Bella woke up to bright light streaming through the cheap hotel room curtains. She tried to ignore it and fall back asleep, but couldn't whatsoever. Slowly opening her eyes, Bella turned over in bed and found herself grinning. Spencer always looked so peaceful as he slept. He was finally able to avoid dealing with serial killers all day, instead being able to be engulfed in peaceful dreams.

   He breathes softly, exhausted from the previous case. The team had taken days investigating a series of deaths revolving around a killer running over his victims. Spencer was absolutely drained, falling into bed and being welcomed by sleep the second he closed his eyes. Bella had to gently take his shoes off, not wanting to disturb him. She crawled into bed quickly afterwards, cuddling up next to him and absorbing all of his warmth. 

   Quickly grabbing her glasses from the nightstand, Bella shoved them on and looked at the clock. 7:39 a.m. They had only been sleeping for 6 hours. Turning back over, Bella frowned and pushed the hair out of Spencer's peaceful face. She felt bad that she had to wake him up, she knew that all he wanted to do was sleep. 

   "Spence," she whispered, tucking some of his hair behind his ear. She secretly admired how long it was getting. "Spence, you have to wake up. I'm sorry, love, but we both have to get up."

   She watched as Spencer groaned, taking a pillow and putting it over his face. He quickly pushed it off and stared up at Bella, his eyes dismal. Bella gave a half smile, feeling just as sad as he was. If she had the option, she would also sleep for an extra 3 hours.

   "Do we have to?" Spencer whispered, rubbing his eyes. 

   "Unless you want to miss the flight back home, then yes," Bella smiled. "Trust me, I want to sleep too. You can try to sleep on the plane." 

   "The couch on the plane isn't a warm bed with you in it." 

   With a grin, Bella leaned down and planted a kiss on Spencer's soft lips. She stroked the side of his face and looked into his snug eyes. His eyes were as warm as the bed. Spencer stared back, holding himself back from smothering her with kisses. 

   "Just think," Bella began. "The flight is only about 5 hours long and you can sleep. Then we get to go home and we can crawl back into bed."

   Spencer closed his eyes and grinned, letting the sun hit his face. Bella kissed him on the forehead and threw the blankets off of her legs. She began to climb out of bed when she felt Spencer's arms wrap around her waist, pulling her back into bed. She let out a laugh as Spencer crawled above her and hovered. 

   "Do we have to get out of bed now?" he whispered. "What time does the plane take off?"

   "8:45 !" Bella exclaimed. "And it's now 7:48 and we have to leave by 8:30! I still have to shower!"

   "Nooooo," Spencer whined, burying his face into Bella's shoulder. She felt his mouth tickle her ear and he leaned in closer and began to whisper. "Don't shower, you don't have to. You smell like coconut still. Just stay here with me until 8...and then we can start to get ready to go."

   Bella looked deeply into his pleading face. She huffed, reconsidering the shower. She could take a warm bath tonight instead. Raising an eyebrow, Bella rolled her eyes and pinched Spencer's cheeks. 

   "You're lucky you're so handsome," she responded.

   Spencer laughed and collapsed into her arms.

*               *               *

   Spencer and Bella quickly stumbled out of their hotel room, running down the hall with their bags. Bella ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to fix it quickly. They hadn't been watching the clock, soon losing track of time and having to hurry out the door. 

   "Shit!" Bella exclaimed, losing her sandal as she ran down the hallway. She quickly ran back, picking up and continuing her run down the hallway. 

   The two agents ignored the elevators, instead rushing down the flight of stairs. They quickly reached the lobby, seeing the rest of the team standing there with their arms crossed. Derek caught sight of the couple, his mouth turning up into a smile as he let out a laugh. Hotch turned around with a frown as Rossi shook his head with a grin.

   "Kids," Rossi said. "What are you gonna do?"

   Bella grinned bashfully as Spencer began to apologize, explaining to Hotch that they simply lost track of time. Hotch glanced over at Bella, taking in her entire disheleved appearance. Emily snorted as JJ slapped her on the arm, suppressing a laugh as well.

   "You're holding your shoe, Snow," Hotch pointed out.

   "Right!" Bella smiled. "Silly me!"

   She quickly slipped on her sandal and smiled back up at Hotch, "Ready to go?"

   Hotch raised his eyebrows and turned to walk out the door. Spencer and Bella exchanged glances, not being able to tell if Hotch wanted to kill them now or later. Emily walked next to Bella, poking her in the side and flashing her a smile. Bella rolled her eyes and pushed Emily's hand away, earning a laugh from the mischevious agent. 

   The team started to walk out the hotel lobby door when a heavy set of footsteps thumped from behind them. 

   "WAIT!" a deep voice yelled. The team turned around to see one of the cops, who worked on the last case with them, running to catch up with them. He finally caught up, breathing heavily to try and catch his breath. "Agent Hotchner, could I-could I speak to you?"

   "We have a plane to catch," Hotch responded. "If it's quick you can tell all of us."

   The cop swallowed roughly, "We just got a report of a 17-year-old girl who just recently went missing in this area. Her name is Rose Donnelley and she's been missing for 2 days. She was last seen at home when her mother went out to a yoga class. When her mother returned home Rose wasn't there but all of her stuff was. She left behind all of her clothes, her phone, her car, and her wallet. No sign of a break in, or a struggle, in the house. There haven't been any witnesses who say they have seen her." 

   "That's awful."

   "I know. Rose's mother wants her back more than anything. I-I know that this is a local investigation and I know that you are all exhausted and wanting to get back home. But, would you mind stay a couple extra days and aiding with this? We'll pay for your rooms and everything."

   Hotch frowned and looked around at his team. He knew that they all wanted to go home. Hotch understood why, even he was tired and wanted to get away from crime just for a second. But this was a missing teenager. This was a missing child. If it was Jack, Hotch knew that he would want all the help in the world. 

   "Alright," Hotch said. "We'll take a look."

   The cop grinned and quickly shook Hotch's hand, "Thank you. Thank you so much." 

   Hotch nodded and turned to the rest of the team, "You can go put your stuff back in your rooms."

   The team nodded with a yawn, somewhat disappointed that they had to work another case when they thought they'd be able to go home and rest. But this was for a good cause. They all plodded back into the hotel, hoping that this case would be smooth and easy.

   They hoped that this girl was ok. 

*               *               *

   "Sir I am looking at the security footage of every nearby gas station, restaurant, and grocery store...I'm not seeing Rose anywhere," Penelope said through the phone Hotch was holding. 

   "She's been missing for 2 whole days, that gives her enough time to get out of state," Rossi said. "Why didn't her mother report her missing sooner?"

   "Rose has a history of running away," Emily said. "Once when she was 14 and twice when she was 16. Her mother was used to her either coming back...she said she always came back within a day. But this time she left behind everything important. When you run away you want to take your wallet and your car...why didn't she this time?"

   "Did anyone have access to the house?" Bella asked. "If there wasn't a break in or a struggle, someone could've come over that Rose knew. Maybe they convinced her to come look at something in their car, or simply offered to go take her to get fast food. She would've left with that person willingly, not feeling scared enough to want to take her phone. Does her mother happen to have a new boyfriend? What about Rose's father?"

   Derek shook his head, "The father lives in New York City. He's currently on his way from there, he was at work during the time Rose disappeared. She has an ex boyfriend, broke up with him last year. He also has an alibi that checks out, he was also at work when Rose disappeared." 

   Hotch furrowed his eyebrows, "Garcia, are there any local street cameras that capture Rose?"

   The blonde tech analyst began to dig, looking for any piece of evidence that would help in the search for poor Rose. Soon, she found herself becoming irritated. Normally she was able to pull up any piece of evidence in order to track a person. But this girl was completely gone. There wasn't one camera that picked her up, no witnesses reports saying they saw her, and no cell phone that was trackable. Rose was a ghost. 

   "I'm sorry, sir, there-there's nothing," Penelope stuttered. "I'm looking for absolutely anything but I can't find a trace of this girl. She vanished."

   "Thanks, Garcia," Hotch nodded before hanging up. He picked up a school photo of Rose, the young girl smiling with no care in the world. "Post her photo everywhere, get it up statewide. No matter if someone took her, or if she ran away herself, people need to know that she needs to be found. People can't vanish...she has to be somewhere."  

*               *               *

   "We don't have to continue if you don't want to, Ms. Donnelley," Bella whispered, handing a tissue to the crying mother. 

   "I'm fine," she answered, wiping tears from her eyes. "Please, call me Laura."

   Bella looked over at Spencer before nodding, "Alright, Laura, does Rose happen to have a boyfriend by any chance? Or a boy that she would bring by the house often? Maybe even a boy that she would talk about a lot?"

   The brunette woman shook her head, "No...she would've told me if she had a boyfriend. We're close, she knows that she can tell me anything. All of her friends are girls."

   "Earlier you said that none of her friends spoke to her, or saw her, before she disappeared," Spencer said, holding up a report. "Would her friends lie? Maybe they helped her...run away somehow?"

   Laura widened her eyes, "No! Her friends are good girls! None of them have boyfriends, none of them smoke, none of them drink, and none of them run away! They're all honest girls! They wouldn't lie to me about this!" 

   Bella nodded, knowing deep down that Laura was keeping something from them. She kept fiddling with the bracelet she was wearing, a sure sign that she was nervous. Bella tilted her head, moving her seat closer to the woman. 

   "Laura," she said calmly. "Rose has a history of running away, she's done it 3 times. Why was that?"

   Laura swallowed roughly, "The first time she ran away, when she was 14, was because she hated it here. We moved her, to Oregon, from New York City after I divorced her father. She had to leave behind all of her friends and she was upset, as any teenager would be. So she ran away but she came home later that day. The two times she ran away when she was 16 was because of a new boyfriend I had. He was a dick...but I was too weak to leave him. He was a very mean and miserable man."

   Bella frowned and nodded, "Laura, I hate to ask this, but was this boyfriend abusing Rose in any way?"

   "No! He never laid a finger on her! She just didn't like him. Her grades were dropping, she started to dress very tomboyish, and she wouldn't eat at all! I think she was trying to rebel against me in a certain way." 

   Spencer and Bella quickly exchanged glances. This was the last thing either of them wanted to hear. They both knew the signs. They both knew that this was going to crush Laura.

   "Laura, this is going to be hard to hear," Bella said softly, Laura knitting her eyebrows together. "But from all the things you just listed that Rose went through...those are all clear signs of sexual abuse. I think that your boyfriend was molesting her."

   "What?" Laura spit out, her hand flying to her mouth. "He-he...he what? My Rose...she...she would've told me! Right?"

   "Not always."

   "Oh my God. Rose. My poor Rose. I'm a terrible mother!"

   Laura broke down into sobs, covering her face with her hands. Bella moved to sit next to her, rubbing the woman's back. She looked up at Spencer to see him frowning, the sight of the wailing mother crushing his heart. 

   "I got rid of him after Rose ran away the second time," Laura continued to cry. "I-I haven't seen him in almost a year! I moved...he doesn't even know where I live! Did he take Rose?"

   "He was at work during the time Rose disappeared," Spencer answered. "So no, I don't think that he took Rose." 

   "Then who did?" 

   "Ma'am, would there be any reason for Rose to run away on her own? To leave everything behind and try to start a new life somewhere else?" 

   Laura gulped, "Now I'm not so sure. I thought that Rose told me everything but...I guess not." 

   All Bella was able to do was rub Laura's back, and hope that something good would come out of this case.

*               *               * 

   The team sat around a large collection of photos of Rose. They tried to find if there was a random person appearing in more than one photo, possibly capturing a stalker she might've had. Alas, they were all coming up empty. All the photos showed was a smiling Rose with her friends, her wild red hair flowing as her dark brown eyes twinkled. 

   They hoped for an answer. They hoped for any piece of evidence that would lead them to finding Rose. But nothing was coming together. There were no leads, no witnesses, and nothing that tracked Rose to a certain location. It was as if she evaporated into thin air. 

   Hotch came barging into the room suddenly after stepping out to take a phone call. He looked more stressed than normal, his face stern and disappointed. Bella looked up from the police report, scrunching her eyebrows together as she and Hotch locked eyes.

   "Pack it up, everyone," Hotch said. "We're going home."

   "What?" Bella asked. "Why?"

   "I just got off the phone with Strauss, she's demanding us back. This is a state investigation, not a federal. We weren't formally invited so this wasn't even ours to investigate in the first place. She wants us on the next flight back."

   The team slowly stood up, baffled by what was happening. They had spent an entire day interviewing people and gathering as much evidence as possible. Now they were expected to go home and pretend like nothing happened. They began to pack up their things slowly, following Strauss' orders.

   "We can't just...abandon her!" Bella exclaimed, standing up.

   "Bells-" Spencer said, reaching for her arm.

   Bella pulled away, "No! There is a 17-year-old girl missing! Does Strauss not realize this? The police here have no idea where she went! She could've been trafficked, she could've been kidnapped, she could've been fucking murdered and we're expected to just forget about this?"

   "It's not our investigation," Hotch said. "I want to help her too, Snow, but we can't. This time it isn't our battle."

   "This is bullshit," Bella mumbled, grabbing the police report and shoving it into her bag. "We're killing her just as much as the psycho whose got her is." 

   Throwing her bag over her shoulder, Bella pushed past Hotch and Derek and stormed out of the room. Hotch hung his head as Spencer dashed out of the room, hoping to go comfort his hurting girlfriend. 

   Although Bella didn't know it, Hotch was hurting just as much as she was.

*               *               *

   The night drew darker and colder as Bella looked outside the car window. She looked up at all of the stars in the sky dancing around the large moon. She dreaded getting on the plane in the morning, the last thing she wanted was to move on from this case. She was willing to work all and every night until Rose was found. But now she was being forced to refrain from saving her life. Bella felt like screaming.

   She wrapped her cardigan tighter around herself, attempting to comfort herself. She knew that Spencer was trying his best to cheer her up, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be alright and Rose would be found soon. Bella didn't believe it. She didn't believe any of his words. She had a bad feeling about this case. 

   When Spencer offered to take her for a drive somewhere, at first Bella was hesitant. All she wanted to do was take a hot bath and try to drown out her sorrows with a glass of wine. But after some intense begging from Spencer, she finally obliged. They had been driving for at least 30 minutes, Spencer refusing to specify where they were going.

   Slowly, the car turned down a long dirt road. Bella furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, "Is this where you kill me so you can be the youngest one on the team again?"

   Spencer let out a laugh, "No, I'm not going to kill you. This would be a terrible place to kill someone, it's not that far from the public eye."

   Bella let out a loud laugh and playfully slapped Spencer on the arm, feeling some of her joy regenerate. That was the thing about Spencer, it was almost as if he was magic. Bella knew that even if she was having a horrific day, Spencer would be able to cheer her up somehow. That's why it was always so hard to stay mad at him. He had the ability to draw people back in. 

   Parking the car, Spencer looked over at Bella and smiled. She raised an eyebrow and smiled back uncomfortably, unsure of what was happening. 

   "Ok, now you have to close your eyes," Spencer said. "This is a surprise."

   "Close my eyes?" Bella questioned. "What is going on-"

   "Just do it, dork."

   Bella rolled her eyes with a grin. She closed her eyes, promising to keep them shut. She listened as Spencer opened up his car door, quickly hopping out. The back door then opened suddenly, Spencer rummaging around for something before quickly closing that door. Bella waited inside the car, forcing her eyes to stay shut. After what seemed like forever, she heard the passenger door open as a cool breeze hit her. She felt as Spencer gently took her by the hand, slowly guiding her out of the car and closing the door behind her. 

   Walking as sturdy as possible, Bella held onto Spencer's arm as he continued to guide her. She felt herself became further and further away from the car when they suddenly stopped. She could almost hear Spencer's smile. 

   "Can I open my eyes now?" Bella questioned.

   "Not yet, just one second," Spencer said before removing himself from Bella's grip, scurrying off somewhere.

   Bella crossed her arms and shivered in the chilly air. Half of her wished that she was in a hot bath right now. As she pressed her eyes harder together, she suddenly heard the song Nocturne begin to play. She furrowed her eyebrows together as she felt Spencer appear at her side once again, his hand resting on her waist.

   "Ok," he said. "Open your eyes."

   Slowly opening her eyes, Bella felt her heart skip a beat when she finally saw what it was. Her and Spencer were standing in a large flower field, the flowers illuminated by the large moon and bright stars above them. Next to them was a small radio playing Nocturne. She felt tears build up in her eyes as she looked around.

   "Spencer," she breathed. "It's beautiful!"

   Spencer grinned, "This was the first song we ever danced to together. It was at Phoebe's wedding...I don't know if you remember."

   "Of course I remember. Spencer this is-this is breathtaking. How did you even find this place?"

   "I've heard about it before. I never had the right person to bring until now."

   Bella pressed her lips together as she felt a tear roll out of her eye. Standing on her tippytoes, she kissed Spencer passionately. She held him by the back of the neck as his hands rested on her cheeks. He wiped the tear away and smiled against the kiss.

   Pulling away from the kiss and clearing his throat, Spencer back up and held out his hand while bowing his head, "May I have this dance, beautiful Bella?"

   Bella giggled and nodded, placing her hand in his, "Certainly, beautiful Spencer." 

   Spencer smiled as the two of them joined hands. Spencer rested his hand on Bella's waist as she rested hers on his shoulder. Soon, they pulled each other closer and closer, eventually engulfing each other into a large hug. Bella hugged Spencer by the neck as he held her by the back. She buried her face into his shoulder as he buried his face into her neck. 

   The wind around them was silent as they swayed together, holding each other closer and closer. All that echoed around them was Nocturne, warming both of their hearts and souls. Bella felt every negative emotion leave her body. She felt as the world suddenly fell into place. 

   Bella lifted her head as Spencer began to twirl her. She smiled and let out a laugh. Spencer took her by both of the hands and started to spin her. The two lovers smiled brightly, letting out laughs of pure joy before collapsing back into each other's arms. 

   Lifting up her chin with his finger, Spencer made deep eye contact with Bella. He grinned warmly before leaning in, kissing her sweetly. The two lovers held each other tightly, engulfed in a vehement kiss. They never wanted to let each other go. 

   So they didn't.    

__________________________

Song: "Nocturne Op.9 No.2" by Frédéric Chopin

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I hope all of you are having a good holiday! Next chapter will be an actual episode. Also, we are nearing the end of this book :( there is about 11 chapters left! But don't worry because there WILL be a sequel! Make sure to vote and LEAVE COMMENTS! COMMENTS ARE MOTIVATION! I hope you are all staying healthy and happy! Much love!