Working two cases at the same time wasn't an easy task. Spencer absolutely refused to give the team's case less than his best work; he wasn't going to let people suffer because of his inattention. During the day, he worked with the team, working as hard as ever. Harder, even, in his efforts to get the case done so he could get back home. At night, in the privacy of his hotel room, he set up the computer and went about trying to find information on the two names that Belle had sent him. He let his searches run while he was eating his dinner, or while he was taking care of nightly rituals, and late into the night. Belle was right—there was nothing that he was finding so far to account for their whereabouts during the time that Remy disappeared. However, one of the names on his list—Clive O'Hara—was showing up in quite a few ways in the weeks after Remy disappeared. A few flights out of the country. One to Europe, one to Russia, both business trips as far as he could tell. But the other—Samuel Buchannan—seemed to have just disappeared completely.

It was on his third morning in Idaho that he found out what had happened to Samuel Buchannan and why no one could find him. He'd run a program on a hunch and set it up to send an alert to his phone. As he stood outside the hotel waiting for the team to come down so they could go, his phone went off, alerting him to the results. He stood there now staring at the file on the screen and cursing vehemently in Latin in his head. The reason that Samuel Buchannan hadn't showed up anywhere was because he was dead. Samuel Buchannan, aka Vincent Trump, had apparently died of a single gunshot to the head. His body had been found the day after Remy's disappearance in Vancouver, Washington, which was roughly a three hour drive from Seattle.

This wasn't a coincidence. The odds of him dying there, the day after Remy disappeared, and so very close to where Remy had vanished from, well, they were astronomical.

Samuel had been at the top of their list of suspects. He'd been close to becoming a Guild member, Belle had said, until five years ago when he'd deliberately gone against certain orders and rules on a job and had found himself banished by Remy's decree. According to Belle, he'd hated Remy since then and swore some kind of revenge.

Quickly, Spencer sent the file to Belle for her to look over. His mind was already racing with the implications of what this could mean. He didn't get long to think on it, though. The doors to the hotel opened and Aaron and Dave came out. Spencer just started to push away from the wall when Aaron broke away from Dave and started to make his way over.

Uh-oh. Spencer stayed where he was, worry gnawing at him as his boss came close. This couldn't be anything good. He tried to make his voice casual as he greeted the man. "Morning, Hotch."

"Morning, Reid." Aaron greeted him back. He stopped right in front of Spencer and his gaze was as sharp as always, running over him and taking in the details, most likely able to tell in just that one look that Spencer had barely slept the night before. Or any night, really, since Belle had showed up at the Bureau. When his eyes met Spencer's once more, the look in them held him in place. "Is there something going on that I need to be aware of, Reid?" He asked without preamble. They both knew they were on an important case and there wasn't really time to waste. Aaron had to be short and succinct. He also knew that Spencer preferred it over the roundabout, hinted questions. "You've been slightly distracted on this case. Is there anything that I need to know?"

There was only a slight hesitation before Spencer shook his head. In this instance, a bit of honesty was better than anything else he could say. "I'm sorry, sir. I just have some things on my mind. I'm doing my best not to let it interfere with the case, though."

"Your work is fine." Aaron reassured him. "I trust you to remove yourself if you aren't capable of doing your work. But if there's something going on, something you need to talk about, we can help you."

He meant it, too. Spencer knew that. All he'd have to do was ask them and each member of the team would help him in any way that they cold. But, it wasn't just for him that he kept quiet. It was for Remy. Having them look into Remy wouldn't be good. The last thing he needed was the Bureau turning too much attention to the young mutant that was, in Belle's words, starting to step up to take over the New Orleans Thieves Guild. Remy didn't need that kind of attention. He definitely didn't need it from the FBI.

Lying to the team had never been something easy for Spencer. Doing it now to a man he considered both friend and an important authority figure in his life, it was almost impossible. Before Spencer could think things through, he found himself answering much differently than he'd intended. "Someone I know is…missing." Biting the inside of his cheek, he carefully pocketed his phone, looking down and away from his boss. "There's no sign of foul play that I can see. It's not unusual for him to vanish for a while but he usually lets someone know that he's going. I just, the woman who stopped by to see me, his ex-wife, she asked me to look into it. He's been gone a few weeks and she's really worrying. I'm not letting it interfere with my job though, Hotch. I won't let it stop me working the case."

"I told you, Reid, you're fine. A little distracted but it's not affecting your work that I can see." Aaron said. Behind him, the doors opened and the rest of the team came out, but none of them came over. They stayed by Dave, though they cast a few looks his way. Aaron didn't even turn around. He kept his eyes right on Spencer. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Some of Spencer's tension faded just a little and he offered the man a small half-smile. "No, sir. But thank you."

"All you need to do is ask, Reid."

"Thank you."

The two headed back over to join the others. Spencer found himself moving with a bit of a lighter step. Granted, he hadn't accepted his boss's help, and he was still in the same boat he'd been in before, but having that reminder that help was there if he needed it had soothed away some of the more raw edges. The honest caring that had been behind the offer helped, too. It gave him the small hope that maybe things wouldn't go too badly if the truth came out.

It was a full day later before the BAU team started to make their way back home. Their Unsub had been caught the night before, just before he would've had another victim, and the rest of the night had been spent making sure that they had everything in order, all loose ends tied together so there would be no doubt whatsoever when the case went to trial. By the time morning rolled around, they'd done everything they could and they packed their things, heading to the jet to go back home.

To avoid any questions, or any conversation at all, Spencer stretched himself out on one of the couches on the jet, using his scarf for a pillow, and closed his eyes. It was something he did far more often than the others probably realized. He'd perfected the art of pretending to be asleep. It gave him the quiet and freedom to let his mind work. There was plenty enough for him to think about, too. Inside of his mind, he went over everything he'd read in the file on Samuel. A single shot to the head with a .45 caliber bullet. Based on the ME's report, the person had to have been within a few feet of them when they shot him. His body had been left in the warehouse, found by a couple of junkies the next day, with completely empty pockets. There were no other signs of assault. Nothing to suggest he'd been dragged or taken there, that he'd been hurt in any way aside from the bullet.

A small thought had been niggling in the back of Spencer's mind since he found out about this and he let it grow now. Let it build.

What if Samuel had been in on Remy's kidnapping, only, he hadn't been alone? Maybe someone else had been working with him, or that person had hired him because they knew how much Samuel hated Remy, and they used him to get Remy and then killed him one they had what they wanted. It fit the scenario. They hadn't tried to cover up the body, though. If they had, they could've easily let Remy's disappearance be blamed on Samuel. If Spencer hadn't found out that Samuel was dead, he would've stayed one of the top suspects, especially with him having so completely vanished. With a ready-made scapegoat right there, why had this Unsub killed him? Why not let him take the fall and use him to hide his tracks? Unless…unless he wanted them to know that it wasn't Samuel. But that would mean that he wanted them to know who he was. If he didn't want someone else taking the credit, the Unsub had to want the credit for themselves.

If that were the case, why weren't they leaving more clues? Why hide everything else so completely and yet leave this open? It didn't make sense. Was the Unsub playing some sort of game? Trying to…what? Draw someone out?

Draw him out?

That thought chilled Spencer's insides. No, it couldn't be right. No one knew about his connection to Remy. No one that would ever betray them. There had to be someone else. Some secret that Remy had, a person in his life that he kept hidden, that the Unsub was going for. But not Spencer. No one knew about him. He was safe.

No matter how many times he said it, he couldn't quite convince himself, though. The thought nagged at him. It stayed with him the entire flight home.

When the team finally landed, they headed to the Bureau first, enough time left in their day to complete the paperwork on this case. But Spencer had barely made it out of the elevator and halfway to the bullpen before Penelope was calling out his name. He turned to look down the hall and found her hurrying towards him, wearing that same bright smile she always wore when her 'babies' made it home safely. "Reid! Oh, good timing, sweetness. I was just getting ready to call you."

With everything going on lately, he couldn't help the immediate spike of worry. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, everything's fine!" She said quickly. Stopping in front of him, she held out a file folder towards him. "I finally got a hit on the skeevy cab guy you asked me to look at."

All his worries vanished and he eagerly reached out to take the folder from her. Even as he opened it to scan the contents, she was telling him what was inside.

"His name's Ettore Gianluca Silvano Deguti and he's forty seven years old. He moved over from Rome about four years ago and he's been sort of a gypsy since then. I found seventeen different residences for the past four years and I've got a feeling he has more. He's a pretty nasty looking guy, but there was no record on him, nothing to show he'd ever caused any sort of trouble."

"There wouldn't be." Spencer said lowly. He felt like he was speaking past lips gone numb. A sick feeling built low down in his stomach as he stared down at a face he knew—one he hadn't seen in twelve years.

Little things were starting to slide into place. Hints and clues that had been nagging at him about this whole thing. Now, it was starting to slide in, and it was starting to make far too much sense.

"Reid?"

Penelope's voice cut through the fear that had clouded his head. Drawing in a breath that wasn't near as steady as he wanted it to be, Spencer deliberately shut the file in his hand. "Thank you, Garcia. I really appreciate this." It was amazing just how steady his voice sounded. He didn't feel it; not at all. With deliberate movements, he put the folder into his messenger bag. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I need to go take care of this. Again, thank you for your help." Before she could get a chance to reply, Spencer was moving, not even bothering to wait for the elevator. He hit the stairs and hurried down them so quickly it was a wonder he didn't crash and fall.

It was even more of a wonder that he somehow managed to safely make his way from the Bureau to Belle's hotel.

He pounded on the door to her suite, not stopping until it was yanked open and he was face to face with a very annoyed looking Belle. He didn't give her the chance to gripe at him or throw out any threats. The minute the door opened and she was right there in front of him, he blurted out "I know who took Remy."

That cut off anything she'd been about to say. Her anger wiped away to a look of shock and faint hope. "What?" Recovering quickly, she opened the door wide and gestured him inside. "Get in, get in."

Spencer hurried inside, immediately moving to pace the living room. His mind was full of so much and his emotions were bouncing all over the place. There was no way he could be still. "I can't be absolutely positive, but everything fits. Really, there's no other option. I don't believe in coincidences. This is just the type of thing he'd do, too. Sneaky, underhanded, all carefully thought out and executed, all done like it was just some giant game." Blowing out a frustrated breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "I knew it didn't make sense that Samuel was left for someone to find. But of course—he didn't want anyone to take credit for his work. He wanted us to know. He wanted us to find out. I'm so stupid!"

He might've kept rambling, making less and less sense, if Belle hadn't stepped right in front of him and stopped him in his tracks with a hard slap that snapped his head to the side. She grabbed his chin immediately afterwards, forcing him to look right into her icy blue eyes. "Spencer Reid, focus! Who has our Remy?"

Drawing in a shaky breath, Spencer met her eyes and uttered a name he hadn't ever wanted to have to say or hear again. "Desi D'Amato."

Belle looked like she'd been slapped. Her hand fell off his chin and she just stood there, staring at him. "Desi?" She sounded completely stunned. "Are y' sure, Spencer?"

"As sure as I can be." Pausing, he ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from where it had fallen in his face again. He let out a shaky breath before he reached down into his messenger bag and pulled out the folder that Penelope had given him. He handed it over, watching as she opened it up. The picture of Ettore was right there on top. Belle wouldn't recognize him, he knew, but Spencer did. It was a face he wouldn't forget. "This is Ettore, Desi's right hand man. He was the one driving the cab that picked Remy up."

That had Belle's eyes snapping up to his once more. Then they darted back down, staring intently at the man's mug shot. "I can't believe we didn't think to put Desi on de list."

"It's been almost twelve years. Why would we have? I haven't heard anything from him since we left Rome and I doubt that Remy was in any form of contact with him."

The look on Belle's face changed, the rage fading into the softer edges of concern that so few got to see. The cool assassin had only two weaknesses in this world anymore since the loss of her family—Remy and Spencer. They were her only weaknesses, the easiest way to hurt her, but woe betide anyone who dared to threaten them. There were no measures she wouldn't take to protect them as she'd proved more than once in their past. Only Remy's calming hand had stayed her from more drastic measures on occasion. There was no Remy here to calm her now, though. Her eyes, when they lifted to Spencer's once more, were full of the cold promise of retribution against the one who had dared to mess with what she considered precious. "We'll bring him home." The promise was delivered in a voice as cool and hard as steel.

"We will." Spencer agreed. He had to believe it.

She closed the folder in her hands, tapping a finger against it in thought. "We need to put y' under protection. All of dis, it's f' y'. A way to draw y' out. Remy hid y' too well." Already she was moving, heading over to toss the folder down on the table and pick up the cell phone that sat there. "We'll get a few guards together, take y' over to pack a bag and den we need to book a flight back home. Y'll be safer back at home where I can protect y' proper."

Spencer cut in before she could get any further. "Belle. Belle!" He waited until she looked up from her phone and then he met her gaze unflinchingly, knowing that he was going to have to be extremely firm here or she would just run right over him. "I'm not going anywhere, Belle. I have a job here, a life, and I won't just walk away from it. I can't."

"He's doing all dis f' y', Spencer! All of dis, it's to draw y' out. Hell, de fucker probably watched me and let me lead him right to y'!" she shot back.

"I'm a Federal Agent, Belle." Spencer reminded her. "I can't just up and disappear. You know that and I'm sure that, if Desi's found me, he knows that now, too. He'll know I can't just disappear without someone noticing. If I just run off, my team will scour the country looking for me, and you can be sure they'll start with this file I had Garcia look into. What's more, they'll look into you. Morgan and Prentiss saw you that day and they'll tie in the appearance of a random person visiting me and my own disappearance not much later and tie the two together and then they'll start looking into you. Is that what you want?"

What she said next was the very last thing that Spencer had ever expected her to say. "Den y' need to tell dem de truth."

Stunned, he could only stare at her for a long moment, not quite able to form words. Tell them? She wanted him to tell them? "I…what? What?"

Moving towards him, she used the phone she still held to point at him. "Y' heard me, Spencer Reid. If we're gonna keep y' safe and y'r refusing to run with me, den y' need to tell y'r team what de hell's going on so dey can keep y' safe, too."

"I can't tell them, Belle!"

"Y' aren't gonna have a choice!" She snapped. Stopping in front of him, she jabbed his chest with her phone. "Desi isn't de type to play around, Spencer. Y' know dat. He's not some petty t'ief with a grudge. De man had money and connections back den. Can y' imagine what he'll have now? He was a ruthless, manipulative connard. De only thing dat protected y' back den was Remy's name. If dat isn't enough to scare him off anymore…" She let that thought trail off, the both of them understanding what it meant. "We need de help. M' people could keep y' safe, mais if y' won't go wit' us, den we need y'r team's help to keep y' safe when y'r away from me."

"But why does that mean they need to know my past?" He pleaded.

"So, what're y' planning on telling dem den, huh? More lies?"

"Not lies." Spencer protested immediately. "Just, not everything. All I need to do is tell them that Remy is someone I knew back when I was in college. They don't need to know anything more than that. He's my friend and he's missing."

"We both know he's more dan y'r ami." She said snidely. The look on her face turned nastier, a look she hadn't ever turned his direction before. "Maybe dey were right."

That had Spencer going still. "What are you talking about?"

"Some people said y' were ashamed of us. Dat dat's why y' left de way y' did. Why y've left Remy alone all dese years."

"I'm not ashamed of you!" He insisted. How could she think that? He'd never once been ashamed of any of them!

Scoffing, she rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, sure, Spencer. Dat's why y'r so damn willing to hide keep from telling y'r team de truth."

"You know why I left, Belle. You know why I kept my secrets."

"Back den, oui. Now? Now I'm not so sure. Y' say dese people are y'r amis. Y' say y' trust dem wit' y'r life. So why can't y' trust dem wit' y'r past? It's not like y'd be telling de whole Bureau—just dem." She ran her eyes over him and curled her lip as if what she found disgusted her. When her eyes locked on his again, they were hard and cold. "Maybe I was wrong about y' all dese years. Y' don't give a damn about Remy. Not when it puts y'r precious reputation on de line."

Spencer was moving before he'd even fully thought about it. He wasn't thinking about what he was doing, or who he was doing it to. His fury led him as he caught Belle by her shirt front and slammed her up against the wall. He leaned in close until they were almost nose to nose and he snarled lowly at her. "You watch your mouth. My entire cover could burn if it meant bringing him home. Don't you dare stand there and try to tell me I don't give a damn about him. Everything I did was to keep him safe and you damn well know it."

Much to his surprise, the coldness melted from her gaze and she flashed him a razor sharp grin that held a hint of what looked like pride. She didn't fight his hold at all. She stayed where she was and grinned at him. "About damn time." She said, surprising him even more. "I was beginning to think de Bureau had chopped y'r balls off. Nice to see dey're still dere."

Snorting, Spencer let go of her. "You've got a hell of a way with words."

Softening just slightly, she lifted her empty hand and put her palm flat over his heart. "Y' know better dan anyone just how ruthless he can be, cher. He won't let anyone or anything get in his way. Are y' really going to put y'r team at risk just to protect y'r secrets?"

"Not just mine." Spencer said softly.

A corner of her mouth quirked up. "I can look after m'self, cher. An Remy's worked hard dese past years to make sure dere's nothing dat can be connected to dis name. We can handle de scrutiny. Remy'd be willing to risk it to keep y' safe, y' know dat. An so am I."

She was right about one thing. Desi wouldn't let anyone stand in his way. He would come after Spencer, no matter who he had to take out to do it. There was no way Spencer could put his team at risk without even letting them know that they were at risk to begin with. He couldn't keep this from them. But the thought of telling them the truth, of revealing the parts of himself that he'd kept secret for so long, it terrified him. What if they didn't accept him? What if, once they found out about who he'd been, the things he'd done, they wanted nothing to do with him? He didn't know if he could take that. These people had come to mean so much to him over the years. Losing them would break him in ways he didn't want to think about.

He didn't have a choice, though. To keep them safe, he had to do this.

Why was it that all the horrible decisions he had to make in his life were always made to protect someone else?

Sighing, Spencer closed his eyes, taking a moment to gather himself. Only when he had control of his emotions again did he let his eyes open once more. When they met Belle's, they were calm, controlled, his mask firmly in place. "Okay."

The way she smiled at him broke his heart a little. She understood what he was risking here. HE was just grateful that she knew better than to comment on it. "Okay." She echoed. "Let's go swing by y'r place, pack y' up a bag, and den we'll give y'r team a call."

Surprise had his eyebrows going up. "You're coming with me?"

Smiling, Belle pushed up on her toes just enough to be able to give him a quick kiss. "Y' think I'd make y' do dis alone?" Dropping back down, she slid her arm through his, wrapping it around his waist. "C'mon, cher, let's go."

They were halfway to Spencer's place before he noticed something was wrong.

Clenching his hands down on the wheel, Spencer looked in the rearview mirror, seeing the same car that had been steadily getting closer since they left the hotel. "Belle…"

She was already sitting up a little straighter and pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I see it."

The car behind them accelerated and Spencer swore loudly. "Hang on!" he shouted. There wasn't enough time to do anything to prepare before the car struck them from behind and the air filled with the sound of metal scraping metal. The first impact jolted them forward, the car lurching wildly, and Spencer fought to get them back under control and keep them on the road. The next impact hit and there was nothing Spencer could do to stop it as the car ran off the road and straight into the trees. The last thing he heard was the sound of metal scraping metal and Belle's loud curses before there was a great crash and the world went dark.