Paranoia - s.reid

Single Homicide

(Mentions of rape and Liz's kidnapping.)

Liz sat in Rossi's dining room, slowly picking at the pasta before her as he ate vigorously. "So, where are the kids?" He broke the silence.

"At home, asleep. Spencer's there if anyone wakes up." She answers simply, swirling the alcohol in her wine glass. Rossi dropped his fork in slight frustration, tired of the small talk that was so obviously strained by all sorts of things.

"I need you to tell me if Spencer does anything remotely wrong. If he raises his voice at you, lays an unkind hand on you. Tell me." Liz only furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, no. Of course he doesn't do any of that." Her voice is soft and fragile. "We fight, but I raise my voice, too. He doesn't hit me or anything, he would never do that. We've just had a two and a half months." Rossi nodded, slightly relieved he wouldn't have to kill anyone and make it look like an accident. Things like that take a lot of work.

"Your 30th birthday is soon, in 3 weeks. Lyle's is in 4 weeks." 

"Yeah. We'll do something small for Lyle but I'll probably stay in bed for mine. If I'm in the country, that is."

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"London called. They want me to work a case for Scotland Yard in two weeks. I go, come back, take my psych eval again and see if I'm ready to be back. I'll be gone for 5 days, the kids will stay at home." 

"Are you going to stay with Emily?"

"No, she lives too far away from Scotland Yard so I'll probably be at a hotel."

"You've got this all planned out." She nodded again, taking a long sip of the wine. "Come back for your birthday. We'll celebrate together."

"I don't, uh, it feels wrong. Celebrating. When my marriage is in a rut." Liz stammered. "I just want everything to be okay, first. But I don't know if it will."

Rossi huffed, pulling her into his chest, cradling her head. "Everything will be okay, you just need time. In the 5 years I've known both of you, I've been able to watch you both grow together and trust me when I say you can't live without each other. And why should he have a great 30th but you shouldn't?" She had no response. He smiled at this. "This trip will be good for you. You know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder."

"Let's just hope."

The older man smirked. "And when you're back, I'm going to make your thirtieth the best yet." Liz groaned. 

"I hate turning 30. Do you have to throw a party?"

"You're pretty much my only daughter, of course I have to."

-----

Two weeks flew by. 

It was late at night, early in the morning. A plane to London was boarding in a few hours.

Liz leaned against the edge of her bed, carefully folding and placing articles of clothing into her suitcase. Spencer eyed her, every fiber of his being begging him to move and stop her from going- from leaving him, but her couldn't. He felt paralyzed. 

"I'll only be gone for 5 days. If you need anything and I'm not reachable, Hotch knows where everything is, you can call him." There it was. The reminder that Aaron Hotchner had somehow become more of a husband that Spencer. He took care of her, held her, did all the things he should've.

"Why wouldn't you be reachable?" Spencer croaked.

"I'll be working. They've got a line of suspects. I just need to build a profile, find one that fits and get a confession." He nodded. Liz paused her packing rather abruptly, throwing a blouse into the case. "I didn't get those divorce papers, Spencer."