Inside the Mind

Leona Mercer was panting heavily her long dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, she was running as fast as she could. The path she ran on almost every morning was paved it ran through a small park just outside the city limits and was quiet. She preferred this area because she could sprint without worrying about running into another person, eventually she would run out of stamina and end her morning runs with a short jog back to the front of the park. This morning was different, she was fueled by adrenaline, she had just received a phone call the day before from Mateo Cruz section chief of the FBI Behavioral analysis unit in Quantico they have had another opening in a special team and she was being offered the position. She agreed to meet with the team on a trial basis to see how she would fair in this unit but she had no doubts in herself.

-----

Spencer Reid dressed slowly, this morning like so many others before it was uneventful to say the least. His hair had begun to grow out once again and he had been forgetting to brush it in the morning, he did try but he couldn't bring himself to look in the mirror. The pain was still there, every so often he would catch his reflection in a window and see only an empty shell of himself. It was true that time had begun to heal his wounds, but he could still feel her presence. He had loved her, but even now he refused to think of her. He walked out of his messy bedroom into the large empty living room. Books sat piled together on various tables around the small apartment, he had read every single one. There was only one book that sat on its own, on the very top shelf of one of the four bookshelves in the room, facing out so that anyone who was in the room could see and read the cover. The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The last book he had been given as a gift was the only one, he never touched. A small layer of dust had formed over the cover and the shelf, showing just how long it had been since he even went near it. He picked up the brown leather brief case bag that he always carried and swung it gingerly over his shoulder before turning and leaving the apartment not giving the book another thought.

-----

Leona Mercer hadn't shaken so many hands in her entire life. Every time Special Agent Jennifer Jareau introduced her to someone, they stuck their hand out and proceeded to try and remove her shoulder from its socket. She never liked the way men shook hands, forcing the two participants into a kind of war to see who had the strongest grip.

"I know it's a lot to take in at first but I promise, you get used to it pretty quickly." JJ said as the two women walked together down another hallway.

They turned a corner and the elevator next to them dinged, a young man stepped out from the silver doors, he was so preoccupied he walked directly into Leona knocking her coffee out of her hand and onto the floor. It missed her shoes but just barely.

"Spence!" JJ scolded gently.

"I'm so sorry!" He replied looking at both women. His heart sank as he met Leona's eyes. She was very small he noticed, shorter than JJ. He almost towered over her and her eyes, her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue. She was looking at him. The coffee was now pooling out of the cup and all over the floor, because no one had moved to clean it up. It had been only seconds, he knew this, but his mind was telling him to look away to do anything else but stare into those eyes.

"I'll grab some paper towels. Spence, this is Leona Mercer." JJ said before turning away from the two and walking quickly away to find a way to clean up the mess.

Instinctively Spencer looked back into those eyes, she smiled at him and held out her hand. His gaze shifted for only a split second to her outstretched palm and he wondered briefly if her skin was as soft as it looked. He shook his head and her hand dropped slowly.

"Shaking hands spreads more germs than kissing." He rambled off.

Her smile didn't fade but she nodded slowly. "I think you owe me a cup of coffee." She said.

He nodded slowly and looked down again at the mess on the floor. "I'll... I'll" He stammered stupidly.

JJ returned just moments later, and Spencer took the paper towels from her to begin mopping up the mess on the floor. He cleaned it quickly and threw the now ruined paper into the trashcan just outside the elevator doors. Leona reached down for the cup just as Spencer returned to do the same and his fingertips brushed against her hand. Her skin was soft, just as he had wondered and very warm. He looked at her once again, a small flush of pink had formed in her pale cheeks and she quickly grabbed the cup from the floor and tossed it into the trashcan before turning to look only at JJ.

"I was hoping to get another cup of coffee if possible." She said.

"Of course I'll show you where that's at and then take you to your new desk." JJ replied looking at Spencer. "Leona is going to be our newest agent."

Spencer's mouth dropped open as if he wanted to ask why but he shut it quickly and followed the two women into the main office area. JJ led Leona over to the coffee pot and helped her find the cups and other things she would need for a cup of coffee. Spencer took a seat at his desk dropping his bag onto the floor next to his chair and just in front of the drawers he used to file miscellaneous items. The two women returned as JJ spoke again.

"This will be your desk," She pointed to the one just in front of Spencer's and Leona nodded putting her cup down on the empty desk her bag followed. It was very close to the bag Spencer carried the only difference was in the color.

"Looks like we're going to be neighbors," Leona remarked before she got to work setting up her desk. Just then an office door opened just behind her and several members of the team emerged. JJ turned and motioned for everyone to come over and they did just that spilling out onto the floor one by one.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce our newest member, this is Leona Mercer," JJ said and Leona stood.

"Leona this is David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Tara Lewis, and Derek Morgan."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Leona replied as she shook each hand.

Just then another woman appeared she had blonde hair and wore a tight fitting dress that was bright orange. She waved the team forward and rushed into a room just up the stairs.

"Time to go." Rossi said and everyone followed him forward and into the room the woman had just entered.

They filed into the room each one taking a seat at a round table in the center the blonde woman was standing just in front of a large TV monitor holding a remote control in her hand and waiting patiently as each person got seated.

"Penelope Garcia this is Leona Mercer," JJ said before taking her seat.

"I wish I could say it was nice to meet you but under these circumstances it's best to say we'll get to know each other later." Penelope replied nodding and smiling sweetly at Leona. She returned her smile and put her focus on the images that were now appearing on the TV just behind the other woman.

"Four days ago two bodies were found mutilated in an apartment in Tallahassee, Florida. Twenty-eight-year-old Brian Cummings and twenty-seven-year-old Sara Pile." The pictures on the screen flashed to another set of bodies as Penelope. "This morning two more were found in Jasper, Emma Starkey and Eric Baiter both again were mutilated."

"So do we have a connection between the four victims?" Emily Prentiss asked first.

"No it doesn't seem that any of the four were related or connected in anyway." Penelope replied.

"The files say none of the victims were sexually assaulted either," Leona stated flipping through several images on the tablet from the table, "But the mutilations were done antemortem, the amount of blood loss in the victims shows that."

"Mutilating the bodies before death shows sexual aggression in the unsub but the lack of sexual contact with the victims shows us that he may be impotent." Spencer said adding to the informational profile.

"The file says that they haven't found the left foot from any of the victims." Morgan added.

“Why take the foot?” Leona asked more to herself than anyone in the room.

“It may hold some sexual significance to him.” Tare replied simply.

"If he sticks to this pattern, we can expect two more bodies in a few days. Garcia keep tabs on all major cities within a hundred-mile radius of Jasper, let us know if anything like this shows up. We'll take off in thirty minutes." Rossi said and the team stood from the table.

-----

Leona's heart was drumming in her chest. The plane was small but designed to be as comfortable as possible, she didn't like flying but she knew she would get used to it quickly. This ride would be only be two hours, they would land in Florida and hit the ground running as Rossi had put it. They had finished going over the details of the case that they had while waiting for Garcia to get back to them with further information regarding the victims.

Spencer sat in the back of plane farthest from the rest trying to focus his attention on the book in his lap but he found himself stealing small glances at Leona. She was brilliant, her questions came in small well thought out patterns, but the information she had was more impressive. He watched her closely as she spoke to JJ and Prentiss. Her lips were the thing he watched the most they barely parted as she spoke, and he couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful they were to him.

“What's going on in that mind of yours?” Morgan asked startling Spencer, forcing him to look away from the woman and back at the page he had been reading. Derek's eyes followed Spencer's gaze however and found exactly what he had been looking at.

Derek laughed to himself, “She's definitely your type.” was all he said before turning away and joining Rossi at the front of the plane. Spencer wanted to protest but he couldn't find the words.

Leona glanced up; she had been feeling his stare from across the plane. She had met him before but doubted that he even cared enough to remember, or maybe that's what he was doing, trying to place her somewhere that he couldn't quite bring forward in his mind. JJ called her attention back; they had been going over the crime scene photos again.

“Why the change of location?” Prentiss asked.

“He may be looking for a comfort zone, somewhere he can hunt his victims.” Tara added.

“This guy is too organized for this to be his first crime, he's probably in the system already and that's why he's changing locations makes it harder for us to track.” JJ replied.

“He gave himself time to work with these victims and he did all of this in an apartment building without making any sounds or being interrupted.” Leona replied.

The plane landed, and everyone took their assignments immediately. Spencer and Morgan went to check out the crime scene while Tara and JJ headed for the morgue, wanting to speak with the ME in charge of the autopsies. That left Prentiss, Rossi, and Leona to head directly to the police station and set up a field office for the rest of the team.