Under Control

It was a week later by the time the team felt as a whole that it was the right time to announce that Isabeau had been found. It would have happened sooner, had Spencer not been the one holding out.

“I just don’t think she’s ready,” he insisted when Derek pressed Spencer for his reasoning. “She’s still having nightmares and she barely gets out of that bed.”

“No one’s expecting her to get out into the real world yet,” Derek assured him. “In fact, we want the both of you to stay in the house, for now. We’re never going to move forward in this case, Reid, if we don’t do something to help it along.”

Finally, Spencer caved. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of Isabeau being targeted by the media as a new, hot story, but Derek was right. If they were going to get to the bottom of this and make sure that this didn’t happen to her or anyone else, something had to give.

A few days later – three weeks after she had shown up at Spencer’s door – it was all set. A myriad of reporters assembled and quieted as JJ stepped behind the podium.

“The Behavioral Analysis Unit would like to disclose that we have located and taken into protective custody Isabeau Marcure. She had suffered a number of injuries at the hand of a man we believe to be committing these crimes against a series of women under the MO of another criminal. He targets women who are alone at night outside of bars. He waits in a cab and that’s how he captures his victims. We are cautioning all women to remain in pairs if not groups, and to report any suspicious activity as soon as it happens. That’s all we have right now.”

“Is there anything you can tell us about the woman you have in custody?”

JJ looked sideways to Hotch, who gave a curt nod. “I can tell you that she was targeted in the exact manner in which we described. She is suffering from broken bones, dehydration and malnutrition, as well as emotional and physical effects of sexual assault.”

“How old is she? Will she be speaking to the press? How did you find her?”

The questions came one after the other. JJ thanked the press for their assistance in getting the word out about this attacker and stepped off the stage. She hated to leave them with any questions at all – those always got turned around on the victim or their family, if not both. But, they had to be brief.

“You did good,” Hotch assured her as they got in the car.

“I wish we could have told them more,” JJ sighed. “They’ll look for her, they’ll go after her parents. Her friends.”

“If we can work fast, we’ll have more information for them before that happens.” He looked down at his phone before answering the call. “Hotchner. Who is it? Okay, we’re on our way.”

“What is it?” JJ frowned.

“One of Isabeau’s friends showed up at the BAU office. Apparently she caught wind of the press conference and wants to know where Isabeau is, what’s going on with her.”

“She wasn’t concerned enough to make a missing persons report but now she wants to see Isabeau? Some friend.”

“I’ll call Reid, have him call the office. We’ll go from there.”



Reid thanked Derek for the information on the girl claiming to be Isabeau’s friend and requested that Garcia look into that girl’s background before ending the call. Isabeau was having a good day, and it concerned him that this might throw her off.

“You know, I really don’t like it when you have that look on your face,” Isabeau told him when he entered the room. She was on his laptop, typing away some notes.

“What are you working on?”

“Just some notes from my own experience. Figured it would help both of us, and my research after this is all over. Thanks for letting me use the secure machine here.” She was almost cheerful, so Spencer sat next to her on the bed and chose his next words carefully.

“Do you know somebody named Tess Richardson?”

Isabeau looked up from the computer, moving her glasses to the top of her head. “I know Tess. She was one of the first friends I made here, when Ben I were still together. I was weary of her at first because she was Ben’s ex-girlfriend, but they made it easy to trust them. She respected my relationship with Ben and kept her distance. So we became friends.”

“She showed up at the BAU today, after hearing about the press conference. She wants to see you.”

Isabeau looked away with a frown. “She didn’t care when I was gone.”

“I know that,” Spencer said, scooting slightly closer to her. “Which is why you don’t have to see her. We want you to decide this, Isabeau.”

Isabeau nodded, and her countenance turned from unsure to pensive. “You know, I think I want to see her. I want to know why.”

“Fair enough. We can go now, if you want.”

“Sure. Let me just make myself slightly more presentable.”

He watched her scoot off the bed and pick up the crutches the doctors had said she could slowly begin using. She went in front of the mirror and picked up the makeup bag that had remained untouched since she brought it from her apartment in Fairfax.

Spencer slid off the bed with a sigh. He went to where she was and stood behind her, placing a hand over hers. Isabeau let her hands fall away looked at him through the mirror.

“I’m all right, Spencer.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think you are. Not yet. Do I believe you’re getting better? Yes, absolutely. You’re sleeping better and having better days. You know as well as I do that you might not like any of the answers you get from Tess.”

“I have to see her,” Isabeau replied confidently, turning as best she could to face him. “I have to know why I didn’t matter enough to the person who I thought was one of my best friends for me to go missing for nearly a month without her saying anything to anyone.”

“That’s what this is about,” Spencer surmised. “You want to matter to Tess?”

Isabeau fought tears as she looked right into his eyes. “I just want to matter to anyone, Spencer. I know my parents care, but even they’re distanced enough from me that they don’t think enough of it when I go a month without calling. I thought I had created a new family here in Virginia, but apparently that was wrong, too.”

Spencer didn’t know what was happening; his emotions were entirely taking over his actions. He reached up to push her hair behind her ear, before wiping the traitorous tears away from her cheeks.

“You matter to me, Isabeau,” he whispered just before brushing his lips across hers. He didn’t even falter when her crutches clattered to the ground and her arms snaked around him. His hands found their way to the small of her back as the kiss continued.

The ringing of his phone was an unwelcomed interruption. Isabeau wiped her mouth and looked back to the mirror and back to the task she had originally set out to complete.

“This is Reid,” Spencer stumbled out. “No, I’m fine. Yes, she’ll see her. We’ll be on our way in a few minutes.”

Isabeau waited for the call to disconnect. “So she’s waiting at the office?”

“Yes,” Spencer replied. “We can’t risk her coming here.”

“I get it. I’m just going to finish getting ready.”

Spencer excused himself from the room, kicking himself while he turned off the lights throughout the house. He wondered first what he had been thinking, and then realized that’s what it came down to: he hadn’t been thinking. His brain had lost control of his actions when he kissed her, and Spencer knew he couldn’t let it happen again.

“I’m ready.”

“Are you sure your arm is okay to use the crutches?” Spencer asked.

Isabeau shrugged. “It’s a little sore but I took half of a painkiller. I won’t be drowsy but it should head off any pain later on.”

Spencer followed her out to the car and helped her into the passenger seat. Even holding her steady while she lowered herself into the car seemed inappropriate now. Wondering how in the world he was going to keep the guilty look off of his face in an office full of profilers, he started the ignition and navigated them towards the BAU.



Isabeau hesitated just outside the office doors. “You’re going to stay with me, right?”

“I’ll be right beside you,” Spencer assured. He couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to hold her and the taste of her kiss. Pushing those thoughts out of his head, he opened the door and allowed her to go through first.

“Oh my gosh, Isa!”

A pretty strawberry-blonde of medium height and an athletic build rushed forward and accosted Isabeau into a fierce hug. Isabeau half-heartedly returned the gesture.

“Hey, Tess.”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through this,” Tess said, wiping tears from her eyes. She looked over to Emily. “Is there somewhere we can sit and talk in private?”

“Of course,” Emily nodded, motioning to one of the nearby conference rooms.

Tess walked forward, frowning when she saw both Isabeau and Spencer following behind her.

“In private?” Tess repeated.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Isabeau answered. “Tess Richardson, this is Spencer Reid. He’s sort of keeping an eye on me after all of this.”

“I’ve got to talk to the team for a few minutes,” Spencer interjected. “You go ahead with Tess; I’ll be right out here, and not far behind you.”

Isabeau nodded and followed behind Tess with a visible amount of uncertainty. Hotch carefully watched the interaction – he’d been watching since they came into the office – and waited for Isabeau to be in the conference room and out of ear shot before approaching Spencer.

“Reid, is there something going on that I should be aware of?”

Spencer immediately shook his head. “Why would you ask that?”

“Maybe because you’re watching her like the earth is going to open up and swallow her if you’re not right there next to her,” Derek piped up.

“I just don’t want her getting overwhelmed.”

Derek and Hotchner exchanged a glance. Derek nodded, letting Hotch know he would handle this one. Derek motioned for Spencer to follow him and they began a slow walk to the conference room.

“Is this about Lila?”

“What? No,” Spencer groaned. “This isn’t about anything except for a girl who showed up at my door one night afraid for her life. Maybe I’ve developed a little bit of a hero complex or something.”

“That’s not like you, Reid,” Derek said, stopping just outside the room, arms crossed over his broad chest. “Come on. Tell me what’s going on.”

Spencer leaned against the window-wall and sighed. “She’s beautiful. She’s a mess – broken in so many ways, but refuses to let anyone put her back together. It’s like she’s indirectly insisting on doing it herself. She still needs me, though. I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with my mother – she really needed me. Couldn’t do things for herself. Isabeau, she’s independent. She’s strong – a survivor. But still, she needs me. There’s something in all of that.”

“Would it be easier for you if we reassigned her watch?”

Spencer shook his head and stood up straight again. “No. I’d just worry about her too much and end up right back at that safe house.”

Derek nodded. “If it’s just a hero complex, man, it’s going to fade as time goes on. If it’s isn’t, well, it won’t.”

Derek clapped him on the back and went back to whatever he’d been doing before Tess arrived, putting the whole office on alert. Spencer looked through the window-wall into the conference room and noticed that Isabeau’s face said she was paying attention to Tess, but her eyes were subtly looking for him. He motioned that he would be waiting outside before turning his back to the women.



“He seems pretty attached to you, too,” Tess teased her friend.

Isabeau gave a hesitant smile. “He was the first face I saw outside of that apartment. I guess we’ve got a mutual concern for each other’s presence because of that.”

“It’s cute.” Tess looked down at her hands clasped on the table. “Isa, I’m really sorry that this happened to you. I feel like I should have been there – should have made you call when you got to Ben’s or left Ben’s or something.”

“How did you know I was going to Ben’s?” Isabeau frowned. “I told you I was going home.”

“When I didn’t hear from you for like a week, I started calling around to see if anyone had gotten in touch with you. Ben said you went over there that night, you two got in a big fight, and you told him that you didn’t want to see any of us anymore, that you were going back home.”

“Ben told you that?”

“He did,” Tess confirmed. “Is that not right?”

“No, it isn’t,” Isabeau answered. “I was supposed to be going to Ben’s, but I never made it. The guy was waiting when I got in the cab that night.”

Tess wiped a tear from her cheek. “Isabeau, I’m sorry.”

“Is that why you never called the police or tried to file a missing persons report?”

“I mean, Ben said you were fine. That you didn’t want to be around any of us. He’s the only one who has contact information for your parents.”

“You could have gotten it from him,” Isabeau said, her anger rising. “Tess, you’re my best friend out here. Besides Ben, I’ve known you the longest. Of anyone, I thought it would have been you that cared. I was out of touch for a month and you didn’t blink an eye when Ben told you that. You didn’t care to hear it from me? I think you cared enough to ask Ben if he had heard from me, but not enough to keep pushing and trying to find out anything. Hell, you could have showed up at my apartment.”

“I know that but I’m here now,” Tess pleaded. “I was wrong. Please, you’ve got to understand. You can’t blame me for what happened.”

Isabeau rolled her eyes. “I don’t blame you. I just wish you would have cared a little more than you did. Than you do.”

Pushing herself up on her crutches, she left the room. She was ready to be back in that bed and sleep away the rest of the day.

“Can we leave, please?” she pleaded with Spencer.

“Of course. I’m sorry that didn’t go well,” Spencer told her honestly.

Isabeau took a deep breath. “You should probably talk to Ben. He told Tess that he and I were in a fight. Told her that I said I didn’t want to see any of them anymore and that I was going back home. Ben is the only one with my parents’ contact information. Once I talk to them, I’ll know what he told my mother and father.”

Spencer didn’t like any of that, at all. It was very sketchy on Ben’s part; he alerted Emily and Hotch to the new information, then escorted Isabeau out of the building.

“Emily said my parents are coming here,” Isabeau mentioned on the way back to the house.
Spencer nodded. “I think so. They’re worried about your well-being.”

“I’m sure,” she scoffed. “Wonder what line Ben fed them.”

“We’re going to find out,” Spencer promised.

Isabeau continued to watch out the window. “Will my parents be able to stay with us?”

“I’m sorry, but I think it’s just going to be you and me and a police watch until we can get to the bottom of this.” He glanced at her and swallowed hard. “If that’s going to be awkward because of what happened earlier, I can get someone else assigned to it.”

“Don’t,” she stopped him. “I won’t lie that I wanted that to happen – that I’ve been wanting it to happen. The thing is, Spencer, I’m a psychologist. I know all the signs. You were the safe haven I imagined for those weeks that I was in that apartment. The moment you opened your door and helped me, my brain instantly registered you as some kind of savior because I knew I was safe once I was with you. I feel safer with you now than with anybody else, I don’t like being away from you, I scream for you when I have those nightmares. I couldn’t even talk to Tess on my own without knowing you were nearby. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it before.”

Spencer pursed his lips. “So you think this is transference.”

“Just think it’s important we recognize that from the beginning.”

He didn’t say anything else, and except for glancing at him to gauge his facial reaction, Isabeau did not look at him or say anything until they were back at the safe house.