Fic: Adapting Logic (1/1 Criminal Minds)
Nov. 1st, 2007 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thefroggTitle: Adapting Logic
Series: Of Innocence and Empathy
Author: Frogg
Beta: Adam
Rating: FRT, mention of rape and torture, slash.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Damnit.
Word Count: 697
Summary: JJ makes an unwanted discovery.
Author's Note: Occurs sometime after Earnest Truth
The conference room was disturbingly quiet; JJ had finished presenting the case, but the normal brainstorming didn't fill in the gaps afterwards. No one seemed willing to break the silence, too busy staring at the photographs, all too vivid memories of brutality painted glossy in blood and suffering.
"Six. It took six bodies for them to realize--" Morgan protested in disbelief.
"Six bodies, six counties, three states. It's not all that unusual," Gideon rumbled.
Reid frowned. "Given the nature of the killings, I would have expected..." He rubbed his forehead, unable to continue. He was not going to be the one to point out the obvious, he just wasn't.
"Considering the stigma attached to this type of violence, we're lucky the survivor's willing to talk to us," Hotch murmured.
Emily tilted her head, glancing between the ID photos. "This guy certainly has a type," she said, avoiding eye contact with anyone, particularly Reid.
"Yes, he does," Hotch answered, a twisted grimace on his lips. The pictures showed lanky, awkward frames, all limbs and joints, dark blond hair and hazel eyes.
"Hotch?" Reid's eyes were glazed, unfocused. "I'm not going undercover for this one."
"Understood."
Tension bled from the room at Hotch's curt affirmative, only to be replaced by confusion. It was JJ who spoke up, questioning. "Hotch?"
"Yes?" Hotch glanced up, steel in his eyes, all but promising retribution if she protested.
JJ gulped. "Um, nothing, sir."
Hotch nodded. "Wheels up in thirty. Reid?"
Reid couldn't suppress a shiver.
JJ met Emily's gaze as the younger woman left the room, sighing at her rueful expression, then turned to slowly gather the photos and papers back into the folder. Quiet conversation became background noise as she put the case back in order.
"You don't have to go with us."
"I--I'm okay, I just." Reid stopped, unable to look at Hotch.
"Hey, Reid." Morgan stood, reaching out and brushing his lover's arm with one hand. "You gonna be okay out there?"
What the hell? JJ forced herself not to react. Every instinct she had was screaming at the sheer wrongness of the situation. Reid always volunteered to go undercover if he had the slightest chance of fitting what the UnSub wanted. He usually insisted on it, as he had with Bryer on the train.
Hotch nodded, taking a step back as Reid moved easily to Morgan's side; there was nothing in the embrace they shared but comfort and understanding and the soothing of Reid's ragged nerves.
Now he was refusing, before having a chance to be asked? Before we even know if it would be possible to use him as bait?
Gideon stood, eyes still on Reid and Morgan, and clapped Hotch on the shoulder before leaving the room.
What the hell had changed?
The stack of photos in her hands clicked against the tabletop. Hotch flipped open his cell phone and hit speed dial.
What did they all know that I...
"Garcia?" Hotch's lips didn't twitch with the threat of a smile, no hint of sparkle in his eyes. "Reid's going to be--Yes. As many different kinds as you can. Sub-dermal, too."
Tracking devices. JJ couldn't help the involuntary shudder, couldn't keep her hands from freezing mid-motion.
Reid could hear Hotch, and not only didn't protest the fact that he was being tagged, he actually relaxed, sinking farther into Morgan's arms.
The only time I would have wanted him to...was when...in Marshall Parish, JJ thought to herself in dawning horror. The last time Reid had gone undercover was before. Before Hankel.
Hotch met her eyes across the table, still on the phone with Garcia, still pointedly not looking at Morgan and Reid behind him.
JJ swallowed, bitter knowledge knotting her gut. She knew Hotch could see it in her eyes, knew that moment of sickening realization was painfully clear on her face. The only thing she could be grateful for was that it was Hotch, and not Reid, or even Morgan, who was watching her recover.
Reid wasn't afraid of death, not here; they'd already established that the UnSub didn't kill his victims directly. Shock, bloodloss and exposure did.
Reid was refusing to put himself at risk of becoming the Unsub's next rape victim.
Because he'd already been Hankel's.
~~~the end~~~
Series: Of Innocence and Empathy
Author: Frogg
Beta: Adam
Rating: FRT, mention of rape and torture, slash.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Damnit.
Word Count: 697
Summary: JJ makes an unwanted discovery.
Author's Note: Occurs sometime after Earnest Truth
The conference room was disturbingly quiet; JJ had finished presenting the case, but the normal brainstorming didn't fill in the gaps afterwards. No one seemed willing to break the silence, too busy staring at the photographs, all too vivid memories of brutality painted glossy in blood and suffering.
"Six. It took six bodies for them to realize--" Morgan protested in disbelief.
"Six bodies, six counties, three states. It's not all that unusual," Gideon rumbled.
Reid frowned. "Given the nature of the killings, I would have expected..." He rubbed his forehead, unable to continue. He was not going to be the one to point out the obvious, he just wasn't.
"Considering the stigma attached to this type of violence, we're lucky the survivor's willing to talk to us," Hotch murmured.
Emily tilted her head, glancing between the ID photos. "This guy certainly has a type," she said, avoiding eye contact with anyone, particularly Reid.
"Yes, he does," Hotch answered, a twisted grimace on his lips. The pictures showed lanky, awkward frames, all limbs and joints, dark blond hair and hazel eyes.
"Hotch?" Reid's eyes were glazed, unfocused. "I'm not going undercover for this one."
"Understood."
Tension bled from the room at Hotch's curt affirmative, only to be replaced by confusion. It was JJ who spoke up, questioning. "Hotch?"
"Yes?" Hotch glanced up, steel in his eyes, all but promising retribution if she protested.
JJ gulped. "Um, nothing, sir."
Hotch nodded. "Wheels up in thirty. Reid?"
Reid couldn't suppress a shiver.
JJ met Emily's gaze as the younger woman left the room, sighing at her rueful expression, then turned to slowly gather the photos and papers back into the folder. Quiet conversation became background noise as she put the case back in order.
"You don't have to go with us."
"I--I'm okay, I just." Reid stopped, unable to look at Hotch.
"Hey, Reid." Morgan stood, reaching out and brushing his lover's arm with one hand. "You gonna be okay out there?"
What the hell? JJ forced herself not to react. Every instinct she had was screaming at the sheer wrongness of the situation. Reid always volunteered to go undercover if he had the slightest chance of fitting what the UnSub wanted. He usually insisted on it, as he had with Bryer on the train.
Hotch nodded, taking a step back as Reid moved easily to Morgan's side; there was nothing in the embrace they shared but comfort and understanding and the soothing of Reid's ragged nerves.
Now he was refusing, before having a chance to be asked? Before we even know if it would be possible to use him as bait?
Gideon stood, eyes still on Reid and Morgan, and clapped Hotch on the shoulder before leaving the room.
What the hell had changed?
The stack of photos in her hands clicked against the tabletop. Hotch flipped open his cell phone and hit speed dial.
What did they all know that I...
"Garcia?" Hotch's lips didn't twitch with the threat of a smile, no hint of sparkle in his eyes. "Reid's going to be--Yes. As many different kinds as you can. Sub-dermal, too."
Tracking devices. JJ couldn't help the involuntary shudder, couldn't keep her hands from freezing mid-motion.
Reid could hear Hotch, and not only didn't protest the fact that he was being tagged, he actually relaxed, sinking farther into Morgan's arms.
The only time I would have wanted him to...was when...in Marshall Parish, JJ thought to herself in dawning horror. The last time Reid had gone undercover was before. Before Hankel.
Hotch met her eyes across the table, still on the phone with Garcia, still pointedly not looking at Morgan and Reid behind him.
JJ swallowed, bitter knowledge knotting her gut. She knew Hotch could see it in her eyes, knew that moment of sickening realization was painfully clear on her face. The only thing she could be grateful for was that it was Hotch, and not Reid, or even Morgan, who was watching her recover.
Reid wasn't afraid of death, not here; they'd already established that the UnSub didn't kill his victims directly. Shock, bloodloss and exposure did.
Reid was refusing to put himself at risk of becoming the Unsub's next rape victim.
Because he'd already been Hankel's.
Previous: Unwanted Resources Next: World Like Sunlight
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Awesome!
Date: 2007-11-02 11:03 am (UTC)Re: Awesome!
Date: 2007-11-02 03:55 pm (UTC)If you want to pick up all the subtleties, you can't just read this particular story - I've been peppering most of the series with bits of stuff around what happened to Reid at Hankel's hands, both before and after. I'll give you a hint - there's four major pieces that Reid (and the rest of the team) are dealing with. We've seen two, and I've hinted at a third.
As for comment/constructive, hey, at least I know someone's actually looking for clues as to what the heck I'm doing to poor Reid.;) Feel free to email me about any theories you might come up with.
Re: Awesome!
Date: 2007-11-02 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-03 08:40 pm (UTC)Can you give me the link to your list of the stories in this series? It's become such a monster series I'm kinda lost. "g"
LeiaDianaMinerva
no subject
Date: 2007-11-03 08:44 pm (UTC)The links are in the sidebar - Timeline and Table of contents (http://thefrogg.livejournal.com/15811.html), The World of... Series Notes (http://thefrogg.livejournal.com/10702.html), and a few other random posts of import.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 05:17 pm (UTC)I too always wonder why not many people seem to conjure the possiblity because upon my viewing of the show I always thought there was something unspoken about the "abuse" Reid had taken.
I have so much I want to say but I think WOW shall suffice for now.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 08:50 pm (UTC)Other than that, I still find your writing and characterizations quite good.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:45 am (UTC)Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 09:13 am (UTC)P.S.: We all live in Atlanta, even if we actually live very far away because if you don't live in Atlanta, you live in Savannah because no one not from Georgia knows where anything is.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 05:06 pm (UTC)I don't think they mention it as a county in the episode, but my external drive just died and I don't have access to my DVDs at the moment, so I can't say for certain, but that's not really at issue here.
The whole situation with the Atlanta case has less to do with the actual location than with the trauma that happened there, not just to JJ and Reid but to the whole team. For them, it will always boil down to "Marshall Parish" - it's like remembering where you were when the towers fell on 9/11, or when the Challenger blew up, or...It's not a universal trauma like that, but for the team, it's on that same level. So they wouldn't think "Atlanta, Georgia" or whatever specific county they were in, they'd just think "Marshall Parish". (I don't know whether or not it actually exists, either, they may have made it up for the episode. I dunno. It's just there in the CM universe, I guess.)
Plus, there is the specificity issue - they may have more than one case in/around Atlanta over the years, so saying "Atlanta" in reference to a case may not be specific enough, but the chances of them having more than one case in/around Marshall Parish are much much smaller, so referring to the Hankel case by that location wouldn't bring up the "Which Marshall Parish case?" question.
I totally understand the 'nobody knows where anything other than Atlanta or Savannah is' issue. Hope this explained the issue a little more.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 10:35 pm (UTC)Oh no, the Atlanta thing was just a funny side note. You have people who live in Cloudland, hours away from ATL, saying they live in ATL because it is just easier. The funniest thing is that no one actually lives in Atlanta proper (except college students).