It was an early and crisp morning. Spencer found himself stood in front of a huge chapel, the bell chiming happily. His eyebrows furrowed, looking around, finding himself amidst his team, though they were all wearing very formal attire. A hand clapped against his back, Morgan's face coming into view.
"Look at you, all spiffy. Can't believe this day has actually come. Pretty boy's getting married." He chuckled, the words coming as a surprise to Spencer. Before he could speak Morgan was dragging him into the church, walking with him to the altar, standing next to him as the church flooded with people whom he knew. His mom was there, his dad, Hotch and everyone. He knew something wasn't right as he scanned the crowd. Sarah? Quickly his eyes went searching, and soon Jason Gideon himself walked into the church in a clean black suit.
"Gideon?" The male looked at him with a smile, winking at him. "Wait, I have so many questions- I- you died. I saw your body... Gideon!" Soon the male was disappearing into the pews. Suddenly a rush of movement occurred as the entire church stood, turning to the opening doors. The flower girl entered, a fearful look on her face. When she got close enough, she shouted something.
"Daddy!" As she shouted, the little girl ran straight to Spencer, and instinctively, he moved down to pick her up.
"Hey, hey, you're okay. We'll find your daddy. Where is he?" Spencer looked around for a face that looked panicked, as though their daughter was up there with Spencer.
"You're being silly, you're right here." The girl then pet Spencer's head, and his eyes widened.
"I-I'm your daddy?" Softly he pushed hair from the girl's face as she nodded. Music began soon after the moment, and Spencer squinted to see the face in front of him. As she continued towards him, a smile broadened on his face as the familiar woman joined him at the altar. "Lucielle... god you look beautiful..." he mumbled, watching as she blushed.
"Thank you, Spencer." Lucielle giggled, pressing a kiss to his cheek, and then one to their daughter's before turning to the priest. The two were about to exchange vows as the man spoke.
"If there is anyone who believes that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The two scanned the crowd before the doors burst open, and Spencer's breath hitched.
"Maeve?" As the woman continued into the room, the male behind her held a gun to her head, and Spencer panicked. Tobias.
"Spencer. I'm quite certain that there's another woman you would marry in a heartbeat." Tobias spoke, Maeve looking at Spencer with a scared look. "So I'm giving you three choices. Option A. You marry Lucielle, and I kill Maeve. Option B. You save Maeve and I marry Lucielle, and that pretty little girl of yours comes home with us. Option C. You marry Lucielle and save Maeve, but I get your daughter." He continued, moving closer and closer to the altar, the little girl clutching onto her father tightly. Spencer quickly picked her up, causing her to hide her face into his neck.
"You're not getting her." The doctor spoke softly.
"So you've made your choice. Option A it is." Tobias spoke simply, Maeve screaming for Spencer to save her, causing the male to step forward, only to hear a gunshot.
Spencer shot up out of bed, clothes drenched in sweat, the room pitch black as the curtains held out the sun. Looking around, he grabbed his phone, sighing softly as he laid back in his bed, catching his breath. It was a dream. It was a dream. Spencer shook his head as he got up out of the bed, moving to the bathroom to shower for the long day ahead of him. This case was going to be the death of him. He'd been in London since December, and it was now February. "One more month, just one more." He sighed, turning on the water.
After his shower, he entered the small common space of the apartment, seeing Emily at the kitchen table typing away. "Mornin' Spence. Package came for you this morning." He nodded, grabbing a mug and filling it up with his coffee and sugar. He then made his way to the table, picking up the package, reading who it was from quickly, only to rip it open in excitement. "Jeez, what's in there, a bomb?" She asked sarcastically, laughing a little.
"It's from Lucielle." He spoke softly, pulling out the container from the package. Spencer smiled at the note on the inside, words scribbled across it on top of a Tupperware container. Tugging off the plastic lid, he discovered a dozen of homemade Rice Krispie treats with Spencer's favorite brand of chocolate chips in them. "Ugh, gotta love her." He chuckled, pulling a few from the pile and beginning to chow down.
"She's gonna make quite the fun wife someday." Emily spoke, standing up as she made her way to the kitchen.
"I hope. She's damn amazing. I don't plan on giving her up any time soon." The doctor chuckled as he spoke of his girlfriend. Emily picked up the return label as she walked back to the kitchen table, Spencer munching away. The woman's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"That can't be right." She muttered before clearing her throat. "Spence, how does Lucy spell her first name?" She asked looking at the male in front of her. Spencer was busy reading the note attached to the treats, still captivated by the treat he was eating.
"L-u-c-i-e-l-l-e. Why?" The male spoke before Emily looked at him, slightly panicked.
"I don't think a 25 year old doctor would spell her own name wrong." Spencer frowned taking the package from her, looking at the return address, seeing where the mistake was. "Dr. Lucille Andrews." After reading the package, the dessert fell out of his hand onto the table. "Spencer how many of those did you eat?" Emily asked picking up a napkin and then picking up the abandoned treat. When she didn't get a response, she looked up to see the male was gone. "Spencer?" After no reply, Emily reached under the table, grabbing the pistol that was hidden there. "Reid, you're freaking me out." As she entered his room, the woman felt metal pressing into her back, and Spencer's voice from behind her.
"Are you with the FBI?" He asked slowly. Using her deductive reasoning, Emily shook her head. "I want you to say it." With his words, he pushed the weapon further into her back.
"No. I'm just your roommate." She spoke easily, waiting for the relief of pressure being retracted from her back. Moments passed before it did, Emily slowly turning around and watching as Spencer grabbed the package frustratedly.
"Who's this Spencer dude?" He asked pissed off, holding his revolver in the direction of his partner.
"Our neighbor. He didn't want the dessert. So he gave it to us." Emily watched to see if he took the lie she was feeding him, the male nodded and put his weapon away.
"Do you know where he is?" She quickly shook her head, only for the doctor to dash out the door, shouting something about finding the bastard that took his boss' daughter. Once Spencer was gone, Emily rushed to find her phone, calling everyone she had available to her.
Lucielle was woken at 3 A.M. to the sound of her phone. Groggily, she picked it up, answering it and hearing her boss mentioning some sort of issue and having her come in.
"Aaron. I am seven months pregnant. The last thing I want to do is come into work at 3 in the morning." She groaned, sitting up slowly.
"The issue is in London. We need to fly out as soon as possible." At his words, Lucy woke up rapidly.
"London? Is Emily okay? What about Spencer? Is this about them? Hotch tell me what's going on."
"I'll brief you when you arrive. Bring a go bag."
"O-Okay." She quickly hung up, packing up the items she knew she needed as fast as she could, her condition making it difficult.
Upon arriving to the office, it occurred to the woman that she was still in Spencer's sweatshirt and a pair of leggings. Well it was too late now. Making her way into the building in the cold February air, she came across an equally worried Garcia. "Pen? Please tell me you have some sort of idea about what's going on." The blonde shook her head sullenly as they entered the elevator. They rose a few floors before Morgan and Alex stepped on.
"Do you have any clue what's happened?" Alex asked the women, both of them shaking their heads. The four of them rose to their office level, being greeted with an empty office except two agents stood in the middle of the bullpen. The group walked in, only to be lead to the briefing room where a familiar woman was pictured on the tv on the wall.
"Prentiss?" Morgan was the one to speak before Hotchner spoke up.
"Please sit." He instructed, waiting until everyone was settled. "This morning I got a call from Emily explaining something had come up. Prentiss." Hotch then sat down as the woman began to explain.
"Spencer had just woken up so he wasn't entirely awake. A package had come in for him this morning so I told him about it. As you know the landlord here knows what's going on and has a list of everyone who can send mail here, anyone else is a no-go. The list is basically you guys, your office address, home addresses and a few others. The package said it was from Lucielle, so he opened it immeadietly and began eating the Rice-Krispies inside the package."
"Those are his favorite." Garcia mumbled, a small smile went to the respective woman, though Lucy's was that of fear.
"Emily, I didn't send that package." She spoke, Garcia's face turning to fear as well.
"What do you- please explain before I tweak out." Penelope instructed.
"The note on top of it was a list of instructions, along with some background on who was bad and who was good. The rice-krispie treats had tested positive for scopolamine. We have no idea how high the dose was, but the note is saying that he is to not trust any FBI agent and he's looking for the boss' daughter. I don't know who the boss is, but I'm assuming the leader of this organization has had a daughter who has either ran off or been abducted in wake of these events. Even then it could be a ploy to get into his head, as a case involving children would tug on any moral person's heart strings. Spencer has an APB out for him, and is considered armed and dangerous." As Emily explained, Lucy's hands covered her face as tears streamed down her cheeks in shock, Garcia moving to hug the woman who was in desperate need of one.
"So, we've gotta go get him?" Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Easier said than done. We don't know how strong this dose is, and he's armed. But we need him alive. But we also don't need him getting involved with the members in this gang." Rossi explained, Lucy losing it on the other side of the table.
"I didn't want him to go. I didn't want him to go." She mumbled, Garcia hushed the woman as Hotch told them they were flying over, and Penelope lead the way with the crying woman in her arms. Blake came up beside JJ and Hotchner, crossing her arms.
"If the unsub that did this sent that package, they know Lucielle's address." She mentioned before JJ added something.
"And all of ours."
The flight ahead was going to be long, and Lucy was unsure how she would get through. With gentle movement, Derek moved to sit next to the girl, pulling her closer to him so her head rested on his chest. "What if he's not okay? Derek what if these guys have him? What if-" her breath hitched at a thought, only for the darker male to shake his head.
"Luce, you're not doing any good by worrying yourself. Why don't you get some rest? It's going to be a while until we get there. By my watch... four hours to go." He mumbled, rubbing the young woman's back slowly.
"Over the Rainbow." She whispered softly, Morgan shifting to look at her.
"What was that pretty girl?"
"Over the Rainbow. When I had trouble sleeping because of the baby, or I was sick, he would sing Over the Rainbow to help me and her go to sleep." She relayed, suddenly the entire jet paying attention to their conversation. JJ looked at the male, Morgan looking back to her and the team members surrounding them. As Lucy shifted to close her eyes, a soft voice came from the heaviest woman's direction.
"Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high" Garcia looked to another member, Blake being the next to join in.
"There's a land that I've heard of, once in a lullaby." Slowly, member by member the team began to lull the young woman to sleep. By the end of the lullaby, the girl was snoring against the male, causing him to chuckle as the rest of them began making efforts to get rest themselves.
After they landed, Derek grabbed his and Lucielle's bag, moving to lead her off the plane. He helped her keep her balance as she took her steps down, before they were making their way to the cars available. As they drove through the city, Lucy kept her eyes peeled to the windows, causing JJ to giggle. "You've never been out of the country have you?" She asked softly before Lucy shook her head.
"No, and I've always wanted to go to London. Kind of a dream come true right now. Well, under the circumstances." Lucy mumbled softly before they arrived at the local police station. Entering the building, Lucy brought her go-bag with her so she could change. Once she was in leggings and a professional dress, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, she made way to the rest of the setup. She saw a glass board filled with unfamiliar faces, in the furthest corner, the very male that was missing. She took a deep breath, moving to the conference room where they were located, seeing Emily sat with the rest of them, giving as many details as she could remember to Morgan. Hotch came up behind her, putting a hand to her back.
"How are you doing?" He asked softly, Lucielle shrugging.
"I just want him to be okay." She mumbled, sitting down softly in a desk chair.
"He should be. Lucy, I know this is a far reach, but had you spoken to Spencer within the last 48 hours?" Lucy shook her head softly.
"Not on the phone at least. I- he texted me asking what the name of his favorite chocolate chip brand's name was because he couldn't remember. He said he was making cookies. Then he asked how the baby was and then he stopped replying." She spoke, grabbing her phone and pulling up her messages from him. Emily looked over her shoulder, shaking her head.
"Lucy. Spencer was asleep then." She noticed, then Morgan quickly asked for the woman's phone, moving to their tech analyst who was setting up in an side office.
"Penelope I need you to trace this number." He spoke setting the phone down on the desk. Garcia began looking for the number on the screen, accidentally leaving the app, showing multiple baby apps, and a photo background of an image of Spencer that she'd never seen. She put two and two together and looked at her friend.
"Chocolate Thunder, this is Lucy's phone. Who am I tracing on Lucy's phone? Why am I tracing this?" The woman asked beginning to panic before her co-worker explained.
"Someone used some sort of platform to show up as Reid and text Lucy. If we can get past the coding we might be able to find the guys who drugged him." Understanding the motive, Garcia began the process of breaking down the number.
"That's not right. Ugh you're kidding. These guys are good. If the name didn't show up as Spencer they put up a back up plan to pose as Emily. But that means that these guys know about both of our agents."
"There's got to be a mole inside." Hotch determined from the doorway as Garcia got a name and an address. The team suited up, only a few of them joining, including Emily, Derek, Lucy and Hotch. As they approached the house, Lucy squinted through an uncovered window. Two men stood arguing as someone else seemingly shouted at them. Growing closer to the window, Lucielle saw her boyfriend barking at the two men. Getting out of sight, Hotch then instructed that Emily was to go in.
"Wait but he's supposed to kill any FBI agent he sees. She can't go in." Morgan whispered.
"Actually, he thinks I'm his roommate. Ignacious and Darner are in there. We've been tracking them for weeks, yet they brought us directly to them." Emily stated.
"This feels like a trap." Lucy whispered. "Your best bet is to just knock on the door and claim you've been calling Spencer for hours. But don't come off as an agent. They know your name so you've gotta use something else. Same goes for Spencer. Make them think they've got the wrong guy." She explained, looking at Hotch to get an ok from her plan.
"Sounds good. Emily we'll be right here if anything goes wrong." Hotch spoke as the woman slid off her bulletproof vest. She nodded, moving to get to the door. A simple knock rang through the cottage as Spencer opened the door.
"You. What's your name again?" He asked, his head peeking out of the doorway.
"It's me, Ursula. Will, I'm disappointed you forgot." Emily sighed, the men behind the two looking panic stricken at the name. "I've been calling you worried sick. You just ran out of the apartment." She shrugged, Spencer letting her in. Thanks to her in-ear/speaker system, the other three outside could hear what was going on.
"Yeah, I had shit to do. What are you doing here?" He asked bitterly.
"Well, I'm allowed to be worried, aren't I?" She asked, seemingly annoyed. The team understood as Spencer never cursed, nor did he snap at anyone.
"You shouldn't follow someone all the way out to the country side. That's just creepy." Spencer then turned the revolver to the two men to the farthest man. "Pat her down."
"Shit." Derek muttered. "She's got her gun and badge on her. They find that she's dead." Lucy looked at the other two, sighing.
"I've got to go in there." She muttered, pulling her own vest off, Hotch grabbing her arm.
"Andrews, you are not going in there." Hotch spoke firmly.
"That's my boyfriend and someone that's basically my sister. I'm going in there. The only one armed now is Spencer. I think I'll be fine." Lucy spoke, hiding her pistol, Morgan handing her a taser.
"If you get close enough to Spencer, you need to use this. This is the only way we're getting him unarmed and alive." Lucy's grip on the weapon firmed up at his words before getting a nod.
"According to his file, Darner has a family, and if you act as though you're his wife or the mother of the child Spencer is looking for, you're more likely to get Spencer outside and alone. Keep everyone as safe as you can." Slowly, Lucy nodded before tucking the taser away as well, moving and knocking on the door rapidly.
"What in the fresh hell." A voice from inside spoke before the door was open. "What do you- oh you are very pregnant." Spencer spoke, looking at the woman in front of him, the revolver that had been aimed at her being tucked away at the sight of the bump.
"Are you the man looking for my daughter?" Lucy spoke, her voice frail and fragile. Spencer was taken aback.
"Yes, m'am. How may I help you?" He asked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"There was a spotting of her in this area and no one bothered to come and help me look. It's a lot of ground for me to cover especially with how far along I am. I just wanna find my baby girl, sir. I-I" Lucy began moving to hysterical tears, Spencer moving and pulling the supposed mother to his chest.
"Shh, shh m'am I will help you. What's your daughter's name?" He reached behind him, shutting the door and walking in the direction of his rental car.
"Christine. She-She's only two." As Lucy walked with him Hotch and Morgan slowly moved to the cottage's door. Lucy watched over her shoulder as Spencer spoke.
"That's a beautiful name." He spoke opening her car door for her, only to shut the door and moving to the driver's side. Once he was inside, Lucy quickly locked the doors.
"Thank you. Her daddy picked it out." Lucy smiled, softly before pulling the taser from beside her, aiming and firing as quickly as she could, shutting her eyes so she didn't have to watch the male shake due to the electricity. Once he was out, Lucy slowly opened her eyes, seeing Spencer passed out next to her. Tears flooded her eyes, causing her to disconnect the piece that was shot, moving and taking the male's hand. "I-I'm sorry, baby. I'm so-so sorry." She sat crying with him until Emily found them, calling the waiting medics over, and ushering Lucy out of the car. She held onto her friend tightly as she cried, the medics caring for Spencer quickly as they possibly could.
Spencer woke up to the sound of heart monitors, beeping IV timers, and the hustling of a TV. Looking around he sighed, his entire body sore. Suddenly the door was opened, and he was greeted with a peppy blonde. "You're awake! Oh my god, you scared the shit out of me, you-you-you-"
"Garcia, I'm fine." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes, noticing his hair was pulled back by a hair tie. There was only one person other than himself that would put his hair into a ponytail. "What happened? Why is Lucy here?" Garcia froze in her heels.
"How did you know she was here?" She asked, curiously. "I mean you're freakishly good at your job but you just came off of a scopolamine high, so that's damn impressive." She commented, walking over and sitting the yogurt and water in front of him.
"Scopolamine?" Spencer than shifted, Garcia getting him to stop.
"You were drugged by Ignacious and Darner. They posed as Lucielle and sent you food. You went ahead saying you had to go get someone's daughter, and to kill any FBI agent you met. E-" she was cut off by a panicked male.
"I killed someone? No, no, no, Garcia who was it, please don't tell me it was Emily." His eyes watered and Penelope shook her head.
"No, no, no, no, my sweet genius you didn't kill anybody. Emily is fine. The team is fine." She comforted, causing him to calm down slightly.
"What about Lucy?" He asked softly.
"She's fine. She was the one who got you and Emily out. Unharmed may I say. Well except for the taser thingy part but that was necessary." Garcia spoke quickly causing Spencer to shake his head.
"Wait she tased me?" He asked softly.
"You were armed. With four guns, Spencer. You held a revolver against Emily-" Her voice broke at the end of her sentence as if she was deciding on continuing.
"No... Penelope I didn't..." Spencer looked at her, her eyes and his own both watering.
"You did." She whispered so softly the words were barely audible, Spencer head's falling and tears begining to engulf him. The door opened, causing Spencer's head to pop up, the woman in discussion walking in, carrying a plastic water bottle, in the midst of putting the cap on it when she saw the male was awake. When she did she dropped the bottle moving to the male quickly, grabbing his face and kissing him rapidly. Spencer's hands mimicked hers, and tears began streaming down her face, both of them pulling away, only for her forehead to rest on his.
"I'm so sorry. I-I didn't have a ch-choice. Spencer, you- I-" the male shushed her, pulling her closer to a hug, holding her tightly for the first time in a month and a half.
"It's okay. Hey, it's all good. You're okay, Chrissy's okay, I'm okay, we're all okay." He whispered, kissing the girl's head multiple times. "I'm sorry." He softly spoke, a hand gripping her hair lightly, trying to get a hold on his reality he'd woken up to.
A few minutes had passed, the two of them simply standing and hugging one another before Lucy spoke, her voice scratchy. "I love you. I love you so much." She sobbed, Spencer letting her climb into his lap slowly, letting him pull her even closer.
"I love you so much more."