1 | TREPIDATION. [SPENCER REID]

TWENTY SEVEN.

TWENTY SEVEN ; VICTIM.

It was the clicking of Penelope Garcia's heels against the tile of the sixth floor that caught the attention of all. Her usual amiable expression was replaced with fear. The light in her eyes was no longer there; rather, tears took the light's place.

Other agents chatter. Their murmurs can be heard. They're confused- Garcia's the fifth member of the BAU team that they've seen in a state of panic. Their eyes followed the nearly running woman. Something had to be happening.

The clicking continued. A single tear fell down Penelope's cheek. She grimaced as she heard her teammates voices. They're frantic. She's frantic. Inhaling sharply, she opened the door, eyes meeting those of her best friends.

Derek Morgan was seething. The anger was evident as he stood tall, arms crossed over his chest, looking at the board that held a map of Virginia. The subtle glances toward Quinn don't go unnoticed. He, like the rest of them, was worried. His eyes are the first to catch Penelope's.

"I came as soon as I heard..." Penelope whimpered, glance traveling around the room. She saw Quinn stationary on the couch against the wall of the round table room. One of her hands covered her mouth, the other laid intertwined in Spencer's, knuckles white from latching onto him. She was frozen, expression stoic, never looking anywhere but in front of her.

Penelope let another year fall as she looked at her friend. She had only seen her this was once before, and that was when they found her six months ago. The last thing that the technical analyst wanted was for anyone to be in pain.

"Quinn..." she whispered. She felt an arm upon her shoulder. Penelope glanced to her right to see JJ shake her head.

"She's been unresponsive since we got the call," the blonde explained. The pain in her voice was masked to the untrained ear, but could be heard by all of the profilers in the room. Though JJ took the longest to warm up to the girl, she had become close to her. The fear she felt only built up as time passed.

"Well, if this son of a bitch is back, we have to figure out a way to stop him!" Morgan protested, eyes blazing as he looked at Rossi. "We have to stop him."

The elder man nodded and raising his hands in a calming fashion. "We have to find him first," he replied. "We have to think about where he could have run off to." His eyes traveled to the ex-convict sitting on the couch. Though they hadn't been exceptionally close, the two agents always had each other's backs, and Rossi would be damned if he were to lose a teammate and friend to Joseph Lawrence.

"Rossi, you know these guys the best," Morgan said. "You told me you studied them for years. Where would he go?"

When David went to answer, he found himself cut off by another voice. "He wouldn't go to anywhere we'd expect him too," Spencer spoke up, gaze transferring from Quinn to his team. "Lawrence is too smart for that. There has to be some secondary location that he would hide out in."