Chapter Text
As soon as Spencer Reid entered the bullpen another agent whisked past him. It was JJ. Spotting him, she turned, files in hand. "We have a new case, be in the conference room in 10 minutes." Spencer could tell that it was probably gonna be a gruesome and unpleasant case by the thickness of files in JJ's hands and the fact that she was darting around the area at a rather quick pace. By the way others were already heading towards the conference room, Spencer knew that by '10minutes' JJ actually meant 5. He was chill with this though because it meant he still had time to make a coffee before meeting the next big bad.
Spencer was still stirring his warm cup as he took a seat in their meeting room next to Morgan and Prentiss. Prentiss passed him over a file as JJ took Spencer's entering as a que to start the introduction. Reid laid back in his chair to listen. "This is gonna be a fun one you guys and by that I mean gruelling and disgusting."
She waited for images appear on the board before she continued talking. As they popped up, Spencer could see bodies burned and charred, this perhaps being one of the most painful ways to die.
JJ wasted no time in explaining the images on the board to her team who had mimicked images laying in the files in front of them.
"This case is right on our doorstep folks. So far there have been three victims in the space of a week and a half and as you can all see they were burned to death. The locals have managed to ID two of the bodies and are working on the other one. The two that were identified were the owners of the houses they were found in however the third was found in a warehouse off the outskirts of the town."
JJ stopped in order to let the agents absorb the large amount of information that they had just been told about the case. They all looked pretty put off by the nasty nature of the case, flicking through their files to meet the grotty dead bodies. JJ decided to carry on by breaking down the lives of the identified victims.
"The fist victim was a 30 year old mom named Angela Summers who's date of death was 12th April while her only son was at his father's for the weekend. She worked hard, and at the time was working two jobs, one cleaning the local Walmart and the other in a bakery.
The second victim was a 24 year old pizza delivery boy named Jackson Simmons who lived alone in the apartment he was renting. His date of death was April 16th."
"Only 4 days apart." Morgan commented idly.
Due to the deep breath that she was now taking, the team knew JJ was about to lead onto something big.
"Okay, here are the weird parts. Firstly, even though they were all burned to death, no one knows how any of the victims caught on fire as there were no traces of accerlerants and no parts of either the house or the apartment were burned. "
"Alright," Hotch interrupted, "how do we know the victims were burned in their homes and not moved there later? I know it would be very hard without being noticed, but not impossible." JJ was already prepared for this question and jumped right into an explanation. "We have a witness saying they saw the first victim enter their house alone, alive and well only 15 minutes before the M.E says she died. Also for the second victim, cctv for the apartment block shows him entering the building 20 minutes before his death and not leaving the building after that."
"Well, that is strange." Prentiss agreed.
"Unfortunately," JJ continued with more information about the case, "That is not all of the weirdness surrounding this case. The witness from the first victim reported going to check on the house due to seeing all the lights in the house flickering when they discovered the body and a strange, unidentified black goo was found at all three crime scenes."
Spencer Reid squirmed at the term "black goo". However he tried not to show any indifference on his face but knew that he was failing miserably when Morgan turned to stare at him. He had turned such a pale shade that he resembled the snapchat ghost. Soon Morgan wasn't the only one observing the paleness of Reid's face. Obviously it was to be expected; he had never reacted that badly to a case before. Then again this was clearly no normal case.
"Pretty boy? What's happening in that brain of yours?" Morgan looked concerned, waiting for an explanation to spencer's sudden change in demeanour. "Um, uh sorry guys will you excuse me?" Before the others around him could respond Reid got up quickly from the table. Pacing, he made his way to the elevator and hit the button to the ground floor of the FBI building.
Upon his arrival Spencer headed straight outside to sit on the ground. Hurriedly, he pulled his bag onto his lap and dug his hand into the bottom of it before pulling out a cell phone. Before anything was done, Spencer took a deep breath. It felt like a hurricane had come to take him back to Oz but he knew there was nothing else he could do in this situation but return to follow the yellow brick road one more time . A quick scroll through the contacts on his phone quickly uncovered the number he was looking for. It wasn't the person he wanted to talk to but they could hopefully reach the person he was really looking for. Spencer took a quick second to gather his thoughts before pressing the call button. The phone only rang twice before it was picked up.
"Um hey Bobby it's um me Spencer, Spencer Reid." His voice was more shaky than he would've liked. Obviously the guy on the other end of the phone was confused to hear Spencer calling. It was hardly surprising. Spencer had sworn that he would never deal with this kind of stuff again but obviously that 'never' had not lasted as long as Spencer could've hoped. The wait for the man on the other end of the line to reply was anxiety inducing.
"Wow Spencer, you idjit, what are you doing calling me? I thought I would never hear from you again. You ain't coming back to the business are you boy? Because if that's what you're thinking I may have to come all the way to Virginia just to slap you myself."
Well, Spence thought, at least I got a relatively warm hello. This is as much as I coulda expected.
"No, Bobby you don't need to worry I'm happy where I am, well sort of, I've got a kinda problem at the moment and it needs dealing with. It's a supernatural thing up in Virginia. I was ,uh, kinda hoping you had Dean, Dean Winchester's number. See if he can help me out. I know you hadn't spoken to any Winchester in years the last time we spoke but, uh that was years ago. I was hoping you two had stitched up any rips in the Singer-Winchester relationship?"
A heavy sigh could be heard on the other end of the phone, making Spence wonder if he was being a bother.
"Well I do have Dean's number but I don't know if he can deal with whatever supernatural thing you got for you, him and Sam kinda have a lot going on right now."
Hang on, this was news to Spencer.
"Sam, Sam Winchester is hunting again? The last thing I knew, he was off having the time of his life up at Stanford. Shows how far out of the loop I am."
"Yeah well things have changed, Sam has been back hunting with Dean for probably about three years now, I mean it hasn't been easy for them. John, y'know, their dad, died a couple years back too."
Now Spencer definitely didn't know that. All this news really solidified to Spencer just how long he had been gone. However, he didn't have time to obsess about the new information he had been given.
"Okay Bobby, I understand, Dean and Sam have had a tough ride. But I would really want Dean here for this one. I haven't seen him in so long and Y'know... I don't know if we really parted ways on a positive note last time. I wanna make sure we're good." Reid was pretty sure that Bobby would give in now that he had revealed a new part of his agenda. Sure enough the smartass was right.
"Fine, fine I'll text you his number but I can't guarantee that he'll wanna deal with you or the thing in Virginia your so darn worried about."
Spencer breathed a sigh of relief now that he had managed to convince Bobby to cooperate.
"Thanks man"
"Don't thank me yet boy. But before you go, y'know just because you're out of the life doesn't mean you have to ignore us. Cmon call every once in a while at least to say you're alive." Spencer felt a twang of guilt at this last note; it had probably been about four years since he had spoken to any of them and that was all his fault. In his rush to forget the life, he forgot his old friends as well.
"Yeah Bobby I know I'm sorry I'll call I swear I've just been so busy with everything. Thanks again." Spencer could hear muttering on the other end of the line. It sounded suspiciously like 'Busy my ass' before the voice came back clear.
"Whatever you say Spencer. I hope you and Dean aren't too bad and we'll speak again WHEN YOU NEXT CALL!" A few seconds after the loud final statement, the line clicked dead. However a minute later a text came through containing a string of numbers. Okay if calling Bobby was scary, this was anxiety inducing.
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"Cmon Sam enough for now please. Let's quit the research and work just one normal case. I've still got a little while and I'm bored out of my mind." Dean moaned. It was about 10am and Sam sat on the end of his crappy motel bed. Papers lay his hands having already started the research on finding out how to break Dean from his demon deal.
Sam sighed and sat down the papers ready for a debate, or perhaps more like an argument. Ready to tell Dean How research is key to finding what they needed. Ready to say how they didn't have time to stop or take a break. Ready to tell Dean he didn't wanna lose him yet. Ready to tell Dean that Sam would search for an answer 24/7 until they found one. Ready to tell Dean he would do everything he could.
Sam didn't get to say this. Any of it. He was rudely interrupted before the words could even erupt from his lips. A loud piercing ring echoed throughout the motel room. Dean grabbed his cell and peered at the number before answering. Weird. He didn't recognise it at all.
"Who is it?" Sam asked curiously, expecting the answer to be Bobby.
"I don't know man. I don't know the number." Sam was sure he had the same perplexed look on his face as Dean did. Cautiously, his older brother took the call.
"Hey, it's Dean who is this?" The other line stayed quiet for a second but the breathing indicated someone was clearly there. Then a voice came through loud and clear:
"'Dean Winchester' Dean?" It seamed so familiar like the musty scent of motel beds but Dean couldn't place it.
"Uh, yeah that's me." There was a deep intake of breath on the other end of the line. The wait for the unidentifiable caller to reply was like nails on a chalk board. But surely enough, an answer came.
"Um it's me, it's Spencer Reid."
Of course. The answer hit Dean like a stack of bricks. Somehow, it seemed obvious but Dean also felt surprised. He didn't know how to react trying to absorb that Spencer Reid was on the other end of the line. Sam clearly noticed Dean's weird reaction, now whispering his name, trying to catch attention , curiosity and worry tinging his voice. Dean however could only focus on the phone.
"Spencer? What the actual hell? Why are you calling me? You son of a bitch."
"Well it's uh nice to hear from you too Dean."
Okay Dean was confused and tired and shocked. He could justify whatever shit came out of his mouth and down the line.
"No. Don't. Don't give me that bullshit, Spencer. What am I supposed to say? It's been what? 4 years since I last spoke to you. Since I last saw you. Now you're calling out of the fucking blue. How do you want me to react?"
Well saying Sam was confused would be an understatement. A very big understatement. He was trying to sort out what was happening in his mind. Some dude ( Sam guessed was called Spencer) had called Dean out of nowhere and now Dean seemed pissed. 4 years? Sam was still at Stanford 4 years ago , who the hell was this person? He thought Dean had been hunting with their dad the whole time Sam was away at Stanford.
However, he just wanted to listen to Dean and 'Spencer''s conversation and grasp at what was happening from that.
Dean was too focused on his conversation to contemplate what Sam might've been thinking.
"Look Dean I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this I'm supposed to be at work and I called for a reason."
"Which is?" Dean demanded impatiently. The two words Spencer replied with made total sense. Of course they would be the reason for this call.
"Something supernatural."
Something supernatural. That was, unfortunately, always the reason that anything seemed to happen to the Winchesters.
Dean understood now. Whatever this supernatural thing was, it must have been important for Spencer to get involved.
"Okay. Okay. Before we go any further I'm gonna put you on speaker so Sam can hear alright?"
"Oh Sam, I heard about his girlfriend and his escape from Stanford, of course, I would happily meet another Winchester, because apparently one isn't enough."
Sam rejoiced as he heard Dean put the phone on speaker. Finally he could get an understanding of what the heck was going on.
"Right okay. Not that I wouldn't love to have small talk and friendly introductions, that ain't happening princesses. So, Sam, this is Spencer Reid. Spence, this is my brother Sam."
Sam offered a friendly,"hey." Eager to find out what Spencer and Dean had been talking about.
"Hey. So basically I think there is something supernatural here in Virginia and I'd appreciate it if you guys could come waste it."
Dean was confused by just one thing so far and he voiced his confusion accordingly.
"Sorry Spence, but how d'Ya find out about this? I thought you weren't looking for this shit anymore, since Y'know you managed to escape the life?"
Sam could clearly sense some tension between Dean and Spencer and quickly came to the conclusion that things hadn't ended well between them.
"Well," Spencer started with a brief reply, wanting to not get side tracked, "Let's just say it's hard to ignore the signs when they are presented in front of you"
Okay Sam had exercised enough patience in his opinion, now he wanted to know everything.
"What proof do you have that something supernatural is actually happening there?" He asked curiously.
Spencer continued to explain everything that his team had told him.
"They even found a black goo, obviously ectoplasm."
"Definitely something supernatural." Dean agreed.
"Listen guys," Spencer started, " I would love if you guys could come help me out but Bobby told me you had a lot going on so I can always try and find someone else."
Dean was quick to respond to this not willing to risk letting Sam comment. It was hard to judge which way his little brother would swing regarding whether they should take the case or not. However, Dean wanted this case and was quick on the draw. " No Spence, we aren't too busy that we can't swing by. In fact we'll even prioritise your ghostly gallivanting over hunting the 'stay puff marshmallow ghost'."
Sam didn't want say no to the case especially considering it was someone from Dean's past. On the other hand, they were running out of time to find an escape rope for Dean's hellish nightmare. He at least had to present his worries.
"Dean." Sam's voice was dripping with warning.
Great. Thought Dean, Of course Sam didn't wanna take the job. How could Dean have not seen this coming? However, whether Sam wanted to do the job or not was immaterial; Dean was gonna do it. Whether Sam wanted to tag along or not was up to him.