Honesty - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

8. Out With It

"The team need to be able to trust who they're working with. I can't have them thinking I'm being lenient with you just because you're my daughter..." 

I looked up at him in a heartbeat, staring into his eyes as he acknowledged for the first time that I was actually his own.

"I-I understand." I stuttered, realising he was waiting on my reply.
"They're going to need answers. And don't be surprised if it's like starting all over again. They're going to take it personally, each of them, and you're going to have to make it up to them." I nodded my head, I'd thought as much.

"To tell you the truth, sir, I thought you were bringing me in here to fire me, so the fact that you're telling me to explain myself to them is actually letting me off real easy." Hotch smiled as he got to his feet.

"Believe me, explaining yourself to this team, is far from letting you off easy."

The Doctor

I was purposely late so I wouldn't need to interact with Joy / Melanie at the coffee countertops as usual. Instead, I entered the office just as Garcia was getting ready to begin - and I had my own coffee-shop coffee.

"Sorry, I'm late." I mumbled as I sat down on my seat, avoiding all eyes. I realised she was in her usual place next to me, and I ignored that too.

"Okay, so, Texas have a serial bomber on their hands."
"A bomber?" Morgan echoed.

"Yes, chocolate man, a bomber," Garcia clicked up photos of three buildings on fire. "The first bomb was a month ago, an abandoned building, an old chemical factory. Local PD and fire department thought it might've just been left-over chemicals reacting. However, after the second bomb exploded three weeks later, this time in a local high school out-of-hours, they knew it wasn't just by chance. 

"They went back to the old factory but found no traces of any bomb or transmitter. The school bomb killed the three security guards on duty at the time which was the first time there'd been any casualties. The third bomb was yesterday afternoon, in another high-school, this time casualty count was a hundred. Twenty of those were DOA, a further fifteen later died in hospital and the rest are still being treated in different hospitals for their injuries."

"Did they say what the bomb was made of?" Morgan asked.
"Uhm... That info is on your tablets." Garcia said, staring at the list on the screen and shuddering.
"So we're essentially looking for an experimenting scientist." I said matter-of-factly after looking at the list of chemicals found on site.

"What makes you say that?" JJ asked.
"Well, this guy is using chemicals, so really it's more accurate to call these explosions not bombs. I mean, yes they're bombs, but they're made with chemicals essentially and the electronics are brought in as... almost an after-thought. The places he's targeting prove my theory also; an abandoned chemical factory, an out-of-hours high school with the bomb being found detonated in the science department, and an in-hours high school with bomb detonation location being in the science department also. The unsub is definitely a scientist of some sort."

"Well whoever he is, he needs to be caught fast. Wheels up in twenty."

I hurried out of the office behind Hotch; doing anything and everything in my power to physically and mentally avoid Joy / Melanie.

The Daughter

I opened my mouth to call for Spencer but he immediately left alongside Hotch. I knew that was specifically to avoid me, but I'd be damned if I was going to let my stupid past ruin things with my team and me. I needed them and I believed they needed me.