crossoversfics

[crossoversfics]

Hey! Your criminal minds / prodigal son crossover is amazing! I've been checking your profile for updates! I can't wait to see what happens next? :)

Hey there! Sorry I just saw this. I hope to be getting out a couple more chapters this week so stay tuned! Thank you for the feedback! It’s appreciated ☺️

[crossoversfics]

Boy Genius (Chapter 4)

(Spencer Reid x Malcom Bright)

“My boy!” 

Closing the door to the men’s restroom, Malcolm flicked the deadbolt in place, not wanting anyone to overhear the conversation he was about to have. He leaned against the door, trying to even out his breathing.

“Malcolm? You there?” The voice came through the speakers again.

“Dr. Whitly. What can I do for you?” Malcolm kept his tone distant and professional.

“Look I understand we’ve had some issues the last couple weeks but must you be so cold to your own father?” 

Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose, “Dr. Whitly, I’m very busy at the moment so-”

“Oh! That must mean you have a case.” The excitement on the other end of the line was slightly unnatural. Not that Malcolm couldn’t say he didn’t often share some of that excitement, but he was never telling his father that. 

“Yes, I do.”

“Well then, fill me in. I want to hear all the details.”

“No.”

“No?”

Malcolm pushed off the door and walked further into the bathroom, “I’m not at liberty to divulge the specifics of an ongoing investigation”.

“Oh come on. Its not like you haven’t done it before.” The manipulative whine grated on his ears., “I can help you”.

Malcolm noticed his right hand going to town and clenched it into a fist, “Everyone makes mistakes. I have to-”.

“I wouldn't’ admit that to Dr. Arthur.”

He knew he couldn’t hide the shock in his voice so he stayed silent, which only encouraged his father.

“Have you completed a profile?”

“No.” Malcolm bit his tongue, why was he still on the phone?

“The FBI bothering you?”

This time Malcolm didn’t bother hiding his surprise, “How the hell do you know all this?”

His father’s voice sounded thrilled that he now had his son’s attention, “You know this is a lot to talk about on the phone, why don’t you come on over and I can explain more detail.”

Just then a banging could be heard on the bathroom door, “Hey, I need to get in there!”

“I have to go.” He hung up before his father could protest. Malcolm quickly covered the distance to the door and unlocked it. A rather disgruntled looking cop nearly bowled him over.

“Hurry up next time, this bathroom isn’t just for you.”

Malcolm nodded a little embarrassed and stepped out into the office. He looked around absently and his gaze connected with Gil. He smiled slightly at his boss hoping that would reassure him. It seemed to because Gil turned back to whatever he and Agent Rossi were going over.

He started making his way to the conference room and slammed into Dani.

“Oh hey!!”

“Sorry!”

They both spoke at the same time. 

“You know, I get knocked around by suspects plenty, I don’t need you doing it too.” Dani grinned.

“I thought you kicked their asses?” Malcolm feigned surprise.

She raised her eyebrow, “Do I need to kick yours to jog your memory?”

“Ahh no.” Malcolm rubbed his backside.

“Did I hear that someone’s ass needs kicking?” 

Both Malcolm and Dani turned to the voice and noticed Agent Prentiss walking over to them with a twinkle in her eye.

“Oh don’t worry,” Dani patted Bright’s arm, “I can handle this one.”

Agent Prentiss laughed, “I don’t doubt it.”

Malcolm frowned, “I’ll have you both know that I am well versed in six different forms of marshal arts. You never know, maybe I’d kick yours.” He stared challengingly at Dani.

“Ooo scary.” The dark haired FBI agent mocked causing Dani to laugh this time.

“Whatever, I’m going back to the conference room.” He huffed. The two just continued laughing behind him. Malcolm rolled his eyes. He was surprised that Dani and the FBI agent seemed so comfortable with each other, but he supposed, they probably aren’t all bad. 

“We’re afraid you suffer from some of the same psychopathic tendencies as your father.”

He shook his head a little, he didn’t think he could risk finding out. He was almost to the conference room when his thoughts were interrupted by the loudest bang he had ever heard. A white light blinded him and then everything went dark.

                                                               ~

Hotch had been standing next to the evidence board when the windows suddenly shattered. He didn’t remember anything after that. He squinted his eyes trying to get them to focus. It took a couple tries but eventually it worked. He smelled smoke and his mind went into overdrive. Reid. He had been in the room with Reid when the explosion happened. He craned his neck trying to locate his young agent. Then he heard a groan from behind him.

“Reid?!”

Nothing.

“Reid? Are you all right?” Hotch pushed himself up. Wincing as his hands smarted from the glass cutting into his hands. He rolled over and saw Reid lying on his side facing him. Hotch crawled over to him, trying to ignore the pain from all over his body and the ringing in his ears, “Hey, Reid talk to me.”

The young agent blinked, “Hotch? What happened?”

Hotch scanned Reid’s body for injuries as he talked, “I’m not sure. Some sort of explosion.” It looked like just some deep lacerations, but nothing too serious from what Hotch could tell.

“Hotch, you’re bleeding.” Reid started getting up.

“I’m all right. Don’t move yet.” Hotch put a hand on his shoulder and looked around the room. The walls seemed mostly intact but all the glass was completely shattered. He wasn’t sure how far the explosion reached until a bloody Rossi limped over to them.

“Aaron!”

“Dave, we’re ok. Your leg all right?” Hotch inquired his friend.

“Yeah, just some shrapnel, I think.”

“Rossi, what happened?” Reid asked.

Rossi shook his head, “I don’t know. If it was a bomb we should all be dead.”

“Where is everyone else?” Hotch asked looking around once more.

As if in answer to his question he heard Lieutenant Arroyo shout.

“JT you good?!” 

“Yeah boss.” A reply grunted back.

Pretty soon more and more people were starting to come to and quickly the entire building was a frenzy of people trying to figure out what happened.

“We should evacuate the building,” Rossi said to Hotch, “there could be more of whatever that was.”

Hotch nodded, “Tell the Lieutenant to get everyone out.”

“Hotch!” Morgan’s frantic voice broke through the panic around them.

“We’re here Morgan.” Hotch called back. Seconds later Morgan and JJ appeared. Both looked unharmed.

“What happened up here? We were both outside.” JJ sucked in a breath as she took in the bloody sight of her teammates.

“Something exploded.” Reid answered her.

Morgan frowned, “If it was a bomb-.”

“We’d all be dead, we know.” Rossi interjected.

Hotch saw Lieutenant Arroyo walking over to them. He held a hand over his arm, blood seeping through, “What the hell was that?”

“We don’t know.” He replied.

“Gil, we need to get everyone out there could be another explosion.” Rossi warned his friend. 

The Lieutenant nodded, “I’ve already given the order.”

“Gil!” A woman’s shout cried out.

“Dani?” Lieutenant Arroyo whipped his head toward the sound, “What’s wrong?”

Detective Powell’s head popped up over by the edge of where the first door to the conference room used to be and beside her was Prentiss who had several nasty cuts on her face as well. 

“Its Bright.” 

                                                              ~

[crossoversfics]

oh my gosh!!! your prodigal son x criminal minds fic is fantastic!!!! your characterisation is amazing- I’m really hooked by the plot and just wanted you to know that you’re doing amazing!!! hope you have a brilliant week, you deserve it!!

Thank you so much! That means a lot! This is the first time I’ve ever publicly shared any of my writings so I’m so glad someone thinks it’s good. I’ll be writing more this week so make sure to check it out! Thank you again!

[crossoversfics]

Boy Genius (Chapter 3)

(Spencer Reid x Malcolm Bright)

He had seen them arrive and when JT went over to greet the FBI agents Malcolm stayed put. Making nice with the agency just wasn’t on his to do list today. That did not, however, mean he hadn’t begun to profile their new coworkers the moment they showed up. It was less than a minute before JT was calling him over, but it was enough.

Malcolm turned and walked over to them, making sure to keep his micro expressions in check. In a matter of seconds he would learn whether these agents knew about him or not, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

JT introduced him, “Agents this is Malcolm Bright, NYPD profiler. Bright this is-.”

“Agent Morgan,” Malcolm stuck out his hand, and Morgan shook it firmly, “And Dr. Reid”. He did not extend his hand to the doctor, but nodded instead, to which the doctor replied with a small smile.

A sideways glance told him JT was confused, he sighed, “Detective, I’m not deaf, I heard your conversation when they arrived.” 

The response was a massive eye roll from JT and a chuckle from Agent Morgan. So far so good. Neither of the agents had seem startled by his presence. 

“All right, smart ass,” JT grunted, “Let’s get to work then.”

He led both agents over to the dump site with Malcolm following just behind. 

“Both bodies were found lying in this hallway. It had been closed due to construction so that’s why the bodies hadn’t been found before we were called.” JT explained.

“Did the Unsub leave anything behind? Footprints, fingerprints, DNA?” Agent Morgan crouched looking up and down the hallway.

“Nothing that we have identified yet. What did you mean by Unsub?” JT inquired folding his arms.

“It means Unidentified Subject of the Investigation.” Dr. Reid said absently as he walked down the hall a bit, “Have we gotten anything from the CCTV footage?”

JT shook his head ruefully, “There was no footage. The techs said that the cameras had been disabled just before the phone call came into the station.”

Agent Morgan stood, “Surprise surprise, but all the same we should have it sent to our tech analyst Garcia. She might be able to make something of it.” He put his hands on his hips, “This hallway is a dead end, so the only way he could have dumped the bodies here was through the entrance we just came through. There would have been too many people.” He stopped and called out to Dr. Reid who had wandered down the hallway, “Hey, kid what’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

“Just a hunch.” The doctor replied.

“If you’re looking for the trapdoor it’s not above you,” Malcolm spoke after watching them for awhile. He made his way down the hall and gestured to the large tile squares beneath them, “Its below.” 

He knelt down and ran his finger above the cracked sealant around one of the squares, “I haven’t pulled it up yet because the forensic team needs to go over it but I’m sure this is how he got in.”

“He most likely made the phone call from here too and then he could reconnect the cameras and watch us find the bodies.” Reid surmised looking down at him.

Malcolm nodded, “That was my thought as well.” He turned to JT and Morgan, “He spent a long time planning this.”

Neither of them replied. Malcolm swiveled back to Dr. Reid who was looking at him intently.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” 

Malcolm felt his temperature rising, but the very next second he willed himself to remain completely calm, “I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, doctor.”

Reid nodded slowly, his mouth slightly agape, “Yeah, sorry must just be my brain mixing you up with someone else.”

Malcolm forced himself to smile, “Not a problem.” He brought himself to a standing position and shoved his right hand in his pocket, “Is there anything else either of you would like to see?”

Agent Morgan shook his head, “I think we’re good for now, how about you, kid?”

“Yeah, all good here.” The doctor replied still glancing at Malcolm.

“All right then we’ll meet you guys back at the station.” JT said to Agent Morgan.

“Sounds good.” He replied.

                                                                  ~

Reid finished rereading the last of the case files they had on Dr. Arthur, and glanced at his watch. It had taken him thirty minutes and forty-six seconds which was a lot longer than it normally took him. His gaze drifted to the same thing it had been ever since they had arrived at the station. Or rather the same person. 

“This is Malcolm Bright, NYPD profiler.” 

Bright was sitting across from him going through his own stack of case files, seemingly absorbed in his work. Reid wasn’t sure what it was that bothered him about the man, but there was something, off. At first, he’d thought it was some sort of vanity on his part. It was overtly apparent that Bright was the NYPD’s darker, more worldly version of Reid. The way he read a crime scene without much more than a glance spoke of immense talent and he was clearly intelligent, probably more than he let on. 

The more he thought about it, however, the more he didn’t think it could be all excused away by something as petty as jealousy. The one thing he was sure of, Bright did not care for the FBI. Reid had watched Bright bristle in a conversation with Rossi over why he hadn’t applied at the BAU. It was the smallest clench of his right fist that gave it away. There was something there...

“Dr. Reid?” 

A voice floated past him and then echoed in his head as he realized someone was talking to him.

“Yes, sorry.” Reid blinked and his eyes focused in on Bright’s questioning expression.

“No problem. I just wasn’t sure you heard Dani say they got ID’s on the two victims.” Bright handed him another file.

“I did not, thank you.” Reid took the folder and opened it. Time to focus, he chastised himself. After he finished, he looked up to see see Bright eyeing him with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ve never actually met someone with an eidetic memory before. I’d imagine it would be very useful.” 

Reid smiled slightly, “Yes, along with its fair share of drawbacks, and the statistics for an adult having an eidetic memory are-”

“Less than one percent,” Bright finished for him. 

Reid pressed his lips together and nodded. He didn’t try to contain his surprise that Bright knew the statistics, instead he moved back to the case.

“Speaking of memory, all of the victims have a lot of background in research or the study of memories. All of them were highly educated, successful, and popular.” A thought struck him, “You know, early on in this case we theorized that Dr. Arthur wasn’t his actual name and that he was most likely not from the same pedigree as his victims.”

Bright nodded while he massaged his right hand, “That could lead to a couple of possibilities. He could have been undereducated or poor and he resents those of a higher social, educational, or economic status than him. The problem with that theory is all of these victims seem, specific. They don’t read like targets of opportunity.”

Reid agreed, “So he must stalk them then. In all cases, the victims weren’t missed for several days and that takes extensive planning.”

“Yes, but why?” Bright stood up and inspected the board, “There’s no criminal history, no dirty laundry in the families, and none of them are involved in any type of ground-breaking research or controversial studies. The last two, Tate Medford and Juan Santos, were still working on their PhD’s.”

Reid tapped his finger on the table as he thought, “The torture clearly makes him a sadist, and we established that he is a pyromaniac just based on his obsession with fire and explosions.”

“So its safe to say he was probably abused, probably by a male figure, a father maybe. I’d say an intelligent one too.” Bright mused.

“What makes you say that?” 

Reid glanced over his shoulder and saw that Hotch, Lieutenant Gil, Detective Powell, and JJ had come in. It was JJ that had asked the question.

Bright was now facing them too, “Well, just based on the victims he chooses. They all scored in the thirty’s on the ACT or over 1100 on the SAT, they all went to Ivy league schools or were enrolled in one, salutatorians, valedictorians, debate team champs, editors of the school papers, top athletes, they had scholarships, and I could go on and on and on. It looks like he is obsessed with what society deems intelligent or smart.”  

Reid licked his lips, “I agree. It all points to him being angry or at the very least needing a substitute for someone in his life that was very smart.”

“Well why does he need two of them then?” Detective Powell asked with a frown, “and then why does he just go bomb random buildings?”

“That’s the part that just doesn’t make any sense.” JJ replied, “You would think that if it was intelligence he was targeting then he would be bombing schools and museums, but its just old warehouses or apartments.”

The Lieutenant sighed, “I’d say there is a whole lot more that doesn’t make sense besides all that.”

A phone went off and everyone turned to look for the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from Bright.

He pulled out his device, glanced at the screen, and frowned, “Sorry, I have to take this.” 

Reid noted a look that passed between Lieutenant Arroyo and Bright before he left the room but it was gone as quick as it appeared. 

Hotch sat down in a chair next to Reid, “A bomb will be going off without warning any time now. If we want a chance at stopping it we need to complete this profile so the police know what they are looking for.”

Everyone nodded and got to work. As he started reading the file on the two new victims again he realized that the uncomfortable feeling he had about Bright had temporarily disappeared but that phone call had brought it back. He needed to know why.    

[crossoversfics]

Boy Genius (Chapter 2)

(Spencer Reid x Malcolm Bright)

Dani was glancing over Edrisa’s notes when she noticed the two suits standing in the doorway. She closed the folder and stuck out her hand, “Detective Dani Powell I assume you guys are with the Feds?”

The blonde took her hand first, “Jennifer Jareau, and this is Emily Prentiss.”

Dani shook Prentiss’ hand, “Nice to meet you both, Lieutenant Arroyo told me you guys would be coming. Edrisa, our ME, is washing up, she’ll be back in a sec to give us an update on the vics.”

Prentiss smiled at her, but Dani noticed her eyes were looking her over not unlike Bright at times. She wasn’t fond of being profiled and now they had a whole pack of them to deal with.

“How long have you been a cop?” Jareau asked.

“About six years, ma’am.” That was all she was going to say. No need to give them more information. 

“Oh please, just call me Jennifer or JJ.” She smiled.

Dani nodded, “Sure, you can call me Dani.” 

The dark haired one, Emily, gestured to the notes in Dani’s hand, “May I?”

“Of course.” Dani handed the folder over.

“It says here that there was several shallow incisions around the pelvic area of both victims. That’s consistent with previous victims but we never did determine why.” Emily looked up at JJ.

“No, because there wasn’t direct evidence of sexual assault or even a sexual component with any of the victims.” JJ glanced around the room.

A thought occurred to Dani, “I’m assuming you guys probably came to the same conclusion that we did about the burning? Its at least in some part a forensic countermeasure.” 

Emily closed the folder, “Yes, but we also believe he has some form of pyromania. He wants us to think it’s for practical reasons but he most likely was neglected as a child.”

“Or physically abused. Maybe with fire somehow.” JJ added.

“He could have been burned with cigarettes. I’ve seen it way too much around here.” Dani knew her tone betrayed sadness and maybe even a little hurt but she hoped they would think it was from the job. 

“Actually, that’s a very good observation, Dani!” 

Dani smiled in spite of herself, she knew that voice anywhere, “Edrisa, I was beginning to think you ran off.”

Edrisa’s wide eyed stare got even wider if that was possible, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was working on something for Bright.” Her mouth formed a rather large O, “Is that who you thought I ran off with?” She giggled, “You know our relationship is strictly professional. Unless he were to be gentleman about it then maybe I would reconsider.” 

“Edrisa,” Dani interrupted slightly harsher then she meant, “That’s not at all what I was talking about.” She looked at JJ and Emily with as much of a straight face as she could manage, “Agents Jareau and Prentiss this is our ME, Edrisa Tenaka.”

Fortunately, they both seemed simply amused at the situation. They shook a rather sheepish Edrisa’s hand. Dani grabbed the folder once again, “So Edrisa what did you find?”

That was all it took to get Edrisa on track, “Well, my initial report didn’t contain much because of the extensive damage to the skin. After we got them back here I was able to determine that they had been dead for several days and that they had been held in captivity for some time.”

“What makes you say that?” Emily asked sounding curious.

Edrisa lifted the sheet covering one of the victims, “Well the damage, although extensive, left patches on their backs that were almost untouched. My guess is they were being burned from the top only and it was working its way through them. The skin on the back is very pale and lacks vitamin D. They were malnourished and had old scars underneath newer cuts. I’d say they were held for a solid month or so.”

“What about the teeth?” JJ asked, “If this is Dr. Arthur this is the first time he has ever disfigured the face.”

“Yes, that bit was rather interesting,” Edrisa put on a pair of gloves and opened the victims mouth, “At first it just looked like he had pulled them all out but then I got in closer and I found fragments of tooth stuck in the gums at odd angles.”

“What caused it do you think?” JJ frowned.

“Edrisa, were they crushed?” Dani looked at the ME.

“That would be my conclusion.” Edrisa grinned at her.

“So he’s crushing the teeth and then pulling out the pieces? That doesn’t make sense.” Emily ran her gaze over the body.

“What if they weren’t pulled out?” Dani turned to both of the agents, “they’re sticking out in some places at the weirdest angles. What if he crushes them and then leaves them in there to fall out on their own?”

JJ blinked and her jaw dropped slightly.

“What is it, JJ?” Emily prodded.

JJ shook her head, “I think I know what he’s doing.”

                                                               ~ 

Reid followed Morgan through the mass of reporters as they made their way to the crime scene.

“Sir! Sir! Are you with the FBI?”

A voice stood out and it was very close to him. Reid turned and saw a young strawberry blonde woman holding a microphone as close as she could reach.

“Sir, my name is Ainsley Whitly and the people of New York want an answer if they should be worried about their safety.” 

Reid leaned into the microphone, “No comment.” With that he turned on his heel and caught up with Morgan. 

“I thought I’d lost you there, pretty boy.” Morgan’s blinding white grin spread across his face.

Reid gave him a confused look, “I don’t get lost.” 

Morgan’s smile went away as quick as it came, “Ok never mind, I don’t want a run down of how well you know every street and corner of the city lets get inside.”

There were lots of cops making a makeshift lane through the terminal over to where the bodies had been found. As they approached one of the guys standing over the scene went to greet them.

“Detective JT Tarmel.”

Morgan shook his outstretched hand, “SSA Derek Morgan and this is Dr. Spencer Reid.”

The detective extended his hand to Reid, but Morgan stopped him, “Don’t bother, he’s a bit of a germaphobe.” 

“If being a germaphobe means that I am distinctly aware of 1,500 different types of bacteria that live on every square inch of any given person’s hands then yes I’m a germaphobe.” Reid retorted.

The detective looked slightly confused, “Oh boy, you have yourself one of those.”

“He’s our boy genius.” Morgan chuckled.

“Well then he and Bright should get along just fine.” Detective Tarmel replied still looking Reid over.

Wanting the subject to be off of him and finding it oddly off-putting to hear someone else being called ‘boy genius’ Reid interjected, “And who is Bright?”

“Malcolm Bright. He’s over there.” The detective pointed to a lone man standing with his back to them. Tarmel continued, “He’s our profiler and a bit of an acquired taste.” He waved to his companion, “Hey Bright, come over here.”

[crossoversfics]

Boy Genius (Chapter 1)

(Spencer Reid x Malcolm Bright)

Reid pushed open the clear glass doors to the BAU offices. There was a hurried air about the place, which was quickly made even more so when Garcia appeared at the top of the stairs waving him down.

“Reid! We have a case! Hotch wants us to meet him in the briefing room ASAP!”

“Coming!” He called back.

She nodded and shuffled/walked in her trademark fashion into the briefing. Reid noted that she was wearing her fuchsia pink lipstick as well as her most over the top dress with the sequins. Penelope liked to compensate for the evil that paid their bills with her extremely ‘vibrant’ wardrobe. The more she stood out the worse it was. He frowned to himself, the case must be bad.

Almost the moment he was through the door, Morgan grabbed his shoulder and leaned in, “Kid, we found him”. 

For the second time that day, Reid frowned, but he knew exactly to what Morgan was referring, “Dr. Arthur? How? We haven’t had a lead in almost five years.”

“NYPD just called,” Hotch answered for Morgan, “two new bodies were found in Grand Central”.

To be precise, the remains of two bodies were found,” Garcia wrinkled her nose as she clicked through the slides, “Two hours ago NYPD was called to Grand Central Station for a bomber threat. The caller did not identify himself but gave explicit instructions on the location of a bomb. When police arrived, they did not find a bomb, instead-.”

“They found two bodies that had recently been in an explosion,” JJ said softly looking at the images on the screen.

It was all Garcia could do to nod in reply.

Was there any sign of pre-mortem torture before the explosion?” Prentiss asked, a thoughtful expression came over her features.

Yes, and the ME was able to determine both victims were males but they are still waiting on ID’s”.

Reid noticed Garcia peeking at the plasma but quickly she closed her eyes again. He flipped through his paper folder, and noticed a small detail he hadn’t recognized previously, “This says that the teeth were removed?”

Yeah, I saw that too,” Rossi replied twisting his signet ring around his finger, “It says that the ME noted the teeth had been removed pre-mortem as well. What’s that about? Is this a part of the torture?”

“If this is Dr. Arthur it would go against his previous MO. He always left the victims’ faces untouched when he tortured them”. Morgan’s eyebrows knitted together as he spoke.

Hotch chimed in, “That’s the first thing we need to rule out. Five years is a long dormant period for any serial killer so this could be a copycat trying to impress him or is too inadequate to come up with an original MO. Wheels up in twenty.”

Everyone began exiting the room, but Garcia’s voice stopped them.

“Wait, wasn’t this the guy that alternated between bombing buildings and then torturing two men before blowing them up somewhere else? Isn’t that this guy?” She gulped a little as she spoke.

“Yes,” JJ nodded slowly, “Which means copycat or not we don’t have long before an actual bomb goes off.”

She locked eyes with Reid, and he saw the tension in her jaw. “I’m fine JJ,” he said as they walked out, “He won’t get away this time.”

“No he won’t,” Morgan agreed squeezing both of their shoulders, “This time we will bring him in.”

“You sure about that?” JJ’s voice held some very thinly veiled skepticism, “He completely fooled us last time around and it nearly got Spence killed.”

 “That was before,” Reid made sure his voice projected confidence, “Morgan is right. We’ll get him.”

“Atta boy,” Morgan clapped him on the back.

Reid smiled and separated from them to swing by his desk. He waited a moment and watched the others enter the elevators. Once the doors closed, he grabbed a key from under his desk and unlocked his filing cabinet. His fingers flew, knowing exactly what he was looking for. A thin envelope brushed against his fingertips. He pulled it out and stuffed it into his bag. After re-locking the cabinet and returning the key to its hiding place, he glanced around one more time as he stood and made his way to the elevators. It took a minute for an empty one to open. Finally, one did, and he stepped inside. Reid blew out a long-held breath once he was inside. No one had seen the envelope and it needed to stay that way for now.

                                                                ~

It had been almost three hours since the call about the bomb had come into the department. He could not understand for the life of him why the hell he was sitting in Gil’s office and not out at the crime scene. Malcolm felt a tingle in his right hand. He looked down and sure enough his tremor was back. Not noticeable to the untrained eye but to him it might as well have been a siren. He had been doing so well for months and one case was derailing all of his progress. He looked around, worried his mother might show up at that exact instant. She had an unnerving way of doing that. 

Closing his eyes, Malcolm focused on his breathing. He needed to relax, or he just needed a case. That always did the trick and one had landed so conveniently in his backyard. A soft click behind him alerted him to Gil’s presence and he shot out of his seat.

“Gil! Finally! Why didn’t you have me meet you at the crime scene? It looks like Dr. Arthur, which makes this a serial killer case. That’s my specialty.”

“Bright!” Gil held up a hand, “Calm down. We’ll head over to the scene in a minute. I just needed to talk to you about something first.”

Gil looked him over with one of his I-am-constantly-worried-about-you looks. Malcolm focused on controlling his hand. He couldn’t afford a tremor right now. Eventually, Gil seemed satisfied and walked around behind his desk and sat down. 

After a moment he spoke, “The brass caught wind that this could be Dr. Arthur and they called in the FBI.” He paused briefly, “I had no say in the matter.”

It was a while before Malcolm replied. He clenched and unclenched his jaw multiple times. At length he spoke, “Is this a matter of whether our team can handle the case or whether I can?”

“Kid, we are still working the case. That’s better than being taken of it entirely” Gil intertwined his fingers, “All I know is what they told me. The Behavioral Analysis Unit is the one we will be working with.”

“Gil, they couldn’t be more clear if they had written it on the wall. That’s an entire team of profilers!” He glared at the window overlooking the rest of the office. If he thought he needed to control the shaking before he had been sorely mistaken. “This is just their passive aggressive way of saying, how did JT put it, that I’m wack.”

Gil leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk, “They are working with us, not against us.” 

Malcom sighed and rubbed his left temple, “Gil, all due respect, you don’t know the FBI like I do. They probably already know about my unfortunate relations, and if they don’t they’re profilers.” He glanced sideways at his mentor.

Gil didn’t reply.

Malcolm felt a massive tremor coming on which was just what he did not need right now. He stood up and thrust his hand in his pocket, walking to the door. Before he opened it he looked back at Gil, “If you could not mention Dr. Whitly I would appreciate it. I’m tired of having to defend my sanity for the hundredth time.”

Gil nodded, “Kid-”

“I’m good.” Malcolm gave him a tired smile and walked out.

                                                                 ~

David Rossi smiled as he walked into the NYPD office. Aaron was right behind him as they stood in the entrance looking for someone in charge. Rossi had spent many hours in this building back when the BAU was just getting started and there was one face in particular that he was looking for.

“David Rossi?”

He turned to meet the voice and to his immense pleasure it was exactly who he had been hoping it was, “Gil Arroyo! It has been too long! How have you been?”

Gil smiled, “I’ve been good, and better now that you’re here. I had thought you’d retired?”

“Yes, but I found that writing about solving crimes doesn’t quite do the trick.” Rossi laughed, “It’s good to see you old friend.” Then he remembered why he was there, “Oh, forgive me, this is Aaron Hotchner our unit chief and a good friend of mine.”

Aaron stepped forward and shook Gil’s hand, “It’s good to meet you, I’ve heard many stories. I was told you are the leading investigator on the case?”

Rossi’s lips twitched upward slightly, leave it to Aaron to get right down to business. Gil was leading them to a conference room and relaying what he knew about the case.

“This is where we usually do our briefings, it should be big enough, although I had thought there were more of you.” He said looking at Rossi.

“There are. Agents Prentiss and Jareau are heading down to talk with your ME and Morgan and Reid are headed to the crime scene.” Aaron answered.

“Ahh well I have Detective Powell with the ME and Detective Tarmel at the crime scene so they should be introduced here shortly.” Gil said nodding.

As he was speaking, Rossi remembered something, “Hey, Gil didn’t you tell me you had your own profiler? I thought I remembered hearing he was some sort of prodigy.”

Gil smiled, “Yes, that would be Malcolm Bright. He’s our resident genius you might say.”

“Well maybe I can convince him to join the agency then.” He laughed.

Gil smiled again but this time it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Rossi wondered at that but now wasn’t the time to ask. It was time to get to work.