NOTE: I think this is the quickest update in my personal history. I'm not even kidding, either. Usually I take a while to update fics because I want them to be perfect before I post them. Enjoy!

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"I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich." -Dan Wilcox

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Sandra opened her front door. "Nicholas! I'm home!"

As soon as the last word was called, little Aaron ran out in his blue feetie pajamas. "Mommy!" Sandra crouched down and picked him up. She showered his face with kisses. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," came Nicholas's British accent-laced voice. He embraced the both of them. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"Sure." She lifted her face up to kiss him.

"But we already ate, Mommy!" said Aaron excitedly as Sandra put him down. He held her hand tightly.

"I was just putting him to B-E-D," said Nicholas, spelling the last word.

"What's that?" asked Aaron.

"I'll do that," said Sandra.

"Would you like some leftover lemon cake and coffee?" asked Nicholas.

"Sounds wonderful," said Sandra. She looked down at Aaron. "Come on, Buddy. It's bed time."

He pouted. "But I don't wanna!" He crossed his arms.

"I'll read you a story," Sandra promised.

"Which one?" asked Aaron.

"You pick," said Sandra.

Aaron pulled her to his bedroom. He sat down on his blue racecar bed and reached for his favorite book- a well worn copy of Beauty and the Beast. Sandra smiled, and read it to him. Just after she finished, Aaron fell asleep. Sandra kissed his forehead and covered him with his blanket. She turned off his light, which automatically turned on his nightlight. She closed the door slowly.

Sandra walked wearily down the hallway. It was inundated with the scent of her favorite brew- mint mocha. And lemon cake. It was an intoxicating scent. She seemed to float through the air like in the cartoons that she'd grown up with.

Sandra sat down at the table, extremely close to Nicholas. She snuggled in.

"So what did they have you do?" asked Nicholas.

"I went undercover as a high school student," said Sandra.

"Again?"

"Yeah," said Sandra.

Nicholas rose. The coffee was finished brewing. He poured two cups, stirred a little milk into both of them and sat them down. He went back to the kitchen and grabbed a slice of his home made lemon cake for Sandra. She smiled. He sat down. Sandra took a sip from her mug. She held it in front of her face for a second. She took another sip and set it down.

Sandra wasn't devouring the food like she usually did. Nicholas said, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

"You don't have to be a profiler to tell if something is wrong." He smiled and tickled Sandra in the stomach. She fell out of her chair.

Nicholas had been leaning over towards her and fell on top of her. Nicholas kissed her hungrily. Sandra wrapped her arms around his head, entangling her hands in his chocolaty hair. He deepened the kiss and after a while, they migrated to her neck.

"Nicholas?" Sandra's shirt was disheveled.

"Hmm?" He laid his head on her chest, his face turned towards hers.

"I-I think I may…" Sandra paused.

"Yes?"

Sandra muttered the last bit.

"Are you sure?"

"Not entirely, but it makes sense."

"We'll go to the doctor tomorrow and figure it out. You have a day off, right?"

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"But what if something happens to the baby while I'm in the field?"

"It'll be fine, Sandra. I know that your team won't anything happen to you," said

Nicholas reassuringly.

"But you never know!" Sandra exclaimed. "I could get captured, or killed, or worse!"

They sat down on a bench nearby. Nicholas held her tightly. "Hey, hey. You're a damn good agent. You know as well as I do that your team is two steps ahead of the enemy!"

"But what if the enemy is three steps ahead?" Sandra smiled.

"Then you'll have you to be four steps ahead." Nicholas declared. "Let's get going."

They stood up, hands entwined, and walked down the sun soaked sidewalk.

"Look at the sunset," said Nicholas.

They stopped in the middle of the street. It was the end of a clear, sunny day. The sun reflected reds, pinks, purples and yellows off of the white marble buildings of the capital.

"The light shines on the city," said Sandra softly.

"The city of mysteries," said Nicholas, just as quietly.

They continued down the deserted street. Sandra stopped abruptly.

"But after what happened to Spencer, Abby and the rest of the team…I just don't know…"

"What happened?" Nicholas led Sandra to a grassy knoll nearby. They sat down.

Sandra looked at him. "Do you really want to know?"

"Of course."

She took a deep breath. "Spencer got shot in the leg, Abby got captured and tortured." She gulped.

"What about Hotch?"

"His wife was killed! His son only survived because he was told to hide!"

"Little Jack?"

"Yeah."

"So that's what happened."

Sandra took another deep breath. "It seems like everyone on the team has been hurt on some way by the enemy!" Sandra gulped past the lump in her throat, not wanting to betray her sadness.

"Everyone except you," Nicholas finished for her.

"I mean I could be next! This team may be one of the best in the FBI, but something will happen! It always does! Someone will screw up and the one who does will be hurt! And that person will be me! It's inevitable! You know that?"

Nicholas remained silent.

"Something even happened to Garcia! She never goes out on cases! She's always in her office!"

"That's right; the technical analyst."

Sandra nodded. "And even Gideon! Abby told me what happened to him! His girlfriend got butchered! His rival serial killer almost got him too!"

"And you're worrying that something like that will happen to you?"

Sandra looked at him, almost helplessly. It was really rare for her to look, or even feel, like that. When she did, Nicholas would know it.

"Now, you know what I'm going to say," he told Sandra in his calming voice.

"I know. The team will protect me."

"Just from what I've heard about Hotch, I know he'll do anything to protect his team."

"He was beside himself when any of us got hurt. He may not look like it, but he's really caring. The team is family. It means no one gets left behind."

Nicholas kissed the top of her head and they sat in silence for a moment.

"I need to show you something," Sandra said. She reached a violently shaking hand into her purse and drew out an open envelope with a single sheet of paper inside. It was addressed to Sandra. She handed it to him.

"You want me to read it out loud?"

Sandra nodded. It was typed.

"Sandra,

"I'm sure you'll remember me by the time I'm done. I'm coming for you, Sandra- you and your darling Nicholas and your little Aaron. Better keep them safe. Remember, I did what I did for the greater good. You scarred me and I'll be sure to take revenge. Keep your eyes out, and watch your back because I'll be back. Much, much sooner than you think.

The Angel Slayer."

When Nicholas read it to her, she heard it, not in his voice, but by the voice that had skulked her dreams for twenty long years. She felt his breath on the top of her head. She felt his vice like grip on her shoulders. She smelled the cigarettes and alcohol on his breath; but above all, she could see him reflected behind her in the mirror, his thick brown hair, his nice clothes.

The memory was too painful to her; it was like she was holding up the sky instead of Atlas. Sandra shook very suddenly, her entire body wracked by sobs. Nicholas held her.

"One thing's for sure, though."

"What's – hic – that?"

"If anything ever happens to me and Aaron, you'll save us." Nicholas smiled. "Like Superman."

"And I'll be there, faster than a speeding bullet train."

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"Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice." - Reinhold Niebuhr