Nathan kept his word. When Vanessa decided to go back to her apartment, most of her stuff was outside of the door. Everything inside of that place was hers...but her "boyfriend" was being dramatic.
Vanessa went up and down the steps, hauling her stuff in her car. Luckily, it wasn't a lot—she had a lot more inside. She would've gone inside to get her other stuff, but she didn't know if Nathan was home or not.
"Looks like I'm going apartment shopping," she sighed out before resting her head on the steering wheel.
Everything was all bad. With Nathan finally breaking things off like this, she didn't know what to do. He was her source of comfort...even if he was the cause of her hurting.
...
Vanessa entered the bullpen on the 6th floor and over to her desk beside Emily. Derek and Emily were both working already, and Reid had come back from getting coffee.
Taking a seat, she took a deep, but quiet breath so her colleagues wouldn't notice. Just as she was going to open a file, her phone rang.
"Hello?" She said into the cell with an agitated voice.
"You took your stuff?" Nathan questioned on the other end.
"Well...yeah, I wasn't going to leave it out there." Her voice got quieter, and she turned her chair away from the three—but it caught Spencer's eyes once it reminded him of the conversation she had over the phone in the car on the case in New Orleans.
"Just come home."
"What? Why?"
"I miss you."
Her heart sank, but she stayed quiet.
"I promise I won't do that again," Nate pleaded in hopes she'd come back.
"Round table in 10," Hotch announced after he exited his office.
"I have a case," she said into the phone once looking away from Aaron. "We'll talk about this later."
When she twirled her chair back around, she grabbed onto the edge of the table to pull herself in.
Spencer was still watching her, and Morgan noticed.
"Pretty boy," he whispered, scooting in closer. "You're staring."
Reid immediately looked away from the girl and over at Derek. "Could you be any louder?"
"She can't hear me."
She really couldn't hear them, but he still glanced over at her to see if she was showing any signs of listening in on them.
"What was that?" Emily questioned causing the two men to look over.
"Nate," she replied back with a dull expression.
"Is everything alright?"
Vanessa nodded, but Spencer knew that their relationship was rocky right now.
"Two fires, two families in three weeks," JJ announced to the group once they took all their seats. "The first family, the Jarvis', all died." Pictures of the victims showed up on the screen. "Last night, the Cutlers. Only one survivor, Charlotte Cutler, she's in critical condition with burns to over 60% of her body."
"Well, it's no accident," Emily pointed out. "It's the same M.O. No fuses, kerosene, multiple points of origin, families targeted at home while they slept."
"The bay area has a serial arsonist," said Hotch as the team glanced over.
"Statistically, 94% of all serial arsonists are male," Reid said starting to give off facts. "75% are white, and few, if any, are ever even caught."
"Few?" Prentiss questioned to the boy. "You don't have a percentage?" Vanessa also looked at him with curiosity.
"About 16%, and those 16% set 30 plus fires before they were ever apprehended," he responded before going back to Emily's comment. "Im trying to be more conversational."
"Oh...It's not working," Emily said causing Vanessa to choke on her laugh. "Most serial arsonists don't intend to inflict harm. Injuries or death, those are accidental. It's not about violence."
"For this one it is," Hotch stated.
"It's also about power," Gideon added. "Sewing the destructive force of their fires. Watching the chaos, for them, fires just a substitute for a sexual release."
"Oh, great," Garcia sighed out. "So if these guys don't get laid they start fires?"
"Or in this case, burn entire families to death."
"No statistic?" Emily asked Reid.
"Nope," Gideon responded instead. "They don't have statistics on this guy...One of a kind."
"Three weeks ago, this serial arsonist escalated into a serial killer whose weapon is fire," Spencer said. "Why?"
...
"But why fire?"
"He's uh—like a drug addict," Reid spoke up, getting Vanessa's attention and the rest of the teams. "Only...fire's his drug. Each time an addict needs a fix, they need more of the drug to get off. So his crimes will most likely get much worse. It would be almost impossible for him to quit without help." He looked up at Gideon, trying to give some sort of signal.
...
"Hey, Reid," Vanessa smiled as she sat next to him on the sofa inside the jet. He smiled back at her but quickly looked down. "I don't want to seem annoying, but...what you said back there..." Her voice lowered so no one else would be able to hear.
"Said what?" He questioned even though he knew what she was implying.
"The unsub was like a drug addict?"
"I don't want to talk about that here, okay?" His voice was harsh, making the girl lean back slightly and look at him with worry.
"Right...Sorry." Vanessa frowned at him, focusing on his behavior for a second before sighing and standing up to sit in front of Hotch.
"Is he okay?" Hotch asked once she took her seat.
Vanessa shrugged in response before shutting her eyes, and Aaron shooting his eyes back at the boy who was fidgeting with a pen.
"Hotch," she said with her eyes still closed, and him looking away from his paperwork over to her. "You know what he's going through, right?"
"Yes, I do," he replied, setting his file onto the table in front of them.
"What do we do?" They both knew that telling someone else about his addiction would get him permanently fired. "All I can think about is him, and how he must be feeling agitated all the time..."
"Don't worry about it," his words caused her eyes to open and grow a confused look.
"Don't worry about it? Hotch, that's all I can do—I can't help him, I can't do anything."
"You're doing enough just by showing that you're there for him—"
"That's not enough," her elbow rested along the seat as her hand propped her head up.
"Prioritize your problems first, Vanessa."
"What problems?"
"You think I haven't noticed you checking your phone 24/7?" Vanessa scoffed. "What's going on with you and Nathan?"
"That's not what we were talking about, Aaron."
"Well, we're talking about it now."
"No—we're not," her tone was more angry out of frustration. "Sorry, I didn't—I didn't mean to lash out like that—" She quickly apologized, only for Hotch to grow worrisome for the girl as well.
Vanessa took a deep breath, tilting her head down and then using both her hands to push her hair back.
"Get some rest," Hotch said with a soft voice. "We have a while till we land." She nodded, laying her head against the side of jet, and crossing her arms over her stomach before closing her eyes.
...
When they landed, everyone went straight home, including Hotch.
Spencer was the last to exit the building, but Vanessa sat in her car, waiting for him. She couldn't go home and sleep without knowing that he's going to be okay. Leaving her engine on, she got out once she saw Spencer walking along the side walk.
"Spence!" She called, putting him to a stop, and jogging slightly to catch up with him. "Hey."
"Hey," he said back with a happy voice.
"About...what I said on the plane—" Spencer grew an annoyed face, his smile now down, that she didn't notice only because she was looking down while rambling to herself before getting to the point. "I didn't mean—"
"Will you get over it?" Reid interrupted her, aggressively. Vanessa's expression grew puzzled. "I'm fine, Vanessa...Stop worrying about me." He started to walk off again until she gripped onto his bicep.
Letting go once he stopped, she took a deep breath. "Spencer, you aren't fine. You were tortured and drugged. That's far from fine."
"Why do you always have to pry in everyone's life?" His tone was even more rough. "You never want any of us getting into your business—why do you do it?"
She coughed out an unbelievable laugh. "Cause I'm scared, Reid...I'm worried about you..."
"Well stop—" He looked down at her and didn't even think of his words before saying them. "It's getting annoying...you—are getting annoying." Vanessa felt her chest sting. "You're trying too hard—it's so desperate...I'm sure the rest of the team feels the same way..."
"What the hell, Spencer?" Her eyes started to water, overthinking everything.
"Can you leave me alone now?" Spencer stood there waiting for her permission.
"Yeah...Sorry I bothered you..." she sighed out, not looking up at him, and already walking away mid sentence back to her car.
Spencer sighed out in relief that she was gone and started to walk away as well.
He's just going through things right now. She thought to herself. He didn't mean it...or did he? Was he right about the team finding her annoying? All of the possibilities started to build up in her. It stressed her out so much that she didn't want to go to work the next day and witness the team giving her looks, or ignoring her. But she knew the side effects of drugs—he was probably just craving right now. But then again, there's always a little truth into what they say.
—