The Clockwork Boy, 32/?
Title: The Clockwork Boy
Rating: R
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Universe: Creatures of the Night (Part 2)
Pairing: Reid/Austin, Morgan/Prentiss; JJ/Hotch
Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Summary: The BAU is divided by two cases that tests their loyalties. Some things are found. Some things are lost. Some things were never really meant to be.
Author’s Note: At the end
Previously, on The Clockwork Boy: Morgan, Prentiss and JJ visited Diana Reid, who told them that Reid needed to find Mister Geppetto. The problem is, they still don’t know where Reid is. Reid himself is stuck on the “awkward road trip from hell” after Riley walks in on his make-out session with Austin, and doesn’t react very well. Reid’s still unsure as to his place in the world, but he thinks that talking to his mother will straighten some things out. (And there were not, nor have there been any dinosaurs in this story. I just put that in to sound cool).
Chapter Thirty-Two
It’s mid afternoon when they hit Argadnel. The atmosphere hadn’t grown any more comfortable, by any definition of the word, but Reid had managed to get a little bit of sleep in along the way.
He remembers Argadnel so vividly, so clearly; the rust colored mountains that tower in the horizon, the winding road from Casimir, the dry desert heat, all snapshots in his mind. Of course, they’re not his snapshots. His memory is somebody else’s vacation photos, things that someone else had done.
Here, the heat is all consuming. Plants and animals adapt to survive, the same as anywhere. Xerophytes store water to stay alive, while phreatophytes grow long roots to reach the zone of saturation. Werewolves learn to live in populated cities, riding to work on crowded subways. Vampires drink the blood of donors. Wizards group together, drawing their strength from numbers.
Humans persevere.
If he does make it out of this alive, what does the future hold? He’s seen droids tossed away like trash, because there’s a new model out on the market. It doesn’t matter that he’s different; underneath the skin (it looks, it feels so real) he’s just metal.
Metal doesn’t adapt. Doesn’t grow, doesn’t evolve.
Metal rusts.
In the end, nature laughs last, and Spencer Reid is not natural.
The endless plains pass beside them, skyscrapers growing ever closer as they keep driving. They aren’t entering the city just yet, though - the Capgras Institution is outside the city limits. The banishing of the mad. The casting out of something because they don’t understand it. Because they fear it. Reid understands that feeling all too well; he thought that he’d found friendship, found family in the team.
He was wrong.
‘Are we here?’ asks Riley, from the front passenger’s seat. Apparently Austin had taken the wheel sometime while he was asleep. ‘Fucking finally.’ He gives a long, protracted sigh, as if the entire thing is Reid’s fault.
The parking lot is mostly empty, employee vehicles no doubt filling it for the most part. Reid stretches as he exits the car. His muscles feel blood-starved, but surely that’s just a misconception; he has no muscles, no blood. Just wire and coolant.
Today, he comes with a new burden on his shoulders.
He has visited his mother before, but his mind is unable to distinguish between reality and this fabricated version that’s running through his mind, like some broken record.
He’s aware of Riley tucking a gun into the back of his jeans, and his body tenses. Considering they’re only there to talk to his mother, there’s unlikely to be any resistance from the doctors, but the presence of a weapon could turn things sour very quickly.
‘They have security protocols,’ he informs Riley, who gives him a look. ‘Trust me, things will go much more smoothly if you leave that in the car.’
‘It’s a mental institution, Ri,’ Austin says, in an exasperated tone. ‘I’m pretty sure anyone that would want to actually hurt you would be behind bulletproof glass.’ In a soft tone, she adds. ‘Everyone except me.’
Riley gives a disbelieving scoff, but he doesn’t argue, tossing the gun into the glove compartment before relocking the car.
‘Let me take the lead,’ Reid says authoritatively. ‘Your aggressive behavior won’t do us any favors.’ It’s something of a bold move, judging by the look on Austin’s face, but again, Riley doesn’t argue. For a split second, Reid is almost suspicious, but then, Riley is no idiot - it might be risky, but it’s also his best chance of getting what he wants. He’s evidently not particularly worried about Reid trying to escape, but that’s mostly because Reid doesn’t want to escape. He’s seen a dozen ways out, minimum, but the way out is also the way of ignorance.
The thing about being a genius is you can’t not know things. The thirst for knowledge is unbearable. It would be so nice to pretend that he had never heard those fateful words, that he had remained oblivious. Things would have gone on, the same as they always had.
But that’s not who he is.
He’s not really sure who he is anymore.
Reid takes the lead into the reception area of the building, and there’s a terrible silence hanging in the air. Something’s wrong.
He gestures for Austin and Riley to stay back, and walks over to the receptionist’s desk. Her eyes widen at the sight of him, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out she knows who he is.
‘You know who I am?’ He asks the question anyway, and she gives a nod.
‘Your friends - they were here earlier today looking for you.’
He frowns, at first unsure as to who she’s referring to, but then he remembers the team. His “friends.”
Traitors, all of them.
Et tu, Brute?
But if they’re looking for you; surely they care? a second voice says, and Reid can’t quite ignore it.
‘I need to see her,’ he says, but in his mind, it sounds more like a plea. A plea for the truth.
‘I’ll…I’ll call Doctor Samson.’
Reid frowns. ‘I thought Doctor Augustine was her primary psychiatrist?’
‘He is - Doctor Samson is responsible for more…administrative matters.’ Reid isn’t quite sure what “administrative matters” the receptionist is referring to, but her tone of voice is such that he’s fairly sure it’s a little more serious than mere paperwork.
Doctor Samson is tall, with dark hair and a commanding presence. The look on his face is nothing short of surprised. ‘Mr. Reid. I didn’t expect to see you again.’
‘On the contrary, Doctor - If my suspicions are correct, then we’re technically meeting for the first time.’ Samson doesn’t deny the accusation, but he doesn’t say anything else, either. ‘I’d like to speak to Diana Reid, please.’
‘Mr. Reid, I-’
‘Doctor Reid,’ Reid corrects. ‘Or, failing that, Special Agent Reid, though I can’t imagine that will be the case for very much longer.’
‘Doctor Reid, your mother has had a very trying day - I don’t think it would be wise to speak to her in this state.’
‘She’s not my mother,’ Reid counters. ‘And it is imperative that I talk to her - immediately.’
‘Of course,’ Samson replies, with a tight-lipped smile. ‘However, I cannot guarantee that she will be in any state to answer your questions.’
There are two particular questions that Reid would like to ask. “How?” is one of them, but the more important one is “Why?”
Why did you do this to me?
Samson calls ahead to have Diana moved to one of the meeting rooms, and sets off down one of the stark, white hallways. Samson hesitates as Riley and Austin follow, but Reid cuts him off with a sharp, ‘They’re with me.’ The doctor doesn’t seem particularly pleased by the development, but he doesn’t argue; Spencer has always had a way of making people do what he wants them to do. There’s just something about a genius that they find so ridiculously intimidating.
The “meeting room” seems more like and interrogation room when Reid sees it, an association that’s compounded by the one-way mirror, and the observation room that Samson excuses himself to. Reid gestures for Austin and Riley to follow him, and both are a little unsure, but for different reasons.
‘Are you sure you’ll be okay in there?’ Austin asks. Reid gives her a short but certain nod.
‘I want to be in there too,’ Riley argues, and Reid flatly refuses.
‘No. This is going to be hard enough without an untrained professional trying to interfere. You want answers - you want to save your brother - then you trust me to get them for you.’ Riley reluctantly follows Samson and Austin into the observation room, and Reid turns towards the door.
He’s sweating.
He’s nervous, and he’s sweating.
It should be physiologically impossible, but it’s not.
With a deep breath, he steps into the room, and Diana Reid has an immediate negative reaction. ‘No! No! You weren’t supposed to come! They were supposed to keep you away!’
He’s not quite sure whether “they” is the hospital staff, or someone else entirely, but the fact that she’s so against his presence suggests that she definitely does know something.
‘Diana…Mom…I’m not upset at you for what you did…’ It hurts to lie so much, but he has to, otherwise this isn’t going to work. ‘I just…I need to know why you did it.’
She stares at him, wild-eyed, but she doesn’t scream, and she doesn’t try to escape. That’s something. ‘You’re not like him. He’s not like you…My boy, my Spencer…I loved him so much, and then he went away. I couldn’t live without him - he’s the one that kept the voices at bay. You…you keep your distance because you’re afraid.’
Reid bites his lip. ‘I’m not afraid of you.’
‘No.’ She shakes her head. ‘You’re afraid of what the future holds. But you don’t have to worry about that - you’re…you’re perfect.’
He shakes his head. ‘I’m not…you know I’m not.’
She smiles. ‘That doesn’t matter - a mother’s son is always perfect.’
He feels…tears. They’re strange to him now, foreign. The toaster doesn’t cry - why should a robot? ‘I’m not your son,’ he chokes out.
‘Yes you are,’ she replies. ‘No matter what, you will always be my son, and you will always be Spencer Reid. Don’t you see - you’re not like the rest of them. The body is just a piece of hardware, but your mind is more than that of any droid. Your mind is human.’
He starts to sob, unable to control himself. Diana - no, his mother - reaches over, and lays a hand on top of his. ‘If you want to understand…There’s still one person you need to see, Spencer.’
He stares at her, uncertain.
‘You need to see Mister Geppetto - you need to see the man that made you.’
Author’s Note: Thanks very much for the favourable response to last chapter - positive criticism always encourages me to write more, so keeping up that level of support would totally rock my socks off. As it stands, the next installment to this series will be entitled “The Fallen” and will have something of a JJ/Hotch focus, but it will also address the situation concerning the team’s arch-nemesis, Elizabiatch, so there will definitely be some Emily stuff in there too (as if you’d expect anything different from me).