I don't own Criminal Minds.

Happy reading and enjoy :D

Gideon stood up from where he was leaning against the railing of the catwalk watching the team as they all tried to cope with this latest case. Some of the most tragic cases weren't the ones where a twisted sick individual hunted down their prey, but the ones like this that but for a simple twist of fate would never have happened. If it hadn't been for Luke Dolan's car accident on Friday night, he wouldn't have killed his best friend, his parents, and an entire office of innocent people. As Publilius Syrus once said, the eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.

He walked down the catwalk and down the stairs into the bullpen. "Pack it up people. Go home and spend time with your families. Today was a perfect example of why we should treasure every moment that we can get with our loved ones. We never know when the last moment will come and we never know how they will be taken from us or us from them, but we do know that it will happen someday." He said as he walked down the aisle where his alpha team sat, struggling with the paperwork for Luke Dolan's case, each of them silently wondering what if it had been them. What would it be like to look at the people you loved and to not recognize them?

Morgan tossed his pen down on top of his file as he realized the futility of trying to finish his paperwork now when all he wanted to do was go home and spend time with his pregnant wife and son. He picked up his phone and dialed Penelope's extension. "Baby girl, let's pick up Jake and go home." He said before she could offer a witty greeting.

"Music to my ears chocolate thunder." Penelope replied. "Meet you at the elevators in five?"

"Sure baby girl." Morgan said and then hung up his phone, gathered his keys, his jacket, and his cell phone.

"I'm with Morgan." Elle commented, picking up her phone to call Will.

Emily turned to look over her shoulder at Aaron's office and then looked conspiratorially at JJ. "What do you think my odds are on getting Aaron to call it a day and leave now?"

JJ glanced from Emily to Hotch's office and back. "If he feels anything like the rest of us about this case, and I'm sure he does, then I'm sure your chances are pretty good."

Emily nodded and stood up heading for her husband's office.

JJ stood up from her desk on the far side of Emily's and walked around, sitting on the edge of Spence's desk. "How about you? Ready to go home baby?"

"Yeah" Spence nodded. "Because as much as I try right now, I just can't get the image of Ally Dolan screaming for her Daddy and trying to get through those doors to him out of my mind." Spence said as he nodded across the room at the double glass doors of the BAU and then turned to look at JJ.

"I know Spence. Me too. Let's get out of here and go hear about Chloe, Henry, and Joshua's adventures today. Spending a quiet night in as a family is probably just what we need." She said as reached out and rubbed her hand up and down her husband's upper arm.

"A quiet night in sounds terrific." Spence replied as he stood up from his desk and stretched.

JJ nodded and stood up from Spence's desk. "Okay, I can be ready to go in just a few minutes."

Spence nodded and began stuffing items into his tan leather messenger bag as JJ slipped away to her own desk to pack up for the day.

Not fifteen minutes later, the team walked through the lobby of the building and out to the parking structure, intent on getting home to spend time with their families.

Hopefully after a case like this, luck would be on their side and the rest of the week would involve catching up on paperwork, case files, and of course finalizing the plans for this weekend, JJ thought as they all headed out into the fresh chill of the October air.

"Hey wait a minute pretty boy." Morgan said as he walked over to Reids as they were about to get into their car. He pulled out Reid's winning from the basketball pool out of his pocket and held them out to Reid. "I'm on to you kid and I know what you did. Consider yourself out of the pool." Morgan said as he slapped the wad of cash into Reid's hand.

Reid smiled as he looked down at the thick stack of cash in his hand and then glanced up at the less than happy Morgan walking away from him and chuckled. 'When would they stop underestimating him' he wondered and then turned and climbed in to the driver's seat of the car.

"What did Morgan want baby?" JJ asked, turning to look at Spence as he buckled his seat belt.

"He just wanted to give me my winnings from the basketball pool for this week," Spence said as he handed the cash to JJ, "And to let me know that I was kicked out of the pool."

JJ flipped through the stack of bills and whistled. "Did you win this much last week and the week before?" she asked as she counted the few hundred dollars and change.

Spence nodded. "The fact that I won the last few weeks isn't why he kicked me out though."

"Really? I'd say winning three weeks in a row is pretty lucky." JJ replied as she folded the cash in half and stuck it in one of the cup holders in the console so Spence could put it in his wallet when they got home.

"Not if it wasn't luck." Spence said with a grin as he glanced at JJ while backing out of their parking space.

"Well if it wasn't luck, then what was it?" JJ asked as she turned to look at Spence.

"I was able to break down all of the teams' shooting strategies and easily determine based statistics and probability which team would be the likely winner of each game." Spence replied.

"How did you have time to figure all of that out?" JJ asked with a confused look on her face. Being married to the man, she would have noticed if he'd spent an inordinate amount of time watching basketball.

"It was easy. I already had my system set up from my days back in high school and college. I just read the sports page each week and watched the results on ESPN in order to make my picks for the next week's games."

"Wait, you did this during high school and college?" JJ asked.

Spence nodded. "My social standing increased when I started winning too."

"Wait you played basketball baby?" JJ said her jaw dropping at the thought of her husband on a basketball court.

Spence shook his head. "No, no, I didn't play. I coached."

"Oh" JJ grinned. "Then I can see why Morgan kicked you out of the pool. I have to tell you though baby, I like that even after seven years I'm still learning new things about you." JJ said as she leaned across the console and kissed Spence on the cheek.