nina cried power [SPENCER REID]

twenty-nine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:
DADDY ISSUES

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bold = in german

"Go ahead and cry, sweet," Ed had said, when she'd first stepped into his home. A friendly visit, arranged by her social worker, post-trial. She'd gotten emotional over dinner -- her and Ed and her sister -- so he'd helped her from the table and let her into the bathroom, which is bigger than her bedroom at home. She had sat on a bench by the window, and he crouched in front of her. Even now she can still remember the white shirt he'd been wearing, fancy and formal, but his jeans kept him dressed down. "It's okay. You're safe here."

Involuntarily, Nina thinks of this when Spencer lets her into his apartment with a murmur of the words, "Should be safe here."

She blinks herself out of it. She doesn't want to think about Ed, about how or what he's doing right now, and about what she's planning to do to him. Their past, his former kindness to her, almost makes her feel guilty about her decision to bring him down. Almost.

"You don't have any enemies?" she asks, changing the subject. She turns and watches him lock the door, sliding the bolt across.

"You're my only enemy."

They'd left what Nina called the Royal Escort (but was actually her police escort) downstairs; there was only one cop car as far as Nina knew, but she guessed there'd be at least two other disguised vehicles. The doorman would be replaced with a fed, and the building would be on twenty-four hour surveillance -- she hadn't been told this, either, but she guessed that too. She wasn't stupid. It wouldn't just be Spencer and two police officers -- not after the stunt she pulled in the hospital.

"It's an honour," she says, when he turns and looks at her.

The last time she'd been in Spencer's apartment, the way he'd looked at her had taken her off guard. Part entranced, part fear, part understanding. But that had been weeks and weeks ago now, and everything has somehow changed. Her chance at freedom is gone, her love for Ed is gone, and the look in Spencer's eyes... Gone, all the same.

Now, he just looks tired. "There'll be rules," he says, crossing his lounge to his kitchen. He puts his keys down, out of habit, and then does a double take and puts them back in his pocket before he drops his bag and starts to unpack, his back to her, bent over his counter.

"I won't be attempting escape," Nina says, grinning at his back, amused by his fumbling uncertainty.

"No," Spencer says, and without looking at her, he swivels his holster around on his hip so that she can see it, "you won't."