"Ten year old Sammy Sparks of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, showed up at his elementary school this morning covered in blood…"

"When police got to his house, they found that his parents, Charlie and Alison Sparks, were missing…"

"Forensics indicate that at least one of them was injured, and by the looks of it, it was pretty severe. No ransom's been demanded…"

Aitana did her best to go over the case file in her lap but it was rather difficult when she kept overhearing a rapid rambling from the plane's front. As much as she wanted to focus on the case, she couldn't stop listening to Spencer's description of what appeared to be his favorite show. She couldn't quite remember how Seaver had managed to get him to open up like that but it was damn amusing considering how little time Seaver had been with the team.

"Is that the one where they fly around in the phone booth?" Seaver finally managed to cut into the conversation.

Spencer had to put down his almost ready coffee to better explain. "First of all, it's a police box, not a phone booth. Second of all, Doctor Who started a quarter of a century before Bill and Ted even went on their bodacious adventure, so, really, they should have just called it 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Rip-Off.' I mean, at least then—"

"I'm really sorry," Seaver said suddenly, confusing Spencer for a moment.

"For what?"

"Asking." Seaver promptly grabbed her coffee and turned away, making a scurry for an empty seat in the back of the plane. Aitana looked up momentarily, her expression bearing a frown. What was the need in being rude like that?

Spencer was more than used to that type of shut down so, after making one scrunched-up face, he returned to the preparation of his coffee. Aitana seemed to go back to her case as well—she'd missed the meeting earlier that morning and she wanted to be caught up as soon as they landed—but just as Spencer put the lid over his now ready coffee, he heard her voice.

"If you tell me that you have the lost episodes, I'm going to throw this case file at you."

Spencer glanced her way and saw her still reading the file in front of her. Her eyes looked up for a second, meeting his with a small smile. He wasn't sure if it was the lighting of the morning but he could see more flecks of green in her eyes from where he stood. "The what now?" he geniously responded with. He cleared his throat, flushing.

"The lost episodes of Doctor Who," Aitana repeated, "Aren't there like 100 or something?"

"It's actually 97," he corrected her. She playfully rolled her eyes and chuckled lightly. "In the span of 26 serials…" He started making his way to her seat and sat across her, putting his coffee on the table between them. "Because back then, they did serials instead of the traditional 1 story episodes." He took a moment to study her, clearly thinking about something he was yet to let her in on. "You're a Doctor Who fan?"

Aitana shrugged. "Casually. My brothers like the show and I've watched more than a few to know some stuff too."

"Have you watched any of the classics?"

"Not a lot," she shook her head. "But I find it hilarious that the fifth Doctor decided celery was a good fashion choice."

Spencer beamed. "You know about that?" It was easy to elicit yet another rambling conversation from him about Doctor Who. Aitana could only interject where she knew enough but other than that, she listened attentively in hopes of perhaps understanding a little bit more of the show.

~ 0 ~

Arriving at the precinct in Louisiana, the first thing that Aitana did was take a look at the recent crimes in the area. As it turned out, the entire area had been devastated by an oil spill leaving many, many possible suspects in their pool. She came to the conference room where Emily and Seaver were. Hotch and Morgan were already examining the crime scene at the Sparks' residence while Spencer and Rossi took a crack at the only witness of the crime, the Sparks' son Sammy.

"I know every case is hard but, um," Aitana revealed a decent-sized pile of papers in her hands, "Everybody can literally be a suspect. Everyone's got financial problems after the oil spill."

"Morgan's keeping me updated but he says the unsub resembles a man on a mission," Emily said. With a sigh, Aitana came up to the table to put down her pile of suspects. "He didn't steal a single expensive item from the house. He definitely came for the parents."

"We're thinking it's somebody they recognized," Seaver said, "There was no sign of forced entry."

"The Sparks have a music store," Emily said, pointing to the photograph of the store on the pinboard. "Seaver and I visited it and it looked like they were very open to all kinds of payments. There's evidence of bartering for some construction work on a child's drum set and cleaning services for sheet music."

"Makes sense given the oil spill," Aitana gave a light shrug of her shoulders then set one hand on her hip. "Though you can really see that in small areas too."

"Were there any significant crimes that we could connect to this one?" asked Seaver.

Aitana shook her head. "I went over the records here myself and then asked for Garcia's assistance but...nothing. This place is going downhill in terms of finances but there hasn't been any type of case remotely like this one. I'll have to speak with the family instead."

"Any word on that?" Emily wondered.

"Garcia's working on it but there's no in state that we know of so my next bet is whoever Sammy saw on a daily basis. His school."

"You want us to come with you?"

"No, I think I'm going to get either Reid or Rossi since they already started talking to Sammy, or rather they're trying to. It's best if one of them stays with him."

Agreeing with her, the two agents let Aitana leave the room to go find the others. She poked her head into the family interrogation room and slowly came in so as to not frighten Sammy on the couch.

"How's he doing?" She asked Spencer and Rossi who were sitting across the young boy.

"He won't talk," Rossi said, sounding very unsurprised. "He just draws."

Aitana looked at all the pictures sprawled on the table that Sammy had drawn. There were at least a dozen. "Those are curious," she picked up one of them. The paper was covered in red and black lines. "Why'd he draw m's?"

"M's?" Spencer looked up with a scrunched face. "No, they're L's."

"No, they're m's," Aitana turned the paper over to look at it from a different angle. "Ha," she laughed for a second, "Never mind, they're little mouths." She made a show of biting the air. "You know like pacman?"

"Pacman?" Rossi sounded, and looked, less than impressed.

"You know, the little popular arcade game with the bright yellow head going—" she was just about to start munching air when Rossi cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it now."

Aitana's eyebrows raised, eyes flickering between him and Spencer. "They're not L's. They're something else."

"No, they're L's," Spencer reiterated. "We don't know what it could stand for, though."

"Then maybe they're not L's," Aitana shrugged. "They really look more like angles." She even raised her hand, closing the space between her fingers to make another pacman biting gesture.

"Yeah, definitely not," Spencer said slowly, his eyes squinting a bit the more he watched her hand open and close. "They're L's."

Aitana turned the paper over for him to see. "Dr. Reid, you may be overthinking it. They're pacman."

Without saying anything, Spencer strode over and took the paper from her to reassess the picture again. "No, they're L's!"

"Oh God, you poked the bear," Rossi murmured to Aitana, making the woman chuckle lightly.

"Well, as interesting as this is, I did need one of you to come with me to Sammy's school," Aitana sent a glance in the boy's direction. He didn't seem to be paying attention to anything but his drawings.

"You can take Reid," Rossi didn't miss a beat with his response.

"No, no, I want to study these again," Spencer said, still thoroughly engrossed with the picture in his hands. "They're definitely L's..."

Rossi then turned his head at Aitana, one hand under his chin. "You started it, now you take him." One of his fingers pointed to Spencer.

Aitana couldn't help but giggle. "Rossi…" He made a motion for her to tape the young doctor already. She reached over for Spencer's arm, pulling him with her towards the door. "C'mon."

"I don't see the L's!"

Rossi would hear Spencer's exclaims even from the hallway.

~0~

The two pair of agents reached Sammy's school in a little under 10 minutes. In those few minutes, Spencer had gone over the picture at least 20 times while Aitana drove.

"You look like a madman right now," Aitana said once they got out of the car. School was still in session but only for another fifteen minutes.

"I just don't see...pacman," he huffed as he shut the car door.

"Really?" Aitana stopped by the front of the car, gasping with a hand over her mouth. "You hadn't mentioned that."

Spencer scrunched his face. He got the memo. He motioned her to lead the way to the school. He'd have another look at the picture later.

They maneuvered through the school, starting with the office to get a rundown of Sammy's schedule. They were mighty surprised to find out that Sammy wasn't in a special needs class.

"Does the school have any accommodations for him?" Aitana raised an eyebrow at the secretary on the other side of the desk.

"I'm not in charge of that, ma'am," the woman merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Course not," Aitana mumbled under her breath and decided to take another look at the schedule in her hands.

"Is there any way we can talk to Sammy's teacher?" asked Spencer. "After school, of course."

The secretary nodded her head, looking more pleasurable than she'd been with Aitana. "I'll let her know," she said and headed for her desk.

"This is outrageous and yet, sadly, not surprising," Aitana looked up from the schedule with a heavy sigh. "There's so many schools that don't have accommodations for special needs students. Most families would opt to take their child to a different school even if it was further away."

"But the area's small," Spencer said, leaning his side against the desk. "The Sparks probably couldn't find a suitable school that wasn't too far away."

"I wonder if this school is really working for Sammy, then," Aitana placed the paper down on the desk. "I wonder if they have an art teacher we could talk to. See about those pacmans..."

Spencer very discreetly cleared his throat and uttered a 'L's' under his breath. Aitana sent him a look that he clearly avoided by smiling at the secretary coming back to them.

"She'll be ready for you as soon as the dismissal bell goes off," the secretary informed them. "She's in class number 15."

"Thank you," Spencer said.

"Here, thanks," Aitana handed the woman the schedule back.

"C'mon," Spencer led the way into the hallway.

Aitana followed behind but soon started lagging as she kept noting the different artworks hanging on the walls. "These are cute," she laughed at a classroom's art of fruit the students had drawn. "I was never good at drawing but I did have a lot of fun making the crafts."

"I found them a bit tedious," Spencer's remark earned him a questionable side-glance. "I was more interested in the information rather than…" He made a pass at the pictures, "Scribbles."

"Scribbles?" Aitana repeated, almost laughing at how serious he was. "Spencer, this is a fourth grade class. They're nine. What were you doing at that age?"

"I was in high school."

Aitana looked him over with curious eyes. "I'm sorry, you were where?"

"High school."

Aitana forwent the board with the pictures and instead turned to completely face Spencer. "I'm...yeah, I'm going to need an explanation."

Spencer shrugged his shoulders, his hands finding their way into his pockets. "I was a child prodigy—I graduated from high school when I was 12."

"Huh?" Aitana's eyes widened.

Spencer scrunched his face in response. He didn't really know what else to say now while Aitana was staring at him so dumbfoundedly. Luckily, the dismissal bell went off. Saved by the bell. "C'mon, we should go find the classroom."

Aitana's eyes were still wide from what she heard, and even when Spencer left, she stayed frozen. "What!?" She came back to the present minutes later. A light laugh slipped through her lips. "Of course," she mumbled under her breath as she went to catch up.

As soon as the class had been dismissed, Ms. Roger's was ready to talk. "We don't really have special resources to accommodate children like Sammy, so he's in with everybody else," she confirmed what Aitana had already seen based on the schedule in the office.

"Can he actually comprehend the material?" Aitana asked her.

"Not everything. You know, I've done my best to research alternative teaching methods, but there's only so much I can do."

"Of course," the agent agreed. It wasn't up to the teachers but the administrators in the end.

"Children with autism normally think very logically," remarked Spencer. "Their minds can pick up patterns that ours normally wouldn't recognize."

Mrs. Roger's agreed with a hum. "Yes, that's right. I've found that repetition and routine are the keys to getting through to him."

"That makes sense. Repetition forms patterns on the brain, and as those patterns reoccur, it forms a calming influence on the child. Which would allow new information to be retained."

"I'm sure Sammy's parents figured that out, too, then," Aitana said, already thinking how that would be installed at home. "His parents most likely kept him on a strict daily schedule."

"Oh, like clockwork," Mrs. Roger nodded.

"That's how Sammy was able to walk from his house to school yesterday. He'd memorized the route," Aitana said.

"Yeah, it's 7:45, time for him to go to school. He doesn't need to wait for his mom or dad. He simply grabs an empty lunchbox and heads here," Spencer thought of that fateful morning. Sammy hadn't waited for anyone to take him to school. He did what he always did: followed the schedule. "If Sammy was living on a strict routine, that means Charlie and Alison were, too. Which would have only made them easier targets."

That made for the suspect pool to increase even more.

~ 0 ~

When Aitana and Spencer returned to the precinct, they found Emily and Seaver gone. One of Penelope's tricks had, hopefully, gotten them a clue of the Unsub and possibly Sammy's parents. The only problem was if the unsub had gotten what he wanted, Sammy's parents were now expendable.

"I have run every 'L' I can find, think of, or make up in my giant magic head and nothing hits," Penelope groaned over the phone line, "I even ran the number 50 in case Sammy has some sort of predilection to Roman numerals. Came up dry."

"Did you try 'pacman' yet?" Aitana asked with a knowing smirk on her face. Not too far from where she sat was Spencer who was already shaking his head at her. He didn't see any dang pacman!

"No...should I?" Penelope asked, none the wiser about the ongoing bickering.

"Maybe. Just the angles..." Rossi was the one to say, giving a pat over Aitana's shoulder. He may have been a little proud that somebody was getting under the doctor's skin.

Hotch and Morgan were the only ones out of the loop, so they both quickly moved onto the next subject.

"Any luck on finding Sammy's next of kin?" asked Morgan.

"In name only," Penelope moved on too. "Charlie has a sister named Elizabeth that was last reported residing in Mont Belvieu, Tejas. But she's not responding to calls or email. Elizabeth."

Spencer was quick to straighten in his seat. "The "L" could stand for Liz or Lizzie!" Aitana rolled her eyes at him but said nothing. She wouldn't put it behind fate to make him actually right.

"Garcia, we need to find her and fast," Morgan said.

Penelope agreed. "I will move so fast, the earth will reverse its rotation and time and bend it backwards!" She hung up afterwards.

As the hour went by, the remaining team tried to have eyes and ears around through the neighborhood in case the victims had been set free, regretfully either dead or alive. There were no such reports.

"If this unsub has the money he needs, why hasn't he let the Sparks go?" Aitana found herself asking after what seemed like the dozen check-in with the precinct. Everything was still. "If this was about the money, then how come they're still being held?"

"We might have an answer to that," Emily was able to respond in time. She and Seaver were coming into the conference room.

"Alison tried to withdraw $40,000 from the branch in Bayside, but she only got 10,000," Seaver explained, "So maybe he's holding them until he gets the money he needs."

"We think he wants a specific amount," Emily added, "Alison kept telling the bank manager that 10 grand wasn't enough. That says to me he's told them what would be."

Which means they were more than ready to deliver the profile.

~0~

While the rest of the team delivered the profile, Aitana had been tasked with meeting Sammy's aunt who would be arriving at the precinct soon. Elizabeth, or Lizzie, as she preferred to be called, seemed relatively nice. She was just sorely out of place, even more so when Aitana explained the situation with her brother and her nephew.

"He hasn't said anything?" Lizzie asked while Aitana led the way into the elevator.

"No," Aitana shook her head. "My colleagues have spent a lot, if not most, of their time observing Sammy but all he's done so far is just draw."

"That's what he always used to do," Lizzie said with a fondness that just further confused Aitana. As soon as they'd met, Lizzie made it clear that she had no idea about her brother and his family's situation even before the kidnapping. Why would she be fond of a nephew she barely sees? More to the point, how could Lizzie know that Sammy liked to draw and that it was what he used to do in the past?

Aitana pressed the up button on the elevator then stepped back beside Lizzie. "I'm very sorry to ask this but it's protocol. So far, you're the only family member we can find. Do you have any idea if there's somebody who could've done this?"

Lizzie didn't think twice before shaking her head. "No, I wouldn't know anything. Charlie and I don't speak to each other. I don't know any of his friends and he doesn't know any of mine."

"Mm," Aitana could see the pain in the woman's eyes. She must be feeling terrible right now knowing her brother was most likely injured.

By the time they reached Sammy's room, the profile had been delivered and both Spencer and Rossi were back with the child. Sammy's teacher, Ms. Rogers, was with in the room as well and all three adults were going back and forth about something.

"...he's a child, and I don't think you get to choose what's best for him!" Ms. Rogers were definitely the more animated of the trio.

"Um," Aitana cleared her throat to announce their presence, "Everyone, this is Lizzie Sparks. Sammy's aunt? Can somebody please tell me what's going on?" Rossi made a point for her to wait while he left the room. "What…?" The brunette was left standing with her hands turned over, demanding an explanation.

A short minute later, Rossi brought over an officer to wait inside with Sammy while the rest of them moved out to discuss what they were trying to decide on.

"I still don't see why you have to take him back to that place," Ms. Rogers said after the agents had explained the situation.

"Sammy was playing the piano when his parents were abducted, so taking him back to the exact location might trigger an important response," Rossi insisted. He knew what they were suggesting was risky but it was even riskier to leave the Sparks to fend for themselves.

"No, but he's fragile. It could also wound him further," Ms. Rogers said, also making a good point.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here," Lizzie said quietly, mostly to Aitana since she was the only agent she knew of yet.

"It goes like this," Aitana said, turning to face the woman, "You're Sammy's legal guardian right now. The decision's yours."

"No," Ms. Rogers was quick to say, making both women look her way. "He barely knows her. Lizzie, is it? For all we know, she's the "L" he's afraid of."

"Sammy saw his aunt and didn't even react," Spencer pointed out. "If she was the abductor, we'd have seen a visceral response."

"You can't be sure of that. He's in shock!"

"Okay, it also goes like this," Aitana put her hands together while she gathered up her words. "We are running out of time because if you do remember, Mr. Sparkes is injured and we don't know how badly it could be. Also, we are running a background check right on Lizzie as we speak so before she makes any decision, we will know whether or it'll carry weight."

"Wait, what?" Lizzie's eyes widened in alarm. "You're running a background check on me!?"

Aitana made a face that she would later reprimand herself for not being professional. "Did you think we wouldn't?"

Lizzie opened her mouth to respond when logics hit her instead. She promptly stayed quiet.

"When the background check finishes, you're going to have to make a decision," Rossi said, "Can we or can we not take Sammy back to the house?"

~ 0 ~

The group was careful when they led Sammy inside his house. Everything had been cleaned and re-organized before they arrived to ensure the least bit of issues. Sammy seemed alright as he crossed through the foyer. He left his favorite wooden toy train on a table nearby a piano and he only did it to situate himself at AT the piano. Spencer had been right. Sammy would definitely go back to what he was doing when the abduction happened. Almost immediately, he started playing a tune.

"That sounds classic," Aitana said the more Sammy played. She glanced at Lizzie for some help. "Did your brother show him that?"

Lizzie felt terrible when she shook her head. "I don't know."

"When was the last time you saw them?" Rossi had to ask after that. Lizzie knew next to nothing about her family.

"On his 5th birthday. 5 years," sighed Lizzie. "Charlie and I had a fight. It got ugly. I haven't seen either one of them since." There was a pause before she spoke again, but when she did her tone was full of fear. "Do you think Charlie's going to be ok?"

"We're hopeful," Aitana offered the woman a small smile. At this point, what else could they say?

Sammy had played on without interruption, even when Spencer joined him. The doctor watched the boy for a second then, out of nowhere, produced a few keys himself.

"I didn't know you could play, Reid," Rossi remarked.

"I can't," Spencer said simply, even shrugging his shoulders casually.

"What?" Aitana would've laughed had the situation not been grim.

"Well, I never have before, but it's essentially all math."

"Oh, right, cos we knew that," Aitana side-glanced Rossi with widened eyes. The older man merely shrugged.

"Sammy, how about you play this note…" Spencer was slow in showing Sammy the specific note, "For yes. And this note…" he introduced a second note, "for no. Does that sound like something you could do?"

Sammy moved his hand over the key that would play the note meant for 'yes'."

"Yeah, exactly. Just like that," Spencer smiled. "Now, Sammy, do you remember when the man came and took your parents away?"

Sammy once again played the note for 'yes', only for it to slowly turn into a classical tune again.

"That's the same tune he played first," noted Aitana. The others agreed.

"Sammy, I don't understand. Does this song mean something to you?" Spencer asked, watching as Sammy continued to play the piece.

"If he plays it more than once, then we have to assume it is," Rossi said. "Maybe there's something in the house that'll tell us. Serrano?"

The woman nodded obediently. "Mhm. I'll check downstairs." She turned to leave and moments later, Lizzie ended up wandering away too.

Rossi watched Sammy and Spencer continue their game of piano, only hoping that Spencer would be able to figure out what Sammy was trying to say.

~0~

Aitana checked and double checked downstairs for anything that would have to do with the classical piece. She found only a few papers with musical notes left on a table in the hallway. She couldn't read anything musical but she could read titles.

"Looks like Sammy's familiar with a couple classics," she remarked when she returned to the living room. "But I don't know if these papers go to this piece."

Spencer stopped playing for a second to see the papers himself. "No, these aren't it."

"Then I've got nothing," Aitana took the papers back with a sigh.

"Hey, take a look at this!" They heard Rossi say seconds before he came rushing down the stairs. He held another flip book in his hands.

"Is that from school?" Aitana said as Spencer took the flip book in his hands.

"No, it's Sammy's whole routine!" Rossi exclaimed. "Shower, brush teeth, dress. His entire life is planned in order. Maybe we can figure out where Sammy met the unsub."

"He already figured it out," Spencer mumbled as he reached the end of the flip book.

"What do you mean?" Aitana tried to take a peek but instead Spencer shoved it to her in order to retrieve Sammy's pictures they brought along with them.

"Sammy sees his life in pictures. He's been trying to speak with us, but he only knows how to communicate through symbols!" Spencer spread out the three pictures he needed to make his point. He set them on ground then stepped back for the other agents to see. "Look, it's his language." He lifted his pant leg for a second to show his socks with golden anchors. "See? Anchors." Because one of the pictures Sammy drew resembled a bunch of anchors. "Like my socks."

"And that's the tread on your shoes," Rossi pointed to the next picture with a bunch of squares on it. Looking at it better, it did resemble a shoe tread.

"So what's the last one mean?" Aitana pointed to the infamous "L's" on the last paper.

"Oh," Spencer stepped back, nearly letting a laugh slip through.

"Don't tell me they were actually pacman," Aitana blinked, her lips tugging into a smirk.

"No," he pointed as he walked over to take the flip book from her. "But they were like angles." Aitana raised her hand to produce another pacman-like open and shut motion. Spencer shook his head. "No, more like…" He lowered the last of her three fingers to leave just her index and thumb in what appeared like an 'L'. Aitana cocked her head at the new symbol. "An angle that looks like..." Spencer showed her and Rossi the "3:00" flipbook page.

"Oh! It's time!" Aitana exclaimed.

"Exactly! The time Sammy wants us to know about, the time that he met the unsub."

"Where was he at 3:00?"

"2:30, music store," Rossi remembered. "He goes there every day after school, and he doesn't leave until the store closes at 6:00."

Spencer hurried over to Sammy at the piano, showing him the time on his watch. "Hey, Sammy. Sammy, it's almost 3:00. Is there someplace you should be?"

"Should be store," the boy said, immediately pulling his hands from the piano to stand up. He was going to the store, just like his routine had him.

~ 0 ~

By the time they reached the store, Morgan was already there waiting for them. They had the security feed going on over the counter.

"Just let him," Aitana stopped Lizzie from interrupting Sammy's way into the store. They needed to see exactly what his routine entailed. The boy went directly to the big piano set not too far from the counter and began to play the same classic piece as he did earlier.

Meanwhile, Spencer and Rossi headed over to the other agents. "Morgan, we need to fast-forward to 3 p.m," Spencer instructed. "If I'm right, the unsub is somewhere on this tape."

Morgan moved the tape along, stopping a little before 3:00. As predicted, they saw the Sparkes working and Sammy coming into the store. However, they witnessed Charlie Sparkes changing the music they had playing in the store.

"They changed the music. Why would they do that?" Morgan asked.

"It's for Sammy. Classical might be more comforting than Hard Rock," Rossi theorized.

"Ok, here's 3:00," Morgan pointed at the time stamp. Just like he was now, in the video Sammy played the same classic piece.

"Sammy's been trying to tell us who took his parents all along," Spencer nearly smacked his forehead for not seeing before. "At 3 p.m. the song plays, the same song every day at the same time because Charlie Sparks puts the CD in at 2:30 when Sammy arrives. Sammy's never late because Sammy sticks to a schedule, a routine. 30 minutes later…" A new man walked into the screen with a trolley. "This man arrives. A deliveryman with a routine all of his own. We need to figure out who that is, because he's our unsub!"

"I will get Garcia on it," Aitana announced, already pulling her phone out to make the call.

~ 0 ~

Penelope had worked her magic to get them everything they needed on the delivery man they were looking for. She had both sides from the store and the precinct listening in to her discoveries. "Former fisherman turned part-time deliveryman, saddled with more debt than he and his recently removed sons could sustain, including a foreclosing house and a defaulted boat loan." She could almost run out of breath if she wasn't already used to the fast-pace of the job. "Why didn't you tell me you were looking for Bill Thomas at 1024 Elmwood Avenue?"

"What about his boat?" asked Hotch.

"Docked in the marina!"

"We're closer to the house," one of the detectives told Hotch but was easily overheard by the others.

"Ok, we'll take the boat," Morgan decided.

"What's going to happen?" Lizzie was quick to pull Aitana to the side. Everybody else started arranging things for what was to come.

Aitana tried to keep the woman from properly freaking out. "We're going to Thomas' boat to see if Charlie and Ali are there."

"What about me? Sammy!? Can we-"

"I don't know about that," Aitana cut her off, casting a weary glance in Sammy's direction. "It might be too much for him and...if things don't go well…"

"Please," Lizzie begged. "I've stayed away for too long! I need to be there!"

Aitana held her breath while she quickly weighed the pros and cons of doing such a thing. She glanced at the others—everything was crazy as they arranged how and who was going where within the vicinity of the boat area. She glanced at Sammy who remained at the piano, fingers still playing the keys.

"Maybe...we stop by the house first," she started, rubbing her cheek the more she considered a careful plan. "Pick up his favorite toy, just in case."

"Yes!" Lizzie quickly agreed. "Of course!"

Aitana made a gesture for her to hold on while she set things up. She was surprisingly met with an amicable response from the others, especially Rossi for some reason. It appeared he had a better conversation with Lizzie and her falling out with Charlie.

"I'm thinking I drive to the house first to pick up Sammy's toy, create a bigger gap between us and you guys at the dock," Aitana spoke quietly. "Just in case…"

"Yeah, that's good thinking," Rossi nodded. "Take the SUV. We'll go with the officers."

"Okay," she took the keys from him and went to gather up Lizzie and Sammy.

~ 0 ~

The dock was relatively quiet when the group arrived. Morgan was the first one to spot Bill Thomas through his boat's window. For the moment, they stayed right where they were. A few seconds later, Hotch called through.

"Morgan, he's not here!"

"I know, Hotch. We got him," Morgan said, eyes following the man as much as he could through the window. He glanced at the others waiting to start. He promptly hung up the call and shouted towards the boat. "Bill Thomas! This is the FBI! Give yourself up! Your boat is surrounded! We don't want anyone else to get hurt, Bill. Turn yourself in!"

The others readied their arms in case Thomas tried anything quickly. Once again, though, things remained calm.

"All right, listen up," Morgan said to the others. "We move in as soon as SWAT is in position."

Of course then a minute later, they heard the distinctive sound of a gunshot. The entire team raced towards the boat. The first thing they saw was Bill Thomas himself dead on the ground and a sobbing Ali Sparks by her dead husband.

When Aitana arrived to the sight with Lizzie and Sammy, things had already been cleared for the better. She did, however, feel the sense that things hadn't gone the way they hoped. In what sense, she didn't yet know.

"Oh no, no!" Lizzie was quick to get out first.

Aitana got out of the car and moved to the backseat to open the door for Sammy. She was nervous as he got out because, of course, things were going on in full range. He tapped his fingers against his sides while he took everything in. Eyes flickered as much as they could. Aitana held off on touching him for fear of worsening things.

She moved around him, glancing at Lizzie who was watching the coroners take two corpses—both covered—away. Then they saw Ali with Morgan. Lizzie's audible gasp of both relief and realization was painstaking. Aitana drew in a small breath. Charli hadn't made it.

Sammy moved past the agent and his aunt suddenly. Aitana made a move to follow until she realized he was drifting closer to his mother while still taking the sights in. Ali was covered in some blood that appeared to be someone else's, perhaps her husband's. She expected Sammy but with her tears and weariness, she fell to her knees. Sammy stopped a couple inches from her and she, not expecting him to give her any such affection, lowered her head. However, Sammy's hand reached over to her, his fingers gently tapping her shoulder. He couldn't say what he felt but he was beginning to show it. And it followed with a hug.

~ 0 ~

The plane ride home was a quieter one, both out of exhaustion and the ending of the case. Most of the team were asleep except for a few. Aitana herself was dozing off when she heard someone take a seat across her.

She shifted in her seat, blinking fast to keep herself awake. She saw Spencer across, smiling at her.

"Did I wake you?"

"No, I...I don't like sleeping here. Then I won't sleep at home," she said, pulling herself into a better sitting position.

"Of course other times you don't exactly sleep at home either, huh?" He said that knowing exactly what it meant. "Have you had any dreams?"

Aitana was hesitant to admit to it but she figured that there wouldn't be any other people like them who would understand. "A couple, yeah."

"If you ever want to talk about them—it doesn't have to be with me—the team knows about it." Spencer remembered how it went when he started getting those nightmares in the beginning. Lots of ways not to sleep ended up overwhelming his mind for a while.

"Thanks," Aitana said. The dreams hadn't been that bad yet and maybe, because of everything else she already lived through, they wouldn't get any worse.

"I also—" Spencer started again, smiling slightly, "—wanted to come over and apologize."

"What?" Aitana blinked, expression twisting into confusion. "For what?"

"For getting a little worked up about the drawings."

"Ah," Aitana couldn't help the smirk that crossed her lips. "I thought it was funny. I didn't even know I could irritate you that much."

Spencer shook his head at her. "You didn't."

"Spencer, it's okay. I wasn't upset. Like I said, it was more funny than anything."

"Still. You were more right than I was."

"Was I?" Aitana scrunched her face.

"You talked about them looking more like angles and I should've paid more attention to that because you were right in a way. They were angles that were Time."

"I kept saying pacman—how very FBI agent-y of me. And mature."

Spencer chuckled. "Funny. I thought you were funny. I didn't even know somebody could bring that into this type of work."

"I grew up with brothers so my sense of humor is a little bit off."

"Looks good to me."

Aitana smiled shyly. For a moment, she didn't know what to do with herself nor how to keep the conversation going. (She ignored the realization that she wanted to keep the conversation going). Her eyes flickered to the coffee pot up ahead and decided it was best to stay awake for the rest of the flight. "I'm going to get some coffee," she announced. "You want some sugar?" Spencer raised an eyebrow at her and her growing smirk. "You know, for that coffee?"

"Oh, so you've been talking to Morgan," he sighed.

Aitana giggled. "A little. For somebody who skipped part of elementary school and all of middle school, you're a bit slow sometimes."

Spencer deadpanned her as she stood up, though a smile briefly marked his face when she walked past him and patted his shoulder.

A/N:

It was brought to my attention that I accidentally published the previous chapter twice and I'm so sorry. I'm currently updating this story (as well as several others of my fics) across 3 more platforms, most recently on wattpad, and I got mixed up. Again, sorry! :)

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"