Fic: Familiar Strangers 4/?
Jun. 2nd, 2006 09:34 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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criminalxmindsTitle: Familiar Strangers 4/?
Summary: The BAU team from Criminal Minds has a case in Vegas, but how do Reid and Nick know each other?
Rating: PG (each part will be rated individually, some will contain descriptive violent scenes read each warning carefully)
Notes: This crossover had been kicking around for awhile but after a bunch of encouragement and support (damn you all!) the bunny blossomed and now I have a wonderful beta who edits my grammar and gracefully allows me to distract her from finals and bother her on vacation. Thanks to silentflux for the wonderful assistance.
Notes 2: From my snippet I’m guessing that everyone has a passing familiarity of CSI but if you don’t know about Criminal Minds then go to the CBS website for a brief run down of the show and characters.
There was little in the way of conversation from Reid on the way to this center, ‘Recovering Childhood’. Terse one word answers greeted all of Morgan’s questions and Morgan decided not to push Reid who was wound tighter than Morgan had ever seen him. The building itself was in a dreary sort neighborhood with graffiti as paint and grates over the streetlights. The inside of the building was painted brightly with the wood floors of a gymnasium. One of the old basketball posts still hung there and a group of kids were playing a half court game. The other side of the court had a circle of chairs where adults were seated and talking quietly. One of them glanced up and saw Reid and broke off with a quiet word to the person next to her.
Morgan cast an appraising eye over the woman approaching. She wasn’t a classical beauty, jaw a little too strong, eyes a little too narrow, and frankly, she was more than a little too skinny for his tastes. Reid, at the sight of her, quirked his lips a bit of a smile and released a good portion of his pent up tension.
"Spencer!" The woman smiled warmly and it seemed to cast her features in a better light. She reached out and embraced Reid warmly, and Morgan was shocked to see Reid return it enthusiastically.
"Michelle."
"GodDAMN, Spencer, it’s good to see you! Next time don’t stay away for so long." Michelle pulled away from Spencer and eyed him up and down, "Dang, if you ain’t been eatin’ much. C’mon we’ll grab some cookies-"
"And milk?" Finished Morgan, looking puzzled but slightly smirking. Reid, realizing exactly how much he’s going to be teased about this, flushes a bit and breaks eye contact.
"Michelle this is Special Agent Derek Morgan. We’re here on business." The light and happy atmosphere deflated quickly after that, and Michelle had a suspicious gleam to her eyes.
"Spencer..." Michelle’s voice held a note of warning and question at the same time.
"Those kids that have been killed, the man, the newspapers are calling him the Angel of Death. Michelle," Reid’s voice is serious and quietly firm. "He was molested as a child. He might have sought help at some point but something happened recently about 2 or 3 months ago that stressed him into killing. We need the list."
"Spencer, you don’t know what you’re asking-"
"Yes. I do." Morgan had never heard Spencer that forceful. "Nick knows, too. This man, Michelle, he’s not a bad person. He needs help; we have to find him to help him. Please Michelle, I know exactly how each person on that list feels and I know that I want to help this man. Do you honestly think that I would ask if it wasn’t important?"
Michelle looked up into Reid’s pleading and serious eyes and knew that Spencer wouldn’t be here asking unless he really did need it. After all he risked exposing himself just as much as anyone else on the list. "Alright. Wait here."
Morgan watched the retreating woman for a second before turning to Reid. "So how long have you known Michelle?"
"About 5 years."
"Really 5 years?"
Reid sighed, "4 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days. So, yeah, really." The terseness of the words warned Morgan off, so despite his curiosity, he kept his mouth shut. The five minutes that passed felt much longer with the tension in the room.
Michelle approached the two with no hint of her former joy at seeing Reid. She handed him a sheaf of papers and practically glared. "Don’t ever ask me for this again and if it gets around that I gave this to you..." Reid flinched back from her glare. Her gaze seemed to soften a bit, "Just-just," she sighed loudly, "help this guy, okay."
Reid nodded jerkily seeming to take her words to heart. The hastily mumbled thanks might as well have not existed.
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Morgan and Reid arrived at the headquarters with little fanfare. While they were walking past the locker rooms Reid stopped, and once Morgan realized that Reid had fallen behind, he turned back to him.
"What’s up?" Morgan followed Reid’s gaze into the locker room where Nick Stokes sat slumped over in front of his locker.
Reid passed the sheaf of papers to Morgan. "Give these to Gideon. I’ll be along shortly."
Morgan hesitated briefly, long enough to watch Reid gently place his hand on Nick’s shoulder and see Nick lean into the touch. The look on Nick’s face when he looked up was..touching. Watery eyes that still managed to smile and the trust in them. Despite the fact that the only point of contact between the two was a hand on a shoulder Morgan still got the idea that the was intruding on a very private moment.
It was over fifteen minutes before Reid walked into the break room with Nick Stokes on his heels. Morgan wasn’t sure what they had said to each other, but there was a calmness about them both as if they had found a sort of peace with the world. Morgan suspected that it was the surety of knowing that someone had your back no matter what. Morgan had been watching the two close friends and honestly didn’t think there was anything sexual in the relationship just one of deep trust and understanding. From what Morgan had gathered Nick Stokes wasn’t considered a genius but neither was he considered stupid. Morgan knew that he would never really understand Reid, not completely. He’d always chalked it up to Reid’s insurmountable intelligence; it was slightly disconcerting to find out that this man just as smart as him understood Reid so throughly. It made him wonder what piece he was missing.
8888888888888888888888
Reid walked up to Gideon who was sorting through the papers, "How did you manage to get these Reid? Normally it takes a court order."
"I -ah know the coordinator. I convinced her that we would be discreet with the names. I -ah also promised her that when we catch the unsub that we would -ah help him."
Gideon’s head snapped around, "What!?"
Reid flinched back from Gideon’s tone but responded tightly, "You know that this man needs help. He’s not evil. He thinks he’s helping these children. You know that he shouldn’t stand trial."
Gideon looked indecisive and questioning but didn’t protest the statement. Reid knew better than to push his point, "Spencer, why don’t you help Elle? She’s been re-checking the autopsy reports."
Reid nodded slowly suspicious of Gideon’s actions but not protesting. "Michelle put the men that suffered a trauma about two months ago or stopped coming to the center at the top."
"Thank you." Gideon watched as Reid approached Elle and took half the files from the pile. Reid was too attached to the unsub, and for some reason he was sympathizing with him. Gideon didn’t think that it was that bad yet but he would do his best to minimize any contact that Reid might have with the unsub.
Gideon was back to sorting the list by priority when a name caught his eye. It was one of those quick glances where you catch a familiar word out of the corner of your eye, he quickly swung he gaze back and searched for the name that he hoped he had mistakenly seen. But it was real and now that he knew it made perfect sense. It all fit together in such a way that he wondered how he didn't realize before.
Summary: The BAU team from Criminal Minds has a case in Vegas, but how do Reid and Nick know each other?
Rating: PG (each part will be rated individually, some will contain descriptive violent scenes read each warning carefully)
Notes: This crossover had been kicking around for awhile but after a bunch of encouragement and support (damn you all!) the bunny blossomed and now I have a wonderful beta who edits my grammar and gracefully allows me to distract her from finals and bother her on vacation. Thanks to silentflux for the wonderful assistance.
Notes 2: From my snippet I’m guessing that everyone has a passing familiarity of CSI but if you don’t know about Criminal Minds then go to the CBS website for a brief run down of the show and characters.
There was little in the way of conversation from Reid on the way to this center, ‘Recovering Childhood’. Terse one word answers greeted all of Morgan’s questions and Morgan decided not to push Reid who was wound tighter than Morgan had ever seen him. The building itself was in a dreary sort neighborhood with graffiti as paint and grates over the streetlights. The inside of the building was painted brightly with the wood floors of a gymnasium. One of the old basketball posts still hung there and a group of kids were playing a half court game. The other side of the court had a circle of chairs where adults were seated and talking quietly. One of them glanced up and saw Reid and broke off with a quiet word to the person next to her.
Morgan cast an appraising eye over the woman approaching. She wasn’t a classical beauty, jaw a little too strong, eyes a little too narrow, and frankly, she was more than a little too skinny for his tastes. Reid, at the sight of her, quirked his lips a bit of a smile and released a good portion of his pent up tension.
"Spencer!" The woman smiled warmly and it seemed to cast her features in a better light. She reached out and embraced Reid warmly, and Morgan was shocked to see Reid return it enthusiastically.
"Michelle."
"GodDAMN, Spencer, it’s good to see you! Next time don’t stay away for so long." Michelle pulled away from Spencer and eyed him up and down, "Dang, if you ain’t been eatin’ much. C’mon we’ll grab some cookies-"
"And milk?" Finished Morgan, looking puzzled but slightly smirking. Reid, realizing exactly how much he’s going to be teased about this, flushes a bit and breaks eye contact.
"Michelle this is Special Agent Derek Morgan. We’re here on business." The light and happy atmosphere deflated quickly after that, and Michelle had a suspicious gleam to her eyes.
"Spencer..." Michelle’s voice held a note of warning and question at the same time.
"Those kids that have been killed, the man, the newspapers are calling him the Angel of Death. Michelle," Reid’s voice is serious and quietly firm. "He was molested as a child. He might have sought help at some point but something happened recently about 2 or 3 months ago that stressed him into killing. We need the list."
"Spencer, you don’t know what you’re asking-"
"Yes. I do." Morgan had never heard Spencer that forceful. "Nick knows, too. This man, Michelle, he’s not a bad person. He needs help; we have to find him to help him. Please Michelle, I know exactly how each person on that list feels and I know that I want to help this man. Do you honestly think that I would ask if it wasn’t important?"
Michelle looked up into Reid’s pleading and serious eyes and knew that Spencer wouldn’t be here asking unless he really did need it. After all he risked exposing himself just as much as anyone else on the list. "Alright. Wait here."
Morgan watched the retreating woman for a second before turning to Reid. "So how long have you known Michelle?"
"About 5 years."
"Really 5 years?"
Reid sighed, "4 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days. So, yeah, really." The terseness of the words warned Morgan off, so despite his curiosity, he kept his mouth shut. The five minutes that passed felt much longer with the tension in the room.
Michelle approached the two with no hint of her former joy at seeing Reid. She handed him a sheaf of papers and practically glared. "Don’t ever ask me for this again and if it gets around that I gave this to you..." Reid flinched back from her glare. Her gaze seemed to soften a bit, "Just-just," she sighed loudly, "help this guy, okay."
Reid nodded jerkily seeming to take her words to heart. The hastily mumbled thanks might as well have not existed.
8888888888888888888888888888
Morgan and Reid arrived at the headquarters with little fanfare. While they were walking past the locker rooms Reid stopped, and once Morgan realized that Reid had fallen behind, he turned back to him.
"What’s up?" Morgan followed Reid’s gaze into the locker room where Nick Stokes sat slumped over in front of his locker.
Reid passed the sheaf of papers to Morgan. "Give these to Gideon. I’ll be along shortly."
Morgan hesitated briefly, long enough to watch Reid gently place his hand on Nick’s shoulder and see Nick lean into the touch. The look on Nick’s face when he looked up was..touching. Watery eyes that still managed to smile and the trust in them. Despite the fact that the only point of contact between the two was a hand on a shoulder Morgan still got the idea that the was intruding on a very private moment.
It was over fifteen minutes before Reid walked into the break room with Nick Stokes on his heels. Morgan wasn’t sure what they had said to each other, but there was a calmness about them both as if they had found a sort of peace with the world. Morgan suspected that it was the surety of knowing that someone had your back no matter what. Morgan had been watching the two close friends and honestly didn’t think there was anything sexual in the relationship just one of deep trust and understanding. From what Morgan had gathered Nick Stokes wasn’t considered a genius but neither was he considered stupid. Morgan knew that he would never really understand Reid, not completely. He’d always chalked it up to Reid’s insurmountable intelligence; it was slightly disconcerting to find out that this man just as smart as him understood Reid so throughly. It made him wonder what piece he was missing.
8888888888888888888888
Reid walked up to Gideon who was sorting through the papers, "How did you manage to get these Reid? Normally it takes a court order."
"I -ah know the coordinator. I convinced her that we would be discreet with the names. I -ah also promised her that when we catch the unsub that we would -ah help him."
Gideon’s head snapped around, "What!?"
Reid flinched back from Gideon’s tone but responded tightly, "You know that this man needs help. He’s not evil. He thinks he’s helping these children. You know that he shouldn’t stand trial."
Gideon looked indecisive and questioning but didn’t protest the statement. Reid knew better than to push his point, "Spencer, why don’t you help Elle? She’s been re-checking the autopsy reports."
Reid nodded slowly suspicious of Gideon’s actions but not protesting. "Michelle put the men that suffered a trauma about two months ago or stopped coming to the center at the top."
"Thank you." Gideon watched as Reid approached Elle and took half the files from the pile. Reid was too attached to the unsub, and for some reason he was sympathizing with him. Gideon didn’t think that it was that bad yet but he would do his best to minimize any contact that Reid might have with the unsub.
Gideon was back to sorting the list by priority when a name caught his eye. It was one of those quick glances where you catch a familiar word out of the corner of your eye, he quickly swung he gaze back and searched for the name that he hoped he had mistakenly seen. But it was real and now that he knew it made perfect sense. It all fit together in such a way that he wondered how he didn't realize before.
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