When The World Ends

Chapter 17: I Promised I'd Always Come Home

JJ and Hotch drove to our house to get supplies for a couple days. We set up in a few spare offices; Spencer and I were in one, Tobias and Maeve were in another, and Deanna was in a third; she still had a week and a half before she was supposed to go back to school. Diana was escorted home by agents; we couldn't risk having her in danger.

Spencer and I sat as the inflatable mattress slowly grew, his head in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair almost without thinking. He snuggled closer, humming happily.

"My cute prince," I leaned down to kiss him.

He blushed, "Thank you."

We worked quickly to make the bed and climbed in together; the twins were already asleep, so we were able to have some time alone. I wrapped around Spencer, one leg over his hips.

"(Y/N)?" He whispered.

I hummed.

"Are-" he took a deep breath, "Are we going to be okay?"

My heart broke at his words. We'd been through so much together, and he sounded so small, so scared.

"I... I don't know, Spencer. I think so, and I'll do everything I can to make sure we can be okay, but I can't be sure." Saying that broke my heart.

"Okay..." He pushed back into me, pulling me closer. "I love you."

I smiled and kissed his cheek, "I love you too, Spencer."

***

I had to teach like everything was normal. I kept staring at my students, wondering if any of them had a gun, if any of them was targeting me or my husband. I knew my students could tell something was off; after all, they were profilers.

After class, I rushed over to the BAU's offices and into the briefing room. "Anything?"

Garcia looked up. "Yeah, I'll brief you."

"Where's the rest of the team?" I asked, sitting down.

"Sit down, I'll brief you."

I sat down slowly, worried.

Penelope handed me a folder. "Okay. Meet Gabriel Talbot, 31 years old, born in DC but lived in Vegas."

Oh, shit. I could guess where this was going.

"Yeah, so he went to school with Spencer for a few years. Kind of a one-sided rivalry, apparently; Spencer barely remembers him. Gabriel, on the other hand, never forgot, apparently tracked Reid obsessively to the point where we've identified no fewer than five social media accounts used to stalk him."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "So, what happened recently?"

"Apparently Talbot went MIA for a while, we haven't figured out why. He recently resurfaced and found out about you two," Garcia reached over to flip the page for me, showing a photo of the van that had passed our house. "Bought that secondhand, changed the plates, and bought a gun. Decided he wanted to kill Reid on Christmas."

"That doesn't explain why the team isn't here," I looked up at Penelope, "Just give me a straight answer."

"We received a call from him earlier, while you were in class. Told us where he was, said he wanted Spencer to come alone. He said he had a mole in your class, that he'd kill you and Spencer if we told you before he left," Garcia wouldn't meet my eyes. "The team is following him."

I shot up from my chair, "I'm going after him, now."

"No, you can't," Penelope stepped towards the door, "There's one more thing."