18. You Don't Own Me

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"Alright, we'll finish up the paperwork from today's case tomorrow morning. I'll see you all then."

Hotch calls you over to him as everyone else files out of the room. And despite you knowing you've done nothing bad or wrong, you still feel nervous as he does this.

It's feels like I just got called down to the principle's office.

Just as you reach him, opening your mouth to see what it's about, he speaks.

"I just wanted to say, really nice work today. If you never said that to the unsub, I'm not too sure the case would have ended the same."

You upturn a smile, not expecting that. I didn't really do anything too wonderful. "It's nothing you or the others would have done differently." You shrug. "I just did what anyone else in that room could have—"

Hotch shakes his head. "No, you didn't. You approached it completely differently than I would have, or anyone else for that matter. I've seen plenty of agents talk down an unsub, but I've never seen someone do it as effectively or smoothly as you did. Take the compliment, Y/N. You deserve it."

You bring back your smile, grateful for his comment. "Thank you, Sir."

Hotch nods his head with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Have a good evening."

You exit the bullpen doors, seeing Spencer enter the elevator a short distance in front of you. He reaches for the down button, despite swearing he saw you. He always waits to walk out with you when you're the last one leaving.

A few seconds later, the doors to the second elevator open after the first one goes down. You quickly get on, clicking the close door button. You want to catch up to him before he leaves.

Ever since you and the team met the local police this morning, Spencer has been acting weird.

When you had questions about the area or residents, you went to one cop in particular. He was the youngest one: probably in his mid-twenties. All the other cops were older and kind of creeped you out, so you just continued to talk to the younger one. Plus, he was friendly and kind to you, happy to help.

But you guess Spencer didn't like that because he's been so weird. Like, not saying anything and throwing annoyed glances every time he saw you two talking, weird.

Maybe you're just getting ahead of yourself. Maybe it's just something else annoying him today, or maybe he's just having a bad day. But whatever it is, you need to find out.

"Why is this elevator taking so long?" you mumble yourself. It just has to take longer than any other time when you're not in a hurry.

It stops and dings. "Finally."

You quickly make your way towards the front doors. Pushing them open, the evening air hits you. You squint against the lowered sun, looking for a sign of Spencer.

You notice him across the parking lot, making his way towards his car. Once you get closer to his proximity, you shout to him. "Hey, Spencer, wait!"

Does he not hear me practically running behind him?

He turns, dreadfully stopping his pace. A few more steps and you finally make it next to him.

"What?" he asks, a hint of annoyance laced in his words.

What? Maybe you've been acting totally annoyed, practically the entire workday, that's what.

"I just—you've been acting so weird all day," you take a breath, "are you mad at me or something?"

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