The whole room is silent, everyone seeming to be frozen where they sit. You look at Spencer, his hazel eyes already on you. His face is worried, and you look back at Hotch. You're the first to break the silence.
"Great, so my dad is a hitman. Amazing. What else could life possibly throw at me right now?" You bite the inside of your cheek, inhaling deeply.
Spencer stands, rubbing your lower back. "I think we should talk about this tomorrow. It's getting late, and we've basically been working this nonstop for almost two weeks."
"I'm gonna agree with Spencer," Morgan says, standing. "I think we all need to get some sleep and work on this with fresh eyes tomorrow, okay? You and pretty boy can stay with me for the night."
"What about Savannah?"
Morgan smiles. "She's working overnight at the hospital."
Hotch looks at you. "Y/n, I think this is a good idea."
You exhale slowly, Spencer's light touch on your back seeming to anchor you to fucking reality. "Okay. Yeah. Let's take a break."
"I'm going to take a look at the letters tomorrow to try to decode them," Spencer assures you, giving you a soft smile.
"For now, though," Prentiss says, standing up, "we all need some sleep."
"Thank you guys," you say, giving them all a tight-lipped smile.
They all nod at you, and you grab your go bag, Spencer throwing his over his shoulder. He laces his fingers with yours, and the two of you follow Morgan out of the BAU. The three of you are quiet, and you yawn as you approach Morgan's car. Spencer laughs softly and you look at him.
"What?" You ask, admiring the way the lamplight shines on his curly hair.
"You're cute when you're tired."
"Shut up," you grumble, getting into Morgan's passenger seat.
Morgan laughs as he slides into the front seat, Spencer sitting in the back with the go bags. Morgan starts the car and peels out of the parking lot, glancing at you every so often.
"Are you really okay?" He asks quietly. "I know this might all be overwhelming."
"I'm coping," you say, biting the inside of your cheek. "I'm not as sad as I thought I'd be. Overwhelmed, yes. Sad, no."
Morgan nods, and Spencer leans forward, rubbing your shoulder softly. You turn your head and smile at him, putting your hand on top of his. Your fingers rub the silver ring on his left ring finger, the smooth metal seeming to slow your heart rate. After a few moments, you release his hand, and you hear him slide back in his seat. The ride to Morgan's apartment is short, and you practically fall onto his guest bed.
Morgan laughs, leaning in the doorway. "The room's all yours. Make yourself at home." He starts to walk away but turns back around, pointing at you and Spencer. "But don't make yourselves too comfortable, got it?"
Spencer laughs, sitting on the edge of the bed. You swear you see a slight blush creep into his cheeks. "Morgan, shut up."
"Just tryna cover all my bases, pretty boy," he replies with a smirk. He gives you a wink before shutting the door behind him, leaving you and Spencer alone.
The first thing you do is change into some pajamas—a pair of comfy shorts and Spencer's Caltech sweater. Spencer changes into a pair of Halloween pajama pants and a pumpkin shirt. You giggle when you look at him, his hair wild around his face.
"What?" He asks, plopping down on the bed.
You turn the big light off, climbing onto the bed. "Nothing. You're just cute."
You lie on your side, facing him. You reach out, running your fingers through his hair. Your hand travels to his face, rubbing along the stubble starting to form. It's scratchy, but you love how he looks with a little beard. Spencer smiles at you, and you brush your thumb along his cheek.
"Are you really doing okay?" He asks softly. "You can tell me."
He scoots closer to you, and you run your fingers through his hair again, brushing out the slight knots that had begun to form. You're quiet for a moment, and Spencer puts his hand on your waist, his thumb brushing slight circles into the fabric of the blue sweater.
"I don't think it's really hit me yet," you whisper. "I just...don't feel sad. I feel more angry than sad. I'm just tired."
"I understand, sweetheart," he murmurs. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Spence." You admire the way his curls seem to wrap around your fingers, his eyes searching yours. "It's not your fault."
"I know, I..." He pulls you closer to him, your noses almost touching. "I just love you so much, and I don't want anything to happen to you."
You smile at him, brushing your nose against his softly. "I know, baby. I love you, too. With my whole fucking heart."
He grins, leaning in to give you a soft kiss. You kiss him back, resting your hand on the side of his face. The kiss is slow and sweet—one of those kisses that holds endless amounts of love. Spencer pulls you flush against him, his hand travelling down to your ass, giving it a soft squeeze. You break the kiss, giggling as his lips travel to your neck.
"Spence, stop, Morgan said not to," you mumble, wrapping your arms around his neck.
"But you're so pretty, baby, I can't resist," he murmurs into your neck, sucking softly at the skin.
You run your hands through the hair at the nape of his neck, his lips travelling back to yours. His hands run up your back and after a few moments, you pull away.
"We are not having sex in Derek Morgan's guest bed," you mumble against his lips.
He grins, giving you another soft kiss. "Fine."
Laughing softly, you turn around, pressing your back against his chest. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you even closer to him, if possible. He kisses the back of your head, his fingers rubbing up and down your stomach softly. You close your eyes, comforted by Spencer's touch.
"I love you," you whisper.
"I love you, too."
•••
When your alarm goes off the next morning, you let out a loud groan, Spencer shifting in bed to turn off the alarm on his phone. He wraps his arms around you again, squeezing you, the warmth from his body radiating onto you.
"Morning, sweetheart." Even after four years, Spencer's morning voice is still, hands down, the hottest thing you've ever heard.
"Morning, baby."
He kisses your temple before releasing you, but you whine, pulling his arms back on you. Laughing, he props himself up on his elbow, one arm draped over you.
"We have to go to work, sweetheart," he mumbles, looking down at you.
Turning slightly on your back, you look up at him. "I know, but I just wanna stay like this for just a few more minutes."
Spencer obliges, kissing your forehead again before wrapping his arms around you. You snuggle into him, savoring the warmth from his touch. After a few more minutes, he drags you to a sitting position, grinning at you. You look at him, his hair sticking up in odd places. Spencer's bedhead is another thing you'll never get used to. He looks so fucking cute right out of bed.
"Come on, baby, let's get to work."
You yawn as you step onto the cold wood of the floor, walking to the bathroom to pee. You wash your hands, then brush your teeth before throwing your hair up into a ponytail. Walking back into the room, Spencer takes his turn at the sink while you change. You pull on a pair of high-waist black pants, tucking a red blouse into them before pulling on a pair of flats, not wanting to deal with heels for the day. Spencer emerges from the bathroom, walking over to you and giving you a little kiss on the lips, tasting like peppermint. You grin and kiss him back before pulling away, letting him change.
He pulls on a gray button up first, then a patterned tie before pulling on a dark red cardigan, buttoning it up. He pulls on a pair of gray slacks before putting on his Converse, patting down his hair so it didn't look so crazy. You grab your purse and zip up your go bag before opening the bedroom door, Spencer following you with his go bag slung over his shoulder.
Morgan smiles at the two of you when you come into the living room, holding a cup of coffee. "You guys are finally up. Hope you weren't up too late last night."
"Shut up," you grumble, giving him a smile. "Can we stop for coffee? We're gonna be late."
"I'm sure Hotch won't mind you being late," Morgan says, grabbing his keys. "And don't try to change the subject, I see the little hickey on your neck."
You grin as the three of you leave his apartment, letting Spencer sit in the passenger seat. You look out the window, watching the city pass around you. Morgan stops so you and Spencer can get coffee, and you take a sip of the hot liquid, waiting for the caffeine to hit you. Morgan parks his car, and you get out, leaving your go bag inside.
Spencer puts his hand on your lower back as you walk, rubbing his thumb across the fabric of your shirt slowly. As soon as you enter the bullpen, he beelines for the letters, wanting to try to decode them as fast as possible. He sets himself up by a clear board in a conference room, and you meet the rest of the team in the roundtable room.
"Spencer's starting to try to decode the letters," you say, sitting down at the table. "So, my dad's a hitman, which means obviously someone hired him. And obviously, someone hired him more than once."
"Which means he's a good hitman," JJ says.
"So, someone hired him repeatedly in the eighties," Hotch states. "But what doesn't make sense is why he stopped."
You shrug. "Maybe...he didn't want to do it anymore."
"Then why start again four years ago?" Prentiss asks.
You bite the inside of your cheek. "I don't know."
"Where did your father work when you were growing up?" Rossi asks.
"Uh, he just worked for an accounting place in Gatlinburg. J&J Accounting, I think the name was." You tap your fingers against the wood of the table.
"I'm gonna get Garcia to do an extensive search on the firm," Rossi says, standing.
He leaves the room, and the remainder of the day is spent in the roundtable room, trying to come up with possible theories for your dad's situation. Garcia comes into the room after a couple hours, her eyebrows furrowed.
"So, J&J Accounting doesn't exist," Garcia says. "It's fake."
"Of course it is. Why would this be easy," you mumble, looking up at her.
She gives you a little smile. "But me being the magical computer genius I am, looked into the ruse of J&J Accounting and found the fake name attached to a building in Gatlinburg. Collectively, the name was registered under Michael Evans."
"I'm assuming another fake name," JJ says, eyebrows raised.
"Mhm, you would be correct," Garcia states. "But, I did a little digging and found another name—a real name connected to the fake accounting firm."
"Who's name?"
"Kevin Russell. A real guy. I'm doing a background check on him now."
"Thanks, Garcia," Hotch says, giving her a nod.
"Guys, I cracked the code!" Spencer says, running into the roundtable room.
The team shoots up from the table, and you all follow Spencer into the little conference room. Letters are splayed out everywhere, the clear board full of his scribbling. Spencer looks at you all, a proud smile on his face.
"So, after rereading the letters for the tenth time, I finally started noticing that some letters held a different weight than others. It's so subtle, I almost didn't notice it. When I was in college, I read a book about Francis Bacon and how he came up with a certain cipher. So, basically, he came up with five-character groups, and each represented a character in plaintext."
"What does that mean, Reid?" Morgan asks, looking at the board.
"You basically group every five letters together and you can decipher it based on what's bolded or not," Spencer explains. "So, Hunter says here: 'We are having nice weather here, dude.' If you group the letters by fives..." He writes out a cluster of words.
C A L L M E
Weare havin gnice weath erher edude
"You get that. Based on Francis Bacon's key, that's the code. There's tons of codes in here, but one I found is really interesting." Spencer turns his head away from the board. "One particularly lengthy sentence stuck out to me, so I decided to decipher it."
"And what did it say?" You ask, walking over to the board.
"'You need to call Kevin.'"
"Kevin?" You whip your head toward Garcia.
Hotch crosses his arms, looking at the board. "Looks like we found the next person we need to interrogate."
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Author's Note
Hello lovely angels! I cranked out another chapter for you guys :) It's getting down to the nitty gritty now. And yes, that code is a real code. I did research on it. It's lowkey really neat.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter!! :) <3