NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR-
Okay so, don't hate me please. It has been 3 weeks since I updated and almost 3 weeks past when I promised I'd update again. I'm so sorry! From now on I'm not going to give you guys a specific date on when I'll update, I'll just promise you that I will because that's a promise I can keep for sure. I underestimated how hard it is to take Law and English and have a full time job. I didn't think the first weeks would be so busy, but they were and I'm so sorry!
Taylor: It's completely okay, I don't think you overreacted at all. Please, forgive me for taking so long to update! I hope you're still checking in to see if I've updated because I would hate to lose you as a reader. I'm so sorry and I hope you continue reading and enjoying the story.
This is more centered on David and the events of the episode, but at the end there's a little piece with Spencer and his family and also, David has a little something to say to Spencer. I'm going to be doing a thanksgiving chapter with Spencer and the team and of course, Spencer's family.
Here's the next chapter! Part 2 of Masterpiece.
After talking to Aaron about sending Spencer into the interrogation and telling Aaron he needed to be the only one in there, David went back into the interrogation room with the man while Aaron called Emily, Penelope and Spencer back into the conference room.
"Margaret Peters, another Gloucester point. Disappeared in 2006 on her way to work, last seen at the coffee shop she went to every morning", Aaron, like Emily and Spencer had a pile of missing persons reports in his hands.
"Check," Penelope was writing on the board while they figured out, which missing persons were victims of the narcissistic man that David was interrogating.
"That's number six, we need one more", Spencer said.
Spencer was standing, unlike Emily and Aaron leaning against the desk because he couldn't sit down. He was to eager to solve the case to sit down like the others. Spencer had a habit of walking around and standing while they worked a case because he could never not be doing something.
The three of them also had the video open on Penelope's laptop so they could watch Kaylee and the three remaining children.
Spencer realized something as they watched,
"She puts herself closest to the end, farthest from the camera".
"Why?" Emily asked.
"Maybe she knows something we don't like she doesn't have a lot of time", Aaron answered, "let's continue".
"Uh- Lindsay Conner, she was last seen when she stepped out to have a cigarette while having a blown tire fixed", Emily continued onto the next missing women.
They were trying to figure out who the seventh women was.
"Doesn't sound like something routine", Spencer said.
"Lisa McDaniels, Saluda, went missing early 2008 while on her daily jog", Aaron continued.
"Oh, she fits".
"That's seven, including Kaylee that makes eight", Aaron stated.
"Woah", Emily noticed how beautiful all the women were, everybody else had noticed this too.
"They're all incredibly beautiful".
"Almost unnaturally", Spencer said out loud, although the thought was mostly to himself.
"What are the chances that three out of our seven victims are from the same town?" Penelope asked.
"What's the population of Saluda?" Emily asked in response.
"Middlesex county is small, but it's near water. A lot of people have boats there and weekend homes", Spencer answered.
"And two from Gloucester point", just as Aaron said that Spencer's phone went off.
Derek had sent him a picture message of a strange symbol made out of toys.
"Morgan just sent this to me from the Robinson house", he showed Aaron and then looked up at the board.
He thought about what the man had said, 'without right or wrong, how would we recognize perfection?'
He looked back at Aaron and gave him his phone. Aaron noticed that Spencer had thought of something as he walked away from him and towards the board.
Spencer picked up the marker, "perfection", he said to himself.
'Analytical minds such as ours', that was another the man had said.
Emily, Penelope and Aaron were all wondering what he was thinking as he shook the marker and started writing on the board.
'Loretto 5'
Emily had his phone and was looking at the message when she looked up to watch Spencer, something Penelope and Aaron were already doing.
Spencer thought of everything the man had said during the ride to the BAU office from Stayer. He looked at the board and saw the names of the towns move onto a map in his brain. He thought of everything that was analytical and 'perfect', math, roses, which were the flower of perfection and beauty, other flowers that were beautiful, the last super portrait, ruins, the portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, which was something the man had mentioned.
' Imagine what the world would have missed if Da Vinci didn't show his work'.
Spencer thought of everything as if his brain was Penelope's search engine.
When he was done he started drawing on the board, a circle with a line through it.
"1, 1, 2, 3, 5", Spencer said to himself as he drew.
"Does that mean something?" Emily asked.
Aaron looked at what Spencer had done and wondered the same thing, trying to figure out whatever Spencer just had.
Emily, Penelope and Aaron watched as Spencer wordlessly left the room quickly.
Spencer flew into the interrogation room where David was still with the man. He ran up to the man, grabbed his pendant and ripped it off.
"I know how to find them", Spencer said, ignoring the man's greeting and protest.
Spencer ran out of the interrogation room without saying another word or explaining anything to David who just looked at the man, the man that all of a sudden didn't look as calm as he had the whole time. Professor Rothschild looked angry, angry that the young agent had figured it out.
Spencer went straight back to the conference room where Aaron and Emily had waited, but Penelope had followed with her laptop. David had also left the man in the interrogation room to follow Spencer.
"Garcia can you get a map of Virginia up on the screen?" Spencer asked as he rushed back into the conference room.
He pushed the see through board aside so they could see the screen behind it clearly. The screen had pictures of all eight women on it, but Penelope quickly got the map up. Aaron and Emily stood up as Spencer started explaining what he had figured out.
"It's an irrational number known as fib, based on the ratio of line segments to each other and to the whole. It's called the golden ratio".
"The golden rat, that's the web address. Golden ", Penelope told them.
"It's a ratio found all through life. In fact many people that we find conventional attractive are proportioned based on that ratio. He made a reference to Leonardo Da Vinci, remember this?" He asked David before continuing, "Da Vinci used it in a lot of his painting. In a matter of fact, the last supper is a perfect example if you-"
"Reid – Reid, how do we find them?" Aaron asked interrupting Spencer's ramble to get him to get to the point.
"Right, the whole concept is represented by this pendant including the logarithmic spiral created by using a fibonacci sequence. Follow me on this", Spencer told them as he turned back to the screen, holding the pendant up.
"We can manipulate this image, right?" Spencer asked.
"Tell me what you need", Penelope answered.
"Pull up all the towns the missing's are from- wonderful", Penelope had put circles on the map on the town the missing girls were from.
Spencer continued, "we had one in Richmond, one in Dinwiddie, then two Gloucester point and three in Saluda and finally, five in Loretto this morning. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 is a fibonacci series, each number added to the number before it. It's what his ticks mean, he's subconsciously counting off the fibonacci sequence in his head over and over again," Spencer explained as he realized what he was doing when he was tapping his thumbs together in rhythm, "now, geometrically it can be expressed as a spiral. It's called a logarithmic spiral. Can you put the spiral up on the map?"
Penelope did what he asked her to do quickly.
"Thanks. Okay, now flip it 180 degrees- now make it bigger- bigger- just a little bit bigger- stop, stop, stop", Spencer instructed.
"The pendant is like a key," he told them, putting the pendant up to the screen, "Chester, Virginia".
David walked forward, "you're sure?" He asked.
"With his level of obsession with these numbers the ratio will have permeated his entire life. If we took a city map of Chester, the location of where Kaylee and the children are being held will fall in one of these points on that map as well. The ratio works with any scale at all".
"Morgan and Todd are closer, call them and tell them to get to Chester", Aaron directed, "I'm going to get a chopper ready. Reid and Prentiss, get a city map and you're with me".
Spencer watched as Aaron left the conference room. He felt a thrill go through him as he realized that he would be going out into the field.
"There's still something bugging me about this", David said to Penelope as he looked at the map.
David had a feeling that Spencer hadn't figured out everything. There was something that they were missing, some vital piece of information that would explain what was really going on.
If only he could figure it out.
After talking to Aaron about sending Spencer into the interrogation and telling Aaron he needed to be the only one in there, David went back into the interrogation room with the man while Aaron called Emily, Penelope and Spencer back into the conference room.
"Margaret Peters, another Gloucester point. Disappeared in 2006 on her way to work, last seen at the coffee shop she went to every morning", Aaron, like Emily and Spencer had a pile of missing persons reports in his hands.
"Check," Penelope was writing on the board while they figured out, which missing persons were victims of the narcissistic man that David was interrogating.
"That's number six, we need one more", Spencer said.
Spencer was standing, unlike Emily and Aaron leaning against the desk because he couldn't sit down. He was to eager to solve the case to sit down like the others. Spencer had a habit of walking around and standing while they worked a case because he could never not be doing something.
The three of them also had the video open on Penelope's laptop so they could watch Kaylee and the three remaining children.
Spencer realized something as they watched,
"She puts herself closest to the end, farthest from the camera".
"Why?" Emily asked.
"Maybe she knows something we don't like she doesn't have a lot of time", Aaron answered, "let's continue".
"Uh- Lindsay Conner, she was last seen when she stepped out to have a cigarette while having a blown tire fixed", Emily continued onto the next missing women.
They were trying to figure out who the seventh women was.
"Doesn't sound like something routine", Spencer said.
"Lisa McDaniels, Saluda, went missing early 2008 while on her daily jog", Aaron continued.
"Oh, she fits".
"That's seven, including Kaylee that makes eight", Aaron stated.
"Woah", Emily noticed how beautiful all the women were, everybody else had noticed this too.
"They're all incredibly beautiful".
"Almost unnaturally", Spencer said out loud, although the thought was mostly to himself.
"What are the chances that three out of our seven victims are from the same town?" Penelope asked.
"What's the population of Saluda?" Emily asked in response.
"Middlesex county is small, but it's near water. A lot of people have boats there and weekend homes", Spencer answered.
"And two from Gloucester point", just as Aaron said that Spencer's phone went off.
Derek had sent him a picture message of a strange symbol made out of toys.
"Morgan just sent this to me from the Robinson house", he showed Aaron and then looked up at the board.
He thought about what the man had said, 'without right or wrong, how would we recognize perfection?'
He looked back at Aaron and gave him his phone. Aaron noticed that Spencer had thought of something as he walked away from him and towards the board.
Spencer picked up the marker, "perfection", he said to himself.
'Analytical minds such as ours', that was another the man had said.
Emily, Penelope and Aaron were all wondering what he was thinking as he shook the marker and started writing on the board.
'Loretto 5'
Emily had his phone and was looking at the message when she looked up to watch Spencer, something Penelope and Aaron were already doing.
Spencer thought of everything the man had said during the ride to the BAU office from Stayer. He looked at the board and saw the names of the towns move onto a map in his brain. He thought of everything that was analytical and 'perfect', math, roses, which were the flower of perfection and beauty, other flowers that were beautiful, the last super portrait, ruins, the portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, which was something the man had mentioned.
' Imagine what the world would have missed if Da Vinci didn't show his work'.
Spencer thought of everything as if his brain was Penelope's search engine.
When he was done he started drawing on the board, a circle with a line through it.
"1, 1, 2, 3, 5", Spencer said to himself as he drew.
"Does that mean something?" Emily asked.
Aaron looked at what Spencer had done and wondered the same thing, trying to figure out whatever Spencer just had.
Emily, Penelope and Aaron watched as Spencer wordlessly left the room quickly.
Spencer flew into the interrogation room where David was still with the man. He ran up to the man, grabbed his pendant and ripped it off.
"I know how to find them", Spencer said, ignoring the man's greeting and protest.
Spencer ran out of the interrogation room without saying another word or explaining anything to David who just looked at the man, the man that all of a sudden didn't look as calm as he had the whole time. Professor Rothschild looked angry, angry that the young agent had figured it out.
Spencer went straight back to the conference room where Aaron and Emily had waited, but Penelope had followed with her laptop. David had also left the man in the interrogation room to follow Spencer.
"Garcia can you get a map of Virginia up on the screen?" Spencer asked as he rushed back into the conference room.
He pushed the see through board aside so they could see the screen behind it clearly. The screen had pictures of all eight women on it, but Penelope quickly got the map up. Aaron and Emily stood up as Spencer started explaining what he had figured out.
"It's an irrational number known as fib, based on the ratio of line segments to each other and to the whole. It's called the golden ratio".
"The golden rat, that's the web address. Golden ", Penelope told them.
"It's a ratio found all through life. In fact many people that we find conventional attractive are proportioned based on that ratio. He made a reference to Leonardo Da Vinci, remember this?" He asked David before continuing, "Da Vinci used it in a lot of his painting. In a matter of fact, the last supper is a perfect example if you-"
"Reid – Reid, how do we find them?" Aaron asked interrupting Spencer's ramble to get him to get to the point.
"Right, the whole concept is represented by this pendant including the logarithmic spiral created by using a fibonacci sequence. Follow me on this", Spencer told them as he turned back to the screen, holding the pendant up.
"We can manipulate this image, right?" Spencer asked.
"Tell me what you need", Penelope answered.
"Pull up all the towns the missing's are from- wonderful", Penelope had put circles on the map on the town the missing girls were from.
Spencer continued, "we had one in Richmond, one in Dinwiddie, then two Gloucester point and three in Saluda and finally, five in Loretto this morning. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 is a fibonacci series, each number added to the number before it. It's what his ticks mean, he's subconsciously counting off the fibonacci sequence in his head over and over again," Spencer explained as he realized what he was doing when he was tapping his thumbs together in rhythm, "now, geometrically it can be expressed as a spiral. It's called a logarithmic spiral. Can you put the spiral up on the map?"
Penelope did what he asked her to do quickly.
"Thanks. Okay, now flip it 180 degrees- now make it bigger- bigger- just a little bit bigger- stop, stop, stop", Spencer instructed.
"The pendant is like a key," he told them, putting the pendant up to the screen, "Chester, Virginia".
David walked forward, "you're sure?" He asked.
"With his level of obsession with these numbers the ratio will have permeated his entire life. If we took a city map of Chester, the location of where Kaylee and the children are being held will fall in one of these points on that map as well. The ratio works with any scale at all".
"Morgan and Todd are closer, call them and tell them to get to Chester", Aaron directed, "I'm going to get a chopper ready. Reid and Prentiss, get a city map and you're with me".
Spencer watched as Aaron left the conference room. He felt a thrill go through him as he realized that he would be going out into the field.
"There's still something bugging me about this", David said to Penelope as he looked at the map.
David had a feeling that Spencer hadn't figured out everything. There was something that they were missing, some vital piece of information that would explain what was really going on.
If only he could figure it out.
"Reid, are you sure you're able to handle this?" Aaron had asked him before the three of them headed out.
"Yes, Hotch, I am. This is my job, I need to do it", Spencer answered.
Aaron knew what Spencer was really telling him, 'I need to be here or I'm going to go crazy after what happened'.
Aaron nodded, "let's go".
The three of them grabbed their bullet proof vest and ran out of the building as fast as they could, to get to they copper, to save Kaylee and the children.
All of them were hoping that they made it there before somebody else died.
Spencer called Jordan and told them about what they had figured out, and her and Derek sped off to Chester from Loretto.
While they were on their way to save Kaylee and the children, David was trying to figure out what was really going on. Who was this Professor Rothschild? What game were they really playing? And why?
That's when he thought of something, or rather someone.
William Grace, 1997, a man he had got and had been executed. He had been severely depraved and had killed many people before finally getting caught. That was eleven years ago, but after getting Penelope to do some research, and then getting some test done David figured something out. The man in the interrogation room wasn't a man named Professor Rothschild, but rather Henry Grace, the brother of the serial killer David had put away all those years ago.
That's when everything made sense, and after talking to Spencer and telling him what he had figured out they realized what was really happening, or would've happened and David hadn't followed his instincts.
David went into the interrogation room where Henry Grace was looking at his watch, which he had off his wrist. He looked up when he heard David come in and shut the door.
"Chester, Virginia".
"What?" Henry asked.
"The whole team's going there", David told him.
"I see", Henry's plan was going perfectly, or at least that's what he thought.
"They'll be there before 4 o'clock, before the next deadline. You lose".
Henry stayed silent.
"Explain something to me, this is all about a geometric pattern?"
"Fib is much more than a geometric pattern David", Henry answered, putting his watch back on.
"Killing all those women, Kayleen Robinson, the first seven", David continued as he walked around the interrogation table, around the man that had tried to take away his family.
All David wanted to do was tell the man that he knew, but they needed a confession.
"You killed them because they were beautiful?"
"You mean hypothetically?"
"Well, I'm just trying to understand this math thing".
"All animals desperately need a way to detect others of their species. Dogs have scent, dolphins have sound, the golden ratio is a subconscious identifier of perfect humanness. If I had done all these things it wouldn't be because they were beautiful, it would be because they were perfect examples of humanity".
"Because they're human?"
"Hypothetically speaking".
"This doesn't make any sense to me, killing a human because they're human?"
"Do you know what homo sapiens sapiens actually means David? It's literal translation?"
"No", David answered, continuing to walk around the table
"Man, wise, wise," Henry told him, "think about that. We named ourselves double wise, we're twice as wise as every other creature on the planet, the hubris, the arrogance. Humans are a blight, we should all be eradicated".
"You hate humanity?"
"Every bit as much as you do".
"I don't hate humanity".
"I told you I read all of your books. It's in there, everyone of them, your hatred. You're first book, chapter three, page 89," Henry continued tapping his fingers together in rhythm with the numbers, " 1, 3, 89, all Fibonacci numbers".
'The first time I saw one of William Grace's victims I knew I was looking at the residue of pure evil. I would never again feel completely safe around a human being'.
'Here we go', David thought as the man quoted his book.
"This is all about my books?" David asked, sitting down across from the previously mentioned man's brother.
"Like you I know exactly what human beings are capable of".
"I can hate the things people do, but have pity for who they are".
"Pity? You pity them?" Henry Grace stood up, anger flooded him as he found it hard to keep his calm composer through his hatred for the man that had killed his brother.
"Any man who feels that the only way to have power or purpose is to hurt others deserves pity", David tried to keep his eyes on Henry as he walked around the table, around him, behind him.
"Your fifth book, chapter thirteen, page 144,
'I know it makes little sense to try to deter violence with more violence, but deterrence is not why I believe in the death penalty. There are some people that are so violent, so evil that society has no choice, but to be done with them. Vengeance is something that society needs from time to time, if for no other purpose then to keep the rest of us sane'.
Where is the pity?"
Just then Penelope came into the interrogation room, "sir, they found the house. You were right, they're going inside now", she told David.
"Thank you", he replied.
She left and once she did Henry continued, "vengeance keeps us sane. What a fascinating statement. You may have your vengeance as I am about to have mine".
"What?" David asked, feigning terror.
"They're never going to make it out of that house David. It was never about that perfect woman or those wonderful children. It was about your team, your merry band of five, they complete my sequence".
David got up and ran over to the door, pressing the button to page Penelope.
"Garcia, get Hotch on the phone, now!"
"It's too late David," Henry said, he believed he had won, "the minute they stepped into that house they were dead. I knew if I kept prodding you that you would rise to my challenge".
"Hotch isn't answering", came Penelope's voice from the pager.
"Try Morgan!" David replied.
"Knew that you would insist on being alone in the room with me", Henry continued, walking right up to David so they were face to face and barely feet away from each other, "that you would try to beat me, I knew you would send them all out there".
"No, nothing", Penelope paged through again.
"Try Prentiss or Reid! It's a trap! Stop them!"
"You're not just full of hatred David. You're also filled with arrogance, hubris just like every other human being, just like me".
"I can't reach anyone", Penelope told David through the pager.
"Try again!"
"They're never going to answer, you lose", Henry said.
"Why? What did I ever do?" David asked.
Henry watched David as he walked away from the pager, turning his back on him.
He walked up behind him and answered, "William Grace, the man you called the face of pure evil, my brother. My life ended the day you arrested him, every time someone talked about William Grace they talked about his parents and his brother, Henry because no one could believe that anybody that evil could possibly hide in the darkness. Surely someone must have seen, someone must have known, surely his own brother. I had a fiance that was a beautiful woman, a perfect woman. She sent the ring back to me, she said she was afraid to give it to me in person, she was afraid of me".
"She was a brunette", David stated.
David and Penelope had already found out all about his fiance and had contacted her and figured out the whole story before hand.
"So then I started getting these thoughts, these ideas, these images inside my head and I couldn't- I couldn't escape them. And then I realized my brother hadn't been alone in the darkness, I shared the same genetics you so casual dismiss. I started a second life, no one knew, but something was missing and I couldn't figure it out and then David Rossi, the man that ruined my life, and suddenly I knew what it was that was missing because you", Henry was on the other side of the table and pointed at him as he continued walking around, "had written it. Vengeance, vengeance".
David sat down at the table, "you murdered all those women just because of me?"
Henry leaned down and answered in David's ear, "that's right, I killed twelve people because of you. You took my family, I take yours".
Henry moved back from David with such arrogance that David couldn't wait to say his next words.
"Did you get all that?"
Henry looked up at the mirror that he couldn't see through, but Penelope could.
"Every word boss", Penelope answered.
"I'll make copies before I give it to the US attorney", he told her, "this might make a pretty good teaching aid".
"Yes sir", Penelope said as David took out his phone.
"Teaching?" Henry asked.
"Yeah, I teach interrogation at the FBI academy", David answered, "Hotch, Garcia said I got it right?"
On the other end of the phone Aaron was telling David that he had been right about everything. They had found the acid tanks around back and the acid would've covered everywhere, outside of the room where Kaylee and the children had been. The house had also been booby trapped.
"And what about Kaylee and the kids?"
Aaron told him he was right about them being a decoy and that they were fine.
"Oh no, that was Reid who figured out his obsession with those numbers. He wasn't about to kill ten people this afternoon, that's not in the pattern".
Aaron asked him if he had gotten the confession from Henry and David told him, "took some doing, thank you".
David hung up after thanking Aaron, he was sincerely grateful. He was grateful that Aaron and the team had trusted him and let him do what he felt he had to do. He was grateful because if Aaron and the team hadn't trusted David's instincts they'd all be dead, and that was something that David believed would kill him.
"You'll be charged with kidnapping, but Kaylee and the kids, they're all safe", David told Henry, "you'll only face murder charges on the original seven women".
"With no evidence?"
"Yeah, you uh- you mentioned that when we first met. That we would never be able to get you on those", David had stood up and was checking himself in the mirror before turning to Henry, "I think you'll discover that the video taped has the power to move a lot of jurors".
David then smirked and turned away from Henry.
The case was closed and the women and children were safe and David couldn't be prouder. Henry however, was furious and as David turned his back on him he let out an infuriated scream and attacked him from behind.
David easily protected himself, throwing Henry into the blinds face first, causing his glasses to fall off his face and then turned him around to face him.
"You waited until I turned my back, didn't you Henry? Just like you did with those women", Henry struggled to break out of David's hold and growled in anger, "don't give me a reason to hurt you. Oh, and one more thing, I'm gonna be there when they strap you down for that lethal injection and just before they hit the plunger I'm gonna lean in real close and tell you to say hello to your scumbag brother".
David banged Henry into the blinds one more time before letting go and leaving the interrogation room.
When Penelope sent Spencer a message telling him about what David had figured out and what he speculated he had showed the message to Aaron. They had still been in the copper and Aaron had showed Emily who then called Jordan and Derek. Jordan and Derek had still been on their way to Kaylee and the children when they got the message.
Aaron, Emily and Spencer had gotten to the house just as Jordan and Derek did. Aaron lead the way, Emily in toe and Spencer and Derek following behind them, bullet proof vest on and guns at the ready.
Spencer and Emily had gone around the house to see if they found anything and what they found were acid tanks. Jordan and Derek went into the house after the threat of the booby trap was gone and they got Kaylee and the children out safely. Derek also found the child that had "died" in another area of the "masterpiece" with a gas mask still on her face.
After Kaylee and the children were safely out of the house and the team knew that everything was going to be okay Jordan and Derek had a talk. Spencer was standing beside a police car talking with Emily when they noticed the two previously quarrelling people talking. They moved towards them and neither Jordan or Derek seemed to notice them beside them. Spencer and Emily watched the two walk away from them before turning to each other.
"This is going to be interesting", Spencer said.
"Yeah", Emily agreed as Jordan and Derek went back to the FBI van talking, and laughing together.
Emily and Spencer walked together to the FBI van they came in and drove back to Quantico, Virginia with Aaron, relieved that they had saved Kaylee and the children in time, and also relieved that David had figured out Henry's plan before they fell into his trap.
David walked down the BAU hallways with pride, walking up to one of the men that would be escorting Henry to jail until his trial and signed the papers he had to sign, glancing up at Henry for only a second before turning away.
Henry stood in the elevator, handcuffed and held by two men as he watched David with hatred, taking a step forward as David turned around and watched Henry as the doors to the elevator closed.
David then smiled and went into the busy office, happy that the case was closed, and that he had won.
The team arrived at the BAU office at 6:30pm where they found that David had waited because, and he wouldn't admit it, he wanted to see the team that he had begun to think of as family. He wanted to see that they were okay and when he saw that they were he told everyone that they could do the paperwork in the morning and go home.
Nobody had any objections as the case had been one of those hard ones that had their hearts pumping twice as fast, and their minds working twice as hard to solve the case in time.
They talked and laughed together as they packed up their things, and of course, before departing they all stopped to talk to Spencer. They had congratulated David on figuring out who Henry was, but in all the commotion of trying to solve the case they hadn't thought to ask Spencer if he was doing okay being back at work.
"So, pretty boy, how's your first day?" Derek finally asked, "was it exciting enough?"
"You know what? No, it wasn't as exciting as I hoped", Spencer joked.
The team was surprised by this, surprised by Spencer's light and happy mood. They were surprised that he was handling what happened so well. He didn't seem like he did after Tobias Hankel where he just tried avoiding it, he seemed genuinely happy to be back at work.
"I'll make sure to tell Strauss that you've done well on your first day back", Aaron said, "and we'll see you tomorrow".
Spencer smiled at Aaron before hurriedly getting the last of his things, saying goodbye to everybody and heading out. David followed him and upon catching up with him said,
"Thank you for everything you did today Reid".
"What do you mean?"
"We couldn't have solved the case if you hadn't have figured out his obsession with those numbers and if we hadn't have known that, I wouldn't have known it was a trap".
"I was just doing my job as part of the team Rossi".
"I know, but Reid- I saw how happy you were when Henry said you were an asset to us... I know we don't say it enough-"
"You don't have to say it Rossi, I already know. It was just nice to hear it".
"I know, I know it's nice to feel appreciated and recognized, especially-"
"Especially when you're someone like me?"
"Well, no, I wasn't going to say-"
Spencer gave the nervous man a look that clearly said 'I know what you meant'.
"Okay Reid, yes, someone that has been through what you've been through, especially recently would need that appreciation and recognition", David paused, looking Spencer straight in the eye he continued, "we do appreciate and recognize you and I know you're an asset to the FBI. I mightn't have thought that when we first met, but I know that now and I wanted to thank you. Not only for today, but for everything else, for coming back to work so quickly and for all the things you've done before... what happened, and for just being one of the best agents I've known in my career".
Spencer was speechless, he had never expected David Rossi of all people to make a speech like that, especially to him and he felt like tearing up. Having Henry say that had felt good earlier, but having David say that meant so much more. David was the man that had saved him and his family seventeen years ago from his father, Spencer highly respected him and David had been his inspiration, along with Jason for him joining the BAU.
Spencer nodded, it was all he could do, but David understood.
"See you tomorrow Reid", he said before turning and letting Spencer get into his car.
It was a little after 7:30pm when Spencer pulled into his driveway. He saw his children come into the window at hearing the sound of a car and he saw them leave it, no doubt running to the door to see him. The door opened as he walked up the pathway to it and Sarah and Ben ran out, both already in their pyjamas and threw their arms around him.
"Hi daddy!" Sarah squealed.
"We missed you today dad!" Ben's excited voice said after.
"I missed you guys too", Spencer replied as he picked them up, as my as he could considering they weighed 155 pounds together.
"Come on guys, let your dad get inside the house before you maul him like cubs", Maeve laughed.
Spencer looked up at her when he heard her voice. She was standing there in the hallway holding Elizabeth and as he looked at her a thought came to him.
Henry had killed seven women and had kidnapped Kaylee because they were perfect women, and he had also created his whole plan and referred to it as a masterpiece. However, standing there looking at his wife of twelve years and being mauled by two of their children and looking at the third, or fifth rather, and hearing their second coming down the stairs to see him he couldn't help, but think that he was the one that had created a masterpiece. After all, he had four, five wonderful children of his own and he had a perfect women that had married him and loved him even though his family was full of serial killers and the other side had a fear of Schizophrenia. She loved him and he loved her and his whole life with her was a masterpiece.
Spencer thought he was the luckiest man in the universe at that moment and it was moments like that that reminded Spencer that he could get through everything and anything.