{season nine; episode six}

Third Person's POV

Spencer and Syd had just gotten some shopping with Penelope for her party that's coming up, as it's the day of the dead, a Mexican holiday. The three of them had arrived at her apartment. Sydney was in crutches because at school in gym she slipped and she felt pretty good, and her dad and Penelope didn't let her carry a single thing.

"Okay, just put everything on the counter and I'll put it away later." Penelope says as Sydney wobbles to a chair and plops herself down as she went back into drinking her capri sun as it was fruit punch flavor. Spencer went to her kitchen and put everything on the counter.

"Nice alter, Pen." Sydney complimented noticing said alter was in the living room.

"Thank you, my sweets." Penelope says with a small smile. "There's still a lot to do before the party next week, and....I'm scared, I've never had the whole team here before."

"Why are you doing a day of the dead theme?" Spencer asked in curiousness.

"Well, uh, my stepfather's family always made a big deal of it in Mexico and my name is Penelope Garcia, after all, so..." Penelope states as Syd nodded her head as she already knew that part. "Hey, could you check my refrigerator and see if I have enough hot sauce?" Penelope asked Spencer as Syd slurped the rest of her juice as she wasn't paying attention as she has a short attention span. That and she got thirsty, and she needed something to clench her thirst.

Penelope grabbed a small fake blood bottle and squirted some right underneath her eyes and when Spencer came back with jalapeno sauce and a jar of eyeballs in his hand, he wasn't fazed by it.

"You didn't even flinch." Penelope says as she looks at Spencer in disbelief and that's when Syd looked at Penelope and she too didn't flinch. "Why aren't you flinching?" She asked the teenager and said teenager just shrugged her shoulders.

"I've seen worse, Pen, trust me." Syd says.

"JJ's right. I told her I wanted to go scary for this Halloween, and she just laughed at me, and she said that I don't have a scary side."

"That's because you're the sweetest person in the fucking world." Sydney tells her with a small smile.

"If it makes you feel any better, you probably do." Spencer says in efforts of trying to make Penelope feel better. It's what he would do to try to make Syd feel better, and sometimes it would work, and other times it wouldn't.

"Really, you really think so?" Penelope asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah." Spencer says. "The building blocks of the human personality are complex, varied, and multi-faceted. It's essential to one's mental health to want to express these hidden personalities, and it's a fact of nature that everybody has one."

"Everybody?" Penelope asked. "You have one?" Spencer nods his head.

"Oh, absolutely, yeah." He replies as Sydney looked at her father in disbelief as she raised a brow at her father.

"That's a first. I've been on this earth for eighteen years and not once have I seen it." Sydney says mainly muttering to herself.

"I want to see it." Penelope tells. "I want to see Dr. Spencer Reid's hidden personality."

"Uh--you, uh--right now?" Spencer asked. "Like right now, you want to see it?"

Penelope grabs her glasses and puts them back on. "I have fake blood running down my cheeks right here, right now."

Spencer wraps both of his hands on the back of his neck and lets out a deep grunt. Both Penelope and Sydney put on confused expressions once Spencer starts his not-so-natural voice. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, did that guy just fire five shots? Or did that guy just fire six shots? You're going to have to ask yourself a question. Do you feel lucky, punk?" When saying the word 'punk' Spencer enunciates the 'k' vigorously.

He ends scene and Sydney raised her eyebrows unimpressed as there was a slurping sound as Sydney's Capri Sun is gone. "That's Clint Eastwood, in 'Dirty Harry'." Spencer reveals. "Oh." Penelope says.

"I mean, I know it's not as effective as my dominant personality." Spencer tells as Sydney snickered which made Spencer glare at his daughter for not helping. "Oh my, I'm so scared. Someone saves me." Sydney says as Spencer gives her a look and she shrugs her shoulders.

"Do you have a scary side, Syd?" Penelope asked the teenager.

"It's called chewing my mother's ass when she calls my dad an idiot or insults him." Sydney nonchalantly says as that is still her proudest moment of her not being afraid of her mother anymore.

"I remember that." Penelope says as just then her phone vibrates, and she checks it.

"Do you have any more Capri Suns, Pen? There happens to be a shortage in that department." Syd says as she squeezed it as she got every last drop, of her precious juice which has been her hyperfixiation on juices

"Yeah, they're in the fridge." Penny says as Sydney smiled as she walked towards the fridge.

"Seriously?" Spencer says as Syd just grins at her dad without another word.

When they arrived at the BAU, Sydney was already on her second Capri Sun. Syd looked up to see that Hotch had returned to work. "Can your favorite person have a hug?" Sydney asked as even though Hotch has a stone-faced persona, he will still have a sweet spot for kids, especially Jack and Syd.

The two hugged as it made Syd happier as she sat beside Derek and her dad, as she slurped her Capri Sun. "I think it's gone, Syd." Derek points out as Syd just waved her hand in his face. Not really caring as she would just do it because, or if Strauss is in the room. Erin scares Syd sometimes, even more than Hotch scaring Syd when she was a kid. Though sometimes that still does happen, especially when Hotch is mad, but then again, who can blame her.

"Nice to see you sir." Penelope says as she gave Aaron a small smile.

"Let's get started." Hotch says as Garcia nods her head as she grabs the remote for the screen.

"A woman was found dead yesterday near Provo, Utah, buried under a pile of rocks. Her face smashed; her head was smashed. Pretty much everything was smashed." Penelope says as Syd gagged at hearing that.

"Twenty-four hours later, she's still a Jane Doe?" Spencer asked.

"There were no personal items found at the scene, and the severity of her injuries made official recognition impossible." Aaron says.

"So, Provo missing persons has like zero intel on her." Penelope says.

"Well, it looks like the victim was tortured." Derek points out.

"Lacerations on both arms and a burn in the neck area." Syd adds.

"It could be the killer's way of silencing her, literally and figuratively." JJ tells.

"The robe she's in looks almost ceremonial." Dave says looking at the picture.

"Yeah, the Unsub must have changed her clothing." Spencer points out.

"Could be a straight-up woman hater. Took away her clothes, her voice and her identity." Derek figures.

"And then covered her with rocks. Might me a concealment or an expression of remorse." Syd tells.

"If it was a sign of remorse, he probably wouldn't have tortured her the way he did." JJ says.

"Have there been similar kills in the area?" Spencer asked.

"None that we know." Aaron answers.

"I'm impressed, Aaron." Rossi admits. "How'd you get the brass to let us investigate a single, isolated murder?" Hotch looks up.

"I told them that the ritualistic nature means that he's forensically sophisticated and organized and he's likely killed before." Hotch says.

"Sadly, he's likely to kill again." Syd adds.

"Which means we can't waste time. Wheels up in 20."

❁ ≖≖✿❁ ≖≖ ❁

The team had made their way to the jet. Syd sat next to Derek with her head onto his shoulder as he doesn't mind let alone care. She is content right now which is the only thing that matters. "Let's start the debriefing." Hotch says.

"Single victim, unidentified. Not much to go on." JJ states.

"Let's start with the basics. Those rocks were heavy, so our killer's most likely male, probably in good physical shape." Syd shook her head at hearing that, as she will take her chance and say that Derek is better looking than anyone who is in good physical shape.

Then again, Derek is her 'bestie westie'. That's how Spencer puts it.

"Just not as good looking as Derek, because that is illegal." Syd blurted out which made everyone laugh.

"Thanks, Madam, much appreciated." Derek says as Syd nods her head proud of her statement. Garica would agree with Syd but she's not here.

"There could be more than one Unsub?" JJ assumes.

Just then the beautiful Penelope Garcia appeared on the screen. "Just got some good news and some bad news. Okay just got the dental records on our Jane Doe whose name is Gloria Carlyle. She is a twenty-four-year-old grammar teacher. The bad news is she used to belong to a utopian-style sect in town. She joined it right out of high school."

"Used to belong, what does that mean?" Sydney asked as she is eating Cheeto Puffs.

"That's right my sweets. She left the sect three months ago and she moved in with her boyfriend." Garcia informs.

"Do we know the boyfriend's whereabouts?" JJ asked.

"He's in Alaska. So, his alibi's as solid as a pre-globally-warmed-glacier." Penelope says.

"Garcia is the sect run by a man named Herbert Sykes." Spencer asked as Syd is eating Cheeto Puffs, as she got hungry.

"Yes, Einstein, it is. How'd you know that?" Garcia asked as Syd smiled at the nickname, then again, of how smart her father is.

"Five years ago, a teenage girl was found dead on the grounds of his compound. It was determined to be an honor kill of sorts. The girl was stoned to death."

"The rocks appear to be the cause of death in Gloria's murder as well." Syd puts two and two together.

"The red flag just got redder." Rossi comments as Syd nods her head.

"All right, Dave, you and JJ find out what you can about Gloria Carlyle, from the medical examiner. Morga and Reid, go to the crime scene. Syd and I will talk to Gloria's family as well have a chat with Herbert Sykes."

"Roger that Boss." Syd says with a fake salute to Hotch, who nods his head with a smile that he didn't even bother to hide.

❁ ≖≖✿❁ ≖≖ ❁

Down at the crime scene, Derek and Spencer had discovered another body and Herbert Sykes was 'just a treat' to talk to. They were currently in the conference room at the PD. Aaron and Syd had been setting up the board as of course Syd was singing a Taylor Swift song as it is stuck in her head, while JJ sat at a chair and looked over what she had gotten.

"JJ, were you able to contact Abby Stafford's family?" Hotch questioned. "Nope, they're vacationing somewhere in Europe. We're tracking them down right now. But I did talk to a friend of hers." JJ had stood up from her chair. "She said Abby was a conservative, studious type. No drama, no enemies, she pretty much just kept to herself."

"Why can't I have her life, mine would be so much easier." Syd muttered to herself as JJ looked at her. "Am I wrong of being right?" She says as she saw that JJ was looking at her.

Just then her favorite person (sorry Spencer) had walked into the room. "I just got off the phone with Dave. The ME says the new victim died roughly a week ago. Had the same laceration marks and throat burning, but the wounds weren't anywhere near as severe as Gloria Carlyle's."

"He was still warming to the task." JJ says.

"Well, our Unsub definitely has a type. Young, blonde, pretty." Syd comments as Hotch looks at the amazing pictures on the board. (Okay, not so amazing but it's amazing because Syd put them up).

"Now, the elements in common to both murders aren't giving us much. Let's concentrate on the deviations." Hotch says.

"Well, Abby was thrown off a cliff. Gloria was entombed. The Unsub left Abby in her own clothes but changed Gloria into a robe." Syd pieces.

"The ME found another difference, apparently Gloria's fingernail polish had been removed by the Unsub. Abby Stafford's hadn't been tampered with at all." Derek informs as Syd nods her head.

"Well, Abby's death was quick and impersonal - off the cliff. No muss, no fuss. But Gloria was slowly crushed, he took his time to make her suffer."

"All the deviations in Gloria's murder involve increased ritual. It's got to be feeding a fantasy of some kind." Aaron states.

"It explains why the torture was more intense with Gloria. The ritual fed into the fantasy; the fantasy fed into the rage. And if that's the case, this guy's evolving fast." Syd explains.

Their Unsub was definitely evolving fast because later that night, the Unsub had changed his victimology from women to men. Sydney had been adding more pictures on the board as the sergeant helping them and talked to Spencer about this Unsub.

"So, this guy kills men now." Sergeant Mahaffey states.

"Parker Mills must have had a hidden or perceived connection to the other victims." Syd tells. "Or Mills got in the way somehow and had to be killed so the Unsub could return to his preferred victim type." She adds.

"Then why bother with the cutting and throat burning?" Spencer questions.

Dave walks in the room. "Came back with the tox report with Abby Stanford." Dave informs.

"What'd you find?" Spencer and Syd asked in sync which it isn't uncommon for the two Reid's to talk in unison.

"Our conservative, studious girl had cocaine in her system, at the time of her death." Dave says handing the paper of the report to Syd as she looked at it.

"Shit, this changes everything." Syd says. "I think we got our profile."

After delivering the profile, both Sydney and Spencer decided to do more research, so they had gone in another room to do their studying. "I told Dr. Reid and his daughter that they could use my office. There must be 30 books piled up on my desk." Mahaffey states as Derek chuckles.

"Knowing those two, it's probably sixty books." Derek says as the Sergeant looks at him baffled.

"Damn."

"They're fast readers, and yet they remember everything they've read. Sydney, the girl, can quote the Harry Potter books and the movies." Derek says as the Sergeant's eyes widen.

"Damn." The Sergeant says as Derek nods his head.

"Then again her father can read twenty-thousand words per minute."

"A minute?" The Sergeant questioned. "How much can the girl read?"

"Um, about two thousand roughly." Derek answered as the Sergeant just shakes his head still being baffled.

"Let me guess, geniuses?" The Sergeant asked as Derek nods head.

"Yup." Derek says as he takes a Funyun that Syd was eating as she had another bag of the chip

"Makes sense." The Sergeant says.

"At this point they must be onto something." JJ says.

"You know, I was thinking about that branding thing. Maybe it's like that book that we had to read in school, about the woman with the Scarlet A." Mahaffey states.

"No, that's unlikely." Derek says. "The scarlet letter was a badge of shame to the worn in public day after day. Our Unsub is killing his victims immediately after the branding."

"There's something strange going on here." JJ says as she looks at the piece of paper that's in front of her.

"Well, that may be the understatement of the week." Mahaffey comments.

"Gloria's vision was extremely poor. Her driver's license specifies she had to wear corrective lenses while operating a vehicle."

"Eyeglasses."

"It says here she wore contact lenses."

"No contact lenses were found on her body or at the crime scene."

"The Unsub could've have taken them out, like how he removed her nail polish." JJ says. "Question is: why would he do that?"

"No wristwatch was found at the crime scene either." Derek says.

"Nail polish, wristwatch, contact lenses. What if he was trying to strip her of items that reminded him of the modern era?" JJ says as maybe she's onto something.

"It could be part of his delusion. Like changing her into a simple robe. He needed to take Gloria back to a primitive time before he killed her."

Some of the team members slept at the PD, as Spencer and Sydney had been up all night doing their research. Derek handed Syd a cup of coffee and a donut, which she took before getting back to her research.

"Syd and Spence still doing their reading?" JJ asked, as Derek nods his head.

"I don't think they're going to stop at this rate." Derek says as no one could deny that. When Spencer and Sydney are onto something when they're reading, they're not going to stop.

.....

Successfully, with Spencer, Sydney, and Garcia's smarts combined, the Unsub was caught before harming mother and her daughter and accusing them of witchcraft. Sydney ended up killing the guy. Now the team had been over on the couch and Sydney of course was snacking. Penelope had made a fruit platter, which of course was all of Sydney's safe foods, and the said platter was almost gone.

"Hey, Syd." A voice says as the daughter of Spencer looks up from her Harry Potter book to see Annie. Syd was shocked at seeing her friend here.

"Hey. There might be some fruit left, but from how many bowls I've had, there probably isn't much or any." Sydney says to her friend who sat beside her on the couch.

"I'm good, I just got done eating." Annie says as Syd gives her friend a look.

"More for me, none for you then." Sydney says as she put a watermelon in her mouth.

"How was the case today?" Annie asked already knowing that the team had a case.

"Not bad, me and Dad mainly did read to help with the case." Sydney says as Annie wasn't surprised in the slightest, then again Spencer got Syd into reading in the first place, when she was not even two years old.

Her earliest memories that she can recall were her dad reading her books, some of which weren't in English. If she would have the room of books in Beauty and the Beast (the room where Beast surprised Belle with as a gift).

Her life would be content with that many books.

"Not surprised." Annie remarked as Sydney smiled as the two girls looked up as the adults were having their own conversation with each other.

"Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which leads everyone confused as the team was already there. Penelope opened the door to reveal not just Hotch but also Jack. Hotch had previously stated that he couldn't come. "I thought you couldn't come."

"Well, Jack's friend got sick, and he wanted to see his favorite person." Hotch says motioning to Syd. When Jack laid eyes on Syd, she gave Annie her fruit bowl, and her Harry Potter book knowing what would happen. Jack wasted no time rushing towards Syd nearly dropping his chicken nuggets and fries in the process.

"Sydie!" Jack practically yells as he hugged Syd, which made the girl hug him back.

"Okay, everyone, I guess it's time to start." Garcia announces as she hands a glass of wine to Hotch. "Here you go, sir."

Annie, Sydney and Jack all had Capri Suns, and candied eyeballs that Garcia had found at a Halloween store. The team stands around the alter. "Uh, I wanted to thank everybody for doing this with me, and our altar's burning, and I just feel so blessed to have you all here." Garcia tells everyone.

"I will start. Uh..." Penelope puts a picture by the altar of a man and a woman, and little Penelope when she was a kid. "This is my mom and dad, I miss them." She ten puts a picture of her cat next to the picture of her parents. "This is my cat, Simba. With his usual bowl of soda pop. He was a weird cat."

"Just like her owner." Sydney commented which made everyone laugh.

"Okay, who's next?" Penelope asked.

JJ decides to go next. "Uh, okay. Well." She says as she puts a picture of a young woman that Sydney had immediately knew was her older sister. "Uh, this is my sister, Roslyn - Ros. She always dreamt that someday, she'd live in Paree, so um...it didn't happen, but I thought this would bring her some happiness." She says as she puts up a figurine of the Eiffel Tower next to the picture.

Annie decides on going next. "This is my mom, Beth." Annie says as she put up a picture of her mom from when she was younger. "She was the best role model, best cook, and my best friend, besides Syd." She adds as her voice cracks a little, as Derek puts an arm on her shoulder as she stood behind her.

After Annie was Rossi who had a picture of Private First-Class Darryl Jenson. He puts baseball tickets right next to the picture. He talked about Jenson, before Derek was next. He put a picture on the altar, and a cigar for some strange reason at least to Syd, but she didn't want to question it, it wasn't the time or place to do so she took a sip from her Capri Sun. Then after Derek was Hotch and Jack as he wanted to. The silence said everything when the father and son put the pictures of Haley on the alter, as Syd remembered the day that Haley died sadly from Foyet. He was (and is), one of the creepiest Unsubs that the team has dealt with.

"Well, I guess this is proof positive that ancestry isn't all bad." Rossi tells as Sydney and Annie smile at his words.

"How about a toast to the ...... thirty or forty of us?" Penelope says as she holds her glass up and the others hold up their respective drinks and juices.

"Cheers."

.....

hannah speaks!

hey, sorry about the long-awaited update for this book.
i wouldn't be lying if i said, that i sort of forgot about this book.
i was so busy writing my other books that i forgot about this one.

but at least i updated, that's all that matters.

WE FINALLY GOT ANNIE IN AN EPISODE!
i love annie so much.
though, i don't know when we'll see amelia....
then again amelia isn't probably anyone's favorite character.
she sort of isn't mine but that's just my opinion.

i swear i will get to the part where sydney and owen will start (somewhat) dating. but it will probably be in a while, so please try to be patient on that.

thanks!

<3