An Emblematic Woman ● S. Reid | ✓

11 - Talk

Morgan

The triple Rs came back a few moments after we did, Garcia decided to call them the triple Rs for obvious reasons. Rossi, Reid, Russo. I was worried about Reid, he had been staring at Russo in the right and wrong way since they met. He didn't have the type of confidence that I had with women, and he needed to fix that right away. As soon as he walked into squad room, I took his arm and directed him back out.

"Find anything at the courthouse?" Hotch asked them.

"So che la morte non ha diecimila diverse porte Per gli uomini a prendere la loro uscita," Rossi said. What did that mean?

"Once again?" I asked.

"I know death hath ten thousand several doors, for men to take their exit," Reid said.

"The sniper would've had to been well experienced to make this shot, does Detroit have sensor microphones?" Kennedy asked.

"We put them up after 67, figured they'd be of use," the detective replied.

"We should send those files to Garcia, she may be able to find the gunshot the resignated within the area," JJ said.

"How far apart is each crime scene?" Kate asked.

"Approximately twelve miles in length," Reid replied.

"Is it possible that he could be shooting from the same position?" she asked.

"That's hard to confirm without knowing where he took the shots," Kennedy replied.

"What did Baissin's wife have to say?" Rossi asked.

"That he had one main love: young women. She alone couldn't have been older than 25," JJ replied.

"That opens up a whole new suspect pool; bigots, jealous boyfriends and husbands," Rossi said.

"And a whole new headache for us," Hotch said.

"Did Garcia run a background check on Baissin's employees?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah, only one stood out. Karl Weiss, he was a sergeant back in Desert Storm," I replied.

"Military background," Kennedy called out.

"Also the fact that he's been in a wheel chair ever since," I added.

"That makes things difficult," Rossi said.

"What if he's trying to send a message?" Reid asked.

"What kind of message?" she asked.

"He starts by killing a group of gang members, then a child molester. We profiled that he was a vigilante, but he upped his victimology to a bureaucrat who was in charge of running the justice system. Our unsub may've been failed by the justice system because of the gang and Bunker," he said.

"So maybe this one of Bunker's old victims out for revenge?" she asked.

"Possibly, but it wasn't often that Reginald Bunker left his boys alive," Rossi said.

"He molested his boys on his parents farm, our unsub may've run away from him," I said.

"And he goes into the foster system, but drops into a gang," Kennedy said.

"Foster parents ship him off to military school at eighteen," Reid said.

"Come back years later ready for his revenge," she said. He was happy, I could tell. He was trying to hide his smile from the rest of us, but I knew, I knew very well.

"So this is a revenge killing?" Hotch asked.

"Possibly, that's still a large suspect pool," I asked.

"But it narrows it down for Garcia," he ordered.

"I'll give her a call," Kennedy said. That was my opportunity, I grabbed Reid by the arm and led him out of the squad room.

"Hey! What're you doing?" he asked. I ignored his questions until we were outside, away from the whole team. "Why're we out here?" he asked again.

"Because you need to get your head together, man," I told him.

"What're you talking about?" he asked.

"I see the way you look at Kennedy, we all see it. What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Nothing...what's wrong with you...?" he replied. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Reid, I get it, you've been a little on edge with the whole dating thing since Maeve, I understand. And since then, you're scared about letting another girl get that close to you," I said.

"I thought we had a rule about not profiling team members?" he asked.

"Kennedy is a ball of fun, she makes everybody laugh, you especially. You've been smiling a hell of a lot more since you met her," I said.

"Morgan -"

"No, just listen right now. I have seen you at your worst and I have seen you at your best. And that best has been coming out a bit more," I said. He huffed and looked in the other direction. "Come on, man. Don't lie to me about this,"

"You know, I've had brief moments with girls where I felt like all I ever needed was them...JJ and Lila...Maeve," he muttered her name quietly. "After last year, I didn't want to fall for another girl again, because all it got me was heart break. Then I met Kennedy and I got those feelings again. But I'm scared to act on it because she may leave, she'll fall for another guy or..." he couldn't bare to admit that she could die. I nearly lost Prentiss in this job, I lost my dad, I knew how he felt.

"I get it man, but you need to stop thinking about the consequences. When it comes love, it's a damn tricky thing. I know that. And there's always that little question in the back of your mind, will this turn out alright? Will she stay with me? Kennedy likes you, I can tell. But you need to show some kind of gesture that you're genuinely interested. Right?" I asked him.

"Yeah...right," he said.

"Okay, you ready?" I asked.

"I feel happy when I see her smile...like, when she's happy, I'm happy. She's one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met, and she smells really, really good; like vanilla or something. She's got a great personality, she knows how to talk to victims and she knows how to interrogate suspects. Her favorite food is pizza, and she hates mustard. One night she was at my apartment, and we were watching movies...right up until two in the morning. I just had her with me, we weren't saying anything, but that night we laughing, crying, scared, smiling," he started rambling on, and I couldn't help but smile.

"That's great," I said.

"The night after we solved the Occuro case, we went out for drinks. I told her about Maeve, and she told me the story of her friend from El Paso. This was a sad story, and in the end, she said if I needed to talk, I could go to her. She lost so many friends and family in her life, yet she's still willing to put herself out there for others. So, at the end of the day; it doesn't matter to me whether she's a pretty sight to look at, I only care that she's a good person," he said.

"That's all fine, but I need to warn you now: if you don't make your move soon, that fine young lady is gonna be snapped up before you can blink. So, you need to get your game together now, before you lose her," I told him.

"I can do that but...how?" he asked. I was about to answer, but we were interrupted.

"Guys, we're about to deliver the profile," Kennedy poked her head from the door, "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, we're coming in," I replied. She nodded and disappeared back inside. I looked at Reid, who didn't seem interested in taking his gaze away from the door. I started laughing.

"What?" he asked.

"You my friend are whipped outta your mind," I replied.

"Shut up," he muttered, but he couldn't help but crack a smile too.