For Spencer the next little while was sort of an idyllic time. Not only did he have his human family safely around him, he also had a brother whom he loved more than anything and who liked to pop in for random visits. To make it even better, his brother and his little family here got along far more than he ever would've expected. Now that Gabriel had met the team and he knew that they all knew about him and Spencer, he had no hesitation in popping in whenever and wherever to visit them. Hotels, restaurants—Penelope's office.

The first time he popped into Penelope's office was while the team was out on a case, no one knew about it until they put in a video call to Penelope and found the snarky archangel lounging in a chair next to her while he played with the countless items on her desk. Everyone except Spencer had startled at the sight of it. They'd recovered quickly, though—there was a case, and nothing could get in the way of that—and soon enough they all grew rather used to seeing the candy addicted archangel on camera with Penelope. Or, at least, any time that Ashley wasn't in the room. It wasn't really that surprising that Gabriel had taken quite the liking to Penelope. Spencer had known he would. The two were way too much alike.

Spencer felt like he was happier than he'd been in a long time. He was working, helping his team and saving people, putting his powers to use in ways that felt so very right. And he got to spend so much time with his brother. Granted, Gabriel wasn't always happy, but he was slowly getting there as he reported his progress to Spencer, telling him of the slowly building trust that he was earning with Sam. He'd taken Spencer's advice and spoken to Sam when they were alone, and that seemed to have worked enough to get Gabriel the in that he needed. It got Sam on his side just enough for the younger hunter to get his brother to back off some. Little by little he was getting the hunter to relax around him. Helping to ease his nightmares and flashbacks was a good step in that direction.

Of course, that idyllic time couldn't last. Little things were starting to intrude on the peace they'd found. And all of those things seemed to center around Emily.

With every passing day something seemed to be bothering Emily more and more. It hadn't escaped Spencer's notice that his friend had started to pull back from them. Not only that, but she'd developed this uncanny ability to sort of blank out her mind. Not shut off her thoughts, no one could do that, nor was she really shielding them. She just seemed to be making the deliberate choice to not think about certain things in his presence. That was more worrisome than anything else.

But secrets can only stay secrets for so long. They were on a case when Emily's secrets were all blown wide open.

The case seemed normal at first. Well, as normal as any of their cases could ever be. Spencer hadn't connected any of it to Emily. Whatever was going on with her was always on his mind but he was so focused on worrying about her that he stupidly didn't make the connections between her and their case until it was too late.

Two families were killed in a possible murder-suicide. There was nothing really to connect them, nothing beyond one member from each family originally coming from Europe. But both families were shot and then their houses burned to the ground. Dave and Emily went to one of the houses, Derek and Aaron to the morgue, and Spencer stayed behind to work on trying to help find anything that might connect their cases together. It was a skill of his that Aaron had always tried to utilize even before they knew who Spencer really was and they tried to use it even more now. The archangel tended to make random connections that none of the rest of them could.

They worked their case and, little by little, things cropped up that didn't make sense, things that set the whole team on edge. People were dying, Derek and Emily were shot at, the story was being covered up and articles written were pulled, and finally, a suspect was dropped into their laps, a name for the Unsub they were hunting here—Ian Doyle.

Spencer should've noticed something then. He should've seen Emily's reaction. Even though they were only around each other briefly, he should've known.

But Emily was keeping her distance. That didn't register with Spencer right away; he didn't realize just how deliberately his friend was avoiding him. Nothing about this case drew his attention to her and she made sure to stay far away from him.

It wasn't until the death of a woman named Tsia that things changed. Derek and Emily went to go check on the case and when they came back, Emily used the cover of all the various agencies in the BAU, all the bodies filling the room, to slip away. And just like that, nothing was ever the same again.

How could he have missed this?

That was the question that Spencer was asking himself over and over again as he sat in the BAU's round-table-room and watched JJ bring up images on the screen for all of them. As she prepared, he cursed himself fluently, in multiple languages. How the hell could he have missed this? Now that he knew what was going on, now that the truth had come spilling out, there were so many things that made sense. So many different pieces of the puzzle that now fell perfectly together. He'd missed so damn much and if anything happened to Emily because he'd been too stupid or too slow to piece this all together, he was never going to forgive himself.

He wasn't angry at her for running. Dave was right. Like he'd said, "Doyle's killing families. She's not married, not close to relatives. He was ready to wipe us out. She ran to protect us."

How could he fault her for that? How could he blame her for doing the only thing she felt she could do to keep those she loved safe? He just wished that she'd opened up to him. That she'd told him what was going on. Maybe he could've helped. Maybe, if I'd paid more attention…

Spencer's internal monologue was interrupted by JJ's voice. It drew it him out of his head and back into the room. "Okay, so I talked to a friend from Langley. He couldn't give me Emily's full CIA history, but he could give me this." Clicking the remote in her hand, she brought a file up on screen and then, with another click, cleared all the black bars off of it. There was Emily's file—Lauren Reynolds file—right there for them to read. "She assumed the identity of Lauren Reynolds as part of a special task force called JTF-12."

"I heard about them. They were profiling terrorists, weren't they?" Dave asked.

JJ nodded. "Yeah, assembled after 9-11. CIA and Western agencies contributed their best and brightest."

Chewing on her lip, Ashely tilted her head and looked over the file. "But serial killers and terrorists have different personality traits."

"How does Doyle fit in?" Spencer asked. He wasn't going to just assume anything anymore. He wasn't going to let himself be stupid enough again to think that he would just notice something on his own. Being an archangel didn't mean that he was all powerful and all knowing. This whole thing was reminding him of that very clearly.

"He was their last case." JJ said. "And now the JTF is on his hit list. Jeremy Wolff was victim number one, from Germany's BND. Sean McAlister at Interpol was the second. He's the one that brought the JTF in to work the Doyle case. He was murdered last week in Brussels with his wife and daughter. Tsia Mosely of France's DCRI. She got engaged to Jeremy earlier this year. After he died, she fled to D.C. And team leader Clyde Easter, British S.I.S. He hasn't checked in since Tsia's murder. He was also in D.C." With each name she clicked the remote and brought them up onto the screen as well.

"Did JTF make the arrests?" Aaron asked.

JJ shook her head this time. "No, the host countries handled that. The team moved on to the next case."

"If all they did was deliver a profile, how does Doyle even know about them?"

For a brief moment, JJ looked uncomfortable, her eyes drifting up to the picture of their friend and then back to the room. Spencer knew the answer before she said it; the pieces were falling in even more now. "Well, considering the shadowy nature of terrorist cells, they utilize a skill we don't... infiltration."

"Who was undercover on Doyle?" Spencer asked the question they all knew the answer to, yet were all afraid to say it out loud. Even though they knew, they needed to hear JJ confirm it. Still, when she did, it hurt to hear. "Emily." She said softly. "She made contact with him in Boston to get intel on Valhalla. She was posing as another weapons dealer."

Looking down at the picture in his hand, Derek fought back a scowl, and Spencer could feel the hurt and betrayal that oozed off the man. "Look at how she's dressed. She seems awfully comfortable."

Ignoring that, Aaron looked to JJ. "How close did she get to Doyle as part of her cover?"

"The recon they did on Doyle included a background of all of his romantic relationships. Emily was his type."

Everyone went quiet as they all looked down at the picture of their friend, each one lost in their own stream of thoughts.

Everyone was sent off in different directions. Dave and Derek went to Emily's apartment, a job that Spencer was very happy to leave to them—he didn't want to go sifting through a friend's apartment—and Penelope was sent off to try and call all of Emily's known numbers in the hopes that she could find something. Aaron left Ashley with orders to set up the boards in the round-table room and gestured for JJ and Spencer to follow him to his office.

It only took a moment after the door shut before both Aaron and JJ turned to Spencer. "Can you sense her at all?" JJ asked him immediately.

"I've been trying." Even though the others hadn't seen it, he was, he was trying almost this whole time with no success so far. "She's smart." Rubbing a hand over his face, Spencer tried not to both growl and sigh at the same time. "I'm almost positive she's either warded herself against me, or she's learned some special mind blocking techniques. Lately she's taken to blanking her mind out."

"Blanking her mind?" Aaron repeated.

"It's like," He tried to think of the best way to describe this. How could he make it make sense for someone who wasn't a mind reader? "Emily's always said that she's good at compartmentalizing. And really, she is. One of the best I've ever seen. It's like she takes all thoughts except the ones needed at the moment and she can shove them down into a little box and push that to the back of her mind. What I sense from you guys is generally your surface thoughts. To get more, I'd have to deliberately reach in, and I wouldn't do that to any of you without your permission."

"Is there any way you can search for her?"

The calm tone of his Unit Chief was offset by the worry that was coming from him. Spencer instinctively lifted his wings and curled them slightly around his two friends. Though they couldn't see them, they would feel the calming presence of them, the soothing sensations that they gave off. "I'll do what I can, Hotch. I can try and fly in hopes of sensing her somewhere." He'd be flying blind, but if he could figure out the general area she'd be in, it was his best bet.

Aaron shook his head, though. "We need you here, Reid. As much as I hate it, there's more to this than just finding Prentiss. We need to make sure we can not only capture Doyle, but make a case that sticks."

It went against everything inside of Spencer to not take off and fly after his friend. Logically, he knew Aaron was right. He knew the man was simply thinking of all angles of things just like a good leader would. But Spencer's grace was throbbing with the need to find his missing family member, one of his flock. Protecting her took precedence over everything else. If he could find her, he could keep her safe and help the case from at her side, maybe even convince her to come back home. However, there was another part of him that wanted to stay with his team. Because Doyle was going after families and there was a very good chance he'd still be targeting the team right now, even if he found out that Emily was following. Maybe especially if he found out. He might try to come after them as a message to her to back off. If Spencer went off after her, who would be here to protect the rest of them?

His grace felt like it was being pulled in two different directions and he had to fight down a shudder.

JJ's hand closed gently over his shoulder. "We'll find her, Spence."

"I need you all safe." Spencer said before he could stop himself. He opened eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed and he looked between the two in front of him. "I just, I need it, and I can't keep all of you safe at the same time. I can't be everywhere at once."

He was grateful that neither one of them pointed out that they were all agents fully capable of taking care of themselves.

Drawing in an unnecessary breath, Spencer blew it back out and tried to blow out some of his tension as well. He needed to be calm. He needed to think. His flock needed him to keep a level head. Panic would do nothing to help them.

As soon as he got himself at least somewhat calm, a solution came to him that he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of. In an instant he had his eyes closed and was reaching out in prayer to one he knew he could call on. Gabriel, brother, if you're free I need you. Please.

"What's wrong?"

Spencer opened his eyes to find Gabriel right in front of him. The younger archangel took in his distress and responded by reaching out to him with grace, wings, and Spencer could see he was fighting not to reach out with his arms as well. "What happened, 'Feel?"

"Emily's missing." The words tasted sour on Spencer's tongue. Their graces twined together and Spencer shared everything with his brother until Gabriel knew all that they knew. He watched Gabriel suck in a breath and stare at him, eyes burning a little and wings lifting up protectively. This wasn't just Spencer's flock here—it was, in a sense, Gabriel's as well. And Gabriel was immensely protective of what was his. Spencer met his eyes and spoke with boy words and grace. "Please, I need your help."

Nothing could've kept Gabriel from stepping up to him then. He moved in to hug Spencer without any sense of embarrassment or hesitation. When he pulled back, he cupped Spencer's face with one hand. "You protect them here," he said in Enochian. "I'll find our lost one."

"Thank you." Some of the tension inside of Spencer relaxed. "Thank you."

With Gabriel on the hunt for Emily, it left Spencer free to protect the rest of his team. He could stick with them and help them get through this. At the moment the team was gathered on the jet flying to Boston to speak with one Clyde Easter, her old team leader, who was being detained and who had been found with a rather large bag of cash.

They were on the jet when they got their first hint of Emily's location.

Penelope was shaking a little as she turned her laptop to face them all. As the video played, Penelope talked them through it. "Emily walked into a trap. It looks like Doyle got into the SUV, but from this angle, you can see that he didn't. Which I wish Boston PD Would have told me before I started watching it."

On the screen they all watched as Ian Doyle pretended to get into an SUV, only to slip out of view just in time for Emily to come up and shoot out one of the windows. Once she did, she threw a flash-bang grenade inside and then ducked down the back as it went off. She was up on the other side, gun held out at one of the men who came out, when she was shot. Everyone on the jet sucked in a breath and Spencer's grace spasmed with the pain of seeing this.

Ian came on screen and knelt down in front of her and the team only relaxed when they saw him open her shirt to show the vest underneath. She was alive. Oh, thank Father, she was alive!

"She threw a flash-bang grenade into a car." Derek's voice sounded both shaky and stunned. His shock showed clearly on his face. "She's lucky the three people inside didn't die. Is anybody else bothered by that?"

Not in the least, Spencer thought to himself. He knew he should be. He should be upset that lives could've been lost. But all he could think as he looked at that video was that he was so damn glad she was alive.

Giving a halfhearted shrug, Dave said, "Well, three bad guys."

"Illegal as it is, I think Prentiss knows she has to be as ruthless as Doyle." Aaron said.

Spencer nodded his agreement. "He's come to the US to wage a public vendetta and hired a group of mercenaries to remain loyal to him. He has nothing to lose, so she has to act the same way."

They didn't give Derek the chance to continue on that route. Anything more he had to say about that wouldn't have been good. He was still hurt, still feeling betrayed, and whatever he had to say carried the potential to be something he might severely regret later. Before he could say anything, Dave moved the subject along. "So how did Doyle know she was waiting for him?"

That was a damn good question.

"Well, the mole must have told him, right?" JJ said. "The same guy who's been feeding Doyle the contractors and agents?"

Sighing, Ashley looked around at them all. "And our best suspect was just arrested with a suitcase full of cash. How do we get Easter to talk? He won't cooperate willingly."

"I'll handle that." Aaron said firmly. "The rest of you focus on Doyle's location."

"I hate to be the one to ask this, but how long does Emily have?" Penelope asked softly.

For a moment they were quiet. It was Aaron who finally answered her. "Her best chance is also the most troubling. Doyle saved her for last because he views her as his stressor. Which means he'll take his time."

Closing his eyes, Spencer sent up a soft prayer to his Father. Please, let Gabriel find her. Please, Father, let him find her in time.

The next chapter goes wildly AU (As if we aren't already LOL) so when I post it, don't expect it to go anything like the rest of the "Lauren" episode does, okay? Great!

Sorry this update took so long but, please, let us know what you think of this chapter! We've almost wrapped this story up. :D