❛ 𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑫 𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑪𝑬 ❜
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•☽.⭒✻❙ 𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 ❙✻⭒.☾•
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔
❝ 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲. ❞
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𝑰 𝑾𝑨𝑵𝑵𝑨 𝑩𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹𝑺
𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒚𝒔
❛ secrets i have held in my heart are harder to hide than i thought ❜
𝐼𝑇 𝑊𝐴𝑆 𝑆𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐷𝐴𝑌 𝑁𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇 so of course, neither Spencer or Valentina had any plans. She was going over to Spencer's house since he needed help putting together a new coffee table. Spencer lacks in the strength department and Valentina goes on runs and trains with a punching bag everyday, so she's the complete opposite.
Valentina wasn't going to work, so she was dressed very differently than she normally is. Valentina wore black Docs, which she did wear to work often, but they were paired with scrunched socks, black tights, and brown shorts that had a grandpa sweater hanging over them. She knocked on the door of his apartment and upon seeing her in different attire, Spencer's heart skipped a beat.
"Hey, Spence. I brought my tools." Valentina only held up her hands when she said that, which confused him a little. "Your hands?"
"Look, Bruce Lee's hands may be registered as lethal weapons, but my hands are registered as wrenches." Valentina joked as she shook her hands a little. Spencer was incredibly glad he got to be graced by her charm on a day he normally wouldn't see her. Spencer laughed and moved to let her inside as he complimented, "You're amazing, Val."
"Spence, if you keep complimenting me, I may just fall in love with you." Valentina teased, but it only made Spencer more nervous. "I thought you already were?"
"In your dreams, beautiful." Valentina ruffled his hair before she actually walked inside of his apartment. As Spencer closed the door behind her, Valentina took in her surroundings. Spencer's apartment was filled with old artworks from the impressionist and expressionist time period, and old wood furniture holding up his thousands of books. "Oh my god, this is exactly what I imagined your apartment would look like."
"Is it that bad?" Spencer spoke with a nervous laugh. Valentina shook her head as she turned to him. "No. I like it. It's very you."
Spencer smiled as he held out his hand, offering to take her purse. She handed it to him so Spencer could hang it up by the door as Valentina walked more into his living room. She found the box he had yet to open. She took a knife she always kept in her shoe and used it to cut the tape off. "I really appreciate you doing this for me."
"Of course, Spence, anything for you. I basically put together my brother, Maxwell's entire apartment by myself, so this is nothing. I expect payment from you though."
"Do you accept tea?"
"Only if it's-" Valentina began, but Spencer knew exactly what she was going to say. "Earl gray, I remember."
Valentina let a small smile form as she watched Spencer walk into his kitchen. Her eyes lingered for a little longer than she figured they would, but her admiring gaze only faltered when her phone rang. Valentina took it out of her back pocket and saw that it was Morgan. Spencer listened in from the kitchen, "Hey, Morgan...Are you serious?...Right now?...Yeah, I'll tell Spencer. We'll be there soon."
Valentina hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket as Spencer could have just guessed what it was, "They need us at work?"
"When do they not?"
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
Hotch, Morgan, Elle, Valentina, and Spencer had all gotten to the office at roughly the same time. They were all gathered around their desks, Spencer sitting in Valentina's chair, while she was leaning on the back of it. None of them seemed to have the time to change, which showed how truly tired and ill prepared they were, but their minds were still sharp.
They were told that Gideon and his friend, Max Ryan, had been at the BAU all night working on an old case in which the unsub was resurfacing. No one but Spencer was excited. "So the two of them have been here all night?"
"Apparently." Hotch muttered before Elle blessed them with her sarcasm. "Where else would any of us be on a Saturday night? It's not like we have lives or anything."
"Guys, we are about to meet Max Ryan, the guy responsible for catching the Boise Child Killer." Spencer spoke a little too excitedly, which only earned a small pat on the arm from Valentina, who found his eccentric interests adorable. Spencer had then turned to Hotch, "Have you ever talked to him before?"
"He's pretty intense, brusque. Not much of a bedside manner." Hotch explained, to which Valentina added something she had heard from whispers, "Wasn't he forced into early retirement?"
"No, he chose to retire. He's written a new book on the Keystone Killer case." Spencer corrected, but Hotch then corrected him, "He moved to Philadelphia to be closer to the crime scenes."
"That's a BAU retirement if I've ever heard one."
The rest of the BAU moved into the conference room where they found Gideon and his friend. There was some evidence already on the board, it was a letter from the Keystone Killer, which Spencer went right up to and read it aloud, "Who in his mind has not probed the black water? Aren't visits from old friends refreshing? Especially when we've occupied to much of each others' mind. We're like two volumes of the same book, Max. Why don't we add a few more chapters. I will lead you to me. If you break the code. It is far too long. I am alive again. KK. John Steinbeck, East of Eden."
"A story of good and evil, love and hate." Valentina specified, familiar with the story because of Spencer. Ryan, who was newer there didn't even introduce himself to the rest of the team, he just got right to the point. "There's been some new activity on the Keystone Killer case."
"He was at Ryan's lecture last night." Gideon clarified, which was a shocking amount of news to everyone, but Valentina was the one that questioned it, "He got away?"
"Would we have woken you up if we caught him, sweetheart?" Ryan retorted much harsher than he needed to. Valentina's jaw immediately clenched and she crossed her arms in front of her chest as she looked over at Hotch. He only shook his head, silently telling her to not engage, which she didn't.
"He handed this letter to the security guard." Gideon handed the paper to Spencer as Gideon continued, "And he included two driver's licenses with it. One from his last victim."
"Last known victim. Amy Jennings, strangled in 1987." Ryan corrected as Valentina leaned over Spencer's shoulder to look at the word search. Because she does puzzles on the plane all the time, she's become such a natural that she was already spotting things. Hotch noticed that she was mouthing things to herself and knew Valentina's mind was going. "You see something, Valentina?"
"Yeah. What is the significance of 'black bra' and 'grey wool socks'?" Valentina questioned, having Spencer's eyes flicker over to her. He was genuinely surprised that she was able to find that so fast, even before him. Spencer admired Valentina's mind.
"That's what Amy Jennings was wearing when we found her." Ryan explained, to which Morgan too found a little suspicious. Him and Valentina were following the same train of thought. "That's a lot of detail to remember for twenty years. The Green River Killer couldn't remember where the bodies were buried, much less what they were wearing."
"Well, some unsubs take pictures. Print them themselves so they can manipulate the scene, bring it to life. That would explain he level of detail." Hotch pointed out. Now, Spencer was starting to notice things in the word search. With his brilliant mind and Valentina's interest in puzzles, there was no code they couldn't decipher. "Does 'no fight' and 'rear window' have anything to do with the Jennings case?"
"No. He entered in through the front door. There's ample evidence that Any fought his very hard. No, he's referring to a new victim here." Ryan was sure of this.
"The second driver's license?" Elle questioned, wanting to know the other victim, to which Gideon informed, "Carla Bromwell."
"There's a 'C Bromwell' in the puzzle." Valentina pointed out, which Gideon had familiarized himself with. "Philly P.D. went to the address on the license a little while ago. Found her suffocated with a plastic bag."
"Suffocated? His previous victims were strangled. His MO's different." Morgan acknowledged, him being quite on edge about this case. It wasn't making it any easier that Ryan was being difficult about everything. "He hasn't been killing all along, has he?"
"It would've been difficult to tie these new murders to the Keystone Killer, what with the change of methodology and the time that's elapsed between kills." Hotch explained, but Ryan was set on his instincts. "If he had been active, I would have known."
"Actually, you probably wouldn't have. It's not impossible for an unsub to switch his MO. The Zodiac Killer went from stabbing to shooting." Valentina explained, still a little bitter from the dismissal and 'sweetheart' comment earlier, but instead of retaliating because Hotch told her not to, she was rather intimidating this man with her intelligence. Ryan seemed to be having a hard time believing her, however. "Yes, but the Zodiac wanted to take the credit. This bastard didn't do anything in secret."
All of a sudden, JJ had walked into the room, having finally arrived at the BAU with a coffee in her hand. "I'd say good morning, but it's still dark outside. Gideon, can you put on the news?"
Gideon did as he was asked and flicked on the news, everyone listening on, "The Philadelphia Police were notified late last night of a letter that was hand delivered to this news station. Apparently, it was written by the infamous Keystone Killer, who's wanted in connection with the murders of seven women back in the late 1980s. He also included a photograph of a woman. She appears to be dead in the photo, suffocated with a plastic bag. Now, subsequently, police discovered a body in the Overbrook area, but they are not confirming that it's the woman in this picture."
The man speaking on the news was referring to the picture of a dead woman with a plastic bag over her head that the BAU had a hold of. "He works fast. Meet you all on the plane in thirty minutes."
There wasn't much else that Hotch needed to say, their briefing was done. Since they were a little under-prepared, everyone needed those extra thirty minutes to gather their belongings and get their go-bags so they could get on the plane to Philadelphia.
On the plane, Spencer and Valentina were sitting next to each other and across from Gideon and Morgan. Elle, Hotch, and Ryan were sitting on the couch. Garcia was on speaker with all of them, giving them the information she had just learned, "Philly P.D. confirmed that Carla Bromwell's been dead less that twelve hours. She was forty-seven."
"The victims are getting older, which is a little unusual. Victimology rarely changes." Elle pointed out, seeing the pattern beginning to unfold, which rarely happens in a profile. Garcia did have a little more, "Her hands and feet were bound with Flex-cuffs."
"No ropes or tape?" Valentina questioned, finding the mode of entrapment odd. "That's what they said. They're waiting at the crime scene for you guys. Good luck, guys."
Garcia proceeded to hang up the phone, leaving the BAU agents to work past a few more brainstorm ideas. Hotch tried to work things out by simply saying them out loud. "So, older victims and a different mode of binding and killing. Maybe the note means we have a copycat on our hands?"
"A copycat who just happens to have Any Jennings' driver's license? No. No, it's the Keystone Killer." Ryan reiterated before pacing over to the other end of the plane. For some reason, he was allowed to be working on this case even if he was no longer an agent.
Once he was far enough away, Derek spoke in a hushed voice, "How are we supposed to work with him? Gideon, He's not even an active agent."
"He's here because he knows the case better than any of us. We're leading the investigation, he's only consulting." Gideon explained, to which Valentina did not believe at all. "Has anyone told him that?"
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
Upon landing in the city, the BAU team and Ryan had all immediately gone to the crime scene. Hotch, Spencer, and Valentina had all gone to the second floor in the victim's house. They were in one of the bedrooms, looking around for any clues from the Keystone Killer while Spencer had a curiosity, "What do you guys think of Ryan?"
"I think he's a pretentious has-been trying to relive his glory days by proving he's right instead of focusing on actually solving the crime." Valentina explained, earning a small glare from Hotch. She immediately lowered her head a little as she continued looking around the room. She doesn't take kindly to people underestimating her or treating her as if she's lesser than. Hotch didn't like how Ryan spoke to her either, but he didn't want Valentina to say something she'd regret.
"He hasn't changed much." Hotch answered Spencer's question, but Spencer was still incredibly optimistic, "I think we can learn a lot from him."
"What could you possibly learn that you don't already know?" Hotch wondered, but of course, Spencer had a legitimate, braniac-type answer. "Hotch, repetitive thinking is a death knell for the brain. For complete brain usage, diverse stimulation is the key."
"Guys." Valentina called them over, having spotted a new puzzle from the Keystone killer. They saw the word search, so Hotch motioned for the two to follow him. The three walked downstairs to find Elle, Gideon, and Ryan. Valentina held it up before handing it to Ryan, "Found another note."
Ryan read it aloud, "In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."
"He's quoting Sir Francis Bacon now." Gideon pointed out as Ryan elaborated, "Yeah, I used this specific quote in my book."
"Page hundred and eighty-four." Everyone looked up to Spencer, the BAU not being shocked by this piece of information, but Ryan wasn't used to Spencer's unique mind. He had to explain, "I read it on the plane."
"And you remember the page number of the quote?" Ryan asked with a tone that suggested he was being judgemental, which Valentina didn't like. She already wasn't keen on Ryan, but she didn't want him judging Spencer either when she sees Spencer as more than perfect. "Yes, he did."
Ryan looked over to Valentina, who was glaring at him. There was some tension between them, which was clear, but it was only because the first thing he said to her was misogynistic.
"He says to expect another gift in two days." Ryan pointed out one of the parts of the note, which was confusing to Elle, "A gift?"
"He calls his victims gifts. Gifts for Ryan." Valentina explained, having familiarized herself with this case pretty well on the plane. She and Spencer had gone over it extensively. It was a rough truth that the Keystone Killer was so obsessed with torturing Ryan, but if Ryan didn't start trusting the BAU, there was a chance that the Keystone Killer may never be caught.
Once the BAU had returned to the police station, they wanted to give the already existing profile to the local cops, which Hotch started out with, "A lot of things have changed in twenty years, including the age of the Keystone Killer's victims."
"He's older, his victims are older. Makes sense to me." One of the officers tried to find the logic in it, but he was missing key points of information, which Valentina provided them with. "Most unsubs have very specific fantasies, it lets them think they're killing the same person over and over again. This unsub has a preference for young brunettes, and now he's switching to older women."
"Well, what does that mean?" Another officer questioned, now it being Spencer to explain this with another and more common example, "Ted Bundy only killed women that looked like his fiancée. But then he devolved and he brutally attacked a house full of sorority sisters that looked nothing like his previous victims. He went off script. His final victim was a twelve year old girl. When the police found the van that he used to kill her, the amount of blood revealed that he had lost complete control. It was that de-evolution that eventually led to his capture."
"This unsub could be devolving into a frenzy, he may mess up soon." Valentina simplified it before Morgan had in addition, "The Keystone Killer's de-evolution is only a theory. We need to be prepared for anything."
"And if he is in a frenzy, there's no telling how quickly he'll fall apart or how many more victims he'll take with him. So, we're going to go over everything we know, old and new, and hopefully find him before we find another body."
"We'll start with Agent Ryan's original profile. Max, you want to present it?" Gideon had turned to Ryan, who only shook his head and left the room. Seeing as how that was decently awkward and not helpful to anyone, Gideon followed him out and Hotch took the reins, knowing the case well and wanting everyone to have the correct information, but not before he whispered to Spencer and Valentina, "The two of you get started with the puzzles."
Hot continued, "We're looking for a white male in his late forties. The controlled crime scenes, the meticulousness, and collection of trophies tells us he may have a military background."
"We believe he's been living in the same geographic area his entire adult life..." Was the last of what they heard as Spencer and Valentina went into the conference room. Spencer was the one to close the door as Valentina walked right over to the evidence board where the two puzzles were.
Since she was in a big sweater and warm, not to mention the fact that she'd probably have to be standing at this evidence board a while, Valentina took off her grandpa sweater and put it on Spencer's bag that was sitting on one of the chairs. She had a black tank top on underneath that hugged her curves so elegantly that Spencer forced himself to look away, but it wasn't for long. He noticed the scattered scars all along her shoulders, arms, and back, which immediately concerned him. There were larger scars that reached down her back and one that crossed her left bicep.
As Valentina was leaning back against the table, Spencer moved to lean next to her. Valentina kept catching his eyes flickering over to her, which made her curious, but she had to tease him, "If you keep undressing me with your eyes, Spence, I'm gonna catch a cold."
"Are you okay?" Spencer usually goes along with the joke-flirting, but he was genuinely concerned for her. Valentina wasn't too sure what he meant, until his eyes moved to her arm again. She knew Spencer meant her scars, to which she realized he had never seen before. "These? Yeah, I'm fine. They're old. They're from...you know...the whole...abduction...thing. I usually try to hide them, they're a reminder of what happened and I don't like that, but they're here. I don't know. They're kind of hideous to look at, I know, it's just-"
"Valentina." Spencer rarely uses her full name, so it caught her attention. Valentina looked up at Spencer, their endearing eyes meeting. Spencer traced one of her scars, his gaze moving before he held her hand in his. His eyes moved back up to meet hers as he comforted, "They're beautiful. You're beautiful."
Valentina had this heavy feeling in her heart. Not a physical one, an emotional one. Spencer had taken her greatest insecurity and made it into something angelic. Valentina has her own image issues, as many women do, but hers stems from the people who took her constantly reminding her that she wasn't good enough. Valentina felt uncomfortable when she felt beautiful. This backwards effect had ruined her sense of self.
Valentina's eyes flickered down to Spencer's lips briefly before she pulled her hand away and moved from the table, quickly wanting to change the subject. "Um, so have you gotten a chance to look at the new puzzle yet? Because of what was in the other one, I have a theory that this one may contain the names of an unknown or new victim."
Spencer felt his heart sink a little. He assumed that moment would have been nice, but it made Valentina flee. It shocked him a little. Spencer nervously cleared his throat as he stepped forward to look at the evidence. "Yeah, you could be right. It may also contain the whereabouts of the the victim."
As Spencer was speaking, Valentina had put her sweater back on out of her own self consciousness. She even pulled her sleeves over her palms. Valentina wanted to hide her past from everyone around her, especially Spencer. Valentina wanted him to see her as perfect and she believed her scars were anything but.
In Spencer's eyes, that wasn't true. Spencer believed her scars were beautiful and Valentina's self was breathtaking.
Very suddenly, the rest of the BAU and Ryan had come into the briefing room. Hotch nodded at the two doctors, saying a silent hello before he got right to business. They were happy about it, Spencer and Valentina wanted the tension gone. "Alright, let's focus on the differences in the crimes. What's he doing that's new?"
"His latest victim was hit in the head, which was new. And in the puzzle, he said she didn't fight." Spencer pointed out as Valentina moved to the board to look at the new puzzle. Morgan added onto Spencer's acknowledgement, "Why did he hit her then? Scare her? Show her he's in charge? He's never done that before."
"And a blow that hard wouldn't scare her. It would probably just knock her unconscious." Elle explained, to which Hotch questioned, "In order to control her?"
"Well, he switched from using rope to Flex-cuffs. The intricate knot was part of his signature." Gideon explained, knowing that it was incredibly important to the case, which Valentina butted in from her place at the evidence board, "Flex-cuffs are easier, he probably did it to save time."
"No, no, no, no. It's more than that. The rope was meticulously tied. It was intimate. Completely unnecessary." Gideon contradicted, but then again, Valentina wasn't listening too much. She was trying to find any hints in the new puzzle. Elle did have more to add onto Gideon's point. "And he abandoned the rope and the use of his bare hands, which makes his kills less personal and less controlling."
"Why can't we just abandon this and treat him like a new offender?" Spencer suggested, but there was a big issue with that. "He isn't."
"Guys, I have a name." Valentina suddenly spoke. She circled it with a red pen, to which Elle walked over and read it. "Nibrahs? That's a name? From what country?"
"No, S. Harbin. It's backwards. There was a Scott Harbin on Ryan's original suspect list." Valentina explained, but Ryan very quickly shut down that idea from his spot leaning on the door frame. "Harbin went to jail in 1988 for stabbing a guy while he was trying to escape during a home invasion. The guy later died. Harbin didn't even know there was anyone home at the time he broke in."
"How long did he get?"
"Thirty years."
"So, that makes him a little more than halfway done." Gideon did the math in his head, but Hotch did have a compelling point to make, "Unless he's been paroled."
"No. No, that's too easy. I interviewed Harbin twice, he's a pervert. He's a small time burglar with a fetish for lingerie. I mean, he's a creep, but he is not the Keystone Kiler. Believe me, our guy has not been in jail all these years." Ryan ranted, refusing to admit that he may have made a mistake somewhere.
"I'm gonna call Garcia and see what she can dig up on this guy." Valentina offered as she went to take her phone out of her back pocket, but she was very quickly stopped when Ryan retorted, "He's not the guy, but you go ahead and waste your time, sweetheart."
"Don't call me sweetheart." Valentina immediately demanded. Beforehand, Hotch was able to stop her, but now, she had a limit; Valentina wasn't going to be belittled like that. Everyone's attention snapped towards her since no one has ever heard Valentina speak with that much authority.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said don't call me sweetheart, you sexist-" Valentina's anger was getting the best of her, which was when Hotch stepped in. "Agent Barnes."
Valentina looked over to Hotch with a clenched jaw. "Take a walk, now."
Valentina let out a breath before doing exactly as she was told. Valentina walked right out of that conference room and to just outside the station. Valentina was aware that her anger could get the best of her sometimes, which could be both a blessing and a curse.
Hotch was going to send Spencer out to go check on her once they were done the briefing, but Morgan had left a little earlier, concerned for his friend.
He followed Valentina outside where he found her pacing nervously, fiddling with the ends of her sweater. "Tina? You alright?"
"That guy's such a douchebag." Valentina muttered, referring to Ryan, which wasn't shocking to Morgan since he and Valentina were the two most vocal about not wanting to work with this man, or at least not tolerate him. Morgan agreed with her completely, "He cares more about being right than actually helping people. Look, I know the guy pisses you off, I mean, he's a sexist jerk, but that doesn't mean you can go off on him like that."
"Oh yeah, because you understand the stressful experience of being a woman. And not only a woman who is younger than everyone in her field, but a woman who is one of the smartest people in the room at all times. I dedicated my live to behavioural analysis and what do I get? Guys who treat me like I'm some rookie or make me feel like an idiot." Valentina ranted.
Morgan could tell that whatever was making Valentina mad wasn't Ryan; he wasn't helping the situation, but it was not the core. There is a rule amongst the team that they aren't allowed to profile each other. It's an invasion of their privacy when they've done nothing to deserve that invasion. However, Morgan had been noticing something between Spencer and Valentina. It didn't require profiling, it was painfully obvious. "Tina, this isn't about Ryan."
"Don't profile me."
"I'm not profiling you, you're making it very obvious that this is about something else." Morgan explained, knowing that Valentina would have been uncomfortable being profiled, as anyone would be in that situation.
Valentina knew he was right. She knew what the problem was, she knew why she was tense, she just didn't want to admit it to herself. Valentina thought it might be easier to admit something to someone she trusts rather than herself, who she doesn't trust fully. Valentina let out a breath, preparing herself, as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Spencer called me beautiful."
"And that's a bad thing?" Morgan asked with a small laugh, assuming that she was joking, but that was the complete opposite. "Yes, because it's not true."
Morgan's smile faltered quickly to an expression of disbelief and it appeared as if he felt bad for her, "What?"
"Look, I...I don't...Oh god...Listen, I have these issues that stems from something that happened when I was seven. This couple broke into my house and took me in the middle of the night. I was kept in this dark, horrific basement for four years where every day, I was told I could do better, look better, be better. And I got these from it too..." Valentina rolled up her sleeves to show her scattered scars, which made Morgan raise his eyebrows in surprise. "...Which are hideous and ugly and I hate looking at them. But of course, the one time I take off my sweater, the one time I show my arms, Spencer sees them and calls my scars beautiful. Why'd he have to say that? It's...that's not fair."
"It's not fair that Reid thinks you're beautiful?"
"No, because...I don't even know. What's wrong with me? Ever since you said that...that thing, I can't act like a person around him. I'm noticing all these little things and it's weird. Like, Spencer whispers to himself when he's reading, or when he cracks his knuckles while he's thinking, or the way his hair always falls in front of his face when he's doing paperwork. All these small details that just make him...you know...Spencer."
"I don't think I need to tell you what all this means." Morgan explained. Valentina is a smart woman, Morgan knows this. He knew that she could figure out these feelings on her own, it was just a matter of her having to work it through. That's what Morgan was there for. Valentina ran a hand through her hair, stressing herself out. "I don't want to like him like this."
"Why not?"
"Because what if he doesn't feel the same way? Or he does and something doesn't work out? After everything I've been through, I've never been as close to someone as I am with Spence and I don't want to lose that..."
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
A bunch of the agents had raided Scott Harbin's house and arrested him. They found that he wasn't the Keystone Killer since another note was left on one of the police cars. It was directing them right to Scott Harbin and taunting Ryan about it. This case was not getting easier in the slightest.
As the rest of the BAU walked into the conference room, Morgan began their walk of disappointment, greeting Spencer and Valentina. "Well, that's got to be a first. A killer actually leading us to another killer."
"Other killers do make the best profilers, they admire each other's work." Valentina pointed out, to which Elle contradicted and agreed, "Yeah, but usually from afar."
"Well, at least we got Harbin off the street." Hotch spoke optimistically before getting right back to the brainstorming, "Alright, let's review. What do we know about the Keystone Killer?"
"He's not in jail or dead. He enjoys the game of taunting and he's in complete control of this whole situation." Valentina reviewed briefly, she and Spencer having been the most familiarized with the case out of the bunch, other than Ryan of course. Spencer added, "He strangled seven women in the 1980's, stopped for eighteen years, and then began again, suffocating them. I mean, ten-percent of all violent crimes are caused by strangulation. It only takes eleven pounds of pressure to fully incapacitate your victim and if you hang on for at least fifty seconds, they'll never recover."
"But when you suffocate someone, you have less control over their death. It's more passive because the killer doesn't feel life leaving the body. He's changed almost everything that he does." Hotch pointed out, which was clearly starting to get to Gideon, "Why, why, why? I mean, what's he getting out of this new MO? What is his payoff? You got Carla Bromwell. She sustains a significant head injury. Blitz attacks suggest disorganisation, no self confidence. This is a guy who walks into seven victims' homes prior to this. There was no forced entry at any of the scenes. Where's the loss of confidence?"
"He would never change the way he kills by choice. We've been operating under the assumption that he purposely changed his MO." Ryan suggested, feeling as though if it were a purposeful change in MO, the profile would be completely wrong, which it wasn't. Elle tried to wrap her head around this, "So he knocked her unconscious, not to scare her, but because he couldn't control her physically while she's awake."
"He might be incapacitated, or partially, at least. Maybe an injury or stroke?" Valentina guessed, not too sure of where this could be going, but she had her theories. Hotch then had to make sure, "Either way, you're going to have medical records."
"So what are we talking about? This had to have happened after the middle of 1988 in Philadelphia and fits the rest of the profile?" The BAU team sent nods and 'yes's' to ensure that that's what they needed to find, to which Morgan set off to call Garcia.
Once he was done with Garcia, Morgan had joined Spencer, Hotch, and Valentina, who had stayed in the conference room while the rest went to go converse with the other officers. They were still trying to figure out why the MO changed. "Something debilitating enough had to have happened to lose strength permanently, I'm still thinking stroke."
"Ryan's profile puts the unsub in his late twenties, wouldn't that be too young for a massive stroke?" Valentina asked, unsure of how this could be possible seeing as how strokes are more common amongst older generations. Spencer corrected her, "Technically, you're never too young for a stroke. Eight-percent of strokes are ischemic, the other twenty-percent are hemorrhagic, which usually result in death. Ischemic stokes occur when plaque builds up in the arteries, causing restricted vessels to be blocked by a blood clot."
"Okay, but doesn't it take years for that type of plaque to build up?" Morgan questioned, him too not seeing this as a genuine or plausible answer, "Typically."
"So, he was too young." Valentina reiterated and Spencer, once again, had some information to instil, "Did you know that stroke victims who play virtual reality games show significant advances in recovery than those who don't?"
"No one knows what you know, Spence." Valentina teased. Spencer actually had to stop himself from smiling. After that small moment of tension, Spencer felt like he might have ruined a lot between the two, but her calling him 'Spence' and teasing him was a good sign.
"Oh, could this be somebody? In 1987 he was thirty, single, dishonourable discharge." Valentina handed the file to Hotch. They had been sifting and searching through many, trying to find any small hint they could. Hotch actually saw potential with this. "That's a good start. He had a broken neck too. Intense physical therapy for nine years."
"What's he been doing since?" Spencer questioned, but that was when Hotch found the flaw, "Oh, never mind. The guy moved to the Florida Keys. He's a scuba instructor. He's got the right idea."
"Come on, there's got to be something in here." Morgan breathed out.
Suddenly, Ryan and Gideon had walked back into the conference room, Gideon immediately noticing they were short someone, "Where's Elle?"
"She's running down injuries on college campuses. The guy's well-read from what we can tell by the letters he's writing, so he may be a professor." Valentina answered, Spencer too helping them get caught up, "There are just too many hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities. We'd be sifting through records for weeks. We're still trying to narrow down the search."
"Well, we've ruled out a stroke and half the hospitals don't even say how the accident occurred." Hotch pointed out, to which, of course, Spencer had a statistic to go with it, "In america, someone's involved in a car accident once every ten seconds."
"Car accidents with injuries would all be reported by police." Gideon acknowledged, and Ryan informed, "We profiled him driving a late-model American made sedan."
"Alright, so how about I get Garcia to check Philly P.D. records for accidents involving American made sedans and serious injury?" Morgan offered and Ryan was still on edge, "It's a long shot."
"It's a shot. Start with 1988. If it was an accident, it stopped him in his tracks." Gideon ordered, hoping to god that Garcia would be able to work her magic.
Apparently so and undoubtedly, Garcia was a tech wizard. She was so perfectly able to find one man that fit their profile and actually had a chance of being the unsub. While Morgan was on the phone, Elle had returned since they believed they could get the guy. It didn't take long for Morgan to get back to the group, handing out different parts of the file for this one man to everyone as he explained, "Walter Kern had a military background. ROTC in high school, four years in the Air Force."
"Hospital records show that he lost mobility in his right side due to severed nerve damage to his spinal cord. He never got his strength back." Spencer noted, looking through his part of the file. Valentina added on, "Kern's been a county worker, claims adjuster, and he also installed home alarms with Scott Harbin. Takes one to know one, I guess."
"All those jobs allowed him access to people's homes. That explains why there's no sign of forced entry. He had a legitimate reason to knock on the door." Morgan pointed out, to which Gideon clarified, "Women felt comfortable letting him inside."
"He got a degree from Villanova in 1988. I wonder if he murdered anyone on campus." Elle wondered out loud, Gideon agreeing, "That certainly explains his knowledge of law enforcement."
"This looks like our guy. Anybody got a current address?" Hotch asked, Ryan having that piece of information, "575 Wight Street, Southeast Philadelphia. I got you, you son of a bitch. We got him. Let's go bring him in."
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
The FBI was waiting outside of the Kern household. Ryan and Gideon had gone to the front door and unfortunately, Walter wasn't there, but they were still waiting. The rest of the team was waiting just at the bottom of the driveway for the go ahead to search the house or orders otherwise.
Valentina was standing with her hands on her hips, watching for any sort of signal from Gideon with Spencer standing next to her. The rest of the team was talking amongst themselves, which was why Spencer had gone to her. "Hey, Val."
"Hi, Spence."
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for earlier. Well, not sorry that I called you beautiful, because you are, but I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Spencer apologized, hoping that they could sweep this under the rug, even if he could go on for years about how breathtaking Valentina is.
"You didn't make me uncomfortable, Spence. It's my own issues. I appreciated it." Valentina reassured as she put a hand on his arm.
"So, we're good? Everything's fine?" Spencer spoke hopefully, which put a smile on her face. "Yeah, we're good. Besides, I could never stay mad at you."
"Reid, Barnes." Gideon called out, catching their attention. He motioned for the two to follow, which they did. They went around back to a door that led to a basement. Both Gideon and Valentina got their guns out of their holsters, ready to go in first. Ryan still wasn't an official agent and Gideon and Valentina are better shots than Spencer.
Valentina moved ahead of Gideon a little, walking down the stairs carefully with her gun ready. When she got downstairs, she found the room to be quite small and there was absolutely no one inside; no threat. "It's clear."
The other three agents walked downstairs and found the newspaper covered walls that had every single article and piece in the newspaper written about him, which Ryan pointed out, "Looks like he collected every article written about him."
"He's got your book." Valentina pointed out to Ryan, holding it up for him. She handed it over and he opened the front page, his expression faltering immediately, "Damn it, I signed it."
"Hotch was entirely correct about the photography. The cellar's where he develops his photographs." Spencer pointed out before seeing Gideon with something in his hand. "What's that? A scrapbook?"
"There's a chapter on every woman he's killed." Gideon explained as he flipped through the pages. This helped Valentina notice something, "These entries are detailed enough to let him relive the kill for years. I mean, he has candid photos of the victims at the park, grocery store, outside of church. Driver's license, clothing, jewellery. It's disgusting."
"Those chapters in the back, they're not finished." Ryan pointed out as Gideon got to that point. Spencer fully agreed with the point Valentina had made prior, which was disturbing for this case, "These photographs are at least twenty years old. I mean, look at the hairstyles, the clothing. His recent themes of communication have been about 'old friends', 'unfinished business'. His car accident was in the Fairmount district of Philadelphia. That's exactly where Carla Bromwell lived."
"He was on the way to kill her when he had his accident." Gideon realized, Valentina finishing the idea, "It's not about finding a new type of victim. It's about a specific target."
"Because he was such a perfectionist, and is a perfectionist, he had to finish what he started years ago." Ryan explained, but Valentina could see who was in these pictures. "These aren't new victims, Ryan, they've already been targeted."
"Valentina, call Hotch. See where he is." Gideon ordered as the four began to leave the basement to regroup with the rest of the BAU. Valentina did as she was told, which didn't take long. Gideon explained to the rest of the team what they saw and Valentina quickly rushed over with the new information, "Guys, Hotch said he left the community centre hours ago and Kern's car is parked on the next block."
"I want Walter Kern alive." Ryan ordered everyone, needing to make sure he'd be able to look his nemesis in the eye.
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
The FBI had gotten to Sylvia Gooden's home, which is where they believed Kern would be. It was the most recent target in the scrapbook, so they assumed it was she who he was after.
Valentina doesn't get to do this part of the job that often, but when she does, she enjoys it. Valentina wants to put away these disgusting people, she wants them in prison.
They didn't knock on the door. Morgan, whose job it usually was, kicked down the door and everyone piled in. Valentina was the first person in the house with people yelling 'FBI' behind her. They wanted the unsub to get spooked and freeze up, but instead, when they found the unsub, instead of him freezing, he ran. Kern jumped out the already opened window and tried to run through the front yard. However, he underestimated how dedicated Valentina was to this job.
She too hopped out the window and ran right after him. Elle and Spencer, who had waited outside were prepared to stop him, but Valentina had gotten to him first. She tackled this man to the ground and pinned him on his stomach. Her knee was on Kern's back to make sure he couldn't get up. "Morgan, I need your handcuffs!"
Morgan, who too had hopped out the window, walked over to her, taking his handcuffs out as he did it. Kern tried to hit Valentina from his spot on the ground, so she evaded them and moved his arms behind his back and in a position so she could break them. "You really want to try that?"
Morgan handed her the handcuffs, which she put on Kern. Valentina practically dragged Kern to his feet and waited for Ryan to get outside. Once he was there, Valentina shoved Kern forward a little. "Care to do the honours?"
Ryan nodded his head. "Thank you, Dr. Barnes."
Valentina nodded back as Ryan took the cuffed man. He shoved him towards one of the police cars to take him away as Valentina dusted off her pants. There was some dirt from her tackling the man, but this gave Morgan the opportunity to walk over to the star-stuck Spencer, who was baffled and amazed by what Valentina just did, and tease him, "Pick your jaw up off the floor, Reid."
Spencer's face immediately went red and he looked down to the ground, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. He was trying not to be incredibly obvious with how much he found Valentina endearing, but he's not only constantly surrounded by profilers, but Spencer was being quite obvious.
Anyone could see that Spencer Reid was completely and utterly infatuated with Valentina Barnes.
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
The BAU was back on the jet and on their way home. The entire team was listening to Ryan tell stories about when he worked with Gideon and the hilarious mistakes or hijinks their now fearless leader used to get himself into. Spencer and Valentina were the only two not paying attention.
Valentina and Spencer were at the other end of the jet sitting next to each other. As per usual, Valentina was doing a puzzle, this time, a crossword. Spencer was reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, a book Valentina had recommended to him. He had noticed a few times that the woman in question would have fluttering eyes. She was clearly exhausted.
"Spence, what's a six letter word that's a synonym for 'also'?" Valentina asked with a tired voice. Not shockingly, he knew the answer, "Forbye."
"Thank you, gorgeous mind." Valentina thanked as she wrote it down, Spencer responding, "You're welcome, beautiful."
Valentina smiled, she didn't try to stop that. She looked up at Spencer, who met her eyes as she admitted, "You know, I could get used to that?"
"What? Me calling you beautiful?" Spencer asked with a small smirk as Valentina yawned. "Yes, but I more meant you flirting with me."
"I think I could get used to it too. It feels...right." Valentina smiled once more before moving her eyes back down to her crossword, although, those eyes kept almost fluttering shut. Spencer was a little worried, "You okay, Val?"
"I'm tired." Spencer wanted to take a small leap of faith. He truly does feel deeply and care for this girl, so Spencer has done things he never imagined he'd do. They seem small and insignificant, but for him, it's a big deal. Spencer tapped his shoulder, signalling for her to rest her head, but Valentina was a little shocked by this offer, "Really?"
"What? I'm not a germaphobe."
"Really?" This time, Valentina simply didn't believe him. "Val, I've let you touch me before."
"Not in the way I'd like to." Valentina lowered her voice. Spencer immediately went speechless. His cheeks turned red, flustered beyond belief, his eyes darted around everywhere, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. Valentina let out a small laugh at his silence, "Well, look at that. For the first time ever, Spencer Reid has nothing to say."
"You just...You caught me off guard." Spencer admitted as Valentina put her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Spence. You're so adorable."
A small smile made its way to Spencer's lips as he felt Valentina's hair tickle his neck. She had wrapped her arms around one of his, holding him close to her as if she was comforting herself. Spencer opened his book again to continue reading, but he felt more at peace with Valentina next to him. However, it didn't help when Morgan walked by and teased in a sing-song voice, "Reid and Tina sitting in a tree."
"How old are you?" Spencer spoke with annoyance, but it didn't stop Morgan's wrath of taunts, "Old enough to tell you that you better have her home by seven. That is if you're man enough to actually ask her out."
Morgan moved on, but he left Spencer with a genuine consideration. Spencer had never done anything like that before, but then again, he's never felt this strongly for anyone else before. Valentina is a beautiful woman who dated a man he believed to be in a completely different league than himself. Spencer assumed he wasn't good enough for Valentina, but what he didn't know was that she thought the opposite. Valentina believed Spencer was way out of her league.
❝ 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. ❞
- 𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒏
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