Work Text:
Time wasn’t going slower. It just felt that way. It always felt that way when a person was waiting around to do something they didn’t really want to do. This was definitely one of those moments for the profiler. He had something important to do that he wasn’t really looking forward to. Something that he couldn’t do until his coworker got here. Only, instead of arriving at his usual time of eight o’clock—on the dot—one Dr. Spencer Reid was nowhere in sight.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Spencer had missed the bus and had to catch the next one. Since the next one came almost an hour later, it made him about an hour late for work. Though it didn’t often happen, it had happened enough that the team was used to it and they didn’t stress it if Spencer came in an hour late for work.
Apparently today was going to be one of those days. Of course. The one day that Derek really wanted to be able to talk to his friend and it was the day that Spencer had to be late for work.
Derek wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he knew he had to have with his friends. There was something going on with Spencer and it was starting to get to the point that Derek was worrying about it. He hadn’t been sure at first—a lot of what he was seeing was too easily brushed off as something else. But the argument the two of them had gotten into last night had forced Derek to stop and think about a few things and he hadn’t really liked the image that had been painted in his mind.
Their argument had started out simple. The team had wanted to get together this weekend at Derek’s place for a barbeque and some time to just rest and relax, and Derek had been the one to extend the invitation to Spencer. Granted, it was sort of last minute, but he hadn’t really expected Spencer to tell him that he already had plans and couldn’t make it. There’d been something about the way Spencer had looked away from him, the slightly shifty body language, that had left Derek curious and a bit worried. Unfortunately, Spencer had taken his worry as an insult. “Is it really so hard to think that I might actually have plans, Morgan?”
“You can read your books anytime, kid.” Derek had tried to tease him, hoping it would help Spencer relax, but it had only made things worse.
The memory of the things they’d shouted at one another after that were enough to make Derek cringe now as he stared down at the paperwork he’d been pretending to do. Neither man had held back. Later on, when Derek had calmed down, that fact alone was enough to make him start worrying. Spencer wasn’t the type to snap at anyone. He was the type to keep quiet about something and bottle it inside, not shout it out in the parking lot of the Bureau. But shout it he had. Loud and furious. The things that he’d said...
Derek had thought about the things Spencer had accused him of for the rest of the night. “Why do you want me there so badly?” Spencer had demanded, his eyes sharp and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. “It’s not like you guys ever want to actually talk to me!” And then, later, “So, what? None of you can ever come out when I ask you, when it’s important, but you expect me to drop all my plans just because all of you deign to grace me with your presence?”
That wasn’t really how Spencer felt, was it? That had to be the temper talking. It had to be! There was no way the kid could think that they didn’t want him around after all these years. That’s what Derek had tried to convince himself when he’d stormed around his home later that night. Only, the more he thought about it, the more he started to see a pattern that left his stomach twisting a little and guilt gnawing at him.
He couldn’t remember the last time any of them had gone out with Spencer when he’d asked. He used to ask periodically, but he’d never made it seem like a big deal if they turned him down, or instead suggested that they get together somewhere else, with everyone else. Spencer had always agreed to it.
When was the last time the kid had asked, though? The fact that Derek couldn’t think of a time was enough to make the guilt worse.
Then his brain had run over conversations with Spencer lately. Not just between the two of them, but as a team, and what he’d come up with hadn’t helped him feel any better. Because most of the moments that he thought of with Spencer talking were case related. Beyond that, he didn’t think he’d seen Spencer talking all that much. And the ones that he could remember, they made him cringe a little because usually they involved someone either rolling their eyes at his ramble, or one of them using the tricks they’d perfected over the years to divert him off the topic and onto something else. Those tricks had once been employed to help out in the moments where Spencer could get so focused on one fascinating thing that he forgot not everyone wanted or needed to hear it. When had they started to use it to cut him off in regular conversation as well?
It’d been a long night of soul searching and guilt for Derek and he’d come to work this morning with the resolve to sit down and talk to the kid he would’ve once tried to claim as his best friend. Last night had showed him that maybe he wasn’t as deserving of that tile as he thought he was.
But more and more time was passing and when Derek looked up again, the hour had come and gone and still Spencer hadn’t arrived.
Wow, I must’ve really pissed him off, Derek thought first. Then he paused. Would Spencer really not come in just because of a fight they had? Would he really avoid work just because of that?
He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of Emily’s voice beside him, startling him enough that he actually jumped. Derek spun in his chair to find the woman grinning at him. “Sorry,” She apologized, not sounding sorry at all. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You just looked like something was bothering you.”
“It’s fine. Just, worrying, I guess.” Derek snuck another look up at the clock.
Emily followed his gaze and her own eyes lit with understanding, sliding down to Spencer’s empty desk and then over to Derek again. She didn’t bother pretending that she didn’t know what he was worrying about. “Maybe he’s sick.” She offered.
“Maybe.” It was possible. But he hadn’t seemed sick last night.
Turning her attention fully towards Derek, Emily furrowed her brow and watched him for a moment. “You think it’s something else?”
For a brief moment Derek hesitated. Then he sighed and lifted a hand to run over his head. “Reid and I got into an argument last night. We said some pretty rough things to one another.”
Emily’s eyes went wide and her eyebrows shot up. “You think he’s skipping out on work to avoid you.”
“It’s a lot more plausible than him mysteriously being sick. Reid doesn’t handle confrontation very well.”
“He’s never let it get in the way of his work before.” Emily pointed out.
She was right, too. Even when it was hard for him, Spencer didn’t let things get in the way of him doing his job. “It’s just a paperwork day, though, and he knows it. Knowing him, he’s got his done already.”
“Then maybe Hotch gave him the day off.”
Another plausible reason. Derek knew he was probably reading too much into this; he was probably overreacting to it all. Spencer wasn’t the type to skip work just because he was upset about something. He’d just be the kind to come in quietly and ignore everything and do his work, and if Derek tried to talk to him he’d just smile and nod and accept his apology and everything would be fine, because Spencer wasn’t the type to hold grudges. He was the type to forgive everyone for everything.
Even if a part of him still felt a bit uneasy, Derek convinced himself that Emily had to be right. Spencer had to be sick, or Aaron had to have given him the day off. They were the logical answers here. He was sure that had to be what was going on.
He stayed sure of it, right up until lunch when Aaron came into the bullpen looking more serious than Derek could remember seeing him for quite a long time. “We need to go.” Their Unit Chief told them, rapping his knuckles against the door to Dave’s office before opening it. When he spoke, it was to both rooms, drawing the attention of his entire team. “I just got a call from the local PD for Reid’s apparent. Someone’s broken in and they can’t find Reid.”
Never before had Derek ever driven so fast without being involved in some high-speed pursuit. He swore he broken records getting from the Bureau to Spencer’s apartment. He wasn’t the only one, either. Aaron was driving the SUV in front of him and the man went just as fast if not faster than Derek did. The whole drive over there, all Derek could think about was his stupid argument with Spencer and the way he’d brushed things off this morning, assuming that Spencer was either sick or avoiding him. How could I have been so stupid? He growled at himself. I should’ve known something was up. I should’ve realized that there was something going on when he didn’t show up for work. I shouldn’t have just brushed it off!
The guilt gnawed at him worse than it had last night. Seeing the cop cars already parked outside of Spencer’s building only made that feeling worse. By the time that they finally made it upstairs to Spencer’s apartment, the whole team was silent, each one of them wearing a serious expression.
Seeing the officers standing guarding outside Spencer’s door and milling around inside was like a fist to the gut. Derek had to push down his feelings as best as he could to make himself take that first step inside.
What he saw when he got inside was enough to shake and almost break his control. The first thing Derek noticed wasn’t the people, it was the state of the apartment. The couch was crooked, out of place, and books and knickknacks were spread out all over the place. One of the end tables was tipped over and it looked like his coffee table had been smashed completely, like something hard had landed on it. Or someone. Even as Derek’s heart clenched, the profiler in him read the room around him, easily seeing the struggle that had taken place here. Someone had taken Spencer and they’d found more of a fight than they’d expected.
There were a handful of police officers in the room. One of them, an older gentleman that the BAU had worked with before, a police chief by the name of Marv Neel, was talking with a distinguished looking older gentleman that Derek had never seen before. The man was tall, probably around Derek’s height, with an average looking build. His face was set with high cheekbones and a slightly pointed noise, and he had short, dark hair. His face was calm his whole body looked at ease. He looked like the most relaxed person in the room, right up until you looked at his eyes. There were lines around his eyes and the blue of them was dim and heavy with worry.
“I’m not sure what more I can tell y’.” The man was saying to Marv. “I don’t know all de details. M’ son will be here soon an he’ll give y’ everyt’ing he knows about what’s going on.”
Marv nodded and slipped his pencil back into his pocket while he folded up the notepad in his hand. “Thank you, Mr. LeBeau. You’ve been a great help. I promise you, we’re going to do everything we can to bring your son home.”
The word son had Derek freezing halfway into the room. Son? His son? So, there had been more than just Spencer here. That changed things drastically. If Spencer and someone else had been taken, that meant that it was definitely more than one person who had come in here. Knowing that it was a team changed things drastically.
When the police chief turned, he caught sight of the BAU team coming in and he lit up a little at the sight of them. “Agent Hotchner.” He greeted Aaron, giving a nod to the rest of them. The two men shook hands briefly and then Marv let go to reach back and put a hand on the shoulder of the man still beside him. “I’ve just been speaking with Dr. Reid’s father-in-law. He showed up just after we arrived. I thought you might want to speak with him so I had him stick around instead of taking him downtown for his statement.”
Derek and Emily exchanged a stunned look at the words ‘father-in-law’. When Derek glanced over, Dave’s eyebrows were up with surprise and Aaron’s were drawn down, giving the Unit Chief a hawk-like stare as he looked at the man. “Father-in-law?”
“Oui.” The man drawled out. His voice carried the sounds of the south, flavored with a Cajun edge that was just a bit smoother and more sophisticated sounding than Will’s—JJ’s partner. The man straightened up and held a hand out to Aaron. “Jean-Luc LeBeau. I’m pleased to finally met y’, though I wish it was under better circumstances. I’ve heard Spencer speak about y’ plenty enough dat I feel like I already know all of y’.”
Derek couldn’t contain himself; staring at this man who was claiming to be Spencer’s father-in-law, who was acting like he had some right here, Derek blurted out “Reid’s not married.”
That seemed to throw the man. He let go of Aaron’s hand and turned his eyes to Derek. There was a perplexed look on his face. “What’re y’ talking about?” Jean-Luc looked confused, his eyes as sharp as glass as they cut from one person to the next. “He and Remy have been married for eight months now. I attended de wedding m’self. It was beautiful.”
“Who’s Remy?” JJ asked.
Jean-Luc drew back like he’d been slapped. His eyes went wide and his mouth actually dropped open a little. He looked at them all like he was waiting for one of them to start laughing or tell him that this was some joke. When they all met his look with their own confused stares, his eyebrows shot up. “Y’ve got to be kidding me? Y’r telling me not a one of y’ even know who Remy is?” They said nothing and Jean-Luc closed his eyes and blew out a breath, looking suddenly so much older. “Ah, petit.” He muttered something else that sounded like French, far too low for any of them to really catch it.
Anything else he might’ve said was cut off when a loud noise in the hallway drew all their attention. Derek turned to look just as a sharp voice snapped out “I suggest y’ get de fuck outta m’ way b’fore I make y’. Dat’s m’ home and y’ aint stoppin’ me from goin’ in dere!” A second later there was a low snarl and then Derek got his first look at Remy LeBeau.
The Cajun came in like a whirlwind. There was only a brief moment to take him in—tall, probably a bit taller than Spencer, dressed in old, well-worn jeans and some dark shirt that was mostly covered by the brown trench coat that he wore, and loose auburn hair that hung around a furious looking face that was in need of a shave—and then this Remy caught sight of Jean-Luc and he was flying forward and straight to the man’s side, already talking before he’d even taken two steps. “Is dere any news yet?”
“None.” Jean-Luc answered immediately. He reached out for Remy, ignoring the round of curses the man was letting out, and he laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. The grip was firm, obviously meant as a support, as were the next words. “We’ll find him, Rem. Don’t y’ worry. We’ll find him.”
“Y’r damn right we will. I knew I should’ve stayed here!” There was another spattering of curses, this time in French, and Remy rubbed a hand over his face. Sunglasses hid his eyes but it wasn’t hard to tell that his gaze had turned Jean-Luc’s direction. “He said he had dis shit under control. Dat he was safe. I should’ve been here!”
“Y’ can’t blame y’rself for dis, Rem. Y’ had no idea dis was going to happen, an we both know dat Spencer aint de type to worry anyone more dan he has to. He wanted y’ to go to dis. Y’ been here nonstop lately an he knew y’ needed to get out. Dat’s why I was coming, remember? We tried to keep someone wit’ him. De connard dat did dis, dey waited perfectly until he was alone. If it hadn’t been now, it would’ve been another time. We couldn’t keep him under lock and key.”
Remy snarled and jerked back from his father’s touch. “Y’ just watch me! When I get him back, I’m lockin’ his fuckin’ ass t’ dat bed till dis shit is taken care of! He aint going nowhere alone anymore. M’ heart can’t take it.”
“Remy,” Jean-Luc hesitated, eyes flashing to the profilers who were all staring at the two of them. Then he reached out for Remy again and took hold of his shoulder once more. “Remy, I need y' to calm down for a minute. Spencer's team is here...”
Remy's head snapped up and he looked at them with surprise, followed quickly by an anger that stunned them all. The Cajun growled and took a small step forward. “Where de hell were all of y', huh?” He demanded furiously. Lifting one hand, he gestured towards the broken apartment around them. “Where exactly were y' when he was gettin' taken, hm? Y' was supposed to be watchin' out fo' him! He told me y' had dis shit handled! Does dis look fuckin' handled t' y'?”
None of the profilers got a chance to speak. Jean-Luc squeezed Remy's shoulder and drew him back somewhat. “Remy...”
“What?” Remy spun to face his father, his hands up and gesturing wildly. “Dey were supposed to watch out fo' him! Spencer said dey had it under control. Dey were supposed to have dis connard captured by now, Papa!”
“Dey don’t know.”
The words were said lowly, as if that would somehow soften the blow of them, and Derek watched as Remy went completely and utterly still. Derek found himself holding his breath without even realizing he was doing it as Remy turned just a little bit so that he could face his father, completely dismissing the profilers and officers who were all watching this scene unfold. “Excusez-moi?”
Jean-Luc’s expression was pained. He looked over at the BAU team and then back to his son. “I’m pretty sure dey don’t know what’s going on. Dey don’t know anyt’ing, Remy.” The man drew in a deep breath and obviously braced himself. Derek could see as his hand tightened on Remy’s shoulder as if attempting to hold him in place. “Remy, dey didn’t… dey didn’t know who y’ were. Dey didn’t even know Spencer was married.”
“What’re y’ talkin’ about?” Remy demanded. “Of course dey know! We’ve been married fo’ eight fuckin’ months, Papa.”
“Dey had no idea who I was, or who y’ were when I said y’r name. Dey don’t know who we are, Remy. I don’t… I don’t t’ink Spencer told dem.”
“Of course he did!” Spinning towards the profilers, Remy fixed them with a glare that could be felt even through his sunglasses. “What kinda game are y’ pullin’ here? Of course y’ know! I been dating Spencer fo’ almost two years total now. He said he sent y’ invitations t’ de wedding and everything! Y’ had dat damn case dat cropped up. Spencer told me all about it!”
This whole thing was so surreal. Derek wanted to stand there and deny it all right in this Remy’s face. He wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that this was a stupid joke and someone should stop it now because it wasn’t funny and Spencer was missing and they had better things to do with their time than listen to something like this. But even as he started to do it, a few things were popping up in his mind, memories of his argument with Spencer last night. “You never listen!” Spencer had shouted at him. And “Even when it’s important to me, the most important thing that’s ever happened to me, none of you could be bothered to listen long enough for me to tell you! When I needed you all, none of you were there. None of you even noticed anything was going on!”
No. It wasn’t possible. There was no way they’d missed something like this! How could Spencer have been dating someone for two years, married to them for eight months, and the team didn’t know about it? How could they have missed something like this?
More memories drifted forward. Spencer, so long ago, telling them that he had someone important to introduce them to. Derek remembered cracking some kind of joke and everyone laughing, but he didn’t remember anything coming of it. Had Spencer wanted to introduce them to Remy? And another time, Spencer coming to him, telling him that he wanted to talk to him, that there was something important. Derek cringed as the memory washed over him. He’d been fresh off a break-up and if he remembered right, he’d been rather nasty when he’d brushed Spencer off.
Had the others done the same thing? He looked at them and saw the same things on their faces that he was feeling inside. Guilt. Had they all really brushed Spencer off so much that he felt he hadn’t been able to tell them something like this? Something as important as getting married? Jesus Christ, Spencer was married. Not only had they somehow missed this, Spencer had actually lied to his husband to cover for them. He’d lied about inviting them, about them having a case. He’d lied about them knowing Remy even existed. Derek felt like he was going to throw up.
“Bon Dieu.” Remy breathed out the words, drawing back a little from them. “Y’r not kiddin’. Y’ve got no damn idea who I am, do y’?”
“I’m sorry.” Dave said, and he sounded like he meant it. He sounded almost as guilty as Derek felt. “We’ve never heard your name before today.”
One of Remy’s hands pressed against his own stomach while his other went up to rest over top of the one Jean-Luc still had on his shoulder. Derek had a feeling that, if he could’ve seen Remy’s eyes, they would’ve been closed. “Spencer.” The way Remy said it was both a prayer and a curse. Then he let out a shuddering breath. “When I get m’ hands on him, I’m gonna kick his ass. Den I’m gonna kick every one of y’rs fo’ not fuckin’ knowing de important shit in de life of someone y’ got de nerve t’ call y’r friend.” The threats were delivered in a calm voice, a simple statement of fact, without any ounce of worry for making that threat to a group of federal agents and right in front of a bunch of police officers. Remy shook his head before he suddenly drew himself together and straightened up. “Considering y’all didn’t even know I existed, I feel pretty safe in assumin’ dat y’ aint got a clue about de threats dat Spencer's been getting lately.”
That was enough to have everyone perking up. The other things, those didn’t go away, but Spencer was missing and they had to focus. They had to find him. Everything else could be dealt with afterwards.
“We weren’t aware of any threats.” Aaron answered him calmly.
Remy snorted, his lip curling up in a small sneer, making it absolutely clear just what he thought of them. It was clear it wasn’t the least bit flattering. “Go figure. I got about fifteen minutes till Scotty and m’ team gets here and den y’all are on y’r own. Let’s go sit down in de kitchen and I’ll tell y’ all about it. Papa, would y’ go grab de papers outta de safe in our room? De combo’s seventeen-twelve-thirty five-eighteen. Dere should be all de letters and shit Spencer's been gettin’ lately.” Without waiting for a response, Remy turned and made his way towards the kitchen, gesturing with one hand over his shoulder for the others to follow him. “C’mon. Dis is gonna take a bit an we might as well get outta de way of de vultures pickin’ deir way through m’ home. If I gotta stand here an watch em while I talk, I’m gonna end up causin’ some damage of m’ own.”
It was a stunned and silent group that followed this man towards the kitchen, each one of them wondering what the hell was going on and when everything had decided to stop making sense.