Paranoia - s.reid

Ciphers

Spencer laughed wholeheartedly as Liz brought out a massive cake with "HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY GENIUS!" written in icing and 2 large stick figures along with 2 tiny ones iced on. She placed it in front of him, lighting the candles. "Alright, let's sing happy birthday to daddy!" Liz cheered.

She was the only one singing coherently, while Diana mixed up the lyrics and Lyle kept babbling on. When they were finished, Spencer took his son in his arms, blowing the candles. "Thank you, guys! I love you." He placed kisses on each of their heads, finally planting a kiss on Liz's lips.

"Daddy." The couple paused, quickly followed by a groan from Liz.

"Come on, Dee said 'brain' and he said daddy? Are you kidding me?"

They had cake, played games, sang, laughed and eventually put the kids to bed. Liz placed chaste kisses on her husband's lips, smiling as he hummed in approval. "3 decades old. Wow, grandpa."

"It'll be your turn in a bit." Spencer grinned, touching their noses together.

"No way, I'm staying 21 forever." She sighed in content as he sprinkled kisses all over the skin of her neck and shoulder.  "Ready for your second gift already?" She teased.

"Mm, I'm ready but I do think the Thomas Merton from earlier was a nice touch." He mumbled against her.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

They were in total bliss.

Until a serial killer was on the loose.

-----

Spencer and Liz approached the crime scene of what seemed to be a Zodiac killer copy cat. "Have any letters or ciphers been received?" They questioned Hotch and JJ who were already stood at the gory scene.

"Agent Lin, this is Agent Reid, Agent Prentiss and Dr. Reid." Hotch introduced.

"The 'Chronicle's' website manager received two phone calls this morning. There was just heavy breathing on the other end. Like the phone calls Zodiac used to make."

"Can I get a physical copy of the online version of today's paper?"

Agent Lin shot Spencer a very confused glare. "You want a printout of the online version?"

"Yeah. With all the comments printed out as well, if possible, thanks." Lin's gaze shifted to Liz, who just smiled and shook her head.

"Technophobe. Don't ask."

"It's not the real Zodiac." Liz concluded, looking at the file. "I just know, sometimes I can't really explain it."

-----

When walking back towards the San Francisco federal building, it wasn't easy to maneuver through the crowd of journalists. A certain speaker caught the attention of the Reids. "When Zodiac stopped killing, my cousin was put in a mental hospital in Mexico. He was released 2 months ago."

"Do you have anything more specific?" A reporter asked.

"He was working on a production of 'The Mikado' in '68. The Zodiac talked about 'The Mikado' in a letter."

Liz and Spencer smirked at each other, this was their time. "Excuse me. I'm Dr. Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Was your cousin by chance a fan of Wagner? Because a CD of the 'Tragic Overture' was sent to the police this morning."

"He loved Wagner, especially the 'Tragic Overture.' It's him."

Liz nodded in fake enthusiasm, shuffling in next to the man and directing the attention of the reporters and cameras to her. "Oh and, for the record, a CD was not sent to the police this morning, and the 'Tragic Overture' was written by Brahms, not Wagner, so luckily, I guess it's not your cousin. The FBI would greatly appreciate it if people would stop making false claims to get their 15 minutes of fame. Thank you very much and have a lovely day." She winked, a certain charm on her as she turned, wrapping her arm around Spencer's and heading inside the building.