The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

32. Nightmares

Two weeks off. That was something that Hotch knew everyone needed. First there was the break in the Everett Lynch case, which put Spencer in the hospital. Then there was the Tobias Hankel case that involved Cassidy getting kidnapped.

Overall, Hotch knew and basically demanded that his team get 2 weeks off, which - much to his surprise - was granted. Strauss agreed that the past year had been difficult for the team and that every single member of the BAU deserved time off.

Hotch was grateful. And, at 10:30 AM, the morning after returning from the Brian Matloff case, Hotch sent a group message informing the team that they had the next two weeks off. Even if cases were to pop up, none of them had to respond.

Spencer was the most grateful for the two week break. If not for himself, but for Cassidy. He knew that after being kidnapped, Cassidy would have nightmares, but it turned into something much worse.

Cassidy sat at the kitchen table, a book in her hands as she ate some lunch that she had made for herself. She stopped reading when a light had caught her attention on the wall that sat opposite her. She smiled, noting the strange - yet interesting pattern. Putting the book down, she started unintentionally staring at the wall, only for a face to appear in her mind. Tobias Hankel.

As much as she wanted to blink and snap out of her little daydream, she couldn't. Seeing his face caused her to remain frozen in fear. That's when the images of him slapping her with a wooden log started flooding back into her brain. She constantly tried to forget about what happened, yet, somehow, it always came back to haunt her.

Whenever she had the nightmares, she tried to change how it ended. She tried so desperately to imagine the situation ending very differently, but it never worked. It played out in her dreams the same way it played out in real life.

But, unlike her nightmares, she couldn't try and control her daydreams. Whenever he plagued her daydreams, it played out like a movie on a projector. There was no stopping it until it was naturally finished.

"This ends now. Confess your sins." He slapped me across the face.

"Confess!" He demanded.

"I haven't done anything." I whimpered in pain, feeling the tears fall down my cheeks. He punched me, causing more pain to shoot through my face.

"Tobias, help me!" I whimpered again, trying so desperately to reject the pain, but it was no use.

"He can't help you. He's weak. Confess your sins." He demanded again. I didn't answer him, which just angered him more. He pushed me over, my back landing hard on the wooden floor below me. The moment my head hit the floor, I started convulsing, unable to breathe. I kept gasping for air, but it wasn't doing much good.

"It's the devil vacating your body." I could hear him.

Within a few seconds, my eyes rolled to the back of my head before my eyelids closed. My body stopped moving.

Spencer unlocked the apartment door and walked inside, not at all expecting to see his girlfriend frozen in her seat as she stared blankly at the wall. He dropped his bag and raced over to her, his hand going straight to her shoulder.

"Cassidy. Cassidy, can you hear me?" Spencer asked as he glanced at her with a fearful look on his face. Cassidy kept staring at the wall, another part of her memory playing in her head.

"If you tell me where we are, my friends will come, and they'll save us." I smiled.

"We can't be saved." He rejected me again. My heart started to race again when he prepped another needle full of the drug that he had injected into my system earlier.

"We can. We can. I promise. If you tell me where we are, I'll save us both." Spencer watched as Cassidy spoke, like a toy doll that could talk.

"Cassidy, wake up. Please. Baby, wake up." Spencer shook Cassidy a little before taking a few deep breaths in and out, trying not to cry.

Spencer kept trying to wake her up, his tries eventually turning into success when Cassidy took a deep breath in and out, blinking a few times. He wrapped his arms around her, placing a passionate kiss on her lips, which she happily returned. They were both happy that her suffering with another daydream was over, at least - for now.