It was the worst phone call I had ever received. In my 10 years with the BAU, nothing could prepare me for what the person on the other line had to say.

It was a Tuesday. Spencer had left for Houston yesterday morning. I had been at my desk doing paperwork when the unknown number came up on my screen.

"Hello?"

"Hello, ma'am. Am I speaking to Ariel Reid?"

"This is she."

"This is chief Mario Castenda with the Matamoros police department. I have called to inform you that we have arrested Mr. Spencer Reid this morning for drug possession. We will be holding him here in our precinct until he is charged. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

It was like everything went cold. My hands started to shake, my breathing started to quicken. I couldn't think straight. His words were repeating in my head over and over. I had to give an answer, but the words were struggling to come out. I muttered a shaky 'yes' and he continued to speak.

"I understand you are both federal agents, but things work differently down here. I just wanted to inform you of what has happened. Thank you, ma'am."

And just like that, he hung up. I slowly lowered my phone from my ear, tears starting to cloud my vision. It was becoming hard to breath.

"Ariel, what's going on?" I could hear Luke ask as he approached me. I could see the rest of the team start to crowd around my desk, worry across their faces.

"She's having a panic attack," Luke told the others. "Ariel, can you put your head between your legs? Try and take some deep breaths."

I did as he said, but it wasn't getting any better. Everything was becoming too much and I couldn't think straight. The tears kept flowing and I could feel the sobs start to leave my throat.

"Everyone, conference room, now," I could hear Emily say sternly as she approached my side.

"Ariel, I got the call. Don't worry, we're gonna figure this out. Let's get you to the conference room, okay?"

I nodded and she grab my hand, her and Luke leading me to the conference room, Rossi following behind. 

The only thought going through my head was why? Why did this happen? What is going to happen to my husband? I need to get to him.

They sat me down and Emily proceeded to break the bad news. "Reid has been arrested in Mexico. He was involved in a high speed chase and they found cocaine, heroine, and thousands of dollars in the back of his car."

The room fell eerily silent. I wasn't looking at the team, but I could tell that their faces all held looks of shock and confusion. Hearing her confirm his arrest caused another sob to make its way out of my throat. I was still shaking and it was hard to think.

"What was he even doing in Mexico? I thought he was in Houston. Ariel, did you know?" JJ's voice was laced with concern.

I gave her a nod, slowly picking my head up to look at the rest of the room. They looked at me with confusion and sorrow.

"Th-that's where he go-goes to get me-medicine... for his mom."

"Reid's obviously being set up, he couldn't do this," Penelope spoke up, tears starting to well in her eyes too.

"He wo-wouldn't do this," I heard myself stutter out. "He wouldn't go anywhere near drugs. Especially not after Tobias Hankel."

"Who is Tobias Hankel?" Stephen asked. "He kidnapped Reid years ago. He had him drugged and gave him a nasty addiction," JJ explained.

"But he's been clean for so long. He's worked so hard to stay sober and someone took that-" My voice started to falter once that realization hit me. Spencer was always so proud of his sobriety and some asshole took that away from him.

"This has got to be Scratch," Tara stated. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement.

"Rossi, Luke, and I are gonna head down to Matamoros to figure this out, you guys see what you can find out from here."

"I want to come with," I stated. Emily looked over at me and started to shake her head. "Ariel, I don't think-"

"I have to go see him, Emily. Please."

She gave me a look of sympathy and I could tell she was mulling over the decision. "Alright, let's go."

I slowly stood up, looking over at JJ. "Could you call my dad and Cassie and tell them what's going on?" She nodded as she rubbed her hand across my shoulder. "Don't worry. Just make sure he's okay." I nodded and followed Emily out the door.

"Ariel, why didn't you guys tell us what was happening?"

"He didn't want you guys to worry. He said it was his problem to deal with and he wasn't gonna stop until he fixed it."

We boarded the jet, preparing for the worst. While Emily got on a call with the rest of the team, I tuned them out. I couldn't stop all the worries and 'what if' scenarios stacking up in my head. My fingers started to mess with the ring on my left hand, a coping mechanism I had developed ever since he first gave it to me all those years ago.

I knew that the rest of the team was worried, hell, some of them had known him longer than I did, but they couldn't understand what I was going through. My husband, the father of my child, was in trouble. Who knows what could happen to him, knowing how tricky Scratch can be. I just hoped that we could fix all of this. Bringing back bad news for Delilah about her dad was probably the worst thing I could ever do.

"Hey, we're landing," Rossi said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't you worry. We're gonna figure this out and get him back home to you and Delilah in no time." I grabbed his hand, silently thanking him for the gesture.

As the plane landed, I started to get anxious again. I was worried what he would look like. The thought of him in a cell and in pain just makes my skin crawl. We were greeted by an officer, the one I'm assuming I spoke to on the phone. He was explaining what happened and what they found in his system. The officer said he was having trouble remembering, which is a sentence I thought I would never hear associated with Spencer.

My eyes wandered across the room, getting a feel for the precinct. That's when I spotted him in a cell across the room. He was on a bench, hunched over. "Do you wanna see him?" Luke asked softly in my ear. I nodded and started to move towards the cell.

He was hurt, a bandage wrapped around his hand. His pupils were dilated and his eyes were red. His clothes were dirty, his hair a wild mess. I had never seen him look so distressed. He looked awful and I just wanted to hold him and take away the pain. Luke tried to talk to him first, but he was having trouble remembering who Luke was.

I stepped forward into Spencer's line of sight, lightly gripping one of the metal bars separating us. "Spencer, do you know who I am?" He scanned over my face with slight confusion, then it clicked. His eyes widened and his face morphed into one of sorrow.

"Ariel?" I nodded, a stray tear falling from my eye.

Emily and Rossi walked up behind me. "We'll get you out of there, kid," Rossi said. "We just have to work things out with the locals, okay?" Emily told him.

He nodded in their direction before focusing back on me. I could see tears starting to well in his eyes as he lightly placed his fingers against the metal bar, barely touching my own.

"Ariel, I really screwed up."

Here we go! The chapters are gonna be longer and more in-depth moving forward, fun! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and it just gets better from here <3