February Night

Chapter 90

"I can't wait for all this to be over", Lucy groaned and rubbed her lower back. She had been in pain all day long and now, being back home, she could finally lay down for a while. Although she rarely was in the bookstore anymore – thanks to Phoebe and another woman who now helped too – but today she had just not been able to resist. She missed that place. She missed the books and its smell and the customers. But now Lucy felt awful and almost regretted to have worked today.

"Babe? Are you okay?" Spencer slowly came into the living room, a cup of coffee and a cup of tea in his hands. He passed the tea to Lucy.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just tired and...literally everything hurts." She managed to give him a little smile. Spencer sat down, took Lucy's legs and placed them in his lap. Surprised, she watched him starting to massage her feet.

"Better?", he asked. Grinning, Lucy nodded. She took the Harry Potter book which had been laying on the coffee table, and started to read out loud. Spencer had told her that babies could hear their parents' voices and that it calmed them down. Since a few weeks, Lucy was doing the reading now and sometimes, it was Spencer that read to Lucy and the babies while they were lying in bed, Lucy asleep for at least a little number of hours.

Suddenly, Spencer's phone rang. He rolled his eyes and leaned over to take the phone. "Yeah?" For a moment, he listened while Lucy watched his face. And it was as if she could read in an open book. There was a case. She knew it already. And when Spencer hung up again and looked at her, she could be absolutely sure.

"No", Lucy whimpered, but Spencer sighed and leaned over to kiss her gently.

"I'm so sorry, love. But it seems to be an urgent case."

"Aren't they always?", Lucy asked with a slight smirk. She knew he had to go. And she would never think about holding him back. He and the others were saving lives. "Where's the case?"

"It's here, in D.C.", Spencer replied while he was putting on his shoes.

"Oh, good. Then you're close at least", Lucy said. She had gotten up from the couch since her back had started to hurt again and now came over to say goodbye to her husband.

"And you...three, you take care, alright?", Spencer said, wrapping his arms around Lucy and kissing her forehead. She nodded and promised him.

~

"Alright, what do we have so far?" Rossi leaned back in the chair and looked at Penelope and Emily in expectation. The team was assembled at the round table in the conference room. It was quite late already but Emily had insisted that everyone would show up as fast as possible. "We have three dead women", Emily started, taking the remote from Penelope to show the team the pictures and facts they had until now. "And they were all pregnant. When they were found, they...someone cut the babies out of their abdomen and the women bled to death..." Emily shot a quick glance at Spencer. He had gotten a bit pale, but now leaned forward, frowning and obviously thinking hard.

"So, you mean, there's someone walking around killing pregnant women to get their babies?", Luke quietly asked in disbelief. Emily nodded and turned the screen off. There was no need for Spencer and Luke to see those pictures anymore if not necessary. They already seemed to be worried about Lucy.

"We need to find this bastard", Matt murmured and was about to get up.

But Emily held him back. "I know this affects us more than usual because Lucy is pregnant and we have no idea why the unsub does what he or she does. But we need to think properly before doing something."

"I...I don't want Lucy to be alone when there's a psychopath running through the streets who kills pregnant women", Spencer said and stood up from his chair. "I'd like to get her here and have her in the bureau while we're solving this case. I mean...if that's okay?" He glanced at Emily.

She slightly smiled. "Of course, it is. We all would be feeling better knowing that she's at a safe place. Alvez, Reid, you go and bring Lucy here. The others – let's go and find out more." Everyone moved now. Luke and Spencer drove back to Spencer's and Lucy's apartment. Spencer didn't want to wait until the morning to bring Lucy to the bureau. This was serious. And after what had happened at the hospital, he didn't want to risk anything.

Arriving at home, Luke and Spencer both ran up the stairs. "Lu?", Spencer called as he rushed through the corridor and glanced into the living room. But Lucy wasn't there. He ran to the bed room and let out a sigh of relief when he saw his wife sleeping in their bed.

"Lu? Hey, babe." His voice was quiet and soothing and he stroked her dark hair to gently wake her up.

"Spence? What...what's the matter?" Drowsy, Lucy sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I could finally sleep", she complained. But then she saw Luke standing in the doorframe. Her eyes went from her brother to her husband and then back again. "Okay, what's going on?"

Spencer sat down on the edge of the bed and told Lucy what was going on and why he and Luke were here, waking her up. "Seriously? You...want me to spend the night at the bureau?" Lucy looked at the men in disbelief. She was tired, her back was still hurting and all she wanted was to sleep in her comfortable bed. But Spencer and Luke nodded.

"It's safer there. We have no idea yet who it is and if you could be in danger as well. We don't want to risk anything", Luke explained, knowing that his sister was everything but happy about this situation.

Sighing, Lucy put back the duvet and stood up with a groan. "You don't even have a bed at the BAU! I'm not going to sleep well on a couch!", she crumbly complained while she grabbed the already packed to-go bag. Spencer had done that weeks ago – he had wanted to be prepared for the moment they'd have to drive to the hospital and the babies would arrive.

"We know that you're not happy about it, darling", Spencer said and took her arm. But Lucy pulled away. She wasn't in the mood to discuss about this right now. And she knew she'd lose that argument anyway. On one hand, she really hated what was going on and wished she could just crawl back into bed and fall asleep again. She was annoyed by her husband and her brother. But on the other hand, she could understand them. Lucy had to admit, that she was a bit afraid about what was happening in D.C. in this moment and she was worried about the unborn babies in her belly.

"Let's just go", she murmured and allowed Luke to carry her bag. While they drove to the BAU, Lucy hoped that the team would catch this terrible, brutal person as fast as possible. Someone who went around the city and cut the unborn babies out of their mother's wombs? Lucy felt a shiver run down her spine at that thought and automatically, she searched for Spencer's hand. He took and gently squeezed it. He knew what she was feeling and thinking right now.