CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: IN HOLY MATRIMONY !

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FOUR DAYS AND COUNTING UNTIL THE WEDDING. To say that Spencer and Casey were excited had been the understatement of the past few weeks. They were excited, they were nervous, they felt all of the emotions.

With the wedding coming up around the corner, Spencer had the reception venue all ready since he assured to Casey that he would take care of that portion. So, he decided to show the venue to Casey as well as JJ, Penelope, Luke and Rossi.

"Keep your eyes closed. No one's peeking?" Spencer asks as he helps Casey through the room. She has a blindfold on as well as Garcia, JJ and Luke. Since JJ is the maid of honor and Luke is the best man, Spencer also wanted them to come and Garcia just wanted to tag along.

Spencer and Rossi are helping everyone through the threshold. "No one is peeking." Rossi assures.

"I'm peeking a little bit." Luke comments.
"Luke!" Garcia scolds.
"I'm joking."

"Okay, Spence, hurry this up because I'm getting a little claustrophobic by this blindfold." Casey tells. "Just a sec," Spencer says. He positions everyone in a line as he and Rossi then stand next to each other. "Okay, everyone open up." Spencer tells.

Everyone's blindfolds are off and Garcia gasps at the large capacity of the room. It's big, the walls are all white, excluding the red roses in the room and the red carpet surrounding the room. Twelve tables are around and all of them are covered with white tablecloths and red roses set in the middle of the tables. Red curtains are perched and the outside has a great view of the city. And a very large chandelier is in the middle of the room. It was so beautiful, Casey could cry.

         "Oh, Spence, this is so incredible." JJ complimented and Luke whistles as he looks around. "It feels like I'm in heaven. I didn't think it would be this beautiful. I mean, I know heaven will be beautiful but not this beautiful." Garcia tells, as she keeps her eyes on the ceiling.

          Spencer appreciates their reactions but there is one reaction he cares about the most and hasn't gotten yet. "Is this...?" Casey begins to ask Spencer and he nods, walking towards her. "Your dream venue for your wedding? Yes it is." Spencer finishes for her.

         Casey looks around as she takes in her surroundings. "Red carpets and roses? White ballroom? I cannot believe you found a venue to describe it." Casey tells.
         "I actually didn't find it..." Spencer reveals and motions to their senior agent. "Rossi did. He paid people to set it up and everything."

         Rossi smiles, "Consider this my wedding present." Casey smiles thankfully at the man as she holds her arms in a hug. "Oh, thank you, Rossi." She gives the older man a big hug.

          As she pulls away, Garcia approaches the three. "Are you wearing your old dress?" She wonders out of curiosity. "Oh, no. Rossi funds were also in charge of that." Casey joked as everyone else laughed at that.

She looks around the place a little more with Garcia and JJ as Luke and Rossi stand over with Spencer, chatting. "This place... it's absolutely everything I wanted in a wedding. I can't believe it's coming up." Casey says. JJ nods in agreement. "And so quick."

"I know! Four days before the—" Garcia begins to hums the wedding march song. "Aren't you excited? Ah, weddings get me all excited!" Garcia giggles like a child. "I'm... excited, nervous... pretty much everything in the book. Everything except sad, of course." Casey tells.

"How's Spencer doing?" JJ wonders and Casey peeks over at Spencer conversing with Rossi and Luke. "I think he's just as nervous as me." Casey shrugs. "Ah, it's normal to have jitters before a big wedding. On both parties." JJ remarks and Casey sighs, knowing JJ is right.

"Well, I've done it once before, I can do it again. I just hope it all goes smoothly." Casey sighs and suddenly, her cell phone buzzes. "What's up?" JJ wonders as Casey checks her phone. "Do we have a case?" Garcia asks.

Casey shakes her head, "No, I have to do some paperwork back at the BAU. Em's just sending me a reminder. But we all should get back. Our lunches don't last forever." Everyone begins to head out and Spencer goes to follow behind, but Casey stops him so the two of them are the only ones in the room.

Casey smiles at Spencer and pulls him in for a small kiss. "This place, Spence, it's so magical." Casey tells and Spencer doesn't think he's seen her smile like this in years. "I'm glad you like it." He says.

"I'm just... kinda stunned that this is all happening." Casey admits and Spencer nods, interlocking his fingers with hers as he nods, "In four days, ninety-six hours, seventeen minutes and fifteen seconds."

Casey chuckles to herself as she looks around the reception room and then looks towards the view of the city below. "I'm getting my dream wedding."
"You're getting your dream wedding and I'm getting my dream girl." Spencer wraps his arms around Casey as he kisses at her neck innocently.

Casey shrugs at that one, "I don't know about dream guy. Orlando Bloom is still at the top of that list." She jokes and Spencer pulls away, jokingly glaring at Casey. The woman chuckles and holds her arms up in surrender. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

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            When everyone arrived back at the BAU, Casey had gone back to her office, filling out paperwork as much as she could since she would be on her honeymoon in day's time. Everyone else had been stopping by her office occasionally, dropping off their own set of paperwork and such.

Suddenly, Casey's phone on her desk ring and she presses a button to put it on speaker since she's knee deep in paperwork right now. "Willows." Casey announced.

A soft chuckle emerges from the other side of the phone along with a familiar voice. "Well, look who made her way up to be Unit Chief." Casey smiled at the voice of an old detective from Philly. "Detective Toderick. Nice to hear from you again. How are you?" Casey asked.

To refresh your memory, Sam Toderick was a detective down in Philly where Casey's old boyfriend, Sawyer, used to work at. They had remained in contact from time to time since Sawyer had died.

Toderick pauses and sighs, "Uh, not so good. I got a case down here that I want your team to look at. I'm inviting you in." Casey furrows her brows. "May I ask what the case pertains to?" She wonders.

"Uh, yeah... about that," Toderick pauses once more. "We think he's back."

Casey furrows her brows but immediately knows what he's referring to. Darryl Hitchford, the man who killed Sawyer right in front of her. But it wouldn't make any sense. He had been in custody for eight years now.

"How's that possible? He's in custody." Casey stated and Toderick sighs, "Casey, I didn't want to tell you this... but he got out on parole. Good behavior."

Casey's jaw drops and she grabs the phone holding it to her ear. "And you didn't think to let me know in that?" She questions. "I couldn't bother you with details like that. You had moved on, I didn't think you'd want to hear about it." Toderick told.

"Just because I moved on doesn't mean I still don't think about it once in a while. What I could've done diff—" Casey pauses.

Not a day went by that she didn't think of Sawyer and how she could've prevented his death. She wished she'd figured Darryl Hitchford out when she had the chance. But it was too late. She'd been keep tracking of Darryl from time to time and it was easier now since she was unit chief. She was unaware he was even up for parole until now.

"I'm sorry," Casey apologizes. "But I should've been told this information."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Toderick apologizes.

Casey pauses, going into unit chief mode. "Is it the same M.O. and victimology?" She wonders. "M.O.'s the same but..."
"But?"
"They're something off about the victimology."

After getting a lot more information now, Casey calls the team up, gathering them for the new and upcoming case they'd just received. As everyone sat at the table, Casey dropped the files to everyone around the table.

"Detective Toderick called us in specifically for this case. Most of you know who he is, most of you don't. But he said it was important. Garcia, if you will." Casey urges Garcia to present the case.

"Okay, body parts of Jim and Nora Thomas were discovered in a dumpster." Garcia told, the pictures shown on the screen and she makes a grimace towards the photos. "Body parts?" Emily asks.

"Yeah, the bodies were sawed in half. The lower parts of the bodies haven't been found yet. We've only found the upper half." Garcia nods.

"We've dealt with something like this before in Philly, haven't we?" JJ wonders and Casey nods, "That's where our job gets a bit easier."

Everyone looks at her as she continues, "Darryl Hitchford was granted parole a few weeks ago. I just found out about it today."

"Darryl Hitchford, that name sounds familiar." Erik tells. "He was one of the deputies at the Philadelphia PD." Rossi said.

"They have reason to believe that... he's responsible for these murders." Garcia informs. "Again," Casey comments, everyone looking at her. She swallows as she puts the file down on the table. "Excuse me." With that, Casey leaves the room with a distinct look of pain on her face.

           JJ, Garcia, Spencer, Rossi and Emily looked at one another, knowing what this was about. But of course, Tara, Luke, Matt and Erik were unaware of what was going on.

         "Is she okay?" Matt wondered. Everyone looks at one another, not knowing what to say. "Philly has special meaning to Casey." Emily started. "And not the good kind of special." Garcia clarified.

        "What happened?" Luke asked.

        Since they were curious, one of them knew they had to come clean about it and so JJ volunteered herself. "Eight years ago, before Casey was Unit Chief, she met someone. He was important to her and... well..." She didn't know how to continue so Spencer had for her, "She loved him." He stated.

        "Is it an ex we're gonna have to avoid or something?" Tara questioned.
         "Not exactly." Rossi said. "He was an ex, but..." Garcia is interrupted as Spencer finishes for her. "He died protecting Casey. Us. He died right in front of her. He was shot by his partner — which was Darryl Hitchford."

        "He was a deputy over at the police station. The same one we're going to." Emily said. "It has special meaning to her. And we have to treat it very lightly because this was a hard loss for Casey."

          The group remembered just how Casey took the loss. Spencer remembered the fact that she drank after she made a grand escape during the funeral. He remembered Hotch finishing her speech since she couldn't do it herself. He even remembered that he and Casey were arguing at the time and he stayed with her the entire time she drank and he had just let her mourn.

        "Casey's a tough cookie. She's gotten through this before, she'll get through it again." Erik comments and Rossi looks at the man with a reply. "If you had seen her when she first lost him, you'd doubt that."

         "Either way, I advise we tread this lightly and Casey's already stressed with the wedding and this to top it all off." Spencer stated.

         "I'll take over if I need to," Emily assures. "But we've got a case we need to take care of and we need to take care of fast if we have a ceremony we need to get to, wheels up in twenty."

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          The team had grouped on the jet and were just about ready to debrief. Casey had been in the bathroom, refreshing herself and getting her act together. She felt like puking as she remembered holding Sawyer's lifeless frame in her hands when she had confronted Darryl. She blinked away, trying to forget and move on but it was hard to do when the ghosts of the past seemed to walk around in your mind.

          She exited the bathroom and went to the counter near the coffee machine. She found herself grabbing a strawberry pop tart and then headed over to gather the team in their seats.

"M.O.'s the same but the victimology's different this time." Rossi started. "He's taking children. He didn't do that before. Why now?" Emily wonders.

"This guy has spent eight years in prison and he gets off on parole for good behavior and then murders again?" Erik questions. "He could be angry. Maybe he couldn't control his urges and maybe he wanted a new victimology pool." Tara stated.

"But, why the children?" JJ questions. "Maybe he wants some of his own and he's not able to get that?" Luke suggests. "Or maybe he got stuck with them." Matt adds.

"Male unsubs don't usually pertain to kids to raise, they either take them for their own pleasure or their guilt or their own regard to murder." Spencer explains.

"Could we be ruling out a female unsub?" Emily wonders.

"No," Casey interjects. "I know this was Darryl. This is his work. He shoots our vics and cuts off the bodies, the arms and legs are always found buried next to their victims, no heads found and no fingerprints whatsoever."

         "Yeah, but Casey, he was sloppy here. The arms and legs were found in the dumpsters." JJ stated.
         "Yeah, but no heads. Explain that to me, JJ." Casey tells.
         "He was killing men in their late thirties and early forties. This time, he's killed a man and a woman and took the children with him." Rossi told.
          "It's like what Erik said," Casey spoke. "He could be craving a new victimology pool. He's been in prison eight years."

          "You've really studied this, Casey." Emily stated. "Or maybe I just have that night on-repeat in my head." Casey comments quietly, referring to the night Sawyer died.

           Casey stands up and Rossi curiously asks, "Where you going?" Casey gives him a sharp look and snarks, "Are bathroom breaks permitted now?" She scoffs as she walks away and Spencer gives an apologetic look to Rossi as he stands up from his seat to go and check on her.

          "Okay, I get that she's upset. But does she have to act like a teenager?" Erik questions quietly. "Word of advice, don't tell her that. That might even cost you your job." Rossi tells.

          Meanwhile, Casey had stood near the coffee machine and sighed, taking a breather before she went ahead and drove her focus back to the case. "Hey, you okay?" Spencer wonders and Casey sighs, calming herself down when she realizes Spencer has approached her.

           Casey sighs and looks at Spencer. "I don't know. I didn't mean to snap at Rossi, I— It's just... this is stressing me out." Spencer tilts his head to meet her eyes. "Don't let it. Hey." He grabs her hand and gives her a small smile. "You're getting married in a couple of days here."

           Casey smiles a bit at the reassurance. "I know. And you're gonna make me the happiest wife ever." She wraps her arms around Spencer's neck as she looks into his chocolate brown orbs. "And you're gonna make me the happiest husband ever." Spencer smiles, looking into Casey's crystal blue orbs.

        "Mrs. Casey Reid... kinda has a nice ring to it, huh?" Casey raises a brow to Spencer, who nods, "It sure does." Casey leans forward to peck Spencer on the lips and gets off her tippy-toes as she stands and pulls a strand of hair behind her ear.

         "I'm sorry." Casey says. "It's okay. We all know the pressure you're under." Spencer assures. "I just hope we got this son of a bitch right where we want him." Casey tells. Spencer nods as she begins to walk back to her seat, "I know."

          They'd arrived in Philly and had gone straight to the PD. Casey hadn't grouped anyone up yet since they didn't know where to start at this point in time. The first people Casey had seen as soon as she walked in were Toderick and Sheriff Brown.

"Detective, Sheriff." Casey called and the two older men turned around to greet the woman. "Unit Chief Willows." Toderick smiled as he greeted Casey with a hug. "Nice to see you again." Casey tells and then looks at the sheriff. "Hey." The man greets Casey with a hug. "It's good to see you again, kiddo."

"Man, how long has it been?" Toderick asked and Spencer had chimed in with — "8 years, 11 months and 20 days."

"See that you still got him on the team," Toderick commented. "Congratulations on your engagement, by the way."

Casey smiled as she grabbed Spencer's hand. "Thank you." She said. "When's the wedding?" Sheriff Brown wondered. "Just in four days here." Spencer nodded.

"My apologies for getting you all down here right before the big day." Toderick apologized. "Well, as long as we can get it down before then, right?" Casey comments.

"Detective, Sheriff, you guys remember Agents Prentiss, Rossi, Jareau and obviously Dr. Reid. These are Agents Alvez, Lewis, Turner and Simmons — guys, Detective Sam Toderick and Sheriff Raymond Brown."

As the introductions are handled, everyone shakes hands and exchanges "nice to meet you"s. "Where have you got us set up?" Casey asks. "Over at the back room here." Brown leads the team to a conference room.

"You really believe this was in the hands of Hitchford?" Toderick wondered. "All signs point to him. The murders are similar enough." Casey tells. "Have you got a warrant?"

"We want to be cautious. We don't know for sure so we haven't gotten a warrant yet." Sheriff Brown tells.
"Well, it is his work. Just a change in the victimology." Casey tells.

"He used to go after high-risk victims and now he's made his way up to the high-class." Luke comments. "There's a possibility that he thought more about it in prison and decided to go after the victims that worked as upperclassman with families." Matt adds.

"JJ, Em, Spence, I want you guys to down to the M.E., get as much info as you can about the bodies. Erik, Tara, Luke, go down to the crime scene. Rossi, Matt, we're gonna take a visit down to Darryl Hitchford's place." Casey grouped.

Rossi had exchanged a glance with Emily and decided to converse his worries. "Actually, I think it's better if Simmons and I go at this alone."
Casey turned and everyone froze, wondering what else she might throw at Rossi. "What?" She questions.

"Casey, I'm telling you now, you're basing this on a gut feeling. Let Simmons and I prove to you that he might not be a part of this." Rossi tells.

Casey looks down at the desk in front of her. "Rossi, are you questioning my decision? Doubting that I'm correct about this?" She questions. "No, I... I just want you to consider other options." Rossi voices.

"There are no other options here," Casey stated. "This man killed people for his own brother and years later, torsos show up the exact same way with the exact same MO? I mean, there's nothing to consider." She argued.

"Casey." Spencer spoke up and Casey looked his away and it was as if they were having one of their telepathy conversations in their minds. And Spencer's face read — "Just give it a chance." Casey gave him a look and Spencer drew back another one.

Casey sighed, a clear hint that she was giving in to her future husband's advice. "Simmons, Rossi, you guys go down there. Be careful. All of you. Especially you." She nudged her head towards Spencer, who nods.

"Don't worry, we'll keep him grounded." Emily jokes as everyone heads out in their designated spots.

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           It had been at least one day and another murder occurred and so Casey sent the team out to check out the crime scene and the ME. As the team had been out, Casey was back at the PD and she was looking around and had stumbled across Sawyer's memorial photo. She stared up at it and crossed her arms, remembering the good times with him and wondering where he would've been today had he been alive.

          She sighed and felt a presence next to her and from her peripheral vision had seen Detective Toderick standing next to her, staring up at the memorial photo as well. "You know, once a day, I find myself saying hi to him. Like he's still here." Toderick told.

        "The anniversary's coming up." Casey stated, the anniversary of Sawyer's death was coming up next week and Casey never once forgot. One day every year, she'd come down to Philly and visit his gravestone. And on times when she had a case, she'd make time to go.

         Toderick nods, "I know." Casey takes a breath, "Eight years." She said. Eight years since he's been gone. It was weird to put that into perspective that it was only eight years ago and how far she's come since then. "It's funny how this case popped up just days before I'm getting married. It's like where did all the time go, right?"

"Sometimes, I look at you and I think about Sawyer." Toderick admitted. "I'm starting to think that maybe he died for a reason. Not that he should've. But without that, you wouldn't have realized who you were without Spencer. You wouldn't have had Christopher or adopted Lennox. You wouldn't have survived what you did without Spencer."

Casey nods in agreement. She ran through her track record and thought about all of the people she had been with before Spencer. There was Marco, who knew her but never really knew her. Damion, who she should've never been involved with in the first place. Chandler, she didn't even want to count. And Sawyer, well, he was perfect but Casey knew deep inside that he wasn't the one. He just wasn't. Spencer, he saw her for her, never tried to change her, gave her time to heal, helped her heal. He was the one. He always has been. He always would be.

"Yeah, you're right," Casey nods at Toderick and then turns back to Sawyer's memorial photo. "I just wish he was here to see it."

Before Toderick could respond to that, they both heard Sheriff Brown's voice calling for them. "Sam, Willows?" The two looked at one another and they followed the sheriff. He whispers to the two. "Hitchford's here. He wants to talk. We brought him up to one of our interrogation rooms."

"He come voluntarily?" Toderick wonders. "Looks like." Brown tells and the three look into the interrogation room.

Hitchford is sitting in the interrogation room, handcuffs attached to his wrists with a smug look on his face. Casey knew he was looking at himself in the glass mirror but he definitely knew she was standing on the other side. Her stomach ached as the man seemed to burn his eyes into her soul and her mind flashed back to that night. The night he killed Sawyer. It made her stomach churn even more.

         Casey didn't register Toderick trying to get her attention and asking her what the next step would be and Casey looked at the man and he calls for her again. "Casey?"

Casey snaps out of her own mind and then quietly excuses herself from the conversation and rushes into the bathroom and throws up in the stall. The nerves built up and when they got like this, of course, she'd get sick. She expected this with the case.

         When the rest of the team had come back and Casey got herself together, Casey had informed them about Hitchford and had told Luke and Emily to start getting him to talk about why he was here.

After twenty minutes, he wasn't budging so they'd taken a break and then went back in and talked to him but he still wasn't budging. Emily and Luke had come out of the interrogation room with sour looks on their faces.

"He's still not talking?" JJ questioned. "He's denying that he has any part of this. He came to clear him name... and to talk to whoever's in charge." Luke told and everyone looked Casey's way and it made her stomach churn once more.

"Me?" Casey raised her brows in confusion. Emily nodded and Casey sighs, knowing she's going to need to go in there.

"You don't have to if you don't—" Spencer assured and Casey looks at Spencer as she takes the file from Emily's hands. "I can," she gives him big reassuring eyes and nods at him, "It's okay."

         Casey put her hand on the door handle and took a sharp breath and closed her eyes, turning off her vulnerable side and put herself on "boss mode" as she finally clutched at it and pushed and let herself be seen by Hitchford.

          Hitchford took one look and chuckled. He remembered who she was. "Casey Willows," he started and Casey closed the door behind her. "I remember you from way back when. I'd love to sit and chat but, uh, I asked to speak to whoever's in charge."

          Casey motions to herself. "You're looking at her." She tells. Hitchford laughed in disbelief and stared up at Casey, who wasn't laughing. "You?" He questions. "FBI's just letting anybody be in charge." He shook his head. "I would know, I betrayed my own law enforcement years ago. You remember that, don't you?"

         Casey decides to ignore him as she sits in front of him, placing her file down. "Darryl, you betrayed law enforcement because you were protecting your killer brother." She tells. "You had no choice. But this time, you do have a choice. A choice to come clean."

          Casey pulls out the photos of the recent torsos found and Darryl furrows his brows. "What are these?" He questions. "Photos of the latest crime scene VS. the very first. The jagged cuts and the skilled ones." She points to either photo.

         "The jagged ones were done with barbed wire. We profiled your brother had been using that to cut the heads off years ago. Then the skilled ones come in, it's less messy. Someone would know how to clean all that up. Especially in law enforcement. And Darryl, I found out your brother died two Septembers after you were in prison. There's no way he could've done this." Casey explained and Hitchford stiffened but he still kept his cool it seemed.

        "So, you changed the victimology to fit what you liked better and kidnapped children that reminded you of you and your brother, am I right? Must've been some psychotic breakdown after you got released." Casey stated.

          The man went silent and remained silent for a few moments and he then stared hard at Casey and scoffed to himself. "I wasn't the only one who lost someone, wasn't I, Casey?" Casey's heart dropped to her stomach and tried her best to ignore Hitchford. "I can recall that you lost someone important to you, someone you loved, like I did. And Sawyer, he—"

            Casey bangs her fist with the table. "Do not say his name! You have no right saying his name." It was obvious Hitchford touched a nerve and Casey let him see it. She wouldn't let him talk about Sawyer, like he was just another number of a body he killed.

          "Maybe if you were a little faster, is all I'm saying," Hitchford pushed and then leaned back in his seat as he points to Casey's hand. "And I noticed a ring on your finger." He tells, referring to Casey's wedding ring. "You had no time moving on from him, didn't you? I see the papers, I hear things. And then, after ten years, you finally made it to being the unit chief of the FBI."

            Hitchford leans closer. "Do you live with the failures? The guilt? The shame. I know I would. But I got a solid alibi and there is nothing you can say or do to make more assumptions that I was the one that did this."

            Casey stands up and as she's about to walk out, something snapped and she'd seemed to have enough. She shakes her head as she then turns back and yanks the table across the room and grabs Hitchford by his collar and with her surprising strength, holds him against the wall. "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you! You did this and I am going to prove it."

             As this happened, Luke, Emily, Matt and Spencer entered the room all at once. Matt pulled Casey out of the room as he hoisted her out of there by her torso and she put up quite a fight as she continued to yell at him. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" She cursed as Matt got her out of there.

            It wasn't until thirty minutes later when the entire PD found out about Casey's big blow up with the assumed bad guy and of course, when Sam Toderick heard about it, he was definitely not happy about it as he approached her and Casey knew he wasn't by the look on his face.

          "Sam..." Casey started, not wanting a fight. "You wanna tell me what the hell happened in there?" Toderick questioned and JJ, who was standing with her, spoke up. "He taunted her. That's what happened." She defended.

          Spencer, who was knelt in front of Casey shook his head. "I knew we shouldn't have sent you in there." Casey grabs Spencer's hand as she shakes her head in assurance. "It's fine."

          "No, it's clearly not fine," Toderick stated. "You attacked someone. You're lucky Darryl's not going to press charges. You know, he was right, he had a solid alibi and he was telling the truth for the lie detector test. There's no way to prove it was him."

           Casey shakes her head as she stands to face the man. "Sam, he did this. He did it, I just— I can't prove it!" In her bones, Casey just felt that something was off and it was like no one was listening to what she was thinking. "He's involved with this, that's why he was taunting me. And-And using Sawyer's death to humiliate me, shame me? He did this and I know I sound crazy right now but I am not about to let Sawyer Gunthey's killer roam free."

           "You're out." Toderick told, catching Casey off guard and she was taken aback at the sudden words. "Excuse me?" Casey questions.
           "I thought you could come and help us out here but all you've done is pinpoint it to the one person who's not responsible for it. So, I'm done. Professionally, done."

           With that, Toderick walks away, ready to relieve the team and Casey sighs in defeat, not knowing what to do from this point on. But since Toderick told them they were no longer needed, the only thing to do was leave and leave another team to finish this job for them.

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            Casey almost felt like she failed herself as a leader today. And she especially felt like she failed Sawyer. As she packed everything up, she looked outside to the memorial photo but she knew since they were now off the case, they had to leave, no matter how many times Emily tried to talk to Toderick, he was hellbent on just figuring this out himself.

They'd never been kicked out of a case like this before and Casey blamed herself for that one for going nuts. Maybe she was insane and maybe not making sense. Maybe it was best if they had just left.

Spencer walked in the room as he packed his own satchel up and then wanted to check on his future wife. "You okay?" He wondered and Casey nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You sure?" Spencer asked and Casey shrugged. Of course, Spencer knew this answer but he wasn't going to pry it out of Casey. "I just thought that maybe... I could have some form of closure with this." She revealed.

"When I found out Hitchford got released, it was like an open wound. No matter how many times I tried to stitch it closed, it'd just pop right back out. I just thought... that I could stop living with my own guilt." Casey admitted and Spencer nodded. Before he could respond with some quick fact to make her feel better, there was a knock on the door.

         "Guys?" Emily made her presence known as she called them out of the room and led them across the rooms and entered the conference room where the rest of the team was and Emily closed the door and put the blinds down as she spoke.

          "Garcia, what have you got?" Emily asked. "Okay, so I know that we're not supposed to be in on this case anymore or whatever but I did some digging and found something fishy with all of the files sent back to us. Willy Benson, does that name right a bell?" Garcia asked.

            Tara shook her head as she seemed to answer for everyone in the room. "No. Why should it?"

          "Well, it should, because when we had taken Darryl Hitchford into custody the first time, one of his most frequent visitors had been Willy Benson." Garcia informed. "They'd call all of the time for the entire eight years he'd served his sentence. And I ran through security footage and credit card spending and found that Willy purchased an axe and searched through wiped computer history and found that he had been targeting families via prenups."

        "That's... interesting." JJ commented. "Why prenups? Is there a motive there?" Erik wondered.

"Yeah, so I tracked down Willy Benson and he seemed to live a pretty good life up until his wife left him for another man. And recently, just had their third child." Garcia explained. "Class sign of a stressor." Rossi said.

"So, Hitchford took him under his wing while he was in prison and became his protégé." Spencer stated. "And Hitchford knew he'd pass all of the tests because he did have a solid alibi." Matt nodded.

"It looks like you were right, Casey." Emily said. "I never doubted for a second that I was wrong." Casey told, looking around at her team. She appreciated that they were by her side, even if they seemed to internally disagree with her but they stuck with her for this one.

"Yes, so, Willy Benson, he's— him. Your perp. Sending work and home addresses now." Garcia informs.

"What about Toderick?" Tara asked as everyone stopped in their tracks. Rossi and Casey exchanged a look and Rossi urged, "We'll take care of him, you guys go."

Before they left, Spencer squeezed Casey's hand in reassurance and assured to her that they were gonna get this guy.

             Of course, Toderick freaked at first but Rossi and Casey talked him down, telling him what occurred and Toderick came to an understanding. In the end, Willy Benson tried to run but luckily, JJ, Luke, and Tara chased him down and got him in the end. Meanwhile, Erik, Spencer, Matt and Emily had the pleasure of arresting Hitchford for second-degree murder, rightfully so.

When they'd come back to the station in handcuffs, Casey watched Hitchford as he walked away, cuffed into custody. It was as if Casey felt victorious in a way, almost not quite.

As they're brought in, Toderick walks up to Casey. "Looks like I owe you an apology, Willows." He said. "It's okay. I was the one who acted irrationally." Casey shrugged. "Yeah, but I was the one who kicked you off the case. I should've listened to you." Toderick apologizes. "It happens. No harm, no foul." Casey assures and Toderick pats her on the back and goes to put his people in custody.

As Casey watches that, JJ appears and circles her arm with Casey's. "This one was crazy. Took us only two days to solve, that's gotta be some kind of record." JJ comments. "We've been under pressure like this before." Casey told as she grabs her things. "Ah, well, now, we got a wedding in two days and a bachelorette party to have when we get back. You feeling up to it?"

"Definitely."

━━━━━━

Everything was perfect. The chapel they were in was filled with friends and family and children running around rampantly. Of course, they were well-behaved. Chris had been dressed in a mini-tuxedo, sticking his grubby fingers in the chocolate fountain with his cousins, Hank, Henry and Michael. Lennox had worn a pastel red dress, and invited just a few friends she'd gotten close to in school so she had stuck with them.

            A lot of the team had been there, of course, pregaming the whole thing with wine and champagne as Rossi told another one of his 'famous friend' stories. This time, something about a brunch with Frank Sinatra in his early '20s or whatever.

            JJ and Penelope had been with Casey, helping her get ready. Tara and Emily would pop in every few minutes, along with Isaac, Erik and Mandy, as well. As Casey just finished getting her beautiful wedding dress on and her hair, there was another knock on the door.

            "Come in." Casey called and Isaac walked in the room and smiles at his sister. "Wow." He started and Casey turns to him. "You actually look decent." He joked as Casey rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, you look beautiful." Casey smiles at Isaac, "Thank you."

            "There's someone that'd like to see you." Isaac turned his head and in walked Derek Morgan with a bright smile on his face and dressed in his best suit. "Hey, Ace."

            Casey gasped as she exclaimed, "You came!" She ushers over to Morgan as she gives him a big hug. Derek continues, "I was not gonna miss this for the world. You look great, pretty mama." Casey chuckles, "Thank you."

           Casey pulls away and gasps once more. "Is Savannah here?" She wonders. "Yeah, and Little Hank is, too. He and Chris are just buddying it up." Casey smiles, "That's awesome. I'm so glad you're here."

            "Ah, well, it isn't everyday that the kid has a second wedding, so..." Morgan joked and Casey rolled her eyes, playfully hitting him. Garcia and JJ had greeted Morgan and caught up with him shortly before Morgan left to go and see Spencer next.

            A few rooms over, Spencer had finished tying his bow tie, Luke was behind him, hyping him up as a best man should. Erik, Matt and Rossi would come and visit every now and again and even Spencer's mother, Diana, had made an appearance, congratulating her son.

             The last person he would be expecting was Derek Morgan. "I seriously couldn't be your best man for the second time?" He joked and Spencer turned around and looked at the man, who had a big smile on his face, indicating he was joking. "Hey, man."

             "Derek, hey, you came!" The two gave each other a small hug. "Sorry about, uh, the best man thing, but, uh—" Morgan interrupts him. "Kid, it's alright. You can have other friends."

             "You ready for the second go-around?" Morgan asked and Spencer nods, "More ready than I have ever been for anything." The younger man turns back to the mirror and looks at himself.

           The Spencer Reid nearly fifteen years ago never would've expected his life to turn out this way. With his second marriage and two children here and the fact that he was not who he once was when he was married the first time. Things had changed but he was so glad that Casey had been a part of his future.

           "Hey, you okay, man?" Luke asked, noticing Spencer's furrowed brow. "Yeah," Spencer nodded. "I just... I'm making a promise to myself to not screw it up again. That's all."

            "Hey," Morgan spoke. "Casey chose to marry you again and you know why? Because she loves you. She always has, kid." Luke nods in agreement, "Your guys' love story? It's one for the ages. Don't doubt it for a second."

            As Luke and Morgan were giving Spencer the words of encouragement, meanwhile, in the girls' room, Casey had been pacing. As you know, Casey's always been a pacer. And sometimes, it happened when she was anxious.

            JJ and Garcia wondered just what the hell she could be anxious about. It was then that finally Casey spoke up. "Can you get Spencer in here, please?" She questions.

          "But... but it's bad luck." Garcia said. "He is the only one that can calm me down. I need him, please." Casey practically begged. "And if he is not in here within the next two minutes, there will be no wedding, okay?" JJ and Garcia looked at one another and JJ nods at the woman to go and get Spencer.

          And of course, within thirty seconds, Spencer showed up into the room and JJ and Garcia decided to give them both privacy as Spencer spoke, "Garcia said you needed me?" He asked and looks around but the bride is nowhere to be found. "Casey?" He questioned.

         "In here." Casey speaks and Spencer looks over and she's plopped down on the couch. "I would've gotten up but I'm kind of stuck into the couch." She tells. It was always hard getting anywhere in a big wedding dress.

         Spencer plops down right next to her on the couch. "Pre-wedding jitters?" He questions and Casey shrugs as she sits up a bit. "Something like that." As Spencer settles himself next to his bride, he notices something in her hands. "You remember this?"

          In Casey's hands, the broken glass box that laid their wedding vows on a post-it appeared and Spencer chuckles, "How could I forget our original wedding vows on a post-it note?"

         Casey looks down at the vows and reads them out loud. "'I vow and promise to love you forever and always through the bad and the good.'" Spencer continues, "'No running out on each other, even when it gets really bad.'"
        "'We listen to one another.'"
         "'Vow to take care of each other even when we're old and smelly and senile.'"
         "'Our love will never overstep Christopher.'"
         "'This is forever.'"

         Well, look how well these vows aged, Casey thought inside of her head. "If only our past selves what they were getting into." Spencer says. "It seems like we owe ourselves new vows." Casey tells. "And I have them prepared finally." Spencer nods, "So do I."

           It was as if a miracle occurred with the two knowing what to write to one another, it was like they never felt more sure in their entire lives about their vows.

Casey sighs as she zones out for a second and closes her eyes. "This case brought a lot of things back. A lot of things left unsaid, a lot of guilt." Spencer should've known that this may have been about Sawyer and the guilt Casey felt about his death and why she just wanted to be so sure that it was Darryl Hitchford that doing these new crimes.

Spencer looked at Casey as she grabbed his hand and continued, "But it also reminded me of how much I love you. And I love you. So much." As she looked in his eyes, it reminded Spencer of the first time they'd looked into each other's eyes like this. And it was the night of Sawyer's funeral, ironically.

Spencer realizes he's never once told her about what happened that night. "Do you remember that night after Sawyer's funeral?" He asks and Casey shrugs, "Uh, yeah, bits and pieces. You were there at the bar and you drove me home and I broke my candle... and I fell asleep on the couch."

"That's how you remember it." Spencer chuckles as he looks down and Casey furrows her brows in confusion. "Huh?" She asked.

"You know how you always said that our first kiss was in my apartment?" Spencer asks and Casey nods, "Yeah?" Spencer closes his eyes, this could either go really bad or good. "It was actually in yours. That night. You were drunk and you—"

"Oh, my God." Casey shuts her eyes as she clasps a hand over her faces and shakes her head. "I do not remember this. How come you never told me?"

Spencer shrugs, "I didn't want you to be embarrassed and at the time, you were healing. I didn't want it to be another thing on your back. Back then, we were young. We made mistakes, we shouldn't have to live in them." He reminds her, making a point in this. That people make mistakes all of the time and that they can choose to live in them or not.

Casey sighs as she chuckles and leans back. "I just really wish I could remember our first kiss." Spencer shrugs, "I really liked our first kiss after JJ's wedding though. That's the one I always remember."
"Yeah?" Casey lifts her head up to face Spencer, who nods, "Yeah."

Casey straightened herself up and leans towards Spencer. "I think it went a little something like this." She gives him a passionate kiss on the lips and it reminds Spencer of their very first night. "Right?" Casey smiles as she pulls away.

"No, I, uh, I think it went a little something like this." Spencer leans in as he cups Casey's cheeks and giving her a kiss on the lips with the same amount of passion. The two finally pull away. "Definitely that one."

There's suddenly a knock on the door and JJ's voice booms on the other side. "I have no idea what you two are doing in here but you better hurry up." Both Casey and Spencer break out in a fit of chuckles.

Thirty minutes later, the ceremony is starting and Spencer is at the altar, waiting for Casey on the other side and feeling the butterflies in his stomach. He tries to think about every fact known to man to distract him from feeling so anxious and needing to throw up.

When Casey opens the door, she is expecting to see Isaac, ready to walk her down the aisle but to her surprise, someone else is standing there, ready to walk her down the aisle.

"Hotch?"

Isaac was beside Aaron Hotchner, in his best wedding suit and Isaac looked at Casey and shrugged, "I called in a favor." Of course, he wanted to walk Casey down the aisle but Casey deserved to have a father figure walk her down the aisle and what better man to call than Hotch.

"Who else was gonna walk you down the aisle?" Hotch asked, offering his arm to Casey, who has tears springing in her eyes.

          As they walked closer and closer to the room, Casey clutched onto Hotch like a small child and she took a deep breath and the doors opened and right along the aisle, Spencer is standing there, Rossi standing beside him on one side since he was officiating and Luke on his other side.

           Spencer watched his bride in awe like he wasn't just seeing her thirty minutes ago. He had a big smile on his face, a smile the team was sure they'd never seen before. Casey's heart stopped as she witnessed the smile on his face and she knew that everything was going to be okay.

           "Hey, Mom!" Chris shouted, causing everyone to laugh. "Hey, bud." Casey chuckled as she witnessed her son and Lennox standing there, watching her in awe, looking exactly like their father.

           Hotch walked her down the aisle and Casey looked at everyone in their seats. Savannah and Morgan with smiles on their faces, Garcia with tears in her eyes and Luke giving her tissues.
           Matt and Kristy giving their congratulations silently, Erik, Mandy and Emma smiling at her.
           Tara holding up her wine glass happily with Emily. Even Kate made an appearance with her daughter, Dakota and her niece, Meg. In the front had been Vivian, blowing kisses at her and Diana next to her, doing the same thing.

          And finally, Spencer and Casey were standing in front of one another, their hearts beating out of their chests as they held each other's hands and looked into each other's eyes lovingly. It was like they were the only two people in the room. It was funny, they didn't feel this anxious during their first wedding. Maybe it was because they had a crowd.

           Rossi started and soon enough came the vows part and Casey had wanted to begin, holding the papers in front of her and taking a sharp breath and she began to speak. "I had a pair of original vows set when we did this the first time and I was gonna read those and reword a couple of things but... those vows could never relate to what we have gone through in the last seven years. I wrote those when I was I was 27. I didn't know what we'd go through and now I'm 32 and I have never been more aware in my entire life."

           Casey smiles at Spencer, "You have made me more happy than I have ever been in my entire life. Every day, your mind, your body, your soul, it continues to amaze me. When I met you, I never thought that... we would have anything. I mean, the age difference, the personalities, we were total polar opposites."

          Casey continued, "And in that time that we dated and we had Chris, I found myself and I realized that you were the most important key of all. That it was just us against the world."
         "And when we lost each other, we became strangers and I lost myself again... and I think you did, too. But... you... you brought me back. And I found myself again and maybe you felt the same way, I don't know."

Spencer and everyone one else had tears in their eyes as Casey continued again, "But, what I do know is that I'm never letting you go again. It hurt too much the first time and I might just die if I did it again. You are the love of my life and... I can never see anybody else playing that role. You. I never thought that I would be standing here, staring at the boy genius with an IQ of 187, ready to marry him. And I never thought that we'd have the most amazing kids in the entire world." Casey peeked over at Lennox and Chris when she'd said that.

"It's like what Dave Meurer said, 'A great marriage is not when 'the perfect couple' comes together. It's when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.'. I love you, Spencer Reid and I will always love you, even in the afterlife." With that, Casey finished and Spencer seemed like he was full-on crying now.

It was his turn and he wondered just how he was going to beat that. Spencer had his vows memorized so he didn't need paper and he also just knew what to say from the heart.

"I always felt as if there was a missing puzzle piece in my life. It never made sense to me because I thought I had everything that life had to offer me. Turns out, I didn't." Spencer looks at Casey with a smile on his face. "The only thing I didn't have was you."

"Cassandra Willows, you have become one of the most important people in my life. And you have been since we first met. When we broke it off, I... I never realized how good I had it when I was with you. I mean, you, Lennox and Chris are the most important people in the world to me." Spencer told.

"I made the mistake of letting you all go the first time and I'm never making that mistake again. I used to think I was easily one of the smartest people in the room and then I met you and suddenly, I felt... dumb. You dumbed me out." He chuckled as he spoke, everyone else in the room did, as well. "But it wasn't a bad thing. To me, you were the only person who could outsmart me without even meaning to. I think that's why I felt so drawn to you and connected to you. And you were the only thing I could think about."

Casey smiles at the man in front of her and he nods, continuing, "Usually, I know the right thing to say... but... right now, I can't think of anymore to say."

"Just know that even if I don't have anything to say, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life showing you that I love you." Spencer told and Casey has tears in her eyes now. Even Rossi, the officiate, has tears in his eyes.

          Christopher knew this to be his cue as he approached his parents with the rings. Rossi had gone to the most important questions of the ceremony.

        "Do you, Spencer Walter Reid, take this woman, to be your lawfully wedded wife and promise to love and cherish her, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others for so long as you both shall live — again?" A couple of people laugh at that joke from Rossi.

        With a sure smile on his face, he nods, "I do." Spencer placed the ring on her finger.

       "And do you, Cassandra Dakota Willows, take this man, to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to love and cherish him, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health—?"

        "I do, I do, I do." Casey said eagerly as she placed his ring on his ring finger.

        "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife — again! You may kiss the bride."

        With that, Spencer had pulled his wife in and cupped her face with his hands and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips as everyone stood and clapped and cheered. Spencer looked at their friends and family in gratitude and Casey had decided to take this opportunity to dip Spencer down and kiss him once more on the lips. The motion caught Spencer off guard but nonetheless, he loved it.

━━━━━━

After the couple were introduced as Dr. and Mrs. Reid, the reception party started and people were conversing and having fun. When they were finally able to have alone time, Casey pulled Spencer away and informed him that his father was here.

During the ceremony, William Reid sat himself in the back of the chapel, wanting to give the two their moment and he would speak to Spencer after. And now was the time.

Casey reminded Spencer he didn't have to do this and she could tell him to leave but Spencer knew he had to do this and he needed to talk to him. After everything his mother told him, he needed to do this.

So, outside of the ceremony, William stood near the window and Spencer entered the room. He looked at the man and spoke, "Dad."

The older man turned around and faced his son with a small smile. "Spencer." His dad had greyed a little bit in his hair, he straightened his posture as Spencer kept his distance and William noted to that and kept his distance as well.

There was an awkward pause and William motions towards his son. "Wow, you look so... so grown up." He told and Spencer shrugged, putting his hands in his pocket. "That's kind of what happens with age."

"Right," William nods. "Congratulations by the way, son. You've really made something of yourself. I'm glad you found it in your heart to invite me to your wedding."

          "I didn't do it for you," Spencer reveals. "I did it for my wife and my kids. I made up my mind about you years ago, Dad." There's a small pause. Of course, Spencer isn't going to forgive him this easily. Last he checked, William was the one who left. "I'm willing to let you have a relationship with my kids. But if you let them down like you let me down, that's off the table."

           William sighs, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there more for you, Spencer. It's one of my biggest regrets. You have to know that."

           Spencer looks at the man. "You know, Mom told me to forgive you. For the longest time, I thought you left because she had schizophrenia. And so I hated you for that. But then she told me the truth. And it put a whole new perspective on everything for me."
          "It just became too much for me, Spencer." William told. "So, I ran away. Like a coward. And I said goodbye to you through a letter. You and your mother deserved better than that."

         "Yeah, well, the damage is already done." Spencer told. William looks at his son and Spencer looks at him, trying to get a read on him. In his eyes, he can tell he means this all in generosity. "I hope you know how proud I am of you. And your accomplishments. And I think your biggest accomplishment is that you became the father I could never be. Even if you don't forgive me, I promise I will try and make it up to you. I'm just glad you're giving me a chance."  

          Spencer sighs and looks at William. "Don't screw it up. Because you screwed me up and I don't want you doing the same thing to my kids." William nods, "I promise." Spencer looks at William and for a moment, his heart breaks. But it breaks for Casey. As much as she's tried, she doesn't think she's going to get this back with her own father. He wants to do this and the one person he wants to do this for is her.

          Spencer and William walk into the reception and Christopher looks and finds his father. "Dad! Dad! Did you know they got a chocolate fountain?" He questions and Casey and Lennox decide to go and approach the three.

         Spencer kneels to Christopher's level. "Wow! That sounds amazing. No sprinkles?" Chris shakes his head, "No sprinkles." Spencer shrugs, "Ah, that sucks. Listen, come here." He looks over and see that Lennox and Casey are already approaching them as he grabs Chris's hand.

        "Hey, what's up?" Casey asks. "Uh, Dad, this is Casey, my wife and Casey, this is William Reid. He's... my dad." Spencer introduces and Casey holds her hand out to meet the man. "Nice to formally meet you, William Reid." William nods, "You, as well, Casey."

"Wait, isn't your Dad—?" Lennox begins to ask but Spencer interrupts her. "Dad, this is our adoptive daughter, Lennox and this is our son, Christopher."

"It's nice to meet you two." William tells, shaking Lennox's hand first and then looking towards the youngest. "Your dad's dad?" Christopher asks. "Yes, he's Dad's dad. He's your grandfather." Casey tells.

William kneels to Christopher's level. "So, you're the one stealing your dad's thunder all of the time." William greets the young boy.

Chris looks at his dad first and Spencer nods to him, assuring that it's okay to talk to him. Chris looks at William and then speaks, "Dad told me you weren't around a lot when he was growing up but I do wanna thank you for making him my dad."

William's heart warms and he smiles at the boy, not knowing what to say. But he's happy he gets to be a part of his grandson's life and hopefully is active in his life.

This had surprisingly been a easier part when he thought it would be the hard part with rekindling with his son. The harder part, in all actuality, was reuniting with Diana again. He'd subtly sat next to her when he found her and when she turned to see who was sitting with her, lo and behold, it was her ex-husband, William Reid.

"William?"
"Hello, Diana."

Spencer sat by with his wife at their table, watching as they conversed. Spencer had a hand on Casey's thigh and she held onto his hand as they wanted intently. "You know I never thought I'd see that again." Spencer commented. "I know, it's strange." Casey agreed.

Twenty minutes later, the announcer came on the microphone and announced, "Now, it's time for the the father to dance with the bride and the mother to dance with the groom."

Spencer ushered over to his mother and brought her to the dance floor. Casey had completely forgotten about the dances she wanted to do before everything happened with her dad and she sighed, feeling as if maybe she should sit this out while Spencer danced with his mother but before she could take her seat, someone else stepped up.

And of course, Hotch always had her back. "Come on." He said and Casey smiled, taking his hand and getting onto the dance floor. There was a moment of silence until Hotch spoke up. "Isaac told me about what happened with your father. I'm sorry."

Casey shrugged, "I'll be honest, I was surprised. But I think... some part of me knew." She admitted. "Hotch, blood or not, you've always been my dad. And I don't know why I hated it so much in the past, but, I'm all about the future now. Thank you... for everything."

Hotch nodded at her, "Someone needed to be there. Blood or not, I always considered you a daughter." Casey smiled as she placed her head against his shoulder and he held onto her, father and daughter on the dance floor.

━━━━━━

The night consisted on happiness and joy and not one issue that needed to be taken care of. Except for the one thing Casey wanted to do.

Christopher ran over to his father after his mother handed him something and told him to give it to Spencer. "Dad!" Chris called and Spencer immediately kneeled to his level. "Hey, kiddo! What do you have there?"

Spencer takes a look at what's in Christopher's hand and it's revealed to be a t-shirt and Spencer furrows his brows as he holds it up but then his eyes widen and he looks over at a smiling Casey.

Spencer holds the shirt up, showing it to Casey in shock. It was like the words 'Best Big Brother Ever' short-circuited Spencer's mind for a minute.

Casey confirms his suspicions as she holds up a positive pregnancy test in one hand and a mini pair of converse in the other. "Ready for number three?" She laughs.

The man rushes over to his wife and picks her up off the ground and twirls in happiness. He then puts her back down, kisses her and then kisses her stomach. "We're gonna have a baby. We're having another baby!" Spencer announces to everyone, who has shocked expressions on their faces.

Near the bar, Luke hands Tara a $20 bill and she raises her brows. "I told you." During the previous case, Luke and Tara had a bet going on since Casey was acting quite strange during the case. Tara had suspected that maybe she was pregnant since she'd been eating nothing but pop tarts in the past week. Luke shook his head, he felt like maybe Casey would've told Spencer about it right away but of course, Casey was saving the news for the wedding.

So, Spencer and Casey spent the rest of their wedding night, happy and healthy. It was most definitely a night to remember.

happy early valentine's day you ding dongs🩷
best wedding chapter i've ever written but i don't think anything can top the OG wedding chapter hehe

sorry this literally took forever but i had to perfect it y'all know me😌

omg casey is pregnant and i am so excited that we've gotten this far and i'm very excited for what's to come since we're almost done with this trilogy😔
it's okay y'all it's okay

anywayssss
thank you for reading
i love you all
mwah!

also
me spending valentine's day alone again:

i will just leave this here
-mya </3

p.s. would anyone else be interested if i did a big questionnaire at the end of this book? it would be filled with any questions you want to have answered throughout the entire trilogy like the BURNING questions y'all want to know hehe