White Lies ✓

16 - Surrogates

The buzzing of your phone early Monday morning is what pulled you awake. 

"Hello?" 

Hotch spoke quickly. "Y/L/N? I need you to come in, we have a case."

"Yes sir," you said as he hung up. 

You groaned as you rolled over in bed, burying your face in the pillow. You loved your team and you loved your job, but why did all the unsubs insist on murdering people so early in the morning? Don't they need sleep too? You climbed out of bed and opened your closet, pulling out a white collared shirt, a dark green sweater, and a pair of dark slacks. You dressed quickly and threw your hair up into a ponytail before rushing out the door. As you stepped into the cold October air, you noticed Spencer sitting at the bus stop.

"Spencer!" You called, waving him over. "Wanna ride?" 

He shrugged and walked over to you, following you to your car. He slid into the warm car next to you. The dark circles that usually decorated his face were slightly darker this morning, evidence of a sleepless night. 

"I'm sorry about the other night," he said. "I was in a bad mood, and your, activities set me off."

You laughed quietly as you drove to work. "I'll be quieter next time."

"Thanks," He chuckled. Spencer reached into his satchel and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I wanted to let you know, next week, I'll be taking a two-week break and going to a program." He passed you the flyer. You unfolded it, glancing down at the page before looking back towards the road.

Virginia Beach Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center.

"That's good to hear," you said, passing back the flyer. "You'll be back in time for Halloween right? Garcia's got big things planned."

Spencer laughed. "She's already got me making a ranked list of the best horror movies for her little screening. Halloween is my specialty." It was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "I wish you hadn't seen that side of me, it makes everything so much more complicated."

"Well, I'm glad I saw it. If I hadn't, who knows where you'd be now."

"I just want to sleep, you know? Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Tobias Hankel standing over me, smiling, but he'd go away when I was high."

"Who's Tobias?"

"He was the unsub who gave me the drugs. He had multiple personality disorder, and he thought he was helping me by drugging me. After that, the only way I could sleep was if I'd shoot up. Even now. I couldn't sleep last night." He shook his head. "You have no clue how much I wanted to sneak into your apartment and find my bag."

"You wouldn't have found it, I flushed it all down the toilet," you shrugged.

"Really?" He asked.

You shrugged. "I couldn't sleep knowing I had strong ass opioids in my bathroom cabinet."

He laughed quietly. "I do have one question though," he said, smiling. "Why did I wake up in the bathtub?"

You joined in on his laughter. "I saw it on a TV show, this girl overdosed and her boyfriend put her in the bathtub. I had no clue what it would do but, anything to keep you from dying."

"Aw," Spencer faked adoration. "So you do care about me?"

"No way, I was just trying to keep my job. Hotch would kill me if his Boy Genius died on my watch."

"True," he agreed. 

You parked the car and the two of you rushed up to the headquarters. You dropped your bag off at your desk before joining the rest of the team by the roundtable.