{ the fake sound of progress. }

[delga]

The Fake Sound of Progress [Hotch/Reid] by razorxrosary. Criminal Minds fic; wonderful, wonderful fic. I really do not understand how this has been overlooked by people.

They find the body on a Wednesday (Wednesday's child; full of woe). Curled beneath a tree, he looks almost peaceful, like the only calm point amidst the frantic storm of police and media reporters. On closer inspection, he's not curled up so much as curled in on himself, buckled in for protection. He died like this. The coroner said that he had probably been hit around the head with enough force to damage his brain stem, to paralyse him, so that he froze to death in the first onset of Michigan winter. They call it subacute hypothermia, Reid informs the group before the coroner can; when the body's temperature drops over a matter of hours, as opposed to acute hypothermia, which happens in… in a matter of minutes.

Seriously, GO AND READ THIS. You will not be disappointed.