Natalie

Chapter 24

"This is insane," Natalie said, sitting on the couch in Morgan's office. 

Morgan was happy to let Spencer and Natalie speak privately in his office while the team gathered and discussed the details of the investigation. Her parent's case was officially open, and now under federal jurisdiction. There was a lot to uncover, but Natalie had to be informed as to what was going on, no need to make the bomb that was already about to explode nuclear.

"I know it's a lot to unpack," he said, still standing with his arms crossed. "All we know is that your mom was a different person before the age of sixteen. What happened between then and when you were born will help us get closer to finding out what happened three years ago,"

Luckily, having a job at the office would help Natalie distract herself from the craziness going on in her life right now. It was blowing her mind that in such a short time, Spencer had found out so much. Meanwhile, no one from her home town could figure anything out in three years. It couldn't have just been because Spencer was a genius. The profiling skills were definitely a plus, but why weren't profilers called on the case in the first place if it would be that easy to crack the case?

Natalie sighed, "What does this mean about my dad?"

Spencer finally sat down next to her, and paused for a moment to decide if this was something he really wanted to get into at the moment. Profiling his family wasn't exactly something he wanted to do, but he needed to know if Natalie was ready to hear the possible explanations. His eyes squinted for a moment as he watched her fidget with her hands. This can wait until we have the answer. 

"Not sure yet," Spencer said, it wasn't a lie. There were only a bunch of questions regarding her father's involvement so far. That would be the next thing they uncover, but Plattsburgh was their biggest lead so far.

"Of course," Natalie basically whispered. Then, something struck her mind, "You said my mom's parents are up in Plattsburgh?" she looked up at him wide-eyed.

Nodding, Spencer added, "Yeah, I mean I guess their technically your grandparents,"

In that moment, Natalie was going to break down. These people were complete strangers to her, but they were her only known biological relatives. After discovering that their daughter was alive and had a daughter, they would most certainly want to meet their grandchild. Natalie was suddenly realizing what digging into this could cause, and now, she was utterly terrified. She was finally happy where she was living, and wanted no part in getting to know strangers. Please don't let them take me away.

On the verge of tears, Natalie choked out, "Let me know how it goes,"

Before Spencer could get another word in, she was gone. He knew what the consequences of this could be, and he would do anything to not lose her, but he couldn't show Natalie that. It had to be her choice in the end, no matter how selfish Spencer wanted to be to keep her as close to him as possible.

----

"Sorry I'm late," Spencer said, entering the jet right before takeoff. He quickly sat down, and prepared for takeoff.

Hotch just nodded, "Let's catch Reid up to what we discussed in the conference room once we're in the air," the jet began to move as he said that. 

Today was the one day that takeoff wasn't smooth at all. The wind was moving the plane in so many uncomfortable ways. That was mostly due to the storm brewing outside. Maybe that was a metaphor for the day they were all having. When the job got personal for one team member, it effected everyone. Once the plane was in the air, the team got right to work, doing their best to ignore the turbulence brought by the weather.

"I'm currently digging deeper into Natalie's father. Considering that Cindy is most likely just an alias based off her mother, I'm digging into the Wyoming angle to see if that's where her dad came from," Garcia said, her face appearing on the built-in screen on the plane.

"We also want to explore a few different theories, one being that Cindy ran away. That makes the most sense considering there was no trace of her left behind," Morgan pitched.

"I just don't understand how someone could disappear twice in their life. There's gotta be more to it than just running away, especially if there's a child involved the second time," said Rossi.

"Actually, I was thinking we could look into any parallels between the police investigations. It seems kinda odd that in both cases the police just let it go cold in a short amount of time," Reid said.

"That's a good idea Reid," Hotch nodded. "When we land, the Thompson's will be arriving at the police station as well. Reid and Prentiss I want you to talk to them. Dave, you and I will take a look at Cindy's old bedroom. Morgan, JJ, take a look at all of the evidence that the police give you. We're taking all of it back to Quantico until we can compare it to the rest from Natalie's home town,"

The team exchanged a few glances back and forth to each other deciding whether or not to address what they were uniformly thinking. Spencer, completely unaware of this, sat back in his seat and started going about his own angle on the case. It wasn't until he heard Rossi clear his throat that he realized everyone was staring at him. Looking up to see six concerned faces staring at him, including Garcia in her own virtual way, Spencer sat back up.

"Why are you all staring?" Spencer asked.

Still, no one wanted to say anything. It was just another awkward pause between the agents that really needed to be broken. Finally, Rossi sighed and decided to speak up for everyone, "What's the point in all this?" he asked.

Spencer's brow furrowed as he looked back at his older coworker, "I'm doing this for Natalie, she deserves closure,"

Emily flipped her tablet off, and let her hands rest on the table in front of her. "We know that Spencer. It's just..." she didn't know how to finish the sentence.

On the other hand, Morgan who was seated right next to Emily, knew exactly what she was trying to get at. "Kid, that teenage girl looks up to you, you're her hero. I think you need to start using your heart and not that big brain of yours to realize what this could do to her. Finding out that her parents weren't good people or that her childhood wasn't what it seemed won't be what breaks her. It's losing you," he let his finger point straight at the genius.

Spencer shifted uncomfortably. There was nothing he could say to refute that. It was clear in his mind that Morgan was right, but it was too late to take anything back now. Besides, he knew Natalie better than most people, and it was so obvious that the not knowing of it all was killing her.

Apparently, there was more to be said because Hotch leaned forward for a moment to continue the conversation, "And we're about to meet the people that can take her away from you with the snap of their fingers,"

"I won't let that happen," Spencer said, quietly. It was loud enough for the team to hear, but it was mostly to himself. A reminder that he could get this done without hurting her.