AUTHOR: LosingInTranslation (losingntrnslatn, Jennifer)
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!
RATING: T - Teen
SPOILERS: Through US Aired Episodes of Season 4
WORD COUNT: 2150
SUMMARY: The BAU is asked to investigate an unusual missing persons case that has a very personal connection to the team.

A/N: This is one of those monster epics I am so well know for in the CSI fandom. It is completely written and I am going through the edits with my betas as quickly as possible. There are a total of nine chapters, and I will post them as I complete the edits. It is most definitely a case file fic, with a lot of interaction between the entire team. I hope you enjoy it.

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 7

Spencer was still trying to put all of the pieces together when they decided to pack it up and head back to Quantico. There was nothing more they could do in Idaho, and there were other cases that needed more immediate attention. It was still a priority case for them, but until the DNA results came back, or Garcia was able to find Elle, they were at a dead end with the case. For the moment, Gideon was just another missing person.

The entire flight back to Quantico was uncharacteristically quiet. Everyone was feeling the strain of their discovery, even Emily and Rossi, who had never met Elle. It was difficult to put into words exactly how the news was affecting everyone, because each person had their connection to the case, and the people in it.

Morgan and Rossi were over in the booth with Emily quietly discussing the basics of a missing persons case. There was nothing earth shattering about the conversation, just a group of colleagues trying to distance themselves from the truth with facts and figures.

"Well, the majority of cases involve juveniles. They represented ninety four percent of the more than nine hundred thousand cases last year." Rossi's always even tone lent some stability in the middle of the chaos swirling in Reid's mind.

"Which means there were more than fifty thousand cases involving adults last year. But you have to remember that number also includes people who are missing as a result of mental or physical illness, as well as transient lifestyle choices. A junkie stops showing up for methadone treatments or a senior wanders off in confusion and that's a part of those statistics." Emily, as always, tried to bring a human element into the conversation.

Morgan nodded and then added his wisdom to the discussion. "Right, so with all of that, you're looking at a very small number of true missing persons when it comes to adults; especially when you factor in substance abuse and folks who simply walk away from a bad situation."

From the other side of the jet, behind the folder he was reviewing, Hotch injected another statistic. "In fact, out of all the missing persons cases in a single year, there are only ten percent which can be classified as truly missing. The other ninety percent are listed as located, with only one to two percent of those actually resulting in a fatality."

Spencer tried to focus on the optimism in Hotch's words, but it was hard. With any case, the longer it drags out, the less likely a satisfactory conclusion occurs. And although only ten percent of missing persons cases remained unsolved, with no investigation beginning in Gideon's case until six months after the fact, Spencer was still pessimistic about the outcome. At the moment, the most he thought they could hope for was that the case remained an open cold investigation.

However, that was not the most troubling thing about the case for him. He often tried to dispel the idea that he was a genius, because in his experience it made people treat him differently. But it also came from the fact that in many areas of human interaction, he knew he was greatly deficient. This case had proven it to him once again, with perfect clarity. He simply did not understand how Elle could have been involved with Gideon's disappearance. But it was her apparent involvement with Gideon himself that left him thoroughly baffled. Despite their previous history, he had been completely blind to anything which might have led to their involvement.

His hand clutched tightly around the spine of his book, Spencer struggled to understand the scenario as it presented to him. His imagination failed to give him any insight for the justification of that relationship, and he suddenly felt like the kid who just found out the stork was a lie and his parents were having sex.

Trying to sort it all out in his head, he missed J.J. getting up from her seat and slowly making her way over to him. As she slipped into the seat beside him, he knew his silence was over.

"Spence…how're you holding up?" The tilt of her head and the tone of her voice told Spencer just how concerned she was with his well-being. He hated to make her worry, but his confusion made it hard to play it off. Dr. Spencer Reid was not used to being confused…about anything.

He turned to look into her eyes and then shook his head. "I can honestly say…I don't know how I am right now."

J.J. nodded, sighed and settled back into the seat, gently resting against his side. It felt good to have someone feel that comfortable around him. But it was even better that it was J.J.

His relationship with J.J. was unconventional. He was a grown man and a genius, but he came face to face with a serious schoolboy crush on her. Her personality, coupled with her beauty, kept him tied up in knots for longer than he liked to admit. Spencer was intrigued by a woman he could feel comfortable around, and he confused that intrigue with true attraction. Thankfully for him, J.J. was always gracious about his initial misconceptions, and their relationship quickly transformed into a very close friendship.

In many ways, J.J. became the sister Spencer never had. She looked out for him, and tried to help steer him in the ways of normal, non-genius humans. J.J. was the true source of his education in humanity. She showed him how to connect with the emotions his pure reason and logic often obscured. As a result, she was also the one person he could never hide his humanity from. J.J. always knew.

"Kind of out of the blue, huh?" He could tell she was trying to take his temperature about the recent turn of events. He wanted to tell her that he understood what happened, that he could make sense of it, that he was not completely devastated by the news. But the truth was right there on his face, and not even his mother, in her most delusional episode, could miss it.

"Yeah." His answer was plain, but its simplicity spoke volumes about where his head was.

He felt her head turn and Spencer knew she was looking at Hotch. She was worried about him as well. J.J. worried about everyone, but for some reason he and Hotch always seemed to be at the top of her list. Knowing why she worried about him, Spencer assumed her concern for Hotch stemmed from the close working relationship between them. But he also knew he was deficient in understanding the inner workings of the female brain, outside the realm of sociopathy.

"Did you know they were, you know, communicating?" Spencer only stared into the empty space across from him after J.J. asked the question everyone was dying to know.

Long ago, he deduced that everyone assumed Jason was keeping in contact with him. The truth of the matter was Jason had cut Spencer off even before he left him the letter at the old cabin. It was why he went looking for him. That was why Jason knew it would be him to go looking. The letter was his last goodbye, thus fulfilling his promise to Reid.

Knowing Spencer's issues regarding feelings of abandonment from his parents (both as the one left behind, and the one leaving), Jason made a promise to him; he would never leave him without a word. And true to his word, that was exactly what Jason had done with his letter.

Spencer let his silence be the answer to J.J.'s question. She took the cue and only nodded.

Absently, his fingers began to trace the spine of his book and J.J. looked down. He knew she would understand the significance of the book on Chaucer, and he tried to obscure the title with his hand. "You know, we really don't have anything conclusive, yet. So…maybe this time you don't let that big brain of yours get too far ahead of the evidence…okay?"

He nodded, but it was already too late. He was already thinking about all the things he might have done differently, trying to recount exactly what had gone wrong and everything that would have led to such an outcome.

"Spencer… I'm serious." She nudged him to emphasize her point. "There's no point in you trying to find the blame in this, when we don't even know what, if anything has happened." Her stern expression quickly melted when he turned to look at her. "So, knock it off, all right?"

He tried very hard to let it go, if for only a moment, to ease her mind. Spencer screwed his mouth up into an awkward grin and nodded. "All right… I'll try."

J.J. bumped him with her shoulder once again and smiled softly. "I guess that's as much as I can hope for…for now." He did his best to return the smile, but she placed her hand over his on the book and looked him dead in the eye when she asked, "Just promise me one thing…" He was powerless to refuse her when she got serious like that, and so he merely nodded. "You'll let the team help you through this one…no shutting us out?"

Spencer looked away from her steady gaze and down at their hands. He thought for a moment about how small her hand looked against his, and how much smaller still Henry's appeared in comparison. His hands were so much bigger than both of theirs, even put together, but theirs were the hands that held him together when things got rough. And he was so very grateful to have J.J. in his life.

He placed his other hand over hers and squeezed gently. Nodding his head, he whispered, "I promise, J.J. I promise."

When they finally got back to headquarters, there was no time to collect their selves before Director Strauss had them in the briefing room giving her the complete rundown on the case information. She explained that there was a great deal of pressure to reach a satisfactory conclusion in the case, and she was giving them as much time as possible to achieve it.

As everyone broke up after the debriefing, Spencer thought they would all pack up and head home. But it appeared no one was ready to call it quits just yet. Morgan and Emily were going through their notes together. J.J. was in her office going through the written requests having arrived while they were in Idaho. Hotch and Rossi were doing their own post mortem in Hotch's office. And when Garcia disappeared, he deduced she had gone to reclaim her domain and check for any further test results.

He had no desire to rehash the details of the case with anyone again. He was done. Spencer wanted, more than anything, to completely forget the events of the past few days, but it was all he could think about. Worse yet, he knew there was only one person who would be able to answer any of the hundreds of questions bouncing around inside his head. And she was not in Quantico.

His bag still resting on his shoulder, Spencer walked to Hotch's office. Without knocking, he stepped inside, interrupting Rossi in mid-platitude. "Hotch… I'm leaving."

Hotch nodded at him as Rossi spun in his seat to look at Spencer. "Good… You need to get some sleep. It will still be a while before we get any test results." He narrowed his gaze at Hotch as he rambled on, not understanding what Spencer was trying to say. "Garcia should have some leads for us to hunt down tomorrow."

Spencer shook his head as Hotch went back to the folder on his desk. "No, you aren't understanding me…" Hotch looked up from the paperwork that formerly held his attention. "I'm leaving."

Still confused, they both stared at Spencer and waited for him to explain. Instead of an explanation, he simply pulled his gun and credentials out of his bag and stepped up to Hotch's desk, laying them gently atop the files there before walking out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Taking a deep breath, he straightened the bag over his shoulder and did his best to steady his nerves. This was quite possibly the most difficult thing he had ever done in his life, but he needed to know.

With one more steeling breath, he raised his hand to the door. Closing his eyes, he knocked three times, paused, and knocked one last time..

The door was opened after a few short moments to reveal a familiar face wearing an odd smile. "Dr. Spencer Reid… I should've known it'd be you."

"Elle…" He swallowed hard, knowing that everything in his life was about to be turned inside out. "We need to talk."