Lifeguard

Stephie

"One, focus on the front sight not on the target. Two, control the trigger press. Three, follow through. After the shot, you come right back to the target. Now what did you do wrong?" Hotch is standing directly behind Spencer as we practice for our firearms qualification.

"I didn't follow through," Spencer says with a sigh, I can see he's over this. As am I, i'm sick of standing here listening Hotch yell at him.

"Right, You came off the target to see where you hit."

"Hotch, my firearms qualification is tomorrow morning. I barely passed my last one." Spencer sets down the gun and removes the earmuff covers from his head.

"Stepheni," Hotch glares over to me and then points to the target. I switch places with Spencer and pick the gun up.

"Front sight, trigger press, follow through." Hotch says as I fire the gun at the target in front of me. I notice Spencer still covering his ears even when he puts the earmuffs back on.

"Good," Hotch looks to Spencer, "You do those three things you'll hit your target every time." Spencer and I switch places again, I pat his shoulder in condolences.

He misses again, I swear for the smartest guy here he sure as hell can't figure this out. You'd think he'd use some math equation to figure it out but he just really has bad aim.

"Did Elle teach you that?" Hotch sort of giggles when Spencer fires the gun and it hits the crotch of the target.

"They're gonna take away my gun." Spencer admits, he's not wrong.

"Profilers aren't required to carry," Hotch tells him and I chuckle over that fact knowing what I know.

"Yeah? And yet you carry two of them." I point out and Hotch glares at me like I'm no help. He pulls the gun from his ankle and shoots the target perfectly over and over.

"Okay, show off we get it." Hotch puts his gun back and then takes off his earmuffs, Spencer and I doing the same.

"When I joined the BAU, Gideon said to me, you don't have to carry a gun to kill someone." Hotch puts his hands back on his hips and Spencer and I look at each other briefly.

"I don't get it," Spencer looks to Hotch again.

"You will." He pats Spencer's arm and starts to walk out of the room. "Good luck tomorrow you two,"

"Alright Reid, we're gonna get this." I point to the gun and he sighs before he can speak In talking again.

"I'm not going to listen to you mope around and complain you failed your qualification, put your shit back on and hit the damn target."

Miss.

Miss.

Miss.

He is cooked.

"Reid failed his qualification," Elle says when Gideon and I walk into the office, how does she know that? We just took it this morning.

"He can retest again in two weeks," Gideon keeps walking and I walk to my desk, until Elle opens her mouth again.

"Yeah, but he's gonna be embarrassed about it. So let's not mention it." She shoots her eyes to Derek who looks to Gideon.

"Yeah, let's not." Gideon looks at Derek too, he throws his hands up and looks offended.

"Not a word." Just as he speaks Spencer walks into the office and goes to his desk quickly. I watch as Derek stands up and walks towards him, one hand behind his back.

"Twenty bucks he brings it up," I mumble to Elle and she palms her face.

"Hey, we're all here for you." Spencer ignores him and Elle and I look at eachother.

"I'm serious." Derek says and Spencer finally looks up to him from his seat.

"If you ever need anything," Derek puts a whistle around Spencer's neck.

"Oh my god, he didn't.." I cover my mouth in shock. He looks like a lifeguard.

"Just blow on that." He leans down and blows the whistle before walking away with a smirk on his face. Spencer rips it off his neck and throws it to the side. He looks over to me and gives me a blank face as I hold back my laughter.

"It was kind of funny? I'm sorry, Reid." I stop laughing and put on a serious expression for him. JJ and Hotch walk in with a new case for us immediately after.

"Franklin Park, Des Plains. Three victims shot at distance. It's the third such shooting in two weeks." She passed out case files to all of us and I open it to be met with all the details. Talk about gruesome.

"A sniper?" Elle stares at the file.

"We don't use that word," I remind her and she stares at me in confusion.

"The public perception is that the FBI doesn't have an exemplary record with snipers." JJ tells her and then Hotch comes in with some more information about snipers.

"What do we call them then?" Elle looks around and Hotch peaks up from his file but I had already started to answer.

"LDSK." She then looks at Spencer for a longer version to explain my abbreviation.

"Long distance serial killers." Spencer dives back into the file.

"How many of these guys have caught using a profile?" Elle is just really full of questions today, I don't know it's getting on nerves so much.

"None." Gideon answers and the group doesn't look up. It's unsettling, I know. But these guys, they're hard to profile.

We all head to the briefing room to go over the case together, six victims all shot in the abdomen. As Hotch goes over the victims I realize there's no connections between any of them. He points that out afterwards though.

"LDSK's are so rare we haven't been able to build a standard profile." Hotch says as Spencer and I spread everything out of the jet table. "Here's what we do know, they're always male, and they frequently have law enforcement or military experience, and they always contact the police or media."

"Uh, to take credit or relive the experience?" I ask moving one the pictures towards Spencer so he can put it where he wants it.

"Both, all serial killers attempt to relieve the ecstasy they get from their killings. Some use souvenirs taken from the victims, and others return to the dump site." Gideon goes on more but I zone out focusing in on the images.

As we pull up to the park, Hotch refuses to take the time to park in an actual spot and as much as I would love to say something I don't. I know better. It's only Morgan, Hotch, Spencer and I in the car right now anyway.

"Agent Hotchner," The detective shakes Hotchs hand.

"Detective Calvin, this is agent Morgan, Reid and Foster." He points to each of us and she shakes our hands. I watch as Spencer wipes his hand off after she shakes it. Somehow I always forget he's a germaphobe. Detective Calvin explains the crime scene to us.

"Him wounding his victims intentionally would classify him as a sadistic killer." Spencer keeps his hands in his pocket as we stand by the detective, Hotch looking around a bit more.

"That would help us?" She crosses her arms and so I chime in.

"We know a lot about sadists. But most want to be close to their victims to watch them suffer." I explain to her and she nods her head.

"A powerful scope would allow him to observe it from a safe distance," Spencer butts into the conversation again.

"So how do we determine if he's a sadist?" Calvin looks to Spencer and I.

"We spend time in his shoes," Derek talks now causing her to move her head in his direction now. "We let him tell us."

Hotch begins to analyze the handicap parking spot, and how our unsub may have park his car here and spot the victims from it.

"But then that would he wanted to get out of here quickly, not watch the vics suffer." I point and Spencer nods in agreement with me.

"So he would not be a sadist," He looks at me and I nod my head as detective Calvin asks what he would be.

"A very smart, very resourceful, very paranoid sociopath." Hotch looks around then we all head up to station.

We look at what the police have so far, I have questions but I never get a chance to ask them because Spencer beats me to it every time. When Derek comes back over after getting off the phone with Garcia I can't help but just stare at Spencer, For whatever reason his shirt really brings out his eyes today. Very vibrant, very hazel.

"We're ready to give the profile," Gideon tells us when he, JJ, and Elle walk into the police station. "They're not gonna like it."

Before Hotch goes up there to deliver it JJ informs this profile is to not be released to the public yet. I wonder how long that would last.

"We're looking for a thirty year old male veteran who is driving a car large enough to shoot from, but not so large it was noticed. Like the beltway shoot, it's probably a sedan, customized to conceal the shoot, his weapon, and the sound of the his shot. The unsubs suffers from both narcissistic and paranoid personality disorders. He works out obsessively and is never without a weapon. He's complete self centered and cannot empathize with others," I nudge Spencer's arm and he gives me a look of concern, it was just a joke. I roll my eyes. Hotch finishes giving the profile and when one cop points out Hotch is saying he's one of them, or used to be one of them there's laughter among the group.

I sit down when Hotch, JJ, and Elle go into the sheriffs office. I notice Spencer talking to Gideon, I of course try to listen in but i can't hear them. Whatever they were talking about Gideon ends up stomping away. Spencer watches him leave and then stares at me. I pat the seat next to me insisting he sits down.

"What was that about?" I question and Spencer just sighs.

"Nothing," This is what I was afraid of it, him moping around.

"You heard what Hotch said, you don't need to carry a gun. You're still one of the smartest people on the room." I sit up in my chair and he furrows his brows at me before letting a small smile crack.

"One of the smartest?" I lightly hit his arm and he whines in pain.

"I didn't even hit you hard!" I shout and a few cops look over at us, Gideon and Hotch walk back out together and Gideon rolls his eyes.

"Excuse them," He announces and then glares at us, we both put our heads down like ashamed little kids who got yelled at by their parents in the grocery store.

Hotch wanted to renact the shooting, so the team and some cops are now down here acting it out. I stayed at the cameras with Gideon and JJ to help watch, I get distracted when the news comes on through the TV talking of the profile we just delivered with specific instructions not to leak.

"Uh, guys. Check this out." I say pointing to the television, Gideon and JJ both turn around.

"Foster stay here, update Hotch on what's going on we will be back." Gideon says leaving me alone in the van with the sheriff, they must be going after the news to see who gave that tip up.

Hotch comes storming into the camera room demanding to talk with Scott McCarty, claiming that he is the leak.

"Tell Derek he needs to get Spencer down, I think his walkie died or something, he's just walking around." I look to Hotch after turning away from the cameras which showed Spencer just frolicking around the park. Two seconds later the car where Scott McCarthy is playing the role of unsub, is getting swarmed and i'm watching Derek tackle Spencer.

"Oh my god!" I shout as they start bringing McCarthy to the watch van. I just watch him get shot point blank in the head. Somehow during all the panic my only thought was Spencer is out there, this stupid genius idiot boy was growing on me.

"Our unsub went from wounding random people to killing police officers." I turn to Spencer and whisper as we stand by the door of a small room with the rest of the team plus detective Calvin.

"So he's escalated." Gideon stares at me, of course he heard me.

We go back and forth between different theories.

"His ego won't allow it, nobody can take credit for his work. It was a message." I say and Gideon nods in agreement with me.

"Bingo." Derek point to me and I feel butterflies in my stomach, any validation from him is enough to make me fall in love with him all over again. His phone starts to ring and as he steps to the side we're all assuming it's Garcia.

"Garcia nailed down the geographic profiles, the crimes scenes are in between two separate locations," Derek looks around and Hotch says the hospitals almost instantly. We all stand up and jump into the cars.

"I believe it's a case of hero homicide." Gideon says in the passenger seat as Detective Calvin drives, Spencer and I sitting in the back.

"What's that?" She's asks and Spencer slides into the middle of the seats, pushing me to the side. I shout him a dirty look and he brushes me off.

"The best known case was hospital nurse Richard Angelo. He would inject toxins into his victims, then wait for them to crash so that he could run to the rescue and save them. He killed twenty five people, and that's just what we know of." Spencer sits back down in his seat so now can sit comfortably again.

"He clearly wasn't very good at it," I say and Spencer nods his head like he's nervous. We pull up to the hospital and when I open my door Gideon finishes pulling it open for me before taking off towards the hospital. Hotch goes straight for Dr. Landmans car, he's our presumed unsub. the rest of us sit in what usually is a meeting room and go over Landmans quirks.

"Get a warrant for his house, find that weapon." Gideon looks to Derek and he stands up and leaves. Gideon asks the lady in charge where Landsman is right now and that where he heads next.

Elle, JJ, Spencer, and I stand outside the room watching from the window. So we can hear everything and we can see them. Hotch joins us a few moments later.

"Get anything from his car?" Elle asks and he shakes his head. The car doesn't fit the profile.

This guy is cocky, very very cocky. He claims he was with Dr. Hannah Pate, says she's in the ER right now, and to go ask her ourselves. Gideon leans against the closed door.

"Reid, Foster. Let's take a walk down to the ER." Hotch says and on the way we discuss how Landman may not be the shooter.

"Excuse me, Id like to speak with Dr. Pate." Hotch flashes his badge quickly and the nurse tells us he'll go find her.

Hotch and Spencer go over different theories and I glance around the emergency room.

"He works the second shift in the ER, it's not about the cops." I say and Hotch and Spencer both look at me.

"Contact with the victims," Spencer adds and Hotch looks around before pulling out his phone.

"Sir, you cannot use the cell phone in the hospital." The nurse pipes up and Hotch shuts the phone before walking over to her.

"Excuse me," He flashes the badge and she walks around from the counter.

"We're FBI agents and we believe that one of your staff members might be the sniper. The man that we're looking inf for works the second shift and he would transfères form arlington about two weeks ago." Hotch explains to her but she shakes her head.

"We haven't hired any new personnel in two months."

"Are you sure?" Hotch asks and she repaints with yes. I look to Spencer with one of those "now what" looks on my face.

"Look i've hit patients who need me," Hotch grabs her shoulder and begins to talk again.

"He's in his thirties. He's vain, rude, arrogant, he works out, he's shows up to work late, blames others for his mistakes, doesn't take repsponbilty for his behavior. All of his coworkers deters him." The nurse looks overwhelmed, i feel bad for her almost and watch as she mumbles a quiet "Oh my God."

"It's Phillip Dowd. He's—He picks up shifts at Arlington." She tells us and I look at Spencer.

"Is he here today?" The nurse starts to freak out and Hot h grabs her telling her that her patients needs her clam and then asks he Dowd is working again. He shakes her head.

"Do you see him right now?" The nurse looks around and then shakes her head.

"Go tell Gideon," Hotch looks to Spencer and he takes off running.

"Reid, easy." He reminds and Spencer slows his pace down. I watch as he walks down the hall so of course I see when the male nurse from earlier pulls out his sniper and hits Spencer across the face, hello Philip Dowd.

"Shit," I nudge Hotch and that's when Dowd points the gun at everyone causing panic to unravel around the room. The lights go off seconds later, after the sound of gunshots emits. Hotch and I pull our guns out and rush towards the noise.

"Nobody moves, and nobody dies." Dowd proclaims holding a security guard hostage.

"Better be a headshot, anything less i go down squeezing the trigger." Dowd stares at us and when Hotch puts his gun down I do the same, setting it in the desk next to his. Dowd moves closer and takes out guns before backing up and yelling for Spencer to get over here.

I watch as he moves with his hands up running a little bit when Dowd yells at him.

"You, take your partners gun, put it on the counter." Dowd looks at me and I look at Spencer.

"He's not armed." I admit and Dowd just stares at me. "See for yourself,"

"Hands on your heads." He demands and he walks closer and we all obey him. He takes Spencer's bag off and then pats him down.

"Get up Keith, put those on them." He tosses zip ties out on the ground and the security guard begins to restrain us, then himself. Dowd tell us to get down on the ground and we of course oblige.

"Now, what kind of FBI agent doesn't carry a gun?" He stares at Spencer.

"I'm a profiler." Spencer says, his voice kind of shakey.

"A profiler, they'd send you to figure me out?" Dowd repeats.

"We did that's how we found you," Spencer says but Hotch mumbles under his breath which causes me to turn a look at him.

"Shut up, Reid." He sounds angry.

"No don't shut up, tell me what you think you know about me." Spencer looks to me and then at the floor. Hotch butts in with another rude remark, he doesn't seem like himself.

"Go ahead genius tell him, but remeber, get it wrong and he's gonna kill you." Hotch nods and Spencer looks up at Dowd and takes a deep breath. I wish I could yell at Hotch right now for being an asshole, only I'm allowed to talk to Spencer like that.

Dowd starts to talk to Hotch and so Hotch spills everything we know about Dowd, he's seems different. Spencer looks upset, I would be too. Especially when it's Hotch using that tone of voice. Hotch tells Dowd to put the hostages in front of the barricade the door, we both shoot him a look of worry. Dowd puts his gun up again asking if this some trick, he eventually lowers

"The barricades a good idea tho, why would you wanna help me?" He asks

"I don't," Hotch is calm, me personally, i'm internally freaking out.

"You said they knew I was in here."

"I said they know you're in here," Hotch is cut off.

"No. that's not what you said." Dowd corrects

"Why does it matter?" I speak up and Dowd glares down at me.

"It matters because your partner wants to help me even though he doesn't know it. Go ahead boss man, tell them why." He grins at Hotch and Spencer and I look at each other in fear.

"They knew he was in here, they knew he was armed and dangerous and they that he was gonna fight till the last round. And they sent me in here with unarmed kid who can't shoot his way out of a wet paper bag and a girl who's only tactic is being a bully." Hotch doesn't take his eyes off Dowd once, this has to be some trick he can't be serious right now.

How could he say that about Spencer? Knowing how much passing his qualification meant.

"They set you up." Dowd tells him and Hotch starts to agree with him.

"Exactly and they're probably laughing about b right now." Hotch adds, his tone angry continuing their conversation.

"You know why they took boy genius' gun?" Hotch announces to Dowd and Spencer shoots his head at Hotch.

"Why?"

"He failed his qualification. Twice a year, I gotta listen to him whine about requalifying. So, I tutor him..and he fails again." Hotch pauses briefly.

"This one, she's not even a good agent, I'm constantly babysitting her." I look to Hotch, he better stop talking right now. He has to be doing something right now, my suspicion is confirmed when Dowd starts to talk about how the hospital staff have been undermining him since he got here.

Hotch informs Dowd that putting Spencer and I in front of the door so that when the swat comes in we'll die and they'll be facing a lot of problems is a smart idea. I look to Spencer and he widens his eyes at me.

Got it.

Dowd doesn't do it though, Hotch goes on with a new plan.

"Can I ask you something? I figure my chances of getting out of here are pretty slim. I want to kick the snot of this kid."

Spencer's face turns to face Hotch and he looks absolutely petrified, i'm starting think maybe this isn't a plan and maybe Hotch really does hate us.

"He's made my life miserable for three lousy years." Hotch continues, I look at Spencer and just stare in shock.

"Go ahead, Knock yourself out." Dowd steps back. Hotch wastes no time pushing past me and shoving Spencer to the ground. He starts kicking absolute shit out of him.

"How smart are you know smart guy? It's front sight, trigger press, follow through!" Each word getting its own kick, Spencer is groaning in pain at every kick.

"Hotch, stop it!" I shout in a mix of shock, anger, and..sadness?

"Shut your mouth." He barks at me and I jump back at his tone.

"It's not that hard! A dalmatian could do it!" Hotch kicks him again. Hotch yells at Spencer to let go and I watch as he rolls on the ground wincing in pain.

I stare at Hotch in hatred, so much for protecting your own.

"Feel better?" Dowd asks Hotch as he catches his breath.

"I think he got the message." Hotch says and Dowd smiles just before looking down to reveal Hotch's now empty gun strap.

"What's that?" He asks and I look to Spence who was still groaning on the floor.

Dowd puts his gun up and aims it at Hotch and then I watch as he falls to the ground after a gun shot goes off next to me, I turn sharply and see Spencer holding the gun.

Holy shit, he hit the target. Point blank in the head.

"Federal agents! Federal agents hold your fire!" Hotch shouts when hear the swat team outside the doors.

Spencer and I are sitting at the edge of an ambulance talking outside after everything is cooled down and we had got looked at.

"How many bruises do you think you'll have?" I take bite of licorice I got from the vending machine earlier and then offer him a piece. He declines and I shrug.

"A lot probably," He crosses his arms and I pat his shoulder as Hotch comes over to us.

"You alright?" I nod and Spencer responds with yeah.

"Nice shot."  Hotch says before crossing his arms and Spencer sort of chuckles.

"I was aiming for his leg." Of course he was, i'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that.

"I wasn't going to keep kicking but I was afraid you didn't get my plans." Hotch looks down shamefully and then back up when Spencer starts to talk.

"I got your plan the minute you moved the hostages out of my line of fire." Spencer explains, oh, so he knew for a while then. Am I just slow?

"Well, I hope I didn't hurt you too badly." Hotch looks to Spencer who is just smiling.

"Hotch, I was a twelve year old child prodigy in a Las Vegas public high school, you kick like a nine year old girl." He chuckles softly and Hotch actually smiles for a minute.

"Foster," I look up at Hotch. "Are you eating licorice?" I nod and then offer him one, he also declines. Why is everyone hating on me today?

Spencer goes to give his gun back but Hotch tells him to keep it, telling Spencer he passed his qualification before walking away. Spencer puts the gun back in his pocket and I slide up to my original spot again.

"Look at you go, Spence." I hold out the licorice for him and he sighs, finally taking one.

"What?" I stare at him as he stares at me.

"You've never called me that before.." I shrug and take another piece into my mouth.

"You're the only person who calls me Steph, did I ever mention that?" I hop down and walk towards the car, leaving Spencer alone. I hear Derek's voice soon after though so he's not really alone.

"Touché kid," Derek walks up behind me and I look at him confused before offering my licorice, which he takes three pieces of before holding up the whistle.

"Awe man, we lost our lifeguard. Hopefully nobody starts drowning." I open the car door and climb inside with a now laughing Derek. The rest of the team joining us minutes later to get back to the jet.

We all sit in silence, Spencer got the window seat so I just sat next to him. My heading bobbing up down fighting to stay awake.

Gideon comes over and starts to ask Spencer how he feels, then they continue to talk, i can't really hear what it is being said but I shut my eyes before Gideon says, "I'm proud of you."

—————————AN: I think Stephie is getting a cruuushhh. Can i spoil something 😣 (spencer lowkey has had a crush on her since they first met 😔)

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