Fresh Eyes, New Mind (CRIMINAL MINDS FANFICTION)

Chapter 7 : Name Unknown |EDITED|

Hotch's POV

As we all took in this newfound information, we were silent. Suddenly, someone broke the silence.

"Somni what now?" Morgan asked, sitting down in confusion.

Reid muttered something and shook his head. "Somniphobia. The fear of sleeping, or falling asleep. It is not something to take lightly." He was going to continue, but Nicki cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah. Can cause migraines, lack of appetite, sluggishness, and in some cases, very few, death." She finished.

As we took this information in, all of us were in shock. She had been showing all these signs, yet none of us thought anything of it.

"No, don't do that. Don't blame yourselves for my own messed up head. Nothing has ever helped and the doctors said nothing ever really will. So there is no use in that." Nicki said, trying to comfort us, however, it wasn't really working. She sighed and shook her head.

"I'm so sorry guys. I'm not very good with emotions. I'm actually really horrible at them, quite frankly." She apologized, before sitting back down and returning to her typing.

We all had a silent conversation, conversing with our eyes, something we adapted to when all of us were at a loss as to what to say.

"JJ?" Nicki called JJ over. JJ shrugged and headed over.

JJ's POV

I bent down to look at Jerone's computer. "So we have a slight problem. I can't figure them out. I don't know the gender, I have no DNA, he doesn't seem to have a type. I can't break this unsub. His name is a Name Unknown. Listen, I can't solve this case unless I go there. I need you to cover for me as long as you can until they know something is up. As soon as we land, I'm gonna have Colin fly me to Ohio. As soon as I can, I'll be back, but please, we can't catch this guy until we're there." She rushed out quietly.

I mulled over the suggestion in my head. In reality, she's right. Besides, if we really needed her help, we could always call her like we do Garcia. I nodded, "Yeah, yeah okay. I have your back." She smiled at me and shut her computer.

"Alright then, I'm going to attempt to get some sleep. No promises though." She said. curling into a ball on the seat. I nodded and walked back over to the others.

"What was that about?" Spence asked.

"Nothing. She just wanted to let me know that she's attempting to get some sleep. Something is going wrong with her Grandmother in Florida but she's trying to ignore it so she can focus on this case." I easily slipped out a lie. I've been working with profilers for years, I know how to lie when I'm around them.

I know that Jerone heard me, and this way, I don't have to lie anymore because I know Hotch will let her go to 'Florida'.

"No, that isn't fair to her. Hotch you have to let her go! You let me stay in Vegas whenever I get the chance." Spence argued.

"Relax Reid. Of course, I'm going to let her go." Hotch said, calming Reid down.

He nodded. "Good. Good."

"I'll let her know. Colin can fly her out after we land." I said, walking back over to Jerone.

Nicki's POV

I was upright and crying silently. I shouldn't have tried to sleep. It was such a bad idea, I can't believe I did that to myself.

As I was hosting a self-pity party, JJ came over. "Oh, Nicoletta. Do you wanna talk about it?" She said quietly, sitting down across from me.

"I don't need to. It's fine. Anyways, good luck on your end. Call me if you need anything. And don't tell the team where I am unless I tell you to myself. Thank you, JJ. And please, call me Nicki."

As soon as I uttered the last sentence, JJ's small frown turned into a lovely smile. "Nicki. Yeah, I like the sound of that. Good luck Nicki." With that JJ was gone.

The team left me alone, for the most part, until Reid came over.

"Hey, mind if I sit down?" I immediately looked up from my computer and smiled.

"Anytime," I said, clearing room for him, "have a seat."

He smiled back and sat down per my instructions. "How are you holding up?" He asked, laying his hand over mine.

"I'll be alright. I mean I work this job. This is nothing compared to what I see every day." I sighed.

"Nicks, listen. My mother is schizophrenic. I deal with that constantly and she is institutionalized in Vegas. I can hardly ever see her. I know that we've all seen worse than our families being sick, but our families being sick is what scars us and hurts us most. I'm not going to tell you how to deal with it. If pretending it doesn't really faze you is how you want to deal with it, then cool. But it feels so much better not to lie about it." He said, his eyes never moving from mine.

That's was it. With that little speech, I broke. Tears slowly began to pour from their home in my eyes. While the reason for him comforting me is not what he believes it to be, and I'm honestly uncertain about whether or not he will forgive me for my lie, it really does help.

As I was thinking, at some point Spencer had moved next to me, wrapping me in his warm embrace.

"Oh, Nicks. It's gonna be okay. I'll be here for you, alright?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded and smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Spin." I whispered back, and I could tell he was smiling with his next sentence.

"Spin. I like it. And no problem Nicks. But the plane is about to land, and we have to go."

"Ah yes. Good luck Spin." I said, wiping my eyes after he let me go. He smiled and wished it on me as well.

Morgan's POV

As Reid walked back over, we were all in shock. This kid is such a germaphobe, and he initiated contact and didn't use a sanitizer afterward.

Also, the nicknames! If I didn't know any better, I'd say pretty boy here has a crush.

"Morgan and Prentiss, head to the crime scene. Reid and Rossi, the morgue. JJ and I will head to the station. And Nicki? I wish you and your family the best. Let's go." Hotch said, and we all left the jet, with the exception of Jerone.