Natalie

Chapter 21

"Welcome back," Natalie said, watching Spencer walk through the door of their apartment.

Caught off guard, Spencer looked at the clock on the wall. It was three in the morning, two days after Natalie had talked to Ray. As he walked further into the apartment, Spencer threw his bag and keys on his desk. "Why are you up this late?" he asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Natalie replied. There was one light on in the room, and the only other source of light came from her laptop. She was watching Netflix to keep her mind from spiraling.

"You probably can't sleep because of that," Spencer pointed to the laptop, "Research shows that watching back to back episodes of your favorite show can excite your brain, interfering with your ability to sleep..." Spencer's voice trailed off.

Natalie was well aware of that fact. Truthfully, she was trying to stop herself from sleeping. There was no need for her to relive the moment she realized her parents were gone over and over again. It wasn't like she had to be anywhere the next day, it was Saturday. So, sleep could wait until she was absolutely ready to crash.

"...but you knew that, didn't you?" Spencer sighed, knowing that familiar feeling of not wanting to sleep. He sat on the couch next to Natalie and closed the laptop.

Groaning, Natalie leaned back on the couch. "Fine, I'll read a book then," she said, getting up to retrieve a book.

Spencer grabbed her arm and pulled her back down on the couch. "As much as I love books, you're just avoiding sleep,"

"Maybe..." she repressed a yawn.

"Why?" Spencer asked, not knowing Natalie knew anything about his investigation. It was strange how oblivious Spencer could be sometimes.

"I'm not tired," Natalie said, looking down. Avoiding eye contact was a clear sign of withholding the truth. Even knowing that, Natalie couldn't look Spencer in the eye and lie to him. 

"You're irritable, yawning, moody, and your eyes are bloodshot Nat. You're very tired, did you get any sleep last night?" he was genuinely concerned.

Shaking her head, Natalie looked up at Spencer. It was dark, but she could see on his face that he needed some sleep too. After all, he just got back from a case. Maybe now wouldn't be the best time to dive head-first into her problems. 

"What's keeping you up?"

"Too many thoughts," Natalie said. It was a vague answer that Natalie knew Spencer wouldn't accept. So, she let herself keep talking, "I'm trying to distract my mind from thinking about my parents. I keep reliving the moment I woke up and they were just... gone."

It took a moment to realize what triggered this, but Spencer put it together pretty quickly. He knew it definitely didn't help that he wasn't around enough either. Waking up in the morning to an empty apartment would definitely trigger something in her. Taking some time might be a good idea, but for now, Spencer knew he had to address what Natalie had discovered. "So, you figured out what I was looking into?"

Natalie nodded, "Yeah, you left Ray's phone number on your desk,"

"Ray?" Spencer quickly noticed the fact that Natalie used Miller's first name, "You're close to him then?"

For a moment, Natalie didn't understand why using Ray's first name was weird. Until she realized that she never told Spencer anything about him. "He checked on me a lot after they went missing. Made sure I was okay, you know?"

Spencer thought back to the phone conversation he had with Miller. The man seemingly wanted nothing to do with helping Spencer. If they were so close, why wouldn't he want to help find her parents? Was it out of concern towards Natalie's well-being, or something malicious? These thoughts were something that Spencer couldn't help but let run through his mind. "Yeah, I know. Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it right away, but I did start making a profile if you want to hear about it," he proposed.

"I don't want to keep you up,"

Spencer scoffed, "Please, I'm the king of staying up late,"

"Fine," Natalie laughed, "Tell me about it,"

"Before I do that, you need to promise me that from now on, you call me if you can't sleep. Especially, if it's because of this. I know I'm not around as much, but I'm not going anywhere," Spencer wasn't about to let something like this happen again. 

"Cross my heart," Natalie said, drawing an 'X' over her chest. 

"After you get some sleep, I can walk you through a cognitive interview if you want. You might remember more than you realize, but from what I understand, you're parents left willingly," Spencer wasn't quite sure of the response he would receive from the teenager sitting beside him. 

There was a moment of hesitation on Natalie's part. That was something she never would have thought, "So, they just woke up one morning, and walked out the door?" she sounded hurt.

"They could've done that for a number of reasons. It doesn't mean that they just up and left you, so, let's not make any assumptions," Spencer said.

"I don't understand how it helps to know that though," Natalie pondered.

"It means..." Spencer waited a moment, "that there's a bigger chance that they're still out there,"