Sincerity - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

13. Honesty

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people." ― Virginia Woolf

The Protector

I turned to Melanie with wide eyes, my heart thudding painfully in my chest.

London had been bombed... They were seeking revenge on Melanie escaping to safety...

"So... I guess there's a few things we have to catch you up on..." I said nervously, licking my lips as I reached for her hands, glancing around at everybody in the room.

"I know you had a funeral for me, that's okay." She said with a nervous laugh and I shook my head.

"No," I turned to look at the others as Beth sat down beside Aaron nervously, Jack lowering himself onto the arm of the sofa beside Mel. "You've told us about what happened for you when the explosion went off," I recalled. "But we haven't told you about what happened for us..."

The Fighter

My heart sank, of course there were things I had to be updated on. I'd been selfish to think that all that mattered was how my time was spent away from them.

I could only imagine the heartache and trauma they'd all been through.

"The explosion..." Spencer said, squeezing my hands and avoiding my eyes. "How much do you remember before it?"

"Everything," I laughed without humour. "I remember everything about that day." I admitted and Spencer nodded.

"The blast... It... It completely destroyed the unit." He explained.

"I knew it was powerful," I recalled, looking at my family. "I guess I've never really wanted to think about how powerful it really was... But... You guys were okay, right? You... You came to me in the hallway."

I looked at my dad and Spencer, my eyes wide and a lump beginning to form in my throat as I recalled that only Derek, Emily, my dad and Spencer had come out into the hallway after me.

"We did..." My dad nodded. "We were both fine, superficial cuts and bruises." He smiled and I turned to Spencer.

"But...?" I prodded.

Spencer glanced to my dad and then back to my eyes, blinking rapidly and licking his lips.

"JJ and Dave didn't make it."

There was a long silence as I stared into Spencer's eyes, unblinking in disbelief.

I looked from Spencer to my dad, who was smiling sadly at me, to Beth beside him who had her mouth covered as she silently cried, and to Jack who was still sat on the arm of the sofa next to me.

He gave me a small smile and reached out to squeeze my shoulder.

"What do you mean they didn't make it?" I whispered as I turned back to Spencer.

"They were sat too close to Stewart..." Spencer whispered and his voice broke. "They got trapped underneath debris," I whimpered and covered my mouth, squeezing my eyes closed.

"We had a joint military funeral for them," Spencer continued in a quiet voice. "And Will moved the boys back to the South to be with his family."

I whimpered again and dipped my head, my tears dropping onto our intertwined hands.

There was a long silence as I came to terms with the fact that I'd never see one of my best friends ever again, that my dad's best friend was gone forever and I'd never be able to hear his sarcastic wisdom ever again.