S I X

SPENCER COULD FEEL his eyes burning.

He quickly tired to rub away the sleep before Garcia could notice and send him home. It was late and his body was starting to catch up to him.

The sound of Garcia's heeling clicking in the hallway caused him to straighten up. She walked in, foot in front of the other, with two large cups of coffee in hand.

"Okay," She said as she handed him a mug and sat down in her chair. "Now, what's her name?"

"Scout Wiley."

Garcia stopped.

"Scout? I know her, kind of."

Spencer stood intrigued, "How?"

"I met her in the lunchroom the other day, why are you so interested in her all of a sudden?"

"I'm not."

"I'm not the profiler here, sweetheart. But it seems to me like you are. Why would you have asked me to do a background check on her?" She asked.

Spencer shook his head, "Okay look, she just keeps popping up all of a sudden and I don't know why. I want to be sure especially since..."

He didn't want to finish his sentence.

"Spencer," Garcia cooed.

"Honey, you don't have to worry about that. Anyone who works here has a background check done, they wouldn't be allowed in the building if they hadn't.

Spencer closed his mouth, "I know. It's just- Well, I just have a feeling and I know I should trust it. She's- different, I guess."

Garcia's eyes softened.

"Whatever you want, Reid."

She sat in her chair and immediately got to work. The tapping of the keyboard against her long and colorful nails gave him comfort. At least he was trusting his gut.

The computer screen popped up with several open tabs quickly.

"There's not much to tell about her, honestly. Scout Wiley, born Jean Louise Wiley actually. She changed her legal name in her 18th birthday. Uh, she lives with her mom on the outer part of town, suburbs really. Miss Wiley started working here in the mailroom 5 Year's ago when her father died of cancer, lungs most specifically. It happened so suddenly that they didn't even know he had it when he died."

"Now that's not normal." Spencer leaned in closer to the screen to double check

"Lung cancer can be seen in the person months before it actually takes effect. People usually report chest pressures like someone's standing on them or coughing up blood. Some cases even file fainting because of shortness of breath."

Garcia brought up another tab, "Sweetie, they didn't know. He didn't show any signs until the week before he died and by then, it was already too late."

"What else?" Spencer inquired.

"Uh," Garcia stuttered. "She doesn't have much really. Scout's a movie fanatic apparently, she rents movies online all the time. Doesn't do anything in her free time except her social media shows she hikes a lot, volunteers at the local shelter, and oh..."

"What?"

"Her mom is paralyzed from the waist down."

A picture of Harper Wiley in a wheelchair smiling with Scout behind her. The woman had bright brown hair and bangs, and Scout looked like the splitting image of her mother.

"They look happy." Garcia smiled.

Spencer stepped back, feeling guilty. She was normal, there was nothing hidden. Scout Wiley was just another girl, just another person trying to put food on the table.

"Reid?"

"Hm?"

"What's the matter, Boy Wonder?"

"I shouldn't have pried. They- they haven't done anything wrong. Scout...I thought she was- My gut was wrong."

Garcia turned around, "You weren't wrong, Spencer. Your gut was telling you something but I think you just read it wrong. Maybe it was saying that you should know more about this girl, just not the way you did. I say you just want to get to know her."

Spencer shook his head, "I don't like h-"

"Hey, hey, I never said you that you did. I'm just saying, that maybe the Kid Genius is curious and normally when he's curious, he wants to learn more. So go learn more... Just do it the right way, get to know her."

"I don't feel that way for her."

"You don't have to like someone to want to know more about them."

Spencer nodded and tucked a loose hair behind his ear, "I should get going, it's late. Thanks Garcia."

"Anytime Genius."

***

"Who the hell is knocking at this hour?" Harper Wiley groaned as she wheeled herself out of her room.

The flicker of turning on the lights made Scout wake up.

She groaned, half asleep. "Mom, it's too early for this bullshit."

Harper grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it at her daughter. Instantly, the girl jumped with a deep frown etched on her face.

"What the hell was that for?" She yelled.

"Shh! There someone at the door." Harper whispered.

Scout went on alert. She glanced at the clock, it was 4:18 in the morning. Immediately she jumped out of bed and walked to the loose floorboard underneath her carpet.

Under the wood, there were lots of trinkets that she collected over the years. Scout quickly picked up her pistol and checked if it was loaded before directing her mother to the bathroom.

"Stay here and lock the door. Don't you dare come out unless I tell you to." She growled.

"Scout." Harper warned.

"Listen to what I say if you don't want to paralyzed from the wait up."

She shut the door and immediately heard the lock turn.

Scout put the gun in her right hand before she went over to the door and looked out the peephole. There was no one there. That even put her on more of an edge.

"Hello?" She yelled between the closed door.

No response.

"Is someone there?"

Again, no response.

"Hello?"

"You really are a shitty assassin, aren't you?"

Immediately, Scout turned around and lifted her gun. At the end of the barrel stood Xander with a cocky smile in his face.

"What the fuck?!" She screamed.

But she didn't lower the gun. Instead she followed the man into the living room. He sat down on the sofa as if it was his home. It honestly was at this point from all the money he put into paying it.

"And I'm not an assassin, you creep."

"You could've fooled me."

Scout scoffed and turned around to leave.

"Would you lower that impossible thing and get your mother out from the loo? I'm sure she would love to greet me."

"I'd love to greet your ass with my gun." Scout whispered.

She knocked a tune on the bathroom door before it opened and reveled a disheveled Harper Wiley in her pajamas.

"Who is it?" She whispered.

Scout rolled her eyes and tucked her pistol in her waistband, "Who the fuck do you think?"

Harper rolled toward the leaving room before she plaster on a fake smile and greeted with open arms. 

"Xander! To what do we owe the pleasure?" Harper said with giddy.

He lifted a Manila folder with his two fingers and stared directly at Scout. She immediately started to kick herself and blast a storm of curses in her head.

"I've got another mission for our little Scout. You up for it?"

She scoffed, "I don't really have a fucking choice, do I?"

"Not really, champ."

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