Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The office was filled with the general chatter of life, occupied with the sounds of ringing phones and pens scratching away at rustling papers. The BAU team were trudging their way through piles of paperwork, somewhat relieved not to be out on a case though feeling somewhat bored. Dr Spencer Reid spent the better part of an hour sitting on his desk staring at the glass doors, waiting.

“Hey, pretty boy, what are you doing?” Morgan asked as he walked past Reid's desk on the way to the break room.

“Waiting for the new agent. They should be arriving today,” Reid explained, absentmindedly. 

“Don’t you have paperwork to do?”

“I already finished it, and I already asked Hotch for extra files and finished the ones he gave me,” Reid responded somewhat distantly.

“You ok?” Blake asked, leaning over to look at Reid more.

“I’m fine, just nervous,” Reid shrugged.

“Nervous?” Morgan smirked, moving to lean near Reid on his desk.

“We don’t get new agents often, most of the time it's been to replace an agent that left and no one has,” Reid reiterated. 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, kid.” Morgan tried to sound reassuring. 

“What do we know about them anyways?” Reid asked, fighting the urge to bite his fingernails.

“He's a guy, apparently he has a couple of doctorates,” Blake answered.

“Another genius?” Morgan practically whined, though it was very light-hearted, he was excited to see how well the new guy would interact with Reid.

“I don’t think so,” Blake countered with a shrug, “I heard that he transferred from MI6 as well.”

“British?” Morgan wondered, taking a sip from his old coffee, the one he was on his way to replace, he was too invested in the conversation now though.

“Apparently.” Blake shrugged again, Morgan looked over to Reid, who had been suspiciously silent and saw the younger rocking back and forth slightly. Before Morgan could try to talk with Reid the sound of an opening door caught his attention. The first thing he noticed was the mop of black hair as the agent bent down, picking up his scattered belongings after he dropped them walking through the door.

“Shit, fuck,” he huffed, the English accent solid with an Irish twinge. 

“Bollocks.” the agent huffed again as he dropped some of the things he'd managed to pick up. Blake raised an eyebrow at his language as Morgan stifled a laugh, placing down his coffee and making his way over to the fumbling agent. 

“Hey man, you ok?” Morgan asked as he started to pick up some of the papers and passed them over.

“Yes, fine. Just a little nervous and I have a reputation for being a clutz. It was really a matter of time. Honestly, I’m a little glad it happened right away,” the agent smiled, taking the fumble in stride. Morgan watched the other, he was young, that’s for sure, he looked like he was in his mid-20s. His black hair seemed to be a purposeful mess, similar to how Reid’s hair was, just shorter. His eyes were a light blue that seemed to shift as the lights changed. He had very high, sharp cheekbones that somehow made him look endearing. He was tall, though not quite as tall as Morgan, he was very skinny as well, lanky like Reid. He was wearing a light grey turtleneck, with high-waisted black trousers and a black coat. The more Morgan observed the other, the more similarities he could see between the newcomer and their youngest member. Oh, gods, it’s an English version of Reid.

“I just hope you’re not that clumsy with a gun,” Morgan grinned, making the agent laugh. 

“I manage to keep my grip when it matters,” he joked back. When he finally managed to get everything back into his satchel he glanced around the room and then made eye contact with Morgan again. “Would you mind telling me where I can find Aaron Hotchner?”

“Not at all,” Morgan points behind him to the small stairs up to the catwalk, “the first office up the stairs, his name is on the door in case you get lost.”

He laughed again before giving Morgan a quick wave and rushing off to meet the unit chief. Morgan smiled to himself before walking over to the other two waiting for him to return with intel. 

“So?” Blake pushed, having scooted completely over to Reid’s desk.

“He seems nice. Made a joke about dropping his stuff, and said it happens a lot.” Morgan summarised, he then pulled out his phone and texted into the group chat that the new agent arrived. Garcia soon came running into the room, JJ following soon after though much more subdued. Everyone was soon talking amongst themselves with a notable exception.

“Spence? You ok?” JJ asked, scooting towards the brunette. 

“I’m fine… he just seemed weirdly familiar,” Reid muttered. The group quietened when they saw Hotch approaching them with the new agent. Hotch stopped before them and turned back to the agent. 

“This is the team. SSAs Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Dr Alex Blake, Dr Spencer Reid and our technical analyst Penelope Garcia. I’ll introduce you to our last member when I show you the conference room,” Hotch informed, pointing out each person as they waved at the newcomer, “Team, this is SSA Dr Merlin Ambrosius.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Emily told me a lot about you guys,” he smiled.

“You know Emily?” Reid asked.

“We crossed paths a few times,” Ambrosius shrugged

“Wait, Merlin is like a wizard?” Blake wondered. 

“Warlock actually but no, try the bird. My mother loved watching birds and she would always swear that a merlin ate from her hand when she was pregnant with me,” Ambrosius answered with a shrug. 

“You seem close to your mum,” JJ added. 

“I was, we basically only had each other,” 

“Was?” Garcia questioned.

“She passed away, cancer.” Garcia made a pained noise at the sound but Ambrosius just shrugged, “it’s fine, it was a few years ago so I’ve had time to grieve. We also had warning and time so we spent as much time together and said our goodbyes.”

“What about your dad?” Reid asked next. 

“He wasn’t really in my life. Not that I blame him, he didn’t know about me. He and my mum had a quick fling, and didn’t know how to contact her after they split ways,” Ambrosius explained with a shrug.

“How do you know?” Blake asked, confused at the amount of information.

“I found him, I didn’t really mean to. He found out who I was while we were talking, then again I was told he was my father by my Uncle.”

“How did he react?”

“He was really happy actually, he always wanted a family but he wasn’t very good at the whole dating thing.” Ambrosius shrugged again. Hotch then cleared his throat and Ambrosius took that as his cue to end the conversation and follow the team leader up to the walkway. 

Chapter Text

Merlin sighed as he leaned back in the seat and opened the book in front of him. His friend Lex has been going on and on about the book and he decided to give it a read, then again, it wouldn’t take much to convince him to read a queer retelling of Greek mythology. Would it really be a queer retelling? Knowing how generally gay Greek mythology was. Regardless, he was excited to dive into the book. He had read the first chapter by the time the waitress brought over his food and drink. 

He was digging into his BLT and berry smoothie while reading when a familiar voice rang out. “Ambrosius? I didn’t expect to see you here,” Alex Blake smiled as she walked over, Spencer Reid following behind.

“I see you found my secret hideout,” Merlin joked as he put the book down to greet them.

“Guilty,” Alex smiled.

“Would you guys like to sit with me?” Merlin offered.

“Is that ok? We don’t want to interrupt anything,” Alex deflected.

“I don’t mind at all,” Merlin smiled, already looking around for extra chairs, “I hope you don’t mind if I read.”

“Don't worry, that was our plan as well,” Spencer stated, lifting up his book to show his choice of reading material. A book on mediaeval literature. Merlin spared a moment to think, somewhat, fondly of those times before he managed to snag a seat and invited the two agents to join him at the table. 

They sat in amicable silence as they read, drank and ate their lunch. At some point Merlin and Alex started to talk about the books they were reading, causing Spencer to join in the conversation as well. Soon enough reading lists and recommendations were swapped as they finished off their meals.

“What do you mean you don’t like horror?” Merlin mock interrogated.

“I just don’t!” Alex defended, “there are some that I like but, it’s a select few. Stephen King books are too much for me.”

“Would you be willing to take some recommendations?” Merlin tried, not wanting to push her too much and upset her.

“Ok, nothing too bad though,” Alex agreed.

“You got it,” Merlin smiled.

“Can I get that list as well?” Spencer asked.

“I thought you didn’t read fiction,” Merlin wondered.

“Not normally, and I mostly stick to science-fiction but horror is a minor fascination of mine,” Spencer explained

“Got it, I’ll get the lists to you in a couple of days,” Merlin smiled. They drifted into silence once more, finishing off their drinks.

“I haven’t done this in so long,” Alex sighed happily.

“Done what?” Merlin asked.

“Just talked about stories. Not dissecting or analysing them. Just talking about it and enjoying the escapism,” Alex explained. Spencer and Merlin nodded in agreement. 

“We should do this more often,” Spencer muttered.

“Oh yes,” Merlin cheered, “we can meet up during breaks and just gush about the stories we’re reading and trade suggestions.”

“That’s great!” Alex nodded.

“Sounds fun,” Spencer smiled. They talked some more to figure out the specifics as they paid and walked back to the office. They were still talking as they sat at their desks, barely working as they chatted. Merlin saw Morgan head towards them though he soon left when he realised they were ‘talking nerd’.

By the end of the day, they managed to rope Rossi into their ‘Nerrrrds’ group chat, though he only agreed to go to the meetings so they could brainstorm ideas for his books and give him feedback.

Chapter Text

Ambrosius huffed as he walked into the bullpen, struggling with his satchel somewhat as he walked before dropping down at his desk. 

“Hey man, bad morning?” Morgan asked, very quickly seeing a difference with their new team member. Even though Ambrosius had only joined a week ago they all quickly learned what he was like. He got to work very early, and he was always very chipper and energetic, often offering to make everyone coffee, if it wasn’t already at their desk. He always managed to make the perfect coffee, somehow. 

“Huh? Yeah, fine,” Ambrosius offered, starting to organise his desk, something he did every morning, though his dismissive response caused Morgan to raise his eyebrow at him. “My morning was ok, I just can’t feel half of my finger right now.”

“What happened?” Reid asked, suddenly very interested in the conversation.

“My bird bit me. She broke skin and probably hit a nerve,” Ambrosius practically shrugged. 

“You have a bird?” Blake asked, her voice an excited tone.

“Two actually, great menaces,” Ambrosius huffed playfully.

“Why did she bite you?” Reid questioned.

“She didn’t want me to separate her from Kil,”

“Kill?” Morgan wondered.

“Kilgarrah, my other bird. He’s older than her and can talk pretty well, you can basically have a conversation with him,” Ambrosius shrugged again, skimming through the new files at his desk, “he talks in riddles though.”

“You taught your bird riddles?” Morgan questioned, starting to really wonder what his new friend did with his birds. 

“No, it's just the way he talks, I have no idea where he learnt it from.”

“Why were you separating them?” Blake asked.

“Aithusa was starting to copy him, I don’t want two riddlers in my house,” Ambrosius half joked as he finished organising the files and grabbed a pen to get to work. 

“How’s your hand?” Blake asked, changing the topic of conversation. 

“It’s fine, my finger hurts a little but it's mostly pretty numb. It's a strange feeling,” Ambrosius explained, though it was clear he wasn’t quite sure how to articulate the feeling. 

“Did you disinfect and wrap it?” Reid asked, clearly concerned about germs and infection.

“Yeah, here,” Ambrosius offered his hand for inspection to Spencer, showing off a basic bandage wrapped around the middle part of his index finger. Another thing that caught the team’s eye however was the clean, gleaming wedding ring, proudly on display on Ambrosius’ hand. 

“You’re married?” Morgan found himself asking in surprise. 

“Huh? Oh yeah, for a few years now,” Ambrosius shrugged, though he pulled his hand back a little too quickly. 

“A few years? Why are you only wearing your ring now?” Blake asked, clearly confused as she always kept hers on. 

“I always wear it, just not at work. It could be dangerous. I mean, you know the people we go after,” Ambrosius answered, his pen already scribbling away in a file. 

“We haven’t had a case all week though,” Morgan added, “you could have worn it into the office.”

“I could, I just prefer to keep my work and personal lives separate,” Ambrosius offered in explanation.

“So I’m guessing we won’t find out a name,” Blake smiled, her tone light as she leaned over to him conspiratorially.

“Afraid not,” Ambrosius smiled, “though you're free to try to get information out of me.” He said, though his tone was dripping with sarcasm. Before any more conversation could continue Hotch called them up into the conference room.

“It’s too early for the daily briefing, there’s probably a case,” Reid informed as they all were moving to gather whatever they needed.

“Kortney Dolan, 26, Sín Love, 17, Phelan Nye, 32, and Camilla Lowell, 15, have all been murdered in Salem, Michigan,” Garcia started, bringing up the images of the victims on the screen to show the team, “they were found in a mass grave. They were all killed in different ways but they all had a cross burned into them.” 

“Cause of death?” Reid asked, flipping through his physical file.

“They all had different causes of death. Phelan Nye died from blood loss, most likely from the fact that, um… his eyes were gouged out and his hands were cut off. Camilla Lowell died from dehydration and had signs of starvation. Her eyes and mouth were sewn shut. Sín Love died from lead poisoning, they were wrapped in a lead-lined cloak, they don’t know what the cloak was made of or where they unsub got it. Finally, Kortney Dolan. The M.E. thinks that she was bludgeoned to death but they aren’t really sure, they said there was something weird about it.”

“Did they say what?” Reid pushed.

“Not really, just that there was something strange about it,” Garcia offered. Reid nodded in thanks and looked around the group as Garcia continued, mostly talking about locations. Reid was half listening as he needed to know those facts but he could easily read it later. He suddenly noticed Ambrosius. He was staring at his files with a focused expression and his head tilted slightly, Reid had learned Ambrosius did when he was either confused or working something out.

“Do you see something Ambrosius?” Reid questioned when there was a lull in the briefing. 

“I think so, I’m not really sure though,” he muttered as he tilted his head the other way, almost like he was trying to get another perspective of the image. 

“Well, we’re going to find out soon. We’re leaving in 20,” Hotch ordered as he left, everyone filing out after him. 

The team was sitting surrounding the table in the jet discussing the profile. They had gotten the basics and were about to break apart to relax on their own before Hotch was going to call them back to delegate tasks but Hotch stopped them with a question. 

“Ambrosius, you said that there was something you saw, what was it?” Hotch asked the new member as he started to plan where everyone would go.

“I want to look at the bruising on Kortney, there is something familiar about it,” Ambrosius explained. Hotch nodded and got everyone’s attention. 

“Garcia, I want you to look into our victims, and try to find out how they might be connected or crossed paths. Rossi and Ambrosius, go to the ME, get his findings and take a look at the bodies yourself, Ambrosius. Morgan and Blake, go to the mass grave and see what you can find, JJ, Reid, and I will go to the Precinct and get started,” he ordered and everyone nodded, moving away to mentally prepare for the cases in their own ways. Morgan sat back and watched as Ambrosius quickly pulled out his phone and started to text someone. 

“Hey Rossi, see how much you can find out about Ambrosius’ partner,” Morgan whispered to the older man. 

“Why?” Rossi questioned.

“Everyone is curious, you gotta be as well,” Morgan teased. 

“70 bucks,” Rossi countered.

“What? Rossi, you’re already rich, why do you need more money?” 

“I don’t. I just know that you are going to give it to me,” Rossi smirked, already holding his hand out. 

“I hate you man,” Morgan groaned as he slapped the notes into Rossi’s awaiting hand.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Rossi smiled, returning to his book as if Morgan had never interrupted him.

Chapter Text

Ambrosius and Rossi drove in silence as they made their way to the morgue. Rossi was driving and Ambrosius was mostly watching the scenery pass by while running through theories in his mind. 

“So,” Rossi started, gaining Ambrosius’ attention, “you’re married.” Ambrosius groaned slightly, knocking his head against the window. 

“Morgan told you?” Ambrosius asked, his head still pressed against the glass.

“Not exactly, he did ask me to get some details though.”

“You aren’t going to get anything. I meant it when I said I keep my personal and work lives separate.”

“I get that but they aren’t really going to stop until they get something. Just give them enough to satisfy their curiosity, for now at least.”

“Fine,”

“I could tell them for you if you’d like.”

“That would be great.” Ambrosius smiles. The two sit in silence for a few moments.

“So?” Rossi pushes, Ambrosius snorted slightly. Rossi watched as Ambrosius got a distant look in his eyes as he seemed to think.

“The first time we met I was 16, I just moved to the big city they weren’t really the friendliest to me at first, certainly not my first friend but definitely my closest,” Merlin started, a smirk dancing on his face, “We stayed in each other’s lives for a while but we didn’t really get to know each other, not until years later. I was 19, I just finished training for MI6, me and a couple of mates were celebrating in a pub when I saw them across the room. We recognised each other and started to talk, just to see how life went for each other.”

“And?” Rossi teased.

“They were an accountant in a business.”

“Were?”

“They’re a good worker, promotion after promotion, now they’re near the top.”

“Oh, the big bucks,” Rossi laughed, Ambrosius joining in. “What was it like, seeing them again after all that time and getting to know them better?”

“I don’t know, they looked older but also exactly the same. I could tell they were more mature, still an arrogant prat, but less of an idiot. I mean, I knew they changed, I just didn’t know how much.”

“How?”

“I worked for their family before I applied for MI6,” Ambrosius shrugged.

“What’s that like?”

“Fine, we’re equals and they know that, even if they try to order me to do things for them every now and then,” Ambrosius jokes. He laughed a little but Rossi just watched Ambrosius for a moment. Did Merlin really think that a partner ordering you around was normal?

The M.E soon left after the two were handed the files and Rossi started to read through them as Ambrosius pulled on some gloves. Everything seemed to be as expected. Nothing unexpected in the blood work, no strange substances on their bodies. Ambrosius approached Kortney’s body, lifting away the sheet to get a closer look at the bruising. He moved the body around every now and then to get a better look at the bruises and cataloguing where the bruises were and how they looked.

“I don’t think she was bludgeoned to death,” Ambrosius started, still studying the bruises on the body. “At least not in the way that we see more commonly. This is much more traditional.” Rossi raised an eyebrow at Ambrosius’ words.

“What do you mean?” Rossi pushed.

“I think she was stoned to death,” Ambrosius started, his tone strangely similar to when Spencer would explain things. “The sporadic bruising suggests that the person didn’t have a lot of control as to where she was hit and she doesn’t have defensive wounds so she seemed to be unable to fight back. It is a biblical punishment for a few things actually; adultery, if a girl had premarital sex, wearing fabrics made of two materials, in the Hebrew bible if you ate pork you’d get stoned to death. At least I think so, it's been a while.”

“You’re Christian?” Rossi asked, mostly out of curiosity.

“Not at all, I just looked into it because I was curious,” Ambrosius shrugged as he moved on to look at the tattoo he had seen in the photos.

“But you’re married, did you marry in a church?” Rossi continued.

“That’s not the only way people can get married,” Ambrosius retorted, “we had a hand-fasting ceremony.”

“Pagan?” Rossi questioned.

“Both of us,” Ambrosius shrugged before he looked over at the rest of the bodies.

“What’s on your mind?” Rossi asked.

“All of the deaths were caused by some biblical punishment,” Ambrosius explained as he tapped one of his fingers repeatedly, “stoned to death is a punishment for premarital sex. Eyes gouged and hands cut off, that’s for wandering eyes or unfaithful hands, or to be done if you masturbate. In the Divine Comedy, there was a layer of purgatory where people had their eyes sewn shut to prevent them from feeling envy at the fortune of others. The lead-lined cloak was a punishment for hypocrites, also in the Divine Comedy.”

“Yes, I recall,” Rossi tried to joke.

“Why would he kill like this?” Merlin pushed, really wanting Rossi to be on the same page as him, “why would he go through all of that preparation? He has to be killing these people in these specific ways for a reason.”

“He’s punishing them,” Rossi muttered and Ambrosius smiled slightly.

The team was gathered in the conference room of the police station talking when Rossi and Ambrosius walked in. 

“Figure it out?” Hotch quickly asked Ambrosius after the two were welcomed with coffee.

“Yes,” Ambrosius started, taking a large drink from his coffee, “Kortney was stoned to death,”

“How do you know she was stoned to death?” Reid questioned.

“Bruising pattern,” Ambrosius simply said.

“Figure out anything else?” Hotch pushed.

“All of the deaths are punishments of some kind,” Merlin started, “atonements or punishments for committing a sin. The unsub is punishing people for their sins; premarital sex, envy, lust, and gluttony.”

Hotch nodded as he took in the information.

“So we have an injustice collector,” Hotch continued, “how is he finding his victims?”

Chapter Text

Reid stared down at the body as he studied it. “The victim was disembowelled alive,” Ambrosius stated from the ground where he was crouched, also studying the victim.

“How do you know?” A police officer asked and Ambrosius quickly pointed to the cut along the abdomen.

“There is some slight bruising that happens when a cut is made on a living person. It’s like when you get a cut and though it’s closed the area is still tender when you press on it. It’s bruised as well,” Ambrosius explained as succinctly as he could.

“The blood splatter on the victim’s skin and clothes also indicate live disembowelment,” Reid added, “as well as the volume of it on the clothing and surrounding area. The blood around the body shows they were killed here.” Reid noticed that Ambrosius was muttering under his breath and left him to sort his thoughts out as he looked around the crime scene for anything they missed.

“Live disembowelment is the punishment for the deadly sin of rage,” Ambrosius said as Reid got back to him. 

“Another biblical punishment,” Reid nodded.

“Do you think the unsub is actually Christian?” Ambrosius asked.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, the causes of death have been a mix of biblical punishments and ones found in Dante Alligerie’s Divine Comedy, which holds no theological basis. If he really was such an adherent Christian I doubt he would be following the punishments found in Dante’s Inferno,” Ambrosius explained.

“So what are you thinking?” 

“Honestly? That the unsub is only using religion as a cover or excuse for their actions and anger.”

“So you don’t think he’s religious?”

“Not exactly, I’m just offering the possibility,” Ambrosius shrugged.

“Using religion as an excuse, not the first time we’ve seen that,” Reid sighed. “Let’s get back to the team, we have to figure out the rest of the profile.”

“How is the unsub finding his victims?” Blake asked.

“What do you mean?” Morgan added. 

“I mean, is he hunting or just… watching,” she offered.

“We also have to question if the victims ‘sins’ are real or just perceived,” Reid added.

“Also if he has a specific person he wants to punish but can’t so he’s punishing others,” Ambrosius added.

“The victims don’t look alike,” JJ started.

“I know that, I mean, maybe there is someone he wants to punish for whatever reason but he doesn’t know who to target so he’s going after the community,” Ambrosius corrected, sipping on his coffee. He almost drank as much as Reid.

“I can’t be the only one uncomfortable with how similar Reid and Ambrosius are,” Morgan muttered to JJ, getting a choked laugh. Ambrosius sent him a glare, it was less about the jab more about getting back to work. 

“Well, regardless of if they are actively religious or not, religion plays a large part in their life, either they were raised in a religious environment, grew up practising or some other reason,” Blake said. “They’re punishing sin, maybe they sinned and is punishing others to try to atone for what they did.”

“They don’t seem emotional enough for it, there is no rage in the killings. The killings are precise and detached,” Ambrosius shook his head. “If he was trying to make up for something he did it would be more emotional. It’s like he’s on a mission.”

“So he’s punishing the mass for a slight against him. What could it be?” JJ asked.

“Anything really, depending on how religious they are or which version of the Bible they follow,” Reid answered.

“We don’t know which though because punishments can be the same for different sins, apart from the Seven, and we don’t know which specific sin they are being punished for,” Ambrosius added.

“What about the Divine Comedy inspired kills?” JJ asked.

“Right, we know those,” Ambrosius amended, “hypocrisy, envy, sexual deviancy, rage and an unknown.”

“We should talk to the families again, see if any of their habits could be why the unsub targeted them,” Hotch said.

“We should also see if they went to the same places, see if there’s some kind of pattern with locations,” Rossi offered. Hotch nodded as he checked the time.

“JJ, Morgan, Rossi and Blake, talk to family, see if you can find anything, let Reid and Ambrosius know as soon as you know anything. I need to try to coordinate with the police chief,” Hotch ordered. Everyone nodded and got to work.

There was another body, this one was different. 

“There is a lot of rage,” Morgan said, his nose wrinkling at the display. The woman had been bludgeoned and repeatedly stabbed. The word ‘LIAR’ carved deep into her chest, Ambrosius wouldn’t have been surprised if there were scratches and cuts in her ribs and collarbone.

“So he has an issue with liars,” Ambrosius muttered.

“Do you know what the biblical punishment for lying is?” Morgan asked, having not even glanced at a bible in a long time.

“Nothing specific other than a life of regret or death,” Ambrosius said absentmindedly. “There is something about lying that set our unsub off. Something that made him react with emotion rather than control.”

“You don’t say,” Morgan murmured. “This is the second murder in one day, she probably wasn’t planned and was an emotional killing rather than a mission-oriented one.”

“Why would he have such a large, violent reaction to lying?” Ambrosius asked, no one specifically.

“Someone lied to him? Or about him?” Morgan offered. Ambrosius stopped and Morgan could see his eyes flashing back and forth, almost like he was reading.

“Unsub who likely grew up in a religious community would have stayed and married within it. Maybe he was accused of something and was punished for it. If it was false then to him it was an unwarranted punishment so he is finding people who ‘deserve’ those punishments,” Ambrosius muttered to himself. Morgan blinked.

“That sounds plausible,” he nodded.

“What does?” Ambrosius asked, giving Morgan a look.

“What you just said?” Morgan said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, I said that out loud,” he said, sounding slightly confused before he shook his head. Before they could talk more about the theory they got a call from Reid. He had an idea of how the unsub was finding his victims.

“The unsub is a white male in his early to mid-20s. He likely moved to this area recently for its religious environment and likely moved to get away from some kind of controversy, likely one that he is innocent of,” Hotch started.

“Based on the rage we saw in the latest murder it is likely that he was accused of something that he didn’t do, he is angry that someone lied about him and he got punished for it. An unwarranted punishment so he’s trying to punish people that he believes deserve to be punished more than him,” Ambrosius continued.

“He probably has a vehicle that can fit into many different places, one that is common and easy to ignore so probably not a service vehicle or anything too flashy or beat up. It has to be big enough that he can transport people, most likely unconscious or dead,” Rossi added.

“We have been able to find a pattern, all of the victims had been within a specific area within a week before their murder. This area,” Reid indicated to the map as he spoke, “is likely to be his hunting zone. We’re still unsure if he is actively looking for victims or if he is simply watching out for anything that might catch his eye.”

“The unsub most likely has a separate location where he keeps his victims, he wouldn’t have been able to let more than one person slowly bleed to death, starve to death or die from lead poisoning in a place that many people went by so it is likely secluded and quiet,” Blake added.

“We have several locations where the unsub likely first saw the victims and we have a vague description from eyewitnesses and are currently coming up with a plan on how we might be able to catch him. We will be coordinating with the chief until the plan is more ironed out and we will explain it later on,” JJ nodded. The mass of officers and detectives soon started to disperse. Hotch went into the chief’s office once again and the team went back to the conference room to plan.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Morgan asked.

“Yes, Kortney was last seen at the club, the unsub likely saw her there flirting and decided to punish her for ‘premarital sex’ or whatever other reason he could have thought of. Giving him a bait, someone he can easily see is ‘sinning’ will make sure that no other civilians get killed and will let us set a trap,” Reid defended.

“But sending in Ambrosius?” Morgan asked incredulously.

“What’s wrong with me?” the mentioned doctor asked back, not exactly sounding angry.

“Nothing’s wrong with you, you just look… too young,” Morgan placated.

“Well, you and Hotch would be too intimidating, Rossi’s too old, and Blake and JJ have mothering personalities that wouldn’t work for the plan,” Ambrosius dismissed.

“What about Reid?” JJ asked.

“He wouldn’t be able to flirt in a way that is required,” Ambrosius answered, muttering an apology to Reid, who waved it off. “Plus, with my accent, I immediately stand out as a newcomer, an outsider that he can take away without being noticed for a while.”

“It’s weird how much you’ve thought about this,” Rossi muttered.

“I swear I haven’t, I just have ADHD,” Ambrosius said with a straight face.

“Are we sure you can flirt in the needed way?” Blake asked with a smile.

“I can flirt!” Ambrosius argued.

“Whatever you say man,” Morgan grinned.

Chapter Text

Ambrosius stood at the small round table as he watched the club around him. There were plenty of people dancing around the building, some people talking, drinking or whatever else would happen in the dark of the club. Ambrosius sipped his ginger ale in a scotch glass.

He’d lost a few layers before heading to the club, trading in his turtle neck, jacket and trousers for a tight v-neck t-shirt and some tight jeans that JJ had insisted on lending. He felt uncomfortable, he almost always wore more layers, or at least more covering clothes, and he definitely never went out to clubs.

“Ambrosius, bring attention to your ring,” Hotch suggested. Ambrosius slipped off his ring and started to pass it between his fingers as he went back to people-watching, shifting a few times to try to feel comfortable in the tight trousers.

“How is he pulling it off so well?” JJ muttered, watching her teammate from the other side of the room.

“So we’re not talking about the hickey on his neck?” Morgan questioned.

“There’s a what?” Blake asked, clearly amused.

“He has a partner, are you surprised?” Reid added.

“Nope,” JJ laughed, “those jeans are making his ass pop.”

“It is. The view is fantastic,” Morgan agreed, his smile evident in his voice.

“Please stop talking about my ass,” Ambrosius muttered, pretending to brush some hair behind his ear.

“Why? It’s a great ass,” Rossi teased.

“So, your partner gave you that mark?” Morgan tried to direct the conversation.

“Yes, they’re a possessive prat and they like my neck,” Ambrosius huffed, covering his mouth by pretending to drink, taking a gulp after he spoke. Morgan whistled lowly.

“Stop talking about your colleague’s body and sex life, we’re working,” Hotch interrupted. 

“Yes, sir,” rang over the coms and Ambrosius got back to looking over the crowd around him.

“Heads up,” Reid muttered, “someone is sitting behind Ambrosius.”

“What’s he doing?” Hotch asked.

“He doesn’t have a drink and he’s looking through the crowd. He fits the general description and profile,” Reid explained. Ambrosius pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text to Morgan.

‘Come flirt with me.’

Ambrosius saw when it was received and got a thumbs-up emoji in response.

‘Get the man’s attention.’ He added.

Soon enough, Morgan sauntered up to Ambrosius’s table.

“Hey there, you look lonely,” Morgan started.

“Hi, I’m not lonely, just waiting,” Ambrosius answered.

“Come on, you’ve got to give me something here,” Morgan smirked.

“I’m waiting for someone and I don’t know you, why exactly should I give you something?” Ambrosius teased.

“I can’t keep a pretty boy company?” Morgan teased back before he gestured to the ring, “Who are you waiting for? Your wife?”

“Husband actually, and no, he’s out of town.”

“Oh, so, friend then?”

“Date.”

“Oh, scandalous. I’m Derek.”

“Merlin.” Ambrosius offered a hand, Morgan shook it.

“You might want to hide the ring if you don’t want to scare your date away.”

“Thanks.” Before they could continue their conversation the man stood up and walked over to the bar, obviously tense.

“Bust?” Morgan asked.

“No, give it a bit,” Ambrosius said with a light laugh like Morgan had made a joke.

“So, husband,” Morgan teased.

“Aww, that’s so cute. We are undercover, maybe that was part of the lie.”

“Oh, you tease.”

“You’re starting to sound like my partner,” Ambrosius smirked. Morgan gave him a shocked look before it turned into a teasing smile.

“Merlin?” A new voice asked. Ambrosius turned to look at the newcomer. 

“Same guy from the table,” Reid quickly told them.

“George?” Ambrosius asked back.

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you. Am I interrupting?” he asked, he gave off an air of easiness that felt uncomfortable.

“Nah, man,” Morgan smiled, raising his hands in surrender while Ambrosius quickly ‘hid’ his ring, obviously getting the man’s attention. “We were just chatting. I’m going to find my own lady to dance with.” Morgan then sauntered back into the general movement of the club.

“Should I be worried?” ‘George’ asked.

“Not at all, he’s not my type,” Ambrosius smiled.

“What is your type?” ‘George’ wondered. Ambrosius gave him a look and a small smile.

“What type of person are you?” ‘George’ laughed at the response. 

“Ok then, what makes him not your type?”

“Too much of a meathead. I mean, sure I didn’t get to know him that well but he looks like a gym nut. Maybe even the type to make me go. Then again, he was very nice and we had a pleasant conversation.”

“So you prefer someone as thin as you?”

“No, I’m more interested in the mind than the appearance. The thing that I wasn’t attracted to was the ‘gym life’ that he exuded. I want to be with someone that is able to love me for me and that I can never get tired of.”

“What about your husband?” ‘George’ suddenly asked. Ambrosius blinked at the man before he pulled away. Ambrosius studied the man, he stood tall, still leaning slightly forward. Confident. His expression was just shy of innocent, his eyes had a twinkle of amusement.

“What are you talking about? My profile said I was single.”

“Keep going,” Rossi encouraged.

“It’s just, I saw a ring. Your profile said you’re gay so I guessed.”

“He… he’s dead.”

“That’s a shame, when did he die?”

“About a year ago.”

“You still wear his ring.”

“Yeah, my friends told me I should move on. They’re the ones that set up my profile.” the two of them sat in silence for a few moments.

“Ambrosius, we need something. Get him talking about himself,” Reid pushed.

“What about you? You’re profile said you were divorced.” ‘George’ stiffened.

“Yes, well, my wife and I had some communication issues, we just couldn’t talk things through. We decided to split and I moved here recently.”

“Garcia?”

“I got something! David Adams.”

“So am I you’re experiment?” Ambrosius teased, mostly trying not to be suspicious.

“That sounds a bit mean.”

“I don’t think so, I’ve been the subject of many gay awakenings,” Ambrosius joked.

“Recently moved to the area, currently in the middle of divorcing his wife, they’re no-contact. He was very involved in their church community back in the area he used to live.”

“You take it as a good thing?” ‘George’, David, asked, his voice strangely hollow.

“Of course, I’m helping people find out more about themselves.”

“According to social media, he was accused of cheating on his wife. She left, he was completely abandoned by the people around him and he was constantly claiming his innocence.”

“What about the will of god?”

“Well, I’m actually Pagen, we don’t see an issue with different sexualities or gender identities.” David stared at Ambrosius.

“That’s very interesting,” he nodded, taking a big swig of his drink.

“About a month ago he was able to prove that he wasn’t cheating and that it was a lie. The divorce is still proceeding and his wife hasn’t made any attempt to contact him except through their lawyers.”

“Any idea who started the lie?”

“Not a clue.”

“I think we found our guy.”

“Yep, Ambrosius, try to get him out of the building.”

“How about I cheer us up,” Ambrosius offered. David gave him a strange look. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we have some mindless, sweaty, rocking fun that’ll make us forget everything wrong with the world,” Ambrosius teased as he leaned closer and closer to the other man, almost to the point they might kiss. “Come on, don’t you want to let go?”

“Yeah,” David nodded. He had a strange look in his eyes as he took Ambrosius’ hand and started to lead him out of the club.

David sat in the interrogation room, glaring at the one-way mirror. Ambrosius groaned as he rolled his shoulder. 

“You ok?” Morgan asked, watching him with concern.

“I’m fine, I just wasn’t expecting him to attack me as soon as we got outside,” Ambrosius sighed.

“You must have really annoyed him,” Blake joked as she gave him a soaked towel for his bloody nose.

“I tend to do that,” Ambrosius joked back.

“Are we sure we have the right guy?” An officer asked.

“His fingerprints are running right now and alibis are being checked but we’re pretty sure,” Reid answered.

“Even if he isn’t the killer you can detain him for assault of a federal agent,” Hotch added.

“Will do,” the officer nodded.

“Let's get some rest, it’s late,” Hotch said. Everyone nodded and started to leave the station for the hotel. Ambrosius was heading out when Blake grabbed him and pulled him into a car with Reid.

“You’re coming with us,” Blake announced.

“What?” Ambrosius muttered, “Why can’t I go with Morgan? We’re going to the same place.”

“Actually we’re not, we’re taking you to the hospital,” Blake denied.

“What? I’m fine.”

“The suspect threw you against the wall hard enough to bruise and you have a bloody nose from getting punched,” Reid countered from the back seat. “Not to mention a possible concussion. We’re taking you to the hospital.” Ambrosius sighed.

“Ok, fine.”

Chapter Text

The plane was mostly silent as it flew back to Virginia. Everyone had split off to do their own things while they flew, letting themselves relax after the case.

“So, how was your first case?” Rossi asked Ambrosius. 

“Good, I don’t think anything too bad happened and we got the right guy,” Ambrosius answered, almost diplomatically.

“That’s good,” Rossi nodded. Rossi and Ambrosius talked about other things for a while before Hotch stood from his seat and knocked against the nearest surface to get their attention. 

“Debriefing will be in the conference room and I hope to see your paperwork handed in before the end of the day. Once you hand in your paperwork you can go home, we have three days off,” Hotch announced.

“We’re definitely going out for drinks to celebrate,” Morgan added as Hotch sat down.

“Really?” Reid muttered, dropping the book he had been holding up to read.

“Yes really, this was a good case! Even Ambrosius got a clean bill of health,” Morgan defended.

“I shouldn’t go, the doctor said I have a minor concussion,” Ambrosius deflected, barely looking up from his phone.

“No, the doctor said you didn’t even have a concussion and only had a bruised nose, you should be fine,” Reid countered, a smug look on his face while his eyes sent the message of ‘I’m not going to the bar with them alone’. Ambrosius held his arms to his chest in mock hurt.

“I’ve been betrayed,” Ambrosius whined.

“We’re all going right?” Morgan asked, giving Hotch a searching look while he ignored Ambrosius’ theatrics.

“If you get your paperwork in on time,” Hotch nodded.

“Sweet!” Morgan cheered. JJ and Rossi shook their heads in amusement before they moved to sit on their own. Morgan started texting, probably Garcia to tell her the plan.

“Any plans for the long weekend?” Blake asked Ambrosius.

“Not sure, my partner’s been trying to pull me into a camping trip so I might end up having to go on that,” Ambrosius answered, putting his phone down.

“You don’t like camping?”

“I do, I just end up doing a lot of the menial stuff because my partner and their friends are helpless,” Ambrosius joked slightly. Blake laughed but Morgan cocked an eyebrow slightly at his comment. Morgan turned to Reid.

“So, paperwork needs to be done quickly,” he started.

“I’m not doing your paperwork. You want to go out, do the work for it,” Reid blocked. Morgan pouted but shrugged and leaned back and pulled out his headphones and phone to relax for the rest of the flight.

“Can you remind me why people like drinking this stuff?” Merlin asked, his nose wrinkling slightly as he put his glass down.

“Alcohol induces euphoria, relaxation and disinhibition while reducing stress and anxiety,” Spencer explained, “there is also the opinion on the appreciation of the taste.”

“Yeah, well, I disagree,” Merlin huffed, “god, why did they like to drink so much?”

“Who?” Derek asked.

“Hubby and his friends.” Merlin smiled slightly.

“He drinks often?” Derek asked, frowning slightly,

“Eh, I guess.” Merlin shrugged. Derek looked to the others, seeing some reflections of concern.

“How often do they drink?” JJ asked.

“Basically whenever they can meet up as a group, they go to the pub and have some drinks. Hubby also drinks during dinner,” Merlin explained.

“How often do they meet up?” Hotch added.

“Gods, at least once a week. I don’t know why they keep acting like it’s the first time seeing each other in years whenever they do,” Merlin laughed.

“So they drink a lot?” Hotch pushed.

“I guess?” Merlin muttered, “Why are you asking all these questions? They aren’t drunks, they just like to have a few drinks whenever they meet up.”

“We weren’t saying that, just curious,” Dave placated, though he was only met by a suspicious gaze.

“You don’t join them?” JJ asked, changing the topic.

“No, I do, I just don’t drink as much. It’s just not my thing,” Merlin shrugged.

“I’m gonna help make it your thing,” Penelope grinned, already pretty drunk.

“What, Garcia, no-” Merlin started to argue.

“Nuh uh, baby wizard, I’m finding a drink you can’t resist,” Penelope insisted as she made her way to the bar to ask for whatever drinks she wanted.

“Should I be worried?”

“No,” Derek answered.

“Yes,” everyone else drowned him out.

Penelope soon got back to the table with a tray full of different cocktails. Oh gods.

Merlin managed to get through half of the drinks before he decided to stop, the drinks had made him feel very numb and like he was buzzing. Penelope didn’t seem to notice, happily drinking with the others. Merlin was tempted to talk with Alex and Spencer about the literature they were happily chatting about but he was struggling a little to keep up. Merlin was pretty sure Dave had left on his own a little after Penelope tried to find out what drinks Merlin likes, Hotch had left to spend time with Jack so Merlin was basically on his own.

“Merls!” A familiar voice cheered. Merlin looked around and smiled at the sight of Gwaine walking up to him, arms wide for a hug. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“I’m literally the one that told you about this place,” Merlin huffed, though he happily stood and accepted the hug from the man.

“You don’t say,” Gwaine teased.

“Hi Merlin,” the larger man that had followed Gwaine through the bar smiled and Merlin happily hugged him as well.

“Percival, how are you?” Merlin grinned.

“We’re good, thanks,” Percival replied.

“Merlin!” Penelope shrieked, staring at the two men that Merlin greeted. “You didn’t tell me you know a famous actor!”

“Oh, my dear, you know me?” Gwaine teased, sauntering over to Penelope, and giving her a teasing wink. Merlin swears he saw Derek pout.

“Eoin Macken?” Alex asked, getting Gwaine’s attention.

“How can I help you, my lady?” Gwaine soothed.

“You’ve been in many historical films, could I ask you a few questions?” Alex immediately denied the flirting.

“Oh, I’d love to talk with such a gorgeous woman about my work but this one’s princess wants him home,” Gwaine offered, gesturing to Merlin.

“Oh? Possessive much?” Derek joked.

“You have no idea,” Gwaine giggled, “anyway, I gotta get your cute butt home. Have a nice night you guys!” Gwaine swatted Merlin, getting a yelp in return. Percival gave the team an apologetic look and herded the two away.

“That was a little weird right?” Derek muttered.

“It’s fine,” Alex shrugged. She was one of the closest to Merlin, Spencer being the other, so they felt like they should be able to trust her but something was pulling at Derek’s mind. Something just wasn’t right.

Chapter Text

JJ was tired. She’d just returned from a long case and was spending the day with Henry. Henry definitely made her feel better and gave her more energy, but she was still tired. JJ sighed as she leaned back on the bench, watching Henry as he messed around and played in the park. She smiled as she watched him play with another boy around his age. 

JJ took in the peaceful air, breathing it in deeply. She listened to the trees rustling and children yelling their games as she took in the general calm. She tended to do this when she took Henry to the park, letting herself take in the calm, mundane world around her to let go of some of the stress and worries.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” A voice asked. JJ looked to her side and saw a woman standing there, watching her expectantly. She was shorter than JJ and had dark skin and curly dark hair held up in a professional but pretty hairstyle. She wore a purple t-shirt tucked into jeans with a jacket thrown on top.

“Not at all, feel free,” JJ smiled, righting herself as the woman sat beside her.

“I’m Gwen. That’s my boy over there,” Gwen introduced, pointing out the boy Henry was playing with.

“I’m Jennifer, but you can call me JJ,” JJ smiled at her, “your son is playing with mine right now.”

“What a coincidence,” Gwen laughed.

“I’ve never seen you around here. Are you new?” JJ asked,

“Kind of. I moved here a couple of months ago,” Gwen explained, “partially to follow a friend, mostly for work. I’m normally swamped, so my husband takes Leo out, but I had the day off, so I offered. You might have met my husband, Lance.”

“Oh, I probably haven’t. It’s the same story with me. Always working, my husband takes Henry out whenever he can. I like to bring him to the park whenever I get back from a hard day and just take everything in.”

“We’ll just have to stick together then. I always feel so judged by other mums.”

“Oh, I know, right? It gets worse when they find out I’m not married.”

“Oh gods, I can’t imagine,” Gwen laughed. Their conversation stalled as their boys ran over, excitement buzzing between them.

“Mama! I made a friend!” Gwen’s son, Leo, cheered as they approached.

“I see that,” Gwen smiled, pulling the boy into a hug. “Are you having fun, my love?”

“Yeah! Thank you for bringing me!” Leo grinned.

“Are you having fun, Henry?” JJ asked, getting a nod from him as he hugged her leg.

“Can we go back to playing?” Leo asked, lightly tugging at Henry’s sleeve. As soon as they got a nod from the parents, both boys shot off back to the playground to get back to whatever game they had been playing.

“So, how did you meet your… boyfriend? Partner?” Gwen offered.

“Partner is fine, we actually met through work,” JJ answered, “what about you?”

“I met Lance through one of my friends. I was kind of dating someone else at the time and it got very complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“Think, Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.”

“Wow, two of the names even fit.”

“No scorned ex, thankfully.”

“Always good.” The two women ended up sitting in silence for a few minutes.

“This is probably the longest, positive, conversation I’ve had with another mother in… years,” Gwen sighed.

“Oh god, yeah,” JJ laughed, “I think it’s because we’re both working mums and know about, you know, all of it.”

“Probably,” Gwen nodded. “Was that your way of asking to hang out more?”

“Yes,” JJ smiled, “do you want to swap numbers?”

“Definitely.”

Chapter Text

Spencer sat tense in his seat, the large black lab that Merlin owned kept staring at him. Penelope was playing with the dog that was causing his anxiety, but it just kept watching him.

“Come on Spencer, she wants some loving from you,” Penelope laughed.

“I think she’d rather chase me out than let me pet her,” Spencer countered.

“Reid, you can relax. Llamrei isn’t to hurt you, she’s fully trained,” Merlin reassured him gliding into the parlour once more with a tray in hand. Merlin was dressed in a forest green, mermaid-cut skirt with a loose, comfortable cream-coloured turtleneck. While it was in his typical ‘dark academia’ fashion, according to Penelope, it was very different to Merlin’s usual attire. Though, Spencer’s only reaction was to say it was very flowy, Rossi had asked him to spin to show the outfit, complementing Merlin’s tastes.

Merlin had been in and out of the room, bringing snacks and drinks while they waited for everyone to arrive. The only person missing was Alex, as Hotch and JJ were sitting out of the get-together to have some of their own family time.

“I just don’t have a good track record with dogs,” Spencer admitted.

“That’s fair, dogs aren’t for everyone,” Merlin shrugged.

“How was Llamrei trained?” Penelope asked, not stopping her affectionate petting of the dog’s stomach.

“She’s actually a service animal, for me and my partner.”

“Really?”

“What for?”

“Chronic pain and PTSD mostly, but she knows how to work with other issues too” Merlin explained, though he was very uncomfortable doing so. “She’s probably watching Reid because she can tell how nervous he is and wants to help.”

“Well, she is a very good pup,” Penelope cheered, helpfully changing the conversation and lifting the mood. Derek stole another biscuit as he looked around the room, again.

“This place is really amazing, how did you find it?” Derek asked before crunching into the treat.

“We didn’t, we actually had it built,” Merlin answered, making Derek almost cough out the snack.

“That must have cost a fortune,” Dave hummed.

“My partner comes from old money and it was mostly a gift from his father,” Merlin deflected.

“Made a good impression on your in-laws then?” Dave smiled.

“Gods no, that man hated me, he just wanted us out of his house,” Merlin laughed.

“Well, that’s one way to get a house,” Derek chuckled, taking a swig from his drink to try to soothe his throat. Llamrei suddenly perked up and bounded out of the parlour, towards the door, sniffing intently as she went, though she never barked.

“That must be Alex,” Merlin smiled and followed the dog to the entryway. The group sat in silence for some moments before Llamrei bounded back into the room, Alex following behind.

“Sorry I’m late, I didn’t realise how far out the house was before I left,” Alex laughed.

“Don’t worry, I think all of us were a little surprised,” Rossi offered.

“Merlin said we can head into the dining room,” Alex added.

“Where did he go?” Rossi asked.

“They said they were going to check on the food,” she smiled, absentmindedly patting Llamrei on the head, the dog looking very pleased with the attention.

“They?” Penelope asked, unsure about the pronoun.

“Merlin used a combination of he/him and they/them pronouns,” Spencer offered, carefully watching the dog.

“Oh, he didn’t tell us,” Derek muttered.

“It only came up in conversation when we were talking about the LGBTQ+ community and the changes that have been made in recent years through protests and other such things and how much queer people have affected history while being unknown or erased,” Spencer explained.

“I’m glad you have someone to nerd talk with,” Derek smiled, though he mainly got a confused look from the youngest.

“Borf!” Llamrei barked, getting everyone’s attention and making Spencer jump slightly. She walked up to Spencer, causing him to tense, though all she did was nudge her nose against his leg then she started to trot away, stopping in the doorway to check on them.

“I think she wants us to follow,” Penelope said, sounding awed. Derek shared a shrug with Rossi and they all followed the dog. She led them behind the stairs, a small hallway, and into a room they realised was the dining room.

“Oh wow,” Penelope cheered, “such a good job! Good girl Llamrei!” She was showing the lab with affection, squeezing and squishing her face as she scratched behind her ears and fawned over the dog.

There were already plates set up and cutlery in place, as well as two plates in the centre of the table, both covered.

“Oh, you don’t have to stand around, go take a seat,” Merlin’s voice came from behind them, they all turned to see him walking in with more plates,

“Merlin! You don’t have to carry them all in by yourself,” Alex fretted but Merlin somehow waved her off.

“Sit down, I’ve already brought everything in,” they smiled, putting the last plates down. “Besides, I’m far too used to serving everything to guests, I’d feel wrong-footed having you guys help.” Merlin laughed.

“If you’re sure,” Rossi nodded. There was some silence as everyone found a place to sit, Merlin ending up at the head of the table, though he seemed uncomfortable sitting there.

“I hope you don’t mind Welsh food, they’re my go to when I’m making food for people. I made some Cawl for everyone, it’s a stew with lamb and a lot of vegetables. Pen, I made you Glamorgan sausages because I know you’re vegetarian so don’t worry about having any of that, it’s on the orange plate for you,” Merlin explained, getting a pleased exclamation from Pen as she pulled the orange plate closer to her and lifted the cover, revealing rolls that were roughly the size of large sausages deep fried in bread crumbs.

“I also made Welsh rarebit, it’s basically just melted cheese on bread so Pen can have them too and I brought a lot of things you can flavour it like gravy, mustard or homemade ale,” Merlin finished explaining.

“Homemade?” Rossi asked as everyone started digging into their food.

“Yes, my partner mostly makes it but we often make them together. We also make homemade mead. It’s really fun getting to try and make different flavours. One of our friends gives us the honey for free from his bee hives,” Merlin added.

“Wow,” Rossi nodded, he then tucked into the food but stopped and hummed. “This is amazing, you have to give me the recipe.”

“Me too,” Reid added, barely finishing what he was saying before spooning more food into his mouth.

“Of course, they should be pretty easy to make as well,” Merlin offered.

“In that case, send it over to me as well, maybe I can finally impress a date with some food,” Derek joked.

“Oh, finally thinking long term?” Alex teased.

“Maybe,” Derek hummed. He then turned back to Merlin, almost like he remembered something he wanted to ask them.

“I noticed you had a small greenhouse and lots of plants around in general, in the garden and in the house,” Derek started, the question obvious in his observation.

“Yeah, I prefer to grow what I can, it’s easier than going to the store, especially if we end up forgetting anything,” Merlin smiled, finally filling his own plate after everyone had gone first.

“Very old school,” Alex smiled.

“It’s more comfortable for me, I grew up in a small village where it made more sense to grow our own stuff than buy it,” Merlin shrugged.

“This is quite a trip to get to and from work every day,” Derek said after a few moments.

“Oh, we actually have an apartment in DC as well, most of the time we’re there. This is our escape basically,” Merlin dismissed.

“One hell of an escape,” Derek said appreciatively.

“Can you tell us about the house?” Alex asked.

“Sure, obviously it’s new, but it was inspired by one of the houses my partner's family has owned for generations. Some changes were made, mostly about what room was where. I insisted on the larger library, he was against it until I said the birds can stay in there,” Merlin offered.

“The birds are in the library?” Penelope perked up.

“Yeah, we can go see them if you want, I should warn you, they aren’t the most friendly to most people,” Merlin warned, “there are some people they just choose to like though so please don’t be offended.”

“I would never!” Penelope smiled.

“I’m guessing the library is the most used room since you insisted it be that big,” Rossi joked.

“Yes, my partner doesn’t really go in though.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“Well, to put it simply, the birds hate him. Although that does mean that the library is my safe haven.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, if he starts acting like a prat again I at least have somewhere to hide,” Merlin shrugged with a smile. After a few moments of silence, he gestured to the bowls. “Feel free to grab as much food as you want, I thought my partner was going to eat with us so I made just about enough for him to have some as well. Then again, I feel like I can never make enough food for how much he eats.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Alex smiled, eagerly scooping up more of the stew and grabbing another piece of rarebit.

Derek shared a look with Rossi.

Chapter Text

Spencer was starting to lose his patience with Derek. Derek had been constantly asking him about dates or hookups, trying to set him up on date after date and it was really starting to piss him off. One of the times Spencer had snuck off to talk to Maeve during a case, Derek had bothered him about it for nearly a whole day. Spencer almost snapped at Derek when he started asking much more pointed, needling questions about where Spencer had gone or what he had done. He knew Derek was doing it out of concern but Spencer really didn’t like the suspicion and doubt on his sobriety.

“I swear, I’m going to shoot Morgan if he doesn’t stop,” Spencer sighed as he took a seat in the booth he, Alex and Merlin often took up for their book club. The cafe was busy but quiet, which was perfect for them.

“Is he still bothering you?” Merlin asked. They had shared a room on the case so Merlin got ranted at by Spencer as he complained about Derek not giving him space and disrespecting him.

“It’s not as bad as it was before but he keeps telling me to get out there more, find a girlfriend,” Spencer complained. Merlin rolled his eyes.

“Derek should have no say in any of your relationships, apart from cases where your physical or mental health is at risk but that’s not the point, especially about when you should be getting into one,” Merlin sighed, “you should only get into a relationship when you feel ready to. Getting into a relationship because you feel pressured to or because you think it’s the right thing to do or because it’s what’s expected of you just leads to resentment. From both parties. Either way, you really should only get into a relationship when you’re at a point where you’re happy being single. A relationship should add to your life, not lead it. The best relationships are the ones that form naturally, as opposed to those sought out and created from a sense of loneliness or obligation.”

“You have a lot of thoughts on this,” Alex said, her eyebrows raised.

“Sorry,” Merlin murmured, scratching the back of his neck, “my husband almost got married to someone else because of his dad. A business marriage he didn’t want but felt he had to do. It’s part of the reason his dad hates me. I talked to my husband, only a friend and technically employer at the time, about my thoughts on the marriage and how much I hated it, and he called it off after thinking about it on his own.”

“What does your in-law think happened? Seduction?” Alex teased.

“Maybe, I don’t know. He was a very paranoid man,” Merlin shrugged.

“You do have a lot of good points though,” Spencer butt in, bringing the conversation back to the original topic. “There is the addition of each relationship looking and being different. I’ve had partners before but the team doesn't know because I tend to keep it to myself until it becomes more serious, although it often doesn’t reach the point I feel comfortable sharing about them with the team.”

“And that’s completely fair,” Merlin shrugged, “I don’t talk about my husband much because I prefer having my personal and work life separate. I like being able to forget about all the things we’ve seen and just be with my husband and I like that I keep him away from all of this.”

“I just want to figure out how I can make him stop,” Spencer sighed.

“Sign him up for that gay hook-up app,” Merlin shrugged. “He’s trying to ‘encourage’ you into a relationship you don’t want, and don’t appreciate him trying to set you up. Give him a similar payback.”

“Now, how do you know about Grindr?” Alex asked, a mischievous look in her eyes.

“One of my mates uses it sometimes, or he did before he met his boyfriend,” Merlin offered.

“I don’t know,” Spencer brushed off, “I don’t know how to set up an account on a dating website, besides, way too many of them have really bad security measures or protections.”

“That’s fair, do you just want to make him stop or do you want to humiliate him a bit as well?” Alex asked. Spencer was silent for a moment as he thought about it.

“Honestly, a bit of both,” Spencer grinned.

“Oh! You should get Pen to change his notification sounds to the Grindr’s,” Merlin offered.

“That works, I don’t want to do anything too big and it’ll just be a small thing only some people will get,” Spencer nodded.

Spencer tried his best not to laugh as the Grindr notification sound went off for the fifth time in three minutes. He’d noticed multiple people in the bullpen perking up or glancing around to try to see whose phone was making the noise as Derek tried his best to inconspicuously hide that it was his phone. Derek had tried turning his phone to silent mode to stop the distinctive sound from ringing out, but whatever Penelope had done made it so Derek couldn’t turn the sound off at all. Derek had already gotten some weird looks and side glances because of the notifications. It seemed that Penelope made all of his notifications the same Grindr chime. Of course, no one knew that was what happened.

So, Derek definitely knew it was Spencer who got Penelope to help him prank Derek. He was pretty certain since his desk was completely covered in saran wrap, all of his belongings and stationary trapped under layers and layers of plastic.

“Do I want to know?” Hotch asked as he stopped to stand beside Spencer, coffee in hand as they both stared at the mess in front of them.

“Probably not,” Spencer offered, he then put his messenger bag down. “Can I borrow your pocket knife?”

“Just don’t dull it, don’t carve into anything and don’t steal it,” Hotch monotoned as he handed the small knife in its sheath to the youngest member and continued to his office. Spencer started to carefully cut his desk out from the mess. He also had to carefully cut out his belongings from where they had also been individually wrapped.

He left the mess of saran wrap on Derek’s desk.

Spencer stifled a laugh as Derek stubbed his toe against his desk for the fourth time that day and cursed to himself, though it looked more like a flinch. JJ let out a groan as she knocked her pen pot over for a second time, having to scramble to stop all of them from falling onto the floor. Spencer very diligently kept his eyes on his own screen and desk.

“Why are JJ and Morgan having such a hard time today?” Merlin asked, having rolled over to Spencer’s desk to ask quietly.

“Because of your suggestion, we’re stuck in a prank war. Penelope and I moved their desks an inch to the left and all their things an inch to the right. Everything is just slightly off, especially since once you get into a habit your movements are more reliant on muscle memory than what you observe so they will be having some trouble until they recalibrate or move everything back,” Spencer explained, his volume matching Merlin. He felt a little proud at the smile that Merin gave him.

“Point to you,” Merlin grinned, then he rolled back to his own desk.

Spencer could feel Merlin fuming next to him. He’d come in to his desk almost exactly as he left it but when he reached for a book to site some research he found it was actually the antique copy of The Picture of Dorian Grey, the very rare and very expensive book Merlin had very kindly lent to Spencer, on the condition it stayed in the office and unharmed. Spencer almost started screaming at Derek for messing with his books, especially when he saw that all of them had their sleeves swapped around. He knew that Merlin was annoyed because he’d lent Spencer several antique and almost delicate books that he’d promised to keep safe and in their specified opaque, protective sleeve cases, yet Derek had gone and tampered with them, possibly even damaging them. 

Merlin had chosen to stay late with Spencer to sort through all of the books Spencer had on his desk to make sure all of them were safely back into their original sleeves.

“I’m so sorry this happened,” Spencer muttered.

“No, you couldn’t have known Derek would have done this,” Merlin denied, “granted, your last prank involved desks and he probably didn’t know how delicate some of these books are, he just got me an excuse to join in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.”

Spencer smiled as he heard Derek groan and mutter about his mouse not working. He’d already asked Spencer, Merlin, Alex and David, when the older man walked by, about the state of their mice and all of them had said they were working fine. He’d even asked Penelope if she could help him figure out what was wrong with his mouse when she stopped by for a morning coffee and chat, though she’d convincingly tested out the mouse, checked the bottom, valiantly ignoring the obvious tape stuck to the bottom of it, and said she couldn’t figure it out. JJ wasn’t in yet so he couldn’t ask her, though that did mean that if Derek figured out the prank before she got in, he would just tell her so she wouldn’t end up getting affected.

When JJ came in, just on time, and noticed her mouse wasn’t working, she fiddled with it for a few seconds before flipping it over and finding the tape. Which finally clued Derek into checking the bottom of the mouse himself. He shot a light-hearted glare at Spencer as he peeled it off.

Something Spencer wasn’t expecting was for Merlin to keep reapplying the tape every time Derek and JJ left their desks, which didn’t happen very often throughout the day but each time, it made Spencer laugh a little.

An additional karmic justice from the universe was the fact that Derek and JJ’s seats kept squeaking. It wasn’t too obvious to Spencer and he could only tell because Derek had slid over on his own seat to ask Spencer about a case and he’d noticed it then. He’d noticed JJ’s because he’d stopped by to greet her and heard the squeaking then. He saw Derek and JJ swap their seats with a spare one at least twice, one of those times Derek insisted he had to swap with Spencer but when they did, the seat was silent for him and Spencer’s old seat started to squeak when Derek sat in it. Spencer let out a loud laugh then.

Spencer groaned as his headache only seemed to worsen. He took another gulp of coffee, hoping, praying, pleading it would at least help just a little bit. It doesn’t. And the bitterness of the straight black coffee was starting to grate on his taste buds. 

Before Spencer could complain into his mug more and drink another gulp, his mug was replaced with another. He snapped his eyes up to stare at Merlin, who grinned and sipped at his own drink.

“The prank war continues,” Merlin muttered, swirling Spencer’s cup of coffee. Spencer frowned, last he checked Merlin was on his side, besides, what kind of prank was stealing Spencer’s coffee? Then again, Merlin did place a different mug into his hand. Spencer gave it a sniff and felt his eyebrows crease at the smell of black tea. What? Why?

Wait.

Black tea had the highest amount of caffeine per cup.

Derek replaced the coffee with decaf!

Derek just declared war.

Hotch could only sigh as he watched over the bullpen, watching his team. His very intelligent, mature, professional team who had just spent almost three months pranking each other. He could figure out when it started and who started it but Reid often didn’t do anything without reason so there must have been something someone did to annoy him first. Seeing who was the first person pranked, it was probably Morgan. And that just left a long list of things Morgan could have done. Morgan and Reid were good at getting on each other’s nerves. Most of the time they could keep it professional.

Normally, Hotch was fine with letting them prank each other and have fun; it was kept off of cases, it was not too disruptive, nothing permanent and most of the time it was kept to the people involved. Unfortunately, this time it seemed to be getting out of hand, involving more and more people. It started off with just Reid and Morgan, and maybe Garcia. Then JJ joined, then Ambrosius, and Hotch could see both groups approaching Rossi and Blake so he had to put his foot down.

Hotch could tell when it changed from a playful game to a proper prank war, it was after Morgan had replaced the coffee with decaf. Which, why would he do that? They all knew what Reid was like with his coffee. Reid responded by putting post-its all over Morgan and JJ’s desks. The response to that was a page stuck to the door saying it was broken and to use another one; the only door into the bullpen. Morgan’s contact names were changed around causing some awkward phone calls. Hotch started to lose track of what happened after that but they kept happening so Hotch had to put his foot down and make everyone stop.

How was this the best profiling team the FBI had?

Chapter Text

Spencer felt numb.

He just felt nothing.

Maeve.

Maeve was beautiful.

Maeve was alive.

Maeve is dead.

Spencer felt dead.

“Reid?” A muffled voice asked. Spencer didn’t even jump. He just turned to look at the door next to him.

“Reid? It’s Merlin,” the voice, Merlin, continued. Spencer rested his head against the wall again. He wanted to be alone.

“Reid, I’m not going to leave until you let me in.”

“Go away,” Spencer grunted.

“Not a chance,” Merlin sighed.

“I want to be alone.”

“Reid, now is not the time to be alone.”

“How would you know?”

“My first girlfriend died in front of me as well,” Merlin offered. “She was killed by my best friend. It was an accident, self-defence.”

“Oh,” Spencer sagged, “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know,” Merlin sounded calm. “Can I come inside?”

Spencer was silent. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to wallow alone. None of the BAU understood.

But Merlin did.

Merlin lost his loved one. He lost his girlfriend in front of him. Just like Spencer.

Merlin knew what it was like.

“Yeah,” Spencer sighed. He slowly stood and unlocked his front door. He opened it to see Merlin standing there, giving him a soft, supportive smile.

“Hey,” Merlin said softly.

“Hey,” Spencer offered flatly. Merlin shifted, lifting a small bag into view.

“I brought some Welsh cakes as well as some Cornish pasties. I thought you’d like some ready-made food that you can eat easily.”

“Pasties are often eaten with your hands,” Spencer recited instinctually.

“Exactly,” Merlin smiled. Spencer sagged against the door, letting it swing a bit more, moving him out of the way to let Merlin into his apartment. Merlin walked in and Spencer could see that he was looking around, taking the apartment in and he could also tell that Merlin liked it. Spencer could also tell that Merlin was trying to act casual for his sake, which he somewhat appreciated. 

“Where should I put this?” Merlin asked, clearly not wanting to assume. Or he just wanted to follow Spencer’s lead.

“Just in the fridge, I’ll get to organising it at some point,” Spencer offered. He wasn’t going to lie or try to tell Merlin he was doing better than he was. Merlin would catch it. Besides, Merlin knew what it was like.

“I’ll take something out for our lunch,” Merlin said.

“Sounds good,” Spencer nodded. He flopped onto his couch. He didn't really know what to do. He’d planned on keeping himself locked in and everyone else out for a bit longer, he didn’t know how long. Just longer. He didn’t know what to do now that Merlin was there.

Merlin carefully sat down next to him. Spencer could tell it had more to do with caution to his older furniture than anything else.

Spencer was handed a warm pasty. He couldn’t eat.

The pasty was warm and it smelt delicious. He knew he should eat, that it was the best thing to do. Feed himself and he’ll start to feel better. Less irritable, less like he hated himself and less tired. But, the idea of eating, of putting something into his mouth, the idea of sustaining himself, of living. It made him nauseous. He knew what would come, the crumbling pastry scattering in his mouth making it dry and coarse. The vegetables and meat lathered and layered with flavours that would be just too much for him. It made him want to throw it away, to never even look at it.

“Tell me about her?” Spencer found himself asking. He knew he needed a distraction,  give his brain something to focus on that wasn’t the food in his hands, the feeling of putting it in his mouth. The pastry flakes, the meat, the vegetables, the taste all flooding into his mouth. Suffocating him.

Spencer saw Merlin startle and he looked thrown off by the request. Before Spencer could try to take it back, Merlin gave him a smile.

“She was… special. She was everything. My escape,” Merlin started, he looked wistful and a bit sad, which made sense, “the idea that I could be more than what everyone was telling me to be. Less than what everyone was telling me to be. I didn’t have to be or do whatever I was told to do. She was sweet and kind and caring and scared but she helped me anyway. Helped me feel more comfortable with myself, with what I could do. She helped me think I could be more, do more. She made me crave more.

“She felt trapped, she was trapped. She… she had an illness and the people that were supposed to be taking care of her were abusing her and using her like some kind of show. I met her after I helped her get away from them, hiding away and I brought her food, water, and clothes. I just became her friend.”

“Why didn’t you get help?”

“I couldn’t. Her ‘caretaker’ had gone to my partner’s father, my boss at the time, and told him and anyone who would listen that she was dangerous and needed to be caught, or killed. Everyone was looking for her to bring her back to the people that hurt her. And I couldn’t say anything, I was just a servant, and my word meant nothing to them. I was going to run away. Leave my life behind. Leave my friends and family behind. My destiny behind. For her. Because she gave me hope for a future I could control.”

“What happened?”

“The night we were going to leave, she had an episode and she was wandering around. She was violent and hurting people. I’d just managed to find her when she and my best friend started to fight. He was trying to stop her to protect people. She attacked him and he stabbed her in self-defence. She ran away and I found her later. I was with her as she died.”

“You couldn’t do anything?”

“I was 17, still learning the basics of holistic medicine and basic first aid from my uncle. I just didn’t know what to do.”

“Merlin, you said she was violent-”

“I know, I know. I wanted to help her, I knew I could. Maybe not then, not right away but I was going to learn how I could help her, save her. I know that isn’t the right mindset to have about these sorts of things but what she had, there was a solution where she wouldn’t have had any episodes. I know that now, I knew I could find it then. I still feel like I didn’t do enough to save her.”

“You did everything you could.”

“So did you.”

“Did you just reverse therapy me?”

“I didn’t plan on it but did it work?”

“Not really,” Spencer shrugged, crumpling up the empty paper in his hands. He took a deep breath. He felt… sustained. He’d eaten, which chased away the gnawing feeling in his stomach and he could feel the pressure of exhaustion weighing on him. He should sleep.

“You get some rest,” Merlin smiled, moving to let Spencer lie down. “Are you ok with me cleaning up or would you rather I leave it.”

“I’d really appreciate the help,” Spencer said quietly, he wasn’t used to asking for or accepting help but, with Merlin, it felt different. He got a soft smile, it didn’t feel condescending or prideful, just caring.

“What did she look like?” Spencer asked, just barely keeping awake. Merlin faltered, he looked caught like he didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to keep picking at the 10-year wound.

“I… I don’t remember what Freya looked like, I just remember thinking she was beautiful. One of the first things I said to her was ‘You really don’t realise how special you are, do you?’ I was gone the moment I saw her,” Merlin smiled, this time it was sad.

“I felt the same about Maeve,” Spencer nodded.

“You always will,” Merlin offered, Spencer felt his eyes sting with tears. He knew he’d remember her forever, his memory would never let him forget, and he’d felt like that was a punishment, a retribution for not being able to save her. But maybe it was a gift. He could remember all of the calls, the late-night talks, her concern for him, her full-hearted help, her rushed ‘I love you’, her tender affection and adoration of him. Her love for him and his love for her.

He would remember her, always.