[Criminal Minds] The Waiting Behind

Hotch turned around, looking at the girl's chest rising and falling due to the rapid running, and looked away.

"What's the matter, Evans?"

"Uh...I just want to say thank you for what happened in Portland that day. Also, I'm sorry, I lost my temper that day, I hope you don't take it to heart..." After being glanced at by Hotch, Michelle felt herself The blood in her whole body seemed to be stiff, and in those eyes that seemed to know everything, her embarrassing little thoughts seemed to have nowhere to hide.

"You don't have to take it to heart. You've said it many times before about thanking you. It's my job." Hotch didn't take it to heart.As an excellent profiler, he is very good at capturing the subtle facial expressions and emotional changes of people.Sometimes this ability even brings a lot of inconvenience to his own life, which is why he and his BAU colleagues agreed not to profile each other.Of course, he could clearly feel the girl in front of him's affection for him, and that deep hug explained many things.Even after that day, when he met in the coffee shop occasionally, he could find the girl's complicated expression.She herself seems to be deeply distressed by this relationship, but none of these Hotchs are willing to delve into it.Now he doesn't have the energy to talk about these ethereal things.Just let time settle, Hotch thought.

"If you have nothing else to do..." Hotch gestured apologetically, ready to leave.

"No!" Michelle hurriedly stopped Hotch, "I didn't stop you just to say these things. I remembered something about the murderer and I'm going to tell you."

Hearing that the case is urgently waiting to be solved, Hotch then looked at the worried girl, "If you can, please come to BAU with me to find out more about what you said."

Quantico BAU, this is Michelle's first time here.The mood is naturally extremely excited but also a little uneasy, just like the inexplicable sense of crampedness that ordinary citizens will naturally have when they suddenly arrive at a high-level law enforcement agency.

Sitting down in the conference room, a glass of water was placed in front of his desk.Looking up, it's Emily. Michelle smiled and took another deep breath.

Michelle glanced around, and said the rhetoric that had been organized many times in her heart, "I didn't think so much when the police came to find me, because I was busy making coffee when Penelope came, and my back was turned to them, and I didn't think about it. I heard what they were talking about and didn't care."

He lowered his head and slowly drank some water to moisten his throat, and glanced at Hotch. "Later, I suddenly thought of a detail, according to the method Hotch used when helping me recall."

"He's not a regular customer there, at least I've never seen him, I remember I took a few extra glances curiously. He sat in the store for a long time, although he had a notebook with him but never opened it, so I thought he was He didn't care when he was waiting for someone, but he suddenly turned on the computer as if he saw something. Then Garcia came in after a while."

"Sure enough, the murderer didn't have a purpose, and he clearly targeted Garcia." Emily confirmed again.

"And then?" Hotch stared at Michelle, knowing she had something to say.

"What I remembered later was that during those few glances I thought he was looking at, I saw a part of the police badge protruding from the clothes he was laying aside..."

"Police badge?!" Emily exclaimed, and Rossi and Hotch present also looked serious.

As much as Michelle would have liked to tell them right away that Garcia was shot specifically by an officer she had flagged in numerous cases, she couldn't, because damn she had no way of explaining how she knew!

It was only at this time that Michelle deeply felt the powerlessness of knowing the plot. It was not a cold-blooded choice to watch, but a forced choice.

But, at least, she gave them a general direction.No matter how much they believe, at least they will be more vigilant in protecting Garcia.Then leave it to the professional detectives.They also solved the case without prompting. With this clue, they will only get twice the result with half the effort.

In the next few days, Michelle didn't bother the people who were busy investigating the case anymore, because she knew that she couldn't help any more, so she didn't make trouble at all, and only occasionally called Reid or Emily to say hello to each other.He could hear the other party's exhaustion, but he could only comfort him verbally.As an unrelated person, it is impossible for her to inquire too much about the progress of the case, not to mention that Reid and the others are also very professional.

After all, he was under that old-fashioned Hotch. Michelle was secretly happy. It was hard to imagine that one day Hotch suddenly smiled very kindly and asked everyone how their spare time life was. If there was such a day, they would definitely feel that Hotch was bewitched, right?

It wasn't until the case was finally over that the people from BAU showed up at the coffee shop, intending to celebrate and help Garcia wash away the bad luck.

When she learned that it was JJ who shot and killed the murderer who appeared in BAU, Michelle was still shocked and called JJ brave.It wasn't that she was pretending to be surprised, it was that she really didn't remember this happening.It seems that JJ has gradually become more and more like a field profiler.I don't know how far it has developed from the last Inspector William?

Apparently, everyone was already used to Michelle's mind-wandering, and they just exchanged helpless glances, so as not to bother the girl who didn't know what she was doing.

Even Rossi and Hotch came to this party, so Michelle was naturally very happy and excitedly entertained everyone with her special dishes.

Emily, who has already noticed that Michelle has a vague affection for Hotch, sighed secretly, hoping that Michelle can get out in time now, you must know that this is a deep pit that can hardly be seen to the bottom, and it is a serious thing to have a crush on a serious and dull person It's a very painful thing, not to mention that this person still loves his family very much.If this relationship really develops, it will definitely not be tolerated by the world.

With a quick glance Hotch didn't even look at Michelle, who was extraordinarily high-spirited and high-spirited, sure enough.

Hotch did already know this, and pulled away without any trace.But Michelle, a smart girl, must have figured it out a long time ago, and maybe she had already guessed the result.So from the very beginning, she didn't show this kind of affection, and perhaps from the beginning, she didn't expect that this kind of affection that had nothing to do with love would really turn into a kind of dependent liking.

Yes. Of course Michelle understands all of this.She has also been troubled, bored, panicked, and spurned by this, and even almost paid a painful price. Of course Michelle knew he did, and understood his silent answer.Whether it's because of empathy or the illusion of psychological dependence caused by the hero saving the beauty, in fact, this kind of liking is very fragile. I guess he chose to give up because he thought that sooner or later she would get tired of watching from a distance.

Heh, Michelle hid her wry smile behind the coffee cup, if she could, she hoped so.This sense of immorality and restraint of liking someone she shouldn't like bothers her every day, and makes her have great doubts about her outlook on life.

The party is over, and Michelle stays to clean up the field.

Turning his head, he found that Reid hadn't left, but was still hovering at the door. Michelle walked out strangely, "Hey! Little handsome guy. What's the matter? Are you afraid of the dark and need me to see you?"

Reid didn't answer Michelle's teasing joke, but walked into the coffee house again with hesitation, and asked Michelle who was following him seriously - "Is there any misunderstanding between you and Hotch?"

...I don't know how to answer Reid's question, and Michelle doesn't know how much this genius doctor, who has always been dull but occasionally suddenly sensitive, has seen, so she just remains silent.

Reid interpreted this silence directly as acquiescence, fidgeting through his hair and pacing around the room.After a long time, he finally stood still.

Reid grabbed Michelle's shoulders and forced the girl to meet his gaze, "After that day, I felt that you two were weird, as if you were avoiding each other. Let's not talk about Hotch, what happened to you like this?"

Such sincere worried eyes. Michelle felt that she had nowhere to hide, as if she was deeply bound by an invisible net, she was so sad that she couldn't breathe, and the puzzles and doubts that had been bothering her were like a volcanic eruption.Facing Reid, Michelle felt that she could express those embarrassing thoughts without any scruples. This kind of thing has been held in her heart for a long time, and she really has no one to tell, and she dare not...

Sitting down feebly.

Tears flowed quietly down the corner of his eyes.

This is completely different from the last wail.

This is crying when you are very sad, very sad, when you are so sad that you can't bear it.

Reid stood there bewildered.

After a long time, he quietly walked forward and gently embraced the girl——

"Hey, I'm here. It's okay, I'm here."

It’s okay if I don’t say it, but Michelle’s tears are even more uncontrollable. The panic, disgust, and self-rejection of her unethical feelings that have been found to be unspeakable all the time flowed out along with these tears——

"Spencer, I seem to like Hotch...what should I do..."

Hearing this, Reid opened his eyes suddenly from an angle that Michelle couldn't see, obviously very surprised.how come?He always thought that the two of them just had some misunderstanding that had not been solved, so he planned to ask in private, but he didn't expect that it was because of this! ! !No wonder...

But I heard the girl's intermittent sobbing:

"I know that this kind of feeling shouldn't exist, it's wrong. But you don't know how surprised and distressed I was when I found out this kind of feeling, and I even started to wonder if I was a bad girl, that's why this happened things..."

Reid opened his mouth, but said nothing.He knew that what the girl needed now was not advice or advice from others, but just the comfort and company of her friends.

That's enough.