After leaving the Round Table so abruptly, Spencer rushed from the building entirely. He stopped at a metal bench a couple feet from the entrance. He sat down immediately and put his head in his hands. "Not again, not again, oh god, please not again..."
It went unnoticed by the young genius when the door opened and Morgan, accompanied by JJ and Penelope, ran out. They spotted him easily and started toward him, while he was still totally oblivious to the three standing around him.
"Spence?" JJ asked softly, taking the spot beside him tentatively. "Is there something you've been keeping from us?"
After a few seconds, he nodded once. He lifted his head, and they saw that he'd been crying. "I...I'm sorry. I know I should have told you about it..."
"I'm sorry, Reid, I didn't know." Penelope tried. "If I had known, I wouldn't have presented it like tha-"
"You didn't finish the briefing." Spencer interrupted her. "Please, tell me she isn't dead. Please."
"Which one of them?"
"Tia," he told her. "Cynthia, but...she liked to be called Tia."
"Nothing's been found." Penelope assured him. "There's a good chance she's still alive."
"Kid, if you could give us more background on these girls, it could help us find them." Morgan said. "How did you meet her?"
"About five months ago...I went to a grief support group, after Garcia told me it might help me move on from Maeve's death...I met her there. She said she moved to Quantico after her older brother died in a car crash in Phoenix. She said she couldn't stand to be so close to the place he died."
"But she went missing from Phoenix." JJ observed.
"She was supposed to come back tomorrow." He said, tucking hair behind his ear with a shaky hand. "Her sister bought her a ticket for a week back home, and she said she felt obligated to go after how much she spent. So she went."
"Did she text or call you at all?"
"Um..yeah. Yeah, mostly at night or early in the morning. Her sister doesn't know about me."
"Do you know where they were last night?"
"A party..." He murmured. "She called me at nine forty three last night complaining about how Brooke was dragging her to this party she didn't want to go to."
"And that was the last time you talked with her?" He nodded.
"Please, we have to find her. I...I can't lose another person I love like that."
"We'll try our damnedest to save those girls, Reid. I promise." Morgan said. "I don't want to have to see you like that ever again."
A few minutes later, the four team members headed back into the room where Rossi, Hotch, and Blake were waiting. Hotch watched Reid apprehensively as he sat down, still slightly shaky.
"Sorry," He mumbled. "I...um...I know Cynthia Carmichael. She's...she's been my girlfriend for a few months now, in secret."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Rossi asked. Spencer picked at the side of the table, not looking up, as he talked.
"I-I wanted to, but...I didn't know how. I wasn't sure if you'd think it was too soon, or-" He cut himself off with a ragged breath and cleared his throat. "Um, Garcia, can you just-"
"Yeah, yeah I'll continue." This time however, she didn't use the remote. The picture on screen remained the smiling faces of the twin sisters. "So, a woman named Lisa Carmichael, the girls' drunken mom, filed a Missing Persons report a couple hours ago when she stopped by Brooke's apartment and saw no one there."
"Thanks to Spencer, we know that they must have been abducted from a party." JJ added. "He told us that Cynthia talked to him once before she left, and that was the last contact they've had."
"Yes, and, unfortunately, the Carmichael girls aren't the only victims." Garcia put in. "A few weeks ago, Mia and Katy DeWitt were taken from a party at a sorority house. The report was filed by their dormmate. The girls left, but never made it back. They're...also twins."
"Any bodies?" Hotch asked.
"None have been found, sir."
"If there's no bodies of any of these girls, then the chances all four are still alive are really good." He speculated. "But we aren't going to take any risks of losing Cynthia, Reid." He met the eyes of everyone sitting at the table, lingering on Spencer before looking back at the whole team.
"Wheels up in ten."