Tonight's episode of Criminal Minds becomes personal for Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) as the BAU have a case that involves someone from Garcia's survivors' support group. This also means that Garcia will be stepping out from behind her computer and going into the field with the team to try and find out what happened before it is too late. Warning light spoilers ahead.

The case involves Monica (Brigid Brannagh); her daughter Hope was abducted 7 years ago and Monica has now gone missing 7 years to the date of Hope's disappearance. Hope has been presumed dead but does this new development suggest otherwise? Garcia was the last one to see Monica; she disappeared straight after a meeting with the survivors' support group and Garcia is adamant that she would not hurt herself as Monica still believes that her daughter is alive. This case also involves another member of the group; Bill who is played by former Heroes star Jack Coleman, fresh off a Vampire Diaries guest spot (where he is also playing a character called Bill). It is clear from the promo below that Bill is not what the rest of the group believe him to be.

So will Garcia's emotional attachment to this case be a problematic? Kirsten Vangsness spoke to TV Guide about this and said:

"But the thing that helps them is that she uses her emotions to help solve that case. She knows her friend will die unless they get this guy, so she's going to steel herself and actually use that emotional power to her advantage because the stakes are so high."

Garcia is the emotional heart of the show and because she is so rarely out in the field it will be a big change seeing her rocking a Kevlar vest (like in the promo photo above). Don't expect this to be a regular occurrence as Vangsness told TV Guide that:

"I like it when I get to go away with them, but she would never go in the field all the time and she would never, never become a profiler. She is somebody to profile. She's so about the triumph of the human spirit under any and all conditions that I think that that would just be really counterintuitive."

Are you looking forward to seeing a Garcia centric episode with her out of her comfort zone?

Check out the extended promo for tonight's episode "Hope" below.