A/N: Hello again, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the previous chapter. Most of this chapter (and possibly the next chapter) will be moving into December, but first, the chapter starts on Sunday morning. Also, next week will be the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, a day that'll never be forgotten. I was a grade schooler when the unfortunate tragedy happened.

"Bye, Daddy," Séraphine and Isaac toddled to their squatted father to give him a goodbye hug. The Las Vegas sunrise was this gorgeous orange and red palette with a smallish purple and gray shading.

"Mmm…" Spencer kissed the top of his two oldest children. "I'll miss you two very much."

Séraphine asked after pulling back and facing him again. "Daddy, when are you comin' home again?"

Spencer slapped his hands together and gave her a small, hesitant smile. "I don't know because I still want to make sure Grandma Diana is taken care of," he said.

Séraphine responded with a shrug and nod just as Élise left the bedroom for the living room, carrying Alexander in her arms.

"Heeey," she grinned as Spencer straightened himself up, drew Élise closer to him, and gave her a cheek kiss. "I'm gonna miss you, babe."

"I'll be back home as soon as I can, okay?" Spencer promised, stroking Élise's hair before his hand ran down onto a babbling Alexander's head and kissed the top. "But Daddy will be thinking much about you as I always do." He flashed a grin when Alexander reached out and tried to grab his nose

Élise drew him into another hug and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to ask for Maeve's help on this if that's okay with you."

Spencer towed back. "Yeah, I'd like that very much."

The front door opened. William sighed when he stepped inside the house again. "Car's packed and waiting to take you all to the airport."

Spencer and Élise gave each other another loving look. "I'll call the yoctosecond we land in D.C."

Spencer and William were in the latter's Prius on their way back to Bennington. Spencer glanced at his cell and smirked to himself when he got a text message from Élise, saying they were on their flight back to D.C. right now. He estimated the difference between the travel time and time zones, and based on that, they should be in D.C. at around four in the late afternoon.

"Spencer, dear," Diana smiled when she saw Spencer walking into the recreation room where she was reading. "Oh, my, how are you?" Unbeknownst to her, Spencer closed his eyes when he hugged his mother. "Oh, where are Lise, Fee, Iggy, and uh…Alex?"

His mouth formed a sad smile—at least she still remembered Séraphine, Isaac, Alexander, and Élise's nicknames. "Oh, uh…they went back to D.C." Since the diagnostic, Spencer can't see his mother the way she was before, but at the same time, he knew everyone changes little by little, even if he, she, or they didn't know it.

Diana patted the empty seat next to her on the couch. "Please, sit."

As expected, Élise returned to D.C. with the kids in the late afternoon. According to the weather forecast, sunset was less than an hour away. The metropolitan sky was beautiful shades of gray and light purple. It rained earlier today, so the air still smelled like the earthly aftermath.

Élise was in the backseat of the Suburban when one of the assigned agents pulled the car in front of Maeve and Bobby's colonial side-paneled house. Rolling the window halfway down after opening the trunk door, she waved back at her good friend, who stood on the stoop with Opal, barking and panting before she took off and jumped into the back. "Thanks for looking after Opal while we were gone!"

"Anytime!" Maeve pushed her new layered balayage bobbed hair behind her ears. "Talk to you later tonight."

Spencer was back home at his father's house, using the Swiffer PowerMop to clean the bathrooms and now the living room. He opened a nearby window to lessen the lavender scent and prevent it from overwhelming the place.

William burst into the living room, carrying a brown cardboard box after leaving his bedroom.

"What's inside the box?" asked Spencer as he watched his father set the box on the coffee table.

"Some old stuff I kept in my closet," he said, opening the closet door and rummaging inside. He pulled out items such as two floppy disks, a cassette player, and a Rubik's cube. "I can't believe I used to have all this."

Spencer picked up one of the floppy disks. "You definitely see much of these anymore."

"No, you don't," William agreed and took out an old Boggle word game—twelve cube grips and a sand timer. "Oh, I used to love playing this game with your mom."

His father passed Spencer this game. "You played that with Mom?"

"We did, yeah," William could feel the nostalgia coming back to him and gasped. "The VHS copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind!" He turned behind him and asked Spencer. "I still have the joint VHS-DVD player. "You wanna watch it tonight?"

It was eight thirty at night, and the skies in D.C. were pitch black (now it's back to Standard Time after over seven months of Daylight Savings, but at least there was an early hour of sleep). With the kids fast asleep for the next day of school, Élise relaxed in bed and shut her eyes after powering off her iPad.

Spencer woke up to the sound of his cell phone ringing on the nightstand. He groaned while reaching out for it without picking up his head. Through squinted eyes, he peeped to see who was calling him and answered it. "Morning, Lise…"

"Hey, you," said Élise. "Sorry for waking you up. I keep forgetting about the time zones. Or is that my pregnancy brain? Or maybe both?"

"Are you two and the kids doing okay?"

Élise exhaled. "We're good; I'm on my way to work right now. I sent you some links. Check them out and tell me what you think."

"Okay. I'll call the kids later after school. Have a good day. I love you."

Élise blushed. "I love you, too."

With William behind him, Spencer was at the former's laptop, scrolling through the links Élise sent to the latter. The links were related to long-term home facilities in the D.C. area.

"Ooh!" William seemed impressed with one—Mahlah Mental Treatment. "They're known for their work with patients that have schizophrenia and other related conditions."

Spencer had his elbow on the mahogany desk. "But it's almost an hour away." He closed the tab, sighed, and planted his palm over his face. "I'm not comfortable about this."

"About what?"

Spencer confessed, "I'm just not comfortable doing this without her consent. Personally, I'm not sure if she wants to move to D.C."

Willliam shrugged his shoulders. "What if she does? Want to move to D.C.?"

"I just think that we should ask her first before we do this," Spencer admitted. "That's it."

Élise was in her work office at Main Building, reviewing paperwork and signing off on some of them. As much as she loved returning to work after Thanksgiving, she really couldn't wait for the Christmas holiday season. She hasn't heard back from Spencer yet about the facilities.

She knew it wouldn't be a good idea if she lived at home with them. What if she had one of her episodes, resulting in the kids being hurt or worse? She, Spencer, or anyone else in the family couldn't live with that.

Élise's thoughts about that were put on hold because her cell vibrated, and she quickly responded. "Hotch."

"Hello, Élise. Are you aware of a joint NSA-DEA anti-drug operation against the Libertad Cartel?"

"I am aware via my covert contacts. Axelrod has asked for your assistance." Élise opened her desk drawer and delved for a manila file. She remembered Axelrod from the Peter Lewis case months ago.

"I'm on my way to meet with Bernard Graff, the Assistant DEA Director in charge of the operation. I'm hoping this will lead us to the Hitmen Network."

"How is Garcia?" Élise asked, worried about her since she had a target on her back.

Hotch sighed. "She's hanging in there, and it doesn't take a profile to see that it's getting to her, even if it's been a week."

"She's a tough cookie," said Élise as she heard a knock on the door. Someone opened it, and it was one of her agents. "I have to get going. Let me posted."

Spencer wanted to get other opinions about what he wanted to do with his mother. Earlier today, he had a talk with his father about it and he agreed to the move to D.C. Even Élise agreed with the idea.

Now, he needed Aunt Ethel and Uncle Gordon's views on the moving idea. He sat at the table; Ethel served him a healthier version of a Reuben sandwich with sugar-free lemonade. He wiped his mouth before he spoke up. "So…what do you think?"

"What do you think?" Ethel asked back as she sat across the table; Gordon sat at the head, adjusted to Spencer.

Spencer sighed as he took another sip through his straw. "She's lived here all her life. I mean, Élise and I agreed to have the wedding here because of her aerophobia. How could I do that to her? What if she doesn't like D.C.? You know how she can be, even with her schizophrenia?"

"Look, Spencer," Gordon folded his hands together. "There's no doubt you'd do anything for her, and there's no doubt she'd do anything for you either. But you do realize the severity of the diagnostic," he continued as Spencer nodded. "There will be one day where she won't remember us; remember you."

Ethel contributed, "Who knows how long you have left with her now? You want to soak up all these memories with her for as long as you still have her now. And she has you now. And that's something you don't ever want to regret."

Everything Spencer heard from them was so true, but still, "But it wouldn't hurt to ask her, still," Spencer replied, Ethel and Gordon shaking their heads in agreement.

Again, Élise was overjoyed to be home right now. From meetings to speeches to announcements, she's expected to deliver one about the terrorist attack that occurred in San Bernardino tomorrow morning.

After the day she had, all she wanted was some sleep and hoped for another good day. She finished her cup of lavender and lemon balm tea and set it on the end table next to the small empty crystal bowl where she had almonds and pistachios. She got herself settled under the sheets and closed her eyes, hoping she'd fall asleep soon.

That lasted for about ten seconds when she heard her work phone beating rhythmically. Élise groaned when she reached for it and was surprised to see Hotch calling her at this time.

"Evening, Hotch."

"Sorry to bother you so late about this, but it's urgent—Graff is dead."

Élise felt a sudden nausea and headrush coming. "How?"

"Murder disguised as suicide."

Élise swallowed a golf-sized lump. "Oh, God."

"That's why I'm going to find out more at the NSA. I'll keep you posted."

"Okay. And Hotch? Please…be careful." Élise needed to say that.

"I will," Hotch promised and hung up.

Élise rested her head back on her pillow again. "God, protect us as you are our shepherd. Please." She didn't want to risk the chance, but she redialed her work phone and waited for an answer. "Scout. I'm sorry it's late, but I need a big favor."

Even with the opinions he got from everyone in the family, from his father and Élise to Ethel, Gordon, and now John and Anna, they all said the same thing and agreed to it—that Diana would be better off moving to D.C. to be closer to Spencer.

But Diana's opinion counted just as much as everyone else's. Spencer went back to Bennington to see his mother again. She greeted him with a motherly hug and kiss and had him sit down next to her.

"Mom…" Spencer felt the nerves coming in, loosening his white shirt collar. "There's something I need to ask you."

"Anything, baby."

Spencer took a big sigh and finally just burst out, "I want you to come to D.C."

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: I know I'm killin' you with the cliffhangers, but you'll just have to see what happens in the next chapter.