He had been pacing back and forth, anxiously awaiting for the arrival of the team. We had gotten word that they were on their way to the hospital. We also got the horrible news that Stephen didn't make it. I didn't know him for long, but he was great to work with and was such a big help these past 3 months.

Suddenly, the EMTs came wheeling in JJ and Rossi. "You okay?" Spencer asked JJ, holding onto her wrist as they wheeled her into her room. She was a worried mess, asking for Will and making sure that someone was going to call Monica, Stephen's wife. Luke came in and ushered us into Rossi's room. He looked like he was in pain, but I don't think he cared too much about himself at the moment.

"You," he directed towards Luke, "grab my keys from my pants pocket. You," he looked towards Spence, "you're back on the team."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Has the director approved it?"

"I'm calling the shots now, I'll take the heat."

Spence wanted to help, he always does, but we both knew that this would be difficult for him to manage when he's only been out of prison for a few hours. Luke came back with the keys.

"There's a little one to a file cabinet in my office. Inside, there's Chicago Bears season tickets."

What?

"You call Matt Simmons, I promised him those tickets."

We all had confused looks on our faces. "They probably gave him something in the ambulance," I whispered to the two. "I'll get a nurse-"

"Just shut up and listen," he cut me off. "Look, Emily is missing, Stephen is dead. As for you three assclowns, you'll do me the courtesy of following my orders."

"But your orders aren't making sense," Luke questioned.

"Just follow my orders and then I'll go into surgery."

The three of us walked out of his room, leaving more confused than when we went in.

"This has nothing to do with tickets," Luke sighed.

I could hear Spencer whisper a confused "assclowns?" under his breath. If our situation wasn't so dire, I would have laughed at his confusion. But we had a mission on our hands.

We made our way back to the BAU. The ride was silent and the air around us was thick. I could see Spencer out of the corner of my eye, his palm repeatedly digging into his eye. I just hoped that even with the headache and tunnel vision he was experiencing that he could still do this job.

When we walked into the bullpen, Spencer stopped us. "I can't arrest Scratch. When I see his face, I am going to kill him. That's why I tried to reason with Rossi against putting me back on the team."

I had never heard him talk like that. It was a bit of a rude wake-up call about just how much prison had messed with him psychologically. He went back to rubbing his palm into his eye. "What's wrong with me?" he whimpered. If we were alone, it would be easier to comfort him. But right now we had a job to do and he knew that.

"I'm guessing this has been going on since prison," Luke jumped in. "Every time you get stressed, you get tunnel vision and rub your palm into your eye. What does that sound like?"

"PTSD," he admitted, sounding defeated.

"PTSS, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Because it's not a disorder, it's an injury." I liked the way Luke phrased his condition. Because it's true, it isn't a disorder.

"But we're in crisis mode, I don't have time to process my emotions."

"Then you make time."

Spencer had noticed something behind Luke's shoulder. Penelope and Matt were sitting in Rossi's office. Once we opened the door, Penelope silenced us and made us put our phones into Rossi's cigar case.

"Scratch has been listening to us through our cell phones. That cigar case blocks the signal."

"That's probably why he sounded weird at the hospital. Let's find these tickets."

Luke bent down and opened a file cabinet that had tons of files all dealing with Mr. Scratch. Matt explained that Stephen had been working on it and that Matt was the only person outside the BAU that knew about it in case of an emergency. At that moment, I wished that I had been paying a little more attention over these last three months. My teammates had been putting in hard work to try and figure out where Scratch is and I had been of no help.

We grabbed the files and started to dig, looking to see if there was any leads on finding Emily and Scratch. It was nice to see Spencer back at his desk again. For a moment, he was looking over Delilah's drawing that I had left on his desk ever since my first visit. He had a small smile on his face. After a moment, his smile left and he put his focus back on the task at hand.

While we were looking at files, Luke got a call from Monica. He was going to go over to the hospital to meet up with her. I couldn't imagine the pain that she was going through right now. I had only lost Spencer for a few months, but he was still alive and I could talk to him and visit him. But for him to die? It would tear me apart. When my attention went back to the file, I noticed a suspicious text chain.

Had Emily texted Hotch?

I grabbed Spencer's attention and we immediately went to show it to Matt and Penelope. We were going back and forth, trying to figure out what the text meant. "I can't see it," Spence muttered as his shoved his palm back into his eye. I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him a little. "Hey, why don't we ask the rest of the team? You need a break."

"There's no time. I'm sorry, but I need you guys to leave." He started to usher us out of the room, blurting out apologies. I knew he meant no harm in being so blunt, but it was hard to watch. Matt looked at us, confusion evident on his face. "He's had a rough couple of months," I explained as we went back to work at my desk.

 We had continued working for about an hour, trying to figure out why Scratch was in Honduras in the first place. All of a sudden, a loud thud pulled our attention away. Spencer had thrown a book at the conference room window. We were up there in a second, listening as Spencer explained that the text was talking about a drug that Scratch could possibly be using for his concoctions. When he finished his explanation, he met Penelope's confused gaze. "What?"

"You threw a book at a window. It was jarring."

"It took me 60 minutes to deduce what should have taken me 60 seconds and if Emily dies because I was too slow, I'll be throwing a lot more than books."

With that, he stormed back out of the room. My heart broke at the sound of his voice cracking. Penelope and Matt gave me pitiful looks, not knowing how to respond to his outburst. Frankly, neither did I. "You guys go check out the religious group, I'm gonna stay here with him."

They nodded and were on their way to follow their lead. I could see Spencer back at his desk, his head in his hands. I sat myself on his desk, rubbing a hand across his back. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," he mumbled.

"Don't apologize, love. I know you're under a lot of stress."

He picked his head up, reaching his hand out for mine. He gave it a squeeze, a small smile appearing on his face. Our moment was put on hold when we got a text about a possible location for Scratch and Emily. He was up in an instant, grabbing a vest and his gun.

"Spence, you don't have to go if you're not up for it-"

"I have to find her."

We drove to the warehouse and jumped into action when we heard a gun go off. We saw a glimpse of him and exchanged small gunfire. I could tell Spence was struggling, but there was no way I could talk him down right now.

We turned a corner and saw Emily and Matt. "Lower your gun, damnit."

"Where's Scratch?" he questioned.

"Tag in, Matt, Alvez, and Ariel can box him in. I need someone who's real right now."

Spencer went to hug Emily while I went and followed Matt to look for Scratch. After a while, we hadn't found anything until we heard Luke over our comms. "Scratch is down."

It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. He was gone and we could finally start healing. I met up with Spence and Emily outside, my eyes scanning over Scratch's dead body.

Later, we met up with the rest of the team at the office. Emily and Rossi explained that Hotch wasn't coming back, but the team would have a 6 week break to help us recover. I was relieved to hear that we had time to decompress and I could really help Spencer get better.

Emily had pulled him aside and asked him if he was going to try and get reinstated during our break. He said yes and planned on being ready by the time the break ended.

Once we got home, he all but collapsed on our bed. He looked back at me, still standing in the doorway. "I know we've got a lot to talk about, but I really want to fall asleep with the most wonderful women in the world and not wake up for hours."

I giggled and jumped in bed as well, his hands pulling me into his chest. "I love you, Ariel."

"Love you too, Spence."

Within minutes, he was out like a light, small snores escaping his lips. I knew we had a lot of work ahead of us, but we were both in desperate need of some shuteye. I just hoped that his dreams were peaceful, because I know that they won't be like that for a while.

Spence is home! For the most part, it's pretty happy for the rest of the story. Aside from a few more sad bits, it won't be so depressing anymore. Thanks for reading so far!