Today was a hard day for Reid. Every day since Amanda had left was hard but today was especially difficult. Since Amanda had left about a month ago, there had been a few bouts of contact from Amanda. It started with a goodbye message to Garcia and Morgan and then weeks of no contact. Reid had managed to get her number by hacking a slight portion of the encryption she had put on her records. He suspected that she had made it easy for him. It was most likely leftover from when she had been part of the CIA the first time around. Back when she still tried to send him letters.
Once he had her number, he was hesitant to use it until a few days after the long distant serial killer they dealt with. He had called Amanda and left a message saying he got pistol-whipped with a sniper rifle before Hotch kicked him 7 times all after he had failed his gun carry test. Then, to top off his already bad time, he had killed the suspect and it had finally hit him. Amanda didn't reply. A week later, however, Haley gave birth and Amanda sent her love to little Jack in the form of some stuffed animals and a few onesies with Jack's name on them.
Today was hard for Spencer because last night, right as he was getting ready for bed, his phone rang. He answered it without even looking at the caller ID, just assuming it Hotch telling him there was another case until Amanda spoke.
"You know, I never thought that being bullied would be good preparation for your future job. At least you knew how to absorb the blow without it hurting much. How's your face?"
"Amanda? Is that really you?"
"Who else would it be, Spencer? You did call me or were you meaning to leave a message for your mom? Did you finally upgrade from letters?"
"No, I still write her a letter every day. You know she doesn't do well with electronics."
"I was just hoping that she got better."
"No. Still the same. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I was calling to check on you. Being bullied may have taught you how to absorb the blows to ensure minimum damage but it also leaves lasting scars. Getting kicked in the stomach might bring back those memories, paired with killing someone, how are you, Spencer?"
"I'm okay. It's hard. I know that if I hadn't killed him he would've killed us but it's hard. I took someone's life. I-I don't know how to deal with that."
"You think of all the people you saved," she tells him simply. "You were in a hospital ER meaning there were patients and nurses, maybe even doctors. Completely innocent people that you saved by killing a killer. Do you remember why I told you that I wasn't a bully?"
"Because the people you were bullying deserved it. You can't bully a bully, you can simply give them a taste of their own medicine."
"Exactly and the same goes for a killer. You simply gave him a taste of his own medicine." Spencer then heard a male voice in the background and Amanda sighed. "Look, I'm glad you're okay. If things progress talk to someone, even if it's just Gideon or someone else from work. I have to go. Goodbye, Spencer.
He had trouble sleeping that night so he woke up late in the morning. Hotch didn't seem to mind or even notice. He's busy with the baby and trying to ignore his failure to get Amanda back. When Spencer gets in, he notices Elle's absence and asks Morgan about it. He tells him that she's heading to Texas to interview a prisoner. Spencer considers telling him about his talk with Amanda before deciding against it, not wanting anyone to know that he had Amanda's phone number as she was using a satellite phone rather than her normal one.
Before the conversation can continue, Hotch and JJ call them into the conference room to discuss a new case. 6 hostages are being held on a train. It isn't until Gideon gets into the room that they realize that one of the hostages is Elle. As they rush to get to Texas, things begin to escalate on the train.
After killing a guard and handcuffing Elle, the unsub has two guns and is clearly experiencing a psychotic break. As everyone on the train panics, one of the civilians manages to stay asleep through the whole encounter. She even keeps sleeping as the SUV drives up with loud sirens that catch the unsub's attention.
The team manages to convince the unsub that Gideon is the higher power and he tells that he wants 'it' removed. This leaves the team stumped as to what exactly 'it' is since every person suffers from different delusions. This is what Elle is attempting to explain to the passengers on the train.
"Does anyone have a phone with service? My team will need to know what 'it' is."
"He's a paranoid schizophrenic who clearly thinks he had a chip embedded in his arm by the government because his imaginary friend, the person who he keeps looking at and is currently yelling to shut up, is telling him so. He's the one calling all the shots. Teddy is the submissive personality and anyone that tries to talk to him will only get shot because of the hallucination he has conjured as a result of his disease," the sleeping passenger groans, sitting up and making her hood fall down to reveal none other than Amanda Hotchner.
"How do you know who he is?" Teddy's doctor asks in confusion.
"I was heading to Dallas to watch your lecture. I was hoping the train ride will allow me to sleep off my hangover. Clearly, that plan is going swimmingly," Amanda says with a sarcastic smile before digging into the duffle bag by her seat. She pulls out a satellite phone and dials a familiar number that she hadn't used in years.
"Hello?" Comes the gruff voice of Aaron Hotchner.
"Hey, Aaron. It's Amanda, your sister."
"I know who you are, Amanda. Not that I'm not happy you're finally returning my 10 million calls but I'm kinda busy right now."
"Dealing with the paranoid schizophrenic who thinks the government put a chip in his arm who's currently holding me and 5 others, including Elle, hostage on this shitty, hot train?"
"Wait, you're on the train?" Amanda turns around in her seat and quickly finds the camera, sending it a wave before Teddy yells at her to stop that so she turns back around and picks up the phone. "He thinks that he has a chip in his arm?"
"Yup, I saw the scars from where he tried to cut it out himself. But Aaron, he's not calling the shots."
"Why do you mean?"
"He's hallucinating someone else that's telling him what to do. All Teddy cares about is getting the chip out but his hallucination is telling him to kill people. Have Garcia look him up."
"She already did. We know all about his research on M-theory. Whatever that is."
"It's the theory that unifies all consistent versions of superstring theory."
Aaron is silent for a moment before sighing. "Sometimes I forget that you're a genius because you don't show it as much as Reid."
"Well, I'll start spouting statistics just for you."
"Thanks for the help, Amanda. We're gonna get you and Elle out of there."
"Whatever you say, brother dearest." With that, Amanda hangs up the phone and turns to Elle. "Now they know. Aaron says he'll get us out of here."
"Oh, so we're supposed to trust the government. They're the ones that got us into this mess," says the younger male passenger.
"No, you idiot. His mental instability is what got us into this mess. The government didn't actually plant a chip in him, he just thinks they did. He suffers from a severe mental illness that causes delusions and messes with his head. He is sick and he needs help," Amanda snaps before getting comfortable in her seat and waiting for the BAU's solution. A solution that came in the form of Spencer Reid.
He steps onto the train, only making eye contact with the unsub, who immediately makes him take off his vest. Then he goes over and pretends to take a chip out of his arm using a magic trick that Amanda had seen him perform a million and one times. "Did you see that?" Questions the younger male passenger again. "There really was a chip in his arm."
"No there wasn't, moron. They just have to make him think there is. He's playing into his delusion," she tries to explain before the unsub begins to get angry. He demands that Spencer turns the chip on but Elle quickly forms a lie about how it has to be inside someone's skin prompting the young man to stand up and begin talking about how he is with the unsub and everything. This leads Teddy to shoot the young man, only for Teddy's psychiatrist to step in the way.
Amanda immediately goes to her, ripping off her sweatshirt that she isn't really sure why she was still wearing in this heat anyway and pressing it to her wound, she orders the person who got her shot to put pressure on it as Spencer joins her. They treat her as best as they can before they hear Teddy yelling at Leo for lying and Spencer turns to his former best friend with a look. "No," she says immediately, able to tell what he wants.
"We have to. It's the only way."
"You do it. You don't need me. Besides, I'm out of practice."
"You were always better than me and it works better with two people. It's more convincing," he claims before turning to Teddy. "There isn't another one. You know that," he says before turning to where Ted had last looked at Leo. "Why don't you let him make his own decisions, Leo."
This brings the unsub to a standstill as he is shocked that Spencer saw Leo. "You...You can see him too?"
This time Amanda speaks. "Of course we can." She stands up. "I mean he's pretty hard to miss what with his big mouth. Telling you that we're all against you and that we want to hurt you. That we're making fun of you, that the fed was following you. That all of us are actually just government agents. It's pretty annoying if you ask me. Not to mention that he seems like a bad friend, wouldn't you say, Spencer?"
He nods emphatically. "I don't think a good friend would tell you to shoot someone that's helped you as much as Dr. Deaton has."
"He's right. Leo isn't your friend. That's why he's telling you to kill us right now because he's using you, Teddy." Amanda begins to approach him. "He's keeping you from doing what you need to do. What the other voices helped you do."
"They've been with you since you were a kid," Spencer starts, giving Amanda a look to which he receives a nod. "They made it easier to help you with your work in string theory, didn't they. You felt like you had to because you had a gift, you could see the strings."
"Your work is very interesting Dr. Bryar. I've read it. I'm not too big on physics but the way you explained M-theory...Everyone else said it wasn't plausible, that it couldn't be proven, but you did, you proved it, didn't you?"
"I did," he whispers, not even realizing how close Amanda is until she disarms him. Quickly grabbing both guns, switching on the safeties, ejecting the clips, and releasing the bullet from the chambers.
"Whoa," says the young man from the floor as Amanda hands the guns to Spencer.
"Glad we've got that handled," she says with a smile before sending a thumbs up to the camera as Teddy tries to rush her. She quickly dodges, grabbing his arm as she kicks his leg out from underneath him allowing her to twist his arm behind his back in the small space between rows on the train. "Spencer, do me a favor and get those handcuffs off Elle." He nods and quickly rushes to do as asked. He hands her the handcuff and she puts them on the unsub before leading him off the train.
As soon as they step off, however, Amanda is assaulted with the bright light known as the sun, so Spencer and Elle lead the suspect away, Spencer returning shortly with a pair of sunglasses he had commandeered from Morgan. She thanks him before being lead away by some police officers to ask what happened. As the team gets the gist from Spencer, Elle makes her way to Amanda.
"Hey."
"Hey," Amanda returns before frowning. "Ever wonder why the sun is so bright? It should really take a day off."
Elle laughs. "I think that's the hangover."
Amanda chuckles lightly. "You're probably right."
Elle nods before sighing. "Look, I wanted to say thank you because you and Spencer saved us all on that train and I also wanted to say I'm sorry. I was a real bitch to you when you were on the team. I said it was because I couldn't find anything out on you but I was really just jealous. You were new to the team and already a better profiler than I could ever wish to be. It just came simple to you and I didn't like that."
"Don't worry about it. I like my job, not as much as I like profiling but I don't think Aaron and I can work together. We have too big of a past."
"You mean like you and Spencer?" Amanda frowns so Elle elaborates. "I saw you two in there. You had this unspoken language. You obviously know each other well enough to be so... in sync, I guess. The way you talked him down, it was like you had done it before." Amanda chuckles awkwardly.
"We were in the same psychology class," she explains. "It's actually how we officially met and became friends. We were the youngest there so the teacher tended to pair us up. Plus I think it was the only way he could be sure everyone was doing the work because Spencer and I both had a habit of doing everything ourselves." Elle chuckles and notices Aaron approach right before another SUV pulls up and an older-looking man pops out.
"Amanda Rachel Hotchner! This does not look like an important conference that is vital you attend."
Amanda rolls her eyes. "That's because the train got held up, Matthias. I never made it to the conference."
"Well, Zachary already told me you were lying. You were going to see a conference about the progression of mental health treatments. I don't see how that's detrimental to what you do!" He shouts and Amanda groans. "Good lord. You're hungover, aren't you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, so if you could stop talking and get me a bottle of water and possibly some aspirin." The door suddenly opens and a handsome-looking man steps out and hands her a bottle of Gatorade as a second door opens and a girl steps out.
"Think fast," she jokes as she chucks the bottle of aspirin to Amanda, who catches it with no problem, prompting the other girl to swear. The three joke around, allowing Elle to learn the two newcomers' names are Kyle and Jenny, before Amanda excuses herself and walks towards her brother.
"You did good in there."
"Thanks. Guess my psych doctorate paid off."
"I'm sorry for being a dick to you. And for being a bad brother your entire life. I guess that somewhere along the way, I started to blame you for what dad did to me. I didn't even realize until we were dealing with this psycho hitman a few days ago."
"Yeah, I heard. How's your neck?"
"Fine, thanks," he chuckles only to pause before speaking once more, softly. "You can come back, you know."
She sighs. "No, I can't. It just won't work. You can say this now because I'm not there but things won't change, Aaron. I'm sorry." With that, she walks towards Derek and takes off the sunglasses, feeling the Gatorade and aspirin kicking in. "Thanks for the shades."
"How'd you know they were mine?"
"A) Spencer wears glasses so he can't wear sunglasses and B) Spencer would never buy sunglasses this cool," she jokes before he hugs her. "Tell Penny I said hi and I hope you guys liked your parting gift."
"Oh we did and I can totally see you in some tight spandex as you squat to pass a volleyball," he flirts, making her chuckle.
"Whatever, Derek. I have to go. The CIA awaits." He nods and she turns away. Walking to the SUV that she wished belonged to the BAU but she knows that she will never set foot in one of those again; she was right, it just wouldn't work. Meanwhile, Spencer watches as he sits next to Elle in the trunk of a police cruiser. The dark-haired woman says nothing as he watches Amanda leave without even a goodbye, worried how the boy genius will react, but Spencer's fine. He knows Amanda enough to know that she said goodbye to everyone that she was close to except for him because he had her number and she's expecting him to call again.
Dylan O'Brien as Kyle
Allison Brie as Jenny
Jeffery Dean Morgan as Matthias