Spencer and I got out of the elevator and walked into the BAU with me limping a little, but we'll enough to be off crutches.

JJ saw me first and a big smile lit up her face. "Vanessa! You're back!"

"Hey, JJ." I said as she hugged me, pulling back. "Come on. We're just starting a debrief."

"Okay,"

"Also, try to make it less obvious next time. You two look like lovestruck puppies." she said with a dramatic wave of her hand as we all headed through the doors.

"How did you know?" Spencer asked.

"Come on, Spence, really? For one, she's wearing your clothes which she hasn't done in like, 3 months. Second, you two both look like you haven't had a good night's rest. And lastly, it's just obvious that you two love each other so much." she said the last two words with a little laugh.

"Quit profiling us." I said and looked at Spencer and he just smiled, walking forward and holding the door open for me and JJ, entering just behind us and the three of us took our seats.

"Okay, so we got—Vanessa! You're back! The BAU was so boring without you." Garcia said once she turned and saw me.

"Yeah, because chasing serial killers is so boring." I said in a bored tone, getting a laugh out of Rossi and Morgan.

"Hey, kid. Congratulations on finally landing a girl." Morgan said to Spencer.

"What?" Aaron looked between me and Spencer and his usual frown lifted to a little smile. "Huh. Who would've thought."

"Not me." Spencer said.

"Oh, please, Reid, you've been a wreck at work without Vanessa here." JJ said, turning to me and leaning in. "He talks about you a lot."

"Because she's my roommate." Spencer said.

"And giiiiirlfriend." Morgan said with a smile.

"Morgan, we kissed one time." Spencer said.

"I'll give you five bucks if you kiss him in front of us." Emily leaned over and whispered, pulling out a five dollar bill and waving it around.

"Hmm. Would've done it for free, but I'm in." I said, turning to Spencer as he still argued with Morgan. "Hey, Spencer."

"Yeah?" he turned to me.

I leaned forward and kissed him, my hand resting on his shoulder as I pulled away. "Twice,"

Morgan covered his mouth with a hand and looked at the team, then me. "Been waiting to do that, huh?"

"Since we got in the elevator." I replied, taking my hand off Spencer's shoulder and reaching across the table, taking the five bucks from a smiling Emily's hand.

"Vanessa! You kissed me on a dare?"

"Hey, I told her I'd do it for free." I said, handing him the money. "But, on the plus side, we're five dollars richer."

Aaron smiled at the two of us and cleared his throat. "Let's get back on track. Garcia?"

"As I was saying....we're heading to California. The local police have called us in because a series of blackouts have happened, and at least five deaths have already occurred." Garcia said with a shudder.

"I've always wanted to go to California." I said in a dull voice. "Now I don't."

———

"Vanessa, are you okay with this?" Aaron asked me as the team and I stood outside the brown house with a flat roof, an old man with a gun standing by the window, holding a young girl.

I looked at Spencer, then back at Aaron. "Am I okay with my boyfriend going into a dangerous situation where he could possible get shot? No, I'm not. But it has to happen."

Spencer looked at me. "Vanessa."

"Yeah?" I looked at him.

".....that's the first time you called me your boyfriend."

"Oh. Are you...okay with that?" I asked.

He smiled a little and walked forward, keeping his hand by the gun at his hip. "We'll talk about it when I get back."

"You better come back." I said, making him give my a small nod and walk into the house.

We all waited in a tense silence until Spencer came out with the man in handcuffs and a little girl with blonde hair: Nancy Jakobs.

Morgan holstered his gun and jogged over to Nancy, letting her wrap her arms around him as he hugged her back, looking at the young girl with a smile.

"Bet you're glad to save a child." the unsub—Elias Baker—directed to me. "Makes you think. Doesn't it?"

I crossed my arms and made me face go neutral. "No,"

Elias grinned, his yellow teeth showing. "You're lying. Every child saved makes you think of him."

Aaron turned to me. "Vanessa. What's he talking about?"

"Nothing." I replied, "he doesn't know anything about me."

"Oh, I know plenty." Elias said, "and I was the one who drove you to kill. To become your true self."

I swallowed and took a steadying breath, looking at Spencer as he narrowed his eyes at Elias.

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked, standing closer to me.

"She really should have been a better girl. Had a child. Til he saw too much and I killed him." he snarled, looking back at me. "Don't you remember him?"

"You know I do." I said softly, my voice quivering.

JJ put her hand on my shoulder and nodded to Spencer to take him away, Aaron taking. Elias's other arm and the two of them led him away together.

I cover my mouth with a hand and steadied my breathing, dropping my hand to my side and composing myself, seeing JJ and Emily's concerned faces.

"Vanessa...." JJ said,

"I'm fine, JJ." I lied, turning away and walking over to where Morgan was by the ambulance with Nancy.

"How is she?" I asked softly as the paramedics attended to the young girl.

"She's okay. She's in shock, but she's not hurt." he replied, looking at me and frowning slightly. "Are you okay? Your eyes are a little teary."

"Hmm? Oh."—I wiped at my eyes and faked a chuckle—"I'm fine. Just happy to see Nancy alive."

"Did the unsub say something?" Morgan pushed.

"He said a lot of things, Morgan." I told him with a shake of my head. "I'm not ready to talk about it just yet."

He nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. "Whenever you're ready to talk, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Morgan."

"'Course. I'm gonna go check up on Reid. Why don't you go say hi to Nancy? She looks like she could use a pretty face." he said with a smile.

I smiled softly at him attempt to cheer me up and nodded a little, watching him head over to Spencer and Aaron before I walked over to Nancy sitting in the back of the ambulance with a blanket around her shoulders.

"Hi, Nancy." I greeted.

Nancy looked up. "Hi. You're with the FBI?"

"I am. My name is Vanessa. Would you mind if I sat down?"

She moved over and let me sit down next to her, turning to the younger girl. "You are a very brave girl, you know that?"

She smiled softly. "You think so?"

"I know so." I corrected.

Nancy looked at me for a little while longer before wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "Thank you for finding me, Miss Vanessa."

I smiled softly at the young girl and wrapped my arms around her, seeing the team looking at me for the corner of my eye.

Aaron walked over to me. "Vanessa, Strauss wants us back. We need to get going."

"Okay," I looked at Nancy and got up. "You going to be okay now?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Thank you."

I nodded and Aaron and I walked towards the two cars, JJ and Morgan getting in with me and Aaron while Rossi took the others; starting up the car and driving down the road in silence.

The car ride was unbearable silent, and we were all glad once we got to the airport and boarded our private plane, the doors closing and the plane taking off as we all took our seats.

"So.........Vanessa........." Rossi started.

"Rossi." Morgan said in a warning tone, sitting down next to me.

———

I sat on the couch next to Spencer, the team sitting in chairs as we all shared our stories of who we lost.

Trauma buddies.

"Vanessa." Spencer said softly, making me get snapped back into reality.

I sighed softly. "......I lost my son. Six years ago."

".......how old was he?" JJ asked in a soft voice.

"Three." I answered, looking down. "It was my first two weeks of collage at Yale, and I already couldn't wait to get out of that place. Because what no one knew was........the captain of the football team.....he raped me."

"Vanessa! Why didn't you tell the school! Or me?" Aaron asked with shock.

I looked at my brother. "You think the school really cared? Or you?"

"Of course I would care! You're my sister!" he protested. "Tell me where this guy lives. Right now."

"No need." I said and looked back down at my hands. "He was my first victim."

Spencer wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him, rubbing my arm. "I'm sorry about what happened. It shouldn't have happened."

I leaned my head against his shoulder before getting myself together again and continuing. "A few weeks into my freshman year at Yale, I found out I was pregnant. It was his. I kept the baby and raised him on my own for those three years."

"What was his name?" Garcia asked, tears in her eyes.

"His name was Aaron." I said softly, looking at my brother and seeing him smile.

"...how did he die?" Emily asked.

I looked at her and sighed. "Elias was a buddy of Leon's. It never sat well with him what Leon did to me, so he thought if he took away the root problem of what had happened, everything would be fine again."

"But Aaron wasn't your root problem." JJ said.

I shook my head. "No. He wasn't. I loved my boy with everything I had. But Elias....he killed the babysitter and my boy when I was away with my friends. It was just for an hour. When I got home, I found the babysitter dead on the carpet......with Aaron still in her arms."

"And that's why you killed those people?" Rossi asked.

I nodded. "First, it was Leon. Then it was those two sorority girls who took me to that party. And finally, the football coach who was also my Quantum Physics professor. He watched the whole thing and didn't do a single thing to stop it."

"Vanessa..." Spencer said, reaching his hand up and brushing away a tear with his thumb. "I never told you this, but my.....ex, died right in front of me. And I couldn't do a single thing to stop it."

"Spence....I'm sorry...." I said.

"Vanessa. I found a picture. Of Aaron. Back when we first caught you." Garcia said, taking out a photo from her bag. "You can have it. If you want it."

I smiled at the blonde and reached my hand out, taking it from her and looking down at the photo.

Aaron had his arms around my waist as I was crouched down and hugging him back, his dark brown hair stopped at his ears and he had a tan from being out in the sun. His white shirt was stained with grass and dirt, as was his blue shorts.

"Aaron. Do you want to see?" I asked my brother, handing him the picture.

He took it from my hands and a smile crossed his face as he looked up at me. "You two looked so happy. I wish I could have met him."

I took the photo back and smiled at my brother. "I wish you could have met him, too. He would have loved you."