Title: Love, Drama, and Parents: What About Prentiss' Dad? (Part 1 of 4)
Author: Trista Groulx
Rating: T (same as the show)
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, they belong to their creator, network, writers and actors and actresses who bring them to life every week. I just borrow them so they can have some fun.
Summary: Reid and Prentiss need to tell their mothers about their engagement. But before that happen Reid asks Prentiss about her father.
Notes: This is technically an epilogue to "Who Celebrates Six Months" in my series starting with "Wedding Date Blues" but I like to think it works on its own so long as you understand that Reid and Prentiss are engaged and have been dating for just over six months. There has never been mention of Prentiss' father. I see her as a daddy's girl, and since CM doesn't seem to like to let the team have their families I assumed he passed. I see him as man who didn't like politics but loved his wife and daughter. I'm saving the "best" till last, there will be lots of drama when they get to Prentiss' mother. As per always this four-part mini plot is complete. I just reserve the right to be evil.

Reid gently rubbed Prentiss' shoulders, as she laid in their hotel room bed. He was sitting on her legs to better give her the massage. She sighed happily, glad to not be alone in a strange city. His hands started to move lower down her back. Those hands really were magic, she didn't think there was anything new to learn about them, until that night. Just thinking about the next few days was stressing her out. She was nervous about meeting Reid's mother, and was not looking forward to telling her own mother about their recent engagement.

"Is that helping?" Reid asked her, still massaging her back.

"Yeah, it is. Where did you learn that?" she asked.

"They offered a course while I was in university. Everyone told me I should get a well rounded education, so I decided to try a quick massage course. It seemed more useful then some of the other courses I could take. I thought it might help me to get women to remove their shirts for me."

She laughed. "How did that work out for you?"

"You're the first woman who stuck around long enough to let me practice on her. It's been awhile since I've done it. You seem to be enjoying it though."

"I am very much so. Your hands really are magic."

"You're so tense."

"Just wait until we go see my mother. This is nothing."

If the stress wasn't bad enough, Prentiss was also in a lot of pain. Normally her cramps didn't stop her like they had. It had been a long time since she just needed to lay in bed with something warm against her abdomen. She was glad Reid was there, he seemed to like taking care of her. Although his hand were nowhere near where she hurt, somehow it felt like the massage was helping.

"Then we will have to fix that when the time comes," he assured her. "Is the magic bag still warm or would you like me to put it in the microwave again?"

"No, it's still good. You are so sweet taking care of me like this."

"That's what you do when you love a person."

She smiled. "It's just cramps, they'll go away."

"I know, but you've never looked so pale before. I know that this whole thing is stressful and I'm sorry."

"I'm not worried about meeting your mother. You told me yourself that the doctors think that this new round of medication is helping her. She's going to be happy for us. My mother on the other hand, that's going to be rough."

He nodded. "I know you're right. My mom just wants me to be happy. I've never actually brought anyone there to meet her before."

"You've never been engaged before."

"I tried to bring you before that, but she had an episode."

"I understand, really, Spencer. I know you're not trying to hide me from her. I understand her challenges. I told you I have done my research. I am prepared for this." Prentiss tried to sit up to kiss him.

"Oh, no you don't, I'm not done relaxing you yet." He continued to massage her back, his hands getting lower.

"Take it easy, you you're getting a little close to my ass there buster.""

"What's the problem with that exactly?"

"You're going to get me all hot and bothered, and we can't do anything about it for a few days," she sighed.

"I'll be good."

"That I don't believe that for a second Doctor Reid."

His hands were working his way back up her back. "Is that better?"

"Kind of," she sighed. "I know you are trying to be sweet, but this is really turning me on, so we might have to stop."

He moved so that she could sit up. She sat up slowly bringing the magic bag with her, placing it around her aching abdomen. It had been years since she had been so immobilized by cramp. He pulled her into his arms gently, she relaxed into him. He went to put on the television in the room only to discover it wasn't working. He had started to like watching movies she would find together.

"I guess that leaves talking," he laughed.

"I guess it does," she replied. "What should we talk about?"

"Well I know about your mother, and you know about both of my parents. But I know nothing about your father. You never speak about him."

"He died when I was seven," she whispered. "He had thrombosis, and never listened to the doctors. He was a nervous flyer and wouldn't stand up and stretch like he was supposed to. He went to bed one night and never woke up. The clot moved into his lung."

Reid was white as a sheet. "Are you at risk?"

"No, I go to a specialist every year, and she assures me that I am not at risk more than anyone else. I still like to get up and walk around, switch seats while we are in the jet though. Trust me I am not at risk, I still take all the precautions. I would never put the people I love through that."

"All right good. I just found you. I'm not ready to lose you." He kissed her softly.

"Trust me Spencer I am not going anywhere without kicking up one hell of a fight."

"So tell me about him."

She took a deep breath. "I've never told anyone about him before."

"I want to know. You must take after him since you are nothing like your mother."

She laughed. "My father hated my mom's parties and politics, but for whatever reason he loved her. I guess I do take after him. I still remember that he would stay with me when my mother was off smoozing. He never liked the idea of nannies. I would have to get all dressed up in these crazy dresses, and we would go to the parties. At the time I really liked them, but I liked spending time with Daddy better. After we ate I would start to complain about a stomach ache, and he would whisk me up to our room to help me feel better."

"You little fibber Emily Prentiss."

"It was okay cause my daddy told me to do it. When we got back to the hotel room he would start to tell me stories. I wish I could remember them all and write them down. He would just make up stories right off the top of his head. I would hang off of his every word."

Reid was once again massaging her shoulders. This time she just relaxed into his soft touch as she remembered the some of the fondest memories of her childhood. Reid was happy to hear something good about her childhood. He smiled unable to keep his hands off of her soft skin.

"I haven't thought about some of this in years Spencer. It's helping me to take my mind off of the pain, and the stress. Thank you."

He kissed her forehead. "It's good to hear that some people got good fathers. So he would just tell you stories?"

"Yeah, he always did. It's one of my first memories. He didn't read to me like my grandmother did when she would watch me. He always just told a story off the top of his head. A lot of them revolved around Princess Emily, until I told him I was not a princess cause I didn't want a prince."

Reid laughed. "So you have always been an independent woman?"

"I guess so. After that I would be a knight, or super hero. I loved those stories. I think that's why I wanted to be in law enforcement."

Reid loved to hear about Prentiss as a child, it wasn't often that they would just open up and tell stories like that. Normally they were working, trying very hard to pretend they were really just co-workers. When they weren't on a case they liked to spend a lot of time sequestered in their bedroom to make up for the all the time they couldn't so much as touch each other. In the rest of the free time they had Prentiss had made it her goal to teach Reid about pop-culture, which he was slowly but surely picking up on.

"It's nice to just talk," Reid mentioned.

"Yeah it is. We should do this more often."

He nodded. "Tell me your favourite memory of your father."

Prentiss thought for a moment. There were a lot of memories flooding over her. They were all pleasant memories. It was starting to make her feel more at ease about the coming days, dealing with their mothers. It also meant that she didn't feel the need to clutch the magic bag to aching abdomen anymore.

"I was five, and I don't even remember what city we were in, but I do remember that we couldn't get out of an event like we always did. It was earlier so there was no reason for me to spend the whole night in bed. I was in a blue dress, and all I wanted to do was spin myself into the floor because it caught the air when I spun," she explained. "It's funny I still remember how dizzy I would get. Then I would start spinning the other way and I wouldn't feel dizzy anymore."

"Does that work?"

"You never spun yourself into a circle until the whole world was moving even after you stopped?"

"Um, no," Reid replied. "I spent most of my childhood reading after my father left."

"When we have little geniuses they are getting kid time too, Spencer."

"Deal, now I want to hear the rest of your story."

She smiled. "I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and bumped into some big time politician. This woman, I guess one of his aides yelled at me, and I was just about to cry, when my dad came over, picked me up and started dancing with me. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. Someone took a picture of it, I still have that picture."

"I'd like to see it when we get home."

"I'll show you. I have a whole scrap book of pictures and things that remind me of him. One of my aunts made it for me, and gave it to me a year after he passed way. I've never shown it to anyone before."

"I feel honoured. Do you need that warmed up?" He asked taking the now cool bag from her.

"No, I'm feeling a lot better. Talking about something good made me forget how stressed I am, and I don't need it anymore."

"I'm glad. Why don't you talk about him more often?"

"Because it's always been too hard before," she explained. "When I started talking about him I would think about losing him, and how unfair it was, and it would just upset me. I still remember when we left the funeral I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming us. With everything that just happened with Hotch I guess it just brought back all of those feelings I hadn't thought about in a long time."

"I'm sorry I brought it up," he sighed slightly.

"Don't be, really. I am starting to remember all the good times instead. Just like everyone keeps encouraging Jack to do. I wish I had had people around me who had done that."

"What did your mother do after your father died?"

"She pretended like it never happened. I would ask her questions and she would change the subject. I would try to tell her the stories daddy used to tell me, and she would start to cry. I didn't like to make her cry, so I just stopped talking about him. We both just stopped talking about him. It was like he was never even there. It was horrible."

"I'm so sorry."

"Maybe that's why my mother and I never really got along. My father and I were always so much alike. You know he used to sneak me his desert when ever we had to attend anything. My mother never even noticed that he was doing it. He knew that it made me happy," she grinned remembering that.

"That's really sweet that he would do that for you."

"Thank you for making me think about all of this Spencer." She kissed him gently. "I forgot how much fun we used to have. I just wish I could talk to my mother about all of this. It's funny her family never approved of him, and now she's doing the same thing to me, with you."

"What was wrong with your father?"

"They thought she could find someone better. He quit his job as a public defender when they got married because he needed to travel with her. Then after I was born he never really looked again because he wanted to raise me. They thought it was the man's job to take care of the woman. My mom never would have gone for that. She loved her job. My lord my mother is messed up. She wants me to have the exact thing she rebelled against."

"What are you talking about?"

"She keeps telling me I need to find a man who can take care of me. But she didn't want that, and she married who she wanted to despite what her family said. Now she makes me feel like a leper for doing the same thing."

"I'm sorry Emily," he said kissing her forehead. "You know that I could, take care of you if that was what you wanted, right?"

She yawned. "I know Spencer. Kind of like you have been doing since we landed?"

"Just like that," he assured her. "It's getting late, and we have a long day tomorrow."

"You're right, I love you."

She turned off the light and the two of them curled up together in the king sized hotel bed. It was always nice when they didn't have to be alone in a new city. Prentiss spend the night dreaming about the great times she had had with her father.

End part 1

Notes: I hope you enjoyed this. I actually didn't plan on doing this whole part with the parents. I was just going to skip ahead to wedding stuffage, but I kept thinking about Prentiss' dad, and it hit me I could make it four parts, for the four parents! Up next "Reid's Mom"