This chapter has been a long time in the works, and for that I'm sorry. Thank you all for being patient with me. A lot of crap has been going on IRL lately, and I just needed time to get it all figured out.

The song mentioned at the end of the chapter is "Break In" by Halestorm.

"No. No, no, no!" Phillip shouted, looking at the couple with pure hatred. Then he seemed to get ahold of himself. "Fine." he snarled, leveling the gun at Spencer's head. "Then if I can't have her, no one can."

And with that, he pulled the trigger.

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Ariel screamed, even as she rammed into Phillip's arm, trying to mess up his aim. There was a moment where her heart stopped beating, when she thought to herself - this is it, this is how I'm going to lose Spencer.

But the bullet missed his head by mere inches.

There was a split second of silence after the bullet hit the wall, and then they heard it - a cry from down the hall. Quiet at first, but it quickly grew louder before petering off again.

Michael had woken up, just for a few seconds. The sound of the gun firing had scared him awake. For the first time since he had gotten them, she cursed his new hearing aids, because they may have just cost him his life.

Phillip stared at the door, and Ariel looked at him in growing horror. "What was that?" he asked suspiciously.

"It was nothing, Phillip." she replied quickly, wanting to keep him distracted. "Nothing at all." It didn't matter what she had to do - she was going to keep this psychopath away from her baby at any cost. So she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for anything that might possibly happen, even as she shot her husband an apologetic look.

"Did you… did you mean what you said? What you said before, I mean… when you said you want me?"

Ariel turned to look at the deranged man, keeping her eyes trained on the floor in what she hoped he would interpret as nervous tension. In reality, she didn't want to look at him out of pure revulsion. But she needed to do this, she reminded herself. For Spencer, and for Michael. She remembered everything that her husband had told her about stalkers, and why they did what they did, and put that to use now.

She flinched when he put his hand under her chin, lifting her face so that she was looking at him. His eyes were pale blue, and had a broken quality to them, as if she could actually see the madness within them. She wondered why she had never noticed that before.

"Of course I meant it, darling." He said, running his thumb over my cheek. "Who could keep themselves from wanting you?"

Then he scowled, gripping her chin tightly in his hand. "But you've been a bad girl, darling. Not telling people you were married. If I had known, I would have dealt with him a long time ago." Phillip raised the gun again, aiming it straight at Spencer's heart.

"Wait." She said, right before he pulled the trigger. He turned to look at her, scowling. "Run away with me."

That made both men freeze. "Ari, what are -" Spencer began, before he was cut off by his wife.

"Shut up, Dr. Reid." she said harshly, glaring at him for a moment before turning back to look at Phillip. "Run away with me. We can be happy together, happier than I would ever have been with him. But just don't kill him, please. I can't stand violence."

The maniacal light in Phillip's eyes dimmed slightly, and he smiled at her. It wasn't a normal smile, like the kind that Spencer would give her - instead it seemed almost forced, and showed far too many teeth for comfort.

"Of course. Anything for you, darling." he vowed. "Anything at all."

Ariel smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "In that case, leave the gun behind. I hate them."

There was a moment when she thought that she had taken it too far, and that Phillip was going to shoot her. But then it passed, and he loosened his grip on the gun, dropping it on the bed.

She smiled. "Thank you." She said, and then she took him by the hand. "Come on. Let's go." She encouraged, trying to pull him out of the room. But he stopped, and turned to look at Spencer. Phillip slowly crossed over to the younger man, holding out his hand.

"Give me your handcuffs." the man said. But Spencer shook his head, staring at the other man in defiance.

Ariel rolled her eyes, not even having to fake her irritation at her husband. She was so close to at least getting him away from their son, and he was practically throwing it away. She walked over to the bedside table and opened up a drawer. "Here." She said, pulling out an item and throwing it at Phillip. "Use these."

Phillip went pale as he looked at them. "What's the problem?" Ariel asked, still rummaging through the drawer. "Just put them on him, and we can leave."

The insane man took a few steps forward, but stopped when Ariel spoke again. "Or you could put them on yourself, and save us all the trouble."

Phillip turned around to see Ariel standing there, holding a revolver in her hands - the same one that Spencer knew she kept in the drawer next to the bed. "Drop the gun, now." She said, her voice as threatening as it was scared. She kept her arms as steady as she could as she flicked off the safety.

The man barely had time to look furious before they could hear the sound of wood splintering from downstairs. "Spencer!" They could hear JJ calling. "Ariel!"

"We're up here!" Ariel called, turning her head towards the door so that her voice could carry farther.

Morgan came rushing into the room to see that both Ariel and Reid were completely fine. There was a hole in the wall, but that was easily fixable. What did have him curious were the fuzzy black handcuffs that were dangling from the UnSub's hands. Then he saw the gun in Ariel's hands. It was still aimed at Phillip's head, and her arms shook slightly.

"Hey, little one." he said calmly, sticking his gun back in its holster and holding his hands up to show that he was unarmed. "Ariel, I need you to put down the gun, okay?" his voice was gentle and soothing as he tried to calm her down.

"He… he was gonna kill him, Der." her voice shook. "He was gonna kill Spen, and Michael, and…" she trailed off, her mind moving too quickly for her mouth to keep up.

"I know, sweetheart." Derek said, moving a bit closer. "But everything's ok now." he took a few more steps. "I need you to give me the gun now, okay?"

There was a moment when he thought that it wasn't going to work, but then she loosened her grip on the gun and handed it to him.

"Phillip Smith, you are under arrest." JJ said as she cuffed his hands behind his back.

Spencer let out a sigh of relief as Ariel crossed the room to him, wrapping her arms around him. It was finally over.

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"Don't you think you overdid it a bit with the acting?" Spencer asked, and she managed a laugh through her tears. The small family of three was sitting in an ambulance outside Ariel's house, refusing to be too far away from each other even as Ariel and Spencer were checked over by the EMTs. "Also, did you really have to use the fuzzy handcuffs?" He knew that he would never hear the end of that one from Morgan, but it was completely worth it to have his wife safe in his arms.

"Shut the hell up, Spencer." Ariel managed to get out, along with a weak laugh, before burying her head in his chest once more. Michael had calmed down as soon as they were able to get to him, and he was now being looked after by JJ for the time being. She cried for another minute or so before looking up at him. "I didn't mean a word of what I said up there." she told him anxiously. "You know that, right? I love you, more than anything else. Except maybe Michael, but -" he placed his hand over her mouth, laughing slightly at her rambling.

"You know, normally I'm the one who does that." he teased, and Ariel blushed.

"How are you being so calm about all of this?" she asked him, and he looked slightly sheepish for a moment before answering.

"This wasn't my first time being held at gunpoint, you know." he told her, and Ariel grimaced.

"Please don't remind me." She begged, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry." He replied, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Ariel! Spencer!" They pulled away from each other slightly, before seeing that it was Kat and Finn.

"Oh god, where's Michael?" Kat fussed. Spencer just shook his head, a tiny grin pulling at the corner of his lips.

"He slept through the whole thing." Spencer told them, shaking his head slightly. "Other than a few seconds when he woke up, he slept through the whole thing."

Finn was amazed. "You've got to be kidding." he said, but Ariel shook her head as she curled into her husband's side.

"Nope." she said. "JJ's upstairs with him."

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It was almost a full day before they managed to see each other again, and even then it was bittersweet.

"So I guess this is goodbye." Spencer said awkwardly. The band had already hired a new publicist, and she was currently trying to pull Ariel back over to the car that she had hired for the band to take back to the studio.

"Not goodbye, killer." Ariel said, a hint of sadness in her otherwise playful tone. "Just see you soon, right? I'll be home in less than a month."

He smiled, reaching out to brush her hair back behind her ear before remembering where they were. The paparazzi could be - and most likely were - anywhere and everywhere, and they still weren't ready to reveal themselves to the public yet, so he dropped his hand back down to his side.

Ariel scowled in irritation, mad that she couldn't just kiss her husband when she felt like it. But at the moment it was necessary, until Michael was at least old enough to be out in public safely. "Fuck it." She hissed, before reaching up and wrapping her arms around her husband's neck, pulling him down to her level as she pressed her lips against his. It only took a few moments for him to give in and tangle his fingers in her hair.

They just stood there for a minute, lost in a moment of bliss and not caring who saw them.

"Alright, lovebirds." Rossi called out, getting them to pull apart. "Break it up."

Ariel rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at the Italian man, while Reid blushed. "Say goodbye to Michael for me?" Spencer asked, giving into his urge and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Of course." She promised, and then Kat came over, grabbing her by the hand.

"Come on, chica." Kat said, tugging on her arm. "You've got about five more seconds before our new commanding officer comes over here herself." She rolled her eyes, but her tiny smile showed just how little she actually cared.

"I swear, if this new chick wants to stay in this job, she'd better quit killing the mood." Ariel muttered, and Kat laughed as they left Spencer to head over to the waiting limousine.

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"Night, Hollywood." Morgan teased, holding up a tabloid that Garcia had picked up that morning on her way to meet the team at the airport. A picture of Spencer and Ariel kissing their goodbye was splashed across the cover, with the headline written across the picture in lurid red ink: ARI ROSS'S NEW HEARTTHROB.

Reid couldn't help but groan at the headline. "Its completely ridiculous!" He protested, even though Morgan had heard it already. Garcia had shown them the headline as soon as they arrived, and had brought along a cap and sunglasses in case the young genius might need them. Luckily no one had recognized the FBI agent. "We've been married for going on seven years now - I'm not a new heartthrob."

Morgan smirked, realizing Reid's slip at the same time he did.

"Oh, but you are a heartthrob?" Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow, and Spencer blushed.

"That - that's not what I meant." he said, backtracking quickly.

"Oh really?" Morgan asked, turning around to stick the magazine into his desk. "Then what did you mean?"

"I - I meant…" Spencer began to explain, but he barely even got that out before Morgan was leaving the bullpen, not even giving his friend a chance to explain.

"Whatever you say, kid."

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It was nearly a week later when Garcia came running into the bullpen, carrying her laptop in her hands.

"Hey, hey." Morgan called out from where he sat. "Where's the fire, hot stuff?"

"Right here, sweetness." Garcia replied, putting her laptop down on his desk and opening it up. "Gather round, my furry friends." she instructed, and everyone on the team that was in the bullpen did as they were told, gathering around.

She queued up a video on the E!News website, entitled "Break In with UN"

"And in other news, Undiscovered Nemesis has put out their latest single - a soulful love ballad, entitled 'Break In'. Fans are speculating that the song was written about the still unknown man that the band's lead singer, Ari Ross, was seen with last week. When asked, the band's new publicist had this to say:"

There was a pause, and then a video clip began playing. "I'm sorry, we won't be commenting on the matter at this time." A professional sounding woman said, looking harried. It wasn't even a few seconds before Kat appeared in the frame, her dark blue hair pulled up into tiny buns as she scowled at the camera. "Yeah, cause its none of their damn business, bloody vultures."

That made the team start laughing, but what made them laugh even harder was whenever Ariel joined in. They heard her before they saw her. "Actually, no. Here's a statement for you." She was raging, her face flushed, hair flying, and Spencer thought she had never looked more beautiful. "Its none of your damn business whose throat I choose to stick my tongue down, or who I write songs about. Now don't you have nudes to leak or something?"

The clip continued on, but no one was listening anymore. "The band has also made a statement regarding the FBI protection detail that followed their lead singer, Ari Ross. Because of the traumatic events, the band will be leaving LA in two weeks, instead of in six weeks like originally planned."

There was a moment of shocked silence, before the clip ended. Then Spencer spoke. "I… I'm going to go call my wife." He said, sounding both proud and like he was about to burst into laughter before heading out of the bullpen.

I am sorry to all of you who have read this story for so long, but the Ari Ross verse is going on hiatus for a while longer.

At the beginning, I loved writing this story more than anything else. But overtime it became less about the fun and more about how many people were reading it. That is not the kind of author that I want to be, ever. Writing has always been a source of enjoyment for me, and I don't ever want that to change. Sorry.

I love you all.

DemigodDaughteroftheTARDIS