Categories > TV > Criminal Minds > Secrets I Never Told
Hotch watched as Morgan and Reid both stood up, after what had seemed like an eternity, they both walked back into the station. Morgan had his arm around the young doctor but even Hotch could tell that it was because Reid was still shaking and Morgan was probably making sure that he didn't trip or topple over. As soon as they were settled Hotch left to go get coffee. He knew that if his team was going to make it through the night, they were going to need caffeine and probably large amounts of it.
When he got back to the room it was deadly silent. Everyone was staring at Reid as he paced back and forth, wringing his hands and repeating the same thing over and over again. "412, 1224, 513 and 625. April 12th, December 24th, May 13th and June 25th. Or April 24th at 12:24 and May 13 at 6:25. I know what that means and it scares me. On April 24th we met and May 13th was the day that we broke up." He turned so that he was facing Hotch. "I know who the killer is…"
Morgan noticed as he was talking his breathing had sped up again and he was really close to hyperventilating. If Hotch noticed he had dismissed it as someone else's problem. Morgan grabbed Reid by the shoulders; he knew that in order to get Reid to calm down, the first thing that he was going to have to do was get the young genius to stop moving. Once they did that, then maybe he could make some sense of what Reid was saying.
"Reid, slow down man. Take a deep breath and relax." Once Reid had inhaled and exhaled a couple of times he seemed a bit more at ease. "Okay, now tell me what you're saying."
Reid was still wringing his hands but at least his breathing wasn't as fast as it had been. "Okay." He pushed the hair that had fallen into his face away. Usually he was more then content to have it hang there like a curtain, shielding his emotions from the cruel comments of the people that he was around. It wasn't that he didn't trust the team, they where his family but it was just a defense mechanism that he had developed when he was a child and it was one that he didn't see the point of getting rid of so quickly.
"I looked at the numbers and if I've done this right all of the numbers are significant to the Unsub, also all of the numbers can be arranged to represent a month and a day and a specific time. When I cross reference with that of the significant dates to that of my stalker, they all add up."
The rest of the team stared at him, completely shocked. Hotch was the first to speak. "You have a stalker?"
Reid took a deep breath. "Perhaps stalker isn't the right word. The stalker is someone that I used to be in a romantic relationship with…years ago. "I broke it off May 13 which numerically is 513. They didn't get the hint and began stalking me. They had broken into my house a couple of times, they beat me and they don't stop calling my phone. I've been meaning to get a restraining order but usually if I tell them to quit then they stop for awhile. It was just recently that the phone calls and physical attacks had gotten worse, more frequent and more violent."
The team continued to look at him like he had completely lost it. Sure, everyone had noticed the marks, and the constant stress that he was under due to the cases at work and then not knowing what was going to happen at home could explain the panic attacks but none of them had figured that it was an ex-lover turned stalker. And it didn't pass by any of them that Dr. Reid was playing the pronoun game, this lead them all to believe that the last person that Spencer had dated was another man.
Morgan nodded, like he was agreeing with someone that had spoken when in fact no one had. He knew that now most of what he considered to be Reid awkwardness when it came to people was just a reaction to what was going on at home, probably combined with the fact that he felt isolated but was too insecure about his sexuality and the fact that they all treated him like he was the younger brother to tell them what was going on.
Morgan was glad that Hotch was the next person to actually speak. "Okay, well we'll proceed with this the way that we would any other case." He turned so that he was facing Spencer. "Reid I want you to make a list of everything that the victims have in common. Then you and Prentiss can start a Geographical profile of where the victims were found, against their last known locations. I don't want to jump the gun, we'll keep the fact that Reid's stalker and this man could be the same person but I want to be one hundred percent sure."
Reid nodded. He couldn't help but think that this whole thing was a big mistake. He knew, mostly from experience, that once you let them know a little then they would keep prodding and asking questions, chipping away at your carefully pieced together armor, until there was nothing left to protect you. He knew that he should have just kept his mouth shut and that eventually, the people that he had learned to trust, the people who he had thought of as his family would hurt him. But what could he do? He stared at the blank page in front of him and did his best not to cry.
When he got back to the room it was deadly silent. Everyone was staring at Reid as he paced back and forth, wringing his hands and repeating the same thing over and over again. "412, 1224, 513 and 625. April 12th, December 24th, May 13th and June 25th. Or April 24th at 12:24 and May 13 at 6:25. I know what that means and it scares me. On April 24th we met and May 13th was the day that we broke up." He turned so that he was facing Hotch. "I know who the killer is…"
Morgan noticed as he was talking his breathing had sped up again and he was really close to hyperventilating. If Hotch noticed he had dismissed it as someone else's problem. Morgan grabbed Reid by the shoulders; he knew that in order to get Reid to calm down, the first thing that he was going to have to do was get the young genius to stop moving. Once they did that, then maybe he could make some sense of what Reid was saying.
"Reid, slow down man. Take a deep breath and relax." Once Reid had inhaled and exhaled a couple of times he seemed a bit more at ease. "Okay, now tell me what you're saying."
Reid was still wringing his hands but at least his breathing wasn't as fast as it had been. "Okay." He pushed the hair that had fallen into his face away. Usually he was more then content to have it hang there like a curtain, shielding his emotions from the cruel comments of the people that he was around. It wasn't that he didn't trust the team, they where his family but it was just a defense mechanism that he had developed when he was a child and it was one that he didn't see the point of getting rid of so quickly.
"I looked at the numbers and if I've done this right all of the numbers are significant to the Unsub, also all of the numbers can be arranged to represent a month and a day and a specific time. When I cross reference with that of the significant dates to that of my stalker, they all add up."
The rest of the team stared at him, completely shocked. Hotch was the first to speak. "You have a stalker?"
Reid took a deep breath. "Perhaps stalker isn't the right word. The stalker is someone that I used to be in a romantic relationship with…years ago. "I broke it off May 13 which numerically is 513. They didn't get the hint and began stalking me. They had broken into my house a couple of times, they beat me and they don't stop calling my phone. I've been meaning to get a restraining order but usually if I tell them to quit then they stop for awhile. It was just recently that the phone calls and physical attacks had gotten worse, more frequent and more violent."
The team continued to look at him like he had completely lost it. Sure, everyone had noticed the marks, and the constant stress that he was under due to the cases at work and then not knowing what was going to happen at home could explain the panic attacks but none of them had figured that it was an ex-lover turned stalker. And it didn't pass by any of them that Dr. Reid was playing the pronoun game, this lead them all to believe that the last person that Spencer had dated was another man.
Morgan nodded, like he was agreeing with someone that had spoken when in fact no one had. He knew that now most of what he considered to be Reid awkwardness when it came to people was just a reaction to what was going on at home, probably combined with the fact that he felt isolated but was too insecure about his sexuality and the fact that they all treated him like he was the younger brother to tell them what was going on.
Morgan was glad that Hotch was the next person to actually speak. "Okay, well we'll proceed with this the way that we would any other case." He turned so that he was facing Spencer. "Reid I want you to make a list of everything that the victims have in common. Then you and Prentiss can start a Geographical profile of where the victims were found, against their last known locations. I don't want to jump the gun, we'll keep the fact that Reid's stalker and this man could be the same person but I want to be one hundred percent sure."
Reid nodded. He couldn't help but think that this whole thing was a big mistake. He knew, mostly from experience, that once you let them know a little then they would keep prodding and asking questions, chipping away at your carefully pieced together armor, until there was nothing left to protect you. He knew that he should have just kept his mouth shut and that eventually, the people that he had learned to trust, the people who he had thought of as his family would hurt him. But what could he do? He stared at the blank page in front of him and did his best not to cry.
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