Only a Human (spencer reid x oc) ✅

copy cat

"I think Blake could take her, what do you think?"

"Oh I'm definitely putting my money on Alex."

"Their body language hardly seems adversarial. Blake's eye contact and tilt of the head shows she's engaged in conversation."

The sight of Blake and Strauss talking seemed to be the most entertaining things to JJ, Spence, and myself right now. It was a pretty slow day in the office. JJ and Spence were perched on the desk while I was sitting in the office chair getting an incredible shoulder massage from Spencer.

"So tell me, Ariel. How are things going now that you're back?" JJ asked. 

"I'm doing well. Almost fully recovered. I only have a few more weeks until I can actually go out into the field, but I am perfectly fine doing some desk work. But at home, this man has been a saint."

I reached back and grabbed Spence's hand that was working out some knots in my shoulders. His hovering had died down once I was able to get around without the cane anymore, but he was still cautious and always checking in on me.

Our conversation came to a halt when Penelope came over with a big bouquet of white flowers. "Delivery for one agent Jennifer Jareau."

JJ looked confused as she scanned over the flowers. "From who?"

"I don't know, probably from Will. If not, then you've got some explaining to do."

I smirked at Penelope as JJ opened the card attached. "Will isn't really a 'big bouquet of flowers' type of guy." Once she read what was on the card, her smile dropped and her eyes filled with worry. "Zugzwang," she muttered. Penelope and Spence both looked concerned as Spence grabbed the card and read the message.

"Like the chess term?" I asked. They looked too concerned about the message for it to just be about the game Spence loved to beat me at. "You didn't tell her?" Penelope asked Spencer.

"Tell me what?" Now I was getting real concerned. Spencer grabbed my hand and I lifted my head to meet his eyes.

"The only way I knew you were missing was because I got a call that had your number. The voice on the other end was distorted and the only thing it said was one word. Zugzwang."

Holy shit. But that only raised more questions for me.

"Cole is in prison, he couldn't get these here. Who did this?" Penelope asked.

"Hold on," JJ started, "then the message had to come from someone who knew about the both of your routines. Someone who was stalking you."

"What if it's the Replicator?" Spencer realized. Then it made sense. Our stalker was trying to taunt us, make himself known and have us chase him. We quickly gathered the rest of the team in the conference room and told them what we had discovered. 

 We all filled in Strauss on what we had so far on the Replicator case. Everyone was tossing around ideas, trying to figure out what was going on. My theories got quiet once the team started to talk about the latest murder found in Philadelphia. Spencer leaned over and whispered into my ear after noticing my confusion. 

"We had this case when you were under. Used his victims to make blood paintings."

I silently thanked him and focused back on the conversation. Hotch had told us that he was sending security details to our homes and that we would be heading to Philadelphia in 20 minutes.

I made a quick call to my dad, explaining why agents were coming to the house and Spence and I said a quick 'goodnight' to Delilah through the phone.