the feelings that we hide | SPENCER REID

15. vexatious

Nathan kept his word. When Vanessa decided to go back to her apartment, most of her stuff was outside of the door. Everything inside of that place was hers...but her "boyfriend" was being dramatic.

Vanessa went up and down the steps, hauling her stuff in her car. Luckily, it wasn't a lot—she had a lot more inside. She would've gone inside to get her other stuff, but she didn't know if Nathan was home or not.

"Looks like I'm going apartment shopping," she sighed out before resting her head on the steering wheel.

Everything was all bad. With Nathan finally breaking things off like this, she didn't know what to do. He was her source of comfort...even if he was the cause of her hurting.

...

Vanessa entered the bullpen on the 6th floor and over to her desk beside Emily. Derek and Emily were both working already, and Reid had come back from getting coffee.

Taking a seat, she took a deep, but quiet breath so her colleagues wouldn't notice. Just as she was going to open a file, her phone rang.

"Hello?" She said into the cell with an agitated voice.

"You took your stuff?" Nathan questioned on the other end.

"Well...yeah, I wasn't going to leave it out there." Her voice got quieter, and she turned her chair away from the three—but it caught Spencer's eyes once it reminded him of the conversation she had over the phone in the car on the case in New Orleans.

"Just come home."

"What? Why?"

"I miss you."

Her heart sank, but she stayed quiet.

"I promise I won't do that again," Nate pleaded in hopes she'd come back.

"Round table in 10," Hotch announced after he exited his office.

"I have a case," she said into the phone once looking away from Aaron. "We'll talk about this later."

When she twirled her chair back around, she grabbed onto the edge of the table to pull herself in.

Spencer was still watching her, and Morgan noticed.

"Pretty boy," he whispered, scooting in closer. "You're staring."

Reid immediately looked away from the girl and over at Derek. "Could you be any louder?"

"She can't hear me."

She really couldn't hear them, but he still glanced over at her to see if she was showing any signs of listening in on them.

"What was that?" Emily questioned causing the two men to look over.

"Nate," she replied back with a dull expression.

"Is everything alright?"

Vanessa nodded, but Spencer knew that their relationship was rocky right now.

"Two fires, two families in three weeks," JJ announced to the group once they took all their seats. "The first family, the Jarvis', all died." Pictures of the victims showed up on the screen. "Last night, the Cutlers. Only one survivor, Charlotte Cutler, she's in critical condition with burns to over 60% of her body."

"Well, it's no accident," Emily pointed out. "It's the same M.O. No fuses, kerosene, multiple points of origin, families targeted at home while they slept."

"The bay area has a serial arsonist," said Hotch as the team glanced over.

"Statistically, 94% of all serial arsonists are male," Reid said starting to give off facts. "75% are white, and few, if any, are ever even caught."