4 months had passed. You and spencer were still secretly in love and everyday got a little easier to deal with the grief of losing Laura. It hadn't been the easiest 4 months, Lauras death hadn't just caused you pain, but it had brought up many bad memories that you had buried.
When your parents died your mental health took a massive blow and for a long time it deteriorated. For the last 10 years, along with continuing life, you had been trying to fix it. Nowadays you had good days and bad days but nothing serious. However after Lauras death you felt yourself slipping, you tried to not slip back into a state of constant depression and with the help of Spencer you hadn't but you were still struggling more than you would like.
The team had been extremely supportive, Rossi would often invite you to his mansion for scotch and a chat. Emily, JJ, and Penelope would take you on girls nights out where you would all get ridiculously drunk and usually end up crying to each other about your problems. Derek and Hotch always checked up on you and Spencer, well Spencer did what Spencer does. He would come over all the time. He would encourage you to talk about your feeling but he never pushed you if you didn't want to. He didn't make you feel so alone and he made you feel loved.
The temperature was rising and cases were still coming through weekly. It was the 12th of April, daffodils grew on the grass outside, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and the sun was high in the sky. A case had just came through in Denver, Colorado, 4 people had gone missing and found 5 days later all of the bodies had been found in the forest. The corpse's showed signs of torture.
"This is going to be tough, the forest the bodies were dump in goes on for miles!" JJ exclaimed, on the jet.
"If the forest if that big, then the unsub could live in it. They could like the seclusion, perhaps these victims walk past the unsubs living space, for some reason this annoys him, and it also gives him a perfect opportunity to abduct them, play out his sadistic fantasies then dump them somewhere" You suggested
"Potentially, Y/l/n, Morgan I want you two to go to the dump sights, JJ, Prentiss, I want you two to go talk to the families, Reid, Rossi, and I will go to the station to start the geographical profile and figure out the victimology" Hotch announced
Once the jet landed You and Morgan drove to where the first body was dumped. It was on the outskirts of the forest.
"How is our unsub transporting the bodies?" Morgan asked
"He could live close by and drag them here" You suggested
"Maybe but there are no drag marks, but also the bodies are dump in random places all around the forest, some bodies are miles away from each other" he pointed out
"Yeah you've got a point. It's strange he can't have a vehicle because there are no tire marks either" you added.
"Unless he does drag the bodies and just covers the drag marks"
"Even so, it's not easy dragging a body, he's got to be strong" Derek mentioned
"I guess so" You sighed
"Come on, let's go back to the station" you motioned for Derek to follow you, then you both got back into the SUV and drove away.
"So are you and Reid ever gonna get together" Derek asked randomly
"I mean me and JJ have this bet and I bet that you guys will but JJ doesn't think it will happen, so I'm really hoping that you guys will" you were completely startled by this question as you knew you and spencer had been together since Christmas however purely to irritate Morgan you pretended that you didn't feel for spencer like that.
"What? No! Morgan me and spencer were just friends i also don't appreciate you making bets on my love life" you scoffed pretending to sound annoyed.
"My bad" he chuckled.
"Still I think it's gonna happen, I can feel the sparks fly between you two"
"Well I'm afraid it won't because Spencer is not my type" You lied. Of course Spencer was your type, he was handsome, kind, caring and everything a woman could ask for. Well apart from muscly maybe.
That evening the team went out for dinner, you sat in between Spencer and Emily. Earlier in the day you had told Spencer about the bet Morgan and JJ had made, and you both found it very amusing that you had completely denied the existence of your relationship with Spencer especially considering over the last 4 months, you had been on several dates together, slept together, slept together while working cases and made out in the elevator right before the doors opened.
Throughout the night Spencer whispered jokes about Morgan in your ear, the thing is the jokes weren't even funny but seeing Dereks curious facial expressions made you laugh hysterically. The constant banter between you and Spencer made Derek hilariously paranoid and suspicious which just added to the fun!
The next day Hotch set up search parties to look for the most recent victims. You and Spencer were put in a group together with no one else for some reason and then sent into the forest.
You had been warned that the forest was vast and there wasn't a clear trail but thanks to Spencers eidetic memory, you didn't need to worry about getting lost because he would remember which way you went.
For the first couple of hours you both walked around talking about the case and then about how much you loved it the prank war between Spencer and Morgan.
It was a peaceful walk, despite the fact that you might come across a tortured dead body or the unsub himself.
The trees were huge and you could hear the birds singing all through out the forest. It was never silent but at the same time you could never hear any other voices apart from yours and Spencers. You couldn't hear the busy sound of traffic that you could always hear in DC. It was relaxing being at one with nature for once.
After a while you both stopped talking, there was something special about walking in a comfortable silence. It sort of showed something about how nice your relationship with Spencer was. You didn't need to have a conversation with him to show him you loved him, just walking hand in hand was enough to bring you joy.
You both walked deeper and deeper into the forest and as the hours passed you began to become conscious of the time. You didn't want to end up in the forest when it was dark. That would be terrifying, especially with an unsub on the loose. You started thinking of what would happen if you got lost and then you started imagining growing old in a forest. You had a wild imagination and at times you would get so stuck in your head, it was problematic at the best of times. When you were alone you found yourself talking to yourself without even realising it, you'd often get strange looks from the general public when you were talking to yourself on the train. You wouldn't noticed what was going on around you when you were in deep thought.
At some point in your walk you came back to reality, it was much darker than you remembered it being and when you went to tell Spencer that it might be a good idea to turn back, you realised he wasn't beside you anymore. Nor was he in front of you, or behind you. In fact he was no where to be seen.
"Spence?"
"Spencer?!"
"SPENCER?!"
"SPENCER REID?!"
You never got a reply, only an echo of your own voice. Panic rose through your body as you began to realise that you were alone, in a forest, with no service, no food or water, a possible unsub nearby and no idea how to get back.
What made everything worse was that Spencer could have been taken by the unsub and you were too unobservant to realise.
'No I would have realised right? Right?'
You walked around for hours calling Spencers name, but not once did you get a reply, the sun began to disappear behind the trees and night fell.
During the day it was somewhat warm, but at night it wasn't. At night it was quite arm and although you were wearing clothes they failed to keep you warm. After hours of shivering you jaw began to ache and your back began to hurt. To add to your problems, you were terrified, tired, dehydrated and hungry.
Earlier in the day Spencer had told you what creatures could be in the forest but you didn't remember what creatures his listed.
'he didn't say bears that's for sure, but I'm pretty sure he did say raccoons and squirrels, oh god did he say coyotes. He probably did. Coyotes are everywhere. Oh my god am I going to get eaten by a Coyotes?!'
You kept checking you phone for service but it was no good, what made everything worse, your battery was low, it was 12am and the forest was almost pitch black.
Tears picked the corners of your eyes, no way was this how you were going to die. No way were you going to die because your dumb ass wasn't paying attention. Tiredly you sat down on the floor, curled up and closed your eyes. Hopefully you wouldn't get eaten by a Coyotes in your sleep
You woke up to the cold spring air, you were shivering, hungry and aching. Your feet hurt from the hours of walking you had done the day before, and unlike before you no longer liked the peaceful quiet of the forest. In fact you hated it. You despised it, you wanted to hear people talking, and cars driving past, you wanted to hear civilisation again.
Grumpily you got up and began walking again, in the hope you would stumble back into town. You checked your phone it was on 10% at this point which was not good. You turned the phone off to save the battery and picked up your pace, checking your phone every half an hour and then turning it off straight away.
After 4 hours of non-stop walking you checked you phone for the eighth time that day and to your delight saw a single bar of signal.
Immediately you called Penelope, if anyone would be able to find you it was her. She picked up immediately but due to you only having one bar of signal, hearing her wasn't exactly easy
"Listen Penelope my phone is on 5% I don't know where I am, me and Spencer some how got split up and I don't know where he is or if he is safe. Pleased find me" you spoke quickly, your voice broke slightly at the end.
"Y/n spencer is safe the unsub has been caught I am trying to find you stayed on the-" the signal cut out. You collapsed to the floor, in tears, you threw your phone against a tree in frustration, then got up to retrieved it.
Throwing it was a bad idea because it didn't work as well anymore more. It was slower than usual, the screen was cracked so you could read the signal bar anymore, and the touch screen was working properly. The last 2 days really hadn't been great for you.
You were living your worst nightmare. You felt a mixture of sadness, fear and anger at the same time. Out of anger you uncontrollable started punching the bark of a tree. Punch after, punch until your knuckles became bloodied and bruised, but you didn't even care, tears streamed out your eyes as you continued to hit, until you were too tired and finally you calmed down. The only thing that kept you going was the knowledge that spencer was ok.
As night drew once more you lay on the ground and closed you eyes, it began to rain hard and by the morning you were wet and freezing. You were so cold that you couldn't moved, you were starving, and dehydrated and you became more and more weak.
You lay there all day and as it started to get dark again, you looked at your phone one more time, you knew that you wouldn't survive another night, it was too cold, you were hungry and you hadn't drunk anything. It wasn't how you expected to yourself to die. You always thought you would die in some heroic way like running into a burning building to save a bunch of kids, or jumping in front of a bullet to save your friends but no, this was how you were going to die.
At the top of your phone you managed to see you had 1 bar of signal again and deciding to try and save yourself before it was too late you called Penelope one more time, and thanks to her skills she picked up the phone immediately
"y/n?" it was nice hearing her voice. You tried to speak but you were shivering too much and you throat was too dry.
"y/n are you there can you hear me? If you can hear me listen closely I've tracked your location and I'm sending the team to go find you, just hang in there ok?"
The phone finally ran out of battery, and now all you could do was hope you were found before it was too late. You dropped your phone on the ground and fought the urge to close your eyes, but it was too hard, your eyelids felt to heavy and slowly they fluttered closed.
Suddenly you awoke to the sound of people calling your name, maybe it was the malnutrition, dehydration, and hyperthermia causing your psychosis or perhaps it was real.
You lifted up your head, and looked to where the voices sounded. You could vaguely see the yellow light of torches.
You attempted to shout "I'm here" but barely any noise came out.
'I'm here' you thought
'please find me please'.
You watched as the torches turned in another direction and your heart dropped.
"No come back I'm here" you attempted to shouted but what came out was still barely audible. You used your last bit of remaining strength to stand up. The torches began to get further and further away.
'I am not going to die here!' you thought
'Not today! I am not dying today!'
You pulled your gun from it's holster, used all you strength to load it, which was hard because your gun was so cold, and so were you.
Once you loaded it, you fired 2 shots up into the air. The group stopped then, turned around to face you. You heard and saw Hotch and Derek run towards you, the gun dropped from your hands and you fell to your knees.
"We've got her" Hotch said into the radio. They got to you, and helped you stand up but Derek saw your face suddenly become more pale and he caught you before you fell again
"Hey I got you, you ok?" he asked softly, you nodded and leaned onto him
"I-I d-don't know h-how we g-got s-split up, I-I must had z-z-zoned out or something one m-minute he was there the next h-he wasn't". you stammered
"Spencer thinks you zoned out, he said he went to tie his lace and when he looked up you were gone, when we found him we also found the unsub, he's in custody and Spencer is on his way he's been out of mind with worry" Derek explained
"Y-You know what's really s-stupid?" You asked
"What?" Hotch asked
"While we w-were walking I w-was th-thinking a-about h-how t-terrible i-it w-would b-be to g-get l-lost i-in th-the f-forest, I-I th-think, I-I jinxed i-it"
Derek and Hotch chuckled, and aided you out the forest.
"b-but he's o-o-k r-right?" you asked.
"Who Reid?" Derek questioned, you nodded
"yeah he's fine"
You walked out the forest, where an ambulance waited for you, Spencer wasn't there yet but he was on his way to the forest with JJ, Prentiss and Rossi.
You didn't want to go in the ambulance yet you wanted to see Spencer first so you sat on the end of the ambulance shaking, while they dressed your wounds and covered you in blankets to warm you up.
The warmth made you felt a bit stronger, after about 10 minutes the black SUV pulled up, and before the car had even parked up Spencer jumped. You stood up slowly as he sped towards you. He wrapped his arms around you and held you tightly
"I'm so sorry I thought you had realised that I had stopped I'm so, so sorry" a tear rolled down his face, as he buried it in the crook of your neck. You pulled back and looked at him
"I'm so sorry, I can't imagine how sca-"
"S-Spencer?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up" you laughed. He cupped you cheeks with his hands and kissed you passionately. Pulling away, you put your forehead on his and stared into his tear filled eyes
"I love you Dr S-Spencer Reid" you whispered it was the first time you had ever told Spencer that you loved him but you truly meant it.
Spencer smiled "I loved you too agent Y/n Y/l/n" that was the first time he had told you he loved you. While you stared into each others eyes you could heard Morgan shout to JJ
"I freaking knew it! JJ you lost the bet, pay up!" you and Spencer laughed then looked at Morgan
"and you Y/n Y/l/n, you lied to me"
You giggled and flicked him off, then the 3 days without food, water, sleep and warmth finally hit you. You collapsed in Spencers arms, he scooped up your legs and carried you to the ambulance.
You spent the rest of the night in the Hospital. It was hard to sleep, that night the doctors were worried you had hyperthermia and by the morning you had only had three hours sleep. You were discharged from the hospital at 9:30am, the team got back on the jet later that day.
You and spencer sat together, opposite Morgan and JJ.
"So when did you guys start dating then?" Derek asked curiously, you and spencer looked at each other trying hard to not burst out laughing in Dereks face
"Christmas" Spencer mumbled
"I'm sorry I thought you said Christmas" JJ laughed
"I did" Spencer muttered.
"CHRISTMAS?!" both Derek and JJ shouted at the same time.
"Well you two are very secretive aren't you?! Is there anything else you want to tell us, you're not married are you?" Derek asked jokingly. Neither you or spencer replied, you found it funnier to watched JJ and Derek become paranoid.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Spencer is from Vegas after all" Rossi chuckled from behind you. After about 20 minutes you finally put their minds to rest.
"Listen if we got married we would have told you we promise. Now shut up because I'm tired" you announced.
"I hope you would, and when it does happen Reid I better be your best man" Derek smiled.
"Well who else would be" Spencer replied
You felt so tired, the last few days had been awful, tiredly you rested your head on Spencers shoulder and closed your eyes. Your fingers entwined with his, his thumb stroking the back of your hand as you drifted off to sleep...