timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

007. damaged

Bedelia walks out of the elevator, fumbling with her bag as she tries to find her phone.

"Hey." She stops short at the voice, looking up to find Spencer.

"Hi." She greets.

"Hey. Uh... I-- are you... are you okay?" Spencer asks.

"I'm... I'm fine. Why?" Bedelia lets out a soft, confused laugh.

"I just-- the-- the whole thing with... with that last case. In-- in Chula Vista." Spencer says.

"Oh." Bedelia mumbles. "Yeah. Yeah, no, I-- I'm okay." She nods, giving him a tight lipped smile.

"It just... it kind of seemed like you wanted to talk about it that night and... and I shut you out." He says.

"Reid, it-- it's fine. You're not my therapist or anything." Bedelia says.

"Right. But I-- look, I-I'm not very good with the whole... social thing." Spencer winces. "I just..."

"Okay, hey, hey." She holds her hand out to stop him. "It's okay. We don't have to talk about anything -- especially traumatic stuff."

"I get it." Spencer says. "The-- the pain and... and the nightmares. So if-- if you ever did want to talk, I... I'm not opposed." He says. "I just don't read between lines very well so-- so you'll have to say you wanna talk about it or something."

"Got it." Bedelia nods.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.

"Not-- not right now, no." She says.

"Right." He awkwardly chuckles. "Uh, but, yeah."

"It's okay. If I wanna talk to you, I know where you work." Bedelia says.

"Right. Okay." Spencer mumbles, scurrying off.

+++

"Yeah, JJ." Hotch says on the phone. "Um, no, it's-- it's-- it's a personal matter. Yes, thank you. I will take care of it when I get back." He hangs up.

"Is everything all right?" Spencer asks.

"Yeah, fine." Hotch says.

"We can do this interview another time." Spencer offers.

"Well, he's scheduled to be executed next week." Hotch says.

"I can take the lead if you--"

"Reid." Hotch holds his hand out.

"Sorry." Spencer whispers.

"Agent Hotchner?" A man walks in.

"Yes." He answers.

"Ah." He shakes Hotch's hand. "And, um, Agent Davis?" He asks the woman.

"Yes." Bedelia stands up and shakes his hand, politely smiling.

"You must be Dr. Reid." He says, Spencer standing up and shaking his hand. "Abner Merriman, assistant warden. You're here to see our infamous inmate Hardwick."

"Yeah. He agreed to meet with us as part of our criminal personality research project prior to his execution." Spencer says.

"I've read some of your studies in police journals." He tells Spencer who gets a large smile on his face. "Serial killers are a kind of hobby of mine. Chester's the only one I've ever met in person, though. I bet you've met quite a few."

"Sir, we'd very much like to get started as soon as we can." Hotch says, preventing Spencer from any sort of reply.

"Oh, of course, of course. Forgive me." Abner says. "Uh, we, uh... we don't really have interrogation facilities, but I do have a small room that you can use. You're not armed?"