CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: LENNOX !

━━━━━━

          USUALLY, SPENCER REID WAS THE LAST ONE AWAKE IN THE HOUSE. His son slept peacefully in the next room and his wife fell asleep soon after and Spencer would often just watch her sleep. But tonight was different.

           Spencer stirred awake when he noticed Casey was sitting up in bed, laptop on the bed and the bedding covered in files and papers. She was clacking away at her laptop with multiple tabs open.

            Without even looking, Casey realized her husband-to-be was awake because she asked him — "Do you think our wedding should have a theme?"

Spencer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up. "I don't know. I'm pretty happy with what we have planned so far." He looks at the laptop and sees Casey's on a search engine that says "Wedding themes" and Spencer looks over her shoulder. "Wait, I thought you were working on some paperwork from the Seyfried case."

Casey shrugged, "I was, but I got sidetracked. I swear, it's like every time I think of a case, I end up thinking about our wedding. What we have, what we don't have." Spencer then decides to wrap his arms around Casey's torso and kisses her shoulder as he nudged his nose towards her neck.

"I swear, it's like my brain never stops thinking." Casey tells as she takes a deep breath. "Lucky for you, you have an amazing fiancé that know how to turn your brain off with a simple touch." Spencer tells and Casey smirks as she looks over at Spencer and pecks him on the lips as Spencer shuffles and hovers as he carefully moves the paperwork to the side as he continues to kiss Casey. "I like the sound of that, my Prince Charming." Casey laughs.

Their kissing goes deeper and Casey's laptop goes off and Spencer's cell buzzes. Spencer continues kissing Casey's neck and Casey giggles as he hits a sweet spot. "Okay, okay, okay, I surrender!" She pushes at his chest as Spencer lifts his head up to meet her eyes.

         "My computer went off and so did your phone. That means we have something important to take care of." Casey tells. "I have something important to take care of right now in my hands." Spencer tells, referring to Casey as important and before he can go and kiss her on the neck again, Casey pushes towards his chest again.

        "Okay, you horndog," Casey tells. "Give me a sec. It's probably some dumb protocol thing we have to take care of but I just want to be sure."

          Spencer lifts off of her as he grabs his cell off the nightstand and Casey checked her email. The two furrow their brows at the same message they had gotten. "Hey, uh, Casey? You're gonna wanna see this email I got." Spencer says, his voice growing concerned.

         Casey nods, "Yeah, me too."

         After seeing each other's emails, they realize that they definitely need the team in on this one.

So, they drop Christopher off at Isaac's and call the entire team in at the BAU for a potential case. When everyone arrived and Casey set the screens up so everyone can look them over, Spencer and Casey faced their team.

"Sorry for the scarce message but we thought you guys might want to see this." Casey announced and nodded at Spencer to continue. "Casey and I were sent e-mails about an hour ago."

"'Confess your sins or she dies'" The message in bold was sent as the subject of the email. Along with a couple of photos of a recognizable girl that some of the team once knew.

"Oh, my God." Garcia muttered.
"Is that—?" Tara asks.
"Lennox." JJ stated.

Lo and behold, the photos were of Lennox Vega, tied up, struggling against her binds, it looked like.

Matt, Erik and Luke exchange a lost look at one another. "I'm lost here. Who's Lennox?" Luke asks and everyone exchanges a look.

"Lennox is..." Spencer starts but Casey follows with: "She was a young girl Spencer and I tried to adopt a few years back."
           Matt, Erik and Luke are shocked at the revelation and Casey sighs as she looks at the photos sent on the screen. "And now she's in danger."

           "Is that all you guys have been sent?" Emily questions and Spencer and Casey exchange a look as Spencer holds up a plastic bag towards Emily. "When we left, this was at our doorstep."

             Emily looks through the plastic bag and finds that there's black and white photos of Lennox with messages written in red on top of them — Can you find me? Why haven't you found me yet?

             Knowing this is a full fledged investigation, the team knows that this is a serious matter and it regards a young girl that was once a part of this family. The entire team gathered as Garcia brought back a full box regarding Lennox's case.

            "So, what was this Lennox like?" Luke wondered curiously. He, Matt and Erik hadn't known about the girl prior to this case. They didn't even know Spencer and Casey considered adoption at one point.

             Casey chuckled as she thought back. "She was a funny kid," She holds up a photo of the young girl that was in one of the boxes. "Charismatic, cared a lot. To be honest, I hadn't thought about her until tonight."

            Spencer frowns, "Me, too. I wish we stayed in contact with her." Casey thinks back to the last time she was in contact with Lennox and wondered why they had stopped. But so much had happened and life, it moves quickly. But not a day went by where Casey didn't think about the girl. She thought about her a lot.

           "Why didn't you guys?" Erik wondered.
           Casey sighs, "Well, her aunt found her, Lennox wanted to live with her and we kept contact for a while. But then Spencer went to prison and we got divorced and amidst everything, we just... assumed she was okay enough to move on." She admits, truthfully. She figured that Lennox adapted quickly to her own life and she was nearby in Philly. If she needed anything, they were always there.

Spencer sighs, "I wish we didn't lose contact with her." He says again. Spencer was the first man Lennox felt comfortable with or around. He took it to heart when she left. Maybe more so than Casey.

"You guys can't blame yourselves because you were no longer talking to her. I mean, before you went to prison, Spence, she was in good hands with her aunt." JJ reminded the two and Casey shrugs in response. "Let's hope Isabella may know a few things."

Garcia responds as she clacks away at her laptop. "Okay. Doing some digging now." There's a pause and then Garcia nods, "I have the drop on Isabella Vega's new address. Sending it to your phones now."

"Luke, Tara, Rossi." Casey nods to the three to go down to the address to speak with Isabella.

━━━━━━

They'd finally arrived to the house after the five hour drive and FBI vests clad on their chests and backup arrived in time, they'd kicked the door in and examined the house to find whatever they could.

Tara and Luke had taken the upstairs and Luke found Lennox's room and Tara found Isabella's room and found something she definitely hoped she wouldn't find. Dropping her flashlight and gun, she calls: "Luke..."

When Luke walks into the room, he finds what Tara finds. Isabella, sprawled out and rotting in her bed. She was shot in the back of the head. The smell was awful. Luke sniffles a bit and the two agents exchange a look and they know they need to call the rest of the team in right away.

When the clock struck twelve, the rest of the team arrived on the scene and Casey had gone upstairs to Isabella's room and closed her eyes. She hates this, she hates this for Lennox, especially. Does she even know about this?

Rossi stands next to Casey as she struggles to even step into the room as the EMTs get her body into gurney and body bag and bring her out. "She was shot. Execution style." Rossi told.

           "Oh, my God..." Casey sighs as she looks down at the bloodied sheets and just hoped to God that Lennox didn't have to witness this. "Any sign of Lennox?" Emily wondered. "She's not here at all. There's a room, a teenager's room, it looks lived in." Luke told.

           Casey nodded as she headed to the room across the way and saw that Spencer was in the room, looking around and holding a photograph of the young girl up. "Lennox," he said. Casey walks towards Spencer as she takes the photo in her hand and Spencer stuffs his hands in his pockets. "She looks so... grown up."

           Spencer was right. In this photo, Casey noticed just how much older Lennox had gotten now. She cut her hair a little bit shorter, her baby face was gone and she was no longer the child they took in a few years back. God, where did all of that time go?

         "Well, she's sixteen now. She's gonna be at least a little bit older." Casey said and is in disbelief of the sentence coming out of her mouth. It was weird that this thirteen year old girl she knew prior was a sixteen year old now.

         Casey looks around. There were so many photos around, in all of them, she'd been smiling. She was on the volleyball team, books are piled on her dresser. "She still likes reading, takes a lot of photos with her friends. She made a life out of all of this." Casey points out, it's almost like she's reminding herself that her and Spencer giving her up had to have been a good thing.

           Spencer opens up the dresser attached to her vanity and calls Casey over and the girl furrows her brows as Spencer pulls out a photo of Lennox, that was a photo obviously not taken by her. It was in black and white, much like the photos at their doorstep. In this photo, Lennox was walking out of a school building.

          "There's more." Spencer spoke as he looks around the room and in the corner, he finds a cloth covering a pinboard and takes the cloth off and sees that the pinboard has case files and photos up and Casey's eyes widen as she looks at what Lennox has dug up.

          "Holy..." Casey breathes out and furrows her brows. Spencer looks at the woman. "She knew she was being watched." He stated the obvious and Casey nodded along. "And created her own investigation."

━━━━━━

"Lennox was being watched? Who was watching her?" Garcia questioned as soon as the rest of the team had gotten back from the Vega home. "Looks like it was something she was trying to figure out." Matt comments as Garcia brings up the screen of the board Spencer and Casey found.

"I went through a lot of her emails to find icky things and I found something skeevy. It's a recap so, bear with me." Garcia announced as everyone circled around the roundtable and were given files of the evidence Garcia seemed to have discover.

"So, about two years ago, Lennox received an email, similar to the one the boy wonder and fair maiden received. Then, fast-forward to nine months later, Lennox and this anonymous sender are texting back and forth. She doesn't know the true form of this identity, she just ends up finding out that two months later, he's a friend of her father's." Garcia explains.

"But Lennox's father was arrested," JJ recounted. "He was carrying out a 25 year-sentence for sexual assault against Lennox's mother." Casey nodded, "And Lennox said she didn't want a relationship with him."

Garcia nods, "I'm getting there. This friend of Lennox's father tells her that her father is staying with him and that he's cleaned himself up and that he wants to get to know Lennox. But here's the issue. I re-dug up records of Lennox's father and here's where the plot thickens."

"Lennox's father is still incarcerated." Luke points out.

"Yeah. And so, this friend that has been in contact with Lennox is actually a phony and Lennox finds that out after doing her research and background checks, they have a really bad falling out and Lennox never speaks to this guy ever again." Garcia explains. "That's when Lennox started getting the skeevy emails again and she starts blocked them, trashing them, whatever. And I looked through more of her emails and I found one she starred and sent about a couple months back."

           "Which email is that?" Spencer questions. "An email in which... she sent to a... Casey Willows." Penelope reveals and Casey furrows her brows and this gets everyone's attention. Casey's heart drops to her stomach and she rushes over to Garcia. "What?"

            "She sent you an email." Garcia told.

            Casey skims over the email right behind Garcia's shoulder. In the message, Lennox is asking for help, photo attachments of what was on her board sent over to her and asking to meet up soon. "She was asking for help," Casey spoke, breathlessly. "Why... Why didn't I—?"

             How could she not have seen this before? She's the unit chief, she regularly check her email. How did she miss this? Especially from Lennox of all people? She would've answered in a heartbeat had she had just paid attention.

            "Casey." Spencer tries to call as Casey begins to walk out of the room towards her office and slams the door to look over her own emails. "Give her a minute." Emily advises.

             Spencer gave her a few minutes until he had decided to finally go and check up on her. He knocked and opened the door as Casey was skimming through her computer. "Why didn't I see that email?"

            "Casey." Spencer approaches her and Casey stands up from her desk and she paces and shakes her head. "I could've prevented this. I could've prevented her being taken, I could've prevented Isabella's death. I could've stopped this and we could've helped her. I skimmed through an e-mail. I don't do that. I'm the unit chief. I can't do that." She rambled as she sighs.

            Spencer looks at the woman. He had found out when the email was sent and he knew he had to tell her. "Casey... the e-mail." The woman looks over at him. "It was sent when we were dealing with Damion Brambilla almost a year ago. We were going through a lot back then. You were going through a lot back then."

           It puts into perspective for Casey that she hadn't seen the email due to her personal issues that were going on at the time. There was so much regarding the Angel and the Demon and the Multiplier. Of course she wouldn't have seen it right on time, given everything that was going on.

           "I could've helped her." Casey tells. If only she had just pushed away her own feelings away for a stupid minute. "Back then, you couldn't have even helped yourself." Spencer reminds her. Casey was a wreck back then, she wouldn't have been able to help anyone.

            Casey sighs and she shakes her head, "Spencer, what if she thought that I failed her? Then what? If we find her, then what? Then, she has no one else. What am I supposed to do with that when I'm responsible for that?"

            "It's not your fault," Spencer told as he grabbed her hand. "And it's especially not your fault when people die." Casey thought about it. It felt as thought there was some kind of curse with being the unit chief. She felt like sometimes she was responsible for what happened to people, being team leader. "Not always, but sometimes it is. If she—"

           "Don't," Spencer told. "Don't even bring it up." With that, he approaches Casey and grabs her hand, holding it and reminding her that he's here and he always will be.

            When Spencer was done talking Casey off the ledge, they both walked back to the roundtable room and everyone looked their way and Casey brought their attention back to the case. "We're on a time-crunch. What do we have?" She questions.

          "Uh, Lennox was last seen outside of a hotel building on 33rd Street in DC. Rossi and JJ went over there and Garcia's getting access to their footage right now." Emily explained as the footage popped up of Lennox being secretive as she walked down the street.

            It isn't long until Emily gets a call from Rossi and JJ. "JJ, what have you got?" Emily questions. "So, we looked into the list of people that were staying at the hotel at the time. And we looked into who was in the room that Lennox was meeting with and we found a name that stuck out to us." JJ explained.

          "Omarr Belweb." Rossi stated. "Interesting name." Matt comments. "Well, Rossi ran an anagram and we got a hit for a Marlo Webber. Three guesses on who he's affiliated with?" JJ asks.

           "The Gianni Godfathers." Erik mumbled under his breath and this got everyone's attention. "Sorry?" Casey asked.

           Erik looks around at the team and informs, "They're an Italian mob gang I was hunting down back when I was a US marshal. They called themselves the Gianni Godfathers because they referred to themselves as the higher ups in Italian mob history. They were dangerous. Marlo was the boss of said dangerous gang." He explained.

          "And we should be safe to assume that Lennox didn't know that." Tara stated.
          "Yup, I concur with that statement. Based on all of the emails that I undeleted from Lennox's computer, she thought she was meeting a private investigator." Garcia explained. Casey shook her head, "Jesus." Lennox had no idea what she was getting herself into.

         "Well, what does Marlo want with Lennox? What could he have wanted with her?" Luke questioned.
         "It could be someone trying to get back at Spencer and Casey." Emily motions towards the couple.

         Spencer furrows his brows and shakes his head, confused by that. "But killing Isabella? That's not getting back at Casey and I. Unless there's jealousy motive there. In which in this case, it isn't."

          "What if this wasn't jealousy towards you and Spencer but more towards Isabella?" JJ questions and looks towards the couple of the team. "Didn't you two say that Isabella had an abusive boyfriend and she went into hiding until he was in prison?"

           Spencer and Casey exchange a glance and both ask in unison, "Uh, Garcia...?"

          The woman nods, "Searching now." There's a pause and she straightens her posture as she finds something new. "Shut the front door. Plot twist. Marlo Webber, the mobster is, uh, also Isabella Vega's ex-boyfriend. He was released from prison almost two years ago."

         "That's when Lennox started getting the emails." Luke told. "He must've been getting at Lennox to try and get back at Isabella." Matt nods.

         Casey then crossed her arms and looks towards Erik for more answers. "Erik, what else do you know about the Gianni Godfathers?"

Rossi and JJ had come back and Erik organized some files that he had back when he was a US marshal and brought the box to the roundtable when he had it all organized. "They were killers, of anybody, anywhere. Women and children, included." Erik started.

"What's the marking stand for?" Rossi questions, motioning to the 'M' and 'W' connecting with a green snake slithering up from the 'M' down to the 'W'. "You'd know it was their handiwork when you'd see the snake protruding from the M and W." Erik told. "They'd mark people down with those letters when they killed them."

"Would they mark it on bodies?" Luke asked. Erik shrugs, "Backs, necks, arms, anywhere. In which case, when they'd curb-stomp those who mocked their lifestyle, they branded them on the tongue beforehand."

"They'd send photos to their families to suffer." Tara stated, sighing heavily at the realization. "They were heavily known for human trafficking." Erik nodded.

Spencer nodded, "Lennox was the victim of being trafficked for years until we found her." Casey then furrows her brows and comes to a shocking revelation of why this is all happening.

         "Is there a possibility that they're... trying to get her back?"

━━━━━━

"Okay, so we know Marlo Webber was trying to lure her into saying he was a PI when he wasn't with Lennox but then why would he let her go in broad daylight? He had her right where he wanted her in that hotel room." Emily stated.

"He could've warned his group that she took the bait. Knew where she was going to be." Luke suggested.

"Do you think Lennox knew what was going on?" Tara questioned and Casey shrugged, "There's a possibility she did, but... she would've been more careful. After everything she's gone through, she would've been. And this... she was really doing her research." Casey motions to the pinboard.

"She knew someone was after her, she just didn't know who. And unfortunately, Isabella was killed in the process." Rossi told.

"So, it goes like this. Lennox leaves the house, gets a train ticket to DC and while all this is going on, after Marlo and Lennox meet, Marlo calls up his buddies to kill her aunt so they can have Lennox and bring her into the trafficking rings again." Emily wraps everything up.

"Why go through all that trouble though?" JJ questions. "Isabella's death would eventually drag us into a case." Matt chimes in, "Maybe he'd assume that Isabella would go to law enforcement if she knew Lennox was taken." "That just means that someone's lazy with their handiwork." Casey comments.

Garcia walks into the room, "Guys, I think I have a lead."

          Garcia had sent the entire time down to a storage unit in Omarr Belweb's name and they'd assumed that maybe he was keeping Lennox there. SWAT had been on standby until they got there and they sent in one of those mechanical robots to investigate before they got the hit.

        When they'd opened it up, they ultimately found nothing at first glance. "Did Garcia say it was here?" Matt questioned. Casey speaks into her mic — "Garcia, I thought you said it was—"

         "It is! At least, it's a storage unit Marlo owns." Garcia told. "And you think he would keep Lennox here?" Tara asked.

          "Look. More photos." Luke draws attention to the walls and finds more photos of Lennox on the walls. Lennox looked younger in these photos. "He's been watching her for a while now."

          "Casey." Spencer spoke and Casey walked deeper into the storage unit and found a desk perched in the corner. Inside of the desk, were photos of Spencer, herself and Christopher. "He was watching us too."

━━━━━━

            When the team all got back, they regathered at the roundtable. "I set up security outside of your guys' old apartment complex. Isaac and Chris are safe." Emily assured to both Spencer and Casey. "My question is... what's Marlo motive here?"

          "He's definitely trying to get at you and Spencer. Maybe because you were the parents Lennox never had and then you had her go with her aunt." JJ suggests to Spencer and Casey.

          "Twisted version of a family." Rossi comments. "Uh, guys?" Garcia speaks and shows what she has on her tablet to the team. "Emily had me look into all of the hospitals in case Marlo were to show up with Lennox and I found some footage."

           A black car pulled up in front of a hospital entrance and a young girl is pushed out. She looks injured as she limps towards the hospital entrance and there is blood dragging from her feet.

         "He dropped her off and drove off." Luke said. "Is she at that hospital now?" Casey questioned and Garcia nodded, "I called and they have a Jane Doe down at St. Benjamin's."

          Spencer and Casey exchange a look and Casey speaks, "We'll head down there now. You guys hold the fort here and guys..." Before Casey can walk out, she looks towards her team and freezes as she takes a deep breath and looks at her team. "We do not rest until we find that son of a bitch. Do you hear me?"

          "Yes, ma'am." Erik nods.
          "You got it, boss." Luke added.

          With that, Spencer and Casey leave and head down to the hospital. As Casey frantically drove, Spencer put a comforting hand on her thigh. Casey calmed down a bit under his touch as she reached for his hand on her thigh and took a sharp breath. This would be the first time they would see Lennox in almost four years. To say they were anxious to face her was an understatement.

          When they got there, they immediately found the doctor treating her. "She wouldn't give us her name, she's very agitated. I don't think you'll be able to get through to her calmly." The doctor told. Spencer furrows his brows, "Why do you say that?"

            As if on cue, a cup of water is thrown outside of the hospital room and Lennox's yells. "I told you, I don't want your help!" She shouted. "That's why." The doctor said.

           Spencer and Casey enter the room carefully with the doctor. Lennox is on the hospital, fighting against two doctors. Lennox is covered in bruises and cuts from her head to her toes. "Sit still." One of the doctors orders.

          "Let go of me! Let go of me or I'll kick your ass! I could sue you for this." Lennox yells.

           "Lennox?" Casey speaks and Lennox looks at both Spencer and Casey and the look on her face is written in disbelief as she sees the two agents standing. For a moment, it's like she doesn't even recognize them. But then after a moment of back and forth staring, Lennox sees to remember them.

          "What are they doing here? Get them out of here. Now!" Lennox orders.
           "Lennox." Spencer tries.

           "Go!" Lennox throws more items towards them as the doctor ushers the two out of there. "Go away! Go!" The doctor closes the door and Casey and Spencer look at him and he nods, "I think it's best to give her her space for now."

             The doctor walks away and Casey and Spencer exchange a hopeless glance.

━━━━━━

           Lennox had never reacted towards them like that before. Spencer and Casey, of course, knew her reaction to them wouldn't be inviting but nothing like that. It made Casey worry.

            Casey paced in the waiting room and Spencer looked at the woman pacing. "You know, I had a feeling she'd react that way but I didn't think she would. It's my fault." Casey sighed as she sat down.

          "It's not your fault." Spencer told, wrapping an arm around Casey. "Yes, it is, Spencer. If I had answered her email, maybe none of this would've happened."
          "You don't know that." Spencer stated. "I know that I couldn't help her in time. And now she hates us." Casey told. Spencer gives the girl a hopeless glance and all they can do is wait for now.

            Thirty minutes later, the doctor had come back to tell them that they had to inject Lennox with a drug to make her less hostile and they strapped her to her bed since she scratched two nurses. They even debated on taking her to the psych ward but Casey quickly disagreed with that.

            The doctor told them they could see her when she woke up and that there should only be one person at a time to see her.

            Casey volunteered to go first. She entered the room as Lennox was stirring awake and confused on why her arms were strapped to the bed. Casey keeps her arms crossed as she leans against the doorway of the room.

           "You're lucky we convinced the hospital to not put you in the psych ward. Because believe me, they were close." Casey spoke, getting Lennox's attention.

            If Lennox was a turtle, she'd hide in her shell in this moment. The way her shoulders shriveled together just made it look like she just wanted to hide away. "What are you doing here?" Lennox questioned.

         "Helping you." Casey said and Lennox scoffed as she glared at the woman in front of her. "It's a little too late for that, don't you think?"

          "Lennox," Casey tried to approach her but Lennox backed away as far as she could on the bed and Casey stopped herself from sitting near the bed. "I'm sorry—"

          "Save it," Lennox spat. "Because of you, I had to go through another two years of torture. Having a stalker, it's not fun. You would know all about that, right? Do you know what he did to me?" Casey could only imagine but she shook her head, wanting to get the thought out of her mind.

         "Lennox, I'm really sorry." Casey attempted her apology once more. "You have to know that. If I saw your email and helped you, all of this could've been avoided and I know that. And I'm also sorry that... we lost contact. It was nobody's fault for that. It's just... life... we move forward. I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner."

          Lennox couldn't help but laugh as tears spring from the corner of her eyes and she turned to Casey. "Just leave. Get out. Go away. Leave me alone."

           Casey began to walk towards the door but not before telling Lennox the one thing she wanted to tell her. "Just know... that a day never went by that I didn't think about you." Casey admitted.

The young girl didn't even look her way, she just shook her head and quietly muttered: "Just go."

Casey doesn't argue, she just leaves to give Lennox her space for an hour or so.

━━━━━━

      It isn't long until Spencer decides to see Lennox himself, this time bringing a peace offering. He had a bag of fast food in his hands as he entered the hospital room. Just in time too, because Lennox was arguing with a nurse about food.

           "I don't want this crappy stuff!" Lennox pushes the plate of gunk away. The nurse shakes her head. "God, kid, you are too disobedient." Lennox crosses her arms. "And you don't know how to take a hint when I tell you I'm not hungry for this crap!"

          "Then, eat." The nurse yells and Lennox groans and turns away from the nurse, who sighs and decides not to argue with the teenager anymore. The nurse looks at Spencer and then mutters out: "Good luck." before she walks out.

           Lennox turns for a second and looks at Spencer and groans once more. "Great," she scoffs. "Now she sends in her shrink husband."

            Spencer offers a tight-lipped smile as he holds a bag up. "Heard you're not eating." Lennox brings attention to her tray of gunk. "Look at this. It's literal junk."

           "Lucky for you, I remembered the one thing you wanted to eat after your whole ordeal." Spencer sits down in the seat beside Lennox as he hands her a bag. Hesitantly, Lennox takes the bag and offers a snide comment. "You have a photographic memory, it's like your job to remember everything."

           Spencer corrects, "Eidetic memory, but... you're right." He motions for her to open the bag and Lennox furrows her brows as she opens it to reveal a burger and fries.

          Spencer had remembered the one thing Lennox ate when they had first met. He'd hoped that maybe the reason she was acting like this because she was "hangry". Casey often acted like that sometimes. And Lennox's stomach was growling as she inhaled the aroma of burgers and fries.

          Lennox looked over at the man and raises a brow. "Don't think this changes anything." She tells. Spencer shrugged, "It doesn't."

           The girl is quick to take a giant bite out of her burger and she looks at Spencer and then looks back down at her burger. "You look different. Your hair's longer... and is that stubble?" Lennox questioned.

           Spencer smiles a bit, realizing that his appearance had changed to Lennox since the last time he had seen her. "Yeah, you look-you look different, too. You're all... grown up." It made him think about all of the stuff she'd missed. All of the stuff he was glad she missed. Like the whole thing with him going to prison, Chris getting cancer, Casey going to jail, his and Casey's divorce. There was so much that changed since she'd last saw the family.

          "The last time I saw you I was thirteen. Of course things are gonna change." Lennox said and Spencer tugs a strand of hair behind his ear as he raises his brows at her. "Were things good when you left?"

          Lennox scoffs as she scarfs down some of her burger and goes for the fries. "Why do you care now, Spencer?" She wonders. "I called you... almost everyday and you never answered. Why?"

         Spencer wishes he had the time to tell her about everything that happened. "Things... they got complicated, Lennox." Spencer tries to put it into simple words for now. "For me and for Casey. And there's a lot we want to tell you. Trust me. But right now, we have to focus on getting to Marlo Webber. Because we want to help. But we need you to help us."

          Spencer had continued and decided to give Lennox a cognitive interview. She had stated that when she entered the hotel room, Marlo Webber seemed normal. Too normal. And he was touchy, so she left. The next thing she knew, she was being followed by another man and everything went black. She was tied to a chair in a storage unit. The rest of it was too graphic in detail to explain. They cut her, tortured her. There had been a bone broken that they knew had to be treated so that's why they brought her to the hospital. But the last thing they said to her and the last thing she remembered was that they said that they would be back.

          It was then that Casey ordered the team to come in and put the entire hospital on lockdown. And they were three steps ahead. Marlo and his posse were in a black van in the hospital parking garage when the team found them, surrounding them on each sides of the vehicle.

           Casey had punched Marlo in the face multiple times until Matt had to pull her off and Casey aimed her gun in between his eyes and got real close to his face and harshly whispered some words to him.

          "If you or your posse... ever come near Lennox Vega ever again..." Casey gets real close to his ear. "What I do to you will be worse than what you've done and what prison could ever do to you." She stands as Matt helps her put the guy in handcuffs. "Spread the word. My team and I will have your heads on pikes... if you ever come near her again."

━━━━━━

         Two days later, Lennox had been feeling better and she was getting ready to leave today. Casey and Spencer stayed at the hospital, waiting for her to get better and wondering what was going to happen to her.

          In all honesty, they didn't have to heart to tell Lennox what happened to her aunt. Her caseworker said that she would tell her anyways.

          Lennox was brought some clothes and a few books to get her through her few days here. Casey knocked on the door, making her presence known to the young girl and Lennox looked her way as she sat at the edge of the bed. "I heard they made you unit chief." She started.

          By her tone, she seemed a bit better now.

         Casey nodded as she crossed her arms. "Yeah, they did." Lennox furrowed her brows in questioning. "What happened to Hotch?" Casey chuckled to herself, realizing there was a lot Lennox didn't know. "It's a bit of a long story." She decided with as she walked into the room and sat in the chair, pulling it closer to Lennox.

         Lennox looks at the older woman and realizes she has something to say. "I'm sorry... for how I acted." Casey shakes her head. "You never have to apologize for a thing, Lennox. I, however, need to apologize." Lennox furrows her brows and Casey sighs: "At the time, I was really going through a lot and... I skimmed your email and... I shouldn't have."

         "It wasn't your fault." Lennox assures.
         Casey nods, "It kind of was. You wouldn't have been in this mess if I had just answered that damn email."

         "Your sister died," Lennox said and Casey looks at Lennox, who shrugs, "Spencer told me." Lennox looks down as she pulls a strand of hair behind her ear. "You were going through a lot. Your life, your family's lives, they were in danger. You had a lot on your mind. It's okay."

          Casey sniffles a bit and she looks over to see that Spencer is standing in the doorway now with his hands in his pockets. "Well, uh, a lot of stuff has happened since we last talked," Casey laughed a bit. "I would like it if one day we catch up. But if you don't want to, it's totally—"
         "Yeah," Lennox answers almost immediately. "Yeah, I'd like that. I mean, there's so much I have to tell you guys, too."

         Spencer looks towards Lennox and the bag she has on the bed. "You're leaving today?" He asks. "Yeah, uh, my aunt's supposed to pick me up. And she should be here any minute. I'll meet you guys at the entrance. She's gonna wanna see you guys." Lennox grabbed her bags as heads out the door and both Spencer and Casey exchange a look.

         Casey stands from her seat and asks... "Nobody—?" Told her her aunt was dead? Spencer shakes his head, "No, I guess not."

          With that, the two head towards the entrance where a car had parked in front of the hospital and Lennox furrows her brows when she sees her old caseworker at the front. "Junie?" She asks.

         "Hi, Lennox." Lennox's older caseworker then looks over towards Casey and Spencer. "Miss Willows, Dr. Reid, a pleasure to see you two again. You always knew how to find this one."

         Lennox looks towards the car and tries to look through the windows. "Where's my aunt?" She asks.
        Junie is taken aback. "No one told you?" She looks towards Spencer and Casey. "We assumed she already knew." Spencer said.

        Lennox looks towards her caseworker, her voice hoarse as she asks: "What's going on? Did-Did something happen to her?" She was the only one out of the loop and she didn't like it.

        Junie approaches the girl. "Lennox, you should sit—"Lennox shakes her head. "No, I don't want to sit down." Stubborn girl, Casey thought.

         Junie looks towards Casey and Spencer and then back at Lennox and she doesn't quite know how to tell her the news all of a sudden. She dealt with cases like these but this one just seemed to be the hardest. "Lennox, your aunt..." Junie starts and she puts a hand on her shoulder. "She was killed the day you went missing."

         "No," Lennox backs away and she clears her throat as tears threaten to spill from her eyes. "No, she wasn't."

         "Yes, Lennox. She was. I'm so sorry you had to find out like this—"
         "No, stop lying to me." Casey could tell Lennox was starting to get worked up as her voice raised and her sobs grew loud. "Just-Just let me talk to her, please and... and then, we can figure something out and then—"
         "Lennox."
         "Then, she can take me home."
         "Lennox. I am so sorry, honey."

          The girl turns back to Spencer and Casey and backs away from them. "Lennox." Spencer tries but Lennox drops her things and runs off into the distance.

         "Lennox!" Junie calls. "We'll get her. We'll get her." Spencer assures as both he and Casey begin to run in her direction. "Lennox!" Casey shouts as they both run after her.

          Lennox had turned a corner or two and for a moment, the two thought they lost her but they quickly found her. When they found her, she was in a park down the street, on the swings, sadly sobbing and keeping her head down.

          Spencer and Casey walked towards her and Casey knelt down. "Lennox."

         "Please, just go away. You're not my parents." Lennox sobbed and Spencer knelt down to her level next. "No, we're not. But you know what we are? Here." Spencer reasoned and Casey nodded in agreement, "That's right. We're here and we love you."

         Lennox shook her head. "What? No, you don't. You don't even know me. The person I was before when you took me in, she's gone and she's buried forever!"

         Spencer looks towards Casey and the woman takes a sharp breath. "Lennox. The day you left was one of the hardest days of my life. Letting you go was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. You have to know that. And we do know you. We know you love burgers and fries, we know that you have a birthmark in the shape of Texas on your ankle."

        "And we also know that all you want to do is protect yourself so you don't get hurt again." Spencer added. "Look, we know that it's been a minute and there is still so much that we don't know about you. But if you think that we can't carry the bad stuff or the scary stuff, we can. I mean, have you met us?"

         Casey nods in agreement, "We can. We can and we love you, Lennox."

         Lennox continues to sob. "Stop saying that. Just go away. Please."

         Spencer and Casey look at each other as Lennox continues to cry and the only thing they can do is just give Lennox her space and time.

         The girl just lost her aunt and they're already willing to take her in and everything that she's gone through. But Casey was right, she always regretted giving Lennox up, but she just wanted her to have a better life, a better chance to grow with her family. But was telling her to go and live with them too soon? Did they think this through? Spencer and Casey were always quick to think with their hearts and not their brains, despite them being the smartest on the team. Did they even give Lennox the opportunity to voice her opinion on this? The one thing they could give her is her space so they did just that.

           Casey had called Junie and told her they were right down the street near Beelard Park. Junie had arrived and spotted Casey and Spencer sitting on the curb.

           "She wanted space?" Junie guessed. "It's the one thing we can give her right now." Casey told, wrapping her arm around her husband.

          "Lennox." Junie spoke and the couple turn around and see the young girl approaching them. Her tear-stained cheeks wiped away and her hands in her pockets.

          Both Spencer and Casey stand up and face the girl. Lennox looks towards the adults. "I, um, I know that I'm not the easiest kid to handle... especially, since the entire time you've both been there for me, I've treated you guys like crap, so... I think that maybe it's best if Junie finds me a different placement just so you won't have to—"

         "Lennox." Casey tries.
         Lennox shakes her head as tears threaten to spill from her eyes once more. "No, it'll be good. It'll be good. I'll call and text all of the time like we used to and—"

         "No." Spencer tells, his voice stern and it nearly catches everyone by surprise as he seems to have put his foot down with this.

         Lennox looks at the man. "Spencer, please, I don't want to argue about this right now." She speaks quietly and Spencer matches her tone of voice as he shakes his head. "Yeah, I don't care, no. Lennox, all we want to do is protect you." He looks at the young girl and then at Casey and then back at Lennox. "I made a mistake letting you go once and I will never let you go again."

         Casey puts a comforting hand on Spencer's shoulder. "We both made a mistake. Lennox, I wasn't lying when I told you about that. I replay that moment in my mind all the time. And you may not think we deserve you, but you deserve us."

         Lennox sighs, "I know that you guys both feel sorry for me right now but—"
         "No, it has nothing to do with what just happened. Look—" Spencer then reaches in his pocket and reaches in for his wallet.

         "What are you doing?" Casey questions, her expression just as confusion as Lennox.

         Spencer finds what he's looking for. "Do you remember when we were going to adopt Lennox and we were going to sign the papers?" Casey nods. "Well, they wanted a court statement. I kept it in my wallet after all this time." He pulls out the tattered piece of paper.

          Spencer hands the tattered paper to Lennox and he nudges for her to read it out loud. Lennox takes a sharp breath as the paper almost falls apart in her hands as she holds up the statement.

         "'Lennox once asked us why we did this, why we took her in. We couldn't give her an answer at the time. But we just knew that something was missing in our lives. And that thing that was missing... was Lennox.'" Her voice breaks and her chin quivers.

        "You filled that empty void, Lennox. And you're stuck with us. We're gonna be there when you graduate, we're gonna buy the limo for your first prom, we're gonna be there for you when a guy breaks your heart." Casey explains.
        "Or girl?" Lennox questions and Casey smiles at the implication and she nods, "Or girl." She enunciates just Lennox understands.

        "And one day, in the distant, distant future... I'm gonna give you away at your wedding. Even if I think the guy— or girl— is not good enough for my daughter, even if I think they're a total... jackass— I'm gonna walk you down that aisle." Spencer explained as Lennox breaks out in small laughter.

       "We're here for you, Lennox. Whether you want us there or not. We're gonna be there." Casey assures.

        Lennox looks at the two and she holds the paper in her hands as she takes a sharp breath — "Can we go home?" She tries it out and once it rolls off her tongue, Lennox decides that she likes it.

       Casey smiles, "Yeah, we can go home." She slowly goes to approach the girl and gives her a hug. "You're gonna need to get used to these." Lennox chuckles a bit. "Can I get one of those too?" Spencer asks and Lennox smiles as she wraps her arms around Spencer and Casey. Junie watches the scene, hoping that this will be able to work for a second and final time.

       "I did miss that apartment."
       Spencer and Casey look at one another. "Actually..."

hehehe guess who's back
it's my girl LENNOX!!! 🤭
ogs remember her from the second book
this was the big surprise hehehe🥳

me writing this:

i swear writing makes me age more in a day than i have in a year😭

episode next and then wedding episode after!!!
so excited but so sad this book is coming to an end soon🥲
i should expose my drafts so y'all see what have planned next hehe

also i just came out with another criminal minds book called "save your tears" go and check it out i'm so excited for it hehehe🫶

anywayssss
thank you for reading
i love you all
i hope you enjoyed this because i lowkey think this sucked haha
-mya </33333