a/n: i would like to start this by saying i know literally nothing about New Jersey. I dead ass looked up cities in New Jersey and Ridgewood stood out to me. So, if by chance you are from Jersey or Ridgewood, please do not tear me to shreds. again i live in a small town in the bay and I've never even been to the East Coast lol.<3
oh, and I'm pretty sure nothing the BAU does in this chapter is legal. like literally having Att work with the team but it's for the sake of the story. also, almost nothing they do in the show is legal HAHAHHA.
TW: mentions of past abuse, r*pe, and suic*de attempt
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Much to Atticus's demise, the team was in Ridgewood before she knew it. Once they landed, Hotch handed Morgan the keys to one of the SUV's before Atticus swiftly swiped them.
"Woah, woah, lil mama, what makes you think you're driving?"
"Hmm, let's see. I have a better chance of 'vibing it' than you do because I, unfortunately, know this shit hole like a map is engraved on the back of my hand, Spencer drives like a 75-year-old man who doesn't have his glasses on, and Emily's fucking nuts.", Atticus had been on edge all week. Maybe it was the fact she was barely sleeping because she was so worried about Spencer. Or maybe the sobriety was catching up with her. Or maybe it was the fact she had to go back to the town that held 15 years' worth of trauma.
"Alright, alright. All I'm saying is you have a mean case of road rage."
"What's your point? Deal with it."
Derek's point was proven as soon as they got on the freeway.
"What the fucking fuck! Since when did every fucker here turn into a little bitch who abides by traffic laws? Motherfuckers who the hell taught you how to drive?! Some little pussy bitch with a stick up their ass?! Damn! How in the fuck is there more traffic here than in D.C.? This shit hole isn't even that big!"
"Atti! Atti! Hands on wheel please! Jesus Christ!"
"Oh my god! Fuck this!", luckily they were right near an exit. Which was unfortunate for the other three in the car as she skirted off the highway.
"Oh my god! Are you trying to kill us?"
"Bitch, you wish."
Somehow they had managed to make it to the police station in one piece.
"Officer Ricci--", Hotch extended his hand to the man, "I'm SSA, Aaron Hotchner. These are SSA's, Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, and Jareau, Dr. Spencer Reid, and I'm sure most of you are familiar with Dr. Parker-Reid."
"Oh, yeah. We know her alright.", the office sighed. Att decided it was best to bite her tongue for now, though she wasn't sure just how long that would last. Of course, the team knew it wouldn't be very long based on the way she clenched her jaw, that piercing look when most of her bright green eyes were consumed by black, and the way she pressed her pen down so fucking hard while drawing on a map with Spencer. She reached her breaking point when she went to go get coffee and her ears were drowning in the condescending remarks being whispered under people's breath. She turned around to the three officers standing behind her. Who just so happened to stay with the department since her teenage years.
She just blew up, pointing at each of them as she spoke, "Fuck you. Fuck you.", she looked the Seargent dead in the eye, "And especially. Fuck. You."
Att stormed out of the building and naturally Spencer followed her, "What the hell, Att!"
"What?"
"How many times do I have to tell you, you can't just do that to people?!"
"Really? Because it seems to me that I'm perfectly capable."
"Oh, my god.", he sighed, "C'mon, you know that's not what I meant, smartass."
"Still. I have every right to be pissed."
"Do you?"
"Abso-fucking-lutely! Are you kidding? You act like those aren't the same people who didn't give a shit about what happened to my brothers, my sister, or even my fucking mom! No matter how many times we showed evidence, pictures, videos, literal fucking bruises all over us, they didn't give a shit! They didn't care that my dad used to shoot me up with heroin when he paid boys to rape me! They didn't care when I tried to fucking kill myself! They didn't care that all the times I got into trouble it was a desperate plea for help! They didn't care when my dad threatened to kill his whole family! And you know why? Because it was easier to get rid of the problem children in Ridgewood than file papers to CPS. So, yes, I have every single god damn right to boil with rage for all the fucked up shit this place, and those people have done to me.", her chest was heaving from all the rage boiling in her, "Oh, and one more thing. I don't know who the fuck you're talking to like that. Because I know damn well it's not me. Nobody gets to talk to me like I'm just their bitch, not even you. And if you really insist on doing it--", she pulled the three rings off her finger, "then you can have these back.".;
Before Spencer could even say anything, she disappeared around the corner. Morgan walked up behind him, "What the hell just happened? Where she'd go?"
Spencer's breathing was heavy, "Holy crap. I knew coming back would be hard for her, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. But, I think I know where she's going.", he pulled out his phone and dialed Garcia's number.
"Boy wonder, how can I be of assistance? How's Atti?"
"Um--not great. I need you to look up a guy named RJ Jackson."
"Am I looking for a bad guy or?"
"No, no. He was Att's best friend in high school and I just wanna know if he still lives here."
"Ok! Good news, he's still in town and he owns a bar called 'Cheers and Beers' about ten minutes from where you guys are."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Atticus walked into the bar and took a seat.
"Holy shit. No fucking way! If it isn't Ms. Atticus Parker!"
"Hi!", she giggled.
"What the hell are you doing here? You always said you were never coming back!"
"I know, I know. But--uh I'm actually here because apparently there's an entire group that wants to take me out."
"Like, you're here on investigation?"
"Mhm."
"What? You FBI or something now?"
"Does marrying in count?"
"No."
"Then, no."
"Hold up, married?!"
"Yup.", she stared down the glass of whiskey he had put in front of her as she swirled it around.
"Well--where's that ring?"
"Long story."
"Oh, honey, I got all day.", she explained the situation to him as best she could, "Sweetheart, there's gotta be more you're not telling me, you haven't taken one sip of your drink."
"Yeah, well I'm sober now."
"No shit. How long?"
"Four months.", she tapped the counter nervously, her fingers on each side of the glass, "It's really not worth throwing that all away over some petty argument is it?"
"No way, honey."
"Oh, fuck me.", she sighed, putting her head down on the counter. RJ took the glass off the bar top and poured it out, replacing it with water.
A few minutes later, Spencer walked in and sat next to her. Morgan had opted to stay in the car to give them some space. He placed his hand on the small of her back, rubbing soft circles, "Atti...", his voice was barely above a whisper, "You were right. You have a right to be angry. And I should've taken it more seriously, I'm sorry. But it's not fair for you to take your frustration out on me."
She picked her head up, "I know. I'm sorry.", she swallowed thickly, "I love you."
"I love you too, Bubba.", Atti rested her head on his shoulder and he pulled her rings out of her pocket, placing them back where they belonged.
"I'm assuming you're the husband?", RJ chuckled.
"Yup. Oh--uh, sorry. Dr. Spencer Reid.", RJ stuck his hand out for him to shake to which he declined, leaving the other man puzzled.
"He doesn't shake hands. He has a think about germs."
"Uh--we should probably go. But um--it was nice to meet you.", Spencer stood up, taking Atti's hand in his.
"Right. Well, it was nice to see you again Att, and nice to meet your Dr. Husband.", she huffed out a small laugh.
"Yeah, well I'll see you never."
She got into the car with Spencer and Morgan.
"Nice to see you two getting along again.", Derek chuckled, "I just got off the phone with Hotch, and if you're up for it, we think doing a cognitive interview with you would help, since you don't remember much from your childhood normally."
"Whatever the fuck gets us out of here quickest, I am willing to do."
"Great."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Atticus sat across the table from Spencer in an interview room.
"Alright, just close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Remember that you're safe, and I'm right here. If it gets to be too much, we can stop right away."
"Baby, I know how this works. But I don't understand what you guys wanna know."
"Anything. We have a strong indication that whatever is happening is related to your dad, so try to remember something that sticks out."
She closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, "Ok."
"Where are you?"
"I'm at home. I'm like 12 or 13."
"And what's happening?"
"My brothers are arguing with my dad."
"What are they arguing about?"
"My brothers are yelling at him about how I'm not a drug mule, that I can do something so much better with my mind than work for his business. Which is only making him more upset, because one day someone will have to take over for him, but since my brothers refused, and my sister fought with him nearly every day about it, he would have to make his worst kid do it."
"What does he mean by business?"
"I don't know."
"What did he mean by drug mule? Did he want a part of you and your brother's profit?"
"No. It's exactly what it sounds like. He wanted me to be his prodigy. He wanted to use my intelligence to his benefit."
"Ok. That was good. Do you think you can try something else?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me what you see."
"I'm a little bit older now, about to turn fourteen. My brothers are long gone. My sister's at a friend's house. My mom and dad are fighting. So this must be just before he left."
"And what are they fighting about?"
"I'm not really sure. It's kinda hard to hear."
"Where are you?"
"In a closet."
"Why?"
"My mom put me in there and locked the door in an attempt to keep me safe."
"Can you listen really hard and focus on their words?"
"They're talking about my dad's business again. My mom's telling him that it's too dangerous to expose me to that kind of thing. He's saying that I'm perfect to take over one day because I have his smarts. That I would be perfect because I have sealed records, which means I'm already under the radar.", she scrunched up her nose, "Can we stop now?"
"Of course. You did really good, Bubba."
After explaining what Atticus had said, Hotch decided it was a good time to call it a night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Atticus flopped down onto the hotel bed, "I don't know how you guys do this every day."
"You get used to it eventually."
"Really? Because I feel like my brain physically fucking hurts."
"Would it help if I kissed it better?"
She smiled, "Maybe..."
Spencer didn't hesitate to reciprocate her smile and climb on top of her. He covered her face in kisses, starting with her forehead, moving down the bride of her nose, her cheeks, and finally softly connecting their lips. What started off as innocent quickly devolved into the opposite. Atticus brushed her tongue against his bottom lip, deepening the kiss and only pulling away to lift her shirt over her head. Spencer trailed sloppy kisses on her jaw down to her neck, sucking softly and leaving faint bruises on her throat. She sat up slightly so that he could unhook her bra. He immediately enveloped one of her nipples in his mouth, making her whimper. He trailed his kisses down her stomach while fumbling with the button on her pants. Once he finally managed to get them undone and off, along with her panties he wasted no more time.
He lapped up her arousal before moving up to her clit, making lazy circles. Her hands snapped to his hair out of habit as she moaned softly. He picked up the pace and added a finger, making her hips push up against him and curse under her breath, "Fuck, fuck, fuck--I'm gonna cum!", he hummed against her contentedly, pushing her over the edge. He sat back up and the sight of him with plump lips and his chin glistening only turned her on more. No matter how many times she saw him like that over the years, it never got old. He reconnected their lips, one hand propping himself up on the bed, the other undoing his shirt while she reached down to get his pants off. Many frantic, sloppy seconds later, they had succeeded in their mission. He rubbed his cock up and down her slit a few times before pushing into her, both of them groaning at the feeling.
"You feel so good, baby.", Spencer practically moaned. Moaned. God, she thought the noises he made were so pretty.
She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist, forcing him deeper, brushing against the spot that made her shake, "Oh, yes! Fuck, right there!", he picked up the pace, pushing them both over the edge.
"Oh, fuck! I'm so close baby!", he moved his hand in between them to rub circles around her clit, "Shit! You want me to cum inside? Fill you up?"
Her response was delayed and full of stutters, "God, yes! Want you to fill up my pussy so bad, baby!", she was always shocked at his ability to fuck her IQ from 185 to 60. As she came again, he couldn't hold back anymore, spilling thick white ropes inside her.
They stayed there to catch their breath, Spencer tucked his head into the crook of her neck, still leaving soft kisses that made her giggle. After a couple of minutes, he took a pillow and propped her hips up with it. She looked at him slightly confused.
"I read somewhere that elevating one's legs after sex can increase chances of pregnancy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was now around 12:30 AM when Spencer heard a knock on their hotel door. He wasn't surprised to be greeted by Emily, JJ, and Morgan.
"What are you guys doing?", he yawned.
"We can't sleep.", JJ said.
"And we wanted to see if Att's doing better."
"That and we think we know how to cheer her up."
"And that would be?"
"Watching cheesy rom-com's that always make her cry for some reason while eating a bunch of snacks we got."
"I-I don't understand how making her watch a movie she'll cry at will 'cheer her up'."
"No--it's not like...bad tears. Well, kind of but then she laughs at how stupid it is to cry at things like this. And she ends up laughing so hard about it that she cries again."
Spencer contemplated for a few seconds before sighing and moving out of the way, "Ok. But she's in the shower right now."
They sat around for a few minutes waiting for her, talking about mindless things.
"Holy fuck!", Att's scream was muffled through the hotel walls but definitely still audible as it made all their heads whip around.
"Holy shit. Kid, is she ok?"
"She probably just saw a bug or something.", Emily chuckled.
"No, no--if there was a spider or bug of any sort, really, she would've literally screamed. Like not words, just aggressive babbles that resemble screams--", he was cut off as the bathroom door propped open.
"Spencer!", for some reason that is what sent him into high alert, he peeked his head in the door that was ajar.
"What? What's wrong?!"
"Nothing, nothing's wrong! I just had a fucking epiphany!"
"About?", God, for a genius his head could be so full of hot air.
"Just--wait, wait--"
"Ok, but just so you know there are other people in here--so make sure you..."
"Yeah, yeah. Got it."
A few minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with sopping wet hair and clothes that were definitely way too big for her small frame. She stood in front of the group of agents, blinking hard a few times, "Spencer--", she pointed but not at him, at JJ instead, "do you know where my glasses are? I can't fucking see any of you.", she chuckled. He stood up and dug through her bag, walked over to her, and placed the round frame glasses on her face. Now that everyone wasn't some blurry shape, she realized that they were all looking at her like she was insane, "What?"
"There is so much to unpack here.", Emily giggled.
"Like what?"
"The fact that you just pointed at me and called me Spencer.", JJ commented.
"Or the outfit."
She looked down, "Ok, ouch. I love frogs and I love wearing men's boxers. What about it?"
"Alright, who cares? What we're really thinking about is how you said you had an epiphany and then didn't explain."
"Right.", she sat down on the edge of the bed next to Spencer, "Ok, I was thinking about the cognitive interviews we did earlier and how my dad wanted me for his business. And when he first brought it up it was around the time he found out me and my brothers were dealing with the shit I made. And that led me to how we always had sketchy ass people coming and going. Which honestly isn't that weird. But it was how my mom never let them in our house because it was 'too dangerous'. I mean, there was a lot about my childhood that was dangerous but--", she took a deep breath, "I'm rambling. Ok. All that shit led me to what my dad said to me when he left. He told me that he would come back for me because I had an important job to do. Anyway, a few weeks ago, in the bookstore, the guy who shot Spencer didn't seem to know anything about him. He didn't say his name, or anything about this job, he didn't even know we were married, he just assumed we were dating because we were holding hands."
"Ok, Bubba, no offense but where is this going?"
"I'm getting there! We know that this all ties back to my dad because even behind bars that bitch still finds a way to fuck with me. And it sounds crazy, but all the shit he said about his business and using me, that I had a job to do, that he wanted me to take his place, be his prodigy. He was leading a mob. I mean think about it, it makes sense right?", she waited and after a few minutes they all nodded in agreement, "And I know I'm no profiler, but I really think I'm right about this. But that's not where it ends. That guy was able to track me down because I haven't moved since my piece of shit father tried to kill me, and it makes sense that he wouldn't know about Spencer because my dad would have no way of knowing. And I've spent forever wondering why he didn't just shoot me instead. But that was never the plan. The plan wasn't to take me out. It was to take out anything that got in their way of gaining access to me. They don't want me dead--"
Spencer finished her sentence for her, "They want a leader."
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a/n: wow. ok. i really got carried away here. uh--this chapter was a fucking rollercoaster of emotions, holy fuck. and it's long af. like dead ass over 3k words lol. so, I hope ya'll like it lmao.<3