Sergeant Abigail (Abby) Laurens transfers to the BAU after an operation in Iraq goes horribly wrong and she loses the one man she's ever truly loved. Desperate to escape her guilt she throws herself into her new position but when someone comes back...
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Abby sat at the circle table the team had been assigned back at the local police station, she had her head in her hands. The fear that they may not be able save Bella, and the constant reminder of the hardest moment of her life every time she heard Leonardo's name meant that Abby had this constant ache in her chest since the plane had landed in Winchester.
"You look like you could use this. The coffee machine here is amazing, it even tells you to 'have a nice day'."
Abby jumped and lifted her head to see Spencer smiling at her, handing her a cup of coffee. She took it from him and muttered a 'thank you'.
"Missing children are always amongst the hardest cases we have, I can't imagine how hard it is being your first one." But this wasn't technically Abby's first missing child case.
"It's just strange being on the other side of it." Abby said, drinking her coffee, it tasted like mud but she needed the cafeine.
"What?" Spencer asked.
"Oh my god no that sounds like I have kidnapped children! No I mean, oh, uh I used to work a lot with children who had been radicalised or brainwashed. I saw them once we'd 'saved' them. If you could even call it that, they'd been so traumatised they weren't even children anymore. They were ten year olds with M240s and the thought process of a forty year old terrorist. I meant it's strange seeing families who care or even know that their child has been kidnapped. I'm used to trying to pick up the pieces." Abby rushed out, she was clearly flustered; 'great now he thinks you kidnap children in your spare time.' she thought.
"Wow. Did you work in counter-terrorism?" Spencer was genuinely intrigued.
"Uh no. I was in the army. Over in Iraq." She took another sip of coffee hoping Spencer would change the subject. He didn't seem to get the hint.
"How long for?"
"Three years," she already knew his next question, "two tours. You weren't too far off though, I did do a lot of work in counter-terrorism. Mostly trying intercept terror cells before their next attack, or interrogating subjects and occasionally they would be children. It was...horrifying. Sometimes. But sometimes we'd be lucky."
"That sounds intense. Three years is a long time. Feels like it never ends, doesn't it? I mean you catch one and another two surface. Is that why you left?"
Abby's face dropped, her chest began to rise and her coffee cup started to shake. She made eye contact with Spencer and luckily this time he got the hint.
"You did a great job this morning. With the nurses I mean. You're making a great first impression." He said, changing the subject and trying to calm Abby.
