Chapter 316: Chuck: Spencer, this isn't your big sister!
Three days later.
Miami Beach.
Crowds in light clothing, shoulder to shoulder.
"Boss, let's go have some fun too."
Lisa, the Texas girl, looked at this familiar scene, her energy stirring, and she pulled Chuck to go over.
"Too loud."
Chuck stood on the edge, unmoved.
"The quietest place is deep in the mountains."
Bald Morgan, wearing sunglasses, glanced at Lisa and said to Chuck with envy and jealousy: "Now this is living~"
"Alright, everyone has their own thing. Let's go, I see a bar."
Seeing this, Agent Elle quickly pulled Morgan away.
The two of them were the hidden stars of the BAU's "carpe diem" crowd.
This kind of beach party was their favorite.
"It's so lively."
Another car pulled up, and JJ and Dr. Reid got out. They walked over and stood next to Chuck and Lisa. Looking at the bustling beach, JJ smiled.
"It really is lively."
Dr. Reid looked on with a bit of social anxiety.
"Hey, where are Agent Hotchner and Agent Gideon?"
Lisa, seeing that she couldn't pull Chuck away and could only stand there, looked at Dr. Reid and suddenly felt a greater kinship with Chuck. She smiled and greeted JJ, asking,
"They're not coming."
JJ laughed. "Hotchner and Gideon flew straight home. Hotchner is the only one in our BAU with a family—a wife and kids. We rarely get time with them.
Now that the case has hit a wall, naturally he wants to get home as soon as possible."
"Gideon likes peace and quiet,"
Dr. Reid added.
"Plus, they're leaders. They need to maintain some distance from us outside of investigations."
JJ glanced teasingly at the closeness between Lisa and Chuck.
Lisa smiled knowingly at Chuck, who was standing nearby, and changed the subject, saying, "Is this case just over like that?"
"For now, yeah."
Dr. Reid replied. "It's been three days, and there's been absolutely no sign of Gregg, or any other women harmed by Gregg's M.O. Given his profile, unless something unexpected happened, he wouldn't be able to hold back."
"You mean there really is a vigilante?"
Lisa's eyes lit up.
"We don't publicly acknowledge that."
JJ nodded, seeing that no one else was around. "But more and more evidence suggests that such a vigilante probably exists."
"Morgan applied to Hotchner to establish an operation to hunt down the vigilante."
Dr. Reid glanced at Morgan, who was strutting around with a drink not far away. "Hotchner is still considering it."
"Why?"
Lisa asked, confused. "He saved that girl, and indirectly saved who knows how many more girls who might have been hurt. Why hunt him down?"
"He broke the law."
Dr. Reid tried to explain.
JJ tugged at him: "Hotchner is still considering it. Besides, we have too many cases to handle as it is. I've turned down tons of requests for our help. We might not have time to hunt down a vigilante who appears and disappears without a trace."
"Exactly!"
Lisa nodded. "The ones who really need your attention are those serial killers. You can't even catch all of them, and you're wasting time catching good guys like this.
If people find out, I don't know what they'll say about you guys. That Agent Morgan is really something."
"Job security and career advancement,"
Chuck said succinctly.
"Boss, you mean those serial killers are the job, while vigilantes are competition.
That's why when faced with both, most law enforcement will choose to hunt down the harmless vigilantes, even abandoning the truly dangerous serial killers."
Lisa nodded in understanding, looking at the flashy Morgan who was flirting with a woman in a bikini. "And some people totally blow up the danger of vigilantes, playing to what their colleagues and bosses want to hear, trying to climb the ladder."
"Morgan didn't mean it like that..."
JJ quickly changed the subject: "Lisa, how's Nikki?"
"She's doing better, recovering pretty fast..."
Hearing this, Lisa immediately remembered what had happened a few days ago, and her expression became somewhat strained.
JJ smiled slightly.
She knew why and deliberately used this to redirect the conversation.
Three days ago, when they suspected vigilante involvement, they investigated every lead in the area with everything they had, but came up empty.
However, their mindset unconsciously relaxed a bit.
Even though they were required to officially state that the vigilante was breaking the law, they knew deep down that if a vigilante was involved, nobody except Gregg would be in danger.
This was actually good news for everyone.
So even though they searched for three days without success, their mood was completely different from before.
Chuck also met Nikki.
This girl, who had been tortured for 24 hours, showed remarkable resilience. She even took advantage of her vulnerable state to ask Chuck for a comforting hug. After being flatly rejected by Chuck, she didn't give up and continued with various subtle attempts at flirtation.
Lisa, who was Nikki's friend, initially tried her best to rationalize it, mainly to herself, but later, seeing Nikki becoming increasingly blatant, her expression darkened.
Because she remembered those unpleasant memories from the past. The main reason she chose to leave for New Jersey was, of course, her crush on Detective Chuck, but the gradual deterioration of her relationship with her best friend Nikki also played a big role.
Yes.
Nikki was a qualified best friend.
The kind of best friend you have to watch out for!
After this incident, Nikki hadn't changed at all, which completely disappointed her. She didn't spare her feelings at the time and left with Chuck.
"Should we go somewhere else?"
Dr. Reid couldn't help but suggest.
"Okay."
Chuck nodded and walked away first.
"The car's over here!"
Dr. Reid reminded him.
"We're not driving!"
Chuck said without turning around.
"Not driving?"
Dr. Reid was taken aback, but seeing Lisa and JJ following with smiles, he quickly followed as well.
"We're taking the boat!"
Chuck led them to the marina, where a luxury yacht was already docked.
"What a gorgeous yacht!"
JJ exclaimed.
"Boss, did you rent this?"
Lisa was also pleasantly surprised.
Chuck didn't speak, but simply gestured for them to follow.
"Should we invite Morgan and Elle to come along?"
The three followed Chuck onto the boat, and Dr. Reid watched Chuck expertly steer the boat out to sea, then looked back toward the beach.
"I don't like crowds."
Chuck said flatly.
"Forget it. Compared to a luxury yacht, Elle and Morgan definitely prefer the party scene."
JJ smiled at Dr. Reid.
Dr. Reid nodded, then quickly looked away, unable to meet JJ's gaze.
He couldn't help it.
Normally, at work, with so many people around, the conversation revolved around serial killers and tragic victims. Even though Dr. Reid had a crush on JJ, he didn't have much time to dwell on such things.
But now, on this luxury yacht, off duty, with such beautiful scenery and a beautiful woman, it was truly hard to resist.
"Spencer, go set up the table on deck,"
Chuck instructed Dr. Reid, who was somewhat uncomfortable with the environment, from the wheelhouse.
"JJ, go help him,"
Lisa smiled knowingly and nudged JJ.
JJ tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a little shy, but her professional instincts allowed her to gracefully leave the wheelhouse and go help Dr. Reid.
"Boss, how do you know how to do everything?"
Lisa watched JJ leave, then looked at Chuck with admiration as he steered the boat. "Can you teach me?"
"You want to learn?"
Chuck glanced back at her.
"Yes."
Lisa nodded eagerly.
"Then you have to commit."
Chuck said directly. "I don't like people who quit halfway, and neither can my assistant."
"I'll definitely learn it!"
Lisa laughed.
On the deck.
Dr. Reid and JJ had already set up the chess board. After waiting a while, seeing that Chuck still hadn't come up, Dr. Reid got up somewhat uncomfortably: "Why isn't Chuck here yet? I'll go find Chuck!"
"Are you serious?"
JJ was lying there, enjoying the sunshine and sea breeze. Hearing this, she opened her eyes.
"Is there a problem?"
Dr. Reid looked away, not daring to look directly at JJ's attractive figure.
"Don't bother them."
JJ looked at Dr. Reid like this and could only shake her head helplessly.
"You mean Chuck and Lisa..."
Dr. Reid glanced down, lost in thought.
"Whether it is or not, just don't go."
JJ propped herself up on her elbows, looking at the beautiful ocean view, and laughed. "Isn't this scenery gorgeous?"
"Beautiful..."
Dr. Reid's eyes were a little dazed; only one word could express his feelings.
After a long while, Chuck and Lisa came up on deck. The yacht had been set to autopilot.
"Driving a boat is really fun,"
Lisa said with lingering excitement, "way better than driving a car!"
"Is that so?"
JJ gave her a knowing look.
"Chuck, it's all set up."
Dr. Reid also snapped out of his distracted mood with JJ and pointed to the chess board, saying to Chuck.
Chuck nodded and sat down across from him.
The two started playing chess.
Lisa watched for a while, then, finding it boring, looked at the yacht, which had sailed to a beautiful stretch of ocean, and laughed, "It's so gorgeous here. JJ, how about we go swimming?"
"Sure."
JJ got up as well.
"Boss, I'll go stop the yacht,"
Lisa said.
Chuck nodded.
Lisa dragged JJ down from the deck to the wheelhouse to stop the yacht. Then, she and JJ went to the cabin to change into their swimsuits and jumped off amid laughter.
"You're distracted,"
Chuck reminded him.
"Even if I wasn't distracted, I couldn't beat you,"
Dr. Reid said with a wry smile.
"324 days,"
Chuck placed his piece.
"Yes,"
Dr. Reid looked at the board, his genius mind immediately understanding what Chuck was referring to, and smiled wryly. "It's been 324 days since we talked about the fetus after the Bloody Hand John case."
"Have you thought it through?"
Chuck looked at him.
"Thought what through?"
Dr. Reid was somewhat flustered, subconsciously glancing at the two graceful figures swimming happily in the ocean below.
"Not this big sister,"
Chuck shook his head. "Is your fetus ready to be born?"
"..."
Dr. Reid's lips twitched, speechless.
Chuck had mentioned this to him during the Bloody Hand John case, even categorizing the emotional development of people like them into different stages.
Liking a girl is a privilege only adults have, or at least teenagers.
People like them are like infants crawling on the ground.
Chuck, who kept up with his training, was just beginning to stand up and try to walk while holding onto something.
Above that, there's toddlerhood and childhood.
In Chuck's words, Reid was like a fetus after being single for 23 years, and now, almost another year had passed, making him single for 24 years.
Chuck said relationships require learning and practice, especially for people like them. So JJ, whom he had a crush on, was too advanced for him to practice with. He was supposed to introduce him to an older woman, someone perfect for helping Reid take his first steps, at least someone who had been born.
But due to a sudden development in the case, it fell through.
The older woman Chuck was going to introduce to Reid was Phoebe.
Not Lisa.
But it's understandable that Dr. Reid was confused; even though Chuck had previously said this older woman was Monica's friend Phoebe, the phrase "older woman" made it hard not to think of Lisa.
"Is training really necessary?"
Almost a year had passed, and Dr. Reid was still uncertain.
"324 days."
Chuck glanced at JJ, who was swimming happily with Lisa in the ocean. Although not as striking as Lisa, JJ had her own beauty, no wonder the unborn Reid was so captivated that he developed real feelings for her.
"Just now on deck, it was just the two of you. Did you have anything to talk about?"
Seeing Dr. Reid's wry smile, Chuck nodded. "Obviously not. And while JJ isn't introverted, she's not extroverted enough to guide an unborn child toward you.
If you really want to be with her someday, you should be born sooner, get through infancy, toddlerhood, and childhood as quickly as possible. A woman's youth doesn't last forever."
"What stage are you at now?"
Dr. Reid, flustered, instinctively changed the subject.
"Me?"
Chuck said bluntly. "Still learning to walk while holding on."
"..."
Dr. Reid glanced speechlessly at the alluring figure swimming beside the yacht, wanting to retort, "What are you holding on to...?"
"Keep playing."
Chuck gestured for Dr. Reid to place his piece. "Get some good rest these next few days. We can reach DC in two days and New York in three.
If you and JJ make progress within two days, then I'll drop you both off in DC.
If you and JJ still haven't made any progress in this environment within two days, then when we reach DC, I'll drop JJ off and take you to New York to meet Phoebe, who can help deliver your baby.
I said it!
I'll demonstrate!
Lisa happens to be a big sister too.
So, two days from now is your assignment.
I'll grade it in three days!"
Dr. Reid was dumbfounded: "..."
At this moment, the two mermaids, having swum to their hearts' content, came back aboard, dripping wet. Lisa, wrapped in a towel, looked at Dr. Reid's expression and said with a grin, "Spencer, what's wrong? Did you lose? That's normal."
As she spoke, she walked over to Chuck and leaned against him. "Boss, can you help me dry my hair?"
Chuck didn't speak, just nodded, then reached out and picked up a corner of the towel to dry her hair, his eyes fixed on Dr. Reid.
"JJ!"
Receiving the message about the assignment and grading in two and three days, Reid instinctively stood up and called out.
"What's wrong?"
JJ, wrapped in a towel, turned and rubbed her wet hair, looking over.
Dr. Reid immediately blushed and became flustered.
Chuck pointed at Lisa, who followed Chuck's gaze and immediately understood. "JJ, you should have Spencer dry it for you."
JJ's hand, which was drying her hair, paused. Under Dr. Reid's almost breathless gaze, she nodded slightly. "Spencer, can you help me?"
"Okay!"
Dr. Reid almost stumbled.
In the BAU, everyone called him Reid, and JJ was the only one who called him Spencer.
And now, on this yacht, all three of them were calling him that, and he felt an overwhelming sense of happiness.
For a moment, he even forgot about assignments and grading.
(End of Chapter)
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