Y/N, Spencer and the rest of the team sat in the conference room, both of the letters up on the screen through a photo that Hotch sent to Penelope.
"Hotch...what are we lookin' at?" Derek asked, confused by the letters on the screen that Hotch stood near.
"A new case?" JJ asked, confused.
"You're nothing but a pathetic joke of a human." Rossi read out loud.
"No one can protect you from the pain that I will cause." Prentiss continued.
"I truly believe that - because I am here, making sure that you pay for the pain you caused me - karma's a bitch." Derek finished, shocked.
"Okay, can someone please explain who these letters are addressed to?" Prentiss asked.
"Me. The lines from the letter that you just read on the left and the letter on the right, are referring to me. Whoever this person is, I hurt them and now they want to hurt me." Y/N admitted, exhaling.
"Wait, you don't know who sent you these letters?" Penelope looked at Y/N with sadness on her face.
"If I knew who sent me these letters, I would've handled them on my own." Y/N explained.
"All I do know is that the handwriting is familiar to me. At first I thought it was Agent Jackson, still trying to prove that he's better than me. But the letters explain that the mystery person has known me for years, which means it couldn't be Jackson. The handwriting itself is very familiar to me, but I can't figure out who the handwriting belongs to." Y/N shook her head.
"This person isn't an mystery person, Y/N. They're an unsub." Penelope smiled.
"Baby girl, as much as I would love to agree with you, there aren't any missing people, and no dead bodies. All we have is someone who chooses writing letters as their weapon." Derek exhaled, watching as Penelope nodded.
"You're wrong Derek. This person is an unsub. Sure, there aren't any missing people, or dead bodies, but this unsub has chosen to threaten Y/N's life in the first letter and then Spencer's life in the second letter. They're directly threatening FBI Agents, which means that they are indeed an unsub." Rossi corrected Derek, who leaned back in his chair, sighing.
Prentiss looked away from the letters up on the screen and glanced between Spencer and Y/N.
"Are we just going to ignore the fact that the unsub refers to Spencer as Y/N's boyfriend in both letters?" Prentiss asked, watching as both Spencer and Y/N tensed up from the sudden realisation.
"Is there something that you two aren't telling us?" Hotch glared at the pair, both of whom tried to remain calm.
"The letters are in fact telling the truth. Y/N and I are dating and we have been for 4 months. We were planning to tell you all once we had been dating for 6 months, but as you can see, plans changed." Spencer smiled, revealing that he had been holding Y/N's hand under the table, their fingers intertwined.
"Wow, congrats pretty boy!" Derek chuckled.
"We will discuss this later. For now, we need to figure out our next steps." Hotch exhaled.
"True. Finding this unsub will be difficult, especially with Strauss breathing down our necks." Rossi scoffed.
"Not if we don't tell her." Penelope suggested. At first, Hotch and Rossi glared at her, causing her to instantly regret her suggestion, but a reassuring look from Derek calmed her down.
"Garcia's right. What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Derek smiled.
"Are you both forgetting that by not telling Strauss about the situation, we're having to break a lot of protocols to prevent her from finding out. And even if she doesn't find out at first, I'm sure there's something that'll inevitably draw her attention to our very unprofessional behaviour." JJ reasoned with Derek and Penelope, who shook their heads.
"Hotch? Rossi? What do you two think?" Spencer looked first at Rossi and then at Hotch, who took a moment to answer.
"JJ has a point. If we do try and find this unsub, we'll be breaking many different rules and going against protocol." Rossi started. Everyone looked up at Hotch. Usually, he'd be the first one to agree with what was right. In this case, JJ was right. She knew that by going behind Strauss' back, they were risking a lot. Normally, Hotch would have been quick to agree with her.
But weirdly, he hadn't said a word. He looked between the letters and the team, clearly trying to decide between the two outcomes. It wasn't until he dropped his crossed arms that he actually spoke.
"We're finding and apprehending this unsub." Hotch spoke, confusing everyone. He was always against the rules being broken.
"Excuse me?" Prentiss gasped, shocked.
"We are going to find out who is threatening Spencer and Y/N. Then, we're going to catch them. We're treating this like any other case. Y/N and now Spencer are the victims, and now we need to find the unsub." Hotch nodded.
"But what about Strauss? We'll be fired if she finds out." JJ reminded him.
"This is an unofficial case. Because it's not an official case, Strauss doesn't need to know about it. We'll still take cases like normal, except we'll work this one in between. But there is a more important reason why we're working the unofficial case." Hotch explained.
"And that is...?" Penelope asked, confused.
"If anyone in our team is targeted, we all are. We protect our family, no matter the cost." Hotch smiled, reassuring both Y/N and Spencer, who both tried to remain calm.
"So, if any of you aren't okay with doing this, now's the time to tell me." Hotch looked between everyone. He didn't look at Spencer and Y/N, figuring that they came to him and the team for a reason.
"You're right, Hotch. We protect our family, no matter the cost." JJ smiled, finally agreeing with him.
"Agreed." Rossi, Prentiss, Derek and Penelope all spoke in unison, making Y/N and Spencer feel especially grateful.
YOU ARE READING
1 out of 150//Spencer Reid
RomanceAs well as working within the BAU, Spencer was recommended for a teaching position at a college. What he was supposed to teach, that was up to him. Y/N's interest in criminology, plus her PhD's in psychology and sociology made her very interested in...
