—

didn't have a choice now. gracen was going to have to go through a cognitive sooner or later, so spencer figured he'd minus well attempt to draw some of the memories out right now. they had already had some small talk about the things she liked, such as her favorite colors and food. as painful as it would be for her to be reminded of what happened, he would help her through it afterwards.

"gracen." the doctor spoke softly, making sure he had her full attention. when she finally looked him in the eyes, he asked, "can you tell me the name of the man who did this to you?"

gracen jones looked up, eyes filled with confusion. "a man?"

spencer nodded. but something wasn't right.

"what man?"

spencer's expression dropped. they were too late. a few days ago, she had a clear memory of the man who did this to her, calling him a "he" constantly.

gracen, in the span of five days, suppressed the memory of the person that hurt her so badly. she did have head trauma, most likely from her abuser, which could've been another factor to her not remembering.

hundreds of possible solutions, situations, theories spiraled in spencer's head. she wasn't the murderer of the recent victims, he knew now, because he had been here with her the whole time when another murder occurred.

there was a possibility that these two cases weren't linked at all. there was a possibility that this girl had just simply been kidnapped for ten years.

spencer reid, the genius who can read 20,000 words in a minute, admitted to being absolutely confused.

and now that gracen didn't have any memories of her kidnapper—if there was even one—reid and his team were back to square one.

as if they moved anywhere in the first place.

the genius let out a small sigh. "gracen, i'm not sure i understand. you were terrified of someone—a "he" coming after you." spencer was going to add with don't you remember? but he wasn't sure if that was going to trigger something inside of her.

gracen, again confused, "i don't know...i don't know why." she strained, trying to remembering why she was scared of a "he."

"i don't remember." she said, eyes terrified. "i don't remember why—w-why—don't i remember—"

"hey. hey," reid felt another panic attack coming, so he reached for her hand as reassurance. she jolted and yanked it away. spencer ignored the small amount of hurt that occurred inside of him. the only time he was willing to touch someone and they pull away. but he understood. "i'm sorry. i won't touch you, okay?"

"okay."

"gracen, do you know my name?" spencer asked, realizing he and rossi never introduced themselves. after she shook her head, he gave a friendly smile. "i'm doctor spencer reid. you can call me spencer if you want, okay?" he spoke softly.

"okay."

"now, can you tell me what happened before we found you?" spencer asked. "i'll help you figure this out. it'll be okay."

the girl let out a sigh and nodded. "i-i was on a road. no cars, nothing. i was running. i...was barefoot."

"how did you find our office?"

"the road led to it. it led to the city...i called for help but no one did." gracen lifted her head, meeting spencer's eyes. her eyes were teary when she said, "no one wanted to help me."

spencer clenched his jaw, and waited for her to continue.

"i heard a gunshot. i-i was scared." she said, followed by, "but i don't know why."

the doctor recalled the first thing he asked agent morgan that morning. the gunshot was for the marathon. "that's okay. it's going to take time. afterwards, you ran into the office right?"

the sickly girl nodded slowly.

"okay. we're getting somewhere." spencer said. "why did you come to the office hurt, gracen? who hurt you?"

gracen shook her head, looking down at her arms, where the scars were visible. "i don't know..." her voice cracked. "i'm so confused. i don't know what happened." a tear fell down her cheek. "i have photographic memory. so why—?!"

"it's okay if you can't remember right now, gracen. see, i have eidetic memory as well. a while ago i was told that i could be at risk for dementia when i'm older. i didn't take the news well at first." the genius admitted. "it scared me to think that one day i won't be able to do the thing i'm best at." spencer said sadly.

gracen, now slightly more attentive to the conversation, asked, "you're scared?"

the doctor nodded. "i'm like you, gracen. i want you to know you're not alone, i'll help you through this, okay? but i need you to answer my questions as truthfully as you can."

she bit her lip and nodded. "okay."

"you said that you killed people. those people you mentioned five days ago. can you tell me about that?"

gracen paused, recalling the memory.

"i'm sitting...in front of bodies. so many of them." more tears streamed down her face. "i can't move—i can't do anything. i killed these people, i-i think i'm so shocked that i can't even move." gracen buried her face in her shaky hands, breath getting heavier and heavier, harder to breathe. she was so terrified. it didn't make sense. and the fact that it didn't make sense terrified her.

sensing the distress bubbling up inside of her again, spencer tried to distract her. "i want you to look at me. can you look at me?" spencer said, waiting for gracen to lift her head to level with his. he was trained to help with these things, spencer was a doctor, after all.

"what color are my eyes?" spencer asked.

"brown." she said.

"look closer. they're not brown." spencer said.

"they have green specks in them." gracen said. "like...dark hazel."

he chuckled, leaning back into the chair. "correct."

she raised her eyebrow. "what was the point of that?"

"...to make you realize that sometimes you have to look deeper to find what you actually need to look for. not only deeper, but you have to realize that there's a possibility of you being incorrect—sometimes you're right but your wrong because right is wrong and wrong is sometimes right." reid paused when her eyes morphed into confusion. he was rambling.

"what i mean is, n-not everything is factual, not everything that comes from—" reid paused and pointed to his temple, "—this thing, is correct. i don't believe you killed anyone, gracen. i believe that something happened to you for ten years that you've suppressed, and we're going to bring it back, okay?"

gracen bit her lip. "i'm so scared." she whispered. "what if you're wrong?"

"i'm rarely wrong, gracen. i'm a genius."

"you are?" she asked, slightly distracted.

spencer nodded, leaning a little closer to her. gracen froze at the closeness, wanting to back away. something inside her told her she shouldn't.

"i can read 20,000 words per minute. and i have 3 phd's." he whispered, like it was some dirty secret. spencer backed out of her space and smiled. "isn't that cool?"

heat rose to gracen's cheeks, she didn't know why she was embarrassed but she was. "y-yeah."

spencer chuckled. there was a small pause of silence before he asked, "do you want some rest?"

"i can't sleep." she said. "i keep seeing—" gracen stopped, not wanting to continue.

"have you told the doctors that?" spencer asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"i just told you." gracen said. "you're a doctor."

spencer chuckled. "i'm not the right doctor, gracen." he got up, and she felt slightly disappointed. "i'll get the doctor to get to something to make you pass out."

panic rose in her. she didn't want to pass out, she was going to see the bodies again. maybe even something worse. when spencer reid began to walk out the door, she stopped him, "i-uh spencer. doctor reid."

spencer stopped and turned around, a friendly smile still on her face. gracen's face flushed, the feeling of embarrassment coming back. "p-please don't, okay? can you just uh—" she couldn't get the words out, it's like she hadn't talked to anyone in years.

"ah...d-do you want me to stay here with you?" the genius asked awkwardly.

gracen nodded, thankful that he was smart enough to catch on to what she was trying to say.

"thank you."

—