CHAPTER FIFTEEN: GOLDEN SILENCE !

8x20

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      CASEY WILLOWS NEVER OFTEN WORRIED ABOUT HER BOYFRIEND, SPENCER REID. That was a total lie, she worried about him all the time. But never more often than not.

He hardly ever stayed at the apartment anymore. He was always out, he was always awake when Casey was asleep. He was always more on-edge. He never even spoke to the girl anymore. Yeah, there was small talk and everything but it was starting to get smaller and smaller and Casey was starting to worry.

       Today, Casey had arrived at the BAU and found out that they had a case that Spencer had found himself. She had gotten to the roundtable room as Spencer explained the case.

"I agree with Reid. We've got a serial on our hands." Rossi stated as Casey looked over at her boyfriend with the monitor remote in his left hand and a cup of coffee in his right. "Ten days ago, Joseph Purl, a 33-year-old logger, was found just outside Rapid City, South Dakota. To be exact, the dismembered body parts of Joseph Purl were found in the woods outside of Rapid City, South Dakota. Local PD believes his body had been there about a week before a hiker found them, but he's not the first victim. The first victim—"

Spencer was beginning to struggle with the remote, which made Garcia chirp in. "Oh-- squeeze it. It gets stuck sometimes. Do you want me to take over?" Garcia offered but Spencer shook his head. "No, I got it." Suddenly, the screen started going berserk and Spencer gave in and gave the remote to Garcia. "Yeah, maybe you better."

Garcia stood up as she took the remote. "I have it memorized, so I don't have to look at the gross. The first victim is Raymond Nava, 31, originally from Texas. He was a seasonal truck driver for a logging company. His dismembered body was found within the border of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which is 60 miles south of Rapid City." She explained.

"So nobody else was able to make the connection between the two victims?" Morgan asked. "Nava's under tribal and local FBI jurisdiction, and Purl's Rapid City, PD. The two agencies never spoke." Reid explained.

"They're speaking now, thanks to the good doctor." Garcia smiled and Casey smiled at her boyfriend and Spencer gave his girlfriend a tight-lipped smile and looked down. "But PD says that the Bureau investigation of Nava has been lacking. Would you call that a slam or a bitch slap?" Garcia asked. "Definitely a bitch slap." Casey nodded, jokingly.

"Is this still blowback of Leonard Peltier? The government's been accused of ignoring crimes on the reservation since '75." Rossi told. "Well, Peltier did kill two FBI agents who were searching for a robbery suspect. It's hard to forget." Hotch told.

"So, what do we know about these cases?" Blake asked. "Well, we know that two bodies were found within a hour's drive of each other. We know there's no evidence of robbery or sexual assault. And according to the decomp reports, Nava was killed two weeks before his body was found." Garcia explained.

"So, the disposal sites are remote, and/or the unsub is very good at hiding the parts." JJ said. "Oh, the, uh, parts were dispersed within a quarter-mile radius, and it's unclear whether the unsub did that or it was scattered by animals." Garcia told. "Then the bites and scratches on Purl could be scavenger activity." Rossi said. "Yeah, but if animals had access, why aren't we just looking at bones? There's still skin and... meat." Casey told.

"Eew." Garcia groaned as Casey gave an apologetic look to the woman for mentioning it. "Good question," Spencer started. "My guess is that there was a toxin in the flesh that probably repelled them."

Blake looked down at the file in front of her. "These circles on his back are definitely manmade. It reminds me of the marks you get from cupping in holistic therapy, except the diameter's too wide. Are they lividity marks?" Blake questioned.

"It's TBD on the prelim ME report. There's really not a lot here on either case." Morgan told. "Which is why we need to start from the beginning. Let's head to South Dakota." Hotch told.

Casey had taken the wheelchair and looked up at her boyfriend. "Hey..." Casey spoke and Spencer looked at the girl and said 'hi' softly as he grabbed his things. "I missed you this morning... third week in a row." Spencer nods, "Yeah, I just found the case, so, I, uh, came here. I'll save you a spot on the jet." With that, he left and he also left Casey wondering where did she go wrong and what did she do this time.

They were on the jet and Casey sat in front of her boyfriend. She couldn't help but stare at him and just hoped he would stare back, smile at her, hold her hand, something. But no, he continued to gaze out the window, in his own big mind. Morgan was seated next to him and Rossi was next to Casey.

They had been debriefing over the came. "Both of them were close in age, both tall, around 180 pounds, fair complexions. They had to be surrogates for someone."Morgan stated. "Except, given the physical demands of logging, that description could apply to a majority of men in the area." Blake added.

"So, was someone trying to get back at the industry?" JJ asked. "Hacking them apart means the anger ran deep." Hotch told.

Turns out, Casey hadn't been the only one who noticed Spencer's odd behavior. Rossi had, too. "Reid, you okay?" He asked and Spencer nodded and looked back at the team. "Yeah."

Spencer had carried on and pretended nothing happened. "There's no shortage of enemies to the logging industry, from climate change environmentalists to animal rights activists. Native Americans with longstanding territory disputes."

"Maybe this is all to create a hostile working environment for the logging companies." Rossi told as Casey read through the file. "It looks like both men disappeared overnight. They left work one day, didn't show up the next. It's a pattern." Casey stated.

Garcia had then checked in with the team. "Garcia, did anyone interview family members?" Blake asked as soon as she came on screen. "No, the families didn't know anything 'cause they were all back at home. Raymond Nava was in Texas, and Joseph Purl's from Wyoming." She told.

"Are a lot of the workers seasonal or itinerant like the two victims?" Morgan asked. "Yeah, they either live in work camps provided by the companies or they rent rooms."

"JJ, you and Blake go to the morgue. Morgan and I will go to the crime scene. And, Reid, since you've already made contact, you, Casey and Dave talk to the local FBI and find out what's holding up the investigation." Hotch grouped.

Casey looked at her boyfriend and smiled at him and Spencer gave the girl the same tight-lipped smile and looked back down at his file and Casey looked down next and pretended as if nothing had happened.

Rossi, Spencer and Casey had headed to PD and met with another agent in the building. "Dr. Reid. I'm Agent Stern." The woman looked at Rossi as she greeted him with the wrong name. "Actually, this is Dr. Reid. I'm SSA Rossi. This is SSA Willows." Casey chuckled a bit that the woman confused Rossi for Reid.

"Are you the SRA for the Pine reservation?" Spencer asked. "Yep. I've been working with Detective Landry, who's out at the Purl crime scene right now. Let me show you what we got." The woman led them to a room and to be honest, there wasn't much in it, only leading with two pictures of the crime scenes.

"Is this it?" Spencer asked. "No offense, but are you like incredibly busy here in Rapid City, South Dakota? 'Cause the last I checked, you guys had like the fifth lowest crime rate in the country. I just-- I feel like the victims' families deserve more." Spencer explained.

"Let me explain something," Stern started. "When I go out on the reservation asking questions about a homicide, I'm not exactly greeted with open arms. You add a non-resident victim to the mix and they close ranks, thinking I'm trying to find a native to pin it on."

"I think we understand." Rossi told.

"And the body was found on reservation land, but it may not be tribal related. The area where we found Nava, that's easy to access from the highway." Casey rolled towards the board. "It's possible the unsub knew it was a different jurisdiction and took advantage of it." She told.

"Well, whatever you need, don't hesitate to ask." With that, Stern left the room and the three began to get settled in. "I'm gonna see if I can print extra file for the rest of the team when they get here. We've gotta add more on this wall." Spencer was beginning to leave the room. "Okay, we'll get started here." Casey told.

"Love you!" Casey called out but Spencer acted as if he didn't hear her. He didn't even turn around and he didn't even say it back. Casey looked down and began to chuckle to herself. "He hates me." She said to herself.

"He doesn't hate you," Rossi assured the girl. "He's just... going through a lot."

Casey scoffed, "Funny he's the broken one." Rossi gave the girl a look and Casey sighed in realization that she probably shouldn't be talking about her own boyfriend that way. "That wasn't fair."

"But..." Casey looked towards the door to make sure he wasn't coming back in. "He hasn't been home in a few weeks. And when he is, he doesn't sleep. He just studies cases and he's always up and ready when I wake up. He doesn't talk to me anymore. He doesn't say 'I love you' anymore. And I'm scared. Because I don't wanna lose him." Casey explained and she closed her eyes as she spoke. "I don't wanna lose him."

Rossi could see that Spencer was hurting, but so was Casey. They were both going through something but they didn't know how to come about it to each other. They were two young lovebirds who didn't know what the hell they were doing. "I'll talk to him." Rossi told and Casey nodded towards the man, knowing that maybe Rossi could take care of it for her with a little push.

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After discovering something in one of the victims' voicemails, they had discovered that the man and the unsub were last seen in a bar and that their unsub was a woman who lured him. And that this woman was someone who was trying to get pregnant.

It was then that they had their profile.

"We believe that the unsub that we're looking for is a woman who's trying to get pregnant. She's experiencing what we call black widow maternal desire. She has a desperate need for a child, which most likely stems from the recent loss of one." Morgan explained and Casey looked over at Reid and noticed him sipping his coffee like usual.

"That child may have died or been taken away in a custody situation." Blake told. "She's drugging her male victims in order to keep them under her control for forty-eight hours. We believe she's using them as breeding partners to help replace the child that she lost." Casey told.

"Her victims are surrogates for a male figure in her life, one she may have already killed. He could be a boyfriend or husband who most likely fathered the child she lost." Rossi told. "And the signs of torture indicate that she may blame the child's father for this loss and is exacting her revenge on these victims." Hotch explained.

"After they are dead, she dismembers them for easier disposal." Blake told. "The strength required to do this and to transport body parts, it's likely that she's working with a submissive partner that she dominates with her agenda." Casey added on.

"Based on the sophistication and patience required for these crimes, we believe this unsub is probably in her 30s and no older than her early 40s if pregnancy is her goal." Rossi told. "And she works at night, luring victims from parties or bars. She may even have an illness or feign one to gain their sympathy." JJ told.

"Jack Dumont's been missing for almost 30 hours, and if the unsub keeps to her schedule, he may still be alive. But time is of the essence." Hotch explained.

"Even though the first two victims are dead, we can certainly step up our game so we can give the victims' families some answers." Reid stated and with that, he had left the room and Hotch spoke, "Thank you."

Casey watched Spencer from a distance and had come to the realization that she knew what this was about. They never formally talked about what happened. It had been over a couple of months, Casey didn't know what they needed to talk about and why Spencer was all of a sudden so affected by it. But Casey hadn't told him that it wasn't his fault. And it wasn't, she knew it wasn't. Maybe that's what she needed to do.

She had followed him down into the room. "Hey, you left in a hurry there, what's up?" Casey asked, kind of cornering Spencer in the room. "Oh, just sending some stuff out for the victims' families." There's a pause as Casey nods. "I gotta get going."

Before Spencer could leave the room, Casey stops him and grabs him by his arm. "Hey," She spoke. "Stop shutting me out."

Spencer furrowed his brows. "I'm not shutting you out—"

"Really? Because you've barely said one word to me and when you do, you don't even look at me." Casey told, but she didn't want to argue. She sighed and apologized to him. "Look, I'm sorry, I don't wanna argue. But I know what this is about. You're deflecting how you feel about what happened to me so you're taking it out on these cases."

"I have to go." Spencer checked his watch but Casey pulled him. "Hey." Casey looked Spencer in the eye. "You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened to me. Okay? Quit thinking that you failed me. You saved my life. And yeah, it may have cost me a leg but I'm gonna be up in no time. It wasn't your fault that I got taken. I could never blame you for what happened."

Spencer looks down and then back at the girl. "I just want you to know that." Casey told. Spencer doesn't know what the do and he fiddles with his sweater. "Can we talk about this later? Please?" He asks and Casey lets go of him as he walks out.

As Spencer walks out, Rossi had noticed the scene and Casey was left alone in the room and she decided to work on her own thing. Rossi had decided to let Spencer cool down a bit before approaching him himself.

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Spencer had been in a dark room, the room Agent Stern led them in, working on the case. Everyone had been doing their own thing, except for David Rossi. The man had approached the kid, sitting down in front of him.

"Did I ever tell you about my Uncle Sal?" Rossi asked and Spencer shook his head in response. "He liked to fix up old cars. When my Aunt Rosie died, he bought a 1947 Buick. Well, it was a piece of junk, really, but he was obsessed with it. He'd work on it day and night, forgetting to eat, until it was a thing of beauty."

Spencer had smiled a bit as Rossi told the story. "Then one day, it got stolen. When the cops found it, it had been completely vandalized. Uncle Sal was devastated. Never recovered. He died about a year later."

"I'm sorry about your uncle." Spencer apologized. "I'm sorry about whatever's going on between you and Casey." Rossi said and Spencer looked down. "So how long has it been now since... well, everything happened? Four months?"

    "Three months and fifteen days." Spencer stated.

    "That's why you're not sleeping." Rossi told. "This can't go on."

"I feel like there are two types of people in this world, Rossi. The ones that get over their grief and move on and the ones that descend into some sort off endless misery." Reid tells. "I know how you feel," Rossi assured. "Give it time."

"You know, I thought by coming to work every day and helping other people, the pain would lessen, but it hasn't."

"What pain, Reid?" Rossi asked. "Casey's alive, she's breathing, she's here." Reid looks down as Rossi talks about Casey. "She almost wasn't, thanks to me."

Little did the two know, Casey had been listening in on the conversation from outside the room.

"I'm not sleeping because when-- when I do, I dream of Casey. And when I wake up, I see her sleeping next to me and I feel the sweetest relief imaginable. In my dream... she's gone. And it scares me because I love her and I don't want to lose her. And this dream keeps coming and going and I'm afraid that dream is gonna become a reality. And when I look at Casey, I'm afraid I'm gonna lose her. Is that part of normal healing?" Spencer questions.

Casey had looked down as Spencer finished his sentence. She knew why he was avoiding her now. Every time he saw her, he didn't truly see her, he saw the chair. He saw what he did to her, what he should've stopped. It terrified him. And now, Casey understood. The girl rolled away and pretended as if she didn't hear the conversation... yet it remained stuck in her head.

Soon enough, another body had been found and this time, it was a female victim but this wasn't too drastic like the last two victims. Spencer had gotten a lead on a Roger Whitcomb.

"What have you got, Garcia?" Hotch asked. "I got a whole lot of nothing on Roger Whitcomb. It's like he must have left the area, 'cause there's zilch after aught-1. Secondly, there are 82 hotels, motels, inns, and B&Bs in the area that are female managed or owned." Garcia explained.

"Any of those who've lost children?" Casey asked. "Yeah, there's two of them, but there's nothing hinky. There is, however, one woman with a deceased child whose husband owns a hotel. Her name is Tess Mynock, and she does fit our profile. She's 38. Her 5-year-old son Adam died three years ago. And our first victim was killed the very same week at the anniversary of her son's death." Garcia explained.

"She could be our unsub. The death of the child the stressor, the recent anniversary the trigger." Spencer stated. "Her husband owns the Red Creek Lodge on Farmington Road." Garcia told. "Let's go." Hotch said and Casey nodded as she stayed behind and the rest of the team left.

The team had discovered that the partner was, Raoul Whalen and he was the actual dominant partner and he took advantage of her grief to fulfill his murderous urges. Her mind already mentally fragile, Raoul convinced her that each victim was Steven, her abusive ex-boyfriend.

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Spencer and Casey shortly arrived back to their apartment and didn't say a single word to one another. Spencer had tidied the apartment up a bit and decided to get some reading time in and played some classical music in the back. Casey had been in the bedroom, putting herself in casual wear and knew that she eventually had to talk to Spencer. As you could tell, they were not good at the communication bit of their relationship.

Casey had taken the crutches to the living room and hobbled over to the chair in front of Spencer. He pretended not to even notice the girl until Casey sat down and spoke to the man. "Will you just look at me?" She asked.

Spencer looked at the girl. "And really look at me," Spencer stared into Casey's bright blue eyes. "Don't look at the wheelchair, the crutches, my injury. Just look at me."

"I am." Spencer spoke softly.

Casey shook her head. "You're not."

There's a pause and Reid marks the place he was reading and looks down at the book in his hands, trying to figure out what to say to Casey. Usually, he always knew what to say.

Casey had more words than him at this point. "You know, I love you. You know I'd do anything for you. And I can't afford for us to keep anything from each other anymore. I can't do it. Because we're lying and that's exhausting." Casey grabbed his hands. "So, I want you to look at me and tell me what you really feel about me. I mean, do you even still love me?"

"Of course I do," Spencer almost immediately responded and looked Casey in the eyes as he said it. "I love you..." There's a small pause. "I love you so much that when I look at you, it hurts. I keep going back to that night in my head. What I could've done, what I could've prevented. But time traveling in the past is impossible, but just know that if it was, I would've done anything to swap places with you. I love you so much that it feels like it was my fault you ended up like this. I love you so much that when you get closer, I freeze up." Spencer looked down as he spoke, but not before gazing at the girl in front of him at most points.

He knew that he had no right to grieve over this after all she went though. I mean, she was the one who couldn't walk. But he couldn't help but feel like most of it was his fault. He should've prevented something like this from happening. But there was nothing he could've done.

Casey shook her head at the boy. "It's not your fault. Like I told you before, that was my decision. And there was no way you could've prevented that. What happened happened. And I wanna hear that come out of your mouth. It wasn't your fault."

Spencer looked down at the book in front of him. "It wasn't my fault." He muttered.

Casey exhales and stands up a bit on the leg that isn't hurt as she hears the slow music playing in the back. She gets an idea and holds her hand out, "Come on," She stated and Spencer looked at the girl in confusion. "Dance with me."

"Are you—?"
"I'm sure."

"Don't really know how to dance." Spencer told as he stood up and Casey chuckled, "Just follow my lead."

Spencer had held Casey up a bit to help her stand okay. At one point, she almost fell and Spencer had wrapped his arms around her waist and swore that he wouldn't let her go. They swayed softly over the music playing and Spencer snuggled his head into her neck and just took a deep breath. This was where he wanted to be. And this was where she wanted to be. In each other's arms, warm embraced. Casey felt content in this moment, as did Spencer. Tears drew into his eyes as they continued to sway. They stayed like that for an hour or so.

Then, they headed to bed soon after. Spencer's snaked his arm around Casey's waist and held onto her and Casey took her hand into his and held onto it. Spencer kissed her neck and the two snuggled up, happy to be in each other's arms, not worrying about the past and more focusing on their future.

okayyyy this ended cutesy
i'm actually quite proud of this one lol
anywayssss
thank you for reading!!!

also y'all probably don't care but
guess who found out their crush has a gf🥲
idk what to do but like i still like him but i'm not gonna act on it but i'm praying for their downfall😁
it's not very swag of me to do that but oh well🤷‍♀️

anywaysssss
yeaaaa
thank you for reading!
-mya </3