Criminal Minds Imagines

sixty six: hookers and investigations (part three)

you had taken a step outside of the police department to catch your breath and maybe try and rethink everything that had occurred at reid's dad's office. you were sitting on the steps that lead up to the entrance while the few people who were leaving stepped around you. morgan came out of the building, seeing you sitting there as you watched the many people smiling towards each other, helping their children play games on the sidewalk that lead to the park, and riding bikes around the parked cars on the street. 

"_____," you heard morgan say. you didn't turn around, you were just taking a break for a moment between this case. it was not only a lot that had happened to this child and the people involved but researching it and having it be so connected with reid's dad, who you had only heard details about, made it a little harder to investigate. "you okay?"

you didn't peel your eyes away from the merry scene in front of you but instead just shook your head as you finally stood up and turned around to face him. he had his hands in his pockets as he waited for a reply from you.

"truth is," you muttered. "i love reid but he is far too personal in this case. he's only wanting to frame his dad simply because of his dad leaving him and his mother in his childhood.  it's so hard to deal with all of this and how constant reid is in telling me that his dad murdered riley."

you ran a hand through your hair, looking down towards the ring on your finger. it was  one that reid had given you as a promise. it was something you had not taken off since you had gotten it. 

"_____, you really need to  help us figure this out though. you know that without you, it would be harder to control his emotions and keep him calmed down. you have the magic touch." 

"but what about me, morgan? how do you think all of this affects me? i know reid better than anyone, that's true. i can keep his emotions at ease, that's true. but the fact of the matter is that it takes a toll on me sometimes and this is one of those times," you told him, your hand in a small fist now. 

morgan put his hand on your arm lightly as you felt a few tears slip out of your eyes. 

"i do this job on a daily basis and i never get emotional about anything because that's what i'm trained to do. but something about this one, something about this case and how reid is acting, it's becoming a big stresser for me," you told him gently as your hand unballed itself from the fist. "i just want it to be over already so i can go back home." 

morgan nodded, giving you a gentle hug as you held back onto him. 

"we'll finish this case as soon as we can, ______. i can promise you that. but until then, you have to keep him under control before he blows his top because without you, we would still be at step one in this investigation. keeping him calm is how we solve this faster." 

you nodded, letting go of him and wiping your eyes to make them look like you hadn't been crying. morgan looked at you before you nodded, and the two of you went back inside to find rossi and reid talking to the head detective. 

"what's going on with him?" you asked. 

"reid is determined to get his dad into custody so that he can question him. he knows that even without evidence, you can keep a suspect for questioning for forty eight hours," morgan muttered to you. you nodded. 

after the head police detective gave reid a pat on the shoulder and walked off, they came back over to where the two of you were standing. you perked up more this time, trying to remember everything that morgan had told you about keeping him calm. 

"what happened?" you asked them both. rossi began to speak up as reid just clutched the case file in his hand. 

"he told us that we had the wrong person and that-"

"that my father is a good man," reid interrupted. you looked up at him, seeing his jaw clenched in anger. he was just wanting the truth of this case- all of it. you didn't make a move because you knew he would make a move if he wanted to. almost like he could read your mind, his hand slipped into yours as you held  back onto his. 

"_____,  " reid muttered as you looked up  at him. 

"yeah, honey?" you asked. 

"can we go out for a second?" 

you nodded, walking towards the door as reid led the two of you out. you nodded towards rossi and morgan as they understood the sign you had given them. when you two got outside of the police department, reid began just walking away from the station. 

"_____," reid said. "we can solve this on our own."

"reid?" you asked with a confused look in your eye as you stopped walking and pulled him back to you. he now stood in front of you, staring down into your eyes with emotions just swirling within him. "what are you talking about? you know that i work better with a team- that we work better with a team so why-"

"______, you're the best, smartest person i know. i know that you can do this without them," reid said, pulling you close to him. you shook your head. 

"honey," you muttered, feeling his hand gripping yours tighter. "you can't possibly be saying that you only trust me because i'm your girlfriend. you want to solve this case by myself?"

he shook his head. "no, we can solve it together. just you and me- us together. we can do this without them."

"reid," you muttered as he pressed a kiss to your cheek. you knew what he was trying to do but you knew that the two of you could not solve the case all alone, just the two of you. "we cannot solve this alone. why do you want it to be us two so badly?"

"because, _____," he muttered. "isn't it obvious?" 

you shook your head,  feeling his other hand grab yours. you looked at him with tears in your eyes. his grip tightened on yours. 

"what is it?" he asked you.

 "you want to frame your dad for leaving you and you want me to help you do that even if he isn't the right one," you muttered to him. "isn't it obvious as to why i do not want to do this without morgan and rossi?" 

"why can't you just trust me?" he asked softly. 

you blinked, feeling a tear running down your cheek. reid pulled you into his arms, holding you tightly to him as you wrapped your arms underneath his to keep him close to you. you buried your head into the side of his shoulder. 

"look, _____," reid began softly. "i trust you. and really only you."

 you tightened your grip on him. "but you shouldn't trust me to destroy an innocent life, reid."

he nodded. "okay. okay, you're right. maybe i should try to keep my head and listen to you more often." 

you nodded. 

"come on," you  told him, your hand sliding back down into his as you tried to lead him back to the building. he nodded, keeping his grip on your hand. you gently pulled him along with you.