Unbroken Souls (Spencer Reid x Reader POV)

Chapter 2

You know that feeling you have sometimes when you're in a deep sleep, where all of a sudden the ground disappears and you're falling down the deepest hole, with no chance of saviour? This wake-up call happens way too frequently for me now that I've gotten into this line of work. I'd like to think they aren't connected, but when you turn it into a timeline of onset... it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. I check the time on my bedside clock: 4:27am. I spent what felt like the next ten hours trying to fall back to sleep but to no avail. By 5:45am I decide it's a lost cause and I may as well just get up and go into the office early. The thing they don't really tell you about social work, regardless of where you work, is that there is never an end in sight when it comes to paperwork. Maybe this will give me a chance to catch up on some things that I've been putting off due to other cases, and if I'm lucky, I might get to see some of the BAU agents coming in. This thought makes me hop out of bed and put extra care into my makeup and outfit today. After getting ready and heading to the door, the crisp morning autumn air fills my lungs as I leave the apartment, giving me an extra boost of awakening as I get to my car and head to the office.

As I arrive, the parking structure is still relatively empty, and the windows of the building are still mostly dark as the sun begins to break over the horizon line. I take my usual route through the building, getting off the elevator and noticing the lights to the main BAU offices are on. Their unit is also filled with restless sleepers who are known to spend too much time at work. I walk past but don't see anyone, just papers on the roundtable desk and the screensaver of the projector, so I continue into my office. I start the coffee machine in our kitchenette and begin working through my pile of paperwork, playing music at a low volume to keep me company in the empty office. I must have gotten really lost in the paperwork because I didn't fully take in how many people were now in the office, or how high the sun had risen. A voice pulls me from my deep concentration, startling me ever so slightly.

"Charlotte? Earth to Charlotte..."

"Agent Sawyer, I apologize, I guess I was really deep into the paperwork! What can I do for you?" I ask my boss who stands leaning against my doorframe. For a man with the stature of a quarterback, he really is quite the teddy bear once you start talking with him.

"Don't worry about it" he chuckles as he straightens up. "I read through your report on the Kelton case, great work on such a difficult case" he says smiling.

"Thank you, sir." I smile back at him, eager to see if he has anything else to add.

"Next big one that comes our way is yours. I heard rumours that the BAU jet headed out this morning so we might end up getting a call. The director has been wanting to use our services a little more on those cases, especially considering the coverage they get, we want to be able to best support those left behind and harmed by the crimes." He says, starting to turn away.

"It would be an honour, sir. Let me know if there is anything else I can do in the meantime to help out" I say as he wanders back towards his desk. I can't help but smile and get excited at the thought of working with the BAU crew. I try to put it out of my mind and focus again on my paperwork to catch up on, but I'm just too distracted and end up needing to retype a bunch of the files I am currently working on.

I am aimlessly staring out my window for god knows how long when I hear Sawyer's phone ring from a few offices down, startling me back to reality. As much as I tried to hear what he was saying, his door was almost fully closed so it was hard to decipher his words. That's when his door swings open and we make eye contact. Sawyer does this kind of look of both fear and anticipation when we get a major case, and in that moment I knew it was happening. The next thirty minutes felt like a whirlwind of gathering things in a bag, trying to get the case information, and having Sawyer talk my ear off about all the ins and outs of working with the BAU, assuring me that if this goes well we could be working more cases with them. Before I even had time to process what was happening, I was hopping on the next flight out to Denver Colorado.