Fine Line [ spencer reid x reader ] ✔️

TWO

warnings: mentions of suicide, mentions of drugs & drug addiction
this chapter is a little boring because it's just case stuff! i promise the next will be better.

"Three months ago, a fire in the Shadyshire Rec Center killed fourteen children." JJ starts.

"I remember that," Derek says, holding his coffee. "What does that have to do with us?"

"Well, over the past three months, there's been five suicides. All of them lost a child in the fire. The last one was Paul Baleman. He was found electrocuted in his bathtub yesterday. I received a request for our help."

Spencer leans forward in his seat, brows crinkled together. He opens the file, glancing over it quickly. "All of the suicides were within two weeks of each other. It could be some kind of pattern."

"Detective Ronnie Baleman, Pittsburgh PD, thinks something's going on." JJ crosses her arms, looking at the team.

"Of course he does," Y/n says, leaning back in her chair.

"Why do you say that?" Emily asks, tilting her head.

"Because he's related to the man who died," Y/n replies casually, tapping her pen on the edge of the wooden table.

Spencer looks over at her, biting the inside of his cheek. Her brows are scrunched together, the little lines between her brows prominent. Spencer knows that's a sign of an anxious person—because he has the same thing. Her right hand taps the pen, her left hand curled into a fist, dragging her nails up and down her palm slightly. Her eyes are downcast, reading over the file.

"It's his brother," JJ says.

"A cop who believes his brother didn't commit suicide," Derek says, shrugging. "Come on, next case."

"Wait a minute," Emily says, Derek's head whipping toward her. "Five suicides in the same neighborhood within months? That's a serious spike."

"Suicides don't spike after a tragedy." Rossi leans forward, placing his hands on the table.

"Quite the opposite actually," Spencer says, raising his eyebrows. "Following World War One and Two, right after Kennedy was shot, and following nine-eleven, suicides plummeted. Within a society, external threats usually create group integrations." He gives a little smile, looking at the team.

"People come together," Y/n says, glancing at Spencer.

Spencer meets her eyes, nodding before averting his gaze, feeling his cheeks start to burn. He focuses on the file in front of him, trying to get the image of her eyes out of his head—which is impossible.

"So if there's reason for doubt, which there obviously is, don't those families left behind have a right to know?" Prentiss' voice is pressing, and Spencer looks up at her.