A/N: Hello again, everyone!

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.

The chapter starts off the following morning.

Previously on Criminal Minds…

"How about we go on a road trip?"

"Uh…no."

"…we stop along the way to other stops to other towns, historic sites, and other states around this great country."

"…these are memories that'll last a lifetime…"

Everyone went to sleep extra early to make the best use of the early morning's potentially open roads. After everyone had an early breakfast, they all took a shower Élise helped Spencer and Rose pack up the last of everything they'll need in the Suburban and ensured Opal was safely secured with her pen in the trunk.

Élise closed it and had her hands on the back of her slim hips. "Everything good to go?"

"Doors are locked; the Bureau and Mr. President are aware of our absence; security and defense systems are locked on; Marshals are waiting for us outside the gates—I say we are," Spencer concluded.

Rose elongated her arms and legs; she almost felt a semi-expecting tightening muscle cramp at the back of her leg—she's been doing a lot of stretching lately. "Whoo! This is going to be so fun!" giving her leg some time for the pain to settle down, she hopped in the backseat with Séraphine and Isaac. "You two are going to love road trips." Rose, Élise, and Spencer agreed to take turns driving the Suburban. "We're going to see places you'd never think of seeing before in your young lives."

"Where are we stopping?" asked Séraphine; she had her hands between her lap and kicked her feet.

Élise climbed in the front passenger seat and adjusted herself nicely after strapping the seatbelt around her body. "We're going to stop at lots of places around the country." She turned on the

Spencer got in the driver's seat. "Our first stop is in Frostburg, Maryland; we should be there in about..." he ogled at his silver watch. "Three hours, so I say we do not waste any more time, and let's get going?"

"YAY!" Everyone, even Élise, cheered when Spencer lodged the key in the car's ignition and drove the car through the gates; from the rear-view camera system, Élise watched the gates close and the two US Marshals following them.

"Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah!" Rose started singing—a bit off-key—to a Stephen Foster classic. "Camptown racetrack five miles long, Oh, doo-dah day!" she started giggling and even let out a snort.

Élise focused on a fashion-themed app on her personal cell phone. "You really excited about this road trip?"

Rose squealed. "It just brings me back to so many memories from my childhood. I'd begged my parents to go faster-faster," she said 'faster-faster' in a rather childish tone. "But it came with some downers."

"How?" asked Spencer, still keeping his mind on the road.

Rose recapped a childhood memory. "My little brother, Conner; he'd get carsick, and he would vomit; he's even thrown up on me several times."

"Ew!" Séraphine pulled a face.

"Yeah, that's nasty," Élise shook her head and had a grimace on her face.

Rose cleared her throat again and started singing, "Camptown ladies sing dis song…"

"Doo-dah! doo-dah!" The Bastien-Reid families sang the 'doo-dah! doo-dah!" part.

"Camptown racetrack five miles long…"

"Oh, doo-dah day!" They finished the last of the second song line.

Just as Spencer predicted, the family made it to Frostburg, Maryland, a mountain town tucked away in the Allegheny Mountains. Once they found a good parking space, everyone got out, and Spencer locked the car.

"Oh," Rose blushed once she strapped Opal on a leash and stared at the brick-lined buildings and sidewalks. "The downtown here reminds me so much of Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars."

Élise now had a surprised look on her face while holding Isaac's hand and trying to get some photos of the town on her phone. "You watch Pretty Little Liars?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a sucker for teen dramas. It just reminds me of that quaint charm that'll remind you of a small town. I just read this town has its own university."

Spencer held Séraphine's hand. "Well, it definitely has that."

"I'm hungry," said Séraphine with her hand on her stomach.

Élise tapped on her phone. "I see a restaurant called the Princess Restaurant. Rumor has it President Truman and First Lady Bess dined there back in the 1950s."

"I'm hungry, too, so…" Rose turned her head, scouting if she could see the restaurant before pointing in the direction where she was pointing: a red brick building with a gold rectangular sign that said PRINCESS RESTAURANT in big caps. "And I think I see it."

Rose offered to take Opal to a nearby pet-friendly restaurant while Spencer and Élise ate at the Princess Restaurant and met up again at the Frostburg Museum on Main Street, a local museum set in an old brick schoolhouse about the history of the town. After twenty minutes there, they went to the Western Maryland Gallery, which featured the works of local artist James C. Groves and his oil paintings.

Driving over an hour and entering the Pennsylvania state line—Washington County…

"Ohhh!" Isaac tapped on the backseat glass windows. "Ooh-ohh-ohh!"

"Take it easy, little man," Élise pulled Isaac's hand away. "Don't hurt your hand or the glass like that." Not that Isaac could since it was made unbreakable and bulletproof, but still.

Séraphine had a look at what Isaac was looking at or at least trying to get someone's attention. "Pretty!"

Sitting in the front row, Rose had to get a picture of the South Tenth Street Bridge over the Monongahela River. "Oh, I see the bridge! I see the bridge!"

Séraphine and Isaac played for ten-fifteen minutes at Mounds Park, a local playground in town, visited the Historical Society Museum, the Longwell House—a two-story L-shaped brick Italianate house, and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Monongahela City—a historic brick Gothic Revival-style church; freed slaves used both buildings as stops on the Underground Railroad.

Élise was next to drive from Monongahela to the West Virginia and Ohio state lines, making it to Columbus, and getting to their hotel, The Westin Columbus, another historic red brick Victorian building on their road trip in downtown southern Columbus.

Everyone got settled in their hotel suites—since the hotel cannot accommodate five guests per room, Rose had her own hotel room.

"Oh, thank you, God Almighty," Élise came out of the bathroom, wearing one of her favorite silk pajamas and had the complimentary hotel robe with the hotel name and logo on it, walking over to the King-sized bed. "What a day, and it's already the first day."

Spencer got the children in their pajamas. "Did you two have a good day today?"

"Uh-huh!" the two bobbed their heads and bounced on the bed. "Uh-huh!"

Spencer placed the children between him and Élise. "Well, rest up; tomorrow's gonna be a new day."

After a good night's sleep, the Bastien-Reid family ordered breakfast via room service and sat at the dark chocolate solid hardwood circular table.

"Would you like some more syrup on your pancakes?" Spencer held the small packet of maple syrup in his hand.

Séraphine finished chewing a piece of her blueberry and buttermilk pancake she bit off from her kid's sized fork. "Yes, daddy…" A quiet Isaac ate an apple slice. "Thank you."

Élise came out of the bathroom on her phone; from the way she shook her head, huffed her breath, and almost threw her phone on the gray couch. "Oh! I don't believe it!" she had her hand on her head.

Spencer dabbed his mouth with the white napkin. "What happened?"

Élise slumped into a seat between the kids. "Some real…hacker" If Séraphine and Isaac weren't in the room, she'd swear like a sailor. "…Had the…guts…to try and hack my accounts."

"What's a hacker?" Séraphine popped some berries into her mouth and chewed slowly.

"Mmm…" Spencer explained, cleaning Isaac's mouth, "A hacker is someone who tries to go through people's personal accounts and try to do things."

"'Ike wha, daddy?" a wide-eyed Isaac asked.

"Lots of things," said Élise; she was offered a hot cup of coffee from Spencer, who slid it to her, knowing she'll try to make her feel better.

Élise had a big gulp. "That did it for now," she looked at her phone. "The banks said everything's good; my accounts are fine, and I can get new ones." She clicked under her tongue. "Tsk-tsk-tsk. I swear, when I get my hands on this fool, I am going to mu…" she stopped mid-air, remembering that the children were innocently looking at her with such curiosity and admiration. She inhaled and exhaled, had her hands on her lap, but still had a smile on her face. "Just wait and see what I'll have in store for them."

Spencer smirked. "Typical you. Now eat up," he then said, waving his silver knife at her breakfast plate. "We have to get going if we want to get to Columbia by nighttime."

Élise cutely obeyed Spencer and did so. But little did the hacker or hackers know, she'd unleashed someone to go after them.

Meeting up with Rose and Opal again, everyone walked around the town and managed to see a few places before leaving Columbus; Élise managed to get some new cards from the nearest financial centers from where she banks.

xxxxxxxx

"Oh-oh!" Rose managed to get a photo of the National Museum of the United States Air Force on her phone. "I remember visiting here with my family all the time."

Élise asked, "You have family in the military?"

"I had a grandfather who was in the military and a couple of cousins who are Navy SEALs."

Isaac asked innocently, "'Ike thee seals we sawh at the zoo?"

The adults giggled; Élise snorted a bit. "Yeah, something like that; there is a whole lot of kind of seals out there in the world, Ziggy."

After three hours of driving, they stopped at the birthplace of one of the country's presidents, who also served as its Chief Justice.

Cincinnati.

Spencer and Élise ate at Frisch's, a popular regional Big Boy restaurant chain in the Cincinnati area. Élise had a big bite of the fresh never, frozen Big Boy burger. "Mmm…the juice is running out of my mouth."

Séraphine finished chewing the two French fries. "Tasty."

"Ah," Spencer slurped some of his frozen blended mocha espresso. "You like your milkshake, Ziggy?"

"Mmm-hmm…" Isaac gulped and ate the cherry that was on top, getting a little bit of whipped cream on his upper lip. "Yummy!" he let out a burp. "Urp!"

"Ziggy…"

Séraphine belched, "Yuurp!"

Before leaving the town, Élise had to sample Graeter's Ice Cream, including its signature black raspberry chocolate chip, roping everyone with her and agreeing it was some of the best ice cream they'd ever had.

Within an hour later, they reached Indianapolis, Indiana.

"It's so pretty," Séraphine admired the Monument Circle.

"It sure is, baby," Élise took a picture of the monument that featured statues and a woman standing on it. "So much history behind it." Soon, she gave her camera to Rose, who took a family photo.

Within two stops, now they've reached St. Louis, Missouri.

"Whoo!" Isaac had his head back when staring at one of the city's most famous landmarks. "It wreally big!"

"That's the Gateway Arch," Spencer explained while Rose and Élise took pictures of it. "It's the tallest arch and man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere."

Isaac gawked at it. "That supery big."

Visiting more landmarks and having some of the cuisine; from its barbeque, toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake, and styled pizza, after another two hours of driving, everyone checked themselves in a suite at the Anderton Columbia Inn.

Élise dressed herself in a simple tee, jeans jacket, Bermuda shorts, and white Converses when she heard her phone buzzing in her designer handbag on the bed. She saw the caller ID and had an instant smile. "Yello?" she answered.

"Good news: hackers been caught."

Élise still smiled. "Good. Wait until I get back to D.C."

Rose drove the Suburban while sat Spencer sat in the backseat and Élise in the passenger. Since it'll be another hour until they get to Kansas City, Élise hoped to enlighten the trip with some music.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh!" Élise clapped her hands while singing Michael Jackson's A Place with No Name. "Take me to a place without no name. No name."

Soon almost everyone joined in. "Take me to a place without no name. Take me to a place without no name."

"A place without no name."

Just as predicted, they made it to Kansas City.

The air was filled with talkative conversations and the signature jazz traditional tunes around everyone strolling the downtown area.

"So, what are we seeing?" asked Spencer.

Élise glared at her phone, looking at the city's landmarks. "Well, there's the Nelson Museum of Art, the KC Streetcar, Arthur Bryant's, Gates Bar-B-Q…"

Rose made a doubtful face. "Are those barbecue restaurants?"

"Uh…yes," Élise answered bluntly. "Henry Perry's the founder of Kansas City barbecue, and you know I love my 'que…" she accidentally bumped into a middle-aged woman. "Oh, my bad." Her jaw dropped. As did Spencer's.

"Alex."

Alex moved a twig of her hair back with her index finger. "Oh, my God… it's…" she had her hand on her chest. "It felt like it's been so long." She opened her arms out and she hugged Spencer for about nine-ten seconds; during the hug, she whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry I left the way I did. After that case, I just…"

"I know," Spencer breathed. "I know." Once she pulled back, he patted her palms; he understood her thoughts. "So, what brings you to Kansas City?"

"Visiting family with James for the summer before going back to Harvard," said Blake before her husband came up from behind her. She lifted her head up and greeted him. "Hey, honey."

"Hey," James greeted her again with a kiss. "Nice to see you all again. What brings you to Kansas City?"

Élise scooped Isaac into her arms. "Three-week trip from D.C. to Las Vegas."

Blake smiled. "Aw, that's sweet. Are you having fun?"

"Uh-huh!" Séraphine grinned.

Isaac giggled. "It fun!"

After a few hours in the city, they drove the next hour to Topeka.

"Wow," Élise couldn't believe she and everyone else stood in front of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four schools in the town that had desegrated after the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision to end racial segregation in public schools. "History before us."

Soon they stopped at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center; Isaac enjoyed the art and grow (toddler) exhibits, and Séraphine enjoyed the grain exhibit, where she used a pulley to move grain—actually plastic pellets—through a marvelous machine.

After another hour, they went to Gage Park, one of the largest parts of the city, the Topeka Zoo, and Old Prairie Town at the Ward-Meade Historic Site.

Abilene, Kansas, was the final spot for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum before resting in Salina for the night.

Her turn to drive again, Rose pulled out of the parking space where a local Dairy Queen was, six minutes from the hotel.

"Everyone enjoying their Dairy Queen treats?" Élise had a bite of her Oreo Cookie Blizzard Treat.

"Mmm-hmm…" Séraphine and Isaac had their mouths stuffed with fries and shook their heads as well.

Spencer settled for a chicken sandwich. "Tasty, but I'm ready to try a pressed and freshly seared and never frozen butter burger from Culver again."

Rose gasped. "I haven't had a Culver's butter burger in a long time, like three years ago. When I was little, I had one on a road trip to Sauk City, Wisconsin. And it was life-changing. I hope we can stop at one during our trip."

Stopping at a few small towns within Kansas and after entering Colorado, they made it to the Springs, which was over an hour and thirty minutes to Denver, but there were some places they wanted.

"Yay!" Rose practically jumped for joy when receiving her order. She took a big taste and swooned after the first bite. "Mmm… there's a reason why you have to sit down and enjoy it. Such freshness," she popped a cheese curd into her mouth and chewed. "And their cheese curds…"

The Garden of the Gods Park was one of the most attractively beautiful attractions they'd seen yet. The iconic red-sandstone formations and mountain views were even more stunning in person than they could have seen in the pictures.

And the Great Sand Dunes make one want to ride and slide on them.

Now in Denver, they made it to the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection, one of the town's longest-operating hotels. And one of, if not the most pet-friendly; upon arriving, Opal received a "Bone-Appetit" welcome treat from the Brown Palace kitchen, and a dog bowl and bed were delivered to the suite.

Another well-rested night, everyone had breakfast at one of the hotel's restaurants, Ellyngton's. The paneled wallpapered walls reminded Élise of a modern abstract Versailles ceiling.

"Mmm…" Spencer smacked his lips. "This Lavazza coffee is delicious."

"Almost as delicious as these eggs benedict," Élise allowed Spencer to have a bite of her breakfast—she made sure the kitchen didn't put any pork.

Séraphine asked after she swallowed, "How long will it take us to get to Las Vegas?"

"The day after tomorrow," Élise wiped her mouth with the napkin she had on her lap. "We still have a few more places to go."

"Yay!" Isaac cheered before he burped again. He covered his mouth. "Sawry."

"It's the eye of the tiger," everybody sang to another classic. "It's the thrill of the fight. Rising up to the challenge of our rival. And the last known survivor. Stalks his prey in the night. And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger."

They stopped at Grand Junction to relax for a bit, admire the landscape, and get a quick bite to eat; Rose was excited to see the town had a Culver's.

"Wel-come to U-tah…" Séraphine read the big white lettering that had massive red rock formations.

Spencer petted her head. "Good girl, Fee…"

"'Re wee' hare yet?" Isaac whined, holding his plush stuffed Stitch toy.

Spencer massaged his son. "Soon, little man, okay?"

Making a quick detour to Moab, they got to see the natural sandstone aches at the Arches National Park, Native American rock art, archaeological artifacts, dinosaur bones, and tracks before seeking refuge at one of the campgrounds at Zion National Park, Utah's first national park, staying in one of their RVs.

Séraphine and Isaac were asleep in the comfortable bedroom; Élise simultaneously strolled through her camera and phone gallery. Spencer came into the bedroom; Élise looked up and had her index finger to her mouth and thumb pointed to the kids.

"You enjoyed yourself?" Spencer whispered.

Élise closed her phone and had her head against one of the pillows. "Oh, yeah. Here I was, dreading a road trip when it turned out to be one of the most fun things I've ever done."

"After our week in Vegas, we're gonna one on another one," said Spencer getting into bed. "And maybe in the future…"

Élise smirked. "We'll see."

A/N: What happened to Élise happened to me recently; please protect yourselves, your devices, and be careful.