Criminal Minds Imagines and One-Shots

Finally Safe (Spencer Reid x Reader)

I woke up with a sudden gasp, jolting myself from the nightmare. My body springs upwards with the sheets, damp from sweat, twisted around my limbs. The tears fall before I have a chance to catch my breath and I fall back against the pillow, sobbing until my body aches.

Every night I go to bed hoping I’ll never see that unsub’s face again, yet every night his maniacal grin looms in the air above me. All I can do is scream until I wake. It’s been four months since I was kidnapped and later saved by the team. I keep thinking I should be okay now, I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.

The trauma counseling, therapy, new anxiety medication… I spent time with my family and friends, I went back to work at the BAU, I even started kickboxing and self defense classes. But here I was, shaking in my bed with my cell phone up to my ear, calling the only person who knew what I was going through.

“Hello?” His voice was tired. The clock to the right of my bed read 2:46 am. I had seen him just hours ago. A tough case had ended and we all got off the jet, exhausted and ready for sleep. The feeling of guilt bubbles up inside me along with the terror coursing through my veins.

“Spencer I,” I begin but my voice cracks before I can get the rest out. I become a crying mess again. “I need you.”

“I’ll be right over.” He sounds much more awake now. I know he already knows what’s happening. It hadn’t been long since his own traumatic kidnapping. A year ago, I had been the one answering his late night phone calls and bringing him tea at 2 am.

I sit in the center of the bed, knees pulled to my chest and rocking back and forth, trying my best to repeat the calming statements my therapist had told me.

“Nightmares are not real… I am safe… I am alive… I am safe…” The knocking interrupts and I sprint to the door, not caring I’m only in a tee shirt and underwear. I fling the door open and crash into Spencer. He holds me in his arms and relief floods through me. My heart rate is already beginning to slow as I take deep breaths against his chest.

We stand there for a while in the doorway, not bothering to move. His large hands pull me tighter as he lifts me up gently and kicks the door shut behind us.

“Shh shh.” He coos against the top of my head as we move back to my bedroom. “It’s okay now.”

“The nightmares…” I cry against his jacket. He sets me down and pulls the blankets over both of us, his left arm never leaving my body. “I’m so scared.”

He rubs my arms in an attempt to stop my shaking and I curl up closer to him. “I know. You’re safe now, (Y/N).” He lets me nuzzle my face into his warm neck and I nod. Spencer’s chin rests on the top of my head and we lay there in eachothers arms till the sunlight streams in through the window above my head board.

No words are spoken, just the sounds of our breathing and his steady heartbeat against my ear eventually lull me back to sleep. I finally feel safe again.