𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮 ➣ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓷𝓽𝔂-𝓼𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

"The only people who knew we were doing the cognitive interviews were the other survivors," Mara said, crossing her arms over her chest. "The UnSub must be a part of that group."

"Not necessarily, he could just be lying in wait." Reid argued, his phone ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out, declined the call and shoved it back in.

"You said the UnSub would have broken his hand beating Chelsea to death," Mara said, wondering why he didn't take the call. "Did you notice anyone with a cast? Someone who seemed hurt?"

"No," Reid replied. "I might know why."

They returned to the station and Reid told the entire team his theory. "This UnSub doesn't feel pain. There's a medical condition called Pain Asymbolia, where patients register harmful stimuli without being bothered by it."

Mara listened, watching the teams face turn from understanding to a blank stare as to how one man knew so much.

"They've been documented holding their hand over an open flame because their brain doesn't send pain signals to the central nervous system," Reid finished.

"The crime scenes prove it. The UnSub displayed an unusual level of savagery towards his victims." Hotch said.

"And consider this, he smashed through a glass display case, but there were no cuts on Jerry. That means he most likely punched through it, as a show of force," Reid explained, Mara watching him carefully as he moved through his words quickly. "Now, the only way the human body could withstand that level of pain is if he couldn't fee it at all."

"That has to take a major toll on someone's emotional development." Mara said.

Reid nodded, watching her bite down on her lip in thought. They headed back to the station, where Reid and Mara debriefed Hotch and Rossi on what they learned.

"A significant contributor to our sense of empathy is the way we personally experience pain," Reid explained, his phone ringing again. He furrowed his eyebrows, declining it again before turning his attention back to Hotch. "And the UnSub didn't develop his sense of apathy because it was cut off."

"Does every person with Asymbolia have this?" Hotch asked him.

"Actually, most feel empathy just fine, which makes me think the rest of our profile is still accurate. Loner, insivible, outcast, boiling rage- son of a bitch!" he pulled his ringing phone from his pocket, Mara watching every move as anger coursed through him. "Spencer Reid. I actually can come to the phone right now, with a very special message that your mother is-"

"Reid." Hotch said sternly.

It was an odd sight to see Spencer Reid boiling with rage but Mara couldn't help but take it in, biting down on her lip. Her eyes turned to Morgan, watching him turn around to laugh at the incident. He'd done something.

"I'm uh-really sorry," Reid said, back to his old self. "I don't know what got into me. Where were we?"

"I'm going to have Garcia check medical records," Hotch said, Reid eyes moving over Mara's and then over to Morgan. "What causes Symbolia?"

Reid cocked his head to the side as Morgan struggled to hide his smirk. "Severe trauma produces lesions in the insular cortex, usually after a stroke. But this UnSub's so young, it's mostly likely caused by an external factor."

"Like a bomb going off next to him?" Hotch asked.

Reid narrowed his eyes at Morgan. "Yeah, like a bomb going off next to him."

Hotch moved out of the room to talk to Garcia while Reid gathered the mess of files, mumbling under his breath, "I will crush you."

"What?" Morgan asked him, a smirk growing.

"What?" Reid echoed, pretending he didn't say anything.

Mara laughed, Morgan following Hotch out and JJ coming in with yearbooks in her arms.

"You two are cute." Mara smiled at Reid.

He furrowed his eyebrows, sitting down in the chair next to her. "Cute? Two grown men are cute?"

"Yep." Mara chuckled, watching him roll his eyes as JJ passed out the yearbooks and they began looking at the people on the list.

"So weird seeing yearbooks again," JJ said. "Friend of mine who teaches said that Facebook is making them obsolete. I'm having serious flashbacks going through these senior bios. Four years of accomplishments boiled down to one paragraph."

Mara just nodded, not saying anything. Her high school experience was not good. She preferred to forget those years even happened.

"Hey, did you school have anything called Top Ten?"

"No."

JJ noticed how quiet she was being, Reid completely engulfed in a book he had. JJ closed the yearbook and folded her hands over it, focusing on her.

"Alright, what's wrong?"

Mara looked up. "Huh? Nothing."

JJ narrowed her eyes and Mara sighed. "Profilers suck."

JJ laughed before meeting her eyes. "Now come on, talk to me."

Mara sighed, leaning forward and resting her hands on the palm of her hand and her elbow on the table. "These yearbooks, they're bringing up bad memories."

"You had bad high school experience, there's nothing wrong with remembering your teenage years."

"It's just strange to me, you had a great high school experience, you were what everyone aspired to be," Mara said as JJ chuckled, shaking her head. "We had two very different high school experience and yet we've ended up in the same place."

"I can't tell if you're referring to my privilege or my work ethic."

"No, no," Mara chuckled. "High school shapes us all in different ways. Yours was positive, mine was negative."

"You know, mine wasn't all good," JJ said to her. "My sister committed suicide when I was seventeen."

Mara remembered JJ mentioning her sister a couple times. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault," JJ replied. "Why do people do that? Apologize for something that wasn't their fault."

Mara glanced at Reid, watching his lips twitch up in a smile in remembrance of the same conversation they had before. "Because an apology deserves to be said even if it's not from the right person."

JJ nodded and smiled. "You're right. Thank you."

She got up and headed to the coffee maker for a break, Reid moving a hand from his book and covering Mara's, squeezing it gently.