(A/N: So? What did we think of the last chapter? Come one guys….I'm really trying here. SAY SOMETHING! Anyway…here goes chapter 9. We'll be wrapping up soon, as my stories are pretty consistent at 8 to 10 chapters. This is from Anna's POV…I figure this is a good time to get back inside her head. Adreon….again you're the bomb. Thanks for this girl. Enjoy.)

Chapter 9: We're Listening

Greg and I stood anxiously in the ambulance bay waiting for the telltale sirens. Alex wrapped his arms tightly around Greg's neck, eyes fixed on the entrance for some sign of his sister.

When I heard it, my heart stopped. I wondered if I should allow myself to hope. Is this them? Is she really okay?

Grissom had said that she was, but he could have just been sugarcoating it for my sake.

The approaching ambulance came to a stop and the doors flew open. Through tear filled eyes I saw Spencer duck through the doorway and step down cradling Caroline.

Words escaped me. For the first time in my life I could not speak. I simply held out my arms, praying she'd reach for me.

"Mommy," she cried and jumped into my arms.

Sinking to the ground I hugged her, drinking in every moment, holding her as if she were a dream that might suddenly drift away if I dared to let go. Before I knew it Greg was beside me, crying as his free arm embraced me and Caroline. I kissed him as tears of joy washed down both our faces.

"Don't cry Mommy." I heard Alex say. "Caroline's here. We can go home now."

Smiling uncontrollably I wrapped my other arm around Alex.

"Mrs. Sanders," one of the paramedics said. "We need to get Caroline inside. The doctors have to check her out."

"Okay," I said standing up balancing a twin on each side.

"Anna," Greg said. "Let me take one of them."

"I've got them."

"You really don't need to be lifting both of them at once."

"I've done it a thousand times," I said wondering why he picked now to have this conversation.

"But in your condition…"

My jaw dropped. I looked to Spencer.

"You told?"

"No," he insisted, "I swear. I didn't say anything."

"No one told me," Greg said taking Alex. "I think I know my own wife well enough to see when something's different. I may not be a profiler but I'm not blind either. What I don't know is why you didn't tell me."

I looked around seeing the uncomfortable look on the faces of those around us and the confusion of our children.

"Can we talk about this later," I said, "alone."

Almost an hour later the doctors had checked Caroline out. They said everything was fine but that they still wanted to keep her over night, just in case.

Before we knew it the kids were asleep, snuggled next to each other.

"Can we talk about it now?" Greg asked.

"Yes," I sighed, "calmly and quietly."

"Okay," he said. "So, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know until the day before the twins were taken. I was going to surprise you. Then everything fell apart. There was never a good time."

"I understand," he said taking my hand. "I was just worried about you. You were so upset, I was afraid about the extra stress on you and the baby."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I," he said. "We're not good a secrets, you know that. We're miserable when we can't figure things out together."

"Okay," I said leaning my head on his shoulder. "No more secrets."

The next day we were home and Alex and Caroline were acting as if nothing had happened.

I watched in amazement as they sat in the living room floor talking in a flurry of signs. Beside them was Spencer, signing more slowly, but looking as though he was keeping up with the conversation.

The rest of his team had, understandably, flown back to Quantico. There were other cases to solve, other families to reunite. Agent Hotchner had given Spencer permission to stay behind for an extra day to say goodbye to the kids, but the real reason for his continued presence was revealed after his conversation with the twins.

"They want to tell you everything that happened," he said, "but it's hard for them. They asked if I would do it."

"We're listening," Greg said.

"You might want to get comfortable, this could take a while."

As we settled back on the sofa, the kids crawled up in our laps.

For the next half hour Spencer walked us step by step through their ordeal.

They had been playing in the sand box when a woman came up to them. She only talked to Caroline and tried to convince her to come away without Alex. When she said no the woman got angry. Alex called for Becky, but she was on her cell phone. The woman grabbed Caroline and was pulling her away. Alex held on to her, so the woman picked both of them up and took them to a car. They drove for a long time and she told them to stay under a blanket in the back seat. When they got to the house she carried them inside wrapped in the blanket.

She locked Alex in the closet only opening the door to give him scrapes of food. They signed to each other through the slates in the door, keeping each other calm.

On the first night the woman died Caroline's hair and was calling her a different name. She told her to call her mommy. That night while they were asleep she took Alex. He didn't remember what happened. All he remembered was a car, and then he was on the ground, then in a hospital.

When Caroline woke up that morning and couldn't find Alex she tried to run away but the woman caught her. That's when she tied her to the bed. She never left the room after that. The woman would come in a feed her, play with her hair, try to talk to her, but Caroline would just sit there. When the woman left she would cry, but never in front of her.

"Before we came," Spencer said, "Caroline says the woman started getting mad. She said she'd gotten the bad baby again. She told Caroline that she was going to give her some medicine to go to sleep and that when she woke up she'd be back with her brother."

My voice creaked through the lump in my throat. "She was getting ready to kill her?"

Spencer nodded.

Tears flowed down my cheeks.

"Does she know?" Greg asked. "I mean, do they understand what she wanted to do?"

Spencer nodded again.

"Oh Sweetheart," I cried hugging her tightly.

It had never occurred to me that they would actually understand what had happened or worse, what could have happened.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I should have been there to protect you."

"Honey, don't," Greg started.

I started to cry, but suddenly small arms wrapped around me.

"It's okay Mommy," Caroline said. "You found me."

Leave it to a child to simplify the world so beautifully.

She was lost and we found her. That was all that mattered now.

(One more chapter left people. You know me…I like neat little packages.)