"What?" Morgan asked, incredulous.

"That's my friend from when I grew up."

"I heard that. But... How do you know?"

"Well... after I went to college, we stayed in touch and we would visit each other on occasion... That's when I took this picture."

"Wait, wait, hold up. You took this picture?"

"Yeah..." Reid looked down.

Morgan almost smiled. "If this wasn't so serious man, I'd congratulate you. I never thought you could get a girlfriend."

Reid looked up, his mouth open in shock. "Morgan... This isn't a time for jokes."

"Right, right. I'll go... check out her information..." Morgan walked a bit away from Reid, dialing Garcia's number as he went. "Hey Mama, I have a favor... It's for Reid."

"Well, anything to help my little genius out is fine by me."

"Can you tell me what you find on a girl named Joaquina Mancuso? She's on the watch list."

"Ooh, the watch list. Coming right up..." Morgan could hear the sounds of Garcia's furious typing over the phone. "Looks like she was a child prodigy, not unlike our own. Her parents enrolled her in first grade when she was only four, she continued to excel in school, but never skipped a grade again. Her artwork was featured in a magazine when she was six, and oh my God, it is amazing! You have to see this, it looks like--"

"Garcia?"

"Oh, right... She grew up down the street from Reid, so I'm assuming that they were friends... Actually, it looks like they became more than just friends."

"What'd you find?"

"Letters... And e-mails... Mailed back and forth starting when she was eight and Reid was twelve... The year Reid went to college! Oh, my..."

"What?"

"Morgan, I feel bad reading this. I mean, it's obviously very private and..." She sighed, "Well... I just want you to know that I didn't want to do this. Okay, so for the first six or so years it looks alright, just about how their lives have been and how much they miss each other and such... Then they get really good. Really mushy, lovey-dovey good. When she was fourteen and Reid was seventeen, almost eighteen, she goes to visit him at college. Looks like a school trip or something. After that, the letters change. They start talking about how much they love each other and don't want to spend their lives with anybody else. Apparently they visit each other sporadically over the next few years, until she turns eighteen, then the letters stop."

"They stop?"

"Well, they stop from Reid's end. The last one he wrote was for her to meet him so he could tell her something in person. Then there's about a four month break before she starts writing again."

"What's it say?"

"Along the lines of: 'Why can't we be together?' 'I could never find anyone like you...' 'I feel as though my sun has been extinguished...' 'Where did you go?' 'I thought...' "

"Garcia? What is it, honey?"

"Morgan... Reid started working for the FBI when he was twenty-two, did he not?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I know why the letters stopped... One says, 'I thought we were going to get married.' When she turned eighteen, Reid proposed. He didn't know that he'd be working for the FBI in four months. I'm guessing that since she was on the watch list, whoever hired Reid told him that they couldn't get married until they found out if she would be trouble. Morgan... They were gonna get married."

Morgan looked over at Reid, who was looking at the file, shoulders hunched, a strange look on his face. "What happened after that?"

"Nothing..."

"Nothing? Come on, honey, there's gotta be something. What about her parents?"

"Well, Reid joined our merry band, and as for Joaquina... There's nothing. Her parents split when she was fourteen over domestic violence issues... But I can't find anything on her. No pictures, no paper trail. Oh! Wait! Her tuition for Yale was paid in cash in full for her entire college years. She has her PhD. in Painting, Drawing, and Art Education. Looks like when our boy genius was busy getting his Ph.D.'s one at a time, this girl was triple majoring in art categories... You'll never believe this. Now she's back on campus, getting her PhD. in Literature, I can't tell what specific category, and she's actually teaching an art class. She has about sixteen students, one that hasn't shown up for the past two days."

"Thanks, Mama."

"No problem, hun."

Morgan walked over to Reid, kneeling so they were eye to eye. "Talk to me, kid. Tell me about this girl."

"Hey, how was class?" Her roommate, Aurora, was in her Literature class, and had been her roommate for five years running. They had known each other for more than that, though, seeing as they both went to the same high school as well. They knew everything about each other, likes and dislikes, annoying things, and favorite things.

"Eh, it was good. Alex was absent again, so of course Lia couldn't pay attention at all, she was so worried. John is really improving, though. His painting this week is so much better than his earlier work. I think he's really coming out of his shell." Joaquina taught an art class on campus, and many of her peers were also her students.

"Oh, that's nice." Aurora snuck a glance at her roommate, "So I hear that the FBI are on campus..."

"Mmm..." Joaquina stared out the window that looked over the middle of the campus, the green lawn shone up at her, unnervingly bright.

"I wonder if--" Aurora stopped herself before she said, 'I wonder if Spencer's with them,' remembering how Joaquina never fully got recovered from the absence of the young doctor. "...I wonder if they're investigating the murders."

"I hope so. I hate not being able to sleep at night, thinking one of us could be next."

"I second that." Aurora paused. "Hey, do you wanna come get some lunch with me and Eric? I know you haven't seen him in a while."

"Actually, I saw him this morning. He was so happy to see me, too. I can't believe how big he's gotten. When I hugged him, it felt like hugging a giant."

"Well, you know my mom, she always feeds us kids so that we grow like beanstalks."

Joaquina laughed. "How about a rain check? I was gonna go over to the library and read a bit before class, maybe grade some of these paintings I've been carrying around."

"Sure, sure. Dinner? You've got to see how much Eric eats nowadays."

"Yeah, I'll go to dinner with you guys." When they parted ways at the entrance, Joaquina yelled after her, "Have fun with your brother! Don't terrorize him too much!"

"Oh I will!" Aurora yelled back. Joaquina laughed, and started walking to the library.

Reid was waiting behind a building. They were going to bring in Kina and he had to be a part of it. Emily was investigating the crime scenes and Morgan had muttered something about going to the library for something. He gulped, fingering his gun again. He also couldn't admit to himself that maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see her face again before he saw her in the interrogation room. He tried to think of statistics. They usually helped in situations like this, but he couldn't think of any statistics that said how many people arrested their childhood friend, the kid they grew up with, and brought her in for questioning.

He heard a buzz from his earphone, and then Hotch's voice, "Everybody ready? On three. One... Two... Three!"

On three, he whirled around the building, gun extended. He saw a crowd of policemen around a single girl, and lowered his gun. She still had her bag from this morning. He watched as an officer yanked her arms around to handcuff her. She looked up, and their eyes met. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her hair was a little shorter than in the picture, and her eyes were sadder, depressed looking. Her mouth was turned down at the corners. When she saw him, her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. She gasped, "Spencer?" His face mirrored hers, eyes wide, mouth downtrodden. His mouth was grasping for the words, the statistics, the apology, that wouldn't come. He collasped on the sidewalk, his head in his hands, as they dragged her away.