Expendable: Sequel to Sabor

Chapter 1.)

Reid is excited about Sophie moving to D.C, and in the middle of a date they are walking through the capitol city when they see a woman lying on the street, she is dead, bloody and a green substance is oozing from her mouth. Reid and Sophie immediately call the team, and the a medical examiner who happens to be Sophie's ex, Max Noble. Reid feels supremely jealous because the ex is strong, all American type and he is still in love with Sophie.

"So what did you think of the movie Dr. Reid?' Sophie was teasing him, knowing how much it bugged him to be called Doctor.

"You're just intent on making me tell you aren't you? Well you'll be happy to know I find no trace of the protagonist appealing, I mean a man who is constantly changing sexual partners greatly increases the potential of disease and to me that's just not sexy." Reid looked at her, she was giggling. "What, what's so funny?" he was afraid he'd said something wrong.

"Spencer, you're the only person I know who can think of Casanova, not as a great lover but as a health risk." She was giggling but when she saw the look of embarrassment on his face she added. "I love that about you, you see things no one else does." To seal her point she gently placed her hand in his, you could almost feel Spencer Reid swell with pride as they past people in the street. They were headed to Sophie's apartment in Georgetown, Reid had told her to look in this district because the crime rates were so low, he had conveniently left out the fact that he lived just one block away, he thought that might seem a bit clingy this early on.

"Do you think you might what to stay over tonight? We could carpool tomorrow, you know go green?" Sophie was hoping of enticing the shy doctor to spend the night, since that night in San Jose, he'd seemed almost afraid to broach the subject, let alone make a move. She wanted to reassure him that it was all right, that she really did care about him. "Spencer?" He was looking straight over her head and at something in the dark, he had that look on his face she becoming familiar with.

"Do you see that? Is that someone on the ground? Call a medic, I think she's breathing." Reid rushed over to a shape Sophie could barely make out in the dark. She walked toward him as he hunched over the poor woman trying to resuscitate her. She dialed 911. "This is Special Agent Segura I need a bus to 3244 M Street on the north west corner, female victim approximately 25-30, about 140 pounds, possible overdose, no response to verbal or physical stimuli." Sophie was rattling off everything she could think of to make sure the medics had what they needed to save this girl. Reid was on the ground trying to administer CPR when he realized there was some kind of green liquid oozing from her, he couldn't give her mouth to mouth, but if this girl didn't get oxygen she was going to die, the pulse was thready as it was. "Sophie do you have any condoms in your purse?" he blurted it out. "What?" she did but she hardly saw how safe sex was anything to be concerned about right this moment. "I need one to give her mouth to mouth, she had some kind of green discharge and I don't know what it is." Sophie did have several prophylactics on her and tore open the package, made a pinhole so he could breathe life back into the girl without risking his own. "Well I guess being prepared doesn't always mean what you think it does." She thought to herself.

Finally the beautiful sounds of sirens could be heard blaring up the small street and within moments the medics had on an oxygen mask on the girl and got her in the back of the ambulance. "We should ride in with her, just to make sure." Reid looked at her pleadingly, he knew he didn't have to ask Sophie would've gone anyway, neither one of them could just leave it alone. "We'll follow, where are you taking her?" Sophie barked at the head medic. "Georgetown U, be there in three minutes, she's breathing on her own but it's hard and heavy, we have to get here out of here." He looked at Sophie almost like asking permission; Reid noticed a lot of people looked at her like that. "Understood, we'll be right behind you." Reid was already car sick thinking about the car ride he was in for. "Spencer get in!" she had already unlocked the silver open air Jeep she drove, she was definitely a Northern California girl, no one who grew up on the east coast would drive around in something like this, when it snowed. He hopped in and held on for dear life, as Sophie sped around corners, cut off poor unsuspecting motorists as she tried to keep up with the ever speeding ambulance. A hair pin turn and three harrowing left turns later, they were in the parking lot of Georgetown University's hospital.

Reid hadn't realized that he'd been gripping the seat so hard that his nail marks were left as an impression in the upholstery. Sophie hopped out of the Jeep and was running towards the entrance when she realized Spencer wasn't with her, so she doubled back. Reid was still sitting there in her Jeep, breathing very slowly. "Spencer, come on! We have to go see the surgeon before they give her anything!" He snapped to attention at the sound of her voice and started jogging with her toward the entrance. "You drive like a maniac!" He shouted over the sirens in the distance. "Well we got here didn't we?" she shouted back.

"Who is the attending?" Reid had stopped a bewildered nurse. "Dr. Sanchez, he's right over there." Reid and Sophie saw a man in his late thirties jogging along with the medics to the operating room, Reid began after him. "Dr. Sanchez, this woman had some kind of green discharge from her mouth, I'm not sure what substance could have caused it." The doctor looked at Reid and Sophie, and asked "Did it smell sweet? Could it have been anti-freeze?" Reid searched his memory, he couldn't remember. "I'm not sure, it could have been, but this was sea green foam oozing from her mouth and it was coming from her throat into her mouth. The doctor nodded and continued into the operating room.

"Could it have been anti-freeze Spencer? Why would anyone drink that, it's excruciating, causes renal failure over hours." Reid never ceased to be amazed at home much knowledge this woman had at her command. "I don't know, I can't remember what it smelled like. Someone could have forced her to take it, but why? As painful as it is, as long as she got to a hospital in a couple of hours she'd be okay. Anti-freeze wouldn't have incapacitated her." Reid looked at Sophie, and she finished his thought for him. "Unless someone gave her a laced dose of a narcotic, she wasn't expecting it and thinking she just got bad stuff she laid down to sleep it off, not knowing she'd been poisoned." Reid looked worried. "But why would a dealer give their own customer bad product, that can't be good for business. This feels like it was personal, to put someone through that much pain on purpose?" They were in the waiting room for three hours, the girl had been taken to surgery. Sophie had just gotten back with coffee. Their eyes both focused on the doctor coming towards them, his head down and looking somber. The girl hadn't made it, they didn't need him to tell them. "Agent Segura?" the doctor asked. "Yes. Dr. Sanchez this is Dr. Spencer Reid he found the poor girl and administered CPR." The doctor looked at Reid and secretly wondered how he'd gotten so lucky as to draw Sophie as a partner. "Dr. Reid I was to reassure you that everything you could have done, was done, we don't know what the green discharge was, it was not anti-freeze and testing is being done right now to determine the nature of the toxin, we don't believe this woman was on any narcotics." Reid and Sophie both raised their eyebrows. "She wasn't an addict?" Reid asked. "We couldn't find any needle marks or any other evidence of usage. I've called the medical examiner, woken him up actually I didn't want this to wait." The doctor looked worried, Sophie knew something was wrong, something he wasn't telling them. "I'll have the medical examiner contact you tomorrow morning at your office. I have to get back to the ER." Reid shook his hand. "We understand doctor, we'll be in touch."

Sophie wanted to ask more questions, get to the bottom of this, Reid could tell. "She's just like me, she can't help it." He thought. Reid motioned Sophie over as she was about to stop the doctor. "I don't think we're going to get anything else out of him tonight." She looked like a lioness with her curly hair and Revelon red lipstick. "Did you see how scared he was? He's definitely not telling us something, what is he hiding, what does he know, has he seen it before? We need to know Spencer!" She was shouting in whispers. "I'm a profiler, remember? I noticed all those things too and believe me I want those questions answered, but maybe it would be a better idea for us to go talk to the medical examiner? The good doctor did say he was on his way?" Sophie cracked a smile, "He's becoming more devious every day, just like me."

They took the elevator down to the basement where the morgue was situated. The ride was long and Reid was more than a little uncomfortable in such tight spaces, Sophie noticed how uncomfortable he looked so she decided to give him one good memory in an elevator. She took his hand and wrapped one of his arms around her waist, while she let her other hand creep up the back of his head and pulled him down towards her, she kissed him like she was searching for buried treasure. Reid left the elevator out of breath but this time it was definitely not out of fear, he hadn't thought about a single bad statistic on that ride. Sophie was glowing with accomplishment and was completely unprepared for what happened next.

The medical examiner had already arrived and was doing a preliminary inspection of the Jane Doe, when he lifted his head to see who had interrupted his exam he broke into a huge grin. "Sophie Segura! Oh my god, how long has it been? You look gorgeous as ever, is this your new partner?" The tall, all American featured man with the chiseled arms and huge biceps extended his hand to Reid, who immediately took a dislike to him. Sophie had to nudge Reid with her elbow, "Max! How good to see you again! This is Special Agent Dr. Reid with the BAU, Dr. Reid this is Dr. Max Noble." Reid felt himself trying to exert more pressure than was necessary for a cordial greeting. Sophie could feel the tension; she hadn't known Max had moved to the D.C. area. "Dr. Reid and I looking into this girl's death, we suspect foul play. Have you found anything suspicious so far?" Sophie was desperately hoping Max wouldn't bring up any more of the past. But she wasn't that lucky. "No, I haven't found anything to support foul play yet, but I have to wait for a toxicology report and that won't be done until tomorrow afternoon, I can tell you she was a cocktail of vitamins, they were in her purse. So where have you been all this time stranger? Last I saw you, we were on that beach in Santa Cruz, and your wet suit…" Sophie had to cut him off. "I've been really busy with work, got promoted to organized crime unit in Quantico, looks like you moved on to better things too, Georgetown huh? That must have made your dad jump for joy." Sophie was trying hard to take the emphasis of the conversation off the fact that Max and she had history, this was not lost on Reid. "Yeah he threw one of his silly country club parties, you know the Captain. So organized crime unit huh? You must be so incredibly busy these days, too busy to come out for a drink tomorrow." Max asked suavely hoping with all his might she would say yes, he had never forgotten her, she had been the one to get away and he had never really gotten over her. The way he looked at Sophie sent Reid over the edge with jealousy and he was secretly finding every fault he could. "Entitled alpha male personality, gym addicted probably a health nut, monied I wonder why she left him in the first place?" Then a sudden wave of terror came over Reid, he didn't want to lose her before they even began. Sophie saw Reid shooting daggers at Max who didn't notice he was too busy gazing at Sophie. "My case load is so heavy right now Max, but you'll get those results to us first thing right?" She was trying to steer Reid out the door, but he wouldn't budge. "Sure Sophie, it was so good to see you again, truly it was and it was great to meet you Dr. Reid." Max extended his hand again to Reid who reluctantly took it after being nudged in the ribs by Sophie.

The elevator ride back to the surface was much less enjoyable and much tenser. It was Sophie who felt like the walls were closing in on her. "He's an old friend from the Bay Area, we went to high school together and ended up in San Francisco a few years ago." She took a chance and gave Reid a side long glance trying to judge the waters. "So you guys were..?" Reid couldn't even finish the sentence. "It was a long time ago Spencer and it wasn't serious." Sophie wanted to reassure him but before she could say another word Reid went off. "He certainly thinks you were pretty serious, did you see the way he looked at you? With his stupid muscle shirt and alpha male ego just being thrown around all over the place." Reid was feeling seriously threatened by the fact that Sophie had not divulged the nature of their relationship and he couldn't help wonder if that was to protect them from scrutiny or if she was trying to leave the door open for someone else. The ride back to Sophie's apartment was eerily silent, Reid knew he was being ridiculously juvenile about this whole thing, but he couldn't help it, when it came to Sophie he was falling in love and he was afraid he might be falling faster than she was. When they finally reached her apartment she thought she'd take a chance. "Spence, come on spend the night, get some sleep and we'll figure this out in the morning." He looked at her and melted when the deep honey brown eyes met his. "She had invited him right? Not that ridiculous over aged surfer, she liked him right?" She didn't say another word but held his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and jumped out of the jeep. He was still sitting in the car when he remembered something Max had said, the girl had a cocktail of vitamins in her purse, he wondered what kind, he'd be sure to ask in the morning, it would give him a chance to find out more about Dr. Noble, ugh it sounded bad even in his head. He opened the door, Sophie was waiting for him and they made their way upstairs to her comfortable furnished apartment. The first thing Reid noticed when he walked in was how clean everything smelled, not hospital sterile clean but fresh clean like everything had just been laundered. They made their way to the bedroom and Reid noticed abstract art on the wall mixed with reproductions of classics like Starry Night, he was always being surprised by her. She hadn't bothered to turn on the light, instead she held Reid by his hands and placed his hands on her body, directing them over her curves, teasing him, not letting them roam free. She spoke no words, only letting out sighs here and there to let him know she was enjoying his touch. His mind was soon wiped clean of anything else but the sweet spicy scent of her skin as he inhaled her, her hair, her body, all of her. Neither one of them spoke a word, they didn't have to, they were connected in the most sacred way people can be, they were in their universe, in their reality and no one else's.