To the Bone

Nine days earlier…

As the BAU office hummed around him with chatter, Spencer was casually reading an article about forensic entomology. He had just gotten to the section on field applications when a small chat window popped up in the corner of his screen.

AdieFox is online

AdieFox is typing…

Spencer casually glanced around, knowing he wasn’t really supposed to use his work computer for personal purposes, but no one had said anything to him yet about his friend. He looked back at the screen, watching the “. . .” icon bounce as she typed.

AdieFox: Hello Deshi :) How’s the serial killer world?

Spencer chuckled at her nickname for him, a light pink flush moving to his cheeks. He paused before letting his fingers move on their own.

SReid is online

SReid: I’ve been bumped up to Deshi now? What an honor Sensei.

He could just see Adeline rolling her eyes on the other side of the screen as he propped himself up on his arm, watching her type a reply.

AdieFox: You’ve really been working hard on your research. I saw that you identified those bodies they found in the ocean in Jacksonville. It brought a tear of pride to my eye.

Spencer beamed, blushing a bit brighter at the thought of her reading about his cases when she was so far away. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he responded.

SReid: How did you hear about my case all the way in Santorini?

AdieFox: I may have done some LIGHT cyber stalking. But it’s not like I had to look very hard to hear about the amazing Dr. Reid.

SReid: Well I learned everything I know from you, so does that make you double amazing?

AdieFox: You don’t need to flatter me when you’re already Deshi, Spencer.

Spencer sighed, chewing his lip as he mindlessly kept tapping the space bar. Every time he tried to say anything nice, Adeline shut him down. He grumbled slightly when he heard a voice behind him and jumped.

“How’s your Greek geek girlfriend?” Morgan whispered, leaning close to the screen. He must have read her reply because he winced. “Ouch, that’s cold.”

“She’s not Greek and she’s not my girlfriend.” Spencer muttered, minimizing the window. “She is being professional and I was out of line.” Morgan nodded slowly before smirking at him.

“What’s deshi? Is it a pet name?” He winked and Spencer turned scarlet.

“Deshi is a sensei’s top pupil. Usually the one who will take over the school after a sensei passes away.” Morgan blinked a few times, so Spencer kept talking. “She’s the one who was tutoring me in anthropology so I could use it in the field. She heard about the Jacksonville case and wanted to congratulate my hard work.”

“How did she hear about that in Greece?”

“How do you even know she’s in Greece?” Spencer shot back, his face was so hot with embarrassment it felt like it was burning his skin off.

“Oh that’s my bad boo boo.” They both turned to see Garcia’s head pop out from behind Morgan’s shoulder. Spencer’s eyes widened, wondering who else knew about his friend. “You see, your conversation with miss cute Greek anthropologist may have gotten flagged by the folks upstairs, so I had to read it to make sure you weren’t telling her details about cases.”

“Oh my god.” Spencer groaned, covering his face with his hands. Garcia winced.

“Sorry Spence. But honestly, it does sound like’s she’s really into you.”

“You should ask her out.” Morgan suggested. “Take a vacation and get some Greek loving.” He winked and Garcia giggled.

“She’s not Greek!” Spencer hollered. Everyone in the office paused and he groaned, sinking back into his chair. “Just forget it.” He grumbled. Morgan and Garcia paused and Reid kept his hands over his face, groaning quietly.

“She’s really cute, if you want my opinion.” Garcia said finally. Morgan nodded.

“Totally out of your league.”

“But she is totally into you.” Garcia interjected. “She gave you such a cute little nickname, how she likes your new haircut. She keeps asking if you’re going to the forensic conference again every year.” Garcia was counting the reasons on her fingers and Spencer peered through his hands at her.

“You read all our messages for six years?” Spencer clarified.

“You’ve been talking to this girl for six years and haven’t done anything about it?” Morgan asked, leaning on Spencer’s desk.

“Well, you guys stopped talking for a while after the whole Lila thing-” Garcia said. Spencer looked at her with total betrayal in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“Was she jealous or something?” Morgan asked, turning to Garcia. Garcia nodded.

“Big time. Before she was super flirty and after Spencer told her about how he thought Lila was so pretty she got really professional. Then she told Spencer that she had to go on a dig for a while and she hoped he and Lila would be happy together. Then she vanishes for like six months until Spencer asked about the conference-”

“Can you two not talk about this ever again?” Spencer pleaded. “Don’t we have a case meeting?”

“You managing to mess up every chance at a relationship is way more of a mystery.” Morgan teased. There was a pause as Spencer turned to Garcia.

“Did she really seem that upset?” He leaned back, regretting every stupid word he had typed about Lila if it meant he had hurt his friend. Garcia shrugged.

“How would you feel if she started gushing about some hot Greek dude?” Spencer felt his stomach sink at just the thought.

“So, you’re going to this conference to hook up with your cute lady friend right?” Morgan asked. Spencer sighed.

“It was last month. We were in Jacksonville on the fishing boat case, so I didn’t get to go.” Before Morgan or Garcia could say a word Hotch walked by, nodding towards the conference room. The trio got up, following him. But before they got inside Morgan nudged Reid’s shoulder.

“It was years ago man, I’m sure she let it go.” Spencer tried to push it out of his mind as he sat, looking at the screen. A massive field was pictured, littered with what looked like white rocks. They were all shaped and sizes, but when Spencer looked at how they were arranged, he let out a small gasp.

They were bones.

Thousands of bone shards sat in the dirt, some bleached blindingly white and smaller than a quarter, others still yellowish and holding some of their original shape. There was a click and a single skull was shown on a table, the cheekbone smashed in.

“Two hikers found this mass grave in the North Bend national forest in Washington State. We have no idea how many victims we’re dealing with, or how old the remains are.” J.J. stated.

“How do we know these are murder victims and not an old cemetery? There was a lot of logging out in that area.” Rossi asked.

“With how shallow the bones are, I doubt this is a cemetery.” Spencer answered quickly. “It looks like some of these victims tried to crawl out of their graves before succumbing to their injuries, but I can’t say anything for sure until we get there.”

“Well, the main office wants to know if we want to bring one of the bureau’s forensic agents since the remains are so tattered. In case you need help identifying victims Reid.” Hotch said. Spencer sighed.

“This is way out of my league.” He chuckled sadly. He paused at the words ‘out of my league’ smiling to himself. “But the doctor who taught me everything I know specializes in ancient remains, this would be a cakewalk for her.”

“Does she work for the bureau? Or have any kind of law enforcement training? Rossi asked. Spencer ignored the knowing smiles he knew he was getting from Morgan and Garcia.

“No, we’d have to bring her on as an associated scientist. She works for museums mostly.” Hotch sighed.

“Well, you’ll have to tell Strauss why you think we need to bring her on instead of using a scientist we already have. And that’s not a fun conversation to have. Plus it’s a lot of red tape to get her approved on the crime scenes. She’ll have to have her entire resume with her to get clearance to labs and evidence. Not to mention protection if we run into the unsub.”

“I know it’s a lot of effort, but I’ll take care of everything.” Spencer promised. “She is worth all the extra work, she won’t disappoint you guys.” Hotch looked at Spencer for a long time before letting out a long sigh.

“Alright Reid. Ask her if she wants to come on and I’ll help you talk to Strauss.” He looked at the rest of the team. “This case will be extremely difficult since the remains have suffered so much exposure and we are working with so many victims. I want everyone to give this their all. Wheels up in six.”

It took everything Spencer had to not shoot out of his chair as he made his way back to his computer. He opened the small chat window back up to see several messages from Adeline.

AdieFox: Hey, that sounded super bitchy, didn’t it?

AdieFox: Sorry, we both know I excel in saying the wrong things ha ha.

AdieFox: Well, I’ll let you get back to work. Bye deshi.

AdieFox is offline

Spencer read her three messages a thousand times over, not knowing what to think now that Garcia had told him she was sure Adeline was attracted to him. He pressed his lips together, feeling nervous as he typed.

SReid: Hey, sorry we got called into a meeting.


He waited for several minutes, staring at the screen before he saw her pop up.

AdieFox is online

AdieFox: Thank goodness, I thought you were upset with me ha ha.

SReid: Never :)

AdieFox: I’m glad :)

SReid: Hey, I have a hypothetical question for you.

AdieFox: Shoot

SReid: Hypothetically, we have a case that needs a very talented forensic anthropologist. I’ve told my boss we need to bring you on as an associated scientist for a case and that you were the best. What would you say?

AdieFox: It would take me a day or two to pack up my dig and about 12ish hours to fly to the US, but I wouldn’t be able to say no to working a case with the fantastic Dr. Reid

SReid: Perfect, start packing and get a ticket to Seattle.

AdieFox: Wait, you seriously asked your boss before asking me?

AdieFox: What if you get in trouble?

SReid: You’ve been wanting in on a case for two years Dr. Foxley, of course I asked him when I knew you’d say yes.

SReid: It’s a little extra paperwork, but you’re more than worth it. :)

SReid: Can you be on the next flight to the US?

AdieFox: Needy needy Dr. Reid. I’ll do my best.

AdieFox: I assume you’ll pick me up, right?

SReid: Of course.

AdieFox: Alright, see you asap. Bye Spence.

SReid: Bye Adie.

AdieFox is offline

Spencer beamed, leaning back in his seat as he looked at the screen. She had called him fantastic and it made him blush. He cleared his throat before exiting out of the chat, opening up an email to Strauss. And as he made his plea to bring on his expert scientist, he couldn’t help but feel his palms sweat. He was less than a day away from seeing that doctorates student he’d met after his conference talk that he’d had on his mind for over half a decade.

And he couldn’t contain his excitement.