Pieces Of Me

Chapter 26

The following days Leah and Spencer spent at their work. Leah wanted to get done as much as possible before she'd give birth to her baby girl and would take some weeks of maternity leave.

Spencer had to go on another case with the team for some days although he'd rather spent his days with Leah. He started to worry that he could be away in some other state when she would get labor pains. But Leah always calmed him down again.

Leah was sitting at her desk and writing a mail when all of a sudden, her phone started to ring. They actually weren't allowed to have their phones on during work, but Leah didn't care at the moment. What if there was something important and she wasn't reachable? And now she hurried to grab the phone and answer the call. It was Penelope that called.

"Penny? What's the matter?", she asked. "Leah, please come over to my office as soon as you're finished with work. It's really important!", she said without a hello at the beginning or asking Leah how she's doing. Leah sat up straight on her chair. Her heart started to beat faster immediately. "I...I can come now", Leah said and hung up before Penelope could even reply.

With her heart beating almost uncomfortably fast in her chest, Leah got up and started to pack her things to get out of the office. "Where you're going?", one of her colleagues asked when she made her way to the door. "I...there's an emergency, I'm sorry", she simply said and then she was out of the office.

While Leah drove to the BAU office, there was only one thought in her mind: Penelope had found out more about Leah's biological parents. What else could it be if she called her in the middle of the afternoon?

"Penelope, what's the matter?" Leah rushed into Penelope's office and the blonde almost jumped from her chair because she got frightened. "Oh, good you're here already!", Penelope said and turned around to face Leah. Before she told her what was going on, she stood up to give Leah a tight hug. "How are you doing?" She smiled at Leah. "I'm...nervous? Why did you call? Is it...something about my biological parents?"

Penelope nodded. "I was combing through the network once more to get some more information about them so we could hopefully catch Walter Owens soon and...I've found out something about their personal life. Leah, they must have been wonderful people." Penelope smiled once again and Leah bit her lips. On one hand it hurt her to get to know stuff about her parents with the knowledge that she would never be able to meet them, but on the other hand she was craving for more. She needed to know as much as possible about them.

"Come, sit down." Penelope moved an office chair towards Leah and she sat down. "Okay, what did you find out?", she quietly asked.

"They spoke up for deprived people literally all the time. They have helped them in all the ways they could. Your parents had a dog and they lived in a family home outside of New York City. It seems like...like they have been the perfect couple and I'm sure you made their life complete."

A small sob escaped Leah's mouth as she listened to Penelope's words and she pressed a hand on her lips. Why did this have to happen? Although she has had a wonderful childhood with wonderful parents, she couldn't stop mourning for her biological parents. "Oh dear, I didn't want to make you cry!", Penelope exclaimed when she saw Leah's tears and pulled her into an embrace.

"It's okay", Leah murmured on her shoulder, "I'm glad you're telling me all of this. It's like...I get at least a little bit to know about them." She sighed and then pulled out of Penelope's arms again. She was really glad that Penelope told her everything she found out.

But...there was still a killer walking around somewhere out there and sometimes Leah wondered if he'd try to kill her as well. Sure, she had been just a baby when he killed her parents and he'd probably wouldn't recognize her anyway. But that question kept returning over and over again.

~

In the evening of the same day, Leah turned around in bed to face Spencer. He was lying on his back, a book in his hands and with his glasses on. "Spence?"

He slowly turned his head. "Yeah?"

"I...I was in Penelope's office today", Leah began. Maybe Spencer would already know because Penelope had told him, but Leah needed to talk about it anyway. She told him about all the things Penelope had found out while Spencer wrapped his arms around Leah. She told him that she still couldn't understand why her biological parents had to die and that the longer she was pregnant, the more it got to her. She thought about Anthony and Charlotte more and more often and sometimes she had the feeling like it would drive her insane sooner or later.

"Honey...we'll find Walter Owens. And he'll explain why he did what he did", Spencer quietly said and kissed Leah's forehead. She nodded. She really hoped that they would find him soon. She needed some answers. "But...what if Walter Owens isn't the killer of my parents?", Leah whispered right as the thought had hit her.

"We're sure that it was him", Spencer replied, "Penelope has found out more and he seems to have had a reason." Leah was about to ask what else Penelope had found out. But she knew, if she'd ask right now, she wouldn't be able to find some sleep tonight. And she needed sleep. Her baby girl didn't let her sleep enough anyway with all her moving and kicking inside Leah's stomach. She was in that phase of pregnancy where sleep was rare.

So Leah snuggled into Spencer's arms. "I love you, Spencer", she murmured. "I love you too, darling." She could feel his lips on her head before her eyes fell shut and she drifted away into dreamland. She could finally escape her thoughts again.