CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT: WE'LL BE ALRIGHT !

⚠️ mentions of sexual assault below!

11x07

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TODAY WAS THE DAY THAT JJ WAS GETTING BACK FROM MATERNITY LEAVE. So, like a very BAU welcome, Garcia, Casey, Rossi and Spencer organized a welcoming for her. She would be walking through those doors any moment now.

Spencer had been preparing her gift for her beforehand. Books. And a lot of them. "Babe, you seriously don't think she's gonna read all of those?" Casey questioned. "Honestly, no, but it's the thought that counts." Spencer stated.

Garcia had come rushing towards the couple and Rossi. "Red alert! JJ is in the building! Battle stations, everyone!" Casey stood beside her husband with a wide smile on her face. A minute exactly after Garcia said that, JJ had certainly walked through those doors.

"Hi!"
"Yay!"
"Bellissimo!"
"JJ!"

Spencer had engulfed JJ into a hug, lifting her in the air and JJ accepted the hug. "Ohh! Welcome back! Welcome back." JJ smiled, "I missed you guys."

"Oh, we missed you more." Garcia tells. "More than more." Casey hugs JJ next, followed by Garcia. Rossi hugs her finally, giving her kisses on the cheeks, out of Italian habit.

Rossi holds up a box of cologne for JJ as a gift. "Oh, wow--oh, my gosh, nice. Will's favorite brand. Thank you, Rossi." Then, Spencer moves out of the way and waves his arms to show his gift of books to JJ.

By JJ's face, Casey could tell that she was definitely not gonna read these books. "And, Spence, wow." JJ spoke. "It's my original set. And I realize that most of this information is most likely on that 'internet', but you can never teach old-fashioned research habits too soon." Spencer explained.
"I would just like to clarify that this is not from me." Casey stated, pointing towards the books.

"How's the little guy doing?" Rossi decides to ask JJ, changing the subject. "Oh, he's good. He's sleeping through the night for now, at least. Oh, and, Spence, I showed him the picture of when you and Casey first visited and he started kicking his little legs and he smiled real big."

Casey chuckled as Spencer's smile grew wide and Rossi grabbed Spencer by the chin and squeezes his chin. "Who wouldn't get excited seeing that bella faccia?" He asks. "Bella faccia indeed." Casey smirked as she hooked her arms with his and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think he wants to see you guys." JJ tells. "You know, studies have shown That babies begin exhibiting cognizable nonverbal communication within days of birth." Spencer explains.

"And some things never change." JJ said.

"And thank God they don't." Casey tells, holding Spencer tightly. "But some things do, newlyweds. Speaking of changes, how is Lennox adjusting practically being moved in with you guys?" JJ asks. Of course, JJ was one of the first people that both Spencer and Casey told about the process of adopting Lennox.

"She's doing great, adjusting to being with us as we are with being with her, but we're making it work." Spencer explains. "She's been working hard in school, although we are on her ass about her D+ in Algebra, but other than that, she's doing great in every other subject. And we painted her room yesterday, she chose green. Poor thing fell asleep halfway and we finished it right on time." Casey explained.

"Sounds like she's doing good." JJ smiled. "I'm happy she is."

"And adding on to what JJ said earlier, some things do change and because of that, we took the liberty of doing this!" Garcia ushers JJ over to her desk with cider and champagne glasses over on one side of the table while new photos were perched on her desk.

"It's all the pictures you sent while you were away." Garcia said. "You guys, I love it. It's--it's perfect. Thank you, all of you." JJ smiled. "Almost all of you." She looked up towards Hotch's office where he, Morgan and Vivian were talking and were absent from the event.

"They're debriefing." Rossi informed. Since they caught Giuseppe Montolo, the team had been trying to uncover something he was trying to get — The Dirty Dozen, he called it. They had explained to JJ what they had found out but the subject changed quickly.

Casey had set her attention to the bottle of cider. "Now, as for my gift — your certified Bureau approved bubbly." Garcia had poured the cider into the glasses and each other then took one and clinked their glasses together.

"Okay, now tell me all about Tara Lewis." JJ told, getting to business. "She is really excited to meet you," Spencer said. "I think her exact words after reading your reports were, 'Is JJ as awesome as I think she is?'"

"I like her already." JJ smirked.

The team had noticed Morgan, Hotch and Vivian coming down the stairs from Hotch's office. "Okay, you did not just have a baby." Morgan compliments and JJ puts her glass down to greet Morgan with a hug. "Hey, you."

"Seriously, I don't think I looked this good after having my second born." Vivian complimented as she gave a hug to JJ next. Hotch followed along the chain of hugs as he welcomed her back.

"Seriously, what is your secret?" Vivian asked. "'Cause you look good." Morgan added. "Well, yeah, see these guns? It's from lugging around two boys all day." JJ flexed her bicep up jokingly.

"Oh, baby weightlifting," Garcia said. "I would buy that DVD." Casey looks at Garcia and take her glass away from her. "Okay, no more cider for you, missy." She said. "It's not like it's alcohol."

Suddenly, Rossi had gotten a call on his cell phone. And after that, Rossi's daughter had made an appearance and told him she needed his help.

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This case was not as simple as the team thought. What they may have thought had been a dead end since they weren't invited in, was something bigger. College students have been going missing and now another had. Joy had been in contact with the family and was obviously letting this case get personal. It sort of reminded Casey of when she first became an intern and how close she'd often to come to cases. And she's had a fair few since then.

After discussing things with someone who they suspected, they immediately knew that the man in front of them was not their unsub. Sam Burnett was about the same age as Rossi's daughter and dropped out of NYU at the same time the first victim went missing. JJ pointed out that the man didn't seem concerned for their latest victim, Bahni Desai, but almost jealous. They came to the conclusion that they were dealing with two unsubs and reached concern when they realized that Joy was now going to confront the one they did know about.

Garcia pinged her phone, along with Sam's and luckily, JJ, Casey and Rossi had gotten there in time before anything happened. Sam Burnett had pinned Joy against the wall and moved away from her as soon as they turned up. "We were just talking, agents." Sam told, holding his hands up in surrender.

Rossi began to approach him. "Rossi." Casey warned, trying to make sure that he wasn't gonna kill this guy in front of him. "Sam Burnett..." He shoved him away from him and turned him around as he put him in handcuffs. "You're under arrest."

"For what?" Sam questioned. "Assault." JJ said and looked at Rossi and assured that she'd take him in.

Casey stayed behind as Rossi began to talk to Joy and scold her as if she was a child. "What were you thinking?" He asked. "That's him, Dad. I know it is."

"Then, you definitely don't follow him down an alley. You're a parent, for God's sake! If Kai did something this... there's no other word for it than--this stupid, how would you feel?" Joy began to burst into tears and Casey could tell there was something more in her eyes. It was the same look Lennox gave her before she told her and Spencer about the Struthers.

"There's more to this than just Kathy Miller, isn't there?" Casey approached next.

Joy tried to keep it together and took a deep breath. "The week before she disappeared, I went to a frat party. I got drunk, I walked home alone... and some guy in a ski mask grabbed me and dragged me into the bushes." Casey looked down at the gravel beneath her. She'd heard this one way too many times from many different people and she related too easily. She could tell Rossi's heart was breaking as he heard this news.

"And I screamed and screamed, and some voice in my head told me that I needed to get up because no one was coming to rescue me. And so I fought and I scratched at him and I jabbed my thumb in his eye, and then he ran off. But you know what I didn't do?"

"You didn't report it." Rossi stated.

Joy nods sadly. "At college, they talk about drunk girls a certain way, like it's their fault if they get attacked. It's so unfair. Especially when a week later, another girl goes missing because I didn't tell anyone."

Casey looks at Rossi, her eyes asking if maybe she could step in. "Joy..." Casey started as Joy's teary eyes looked into hers. "When I was fifteen years old, I was raped. And I felt the exact same way you did. No one knew about it, I didn't report it. And then about five years later, he came back into my life and now he's behind bars. But before that? He had done the same thing to at least a few hundred women. I know exactly how you feel. You just wanna catch the guy before he hurts anyone else. But it's not the same guy."

"But—"

"She's right," Rossi spoke. "The guy who hurt Kathy was organized. He had a place to take her. The dirtbag who attacked you was impulsive. He hadn't thought that far ahead."

"Well, none of this is helping Bahni."

"Unless Sam gave you some new details."

Joy had showed the recording she had of herself and Burnett and that's when Rossi had called Garcia to ask her to check in with something else that Joy had found. Rossi told Casey to drive Joy back to the BAU and to stay with her.

Once Casey had been on the road back, the car ride remained silent. Casey frequently tapped the wheel with her index finger to at least make a little noise every now and then. And then Joy spoke up.

"How did you deal with it?" Joy asked and Casey glances over her way before looking back at the road with furrowed eyebrows. "Sorry?"

"You were fifteen," Joy clarified. "You were in high school. How did you deal with the aftermath?" She asked and Casey thought about it. She often repressed the memories of what she dealt with after her rape.

Casey remembered how she cried herself to sleep that night it happened. She threw the dress she wore that night away in the trash can since the dress that once made her feel pretty now became a painful reminder of what occurred that night. She often lied to Gideon about going to school those next few weeks when she actually went to the local bookstore and coffee shop nearby. It took a while for her to trust anyone ever again. The past was painful to remember.

"I... actually don't know. But I was afraid for a really long time. After that happened, when I went to school, I used to carry a pair of scissors in my back pocket in case anybody approached me after that. I figured, it was a pair of scissors. The school wasn't gonna question anything. But I... eventually got through it. I don't know how... I just did."

Casey never wanted to feel afraid after that. That incident, that assault, it made her who she was today. She pulled herself away from the chains pulling her down into the water of shame. She made her way to the FBI, she strived hard for success and buried herself in books, working to graduate as early as she could so she could get the hell out of dodge. She was gonna make sure that bastards like Eddie Wiley would be out away and never see the light of day ever. And soon enough, she did that.

And afterwards, she found someone that loved her, told her she was beautiful everyday inside and out and someone who would never ever hurt her. Spencer Reid filled her void of what she was once felt. And soon enough, so did her two children and so did her new siblings and her coworkers she considered family. She used to feel so alone... now, it seemed like she was never alone. And she liked it that way.

"It's amazing how people can just... victim blame and praise the bastard that did it nowadays. It's disgusting. No woman deserves that." Casey told. "Amen to that." Joy nods. "It's always 'what did she wear?' 'she had to have done something.' 'she just wanted attention.' It's never, 'lock him up.'" Joy told and Casey nods in agreement.

"When I took this job, the one thing I wanted to do was put assholes like him away and they'd never see the light of day again so long as I could help it. But the thing that matters now? Finding the asshole that took Bahni Desai. And that's one asshole that's never gonna see the light of day ever again after we catch him."

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After the case was over and the unsub was caught, Casey had been looking over at Spencer, who was on the cell phone with his mother outside of the bullpen and waiting for Casey to grab her things and leave. Casey couldn't help but stare as she packed up, trying to see if maybe she could read his lips as he talked to Diana on the phone.

Casey hadn't even noticed Vivian had been standing at the end of the stairs, staring at her and wondering what she was doing. "Hey," Vivian finally, making Casey jump a bit, startled. "Something bothering you?" She asked, motioning towards Spencer at the doors.

"No," Casey responded almost immediately and Vivian narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her, reading her like a book. Casey have an exasperated sigh and groaned. "What gave it away?" She questioned.

"You keep staring at Reid like his head's gonna explode." Vivian points out. Casey looked back at the man and he's turned his back on the doors now, still on the phone with his mother. Casey sighed and realized that maybe she should talk to someone about this. Spencer had told her this a few weeks ago and he's been struggling with it for a while now.

Casey sighed as she pulled her bag on her shoulder. "His mom's not doing too well. They've had to switch her medicines three times now. He's not sure she's gonna get better."

"Oh, that's horrible. I'm sorry." Vivian apologized. "Yeah." Casey said softly as she looked at the ground. Vivian looked towards the door, now gathering that the person he was on the phone with may have been his mother. "How's he handling it?" Vivian asks curiously.

"He's been, uh, pretty stressed out about it. And I... stress along with him." Casey chuckles softly before going back to her serious manner. "Diana Reid's the only other woman that Spencer loves besides me. If something ever happened to her, he'd be crushed."

Vivian looks down as she holds her own bag over her shoulder. She knows that being a bystander in all of this was the hardest thing to do. Vivian had been a bystander her whole life. Which is why she took a job such as this one. An active one. "I, um, I have an aunt who has schizophrenia. She struggled for years. And it hurt to watch her like that. It hurt also watching her kids go through it."

"She used to be so strong headed, she was a writer. It got scary seeing her in a vulnerable position. But it comforted me because she knew she had her children and her family and they wouldn't leave her side. And as long as Diana has someone beside her, that someone being Spencer, she's gonna be fine." Vivian assured, trying to ease Casey's mind a bit as she rubbed her shoulder in comfort.

In ways, Vivian was sort of like a mom to Casey. And since Hotch was like her dad, it was like a combination of the two. Casey never had a mom, so this new relationship with Vivian was sort of scary at first but over time, she grew close to Vivian — especially since Blake left.

"I keep encouraging him to go and see her... but... he's so hellbent in his work, he can't seem to take a break. I think he's in need of one." Casey tells. "Then, tell him that." Vivian says. "You're the only person that can cut through that big brain of his." Vivian chuckles.

So, that night when they got home and said their goodbyes to Leah and Isaac, who had been watching after Lennox and Christopher, Casey grabbed a suitcase from the closet and told Spencer to start packing for Vegas so he can go and see his mother once and for all. He would be leaving tomorrow morning on the earliest flight.

Casey had finished washing some dishes that had been left out as said goodnight to both Lennox and Christopher. She had finished and made her way to the bed where Spencer had finished up packing his suitcase, standing at the edge of the bed and placing the suitcase on the ground. Before he could continue anything, the woman made her way behind him as she wrapped her arms around his torso and held onto him lovingly. Her head rest on his back and he leaned towards his wife's touch and put a hand to her arm, rubbing his thumb back and forth on her soft skin.

"You sure you don't wanna come?" He asks. Casey had decided that maybe she shouldn't go with Spencer to go and see Diana. The team was already losing one member for a month, they probably couldn't afford to lose another, especially with this Montolo bullshit.

"I do," Casey sighed. "But... it would be better if you went to handle it by yourself." Casey stated. "I'll be fine," She assures, running a hand through his hair. "We all will. We'll be alright."

Casey leans into his shoulder and muffles into his dress shirt he was currently wearing. "But for the meantime, I just wanna hold you until you're gone." She whispers softly and Spencer could feel her arms wrap tighter around him.

"It's just for a month." Spencer reminds her and Casey sighed as she lifts her chin to his shoulder blade. "A month too long." Casey said and Spencer then turns around and faces his wife, wrapping his arms around her now. "But she needs you there."

"And you need me here," Spencer stated. "And so does Christopher and Lennox. I don't think I've ever been so far away from you and Chris before." Casey could see he was starting to second guess this trip but before the thought can even enter Spencer's mind, Casey speaks up an idea. "I'll tell you what," Spencer furrowed his brows in thought to what she's considering. "The minute I start missing you like crazy and the kids start missing you like crazy, I'll get us a flight to Las Vegas and we'll meet you there."

"You promise?" Spencer asks, considering this. "I promise." Casey assures and pulls him down to her by his tie to peck him on the lips.

The kiss escalates as Spencer had his hands cupped around her face and practically pulled her in deeper, his tongue swiping at her lips for entrance and she opened her mouth up wider for him to explore her mouth with his tongue. Casey feels as one of his hands makes its' way to the small of her back and one of Casey's arms make their way to his hair and the other to his back.

Before they can continue, they pull away for air and take deep breaths. "Now, as for tonight, since you're gonna be away for a while," Casey removes his tie from around his neck as she speaks with that raspy voice of hers. "It's only fair we fulfill some needs before you go."

With that, Casey pushes him into the bed and he looks up at her with love doting in his eyes as he rested on his elbows. "And what do you have in mind?" Spencer asks, wondering what surprise could be waiting for him.

Casey shrugs, teasingly. "Just a few things." She wraps his tie towards the back of neck pulls him to kiss her with both ends of the tie.

Y'all know what happened.

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After a night of fun, Casey had woken up an arm wrapped around her torso and kisses peppering her temple and cheek. It took Casey a second to realize that Spencer was right behind her and holding her, his skin pressed against hers. All they both wanted to do was stay there forever and ever until their two children bombarded their room. Casey stirred awake and looked over her shoulder to give a sleepy smile to Spencer.

Casey's eyes looked towards the clock that read 5:10am. Casey turned her body towards Spencer's so she could look at him. She held his arm in place of her torso as she gazed into his eyes and fixed his hair a bit. "What time does your flight leave?"

"Around eight." Spencer whispered. "Then, you better start getting ready." Casey closed her eyes again and fell back into her slumber state and thanking god that she didn't have to go into work today.

Casey felt the dip on Spencer's side of the bed go away as he stood up to go and get ready to leave. Casey took a glimpse as he left to go to the bathroom in his boxers and Casey had taken the rest of the blanket for herself.

Soon enough, she woke up fully around 6:03am when the sun started shining through their bedroom window and Spencer walked back into the room, fully dressed and ready to go. He had come into the room and Casey noticed the cup of coffee for her in his hands. Casey sat up a bit, covering her bare body with the blanket as she took the cup of coffee from him, sipping it before placing it back down on the table next to her. Eventually, the caffeine would coarse through her veins.

"Hey, have you seen my tie?" Spencer asks, realizing it was missing when he involuntarily went to fix it. In the bottom of the sheets she was covered, Casey had fished it out and pulled it out. Spencer smirked as he remembered last night as she tossed it over to him.

Spencer had looked at the mirror in their bedroom as he fixed his tie in front of it. Casey stretched as she sat up and found his plain white t-shirt on the ground and pulled it over her body to wear. It was so big for her small frame. She watched as he did his tie in the mirror and was finally satisfied with how it looked. Perpetually crooked.

Spencer turned around and faced towards his beautiful wife and sat next to her on the bed as she leaned back in the comfortable duvet and pulled the covers up over her body. "You're really gonna be okay if I go?" He asks softly and Casey nods, "We'll be just fine, Spence. We'll be okay. Now, you have a flight to catch, mister. It takes thirty minutes to head to the airport and you don't wanna be late for your flight." Casey told and Spencer checks his watch. "Yeah, you're right."

Spencer grabbed his suitcase and his essentials and cupped Casey's face and savored one last kiss from her before he left. "I love you." He muttered to her as he slowly but surely pulled away. "I love you, too." Casey smiled. "Don't forget to say goodbye to the kids before you go."

"I won't." With that, Spencer had put his suitcase and satchel to the front of the door and went to go say goodbye to Lennox first. Of course, she was half asleep and he had come in to tell her he was going to be gone for a little bit. But Lennox revealed that she had overheard the conversation and knew he was gonna be gone for a little bit.

He said bye, but not before hesitantly giving her a kiss on her head before leaving. "Bye, Dad." Spencer could've sworn he heard her say that before he exited the room.

Smiling to himself like a doofus, he then headed to Christopher's room across the hall and sure enough, the boy was already awake and playing with his toys in his room. After explaining that he would be gone for just a little while, he gave Christopher and big and tight hug before he went. Before Spencer could leave the room, Christopher asked permission to go and sleep with his mommy in his bed. Spencer knew she could probably use that when he left so he nodded and said 'sure'.

With that, Spencer grabbed his things and left. Casey heard the front door shut and that was enough for her to roll over and hold onto his pillow that still lingered with the smell of lavender and cologne — Spencer's scent. And soon enough, she was interrupted by a jumping toddler who just wanted to surprise his mommy in bed and go back to bed until his mom could fully get up.

Smiling to herself, Casey cuddled with her son in her bed, holding him tightly like Spencer held her previously. It wasn't long until Lennox woke up and decided to join them. Even when Casey was alone and all, being the only adult in the house right now, she was never really alone.

And she liked it that way.

sooooo change of plans
two originals coming up — then episode — then two more originals lmao
i forgot spencer left for a few episodes after this one💀

me and spencer since we both have a schizophrenic parent:

bonus for my grey's anatomy fans:
me, spencer reid from criminal minds and alex karev from grey's anatomy because we all have a schizophrenic parent:

why do you think my user is K4REVSREID?
LMAOOO😭😭 i swear to y'all this is fr not the reason why my username is my username💀

anywayssss
i hope you enjoyed that
season 11 is so boring to write for but i'm trying
i'm very excited for my upcoming originals!!

here's a sneak peek at the titles :
hell to pay

sweet, sweet dreams

hudson's lament

and family emergencies

there y'all have it! can y'all guess what they're about👀

anywaysssss also follow my new tiktok @/k4revsreidwp2.0
bc i can't log into my old one😐

anywayssss
thank you for reading, i love you all <3
-mya </3333