Chapter Text
Despite Cat having several hold ups initially about being trapped on a jet with the entire BAU team (minus Penelope), the first hour of the trip had managed to go by without any issues. She had sat beside Spencer (naturally) and had also opted for the window seat to try to minimize any interactions with the other team members.
Unfortunately for her, unlike in a regular airplane, the seats were not in a row but rather facing each other, which meant she was going to have to spend the entirety of the ride with Luke Alvez sitting directly across from her.
Even though he had seemingly been busy doing things on his phone for most of the trip so far, she noticed his “discreet” glances up at her before meeting her eyes and swiftly looking back down at the screen in his hand.
She couldn't quite tell if he was trying to make it obvious in order to make her uncomfortable and make her lose her nerve, or if he was simply just incompetent enough that he thought he was being discreet. Her other tablemate, who was sitting diagonally to her and opposite Spencer, was JJ. A real double whammy when it came to people who didn't really like or trust her.
She had so far spent the flight in silence, slowly flipping through and skimming the pages of one of the outdated magazines that were on the table in front of her. Unlike Luke, she was more subtle in her eyeing up of the people around her.
JJ had made a number of attempts to start up a conversation with Spencer, all of which were met with fairly dry responses before he eventually opened up a book and effectively killed her chances. Left with nothing to do, she directed her attention to Cat. It seemed today that no one could get their eyes off of her. It wasnt an unfamiliar sensation, but she had gotten semi used to not having as much scrutiny over the past few days.
It was almost cute how dejected JJ looked at Specner's rejection. Her staring at Cat felt almost like a redirection of blame. She wasn’t entirely wrong; Spencer was much less interested in speaking with her now that Cat was around, but not for the reasons that JJ might have assumed.
A majority of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, especially JJ, had came to the conclusion that Cat made Spencer’s life extremely difficult and stressful, it was a conclusion that was so far from the reality that it would make Cat laugh if someone verbally expressed it in front of her.
“Spencie, I think I left that sweater I like in your room. Can we swing by the apartment and pick it up when we land?” The implication of the phrasing was obvious despite the reality being perfectly mundane. She had gotten a small stain on the front, and Spencer, who lacked an in-unit washer and dryer, had told her to just put it in the hamper in his bedroom.
Unlike when JJ pestered him, he not only responded but also put down his book to look at her. Take that, JJ.
“Are you sure? It's still dirty. We can go do laundry tonight if you want, though.” Spencer’s response did little to unconnect the pieces that were most definitely connecting in Emily’s mind at that moment, despite the inaccuracy.
“It’s not that big of a stain,” Spencer seemed to consider it for a moment.
“We might not have time, the unsub seems to be moving pretty fast, it's important that we catch her soon.”
“Oh, c’mon Spencie, it wouldn't take me that long to run upstairs and grab it, it's right on the floor by your headboard. I could be in and out in like 3 minutes.”
----
That was the straw that finally caused Luke to put his phone down in his lap and direct his full attention at what was happening in front of him. It was common for Cat to make up things that never happened or purposefully misconstrue things but it wasn't common for Spencer to not even seemed phased as he engaged with it.
There was also a sort of quickness with his responses that indicated they weren't thought out to cope with her pestering. Rather, they sounded quite natural, as if they were just regular responses, referencing events that had exactly happened.
Luke had initially suspected that Cat might be manipulating Spencer slightly or swaying his judgment, but this might hint at something deeper.
JJ seemed to be thinking the same thing as she eyed him with a knowing glance.
Luke was a bit unsure of what exactly he could say that wasn’t directly confrontational on the matter, thankfully, JJ was slightly quicker with her thinking.
“I never did ask, how was your time in Vegas?” The question was directed more at Spencer, but it was clear that Cat was more than willing to take advantage of the slight ambiguity of the question's target.
“So much fun. Shame the rest of you guys weren't able to tag along.” It was clear she didn’t mean the last part, but neither JJ or himself planned to say anything about it.
“Did you guys get up to anything besides the case?” If JJ wasn’t going to ask what they were both thinking, he might as well take the initiative.
His question sparked a shared look between the two and a quick shared smile, at least quick on Spencer’s part, upon seeing it being returned, Cat’s own smile drew out into a much more noticeable smirk.
“Oh, I can think of a couple of things for sure.” Her teeth showed through her smile as she said it, and it only served to further disturb Luke. The response and the look however, were not even in his general direction; instead focused entirely on the man beside her.
Spencer, on the other hand, didn't even have the decency to look slightly embarrassed or explain away whatever she was implying, instead exhaling with a small, toothy grin of his own.
This all but confirmed Luke’s previous fleeting thoughts that something had gone on between them. JJ cleared her throat after a second, which seemed to snap Spencer out of whatever trance he was under. Luke noticed Cat’s demeanor as Spencer shifted his attention away from her. He wasn’t sure what the FBI had been thinking, bringing them onto the team together, now more than ever.
This strange obsession the Cat had with Spencer had clearly not improved in their time apart, and in a more surprising realization, Spencer’s reservations and guard around himself had clearly been worn down considerably in the short period since they had reunited.
“What sorts of things Spencer,” and then, seemingly to direct away from sounding like she was interrogating them, “You know, don't tell anyone but in California Emily and I actually shared a bottle of wine in the hotel.” Despite not being the intended target of the confession, it did surprise Luke a little bit. He had always viewed Emily and JJ as quite professional when on the job, but it wasn't like he wasn't guilty of similar offenses in the past.
For some reason, the question actually seemed to make Cat happier. “You know, JJ, it's actually so funny how you bring that up because.” Spencer cut her off by grabbing her arm gently. The movement also made Luke suddenly aware of how close the two of them were sitting. The seats didn't have armrests between them, so there was no barrier stopping them from sitting next to each other like there would be on a commercial plane.
While Luke and JJ were both sitting in the middle of their seats, Cat and Spencer were practically sitting in the small gap between the 2 chairs.
It was something he would've expected from Cat, and so he hadn't really picked up on it earlier, but only now did he realise that Spencer was also sitting far closer to the middle part of the seats than was necessary.
“JJ was asking me the question, and I also think it was funny.”
“We also got room service the other night.” He quickly tacked on, seemingly picking up on the confusion in Luke and JJ’s faces.
The conversation pretty much died there with neither JJ nor Luke entirely sure what could be asked to really clarify things, seeing as Spencer clearly wasn’t interested in revealing what had really taken place in Vegas.
After about 20 more minutes of half-scrolling through case files and half-watching Cat listlessly flip through magazines, he watched as she leaned over onto Spencer's shoulder before closing her eyes and seemingly falling asleep.
Spencer didn't even seem to flinch or notice the sudden movement, simply switching the hand he had been using to flip the pages in the book he was still reading so as not to disturb Cat. Which was a weirdly thoughtful gesture considering the person who he was accommodating had previously kidnapped his mother and gotten him put in jail for a crime he hadn't committed.
After another few more minutes of flipping through pages, Spencer had finished his book and had also leaned his head on top of Cat’s and closed his own eyes.
Clearly, Cat hadn’t fallen asleep yet because in response, she pulled her legs up to rest on the seat and leaned further into his side.
There it was again, that same unnerving proximity between the two of them, which blurred the lines of what Spencer was doing to accomplish the assignment and what he was choosing to do out of his own interests.
Yet again, Luke wasn't entirely sure of what he was looking at. The two of them were sitting (or maybe slouched was more accurate?) against each other, and because of the way they were angled, it was almost like they were meshed together.
After everything else he had just witnessed, this was the cherry on top to push him over the edge on this. He had previously told Penelope that Spencer had advised him to hold out on telling Emily about Cat’s involvement but this all but nullified that advice for him.
He glanced down at his phone again to text her. Luke knew Penelope and how quick she would be to assume the best so he also took a quick photo of the pair across from him to get the situation across to her better.
It only took about 5 seconds for 3 dots to appear before disappearing and appearing again on the lower left corner of his phone screen.
----
Penelope couldn’t say she was in any way surprised when she received the text from Luke; he had told her that he was mildly concerned with Spencer’s mental state and decision-making process, but it seemed he had managed to further convince himself that it was cause for concern.
What Penelope hadn’t been expecting, however, was photographic evidence. It was undeniable at this point, no matter what she wanted to believe was true, she sat back in her chair as she reckoned with the reality of the content of the photo. It was taken from a fairly close up, and there her longtime friend and coworker was, clear as day, snuggled up next to a murderer. This was far worse than what she had been imagining from Luke’s previous retellings of events he had witnessed earlier on.
Penelope was too stunned to even respond for a second, instead opting to try to quell her nerves by squeezing one of the stress balls on her desk. A part of her wanted to scream, but another part was entirely terrified of the prospects of the situation she had just been faced with.
Deep down, she knew there was only one real response to the information she had been made aware of, she had to tell Emily. Emily would be able to handle it, not only because she was more level-headed than Penelope was right now, but because she had the power to get Cat removed from the case.
Logically, Penelope knew there was nothing Emily could do immediately since they were still in an airplane several hours out from their destination, but by telling her, she felt like she could at least make certain that everything could get sorted out and her friend could be free from whatever trance that Cat had over him.
She knew she was right to be worried about Spencer the first day he had come into the case, even before Cat had also appeared. Penelope had known that Spencer was likely not fully ready to handle being in the field so suddenly after such a long time away, especially not with it being such a hands-on assignment as it was.
She had even expressed this to various members of the team and had gotten back varying levels of agreement. She couldn’t blame the team, though; she couldn’t even blame Emily for this. At the end of the day, it wasn’t any of their faults that Spencer had been put into this position. It was the fault of the director who had put these assignments into motion, thinning they could in any way be productive or beneficial. The decision was even making Penelope reconsider her own return to the FBI the previous year.
Did she really want to be a part of an organization that seemingly had such little care for the safety of its employees?
----
Emily did her best to bite her tongue as she peered down the aisle to confirm what she already had a photo of. She felt sick, realizing the extent of how quickly things had devolved since she had seen Spencer last.
Looking back, she really should have caught on sooner. The first day when Cat had told her she was going to be staying with Spencer, she should’ve pulled the plug on things or at least separated them.
She had knowingly allowed for this toxic behavior to take place under her nose, and now she was being met with the consequences. Perhaps she should have given more pushback when she was informed about the case to begin with?
No matter what she could have done or what she should have been more attentive to previously, those options were long gone, and the best she could do was sort out the quickest and safest way to deal with things.
----
Cat woke to the turbulence of the jet as it began descending and to the gentle prodding of Spencer to put on her seatbelt. It took her a second to remember where she was exactly, but the warmth of Spencer’s body that was still flush against her own grounded her as she pulled away from him slightly to comply with his request.
Thankfully, she hadn’t had to deal with questioning the entire flight, and taking a nap had ended up being the best decision she had made since she didn’t have to deal with everyone’s eyes on her.
It ended up working out that Cat was the last one to get off of the jet, and as soon as she stepped onto the steps to get onto the tarmac, she regretted not bolting on her first day on the case.
Before she could even comprehend what was happening, several guards in full tactical gear were grabbing her and forcing handcuffs onto her. She felt the urge to scream or cry out, but she swallowed it down. At least she thought she did? The intensity of the moment and the number of loud voices barking commands around had started to make her dissociate.
As she was being dragged away into a transport van, she saw Spencer chasing after her, concerned for her, begging for her release. In a way, it was what she had wanted, even if it was the last way she had wanted it to happen.
He did care for her, and he actually cared what happened to her.
She didn’t fight as they shoved her around; there was no point, she had known this was coming from the day this had started. Every hour she had gotten to spend with the team and with Spencer was borrowed time.
She kept a smile on her face as her eyes began to water, as she was dragged into the back of the truck.
“Bye-bye Spencie.” The doors were pulled shut as she saw his mouth open in response, and she was enveloped in darkness on every side