The Summer With Spencer

When we got into the SUV, and rode in silence back to Eddie’s house. Being a gentleman, when we arrived, Spencer came around the car and opened my car door for me. When he turned around, I swooned, gazing after him as he walked his adorable nerd-swagger walk. I stood behind him as he opened the door to reveal a barrage of people in my living room. Eddie was sitting alone, holding his nose. He jumped up as he saw me, yelling again. Chaos erupted as everyone tried to calm one another down. Hotch and Gideon held Morgan back as he lunged at Eddie again, who Garcia and JJ were trying to console. But still, he yelled at me. “Do you realize how irresponsible and stupid that was ?” he screamed at me. “You’re fourteen, stop acting like a child and grow up and realize what reality is !” I looked at him and laughed. Everyone looked at me then, and grew silent. I stared Eddie right in the face, walked closer and said “ Do you realize how stupid you are ? You say I’m acting like a juvenile, take a look in the mirror. I got kidnapped and beaten, and my act is still more cleaned up than yours. Hypocrisy’s a bitch, huh ?” With that, I strode up to my room, alone.
I heard Spencer follow me nervously. He stopped outside my door, unsure of what to do next. I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, shutting the door after him. I turned and put my back against the door, sliding to the ground. He dutifully sat cross legged next to me, and looked at me expectantly. “Well, that went well,” I commented to him. He smiled, but I could see it was forced. “What’s wrong ?” I asked him, genuinely concerned. I scooted closer to him until we were knee-to-knee. He look up at me then, and he looked so child-like and sad, it made me feel horrible, like I’d put him through all of this. “You don’t deserve this,” he whispered, looking down. Right then, I had to literally fight the urge to kiss him. I wanted to so badly, the desire was eating me up, but I knew it was wrong. It was more than just the age difference, it was everything. I settled for leaning in and giving him a big hug, and whispering back ,”Neither do you.”

He looked at me questioningly. “I’m sorry I put you and the other agents through this. I know I keep saying that, but I truly mean it,” “through what ?” he asked. “You do keep repeating that, but you have to realize, finding you and saving you from the kidnapper was our job, and finding you when you were in trouble was being a friend. It’s not a burden, it’s what friends do for each other.” Morgan ruined the moment by busting into the room. He grabbed me under the arms and lifted me up, hugging me, but being careful of my ribs. “I’ve missed you kiddo ! We just got you back, and you were gone again ! I’ve gotta keep a better eye on you.” He winked at me. Spencer looked up at us from the floor. “C’mon Pretty Boy, we’re gonna go reunite the gang !” Derek’s excitement was contagious, I followed him downstairs excitedly. Everyone was talking and laughing, but they grew silent when I entered the room. I struck a pose, and it broke the ice; we all hugged and “I’m sorry-d” and what not. Eddie must’ve went to his room, because he didn’t come out for the rest of the night. Rossi and Gideon went home to get some sleep, but everyone else stayed, regardless of their work the next morning. We all had to decide what movie to watch, and we finally agreed on The Waterboy. You can’t go wrong with Adam Sandler movies ! By the time the agents left, it was eleven o’clock. I trudged upstairs, afraid that Eddie would wake up and start acting like a little bitch again. I locked my bedroom door just in case. I slipped out onto my terrace, just watching the stars. I thought back to a couple of weeks ago, the first day Eddie and I spent with the neighbors. I remembered how excited I was, and how I had stood in this same spot, waiting impatiently like a little girl. I gazed fondly down at my arm, where the BAU Agents had all signed my cast. Still smiling, I went inside and went to bed.

When I awoke in the morning, Eddie and I still weren’t speaking. Throughout the day, we hadn’t said one word to one another. Garcia texted me to tell me they all had to work late, and to hang in there. So basically I was on my own on a Wednesday in the summer, in a town where I didn’t know anyone, and my only available friend wasn’t speaking to me. My cast was water-proof, so I decided to go for a swim. When I entered the back yard, I stopped at the end of the path by the gazebo. I was terrified of walking to the inground pool, because it was in the middle of the backyard, near where the incident had happened. I took a deep breath and continued anyway. Part of the way to the pool, I stopped again. What was I thinking ? I couldn’t do this. I was about to give myself a panic attack ! Man up, I told myself. I ran up to the edge, and did a front tuck into the pool. The cool water instantly calmed me, I could swim before I could walk, so being in the water felt effortless to me. I stayed near the edge though, in case I needed to make a quick escape. For lack of anything better to do, I began to hold my breath under water as long as I could. A sudden shadow over me made me scramble for the edge, completely freaked. I leapt out of the pool, and turned to see Eddie, standing there looking back at me. “What the hell ? Are you trying to give me a heart attack ?!” “Were you trying to drown yourself ?!” he whispered, sounding broken. “Um, what the f-... NO ! “ I told him, taken aback by his accusation. “I’ve had enough near-death experiences in my lifetime, thanks so much. Why does everyone assume I’m some crazy person now, who’s suicidal and needs to be looked after 24/7 ?!” I demanded to know. “YOU ARE RIDICULOUS ! YOU GUYS ARE THE ONES MAKING ME CRAZY !” I was yelling now, but I didn’t care. Lately I had been doing everything I had never done before, so why not start acting like an actual teenager for once ? I was so frustrated, I felt like everyone else was having a harder time coping about my kidnapping than I was ! I walked over and used my purple cast to whack him with. I stormed away, mad that I hadn’t been permitted to finish my swim. Aquatic therapy, hello ! I went to my room to Skype with my Michigan friends, whom I hadn’t had contact with since the abduction. I didn’t even know if they knew about it, but they were bound to know, what with my taped-up ribs and broken arm…

I stayed in my room all day, feeling like a prisoner. I was alone with my thoughts, and practically about to go insane. I was handling this so well, while everyone around me was falling apart. I felt like I was the one taking care of the, which is what I had always felt at my permanent home, keeping my parents from killing one another. I started watching old Grey’s Anatomy episodes, because they always made me feel better. Pretty soon I was crying at the drama and eating my stash of Oreo’s. By the time I got up to stretch, it was around nine o’clock. I was going to sit on my window seat, but I was too afraid of a serial killing unsub appearance at the window, so instead, I stuffed myself under my room bed, near the air vent. Yes, I know I’m weird. Everything looked so pretty outside though, with my paper lantern lights strung around the window, and fireflies lighting up the outside. But still, I wallowed in my sorrows under my bed, which was actually quite roomy, because my bed was high up off the ground. A knock at my bedroom door startled me. “Unless your name is Spencer Reid, DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR,” I told the unknown intruder. The door opened, and a quiet voice called “Llysa ?” in a confused voice. I slid partway out from under the bed, and awkwardly looked up at him. He looked horrible. I shot out from under the bed. “Spence ?! What’s wrong ?!” I asked him frantically. He sat cross-legged on the floor again. I scooted up to him in the same way. “Rough day,” he told me. “Really rough day.” “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do ?” I leaned closer to him and put my hand on his knee. He jerked up, putting his knees to his chest and burying his face in them. I was shocked. I could tell by the way he was shaking slightly that he was sobbing ! He was about to make me cry ! I slid my arm around his skinny back desperately trying to comfort him. I leaned his head onto my shoulder, and he went with it. “I’m here, I’m here,” I told him, reassuring him that he could tell me anything. He sat up a little, twisting his fingers. He peeked up at me from under his hair, and started to tell me about some random statistic of the average person’s number of bad days per year. He went on in that fashion of random facts for quite a while, before the room became quiet. We laid there, in silence, flat on our backs side-by-side, for a long time. He was staring at the ceiling, but I was gazing at him.