Battlecry | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 9

~February, 1995~

I'm pouring over files in the commons area, my eyes burning with the names of every person he's killed.

Ten. He's killed ten people, beginning with the man they found on my birthday.

Ten. And we are no closer to finding him than we were five months ago.

I think I'm losing my mind.

Chris strolls into the lounge with two sodas and some snacks. I close the file as he sits beside me, holding my head in my hands. He gives my shoulder a squeeze.

"Homework?"

I force a brief smile. "Some extra credit for criminology," I lie. I hate that it's so easy to lie to him. I hate that he has no idea.

I lean into his side and he wraps an arm around me, kissing my hair. "Wanna take a break?" he murmurs.

I smile. He kisses my temple, my cheek. My hand strokes his arm. "Chelsea's at class for the next..." I check the clock on one wall. "Forty-five minutes," I finish.

We're in my dorm room in five minutes. He lays on his back, his head propped against the pillows, me straddling him. I crush my mouth to his, hands tangled in his blonde hair.

"This is more fun than homework," he mumbles.

I smile, pulling away. "Definitely."

"Need any help?" he asks, his hands grazing my thighs.

I shake my head. "It's okay, I'll deal with it later."

He smiles, drawing me closer again. "Whatever you say, babe."

Twenty minutes later, lying with half our clothes on and a blanket wrapped around us, my phone rings. I groan, burying my head against Chris's bare chest.

He grabs my phone off the nightstand. "Who's Casano?"

I groan again, holding out my hand for the phone. Chris hands it to me and I answer the call.

"Please tell me the world isn't ending," I grumble.

I can hear the smile in Andrew's voice when he answers. "Not yet. But if you have some time I want to get back into the shooting range."

"Again?" I run a hand through my hair. "I thought you said I was almost ready."

"Almost," Andrew repeats. "We need to keep drilling."

I sigh. "What time?"

"Twenty minutes?"

"Half an hour and I'll be there."

"Deal. See you soon."

We hang up and I fling the phone onto the bed. Chris smiles at me, kissing my cheek. "Do you have to go?"

"Last minute call into work," I tell him as I sit up and pull on a shirt.

"You seem to be working a lot lately."

I don't answer for a minute. Really, I'm working the same hours at the campus bookstore that I always have. But because I can't tell anyone I'm training at the fucking FBI, I just tell everyone I'm going to work. Not a permanent solution, but good enough until the papers for my "official internship" at the Bureau to come through.

"Yeah," I finally say. "I'm trying to save some money."

"For what?"

I give Chris a kiss on the cheek. "An off-campus apartment." So I can work this case without lying to everyone. And also, y'know, not putting the entire college in danger.