gracen knew she wouldn't be able to get that man out of her head. he was wearing a ski mask, so she couldn't see his face, but his eyes. bright blue and piercing.

she tried to instead focus on the man with his arms wrapped so tightly around her, as she cried into his dress shirt. it was dark purple and her tears stained it, making the color darker. spencer rocked her back and forth.

she hadn't seen spencer reid for a week and all those days she had longed for him. to have him right now with his arms around her, made her heart swell. but gracen was too terrified of the man in the flashback to cherish the feeling.

gracen felt another wave of sobs come out, and bit on her lip to suppress her scream. she instead focused on spencer. how he smelled—he smelled like fresh cotton and peppermint. a wave of calm ran through her veins. she felt his strong arms still gripped around her, one moving up to run through her hair. gracen remembered how he said he was a germaphobe—yet here he was, hugging her so tightly in his arms.

she hadn't even seen him yet. this whole time, her eyes had been closed. as gracen's breathing slowed down, her eyes fluttered open, tears still streaming down her cheeks. she had felt so afraid—knowing what would happen to her and the people around her from then on in the flashback.

gracen wanted to see spencer's face. she wanted to see what his expression was at the moment. the girl pulled back, blinking away black dots and squinting until his face became focused.

he was very calm, his large eyes swimming with intensity and genuine concern. spencer's lips were parted only slightly, but they were chapped and cracked. when spencer caught her staring at them, he subconsciously licked his lips. she noticed.

she noticed everything about him. how his wavy hair messily fell down his face, a piece probably blocking his view. how his cheeks were flushed, spots of red shown down his cheek and jaw.

a soft smile crept up spencer face and he pulled her in again, placing a delicate kiss on the top of her head that made her heart stop. she knew there was people watching, but she didn't care. nor did spencer. he blew her away. everything about spencer reid blew her away.

spencer looked down at her wrists, where they were red and blotchy from the her own scratches. he held them, rubbing his thumb over the indents. "you're kind of a fighter." he chuckled.

she smiled, and that's when she saw the dark red spot on his cheek bone and the scratches on his neck. gracen reached up, touching the spot on his face. spencer didn't wince or anything, although it looked very painful. "bruises fade after a week maximum. if you're worried that you ruined my pretty face—"

she lightly shoved him in the chest. "oh be quiet. does it hurt, spencer?"

"no." he gave her a grin. "did you know, there's not really such thing as pain because it's literally just our brain firing a teeny, tiny little neuron in reaction to a stimulus and we're registering it as this weird thing we call pain, but only if we make it so?"

gracen looked at him with confusion.

he let out a sigh. "what i'm trying to say is that it's not painful because it was you that did it."

heat crept up gracen's face, over some stupid fact, she thought. only spencer could flatter her that way.

she was amazed at how she was manically breaking down ten minutes ago and now she was laughing, like nothing even hurt her. that's what spencer could do to her. and she wouldn't want to have it any other way.

"now that's some magic." morgan said, watching from the window of the observation room of the two interacting. he had returned from searching schumacher's house—the man had a solid alibi the night gracen was taken, and football game photos proved that. in addition, he had a wife and a newborn.

hotch shook his head. "i think he likes her."

"ya think?" morgan chuckled.

hotch said nothing as he stepped out of the viewing room.

morgan rolled his eyes. "fucking cock-block."

"reid."

spencer's head snapped up, and he let go of gracen jones—to her disappointment—turning around.

"my office, reid." hotch said, leaving the interrogation room.

spencer let out a sigh. "i'm sorry, gracen." he looked at her nurse, who was still standing there awkwardly. "you can take her back now. thank you for taking care of her."

he was about to leave, but gracen stopped him. "spencer."

he turned around, the glint never leaving his eyes.

"thank you."

spencer nodded, quickly exiting the room.

—

when spencer made it to hotch's office, they sat down in silence. he already knew that hotch was going to scold him for not listening to orders. the man just always had a stick up in there.

"spencer. there are rules in the bau you have to follow."

the doctor looked up, fiddling with his fingers. "i know, hotch. with all due respect, i ended up calming her down so i don't see what the issue is here—"

"—it is not that you disobeyed the orders. you know that personally mingling with victims of an investigation can throw a lot of things off balance, right?" hotch said.

"no, because—"

"first, it starts off with her memories being screwed up because her mind isn't in the place it should be. we need her to focus on getting recovering information, and it needs to be accurate." hotch said.

"when someone dreams, they usually have a 38% chance dreaming of something they had their mind on the same day. it's the brain re-playing information so someone doesn't forget. all of the information is factual—things that actually happened, so there's no problem if she is thinking of me because when her memories surface the brain will replay it with accuracy, not involving me at all, and—" reid rambled quickly, trying to prove hotch wrong.

"reid." hotch said, making spencer stop spurting his facts. "secondly, we're talking about an unsub that has more than just an obsession with gracen jones. everything he does is revolved around her."

"he won't stop until he has her, i get that—"

"—if the killer finds out that you're a new person in her life, he'll do anything he can to murder you in cold blood. you do know that, right? you're risking your life by being around this girl."

"but we all are. we're the ones investigating!" reid said in an exasperated manner. "i can't just leave her alone hotch, she literally has nobody!"

"reid. think. is it worse having someone in your life murdered because of you, or just having someone leave your life peacefully?"

reid bit his lip, dropping his head low. "the first option."

"we need you, reid." hotch said assuringly. "if you were to be murdered one day, the entire team would be in pieces. i know you like her, but you have to let her go early before you two get even more attached."

"if you want to continue doing this job and live." hotch said, his tone almost threatening but spencer knew that deep down hotch only wanted to protect him. it had always been like that, the man did whatever it took to make sure his team was safe. like a father.

spencer only nodded, rubbing his eyes.

hotch stood up, looking down at the poor kid with sympathetic eyes. he was only doing it for his protection. "from now on, you're not allowed to visit or interact with her."

spencer stayed silent, his eyes still trained on the carpet beneath him.

"i'm sorry, reid." hotch said, before exiting his own office, shutting the door behind him.

the genius forced back tears. another person in his life that he had to let go because of this job. spencer wondered why he was still doing this. whenever he was with her, he thought, he felt like the outside world disappeared along with all his stress and worries. spencer knew this would hurt gracen, but she would get over it quicker than he would. as much as it pained him to think about it, she'd probably forget his name in a month.

but spencer had to remember hers. it was for him, the rest of the team, and gracen.

—