After the initial shock, everyone was quick to give her hugs. Well, most of them. Derek watched with hurt eyes as Garcia and Rossi, hugged her and watched as Reid was completely hesitant, before she pulled him in. He was even more pissed now, thinking what could possibly be going through Spencer's mind at the moment.

Derek and Spencer made brief eye contact, but from it, Derek knew Spencer wanted to, needed to talk to him after all of this was over.

"I am so sorry, I really am. Not a day went by that I didn't want to. Really, I," she trailed off as she stepped away from hugging Spencer and moved to Derek. She pulled away and walked over to the evidence boards.

"You didn't deserve that, and I'm so sorry. There is so much I want to tell you guys, and, and I will, I promise, but right now, I really need to know what's going on with Declan."

Derek watched Spencer's face, automatically knowing he was already beginning to compartmentalize all the feelings. He was right and held to the fact that they needed to get all this stuff with Doyle done before he would even allow himself to feel something else.

"Emily, was there another man living at that house?" Spencer asked.

She nodded. "Yes, my friend, Tom Koehler. He was raising Declan as his own."

"Where is he?" JJ asked.

"I never saw him go in or out of that house," Garcia added.

"Uh, he's on assignment overseas," Emily explained.

"But he's all right?"

"Yes, he's on his way back now. He got a call from Declan, called me, and when I landed, Hotch told me you had Doyle in custody."

"And, because of Tom's line of work, that's why you enrolled Declan in boarding school," Hotch said.

"I made sure that he, Louise, and I were the only ones allowed to take him off campus."

"Louise took him home last night because he was sick," Spencer explained. "Food poisoning," Hotch added.

"Yeah, a few of the kids had it, apparently, so whoever did this got to him on campus. They knew they only had one chance."

"Current suspect is Richard Gerace. He's the most recent arrival into the States. We've been tracking his progress through the city but we came up empty," JJ explained.

"We know it was him because of the scar," Garcia mentioned.

"That doesn't make any sense. Gerace gave up on Doyle a long time ago."

"He said you were the only one who knew Gerace," Rossi told her.

"Which is why I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the balls to pull this off. There was no forced entry at the house?"

Derek shook his head. "I had two agents working security."

"We think Gerace and his partner posed as the next shift, and one of the agents was a woman," Spencer explained.

"She's the alpha."

"So we're looking for a woman who's getting back at Doyle."

"And our suspect list just got a whole lot longer."


Garcia, Emily, and JJ had left to go to Garcia's office, to compile a list of woman that Doyle had relationships with.

"Doyle had relations with all these ladies?" Penelope asked as they went through all the possible candidates.

"Most," Emily replied.

"Wow," Garcia whispered as she continued to make the list.

"Hey, can you shoot these into the round table room for me?" Emily asked.

Penelope smiled. "Anything you say, Visitor Prentiss."

Emily laughed as JJ and she left, making their way back to the conference room.

"So, you're actually back?" Emily asked as they left Garcia's office.

JJ nodded. "They've been looking for your replacement, and Rossi called me."

"That's great! How's Will with all the long hours again?"

JJ let out a sigh. "Long story."

"I haven't seen Ashley," Emily said, knowing that it would be a good idea to change the subject.

"Oh, well she transferred to Andi Swann's unit."

"Good for her." There was an awkward pause between the two of them before Emily decided to ask the question she'd been wanting. "So, uh, how angry is the team?"

"They're in shock."

"I'm mostly worried about Morgan and Reid," Emily admitted. "I feel so horrible over everything that happened with Morgan and then, Reid had been suffering from those headaches, and I know this isn't going to help."

"He actually took a sabbatical to participate in a clinical trial for them," JJ explained.

"Really? And did it work?"

JJ shrugged. "From what I've seen."

"I thought you two were close?"

"We are, it's just, he's been acting weird lately," JJ responded shortly, not really wanting to discuss the issue further.

Emily stopped and turned to JJ. "Thank you."

"It's really good to see you."


"Reid, can I talk to you real quick?" Derek asked after the three women had left to Garcia's office. Spencer looked up from the file he had been reading and nodded, following Derek out of the room and to his office.

"What did you want to talk about?" Spencer asked after Derek closed the door.

Derek didn't say anything as he pulled Spencer into hug. Spencer didn't react right away but Derek felt himself smile when he Spencer's arms wrapped around him and Spencer shoved his face into Derek's shoulder.

They stood their for a couple of minutes, taking advantage of the few spare minutes they had.

"Thank you," Spencer mumbled into Derek's shoulder before the two stepped apart.

Derek kissed Spencer, loving the feel of Spencer's soft lips against his own. "We're going to talk when this is all over, okay?" Derek asked after he pulled away.

Spencer didn't say anything and nodded, quickly kissing Derek again. "That should hold me over for a few more hours," he mumbled as rested his head against Derek's shoulder for a few seconds.

"We should probably get back," Derek said reluctantly. Spencer nodded and the two returned to the conference room, where JJ and Emily had returned with more information for them.


Emily had brought up the list that Garcia had compiled, explaining that they were all the possible candidates that had probably crossed paths with Gerace.

They had profiled that whoever was working with Gerace had showed rage towards Declan's nanny, as the nanny had been the one person with Declan since he was born, which could represent a caregiver: even a mother figure in the alpha-females eyes.

After Hotch had asked who Declan's mother was, Emily only knew Doyle had told her she was dead.

Deciding that Emily could be the only person that Doyle would explain the story of Declan's mother to, they agreed that she would be the next person to interrogate him.

The shock from Doyle had been predicted but he quickly played it off. Emily presented him the images of the women, ordering him to point out which one had been Declan's mother.

He pointed to a woman named Chloe Donaghy, but he had insisted she had nothing to do with any of this, since Doyle said he tried to kill her for trying to kill Declan before he was even born.

Doyle then explained how the people working with her were just being used until she was done with them, getting rid of them once she had what she wanted.

While Emily was talking to Doyle, the rest of the team were in the conference room and had looked at the security footage on the date of Declan's abduction from his boarding school. The woman had just walked into the school carrying a tray of tainted cupcakes.

They looked through Donaghy's police records and had been shocked with everything she had done. They were unsure of her reasons for taking Declan, having profiled that she wasn't the mothering type. Hotch had then pointed out that it wasn't for love, figuring this would be her best way to get back at Ian Doyle: revenge for the torture that he put her through. That was then confirmed with everything Emily had learned from Doyle, along with the fact that she and Gerace were working together since he had the kind of money that Chloe was after.

Emily had gotten a list of people who had that kind of money, and anyone who wanted to kill him, in hopes of finding the team that had take Declan.

Garcia ran names and found a man who was in a family feud between his family, the McDermott's, and the Doyles that went back. Doyle had killed Lachlan McDermott's older brother. McDermott owned an 'import company', which shipped internationally, and it was obvious that he was the the person in the team.

After finding that he owned a warehouse that was going to be torn down in Baltimore, most of the team had headed to the harbor, leaving Emily and Reid at Quantico.

Knowing they had little time before the team reached Baltimore, Emily wanted to take advantage of the alone time she now had with Reid.

After the team had left, Garcia returned to her office, and Emily and Spencer remained in the conference room in an awkward silence.

Emily, who had been looking at the evidence board, turned towards Reid, who was still sitting at the round table, head resting on one his hands he had propped on the table and looking at the file in front of him with disinterest.

"Reid, can I talk to you?" Emily asked as she stepped away from the board and took a seat next to Spencer.

Spencer didn't respond. There wasn't any acknowledgement that he had heard her and he continued staring at the file in front of him.

"Reid? Did you hear me?" She frowned as Spencer didn't respond. Slightly worried, she leaned forward and put her on hand Spencer's arm that was resting on the table. "Reid?"

He jumped slightly and looked around. "Forgot where I was for a moment," he mumbled.

"You didn't hear me calling your name?" Emily asked him. Spencer shook his head. "Were you asleep?"

"No."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You were unresponsive for almost a minute," she explained. She watched as he paled slightly. "Reid?"

"I, uh. I think-"

"You think what?" Emily asked, growing slightly more concerned.

"I think I just had a seizure," he whispered. "I'm fine though," he said quickly, before Emily even had the chance to say something. "It's a side effect from the treatment I got for my headaches," he quickly explained, hoping she wouldn't see through the lie.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Don't tell anyone, okay?" he pleaded.

"You know I won't," she told him, giving him a small smile.

"They'll worry, I know you will, but still."

Emily nodded and her smile grew at the familiar words. Emily went to something but was cut off when Reid's phone rang.

"Yeah?"

"Gerace's dead. We're pretty sure Chloe killed him figuring that she didn't need him anymore to handle Declan. We need to talk to Doyle."

Spencer hung up and shared the news with Emily before he stood up and left the room, Emily following behind him.


Emily stayed behind as she watched Spencer walk into the interrogation room that was holding Doyle.

"Your ex is working with Lachlan McDermott," Spencer said as the door shut behind him. "How would he leave the country?"

"I don't know. He has endless funds, you'd never stop him."

"And he hates you, doesn't he?"

"More than you do."

"Then I think we should give him what he really wants. You."

Realizing what Spencer was doing, Emily quickly entered the room. "No, we are not letting him out of here, Reid."

"Emily, I will chain myself to him if I have to."

"He'll find a way to escape."

"No, he won't. And we're running out of time; if we find McDermott now, we have a chance to save Declan."

Emily thought it over for a few minutes before sighing and giving in: she knew Reid was right. "Get everything ready, I'll call and tell Hotch."

Most things worked out once everything fell into place. The team had managed to arrive at the airstrip before Chloe and McDermott got away.

After they declared the trade off, McDermott escorted Declan off the jet, Chloe staying behind. As they went to hand Doyle off, Chloe stepped off the plane and shot both Doyle and McDermott before Reid made the shot that killed her.

Declan was saved.

Arrangements had been made for Declan and they headed back to the BAU.

Strauss was waiting for them in the conference room. "Even with the outcome of this case, you all went against the guidelines. Many. The director has ordered suspension for the entire team while an investigation is taken for both your team and this case. It is effective as of now. In two weeks, you'll be allowed to request reinstatement, and that will only be decided on after a hearing."

No one said anything, no one reacted. They remained there, quiet and still, until Strauss left.

Hotch stepped forward and turned to address the team. "We all knew the risks going into this case," Hotch began. "We knew our actions were going to be reprimanded. Despite all of that, I am proud of what we were able to accomplish, as you all should be."

He looked over their tired faces, knowing that they had all achieved something great that night.

"All of you, go home and rest. We'll have to get together at some point to discuss everything, but that can wait until later on. You're dismissed."

Everyone instantly scattered to collect their things. "Reid, can I give you a ride home?" Derek offered, being that that was their primary cover.

Spencer nodded and grabbed his things before following Derek out.

The drive home was silent: both of them were exhausted. After they had entered the house, they both dropped their stuff on the floor of their bedroom, stripped down to their boxers, and climbed into bed.

"Night Derek," Spencer whispered as he wrapped his arms around Derek's waist.

"Night, baby boy," Derek responded, kissing the top of Spencer's head.

The two fell asleep instantly.