Chapter 20: A True Father Knows

Spencer pushed his hair behind his ear as he looked another dead body of another young woman found in a park. Also dressed up like a china doll, it bothered him horribly as he examined the woman's body with Emily. "This wig was sewn on her," Emily commented.

"The unsub has to have a pattern," Spencer answered.

"If she can't get the perfect one they change it," Emily agreed.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he let out a deep breath. "You okay?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, just thinking," he replied.

"About?" she asked.

"These girls," he replied.

Emily looked at the body and then back at Spencer. "JJ's looking pretty good for her second pregnancy," she commented.

"Yeah, she's more relaxed," he replied.

"How many words is Sandy saying?" Emily asked.

"She said "helicopter" yesterday," he replied.

"That's quite a word for a one-year-old," Emily commented.

She looked at Spencer. "Then again look who her dad is," she commented, making him smirk a little.

"She has her own intelligence," He answered as he crouched in front of the body, "She's doing well even though she's growing up with her parents flying all over the country."

"But she has parents who are together," Emily pointed out.

"Already a better childhood that her father," he murmured under his breath.

Emily looked at her friend, resting her hand on his shoulder.

Coming back to the police station, he saw JJ going over evidence, her hand resting over their unborn son. They had just found out they were having a boy the day before this case was placed on her desk. "What did you find?" she asked as he walked into the room.

"She had sewn the wig on Mary Newsom's head," Spencer told her, "She's changing them physically."

"So a collector," she concluded.

Spencer nodded his head slowly. "Ready to give the profile?" she asked.

"Yep, the rest of the team is waiting," he replied as they left the room.

"I have to go meet with one of the tailors, I'll tell you if I find anything," she told him.

Spencer nodded. "Be careful," he told her.

"You too," she answered before leaving.

Watching her leave, he let out a deep breath.

As JJ walked out of the SUV, she felt her son move. She was thirteen weeks along, so she was feeling flutters. As she made her way to the car, she suddenly felt like she was being watched. Looking around, she didn't see anyone there, she simply shrugged her shoulders and went to see the tailor.

Later on as the case continued, they began to piece together about their unsub's background. Her name was Samantha Malcolm and her father was a doctor at a nearby rehabilitation center. As Spencer walked around the man's office, something was off. What kind of father would submit his daughter to electroshock therapy? He made his way over to a dollhouse, looking inside. Some of the toys looked normal, something a doctor would use for his therapy.

He could faintly hear the man tell Rossi that if he tried to speak to Samantha without a doctor or legal counsel they wouldn't have a case and subtly asked them to leave. As he stared at the toys behind his desk, he realized something. The chessboard and other games in the shelf were dusty, none of them were taken care of except for a dozen different types of toys that sat at the top of shelf. His blood began to boil when he came to a realization of why Samantha snapped, why she was collecting these women like dolls. "Come on, Reid," Rossi called out.

"Excuse me, quick question, why are these toys here?" Spencer asked.

"I use them in my therapy," Dr. Malcolm replied.

"Yes, I understand that but why are they up so high where no children can get to them?" Spencer asked.

The doctor was silent for a moment. "They are reminders of patients I helped," he replied.

"Let me ask you this, what was the name of the girl you helped with this one?" Spencer asked, placing a unicorn in front of him.

"Jenny Larson," he replied.

"And this one? What was the name of this one?" Spencer asked, placing a stuffed dog in front of him.

"Abigail Moore," Dr. Malcolm replied.

"And this one?" Spencer asked, placing a stuffed monkey in front of him.

"Linda Krause," Dr. Malcolm replied.

"These girls are what? 9, 9 or 12-years-old I'm assuming?" Spencer asked.

"My PhD is on the effect of trauma in prepubescent girls I do not appreciate what you are implying," the doctor answered.

Spencer had to harness the anger coursing through his veins. This man disgusted him, instead of protecting his daughter and loving her after the death of her mother, he used her for his own sexual gain. Then made sure she couldn't tell anyone the truth. Then when she got too old for him he preyed on other girls who needed his help. Being the father of a little girl, it was taking all he had from beating this man's thick skull into his mahogany desk. "Oh I'm not implying anything. I'm making an inference. An inference is an educated guess. And based on I form a hypothesis. For instance, my hypothesis is after you raped your daughter you submitted her to electroshock treatments to make sure she stayed quiet," Spencer explained.

"This is outrageous," the doctor said with wide eyes sitting back in his seat.

"And then out of guilt you bought her toy, more specifically you bought her a line of dolls, because that's what serial molesters do they give gifts. So you continued the pattern with your other patients and once they left your care you added their toys to your collection," Spencer said coldly.

"I'm sorry, you can't back up your story, doctor," Dr. Malcolm told him.

"Here's why I love my job, doctor. My lab is a jury of your peers, my test subjects are going to be Jenny Larson, Abigail Moore, and Linda Krause," Spencer told him as he sat on his desk, "The DA will put them on the stand and I will personally bring these dolls in and we will watch how they react."

"Or you can tell us where your daughter is and we will tell the DA that you cooperated, but once we're out that door that offer is off the table," Rossi told him.

Spencer got off the desk, heading towards the door. "2529 Adams Street. You'll tell them right? That I cooperated?" Dr. Malcolm asked. Spencer walked back into the room.

"You know how I figured you out?" he asked pointing to the shelf, "Those toys, you didn't care of them, these toys you treasured. The collection, however, isn't complete. Where are they?"

Dr. Malcolm stared at the man leaning over his desk, getting up he walked over to a closet. He handed Spencer the suitcase of dolls. Spencer held onto the suitcase and glared at the man. "As a father of a young daughter of my own, I can never and will never understand why men like you hurt their own children when all I want to do is protect mine. People like you disgust me," he said angrily. The doctor sat back in his chair and watched as the two agents left the room with the suitcase. "After this I need to get home to my daughter," Spencer told Rossi.

"As you deserve to be with her," Rossi answered as they walked down the hall.

Arriving at the address, Spencer had Rossi stand outside and went into the house. "Don't leave me," he heard Samantha beg softly. His heart broke a little, she sounded like a small, scared, lonely child.

"Let us go," he heard Bethany answer.

"I can't," Samantha answered sadly.

Spencer walked around the corner of the house. "Samantha?" he called out lightly, startling the woman who then stood up with a pair of scissors, holding them to Bethany's neck. He just stood in the doorway, not making a single step toward them. "My name is Spencer Reid, I'm with the FBI I know what your father did to you and I want you to know that he can never, ever hurt you again," he assured lightly.

"He never touched me, he's a good father, he loves me," Samantha recited.

"I know he probably forced you to say those things. He punished you if you got it wrong, sent you to the room with the lightning?" Spencer asked.

He saw the woman's demeanor change. "Yeah…" she replied softly.

"The dolls that your father gave you after he hurt you, what happened to them?" he asked.

"He kept them in his office with the other toys," she answered.

Spencer felt his stomach twist the more he saw how vulnerable and in need of real help this woman needed. "That's where he let you play with them?" he asked. She nodded her head slowly.

"But when I moved out I had to take my friends with me, I couldn't leave them behind," she answered.

"Yea, of course, so you went to get them, what did you find?" he asked.

Spencer watched as the young woman's eyes clouded over with the memories of what happened. "He…He gave them to another girl didn't he?" he asked. She nodded her head slowly, her eyes welling up with tears. He gave her a small smile. "Do you want them back?" he asked.

"He said I couldn't he said they were gone for good," she replied.

"He lied and he's been lying to you for a long time. Do you want to see them?" he asked.

The hope showed in the woman's eyes at the idea of seeing her dolls again. "Can I?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, grabbing the suitcase by his feet, "Do you want to play with them?"

He was relieved when she dropped the scissors and made her way over to the suitcase with a huge smile on her face as he placed the suitcase in front of her. Seeing that Samantha was distracted, he stood back up and held his wrist mic to his mouth. "Clear, we need medical in here," he told Rossi outside. As the police and paramedics came into the room, an officer walked over with handcuffs for Samantha. "Wait," he told the man who nodded. Spencer crouched in front of the young woman. "Samantha, you need to go with these men, but you can take your friends with you okay?" he asked.

"They won't…they won't take them away?" she asked.

"I promise you, no one will ever take them away from you again," Spencer replied.

Spencer watched as she kissed her dolls before packing them up and the officer led her out of the house. "Well done, Agent Reid," Rossi told him.

"Thanks," he said softly.

Later that night, Spencer walked into the hotel completely worn out from the case. JJ walked over, hugging him. "Rossi told me what you did, you were great," she murmured.

"Only because that disgusts me more than anything," he answered as he sat on the edge of the bed, "His daughter needed him and instead of being there he abused her. I could never imagine hurting Sandy."

"Nor would you," JJ murmured as she sat beside him, pushing his hair from his eyes.

Spencer sighed as he reached over and rested his hand on her stomach where their unborn child grew. JJ rested her hand over his with a small smile. "You're a great dad," she said softly.

"Trying to be," he answered.

"And you're succeeding, Sandy loves you. This baby's going to love you just as much as she does," she said softly.

"I just don't understand why people hurt their children," he muttered, standing up.

"Because they're sick in the head and it's something that well-minded people won't understand," she answered.

She looked at him as he stood against the wall, letting out a deep breath. "I just want to see my daughter," he told her.

"We'll see her tomorrow," she replied as she walked over, hugging him.

Spencer hugged her back, resting his forehead against her shoulder. "I love you," he murmured, "I love our kids."

"And we love you too," she answered.

The next day, they arrived in the afternoon. Spencer pulled up to their house to find Sandy outside playing with their part-time nanny, Stephanie. "Look who's here, Sandy," Stephanie told the little girl who looked up, dropping her soccer ball. They saw her little eyes light up excitedly.

"Daddy! Mama!" she shrieked as she toddled toward the gates.

Spencer opened the gate with a smile. "Hey, there Sandy!" he said beaming as he picked her up into his arms, smothering her kisses. Sandy giggled excitedly, gripping her daddy's vest while JJ rubbed their daughter's back with a smile.

"How was she?" JJ asked.

"Amazing as usual," Stephanie replied smiling.

She walked over to JJ, who thanked her and handed her the money she earned for the couple of days she stayed with Sandy. "Have a good evening, Dr. Reid," Stephanie told him.

"You too, Stephanie," Spencer replied as he opened the gate so she could leave.

JJ smiled as she watched as her boyfriend held their daughter close him. "Daddy missed you, you missed daddy?" he asked.

"And mommy too I hope," JJ quipped.

Sandy giggled as she held her arms to JJ who took her into her arms. Spencer rested his hand on his girlfriend's back as they made their way to the house. As JJ went inside, her boyfriend looked up when he heard the game slam and frowned, looking up to see the gate swinging back and forth. "I'll be right there," he told her as he walked down the steps toward the gate.

Opening the gate, he looked up and down the block to see if someone was there. Seeing no one, he shrugged his shoulders as he closed the gate and went back inside to spend the rest of his day with his family.