A/N: This is my first CM fanfic. It doesn't follow the CM timeline, but there are references to previous cases in the series. It's very much AU. If there are questions or confusing issues, please ask. I hope you'll give it a chance.

I do not own Criminal Minds, CBS Television, or any of the characters and story lines referenced in this work of fiction. All original characters and this plot are mine.

Chapter 1

"I hate to say this out loud because I'm all about positive energy and spiritual harmony, but this is sadly the worst day of my life," Garcia complained as she adjusted her hat. It was a black feather number with a mini-veil. She was in the small entryway at the mirror in Spencer's apartment while he was in his bedroom, retying the silver tie bestowed upon him the night before at the rehearsal dinner.

"This is for the best man…my best friend," Morgan had offered as a toast, presenting Spencer with the long, thin box containing the silver tie and a gift card to Spencer's favorite bookstore in Vienna. The other groomsmen…Marlin (Morgan's cousin), Rossi and Hotch were wearing black ties, but being the best man, Reid was expected to wear the silver tie.

Reid hated the silver tie because wearing it set him apart from the other groomsmen, and he hated to be singled out for any reason. Wearing the tie gave the impression he was supporting the marriage. Unlike everyone else in the BAU save Garcia, Reid didn't support the marriage at all.

After the rehearsal dinner, he and Garcia proceeded to drink their weight in Sangria, and both were suffering hangovers which only added to their lack of enthusiasm for the day.

"What can we do, Garcia? That woman is the mother of his child. You know how he feels about family. His mother and his sisters are his whole world, or they were until Nicky was born. Now, Morgan has a family of his own. We're his best friends, and I know you don't want him to quit BAU. We have to try to accept her or he'll leave us," Reid told her as he adjusted his newly shorn locks.

Morgan's fiancée had insisted Reid get a haircut for the wedding photos, and the pleading look Morgan gave him made him agree through gritted teeth. He hadn't expected the barber to cut it so short, but maybe shedding himself of the longer hair would help him turn over a new leaf he always thought he should. The new leaf where he could get beyond being a recovering drug addict in love with his boss. His boss who was a widower struggling to raise a son Spencer adored. A son Spencer had spent time with when Jessica Brooks needed to go home and Hotch needed to attend meetings he couldn't get out of or even just needed a little "me" time to decompress in ways the unit chief would rather not discuss, Reid knew.

"Nevertheless, I still believe Derek's parentage of that boy is suspect. The boy is thirteen-months. I've looked at it every way come Sunday, and at the time of alleged conception, we were in Austin on a case for a month," Garcia stated with a bit of venom in her voice which made Reid smile.

"Ah, yes. The River Walk Strangler. That case was more difficult than usual because we didn't factor in a female body builder who had an affinity for smaller men who were intimidated by her to the point of rebuking her advances. The fact she killed five of them before we were able to catch her was unfortunate," Reid told her as he walked down the hallway to the living room where Garcia was refreshing her lipstick.

"What's with the black dress and hat? I know it's customary not to wear white, or outshine the bride on her special day, but black seems a little…" Reid surmised.

"Gruesome? Well, I'm in mourning. As you well know, I'm in love with Derek and he'll never see me as potential marriage material. That's why Kevin and I couldn't make it long term. He had the audacity…well, never mind. I have to say, that woman Derek's supposedly in love with? She's got a lot of red flags around her. I've been doing some digging…"

Reid cut her off before she could confess the felonies she'd committed in the name of love. They'd vowed the night before while drowning their respective sorrows not to discuss Morgan or Hotch, but it seemed that treaty had expired. "I thought Morgan asked you not to do that," he reminded as he looped her hand through the crook of his elbow and led her to the door.

Tarrying any longer would make them both late for the nuptials about which neither cared. They did, however, care for their best friend, so they would do what was expected and at least show up on time.

There was another reason Reid wasn't looking forward to the wedding, and while he certainly didn't want to discuss it with Garcia at that moment, the woman was too intuitive and brought it up anyway. "I thought you made a promise not to pine for Hotch anymore? You told me you were going to try to put it behind you. What happened to the meditation CDs I gave you? They didn't work for me but I had hopes for you," Garcia told him. Meditating away his feelings for Aaron Hotchner was never going to happen, and if Garcia thought Reid could still his mind enough to pay attention to some strange guy chanting unintelligible gibberish at him, she didn't really know him at all.

"Garcia, we're both guilty of falling in love with unattainable people. It's a lot more difficult to back off than I believe either of us thought," he told her as they went to the curb to wait for the car service Morgan insisted upon to bring them into the city.

Once they were in the car, Reid turned to her. "Okay, so we're in awkward positions because I think Hotch is coming to the wedding with Emily, and well, Morgan is getting married. Let's agree we won't leave each other in the lurch when things like dancing start? I love Emily like a sister, but seeing her with Aar…Hotch…that's too much," Reid explained.

When Garcia laughed, Reid was caught off guard. "What?" he asked.

"My beautiful, young genius, about certain things, you're not so smart. Emily and Hotch aren't coming together. Our Miss Prentiss has no desire to do anything with our illustrious leader than perhaps take the lead on a case when he and Jack go on vacation. Of course, Rossi will defer to her for many reasons we don't have time to discuss right now," Garcia suggested with a twinkle in her eye Reid hadn't seen in a while.

Just as he was about to question her regarding her intel on the matter, the car stopped in front of the church in DC where Morgan's wedding was set to take place. The two inhabitants looked out with dread.

Reid could see Hotch with Morgan, his mother and sisters, and Prentiss as the group laughed at something Morgan had said. He could see Rossi holding Henry as JJ adjusted her dress, Will smiling brightly next to her.

Just then, Jack Hotchner ran over to his dad with a big grin on his face. The six-year-old was amazing. Reid had spent time with him at Quantico on more than one occasion while Aaron was working and Jess wasn't available to babysit. Reid had also stayed with the boy so Aaron could attend a grief support group Strauss had insisted upon once Aaron returned to active duty and resumed his position as Unit Chief after Foyet's death.

Aaron didn't want the rest of the team to know because he feared they'd lose faith in him. It was a tightrope Hotch walked, in Reid's opinion, but being in love with the man meant he'd do anything to help Hotch maintain his control over his life and his grief.

Reid had taught the boy a few magic tricks because he truly cared about Jack as much as he'd come to care about Henry. When the day came for Hotch to marry some woman, Reid wanted to be supportive of the new family. He wouldn't think of the boy as anything other than his boss's son.

"It's now or never, Reid," Garcia sighed, taking his hand.

As Spencer Reid looked around at the people standing outside the church before the ceremony, he noticed a man he'd seen before…a man from a crime scene crowd. "Um, yeah. You go ahead inside and take a seat. I'll be in the processional, hating it," he joked as he took in the other guests.

He noticed the man didn't look happy, and it was then he remembered the day…well, night… Morgan had met his future wife…Magret Petrov. It was a nightclub stabbing in a small place in southeast DC…a fourth stabbing in the area in as many weeks. DCPD had called them in to work each crime scene because they'd received 9-1-1 calls moments before each stabbing took place.

At each crime scene, which resulted in the demise of a random twenty-something from out of town with no apparent ties to the area, Spencer had noticed the platinum blonde in the crowd. At the first crime scene, she'd observed the events from the sidelines with a man at her side, though it didn't appear the two were actually together. At the next three crime scenes, she'd come forth with details, and she'd gravitated toward Morgan to give her statement. During review of the evidence, Morgan had dismissed her as an overzealous witness, and she was let go without a second thought. Morgan refused to listen to Reid when he said something wasn't right regarding the woman's demeanor while giving her statements. As Reid saw it, she was asserting herself into the investigation but Morgan told Reid he didn't know enough about women to be able to make that judgement call.

Reid reminded Morgan her detailed description of the UnSub at each scene pointed to someone in the crowd who was later cleared. In Reid's opinion, she was trying to misdirect the focus, but Morgan had laughed at him.

The rest of the team, including Hotch, chalked her up to being a law enforcement groupie just wanting to be given attention by a man in uniform. When Morgan went to her place after the UnSub was finally caught, he said it was to thank her for her assistance in the case. That was how the two of them got together.

Magret was a Russian student…allegedly. Garcia advised at a group luncheon that the young woman wasn't enrolled at American University as she had claimed, but at an on-line university…East America University. EAU happened to be a bullshit school barely accredited in Massachusetts, but with Magret's job at the Russian Embassy in DC, it was enough to keep her Student Visa current. Of course, that was when Morgan mandated Garcia not run a background check on his new 'girlfriend'.

When Magret made her play for Morgan, nobody saw through the farce…with the exception of Reid and Garcia. Hotch said she was legit, and all concerns seemed to die down with his stamp of approval, which Reid thought was misgiven. Hotch was distracted by something else, and Reid determined he wasn't seeing things clearly, but he wasn't gutsy enough to confront the man.

Morgan dated her for two months before he left for Austin with the team. After he returned, she claimed to be pregnant. The due date was changed three times before the child was finally born, and until he was born with a beautiful caramel complexion and a head full of blonde hair, several members of the team questioned the paternity, but in the end, they shut up and supported their friend and colleague.

Reid made his way over to the scowling man and smiled at him. "Hey, could I bum one? I'm out, and I didn't have time to run to the store," he lied. Smoking cigarettes was the last thing Spencer ever wanted to do, what with the statistics associated with the abhorrent habit and injurious nature of the addiction itself running through his head unbidden, but if it got the guy to engage, he was willing to perhaps spend six minutes of his life clock inhaling the carcinogens to get to the bottom of what the man was doing at the wedding.

"Sure," the man responded as he offered the pack to Spencer. The cigarettes were a generic, filtered brand. He flipped the pack to see the tax stamp on the bottom wasn't from the area…it was from North Carolina which gave Spencer pause, but he took one and handed the pack to the man.

"Thanks. Bride or groom?" Reid asked as he frisked his body as if he was looking for a lighter or matches. The blonde stranger rolled his eyes and offered Spencer a pack of matches.

"Bride. She's my cousin. I work at UN in New York. When she sent me invitation, I wasn't coming, but she insisted. Her parents, they are not happy about marriage. They're from the old country and refused to come to wedding. They aren't happy about Nicky either, but Magret, she doesn't care. She's forgotten her roots and her responsibilities to family. I'm supposed to try to talk her into going home. By looking at her, I see it's futile," the man told Spencer. The thick accent didn't escape the agent's notice.

In the meantime, Reid had lit the cigarette and slid the matchbox into the pocket of his waistcoat. He was about to ask another question when he felt a tug on his left pant leg. Looking down, he saw Jack Hotchner, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Little Hotch. What's up? Where's your dad?" He stooped down to meet the boy at eye level. He glanced up to see the Russian man watching him carefully…as if he knew to whom Jack belonged and wondered what Reid's link to the boy might be. Reid didn't like the vibe he was getting from the man, so getting Jack away became a priority.

"Over 'dere," Jack commented as he pointed to Hotch talking to the Smithsonian curator, Beth Clemmons, his apparent date for the festivities. She was laughing at whatever Hotch had said, and she had her hand on his chest, fingers caressing the lapel of his tuxedo in a far-too-familiar way. Spencer felt his stomach roll at the sight.

He'd been there the day Hotch met Beth Clemmons. It was a field trip to the American History Museum for Jack's school, six-months after Haley's murder. Spencer had vacation days to use, so he volunteered to come along for moral support of the Hotchner men…not really altruistically. Spending time with them was a craving, and he satisfied it as often as he could.

The woman had come on like gang busters, gushing over Jack and his friends as she gave them a behind the scenes tour at the museum. At the time, Hotch was too messed up to even notice. Spencer, however, was not.

"Ah, well, we better go get you settled with JJ and Henry. It's all supposed to start soon," Reid suggested. He tossed the unsmoked, smoking cigarette to the street, hoping the Russian didn't notice he'd never taken a real puff, and he hurried away with Jack. The day was going to be long and difficult, of that he was sure.

Reid spent the rest of the day trying to run surveillance on the bride and her "cousin." He'd caught the two of them arguing outside the reception hall when he stormed out after seeing Hotch dancing with Beth Clemmons, needing a distraction from the hell raging in his head at the sight.

Reid quickly grabbed his cell phone and remained concealed while the two people argued. After the bride hurried back inside the reception hall, Reid turned off his phone's recording app and forwarded the recording to Garcia.

Something wasn't right, and he wasn't about to let it go. He wanted Morgan happy, but he didn't believe for a minute Magret was the key to that happiness. He needed to save his friend, and he'd do anything he could to make sure it happened.

Thank you reading….xoxo