The last thing she thought when she took this job was becoming a part of an FBI investigation. She was just doing some simple work as a substitute teacher for a couple weeks, as one of the English teachers decided that she just needed to try to get the cat out of the tree by herself. When she informed Spencer that she would be in Delaware, he had just returned from Massachusetts and was swamped in paper work. She had been there for only three weeks when one of her students, Billie, went missing. She wasn't alarmed, her father often pulled her out of class, especially since Billie's dog died two weeks prior. Her mother was nice, reminded her of her Dad a bit, he coached too. She had talked occasionally to Mrs. Copeland, but they didn't know each other that well. She just went about doing her typical after school tutoring. That was all, until she found out the father didn't have her. Cops and police swarmed the neighborhood, and before she knew it, the BAU was on their way here. She knew the statistics, she remembered reading one of Reid's book at his insistence. The colors were so dark and grey, depressing like the subject matter. She eventually just told him if he really wanted her to know this, he should just read it to her. It had been 20 hours since Billie was last seen. She could practically hear his speech and the smell of sandalwood in her mind;

"Long term stranger abductions of Billie's age are rare, they represent only half of one percent of all missing cases a year, but they are usually less likely to be fatal to the children that are abducted and murdered, 44% die with the first hour, from that point forth their odds of survival greatly decrease. 75% are gone after 3 hours, virtually all of them are dead after 24 hours."

Typically, she would just hear about these things and move on. What could she do, this was the law enforcements' job? But Spencer's speech echoed in her mind. He was saving people all the time, maybe this was her time to try to do some good. She had a background in psychology, it was with children, but maybe she could still be of use as a counselor? She still didn't know what she could do, but within 10 minutes of finding out Billie was missing, she found herself at the door of Mrs. Copeland. She raised her arm to knock, hesitated. Why would Mrs. Copeland want her around? Then she thought about how Mrs. Copeland had no near family, just an estranged ex-husband and a missing child. She put her doubts out of her mind and knocked. The echoing noise seemed too loud, it triggered a sharp smell of metallic and smoking wood in her mind. Then, Mrs. Copeland answered, her eyes puffy with a perpetual river of tears streaming down her face, and she knew she made the right choice.

"Mrs. Copeland, it's me, Dr. Stocker, I don't know if yo- "Before she finished reintroducing herself, Mrs. Copeland launched herself into her arms sobbing. Elizabeth slowly put her arms around her, patting her back. The sound of tire screeching hit her as a disgusting mix of tapioca and fish. A news truck speed down the street, parking, reporters and camera men rushed out. "Okay! Mrs. Copeland? we should go inside." Opening the door with one arm, she gently guided the sobbing woman into her home, quickly shutting the door in the face of the reporters. She shuffled her way over to the couch, seating down with Mrs. Copeland, she just hugged her as she cried. They sat there for 5 minutes. Mrs. Copeland started to calm down. Pulling apart she looked at the mother;

"Do you have any tea?" She nodded in response. It looked like she was still unable to talk. Leaving Mrs. Copeland on the couch, Elizabeth fast walked into the kitchen pulling out a kettle and water, she managed to find some jasmine tea in the cupboard. She has to say she made that tea in record time. Walking backed into the living room carrying two cups of tea, she looked up to see the reporters snapping pictures through the window. Elizabeth's face turned stony, as she gently set the tea down and briskly walked over to the window, drawing the curtain aggressively as she glared at the reporter. Turning back, she saw Mrs. Copeland seemed to have calmed down. Now just staring at the floor. "Here, drink this." She offered the hot drink. Mrs. Copeland's eyes snapped back to reality, glancing from the drink to Elizabeth in confusion.

"I'm Dr. Stocker, Billie's English teacher, we talked a couple times at the games and during a teacher conference." She offered a gentle smiled and in return she got a small curl on the edges of Mrs. Copeland's lips,

"Ahh, yes, sorry about the mess, I just, she's gone and the last thing I said, I…" Mrs. Copeland seemed to start having trouble breathing, she was going to have a panic attack.

"Mrs. Copeland! Mrs. Copeland, listen to my breathing, listen to me." Elizabeth took deep breaths, and moved the tea to the table to focus on the mother she was trying calm down. She seemed to return to normal after a couple minutes.

"Here drink this." She handed her the drink, Mrs. Copeland sipped it slowly. "Now, I heard the FBI is sending their best, they'll be here within the hour, the police are already going door to door and have set of a tip-line and…" She took the remote and turned on the T.V, immediately a picture of Billie and information of what she was wearing was being announced, "The news is already on top of it."

She was really glad that Spencer liked work so much, as because of it, they went to a FBI lecture on police procedures for child abduction case. However, the lecturer had the most boring voice ever, smelling of dust and the slight scent of mud. Seeing her boredom, what ended up happening was Spencer and she sat in the back as Spencer just went over all the procedures. That, and Spencer couldn't resist himself when it came to talking about work.

She stayed there, comforting a woman she barely knew, retelling her that Billie was a smart girl and the police knew what they were doing. Detective Russet stopped by with some police offers to ask a couple more questions then made her exit, telling them that the FBI was sending profilers and they would be here within a half an hour. She hoped it was Spencer's team, it would be nice to seem him again. Elizabeth kicked herself mentally for the selfish thought, a child was missing. For the next half hour, Elizabeth tried to keep Mrs. Copeland hopeful and competent. She would have to answer questions with the profilers soon and they would be more detailed oriented, it would not help if she was in a middle of a panic attack.

It was very anti-climactic when she meets Agent Gideon and Agent Greenaway. When she heard Spencer talk about them, she always thought about doors getting kicked down and a smug looks as they won this human game of chess. In reality, there was a quite knock on the door, and Elizabeth had to momentarily leave Mrs. Copeland. She first looked through the peephole, making sure it wasn't reporters. She saw a mild aged man and a young woman standing on the porch, quietly waiting as the woman flashed her badge saying FBI. She opened the door.

"Hello, is Mrs. Copeland here? I'm agent Greenaway and this is Agent Gideon, we're from the FBI." The young woman put her badge. "Could we come in and ask some questions?" The smell of coconut, mango, and ocean filled her senses as Agent Greenaway talked. Opening the door wide she replied, "Mrs. Copeland's in the living room, I'm ." Shea was a bit disappointed when they didn't recognize the name, but through it out of her mind. Spencer was a private person. The two agents stepped inside, she quickly closed the door after them.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you know the Copelands?" Agent Gideon asked. The smell of chicken broth and campfire washed over her at the sound of his voice, she understood why he was a teacher.

"Oh, I am working as a substitute teacher at Billie's school, when I heard the news, I felt that Mrs. Copeland should have someone around." She said innocently, leading them to the living room. She felt that they had more questions about her being a 'doctor' but she should probably leave her introduction there for now, they needed to focus on the case and even a short conversation about how she already knew them was not worth risking Billie's life. She would tell them afterwards, and maybe even get to see how to her friend was. Agent Greenaway seemed to be a bit shocked at her simplified explanation of why she was there, but Agent Gideon just smiled. They then entered the living room and shifted their focus to the reason why they were here.

"Mrs. Copeland, may I look around at your daughter's room?" Agent Gideon asked. Mrs. Copeland just nodded.

"Ah, It should be the second door down the hallway upstairs." Elizabeth called after turning around she saw Gideon already on his way upstairs. Agent Greenaway sat down next to Mrs. Copeland. Elizabeth just stood to the side, not really sure what she should do. Right then, the T.V segment about Billie played again, Detective Russet asking for the public's help. This was the seventh time they've seen it and Mrs. Copeland seemed to have gotten tired hearing about it as she turned the T.V off.

"They've been running that over and over again for the past 2 hours. The press wants to talk to me. Ms.-I mean Dr. Stocker has kept them at bay. I just- I don't think I can face it. " Mrs. Copeland stared at her hands.

"Why don't you just tell me what happened?" Agent Greenaway ask, with true concern and comfort on her face.

"Um… I was focused on practice and… Billie was… being a pain, as usual, she was giving me attitude. So I told her to run it off. I sent her away." Agent Greenaway put a comforting hand on her, speaking gently.

"How long have you been divorced?"

"Um.. its been final for six months, but we haven't lived together in over a year." Gideon steps into the doorway.

"You seeing anyone?" Greenaway asks.

Mrs. Copeland laughs in response, "Between work and Billie when would I have the time?"

Greenaway seemed surprise at this answer, and pushed for more information. "Not one date? Any men coming over to the house?"

"I had a few causal dates after work, but they never came to the house. Billie still hopes that her father and I will get back together." It was after this that Gideon makes his presence known to the women.

"How did Billie's dog die Mrs. Copeland?"

"uh…It was hit by a car, two weeks ago. How did you know that?" Sadness suspended, she innocent curiosity was all that was heard in her voice.

"Shrine in the room." Mrs. Copeland looked down, everything seemed to hit her again.

"Helps her grieve?" Gideon asked.

"Her father did that for her." Mrs. Copeland sounded bitter and thankful at the same time.

"They get along well?"

"Best of friends. She calls him every night, tells him about her day, asks about his. He's a cancer survivor so he takes time off from work, pulls her out of school for father/daughter field trips. Says we all need to stop and enjoy life, but he forgets that he has responsibilities, that they both do. Which makes me the bad guy." Her lips started to quiver again, and Elizabeth feared that she would breakdown again. "She blames me, for the divorce. blames me for everything. I should have just let her go with her father. I'm sorry." Mrs. Copeland breathed deeply and got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen for a breath. Elizabeth followed her, but slowly enough to her the two agents comment.

"She's pretty fragile."

"The last thing she did was fight with her daughter. Can you imagine what that feels like?" The smell of tapioca and fish hit Elizabeth again as the sound of brakes screeching out front. She turned back to see Agent Gideon peeked out the curtains.

"Mr. Copeland is here."

Longer chapter, hope it makes up for the wait! I am hoping to get this episode done in two more chapter. I am still unsure of what day will be the regular updates due to this week being a bit wonky, but I'll tell you guys as soon as I know. Thanks for reading!