Pieces Of Me

Chapter 30

With a serious facial expression and his arms folded in front of his chest, Hotch walked up and down in the office with the round table. Spencer and Leah were the last ones to rush into the room and everyone looked up. "Good you're here", Hotch murmured and finally stopped pacing around.

"What's the news?", Spencer asked while he sat down next to Leah and grabbed her hand. "We are sure he's still here in town somewhere", Hotch started, "But he's like a damn ghost. We need someone who lures him into our trap." Hotch's eyes wandered to Leah. And Spencer immediately knew what was going on.

"No!", he exclaimed and jumped from his chair. "No, no way that Leah will be that someone! Hotch, you can't demand my heavily pregnant girlfriend to just walk through town waiting for a killer to follow her!" Spencer shouted; he almost spewed the words out. He was angry, everyone could see it. It rarely happened that he had a temper tantrum, but now he was close to have one, obviously.

"Reid...", Hotch began once again, but Spencer didn't let his boss even talk. "Forget it, Hotch", he said. "I won't put the love of my life and our unborn baby into danger. If necessary, I'll do it. Or JJ or Emily. But not Leah."

"But...it's me who has to do it." Leah's voice was quiet, but everyone in the room had heard her. They fell silent and all looked at her; some in shock, some proud. "Leah, no." Spencer replied once again. Leah stood up and put a hand on Spencer's arm.

"Hotch's right. Owens has been following me. I guess he knows who I am and...I don't know what he's waiting for or what he plans, but I am the one he's interested in. And if it means I have to walk down the streets just waiting for him to appear so you can catch him, then I'll do it."

She looked determined and there was no way that someone could change her mind. Not even Spencer. The young agent was staring at Leah in disbelief. „I can't believe that you're putting yourself into this. What's with our baby?" His voice had lost its strength.

Leah wrapped his arms around him and placed her head on his chest. She could feel his heart nervously pounding under his skin. Her own heart was beating fast as well. She was nervous too, she was scared. But if she did what Hotch had suggested, it could all be over very soon.

"Spencer, I need to do this. Let me help you catch that man. I want to see him arrested. I want him to explain why he killed my biological parents. I want to know why I don't really have a clue who I actually am. This world will be a safer place for our daughter when he's not in out there anymore."

Spencer looked at Leah for a moment, but then he turned around and rushed out of the room. Feeling helpless, the others just watched him go. With a groan Leah turned around, sank down on a chair and buried her face in her hands. "Oh god, why is it so complicated? Why is all of this happening?"

"Dear, Spencer will be fine again." JJ had sat down next to Leah and now put her hand over hers. "I understand him. He loves you and the baby so much, he's worried permanently since it's certain that Walter Owens is somewhere in town. Give him a minute."

Leah looked up and met JJ's blue eyes. She gave her an encouraging smile. "I know he might not understand why I need that man to be caught as fast as possible. Well, I know that he wants to catch him as well, but I think he's got other reasons than I do", Leah said. JJ nodded. "It's his job to catch the bad guys. But this case is different to him. It's different to all of us. It's because we know you and we love you. We want to protect you but at the same time we have to put you in some kind of danger so we get a chance to catch Owens. It's difficult for us, especially for Spencer."

Leah didn't say anything; she didn't even know what to say anymore. JJ was right, of course. If the parts would be interchanged, she'd reacted the same way Spencer had done. But that wasn't the case.

"I'll go and see where our genius boy is hiding", Derek eventually said, got up from his chair and left. Leah turned around and looked at the door. "Hopefully he's not too angry now", she murmured.

JJ chuckled. "I'm sure he won't be. He loves you more than anything else. He just wants to be sure that you are safe. Using you as some kind of victim now drives him mad, that's understandable. But he'll realize that we don't have any other idea or chance to finally get Owens."

Five minutes later Derek came back with Spencer following him. He had put his hands into his pockets and didn't look happy at all, not even a little bit. But he seemed to have calmed down.

Leah got up and went over to him. She put a hand his chest hesitantly. "Let me do this", she whispered. "Please trust me. Trust your team. They know what they're doing. And you're part of that team. Do your job, Spencer. Do everything you can do to arrest Walter Owens. I'm gonna help however I can. And there's nothing that could change my mind. I need all of this to be over now."

Leah's eyes met Spencer's and for a moment, they just looked at each other without saying a word. All the others didn't dare to say something neither. Until Rossi cleared his throat and said: "Okay, we should get started. The earlier we catch him the better." Everyone nodded, including Spencer and Leah.

"Alright", Spencer sighed. "But if there's only the smallest chance that something might happen to you, we'll cancel it." While he was talking, he glanced at Hotch. The boss of the BAU nodded. "Nothing's gonna happen to her, Reid", he promised.