[𝟐] 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 - 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨

𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄

KNOWING WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEARCH FOR SCRATCH ANYMORE WAS LIKE A GOD SENT. I felt like I could actually breathe again.

Rosie was so happy to be home. We filled her in on everything she's missed on Scratch and Spencer. Seeing those two reunite was like a breath of fresh air.

Spencer was doing okay. It is going to take a lot of time for him to be back to normal, if he ever feels normal again. What he went through was so traumatic. Let's just say, I wouldn't be surprised if a part of him changes permanently. I still hate he had to go through all of this. It breaks my heart all over again.

I was doing okay after the whole incident. I've had to go to a few doctors' appointments since Scratch stopped my heart and started it again. I also went to trauma counseling. This unfortunately wasn't the first time I've been kidnapped by a serial killer so I guess I know how to handle the aftermath.

It did take Emily a little longer to recover which I get. I remember how I was when she went in that cult ten years back and with Ian Doyle. I was a wreck.

Today was our first day back in the office since our little vacation. Let's just say, Emily and I had a lifetimes' worth of paperwork. We were in our office when Tara came in.

"It's like the first day back at school." I muttered.

"And what did you do on your summer vacation, Delia Parks?" Tara asked sarcastically.

"Boob tube." I giggled.

"We've heard about some shows people are binge-watching so we tried some with Rosie." Emily added. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

"There's nothing wrong with that! They told us to unplug. You were just following orders." Tara said.

Then, Matt came in with a stack of boxes. He is now an official member of the BAU.

"Where do you want these, boss?" He asked us.

"What are they?" I asked.

Please tell me they're not all cases.

"Backlog of cases I assisted on while the rest of you were off." He replied. At least someone did some work. I went days without thinking of this place.

"Right there will be fine." I sighed.

"That's a bad sign when you need a forklift to move around the serial killer files." Emily muttered. There were literally five tall boxes with case files in them.

"How was it? I mean talk about being dropped into the deep end of the pool." Tara asked Matt. Poor Matt was thrown into this. Luckily he's had plenty of experience with the I.R.T.

"Oh, it's just nice to be swimming in the stateside pool. Family loves having dad around a little more, and for the first time in a decade, my internal clock is normalizing." Matt told us.