Chapter Six
BAU Headquarters
FBI Building
Quantico, VA
T + 18

Spencer

"This could be interesting." Rossi muttered. "I didn't realize she was that old. She's…what?"

"Twenty-seven," Spencer hadn't been the same since that fateful night. As far as anyone noticed he'd simply been…quiet. He'd kept his own council and mourned in private. He'd taken a few days off, gone to meetings mostly just to sit through the worst of the aches, attended her funeral, and life had gone on. But what no one realized was that ever since that night he had not had physical contact with any other person save one. Before that night there had been Lila so many years before, he'd held her in his arms and tasted her kisses and felt her touch and it had been good, not entirely undesired, but unfortunately the wrong woman at the wrong time. He had told himself then that the next time he held a woman in his arms it would be one he could love freely and openly for as long as she would have him.

The next woman he'd kissed after Lila, the next woman who touched him after Lila, had been the Unsub.

Ever since any touch had brought back the memory of her hands on his skin, her lips pressed against his, the taste of sour and bitterness on her breath, the horrible thing he had to say to try to save Maeve. She'd understood, she'd forgiven him, but the memory still burned and he'd still, to this day, give anything to unsay them. And so he avoided touch now. He stepped away from hugs, kept to the back of the group to avoid handshakes, cut his own hair, didn't go to the doctor, whatever it took; anything to just not be touched.

With one exception. Henry's hugs were innocent expressions of love, they meant nothing more than a desire to give and receive comfort. The first time he'd seen Henry after it happened, JJ and Will had told Henry that he was very sad because a special friend had gone away and wasn't coming back. Henry had given him an extra big and long hug and told him that it would be okay because everyone else was still here, he still had other friends. Spencer had had to excuse himself to the bathroom so as not to frighten his godson with his crying.

But now there was this woman; this woman who was bravely risking everything to return his godson to his family. If they were found and caught what would happen? Would Henry be beaten? Would she? Would she be sent away from her home, into a world of infinite dangers for which she was completely unprepared? Or would she be sent off to some horrendous church home where she'd be abused by her caretakers? He couldn't even send someone after her then, with no birth certificate and no SSI number she didn't even exist. Yet she was putting everything on the line just to help Henry get home. He didn't know such bravery still existed in the world.

And now she wanted to get to know him better, in the same slow, thoughtful way Maeve had. Was it possible to find that same magic again?

Granted she was also a witness who might need to testify and she was also a victim who was probably going to need residential care until she learned to adapt to the outside world. He knew that Hotch would say that ethically he ought to leave her alone and Garcia would tell him that he did not need that kind of burden on top of his mother. He suddenly realized that, while he still didn't know about this woman and this time, should either of them raise either objection now or at any point in the future he was quite ready to tell them exactly where they could insert those objections. He was so very tired of being alone he simply no longer cared.

Priorities though. "Henry first," Spencer said firmly. Henry home first. Until that time anything else was theoretical.

"Of course."

Spencer turned back to the table. "I think we're looking at Oculocutaneous albinism type 1a. Although it sounds like she's the only one in the family with this particular condition, as a recessive genetic trait every pregnancy has a one in four chance of producing a child with OCA, I'm surprised she doesn't have any siblings with the same characteristics."

Blake winced a little. "That assumes John Holman is her genetic father. It's rather common in hyper-religious families for the wedding to be of the shotgun sort and the first child to have a different father. That might also be what's contributing to her being the family pariah. Would that have also caused her blindness?"

"Not necessarily. People dealing with albinism are more susceptible to vision problems, including nystagmus, strabismus and astigmatism, but the most common is photophobia, extreme sensitivity to light and glare, especially sunlight due to the lack of pigment in the eye. This lack of pigment causes their eyes to appear pink or, if there is a small amount of pigment, lavender from the light reflecting through the blood vesicles in the iris."

"And that can cause blindness?" Morgan asked.

Spencer nodded. "Without glasses or contact lenses to protect the eyes from the sun they can develop severe cataracts at a young age." He held up the picture of the woman with the cloudy white pupils. "That theory fits both Henry's picture and her description of her vision."

"But cataracts can be treated." Blake pointed out.

"Yes, but they refuse to take her to the doctor to preserve her purity." Rossi replied.

"So she's been blind from a curable condition for most of her life because of her parent's beliefs?" Blake's jaw tightened. "Okay, I'll be the first to say it; we're not just going after the boys here. She's a victim as well."

"Agreed," Hotch said as they all nodded. "What else did we get from that letter?"

They started at the top. "We need to update his description." Blake said. "That might be why they're taking blond boys, easier to change the hair."

"Or it might have racist connotations." Rossi pointed out.

Garcia came in, "Okay, as goddess of all things fashion I looked up the outfit she was describing and found that it is extremely popular among the young ultra-conservative females in this country." She put pictures up on the board of groups of young woman in long, floral dresses over petticoats and blouses with wide or rounded collars and sleeves, all trimmed in lace or ruffles and all wearing simple veils of white or lace cloth. The effect was somehow sweet and delicate and old-fashioned. In some distant part of his brain Spencer found himself wondering if she'd keep the wardrobe once she was liberated. "We might be able to add that to the description too."

"Okay born at home means no birth certificate, no SSI, they're completely off the grid." Morgan sighed. "They have to operate on a strictly cash basis, how are they getting power out there?"

"They may not be." Rossi replied. "She wouldn't know. We should ask though. And we should see if Henry can get us license plate numbers. It's not unusual for families like this to use counterfeit plates and drive without licenses as a form of tax protest, but we can still put a BOLO out on them. Any idea on what they're making down there?"

"I don't think we have enough data on that yet." It was Blake's turn to sigh. "We may have to risk Henry taking a peek down there. They're estranged from their family, would it be worth calling any Holmans in the area, to see if they know them?"

"It might be." Hotch replied. "Granted there's no guarantee that there are any other family members in the target area but we can put people on it anyway."

"My only concern is that a family member would alert them to what's going on." Morgan said. "Speaking of, what are the chances that someone else in the cult hears that show and figures out who they're talking about?"

"Slim." Blake replied. "Goodwin requires strict control of all media a family consumes, they read the books published by the ministry and other families, watch the movies they produce, listen to the music they record on church owned radio stations, they even have their own satellite TV network for families on the grid. It's all very insular and protected."

"They've probably overlooked it with her because she's so sheltered in every other respect." Spencer said. "They're bringing her whatever Braille books they can find just to give her something to read and they don't realize what she's listening to on the radio. In addition it sounds like they gave her her own space so she wouldn't have to worry about trip and fall hazards and Coast to Coast is on late at night when most of them are probably in bed, they might not even know she's awake and listening."

"I'm just glad she is." Hotch replied.