surrender, criminal minds [ 2 ]

063. deja vu

The team are at the office and all at their respective desks.

"Hey." Penelope walks into the bullpen. "Where's Maddie?" She asks, not seeing the brunette at her desk.

"I haven't seen her. I've only been here an hour, though." JJ says.

"She said she was gonna bring donuts." Penelope pouts. "She promised she'd be on time and she didn't answer my text yet."

"Maybe she just overslept." Blake suggests with a small shrug.

Spencer's phone rings.

"Is that Maddie?" Penelope asks.

"I don't--" He digs his phone out of his pants pocket, pulling it out. He frowns when he reads the name.

"What? What is that face?" Penelope asks.

"It-- uh--" Spencer answers his phone. "Lanie?"

"Is mom with you guys?" She asks.

"What? N-no. Your-- your mom's not here." Spencer says.

"Mom's not home." Lanie says.

"Wh-what do you mean your mom's not home?" Spencer asks. "Did she-- did she just leave?"

"No. No, she always leaves a note when she leaves before we wake up. There's no note, no nothing." Lanie says.

"I-- okay, when-- when was the last time you saw her?" Spencer asks.

"Before she went out to get drinks with you guys last night." Lanie says.

"Okay. Uh... I'll-- I'm coming over. I'm gonna bring you guys back to the BAU." Spencer says.

"Can't we just get on the train?" Lanie asks.

"No. No, it-- given safety reasons, I don't want you guys going anywhere alone." Spencer says, getting up and grabbing his jacket.

"But we do it all the time for school. It's not that big of a--"

"Lanie Genevieve Banks, if you or Reese leave that apartment before I get there, I am suspending movie nights until further notice." Spencer threatens.

"Wh-- you can't do that." She protests.

"They work around my schedule and I'm the adult, so, yes, I can. Stay there." He orders before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Blake asks.

"Maddie didn't go home last night." Spencer says.

"What?" Penelope's eyes widen.

"Wh-- well, maybe she just... maybe she spent the night at Shawn's." JJ suggests.

"She doesn't leave the twins alone overnight without somebody there. Jasmine's out of town and none of us were there, those are all the people that she trusts with them. And Lanie said she didn't leave a note."

"A note?" Blake asks.

"Whenever Maddie has to leave for work before the two of them are awake, she always leaves a note. Depending on if she knows how long she'll be gone, the details vary. She writes that she went to work, other things like telling them to do their homework and don't eat too much ice cream, she ends it with saying she loves them and she's gonna miss them while she's not home. She told me one time that she's been doing it since they were born. Before they could read, Jasmine would read it to them."

"Okay, we shouldn't panic yet." Blake says, able to tell the man's getting agitated.

"I'm not panicking." He mumbles, though none of the women believe him. "I'm going to get the kids."