It was ridiculous and a little uncalled the nervousness he felt, Spencer knew that the Donalds twins already liked him, that he didn't need to try and impress them with anything, but still he felt butterflies in his stomach waiting for them.
"Spencer," Derek took his hand and kissed his knuckles, "you're making me nervous. Knock it off." Spencer gave himself a mental shake, which may have been a little more physical than he thought when Derek laughed and warped an arm around his waist. "Don't worry I'm sure in the last twelve hours," the last time Spencer had spoken to the boys on the phone, "they haven't lost that awed respect for you." Derek loved teasing him with how much the boys had taken to Spencer. Bruce was a constant fountain of questions and Clark would challenge him to mini-trivia quizzes. Spencer had learned from Derek after the second time beating him that, no Spencer shouldn't let him win, because Clark was certain to notice.
"We're going to be responsible for them for five days Derek. That is a little nerve wracking, okay?" Spencer looked at Derek trying to convey how terrifying he found that but his lover just grinned.
"You'll be a natural. Don't worry." He kissed his cheek.
"Uncle Derek! Uncle Spencer!" Spencer's grin intensified hearing Bruce call him 'uncle' in person. The younger twin had started it a few weeks ago. It was at about the same time that Clark dropped the 'uncle' for Derek's title. The boys had just turned eleven and Spencer figured Clark wanted to feel more grown up.
Bruce tackled Spencer first, hugging him tightly around the middle and not letting up for half a minute. "This is going to be so much fun!" Bethany and Clark followed just a few steps behind. Clark did not look as enthusiastic as Bruce did.
Clark surprised them though when he hugged them tightly first Derek, then Spencer. "I'm ready to challenge you to a real test now," he said seriously to Spencer.
Bruce groaned, "that's all he's been doing is studying Star Trek trivia. Let him win Uncle Spencer so this can be over," Bruce begged.
Bethany pulled Derek, "thank you so much for doing this Derek. I know that you don't get many vacations and for you to spend.." She looked at her sons before focusing back on the older man, "It's all they've talked about this summer. Spencer has made quite the impression on both of them."
"About Spencer, do they understand?" Derek asked quietly drawing Bethany even closer.
She quirked an eyebrow and gave a soft laugh, "yes. They asked me a million questions about it. It was a little awkward," Bethany's cheeks tinted red a moment before she grinned wickedly, "of course I left the really embarrassing ones for you two. So be prepared."
An announcement was made for the flight to London, "that's you Mom," Bruce smiled and hugged his mom tightly, Clark embraced her next but held on for a long time.
"Don't worry CK, it's only a few days," Clark sniffed and buried his head in Bethany's side, "you can still come with me if you want."
"No," he said strongly and pulled away, "I'll be fine Mom," he stood up a little straighter.
"Bye Bethany," Spencer embraced her quickly, albeit a bit awkwardly.
"See ya cuz," she hugged Derek tightly, "take care of my babies." She blew the boys a kiss as she walked away.
They stood there a minute watching her go before Spencer grabbed Bruce's bags and Derek grabbed Clark's. "Come on," Spencer smiled warmly, "let's get you guys home."
It was a quiet subdue trip back to Derek's house. The boys sat in the back staring silently out the windows with pensive looks. The profilers were prepared for this; Taylor Donalds had passed away while he'd been on a business trip.
"Hey guys," Spencer turned a bit in his seat so that he could see the twins, "Wednesday our boss is hosting a bar-b-que, it'll be a lot of fun." Derek smiled reassuringly into the rear view mirror.
Bruce glanced up and put on a brave smile, "that sounds great Uncle Spencer," he shot a look at Clark and he rolled his eyes in response.
Spencer didn't let Clark's dark mood stop him from going on with the ideas Derek and himself had brainstormed. "If you boys are interested we were thinking of taking a trip to the International Spy Museum. They just declassified the Spy in the City mission that allows you to take a GPS-guided tour of the city, as a spy." Spencer and Derek shared a warm look when the boys looked at each other with wide, excited eyes.
"Really?" Clark asked, his smile growing, "we'll be spys."
"Yeah, interested?" Derek couldn't help but grin when both boys shouted,
"Totally!" They high-fived, "what else did you plan?" Bruce asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
"There is also the National Air and Space Museum," they weren't sure how much the eleven years old were going to enjoy that one.
Bruce looked more excited about that suggestion then Clark did. "You guys are so cool." Bruce grinned and even Clark was nodding in agreement. They had a feeling that this week wouldn't be as tough as Spencer had thought.
Derek sat their bags down, "okay guys this will be your room, the bathroom is right across the hall and my room is two doors down on the left. The closet in between has extra blankets and towels." The boys were looking at the one full size bed, "yeah you'll have to share."
Clark crinkled his nose, "we haven't shared in years."
"Not since the crib," Bruce looked just as displeased, "we brought our sleeping bags-"
"We could camp out-"
"Tell ghost stories," the boys shared a wicked grin.
Derek inwardly sighed with relief, he'd been worried that the one bed would become a problem. "Spencer's starting dinner so when you're all settled just come on down."
"Um Uncle Derek," Bruce stopped him, "Uncle Spencer lives here with you right?"
Derek masked his confusion he wasn't sure why they wanted to know that, "sort of."
"What's 'sort of' about it? Either he does or he doesn't." Clark crossed his arms and glared at the floor a bit.
"How about we explain it to you at dinner," Derek smiled and the boys offered begrudging nods. As soon as Derek was down stairs he sought out his lover. "Be prepared, I think the questioning is going to start." Derek gave Spencer a look, "Remember what we talked about?"
Spencer rolled his eyes, "of course I do."
"So if you get nervous?" Derek asked.
"Please Derek I'm not going to-" Spencer frowned at Derek's 'humor me' look. "I will not spout useless facts if I get nervous. I will shut up and count to one hundred."
"Pretty boy you have a tendency to make people uncomfortable." Derek leveled a look on him but Spencer felt the need to defend himself.
"Their eleven years old-" Spencer went quiet when they heard the twins on the stairs.
The boys thought they were being quiet, "Mom said they'd-"
"It still doesn't-"
"They might get-"
"Or embarrassed-"
"What if we ask something-" They came into the kitchen and both boys fell silent with blushes when they found Derek and Spencer watching them. "Hi," they said together and quickly took seats at the table.
Derek and Spencer took a seat with them. "Spencer, Clark and Bruce want to know why we only 'sort of' live together."
Spencer's glare was there and gone quickly, "You see guys I still have my apartment because.." Spencer trailed off and Derek could see statistics and theory's forming in his head.
"We work in the same unit and it's against regulations for us to be dating." Derek tried to save Spencer from breaking down into facts.
"You're breaking the rules?" Bruce looked so innocent saying it it actually made Derek feel guilty.
"Yes," Spencer said quickly, "but we sort of have permission from our boss?" The explanation would have been better if Spencer hadn't sounded so unsure of himself.
"Geez," Clark muttered, "this is worse than going to the dentist. Lighten up bro, their FBI agents, they don't want to go around telling everyone that their qu-I mean.." Clark blushed, "sorry," he mumbled.
Derek sighed, "it's alright Clark, you're kind of right, we don't want everyone to know about us. Not because we're breaking rules or because we are two men-"
Spencer easily took up, "we want this to be private. Our team knows because they are like family to us-"
"But to anyone else it is not their business." Derek finished, they'd eerily sounded like the twins for a moment there.
"What if you wanted to get married?" Bruce asked after only a pause, both men worked hard to hide their surprise. The question hit just a bit close to home for them.
"Homosexuals," Clark said the word like he had to work to remember to use that particular term, "aren't allowed to get married Bruce." Clark rolled his eyes before yelping from a sharp kick from his brother.
"Boys," Spencer frowned, "no fighting." Derek grinned at how parental his lover sounded.
"Sorry," they smiled sheepishly and folded their hands into their laps. "Mom said.. that we could ask you questions." Bruce was so shy compared to his brother who blurted out, "How did you know you were gay?"
Without missing a beat Spencer launched into his coming out, "I've known since I was a teenager that I was attracted to both sexs. As many as 7.2 million american youths under the age of twenty are gay." Derek didn't even care that Spencer might start reciting every statistic and fact that he knew just to keep Derek from having to answer that particular question. He thought hard about how he could answer without revealing anything the boys didn't need to know.
"What about you Uncle Derek?" Bruce asked quietly.
Spencer opened his mouth, probably to tell the twins something they did not need to know, like in 1973 homosexuality was removed from the list of known diseases, he almost laughed, Spencer had used that almost like a pick up line when they'd first gotten together. Derek beat him to it, "I didn't know until I was much older that I was attracted to men."
"Why not?" Derek was starting to see that for eleven years old the twins were sharp as tacks and quick to see deflection when it came their way.
"I tired to hide from myself." Derek stood up and went to the stove to check on dinner.
"Which race of aliens used their space craft to construct a huge web link trap of pure energy?" Spencer fired quickly, effectively cutting off any more questions the boys may have had.
Clark's eyes narrowed and it took him less than five seconds to answer, "Tholians. That was easy Spencer, give me a challenge." Clark was quickly engrossed in the spontaneous trivia challenge, but Bruce watched Derek for a moment before he was pulled into the game too.
"In The Day of The Dove, the alien entity isolated all but how many members of the Klingon and Enterprise crew?" Clark had both hands flat against the table watching Spencer intently.
Spencer hesitated a moment, "aw c'mon Uncle Spencer even I know this one." Bruce taunted.
"Uh.. f-forty!" Clark snapped his fingers, sure he'd finally stumped Spencer.
"Which alien race invented the clo-"
"Romulans, I'm serious Uncle Spencer you better start making these harder." Clark glared before the smallest of smiles twitched on his lips, Spencer returned it, the kid had just called him 'Uncle.'
"Dinner's up and I am not listening to Star Trek trivia." Derek put plates down in front of the boys and went back to the counter for his and Spencer's.
Clark sighed, "I'm going to beat you, you just wait and see." He narrowed his eyes and Spencer returned the look but couldn't keep his face straight like Clark could.
"We'll see about that." Spencer finally broke into laughter and they all quieted down to start eating.
Let's get the formalities outta the way,
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds
Whew, now that that is done. :) Here is the sequel to And Guest, I hope you all enjoy this as much as it's predeceror.. hm, probably spelled that wrong. This is proving to be as much fun to write as And Guest was so!! I hope you all enjoy.
Um, StarTrek trivia will be a running theme through the story, I can't help it, I feed off Spencer's geekism, I am a geek, and proud of it, and a Trekkie, proud of that too! Check out my new avatar, it wholly rocks.