Realm of Possibilities

“Excuse me,” she said as she shrugged his hand off. “I just want to know what’s happened to your patient.”

“She’s in a very bad state-“

“I’m aware of that,” Jordan snapped. “What I asked is what happened to her to make her that way.”

The doctor sighed. “The situation is part of an ongoing FBI investigation, I can’t disclose that.”

Jordan scoffed before she quickly whipped out her ID. “Lucky for you, I happen to be an agent.”

“But not one in this case.”

“Look behind you!” Jordan craned her head to look at what she saw were Reid, Rossi, and a young female agent she’d never seen before. “Her team’s in there waiting for her, I bet they’re not a part of this investigation.”

“As a matter of fact,” the doctor said, moving to shield her view. “They are.”

Jordan’s breath caught in her throat. This must’ve been much more serious than she suspected and now she had everything to fear. Swallowing down the tears creeping up on her, she turned back to the man in front of her. “I need to be in there with them,” she said shakily.

“Ma’am, I assure you that I’ll update you on the victim’s condition once she’s out of surgery.”

“The ‘victim’s’ name is Emily Prentiss and I know more about her than you ever will,” Jordan said, on the edge of sobs. “Please,” she whispered out once more after he wouldn’t budge.

That’s when Jordan finally saw JJ entering the waiting room with tears in her eyes. When she saw her having to stop Reid from leaving the room only for him to collapse in her arms in tears, she knew just what happened that night and almost collapsed into the doctor’s arms herself.

The woman she loved was dead.

It was a day off they finally needed and wanted with their son and dog accompanied by the soft cool of the wind and the inviting sounds of other families together. After a nice picnic lunch, Reid had Aiden on his lap teaching him about the difference between cumulus and stratus clouds while Morgan idly played fetch with Clooney. Although he wasn’t being rowdy, Aiden was a bit distracted by the dog’s antics and giggled at the way he fumbled for the ball, each time making Reid kiss his temple and whisper, “Pay attention, little one.”

He always looked up and smiled. “Sorry, Daddy.” It was always alright.

Once the lesson on clouds was over, Aiden nearly leaped out of his lap to join in the play, instead running with Clooney to assist in getting his prize rather than sitting with his fathers. He had never been happier to have a family at that moment after years of being without one at the center.

And that was when he fell.

It wasn’t just any ordinary fall by way of tripping on a rock or missing a step when running back to his parents, it was a fall that caught him off-guard after running long after Clooney had retrieved his ball. He hasn’t seen the hill near them and neither did they, but the way he discovered it was when he found himself toppling down it and hurting more by each hit against the terrain.

What followed next for Morgan and Reid was a mad scramble to get down to him where a small crowd had surrounded Aiden, who screamed for them and wouldn’t stop because none of these people trying to pick him up were Daddy or Papa and they were the ones who always saved him. The two of them nearly had to fight to get their way through the crowd with Morgan yelling, “That’s my son!” and Reid nearly pushing a man out of the way to get to him because the cries wouldn’t stop and they were getting worse and they needed him now-

Now they were outside a hospital room where Aiden was asleep, exhausted from the tears and screaming after the way it hurt to breath and hurt even worse to walk. A bruise adorned his face from one particularly painful hit as his little fist clenched in his slumber. Morgan and Reid grasped each other’s hands as they watched him and hated themselves for all of this, wishing that they could’ve seen it sooner and could’ve stopped him. They were supposed to be his heroes and they couldn’t save him; not this time.

It was just supposed to be a fun day at the park.

That’s when the letters started; when Diane decided to tell Maeve all the things she hated about her and all the things she wanted to do to prove she was the superior one. Bobby was with her now and that was a major success, but she wasn’t completely convinced that she’d frightened her yet.

That’s why she was so tickled to find that Maeve had started wearing a disguise when she was out now. Watching where she went wasn’t new for Diane, but the sudden replacement of tweed for denim and leather, and the almost convincing blonde wig was. It was almost painful to let Maeve believe it was working.

What was most surprising of all was how suddenly lazy Mendell’s security appeared to be when Diane managed to sneak in the building without being noticed on the day Maeve submitted her request for a sabbatical. Even in her familiar surroundings, Maeve seemed terrified as ever and that meant Diane had an even bigger accomplishment in scaring her straight out of work. Maybe now that she was out of the picture, Diane could finally get her chance to shine.

Now the next step was to see who it was that Maeve talked on the phone with every Sunday that put a smile on her face. Diane wasn’t going to stand for anything or anyone making her feel safe ever again.

There was one curious morning two weeks after Maeve’s last night on Earth where she heard another voice outside; another woman, maybe JJ, Blake, or one of Spencer’s other neighbors. Once Garcia came with yet another basket, Maeve learned it was JJ and hoped that maybe now there were two of his teammates, maybe Spencer would finally start talking again.

She was still haunted by the image of him hurling his books across his living room in a rage, the incident being the only time she’d heard him make noise outside of the tears he’d occasionally shed.

He didn’t speak this time, but he finally did knock when prompted, a sign that he was at least breathing. Yet once his friends gave up and went back downstairs, Spencer slowly got up to sit on the couch this time. Maeve watched him stare at the window, still as emotionless and broken as ever before he eventually looked down to clutch her gift to him to his chest before finally collapsing against the couch in slumber.

She didn’t dare get up and try to alert him of her presence again; it had been three days since Spencer had actually been able to get some sleep and Maeve knew how much he needed it. It was then that she almost resented his friends and the fact that they were at least able to get him to listen.

At least Spencer knew they were there even if he didn’t want them there. No matter how much Maeve screamed, kicked, or cried, she couldn’t make him see that her spirit was there with him too.

(Part 1 here.)

Spencer didn’t look nearly as scared as Ethan wanted him to when he finally called out to him. Maybe he did know he was coming after all; maybe he finally realized he’d never disappeared out of his life.

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No, don’t think I need anything at all.

It wasn’t about revenge; it never was with Spencer.

It wasn’t about proving he was better than him. Deep down, Ethan knew that even if he was just the tiniest bit smarter than Spencer, he was nowhere near as good of a person as he was. He would always be better than Ethan and there was no point in denying that.

No, this was about proving a point. This was about making Spencer aware of him again. Breaking into his house, watching him in his kitchen, admiring how he almost seemed to ignore him there, it was all for some kind of purpose.

Ethan was there to make Spencer remember he was alive; really alive and unafraid. Alive enough to stop caring about consequences.

Alive enough to kill to prove it.

The call came late after Morgan had accidentally fallen asleep in his office after getting back from the first big case without Reid, which had taken him some getting used to. Against his better judgement, he attempted to contact Reid a few times just out of the pure need he had to hear the other man’s voice; he stopped once he realized that the need was slightly selfish. This wasn’t about him, it was about Reid needing to heal.

That’s why Morgan had been quick to reach for his ringing phone  once he saw the man’s name on his caller ID.

“Reid,” he said. “Are you alright, do you need-“

“Don’t,” Reid said quietly into the speaker. “I just need to say something.”

Morgan swallowed. “Go ahead, kid.”

The line was silent for a few seconds before Reid finally said, “I appreciate that you guys want to help me, I really do. Garcia’s even been leaving baskets outside the door.”

Morgan couldn’t help but let himself smile at the slight laugh that came through Reid’s voice at that, but it fell when he continued, “But I don’t want this.”

“Reid-“

“Please. Just leave me alone.”

“We don’t have to talk about what happened if you don’t want to,” Morgan said, sitting up. “We can talk about whatever you want, I just-“

“Bye, Derek,” Reid whispered right before he hung up.

Morgan knew he never should’ve called him.