Chapter 6: Paige's POV

It had been a long day. I dropped my bags at my feet and looked around my old room. It was filled with relics of my past. Framed pictures of my high school friends, posters from my favorite movies, and newspaper articles from my favorite journalists covered the walls. My bed was freshly made with my old pink flowery sheets. It was a sign that my mother was excited to have me home.

The day had really started the night before. I hadn't been able to sleep, so I had packed up my entire apartment into boxes. It really hadn't been that much work since I hadn't had that much stuff in the first place. The furniture belonged to the landlord, so after a few hours my apartment was exactly the way I'd found it. In the morning I'd called a self-storage place and arranged to keep my stuff there except for the things I was taking with me to Maine.

The plane ride had been uneventful but heart-wrenching. I almost didn't get on the plane because it meant I'd be leaving Spencer behind, and that felt wrong. In the end though, the memory of him helping Lila up steered me onto the plane. It was just a week. I was coming back, it wasn't like I was leaving forever. However, now that I was thinking about it, a week felt a hell of a lot like forever.

My parents had been very surprised to see me. I couldn't blame them since I had told them I would be there for at least a week more. My mother had been overjoyed, dropping the basket of laundry she'd been holding unceremoniously and gathering me into her arms. My father had been more subdued, taking the time to dry his hands with a dishcloth before giving me a short hug.

"Paige!" my mother was practically yelling. "Paige you're home!" I laughed, my eyes misting a little in happiness.

"Yes, yes Mum. I'm home." My little sister had wandered into the room, hearing the commotion. She saw that it was me and stood in the doorway of the kitchen, arms crossed, surveying the scene like a princess who smelled something distasteful. After watching Dad hug me she sniffed and disappeared back the way she'd come, her bright red hair swishing behind her like a representation of her disapproval. I tried to write it off to typical teenager behavior. Had I been that much of a bitch?

My mom insisted on making me food right then. She started cooking while my dad went outside to pay the cab driver and bring in my bags. I barely had time to take off my coat before she was setting a plate in front of me. I smiled down at the plate of scrambled eggs and toast. No wonder I'd been over weight in high school. She started telling me all about what my older brother Will was up to. He'd found a job working for the government doing something with forestry that I didn't understand. He was looking for his own place but couldn't quite afford it yet, so he was still living at home. Regardless, my parents never saw him. My mom swore that he only came home to sleep after everyone had gone to bed, and would leave before they woke in the morning. She didn't have much to say about my sister, probably because she had no idea what she was up to.

My mother continued to chatter at me, not letting me get a word in. She asked me how my internship had gone before telling me about how she'd subscribed to the newspaper and had all my articles taped to the wall in her office. She asked how Spencer was doing before telling me how glad she was that I'd found someone. I didn't even get to answer her questions.

My father watched me eat, then put my dishes in the sink and disappeared from the room. He'd barely spoken a word to me since my abduction. Before that I was his favorite, the one who would go with him to the store when he had errands to run and would grab him a beer while he was watching the game before sitting down to watch. He and I used to be so close...I missed talking to him.

The rest of the day was a blur. This moment in my room was the first quiet I'd had since walking in the door. I unpacked my clothes, placing them all with care in the bureau I'd had since babyhood with the white paint flaking off and the drawers misaligned. I plugged in my cell phone, which had died on the flight. I took a refreshing shower in my personal bathroom joined to my bedroom, and changed into my softest pajamas. Sleep took me as soon as I hit the bed. I was so physically and emotionally exhausted that I didn't even dream.

Spencer's POV

He'd given her the night and most of the day to cool off. He hoped that she would be willing to at least talk to him today. Last night had been so frustrating, not being able to explain himself. He just needed to hold her in his arms and tell her she was the only person in the world that he had ever loved like this, and that she was the only woman in his life. He just had to tell her how much he loved her, and maybe all this would go away. He knew it was never that simple, especially with Paige, but he was going to try anyway.

He'd decided to buy her a gift. He'd considered flowers, but they were so cliché. Paige deserved something unique, and wonderful, just like her. So he'd gone to a tiny gift shop just outside town. They always had things there you couldn't find anywhere else. He'd picked something out and had it wrapped. He carried it under his arm as he went up the steps to her apartment. He'd tried calling, but her phone was off, so he was going to try and talk to her in person.

He knocked on the door to the building. After a while her landlord appeared, disapproval written all over his face.

"You can't come in without permission from a resident," he said, his jowls shaking with each word. Spencer cleared his throat nervously.

"I'm here to see Paige Stewart," he said. The landlord narrowed his eyes.

"She packed up and moved out first thing this morning," he said. "She is no longer a resident." Spencer blinked at him in shock.

"She moved out?" he asked. "Where did she go?" The landlord shrugged.

"All I know is she's not coming back here." With that he turned and stomped away, letting the door swing closed in Spencer's stunned face. He contemplated what could be going on as he walked slowly down the steps. He tried to think of where she would go if she was upset and uncertain. It used to be she would go to him. Uncharacteristically, he swore and kicked blindly at a curb, sending a shot of pain up his leg. He swore, loudly, again at the pain, scaring a tiny old lady walking her tinier dog.

"I'm – I'm sorry," he stuttered. The lady just looked fearfully at him and walked faster. He though he heard her murmur something about 'crazy young people.' Taking a deep breath, he raked a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. What should he do?

After a moment he decided to go talk to Morgan. Morgan had been though it all with women, and Reid had never had to apologize to one before, at least not a woman who held his heart in her hands. He needed to grovel, he knew that, but he didn't know how. And he needed to know where she was and if she was okay. He was going crazy imagining the pain she was going through. How could she think that Lila was any sort of competition? She made Lila look like shiny trash.

He drove to Morgan's house, doubting his decision the entire time. If Morgan had feelings for Paige like he suspected, talking to him about this might be a bad idea in so many different ways. However, he had to concede that Morgan's experience with women was far superior to his own, and any insights he had would be very helpful.

He sighed as he pulled in behind Morgan's beautiful Aston Martin. That car made his little white sedan look like a kitten next to a cheetah. He'd always wondered how Morgan could afford it. The BAU paid well, but not that well. In any case, it meant Morgan was home. As he walked down the street to Morgan's apartment he noticed a stain on the ground. He paused and looked at it. It was funny, the stain looked an awful lot like blood. Had somebody been mugged here? He looked around and saw no other signs of a struggle, so he shrugged and continued on.

The door to Morgan's apartment was unlocked.

"Hello?" Spencer called, stepping into the room. "Morgan?" He had a bad feeling. Whenever he'd visited Morgan before, the apartment had felt full of vitality, Morgan's vitality to be exact. However now, the apartment felt conspicuously empty. He wished he'd brought his gun. His intuition rarely failed him. He stepped further into the room and scanned it, remembering details. The closet door was left open, indicating he'd left in a hurry. His keys were still in the bowl by the door, which meant he'd planned on walking wherever he was going.

Suddenly Spencer's eyes fell on a piece of paper on the coffee table in the center of the room. He walked over and picked it up with slightly quivering hands. The front of it had "To the BAU" written on it, in handwriting that was definitely not Morgan's. He unfolded it and read it, his mind racing.

To the BAU:

Derek and I have decided that we cannot stay apart any longer. Our love is too strong to stay one moment away from each other.

We have gone away together and we aren't coming back. Don't bother looking for us.

It was unsigned. Spencer's mind was racing. His first thought was that there was a connection between Paige's disappearance and Morgan's, but this wasn't Paige's handwriting. This was bad. His mind was flipping through possible scenarios like a projector. The only thing that was certain was that he had two huge questions. Where was Paige? And where was Morgan?