Chapter Text
“What do you mean he failed the qualifications? How can someone fail and still be put on as a consultant? Is he that hot?” Emily grins.
Hotch shuts her up with a cold glare as he drops a large file on the table with a slap. “There will be no gossiping about the new consultant. This is the FBI. Be professional.”
Emily raises her eyebrows, looking over to JJ with a caught-in-the-act sorry expression.
“We’re in over our heads in this case. It’s been two days and the Unsub is becoming more impatient. We all know these types of killers thrive on law-enforcement interaction. If we don’t crack this code soon, he will become frustrated, and he will escalate.”
“We can’t afford to lose any more victims,” Rossi sighs.
JJ nods. “We haven’t seen this many in…”
The room is quiet. They haven’t seen this many victims lost in years. It’s a chilling reminder of the type of work they do and how every second counts.
How every decision they make can mean the difference between life and death.
How someone is depending on them.
“He’ll be here any minute. Everyone needs to be on their A-game. We don’t have any more time to waste.”
“The clock is ticking.” Emily nods. “You think he can crack the code? The certified code breaker from Harvard we brought in was stumped. I can’t imagine anyone more qualified.”
Just then, the door opens. A delicate young man walks through; shoulders slumped and face obscured by long, shoulder length curls.
The team, minus Aaron, gapes at the young man, practically still a boy. Surely this fragile looking college kid isn’t their new code breaker?
The young man makes his way over to the boards with all of the relevant case files attached and appears to be scanning them with his eyes. He hasn’t said one word to the team or even acknowledged their presence.
Derek is the first to make a move. “Hey kid, wanna tell me what you’re doing there?” Because this is certainly not who they’re waiting on.
The young man turns around only slightly; just enough that Derek can see the “Hello, My Name is…” sticker plastered on his chest as he taps on it twice with the rest of his attention still on the board.
“Dr. Reid?” Emily humms. She’s impressed, and her posture lets up slightly at the title. Derek, on the other hand, only clams further up and crosses his arms against his chest- there’s no way this kid is a doctor.
“Hello, Dr. Reid. I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner.” Aaron strides forward with his hand outstretched to shake Dr. Reid’s hand in greeting. Dr. Reid merely looks at his hand and shakes his head. He turns to face Aaron and gives a small wave instead.
Aaron adjusts without missing a beat; he won’t call attention to Dr. Reid’s eccentricities as much as he can help it and carries on as normal. He thinks he catches the hint of a smile. “Thank you for coming in on such short notice. This is my team, SSA’s Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, and David Rossi and finally our media liaison Agent Jennifer Jareau.” Hotch points to each agent as he names them.
Dr. Reid nods to each one before Aaron continues, “As you can see from our evidence, we can’t make heads or tails of this. We think the unsub is escalating though, so we only have hours to crack this and find the victim before it’s too late.”
Dr. Reid nods and moves back to the boards, turning his back to the team.
Morgan is looking at them both with steam coming out of his ears. “Hotch, you can’t be serious?” He’s outraged. “This kid? How is he supposed to solve this when even seasoned professionals haven’t been able to?” Morgan hisses in Hotch’s ear.
Hotch just frowns at his seething agent. “What other choice do we have? We’re running out of options. Give Dr. Reid a chance.”
“Yeah, and we’re running out of time. So we can’t waste any more on dead ends. C’mon, do you really think he’ll be able to figure this out? Be serious, Hotch.”
Behind them, Dr. Reid is tracing invisible things in the air as he stands in front of the evidence, completely absorbed in his own world.
“I look forward to working with you, Dr. Reid,” JJ says pointedly while glaring at Morgan. “Let me know if there’s anything you—”
Dr. Reid puts up his hand, effectively shushing her while he doesn’t miss a beat, still tracing out intricate patterns into the blank space in front of him.
“If you need a marker, we have plenty,” Prentiss offers.
This time, Dr. Reid stills and turns around, looking at them all head on for the first time. He licks his lips, opens his mouth, and looks around. His eyes land on Hotch but his brows only furrow.
“Hey, she was talking to you,” Morgan asserts, but Dr. Reid doesn’t answer. “Hello? Earth to Dr. Reid? Why is this kid ignoring everything?”
Morgan throws his hands in the air in exasperation and reaches forward to grab Dr. Reid’s shoulder, and he flinches and steps back, colliding with the evidence board behind him. The board falls to the floor with a loud crash- documents and crime scene photos fly everywhere. Dr. Reid is shaking, his arms crossed protectively over his chest as he leans forward into an almost a fetal position head down facing the floor. He’s breathing rapidly but no other sound comes from him. Hotch steps between the two men.
“Dr. Reid- Spencer, may I touch you?” Aaron asks the frightened young man. Spencer nods but doesn’t look up. Hotch places a calming hand on Spencer’s back and softly rubs his upper back and shoulders until he’s no longer shaking as badly.
“You aren’t ignoring us are you? You can’t speak, am I correct?” Aaron ignores the shocked gasps from the team, his eyes are focused on the scared Dr. Reid in front of him.
Dr. Reid is visibly shaking again when he locks eyes with Hotch, a look of abject terror gripping his features; Hotch can see it plain as day. But what he can also profile, just under the surface, is relief. So when Spencer gives the tiniest little nod, he doesn’t hesitate in grabbing his hand and pulling him up to his feet.
Spencer lunges forward and hugs him fiercely.
“Woah, looks like the kid likes you,” Morgan laughs awkwardly, trying to deflect the earlier tension.
Presntiss is grinning ear to ear and says, “Hotch has an admirer.” From her tone, however, it’s clear she’s uncomfortable as well.
JJ doesn’t say anything, just bends down and starts gathering all the scattered files. Rossi helps pick the board back up and together he and JJ start to pin everything back to the board how it was. As they are pinning the last photo to the board Dr. Reid makes a sudden move from Hotch’s embrace.
“Woah, kid, what is it?” Rossi exclaims.
“Dr. Reid?” Hotch whispers. At the same height, he’s just about level with Dr. Reid’s ear and speaks low enough that only he can hear him. “It’s okay- It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He’s got no idea why those words came tumbling out of his mouth, he’s never been the consoling type, but with Dr. Reid shaking in his arms, it just feels right.
Dr. Reid unwraps the rest of his body from around him somewhat reluctantly and heads to the board. He starts rearranging the evidence into a completely new order than it had been. Before the team can question it though, the police station door slams open and another clearly younger looking kid runs in holding a cup of coffee and skids to a stop in front of them.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, Dr. Reid! The line at Starbucks was soooo much longer than I expected!” The is breathing heavily, still winded from his run over to them.
Spencer frowns at him and holds his hand out for the coffee.
“Huh? No, oh-” he stalls. “Sorry, no this is for me.”
Spencer keeps his hand held out for it.
“C’mon, Dr. Reid…” he whines. It’s as if there’s a conversation going on that no one else can hear. “You can’t be serious! I said I was sorry!”
Dr. Reid reaches out and swipes it from his hand. A meaningful look flashes on his face that the kid seems to decide not to mess with.
“Ugh... fine.” He looks around the room for the first time. “Right, uh. Yeah, so, I’m Kyle. I’m Dr. Reid’s interpreter.”
“Great, another kid,” Morgan says with clear exasperation rolling out of him, but looks to Dr. Reid and has the decency to appear apologetic. “Sorry, Doc. I didn’t realize you're deaf.”
“I’m a junior!” Kyle scoffs. “And Dr. Reid is my Professor. He’s got, like, 4 pHDs or something.” Reid makes a movement and Kyle winces. “Right, 5, whatever. Well, actually he’s doing a philosophy BA right now too, so I guess he technically is a student, really. But... Yeah, I’m his TA, sorta.”
“But he looks so young, he can’t be more than 25!” JJ says to Kyle as if Dr. Reid wasn't right there.
“He’s 27, and actually most of his degrees he already had by the time he was 22. He’d have more but since he can’t talk anymore it takes longer to argue his dissertations,” Kyle says dismissively.
Morgan shoots an impressed look at Dr. Reid but he’s not met with any discernible response.
“Oh, and Dr. Reid isn’t deaf. He can hear just fine. He just doesn’t speak,” Kyle says, addressing Morgan. Hotch raises an eyebrow at Kyle. Something about this kid is rubbing him the wrong way. Hotch trusts his instincts after years of being in law enforcement and he can tell when someone isn’t a good person. Kyle is definitely not an interpreter out of the kindness of his heart.
“Oh,” JJ says reflexively, then blushes. Everyone could hear the dismissal in her voice. The disqualification. “No, I mean. Well, why?”
Kyle opens his mouth to respond and Dr. Reid’s soft, silent, angry intake of breath is enough for Hotch to take a protective step towards him and get his team back in order. “We’re on a timeline here,” he barks. “Enough of this. Dr. Reid is here to assist us, and you will show him his due respect.” He turns to Dr. Reid, now right by side. “Dr. Reid, let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you.”
Spencer nods at Hotch and goes back to rearranging the board in a pattern none of the rest of them can see. When he’s finished with all the files he gestures impatiently at Kyle, who opens his messenger bag and brings out a large book. The team looks at it curiously, not recognizing it.
Spencer flips through the pages rapidly and points out random pages to Kyle. Kyle frowns for a moment before turning to the team.
“Dr. Reid knows where the bad guy is keeping his victims.” Kyle reaches back in his bag and pulls out a map of the area.
“How could he possibly know?” Morgan says skeptically.
Reid quickly pulls the map out of Kyle’s hands and smooths it down on the police station’s conference room table, completely ignoring Morgan. He looks back to Kyle impatiently, holding out his hand for which Kyle rummages in his bag and hands him a case of thumbtacks.
Forming a complex shape on the map, Spencer presses them in and calculates invisible equations in the empty space before him. The team is gaping at him.
Kyle is looking giddy beside him, and turns to Emily. “Sometimes I help with these. That’s why they picked me to interpret. I showed him where to put the last two pins, actually. I’m very smart.”
“Dr. Reid didn’t get to choose his own interpreter?” Emily asks curiously.
“Oh no, the head of the linguistics department chooses Dr. Reid’s TA and whoever gets the position also gets an extra credit towards their degree. It is a very sought after position, because unlike the other TA jobs there’s no class to deal with, you just have to relay Dr. Reid’s thoughts,” Kyle says, puffing out his chest proudly, clearly under the impression that he is impressing Emily.
Reid doesn’t pay any mind to him, just keeps pushing the pins in one after another until he yanks his hand back and cradles it to his chest.
Hotch steps forward to study the pins and turns in awe to the young genius. Dr. Reid- Spencer- just completed a geographic profile in under ten minutes.
Reid points at the last three pins looking in frustration and Hotch watches as Kyle has his back turned, hopelessly failing at trying to flirt with both Emily and JJ. When he looks back, Dr. Reid’s big, expressive eyes are looking at him and so he picks up a pin, looking for direction.
Clumsy as his movements have become, Spencer points to a place on the map and Hotch presses it in, then another, and another.
When he presses in the last one, Dr. Reid’s hand rests on top of his and he relocates the pin a centimeter to the right. Dr. Reid is standing so close he can smell the lavender scent of his shampoo.
Dr. Reid’s hand is shaking, struggling, and Hotch moves his overtop instead to steady him. Dr. Reid looks at him and he can see the relieved breath that leaves him.
Hotch starts massaging the hand beneath his, sees Dr. Reid’s hand twitch as he slowly works out the small kinks in his fingers. It doesn’t look like a pained wince so he keeps going and Dr. Reid doesn’t make a move to stop him. A moment passes, and Hotch clears his throat while he takes back his hand to get the team’s attention back on the map.
Everyone is trying to make sense of the pattern but he and Dr. Reid have their eyes locked on each other. There’s a still moment of staring before Dr. Reid thrusts out his hand and Hotch immediately understands what he wants.
Slow and firm, he works the pads of his thumbs into Dr. Reid’s palm, over his knuckles, and down each one of his fingers. The muscle inside is stiff. Gently, he applies hard pressure in the crook of his Thenar Group and Adductor Plexus muscles, and Dr. Reid’s eyes go wide.
Spencer looks at Hotch in shock and then he looks at his hands that are being held and massaged so gently by the other man. No one has ever understood his requests so fast. Agent Hotchner only just met him and already they were on the same wavelength. He wants to groan in pleasure as the agent applies pressure to his sore hand. Of course his groans would still be silent but he wonders if the agent would understand what he means anyway.
Spencer wants to thank Agent Hotchner for stepping in with Kyle earlier and again now for noticing his pain. Even Kyle never noticed when Spencer’s hands started aching. It was yet another reason he and Kyle were not compatible. He’s not sure what he’s feeling but it’s more than casual gratitude towards the handsome agent. Spencer reluctantly pulls his hand away and points to a small area on the map.
Once again Hotch immediately understands what the genius means. This one is a bit more obvious, but he doesn’t care.
“That’s where we’ll find our victims?” Hotch confirms out loud. At Spencer’s nod, he starts gearing up to head out. He calls for teams of SWAT and divides his agents among the local uniforms.
Hotch squashes down the sudden pang of sadness that he feels now that the consult is over.
He’s only just met Dr. Reid but the chemistry between them is nearly palpable. Not that he’s ever told the team, and frankly he’s done a superb job at hiding it, but he much prefers men over women. It’s just that finding someone he really clicks with is near impossible. Most people are put off by his brashness; the very qualities that make him such an effective leader tend to intimidate other men.
Spencer has been receptive to everything he’s done so far. At first he seemed to be a bit of a recluse, but once they locked eyes that first time… well, it’s like they’ve been moving in sync.
It’s a damn shame this case is about to wrap up, he thinks, then scolds himself at the thought. There are lives on the line. He needs to get it together and get moving.
The team hurries out of the conference room with the local PD on their heels. They hightail it out to Dr. Reid’s location and manage to catch the Unsub by surprise, saving the lives of the remaining women the Unsub kidnapped.
Hotch is satisfied with the result of the case- it went far better than he anticipated, but his stomach is left in a knot. He’s still thinking about Dr. Reid and how he couldn’t even manage a goodbye before he ran off.