Strange Encounter - a Criminal Minds fic

Chapter 13

'Who, Garcia?" Spencer asked, pulling a chair up next to Amelia and grabbing her hand. JJ sat on her other side, sensing her anxiety. They noticed her eyes didn't leave the screen.

"Well, it was hard to figure out. I cross referenced all of our victims matches as well as Miss Amelia's and, zilch. But I dug a little more and found 6 different accounts, all different names and pictures, but they were all registered with the same phone number. This guy would delete his account after each kill, and then make a new one when he was ready to start over."

"Uh, Penelope.. who is it?" Amelia asked. She knew it wasn't her place, she sensed Hotch turn to look at her, but she had to know. 

"Oh sweet girl.." She heard Penelope type a few keys and a photo blinked up on the screen. Spencer turned to watch Amelia's reaction as Penelope went on.

"Christopher Regino, 27, South Philadelphia born and raised. He works as a code developer for MusikBox, which is a much less sophisticated version of Spotify but if he's smart enough that would've given him the ability to hack into Amelia's Spotify account. Has a history of.. oh jeez, 6 different therapists and an accompanying 4 different psychiatrists all in the past 3 year. According to his Tinder, he matched with each victim approximately 6 days before their deaths, arranging to meet all of them on the dates of their murders."

Emily sat down across from Amelia and took her hand. "I know this is hard, but I need you to tell us about your relationship with Christopher."

Amelia nodded, looking almost as if she were in a trance. When she spoke it sounded as if she was a world away. "I uh, it wasn't even a relationship. We went on one date like 3 years ago. His job was what started the conversation on the app, I mentioned I was a Spotify girl but was interested in the platform he worked for.. We talked for about a week leading up to it, he called me on the phone once and was mad I couldn't talk longer but I was at a friend's house. But uh, it was awful, like not just that he was bad but the date itself. I thought he had picked up on it too but he wanted to hang out afterwards.."

"Can you start from the beginning of the date, darlin?" Derek asked, coming to stand behind Spencer.

"We went to my favorite taco place near my house. We were there less than an hour, maybe 40 minutes. It was so uncomfortable, he didn't talk the whole time and I felt like I was rambling just trying to keep some conversation going." She glanced at Spencer, and he nodded at her in encouragement.

"I was relived that it was over so quickly. I had walked there to meet him but he insisted on driving me home. Since I live with my dad I had him pull over on a side street, but I also just didn't want him to know where I lived."

"So you had a bad gut feeling about him?" JJ asked.

Amelia nodded and continued. "I said I should leave, but he made me feel.. bad? Almost guilty. He asked why I didn't want to hang out with him more. It kinda freaked me out, I know I should've gotten out of the car but-"

"He was pressuring you, you didn't know how he'd react. You did what you had to do" JJ said reassuringly.

Amelia looked down, not able to look at anyone. "He wanted to make out with me so I just, did. I thought you know, if I did then that's all he wanted and he wouldn't care if I left."

"But he didn't?"

"No. He made me.. cuddle. In the car. It was so weird, I was so uncomfortable, like not even just physically. I was super anxious, plus we were in my neighborhood and I didn't want my neighbors to see. It was just so bizarre. He asked me to..he wanted me to like, pet his hair. We were cuddling in the way I'd snuggle with my little cousins if I was trying to put them to sleep if that makes sense."

She took a peak at JJ, who seemed angry. Not at her, but at the way this situation went and knowing how it ended as of late.

"So, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Well technically he said 'Do you want to date?' And I knew what he meant but I didn't want to answer, so I was like 'Oh yeah we can go on a second date' just so he'd stop but he clarified and said, 'No, do you want to date me?' And I panicked. Like, who asks that after one horrible date?"

"How did you respond to him?" Hotch asked.

"I said that we'd only been on one date, maybe we should go on another and take things from there."

"But you didn't?"

"No uh, we made plans for a second date in the car. We were gonna go to a movie. Then uh.. oh Jesus Christ. He asked me to make him a playlist. Because I had talked about how I make so many, I guess. I agreed to but then told him I had to go, I had school the next morning." She shook her head, not believing she didn't think of this sooner.

"Then what?"

"Well I got inside and I was sorta frazzled. I mean I had been on bad dates but nothing like.. that." Amelia took a deep breath. She's not sure she breathed the whole time she had been talking. "I called my best friends and told them I didn't know what to do. I knew I couldn't just ghost him, he wouldn't take that for an answer."

"I'm sorry.. ghost?" Rossi asked from the other side of the room.

"Ignore! Like, just vanish. It's grown in popularity with online dating, since people don't meet face to face or only meet once, if someone's not interested they'd just *poof* ghost" Penelope informed. Amelia nodded her head.

"Okay, but you said you didn't do that. It sounds like you did the nice thing, so what did you do?" Rossi urged her on.

"Well, I just sent a text saying that I had had fun but I didn't see this going anywhere. Then.. then I blocked his number. I'm not good with confrontation like that, but I never thought anything of it" she shrugged, feeling the weight of everything on her shoulders. "My god, this is all my fault. If I had just went out with him-"

"No, Lia. If you had went out with him you could've been the first victim. This is because of him, not because of you" Spencer said.

The agents took a beat to look at one another. 

Derek looked up at the screen. "Babygirl, I need-"

"Home and work addresses on your phones. Godspeed, my lovies."

Hotch stood up and addressed his team. "Alright, Derek and JJ take one car. Rossi, Emily, you're with me."

"What about me?" Spencer asked, his voice raised.

"Outside with me, now" Hotch ordered. They walked into the hallway.

"Hotch, what-"

"You may not have realized this but I can see how much you've grown to care about Amelia. I'm not risking your emotions clouding your judgment out there."

"This is absurd, you know I can be effective if we need to talk him down. Especially since I've spent time with her."

"Reid, I know you would be effective. But you'll be more effective with her. Wouldn't you rather stay with Amelia right now?"

Spencer gritted his teeth. While he wanted to stay by her side and comfort her right now, he also wanted to go get the son of a bitch who put her in this position. 

JJ slowly walked up behind them. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop but.. Spence, she's asking for you. I think Hotch is right. You care about her, but also she's most comfortable with you and she's really shaken up right now. She could use you."

Spencer looked back into the conference room at Amelia. She had her legs pulled up to her chest, and had her chin rested on her knees. Her eyes were filled with tears that had yet to spill over. He looked at his teammates and shook his head. 

"Good. Go get her and take her home. Have her pack a bag, I don't think she's safe there until we've got him, so I'll have Garcia arrange for an extra room at our hotel." He turned around, noticing the rest of the team suited up and looked back to Spencer. "Suit up too, just in case. Be safe."

Spencer gave him a curt nod and walked toward the conference room. He stared through the window at this girl who had captured his attention in a way no on else ever has. He was determined to keep her safe.