what does keep young Dr. Reid awake at night?" Derek placed his hand on Spencer's shoulder as they came over to the main level of the BAU floor. "Wait, let me guess. Memorizing some obscure textbook. No, no, no, no. Working on cold fusion. No, I got it, I got it, I got it. Watching Star Trek...and laughing at the physics mistakes." Derek listed out stereotypical guesses.

"Actually, there aren't that many mistakes in Star Trek, especially considering how long ago it was made. There are certain improbabilities, but not that many outright errors." Spencer got distracted.

"Perhaps it's the thought of his best friend being stuck in a hospital bed with hospital food for two weeks." I stepped out from my hiding spot.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Derek rushed over to my side and hugged me gently, aware that my shoulder was still in the healing process.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? Today's my day back." I answered. "Derek Morgan, I thought you would have remembered the date of my return." I faked a gasp.

"I swear you're supposed to come back December 2nd. Today's November 30th." He thought about it for a bit.

"Okay, fine. You caught me." I rolled my eyes. "I was supposed to stay another two days, but I couldn't miss out on all the action." I whined.

"Who discharged you?" He furrowed his brows.

"Derek, I'm a big girl now. I can discharge myself." I placed the hand that wasn't in a sling on my hip. "Well, I've got to check in on everything else, so I'll let you two talk." I waved at them and headed over to my desk.

"Suparna? What are you doing back?" Elle came over to me after telling the boys we're meeting in the conference room right now.

"Can't anybody remember the day I come back? I mean, am I that unimportant?" I scoffed jokingly.

"McAllister. Western slope of Massanutten Mountain in Virginia." JJ, Gideon, and Aaron came through the other door. "Two bodies discovered in the woods, both with apparent blunt trauma to the head." JJ set down the open case file with the pictures.

"Skeletons?" Spencer furrowed his brow.

"One of them. The second victim was just killed this morning." JJ clarified.

"How do we know there's a connection?" Elle sat down in one of the chairs.

"Found about 75 feet apart nearly identical head wounds." Aaron responded.

"Where's the rest of the case file?" Derek held up the empty folder.

"There isn't one. The sheriffs are on the scene waiting for us." Aaron informed us.

"Their location is only half hour by plane." JJ mentioned.

"What's the rush?" Derek asked.

"Well, there was evidence on the scene that could cause a bit of public uproar." Aaron answered vaguely.

"Satanic cult." Gideon dropped a picture of a tree with a carving of a reversed pentagram along with the words 'Satan lives LOD' in deep red. In the plane, Spencer and I sat next to each other in a booth.