It was a quiet couple of weeks.

We were doing well at home, there weren't any cases, it seemed almost normal.

I had gotten my new tattoo a couple days ago, but wore long sleeves around the office. I wanted to keep the ink to myself for a little while longer. Because if they saw it, I knew I'd have to explain it and I wanted a break from crying in front of my coworkers.

I hadn't sobbed in a while and I'd like to keep that streak going for a little while longer.

That morning at the office, Stephen came over to talk to me about Spence. He went to see him and knew I'd want an update. From the picture Stephen painted, he wasn't well. I could tell from his letters from the last few weeks that this was starting to take a toll on him, pieces of himself were being chipped away as the days went by.

But a case came up. I had to shift my focus temporarily to the victim in need of my help. Before the briefing, I unintentionally eavesdropped on Emily and Rossi's conversation.

"What good am I to him? I drove all the way there and couldn't even bring myself to go in. It absolutely kills me to go there knowing I can't get him out."

"You should go see him," I heard myself speak up. They both turned their attention to the doorway I was standing in. I stepped into the office and continued.

"He's hopeless. In his last few letters, he's basically told me he feels like giving up. He doesn't know if he's gonna make it out alive or not and you're one of the best people to give him that motivation. Your talks have always seemed to help him when he needs it. You should go."

He contemplated it for a brief moment, but he already had his decision made. "Visiting starts at 10?"

"We'll see you in New York." I gave him a quick hug before I left his office. "Thank you. Give him my love."

"I will."

He gave me one last pat on the shoulder and I was off, ready to stop a psycho killer in the Big Apple.

The case had been going pretty well at first. But I've learned that good things never last.

It started with Rossi's phone call. The prison went on lockdown and he could only talk to Spence for a little while. Rossi wasn't sure when he could go back to see him, so he stuck around at Quantico waiting for confirmation.

Then we hit another wall. One of the officers we were working with was not too keen on the FBI being there. We had plenty of cases dealing with unhelpful officers, so we just ignored it.

We were in the middle of trying to reason with them, Emily in full-on unit chief mode. "Officer, you just need to trust us. We're only here to help."

"Yeah, well trust goes both ways." He paused and turned his gaze towards me, a smirk on his face. That look did not prepare me for what he would say next.

"Just so you know, all of our officers are clean and checked out. Nobody's runnin' drugs and killing people across the border."

Immediately, the atmosphere changed. "Officer, can we have a word?" Emily said very sternly. You could tell that she, and the rest of the team, were pissed about what he just said. My body went stiff and the world around me seemed to slow down. JJ and Luke were at my side in an instant. "Hey, let's go outside."

The officer was still smirking at me as I was pushed out of the precinct. I felt sick to my stomach. My breathing started to become rapid as we stepped outside. JJ grabbed my hand and started to calmly talk me down.

"Deep breaths, Ariel. Try and match my breathing, alright?"

"How do they know?" I choked out. Luke and JJ shared a look of despair.

"News travels fast," Luke breathed out. "If they looked into us, they could find out."

I shook my head, not believing what I was hearing.

"Is this what life is gonna be like now?" I spoke up as I felt myself start to get angry. "I'm sick and tired of people making assumptions. I'm tired of the whispers behind my back from other agents. I hate the dirty looks I get when I walked into a room. I'm tired of people getting into our business and guys like that just make it more impossible for me to get out of bed every morning."

After my rant, I put my head in my hands. I could feel the tears starting to come, but I pushed them back. "I just want him back," I muttered, my voice sounding slightly strained from my little tangent.

Luke kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my hands. JJ set her hand on my shoulder as Luke started to talk.

"I don't know why people think the way they do. But I know you. I know that you're incredibly strong and you're not gonna let an asshole's words bring you down. We're not gonna let random officers get in our business and screw around. Let's get back in there, do our jobs, and make him feel sorry for ever saying that. Let's make Spencer proud."

After another moment, I got my breathing under control and marched back into the precinct, ready to do my job.

We saw Emily and the officer leaving the conference room. "I am so sorry, Ariel. But I gave him a piece of my mind, so don't worry."

"It's alright, Em. Let's get back to work."

We got back to work and wrapped up the case the next day. The officer never apologized, but I could care less. There was nothing he or anyone else could say about my husband that would change the way I feel about him and his decisions.

Back on the jet, I was sitting across fron JJ. I could tell she had been watching me for the past half hour. "I can tell you want to say something. What's up?" I asked, setting down my book.

"I just noticed something earlier. Did you get a new tattoo?"

I nodded, slowly pulling up my sleeve on my right arm to show off my new ink. I could see a sad smile come to her face. She knew exactly who's handwriting that was along my right forearm. It said 'Forever and Always' with king and queen chess pieces up by my wrist. "I can tell who wrote that," she chuckled. "What's the significance?"

"Ever since Spence and I got serious, we'd write each other love notes and letters. He's always end them the same way. 'Forever and Always, Spencer'. I used the one from the letter he wrote to me for our wedding. It was almost 3 pages long, writing on the front and back. It's the letter I look at the most when I need a pick me up. It has always brought me comfort when he's not there in the moment to give it to me himself."

She nodded as she continued to inspect my arm. "And the king and queen?"

"Psh, it's obvious, this is Spence we're talking about." We both let out a laugh. "Well it's beautiful, Ariel. I'm sure he'll love it." She gave my hand a squeeze before going back to listening to her music.

I ran my fingers lightly over the ink. For the longest time, I was hesitant about getting a tattoo like this, worried that something would happen down the line. But this whole experience just further proved to me that there was no way I was letting him out of my life without a fight.

When I was home, I found my dad and Delilah on the couch, watching something on our home laptop. It was our collection of home videos. Dee was asleep, clutching her blanket to her chest, my dad rubbing her back slowly.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"She was thinking about him a lot today, wanted to watch some home videos of him."

"Thanks, dad. I got it from here." We said our goodbyes and I scooted next to Delilah on the couch, pausing the videos. She started to stir. "Hey, baby. How are you feeling?"

In a quiet and sleepy voice, she looked at me and said, "I don't want to start forgetting what he sounds like. I'm already forgetting what his cuddles feel like and I'm scared."

I pulled her into a hug as a few tears started to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Dee. Your aunts and uncles at the BAU are working really hard to try and bring dad home, okay? We just need to hold on a little while longer."

She nodded and started to play with my fingers. "I like your new tattoo, mom."

"Thanks. Maybe when you're old enough, your dad will let you get one of your own."

"Maybe I can get dad to draw me something. I love his doodles."

"I love them, too. Maybe we can match."

"I want him to draw a mouse! And he has to make it cute. Some of his drawings are creepy and weird and I love his really cute ones."

"I know where his sketchbook is, maybe we can take a look and see what you like."

"Yes!"

She grabbed my hand and we ran down the hall to my bedroom, looking through his sketches and laughing at his goofy drawings.

Today's update came a little late, whoops. If I were to get a tattoo, a Gubler creation would be so fun! Hope you guys are enjoying the story, we've got about 10 chapters plus an epilogue left!