8 months ago:

Brennan walked into the house and sighed loudly. She had just come from the doctor and finally been given then go ahead to return to work. She didn't allow Spencer to go to her therapy appointments with her. That was her time to talk about her feelings.

She leaned her head back against the door before frowning as she heard a noise upstairs. She pushed away from the door and headed up the stairs stopping outside of the room they had planned to use for the nursery. The noises were coming from that room.

Brennan opened the door and immediately felt red hot rage overcome her body as she saw Spencer packing up the room. "What are you doing?!"

Spencer turned to look at her. "I'm trying to help. You won't let me in. I thought if we put her things away maybe it could help you to move past this."

"Move past this? Spencer, our daughter was murdered and four months later you want to just pack away her things and forget she ever existed?"

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Brennan."

Brennan moved to the box he was packing and started pulling out stuffed animals and putting them back on the crib. "Just go away, Spencer. What are you even doing home? You should be at work."

"There was no case. I thought I could get this done and then we could have a night together, the two of us and figure things out."

"There is nothing to figure out." Brennan ran a hand through her strawberry blonde hair. "Please go."

"I want to talk. I want to help you."

Brennan moved quickly and pushed him away from her and toward the door of the room. "Go away. Stay away from me and away from Jennifer's things!" Jennifer, their daughter, named after their best friend, lost before she had even been born.

She went back to the box and grabbed the bear that had monogrammed letters on it's ear. She clutched the bear to her chest, feeling her tears coming on and sank to the floor beside the box.

"Let me help you," Spencer begged as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She pulled out of his touch. "Please just go away and leave me alone."

Spencer left the room feeling hopeless. He didn't know how to help his wife. He didn't know how to make her feel even slightly better. He missed his daughter too. The pregnancy had been an accident, neither of them had ever wanted kids, but as her belly grew so did his love and want for his unborn child.

He sighed and leaned his head against the closed door as he heard her sobs from inside the room. He laid his hand on the door before he left the house. He would head into the office for a while and give her some space and then try and talk to her when he got home.

When he got home that night she was gone. Her clothes were missing and most of Jennifer's things were gone as well. All he found was a note on the table that said, 'I'm sorry, Spencer.'

Rossi leaned his head into the conference room and looked to Reid. "Hey, kid, can we talk for a moment?"

Spencer frowned at him before he got up from his seat and walked out of the room with Rossi. "They're about to present a case."

"When was the last time you spoke with Brennan?"

Spencer watched the man for a moment before he spoke slowly. "I haven't spoken to Brennan since she walked out of the house. She doesn't answer my calls or my texts. She talks to my mom and JJ, they're the ones who keep me in touch with what's going on with her."

Rossi ran a hand over his face. "Did you know she was in Washington?"

Spencer furrowed his eyes. "No. Mom hasn't mentioned talking to her lately. Why is she in Washington? It's been years since she worked there. "

"She has been looking for Rutledge."

"He has her, doesn't he? That's why you wanted to know when I last spoke to her. Is she our case?"

Rossi nodded. "I thought it was best to talk to you before Emily presented the case to the rest of the team."

Spencer started to respond before he stopped as Will walked into the bullpen and heads toward the two men. "Will."

"I need to talk to JJ about Brennan."

"Is this about Brennan missing?"

"Brennan is missing?"

Spencer examined the man in front of him. He had grown close to Will through JJ, ultimately becoming the godfather of Henry and Michael. It was through Spencer's relationship with the two that Brennan grew very close to them, ultimately thinking of them as a brother and sister to her.

"Why do you need to talk to JJ if you didn't even know she's missing?"

Will looked at him. "It's a long story that I need to tell my wife before discussing with everyone else."

"Let's see what they're discussing," Rossi interrupted as he pointed to the conference room door. "You can come in, Will."

Will followed behind Spencer and Rossi as they made their way back into the conference room. JJ looked at her husband and frowned quizzically. "I need to tell you something about Brennan," he answered her.

JJ nodded as she hit a button on the remote in her hand. A picture of Brennan popped up on the main screen and Garcia gasped.

"Brennan? Oh my God, is she dead?"

"No," JJ shook her head. "She's missing. She headed to Washington under the ploy of seeing some of the old people that she used to work with. In reality, she was searching for Carl Rutledge. I was in contact with her, but I haven't heard from her in a while and I think she might have been abducted by Rutledge."

"Why do we care?"

Spencer's head jerked at the harsh tone, looking in slight shock at Morgan. "We care because she's my wife and a member of this team."

"If I'm not mistaken she walked out on this team and you, Spence. How many times are you going to let people walk out on you and forgive them?"

"She's still my wife."

"She walked out on you, Spence. If she's missing then it's something she needs to deal with or have her new buddies in domestic terrorism deal with. It's not a case for us."

Will moved and stood next to JJ. "She left because she felt like she had to."

Spencer leaned forward onto the table. "What do you mean? She left because we had a fight that day."

"Brennan loves you, Spencer. A fight wouldn't have made her leave. She came over to the house that day and wanted to talk to me. She told me about the fight that you two had and said that while she was putting away the baby's things she got a text message. From Rutledge. He threatened the team. He threatened you." He turned to look at JJ. "I know I should have told you before this, but she made me promise not to before she would even tell me what was wrong. She was scared. This man killed her child and almost killed her and the next thing she knows, the same man is threatening what family she has left."

"She should have came to us," Emily said running a hand over her face. "We could have figured it out."

"I told her to talk to you guys. To talk to Spencer. She was too afraid. She couldn't stand for anything to have happened to you guys because of her. As long as she stayed away she felt that she was doing what she had to in order to keep you guys safe." Will hesitated before he continued. "Rutledge never stopped. He would message her, call her almost daily just to remind her that he was still there waiting. Before JJ told me that she was going to Washington, she sounded like she was coming unhinged. She couldn't handle the taunting anymore. I again told her to talk to you guys and she wouldn't."

"You should have told me sooner," JJ said looking in surprise at her husband. "We could have helped her."

"I should have. You should pull her phone history. There might be some clue in the messages he sent her."

"What hotel was she staying at?" Emily asked JJ.

"The Four Seasons in Seattle."

"Okay," Emily said as she stood up. "Wheels up in 30. Let's go and get our girl back."