𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮 ➣ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓽𝔂-𝓸𝓷𝓮

They woke up about two hours later, four in the morning, both phones dinging with a text message from Garcia calling them into work. 

Mara was the first to wake up, moving off of Reid's chest and grabbing her phone to look at the messages. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sighed, turning to Reid. 

He looked so peaceful that she didn't want to wake him up. She smiled and gently brushed his thumbs against his soft features before waking him by shaking his shoulder gently. He inhaled and sat up, turning his eyes to hers.

"What's wrong? You okay?" He asked her, his voice rough with sleep.

She turned the phone towards him, Reid squinting at the light but reading the message and sighing, falling back onto the pillow.

Mara got up and moved into the bathroom, rinsing her face with cold water before dressing in her work clothes, brushing her hair and applying just enough makeup to cover the dark bags underneath her eyes.

When she was finished in the bathroom, she poked her head back into the bedroom, seeing Reid fast asleep on the bed. She chuckled and moved into the kitchen, filling a cup with water and sneakily moving back to her room.

She dumped the water onto his face and stepped back, watching him shoot up at the icy cold water and suck in a breath. Mara bent over in laughter, watching Reid breathe heavily, trying to recover from the cold water. 

"Ha, very funny." He rolled his eyes and stood up, reaching out for her.

She stepped back, laughing even harder. "You have five minutes to be ready to leave."

"Well, I was going to take a shower but it looks like you've already done that for me."

He decided to get his revenge later, getting ready to leave for work. Mara pulled open the bottom drawer of her dresser and pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants, both Reid left from his go-bag years ago.

He changed into the clothes and pushed his hair back from his face, brushed his teeth with an extra toothbrush Mara had before following her out the door.

They arrived at work, Reid finally letting Mara drive his car. She pulled into HQ, parking the car in his usual spot before they headed inside together. When they arrived, everyone had their eyes stuck on them, their eyebrows furrowing.

They noticed everyone was already gathered in the conference room, both quickly moving into the room, sitting down. "What's going on?"

Garcia passed the two their personal files, Mara flipping it open and reading over it. "The Fox confessed to having a partner?"

Hotch nodded as Mara shook her head. "We know that's not true."

He gestured for her to continue looking through the file and that's when she was the new crime scene pictures. Parents shot. Kids sedated with ketamine before being stabbed to death.

Everyone watched Mara carefully, scared that this was triggering her. She flipped the file shut and noticed everyone's eyes on her. "I'm fine. What's our plan?"

"I want Morgan and Rossi to go to Quantico Confinement Facility and talk to-"

"No, I need to go."

"Mara.." Hotch said to her.

"Sir, if he sees me, he might slip up and give enough information to help us figure out who this partner it," Mara said. "Rossi and Morgan, he's going to be hostile. He's not going to say anything."

Hotch nodded. She was right. "Alright, you and JJ go to the prison and the rest of us will work here."

Reid opened his mouth to protest but Mara sent him a look, cutting him off. Mara planned on looking through the case file in the car, leaving right now. Reid stopped her, about to convince her that Reid should go with her.

"I'll be fine." She nearly promised him.

"Confronting the person that ruined your life can be triggering," Reid said to her. "I don't want this to add to your nightmares."

"I'm most useful talking to him." Mara said.

He opened his mouth to say something else but Mara only squeezed his arm gently and headed the other way, following JJ down to the parking garage.

JJ knew how difficult it was for Mara to get over the Fox in Italy. How long it took her to move on. Get over the man that ruined everything about her.

"You know, he's planning to be executed in a few months."

Mara didn't want to say anything but she nodded. "I think I read that somewhere. Looks like he's trying to put it off."

Mara tried her hardest not to keep connections to the case. To the man that ruined her life. But she couldn't help but keep tabs on the man. 

JJ only glanced over at her. "You're doing okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, not looking at her. "Just wondering when we'll stop being targets."

The prison was only twenty minutes away so once they arrived soon, heading inside. They turned over their guns, signed in, and headed to where they were keeping Paul. Waiting for his guests to arrive.

JJ went in first and Mara followed, her eyes glued straight ahead. Paul hadn't expected Mara to come. Figured she'd be too scared. Too scarred.

But here she was, sitting in front of the man and opening the case files, spreading the pictures across the table. She couldn't look up at him. Not just yet.

"You claimed that you had a partner, someone who helped you get away with your crimes," JJ said. "Who is it?"

The Fox only smirked, his eyes never leaving Mara's. "How've you been, Mara?"

She cleared her throat and looked up at him, pointing to the victims on the table. "These people were killed almost of the same way you killed all your other vics. But it's not the same. The ketamine dosage wasn't right. He struggled fighting against the parents. He's weak. Like you."

"I'm weak?" Paul scoffed. "You're the one that pretended you died because you were too scared to face me."

"Face you?" Mara rolled her eyes, intertwining her fingers on the table. "I faced you. I put you behind these bars. You're stuck here. I'm out there."

"You'll never figure out who my partner is."

"The truth is," Mara smirked at him. "We already have. We checked visitor logs, online forums you visited, who you talked to. We tracked an IP address and the address on your letters. We already found him."

The Fox's eyes widened in shock and he tried to stand up. "There's no way."

The two got up and left the room, the Fox screaming behind them. Mara continued down the hall, tears burning her eyes, her heart pounding in her chest.

She'd beat him again but she still felt like she lost.