186

13.I don't hate you as much as you think.

Songs:
•Teenage Dirtbag- Wheatus
•Magic- Coldplay

The three of them made their way into the BAU and were met with the very wet faces of Hotch and Emily.

"JJ, Rossi and Garcia are waiting for us at the round table." Hotch mumbled as they walked towards the elevator.

"Alright King Arthur, please do enlighten me on what murders have been going on in the last twenty minutes since we landed." Jane sighed as she shuffled in behind Reid. Emily cleared her throat and handed Jane a file.

"Ohio. Melissa Ridley, 24 was found on her front doorstep."

Jane opened the file and began flicking through the pictures. She saw a woman with deep slash marks lying outside a house.

"Okay so what killed her besides, you know, the whole stabbing thing."

"There were excessive amounts of alcohol in her system. The M.E can't determine which of the stab wounds killed her."

"Alcohol is actually among the most commonly misused addictive substances. Around 12.7 percent of American adults meet the criteria AUD. That stands for-"

"Alcohol use disorder." Jane mumbled, finishing Reid's sentence while still looking at the pictures in her hand. Spencer smiled at her and turned to Emily.

"Why are we being called in? There's only one victim."

The elevator doors opened, and they all rushed out, apart from Jane who had completely zoned out. Reid noticed and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him. She didn't even look up as they walked through the bull pen. Once they reached the conference room Hotch turned to face them.

"Because there might be more."

"Sara Jennings, 26, Laura Heart, 28. All with the same stab wounds but the dump sites were on the other side of town from where Melissa Ridley was found." JJ said as they all sat down. Garcia handed everyone their files and grimaced as she looked at her own.

"Okay so is this the same person or do we have two different unsubs?"

"The only thing connecting the victims is the murder weapon. The ages are completely different and the drop off locations are nowhere near each other."

"It's the same person." Jane said, finally looking up from the papers in her hands. Everyone looked at her.

"How do you know?" Emily furrowed her eyebrows at her.

"See these slash marks?" Jane pointed to the picture. "These are made with a Bowie knife. Melissa Ridley has one deep cut to her stomach. The unsub didn't know what they were doing. They killed her too quickly. The cuts on her arms and legs happened post-mortem. Sara Jennings has more pre-mortem cuts. The unsub wanted to hurt her before she died."

"So how does that show it's the same person?" Garcia asked.

"It shows that whoever is killing these people is evolving. The first kill was an accident. They're trying to improve their skills. Ohio has 564 murders a year so thats only 1.54 a day. That's a pretty small chance of there being more than one unsub." Hotch shared a look with everyone before picking up his file.

"Wheels up in 30."

Jane sighed as she sat down on the jet for the second time that day.

"Tell me every day isn't like this." She said to no one in particular.

"Well statistically speaking, we work up to 7 cases a month which means that-"

Jane raised her eyebrows at Reid who had sat down next to her. He chuckled.

"Sorry. No, everyday isn't like this. Normally we get at least a few hours at home before we have to come back in." He shrugged and opened his book. Jane sighed and rested her head on the back of the couch. Spencer read a few pages and flicked his eyes up to Jane. A small smile edged onto his face as he watched her. He continued to stare at her until she opened her eyes. He coughed awkwardly and pretended to read his book. "What's uh, what's in the bag?"

Jane mumbled under her breath. "36 minutes, 17 seconds." Reid looked up.

"Sorry?"

"36 minutes, 17 seconds. That's how long it took you to notice my bag."

"Oh ok, well what's in it?"

Jane smirked and sat up. She grabbed the bag by her feet and chucked it to Reid. He fumbled around trying to catch it and put his book down. He looked at her curiously.

"Open it."

He raised his eyebrows at her. Jane rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Ugh just do it. Nothing in there is going to kill you- uh never mind. Just open it."

Reid carefully opened the bag and peered inside.

"It's just clothes." He furrowed his eyebrows. Jane's smile grew.

"It's not just clothes. That, my friend, is my go bag."

Reid turned his head to look at her, a grin taking over his whole face. He had two reasons for smiling like an idiot. The first reason was she had remembered their deal. The second reason, she had called him her friend.

"So I'm your friend?"

She shook her head and chuckled, nudging him with her elbow. She looked down at her lap and fidgeted with her hands.

"I don't hate you as much as you think." She looked back up at him and noticed how he was staring at her. He handed her back her bag and he didn't pull away when their hands accidently brushed.

"What are you staring at string bean?" She whispered to him.

He looked down at their hands and blushed.

"You know you don't have to call me that." He murmured. She shrugged, stood up and put her bag on the opposite chair. When she sat back, they were a lot closer together than they were before.

"Well what do you propose I call you?" She smirked. Spencer tilted his head at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't just call you your name."

"I don't understand."

"It's weird." Spencer pulled a face.

"No not your name specifically. Names complicate things so I tend not to use them." His eyebrows furrowed again, and she chuckled.

"Right okay were obviously not on the same page so how about we make a deal." She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I won't call you string bean if you let me cut your hair." She felt his body stiffen under her head and when he didn't reply she pulled away to look at him. He a had a look on his face that she couldn't read.

"What, it's not like I'm going to kill you with a pair of scissors. I could, but I won't." She shrugged and put her head back down. After a minute of silence Jane looked up at him.

"So do we have a deal?"

Spencer closed his eyes and tapped his book that was lying in his lap. He grinned.

"I suppose."

Morgan looked over at the two of them and turned to JJ.

"Should we tell them that they're meant to be working?"

JJ looked up from her file and smiled when she saw Jane and Reid together.

"Lets just leave them for a while."