Hello, my lovelies! So here we have the start of one of my least favorite parts of this entire show, but hopefully it will be over with soon. This chapter is a little bit over six months after chapter 11, so you know what that means - Ariel's back!

Reid's P.O.V.

The team had decided to go out to a bar for what they all referred to as "team bonding" - basically just going out and getting drunk. I would've preferred to have stayed in with Ariel, but Morgan had convinced me otherwise. Besides, she had apparently already made plans to do the same thing with the band. Although, I wasn't sure why they would possibly need to bond - they had just been together 24/7 for six months, after all.

Either way I was starting to really regret it now, especially since Prentiss wouldn't leave me alone.

"Oh, come on, Reid." she kept saying. "Let loose a bit. Just because your wife isn't here right now doesn't mean you can't have fun."

I knew that she didn't mean anything by it, but it was at this point that I was really starting to regret just letting Emily Prentiss know about Ariel as soon as she joined. I knew that she would have noticed the ring anyway, but at times like this it could still be annoying.

"Um, no thanks." I kept telling her. "I think I'm good."

I was just about to get up and leave when Morgan came up between us. I could've sighed in relief, thinking that Morgan had come to save me from her relentless nagging.

"Hey kid, I'm gonna hit the bar." he said, and I deflated. "You wanna come with?"

I was about to get mad at Morgan for not telling her off, until he gave me a quick wink. He had something up his sleeve - I just wasn't sure that I wanted to know what.

"Yeah, sure." I told him. We were halfway to the bar when I heard a laugh.

A very familiar laugh.

I looked over in the direction of the bar and smiled. There, with her back to me, was none other than my Ari-bear. She didn't look much like Ariel right then, though. Instead, she was dressed slightly more like Ari in ripped jeans, a black open-backed top, and red heels that were at least five inches tall.

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Prentiss's P.O.V.

It wasn't long after my conversation with Reid that I began to feel bad about what I had said. So I decided to try and find him. I went over to JJ first, who was over playing darts with a couple of guys. "Hey JJ, have you seen Reid anywhere?" I asked her. She threw another bulls-eye, before turning to look at the tables in the corner. "He was over there earlier…" she mused. "But I don't see him anymore, sorry. Maybe the others know where he is?"

I thanked her, then headed over to the table where I had left the rest of the team. Morgan had just gone to dance with a couple of girls, leaving Garcia, Hotch, and Haley sitting there.

"Have any of you guys seen Reid?" I asked them. Hotch and Haley shook their heads no, but Garcia nodded.

"I see him." she reported, although she looked slightly worried. "He's out on the floor with…" then she broke into a relieved smile. "Ariel! Oh, I didn't know that she was back in town!"

I looked towards the floor eagerly - I had yet to see Ariel Reid at all. Needless to say, I was shocked by what I saw. The entire time that I had been hearing about Reid's wife, I had pictured someone a lot like him - shy, geeky, but adorable in a 'younger sibling' kind of way.

The woman who was currently out on the floor was not like that at all. She was at least three or four inches shorter than Reid, if not more, with long, curly chocolate brown hair and a row of flowers tattooed down each of her arms. She wore a black open-backed top with ripped jeans and red heels - so the height difference between the two was actually closer to seven or eight inches. They were dancing just a few feet away from Morgan, and as we watched, the woman turned to face Reid, snaking her arms around his neck for a kiss which he was more than willing to return.

I was shocked. "That's Reid's wife?" JJ and Garcia nodded, and then all of a sudden another woman came up to the table.

"Hey guys." she said, exchanging hellos with the team. "I see Derek found himself a honey." She gestured to the dance floor. "Or three."

"And our sweet genius is with his honey, too." Garcia said, sighing happily.

"Hold on." I said, "I'm lost. Who exactly are you?" I asked, looking at the girl. Her looks were definitely out there. She seemed familiar though, even though I had no idea why. Her short fuschia hair was pulled into little braided pigtails, with her bangs hanging in her face. She wore a military green flowy skirt that fell to just above her knees, with a tight white shirt underneath a studded leather jacket, and combat boots laced up to her calves.

She looked at me then like she knew who I was. "Hey, you're Elle, right?" she asked. "I'm Katerina Simmons - sister of the bride over there." she nodded over in the direction of the dance floor, where Reid was still out with his wife.

"Uh, no, actually." I said. "I'm Emily. Emily Prentiss."

She looked embarrassed before laughing it off. "Sorry," she said. "My bad."

"Why didn't you let me know that you were back in town?" Garcia said, sounding disappointed.

"Because we just got back, silly." the new woman said easily, taking another swig of his beer. "Why?" she asked, teasing. "Did you miss me?"

Garcia nodded, even though she looked slightly disappointed. "Of course!" she said.

Katerina just laughed. "No need to lie, Penny." she said, winking at the other woman. "You wanted to see Gabe, didn't you?" she asked.

Garcia blushed, but didn't deny it. "Okay, maybe I wanted to see him a little." she admitted. "But can you blame me?"

I stopped listening to them when Reid and his wife approached the table, quickly being drawn into hugs by the other team members, and I took the extra opportunity to examine the woman. There was something familiar about her as well, although I still couldn't place where I had seen her before.

"And you must be Emily Prentiss." Ariel said, as she made her way around the table to me. "Spence has told me a lot about you."

I was about to say something to her when JJ came back over to the table "Hey guys, sorry to cut the night short, but we've got a case."

"Alright." Hotch said, giving Haley a kiss on the forehead before getting up from his chair. "Meeting in the conference room in 20 minutes. And can someone please get Morgan off of the dance floor?"

I laughed as everyone gave similar looks of 'nope-I'm-not-doing-it', before Katerina sighed, getting up from her chair. "I'll get him." she said, rolling her eyes as she headed out onto the floor.

"Try not to rough him up too much!" Ariel called out, laughing as her friend responded with a simple gesture.

Ariel sighed, giving Reid a kiss before turning to me. "Here," she said, grabbing my purse and pulling out my phone before I can even say anything, and handing me hers as well. "Give me your number, and I'll give you mine, and we'll talk, alright? I'd love to get to know you more - the team is a huge part of Spence's life, so it's a huge part of mine, too." she said in explanation, before handing my phone back to me and pocketing hers. Then Katerina comes back, dragging Morgan along behind her, and soon we were all laughing as Reid teased Morgan relentlessly about being literally dragged by a woman half his size.

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The team finally gathered at the BAU, with Gideon meeting them there, saying that he had been at the Smithsonian. We were only there for a bit - long enough to get the details of the case and theorize on the profile for a few minutes, but that was it.

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Spencer's P.O.V.

I called Ariel from my desk after we were done in the conference room - I had just stopped there to grab my go-bag before heading to the plane.

"Hey." I said as soon as she picked up. I could hear music blaring in the background, along with a lot of laughter and people talking, so I assumed that they still had yet to leave the bar.

"Hey, babe." she shouted, and I winced as I pulled the phone away from my ear. "What's up?"

"We've got a case down in Georgia." I told her once it was safe for me to put the phone next to my ear.

Ariel whined, "Really? But we just got back."

"Honey, are you drunk?" I asked her, worried.

'What? No." she denied. "I haven't had a drop all night.

"Yes, you are." I said as I headed for the elevators with Morgan walking alongside me. Her whining about my work was what tipped me off. I knew that she hated my having to leave all of the time, but she also knew that I was saving lives. So the only time that she ever really brought it up was when she was sick, exhausted, or inebriated.

"Whatever." she said - now she sounded angry. "I just can't believe that you're leaving. We literally just got back in town, and I wanted to tell you something."

I sighed. "Ariel, I'm sorry. But you know that it can't be helped. And I promise, as soon as we get back, I'm all yours." Morgan and I got into the elevator, and he held the door for Prentiss and JJ while I said, "And then you can tell me whatever it is, alright? I promise."

So this is the beginning of the heartbreak, and I am so, so sorry you guys. It gets worse before it gets better. Unfortunately for me - but luckily for you - I'm still not that good at writing the angsty stuff, so there's not too much of that… at least I don't think there is!

Thank you to ahowell1993, Hippiechic81, KirkSauber, ripon, SherlockReid, PleaseDeleteMe8217280, raspberry dreams, PleaseDeleteMe8158719, and artemis7448 for their reviews! You guys (and girls) are all amazing, and I'm so grateful to you all.