I walked down the stairs after putting the twins to sleep, heading into the kitchen and washing the babies' dishes.

The door opened and Spencer walked in, closing the door behind him and setting his bag and keys down on the table next to the door.

"Did you just get back from work?" I asked, drying my hands on a towel.

"Rossi's, actually. He had the team over for dinner at his place."

"Oh." I said simply.

He looked at me closely. "What's wrong? You said 'oh' in that tone that reminds me scarily of Hotch when he's about to blow a fuse."

"No, nothing. It's just that if you wanted to stay over at Rossi's with the team, you could have called me to let you know you were coming home late."

"Vanessa, it's only......" he looked down at his watch and back up at me. "Eleven."

"Did you have a good time at Rossi's?" I asked.

"Vanessa, please don't be like that." Spencer said as he walked over to me, placing his hand over mine. "I just lost track of the time. You know how hard the job can be."

"I know, Spence. And I get it that this job is hard, but I at least deserve a phone call from you to make sure you're alright." I replied, turning around to look at him fully. "I don't want to have to take care of these kids alone."

"You won't have to." he said.

"Well how will I know that I won't unless if you call me?" I asked, my voice raising.

Spencer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Vanessa, can we please not do this now? The kids are upstairs."

"They're asleep." I said, crossing my arms and sighing. "It took me an hour to get Morgan and Emily to finally sleep, because they wanted their father."

"I'm sorry, Vanessa, okay? I'll try my best to be there for the three of you, but work calls me in in the most inconvenient times." he said.

"Don't try your best, Spencer. Our kids aren't just some thing you can try—"

"I know that!"

"Do you? Then why haven't you been here straight after you are done at work? It's like me and the kids are your second priority right now."

"You're not, Vanessa. Come on, sweetheart, please don't be like this." he said.

Wailing could be heard upstairs and I sighed. "We'll talk about this later." I said, pushing past Spencer and walking up the stairs.

Emily laid in her crib, crying loudly as Morgan was fast asleep next to her.

I picked her up and her wails died down into quietness, her head falling on my shoulder and her soft breathing followed soon after, telling me she was asleep; I stayed like that a few minutes longer before gently settling her back in the crib, drawing the quilt over the two babies and kissing their foreheads.

Closing their door and walking downstairs, I saw Spencer grabbing his stuff and heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked once I went down the stairs.

He turned around to face me, his hand on the doorknob. "I'm going to stay at Morgan's if we're just going to fight the rest of the night."

"Spencer—"

"I don't want to leave, but I don't want to fight with the kids upstairs."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine. Go then."

He looked at me once more before opening the door and closing it behind him, the sound of a car engine starting up and fading away as he drove off.

I walked over to the closed door and locked it, closing the curtains on the windows and making sure we were locked down for the night before walking over to the kitchen and sitting in a chair; leaning my head in my hands and letting a single tear run down my cheek.

Hours later, early in the morning, a knock came on the door and I went to answer it, seeing FBI agents standing outside.

I opened it. "Is there a problem, agents?"

"Vanessa Reid?"

"Yes. That is correct."

The FBI agent took out handcuffs. "You're under arrest for the murder of Roseanne Wadsworth."

"What?" I asked as he cuffed me.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and—"

"Can I call someone? I have children that need to be taken care of." I said as the handcuffs clicked around my wrists.

The FBI agent took out his phone. "Who do you want to call?"

"Kate Callahan."

———

I sat back in the interrogation room, my hands cuffed to the table. I was here once again, and I was more terrified now than I ever was.

The door opened and Spencer walked in with Aaron and JJ behind him.

"Vanessa..." Aaron went.

"Aaron, I didn't do this." I said.

The door opened again and two unfamiliar FBI agents walked in, looking at Aaron, Spencer, and JJ.

"We're taking over this case." The male FBI agent said.

"With all due respect, she's one of our agents, and—" JJ started.

"And that makes your answers biased. We need a fresh pair of eyes." The female agent responded. "You can go now."

"No," Spencer shook his head.

"Excuse me?" The male agent said.

"I'm not leaving my wife." He said, looking at me.

"All the more reason to leave this to us, Dr. Reid. You will have the most biased answer out of all of you." the male agent said.

"Who's with the kids? Are they okay?" Spencer asked.

"I called Kate. She's with them now." I assured him.

"Reid, let's go." Aaron said, taking Spencer's arm and the three of them walked out.

The female agent stood by the door as the male agent sat down in the chair across from me, folded his hands on the table as he looked at me.

"Your neighbors reported raised voices last night at 11 last night. Why?" he asked.

"I got into a fight with my husband. It's no big deal." I said, raising my cuffed hands and resting my forehead against them, my elbows resting on the cool metal table.

"What was it about?"

"What's this got to do with anything?" I asked.

"Were you mad?"

I slammed my hands down on the table, having my chains shake. "Oh my gosh, yes, okay? I was mad. Of course I was mad!"

"Mad enough to kill Roseanne Wadsworth?" The female agent spoke up.

"No. I don't even know who that is."

The male drew my attention back to him as he took out my file once again. "You have a history of violence, and you were a serial killer."

"That's true, but—"

"It was brought on by the death of your firstborn son, correct?"

I went pale white. "How did you know that?"

"His name was Aaron, am I correct?" he asked, shaking his head. "Killed at three years. What a shame."

"Royce. That's enough." The female office snapped at her fellow officer, looking at me. "Where were you after your husband left the house, Mrs. Reid?"

"I was in the kitchen." I replied.

"For five hours?" the male officer asked.

"No, of course not. I have children. What do you think a mother with two one-month old children does?"

The male officer frowned and leaned forward. "Take a look at this."  he said and slid forward a photo of a young woman with blonde hair bloody, her fingers cut off and eyes taken out, bite marks littering the body.

"That was your signature, was it not?" he asked.

"It was. But there are hints of the Butcher's work. You might want to look into him." I answered.

The door burst open and Aaron walked in again with a stern look at the two unfamiliar agents.

"Okay, that's enough. You don't need to hold her anymore." he said.

"Actually, Agent—"

"Actually, Agent, our technical analysts tapped into the cameras in their neighborhood and it does not show Vanessa leaving her house at the time of the murder. So it could not be her." Aaron snapped, "unless if you have another reason to hold her, she's free to go."

The male agent huffed. "Fine. Mrs. Reid, you can go. But we will be watching you closely."

"You do that." Aaron said, taking the handcuffs off me and walking me out of the room to where JJ and Spencer stood.

Spencer saw me and immediately ran over to me, pulling me into a tight hug and stroking back my hair. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left last night."

I shook my head and rested my forehead against his chest. "Just don't leave the kids or I again."

"I won't." he said in a soft voice, planting a kiss in my hair and rubbing my back, looking down at me and placing a hand on my cheek. "You ready to head home?"

"Will you be there?" I asked.

Spencer looked up at Aaron. "Hotch, would it be—"

Aaron smiled. "You be with your wife and children, Reid. We can handle it today."

"Vanessa?" Garcia walked into the room. "Kate and Rossi are coming in."

"Kate?" I looked at Spencer before the brunette and Rossi came in, Morgan in Kate's arms as Emily was in Rossi's.

"Hey, sweetie." I smiled, walking over to Kate and picking up Morgan in my arms, kissing his nose.

Spencer took Emily from Rossi's arms. "Hey, Emmie. You miss Mommy and Daddy?"

She babbled a yes and squealed happily when she saw JJ, reaching out her tiny arms.

"Uh-oh, Spence, I think you got some competition." I teased, making home chuckle as he handed Emily to her godmother.

"Aaron, I think Morgan wants you to hold him." I said when my son reached out his tiny arms to his uncle.

Aaron smiled and walked forward, taking his nephew into his arms.

Spencer smiled at the two adults as they held out kids, looking at me and wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"So.......what about that third baby?" I asked all of a sudden.

"Vanessa. No. Not yet, at least." He said with a laugh, kissing my cheek.