DESENSITIZED//CRIMINAL MINDS

1.06 | 'one time, i took a pregnancy test. i was happy to have failed that one.'

morgan waved his hand in dismissal. "relax, hayes." he said, before turning to the young doctor. "hey, we're all here for you." he said, but reid didn't respond. "i'm serious. if you ever need anything — " he pulled a whistle out of his pocket, wrapped the landyard around reid's neck, and blew in it. " — just tweet." he joked, snickering as he walked back over to his own desk.

sierra rolled her eyes as reid ripped off the whistle and threw it back at the agent. "you're such an ass, morgan." she told him, before turning back to reid. "ignore him." she told him. "you okay?"

reid shrugged, pursing his lips. "i've never failed a test before." he admitted.

"as someone with a solid c average in high school, you get used to it." sierra told him. "and this one time, i took a pregnancy test." she said. "i was pretty happy to have failed that one."

reid chuckled, shaking his head. "i'll keep that in mind."

"besides, you don't even need a gun." she whispered to him. "you're smart, your brain is your weapon." she told
him. "and when things get dicey, just stay by me. i'll shoot for the both of us."

reid couldn't hide the blush that made it's way up onto his cheeks and the smile that grew on his face. "thanks, sierra." he said, feeling a burst of confidence shoot through his veins. "at least now i have an excuse to be around you."

sierra looked up at him, grinning, but he was already back into his paperwork. she was certain that he hadn't even realized what he just said, and how flirtatious and out of character it was, but sierra didn't mind.

"okay," jj started, handing out files to each of the agents as she entered the office. "franklin park, des plaines, yesterday afternoon." she explained, regaining sierra's attention. "three victims shot at distance, it's the third such shooting and in two weeks."

sierra opened her file. "a sniper?" she asked.

"we don't use that word." morgan told her.

sierra furrowed her eyebrows. "sorry that must've been out of the fbi for dummies book." she retorted. "why not?"

"the public perception is that the fbi doesn't have an exemplary record with snipers." jj told her.

"besides, snipers are professional marksmen, these guys aren't snipers." hotch said.

sierra sighed, sitting back in her chair. "what do we call them, then?" she asked.

"l.d.s.k." hotch told her.

"long distance serial killers." reid informed her.

sierra nodded. "how many of these guys have we caught using a profile?"

an uneasy look rested on gideon's face. "none."
•
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"TWO WEEKS, THREE shooting incidents, six victims, all shot in the abdomen." hotch explained to the team, turning the tv on in the conference room. "the first and only fatality, henry sacs." he said, as the man's photo popped up on the screen. "shot in a shopping center parking lot." he clicked again, and two more photos appeared on the screen. "nine days later, doug miller and kevin parks were playing basketball at a community center." he continued, clicking the remote again, and three photos popped up on the screen. "four days after that, franklin park, jerry middleton, kate murray, and tim reilly." he said. "des plaines police have found no link between any of the victims."