Morgan and Reid burst into the room, and Rosemary shot up in her bed. Mrs. Lennox's head whipped up from her reading and she shook her head in shock.
"What is it, agents?" she inquired, glancing at her daughter in wide-eyed confusion.
"Mr. Lennox isn't back, is he?" Agent Morgan asked with intense gaze on the older woman, and Rosemary's eyes narrowed as she looked at the pair. Reid lowered his own gaze, refusing to look at the young woman and instead watching her mother, who was struggling to answer.
"No, he's not, but what's the problem?" she said, this time with more force behind her voice.
Morgan said nothing in response, instead pulling out his cell to dial someone.
"Spe- Agent Reid, what are you asking about my dad for?" Rosemary demanded in a hushed voice as the tall agent walked over with an uncomfortable expression on his features. Rosemary could detect the guilt.
"Are you chasing after my dad?" she then questioned, an incredulous look in her eyes. "Please, tell me I'm wrong."
"I- I can't," Reid hung his head, unable to meet her intense gaze.
"But he's innocent!" she insisted, tears springing to her eyes. "He would never, ever hurt me! You're chasing the wrong person, tell them to stop!"
"Rosemary, your dad has been missing since being questioned this morning," Reid said quietly, attempting to keep the situation from escalating. "The last scene was set up within a time frame that could suggest... he organized it after questioning. I know you don't want to think about it like this, but we have to follow any and all leads. And considering he's still gone, this is becoming a dangerous situation."
Her lips quivered and her big, teary eyes pleaded with him. Reid could barely look directly at her.
"Don't let them hurt him," she begged softly. "He's good, I know it. Just don't hurt him."
Reid's jaw clenched a few times out of nervous habit and he nodded once.
"I promise, nothing will happen to him," he assured her. "It'll all get sorted out soon, okay?"
She nodded in understanding, wiping under her eyes swiftly to stop tears from dripping down.
"Hotch wants us to stay here while they head over to Rosemary's house," Morgan interrupted warily, and Reid glanced back, affirming that he understood the order.
Hotch and Blake arrived at Rosemary's apartment building, cautiously going up the stairs to her floor with backup in heavily padded suits following. They remained quiet and stealthy as they entered the corridor, approaching Rosemary's door. It was shut, and as Hotch tried the door, he found it was still locked. Hotch's eyes met Blake's and she nodded, then signaling to one member of backup to come closer. Hotch reached out to knock rapidly on the wooden door.
"Mr. Lennox?" he called. "Mr. Lennox, open up. This is Agent Hotchner."
They received no response. Hotch knocked again to no avail. The agents were forced to stand back so their accomplice could smash the lock on the door. It swung open, and the agents rushed in, guns held up in defensive position. More FBI enforcement followed to search the tiny place, but it was empty. In fact, nothing appeared to have been touched. The closet and dresser drawers displayed no evidence of being disturbed.
"I think it's safe to say he never even came to her apartment," Hotch told Blake once defenses were down, looking around the small home. "Who knows where he could be by now?"
"We're going to have to put out an alert," Blake sighed, pulling out her phone.
"I'll let the rest of the team know what's going on," Hotch said as he pulled out his own phone, walking away and running his intense eyes over the place once more.
"What do you mean he never went to her apartment?" Mrs. Lennox demanded, infuriated as Agent Morgan attempted to calm her down. "This is ridiculous, the FBI is just trying to set him up-"
"Mom!" Rosemary suddenly interjected, catching the attention of the two agents and petite woman immediately. "Just... stop, okay? Getting upset isn't going to help anything- help dad. Just let them do what they have to do."
Her eyes had filled with tears and her lips were pressed together so tight they went pale. Mrs. Lennox's demeanor slowly adjusted, the previously snappish woman now slouched as she took a seat back in her chair. She put her forehead against her hand, staring blankly at the floor and Rosemary sniffed, her eyes flicking momentarily in Reid's direction before avoiding him.
"I need to get out of this room," she suddenly announced, her eyelids shutting tight as she tried to keep a level voice. "Agent Reid, would you mind taking me for a walk?"
"Rosemary, I'm more than able-"
"I said Agent Reid."
The two woman were in a silent stand-off through matching chocolate eyes, and her mother once again shrunk in defeat after a minute. Reid looked at Morgan, who nodded in approval, before approaching the bedside to help Rosemary off. She slipped into the flimsy slippers the hospital had given her and held tightly onto his offered arm, very cautiously making her way out of the room.
They walked in silence for a few minutes down the hall, and Rosemary stared straight ahead, deep in thought with her jaw clenched.
"Something just isn't right about this," she finally spoke, turning her head to look at the agent with determined eyes. "I have a bad feeling about all of this, Spencer. I just have this terrible, awful feeling inside that he's not okay."
She stopped walking and he paused, facing her with uncertainty in his features.
"Statistically, intuition, or gut feeling is more often correct than not," he offered, clearly not sure of what else to say.
"I know that," she sighed, weariness taking over. "But intuition won't get him back safely. I'm scared for him. What if this is what the killer wanted? And now my dad is just-"
She shuddered lightly, her lip quivering again. "-just going to show up in the next scene."
Reid shook his head, attempting to console her by replying, "We'll find him before he can do anything or anything is done to him. Our team is very good at what they do."
"You keep telling me that, but reasoning just won't come to my aid right now," she said with a trembling chuckle, her eyes landing on the slippers on her feet.
"Hey," he started, timidly touching the hand that gripped his arm before pulling his hand away again. "Logic can escape even the smartest minds sometimes. Sometimes our emotions win. You don't need to be ashamed."
Rosemary licked her lips, trying to calm the shaking of her body as she slowly lifted her head.
"Spencer?" she asked tentatively, voice notches quieter.
"Yes?" he frowned, tilting his head slightly.
"When I leave the hospital tomorrow, are you gone for good?" she finally had the courage to inquire.
His frown disappeared and he shook his head once, a hesitant smile on his lips.
"Not for good, no. I mean, I'm not sure if they'll want me to keep guarding you until the case truly comes to a close or anything but..."
"Good," she suddenly blurted. "I mean- good that you're not gone for good."
All of the words seemed like a mess put together, but she figured he understood by the way he snorted.
"Did you just snort?" Rosemary asked with raised eyebrows, her tone now teasing.
"I don't do that often, I swear," he defended himself, appearing rather embarrassed and amused at the same time.
"Sure you don't, Doctor," she taunted, a giggle shortly following.
"I'll leave you stranded here if you keep up that mockery."
"You wouldn't dare."
"I most certainly would, Rosemary. Don't underestimate my callousness."
"Callousness?"
"Did you just snort?"
Morgan watched from outside the room as the cheerful pair walked back towards the door, lost in their own world of teasing and conversation.
"Reid, can I see you a minute?" Morgan requested, smiling reassuringly at Rosemary as they stopped by the open door.
Rosemary and Reid exchanged glances and he nodded, putting on a small smile for her. "Can you make it okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled, giving one last strange look before walking into the room cautiously on her own.
"I was just talking to her and- well, she's pretty freaked out about her dad," Reid explained as he approached Morgan. "She was telling me about her bad gut feeling on all this, that she's worried something is really wrong... I don't know, but it's got me thinking."
"Reid?"
"Uh, yes?"
"You're getting too close, man," Morgan said honestly, shifting a tad uncomfortably but keeping his eyes on the younger agent.
The intellectual's eyebrows twitched into a frown as he looked away, murmuring an, "Oh?"
"I'm not here to penalize you or anything," Morgan continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I'm just warning you to be careful about how close you get. You don't know what could happen and she's not in the healthiest emotional or physical state right now. Just... think carefully, okay?"
"Don't I always?" Reid joked, though he dropped his gaze, his mood clearly dropping just a bit.
"I know you know what you're doing, I'm just looking out for you," Morgan added, trying to come off a little more gentle.
"No, yeah, of course!" Reid shook his head, overly agreeable.
"Okay... that's it, man, you can head on in," Morgan nodded, his eyes mistrustful of the facade but deciding not to push it.
"Actually, you know what? I think I'm gonna go get some fresh air, do you mind?"
Morgan's mouth opened slightly, but he decided to just nod no and gesture for the agent to go ahead. Reid quickly stepped past his team member, walking down the hall with a downtrodden glaze over his eyes.
Rosemary waited in her bed for a while for Reid to return, but he didn't.
"Mom, you should go get some rest," Rosemary encouraged, a faint smile on her lips as she looked over at the woman.
"Are you sure? I can stay here if you like..."
"No, really, I'm fine," Rosemary shook her head, intensifying the smile to further reassure.
"Well, all right, only if you're sure," Mrs. Lennox agreed, coming over to kiss her goodnight before leaving the room.
As soon as her mother was gone, Rosemary glanced over at her bedside and caught sight of the next book she had started, courtesy of Spencer's personal library. She reached for it, then froze, unsure. With a soft breath, she brought her arm back to her and turned away from the bedside table, lying on her side and attempting to go to sleep.
The golden mask returned behind her eyelids and she squeezed them tight, willing herself to forget.