The alarm clock went off and Spencer instinctively smashed the snooze button with all his might. It was muggy and humid outside and sleep was nearly impossible to find that night. He rolled over and wiped his face with his hands, looking at the woman in bed with him. He met her in NA a couple of months after he had gotten out of prison. He had started using again inside and knew he needed to build a support system if he was going to kick the habit. The only work he could find with a violent felony on his record was in auto body shops and construction. He couldn't exactly do those jobs strung out.

The tan brunette yawned and stretched out her arms, catching him staring at her. "What are you doing, weirdo?" She tossed a pillow at his head.

"Hey!" He feigned injury. "That's my good side!"

She leaned over and kissed him before sliding out of the bed. "Every side is your good side."

Getting ready for the day was easier now than it was back when he was working at the BAU. His uniform was a pair of blue jeans and whatever T-shirt he could find at the moment. His boss didn't care if his clothes were old or stained - they were mechanics and stains were just a natural part of the job.

As he caught his reflection in the mirror, he was struck by how much had changed in the past year. His hair was still long, about the same length as when he left prison, but he almost always had stubble on his face and motor oil on his clothes. Whereas before he was disgusted by the prospect of shaking a stranger's hand, now he regularly laid on the ground and fixed trucks with his bare hands. He was different, but he was grateful. He didn't have a plan when he walked out of those prison gates and now he actually had something to show for himself.

"See you later!" The brunette said as she headed out the door, tying her apron around her waist. "Jimmy's gonna kill me if I'm late for another shift."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Spencer said, holding up her name tag. Keys, phone, name tag - those were the three things he was always having to remind her to stay on top of.

She smiled, "You're my hero." She leaned forward as he pinned it on her shirt. "You know, even though I inherited this name tag from the girl who was waitressing here before me, I'm starting to like the name Jennifer."

He laughed. "I prefer Mandy," he replied as he kissed her on the forehead.

—

The silence in the SUVs was so thick you could almost taste it. It tasted like guilt and regret. JJ still had tear stains on her face from the jet. She looked around at the other's in the truck. The way it seemed that everyone was avoiding eye contact set her off.

"How could we let this happen?" JJ said, her voice nearly wavering. "It doesn't make any sense, how could Spence get out of prison and we not even find out for over a year?"

Tara and Matt shifted in their seats, silently calling nose-goes. Tara, always the psychologist, broke the silence and replied. "A lot has been going on recently. Prentiss has been busy with Andrew, Rossi married Krystal…"

"And you—" Simmons said from the front seat, cutting himself off. Tara rolled her eyes silently, damning him for bringing this up.

"I what?" JJ challenged. "I what? I was busy torpedoing my marriage so I was too busy to notice that my oldest friend was getting released from federal prison?"

Simmons shut his lips tightly, not daring to speak up again.

"We've been distracted," Tara offered. "It's not an excuse, but it's an explanation. It's all we can say at this point."

When they reached the Tallahassee PD headquarters, JJ was first out of the car, slamming her door shut behind her.

"Nice one, Matt," Tara said, sarcastically.

"I didn't mean anything by it? I—" Matt stammered.

"I know," Tara sighed. "She just needs someone to blame right now."

—

Prentiss was setting up shop in the conference room. She had sent Luke and Rossi to the coroner's office to check out the body of the most recent victim. JJ walked in, stonefaced.

"Did you get anything from the crime scene?" Prentiss asked, avoiding eye contact.

"No. Everything was too contaminated, it rained last night. Anything that was there got washed away."

"Oh," Prentiss replied. "I'm sure we'll figure something out, Rossi and Luke are headed back from—"

"Did you know?" JJ interrupted.

Prentiss closed her eyes before turning around to face her. "Did I know what?"

"Did you know that he was getting out?"

"Of course not," Prentiss said, defensive. "If I had known I would have told all of you. We're a family."

"Well, not a great one, are we?" JJ snapped. "How did you not know? You were his boss, you hired his lawyer. Why didn't she tell you that he was getting released?"

Prentiss had asked herself the same question when she first arrived at the station. She checked her phone records and saw that she had missed several calls from the same number in the past year. She had gotten a new phone a couple of years ago, and the contacts didn't all transfer over. She knew who it was going to be when she called the number back, but that didn't stop her from feeling like shit when she heard Fiona's voice. She told her that Spencer Reid was released early on good behavior, and the last anyone had seen of him was 15 months ago when he boarded a bus with his belongings and $50 in his pocket offered by the federal government. She had been trying to get in touch with her ever since she heard of his upcoming release, but hadn't been able to reach her.

Emily knew that JJ wasn't going to want to hear that, but she decided to be honest anyway. "Fiona tried to call and tell me, but she wasn't able to get through."

JJ scoffed.

"I dropped the ball here, okay?" Prentiss replied, shutting the door to the conference room to avoid the local PD hearing the conflict. "I should have been there for him and I wasn't. I can't change what happened, but we can try to make things right moving forward."

"How?" JJ asked, her anger shifting into hopelessness. "He's been out for 15 months and nobody has come looking for him. He's god knows where and probably thinks that we don't care. How are we going to recover from that?"