"You know, you're the first person to ever ask me for explosion stories as a birthday gift," Reid says, lowering himself onto the couch and realizing only after he's taken his seat that he'd gravitated closer to Luke. It occurs to him that the reason the other man might have sat all the way at one end of the couch had been because he didn't want to be too close but then he thinks of what little distance there's been between them at the movie theater, and he thinks that can't be true. Rather, he hopes it isn't.
He's never going to be the kind of person who welcomes casual touch from a stranger or often initiates it even with people he is comfortable with but there are certain people he doesn't mind it from at all. Typically, it takes a little bit of time and effort on the other person's part to unlock that part of Reid that's willing to open himself up to someone else a bit more but in Luke's case, it seems to have happened exceptionally quicker than usual. Since the night of Mindy's party, he's been searching for a way to say that, to let Luke know he doesn't have to be so careful or hesitant, but Reid has no clue how without making it sound unnatural. The issue of touch has never come up between them, after, at least not out loud. Luke had simply noticed Reid's tendency to avoid physical contact, even a simple handshake, and had respected that without even asking.
It's no wonder that Reid finds it so easy to trust him. So often, he's withheld his hand, a gesture returned with a quirk of an eyebrow or a look of offense, neither of which Reid thinks he really deserves. He shouldn't have to justify not wanting to touch people when even some hospitals back home had started internal movements to ban handshakes in the workplace just to help prevent the spreading of germs. It's not a novel concept but there's little he can do about people's skepticism besides try to educate them, though that rarely seems to end with a better result than the other person changing the subject midway through a so-called lecture.
But there's cake melting on his plate, he remembers, and Luke wants a story, so Reid allows himself to get settled without trying to create more space between them and sighs. "Okay, which one do I even start with, that's a tough one. Okay, this actually happened in my first year with the BAU, about nine years ago. There was this unsub, Randall Garner, we called him 'The Fisher King.' Highly delusional, but he believed in those delusions fully, which actually made him incredibly organized with his killings. One of his victims was decapitated, another impaled with a medieval sword. He started stalking us once we were put on the case, trying to figure out where we lived and what our schedules were like. He sent each of us on the team items that he knew would mean something to us, even made contact with our families."
He tries not to flinch when he thinks about flying his mother out to the BAU, seeing her for the first time in so long not even because he'd wanted to protect her but because he'd needed her for her accidental involvement in the case, but he shovels a piece of cake in his mouth to distract him from the memory and carries on.
"We were searching for another victim that he'd abducted, her name was Rebecca, but we found out that he was institutionalized in the same sanitarium that my mom was. He actually talked with her, they were friends." In a way, it'd been a good thing. It's what had helped them in the end, but Reid remembers how horrified he'd been to know that his mother had been so close to Garner, even if it'd only been for a short period of time. There's no fault that lies with her, of course, but it'd been the first time Reid had really considered that the people he cared for outside of the BAU might also be put in danger simply because of his chosen profession.
"Anyway, it turned out that he'd given her a photograph of his residence so eventually, we were able to find an address. Rebecca, the victim, she was Garner's daughter, but she'd been put up for adoption because when she was very young, the rest of their family was caught in a house wire while they slept. Garner was severely burned, completely unrecognizable, and when he was insitutionalized, my mother taught him about..." Reid holds his fork up in lieu of a drum roll. "The Fisher King, keeper of the Holy Grail and antagonist to the Knights of the Round Table. In Garner's mind, he became the Fisher King, Rebecca the Holy Grail, and the BAU were the Knights. So when we finally got to the house, I was the one to confront him. He was strapped up, had a bomb planted on himself with a detonator that would set the bomb off if he let go. I knew the Fisher King story, he knew that, and he asked me to ask the 'magical question,' the one that would heal his wounds."
He smiles sadly, lowering his eyes to his cake and poking at it before taking another bite. "Obviously, that wasn't going to work. I tried to talk him down, I asked him to forgive himself for what happened to his family and for not being able to get all of them out. He'd been blaming himself for year, but it was faulty wiring, it wasn't his fault." He's seen it so often, a trigger that sparks the urge to kill in an unsub who just needed the right kind of help, and Garner was no different in that sense. "He let go of the detonator while I was still in the room, but my teammates got me out. No real physical harm done to me, just-- just Garner. We did find Rebecca, though, so..."
Reid trails off, knowing that's not exactly a happy ending to the tale, and he feels a little awkward now for talking about such a heavy case. He risks a glance at Luke, biting down on his lip. "I'm sorry if that wasn't quite what you were expecting. None of the stories I have about explosions really have a pleasant lead-up." Wetting his lips, he takes the last bite of his cake and lets out a deep breath, following it with a short laugh. "Okay, your turn now. You won't sing for me so maybe you'll tell me a story about your dangerous job."
Knitting his brow, he frowns, though the corners of his lips quickly turn back up into an amused smile. "We make an interesting pair, don't we? Trading stories like this while eating ice cream cake, I don't think that's something most people make a habit of doing. I can't say I mind it if you don't."
no subject
He's never going to be the kind of person who welcomes casual touch from a stranger or often initiates it even with people he is comfortable with but there are certain people he doesn't mind it from at all. Typically, it takes a little bit of time and effort on the other person's part to unlock that part of Reid that's willing to open himself up to someone else a bit more but in Luke's case, it seems to have happened exceptionally quicker than usual. Since the night of Mindy's party, he's been searching for a way to say that, to let Luke know he doesn't have to be so careful or hesitant, but Reid has no clue how without making it sound unnatural. The issue of touch has never come up between them, after, at least not out loud. Luke had simply noticed Reid's tendency to avoid physical contact, even a simple handshake, and had respected that without even asking.
It's no wonder that Reid finds it so easy to trust him. So often, he's withheld his hand, a gesture returned with a quirk of an eyebrow or a look of offense, neither of which Reid thinks he really deserves. He shouldn't have to justify not wanting to touch people when even some hospitals back home had started internal movements to ban handshakes in the workplace just to help prevent the spreading of germs. It's not a novel concept but there's little he can do about people's skepticism besides try to educate them, though that rarely seems to end with a better result than the other person changing the subject midway through a so-called lecture.
But there's cake melting on his plate, he remembers, and Luke wants a story, so Reid allows himself to get settled without trying to create more space between them and sighs. "Okay, which one do I even start with, that's a tough one. Okay, this actually happened in my first year with the BAU, about nine years ago. There was this unsub, Randall Garner, we called him 'The Fisher King.' Highly delusional, but he believed in those delusions fully, which actually made him incredibly organized with his killings. One of his victims was decapitated, another impaled with a medieval sword. He started stalking us once we were put on the case, trying to figure out where we lived and what our schedules were like. He sent each of us on the team items that he knew would mean something to us, even made contact with our families."
He tries not to flinch when he thinks about flying his mother out to the BAU, seeing her for the first time in so long not even because he'd wanted to protect her but because he'd needed her for her accidental involvement in the case, but he shovels a piece of cake in his mouth to distract him from the memory and carries on.
"We were searching for another victim that he'd abducted, her name was Rebecca, but we found out that he was institutionalized in the same sanitarium that my mom was. He actually talked with her, they were friends." In a way, it'd been a good thing. It's what had helped them in the end, but Reid remembers how horrified he'd been to know that his mother had been so close to Garner, even if it'd only been for a short period of time. There's no fault that lies with her, of course, but it'd been the first time Reid had really considered that the people he cared for outside of the BAU might also be put in danger simply because of his chosen profession.
"Anyway, it turned out that he'd given her a photograph of his residence so eventually, we were able to find an address. Rebecca, the victim, she was Garner's daughter, but she'd been put up for adoption because when she was very young, the rest of their family was caught in a house wire while they slept. Garner was severely burned, completely unrecognizable, and when he was insitutionalized, my mother taught him about..." Reid holds his fork up in lieu of a drum roll. "The Fisher King, keeper of the Holy Grail and antagonist to the Knights of the Round Table. In Garner's mind, he became the Fisher King, Rebecca the Holy Grail, and the BAU were the Knights. So when we finally got to the house, I was the one to confront him. He was strapped up, had a bomb planted on himself with a detonator that would set the bomb off if he let go. I knew the Fisher King story, he knew that, and he asked me to ask the 'magical question,' the one that would heal his wounds."
He smiles sadly, lowering his eyes to his cake and poking at it before taking another bite. "Obviously, that wasn't going to work. I tried to talk him down, I asked him to forgive himself for what happened to his family and for not being able to get all of them out. He'd been blaming himself for year, but it was faulty wiring, it wasn't his fault." He's seen it so often, a trigger that sparks the urge to kill in an unsub who just needed the right kind of help, and Garner was no different in that sense. "He let go of the detonator while I was still in the room, but my teammates got me out. No real physical harm done to me, just-- just Garner. We did find Rebecca, though, so..."
Reid trails off, knowing that's not exactly a happy ending to the tale, and he feels a little awkward now for talking about such a heavy case. He risks a glance at Luke, biting down on his lip. "I'm sorry if that wasn't quite what you were expecting. None of the stories I have about explosions really have a pleasant lead-up." Wetting his lips, he takes the last bite of his cake and lets out a deep breath, following it with a short laugh. "Okay, your turn now. You won't sing for me so maybe you'll tell me a story about your dangerous job."
Knitting his brow, he frowns, though the corners of his lips quickly turn back up into an amused smile. "We make an interesting pair, don't we? Trading stories like this while eating ice cream cake, I don't think that's something most people make a habit of doing. I can't say I mind it if you don't."