Chapter 14

“That had to be one of our quickest cases on record” Prentiss said as the team piled into the black SUV. They had just caught an UnSub who abducted three 14 year old boys, raped them and then beheaded them. Luckily it was a local case so the team arrived just in time to stop there being a fourth victim. It only took them the best part of a day to build the profile meaning they caught him fairly quickly.

“I wonder how Morgan’s getting on” JJ said before glancing at Reid who had been obviously distracted for the duration of the case. The team knew he was still annoyed about not being able to help Hanna because he had never once mentioned a statistic or fact about the case. There was a short silence before Prentiss broke it.

“Do you think he’s got her to speak again?” she asked carefully to no-one in particular.

“Doubt it” Reid mumbled quietly in response. They all exchanged a quick glance before silence fell over the car again only this time, no-one broke it.

The journey back to the BAU was a short one. Everyone was exhausted from trying to finish the case as quickly as possible so Hotch told them all to go home and they could start fresh again tomorrow. However, before Reid had the chance to even step foot out the door Morgan stopped him.

“Okay kid, truth telling time”

“What?” Reid frowned at Morgan’s sudden appearance.

“Is something wrong?” Prentiss asked but Morgan didn’t take his attention away from Reid.

“Hanna said she’s only going to tell the truth if she can speak to you. You knew each other for what? Six years? What happened in that library Reid” Morgan asked.

“We knew each other for seven years, three months and four days” he mumbled back.

“Don’t get smart with me” Morgan warned.

“Nothing happened” Reid shrugged because he was embarrassed and ashamed. There was a short pause in which Morgan glared and Prentiss frowned. Finally Reid gave in “Fine” he sighed “We…we were sat down in the library. We went there almost every day only that day was different because…” he trailed off and stopped.

“Because?” Morgan prompted.

“Because Hanna was distracted” Reid finally said “She wasn’t acting like her usual self but she wouldn’t tell me why. She seemed nervous and worried, like she was anticipating something. I can tell now it was probably because she knew something was going to happen to Alex. After about an hour or so Hanna got a text. Once she read it her whole attitude and posture change so that she looked almost at peace. It was weird. I have no idea what the text said. A few minutes past then she asked me if you knew you had a secret and only had one chance to tell it, would you take it? I told her I would. She smiled, but I remember it being a sad smile, before she said….she said that….” Reid couldn’t quite say it.  He took a deep breath in and looked down “She told me she was in love with me”

“What?” Prentiss’ eyes widened. There was an awkward silence.

“What did you say?” Morgan asked carefully.

“Nothing” Reid sounded ashamed and he refused to look up “I said nothing. And before she had the chance to ask if I felt the same way her dad came in and told us Alex had died. She left the next day Morgan” Reid finally looked up at his best friend who wasn’t sure what to do. Reid carried on with his confession “Her twin brother had just died and I didn’t have the courage to tell her I was in love with her too. I should’ve been there for her…if I was, maybe she would’ve stayed” and with one last defeated look at his co-workers, Reid left.