-MAD WOMAN-
sixteen!

when everything goes to hell, the people
who stand by you without flinching - they
are your family
- jim butcher

now - 6x18!

On Wren Spader's top ten list of days in her life that she regretted, she couldn't decide if meeting Ian Doyle was an honorable mention, or if the event actually had a place. If it did manage to find a place on the list, she wouldn't be able to tell you where it was ranked. But Wren always knew that that day was one that would haunt her.

She had met him after Emily did. Clyde and Sean wanted to make sure that Emily had built enough rapport with Doyle before they brought in their second set of eyes and on all accounts, it was a smart move. While Emily established herself as a weapons dealer, Wren was introduced as the woman's apprentice. Their undercover work ranged almost daily, but while Emily was playing the part of Lauren Reynolds, Doyle's romantic interest and dealer, Wren was playing the part of Leslie Ryder, the trainee who was treated like shit but heard every word anyone ever said.

Wren couldn't decide if meeting Doyle or joining JTF-12 was why she was put in the position she is in now, but she really wanted to place all of her blame on one person. And Ian Doyle was the easiest target.

She sat in a now practically cleared-out bullpen with the rest of the BAU, excluding one, of course, as they spoke about who they might be looking for. Emily had only been gone for thirty minutes, but Wren knew that she was running out of time. With each topic the team moved through, they drew closer to the agents that arrested him and the brunette couldn't stop them or steer them in another direction.

"I've got five names on the bottom of the list Prentiss gave us," Morgan announced as he walked over to one of the evidence boards and pinned the names up. "Luke Renault, Lawrence Riley, Lila Rafferty, Landon Robinson, Lyle Rogers."

"All with the initials L.R.," Seaver pointed out.

"The CIA uses cryptograms like that to assign to non-official cover agents working the same case," Hotch explained.

"So do other foreign countries," Morgan added as he held out one of the documents. "These last five names are covers - spies."

"Wait," Penelope took the document from Morgan and looked at it, her eyebrows knitted together. "No, this isn't right. Do you see these spaces? These shouldn't be there."

Shit. Wren thought.

"Could it be a formatting error?" Reid suggested.

"No, this is a spreadsheet template," the technical analyst explained. "Formatting doesn't allow for this. Let alone twice. There are two missing names on here."

"Two other spies whose covers are L.R."

There was a beat of silence before Spencer spoke again. "Lauren Reynolds is dead."

Wren felt as though her neck could have snapped by how quickly she turned to look at the man. "What did you say?"

"Lauren Reynolds is dead," he repeated, standing up. "Prentiss said that on a phone call seventeen days ago, but her intonation wasn't surprised or grief. It was like a mantra - like she was reminding herself. Lauren Reynolds. L.R."

Double shit.

It didn't take long until Hotch looked over at Wren, saw the color draining from her face, and put the pieces together for himself. He may not have had the memory that Reid did, but the phrases were too similar for him to not recall what he had heard Wren say two weeks ago.

"Leslie Ryder was killed," he stated as he met the brunette's eyes. She wanted to shake her head, deny any allegations he may throw her way, or say anything that wasn't going to get some of the team to look at her as a traitor, but she had nothing.

"Hotch-"

"Leslie Ryder. That's you, isn't it?"

"I can explain-"

"Isn't it?" The unit chief repeated. He wasn't angry with her, but Wren felt as though she was watching the severity of the situation unfold itself to him behind his eyes.

All she could do was sigh as she felt the rest of the team's eyes trained on her. "Yes."

"And is Prentiss Lauren Reynolds?"

"Yes."

"So that makes both of you Doyle's targets," Seaver spoke as Hotch moved past Wren, his hand reaching for the phone in his pocket.

"That's correct too."

"Where's Prentiss?" Hotch pulled the brunette's attention back to him and she turned to see him holding Emily's phone, gun, and badge. All of which she left behind for a reason.

"She left her badge and gun? Why would she do that?" Morgan asked.

"She can't be a federal agent for what she's about to do," Wren muttered to herself, almost glad that her words were skipped over.

"It doesn't make sense. Why run? We're her family. We're your family," Spencer reiterated as he turned to look at Wren once more. The look of heartbreak and fear was one that Wren was sure would keep her up at night. "We can help."

"Doyle's killing families," Rossi spoke. "Neither of them is married. Emily isn't close to her relatives-"

"I already got mine out of the state a few weeks ago," Wren interjected, helping the man explain the actions she and Emily made.

"He was ready to wipe us out, wasn't he?" the man asked Wren, not truly expecting an answer as the brunette bit the inside of her cheek. "She ran to protect us."

"And you just let her leave?" Morgan questioned Wren next, his voice hostile.

"Now hold on, he had already killed Tsia," Wren defended herself. "He was making every move to take out everyone around us and I wasn't going to be able to change her mind. She was going after him, I couldn't stop her no matter how hard I tried."

"Why didn't you go with her?"

"Because she didn't want me to."

"That's not good enough, Spader. Why would you just let her go?"

"Because he's threatening Oakley's life!" She snapped at him, though his expression didn't soften or react to the news. "I don't know how the fuck he found her or who he has out there watching her, but he has eyes on Oakley and Raven. If I step out of place, all it takes is a fucking phone call and he'll kill them. I can't put them in danger. I don't know what I'll do if he gets to them."

"Okay, Wren, it's okay. We've got you," Rossi attempted to console the woman. He now had an explanation for every night he found her pacing the hotels during a case or her spending extra time at the training facilities. He walked over to the brunette and pulled her into a hug, though she resisted. She needed to be strong right now and she was failing miserably. Not only was she failing at being strong, but she was failing Emily. Wren couldn't give her the hour's headstart that she wanted and her mouth practically fell open the moment they started asking questions.

"Spader, how much do we not know?" Hotch asked after Rossi pulled away.

"So much," she breathed out and it felt as though a weight was being lifted off her shoulders. "I don't know what's important and what's not, but saying 'Ian Doyle is dangerous' is the understatement of the year."

"And what about Emily?" Seaver asked. "How do we find her?"

"She's a trained spy. She doesn't want to be found," Rossi told the blonde.

"She knows all of our tricks. We don't know any of hers." Morgan added.

"Do you know any of hers?" Spencer asked Wren.

"I do, but none that will help figure out where she's headed."

"All right, then how do we find her?" Garcia inquired.

"Here's how - Ian Doyle is our unsub. Prentiss and Spader are our victims," Hotch stated as he walked up to the evidence board and pinned Emily's badge next to Doyle's mug shot. "We profile their behavior and we treat it like any other case. Because terrorism isn't an area we specialize in, I've reached out to an expert from the state department. Someone who can also shed some light on Prentiss's past, with the help of Spader, if you'll reveal the secrets you have."

Wren nodded as Reid spoke. "Who did you reach out to?"

"Her," Hotch nodded his head over to the glass doors and the group looked over to see a blonde that Wren, personally, hadn't seen in at least three months.

Jennifer Jareau looked different in a way, but she would never be unrecognizable to the BAU. She appeared to be much more composed and professional-looking than she once was, but she still radiated the kind, compassionate energy that she did when she was with the team. "Let's get to work."

The reunions were brief, to say the least, but they weren't running on much time, so catching up with JJ wasn't the top priority. The group moved to the roundtable room after explaining their newfound situation to the blonde. She was on the phone for a total of five minutes before she was ready to present the information that was just sent to her.

Wren stood next to the screen as JJ prepared to talk to the team. And while the brunette was prepared to open up to the team about her past, she still felt sick to her stomach.

"Okay, so I talked to a friend from Langley," JJ began. "He couldn't give me Emily's full CIA history, but he could give me this." A mostly redacted document appeared on the screen with Emily's picture on it. Wren recognized the hairstyle the woman was sporting as the one she wore while they were undercover. "She assumed the identity of Lauren Reynolds as part of a special task force called JTF-12."

"I heard about them," Rossi spoke up. "They were profiling terrorists, weren't they?"

"Yeah, assembled after 9/11, the CIA and other western agencies contributed their best and brightest," the blonde explained.

"Wren, how were you enrolled?" Spencer asked.

"I was twenty-four when I was recruited by Interpol," she explained as her own redacted file appeared on the screen next to Emily's. Wren's file showed a much younger image of herself, sporting a style of dark eyeliner and straightened pitch-black hair. The whole ensemble was something she was sure none of her current teammates could ever see her wearing now. "I had just finished my first year at the New York FBI field office and all of a sudden my boss was telling me I was transferring to France."

"They put you onto a task force after one year of field duty?" Morgan questioned in disbelief.

"Look, I don't know why they wanted me for the job either, but I wasn't an original member of the team. They added me after three or four cases."

"But serial killers and terrorists have different personality traits," Ashley pushed the conversation forward.

"How does Doyle fit in?"

"He was our last case," Wren stated.

"And now the JTF is on his hit list," JJ continued as Doyle's picture appeared alongside Wren's and Emily's on the screen. Then, as JJ spoke, each member of JTF-12 was added to the monitor. "Jeremy Wolff was victim number one, from Germany's BND. Sean McCallister was the second-"

"He's dead?" Wren interrupted, her voice cracked a bit as the question flew out of her mouth. The solemn nod from JJ was all it took for the brunette to want to throw up all over again.

"He was the one that brought the JTF in to work the Doyle case. He was murdered last week in Brussels with his wife and daughter," the blonde resumed, sparing a glance toward Wren as she mentioned the fate of the whole McCallister family. "Tsia Mosely of France's DCRI. She got engaged to Jeremy earlier this year. After he died, she fled to D.C. And team leader, Clyde Easter, British SIS. He hasn't checked in since Tsia's murder. He was also in D.C."

"Wait a second, that's only four. There were five names on the list," Morgan pointed out.

"The last would be Giovanni Paxton," the blonde said and Wren looked over to the screen to see Gio's face for the first time in what felt like forever. "British OSCT. He died four years ago due to a sudden heart attack."

"Why do I feel like I've heard of him before?" Penelope asked and Wren shifted her focus over to the technical analyst.

"He was the one who gave me this," the brunette spoke softly as she lifted up the necklace. Garcia's mouth sat agape as the memories of the stories Wren told her of a former fling who died suddenly came back to her.

"Did JTF make the arrests?" Hotch questioned.

"No, the host countries handled that," JJ answered. "The team moved on to the next case."

"If all they did was deliver a profile, how does Doyle even know about them?"

"Well, considering the shadowy nature of terrorist cells, they utilized a skill we don't - infiltration."

"Who was undercover on Doyle?" Reid asked next.

"Emily and I were," Wren answered. "She made contact with him in Boston to get intel on Valhalla. She posed as a weapons dealer and I was her apprentice."

"Look at how she's dressed," Morgan spoke as he flipped through the surveillance photos of Emily on the day of Doyle's arrest. "She seems awfully comfortable."

"How close did you two get to Doyle as part of your cover?" Hotch questioned.

"I spent a lot of my cover with his staff, gaining their trust and gathering intel that way," the brunette described their assignment. "Emily, well-"

"The recon they did on Doyle included a background of all of his romantic relationships," JJ took over for the woman. "Emily was his type."

As the team digested all of the information that was just thrown at them, JJ and Wren left the room to allow them to process it on their own. Wren knew that there wasn't much JJ could say to make her feel better, but she appreciated her attempts nonetheless. She watched the team through the window of the bullpen, easily able to read each of their faces for the first time. Morgan's expression was the one that stood out to her the most and it told her everything she would ever need to know about how he felt. He was disgusted in a way, but his disgust was nothing compared to the betrayal he felt by both her and Emily. Wren knew that it would take a lot of time for him to ever look at either of them the same.

✦✧✦

Morgan and Rossi had gone off to Prentiss's apartment to see if they could find anything she may have left behind as a clue. While they were gone, Wren was instructed to sit in Hotch's office and not leave. She knew they were going to watch her like a hawk now and she understood why. The fear that they were feeling was the exact same fear she had been feeling for weeks.

Before much time had passed at all, Morgan and Rossi returned with the theory that Prentiss had gone to Boston. And when Garcia presented the information that Clyde Easter had just landed in Boston under one of his aliases, the team was quick to make their way to the jet.

On the plane, Wren was sitting next to Spencer on the couch when Penelope screamed suddenly. The noise had interrupted the first veil of silence to fall over the plane since they took off and was quickly explained when the technical analyst turned her laptop to face the group. The screen presented some video surveillance of a bar in Boston where Doyle and some of his men were leaving.

"Emily walked into a trap," Garcia said as the video played. "It looks like Doyle got into the SUV, but from this angle, you can see that he didn't. Which I wish Boston would have told me before I started watching it. Sorry again for the screaming."

The team watched as Emily approached the second vehicle, firing a semi-automatic into the windows as she walked. When she was close enough, she threw a smoke grenade into the car. She then made her way to the other side of the car and when she turned around due to something catching her attention, she was shot twice. Doyle reappeared in the camera's line of sight and approached the woman who was now laying on the ground before the video ended.

"She threw a flash-bang grenade into a car," Morgan stated. "She's lucky the three people inside didn't die. Is anybody bothered by that?"

"Well, three bad guys," Rossi argued.

"Emily has to be as ruthless as Doyle is. It's the way it's always been where he's involved," Wren added, though Derek's eyes only narrowed at her words.

"Well, if you had just told us what was going on from the beginning, we wouldn't be watching her do this," he retorted, his anger over the whole situation seeming to burst out anytime Wren had something to say.

"If I told you from the beginning, there's a chance that you would be dead right now. I'm sorry for valuing your life over the illegal actions of my friend," she fired back.

"He's come to the U.S. to wage a public vendetta and hired a group of mercenaries to remain loyal to him," Reid interjected the argument, placing a hand on top of Wren's in an attempt to calm her down. "He has nothing to lose, so she has to act the same way."

"So, how did Doyle know she was waiting for him?" Rossi asked, pushing the conversation onward.

"Well, the mole must have told him, right?" JJ asked. "The same guy who's been feeding Doyle the contractors and agents?"

"And our best suspect was just arrested with a suitcase full of cash," Seaver added. "How do we get Easter to talk? He won't cooperate willingly."

"Let me talk to him," Wren pleaded, directing her request toward the unit chief.

"Absolutely not."

"But I know him, he'll listen to me," the brunette made the attempt to argue.

"Exactly. You're too close to this. He knows your tells just as well as you know his. I will handle Easter. The rest of you focus on Doyle's location," her boss instructed.

"I hate to be the one to ask this, but how long does Emily have?" Penelope asked, the question directed at Wren.

She almost didn't want to answer, because she knew almost exactly what Doyle was doing or planning to do to Emily. She didn't want to think about how long it would take for Doyle to get all of his anger out on the woman. And she certainly didn't want to think about how much of it Emily could even take. "The answer won't make you feel any better, but Doyle saved her for last because he views her as his stressor. He'll take his time."

"And what about you? Why aren't you part of his stressor?" Morgan asked. The words were laced with venom and Wren could almost hear the question he actually wanted to ask.

Why aren't you in her place? Why didn't Doyle take you instead?

Wren didn't have an answer that would satisfy him.

✧✦✧

The team worked out of the Boston field office when they arrived in the city. While Hotch and Spader were looking through the files they had brought along with them, Rossi had walked into the room with a low-level mob member that Wren had only met once. But apparently, her face was recognizable enough for him to greet her as he was escorted through the room.

"Hey, Leslie, sweetheart, would you tell these meatheads to let go of me?" Jack Fahey requested. "I mean, come on, we both know I'm the man!"

All Wren had to do was pull her lips into a tight smile and hold up her FBI badge. That was all it took for his face to crumble. His last line of defense, his only possible ally in the building turned out to be an FBI agent. That had to sting for him. But Wren only found enjoyment in the expression on his face.

Once he was far enough away, Rossi approached the brunette, who was sitting next to Hotch. The one rule she was given while they were looking for Doyle was that she was to be with at least one member of the team at all times and currently, Hotch was on babysitting duty.

"Who's that?" Hotch asked.

"Jack Fahey. Low-level Irish mob," Wren explained before pointing her attention to Rossi. "What's he doing here?"

"He called Easter's phone twelve times in six hours," he told her and she nodded in understanding.

"Any connection to Doyle?" The unit chief questioned.

"Irish mob has long-standing ties to the I.R.A.," Rossi replied.

"I'm pretty sure he was our way to getting Prentiss to meet Doyle," the brunette recalled.

"Dave, see if you can get anything out of him," Hotch instructed. Rossi nodded and as he left the pair, he gave Wren a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"What do you want me to do?" Wren asked her boss as he continued to look through the files.

"I want you to stay put. I'm going to go talk to Easter and you are going to stay here. Seaver is helping Garcia set up her equipment but you are not to leave their line of sight, got it?" Hotch demanded and Wren sighed.

"Hotch, please, I can help."

"You are helping," he agreed. "But I can't have you going off on your own. For all we know, Doyle already knows we're here. And if he gets a chance to kill you." Hotch paused as he thought. "Well, he just might take it. He's already likely torturing one of my agents. I won't let him harm another."

All the brunette could do was nod. As much as she hated having to be the one the team was protecting, she also knew she needed it. There were two ways that Doyle could get to Wren while she was in the middle of an FBI field office. One would be to either send in a gunman to kill her, the second was to blow the place up. Both options would cause him more publicity than he needed and he would be killing more people than necessary. He was incredibly mission-orientated. He wouldn't kill any more people than he had to.

After Hotch went off to the room where Clyde was being detained, Wren made her way over to Ashley and Penelope. She stayed with them while Rossi and Reid interrogated Fahey and Morgan and JJ were prepping a SWAT unit to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Seaver wasn't all that phased by Wren's presence, which was nice. She was still young and rather new to the team in the grand scheme of things, so the brunette's decision to keep secrets wasn't affecting her as much. And even if it was bothering her, she wasn't showing it in her body language or the expression on her face.

Garcia on the other hand was having a hard time wrapping her head around the whole thing. She was trying so hard to understand Wren's point of view, and Emily's too, but she couldn't comprehend how neither of them felt they could trust anyone on the team enough to tell them what they were going through. She didn't feel betrayed or angry as Morgan did, but she was still confused and hurt. Penelope was so worried about Emily, that the feeling was almost paralyzing. But she was doing her best to push through her fear and focus all of her energy on finding the woman, even though she currently had nothing to go off of.

The women worked quietly and quickly during the half-hour that Hotch was gone. When the unit chief reemerged, he was followed by Rossi and Reid. Seaver, Hotch, Rossi, and Spader all spoke about Fahey's newfound confidence and his refusal to speak. After coming to the conclusion that letting the crook smoke to ease his nicotine fit, Wren talked Ashley through some pointers on getting narcissists to open up. Then the blonde and Rossi took Fahey up to the roof so he could smoke without disturbing any of the agents in the building.

Babysitting-Wren-duty was then passed on to Spencer, who sat with her as she bounced her leg up and down while twisting the chain around her neck repeatedly.

"You never told me who gave you the necklace," the man spoke after a few minutes of the pair sitting in silence. "I assume he was a boyfriend."

Wren let out a dry chuckle at his attempt for small talk during the crisis the team was facing. "We tried to date for a little while. It didn't really seem to work on his end, though. I'm pretty sure I was in love with him... But he died before I could ever tell him that."

"So you gave up on trying to connect with anyone like that ever again," Spencer stated and she looked over at him, slightly shocked at his analysis. "It's okay. I understand your hesitation. I can't imagine someone dying before you get to tell them how you really feel."

The brunette sighed. "Well, everyone who's concerned with my love life thinks I should be over it by now. I mean it has been four years, after all."

"No one should get to tell you how long it takes you to move on."

Wren didn't reply.

"Does it still hurt when you think of him?" Spencer asked after a few moments.

"Not as much as it used to," Wren admitted. "I mean, it never really stops hurting, but it gets easier. I don't think of the bad as much anymore or of how he died. Now, I remember a lot of the good times I had with him when he crosses my mind."

"Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"He just never came up in conversation," she shrugged. "I only told Penelope because I lent her the necklace during a case. The only other person on the team that knows about him is Emily."

Spencer decided to take Wren's hand in his. A decision that to most would be shocking for the genius, but when it came to Wren, holding her hand came as easily as saying 'hello.' "You don't need a reason to tell me things, you know that, right?"

"I know," she agreed as she truly exhaled for the first time in what felt like hours. "It's just hard to even get the courage to say anything at all sometimes. No matter who I'm talking to."

It was Spencer's turn to not reply. He simply took in the words she said and nodded.

"How are you handling all of this?" She asked him as she looked down at their intertwined fingers. "I'm sure it's been a lot to process."

"Actually, it's been nice to have an explanation for your behavior these past couple of weeks," he confessed. "I may not understand some of the decisions you and Emily made, but I get why you kept all of this a secret. If I was in your place, I probably would've done the same thing."

"If you were in my place, you would've figured out a way to fix all of this a day after we found out Doyle had escaped," Wren argued as she nudged him lightly with her shoulder, and a small smile formed on his face.

"Just because I have an IQ of-"

Spencer's rebuttal was interrupted by the sound of gunshots and shouting from the roof above them. Wren hadn't even realized how little time had passed since Rossi and Seaver took Fahey to smoke, but Hotch appeared in front of her and Reid before she could go investigate.

"Reid, take Spader down to the main floor. Don't let her out of your sight," the unit chief ordered the man, who nodded and tightened his grip on Wren's hand as he pulled her towards the stairs.

A rush of questions about the well-being of her teammates poured from her lips as she was dragged away from the commotion. She understood why her safety was important, but she would never argue that it was more important than Rossi's or Seaver's. She wanted to know if they were okay, but Wren knew she wouldn't be getting an answer about that until Spencer got word from the team.

It felt as though time moved both like molasses and faster than the speed of light at the same time as the two agents waited in a small corner in the lobby of the field office. They were close enough to an exit that if they needed to get out quick, they could, but not close enough that if one of Doyle's men walked in, they'd be able to access her.

Thirty minutes of waiting later, Spencer got a call from Hotch saying that it was all clear. The pair took the elevator back up to the offices the team was using and immediately, Wren's attention was captured by the sight of Ashley covered in blood. The brunette rushed over to help in any way she could, though Rossi was already taking care of her. Luckily for the blonde, Wren's go bag wasn't stored with the rest of the team's and she was able to get Ashley a replacement shirt fairly quickly. Reid had gone off to help Morgan and so Wren was left with the two members of the team who had just been shot at, though she was glad they weren't Doyle's target.

But before Wren could even comprehend the questions that Rossi and Seaver were asking her, Hotch was pulling her away to go talk to Clyde. Apparently, her boss had uncovered some information that could help and he needed Wren's assistance to get through to the Brit. But if Wren was being honest, she barely understood what Hotch had learned about Clyde as he was talking too fast for her to hear any of it.

"Did you know that Jeremy sold the list to Doyle?" the unit chief asked Clyde the moment the pair entered the room. But Clyde's focus was pointed at Wren instead of the question he was asked.

"You didn't go with her?" Clyde spoke in disbelief.

"She didn't want me to," Wren answered simply, though she was still reeling from the news that Jeremy was the rat. "Answer his question."

"I had my suspicions," he said, looking at Hotch.

"So when you got to D.C., you couldn't trust Tsia either," Hotch assumed.

"Prentiss and I read your doubt as deception and so did my team," the woman continued his thought process, starting to understand why she was brought in here.

"Well, you could have just asked me who Doyle's plant was," the Brit replied.

"Would you have told us?"

"No."

"Someone we both care about is in trouble," Hotch reminded the man. "I need the original profile when Doyle was a terrorist. We combine that with who he is now as a serial killer."

"Agent Hotchner, you took an oath to protect the laws of your country, and I took one to protect the secrets of mine," Clyde said. "Do you understand what you're asking?"

"I know it's not easy."

"I'll do it," he added quickly. "If you join me. You see, there's no catching that man. He'd escape from your prison as easily as he did North Korea. And then, all hell breaks loose. If you want to stop that man, you have to put a bullet between his eyes yourself. Can you do that? Can you break your oath, Agent Hotchner?"

"No," Hotch admitted quietly.

"I can," Wren spoke suddenly. "I've taken both oaths. I know the protocols to follow and I know all of the loopholes."

"Spader, I'm not letting you go after him," her boss shook his head.

"Hotch-"

"I'm not risking another agent. Especially when he's already expressed interest in killing you."

"Exactly. I already have a target on my back and the worst he can really do is kill me," she exclaimed, her sudden disregard for her own life growing slightly alarming to both men in the room. "It's my fault she's with him in the first place."

"Wren, Agent Hotchner is right. You can't go after him on your own. You'd just end up in the exact same place that Emily is," Clyde attempted to reason with her.

"But it's my fault," she repeated, the events of the day finally catching up with her. "I should have stopped her or been stubborn enough to actually go with her. I got her into this mess, I should be the one out there trying to fix it!"

A knock on the door ended that conversation and revealed JJ standing on the other side to announce the arrival of the British Consulate. There was a brief moment of silence as Wren collected herself before Clyde announced that he would be assisting the BAU with the case.

✦✧✦

The news that Declan was Ian Doyle's son was just as shocking to Wren as it was to Clyde. She had met the boy multiple times while she was living on Doyle's property and she was always told that he was the son of a housekeeper. But Wren supposed that it made sense why he was the only kid on the property. And it also made sense why Emily had kept his identity a secret from everyone. If Declan's identity had been added to the profile when Doyle was first arrested... well, Wren couldn't even imagine the things North Korea would have done to Declan just to get Doyle to talk.

Wren couldn't help but sense that the photos of Declan and his adoptive mother being shot were staged and her suspicions were found to be correct when Spencer noticed something off about the images. His revelation that the person holding the gun in the photos was Emily put the pieces together for Wren. She understood what Emily did and she could not have been more proud or impressed.

After her many protests and Hotch's final threat to handcuff her to a desk, Wren was left at the field office with Penelope and JJ while the rest of the team made their way to the warehouse where Doyle was keeping Emily. Her anxiety added to the technical analyst's should have been a recipe for disaster, but luckily it wasn't thanks to both JJ and Clyde waiting with them until they had news. Clyde was able to keep Wren's anxieties at bay enough so that she could comfort her friend. But an hour and a half later, the group got the call that they needed to head to the hospital.

The brunette clutched onto Spencer's sleeve as if it were the only thing keeping her afloat. Her bouncing legs sufficiently occupied her anxiety so that she could surrender her other hand to the genius so he could fiddle with her rings as they waited for news about Emily's condition. And man, did they wait for a long time.

Doyle got away somehow. In the midst of the commotion to get Emily to the hospital as quickly as they could, Wren assumed that they had just forgotten about the convict. And while her mind was plagued with worry for the woman she'd known for close to nine years, Wren couldn't help but wonder about Doyle. She couldn't help but think about what his next move would be now that he knew about his son.

Her racing mind came to a dreaded halt the moment JJ entered the lounge. She was the team's source when it came to updates about Emily, so when the blonde walked in with tears in her now puffy eyes, the whole group attempted to prepare themselves for the worst. But nothing could ever prepare any of them for the seven words that would leave her mouth.

"She never made it off the table," JJ uttered and Spencer immediately pulled himself out of Wren's grasp, leaving the woman to start to sink.

Though she stood up as she processed the news that Emily was dead, Wren felt herself start to crumble. It was as though the floor was falling from beneath her and there was nothing she could do about it.

For the first time ever, the Behavioral Analysis Unit saw Wren Spader cry.

And she didn't know how to make it stop.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ahaha hey...

anyway i highkey feel like this is shit so sorry if it actually is

let me know what you think! i know i have a lot of silent readers on this fic, and while i don't really care, i would feel better if you guys just commented every once in a while and gave me feedback !

also i wanted to shout out hrtstoppers for making the gif bc it's amazing and i adore it and them!!!

thank you for reading, i appreciate you all <3

with love, robin!