Come Downstairs and Say Hello; S.R.

Case 4 Part 1

The whole team was amused at the least when Jo and Morgan hustled into the room, bickering amongst themselves until Hotch sent them a boss glare, silencing them both. Jo tried to ignore the constant stares of concern from Spencer during the entire briefing, which was probably the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She'd see him glance her way in the corner of her eye, using his hurt puppy look that she could barely resist. She tried to hold onto JJ's words instead of thinking about him, which worked for the most part, until he pulled her aside when the team took off towards the jet.

"Hey..um..are you okay...?" He asked awkwardly, his hand remaining on her arm. Her eyes flick in that direction, but then immediately correct themselves by meeting his eyes. She blinked hard, her eyes still stinging from exhaustion. She wanted nothing more than to be able to tell him what was wrong, but something deep in her prevented her from it.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just like I said before..I was just paranoid last night.." she lied smoothly, yet the way that Reid narrowed his eyes proved that it wasn't smooth enough. Her colleagues' eyes trailed over her body, and he pressed his lips together, meeting her eyes yet again.

"Alright, just...tell me if you need any sleeping statistics." He smiled a little, and Jo did too. "Do you want to sit on the jet together again?"

"Of course I do." She said sweetly, getting her arm loose from Reid's hand only to link it with his arm instead. The two walked on to the jet together while making small talk, sitting down on the couch. The two sat in an awkward silence in anticipation for the arrival of their team. Until Reid took a deep breath.

"Did you know that polar bears are ambidextrous?" Jo gaped at him for a couple of seconds before laughing.

"You know what, Spence? I have a homework project for you." Reid physically perked up, as if he were a dog about to revive a treat. Jo leaned forward towards him, continuing, "Every week, I'm gonna put you on the spot, and you have to tell me whatever fact comes to your mind. Sound good?" Reid thought for a bit, before nodding.

"Alright." Jo clapped her hands together, excited. Morgan sauntered through the door, an amused smirk on his face.

"Well well, Mr and Mrs. Pretty, what sort of action did I miss~?" He said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I don't think you'd want to know." Reid replied smoothly before Jo had the chance to, and she sent him a proud smile as Morgan laughed.

"Ok, ok.." he mumbled, the rest of the team filing into the jet. They began to go over the case per usual as the jet took off, Jo going back and forth between paying attention and spacing out.

"Starling...Starling!" Hotch's booming voice shook Jo from her moment of daydreams.

"Sir?" She managed to sputter.

"You're coming with Gideon, Reid and I to check out the crime scene, is that alright?"

"O-of course!" Hotch nodded, his eyes lingering on her for a moment longer, proving that he knew something was up.

During the entire scan of the crime scene, Jo kept her head in the right place. She responded to Hotch's words and spoke whenever she thought of something. Part of her mind was always somewhere else, however. The team had discovered specifics about the Unsub's MO, and had also figured out that there was another victim involved, who was MIA. When they walked to the patio, Jo's stomach turned. A large wooden spike protruded from the ground, blood covering it and the ground under it.

"He was just like the others", the sheriff that had been assisting the scene investigation informed them, "Coroner says he was alive when they impaled him." Jo shook her head slowly, still not used to a crime that gruesome.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but..the way that these victims were treated: flayed alive, mutilated, and now the impalement of the final victim.." Reid started to speak before slowly trailing off, and Jo picked up his thought as she realized it.

"It's ritualistic." She mumbled, and Reid nodded.

"She's right, these were all war rituals of the Native American plains Indians." He said. Hotch turned to the sheriff.

"Does that mean anything to you?" He asked.

"I'll say it does!" He exclaimed, everything you see is Apache land." Jo raised an eyebrow. "This whole Basin is a burial ground, it was also the sight of many massacres."

"So this development is on their land?" Hotch asked.  The sheriff nodded.

"It was their land. They couldn't build on it, so half of it was seized by the town." Jo turned to Reid when he began to speak.

"It was ruled last year by the Supreme Court the cities could use imminent domain authority  to seize and repossess undeveloped private land for development."

"The town now is looking for investigators who want to build on the other half. The Apache are fighting it, of course, in court." Jo's eyes trailed from the sheriff and back on to the protruding spike on the ground. She started to imagine what the victim would look like in her dream that night. Would they have a giant hole in them? Was that possible? How did getting impaled feel? How long did it hurt?

"Hey." Reid's voice mere inches from her ear snapped her from her thoughts, and she jumped back with a loud gasp. It was clear on his face that Reid felt bad for scaring her, but he gently took her arm. "We're starting to leave..the sheriff is leading us to John Wolf, a reservation officer whose also an Indian Rights  activist. So far he's a suspect." He mumbled to her, leaning close and staying quiet as if he didn't want Hotch or Gideon to know that Jo hadn't been paying attention. Jo made the connection that Reid had been through what she had, and most of the weight in her situation was lifted. She nodded to his words.

"Ok. Thank you."

He smiled at her.