Finally, Cassidy and Spencer had chosen between the two houses that they were interested in. The house that had sparked the most interest was a beautiful 2 storey home that happened to reside halfway between work and D.C. When Cassidy and Spencer were shown around the house, they knew that it'd be perfect for a family.
The front yard had two nice large patches of grass with a tree right in the middle. Walking into the house, you were greeted with a beautiful staircase that led to the upstairs portion of the house. From the front door, to the left was a small entertainment area. To the right was a room perfect for an office space. Walking toward the back of the house, past the staircase, you'd find a kitchen to the left and a small lounge area to the right with room for a dining table behind it. Walking away from the kitchen led to another small entertainment room. Making your way back to the entrance to the house, you walked up the staircase and were greeted with a small hangout area. From the top of the staircase, you were able to look over a banister, which allowed you to see the first small entertainment area and the front door. Walking to your left, you would be greeted with a master bedroom that had an ensuite and large closet. Further left was one of two separate bathrooms (one of them being downstairs). Standing in the middle of the hangout area, looking to your right, you'd see the 2nd of 3 bedrooms. Looking to your left showed the last bedroom. When you headed back downstairs and to the back of the house, you could walk outside to a large backyard. A large patio connected to the house, which would be perfect for family barbeques.
Obviously, Penelope and the rest of the team were interested in pictures. Cassidy took one downstairs picture and Spencer took one upstairs picture. When they sent the pictures to the team, Cassidy decided to be a bit sassy and add a comment: Imagine Rossi's mansion, but bigger. Rossi of course commented and refused to believe that scale of the house until he saw it in person.
There was only one problem. Cassidy and Spencer weren't the only couple interested in buying the house. There were 2 other couples involved, both of whom were desperate. The realtor said that he'd call the couple that had offered the most amount of money, as they'd be the ones buying the house.
For 10 days, Cassidy and Spencer waited. Spencer even worried that waiting for the call would cause Cassidy more anxiety and stress, which would be bad for the baby. So, he insisted that she focus on work while he focused on waiting for the call. After a while, Spencer doubted that he and Cassidy had successfully bought the house, until he got a call from the realtor. All the paperwork was then filled out, which only left one thing to do; pack. Unfortunately, Spencer was called onto a case right as he and Cassidy planned to start moving their stuff from the apartment to the house. That's exactly when Cassidy called Hotch, who was more than happy to help her get everything packed and moved to the new house.
Over the next 4 days, while the team were on a case involving 'The Believers', Cassidy and Hotch packed up the entire apartment and got everything to the new house. All that was left to do was unpack and move furniture around so the place felt more like home. They were halfway furnishing the ground floor of the house before Penelope called Cassidy into the office. So, Hotch dropped her off and promised that he'd get the rest of the ground floor completed before Spencer got back from the case.
———
Cassidy walked into the 6th floor of the building, walking to her left to go and see Penelope.
"You're here! Great! Emily and the team are heading back here as we speak. They have a man in custody and his name is Benjamin David Merva. He's supposedly a member of 'The Believers'. Right now, Special Agent Owen Quinn is in the interrogation room with Special Agent Mary Meadows. He was a suspect in The Strangler murders, when he was found by Spencer and the S.W.A.T. team in a locked storage unit and the team questioned whether or not he was lying about being abducted and held captive." Penelope explained, catching Cassidy up on the case that the team were working on.
"Emily wants you to review the case before Quinn is released." Penelope asked. Cassidy nodded, happy that even though she was 5 months pregnant, she was still able to help the team.
30 minutes later, Agent Meadows was walking Quinn through the BAU bullpen, intending to let him walk free, as Cassidy had given him permission to leave. Although Penelope was desperately wanting to go home, Cassidy waited. She waited with Quinn's son Shane and Theo Holston, so that once Quinn was released, she'd then wait for Spencer, who'd most likely come to the office before going home.
"Night Cassidy!" Penelope smiled as she waved to her friend, seeing that Agent Meadows and Agent Quinn had entered the elevator.
"Oh, wait!" She called out, Agent Meadows happily preventing the elevator doors from shutting.
"Uh...this phone, this phone, this phone." Penelope pulled all of her phones out of her bag, trying to figure out which one had started ringing. Pressing a button, she pushed the phone to her ear.
"JJ? I am on my way." Penelope spoke before pulling the phone away in annoyance.
"Argh! Lost her." Penelope groaned.
"So, I will text. "JJ, I'm on my way." Penelope smiled tapping away at her phone.
As the elevator doors shut, Agent Meadows spoke.
"I knew you didn't do it." She faced Quinn before looking at Penelope.
"I just knew. And I can't tell you what a privilege it's been working with the A-team on this case." Meadows smiled at Penelope, who couldn't help but blush.
"A-team"? Oh...A-team." Penelope giggled, hearing her phone beep. Looking down at the message she just received, her face dropped.
"And Owen, if we time this right, you might actually get out of here before the sunrise." Agent Meadows chuckled.
"Draw your gun." Penelope exhaled, glaring at Meadows, who looked at her, confused.
"What?" Meadows asked, confused.
"Draw your gun!" Penelope screamed as Agent Quinn suddenly started attacking Agent Meadows.
Cassidy sat with Theo and Shane, keeping an eye on them to make sure neither of them did something stupid. Hearing her phone ring, she picked it up and answered the call.
"Hey, Spencer, what's up?" She smiled, hearing his voice.
Without warning, a gunshot went off, scaring the two boys.
"What was that?" Shane asked, concerned.
"Stay here." Cassidy demanded, carefully making her way down the large stairwell that was mainly used for emergencies. She opened the door that led to the underground garage, walking slowly as she held her gun up.
"Put your hands up, Quinn! What happened?" Cassidy saw Quinn standing in the elevator. He revealed the gunshot wound, blood all over his hands.
"It's her. Meadows. She's one of them." He groaned.
"Drop your gun, Agent Reid." Cassidy turned around and aimed her gun where the voice was. She saw Agent Meadows aiming her gun at her, a stone-cold look on her face.
"It's been you the whole time." Cassidy exhaled.
"Yes, it was. Quinn somehow figured it out first. Pity having to shoot him. But he can't give me what I want, and you can." She smiled.
"What's that?" Cassidy continued to remain calm and aim her gun at Agent Meadows. As much as she wanted to start panicking, she couldn't. Not without causing stress which wouldn't be good for her baby. The whole idea of her aiming her gun while a gun was aimed at her was stupid. It was reckless, but she had no choice. Spencer and the rest of the team hadn't arrived back to the office yet, so she was the only one who could do something to stop Agent Meadows.
"You and I are gonna go upstairs and free my Messiah." She demanded.
"You're in the heart of the FBI. As soon as the rest of my team arrives and figures out it's you, you'll be dead before you're out the door." Cassidy scoffed.
"Then we need to work quickly." Meadows chuckled.
"I'm not cooperating with you. Might as well shoot me." Cassidy spoke, standing up properly. Offering to get shot while 5 months pregnant wasn't the best idea, but there was no way she was going to help a criminal.
"I have a better idea." Meadows smiled, nodding her head. Moments later, a car pulled up behind her, revealing Penelope banging her hands against the window while a man in a suit held a gun to her head inside the car.
"Now, what's it gonna be? Because you can either join us, or she dies." Meadows gave her an ultimatum. Unfortunately, as much as she would have loved to refuse cooperating with Meadows, it meant that Penelope would die, and she could never allow that to happen.
"Cassidy, just shoot her! Shoot her!" Penelope begged.