A/N: Hello again, everyone! I'm still taking it one day at a time, but I'm hanging in there again. I hope you like the surprises I put into the chapter. This chapter takes place in the afternoon after the previous chapter.

Spencer and Élise took the kids to see the new Cinderella movie as promised. Élise declared the live-action Disney version of the new Cinderella movie as one of her top five of the famous fairy tale's adaptations. It was everything she expected it to be. It was absolutely romantic, full of fantasy, heartwarming, some tear-jerking moments that made her—and even Spencer—cry. The soundtrack was wildly exceptional when Cinderella and Kit danced at the ball. If only it had A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, and So This is Love playing during the movie (it was played at the end credits), but it was still an A for her. The costumes—Cinderella's blue gown just made Élise's top-five list of the Cinderella gowns.

It did Cinderella justice.

Saturday afternoon, Spencer, Élise, and Sadia sat at the large and polished walnut conference table, Carlos, of course, at the head and Neveah and Dr. Payen on the other side. The table had been silent for the past two minutes and eighteen seconds—Spencer counted to himself—because that's how long he and Élise had been staring at the new sonogram photos.

The baby is now at seven months, which means Neveah is in the third trimester. It was almost time for the baby to come into the world. Technically, it was already in the world, as Spencer would put it since it was growing inside Neveah, but it was still a fantastic feeling.

Sadia returned the laminated sonogram photos to the young teenager, who immediately placed them in a small, clean blue box. "So, are there any big developments going on right now?"

"It's all still the same…" Dr. Payen had a sip and rested her free hand on Neveah's lap. "And Neveah got accepted into university last week."

"Wow, that's amazing," said Spencer, excited for the teenager. "Where do you plan on attending?"

Neveah responded with a side-to-side head shake. "I'm still thinking about where I want to attend, but I did receive a bunch of scholarships, so..." she raised her shoulders up and dropped them down. "At least I never have to worry about money for the next few years."

Élise smirked at the young girl. "Well, you're going to have an exhilarating time. Explore, see, and meet people from all different walks of life. Yes, university is a hell of a lot of hard work, but you'll get an amazing experience out of it."

"Thank you for the kind words," Neveah said, stopping fiddling with her short and bitten fingernails. "Really? I…know it'll be a couple of months, but I know you two will take great care of my baby when it's born."

Élise stood in the middle of one of the upstairs bedrooms. There was nothing bare of furniture except the lone white walls, clean white carpeting, and a couple of cotton-blended protected windows. Her left hand was on her slim hip, and her right hand was carrying her tablet. For the past ten minutes, she had swept her fingers through the images of gender-neutral nurseries. There were just too many to choose from, and they were all inspiring to her.

Now that the baby was going to be coming in a few months, it was the perfect time to start designing the nursery.

"Ooh!" One nursery design caught her eye. It was neutral-colored and featured a small sofa, along with a sequence of colored landscape photographs and stuffed animals. "Ahh…" Another one was neutral-colored, but there were also some splashes of color.

Now, she started talking to herself. "Maybe the crib could go right there. Or the dresser could go there instead. Bookcases by the windows…" Élise got distracted, and she swiveled around when someone knocked on the door.

Spencer stepped in and closed the door behind him. "So, whatcha up to?"

Élise flipped her tablet and held it by the edges, flashing. "I'm unleashing my interior designer self," she said, swiping through the images on the screen. "I thought about gender neutral, but now I'm thinking bold and eclectic without being too much or maybe something more contemporary and avant-garde but not too theatrical," she stopped to take a gasp. But it needs to be approachable and imaginative."

Spencer scratched the back of his head. Oh, Élise—she can be so dramatic, he said in his head. "We've been through designing a nursery twice—this is not our first rodeo. But yeah, I don't want to put off on it any longer, but that was because I was scared Neveah didn't want to choose us to raise her baby."

"I know," Élise took a moment to stretch her back and groaned as she did that. "But we promised her that we would take good care of her baby. And to the kids that no one's being replaced."

"Believe me, I agree," Spencer spun around slowly, trying to imagine in his head what the nursery would be like. But before we do just that…I think there's one person we need to talk about the adoption—at least one on my end."

Élise nodded.

There was one person Spencer knew he could trust. Someone who knew how to keep a secret. And someone he needed to privately confirm.

"You and Élise are adopting a baby?"

Hotch sat behind his mahogany office desk with his hands together. He looked like the self-possessed man he always was, whether he was angry, sad, or even happy. His spine was very straight in his desk chair, and his body language was stern and businesslike, but there was a slight softness behind the eyes. Spencer sat across from him in the pushy seat, altering the bottom of his cardigan sweater, and cleared his throat again.

"Yeah. Élise and I are adopting," said Spencer. The baby will be here in a couple of months, so we wanted to let you know firsthand," he took a deep breath and let it out. We actually talked about it when we first got engaged, and now, it's becoming a reality."

"Anyone outside know about the adoption?" asked Hotch.

Spencer replied, "Just her social worker, our adoption attorney, and Élise's boss."

Hotch nodded in response. "You want some time off when the baby arrives?"

"That, and you should keep this private until Élise and I are ready to go public and tell the team."

Hotch nodded again. "You two are doing an amazing thing."

Spencer smirked to himself. "Yeah."

"Mommy, look!"

It was Saturday afternoon, and Élise took Séraphine to the Tysons Corner Center for mother-daughter time. She could never pass up quality bonding time. They were currently at Claire's, a retailer known for aiming primarily at tweens, young and teen girls. She remembered coming by Claire's every now and then when she was little, trying out costume baubles like they were real jewelry and make-believed she was a rich, famous superstar, and begging her dad to give her money for the crystal body tattoos, thinking she had gotten a real one.

For all next week, Séraphine had the entire week off from school—the same as BJ, the rest of her friends, and classmates since it was her first Spring Break ever at WIS.

"Check this out!" Séraphine pulled Élise's arm to the accessories wall and pointed frantically at the bundle of play stick-on earrings. "Can we get them, please?"

Élise gently pulled a pack off from the silver pecks and had a quick glance at them. "Mmm, okay." she figured why not—as long as they weren't the real thing with the needle and gun.

"Yay!" Séraphine cheered. Then something caught her eye—a girl a few years older than her getting her ears pierced by a professional. "When can I get that?" she pointed to what was happening.

"She's having her ears pierced," Élise petted her daughter's hair and flaunted her own gold studded earrings. "Like Mommy has her ears pierced."

Séraphine winced when the professional used her gun to lobe the girl's ear with a sharp needle. In her mind, it looked like it would hurt a lot. Then she looked up to her mother and asked again, "When can I get that?"

"Maybe in a year or two," Élise rummaged through her leather top handle bag for her cell phone and saw it was still a little bit early. She figured there was still some time to go strolling around a couple more stores. After paying, Élise retook Séraphine's small hand, and the two walked out of the store and out into the open mall. "Where do you want to go next? You want to go to American Girl and then get something for Victor's birthday coming up?"

"Uh-huh!" Séraphine shook her head up and down. "Pleeesse."

When Spencer and Élise met up with Maeve and Bobby for Sunday church services, Élise's mouth dropped when she saw Maeve. But it was a good way because Maeve looked so different but so good-looking. Her hair went from her famous dark brown waves to a whole new look.

"Holy…"

Maeve explained she wanted a change, so she went to the salon, and the hairdresser who took her suggested a partial balayage on a excellent start. Her stylist further explained that it was a soft, blended, sun-kissed look. She passed her fingers through her locks. "Believe it or not, I used to have blonde hair when I was little, but I dyed my hair brown before I started college."

"It really suits your face," Élise complimented. "It really makes it brighter."

Maeve flipped her hair back behind her shoulders. "Yeah, who knows? Maybe I'll go back to being full-on blonde."

Spencer unlocked the front door, allowing Isaac to step in first before closing and locking the door behind him. "We're back!"

"Hey, you two!" Élise called out, holding her tablet in one hand. "How was Oliver Tamm's birthday party?"

Back in late fall, just like when Séraphine got accepted into WIS, Spencer, and Élise attended a campus tour with the other prospective parents for the upcoming school year and got to know some of them well. Among them were Andres Tamm, an attorney who once worked at the law firm Élise, a first-year associate and is now currently a partner at Lockhart Devitt, and Agnes Lang, a nurse practitioner. Spencer and Isaac just came back from the young boy's party; Kenji Osaragi and Juliana Menezes are technology executives and parents of a young girl; Gwendolyn Matthias, a dermatologist with her own skincare line, and Calum Danielson, a nutritionist with culinary and pastry training and a Master's degree owns a food allergic-conscious company and parents of a boy and a girl on the way; and Naveen Khan and Hira Gupta are analysts at the Department of Education and parents of a girl.

Isaac bobbled his head, holding a small green bag in his tiny hand. "It was great!"

"And was he nice to you, and were you nice to him?" Élise squatted down and kissed her son's head.

"Uh-huh."

Spencer placed both hands on his shoulders and began massaging his neck, rolling it around. "I'm so tired."

Spencer's wish came true within the next few months, and he found himself already in bed. Unfortunately for him, instead of waking up to the sound of his alarm or the sun coursing through the bedroom windows, Spencer woke up to his cell phone ringing on the mahogany nightstand. But something told him this was a serious case since the team gets cases like this early in the morning if it were that serious, like all hands on deck.

He extended his arm out to get his phone. "Dr. Reid, here…" he muttered, still half-asleep."

And his assumptions were correct. "Spencer." Judging by Hotch's voice, it's an all-hands-on-deck case. "We have a missing person report—the order came from the director himself. More will be explained at the office."

Reid groaned again. "Ooh, okay…" He ended the phone call by glancing at the time again, which was a quarter to three.

The team grouped at the roundtable. Most of the team was dressed casually. Rossi had on his brown suede jacket, and even Hotch was in a dark polo shirt. The last time he wore a polo shirt on a case was the New York City case, where his younger brother, Sean, was entangled in the middle.

The VIP-worthy case the director personally asked the team to handle was the sudden disappearance of Sophie Troy, a healthcare lawyer on the D.C. Museum Board and the wife of Benjamin Troy. She's been missing since yesterday mid-afternoon. The team wondered if this was just an effort for the Congressman to raise his profile since it was his first term, and he's not very popular with either of the major political parties due to his views.

Just as Congressman Troy arrived (obviously frantic about his wife) and Hotch interrogated him for a short while about his enemies, and if he or Sophie were having any problems regarding their marriage, the team turned their attention to the television screen in the bullpen. It was a brunette female reporter—MADISON YOUNG LIVE—in the upper right orange box corner with Wife of Congressman Troy Kidnapped in white lettering in the lower orange headline box. Behind her was the Lincoln Memorial, and she reported the case. The media has caught wind of the story—meaning someone had leaked it to the press.

Garcia came in with news about the last sighting footage of Sophie before her disappearance, which was in a continuous loop. And JJ got a voicemail from Sophie…

And it sounded like she was abducted.

Days like this made Élise realize how much of a genius she was to have two phones. Having just one phone for her kind of work now was worth it. Also made her think about updating to three phones (Garcia had three). Ever since news broke about the vanishing of Congressman Troy's wife Sophie, all morning, she's been getting calls from the Vice President (he was also Senate President), the House Speaker, the President, the FBI Director, and Hotch himself.

Élise preferred to work behind the scenes, stay in her office unless it was for press statements, and be kept frequently updated on the case by Hotch. "Anything yet, Hotch?"

"So far, Fuchs has two suspects with ties to Russian organized crime, and as long as our effects don't intervene with theirs, he's helping us."

Élise suggested, "Maybe I can call someone from the State Department or an old friend at Interpol and see if she knows anything?"

"I'll ask Emily if she knows anything."

Élise rested her fingers on her forehead, her elbow on her desk. "Ugh. How's the Congressman?"

"According to Rossi, after finding him sitting alone, Troy said he feels guilty about not being able to stop the abduction."

Now, this case got Élise to remember her own abduction. She knew she had her reasons why she couldn't tell Spencer what was going on—she didn't want him or the team involved in her drama, but she still didn't mind; she didn't regret the aftermath. If Élise had a chance to redo what happened, she'd do it. But that's part of life.

Focusing again on the case, Élise replied, "Just keep me updated, okay?"

"Okay."

Élise ended the phone conversation as someone knocked on the office door and poked their head in. It was one of her legal administrative assistants, Cara Sloane, with a semi-frantic facial expression.

"The press would like another update statement about the Sophie Troy kidnapping."

So far, Mrs. Troy has been missing sixteen hours and forty-five minutes. Hearing details about Sophie's potential kidnappers, Hotch had Spencer meet up with one of Fuchs' agents, Agent Loker, at the site where they have set up. Walking along the dirty concrete sideway, Spencer stared up at the brick-and-stone two-story building.

Plodded up the stairs, the hallway walls and gray carpeting looked about as bleak as he could imagine, meaning it was a perfect place to stake out criminals. Spencer was thankful he sanitized his hands because he would not have to enjoy just knocking on the 214-plated door. The door unlatched half-way, and it was a homely young woman who could be in her early thirties. She was light-skinned, bright blue eyes, and dark red hair.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid from the BAU," he introduced himself. "I take it you're Agent Loker."

She closed the door, unlatched more locks, and allowed the agent to come in. "Dorian Loker. It's a pleasure to meet you…" She was about to shake his hands, but after spotting Spencer's wedding ring on his left finger, she pulled her arm back, balled her hand into a fist, and shoved it into her pocket.

The inside of the apartment was actually quite lovely. It reminded Spencer of his old apartment building before he and Élise moved in together in one of Morgan's rented properties when they first got engaged. Except in a couple of rooms where Spencer would think about having his office and wall-to-wall bookshelves, there was all this high-level security and spying equipment.

Before getting down to work, Agent Loker gave Spencer a rundown on the two suspects: Roman Azarof and Taras Yudin.

One of the activity gym rooms at WIS looked precisely like a real dojang studio—a term referring to a formal training hall for Korean martial arts. There were decorative objects, such as the Korean national and federation flag to photographs and calligraphies, along with commercial-grade, interlocking safety blue mats on the floor.

This was suitable since Séraphine was in one of her Spring after-school classes: Taekwondo. Along with her were BJ, Aaliyah, Ronnie, Victor, and Blair, led by the class's instructor, Juan Alfonso. The kids began practicing with their partners after ten minutes of warmups, stretching and strength conditioning, calisthenics, punches, and kick drills.

"Hi-yah!" Séraphine threw a high kick in the air and another one. "Hi-yah!"

BJ ducked to dodge two of Séraphine's punches, but he felt a hard blow to his upper arm when Séraphine kicked him there. "Oww…" he massaged up and down.

"Hi-yah!" Séraphine held her stance.

"Any new progress?" Élise watched the media reporting of JJ and Morgan given at the BAU headquarters and then Madison Young's one-on-one exclusive interview with the Congressman. According to Hotch, she came in with the ransom message from the kidnappers, demanding twenty million. She was now on the phone with Hotch.

"After Garcia found the actual origination point of the kidnapper's phone call, leading us to an unleased warehouse near Rock Creek Park and…" Hotch paused. "We found her severed ear."

Élise grimaced her face. "Oh. I take it Troy was horrified, to say the least?"

"Definitely. And we found out some…unusual truths he's been hiding."

Élise was somewhat almost afraid to ask, "Like what?"

"His affair with Michelle Golovin, one of his interns…" Hotch replied.

Élise scoffed in disgust. Typical politician. "I swear, why marry if you're just gonna cheat? But keep me updated, okay?"

"Absolutely."

Spencer and Loker continued their surveillance duties and overheard the Russian mobsters accusing their cleaning woman of spying on them. Spencer was ready to go in, but Loker stopped him, reminding him that their covers would be blown if he intervened, the investigation would be ruined, and Sophie could end up dead.

But at least they have a clue about who the mastermind behind the abduction was.

"The Congressman's mother, Mrs. Troy?" Élise was surprisingly baffled. She had just arrived at her office when her phone rang, and it was Hotch again providing Élise the final facts from the Sophie Troy kidnapping case. "His mother arranged her daughter-in-law's kidnapping?"

Hotch explained, "Yes. She had all the ambition and drive to have a successful career after graduating from Vassar, but unfortunately…"

"Life made an unfortunate turn at her, and she decided to channel all that energy into dear Benjamin. She guided him from the background and looked where he was now," Élise completed the sentence and shook her head while skimming through social media on her second phone.

Hotch mentioned, "And considering she didn't have enough time to evaluate and prepare Sophie into being the perfect wife for her son…"

"Mother Dearest decided to get rid of her as an added bonus," Élise concluded that sentence for him again. "I take it you threatened to destroy her shining star's career to get Earth Mother to call it off."

"Indeed."

"I swear, parents who live through their kids are something else because they see their children as the second chance they never got again." Élise was so glad she and Arthur didn't have stage parents but parents who went out of their way to make sure they had the essentials and morals. "At least her hard work paid off—he's trending and blowing up Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; approval ratings skyrocketed."

"Yeah," Hotch agreed. "But Azarof is dead, and Yudin fled the jurisdiction. Who knows where he could be now?" That was the downside—this wasn't the first time an unsub escaped the team.

"But Sophie's alive, and that's all that matters," Élise's office door opened again, and it was one of her assistants, who mouthed press conference and closed it behind her when Élise gave her a thumbs up. "I got to go. I think we may be looking at one of our future Presidents."

Hotch chuckled. "I'll talk to you later, Élise."

The BAU employees, including the team, gathered around the flat television screen. Spencer had just returned to the office after his surveillance assignment with Agent Loker was over. While they didn't talk too much about the details (she was reading Charles Dickens's Great Expectations), he was glad to acquire experience, knowing that it would come in handy in the future.

They first saw Madison Young's exclusive interview with the Congressman yesterday afternoon before the footage moved to a live press conference an hour earlier.

"I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the FBI, in particular, the BAU, for bringing my Sophie back to me. I am, and I will be eternally grateful."

The footage goes back to Madison Young. "Attorney General Bastien…"

Garcia glee with delight. "Call me a softie, but this whole thing is turning me into mush." There was nothing she liked more than happy endings.

Rossi crossed his arms across his chest. "I can't help but think we got hijacked into helping this guy's career. I mean, he was waning in the polls one minute, and look at him now."

"The bottom line is we saved a life." That was all Spencer cared about. Morgan, JJ, Garcia, and eventually Rossi agreed with him.