Chapter 6: Appendicitis

Spencer's POV

Two months later.

I can't stop thinking about Lina.

Two months ago, the team and I were on the jet flying back to the BAU after catching a serial killer that targets families that neglected their daughters. I was talking with Lina when I noticed the scar on her wrist. It looked like a rose which reminded me of a case I worked on a few years ago, but I can't remember what. I haven't had a chance to look at it again since she normally wears long sleeves, and I wasn't going to ask her to look at her wrist.

Then all of a sudden, it strikes me. "The Flesh Carver," I whisper to myself.

"What's that?" Prentiss questions, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, nothing." I glance up from my desk to see Lina staring at me and she quickly looks away. Hotch decided to have Lina's desk seated right across from mine, but I know it was because Morgan convinced him to. I rarely show any interest in girls so when I do, my friends will do anything and everything to set me up.

I return to my thoughts and open my desk drawer that is filled with case files, quickly sorting through them and pulling one out. It has "The Flesh Carver" labelled on it and I open it. Memories come flooding back to me—this was one of my first cases I worked on when I joined the BAU.

Morgan comes up to me and clears his throat. "Reid, conference room in five."

"Mhm," I reply absent-mindedly and start to read. To summarize—in 2005, 17 girls were abducted, where they were brutally tortured and then left to die in their own homes. I sigh and shake my head, remembering how tragic this case was. Out of the 17 victims, only one survived. I go through the list of names and none of them seem familiar until I get to the last one—Angelina Yang.

I pull out a picture of the girl and gasp, then I look up at Lina who is busy with work. The girl in the photo looks exactly like Lina—except Lina has long, black hair and the girl in the picture has short, brown hair. But before I can ask Lina about it, she stands up and leaves to go into the conference room. In a hurry, I gather my things and quickly follow her.

"Five-year-old Jeffrey Thomas was abducted 48 hours ago in Dayton, Ohio," Garcia announces as I enter the room, sitting down at the table with everyone else.

"Forty-eight hours?" Rossi furrows his eyebrows. "Why weren't we notified about this earlier?"

"That's because his mother was drunk and passed out, so she didn't even know he was missing," answers Garcia and Rossi shakes his head. "He was last seen playing by himself in his front yard."

"Who the hell let's a 5-year-old out by themselves?" Morgan demands angrily, leaning back in his chair.

"Are there any witnesses?" Lina flips through the case file.

"A neighbor said she saw Jeffrey getting into a dark blue SUV," Garcia states. "She was actually the one who contacted the police about it." Suddenly, Garcia's cell rings and she picks up. "Hello?" A few "mhms" and nods later, she hangs up and frowns.

"What is it?" asks Prentiss.

"That was Detective Robert Moore from the Dayton Police Department—there has been another abduction," Garcia answers.

Approximately twenty minutes later, we are on the jet flying over there to investigate. The team and I gather to brief the newest case with Garcia on the phone.

"Garcia, what can you tell us about the latest abduction?" Hotch sits down in a seat.

"Jessica Dawson was reported missing 3 hours ago—I'm sending you a picture of her," says Garcia.

I look at the open computer screen and see a little girl with blonde hair.

"Where was she last seen?" Prentiss questions.

"At the park with her friends."

"Did they see anything suspicious?" Morgan asks hopefully.

"Her friends said that she left with a man and got into a dark blue car," answers Garcia.

"Matches the description from the first car," Lina observes.

"And no one got a license plate?" Rossi furrows his brows.

"Nope." Garcia sighs with frustration.

"What about you, Reid?" Hotch glances at me. "You've been quiet."

I look up at him and try to come up with something to say. Honestly, my mind isn't really focused right now. I can't stop thinking about the Flesh Carver's victim that looks exactly like Lina. "It's possible that the victims knew the UnSub if they left voluntarily with them." I raise my eyebrows.

"Or he used a ruse," suggests Morgan.

Hotch stands up from his seat. "Well, everyone be prepared. Once we land, JJ and I will talk to the parents and the press. Morgan, Prentiss, and Rossi—gather more information from the detective. Reid and Yang will drive over to the abduction sites and get a feel for the area."

Everyone nods and spreads out to do their own thing.

"Looks like you're stuck with me." Lina nudges me and I give her a smile. Suddenly, she winces and puts a hand on her stomach.

"Are you okay?" I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been having some stomach pain since yesterday, but I'm sure it's nothing." She gives me a reassuring smile. "See it's gone now."

I relax a bit. "Oh, okay."

After landing, everyone goes to their assigned destinations. Lina and I head over to the neighborhood where the first abduction occurred and walk around.

"Looks like any other neighborhood to me," she observes.

I nod my head. "The UnSub most likely would've stalked his victims first, and picked out children that are unsupervised." After looking around, we drive to the park. When we arrive, there are a few children playing.

Lina walks around the edge of the playground. "If I were the UnSub I would probably sit on that bench over there." She points in the direction behind me. "And once I—" She stops abruptly.

"Once you what?" I ask.

All of a sudden, she bends over and clutches her stomach—her face twisting up in agony.

"Lina?" I quickly rush over to her.

She groans in pain and curses, "Shit—my stomach."

I wrap my arms around her. "Did you eat something bad?"

She shakes her head. "Spencer, help me...." Then she passes out in my arms.

"Lina!" I exclaim. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! What should I do? I kneel there for 30 seconds with Lina's limp body in my arms before I come to my senses. Okay, I got to take her to the hospital. I think to myself. I then scoop her up in my arms and rush back to the car. On the way to the hospital, I call Hotch and he picks up after a few rings.

"Did you find something, Reid?" he asks over the phone.

"No, I'm taking Yang to the hospital right now," I answer, out of breath.

"What? Why, what happened?"

"I'm not sure. We were checking out the park when her stomach started hurting and she fainted."

"Okay, call me when you arrive. The rest of us will meet you there," Hotch states and hangs up.

"Hang on, Lina," I say and put a hand on hers. To make cars move out of the way faster, I put on the sirens and we get to the hospital in record time. I quickly hop out of the car and run to Lina's side to open the door where I carry her in my arms and sprint into the ER. "Help! I need some help here!" I yell, gasping for breath.

A nurse rushes over to me with a gurney. "Put her down here," she orders.

Immediately after, two nurses join her and push the gurney with Lina on it into a room, with me following close behind. I watch as they hook her onto the cardiac monitor and listen to her heart and lungs.

One of the nurses comes up to me and asks, "What happened to her?"

"We were walking at the park and she started having intense abdominal pain," I answer. "Is she going to be okay?"

"We have a great team of doctors checking her right now, sir," the nurse replies, comforting me. "Are you her boyfriend?"

Yeah, I wish. "No, I'm her colleague. We're FBI agents." I watch as several doctors and nurses prod and poke her with needles and use an ultrasound. Then they start cutting off her clothes so I quickly look away in embarrassment. Just then, my phone rings and I see that it's Hotch so I answer it.

"Reid, we're about fifteen minutes away from the hospital," he states. "How is she?"

"They're examining her now." Before I can say anything else, Lina's gurney is being pushed out and I quickly rush over to her. "What's going on?" Panic spreads through me.

"We're taking her to surgery," answers a doctor and I gasp. "Don't worry, sir, she has appendicitis so we're going to perform an appendectomy. It's a very easy and standard procedure."

"Oh, thank God." I breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's a good thing you brought your girlfriend in quickly. If her appendix had ruptured, that would've been trickier." He pats me on the back.

"Oh, we're actually not—" I begin. But before I can tell him that we're not dating, he rushes away. I haven't hung up the phone, so I check to see if Hotch was still there. "Hello?"

"Reid, is everything alright?" Hotch asks in a worried tone.

"Yeah. They've taken her to have an appendectomy."

"Okay," he replies, "see you in a bit."

Soon enough, the team arrives and I feel the tension in me fade a bit.

Prentiss gives me a hug. "How is she?" she asks, her eyes full of concern.

I smile reassuringly. "The doctors said she's doing great. Any luck with the case?"

"We have a suspect," states Rossi.

"Already?"

"The UnSub took one of the victims to the grocery store and the cashier recognized the kid," Morgan answers, "Garcia is looking through the security footage right now."

"That's good to hear." I feel myself starting to calm down.

After that, everyone waits in the waiting room when Hotch's cell phone rings, it's Garcia.

He answers the call. "Hey, Garcia, you're on speaker."

"So I got a pretty clear image of the UnSub's face from the security footage, and ran a facial recognition software on it," Garcia announces. "And I got a match."

"What's the name?" JJ paces around.

"Well the face of this nasty child abductor belongs to one Mr. Joseph Perry—he was charged for vandalism, petty theft, reckless driving, etcetera. And guess what, he also spent 11 years in jail for kidnapping a 14-year-old in 1997."

Rossi raises his brows. "That's our guy."

"Do you have an address?" Hotch stands up.

"Sending it over to you right... now." Garcia's typing sounds over the phone.

"Thanks, Garcia." Hotch hangs up and I stand up, ready to leave with them when he stops me. "Stay here with Yang, Reid."

"I care about her, but what about the UnSub?" I ask.

"We'll be fine. Yang's the most comfortable with you, so she's going to want to see you first when she wakes up."

I nod. "Okay. Call me if anything comes up." I watch as the team walks out the door.

Around forty-five minutes later, the doctor comes in.

"How is she?" I quickly stand up.

"She's resting now," he answers. "You can come visit her if you like."

I follow the doctor into Lina's room where she's sleeping. "Thank you," I whisper to the doctor and he nods.

Once he exits the room and closes the door behind him, I pull the chair that is next to the nightstand closer to Lina's bed and sit down. A smile escapes my lips—she looks so beautiful in her sleep.

Now that I have some free time, I pull the Flesh Carver's case file out of my bag and flip it open. I scan through the pages, looking for any clues that might indicate that Lina was one of his victims. Sure enough, I find a picture of the carved rose on the victims' wrists. All the girls that were abducted were marked with this scar.

I look around to make sure no one is watching and gently lift Lina's arm, flipping it around. On her wrist, there is a rose that was carved into her skin, and it matches the exact same ones in the photos. I look at Lina and feel sorry for her. How could have anyone done this to her?