A/N: all of the italicized portions in this chapter are flashbacks that are to catch you up in the small time gap!
PS- be prepared for a long chapter! :)

Sabrina Woods

Hallie hadn't stopped talking to Dr. Reid the entire ride to the station. Even when we got out of the car and made our way to the office, she hadn't yet run out of things to talk about.

Dr. Reid didn't seem to mind; His head stayed turned facing towards her the entire ride there, carrying the conversation as if she were someone he'd known forever. Well, as much of a conversation you can have with a three-year-old.

The interaction between the two of them kept a small smile on my face, as well as a small blush on my cheeks as the doctor's eyes occasionally met mine while he talked to my daughter.

Once we were inside, Agent Hotchner led me to a small room that had a few chairs in it.

"Do you mind speaking  alone for a few minutes?" He questioned.

I opened my mouth to protest being separated from my daughter, but Dr. Reid kindly interjected.

"Um, I could keep an eye on her for you, while you talk to him?" He cleared his throat and licked his lips.

I bit my lip. "Oh, okay....Are you sure, Dr. Reid?" I asked, my hands fidgeting together.

"I don't mind at all. Besides, Hallie and I were having a very important conversation about SpongeBob." He laughed softly and looked down at Hallie to see her nodding her head. "And, please, call me Spencer."

I nodded and leaned down to place a kiss on Hallie's cheek, making a dramatic smooch noise as I let go. "Mommy's gonna talk in this room over here, okay?" I whispered to her. "You be good for Spencer." I gave her a pointed look and she giggled softly. She wrapped a piece of my hair from my ponytail around her index finger and nodded. She tended to do this when I'd be away from her, or when she was anxious. I didn't know where exactly she'd picked this up from, but it was so sweet I didn't have the heart to break the habit.

"Okay, mommy."

I gave her one last kiss on her forehead and followed the agent into the room. With a quick glance back, I saw Spencer reach his hand out to Hallie and she happily took it, her bringing up the reason why Sandy Cheeks is her favorite character.

"He normally doesn't touch hands with anyone." The agent said quietly, noticing the two holding hands. "He's a bit of a... germaphobe."

I laughed a little as I walked into the room and took a seat at the table, Agent Hotchner sitting across from me.

He placed a file folder on the  metal table and opened it, pulling out a few pieces of paper.

"I wanted to ask you some questions... Agent Rossi said he interviewed you when your parents and sister were killed that night," he looked up at me, his eyes soft and trusting as he searched my own for any hesitancy. When I nodded, he proceeded. "I was hoping you could tell me what happened when you found your sisters letters. It doesn't seem to be recorded in any of the files, like it should have been."

"Dr. Reid had mentioned something like that earlier. It's not surprising, considering they all thought I'd lost my mind after finding my family." I said. "They refused to record what I was telling them because they thought I was being disrespectful towards my father for not letting him rest in peace."

Agent Hotchner furrowed his eyebrows questioningly. "Why would it be disrespectful to your father?"

"Because he was a police officer," I sighed. My hands made their way back to my sockets as I felt the pressure of a migraine egging its way behind my eyes. "They hated that I kept trying to dig something up that they believed wasn't there."

"And you still believe there is something to be found?" he questioned.

"Obviously I do," I kept my eyes trained on his as I tried to figure out if this man believed me or not. "There is no one else in this world that could have replicated what those letters said to me, seeing as the police barely took one look at them, and the only person who actually read them over and over again was with me when the murder happened."

"Who was with you?"

"My best friend, Michelle. We had... snuck out to a party that night. She dropped me off at home after I got a call from my mom, saying she knew I'd hopped out of my bedroom window." I said, my heart racing as I thought back to that night.

"Would Michelle have told anyone what the letters said?"

I shook my head. "No, never. It was really hard for me when I first found them.. I dropped out of school for a bit, got involved with some... bad people." I cleared my throat as I wrapped my arms around myself, embarrassed. I never liked talking about this, but I was relieved that finally someone had believed me enough to ask the right questions.

"Michelle was with me through it all. She never let anyone say anything to me about what happened- I wasn't ready to talk about it. She watched me spiral out of control, but never left my side. Then one day, I jut sort of woke up and asked myself, 'what the fuck are you doing?' and enrolled back into school, graduated with my Masters in social work, and got pregnant with Hallie soon after."

The agent nodded again and turned a document over in the file.

"Do you have any reason to believe someone would want to hurt you or your daughter?" he asked carefully, his tone hesitant.

"I don't know," I whispered, tears welling up into my eyes as I thought of the possibility of someone taking my child away from me in the most damning, permanent way. "I didn't have a reason to believe anyone would want to hurt my parents or sister, so I guess I'm not the right person to ask." I sniffled and used the sleeve of my top to wipe under my eyes.

The agent gave me a kind look and wrote something down onto a piece of paper. He turned to another page and asked the question I dreaded most.

"Where is Hallie's father?" he asked.

I swallowed hard and smiled sarcastically, my mind summersaulting as I thought back to the man that had given me the best thing in my life.

"Not around." I replied, my tone sparse.

He raised an eyebrow at me and closed the file folder, sliding it gently to the left and folding his hands atop the metal table.

"Not around, as in...?" he trailed off.

"Not around, as in, I have no clue where he is," I said, my jaw clenching. "And frankly, I don't want to know."

"Did he know about what had happened to your family?"

I leaned my elbows on the cold table and put my head in my hands.

"Yes."

"Could he be behind sending the letters?"

"No."

"How can you be sure?"

I looked back up at him, my heart in my throat and tears threatening to spill over as I thought of the man who I still had nightmares about.

"I never told him about the letters." I breathed. "I never told him about Hallie, either."

Agent Hotchner seemed taken aback by my statement, and leaned in a bit closer. 

"When I got pregnant, it was completely by accident," I started. "I was trying to prove a point that I didn't need the cookie cutter life like my parents, I didn't have to have a good guy to be happy like my mom always bragged about. He was the perfect candidate for that role; my parents would've hated him...but I got knocked up." I cleared my throat and looked away from the mans deep brown eyes that seemed too curious to hear the rest.

"I got knocked up in the middle of an emotionally and physically abusive, manipulative and toxic relationship. He would've killed me if he'd found out I was pregnant," I nearly whispered. "I broke it off with him as soon as I found out. I couldn't risk the bastard knowing I was carrying his child- he'd made it very clear in our relationship how he felt about children, and based on my first hand experience with him- I took his word for it.

"As soon as I left him, I tried so hard to get my shit together. Again." I rolled my eyes and watched Hotchner smile a little. "I had to be perfect for her, because she was so perfect."

My eyes moved from the agent and to the glass window behind him that allowed me to see my daughter, watching her hold up fingers in front of Spencer to show him her counting skills. There was another woman that had joined them; she had cute cat-eye glasses placed on her face with bright red lipstick and a colorful dress. I smiled as I watched Hallie point to the small designs on the dress.

"I know it seems crazy, claiming that my family's case was wrongfully closed," I looked back at the agent. "And it's even crazier that I don't have anymore information for you to go off of. But I just...  I know it. I know you guys got the wrong guy fifteen years ago, and he wants me to know it." I said quietly.

Agent Hotchner stood up from the chair and indicated for me to do the same.

"Well," he pushed in the chair and opened the door to the common area for me. "I can tell you this much. Whoever threw the rock into your living room, definitely knew about the letters, and definitely has been stalking you. I'm not saying you're wrong about catching the wrong guy fifteen years ago, but we don't know if this is him or a copycat."

He closed the door behind him, walking with me towards the group of people who seemed to have gathered around Spencer and Hallie.

"But my team and I will help you, and help keep you and your daughter safe." he said, his eyes locking on mine. "I can promise you that."

More tears seemed to fill my eyes as I leaped to hug the agent, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" I cried. Everyone seemed to turn and face us at the same time, and I awkwardly let go of the agent, my face burning in embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm a hugger." I laughed softly and turned back towards the group of people standing with my daughter. My eyes met with Spencers and I smiled bashfully as I walked towards them.

Hallie immediately hopped from the chair next to Spencer and galloped towards me with a bright smile on her face. (She never really wasn't smiling.)

"Mommy, Pelelopee has a pretty dress. You see?" she excitedly tugged my arm forward so I was face to face with the Pelelopee.

"Penelope Garcia, and I'm a hugger too. Especially to those that birth such cuteness!" she said, and quickly enveloped me into a hug. I smiled as she let go and looked to the few people who stood around us.

"Is there anywhere you can stay for the next couple of days that you'd feel safe?" Agent Rossi spoke up.

I nodded and pulled out my phone, seeing missed calls and multiple text messages from Michelle.

"Shit," I quickly clicked on Michelle's name to call her back.

"Is everything okay?" Spencer asked.

I nodded in response and turned away for a moment as the line only rang once before I heard, "Where the FUCK are you!"

"I'm so sorry, everything happened so fast I didn't have time to call you-"

"Are you okay? Is Hallie okay? What happened??"

I quickly told Michelle what had happened and where we were.

"I forgot my stupid charger at your house and went back to grab it, and saw police everywhere, windows smashed, everything! You weren't answering your phone and the bastard cops wouldn't tell me anything!"

"I'm so sorry, Shell." I sighed. "Good news is.... slumber party at Auntie Shellie's house!" I smirked, saying it loud enough for Hallie to hear.

* ੈ✩‧₊˚

The next few weeks were... different.
There were no letters, no rocks being thrown through Michelle's windows with notes tied to them. I still had barely slept, and it was becoming apparent that I needed it.

Spencer and the rest of the team had been looking deeper into the old case as the weeks went on, but there was just no new information.

Spencer tried to reassure me that this didn't mean we wouldn't find anything.

As the weeks passed, the team left and came back from new cases they had to work on, and I found myself talking to Spencer almost every day as he called to check in on us. Hallie would immediately grab the phone to talk to him and tell him exactly what games she started playing at daycare that day.

Spencer didn't seem to pry with personal questions, he mostly would ask how my day was and if I was sleeping. He'd noticed the bags under my eyes had become darker and deeper when he returned this last time from a case in California.

"That's an irrelevant question," I'd responded to him over the phone when he asked if I had slept the night before.

"It's a very relevant question. Did you know some of the most serious potential problems associated with chronic sleep deprivation are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure or stroke?"

"Spencer, I don't think i'm going to suffer from a stroke just because I didn't sleep last night." I laughed, rubbing my eyes. I looked down at my phone and saw it was nearing one AM. We'd been on the phone for almost an hour.

He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Does Michelle know?"

I stiffened and furrowed my eyebrows.
"Does she know what?" I asked slowly.

"That you're not sleeping while you're staying at her house." he sighed.

"I wasn't sleeping when I was at my own house, Spencer, what difference does it make? Besides, she's got her own, more important stuff to worry about..." I trailed off.

"I just think-"

"I'm okay, Spencer." I said quietly.

Spencer had gotten called away and had to go, but we talked again the next night.

Hallie and I had taken over Michelle and her husbands guest bedroom, and as much as Hallie loved her Auntie Shelley, she missed sleeping in her own bed. I didn't blame her.

During our timely stay, I'd accidentally walked in on Michelle and her husband, Joseph, having an important talk that I wasn't so sure my best friend was ready to talk to me about.

I apologized profusely once I realized what I'd walked into, and saw Michelle's eyes full of tears, makeup smeared and nose red. I quickly walked back into the guest room, sitting on the bed with my hands in my lap. Hallie was fast asleep next to me when Michelle softly tapped on the door, beckoning me out to the living room.

"I'm so sorry, Shell, I really didn't mean to walk in while you guys were having a serious conversation. I didn't know..."

She smiled softly as she took my hands in her own.

"Don't apologize, it's okay. I would've been telling you about it soon anyways. I just didn't know how to bring it up without getting upset. I.... I'm still coping." she whispered with a small smile.

"When's the surgery?" I asked quietly.

"Next week."

I bit my lip and squeezed her hand tightly as a few tears of my own fell down my cheeks.

"Hallie and I will be right there with you, if you want us." I whispered.

She smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

Michelle had become pregnant a few months ago, and had excruciating pains between the days and weeks that went by. She made an appointment with her doctor, only to find out she had ovarian cancer.

She'd only told her mother about the pregnancy, and soon told her husband after receiving the news about her cancer. The doctor explained that she could try to carry the pregnancy to term, but there was no guarantee she or the baby would make it.

This was a devastating blow for her, seeing as she loved kids and had everything planned out since we were kids. She and Joseph had decided her life wasn't worth risking to try and conceive again. This was the conversation I'd accidentally walked in on- I hadn't known she'd been pregnant at all, but I wasn't offended she hadn't told me.

Michelle not carrying her pregnancy to term was not ideal for Michelle's mother, she explained.

Her mother had become so upset, she didn't understand why Michelle wouldn't even want to try to carry out the pregnancy. This completely rendered Michelle and her mother's relationship as she felt her own mother had no regard for her daughter's life.

"I understand why she's upset, she's never going to have grandkids," Michelle cried, leaning into my chest as we laid on my bed in the guest room. "When she found out KJ got a vasectomy because his wife didn't want kids all those years ago, she freaked out. She was so angry that KJ had done that without consulting her- she finally calmed down like a week later, and told me it was okay because I would be the one to give her the gift of grandchildren. I feel like she's going to kill herself knowing that I won't be able to give that to her."

Michelle sobbed into my arms and I brushed my hand over her poofy curls in a soothing manner. I didn't know what to say- I couldn't relate to Michelle in this instance, I'd had my daughter. I felt like anything I could say wouldn't be helpful, so I stayed quiet.

Sometimes it was okay to be silent, the comfort of someone just being there seeming to be enough.

Once the repair men had finished replacing my windows (twelve hundred dollars later), they gave the go ahead to move back in. I was hesitant at this point, just because I wanted to be sure Hallie and I would be safe there.

Agent Hotchner had called to let me know it was safe to move back into my house, as they would have police officers posted outside on shifts throughout the week in case of another incident.

So, after six weeks of repairing the windows, installing an alarm system and cameras, consoling Michelle in her hardest times, Hallie and I were able to move back into our home.

And it was all downhill from there.

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AUTHORS                                    NOTE.

A/N: hey guys :) I hope you like this chapter, i'm very excited to be getting into the main part of the story.
I typically don't like time jumps, but this was necessary, lol.

in case you were wondering, you pronounce Kaleah cuh-lee-yuh

Since we've had this tiny jump, it'll be much easier to have more Spencer x Sabrina moments!

but I just want to put out a warning that, I do intend this to be a slow burn.... I won't say for how long (hehe) but don't expect them to just suddenly be in love, lol.

Also, any thoughts on Spencer and Hallie's relationship? :)

Please vote & comment, I appreciate all of your feedback!!!

PS- I finished this chapter on mobile so I will edit it later, just wanted to update ASAP!

edited 12/21/21

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