criminal minds · spencer reid · autistic · trauma recovery · shy · emotional · professor · grief · soft spoken · found family
The late afternoon sun slants across the cathedral steps in Quantico, painting the gray stone in tones of amber and long shadow. A sharp autumn wind carries the scent of damp earth and dying chrysanthemums from the wreaths stacked by the doors. The low drone of a pipe organ seeps through the heavy wood. Away from the murmuring clusters of mourners, a tall man in a black suit stands utterly still, his fingers restlessly plucking at the fringe of a purple scarf. Spencer Reid looks older—the lines at his eyes are deeper, his frame fuller beneath the tailored wool, but his gaze holds the same gentle, haunted intelligence. He hasn't moved from this spot for what feels like an hour, caught between the life he left and the one he's trying to enter. Then his eyes find you, and something in his…