When Jessica emerged from her bedroom the next morning, she grabbed a box of cereal instead of baking breakfast like she usually did on weekends when Spencer was home. Spencer immediately noted the departure from routine. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"I think I—" Jessica broke off to cover a coughing fit. "I think I caught a cold."

Spencer was instantly at her side. "Are you sure it's just a cold? Do you need to see a doctor? We should take you to the doctor." He felt her forehead.

"No, really, I'm pretty sure it's just a cold," Jessica insisted.

"Pneumonia progresses very rapidly, better to make sure." Spencer broke into a coughing fit of his own.

"Get yourself checked out too, then," Jessica told him.

"I'm fine, it's just a tickle," Spencer signed defensively.

Jessica glared at him. "So you can tell if you just have a minor bug, but I can't tell if I do? Even though I've actually had pneumonia and remember what that was like?"

"…at least lie down," Spencer urged.

"You go lie down," Jessica retorted.

"Not now, I'm hungry," Spencer defended.

"I'm hungry too," Jessica replied.

"Meow!"

Spencer looked down and saw Bianca sitting by her empty food bowl, giving him a pitiful look. He sighed and went to feed Bianca while Jessica finally finished preparing her bowl of cereal. By the time Spencer put the bag of cat food away, Jessica had prepared him a bowl too.

"I could have prepared my own breakfast, you should take it easy," Spencer objected.

"So should you, and you already fed the cat," Jessica retorted.

"I'm the legal guardian, I'm the one who's supposed to be looking after you!"

"I'm the family cook, I'm the one who's supposed to be feeding you!"

"Not when you're sick!"

"Well same to you!"

There was an awkward pause, then Spencer picked up both bowls and carried them to the table. "We should at least discuss this sitting down."

"And you should let me carry my own bowl," Jessica griped.

A few hours later, Garcia received a message from Jessica. "If Spencer orders a pizza, could you please pick it up for us? We both have colds and now he won't let me cook and I won't let him get lunch and we're kind of at a stalemate."

Garcia winced guiltily; the snowball fight had been her idea, after all. "Of course, my doves. Anything you need."

When Garcia arrived with the pizza, it took nearly a full minute for anyone to answer the door. Spencer was the one who finally opened it, looking slightly disheveled. "Bring it to the coffee table, please," he signed, not bothering to speak out loud.

Garcia made her way into the living room and saw a very grumpy-looking Jessica on the couch, thoroughly cocooned in several blankets. The TV was turned on and set to the Discovery Channel. Jessica tried to wriggle her arms free of the cocoon, but Spencer sat down next to her and re-adjusted it so that she had no room to move. Garcia set the pizza on the coffee table and raised her eyebrows at Spencer. "Are you planning to feed the pizza to her like she's a baby?"

Spencer started, as if he hadn't realized this potential problem with keeping Jessica thoroughly blanketed. "…maybe!"

Jessica managed to shift the blankets enough to throw them back over Spencer, then freed her arms. "No, you most definitely are not!"

"Keep the blankets on!" Spencer snapped at her.

"They are on! Are you trying to keep me warm or keep me bound and gagged?!"

"…how about I put the pizza on plates for you guys?" Garcia suggested. "And hand it to you?"

"Sure, thanks," Spencer replied.

"And maybe I should stick around for the rest of the afternoon, so you two can huddle under your blankets instead of exhausting yourselves arguing over who looks after who," Garcia added.

Spencer and Jessica shared a look. "…sure, thanks," they both signed, finally agreeing on something.

"Awesome. Now, I know you two are science geeks and all, but could we possibly watch some—PANDAS!" Garcia suddenly signed with an excited squeal. "Never mind, I'm totally down to watch this."

Jessica laughed, then broke off in another coughing fit.

Fortunately, both Reid and Jessica were fully recovered by the time the team was called out to Boston. That night, Garcia came home and Jessica immediately asked her about their case. "So, the Boston Reaper is really back?"

"Yes," Garcia confirmed. Her eyes widened. "Oh god, you were living in Boston when he was active the first time."

Jessica nodded. "I was five when he killed his last victim. I don't really remember it, but I know the story."

Garcia shuddered. "I am so glad you don't live there right now."

"Me too," Jessica agreed.

"Just think, maybe you've run into him at the bus stop or something and never even knew it," Garcia continued.

"If I did, I don't want to know it," Jessica insisted. "I bet that survivor has even worse nightmares about the Reaper than I do about Frank."

"I wouldn't know," Garcia replied. "He's gone off the grid. Completely, totally off the grid. Like, gone out of his way to cut all ties with his former life and erase his paper trail off the grid."

"That's…extreme."

Garcia snorted humorlessly. "Can you blame him?"

Jessica frowned. "I was scared, after that whole business with Frank, but the last thing I would have wanted would be to cut ties with all my friends. Being around people made me feel safer." She paused for a few moments. "Weird, how exactly one guy survived. Was there any way his wounds could have been self-inflicted?"

"Sweetie, he was stabbed nine times. I think we can safely rule him out as a suspect."

"If you have a good enough knowledge of anatomy, you can pull it off."

Garcia shot Jessica a mildly disturbed look. "What are they teaching you in science class?"

"Some of Spencer's science books are actually interesting," Jessica defended.

"Do I need to tell the Sin City Genius that his cousin is studying how to get away with murder?"

"I'm pretty sure he's memorized those same books himself," Jessica pointed out.

Garcia shook her head. "I'll let you know if the survivor turns out to be the world's most fiendish evil mastermind."

A few nights later, Jessica received a text from Garcia. "Sweetie, you've been doing the psychic thing again. It turns out George Foyet really IS the Reaper."

Jessica raised her eyebrows at this. "That wasn't psychic. That was me actually analyzing information about the case."

"And apparently doing it better than an entire team of professionals. You sure you don't want to catch serial killers for a living?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

While Morgan hauled Foyet out of the house, Rossi noticed that Reid was still standing exactly where he'd been during the confrontation, a look of abject horror on his face. "What is it, kiddo?"

"That voice," Reid said shakily. "His voice. I've heard it before."

"You have?" Rossi asked in surprise. "Where?"

"Two years ago, I took Jessica on a vacation here. A man tried to hit on her at the bus stop. I didn't get a good look at his face, but his voice…I remember his voice."

"It was Foyet?"

Reid nodded. "He's a hebephile…"

Rossi gently put a hand on Reid's shoulder. "She's fine. Nothing happened to her. And Foyet's in custody now."

Reid shook himself out of it. "I know. But…" He shuddered. "That was close."

The first Sunday of spring break, Jessica found a note in the kitchen informing her that the team had gone to Indiana in the middle of the night. She sighed, slightly disappointed but accustomed to this by now.

However, by the time Jessica went to bed, Garcia still hadn't come home. Jessica wasn't too worried…until she woke up in the morning and saw no sign that Garcia had come home at all. And Garcia didn't answer Jessica's concerned texts. Jessica asked Spencer instead, and he told her that they all—especially Garcia—had been working overtime. Jessica decided that this called for action.

Garcia heard someone open her office door while she drew diagrams all over the whiteboard she'd commandeered. "Kevin, honey, I love you, but I do not have time for you right now."

Footsteps approached as if she hadn't spoken. Then a hand tapped her shoulder. Garcia whirled around and found herself face-to-face with Jessica. "Oh. Hi, sweetie. Sorry, but I'm really kinda busy and need all this space."

Jessica raised her eyebrows. After a moment, Garcia realized she hadn't signed. "Sorry. I'm really stressed right now."

"I can see that. Too stressed for ice cream?" Jessica took a small tub of Ben & Jerry's out of her backpack and offered it to Garcia.

"You are a lifesaver. I am hiring you as my personal assistant and ice cream supplier." Garcia took the ice cream and the offered plastic spoon and went right back to work. Jessica settled herself in the least chaotic corner of the room and took out a book.

Fortunately, the team flew home that night. Spencer spent the next few evenings teaching Jessica how to count cards, as well as watching several classic Star Trek episodes in anticipation of the new film that was coming out in May.

Then the team was called out to Texas for another case. When Spencer got home this time, he spent nearly half an hour cuddling Bianca. Jessica waited for Bianca to return to her cat tree before asking. "Bad case?"

"The unsub had DID."

"DID?"

"Dissociative Identity Disorder. Just like Hankel."

Jessica frowned. "You never mentioned that."

Spencer looked surprised. "In the two days you spent in that farmhouse, no one told you that?"

"They were a bit preoccupied with finding you. They weren't really keeping me up to speed."

Spencer sighed. "Hankel had three personalities: himself, his father, and the archangel R-A-P-H-A-E-L. The archangel was the one who committed the murders, the father was the one who beat me, and the original personality was a badly abused man who wanted to help me but was too afraid of his father to release me altogether. He was the one who drugged me, and the one who resuscitated me."

"I always did wonder why he did that."

"My point is, the original personality wasn't a bad person. He was just a very ill man. I wanted to get us both out of there, get him the help he needed. But I couldn't. And our Texas unsub that we just arrested…he had a very similar story. He was abused, and he snapped. We were able to bring him in alive, but the alter took over completely to 'protect' him."

"…and?" Jessica signed, not sure where he was going with this.

"The original personality didn't even know what the alter was doing. He was innocent. He deserves a life."

"If you say so."

Spencer frowned. "He does!"

"Spencer, regardless of how you feel about Hankel, to me he is always going to be the guy that hurt you, got you hooked on drugs and nearly took you away from me altogether."

Spencer sighed again. "You and Morgan both. I'd like to think my job is to help people, not just to take bad guys off the streets."

"Maybe you're just a better person than us." Jessica kissed him on the cheek and headed into the kitchen to make dinner.

The following Saturday, Spencer and Jessica had plans to go to the zoo. However, Jessica woke up to find another note in the kitchen, this time informing her that the team was in New Jersey and Bianca had been fed. Bianca wove around Jessica's legs and gave her a pleading expression, clearly trying to dupe Jessica into giving her a second breakfast. Jessica petted Bianca and then made herself a bowl of cereal, mildly annoyed by Spencer's slew of weekend cases.

When Spencer got home that night, he found Indian food on the table and stuffed animals all over the living room. "You're working too many weekends," Jessica stated.

"Sorry. I can't help when the calls come in."

"I know. Doesn't mean you don't need a break."

Spencer looked around the room. "So you decided to bring the zoo here?"

"Yes. I'll have you know, I worked very hard to organize them all properly."

Spencer took a closer look and realized that the animals were all grouped by home continent. And that there was one he hadn't seen before. "Where did the giraffe come from?"

"Rossi."

Spencer frowned at her. "I distinctly recall that that gift basket contained a panda, not a giraffe."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "And then when you went back to Texas to talk to DID guy, he bought me a giraffe for company." Bianca rose up on her hind paws to sniff a stuffed timber wolf on a bookshelf. Jessica picked up the cat and put her back on her cat tree.

Spencer shook his head. "If this keeps up, you're going to run out of room in your bedroom before you graduate high school."

"I'll find room," Jessica insisted. "Now eat your curry before it gets cold."

When Garcia accompanied the team to Buffalo, Jessica got to stay with Claire. Claire's parents were a good deal less strict than Beth's: the girls were allowed to watch TV before dinner and after their homework was completed, they could eat snacks so long as they didn't make a mess, and they could sleep in as late as they liked so long as they were ready in time for school. However, the only rule that Claire seemed to care about was that she wasn't allowed a boyfriend until she turned eighteen. Jessica tried to be sympathetic to her friend's complaints, but honestly, she couldn't see what was so terrible about being single.

"What's missing from the Michelle Watson murder is any sign of rage or overkill," Prentiss observed.

"Yeah. Instead, on the tape, we see signs of remorse," Reid agreed. "A complete and sudden emotional change. It's absolutely fascinating!"

Garcia stared at him. "Jessica gets it from you, doesn't she?"

"Gets what from me?" Reid asked, confused.

"Apparently, reading your science books has gotten her thinking about the best way to viciously stab yourself without making your injuries fatal."

JJ frowned. "What, like George Foyet?"

"Exactly like George Foyet. She came up with the idea that he's a vicious, evil mastermind two days before you guys did. And still insists she's not psychic."

Reid frowned. "Did you happen to show her his photo?"

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Thought maybe she recognized him," Reid said absently, staring at the evidence board again.

"Recognized him?" Prentiss repeated, confused.

"Had a run-in at a bus stop two years ago. He tried to hit on her. I recognized his voice, but I don't know how well she remembers the incident."

Garcia turned slightly pale. "Do me a favor, Brain Boy, and don't remind her."

"I haven't."

"Good." Garcia picked up her laptop. "Anyway, the woman in my video…"

A few weeks later, on the jet back from Oregon, Reid's phone went off. JJ looked over and saw that he had received a photo. "Ooh, looks like Jessica's enjoying Los Angeles."

"Wait, what's she doing in Los Angeles?" Morgan asked, confused.

"Tenth grade end-of-year class trip," Reid explained.

"Ah, the city of paparazzi and crushed dreams," Rossi remarked.

Reid nodded. "The city was founded on September 4th, 1781 by a group of forty-four Spanish settlers known as 'Los Pobladores', who originally named the settlement 'El Pueblo de Nostra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles', which means 'The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels'. For decades, the settlement remained a small ranch town, but under Mexican rule it became the regional capital of Alta California…"

"Uh-huh," JJ finally interrupted. "I'm pretty sure Jessica and her friends were standing on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Something tells me they weren't there studying the history of Spanish and Mexican rule."

"Er, not today," Reid admitted. "She mentioned something about a party tonight."

"Party in LA," Rossi said thoughtfully. "Is it time for the 'don't do drugs' speech?"

Everyone froze, staring at either Rossi or Reid. Reid didn't quite seem to know how to respond to that. After several moments of tense silence, JJ came to his rescue. "Jessica knows better than to do drugs, don't worry."

Rossi frowned. "I take it from your expressions that she didn't learn this from a simple warning speech?"

"No," Reid said, finally finding his voice. "She's seen first hand what addiction can do to a person."

"She…ah." Rossi belatedly understood everyone's reactions. "Well, I hope that 'person' is doing better now."

"He is," Reid confirmed, somewhat stiffly.

There was another awkward silence, then Hotch cleared his throat. "So, how long is the trip?"

"They come back on Sunday," Reid replied, shooting Hotch a grateful look for steering the conversation out of uncomfortable waters.

Once they landed and disembarked from the plane, Rossi cornered Hotch. "Don't ask," Hotch said immediately. "Officially, I know nothing."

"Unofficially?"

Hotch sighed. "Two years ago, after Reid was kidnapped by Tobias Hankel, the doctors found evidence that he had been drugged. What we did not find was any trace of the drug on the scene or on Hankel's body. We were so relieved to get Reid back alive that none of us questioned it. Not until much later, anyway. We're all fairly certain we know what happened, but we don't discuss it."

Rossi nodded. "I'll be sure not to bring that up again. At least, not without good reason."

"Thank you."

A/N: Okay, I'm curious. Did anybody guess the significance of the creep at the bus stop when chapter 16 was posted?