White Lies ✓

7 - Setbacks

"Come on." You pestered, poking his shoulder with your forefinger. "You can't seriously think I'm stupid enough to believe that you wanted to wake up extra early to catch the bus to work."

He refused to look up from his book, quickly turning pages as he responded. "What can I say, I like the rank smell of public transportation in the mornings."

"Spencer," you frowned. "You literally can't lie to me. We went to school for this shit." You watched him expectantly.

Spencer's eyes shifted around, obviously looking for the right words to say. "I just- I didn't want you to get the wrong idea about this." He confessed, waving his hand between the two of you. "Especially after what I said last night..."

"Seriously?" you scoffed, glaring at him. "Come on, Spencer. I know there's nothing between us. And to be honest, I'm not even sure I want there to be anything between us, even friendship. Your mood swings give me headaches, and I'm running out of Advil. I can't keep spending each day wondering if you're gonna decide to be nice to me. I drove you home last night because we live in the same building. No other reason. And if I remember correctly, you called me pretty, not the other way around." You grabbed your things and left your spot next to Spencer on the couch, moving to the one empty chair surrounding the small table in the middle of the plane. You sat, joining Prentiss, Morgan, and Rossi.

"No, I'm saying it would be very nice of you to invite us to a dinner party, not that you have to," Prentiss said to Rossi. "But, if you do plan on maybe holding a little party, my birthday is in two weeks. Just for reference."

"Aren't you satisfied with going out for our monthly dinners?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Prentiss said dismissively. "But I want to see the mansion. I've heard the stories, I've got to see it."

Rossi shrugged. "I'll think about it, I try to keep my work and personal life separate."

Prentiss plastered a comical expression of pleading on her face, widening her eyes, pouting her lip, and clasping her hands together. "Please?"

"We'll see." He said, putting an end to the conversation. You and Morgan made eye contact, and you giggled quietly, earning a frown from Rossi.

"I'm with Prentiss on this one, I've always wanted to visit the infamous Rossi mansion."

He elbowed you playfully. "You're supposed to be on my side, kid."

"Sorry, dad." You shot back, prompting a laugh from Morgan and Prentiss.

Rossi merely shook his head at you, but you could see the small smile turning up the corners of his lips. Out of the very corner of your eye, you could see Spencer watching you. It was quite obvious he had something he wanted to say, but he just wouldn't.

Spit it out.

You sat quietly for a moment, listening to Prentiss talk about her cryptic sounding 'Sin-to-Win' weekend she had planned for the next time you all got time off. Morgan desperately wanted to know what this entailed, but Prentiss refused to tell him, looking smug with her little secret.

"I respect you, Morgan." She said, smiling. "But if you don't already know what "Sin-to-Win' means, you probably can't handle the answer."

You laughed at the frustrated expression on Morgan's face.

"Okay team," Hotch said, boarding the plane. "I've got some news, but first we need to keep going over the case."

Hotch signaled for the pilot to start the flight. He sat and started to direct the case. The first two hours of the trip were filled with theories on the livelihood of the unsub. You'd come to the conclusion that he seemed to be recreating an event over and over again. The extreme caution and detail that went into perfecting every crime scene is what tipped you off.

"You know, we should ask Garcia to check for men and women who died in the same way in the past. He might be reenacting something." You said, looking again at the case file. "Why else would he consistently use the same weapons and set the scenes up the same way? That's more effort than a usual signature."

Hotch nodded and made a note in his notebook. "When we land, we're all going to the station. There's a plan in place that we all need to be there to be debriefed on."

"What kind of plan?" Morgan questioned.

"It'll be easier to explain when we get there."

Turning away from your boss, you focused back on the file, looking over it a few more times before slipping it back into your bag and pulling out a book. The storyline of the random period-drama you'd grabbed off of your shelf on your way out of the house helped distract you from the knot of motion sickness building in your stomach. Flying for long periods of time made yo extremely nauseous, and you tried your hardest not to think about it. Halfway through the flight, the queasiness got the best of you and you leaned forward, resting your head on the table in front of you.

"You okay?" Prentiss asked, resting her hand on your back.

"Yeah, just a little nauseous." You responded, "The longer flights get me every time."

She rubbed your back comfortingly as you tried to control your queasiness. After a while, you felt the sickness fade into a more manageable unease, but you kept your head resting on the table, just in case. The slight shaking of the plane as it made the descent unsettled your stomach, but the landing was quick, and soon you were placing both feet on the tarmac, relieved to be back on solid ground. Luckily for the team, the tarmac was in a lot that connected to the police station, so it took you all about five minutes to walk over to the building. It was hot outside, especially as you crossed the black asphalt. As you neared the building, you could already sense the commotion inside. Stepping into the air-conditioned station, you were immediately overwhelmed. The chaos ensuing inside made it hard to figure out exactly what was going on. Officers rushed around the bullpen, and from the shouting, you could only conclude one thing. Another couple had been found.

You and the rest of the team were swept into the conference room with the chief of police. "Thank you for coming, I'm Chief Sisco," he started, "As you can tell, we've just found another body, about an hour away."

"Morgan, Prentiss, you two go ahead with the officers and check out the crime scene," Hotch said. They nodded and left quickly.

"The victims are Jessica Williams and Steven Carter. Jessica's best friend went to drop something off at their house and found the bodies."

Hotch nodded. "We'll have our technical analysis look into their backgrounds."

"We did already find one thing."

"And what's that?" Hotch asked, turning towards the bulletin board of evidence.

"Each of the victims were registered with a wedding planning agency. But, that was the only connection. Each couple worked with different planners through the company, and none of the contracted businesses overlapped. That's why we thought the internal investigation would be the best way to go. Did you think about what we discussed?" The chief asked, looking at Hotch.

"Yes, and I think it's a viable plan," Hotch responded before turning towards you and Spencer. "Are you guys ready?"

"Ready for what?" You asked, looking at your boss cautiously.

Hotch looked at you, then to Spencer, quite grimly. "To go undercover."