The first time I saw him again was in mid may that year.

It had been just over a month since I moved in with Spencer, I was back at work even though I was taking it easy so my shoulder wouldn't get reinjured in it's sensitive state and things seemed to be going great. My life felt stable and I was happy and maybe I should've known it was all too good to be true.

Spencer and I had just gotten lunch as the team had come home from a case late the night before and were mostly spending the day doing paperwork so he'd been able to run into the city to meet me. We were heading down into the metro station when I turned a corner and crashed straight into someone.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" I apologized, leaping away from the man I'd almost knocked down.

But when I looked up at the person I'd collided with my blood ran cold.

"Mikayla? Wow, Mikayla Lawson? Is that you?"

"No," I blurted out instantly, feeling my heart rate increase as every cell in my body told me to run. "No, sorry you must have the wrong person."

Without waiting for a response, I pushed past him and walked away as quickly as I could without looking too suspicious, fighting back tears in my eyes with Spencer trailing close behind.

"Hey, Mickey, wait," Spencer called after me, finally catching up as I stopped on the platform. I was looking around in every direction to make sure he wasn't following us, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone's eyes were on me. "Who was that guy?"

"No one," I lied, my words coming out far too quick to be convincing as I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I don't know who he is, I've never seen him before."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "He knew your name...Why did you tell him he had the wrong person?"

I took a deep shaky breath to get my emotions under control and pull myself together, my fingers fiddling with the necklace Spencer had given me that never left my neck. It was something I'd noticed I'd started doing lately, whenever I was nervous I found it comforting.

"Sorry, I'm just surprised to see him, I guess," I lied, my voice much calmer than it had been a moment ago. "I do know him. His name's Nick Richley. He's just a guy I used to hang around with when I lived here before. He's a terrible influence, I think he was a drug dealer. I'm surprised he isn't in prison."

"Why would you lie when I asked you?"

Spencer's words were laced with confusion and disbelief and I knew I had to cover my tracks.

"I was just surprised," I insisted with what I hoped would be a reassuring smile. "He's the first person I've run into that I knew back in my wild days, brings up a lot of weird feelings seeing someone from that time."

"Alright," Spencer nodded slowly, still eyeing me suspiciously.

I knew if I stayed there much longer, he'd keep digging and get the truth out of me and that wasn't something I was ready to face. My heart still felt like it was about to burst out of my chest and I just wanted a drink. A nice, strong, forget your life for a while kind of drink.

Luckily his train pulled in to the station before he could push me any further and after giving him a sweet kiss goodbye, I waited until the train had gone and he was out of sight before going to the platform my train would be coming to. I wasn't going to work like I was supposed to though, I wouldn't be able to focus after what had just happened. I needed to get away, I needed to clear my head. So, once I got off the train near our apartment, I called into the studio with some lie about my shoulder playing up, got my classes covered for the evening and headed to the dirtiest, sleaziest dive bar I could find where I knew no one would come looking for me.


Spencer still felt puzzled and uneasy when he got back to work, but decided to talk to Mikayla later that day and tried to push it from his mind. It kept creeping back in though. The look of fear on Mickey's face when she realized who'd she'd run into wasn't a look of shock at seeing a friend from a different time, it was a look of terror and panic. The way she'd lied when he'd asked her about it, changing her story after she had more time to think about what to say.

He had a bad feeling about the whole situation so after a couple of hours of very unproductive work, he decided to ask the one person who would probably be able to help.

"Garcia," He started as he walked into her 'lair'. "I need you to look up a name for me."

"Absolutely," She smiled, spinning her chair to face the computer she wasn't currently using. "Fire away."

"Nick Richley."

Penelope froze before looking towards Spencer, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Where did you get that name?"

Her usual happy tone was gone and replaced with one that sounded almost as fearful as Mickey's had earlier that day.

"Mikayla told me," He informed her. "We apparently ran into him today and she kind of freaked out. She said he was an old friend though and she was just surprised to see him."

Penelope paled at his words as her eyes widened and Spencer instantly knew he was right about there being more to the story. Turning her attention back to the screen, she typed something quickly into the computer and pulled up an image of the man he'd just seen.

"Is that him?" Penelope asked, her voice still nervous and almost foreboding.

"Yes," Spencer nodded. "Who is he?"

"An absolute monster," Penelope frowned. "He's the man who raped her."

Spencer's heart sank at her words. The thought had crossed his mind when she reacted so strongly to the sight of the man, but it seemed like such an impossibility that he'd pushed the thought out of his head.

"What?" Spencer asked, his brain unable to think of anything else to say as so many thoughts whirled through his head. "But isn't he in California?"

"He was, but they have this handy thing called an airplane that helps people get across the country if they need to," Penelope said, her words dripping with sarcasm. "Where is she now?"

"At work as far as I know," Spencer shrugged. "We saw him in the metro station and I got on my train shortly after, but she was on her way to teach."

"You left her alone even though you knew that she was upset?" An anger flashed in Penelope's eyes that Spencer hadn't seen before. "God, Spencer, for a genius you can be a real idiot sometimes! The next time somethings bothering her, why don't you try talking to her about it instead of coming to me to dig up information?"

"I tried to talk to her!" Spencer defended himself, surprised by his friend's accusatory tone. "She brushed me off, she said she was fine. I could've stood there all day demanding answers and we both know she wouldn't have told me anything if she didn't want to."

"That's true," Penelope sighed, pulling her phone out of her purse. She quickly dialled Mikayla's number before putting it on speaker so Spencer could hear as well as it rang a few times before getting sent to voicemail. "She's not answering..."

"Probably because she's teaching,"

Spencer's voice was confident as he felt himself relax momentarily, but when he saw how anxious Penelope still seemed, his concern reappeared.

"Not true, my technophobic friend," Penelope sighed. "If she's teaching it would ring until it gets automatically sent to voicemail, usually about thirty seconds or eight rings. That only rang three times which means she ignored the call."

"Why would she do that?"

Spencer's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he pulled out his own phone and dialled her number, hoping she'd answer if his name popped up on the screen. When she didn't, he looked at Penelope with a look of helplessness that made her heart break. She was used to Mickey's erratic behaviour when she was upset, but this was new to him.

"Oh, Mickey mouse," She mumbled to herself, typing frantically into her computer. "I hate doing this to you..."

With a few more clicks, she'd used her magical FBI system to track down the GPS location of Mikayla's phone before grabbing her coat and Spencer out the door.


By the time Penelope and Spencer burst through the door of the bar I was in, I was wasted. Beyond wasted. I could barely keep my head up I was so drunk. So naturally, the tears I'd been holding back all afternoon, burst free at the sight of the one person who could possibly understand what I was feeling. I'd ignored her calls for the last forty-five minutes, but I knew she'd eventually track me down.

"Pen," I sobbed out as she came rushing over to the bar I was slouched over. "I'm sorry. I'm so drunk. But he's here. He found me."

My words were slurred and hard enough to understand without the hysterical tears that accompanied them. But like always, Penelope understood me.

"I know, hun, I know," She assured me, her voice calm as she pulled me into her arms, letting me cry on her shoulder as she got the bartender's attention. "Can we get a coffee for her, please?"

I was aware that Spencer had come in with Penelope, but in my drunken state I had forgotten he was there until he spoke from beside me.

"It just doesn't make sense," He started and I could picture his confused furrowed brow without even looking at him. "I know he hurt you, but you said you were over it. Why is it so upsetting now just running into him?"

I cried even harder into Penelope's shoulder, knowing where his confusion was coming from, but I felt her tense with anger as she wasn't as sure.

"Spencer Reid," She scolded him. "After everything she went through, everything he put her through, how on earth can you not understand-Unless she didn't tell you the whole story..."

Penelope's voice shifted from anger to realization as she gently pushed me off her shoulder to look her in the eye.

"I didn't," I whimpered. "I couldn't, I just wanted to pretend it didn't happen. I wanted it to be over and done with."

The room was spinning from the alcohol and the stress I was feeling and I was starting to remember why I stopped drinking to ease my pain. It didn't help at all, it just made me feel worse at the end of the day.

"What didn't she tell me?"

Spencer's voice was much less confused now, it almost sounded more angry than anything and I felt a fresh wave of tears form.

"Are you going to tell him or should I?" I simply shook my head at Penelope's words, wiping my eyes as the bartender brought over my coffee before she explained. "It didn't end with what he did to her at that party. He stalked her and harassed her for years until we moved here. He would send letters, even send pictures he'd taken of her without her knowing. He was never very bright so we just assumed he couldn't track her once she left the state."

"Did you tell the police?"

"No one would believe me!" I cried. "No one believed me when he raped me, why would they believe me about anything?"

"If he took pictures, you could have shown them to police."

I blinked back more tears as I tried to sip the coffee in front of me. I knew Spencer wasn't trying to blame me, his world was just very black and white and if someone came to his team with a story like mine, they would help them so it was hard to understand. Not every branch of law enforcement was as good as the BAU though.

"Spencer, think about that case you worked a few weeks ago," Penelope said gently as she rubbed my back, trying to soothe the hiccups that had appeared. "No one listened to that poor woman until she almost died."

"And I was sixteen," I pointed out through all my sniffles and hiccups. "He was a full adult person. I didn't stand a chance."

"How old was he?" Spencer asked as I glanced over at him.

He showed no emotion, but I could tell from his eyes how fast his brain was working to process and figure out this new information.

"Twenty-five at the party."

"Age of consent in California is eighteen."

"Well I didn't consent so even if I was eighteen that wouldn't fucking matter much!"

I hadn't realized how much I'd raised my voice until I noticed we'd drawn the attention of the few other patrons of the bar. Penelope shushed me quietly and I burst into tears once again.

"This isn't the place to discuss this," She pointed out. "Let's get her home and sobered up before we even try to figure out what's going on."

"He found me," I whimpered. "That's what's going on. S'all gonna happen again."

"You don't know that, Mickey," Penelope said softly even though I could see in her eyes that she didn't believe it herself. "Let's just sober up and we can talk about it tomorrow."

I nodded and Spencer leaned in to place a soft kiss on my head before clearing his throat.

"I'll go call us a cab, finish your coffee and meet me outside."

Before I could even answer he marched off and disappeared from view.

"He's so mad," I pouted, fighting back more tears. "And I'm so drunk. I can't fix it."

"He's not mad," Penny assured me. "He's confused and probably hurt you didn't tell him the whole story, but he's not mad at you."

"I'm mad at me," I sniffled. "I got so drunk and I know I shouldn't have, but I panicked and just wanted to calm down and it got out of control. I didn't mean to."

"I know, sweetheart. We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? Just finish your coffee and we'll get you home."

I hiccuped again and nodded. I finished the drink in front of me as fast as I could before Penelope helped me off the stool and practically carried me out the bar as I stumbled along beside her.


Note: I couldn't resist posting this one, but the daily posting I've been doing the last few days will unfortunately stop after today. I'm super inspired so I'll hopefully be writing lots, but I'm going away next Sunday (the 12th) for about a week and a half. I won't be able to post at all while I'm away so I'm going to try to write lots this week, but stockpile a few chapters so I'll have at least one to post as soon as I get home.

So please don't lose interest while I'm away and don't post for a week! I will be back, I promise!