They spent the next morning laying in bed, just being lazy, Piper running her hand through Reid's hair and talking to him, telling him stories about anything and everything. She would do it when he couldn't sleep, or when all he could do was worry about his mother. She'd sit there and talk, hoping that it would help. Piper's phone rang a little bit before lunchtime. "Hello?"
"Hey, I tried Reid but he didn't answer. I know this is… well, I know you all are dealing with a lot, but we need him to come in. You're welcome to come too," JJ's voice said on the other end of the call. "I got a flower delivery today, and we think it's from the Replicator."
"What? He… it's been months. Why now?"
"We don't know for sure," JJ admitted, "but we're all getting protective details. One should be on the way to your place right now. His name is Andrew Sanderson. I'll send over a photo in a second."
"What about the kids?"
"They're at school right now. I've already called Jessica. I-"
"I'll stay here for now," Piper volunteered. "When Sanderson gets here, we'll go pick Nate up from school. I'll get Jack and Henry too. It'll be better if we're all here together."
"Good idea. I'll let Will know. He can come and stay with you after work, just so there are more of you in the house."
"I'd feel better if he did. Two FBI agents and a cop should be enough to keep the kids from tearing the place apart," Piper laughed, Reid sitting up to look at her. "I'll let Spence know. It was the same note, wasn't it? The same word we'd been throwing around."
"Yes. I've got to call some of the others, but tell Reid I'll see him soon."
"Will do. Stay safe, JJ." Piper hung up, turning to Reid, who had immediately asked her what was going on, why they were being called in when they were both off for the day. "Zugzwang."
Agent Sanderson, who told them to call him Andy, showed up before Reid left, introducing himself to the both of them and promising that they would be just fine. Reid took off for the BAU soon after, Piper making him promise to text her when he got there. "I'll drive so you can call the school," Andy volunteered, Piper handing him her keys.
The three boys were excited to be leaving school early to get lunch and go to the park, but Piper and Andy kept their eyes glued to them the entire time. Personally, Piper was relieved when they were able to get home. Will came over when his shift was done, bringing some of Henry's things and a bag that Hotch had packed for Jack. As Andy sat with the kids building a giant Lego spaceship in the living room, Will helped Piper with dinner. "They're just glad to have a long weekend," he laughed, looking out at the group.
"I think we should tell them something's going on. I… I said Andy was a friend from work, but they're going to ask questions, especially since we're all sleeping here tonight," she told him, putting a pot on the stove.
"We're gonna have to," he agreed. "We can sit them down after dinner or something." He was the one to gather everyone up in the living room after dinner. The boys had changed into their pajamas as Piper set up some sleeping bags. There was no way they would split up - the three boys were excited to have sleeping bags in front of the fire, and she, Andy, and Will would take the couch and the armchair, with one of them awake at all times to patrol the rest of the house. They'd be up in shifts, just in case anything happened. "Boys, we've gotta tell you something."
Piper sat down on the sofa next to Will, all of them turning to her. "We're all going to camp out here tonight, even Uncle Will. You know your parents all work for the police or the FBI… well, there's a very bad man out there who wants to hurt us. But we're not going to let that happen. We're safer if we stay here together, so that's what we're gonna do."
"What about Daddy? And Aunt JJ? And Uncle Aaron?" Nate asked.
"They're at work right now, finding the bad guy and making sure he doesn't get the chance to hurt us," Piper explained, turning to Will for support.
"They're gonna call us later tonight, so we know they're okay. They're flying out somewhere to follow this guy right now. They're going to catch him."
"But since it's safer here," Piper paused, "we think it'll be better if you took the day off from school tomorrow."
They let the boys celebrate for a little bit, Will heading into the kitchen to make popcorn. Piper's phone rang, so she left Andy with the rest of them, stepping into the hall. "Hey. How's it going?"
"We're working on it. Garcia's getting us a list of potentials right now," Reid told her. "I wish I could be there with you and the kids."
"We'll manage," she laughed, watching Will try to balance bowls of popcorn on his arms as he came back into the living room. "We've got all the doors and windows locked, and don't forget our wonderful guard dog. He's loving the attention. And all the food the kids are dropping on the floor for him. Will, Andy, and I are going to take turns sitting up tonight."
"I hate to say this, but I'm glad we have a case so I don't have too much time to think about…"
"Yeah," Piper agreed, sitting down on the stairs. "You're going to be okay, Spence. You know, it's times like this that I wish you could be here, that I wish you didn't have to fly out all the time… but like I tell Nate, you're fighting bad guys, right? Well, I'd still give a kidney to have you here with me. Any idea when you'll be home?"
"Whenever I can," he sighed. "Hopefully as soon as we catch this guy."
"Want to talk to the kids?"
"Sure. I've got Hotch and JJ right here, geared up to talk. Why don't you just put us on speaker?"
"Okay, give me a sec." She returned to the living room, saying, "Boys, I've got some people here who want to talk to you."
They stayed up for a while, talking to the team, which had flown out to Pittsburgh, before Piper gave Will her phone, letting him talk to JJ while she got the rest of them ready for bed. She was taking the first shift, so she brought down a bunch of spare pillows and blankets, trying to make the sofa as comfortable as possible while the boys clambered up the stairs to brush their teeth and get ready for bed, Andy following in their wake.
Will took the sofa first, Andy falling asleep in the armchair. Piper sat at the dining room table, working on her book and occasionally looking over into the living room to see that everyone was still asleep. Every half hour, she got up to patrol the house, Chester sometimes following her around. Most of the time he stayed with the kids, though, since they adored him. He would dutifully get up and walk the house with her though, since the dog could sense that something was wrong. It was an uneventful night at first, at least until her phone rang.
"Hey, Spence, what's up? Did you get him?" she whispered, moving to the far end of the dining room so she could talk and keep an eye on everyone else at the same time.
"No. But there are photos of all of us up here, even the kids."
It felt like she had had a weight placed on her chest, Piper leaning on the wall. "What? How?"
"There are pictures of all of us at the baseball field, from the game with the Secret Service. They've got Morgan at his gym and Garcia at her public theatre and the kids at school. And me at phone booths, but I… I never used the same one. I know you don't want to hear about it, but it's important. He's been following us so close that he somehow knew..."
"So he's watching us. He's been watching us for a while."
"Strauss says the higher-ups are giving us three days back in DC before they classify him as inactive."
"How? He's going after us. He's stalking our families, Spence. She can't… they can't do that. He's a serial killer, and he's active."
"They haven't found a new body lately," Reid told her, "and they can't definitively prove they're linked. We know they're Replicator killings, but they can't prove it to themselves. They've been talking about pulling us off of the case before, and this is their excuse, I guess. We're not supposed to be investigating a case where we're the victims, even if it is just stalking. But there are pictures of all of us, so he's been watching. We're going to have to be extra careful, since we're not going to have protective details for much longer."
Realizing what this meant, Piper said, "We have to send the kids back to school. We have to keep our lives up, don't we? Spence, we can't stop everything… we're just going to have to wait until he makes another move, won't we?"
"Piper, he followed us to that clinic in Maryland."
"He knows everything about us."
"Which is why I'm going to try to get home as fast as I can," he promised. "We're going to track him down on our own, because we can't just react. We have to get ahead of this guy, because that's the only chance we've got."