Escaping to the Genius

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Celeste looked around frantically and slipped around other officers to reach Spencer.

"Hey, hey," he said when she grabbed onto him for comfort. "What's going on? Celeste?"

Morgan said, "Maureen had M I A carved into her stomach anti-mortem."

Astonished, he pressed a kiss to Celeste's hair. "Sweetheart, the way we profiled this guy, it could have something to do with the military."

She shook her head. "It was for me. There's too much evidence for it not to be Brent. The gun, how he almost missed, the message, the victim, the crime scene." He felt his heart get heavy. She was right, he knew, but he wanted to say something, anything, to make her feel better.

He looked desperately at Morgan; he didn't know what to do. Morgan said, "Celeste, we have a name now; Garcia can track him down and we can put him away for life."

She flinched and pulled away from Spencer. "I don't want you involved. He's just going to hurt you again." But...if they didn't help her, who would? Who could she trust to help her?

"Don't worry, sweetie." They all turned at the sound of Garcia's voice, and saw that the rest of the team had been watching and listening, and JJ had called Garcia. "I'm already on it. That man will be lucky to ever see the light of day again."

Celeste smiled. "Thanks."

Spencer grabbed his bag. "We're done here. We know who it is, and we know he isn't here anymore."

JJ said, "Hey, Celeste, while we're in town, is there anything at your house that you'd want to grab?"

Wincing at the thought of ever going near that place again, Celeste hastily shook her head. "No. I never had anything worth keeping."

They nodded and started to pack up. This time Spencer sat in the back of the SUV with Celeste, to make sure she was alright as they left.

"Do we need to take the jet?" she asked.

"He couldn't get to it," assured Spencer. "It was in lockup, and we had people standing at the door the whole time."

She nodded, convinced by her dad's convicting way of speaking, although Spencer himself was unsure. But he couldn't let her know that. He had no reason to be afraid that the jet would crash again. Every word he spoke to Celeste was true, but there was still a small part of him wondering if he was endangering his daughter's life by putting her on the jet.

He almost asked if they could ride a passenger plane back.

Celeste was calm enough on the plane ride, or so it seemed. She just curled up in a seat and leaned her head on the side, gazing out the window in total silence.

Everyone thought she was oblivious, that she was lost in thought, because it had happened often to Spencer. But she wasn't. She was listening.

Spencer and Morgan sat on the opposite side of the plane from her, talking in hushed voices. She closed her eyes to focus on what they were saying. The others took this as a sign that she was either tired or asleep and spoke in quiet voices as well. It made it easier for her to hear.

"I don't want her to live knowing he's out there," Spencer was saying.

"And she won't. Garcia's tracking him right now."

"But, Morgan, I-I'm not..." he screwed up his face in thought, trying to say what he was thinking. It was just a jumbled mess in his head. "I can't take care of her. I'm not strong enough to protect her, or-or gentle enough to hold her when she tells me all these-" he broke off, and Celeste felt unwelcome tears forming behind closed lids.

"Kid, you need to quit putting yourself down. There's a reason she stayed with you, instead of going to a foster house or into witness protection. She needs you."

"I know. But I don't know how."

Celeste tuned out. She did need Spencer, it was true. And he was helping her, with everything he did. It didn't matter whether he was silent or talking. Just him being there calmed her down, because she knew he would never let anyone or anything hurt her.

~

That night Celeste slept in the living room beside Spencer. She hadn't wanted to be alone, and he didn't want her to be alone, so they compromised.

Both were scrunched into balls, their feet barely brushing each other. It was the first time Spencer had slept on the couch, and it was more comfortable than he had thought.

When they woke up the next morning, Celeste couldn't help but to laugh. Spencer groaned and sat up from the floor. "You kicked me off, you know."

"Did I?" She laughed.

He shook his head, laughing, and stood up. "Come on. We need to get ready to go."

The humor drained from her face, leaving her lips turned down. The motion created lines on her face where there shouldn't have been any, and Spencer sighed. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I should've done better. I should've tried harder to get you away from him."

She rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "It's alright. I did get out. Some people aren't that lucky." She gave him a hug before leaving to shower.