i'm so sad I can't find the pic of his cute outfit I was referencing :( but y'all know he's cute anyways 😈

Sabrina Woods

"Can you at least tell me what you have planned for Hallie's birthday?"

"We're going to the park." I replied.

"Are you going to stop being mad at me long enough to invite me?"

"I'm not angry anymore, I'm just confused." I spoke into my phone, shoving the device between my shoulder and my cheek while I grabbed the mail from outside.

"Brina, I don't know how else to explain it to make you believe me. I didn't know anything until recently. Besides, what would you have done if I had told you? It doesn't change what happened."

I felt my nerves starting to rise as I listened to Michelle, and quickly sifted through the letters I retrieved from my mailbox.

"I would've done exactly what I'm doing now," I said with a heavy sigh. "Search for the truth."

If Michelle answered, I didn't hear her. As I got to the middle of the stack of bills and junk mail, I felt my blood run cold as my eyes landed on a letter addressed to me.

I hung up the phone without saying anything, and put the rest of the mail on the counter, my eyes locked on the small envelope with my name printed in shaky letters in the middle. I ripped it open, pulling out a jagged piece of notebook paper.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

how many tries does it take

to get you?

your window is open

i'm climbing through

your parents are sleeping, and where are you?

i'm in your bedroom,

and soon the little one's too.

I felt sick to my stomach, and thought my heart might burst out of my chest as I tried to register the handwriting on the page. This letter wasn't typed, but I knew it was the same person who'd been sending me and my sister tormenting notes for the past ten years. Who else would do this?

I flipped it over to see if there was anything written, but it was blank. I read the lines over and over again, my eyes growing tired from staring at each letter, trying to piece together if I knew anyone who wrote this way.

A knock on my front door quickly snapped my attention back, and I walked briskly to the heavy set door and pulled it open to see Spencer. He flashed his pearly whites at me, his hands tucked behind his back and kept his eyes trained on me.

"You always seem to show up at just the right time." I laughed a little, opening the door a bit wider to let him in. I walked back to the counter and pushed all of my mail together in a neat pile, placing a random bill over the torn notebook page.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I asked him.

With a polite shake of his head, he awkwardly sat down on the couch and looked around at the house as if he was looking for something.

I cleared my throat as I walked back into the living room. "Hallie is still down for her nap, but as soon as she gets up, we can go. She completely tired herself out just getting ready." I said with a soft laugh.

He nodded with a smile in response, and I took a seat on the opposite side of the couch Spencer sat, folding my hands in my lap.  I noticed Spencer's clothes, and couldn't help but smile at his "casual" attire that I'd told him to wear.

He wore a dark purplish plaid button down, tucked into a pair of brown slacks with his black and white Converse.

"I like what you've chosen to wear today." I said, smiling. "You look quite cute and casual. Very picnic ready."

He laughed a little and looked down at his pants, brushing them off a bit in embarrassment. "I figured a tie would be too formal for the occasion." 

I laughed softly and kept my eyes trained on the loose hem of my jeans as I spoke. "Hallie would most definitely disagree, seeing as she is dressed as a princess."

I couldn't focus on what Spencer said after, as my mind kept jumping back to the letter stuck under the pile of junk mail on my counter.

He eyed me curiously. "What's wrong?"

I raised an eyebrow at him as I shifted my weight on the couch. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Your face is paler than usual... you also seem to be breathing much faster than your average nine breaths per minute. You've been altering from thirteen to fifteen since you opened the door." He said, looking at me expectantly. "You've also only looked at me once in the eyes since I sat down, and you have a habit of staring directly at me or sitting near me when we talk."

I tilted my head a bit, my mouth agape as my mind turned slowly as I thought of the very precise observation he'd made.

"I... do not know what to do with that information." I said incredulously. I didn't feel like explaining to Spencer the letter right this minute. We were planning to have a picnic at Hallie's favorite park for her birthday today, and I didn't want to ruin it by bringing up something that could wait until tonight. "Everything's fine, nothing's wrong." I made a point to look directly at him, and kept my eyes open, staring at him until he would respond.

Spencer didn't seem to be as amused as I'd hoped he'd be by my joke.

"Sabrina, would you tell me if something was going on?" His tone was serious, and I felt my hands become clammy and my heart started to thud against my ribcage again.

"Yes, Spencer, of course I would," I replied. "But If there was something going on, I'd tell you after my daughters birthday party."

The sound of soft but quick feet on the wood floors echoed through the room as Hallie sprinted into the living room, tiara tilted, hair stuck straight out, princess wand in hand, lopsided grin on her face.

"Spenter!"

Spencer's serious face had turned into a bright, genuine smile as his focus turned to Hallie.

"Hey, there's the birthday girl!"

Hallie jumped into his lap and waved her wand in front of his face. "Spenter, I'm a princess today." she said, a toothy smile plastered on her small face.

"You are! Which princess are you?"

"I'm Rapunzel." she said, grabbing her (now undone) braid from behind her head to show him.

I placed a quick kiss on Hallie's head as I went into her room to grab the rest of her things, and to also get everything to fix her hair and her dress. Her matching pink backpack was in the corner of the room, open, and I stuffed everything in there.

"Come on kiddo, let's get your hair together for your party." I said, walking back into the living room. "We don't want to leave Penelope waiting."

Hallie quickly climbed off of Spencer and ran towards me with her tiara in hand. I glanced at Spencer for a moment, guilt pooling at the pit of my stomach. I turned around to brush out Hallie's hair again, still feeling the burn of Spencer's gaze on me, knowing this definitely wasn't going to be a conversation that would wait for tonight.

* ੈ✩‧₊˚

Pulling up to the park, I could see some of the kids playing on the playground. There was a specific spot I knew I wanted to set everything up at, which is why Penelope happened to get here earlier than all of us.

Spencer helped me grab everything out of the backseat and the trunk, and we walked up the short hill to the "party" section. I could see Penelope running towards us in her flip flops, a giant smile stretched across her face.

"I am so excited!" she beamed, taking Hallie's hand. "I can't wait to show you what your mommy and I planned for you."

As we walked up the final step of the hill, we were met with the large gazebo area filled with a crowd of people. Before I could even say anything, a loud, "SURPRISE!" erupted from the crowd, causing me to drop the large piñata I was carrying, forcing a laughing fit from Hallie as all the candy flew across the floor.

I had invited a few of the parents and their kids from the daycare I used to take Hallie to, but everyone else, including Penelope and Spencer's work team and their children, were new to the guest list.

"I hope you don't mind, I just had to invite everyone! Once the word got out around the BAU that I was helping you throw a party for the little one, everyone wanted to help." Penelope gushed.

I laughed and ran a quick hand through my hair as I nodded. "Of course, the more the merrier!"

After hugging Penelope and saying hello to everyone she recognized, as well as being introduced to Jack and Henry, Hallie ran to her small friends and they all took off towards the playground.

Spencer Reid

Everyone was laughing and chatting, just enjoying the company and nice weather outside. I watched Sabrina carefully as she sipped on the beer in her hand; she'd been avoiding me ever since we got here, and I desperately needed to know what was going on.

I couldn't help but feel a bit hurt she didn't tell me what was bothering her, seeing as she was the first person I wanted to talk to after my interaction with Cat Adams the other night- really, she was the person I wanted to talk to the most in general. I hoped she could trust me, just as I'd begun to trust her- but apparently, I hadn't earned it yet.

Emily and Garcia sat next to Sabrina as they all took turns going back and forth talking about their terrible hairdresser encounters, JJ occasionally jumping in to ask a question or two after coming back from the playground with Henry, and laugh with them. Hotch, Morgan, and Rossi were talking casually at the front of the gazebo, watching Jack run around with the other kids.

I'd started to zone out, thinking about the possible things that could be pressing on Sabrina. To her, it wasn't important enough to discuss before Hallie's party, so was it not that big of a deal? Maybe I'd begun to overthink whatever it was, seeing as I clearly paid too close attention to her body language, which surprised her.

It wasn't until I heard an abrupt scrape of a chair being pushed back that my attention was brought back to the women sitting beside me, and noticed Sabrina was no longer sitting there.

"Reid, who is that?" Emily asked, squinting her eyes as she looked towards the playground.

I looked in the direction she pointed to, my eyes quickly scanning over each individual that seemed to be roaming around the playground. I finally spotted who Emily was referring to, but could only see the back of him. He was wearing a black button up, but the shirt was left open, and black jeans with black and white Vans tied on his feet.

"I... don't know." I replied slowly, my brain spinning as I tried to place a face to the back I was looking at. He towered over Sabrina, so much so she had to look up at him. At this point, all of us were staring in their direction, watching them interact. Sabrina did not look happy.

Before I could analyze the situation further, Hallie had run up to us and sat next to me on the bench.

"Hey birthday girl," I smiled at her. "Are you having fun?"

She nodded as she pulled her tiny shoe off, letting all of the sandbox sand fall out of it.

"Hopefully my daddy can stay for the birthday cake." she said, dumping out the other shoe.

I tilted my head in confusion, looking up at the rest of the team. Hotch met my eyes before leaning down next to Hallie.

"Is your daddy here, Hallie?" He asked her. When she nodded, he asked, "Where?"

"He's talking to mommy." she replied.

I quickly looked back over to where Sabrina had been standing with the faceless man, seeing his hand gripping her wrist as he spoke to her, inches away from her face.

I immediately stood up, asking Emily and JJ to watch Hallie. Hotch and I quickly walked towards the two, hearing the last bit of their conversation.

"I guess you haven't heard, then? I'm a changed man, baby; Got my shit together. I've even got a brand new, valid passport and everything now." the man said with a chuckle. "And guess what? No court is ever gonna deny a father who has his shit together the chance to see his daughter he didn't even know existed. We're gonna have lot's of fun playdates together."

"Don't ever talk to my daughter again, do you hear me?" Sabrina whispered harshly, her face tomato red. "If I ever see you trying to get your dirty fingers near her ever again, I will not hesitate to slice them off, and you know I mean it." Sabrina seethed. Her eyebrows were furrowed along with the narrowing of her eyes as she stared at him. She yanked her wrist away from his grip, her eyes darting from his to mine. She didn't make any move to acknowledge Hotch and I, and I wondered if it was because she didn't want us to get involved.

It seemed it was too late for that though as the man towering over her turned his head in our direction, keeping his body facing her. His eyebrow arched upwards as he side eyed us, a small smirk playing on his lips as they parted arrogantly. With a long sigh, he turned back to face her, reaching to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.

Hotch and I both took a step forward, but Sabrina looked at both of us, stopping us in our tracks.

Finally, he turned around to face us, his arm slinging around Sabrina's shoulders as he leaned into her. He looked both of us over and stuffed his free hand into his jean pocket. His undershirt was pristine white, and I realized everything he was wearing was brand new- I wouldn't be surprised if I saw one of the tags still hanging from the clothes. His hair was long and unkept, shagged around his ears as if he'd just woken up.

"Friends of yours, Breen?" he asked, still looking at us both with a smirk.

"Yes." Sabrina replied, her arms crossing over her chest as she shifted uncomfortably under his weight.

"Well, what can we do for you two fine gentleman?" he asked, with a sarcastic open-mouth smile.

"We're about to cut the cake, just wanted to grab Sabrina before we started." Hotch said, keeping his eye on Hallie's father the entire time.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, feigning guilt as he looked between the three of us. "I should've introduced myself earlier. I'm Nix, Hallie's dad. Guess you can't cut the cake without mom and dad, right?" he held out his hand for us to shake.

The silence between us was deafening, until Hotch reluctantly reached to shake his hand, introducing himself.

"Aaron Hotchner."

Nix nodded enthusiastically as he looked from Hotch, to me. "And what about you, String Bean? You got a name?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs, pushing him off of her. He whistled in astonishment, eyes wide and flashing with amusement.

"Oh, so you must be the one playing daddy with my daughter, huh?" he asked in delight, eyes darting between Sabrina and I with his mouth agape. "I see Breen here's got a soft spot for tall skinny guys, eh?"

"Spencer Reid." I introduced myself with a head nod. Sabrina's cheeks were still red as she stared at Nix, her small hands balling into fists at her sides.

"Tell me, Spencer Reid, does my daughter call you daddy?" Nix asked, eyes wide, sadistic smile hanging above his jaw. "Hm? Does Sabrina call you daddy?"

"Phoenix, that's enough." Sabrina said. "Just go before things get ugly."

He looked at her, a sick smile still on his face.

"Ugly?" he laughed. His voice was low as he stared at her through his eyelashes, head tilted downwards, face completely wiped of any amusement he'd held before. "Things can get real ugly real quick babe, and you've seen it."

He swiftly grabbed Sabrina's wrist again, tugging her to him. She gasped sharply, wincing as he twisted her hand back.

Hotch and I immediately took another step forward, watching as he smiled at us.

"Ah ah ah," Nix teased. "We're just playing, right Breen?"

"It's okay." she breathed to us, her hand still pulled backwards as he held her.

Nix had Sabrina's back pinned to his front. At this point, besides Penelope, the rest of the team gathered around us with their badges exposed on their hips as they stared at Nix, daring him to hurt her.

"Ooh, Breen, you didn't tell me you were friends with Feds." he chuckled, letting go of her wrist.

She inhaled deeply, pulling her wrist to her chest as she stepped away from him, next to Hotch and I. 

"I didn't tell you a lot of things." she retorted, eyes piercing into his as she rubbed her wrist.

"That's very clear, darling, seeing as my eyes have never laid on that walking spitting image of me up there." he replied, looking up at Hallie. "Court is just gonna eat. that. up!"

"Take me to court you bastard, I dare you." she spat. "But you'd better hurry, because the judge won't grant custody to someone who's dead. New valid passport or not."

Although Sabrina's voice was firm and strong while she practically barked at Nix, she was standing so close to me that I could hear her ragged breathing. I knew we'd have to wrap this up quickly to get her inhaler, which was stored in her car... all the way down the hill.

I turned my head slightly to look up at the gazebo where Penelope stood, staring down at us with wide eyes, waiting for her to catch my gaze. Once she did, I reached behind my back so she could see my fingers, curving them in the shape of a C and shaking it up and down to indicate the inhaler.

She stared at me for a moment confused, but then jumped as if it had scared her, making her own C shape and imitating the puff of an inhaler. I nodded once and she grabbed Hallie's hand as they took off down the hill to Sabrina's car.

"Agent Reid, you gonna let your girl here place threats on my life?" Nix asked sarcastically with a tilt of his head.

"It doesn't sound like a threat to me, sounds more like advice," I replied. "And, it's Doctor."

Nix's eyebrows raised and stuck his hands up in defense with a chuckle. "My bad, Dr. String Bean. I'll just be on my way then." He looked towards Sabrina, sending her a wink. "Don't worry, babe. You'll be seeing me soon."

He took one last glance at us all, a smirk still sprawled on his face as he walked away.

Once he was further down the park, almost to the street, he turned back around, cupping his hand over his mouth, yelling, "Breen, I forgot to ask you! Did you like my poem?"

It was obviously a rhetorical question, since he continued to walk away with smile plastered on his face.

"That guy is a real creep." Morgan said from behind us.

I didn't have time to agree as I grabbed Sabrina's hand gently and quickly walked back towards the gazebo. She squeezed my hand and I looked down at her and noticed the color change in her face.

Immediate panic set into my chest seeing her pale complexion starting to look like an onset sunburn while her nostrils flared and she started to cough, sweat beads forming above her eyebrows. She started to slow down, grabbing the grass on the ground as she gasped through her coughs.

"Garcia!" I yelled. I kneeled down next to Sabrina, gently placing my hands on her face as I tried to catch her eyes with my own.

"Hey, Sabrina, look at me. You're okay," I tried to calm her down. The panic in her eyes must've reflected in my own as Emily and JJ ran from us and over to where Garcia was supposed to retrieve the inhaler.

"It's not here!" I heard Garcia yell. I ignored it and tried to keep talking to Sabrina.

"Sabrina, I need you to sit up straight, okay? Let's allow the air to pass through," I said as I gently pushed her shoulders forward. "You have to relax, otherwise, panicking just going to make it worse."

She nodded her head as I rested my hand on her back, using my free hand to bring hers to my chest as I breathed with her.

"In, out. In, out. Just like that." I whispered. It felt like my own chest was tightening as I watched her, unable to do anything but hope they would find her goddamn inhaler.

"I got it!" Garcia screamed, running (and nearly falling) down the short hill to where we were, nearly throwing it as she got close enough to it.

I caught the inhaler and urgently pushed it into Sabrina's fingers, watching her bring it to her pale lips and inhaling as she pushed down on the medication.

The pressure in my own chest was immediately relieved as I felt her tight grip around my hand become loose. I'd never felt so anxious or scared about an asthma attack before.

Once Sabrina had finally calmed down and the natural color had returned to her cheeks, she stood up awkwardly and looked around at the team. Clearing her throat, she thanked them.

"Sorry for all that, that was uh- really embarrassing. The whole thing." she said. "Thank you for having my back though."

There was an appreciative silence among us, before Hotch's phone rang. He and the rest of the team stepped away, leaving Sabrina to turn to me.

"I..." She started to speak, and shook her head. She then reached up on her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face into my shoulder.

It seemed Sabrina took comfort in our hugs, seeing as every time we'd previously enveloped each other into this kind of tight embrace, her heart beat seemed to slow against my chest. It never failed to make me smile a bit to myself, knowing I was someone she felt could bring her comfort and safety.

"Thank you for being here, Spencer." She whispered, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, still leaning against my shoulder.

"Of course,"  I murmured into her hair, my hand running softly over her back. "Where else would I be?"

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AUTHORS                                    NOTE.

THIS CHAPTER IS FOR @izzysheltonn BECAUSE IT IS HER BIRTHDAAAAYYY! I forgot about the time difference so technically I am updating a few hours late, but to be fair, it is 6:30PM 4/22/21 where I am!!

also, curse you for exposing my prison reid infatuation 😫😑

You guys are going to HATE me when I tell you who plays Phoenix (Nix)

.....

.....

Dylan O'Brien.

SORRY SORRY SORRY IT JUST HAD TO BE DONE IM SORRY.

And his character in this book looks JUST like he did in his movie Assassin. sorry hes just so got dam hot.

Also, so sorry if there are lots of mistakes, I tried to update this super quick with juicy details and did not go back to edit lol.

I NEED HELPPPPP! do any of you know where to spot MGG👀 i'm taking a trip to vegas and I HAVE TO MEET HIM OMLLLLLLL

PS- check out my tiktok for super shitty edits of spencer :)

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