CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: WHOA, BABY !

9x07

━━━━━━

        IT WAS SPENCER AND CASEY'S FIRST NIGHT OUT SINCE HAVING THE BABY. It was also the night before they both had to go back to work. And they had brought Rossi with them, who had taken them to a bar he had always gone to when he was about their ages.

        In the midst of bad karaoke and Casey trying to get cell phone reception in the bar, Rossi had spotted a place in the bar that he so fondly remembered. "That's where I saw Carolyn the first time." He pointed as both Casey and Spencer looked back at the place.

      "No offense, Rossi, but this place is kind of a dump." Spencer looks around. "Oh, back then it wasn't. Back then the biggest names would come here. Creedence, The Eagles, Chicago. It was a Marine bar. They played for us jarheads." Rossi explained.

      "What was Carolyn doing here?" Spencer asks, curiously. "Waiting for Ringo." Rossi answered as Spencer and Casey both slightly chuckled at the man.

"Beatlemania was no joke," Rossi tells. "I mean, it would make the women crazy. She'd write them a letter once a week, begging the band to come visit."

Spencer raised his brows. "Did they ever come?" Rossi nodded, "Ringo did, after his divorce. But luckily, Carolyn met me first. But that's how we all became friends."

Casey cursed as she looked at her phone. "Damn. No service." Rossi and Spencer exchange a look. "Separation anxiety?" Rossi asks. "Oh, yes." Spencer nods. "It's my first night away from the baby. Of course I'm gonna act like this. I just wanna hear how he's doing." Casey frowns.

"Well, take a break from the electronics for a minute because the drinks are coming over." Rossi stated. As if on cue, the woman who worked there came over with their drinks. "Devil honey for Dave, an Arnold Palmer for the kid and a virgin piña colada for the missus."

      The three thanked the woman and before they could drink, Rossi and the couple got a text. "Oh, on second thought, Helen-- it's Garcia."

"So much for a night out before we go back to work." Spencer says and Casey shrugs. "You better bring us the bill." Rossi says.

"Okay, that'll be ten bucks." The woman, Helen, tells. "No, you can charge us for the drinks we didn't have." Rossi tells. "Everything's marked down until it's all gone." Rossi looked over as well as Spencer and Casey had and all noticed the sign that said: The Benjamin Is Closing!

"Oh, you can't close. This place is history." Rossi says with a frown on his face. "Unfortunately, Dave, history doesn't pay the bills." Helen says. "Marines used to be big business." Rossi tells the youngsters.

"Still are," Helen tells. "That's why three new bars opened up across the street. What's that thing they say about competition?"

"It breeds success?" Spencer guesses.
"It sucks." Helen tells.

Rossi pays the woman and the three stand up. "I hate to see this place go," Rossi says, looking around. "On the other hand, you guys ready for your first case back?" Casey exhales, "Kinda nervous actually, I got so attached to the little guy and now I'm gone."

"We're not gone forever, though. We'll be back in time for him. I miss him, too. But I know I'll see him." Spencer assures. "I just hope Edith is careful with him." Casey sighs.

The three head into the BAU office and it was like they never left and they were greeted by hugs and swarms of 'We missed you guys!'. Even Vivian Hudson was still around — which completely surprised Spencer and Casey because they thought she'd be gone by now.

Garcia had soon gotten started on the case. "Beantown has turned into Chokeville. Three victims, all male, wallets stolen." She says. "The unsub uses a garrote to strangle his victims. He strikes at night and there have been no witnesses." Hotch informs.

"How much did he get?" Rossi asks. "Well, it's odd. Each of the victims, socio-economically, is lower to middle class. It's doubtful there would have been much cash, and there have been no charge attempts on any of the credit cards." Hotch explained.

"So the murders might not be about money at all. Taking the wallets could be a forensic countermeasure to delay victim identification." Blake explains.

"That could be the sitch with the first two victims, but the latest one, Scott Delfino, he was on the phone with his roommate when he was attacked, call cut out unexpectedly, repeated callbacks went straight to voicemail." Garcia explained.

"And Delfino's body was found an hour later. Indications were they'd been blitzed." Hotch says. "Which speaks to the killer's prep work but also his desperation. He chose a location to lay in wait but wasn't capable of adapting to a target on the phone." Spencer tells.

"That could be arrogance getting in the way and making his organization appear mixed. To me that screams false confidence." JJ stated. "Which means that desperation is what's driving him," Morgan tells. "It's not about the kills, it's about what the murders represent."

"Then he's mission oriented," Casey tells. "He doesn't want to kill them, but he has to. Something triggered in him for him to start killing." Vivian adds on, "It also suggests the unsub has no personal connection to his victims."

"Except choking as a kill method is extremely personal. He feels each victim take their last breath." Blake says. "What if the wallets are a form of depersonalization?" Morgan guesses. "He's stripping his victims of their identities. He could feel stripped of his own." Vivian added on.

"If the wallets are trophies, he could be seeking recognition for his work." Spencer explains. "And he may not stop killing until he gets that recognition." Casey added.

"Let's go." Hotch tells his team.

        The team had made their way to the jet where Spencer and Casey are very obviously sitting next to each other and Casey's taking deep breaths because she had told Spencer to take her phone and not give it back because she would be tempted to call home to see how Christopher was but Spencer knew self-control better than she did.

"Ryan Maxford worked as a counselor at a local boys home, and Scott Delfino worked for Dynamo Industries, which is an international pharmaceutical firm." Garcia informs the team as they debrief.

"Besides gender, the victimology varies. He doesn't care about age or race." JJ tells. "He blends in and is most likely unassuming." Rossi added on. "Yet has no problem taking down a 6'5", 260-pound man. Maxford was a former football all-American." Morgan tells.

"Which probably rules out my unsub as a woman who hates men theory." Blake comments. "It'd be hard to gain leverage on these guys."

"Yes, but the hatred of men might not be far off. The victims could be surrogates. For someone else or the unsub himself. It'd be too early to tell at this rate." Vivian stated.

"If the unsub does feel stripped of his own identity, he could be trying to make these men appear the same way." Morgan explained. "He could be recognizing in his victims a behavioral trait consistent with the object of his rage that triggers him to kill. He could be mad and he sees these victims as a way to release all the repressed rage he has for his object." Casey tells.

"We need to determine where he's finding his victims." Hotch says. "Geographically speaking, none of the victims live near one another, but they were all killed downtown, which is where the unsub likes to operate." Spencer explains.

"That fits with where Maxford works, but not with the other two victims." Blake says.

"His area of control, while relatively small, includes a number of residential and commercial buildings. Factoring in a 3-mile radius in a city with a population of 636, 479 over 48.28 miles, we're looking at approximately 39, 549.23 people living in his comfort zone." Spencer explains.

"How many of them male?" Morgan asks.

"18, 944.08." Spencer says.

There's a beat.

"Damn, we missed you two." Morgan comments.

"I get why they call you Boy Genius now." Vivian added.

"My fiancé, everybody." Casey says proudly.

Hotch gets the team back on track. "Garcia, start with the victim's known associates. We need a list of everyone who lives and works downtown."

"On it," Garcia says. "I'm a genius, too." She leaves the call.

"Morgan, Blake, and I will go to the field office and start with Garcia's list. Dave, Vivian, JJ, go to the ME and see what they can offer us. Casey, you and Reid go to the scene where Scott Delfino's body was found. His roommate's waiting to talk to you there."

        Casey and Spencer exchange a look. "Is that a good idea, talking to him where his friend was just murdered?" She asks. "Well, apparently he's insisting on it," Hotch reveals. "Boston PD says he won't leave the scene until you do." Both Spencer and Casey exchange a look once more.

       Spencer and Casey had arrived at the scene and Casey had just finished talking to Edith on the phone about the baby and to see how he was doing. Edith assured everything was fine and that Christopher was sleeping like an angel but Casey was adamant that Edith sounded off and Spencer had told the girl that she was just being paranoid and she sounded fine. And he was right, Casey had just been freaking out because she missed the baby so much.

       They had gotten their act together once running into Scott Delfino's friend at the crime scene. "Ben Harrison?" Casey asks. "You the FBI?" Ben asked. "I'm Agent Casey Willows. This is Dr. Spencer Reid." The woman introduces. "We didn't have to do this here, you know. We could have talked back at our field office."

       "I wanted to see where it happened." Ben stated. "I was talking to him one second and then the... that's it. Gone. Right here, Scotty's story ends." Casey could tell that Ben was upset about his friend.

"Scotty must have been coming from the East, otherwise the unsub's position would have left him exposed." Spencer speaks lowly to Casey. "But?" Casey asks. "That Avenue offers three different directions to head in lieu of this alleyway, so how did the unsub know Scotty was gonna choose this particular one?" Spencer explains.

"You told the police he met a girl last night. So walking home this way wouldn't be part of his regular routine, right?" Casey asks Ben. "No." Ben answers.

"When planning a blitz attack with varying avenues of approach, what do you do?" Spencer asks. "Eliminate the variable." Casey answers. "Strike as close as you can to the point of origin or destination."

"But Scotty was still miles away from home." Spencer says. "The woman he met lives nearby." Casey added and then looked back at Ben. "Do you have any idea who she was?"

"Only that her name is Ashley and she likes bunnies." Ben answered. "Don't ask. It's the last thing he said to me."

"Do you know where they met, by any chance?" Casey asks. "I'm not sure. We were watching the Pats game at the Purple Shamrock, and then I had to bail. I have to pick up my girlfriend from Logan, so..."

"Do you think Scotty stayed there, or would he have ventured elsewhere after you left?" Spencer questioned. "I don't know," Ben answered. "There's so many bars in the area. Scotty had a tendency to... wander."

"With women, you mean?" Casey asks.
"Let's just say it wasn't often that he slept alone." Ben tells.
"Did that rub anyone the wrong way?"
"Not anyone that knew him. He was too good a guy not to like."

Casey was sure that this was part of the unsub's victimology and by Spencer's look, he was sure of it, too. They both just didn't know how to come about it, that was something they just had to discover for themselves, along with their team.

━━━━━━

      After the unsub had killed a teenage boy and the girl Scott Delfino had gone on a date with, the team had done some investigating where the girl was murdered and had found out that their unsub was Tanner Johnson, someone who had worked at the complex where the girl was murdered.

Garcia had been giving them the info about him now. "His name is Tanner Johnson and life has not been kind." She stated. "He lost a child, didn't he?" JJ assumes. "Yeah. Last year. A 10-year-old son, Jeremy. According to reports, Jeremy was playing with a friend, they were like fake wrestling, when Tanner, a free-lance photographer/slash/nighttimdoore got a call, left the room to take it. When he returned, his son was unconscious. The friend was trying to revive him from a chokehold gone horribly wrong."

Casey shook her head at the thought. Before she was a mother, these kinds of cases or stories never took affect on her. But now that she was a mother, she couldn't help but since as she heard the story. Spencer spotted the girl and put a comforting hand on her shoulder so she would know he was there for her.

      "His son was strangled. That's why he uses a garrote." Hotch speaks. Casey could tell this story not only affected her but JJ and Hotch as well. "Jeremy was on life support for a few days, but he died." Garcia told.

      "Tanner blames himself. He stopped watching for a minute and he lost his son." Blake told. "He hasn't stopped watching since." Rossi stated. "The grief must have consumed him." Vivian added.

       "That's a hell of a stressor, but what triggered the murders?" JJ questioned. "Garcia, what happened to Tanner's wife? Did the marriage survive?" Hotch asked.

"Uh..." Garcia did her digging. "No. She kicked him out two months ago, right before the killings started."

"So he loses his child and then his wife and home." JJ tells. "It's enough to make anyone unstable." Casey added, rubbing her thumb back and forth on Spencer's hand. "Add guilt to that and it's all too much." Vivian added on. "He dissociated." Blake nodded.

        "Paternal transference," Rossi tells. "He claimed the residents of his apartment building as his family."
        "But we're missing something," Hotch told. "Why is he documenting all of this?" JJ is the first to think. "We profiled he's running out of time. The book must have something to do with that."

"Oh, snap." Garcia starts, drawing everyone's attention. "What is it, Garcia?" Hotch asks. "Hannah, Tanner's wife, she's pregnant." She reveals. "That's who he's watching online." Blake tells.

"Garcia, when is the baby due?" Rossi asks.
"The baby's due..." Garcia starts. "Yesterday."
"Explains why he's running out of time." Casey comments.

Hotch had sent Morgan and Reid in one car and then JJ, Blake and Casey in another car. Morgan and Reid had gotten there first and had entered through the front and once Blake, JJ and Casey got there, they had gone through the back and as soon as they peeked through the window of the home, they had spotted Spencer putting some rubber gloves on and Hannah getting ready to deliver a baby.

"Oh, my God." JJ mutters. "We need medics to Hannah Johnson's residence right away." Blake mutters into her mic to Rossi, Vivian and Hotch, who are back at the PD. "They're already on the way." Rossi tells. "Yeah, well, they're not fast enough." Casey comments, putting her gun back into her holster.

"You think Spence knows what he's doing?" JJ asked.
"It's Spencer, he always knows what he's doing." Casey assures to JJ.

The women watch as Hannah yells in pain and Spencer and Morgan are trying to negotiate with Tanner as Spencer tries to deliver this baby. Casey overhears: "Guys, something's wrong. The umbilical cord's wrapped around the baby's throat. I need something to cut the cord with, quickly!"

"Use these." Casey assumes Tanner had a pair of scissors and he hands them to Reid and that's when Morgan takes Tanner into custody. "No! No!"

That's the cue for the women to come in. "Don't worry, Hannah, your baby's doing fine, but you need to keep pushing. Ready?" Spencer assures to the woman. "Medics on the way." Blake informs, still pointing her gun towards Tanner, who's being taken away by Morgan.

"We can't risk moving her now. We'll have to deliver the baby here." Spencer tells. "Oh, God!" Hannah yells. Spencer looks towards Casey and nods to her and Casey nods back, holding one of Hannah's hands. "Squeeze her hand as hard as you can and push."

"Oh, I can't. I can't." Hannah groans. "Yes, you can." Reid encourages. "You're doing great! Just push!" Casey encourages as well, getting serious deja vu to when she was giving birth to her own baby.

        With praises that she was doing great and to push from Spencer and Casey and JJ, Hannah successfully delivered a perfectly healthy baby boy. Casey watched with a homely smile as Spencer handed the baby off to Hannah and smiled at him as Spencer went from holding a baby to holding his future wife. The two both missed their little one back at home but were also happy that someone else's happiness with their own child was possible.

━━━━━━

       The last few days came by like a train at a station and now Casey found herself at The Benjamin, with her team, celebrating their victory of the case and the ending to a bar they'd only visited once.

      "And to Dr. Spencer Reid, who may be adding MD to an already impressive list of credentials." Hotch started. "And to Spencer Johnson, may he prove to be the child prodigy like his namesake." Morgan added.

"How on earth did you know what to do?" Blake questioned. "I, too, am wondering this." Vivian stated.

"When JJ was pregnant with Henry, I memorized the delivery manuals just in case she went into labor in the field. I also did the same thing when Casey was pregnant with Christopher." Spencer explained and Casey and JJ exchanged a look, knowing him and knowing exactly what he'd do. "I have to admit the practical application did not quite live up to the theory."

"No, you were great, Spence." JJ assured. "Really, really, great." Casey smiled as she kissed Spencer's temple and then his lips. "Now, as a reminder of perfectly good men in my life, I have to make a quick call to Edith and see how—" Before Casey could, Spencer kept saying 'no' and took Casey's phone. "What are you doing?" Casey asked.

"Christopher is okay," Spencer said reassuringly to Casey. "He's okay. And he will always be okay. And we have to trust that. Because right now he's doing nothing but drooling and pooping and everything good in between." Casey took a sigh at Spencer, realizing he was right.

"Thank you guys, really, but this night is not about me, though. To Dave Rossi." Spencer raises his glass to Rossi and the team follows. "Oh, I still can't believe you guys did this." Rossi comments.

Both Spencer and Casey had both planned this for Rossi and had in advance told the team about the bar. "We wanted to make sure you had one last proper goodbye." Spencer tells. "Yeah, I mean, this bar's important to you and that means it's important to us." Casey added as Spencer wrapped an arm around his fiancée.

       "Mm-hmm. And I may or may not have posted on the Quantico message boards that all the drinks are on you tonight." Garcia told and Rossi nodded, "And they are indeed, thank you very much."

       "Um, but that's not all," Hotch started, looking up at the stage as Helen got up there in front of the microphone. "I don't believe that, uh, any of the members of this team have heard you sing."

       "Next up is David Rossi." Helen announces.
       "That was intentional." Rossi tells.
       "Next up is David Rossi." Hotch stated.

        Everyone cheers and Helen looks at Rossi as he comes up to the stage. "Dave, get your ass up here and sing us out already."

      "And, look, it's in your key!" Hotch tells as Rossi walks up. "Yeah, Q squared." Rossi tells and his team begins to cheer for him.

        The beginning of Piano Man by Billy Joel began to play and Rossi finally made it up to the microphone and raised his glass up. "To all the great memories that have happened within these walls, if you think I'm doing this without backup, you're nuts." Rossi singled out the members of his team.

Garcia had made her way up to the stage and while JJ and Casey were adamant that they weren't going up there, Spencer had ended up pushing the both of them to do so anyways. And so once they were up there, they began to call Derek Morgan up there, who was also very adamant on not going up there until they finally convinced him to.

     As they very badly sang their rendition of Piano Man, off-key and everything, Hotch, Blake and Vivian watched funnily at their team members and Hotch recorded the experience on his cell. The night was filled with much more drunk karaoke and it ended off as a good case should end off and that was with happiness.

hey lovelies!
this is one of my favorite episodes in s9 omg
i hope you guys enjoyed this!!
also if you guys want to, i would love to see y'all's artwork and graphics and junk of spencer and casey so i can put them in the graphics chapter in my books bc i love them and i hope y'all do too!!
( also need new gifs for the cardigan book bc i'm not happy with mine lol )

alsoo
kinda thinking of making a fanfic about casey's mother???? and it would be like a tragedy about hotch and stuff????? idk i'm just thinking about it but i thought it would be a cool prequel!

also
WATCHED THE KING KNIGHT
AND DEAR LORDY MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER IS SUCH A FINE MAN

anywaysssss
thank you for reading!
i love you all so much!!!!!
-mya</33333