CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR: JEAN RYLEIGH !

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JULY 3rd, 1994

JAMES WILLOWS HAD BEEN PACKING UP HIS PICKUP, THROWING IN HIS FINAL BAG. He hopped into the driver's seat, his six-year-old daughter clutching onto her stuffed giraffe she had named Georgie in the passenger's seat, looking back at their house.

"Okay, kiddo. You ready to go?" James asked his daughter, looking her way. "Why do we have to go?" Casey questioned, looking towards her dad. "It's so boring down there!"

"You love Roanoke. And you love spending time with me, don't ya, peanut?" Casey looked at her father, maybe things would be different on this trip. Whenever they went to Roanoke, he actually liked acting like a good father for once. James ruffles his daughter's hair and starts the engine to the pickup. "Come on, it's not that long of a drive."

"What are we gonna do down there?" Casey asked as they made their way down the street. "We're spending the 4th of July up there. Watching the fireworks at the park with Miss Jean and her kids. You remember them, right?" Casey thought for a moment before shaking her head. She honestly didn't remember. She remembered seeing a woman and two children that Casey used to play with from time to time when her dad took her up to Roanoke.

"No? Well, we're gonna have fun up there, alright, peanut?" James looked up ahead at the road and Casey looked at her father, carefully. She had noticed his marks on the inside of his arms. The ones from the needles. She had seen him using one time.

It was from that moment on that she knew she was never gonna do what he did. But she started noticing the slight change in him. His mood had been a lot more better recently, he was always on the phone. She had began to notice that the marks on his arms were beginning to fade. Maybe he could finally be capable of change.

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PRESENT DAY, 2014

Casey Willows knew it was now or never to come out with the truth. She had been keeping her secret hidden for weeks now. She knew that she had to tell Spencer sometime. She was the one telling him that he needed to talk to her more but here she was — lying to him. She hated doing it, but she was finally gonna break it down for him tonight over dinner. It was news and it was change and she knew that he struggled with change. So she'd be telling him tonight.

But first, beginning today. Casey had gotten up first, surprisingly and looked over at Spencer, who was sleeping soundly for the first time in a while. His son was sprawled on top of him, also sleeping soundly. It was at this moment that Casey knew they looked more alike than any other person in the world. The woman smiled at the sight and stayed and watched them for a minute or two. She even managed to snap a photo of them before getting up and starting the day.

She had gotten dressed, brushed her hair and her teeth and cooking breakfast. Once she placed bacon on the fryer, she heard tiny footsteps paddling over to her and Casey greeted her son happily and placed him inside of his high chair. Casey had made Chris some scrambled eggs and bacon. It would be enough for him for breakfast.

Casey had now been in the middle of feeding Chris (while he also fed himself), nearly making a mess all over his high chair tray. She had looked up and noticing Spencer tying his tie and stuffing it inside of his sweater vest. "Good morning, my love." Casey greeted. "Good morning, better half of me." Spencer said, kneeling down a bit to give his fiancée a peck on the lips.

"How'd you sleep?" Casey asked as she resumed to feeding her one-year-old. "Like a baby." Spencer had immediately changed his tone from happy to even happier once he looked to his son. "Hi!"

"I see he's got a love for bacon." Spencer said, motioning to his high chair. "Is that bad?" Casey asked, concern washing her face. "While a small amount here and there is okay once in a while, the preserved meat is packed with sodium, nitrates, nitrites, and potential carcinogens, if we just—" Spencer immediately stopped once he noticed his fiancée's glare as he began to pour his coffee in a mug. "Or... we just let him eat whatever he wants because you're the mom and you cook him breakfast and you love me and you love him so much." He said, sheepishly and Casey shook her head as she chuckled.

Spencer had sat down next to his son at the table and grabbed the baby wipes to wipe the grease off of Chris's face. Casey watched the scene unfold and smiled to herself. It occurred to her that this was all she needed. All she wanted. Spencer had noticed her staring. "What's wrong?" Spencer asked. Casey shook her head. "Nothing." Spencer looked at his son for a minute and then back at Casey. "You sure?" He asked.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong," Casey smiles assuringly. "But we do need to talk." She grabs his hand from across the table. "Tonight. Dinner. The two of us." Casey then looked over at their son. "And maybe McBacon Lover over here can join us."

Spencer laughed but the laughter died down once the two's phones buzzed in front of them and they had both checked their phones, only to find out they had a case. "Ah, that dinner might have to wait. We have a case." Spencer revealed and Casey sighed, realizing that she needs to take a rain-check on that dinner. "Yup."

Casey and Spencer had dropped Christopher with Will and Henry and headed down to the BAU with JJ trailing right behind them.

In the pit of Casey's stomach, there had been some aching feeling. Her gut feeling that something was wrong. Casey's famous gut feeling, Morgan called it. Notorious for thinking things were wrong when they really were. She hadn't gotten that feeling in a long time. That feeling of dread. She hadn't had that in a long time. Casey tried to ignore that feeling as best as she could.

But once they entered the bullpen, the ache worsened. Anxiety flushed onto her face but she wouldn't show it and she wouldn't allow it. Casey had stopped in the bathroom to throw water over her face. That seemed to wash away that feeling for a moment. With her heart in her hands, Casey had joined the team in the conference room.

Casey had taken a moment to greet Vivian a welcome back from her leave and Hotch had ordered for Garcia to present the case. The woman stood before the team and held her remote. "Okay... down in Roanoke County, Jean Ryleigh was found dead in a hotel room," Casey's eyes immediately snapped up at the name coming out of Garcia's mouth and picture of the woman was shown on the screen.

Casey recognized the woman, putting a face to the name. The pictures of her body sent shivers down her spine as she stared deeply at the screen in front of her. "She was sexually assaulted and cut open and her blood was smeared on the walls." She heard Garcia say.

"Sorry, did you say Jean Ryleigh?" Casey questioned, almost not believing it for a minute. Everyone looked the woman's way, confused and wondering how the name sounded familiar coming from Casey's lips. "Yeah." Garcia nodded.

Casey stared down the photos in her file, biting her lip in anxiousness and confusion. Jean Ryleigh was dead? The same person her father talked about? That Jean Ryleigh? How could this be?

Everyone began to notice Casey's composure and her confusion on her face. "Something the matter, Casey?" Hotch decided to ask and Casey had wiped the concern off of her face in a second and shook her head almost immediately. "Nothing."

"Anyways..." Garcia had decided to ignore the weirdness for a minute and continued with the case.

As everyone chatted with one another like they did while debriefing a case, Casey had remained quiet, stuck with the many many questions lingering in her head. She was confused. This woman she hardly knew yet she felt like she knew her her whole life. The woman that supposedly got her father back on the right track. He could do it for Jean Ryleigh, but he couldn't for me? Why did she die? How did this happen? Why was she targeted? Did this mean Jean's children were in danger? Was she was in danger? Her father?

The minute Hotch said 'We leave in 30', Casey had immediately rushed downstairs and into the bathroom and made her way to a bathroom stall and puked. The nerves of this case made her puke. That never happened to her. Usually, she could handle the grossness of everything but her anxiety had caught onto her like a fish on a hook.

Once Casey finished, she flushed the toilet and made her way out of the bathroom stall and washed her hands and face. She looked up at the mirror, she hadn't even realized she was crying. She blinked a few times and waited a moment, staring at her reflection, wondering if the team was gonna figure her out. Of course they were, they're profilers. Maybe if she played dumb... no, that would look more suspicious. She played it cool, trying to whisk away at the nerves in her stomach before deciding what she was going to do next.

Casey had exited the bathroom, not even noticing the team looking her way in concern from her fiancé's desk. She headed up to Garcia's lair and walked in as Garcia was doing some system working stuff. "Missed me, fair maiden?" Garcia joked but Casey had other things on her mind besides joking right now. "Garcia, I need you to look up a name for me. Jean Ryleigh."

"Most people say 'hi, how you doing?' but okay." Garcia had put the name into her keyboard before recognizing the name. "Jean Ryleigh..." She muttered before turning over to Casey. "Wait, isn't that the name of our most recent victim? Why do you need info on this person?" She asked.

Because my father knew this woman and now she's dead and now I'm keeping a secret from everybody that maybe I should tell but I'm too embarrassed of everything that's been going on with my father and this is just another thing to add onto the list and now I'm stuck figuring out the case of this woman! "No reason." Casey shrugged.

"When you say that, there's usually a reason." Garcia narrowed her eyes at Casey, who stared back down at her before responding with: "Look, can you just do me a favor and see if she has any children?" She asked.

"Okay," Garcia had began to type and something popped up. "Yup, she had twins. A boy and a girl." Two birth certificates popped up, along with two photos of the twins. "Girl's name is Lenora and boy's name is Isaac, both 21. Mother is Jean Ryleigh and father is..." Garcia's scheming look turned into one of pure shock. "Oh." Casey looked over Garcia's shoulder and looked at what she had seen. "Casey... the father is... uh... "

"My dad," Casey revealed, making Garcia the very first person to know of her half-siblings. "Yeah, I know." Garcia's eyes widened at this shocking news. "I found out recently. When I went to go see him to ask him about Gideon. He wanted to see me again before I left and he just... flat out told the truth."

Garcia looked at the woman and then back at the screen and back at Casey. "Does anyone know?" She asks. "No," Casey admitted. "Which is why I'm trusting you to keep this between us."

"But—"
"I know, you can't keep secrets," Casey interjected. "But I'm telling you, you don't have to keep it secret for long."

"Have you told Spencer yet?" Garcia asked the million dollar question and Casey sighed, indicating she hadn't told him quite yet. "No. But... I'm telling him... soon. Just don't know when."

JULY 3rd, 1994

Jean opened the door to the house and smiled as she had seen James and Casey on the front porch. "James!" Jean had immediately come in for a hug. "Hey, Jeanie." James said and he kissed her temple. "It's so good to see you again." Jean told.

Casey always thought Miss Jean was pretty. She had long black hair and walnut skin, pretty brown eyes and a smile that shone brighter than diamonds.

"Casey, say hi to Jeanie." Casey gripped onto her dad's hand as she nervously looked up at Jean. "Hi." She said with a small voice as Jean knelt down to her level. "Hi, honey! You've gotten taller since the last time I've seen you. You were like that small." Jean motioned lower to Casey's knees.

"Leah, Isaac, come here!" Jean called her two-year-olds over and they rushed over to their mother and were met with a tall girl in front of them. "Casey, you remember Leah and Isaac." James said.

"Hi." The girl, Leah, spoke small. Like she was still learning her words, which she was. "Hi." Casey said.

James and Jean look at one another and Jean smiles at the children in front of her. "Why don't we all go inside? I have biscuits and gravy ready. You guys can unpack later." Casey had looked to her dad for permission to go in before walking into the house.

At the table, Casey had been sitting with Isaac and Leah, eating the biscuits and gravy Jean served. James and Jean had looked over the three eating and James looks over and whispers over to Jean: "Do you think they'll ever understand one day that they're siblings and not just friends?"

"They'll understand in the future but for now it's better they just get to know each other for now."

After a few nights of meeting each other in a bar, James and Jean realized they had something intimate. Intimate like they'd never known before. James never thought he could find that after Stephanie. And it seemed as if Jean felt the same way he did. After a month of dating in secret, Jean fell pregnant and immediately cut ties with James. Over a year later, he had found out where she was residing in DC and the door had opened, Jean having baby Leah in her arms when she did. It was then that James knew he had another family. He had warmed up to his new family on the side up until Jean had to move back to Roanoke, to care for her sick father. She had left him the house in DC and soon, he moved himself and Casey in, even when she would stay with her Uncle Jason every now and again. With Gideon's permission, he had even taken Casey to Roanoke so she could meet her new siblings but Jean told James to take it easy, let Casey warm up to the idea as well as Isaac and Leah. So he'd take her to Roanoke, every now and again so she could warm up to her new little family.

"So..." Jean uncrossed her arms and looked towards the man. "What's the plan for 4th of July?" She asked and James thought for a moment. "Well, I called Jack and he said that every year he has a great view of the fireworks from the lake. I'd say we spend the day there, with a bonfire, eating some s'mores and watching the fireworks a blazing." Jean smiled at the man in front of her. "You always know how to make everybody happy, don't you?" She asked. James shrugged before Jean had pecked him on the lips.

"How is Jack doing by the way? I know things have been a little rough since his divorce with Lucille." Jack O'Hara had been the best friend of James and the "not-by-blood uncle" of Casey. Casey was always excited to see her uncle Jack when she had the chance and it wasn't often. "He's managing," James spoke. "Said he's trying to stay  clean this time. For Ryan. They're both gonna be at the lake. We'll see what happens there."

PRESENT DAY, 2014

        Once the team arrived to the PD, Casey had felt all eyes on her. She was confused for the most part, she thought the eyes were all over the team surrounding her uncle she came face to face with a familiar detective. She just didn't know how familiar he was.

        "Detective Sutton?" Hotch spoke and the man turned to face him as Hotch held his hand for him to shake. "Agent Hotchner, we spoke on the phone?" The man nodded of the reminder. "Oh, yes."

         The man turned his attention the the agents. "This is my team, Agents Hudson, Rossi, Morgan, Jareau, Callahan, Willows and Dr. Reid." Hotch introduced and one name piqued his interest more than the others. "Did you say 'Willows'?" Casey turned her attention to her last name being said. "As in... James Willows?"

         Casey had walked in front to where the man could see her. "I'm his daughter?" Casey said in almost a question. Honestly, the man couldn't believe his eyes once he saw the girl. "Casey Willows... is that really you?" Casey furrowed her brows. She recognized the man, she just didn't know how. "Detective Sutton." He motioned towards him and she remembered. Will Sutton.

       "You were the lead detective on my dad's case. Right. Explains the stares." Casey looks towards the people around her. Most of them knew who she was most likely, the more successful of the Willows.

       "You were probably eight years old the last time we saw ya. I remember you'd beat everyone in card games at that age." Casey remembered the day her dad got arrested. She had waited hours for her uncle Gideon to come and get her since he was away on a case when it happened. The police officers there distracted her, playing card games. And she was pretty good for beginner's luck. In all honesty, she was kind of a legend in Roanoke.

       "Anyway, right this way." The man led the team to the conference room, Vivian, JJ and Morgan all giving each other a questionable look.

        The photos are already put up on the board. "What makes you think this crime is gonna go serial?" Sutton questioned, hands on hips as he did so. "Because we've never seen anything like this." JJ said, pointing towards the pictures. "The cutting open and blood smeared on the walls is personal, though. Not like any other we've seen before." Kate added. "The blood smeared on the wall indicates some real anger. If anything, Jean Ryleigh's the one our unsub's been after all along." Spencer told, looking towards the crime scene.

"What did Jean Ryleigh do for a living?" Hotch decided to ask Sutton. "She was involved in politics," Sutton answered, looking up at the photos. "Stood up for people when others couldn't. She was an activist. Almost everybody knew her. She was kind to everyone, not a bad bone in her body." Casey looked down in response to that. She honest to god could not remember this woman for the life of her. She remembered her face, sure, but she couldn't remember anything else besides that.

"Okay, Rossi, Kate, go to the ME, Jean Ryleigh's body is getting autopsied today and I want you to be there for that. Vivian, JJ, I'd like for you to go to the crime scene and I'll have Garcia looks into politicians here," Hotch told. "Are the Ryleighs in yet?" Casey's head snapped up like it did when Jean's name was first mentioned in the conference room. The fact that her children — her half-siblings — were here made Casey feel like she was going to puke from anxiety again.

"Next room over. Lenora and Isaac Ryleigh," Sutton told. "Gotta warn you though, the kids are devastated, might not be able to get them to budge."

"Morgan, Casey, on that, will you?" Casey really hoped Hotch wasn't going to say her name — wished for it even. But the fates had decided. "Sure," Morgan nodded and looked Casey's way. "Ace?"
"Ye-Yeah." Casey nodded, hoping that didn't sound too obvious. She walked out of the room with Morgan and had seen them in another room.

The twin brother and sister duo, Leah and Isaac — she didn't remember them either. Leah had been sitting in the secluded room, a tissue in her hand as she sobbed into it. Her brother, Isaac, holding her and rubbing her shoulder soothingly. They both just lost their mother, if she walked in there, it would be a disruption.

"Casey," The woman looked at Morgan, who had been at the door to the room. She didn't even notice that she had stopped in her tracks. "You good?" He asked.

"Yeah. Yeah." Casey said, not so convincingly. Morgan took his hand off the doorknob and looked at Casey. "Okay, I noticed it back at the BAU and I'm noticing it now. Are you okay?" He asked, more stern this time.

Casey did her best to lie at her composure and nods, "Yes, I'm fine." She assures. "Just... an upset stomach." Morgan knew she was lying but he didn't bother to push her more. He didn't want to infuriate her. "Okay."

Before Morgan even put a hand on the knob, Casey spoke quickly again. "Just start without me. I'll, uh, be right back." With that, Casey had gone to the bathroom and took a hard deep breath as she paced.

Casey knew she had to get her act together. She was acting suspicious in front of her team. She wiped her eyes with her knuckles and looked in the mirror at herself. She looked pale. Like Snow White pale. Like Reid when he had his headaches pale. She began to mutter to herself words of assurance — that she was gonna make it, that everything was gonna be fine.

          Someone then walked through the door and Casey immediately looked to see that it was Kate that had. "Hey."
Casey grit her teeth and looked up at the ceiling as she grabbed a paper towel. "I swear to god if someone asks me if I'm okay again, I'm gonna lose it." She admits.

Kate holds her hands up in defense. "Don't bite my head off, missy. I was just coming in here to tell you an order from Hotch..." Casey gives Kate a knowing look. "And also to make sure that you're okay. Sorry... but your rushing out of the conference room wasn't so convincing. What's up with you?"

Casey looked at Kate, she knew she could tell Kate anything. She could probably tell her all about this. About Jean Ryleigh and her dad and her half-siblings. And she trusted Kate. "I just... I don't know, I guess I'm just thinking about my parents." She just wasn't fully ready to admit it yet. So, she steered from something that was not so far from the the truth. "I've been thinking about my mom a lot recently. And I guess... I'm connecting it with Jean Ryleigh and her kids. I hardly knew my mom, you knew that... and I'm... starting to think that I hardly knew my father too."

It was true, these past few weeks she had been thinking about her mother and father. How her mother was immediately erased from her father's mind the minute he laid eyes on Jean Ryleigh. Thinking about Jean Ryleigh and her kids felt like she was disrespecting her mother. That's why she chose not to engage.

"Everyone's got their battles with their parents. You know that." Kate told. Casey shrugged, "I know... I guess you're right." She looked back at the mirror. "I gotta get my head straight."

Kate puts a reassuring hand on Casey's back. "Take as much time as you need. And just know you can talk to people here, you know. That includes me." Casey smiles a bit. "I know. Thank you."

"Of course. I know everything's been tough since Gideon died, but... we're here at your corner, Case." Kate assures to the woman, who smiles again.

Casey takes a deep breath and then looked towards Kate. "So... what did the big boss man say?" She asks. "He said you were free to work on the activist list with Reid and Garcia," Kate told and Casey narrowed her eyes at her. "He noticed." She said. "Big time." Kate added. "Now, I gotta go to the ME with Rossi. I'll leave you to the wolves."

So with that, Casey took another deep breath and had headed towards the conference room and joined Spencer and Garcia, on the phone.

Meanwhile, Morgan was interviewing Jean Ryleigh's children. "Who would want to do this to our mother?" Leah questioned, looking at Morgan for the answers. "That's what we're going to figure, I hope," He noticed the closeness of Leah and Isaac. He almost thought for a moment that maybe they had something to do with Jean's murder. But they were so grief-stricken. You couldn't fake those tears. "Tell me about your mom." Morgan started.

"She was nice to everyone. Even to people that didn't deserve it. She always taught us to fight for what's right." Isaac explained. "You must've been close to her?" Morgan assumed. "Were we ever." Leah commented, looking at a photo of her that she had been holding of her and her mother when she was younger.

"Your dad wasn't a part of your life?" Morgan questioned. "He was, but, um... Mom said he had to go away." Leah admitted and she shook her head, "I never really knew what that meant."

"It doesn't matter though," Isaac spoke. "He's not a part of our life." The boy seemed to tense up at the mention of his father. "Our mom..." Leah's tears jerked up at the corner of her eyes. "She... she was the type of person that when she knew something was wrong, she wouldn't stop until she had proof."

"Proof?" Morgan asked. "What kind of proof?"

"She was an activist," Isaac spoke. "She was always finding new evidence against people everyday. She didn't care about putting herself in danger as long as it did good for somebody." Leah added on, "We told her to stop that it was getting to be too much and putting her at risk but she never listened to us." Isaac nods, "I think she got in over her head this time. She kept thinking someone was after her."

"What do you mean?" Morgan asks.

Isaac and Leah look at one another. By the looks of it, Leah seemed to know more about her mother than Isaac did. And that was because of the fact that Leah spent most of her time talking to her mother almost every single day, she probably knew more about her mother than he did. It was a mother-daughter thing and Isaac knew. He was the man of the house, it was his job to be there for his mother and twin.

"We talk on the phone, almost every single day." Leah said. "The calls were starting to become less frequent leading up to the day of her death. She kept saying that 'he' was coming, that 'he' would stop at nothing until she was dead." Leah explained. "Did you believe her?" Morgan questioned.

"I personally thought she was going on one of her tangents. It's always the same conversations every day once a new activist photo comes out in the paper." Isaac admitted.

There's a long pause and Leah looks up at Morgan, "Do you really think you'll find the person responsible for this?" For the first time in a while, Morgan doesn't have an answer. But he knows that he will do what he can.

As Morgan continued, Casey was in the room, looking through files of the politicians in town. Spencer had seemed to be a little faster than her since he reads 20,000 words per minute so Casey had decided to go and get them coffee from the machine outside of the conference room.

As Casey finished up stirring the cups, a voice behind her had chirped up, "As I live and breathe." A man's voice. As if it was natural, Casey responded with: "Or die and suffocate." Once she realized what she had said, she had turned to the person she always said that sentence to and that sentence to only: "Uncle Jack?" The man laughed and held his arms up, waiting for a hug. "Hey, honeybee."

Casey placed the cups down and rushed over to her Uncle Jack. "It's been too long!" She said, wrapping her arms around his body. "I know! You look so grown up. It's so weird!" Jack said, looking at the young woman in front of him. Last he saw of her was probably when she was about thirteen. But Casey always made sure to call and text whenever she could, updating him on her life.

The Willows crossed her arms and looked at the man. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "Was told to come in for questioning," Jack stated. "And to come and comfort your—" Before Jack could even finish the sentence, Casey shushed him and looked around. "No one else knows." She revealed, making Jack nod sadly. Once it became awkward, Casey began to speak again. "So you heard about Jean Ryleigh." She assumes.

Jack nods, "Oh, yeah. It's a shame. I actually saw her just last week. Didn't think it'd be the last I'd see of her." Casey nodded to the man and heard her name being called from a different direction again and Spencer had come up to her with a file in his hand. "Casey, I've only found one connection that leads to all of the politicians. She didn't believe in anything Jean Ryleigh did and advocated for." Spencer then noticed the man in front of his fiancée. "Hello." He said, waving awkwardly.

"And you must be the infamous Dr. Spencer Reid I've heard so much about." Jack held a hand out before remembering something Casey told him. "Wait, forgot... germ thing you got going on." Jack then shook it off. "Oh, what the hell?" Jack engulfed Spencer into a large hug, which Spencer found confusing because he just met this man a minute ago.

Casey gave Spencer an apologetic look once Jack pulled away. Spencer had straightened his tie out. "Jack O'Hara, Spencer Reid. Spencer, this is my uncle Jack." Jack looks at the man as he stuffs his hands in his pockets. "I'm not actually her uncle. Not by blood, anyway." Casey nudges Spencer. "He was my dad's best friend."

Spencer had then remembered with that eidetic memory of his that Casey often talked about her uncle Jack. "Oh, yeah, I remember you talking about him. Nice to finally put a face to the name." Spencer smiled politely to the man.

"Same on my end," Jack said. "When I found out that Casey here was getting married to a smart guy and had a kid, I almost couldn't believe it. Speaking of which, lemme see that rock on your hand." Casey had held her hand up so Jack could look at the ring. "You got expensive taste." The three laughed before Casey had decided to lead Jack away.

"Here, I'll lead you to the Ryleighs." With that, Jack looked at Spencer and said: "It's nice to finally meet you, Spencer." He said. "Likewise." Spencer nods as he heads back to the conference room.

With her heart pounding out of her chest, Casey had knocked and had turned the knob with her shaky hand and looked at Morgan and Morgan only once she finally opened the door. "Hey." Morgan greeted because it seemed like Casey couldn't get the functioning words out. "Um, family friend is here to see them."

Jack had walked through the door and Leah began to full-on cry again. The man sat in between the twins, holding them. Casey almost furrowed her brows. He was close to them? Why didn't he ever mention it? Words ran through her mind for what she felt right now. Confused? Hurt? Angry? Upset?

It only took Morgan saying: 'Willows.' to grab Casey's attention as well as Leah's at the last name. With tears in her eyes and before Casey could set foot out of the room, Leah looked at the girl carefully before standing up. "Wait, did he say your last name was Willows?"

Isaac looked at his sister and then back at the agent that just walked in. Jack kept his mouth shut about the situation and let it handle itself. Casey's breath hitched in her throat once Leah had asked. "Are you in relation to—?"

"James Willows?" Casey finished. "Yeah," Morgan looked confused at what was going on. Casey nods slightly before looking at the ground and then back at the girl in front of her. In ways, she could tell Leah had gotten her looks from her mother. Maybe she had her father's nose, like Casey had almost her entire life. "He's my father." She finished off before walking out of the room. Leah looked like she had knew the girl and even Isaac had a facial expression like hers, left in confusion.

Morgan looked at the girl in confusion and stopped in his tracks as Casey walked ahead. He was left in utter confusion of the situation and didn't know how to respond to it. Rossi and Kate had gotten back from the ME and JJ and Vivian from the crime scene.

       Morgan arrived back in the room, a knowing look making Casey's heart drop. She recognized his confused expression when he was about to say something he noticed. "You wanna tell me what happened in there?" He questioned, getting the attention from the rest of the team.

       "What?" Casey asked, trying to play it cool. "Ace, she looked at you like she recognized you. Or your name, at least." Morgan said, motioning back to the Ryleighs. Casey's heart pounded against her chest but she simply shrugged, "Don't know her."

         "Really? Because it seemed as if you knew who she was. Or when Jean Ryleigh's name popped up on the case, you had that flicker in your eye." Morgan was really pushing this and everyone else seemed to notice but no one else was calling her out like Morgan was.

          Hotch looked up and crossed his arms towards the agent. "Casey, if you know something that pertains to the case, you need to come clean now. Another person's life could be at stake."

          Before Casey would tell them to knock it off and that she had bo idea how she would've known the Ryleighs, Garcia voiced chirped up on the monitor. "Tell them, Casey." Everyone turned over the monitor, confused on what Garcia may have known.

         "Tell us what?" Hotch asked, turning from the monitor to Casey. "What's she talking about, Casey?" Spencer asked next, his arms crossed and his expression written in confusion like the others.

         "Penelope—" Casey tried but Garcia interrupted her. "Tell them or I will," Garcia pushed. "And you know I will."

         Casey then realized she had no choice. No choice but to come clean. She twisted the wedding band on her finger, something Spencer noticed along with her picked fingernails. Why didn't he see it before? Casey looked at her team before looking back at the floor. "My father knew Jean Ryleigh," she revealed. "A couple years after my mom died, he met her. And he was in love with her. And in those couple of years, they had kids. Lenora and Isaac are my..."

        "Half-siblings." Morgan finished off. "Yeah," Casey nodded. "Yeah, something like that. And I don't know how to look them in the eye and tell them I'm sorry about their mother or that I wish how things could've been different. Which is why I'm waiting until the end of this case." Here it was, the secret revealed.

         Casey looked into everyone's near shocked expressions. Kate's, Vivian's and JJ's expression seemed more empathetic than anything, Morgan was left in shock as well as Spencer, who couldn't believe what he just heard. Hotch's expression read to be very confused as what he heard and Rossi's was sympathetic. Casey almost regret her decision telling them but if she shook it off, maybe they would too. "So I'd appreciate it if we just left it alone for now." She finished, wiping her hands clean of the secret.

         "Now, this seems less confusing." Vivian pulled something out of her jacket pocket. A small framed photo she was keeping concealed and looked at JJ as she pulled it out. "We found something back at Jean Ryleigh's house." Vivian handed JJ the frame. "It was marked July 1994."

          JJ hands over the frame to Casey, who immediately looks at it. It was a photo of Casey's father and Jean Ryleigh, along with Isaac and Leah and Casey standing in the middle of everybody. Underneath the photo were words written: July 1994. She didn't remember that photo being taken. At all. She didn't remember anything about 1994, at all if she were being honest.

        "You knew about them even before all of this?" Hotch asked and Casey shook her head, almost in disbelief of what she was seeing. "I don't even... remember taking that."

         Casey's face had gone paler than before, like a sheet of paper. She couldn't remember. How could she have remembered? Even when her dad mentioned it, the name sounded familiar but the memories didn't. The fact that there was a photo of the family Casey deserved growing up made her mind boggle and feel fuzzy. Kate's eyebrows furrowed at the woman. "You okay, Casey? You look like you're about to pass out." Casey nods and shuffles backwards. "Yeah, I think I need to, uh... I think I need to sit down."

          Casey nearly fell backward on the couch, Spencer catching Casey by the small of her back and sitting next to her before she did. "I'm sorry... I'm s—" Casey brought her hands up to her face. "I'm sorry." She didn't even know what she was apologizing for but this whole thing was taking a toll on Casey. Spencer rubbed his fiancée's back soothingly and Hotch looked at the fragile woman, who could barely hold herself up.

         "Casey, take time off if you need to." Hotch suggested but Casey shook her head as she removed her hands from her face. "No, I can't sit this one out." She told, determined. Hotch admired it but the way she was acting right now was reckless. He didn't want her to have another episode of grief sustaining her. "You have to," Hotch told. "Your father knew Jean Ryleigh and so did you, it'd be a conflict of interest if I let you continue."

         Casey snapped her head up. "It's not a conflict of interest if I didn't know them, Hotch. I don't even remember them, how could I be involved besides the reasoning with my father?" Casey knew this would happen if she told them. She mentally cursed at herself for doing it but also felt a weight fall off her shoulders once she did so.

         "A conflict of interest involves Jean Ryleigh and her kids just as much as it involves your father." Spencer tells, his hand not leaving Casey's back.

          "I can't be taken off of this." Casey looked at the man with tears in her eyes as she spoke. "Hotch, I can't." Everyone looked at the man, wondering what he was going to say. "I won't take you off... but I have to have you here for the remainder of the case, working with Garcia and Reid only, is that clear?" Casey didn't like this, but it was better than the alternative. She nods, "Crystal."

         "As for the Ryleighs, I don't want anyone mentioning Casey's relation to them, even if they already know." Hotch told. "And if they ask?" JJ asks. Hotch gives the woman a knowing look and doesn't continue.

━━━━━━

         After a day of straight nothing and noticing that Casey was more distracted than ever, Morgan had offered that they should go and get breakfast, on him. JJ, Vivian, Kate, Spencer and Casey decided to go with Morgan while Rossi and Hotch stayed behind at the PD.

         They had decided to go to a diner two blocks down from sheriff's office. They all ordered a variety of things. Morgan had ordered scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns, Vivian ordered oatmeal and orange juice, JJ and Kate both ordered French toast, Casey ordered sunny side up eggs, bacon and potatoes and Spencer just ordered a coffee.

          Once they'd all gotten their food, Casey had decided to crush the yolk with her fork and then jabbed the fork into her potatoes to mix it all up. Kate gave a disgusted look. "Oh, please don't tell me you do that all the time." She comments. Casey furrows her brows at the woman. "What?"

       "You mix your egg yolk with your potatoes?" Kate questions and Casey looks at Kate, almost chuckling to herself. "What? You don't?" She looked towards her team, who didn't say anything. "Why do think I look at you like a maniac when you do?"  Spencer questioned. "I thought everyone did that." Casey said sadly. 

       "Every resident in Roanoke does that," A waitress had come up to the table, holding a pot of coffee. She spoke in a southern accent and look straight at Casey as she talked. "Or used-to-be residents as I recognize you to be Miss Casey Willows."

        Casey looks at the woman and then at her team in confusion. She did not remember this woman. At all. She looked at her name-tag Margaret. Did not ring any bells. But she seemed to know Casey. "Are you famous here or something?" Vivian questioned, waving her arms around at the place.

        "I remember when you used to be about yay big," The woman held her arm to her waist for reference. "Always copying whatever your daddy did," Casey thought for a moment. She never thought or knew of a time where she acted like her dad. As far she was concerned, she wasn't like him at all. "I assume you're here about Jean's murder." Margaret continued.

        "You knew Jean Ryleigh?" JJ asked the woman. "Knew her?" Margaret chuckled. "This town is pretty small. Everybody loved her here. Especially your dad." Casey thought about that for a minute. The woman her father loved... now dead. "I remember you guys used to come in every summer. What's it been, 20 something years now?"

        Casey didn't believe it. She didn't remember this. How many memories did she actually have here? And how many of them did she not remember?

         Morgan decided to continue the question chain. "Do you know if Jean had enemies around here? Anybody that would want to cause her harm?"

         The woman shook her head, "To be honest? No. Whoever did this to Jean was no friend. She was nice to everybody here. There was only one person she'd ever get on their bad side here."

        "And who would that be?" Vivian asked.

         Margaret looked around before speaking in a hushed voice next. "Now, you didn't hear this from me but Jean Ryleigh and Mayor Smith never got along that well. It's known all over town. Jean was here, muttering curses under her breath and talking about how she wished the man was dead. Something about a project called Reimerman."

        Everyone looked at one another. "Reimerman?" Casey asked. "Yes." The woman nodded and Morgan nodded towards the woman. "Thank you, ma'am."

       "Of course," The waitress turned her attention to Casey next. "And Casey, it is so good to see you again. And doing good things now as I hear. A G-woman? We expected nothing less."

        Before Margaret walked away, Casey stopped her. "Can I ask, when's the last time you remember seeing me?" The woman thought for a moment. "You were about six years old, I think. Maybe seven." Noticing the table, the woman looked at the team. "I'll go get y'all that check."

Once the woman walked away and Kate thanked the woman, everyone saw that look on Casey's face. The confused one. "What's wrong?" Vivian asked the woman sitting in front of her. Casey shook her head as she looked down. "Nothing, I just... don't remember how long it's been since I last came here. Honestly, I don't remember any of it. How do I not remember any of these memories people keep bringing up?"

"You could've repressed them," Spencer spoke from beside Casey. "Repressed memory occurs when trauma is too severe to be kept in conscious memory, and is removed by repression or dissociation or both. At some later time it may be recalled, often under innocuous circumstances, and reappears in conscious memory." He explained.

"But why would I have repressed them?" Casey questioned.

"Like Reid said, it usually stems from trauma." Vivian tells. "Maybe something happened in Roanoke you chose not to remember."

Casey thought for a moment. From the moment her dad got arrested, she chose not to remember things for a while. She could hardly remember the good things about her dad. I guess she just chose not to remember him so that letting him go would be easier.

The woman had absentmindedly tried to grab Spencer's hand but Spencer had pulled away, drank his coffee and excused himself off to the bathroom. Casey didn't even piece that together until Spencer was out of her seat. Staring down at the salt shakers, Casey tried to think about the last time she had been here.

JULY 4th, 1994

Casey had been playing with the salt shakers with Isaac and Leah. They all giggled as the salt started getting everywhere. "Alright, unhand the salt, you three." James chuckled as he and Jean had to separate the kids from the shakers.

       Their waitress had approached the table and she smiled once she recognized who was at the table. "James Willows and Jean Ryleigh. How are you folks doing this afternoon?"

      "Very well, Margaret. Thank you." Jean smiled and she turned to her children. "Leah? Isaac? Say hi to Miss Margaret." The twins greet, "Hi, Miss Margaret!"

       Margaret smiled at the children. "Hello, kittens!" She then turned over to the oldest children by her father's side. "And miss Casey Willows, how are you? You were tinier last I saw of you. How old are you now?"

      Casey buried her face into her father's shoulder before answering the woman, "Six." She said shyly. "Six, wow! You sure it's not sixteen?" Margaret joked. "It's six!" Casey laughed.

     Margaret chuckled before getting out her notepad and pen. "Now, what can I get for y'all today?" She asked. Jean looked at her children next to her. "I will have my usual, the twins will have pancakes."

     James looked at the menu and Casey mimicked her father. "I'll take a plate of sunny-side up eggs, sides will be potatoes and extra bacon on the side. Casey?" He closed the menu and Casey did the same thing, "I'll have the same, please." Casey said.

     "She'll have the same, just like her daddy." James told and the waitress smiled and told them that their order will be coming right up. James looked over at his daughter and nudges her shoulder as she chuckled.

      Once their order arrived, James had dug into his egg yolk and mixed the potatoes with the egg yolk and ate it like that. Casey always noticed he ate his eggs like that. She was kind of confused by the action. "Why do you do that your eggs?" She decided to ask. "Do it and see." James motioned to her plate.

     With furrowed eyebrows, Casey put his fork into the egg yolk and mimicked her father and hesitantly tried and her face creeped on a grin. "Mmm!" James smiles, "Told ya!"

Jean smiles at the scene in front of her. "Guess she is her father's daughter."

"You guys all ready to go to the lake tonight to see the fireworks?" James asks his children once he digs into the bacon. "Yes, it's going to be really fun!" Jean smiles.

PRESENT DAY, 2014

"Okay, now we've got that extra bit of info from that waitress, I did a little digging to see who Jean Ryleigh may have talked to and I not only looked out for that, but I also did some digging into her personal life since I'm so good at that." Once the team had gotten back, Garcia had revealed she had done some digging on the woman.

"Jean Ryleigh, born in Virginia. She had a house that was in her name in the suburbs in Washington." Casey furrows her brows at the mention of Virginia. "Wait, she's a resident in DC?" Kate questioned.

"Looks like it," Garcia tells. "I also diddled into her search history and nothing too bad but Casey, most of her computer history was filled with articles and sources from you."

Casey's brows furrowed as she looks at the monitor of what had popped up. "Really?" She asked, sitting up. "Yup," Garcia nods. "Your college report about your sociology course, an interview you had with local college professor and many more where that came from. Even yours and Reid's baby announcement from over a year ago."

"She was keeping tabs on you, kid." Morgan says, looking towards Casey. "Probably for my dad." Casey figures.

As Garcia continued, Casey noticed how Spencer was distancing himself from her. Like earlier, when she tried to grab his hand in the restaurant. Putting him to the test, Spencer pulled away again and excused himself to go print a file. He walked out and Casey had decided to follow him.

She should've expected this. He hated the fact that she would keep secrets from him just as much as she hated when he kept things bottled up. The girl walked into the room and decided to close the door behind her. "Spence." He ignored her. She approached him closer and crossed her arms. "Can we talk about this? Please?"

"You could've told me." Spencer told, not even looking her direction. That hurt Casey. "You could've told me about this. Not have me figure out like this."

Casey sighed, "This was something I had to figure out myself." She told. "You know, you talk a big game on how I shouldn't keep things hidden from you, but then you go ahead and do the same thing. That's not really fair, is it?" Spencer still didn't look at her.

"Spencer—" Casey was interrupted and he finally faced her. His eyes were sad. "No, when I put that ring on your finger, that meant you and I work everything out together. You said that, didn't you? Forgive me if I think that this is a betrayal to what we committed. You lied to me. You told me you were fine."

His words took Casey aback. She thought he'd be a little pissed off but she didn't think he'd be this pissed off. And to bring their marriage into this. "Do not pull the marriage card on me, I thought we were better than that." Casey told. "And I didn't lie to you, I was figuring this out. I needed to do that and it was something I needed to do for myself. You're not listening!"

"And you weren't gonna tell me?" Spencer questioned.
"I was!" Casey told.
"When?"
"When I planned the dinner. And when I knew for sure."

Spencer sighed and Casey crossed her arms across her chest again and decided to pull a card on him that she knew would tug at him. "Oh, and if you were dealing with something that was about your mother, you wouldn't lie to me?" She questioned, instigating the fight more.

"Don't bring her into this," Spencer warned. "And I wouldn't lie to you. I would actually have the decency to tell you the truth."

"I didn't want to add onto your stress," Casey told. "I don't understand why we're fighting right now, Spencer!" She then looked at him. "This is my fight. This is my situation, not yours, not ours!"

"Are we really even in this together if you're just gonna lie about everything? And hide it from me?" Casey had never seen Spencer act like this before. "If you needed to figure everything out on your own, maybe you should figure out what we are right now, then." With the file finally printed, he had grabbed the papers and walked out of the room.

"Spencer." Casey tried but Spencer was already out the door as he slammed it behind him. Casey kicked a nearby box out of anger before deciding to proceed outside.

Once she composed herself, Casey walked back outside and JJ had approached the woman. "Hey, I was just looking for you. I asked Spencer where you were but he just—" JJ noticed Casey's sad eyes. "Are you okay?" Casey nods, assuringly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Why were you looking for me?" She asks, hoping to change the subject immediately.

"Oh, uh, Hotch thinks that if Rossi has a cognitive interview with you then maybe you might remember some things from 1994 that might help. We've got reason to believe that our unsub knew Jean a long time ago." Casey furrowed her brows. "You think so?"

"There was also blood smeared on the photo we found. We think our unsub may have been looking at the photo after he killed Jean. Maybe July 1994 also has significance to him like it does to you." JJ explained.

"You think a cognitive interview would help?" Casey questioned. "It's worth a shot." JJ shrugged and honestly, Casey was willing to try anything to find her repressed memories.

So, Rossi had decided to conduct the interview and the two headed to a quiet room where Casey could focus. She already knew what to do, since she had been on the opposite end of these cognitive interviews. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body so she could focus on the date.

Once Rossi saw she was ready, he started the cognitive interview. "It's July 1994," He starts. "You were about six or seven, right?"

"Yeah," Casey nods. "My dad was taking me... out to the lake for the 4th of July that weekend. With my Uncle Jack and his son, Ryan." She had seen a car but then Jean came into the picture. "No, I'm remembering that wrong. Jack and Ryan weren't there. We were meeting them there. It was me... my dad... Jean, Leah and Isaac. We were driving there together."

She remembered greeting Jack with their special greeting and swimming and playing before the fireworks. "Do you remember any distinct smells or flashes?" Rossi asks.

Casey shrugs, "Smoke. From the fireworks. We were also lighting sparklers." It's nighttime. "The fireworks just ended and we were having fun."

"Do you hear anything?" Rossi asks.

"Crickets," Casey says. "Wind blowing through the trees." Her brows furrow and she remembers something. Voices. Yelling.

Rossi noticed the furrowed brow. "What is it?" He asks. "I hear yelling." Casey remembers and she sees her dad yelling and trying to attack someone. Jean is pushing him back from doing so. "It's my dad. And Jean. I look over to see what's going on. My dad... he's... he's pushing Jack. Jean's trying to insert herself in between them." Casey tells as she remembers the memory.

"Do you know what they're yelling about?" Rossi questions.

"You are crazy!"
"Stop it!"

"My dad's yelling at Jack, telling him he's crazy. I don't know why." Casey shakes her head. She then remembers her dad pulling her uncle Jack's sleeve up, revealing new heroin needle marks. "He lifted his sleeve up. Uncle Jack was using again."

"You don't seem surprised at that." Rossi commented.
"My dad and my uncle Jack met in a recovery group for addicts. Jack always had a relapse every few months. But this time he said he was better and my dad believed it." Casey explains before thinking. "The fighting stopped." She furrows her brows. "Wait..."

"What's wrong?" Rossi asks.

The memories come in flashes. "There's something I'm missing. I just don't know what it is." She scrunches her face close together. "I don't know." She sighs and opens her eyes. "Can we— Can we not do this anymore? I-I can't... I can't breathe." Rossi nods, "Okay. It's okay. You did good."

Casey shook her head at the thought in her head. There was no way her uncle Jack was responsible for this. He just couldn't be. She didn't believe it for a second.

After the interview, Hotch and Vivian had gotten back and Hotch reveals: "Smith didn't give us anything." He tells. "He's a cocky son of a bitch, though. I see why Jean thought he was insufferable." Vivian told.

"Garcia didn't find anything too fishy on Jack O'Hara. She's doing more digging now." Morgan informed. "But she did find out that Reimerman was a company name that Mayor Smith was going to use to take over the town. Breaking old school buildings and replacing them with new stores, a mall or a highway."

"But Smith was lying to the town. He was saying that Reimerman would help the town but it would actually destroy it. Maybe Jean Ryleigh knew this and that's what made her a target." Spencer explained.

"And that Jack O'Hara that Casey was talking about was working for Smith a few years back before he decided to randomly retire." JJ told, holding a photo of the man standing next to Mayor Smith.

"Hold on, let me see that," Vivian grabs the photo from JJ's hand and examines it. "Oh, my god." Everyone looks her way. "What?" Hotch asked.

Vivian sets the photo down as she pulls out her cell phone and zooms on a photo of a crime scene she had taken and she pulled the crime bag from the desk nearby. "This watch... it was at the crime scene. It's Jack O'Hara's watch."

"Do you think that Mayor Smith is actually responsible for this? All signs point clearly to Jack." Kate tells. "What if Mayor Smith was the mastermind and he made Jack O'Hara  do his dirty work for him?" Morgan assumes.

"Jean was getting too close to exposing Smith for who he truly was so Smith took to Jack, bribed him with over a thousand dollars and Jack took the plunge."

Casey shook her head and held her hands up in defense. "Hold on." She said and everyone turned to her. "Jack's my uncle, okay? But I don't know him well enough to think that he commit a murder. But I know someone who might know him better than I do."

━━━━━━

Casey's idea was to have her father come to the PD so they could discuss the true intentions of Jack O'Hara while Kate and Rossi had decided to pick Jack O'Hara up for questioning.

Casey had offered to talk to her father so it would be someone he knew that would calm his nerves. She walked in, knowing she was going to have to break the news about Jean to him. He hadn't known yet.

James's eyes flickered once he saw Casey. He almost thought that maybe she wasn't real, but she was real and she was here. "Casey," He spoke. "Peanut, what the hell am I doing here?" He asked.

"Hey, Dad," Casey sat down. "We're, um, investigating a murder and I thought that... you'd be a good person to ask questions to." Casey's heart pounded so hard she could hear it. "Now, what I'm about to say is gonna be hard to hear."

"What?" James asks.

Casey takes a pause and knows she has to say something. "Dad, Jean Ryleigh's dead." She blurted out. This caused James to sit back in disbelief. His eyes glistened and he had a look of disbelief on his face. He almost thought Casey was kidding but by the look on her face, she wasn't. "Wha— What?" He asked.

"She was killed in her own home." Casey told, holding a file of pictures from the crime scene. "This is, uh, what he did." She pointed at the closed file. "But you don't have to see it if you don't want to."

James's eyes filled with tears. Jean Ryleigh was dead. The woman he loved was dead. Granted, they hadn't been together in a long time. Her heart wasn't in it once he went to prison. And who was he to blame her?

Casey knew the next words were gonna be hard to hear. "I need to know everything I can about Uncle Jack." She says. James looked up at his daughter and his eyes went dark. "Do you think he did this to Jean?" Casey remained silent. "That's what I'm trying to figure out." James shook his head at the thought.

"Did he ever say anything to Jean? Make unwanted advances? Steal from her?" Casey asked but something in James's eyes flickered once she said the words: 'unwanted advances'. Casey noticed it.

"No, none of that. Not from him." James told.

"What do you mean, not from him?" Casey questioned and James zipped his mouth quickly. "Dad, I need to know. Please." Casey was practically begging at this point.

James took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you remember Jack's son, Ryan? He was fourteen when you were six. He was older than you. You always thought he was creepy." Casey did. She remembered that. "He had a crush on Jean when he was younger. She thought it was funny at first, she always rejected his advances. But once he got older, he got worse."

Casey's eyebrows furrowed as her dad continued, "And on that 4th of July in 1994, he tried to make a move on her. I saw him holding a knife. And I freaked out on him, chased him into that lake. Jean tried holding me back and Jack inserted himself between me and Ryan. I told him that I did not that want his son near Jean or her kids or you. We didn't talk for years after that. You didn't remember this?"

Casey gulped. That was what her story was missing. The mention of Ryan. He always made her feel uncomfortable. "I need an address." She told.

"Last I heard they were living at 273 Markham Eve Avenue. A couple miles down from the lake." James told. Casey stood up and smiled a bit, "Thank you, Dad."

━━━━━━

They had pieced it all together. Jack had given Ryan's address over after admitting that his son needed help and Garcia had done some digging on Ryan and found out he was a real sicko and a convict. Him and Mayor Smith would secretly meet and he had Ryan eliminate Jean since she was making him look bad for press.

Hotch, Rossi and Vivian had arrested Mayor Smith as an accomplice to murder and Morgan, Kate and Reid arrested Ryan O'Hara.

Once the case was over, the team was packing up to go. Casey had looked over and noticed Morgan giving the news to Leah and Isaac that it had been Ryan that killed their mother. Jack had been sitting next to them, a sad dead look on his face about his son. He knew that it was for the best that he be locked up, though.

Noticing Casey looking over, JJ had spoken up. "You should go." She said, making Casey look over at the woman. "Talk to them." JJ encouraged and Casey furrows her brows. "You think I should?" She asked and Kate interfered, "If I had half-siblings I never knew about, I'd want to meet them."

Casey looked back as Morgan had walked out of the room and Jack had, too. The two men shaking hands as Jack exited the PD. Leah and Isaac were alone now, grieving over the loss of their mother but happy they had justice. Casey looked back at JJ and Kate and JJ shooed her off. "Go." She whispers.

Casey looked back at them and smiled a bit, her heart beating fast — this time it was a good kind of fast. "Wish me luck." Casey smiled as she headed over to the door with her heart in her hand.

The woman had taken a deep breath. Her life was about to change in this very moment. She then knocked and then entered the room. Leah and Isaac had a knowing look of who had just come in. Casey fiddled with her hands and smiles in shock and politeness. "Hi." Leah stands up and Isaac follows.

"I don't know if you remember me... or even know me... but I'm—"

"Casey," Leah spoke, making Casey's breath hitch in her throat. "I remember you. And I've heard a lot about you." Leah holds her hand out for Casey to shake and she shakes it she does. "Lenora." Leah introduces herself.

"But she often goes by Leah," Isaac chirps up beside her, holding his hand out next. "Isaac." He greets and Casey smiles at them. "It's nice to finally meet you guys. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. And I'm sorry about your mother." Casey apologized.

"In a way, I'm thinking she led us to you." Leah says, making Casey a smile a bit and in a way, she felt like her own mother led her to them. "Yeah, I think so too." Casey smiled.

Here she was, standing with her new half-siblings. The family she wanted her whole life... she was created it but now, it was here. In these two individuals who she couldn't wait to know.

After getting back to the BAU, Spencer told Casey that he'd be picking up Christopher and heading back home. Casey didn't want to be near Spencer right now so she let him go. After an hour of filling out paperwork, Casey had finally gotten home.

She put her key into the hole and overheard a voice whispering to themselves. Casey had assumed it was Spencer talking to Chris, maybe reading to him but when she walked in — she was met with a surprise.

Their living room was dark and the only light surrounding the apartment was coming from the candles on the table and the fairy lights Spencer deciding to hang around the kitchen of their apartment. On the table had been a couple of steaks and some leftover mac and cheese Casey threw in the fridge a day ago. In between the plates, a bouquet of Casey's favorite flowers in the center of the table. Spencer had just finished lighting the last candle up once Casey walked in.

Spencer straightened himself up as he smiled a bit. "Hey." He greeted softly. Casey couldn't recognize the heartwarming tone he was using. She honestly thought his tone would be more bitter and was surprised when it wasn't.

Casey looked at the table and then around the apartment. It was clean. "What's—?"

"All we had was mac and cheese and leftover steak," Spencer told. "I didn't have time to run to the store because you were right behind me so... this is our dinner for tonight."

Casey found the thought heartwarming but she was till pretty mad about what happened and was always very stubborn. Spencer knew this was coming. Casey crossed her arms, "I'm not gonna accept this unless it's an apology dinner."

"It is," Spencer slowly approaches his fiancé. "You were right. I don't say this but in a so-simple way to put it: I'm an ass." Casey smirked at the his usage of the word 'ass'. He wrapped his arms around the lower half of her torso. "You were right. That was something you needed to figure out for yourself and I overreacted and made it about me. And that's something I'm still trying to work on. And I'm gonna try harder to work on it for you. I love you and I'm sorry."

Casey took a deep breath and raised her hands towards his curly locks. She tugged at them and had gone in for a kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry, too. I should've told you—" Spencer cut her off. "No, most of this was on me. Let me apologize." He told.

Casey looked into his brown chocolate eyes, always discovering the gold surrounding his pupils. She often wondered about where she'd be without him. She didn't deserve him. And wondered how she got so lucky with him. "I don't deserve you." Casey said. "I don't think I deserve you, either." Spencer told. He didn't realize just how lucky he was when he first met Casey. He never thought he'd be with the most selfless, most beautiful, most amazing person he's ever met. He was happy that she was in his life and she was happy he was in hers. "I love you." He whispered to her.

"I love you, too." Casey smiled and pulled away from him. "Now, I'm hungry." The couple chuckle as Spencer decides to pull her seat out for her and then goes over to his seat to start eating.

They talked about the most random things all night and lost track of time just talking. They headed into their bedroom around 2am and still stayed up, just talking. They ended up finally going to bed at 5am, lucky enough to know they didn't have work the next day. Spencer spooned Casey and held onto her like he was gonna lose her the very next day. But Casey knew she wasn't going anywhere. She could stay in this spot forever.

They finally ended up waking up at twelve in the afternoon, Christopher finding his way sprawled in between them.

THIS CHAPTER TOOK THREE DAMN DAYS OMG
probably one of my favorite originals tbh
which one of my originals is y'all's favorite?

anywayssss
i'm happy i finally got this done this was super freaking long omg but thank you all for reading, i really really hope y'all enjoyed it!

we finally meet leah and isaac! they're going to be in the story for a while and i am very excited to see what's going to come with them! i'm excited for you guys to see more of them!

✨ siblings ✨
leah is played by alisha boe and isaac is played by jacob artist and jean is played by rosario dawson <333

anywayssss
i love you guys
byeeee
-mya </3333