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Luke has always liked Halloween. When he was younger, they called it ‘La Noche Del Demonio’ which roughly translates to ‘Devil’s Night’. The neighbourhood teenagers would cause all sorts of mischief; egging houses, spraying people with fish oil from water guns, some even went as far as
vandalism; graffitiing abandoned farm houses and broken down cars. They would wear masks whilst they did this, mainly bright red masks with sharp horns and twisted grins to represent the Devil. As a kid, Luke couldn’t wait to be a teenager so he could take part in his cities annual antics.
He soon learned that lots of teenagers liked to scare people during Halloween and wreak havoc. Unfortunately for him, in Montana, those teenagers had decided to light off firecrackers right by the precinct.
They had been in Red Lodge, Montana for the past two days; there had been 4 male bodies discovered in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Although Luke loved Halloween, he hated the fact that it gave an excuse for all the creeps to come out and act like it was okay for them to commit their crimes.
It was now October 31st, officially Halloween day and someone else at the police station must also love the spooky holiday, as there were a couple of fake jack o’lanterns dotted about the place as well as some black and purple garlands shaped like bats lining the roof. Luke couldn’t help but smile as he walked through the door, juggling 5 cups of coffee in both hands.
He and JJ had headed out of the precinct that evening to grab some coffee for the team, deciding they needed a small break to clear their heads and come back to the case. Although the coffee at the police department wasn’t bad, per se, but it doesn’t get better than a local cafe.
“Henry’s decided to go as Batman this year,” JJ started as she and Luke weaved through the bullpen, making their way back to the room the sheriff had set aside for them to use. The blonde continued as she pulled open the door and allowed Luke in first, “So of course Michael wants to go as Robin with his big brother, but Henry is so against it.” She chuckles fondly at the thought of her boys and Luke can’t help but smile too.
“Ah, they’ll grow out of it eventually. Soon enough they’ll be the best of friends,” Luke replied as he handed out the coffees. Their normal conversations died out and they got back to work, trying to narrow down their suspect pool. They caught up the duo on what they’d discussed since JJ and Luke had left, but it wasn’t much. They were so close, Luke could feel it in his bones, but they were missing something.
“So we’ve deduced that our killer has a serious issue with the local legend of the ‘Candy Man’, but it must be something rooted deeper,” Emily begins, looking at their board full of deceased men and dumping sites.
“Yeah, I mean, everybody in this town was probably terrified of the Candy Man when they were younger but this guy… he was really affected by it,” JJ added, arms folded across her chest, holding her coffee by the lid.
“Like somebody used it against him? A parent, perhaps?” Spencer thought.
“‘If you don’t do your homework, the Candy Man will be under your bed tonight,’” Tara said half jokingly.
“No, I don’t think so,” Luke thought aloud, the cogs in his brain turning. All heads in the room looked in his direction as his own gaze focused on the four male victims on their board, slowly walking towards it and placing his coffee down on the table.
“We determined these men are surrogates for someone, right?” He asked rhetorically, his finger tapping the photo of their first victim, Layton Briggs. The rest of the team murmured in agreement, waiting for Alvez to arrive at his point.
“So if it was, say, his dad or an uncle or even a caregiver, these men would be dad’s too,” Luke stated, pointing at each of the victims photos. Only two of the men, Jack and Roddy were parents, and although Marcus had worked with kids, he wasn’t the main carer of a relative child.
Luke’s mind went back to the conversation he and JJ were having not even five minutes ago.
“What’re you thinking, Alvez?” Prentiss asked to no answer as Luke clicked the button that would connect them to Garcia. The team shared glances with one another, wondering where this was going when Penelope’s voice rang across the room.
“Give it to me straight, Alvez. What can I do ya for?” She asked and he could picture her fingers poised over the keyboard, waiting for information.
“Garcia, do any of our victims have older brothers?” Luke asked and the team could see where this was going now. They all leaned in closer to the speaker, listening to the clacking of Pen’s keys.
“Good deduction, Alvez… yeah all four of ‘em have older brothers,”
“How big’s the age gap?”
“Give me a sec…” Garcia’s voice trailed of and her breath hitched as she hit enter.
“Five years. All of them are five years apart,” Before anyone else in the team could get a word, Luke spoke again, giving Garcia some parameters to work with.
“Alright Garcia, look through our list of suspects and cross reference it with anyone who had older brothers with a five-year difference, and look for anyone who’s brother died about 4 to 5 weeks ago,” Luke rambled and again the waited as Garcia typed as fast as her fingers would go. The anticipation was too much.
“Bingo, Arnold Catcher, 27 years of age, older brother Carson Catcher died in a car accident just under 5 weeks ago, work address has been sent to your phones but I’m having a hard time finding a home address… I’ll hit you back when I find something!” Garcia rushed before hanging up. The team was quick to assemble, up off their feet and heading out the door as soon as the line cut.
“Good work, Luke,” Prentiss praised with a pat to the shoulder as they followed the team. Luke nodded at her as a ‘Thanks’ as he went to put on his bullet proof vest.
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A couple of hours later and they had Arnold in custody. Garcia located an old cabin that was owned by Arnold’s father, and they caught him the act; the managed to save 30 year-old Dennis Rye before he was too badly injured. Just as they had profiled, Arnold was quick to try and escape but once they caught him, he seemed to realise it was over and confessed to all the murders. The sheriff had admitted that he was sad to see the BAU go; mainly because the station was always packed with “youthful hooligans” on Halloween and they were always spread thin. The team were more than happy to stick around and help out where they could.
Luke was sat at the desk of an Officer Perez, who was out patrolling the streets and was kind enough to offer his desk to the Agents. He was typing up a report when it happened.
Some of those “youthful hooligans” the Sheriff had told them about set off some firecrackers right outside the station, causing everybody to jump and reach for their holsters; firecrackers unfortunately sound much like gunshots in such close proximity.
Rossi wasted no time and was quick out the door, followed by a few officers in order to catch the kids that set them off. The rest of the station seemingly settled down pretty quickly; save for a few disgruntled groans and angry frowns, but not Luke. He stared at the station door, feeling his fingers and hands beginning to shake.
Unfortunately, it was incredibly common for ex-military to develop phonophobia, the fear of or aversions to loud sounds, specifically things like firecrackers or fireworks as they resembled the sound of gunshots. They often trigged PTSS, and left most ex-military in a fight-or-flight response.
Luke found himself stuck in a memory, of being out on a mission. He was no longer in the police department in Montana. He was out in a forest in South-America, hiding behind a bush, gun at the ready. But then there were gun shots. His fellow soliders were going down. He heard yelling; his captain telling them all to retreat before his voice was cut off with a loud bang. Now he was running; leaves crunching beneath his feet, adrenaline and fear pumping in his veins. He was running- and he couldn’t stop- and his lungs were burning but the gun shots kept going and-
Someone was yelling his name. His comrades, begging for help, pleading for him to turn around- but he didn’t; he couldn’t. His feet kept moving forward, picking up pace. He didn’t know how many of them were still alive-
“Alvez!” The voice was faint and it was so familiar and- was that JJ? Why is JJ here? He stops, looking around. He has to get her out of there before-
“Luke!” Her voice rings out and a touch to his shoulder brings him back. He flinches, his fight-or-flight mode activating as he pulls away harshly from the hand, trying to register who it was. His deep brown eyes met her bright blue ones, which were filled with worry and concern. He looked around; there was Tara and Emily, both looking at him the same way as they cradled their coffee mugs; Reid was over there at another desk, the same look in his eye as he placed down the paper he had been reading; Matt was making his way over too, his brow creasing.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” JJ’s soothing voice made Luke turn towards her again. He wasn’t in the forest, watching his comrades fall to the ground and unsure if they would get back up. That’s right, he was in Montana. He was here and he was with the BAU and they had solved a case and he was okay-
JJ reached out to touch his shoulder reassuringly but he shook his head. Not in a cruel way, but in a ‘I can’t be touched right now’ kind of way and JJ understood immediately, retracting her hand.
“I’m okay,” He said, voice cracking slightly as he tried to even his breathing- he hadn’t realised it had gotten so heavy. JJ lifted an eyebrow as Matt approached.
“Hey man, you alright?” He asked. JJ saw his hand reach out and she shook his head at him. Luke was trying to stop his hands from shaking. Unable to cope with the stares of his friends and the fellow officers he stood abruptly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I’m okay, I swear I just- I need a minute,” He barley finished his sentence before he was taking off. Luckily for Luke, the break room was right next to Officer Perez’s desk, so he didn’t have to scramble across the room with all eyes on him.
As soon as he was in, he closed the door carefully behind him and screwed his eyes shut, leaning against the counter. He needed to calm down.
He’s never understood why things like fireworks trigger his PTSS, but actual gunfire whilst he’s in the field doesn’t even make him flinch. How does that even make sense? The thought angers him even more. Logically, he knows its just a firecracker, but his brain seems to throw logic out the window once that bang reaches his ears.
‘Calm down,’ He thought to himself. He stood up, running a hand down his face. Luke’s eyes scan the room and he locates a carafe of freshly brewed coffee. Caffeine usually makes people more energetic and shaky, but it’s never had much of an effect on Luke. He strides across the room, still taking deep breaths and trying to steady his hand as he reaches for the pot.
JJ was pacing back and forth outside the break room, debating whether she should go in or not. She wanted to be there for Luke, but she wasn’t sure that what he needed right now was the presence of someone else. She had just taken her hand off the handle when she heard the crash, followed by a string of soft curses.
“Luke?” JJ’s voice was laced with worry as she swung the door open. Across the room, she saw Luke crouched down, his boots just inches from the puddle of coffee that was now on the floor. He was picking up a piece of a broken ceramic mug, his hands still shaking. Her motherly instincts kicked in and she darted over, crouching down next to him.
“Hey, hey,” she said in her soothing voice, carefully taking the large piece of mug from Luke’s hand and placing it carefully on the floor next to her, “I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” she said softly. Luke finally turned to look at her, his eyes glassy and red-rimmed. JJ’s heart broke.
“Oh Luke,” was all she could say as Luke’s head fell to her shoulder. She was quick to place one hand on the back of his head, pulling him close. She tried soothing him the same way she did Henry and Michael, even Will sometimes, when they were upset, with soft whispers of “I’m here” and “Let it out”. She turned her head and saw Tara and Matt peeking in the door and she shook her head, silently telling them to ‘give us a minute’, which they did.
“How ‘bouts you and I go for a walk, huh?” She suggested after Luke’s soft cries turned to quiet sniffles. Luke didn’t respond for a moment and JJ just held him until he was ready to speak. After a few silent moments, JJ felt him pull away and she let her hand fall to her side. He shook his head, looking at the floor.
“I- I can’t,” He whispered, his voice cracking. JJ ran a hand through his hair and he looked at her.
“Why?” She asked, curious and Luke shrugged, wrapping his arms around his knees.
“You do know,” She prodded as gently as she could. She didn’t want to pressure him into telling her, just tried to encourage him. He didn’t have to tell her and they both knew it, but she wanted to help, and the only way she could do that was if he let her in.
She placed a hand on his forearm, a silent way of letting him know he was safe and she was there for him. It took another couple of silent moments, Luke trying to gather his thoughts before voicing them.
“Firworks…” He started, his voice fragile. JJ just waited patiently for him to continue, gently rubbing her thumb back and forth.
“They, um,” He sniffed, struggling to explain they way they affect his brain. How does he explain it to someone else when he doesn’t even know how it works himself?
“I guess they just… they just trigger my uh, my PTSS from when I was um, in the military,” He put into words, fiddling with the lace of his shoe. JJ nodded, her heart full of sympathy for the man who’s been like a brother to her from the second he joined the BAU. Even though he was only slightly older than her, she saw him as a younger brother and was very protective of him. They only got closer over the year and she loved him to pieces. Seeing him hurt like this, it hurt her too.
“I just… What if they light more? I can’t go outside, JJ, I can’t…” His voice trailed off as his eyes glossed over again and a single tear escaped. The blonde reached up and brushed it away with the pad of her thumb.
“It’s okay, Luke. We won’t go outside. Let’s just get out of the break room, hmm?” She suggested and he hesitated, looking at the mess he created on the floor.
“I should uh… probably clean this up first,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Don’t even worry about it, okay? Come on, lets get out of here,” JJ encouraged and she helped the boy up off the floor. She tucked her arm into his and led him out the door. She opened her mouth to ask Emily if they could clean up but before the blonde could get a word out, Emily raised a hand and motioned to Spencer, who immediately began running around, looking for a mop and some tissues.
JJ led Luke through the precinct. Most of the officers seemed to have brushed off the incident and were back to work. There was a lot of commotion; the sheriff wasn’t lying when he said they were busy on Halloween. There was young people being processed throughout the entire bull pen and even as the duo walked out the break room, two police officers were dragging in two kids who couldn’t be older than 14 that were covered in raw egg. Luke managed a small smile, the kids reminding him of himself when he was younger.
JJ led Luke into an empty interrogation room, somewhere they could be where they couldn’t hear any more firecrackers if they were to be set. Luke sat down in the chair facing the one-way mirror, folding his arms on the table. JJ went off to find some water for the two of them and came back moments later with two paper cups, sliding one across the table to her colleague.
“How ya feeling?” She asked, lifting her cup to her lips and taking a sip. Luke wrapped his hand around his own cup but made no move to pick it up. He let out a heavy sigh.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could whisper. JJ frowned.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Luke. It’s a natural reaction. You’ve been through a lot, seen a lot of things that most people couldn’t even imagine. Don’t ever apologise for having a reaction, okay?” She replied as firmly and as gently as she could. Luke nodded. His hands weren’t shaking as badly as they were before and breathing felt more… natural, but his heart and his head were still wounded.
“Usually,” Luke started before clearing his through. JJ gave him her full attention as he continued, “Usually, Roxy and I, well we have each other, y’know? Dogs don’t like fireworks either, so uh, the 4th of July is always a tough night,” Luke admitted, unable to look up and make eye-contact. He instead decided to inspect his water as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, “We like to uh, huddle up under the duvet together and uh, watch a movie. Or rather, I watch the movie and she uh, buries her head in my lap,” He laughed slightly and JJ felt a smile climb onto her lips at the thought.
“Normally I can expect it, ya know? I can- I can prepare myself for it. But today, it just, it caught me so off-guard and…” Luke didn’t know how to finish his sentence, so he didn’t. He just let it hang in the air between them. He’d never admitted this to anyone before; never felt like he had to. This was his issue, no one else’s. He didn’t want to burden anyone with a problem that only affected him once or twice a year anyway.
“Luke, will you look at me? Please?” JJ asked, placing her hand on top of his. It took him a moment but slowly, he lifted his eyes and brown once again met blue.
“I’m so sorry you have to go through that,” She said honestly and quietly, “That sounds really… scary. But I am so proud of you for getting through it, year after year,” Luke’s eyes began glistening over again for the third time in an hour and JJ continued, “I want you to know that I am always here for you. If you don’t want to be alone on the 4th, call me. Call Tara, call Emily, call Spencer, hell even call Garcia. Any one of us will be there for you. You’re apart of this family now, okay? And we love you. So much,” She finished. Luke was silent as he let JJ’s words sink in. He was so lucky to have someone like her in his life. He stood and wrapped his arms around the blonde, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“Thank you. For being here,” he whispered, pulling her close.
“I’m always going to be here, Alvez,”
After 10 minutes of assuring the rest of the team that he was okay, Emily sent him back to the hotel whilst they finished up back at the precinct. He argued at first, but the emotional aspect of the day had tired him out, and soon enough he was being given a lift back to their hotel by none other than his brother, Matt Simmons.
The two were sat in a comfortable silence, the radio playing quietly in the background when Matt spoke up.
“You know I’m always here for you, right, man?” He said, not taking his eyes off the road. Luke, who was watching the scenery fly past the passenger window, turned to look at his partner-in-crime with a small smile.
“Yeah, I know. It was just uh, it was a lot,” He replied. Matt looked at him in his peripheral vision for a split second as he flicked on the indicator.
“Yeah I get that, and you don’t have to talk to me about it if you’re not ready, or if you don’t want to. I just, wanted you to know… I’m here,” Matt said as he turned the steering wheel, drifting to the left. Luke nodded.
“Thank you,” they exchanged a small glance before they went back to their comfortable silence. There was still another five minutes until they reached their destination when Luke’s favourite song began playing on the radio. Not that he would tell anyone that, but of course Matt knew and he smirked as he turned up the volume. The two of them screamed the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ the rest of the way there.
As soon as Luke got to his and Matt’s room, he flopped onto his bed and fell asleep before he could even muster a ‘Goodnight’ to his colleague.
The following morning, the team were up early to head back home. It was a long flight from Montana back to Quantico, and they wanted to get back home to their own beds as soon as possible. Luke was pretty gutted that this Halloween had turned out to be what it was, but he tried to move past it as he packed up his go bag and followed his team into the SUV’s that would take them to the jets.
He sat next to JJ in the car and she gave him a small smile and grabbed his hand, giving it a small squeeze.
“How you feeling?” She asked as the engine revved up and Luke smiled, returning the squeeze.
“I’m good, I’m good. Thank you, again. You, you are the best,” He said graciously, pressing a small kiss to her temple. She shoved his shoulder with a grin on her face and turned to look out the window as Luke engaged in a conversation with Rossi, who was sitting on the other side of him.
Once they reached the jet, the girls were quick to climb aboard, complaining about the cold. Luke smiled fondly as he watched the people he loved huddle together with laughter as they ascended the stairs. Rossi and Matt headed up together after that. Luke took a moment to himself, looking around at the Montana scenery once more, embracing the cold and remembering it was no longer Halloween so he’d have to take down his decorations once he got home.
Reid came up beside him, his hand resting on his leather satchel at his side and a smile on his face.
“Hey Luke, you uh, you okay?” Spencer asked, squinting at the older man as the sun began to rise. Luke gazed into his hazel eyes.
“I’m good, Spencer, and I’d rather not hear that question again today,” He replied with a grin that Spencer returned. The two headed towards the plane, their shoulders brushing because of their close proximity. Usually Spencer was very conscious of how close people were standing, if they were touching him in any way, but with Luke it was like he didn’t even notice; he even enjoyed the warmth of Luke’s hand on his shoulder or when their knees knocking together.
Once they got on the jet, the rest of the team were spread out, leaving the two chairs at the back completely unoccupied. Luke tried to stop the smile on his face. He loved being alone with Spencer, loved hearing the young genius spew random facts that Luke hadn’t asked about, but was interested in all the same. He loved the fact that they both shared a love of Halloween.
“Can’t believe I decorated my apartment for Halloween, just to end up not being there for it,” Luke sighed as he flopped down in his chair. Spencer slid into the one opposite him.
“You decorated your apartment?”
“Yeah, with no help from Roxy, of course,” Luke watched as Reid smiled, a smile that made his eyes crinkle and he felt his heart swoon.
“Can I… Can I see it? I could help you take down the decorations, if you’d like,” Spencer offered, completely innocent of course. Luke just smiled wide.
“It’s a date,” He whispered with a wink and he revealed in the way that Spencer’s face turned a light shade of pink. He began rambling about the history of Halloween and how it came to be a universally celebrated holiday and Luke was more than happy to listen. Sometimes he just like the excuse to stare at Reid’s lips.
JJ watched the two interact from her window seat next to Prentiss, a knowing smile on her face. She was definitely going to tell Garcia so they could tease Luke about it together.