3 [Spencer Reid x Reader]

Behind the Story

Lol this is about to sound like one of those recipe websites where I tell a long ass story and you're sitting there like "can I please just learn how to make this shit?"

This story took longer than I thought it would to create, but I truly am happy with the way it turned out. There are a lot of easy things that are looked over at first glance, and I really wanted to share the small intricacies that I wove into it.

-Starting off- why the number 3? It was an easy choice for me; I wanted to draw on the Judeo-Christian upbringing that I had as a child (that I no longer follow) and use that background to flesh this story out.

-We have the Holy Trinity- the mother, the daughter, and the best friend.

-The reader is alluded to be Jesus 3 times throughout the story; once in Chapter 9, as well as in Chapter 17 and 18. Reader saves people by lying to police and murdering criminals rather than saving people through healing and comfort like Jesus did.

-There were 3 nails used to crucify Jesus. The reader was drowned 3 separate times in Chapter 18. Before Jesus had died, the Romans stabbed him in the left side with a spear; that is the gunshot wound that the reader receives in Ch 9.

-Why the name Saint Peter for Chapter 17? Peter was a disciple of Jesus, and had denied knowing Jesus 3 times. After the denying Jesus for the 3rd time, Peter repents and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. These 3 denials are symbolized by the 3 times Spencer refuses to kiss reader. Every single time she asks, he says no. Yet at the very end, he expresses his regret for not saying yes.

-Speaking of disciples, the reader has 12 of them throughout the story. Spencer is one of them, the other 11 being the people from the criminal organization that were sent to kill and kidnap her after the murder of Anthony Valassino.

-The Garden of Gethsemane is the place where Jesus was arrested by the Romans before his death. It is also the place where Judas kisses Jesus. The "kiss of Judas" is something mirrored in a lot of pop culture and media, and is actually used in movies/books in reference to the Italian mafia. There is a saying in Italian, "Il beccia della morte" which means "The kiss of death." A kiss is bestowed on a person as a way to mark that they will die by the hands of the mafia, and is the phrase in Italian that the man says to the reader before he drowns her.

-Who is Berenice? I am a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe, and actually referenced him 3 times in this story just as a little Easter egg for myself to enjoy. Berenice is a short story written by Poe, and is one of my favorites to talk about. To summarize, a man and his lovely wife, Berenice, get sick as they age. She is prone to catatonic states, and he is prone to hyperfixating on things so intensely that he loses sense of time and place. He fixates on many things, but one of the things that catches his attention is how, even as his wife deteriorates from sickness in front of his eyes, her teeth remain perfect. Berenice dies and is buried on the same day. Not too long after her burial, the narrator is brought out of a state of hyperfixation in his study by a scream from one of his servants, and is informed that somebody dug Berenice's body up from her grave. Her screams were what attracted people's attention; she was prone to catatonic states, and had accidentally been buried alive. This isn't the worst part, though. Berenice was found covered in blood, and her screams had been those of pain. The narrator finds that he is coated in dirt and blood, and in his panic, knocks over an ornate box that had been sitting on his desk. The box falls on the floor, and all of Berenice's perfect teeth scatter around the room.