No Plan ━━ Spencer Reid

NO PLAN.

All this time I'd thought we were strangers, and it turned out we knew each other intuitively, in our bones, in our blood. It was kind of romantic. Catastrophically romantic.

Gillian Flynn / GONE GIRL

SHE WAS LUCKY, EVERYONE SAID, THAT THE POLICE ARRIVED WHEN THEY DID.

But Daisy Hotchner doesn't feel lucky. If anything, she just feels numb, stuck in an endless time loop of the moment her life fell apart. Forever lingering on the side of the street, watching her ex boyfriend pause by the police car, staring at Daisy in a silent, murderous rage. The rest of the night after that is a blur. All Daisy knows now is that the man who tried to kill her—the man she can't bring herself to forgive, no matter how many times he told her he loved her—is now in prison, the father of a baby Daisy will make sure he'll never get to meet.

She knows it would be better if there were never any baby in the first place, but she can't bring herself to get rid of it, not when she's finally starting to get her life back in order. The problem is, Daisy has no idea how to raise a child—but her sister-in-law, Haley, does. When she shows up at her brother's house, however, she finds it empty save for her brother and a half-empty bottle of whiskey and promptly decides it would be better not to burden him with her problems.

After all, Aaron has bigger things to deal with—and he's kept his fair share of secrets too, starting with his empty house, void of the wife who's finally had enough. And though Daisy has a job of her own, she cannot help but feel bad for her brother, whose failed relationship seemed so much more stable than her own—and who can't even seem to take care of himself now that Haley's gone.

And thought she wishes she didn't, Daisy understands why Aaron chose his job over his family. He helps people, and she finds herself wanting to do the same, choosing to spend her lunch breaks dropping off lunch for her older brother just to see him smile. Each time she stops by the FBI offices, however, Aaron is holed up in his own office, and the only person available to bring lunch to him is a socially awkward walking encyclopedia who's started looking forward to her daily visits.