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Y/N is having a hard time during a case involving kids.

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mentions of children dying, mentions of blood

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Derek Morgan watched as the two youngest members of the BAU innocently talked to one another, wide smiles present on both of their faces. Derek rolled his eyes, he wasn't annoyed that they were talking by any means - he was annoyed that the two of them were completely oblivious to one another. From over Spencer's shoulder, Y/N caught sight of Derek and sent him a smile and a small wave. Derek smiled back to her and waved before Y/N resumed her conversation with Spencer.

Emily approached Derek and followed his eye line to Y/N and Spencer who had moved to sit down and continue their conversation. However, the two were sitting far too close to one another for either Derek or Emily to consider it friendly. Everyone knew that Spencer didn't shake people's hands because he was a slight germaphobe but it was a whole different story with Y/N. The two would always be touching in some kind of way.

"They're at it again?" Emily questioned.

"Yep." Derek answered.

The two watched as Y/N laughed at something Spencer said and nudged his leg with her foot - happiness radiating off the two of them.

"They have to realise it at some point. For the two smartest people in the room, they sure are oblivious." Emily said as her and Derek faced each other, not wanting to get caught staring by Y/N and Spencer.

Later that day, they were on the plane heading to a new case. Y/N sat next to Spencer while Rossi and JJ sat opposite them. The case involved children or teenagers, something that the BAU hated. Y/N was tense as the group discussed possible theories, she stayed mostly quiet except to pitch in where she felt was needed - a complete contrast of how she had been acting earlier that day.

Spencer, who could sense something was wrong with Y/N, turned his head to look at her. Y/N had her hand on her lap clenched tightly in a fist that her knuckles were turning white. Even though Spencer hated cases involving children just as much as the next person, he knew that Y/N despised cases involving children or teenagers.

He reached over and took Y/N's clenched fist in his hand, rubbing his thumb slightly over her white knuckles, that were now beginning to get their colour back due to the release of pressure. Y/N turned towards him and gave Spencer a tight lipped smile as a small thank you before she laced her fingers with his - not removing her hand from his for the entire flight.

***

While everyone was heading back to their hotel rooms, Y/N bumped into Spencer - literally.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Y/N exclaimed, as Spencer held onto her arms lightly to steady her.

"No, it's okay, you don't need to apologise." Spencer replied.

"Okay, but I'm sorry though, I wasn't looking where I was going." Y/N said, crossing her arms over her chest, a habit Spencer had grown to know as her being anxious or nervous.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Perfectly fine." Y/N lied, even though she could tell Spencer could see right through it. The two hadn't seen much of each other during the day. While Spencer was at the police station creating a geographical profile, Y/N had spent the day interviewing the victims families, not something she wanted to do as the victims, Christopher Grant and Zoe Atkinson, were only eleven and thirteen.

"I can tell you're lying, Y/N." Spencer said softly.

Y/N sighed, "It's just this case. I don't normally get this worked up over a case but two kids are dead and a third is missing. I just want to catch the sick son of a bitch that did this."

"We will Y/N. We'll catch them." Spencer said

Y/N stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Spencer's neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Spencer's arms immediately wrapped around her waist, pulling her against his body, his head buried itself in the crook of her neck.

"We better." Y/N mumbled against Spencer's neck.

The two stood there for a moment. In reality, it was only a few more seconds but to both Y/N and Spencer, it felt like hours. It felt like they were wrapped up in their own little world and that nothing can harm them. Y/N pulled away from the hug first - although she did it quite reluctantly.

"I should, um, get to my room. I don't want to be tired in the morning." Y/N said, fiddling with a loose thread on her shirt.

Spencer cleared his throat, "Yeah, I should probably be doing the same."

Y/N gave him a small smile, "Goodnight Spencer." She walked down the hall and to her room leaving Spencer to do the same.

***

The next couple of days were harder than the first. They were barely closer to finding the missing child and catching the unsub. Y/N was beginning to stress over it. If she had a genie, two out of her three wishes would be about this case.

Y/N was slumped over many files she had to read through and it was taking her a lot longer than it should. She couldn't read as fast as Spencer but she would consider herself a fast reader. However, she just couldn't focus, the words seemed to blur together on the page making it look like one big ink blur. Y/N rubbed her eyes before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. She wasn't tired physically, she was tired mentally. All she wanted was for the case to be over. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Y/N recoiled, not expecting the contact. She opened her eyes to come face to face with Derek Morgan.

"Oh, hey." Y/N said, sitting up straighter in her chair.

"I thought you were asleep." Derek said, taking a seat next to her.

"Just resting my eyes," Y/N replied, "I just can't seem to focus on these files. I've barely gotten through half of them and I've been here for nearly two hours. It doesn't normally take me this long."

"I can take them off your hands." Derek offered.

"No, no it's fine. I think I just need a drink, that's all, I haven't had one since this morning." Y/N replied, tucking in her chair to get back to the files.

"Y/N, it's fine, go and clear your head and come back when you feel a bit better." Derek said.

Y/N sighed before walking out of the police station into the cool evening air. She walked around the town trying to clear her head. However, she just couldn't do it. Her mind was constantly on the case. She just had to figure it out.

As Y/N was walking, it seemed as if the world had disappeared around her. All she could see was aspects of the case that they knew. She knew that the two kids that were killed came from a single parent household and the missing kid's parents were currently going through a divorce. She knew that single parents had to be a large factor in the case but through all the files she had read through, plenty of them came from single parent households so it didn't really dwindle it down that much.

"Y/N!" A voice called out. The world Y/N created around herself melted away and she was back in the real world. She turned around to see Spencer rushing over to her, two cups of coffee in his hands.

"Hey." A genuine smile presented across Y/N's face for the first time that day.

"I got you this," Spencer held out one of the cups of coffee to her, "Derek called me saying that you were having a hard time so I was going to bring back some coffee for you, it's better than the machine at the station."

Y/N took the cup of coffee gratefully and took a small sip, it burnt the inside of her mouth slightly but it was okay to drink.

"So did you and JJ have any luck?" Y/N asked as the two began to walk back to the police station.

"A bit," Spencer started, "We figured out that the unsub is someone the kids trust, most likely works at the school or is close to the families since there wasn't any sign of struggle on the victims."

Y/N was silent for a moment, if it was someone the kids would've trusted, it made her think of one of the files she had read through earlier that day. A couple of files she wanted to look back over in particular.

"We need to get back to the station." Y/N said before she laced her hand with Spencer's and practically dragged him back to the police station.

The two of them burst through the doors and Y/N made her way over to the files, Derek was still going through the last few when she approached, "Derek you can stop now." Y/N rummaged through a couple of the files before pulling out the two she wanted. Richard Morris and Jasper Haig.

"We profiled the unsub as being late thirties to early forties, from a single parent household, most likely believing that what he is doing if for the kids own benefit because he was neglected by a single parent when he was a child," Y/N said while everyone listened, "Now as I was reading through these files earlier, none of them really jumped out to me until Spencer told me that the unsub was likely connected to the kid or family as there was no sign of struggle so there was some sort of trust there."

Y/N spun the files around on the table so the team could see the files, "Richard Morris, worked with Amie Grant, Christopher Grant's mother, and he was close family friends with the Atkinson family before the parents went through their divorce, his connection to the missing kid I'm not sure of yet. And Jasper Haig worked at the school all three victims attended as a janitor."

Hotch pulled out his phone, "Garcia, pull up everything you have on a man called Richard Morris and a man called Jasper Haig."

"Okay, Richard Morris, from a single parent household, worked with Amie Grant, family friends with the Atkinsons, there's no record of him having any connection to the third victims family. Oh, and he's out of state visiting his mother in Chicago." Garcia said.

"And what about Jasper Haig?" Y/N questioned, hoping that her deductions about the possible unsub was correct.

"Jasper Haig, oh-oh no," Penelope said, "Jasper Haig grew up with his father once his mother left when he was ten. Reports say that he would show up to school looking malnourished and bruises all over his body. He's currently working as a janitor at the school where all three victims are from."

"That's got to be him." Spencer said.

"Garcia, send over his address." Hotch said.

"Already done."

"Okay, L/N, Reid, Morgan, you're with me." Hotch said while walking away.

"You ready to catch this unsub?" Spencer said to Y/N as they followed Hotch.

Y/N turned to him, a look of determination on her face, "Definitely."

When they got to the house, Y/N clutched her gun tightly in her hand as Morgan kicked open the door. She rushed in after him holding her gun in front of her. As they entered the house, they found a figure lying unconscious in the corner. Morgan rushed over and found the missing kid. Y/N sucked in a breath, assuming the worst before Morgan announced that they were breathing. They found the kid, all that was left was to find the unsub.

Y/N headed up the stairs, followed by Reid. She got to the landing and every door was open by one. Y/N nodded to Reid who held onto the door knob, preparing to open it. He twisted it and pulled it as Y/N walked in. she was greeted with the sight of the unsub. He had a gun raised at her.

"Jasper Haig? You are Jasper Haig right?" Y/N questioned even though she knew the answer, the man nodded but still continued to raise the gun, "I'm putting my gun down alright?" Y/N held her hands up before slowly crouching down to place her gun on the ground.

Even if Y/N was sickened by what this man had done, she wasn't going to let it show at this moment. Spencer came into the room gun raised. Jasper pointed her gun towards him, "Jasper, ignore him, this is just between me and you, okay?" Jasper pointed his gun towards Y/N again.

"Listen, I know that your childhood was tough but those two kids you killed didn't deserve what happened to them-"

"I was saving them!" Jasper barked, cocking his gun.

"Okay, okay, you were saving them, but from what, a loving family. Listen to me Jasper, there were many other ways you could've helped children that actually needed saving." Y/N said, still trying to talk the unsub down.

"They needed saving!" Jasper yelled yet again, stepping closer to Y/N but she made no move to step back.

"Jasper-" A gunshot went off then another. It took until Spencer yelled for a medic that Y/N realised that she had been shot in the arm. Luckily it seemed the bullet had only grazed her but that didn't stop Spencer from rushing over to Y/N.

Spencer pressed his hand against her wound to try and stop the bleeding, "You're okay, you're okay." Spencer said, trying to reassure himself more than Y/N.

The medics rushed up the stairs and took the unsub away, who was still alive, while they took Y/N away to get bandaged up. Spencer never leaving her side. As the medics were wrapping up her arm, Y/N gripped Spencer's hand tighter, not realising until now how much her arm hurt.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked worriedly.

"As okay as someone who has just been shot," Y/N answered before looking down at Spencer's hands, they were still covered in Y/N's blood. With her good arm, she reached to the side and took a rag and handed it to Spencer, "I'm pretty sure that you don't want my blood on you much longer."

Spencer took the rag from Y/N and began wiping away the blood on his hands. They two watched as the unsub was taken away for surgery. Even though Y/N didn't witness him being put in the back of a police car, knowing that he would be going to prison gave her the satisfaction that she had been craving the last couple of days.

Derek approached both Y/N and Spencer, "You okay, Pretty Girl?"

Y/N smiled at Derek, "Surprisingly okay for someone who was shot in the arm."

"Good to hear, Prentiss and I were gonna go out tonight before we leave tomorrow, you wanna come with?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I want to just go back to my hotel room and have a good night rest," Y/N replied, "Thanks for the invite though."

"What about you Pretty Boy?" Derek asked Spencer.

Not so subtly, Spencer turned towards Y/N who was now watching the medic tie off her bandage, however, Morgan noticed the look he gave Y/N and smirked, "I think I'm going to do the same as Y/N." Spencer replied.

"Sure you are." Derek teased before walking away.

"Since you're heading back, do you want to go back together?" Spencer asked Y/N, "Only if you want to though."

Y/N smiled at Spencer, "Let's go Dr Reid."

When they got back to the hotel, Spencer walked Y/N to her room making sure that she was okay with her injury even though she had expressed that she was fine and that it was only sore the entire way. The two stopped outside of Y/N's door and she opened it.

"So, um, goodnight Y/N." Spencer said, before he began to walk down the hall to his room.

"Wait!" Y/N called out before he got too far, "Do you want to come in?"

Spencer paused for a moment, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we could see what's on the TV or we could just sit and talk, we haven't had a chance to do that these past few days," Y/N suggested, "If you don't want to and are too tired it's fine-"

"I'd love to." Spencer cut her off. He made his way back to Y/N room and she stepped aside to let him in before closing the door behind her.

Y/N wandered over to her bed before sitting down on it, her back against the headboard, she patted the empty place next to her, signaling for Spencer to come and sit by her, to which he complied. He two sat in silence for a moment before Y/N rested her head on Spencer's shoulder, a gesture she did quite often.

"I'm glad we solved this case." Y/N said, staring at the blank TV screen in front of her.

"So am I," Spencer said quietly, "I'm just not glad you got shot."

"I'm fine Spencer, the bullet only grazed me. I'm just lucky that you were there or he might've shot a more lethal place." Y/N said, shifting her body to get closer to Spencer.

"He might've shot a more lethal place regardless if I was there or not. Y/N, if you died, I wouldn't know what to do with myself." Spencer said, turning his head so his lips were grazing the top of Y/N's forehead.

"Well you don't have to worry about that, Spence, because I'm not going anywhere so I guess you're stuck with me." Y/N said, closing her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

"I don't think that's a bad thing." Spencer replied, following in Y/N's footsteps and began to gradually drift off to sleep as well.