Uhhhhhhhhh…hi? I'm wondering if anyone is still there…well if you are…I am truly, deeply sorry! I meant to update this ages ago but never got the chance. So much stuff has happened since my last update. I graduated, I started college, emotional rollercoaster's, y'know, the normal teenage things. Also, I haven't had the inspiration to write this one as much, but now that CM is back, I will, and hopefully I'll get more reviews…? Y'know, that's another thing that keeps me going. I didn't get very many for this story, so I don't know what you guys think and that makes me think you guys just don't care…

Well, anyway!

Don't own Criminal Minds, obviously, otherwise Reid would be as happy as a bunny!

Anyway

Enjoy~

CHAPTER TWO

"That was great, Spencer!"

Spencer wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled over at Jack as he leaned over and placed his hands on his knees. "Th-thanks." He breathed out, trying to catch his breath after a brutal workout session with Jack and Dillan. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dillan's dark eyes.

"Ready for another round?" He asked with a smile, knowing that Spencer wasn't the fittest of them all.

Spencer breathed a chuckle as he straightened up and rolled his shoulders. He turned and gave Dillan a smirk, "Let's do it."

~.~

Spencer shook his head at the little memory. Now was not the time to get lost in the past, he needed to work on the future, and the future had hell in it if he didn't stay focused. Spencer slowed down as he came upon the diner and parked in the closest spot available. He got out and just stared at the open windowed diner, trying to see if he could spot them from the outside, but he couldn't and he smirked. Yup, they're still the same. Making sure to never been seen or taken off guard. They can probably see me though.

He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous, and started for the diner, his senses heightening as he walked. Once inside, he let the greasy diner smells overwhelm him and try to calm him, but it hardly worked. He quickly surveyed the diner and tried to find who he was looking for until he finally came upon a corner booth with only five people at the table. The number of people and the fact that he couldn't see the person by the window got his heart racing. He started walking to the table, and even though he was nervous as hell he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he saw his family-his first family. Once he was in range, he heard the hushed whispers stop as they all looked over at him with smiles on their faces. He smiled crookedly and gave a tiny wave, "H-hey guys!" He tried to sound normal, but his emotions were bursting within him just waiting to burst out.

The first one to react was the young man on one of the ends of the booth. He stood slowly, his face expressionless, his white bangs covering left eye. He stood there in front of Spencer for a few moments, silently, and Spencer almost thought he was going to hit him, when a giant smile practically split the young man's face in two. "Spencie!" He cried as he threw his arms around the young agent.

Spencer laughed and hugged him back, tightly. They pulled back slightly and smiled at one another, Spencer's becoming softer as they stood there. "Hey, Harvey." He said, tenderly. Harvey nodded and looked as if he were debating on doing something but then decided against it, moving away so that he could greet the others. The next to greet him were a pair of bear arms, causing Spencer to unleash a very un-manly like squeal as they twirled him around. "Dil-Dillan!" He exclaimed, catching everyone's attention in the little diner.

Dillan laughed and set Spencer down on his feet again before stepping away and smiling. "Hey, Spencer." He stepped aside when there was a clearing of a throat behind him.

When Dillan stepped aside, he only expected to see two more people, not three. He looked at Jack and Adelina and smiled, but when he spotted the third person, his smile vanished into one of pure shock-

~.~

"So, when he said he had never been there I just had to take it upon myself to bring him there!" Harvey exclaimed as he and the others at the table laughed with fondness.

Jack shook his head and looked dubiously at Spencer. "How can ya never have been to the Mall in DC? You've lived here for a few years!"

Spencer shrugged and blushed as he sunk down in his chair. "I-I don't know. I just never have the time to, I guess." He stated, his voice sounding like a child's.

Harvey put his arm around Spencer's shoulders and hugged him. "Hey, it's alright. It's not your fault. That's why I took you there."

"Yeah, Jack didn't mean to sound like an ass." Adelina smirked as she nudged Jack, who suddenly had an embarrassed flush on his cheeks.

"Hey, Spencie, I didn't mean to sound like a jerk." He tried to apologize.

Spencer smiled slightly and shook his head. "It's fine. I know I haven't had the most privileged of lives, and I'm just happy to have friends like you who help me through my life and try to get me out there." The rest of them smiled at Spencer too and the table fell silent for a few moments before Spencer spoke up again after checking his watch. "Serena should have called ten minutes ago, I hope everything is alright…"

Serena had been called away on a special linguistics mission somewhere in the Middle East (they were not allowed to know the exact location for obvious reasons) and she would always call to check in, from a burner phone, of course, and she was always very punctual about these calls-1800 hours exactly their time.

Jake sighed as he too looked at his watch, then to his cell phone. "Maybe she just got caught up in something. Maybe part of the mission went on longer then she expected."

They were all excuses and they knew it. They knew Serena, and she was always punctual, and if something had come up, she would have found a way to reach them and tell them she was okay. They waited, though. They waited for almost three hours before they decided to call it and face reality-their friend was gone, and they could do nothing for her. They had no clue where she was, what had happened, when it happened, nothing.

Spencer felt tears prickle his eyes and quickly tried to blink them away, but of course, one slipped past. He tried to wipe it away so the others wouldn't see; he wasn't used to this, he didn't think he could ever get used to this. Losing people you know and care about, no one should ever get used to that.

"Oh, Spencie." He heard someone coo, and it was then that he noticed that after wiping the first tear several more had fallen. "I'm sure she's fine. She probably just lost track of time." Said the voice again, but this time Spencer was able to tell who it was-it was Harvey. Of course it was, he was sitting right next to him, who else would be able to hold him close as Harvey was doing at the moment.

Though, with Harvey holding him this close, it was almost impossible to stop the tears from flowing freely down his face. "She-she can't be gone. That's-that's-she-" He couldn't even get a proper sentence out without saying something he didn't want to.

The others looked sadly at Spencer before looking at each other. They had all forgotten how young Spencer was and how close he held abandonment to his heart. Though they all knew how it felt to lose people they knew, friends, in the field, Spencer wasn't. No one knew what to say, no one had anything to say, well maybe just one person.

"Hey, kid, stop crying."

Everyone snapped their heads up to the blonde woman at the end up the table, who was looking nonchalantly out one of the two windows that were in the conference room where they were waiting.

Adelina narrowed her eyes. "Knock it off, Sophia! He has every right to cry! Just because he actually feels something doesn't mean-"

"He needs to stop crying because she's not dead." Sophia cut the raging dark-haired woman off, not wanting to listen to her rant. They all blinked at her, no understanding what she meant, and she sighed before looking back at them. "Seriously, am I the only one who's actually not thinking of the worst?" They just continued to blink at her, none of them not knowing what to say. She rolled her eyes and stood up from her chair. "Like Harvey-boy said, she probably lost track of time, she'll call when she can, so clean your face up and keep your throat clear so when she does call, you won't sound like you've swallowed an ocean." And with that, she left, leaving everyone baffled.

Since when had Sophia started to care? Was she actually warming up? Or was she just tired of them all?

Harvey was knocked out of his bafflement by the person shaking him, or the shaking person he should say, that was attached to his side. He quickly went to comfort Spencer but noticed that the tears that were running down his face were accompanied by a smiled, and that he was shaking from holding in his giggles. Harvey narrowed his eyes for a second before he too broke out in a smile and started giggling as well, attracting the attention of everyone else, and soon the whole room was giggling and going back to telling funny stories of where Spencer had never been. But, even though they were all laughing, they all took noticed that the phone never rang, no matter how long they stayed there. Days passed, and they would spend their time off in there, but then weeks and months started to pass, and they began to visit the room less frequently; it was when those months turned into years that they accepted that their friend didn't just lose track of her time, but she lost something much more valuable. She was never permanently replaced, try and try as the team might, they just couldn't get over the loss, which was probably the reason they all began to go their separate ways. A rift was torn between them, mistakes were made, people were hurt, and lives were destroyed-nothing was ever the same.

~.~

Until now. Spencer couldn't take his eyes off of her. She looked almost exactly the same, the only difference was the length of her hair, it was to her shoulders now instead of where is used to be, flowing down her back. Spencer took a hesitant step forward and reached a hand out to touch her cheek, to assure himself that she was actually there and that he wasn't experiencing his first episode.

When he came into contact with her, she placed her hand over his and choked out a small chuckled. ""Salve, Spencie ego sum, redii."(Hello, Specie, it is I, I have returned.)

That was all Spencer needed to launch himself at her, enveloping her in his long arms. "Oh, Serena, you're okay!" He exclaimed as he hugged her tighter, a few tears making their way down his rosy cheeks. Serena just simply nodded, not trusting her voice to make any intelligible noises. And finally, after a few minutes, Spencer released his hold on her and held her back at arms length, looking her over to make sure she was all in one piece, which she laughed at.

"I'm fine, Spencer, I'm all here." She reassured.

Spencer just smiled wider. "How?" Was all he could manage, not knowing what else to say, but just that question alone was able to add tension to the whole group, and Spencer took notice of this. He frowned and glanced around at everyone before looking back at Serena and saw her grey eyes had saddened. "Serena?" He asked.

She just gave a sad smile and gestured to the booth. "Let's sit down first, Spencie, then we'll talk." So they all sat, and no one spoke, anxiously awaiting the story they all wanted to hear, and no one needed to tell Serena when to start, because once they were all settled, she began. "The day I was supposed to check in with all of you, someone had tipped off our asset, told her that we intended to kill her and her entire family, along with the general, whom we were initially after. Of course, that was a false tip given by someone who wanted this mission to not succeed." She sighed as she glanced out the window, watching a happy family stroll by. "We tried to reach her before she made it to the general and his men, but it was too late, they were waiting for us, and not with balloons and cake." She tried to joke looking at them, causing a few lips to turn up a bit before the somber mood returned. "I didn't really expect them to kill us immediately, but I think the women did, so she was surprised when the general loaded us into the back of truck, gagged and tied with bags over our heads as well as noise-suppressing headphones." She was now staring at the table in front of her, her eyes glazing over with unwanted memories. "It felt like years before anyone came, but in fact, it had only been a month. One month, and I nearly lost everything." She looked back at all of them again, this time with a fire in her eyes.

"But," Spencer interrupted, "If it was only a month, why didn't you contact us once you were debriefed?" He asked, slightly hurt.

Serena's hard gaze softened, "I couldn't, not yet anyway. I needed to finish my mission, and after what he did, I had even more motivation to go after him, but the little prick was smarter this time round. More men, better security measures, he even changed his name, got himself a whole new life. Took me almost two years to finally track him down again to a little village in India, but it was different this time." She sighed and tipped her head back to look at the ceiling. "He had a whole new life, and with that life I guess he found himself a wife, and they were happy, or so it seemed." When she looked back at the others, the unspoken question was easily conveyed. "She was with child." They all grimaced, knowing how hard killing someone with a family is. "It took me at least two months to get over this dilemma, and in that time, she had given birth. I just prayed she had other family to take care of her." She finished, looking sadly down at her hands, and when a hand enveloped hers, she looked up into Spencer's forgiving and determined eyes.

"You did what you had to do. Who knows what would have become of that woman and her child if he were to live; he was probably using them as a shield anyway. So, don't be hard on yourself, which was your mission and you succeeded, and now you're home, safe and sound." Everyone smiled and nodded in reassurance.

Serena smiled a watery smile, "Thank you."

They were all silent for a moment before Spencer broke it again. "But, uh, that doesn't answer the question as to how, uh, how you got back here? And how you knew to meet here." There a few snickers around the booth and Spencer looked at everyone confused, and slightly embarrassed, feeling as though he was missing a very important piece of information still. "What?"

Serena chuckled and shook her head, "You would have to owe your thanks to these two." She pointed across the booth to Adelina and Jack, who attempted innocent expressions, but their smirks won out and they couldn't hold it in anymore. "These two never stopped searching for me, apparently, and when they caught wind I was in Germany, after the whole general thing, they picked up a phone and booked me a flight. So, basically, I am a giant surprise gift." She smiled widely.

Everyone laughed and thanked Adelina and Jack for getting the best 'back together' gift ever, but soon the laughter died down, and no one wanted to change to the topic they were actually there to discuss.

But someone had to do it, so Spencer took the initiative, and looked over at Dillan. "Still no word from your brother?" He asked. Dillan just shook his head and clenched his fists. Spencer then looked over at Harvey. "Were you able to get anything from the prison? How exactly did she get out, did she indicate a place, excreta."

Harvey quickly pulled out a tablet from his side bag, which was always stuck to his hip. "There wasn't much on the video feed. She either knew exactly where they were or she had help from the inside."

"Knowing her, I wouldn't be surprised." Adelina growled.

"But they did send over pictures of her cell, but I don't think anyone's gonna like it." He explained as he brought up the pictures and laid out his tablet so everyone else could see. He was right, no one liked it.

"What the hell is that?" Dillan finally spoke.

Harvey shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine, but it looks like multiple words repeated in different languages-"

"I see revenge." Supplied Spencer, "Multiple times."

"Hell is in there as well." Serena inputted.

"That's not all," Harvey continued, as he swiped to a few more pictures. "She had these taped to her walls." The pictures showed many newspaper and online articles, as well as many portrait pictures, all of different people, but if one looked closer they would notice that there was more about one person than the others. "She's been keeping track of us, all of us, including-"

"Including the BAU, my team." Spencer said coldly as he looked at a print out article of one of his old cases, the anthrax case. Spencer sighed as he leaned back. "Do we have any idea if she is in the states for sure?" They looked around at each other. "I know Jake is missing, but it doesn't mean it's her exactly, it could be someone working for her. Do we have any physical proof that she's set foot in the states?" They all shook their heads. Spencer straightened himself, "Then I want eyes out there, but I was this close, no outside forces, we don't know who we can trust anymore, she could have anyone on her payroll." He looked at Harvey next to him. "Harvey, I want you and Serena on surveillance on the entire team. I want you to know where everyone is at all times." He looked over at Adelina. "Addy, I want you out on the streets, ask around, but stay hidden, use whatever tricks you need, just make sure she doesn't pick up our scent." He finally looked at Dillan. "You know yours and Jack's jobs. Do it as silently as possible, no one is to know it was you two. Get rid of them." He needn't say anything else, they got the mission. Search and destroy.

"What about you, Spencer?" Asked Dillan.

Spencer sighed as he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw that Hotch was calling him. He let it continue so Hotch didn't know he was deliberately ignoring his calls. "Me? I have the toughest job." He looked up and looked everyone in the eye with a slight smirk. "I have the task of keeping my whole BAU team safe and ensure they never find out what's behind the curtain." His phone began vibrating again, this time indicating that he had a text message. He sighed again and nudged Harvey to let him out. "I have to go, but you all know what to." He turned around and looked at them seriously. "I want you all to be on your guard. Always be in contact with each other, especially you, Adelina, I don't want you doing any solo missions, you keep in contact with Harvey." They all nodded, but they all gave each other hesitant looks. His phone vibrated again. He was running out of time and he didn't have time to beat around the bush, not today. "What are you guys not telling me?" He asked, a bit annoyed.

Harvey stepped forward, tablet still in hand. "Look, Spencer, don't get mad, ok, I showed them this before you arrived. This was one of the pictures that were in her cell, with multiple holes." Harvey passed over the tablet and once Spencer got a look at the picture, his heart dropped. This can't be happening. He felt a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Spencer. She knows."

~.~

FEEDBACK TIME! SO FILL IN THAT LOVELY BOX THERE AND TELL ME WHAT YA THINK! TELL ME THINGS I CAN IMPROVE ON OR NEED TO CHANGE! SOMETHING! I CAN'T GET MOTIVATED TO WRITE THIS IF I DON'T THINK PEOPLE ARE READING! Just saying…