I wasn't planning on continuing this, but so many people suggested that I do so I thought I'd give it a try and see what happened...
Hotch narrowed his eyes in what he knew was an intimidating manner, but the object of his suspicion seemed, as usual, to be completely oblivious and immune to his usual scare tactics and just blinked owlishly back at him, large brown eyes wide with innocent curiosity.
He ignored the failed attempt at intimidating Reid and sighed exasperatedly when he felt his son tug on his sleeve for the fifth time in as many minutes.
"But daaaaad! I don't like that babysitter. She smells funny...and she won't let me watch Scooby-Doo and she makes me eat the yellow beans at supper. I don't like yellow beans and I don't like her!"
"Jack!" Hotch scolded, "What have I told you about talking like that?"
The young boy let go of his father's sleeve and toed the carpet with his shoe, looking properly ashamed. "That its not nice to say bad things about people..." he grumbled at the floor. After a moment he looked back up with puppy eyes and a wide smile. "Sorry, daddy."
Hotch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Did you even think to ask Spencer if he wants to babysit you?"
Jack looked confused. "Well he would. 'Cause uncle Spencer likes me! Right uncle Spencer?"
"Right!" Reid said, ruffling the kid's hair as he walked in the general direction of the coffee machine.
"You don't mind, Reid?" Hotch asked, not wanting the young man to feel pressured into babysitting for him for the third time in two weeks.
The young doctor smiled over the rim of his coffee mug. "Of course not." His gaze settled on Jack then. "We have fun, don't we Jack?"
"Uncle Spencer taught me how to make a rocket out of the little plastic container that you keep film in, daddy!"
Hotch level a glare at his youngest agent upon hearing that. "Did he." He felt somewhat satisfied when Reid took a larger than average gulp of his coffee.
Jack was tugging on his sleeve again.
"Hey, do you know what happens when you drop Mentos candies into a bottle of coke, daddy?"
When Hotch's head snapped up again to glare at the young doctor, Reid was already halfway down the hallway and moving in the opposite direction of the bullpen at a hurried pace. Just before he rounded the first corner he happened upon, he threw a furtive glance over his shoulder, pulling a face when he realized Hotch was watching him go.
Feeling as if he had, yet again, avoided a potentially dangerous situation with Hotch and whatever object the man might have been holding in his hand, Spencer chuckled a little as he headed down to the lobby for some lunch.
Jack had spent the better part of the day here after telling the nurse at school that he was much too ill to continue the day there. Having no other option, Hotch was forced to pick him up and bring him to the office. Luckily, Strauss was away and the rest of the team seemed delighted to have the boy there to break up their endless amounts of tedious paperwork.
Spencer enjoyed babysitting Jack, as he had found out that the kid had a knack for science related activities. Like film canister rockets and exploding coke bottles. Teaching had been a career he had once seriously thought about perusing before he had made the decision to join the FBI and it was fun to teach someone as eager and excited to learn as Jack was.
But he was sure that he knew the real reason Jack was so eager to have him babysit. Last time the kid had somehow managed to convince him that it would be a good idea to let him have a go on Reid's skateboard. He wasn't sure how it had happened, or how a little kid had managed to convince a seasoned profiler that blatantly defying Hotch's orders was a good idea. He guessed it had something to do with those big puppy-dog eyes, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, Jack had officially gotten his first taste of boarding and he was hooked.
And if it was one thing Spencer knew, it was that he was completely unable to say no to Jack and Henry.
"You alright, pretty boy?"
"Huh?" Spencer said, feeling as eloquent as always.
Morgan smiled at him, "You look worried. Everything alright?"
"Oh! Yeah, no. Just...you know..." He trailed off in his signature awkward style and a feeble wave of his hand.
Derek cocked a brow at the young genius. "Well that was clear as mud. You sure everything's ok?" the older man was starting to look genuinely concerned so Spencer decided to elaborate.
"I'm just a little worried that Hotch might give me a fatal paper cut across the throat with the file folder he's holding."
Blinking in confusion and then looking around the lobby to confirm that Hotch was actually nowhere in sight, Morgan once again fixed a perplexed gaze on his coworker. "Ok, Reid. Walk me through it, man." He said clearly and slowly, like he always did when he wanted Reid to realize that he wasn't explaining himself nearly as well as he thought.
"Oh, well, the last few times I babysat Jack I...might have taught him a few tricks that Hotch doesn't approve of."
"Tricks?"
"Science tricks...you know. The film canister rocket and the Mentos and coke thing..."
Morgan was grinning and shaking his head. "Reid, I'm sure Hotch won't kill you for getting his kid interested in science stuff."
Spencer grimaced, feeling the weight of the skateboard issue push against his chest.
Morgan stopped grinning when he realized how uncomfortable the genius actually was. "Reid, Hotch seriously won't get angry over something like that and he wouldn't ever actually hurt you."
Spencer pulled another face and glanced at the doors connecting the lobby to the rest of the building for the fourth time, battling the urge to confide in Morgan about what he had done. But telling someone also meant there was someone else who knew what he did! Could he take that risk?
Morgan was starting to look worried again. "Reid, come on. You don't actually think Hotch would physically hurt you because you showed his kid what happens when you throw a certain type of candy into a bottle of soda, do you?"
"I let Jack use my skateboard!" Spencer blurted all of a sudden, unable to contain it any longer. He needed someone else to know. He needed someone else to tell him that his fear of getting caught was ridiculous.
He nervously brought a hand to his mouth and started chewing on his thumbnail, carefully watching Morgan's reaction. But there wasn't much of a reaction to analyze, since Derek's face had gone slack and he just said, "Ohhh..."
Then the older agent cleared his throat, clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Well, good luck with that." before walking out of the building.
Spencer was left staring at the empty space Derek had just vacated for several seconds before turning and running after the man. He caught up to him halfway down the paved path to the street.
"Morgan!" He cried, "That was not the least bit helpful!"
The man turned to regard him with an easy smile. "Well I couldn't think of anything to say that you'd actually want to hear. You introduced Jack to a sport that Hotch made clear he didn't like." He grasped Reid's shoulders theatrically, his face grim. "It was nice knowing you, man."
Spencer pushed the man's arms away grumpily. Morgan was now openly laughing at his expense and he crossed his arms over his chest defensively and cocked a brow, allowing a small smirk to tug at one corner of his mouth.
His facial expression halted Morgan's laughter almost immediately.
"Well, I think Hotch would be interested to know that you knew about his son engaging in dangerous sporting activities and deliberately withheld the information from him." He put on a contemplative face, bringing his finger to his chin and looking upwards as if seriously considering Morgan's predicament. "Yes, I think he would be most interested."
"You're blackmailing me?" Morgan cried, loud enough so that people turned their heads to see what the commotion was all about.
Spencer scoffed, "No." he said as if Morgan were crazy. "I am merely stating that I may release substantially true or false information about you to an associate unless my demands are met."
Morgan exhaled through his nose, a classic sign of anger and aggression in males with an alpha quality such as Derek and Spencer took an involuntary step backwards when said alpha male pointed a finger at him threateningly.
"I'm a lot bigger than you, pretty boy."
He smiled disarmingly, gently applying force to Morgan's raised hand until it lowered. "Correct. However-"
"Reid!"
The doctor jumped slightly at the volume of Morgan's voice. "Ok, Morgan, please just talk to Hotch about it, ok? Don't let him know what I did, just work it into casual conversation that you think skateboarding is super cool and that today's youth could really benefit from extracurricular activities such as this. Then just throw in a few facts about childhood obesity rates and improvements to safety equipment over the last few years and he'll be like putty in your hands!" The young genius finished with an encouraging grin.
Morgan's mouth was hanging open in disbelief. At the end of Reid's rant he shook his head slightly. "You're crazy." he began walking away again. "You're completely nuts."
Spencer watched him go dejectedly and then followed in his footsteps. If he was going to get lunch he better do it soon, since his break time was almost over.
Spencer pulled into Hotch's driveway, making sure that the box of stuff in his back seat was covered before getting out of his car and making his way to the door.
Over the past two weeks he had been slowly collecting some equipment for Jack's new hobby. If he was going to teach the kid how to board in secret then he needed to have the proper safety gear. He managed to get the basics like knee and elbow pads and a helmet of course, but just yesterday Justin had told him that he had a pair of hand guards that his nephew had just outgrown and that Jack could have. A couple days before that Brian, after hearing about Spencer's efforts to pass on their skateboarding knowledge to the next generation, had donated his kid brother's old skateboard for Jack to use as well.
All in all, Spencer expected the kid to flip out when he brought in the box of gear. After Hotch had safely pulled out of the driveway and been gone for at least twenty minutes of course.
He rung the doorbell and immediately heard a thundering of feet that got progressively louder as Jack neared the door.
"Hi, uncle Spencer!"
"Hey buddy!"
Jack ran full tilt back in the direction of the kitchen, screaming, "Daddy, Spencer's here!"
"Jack, you need to calm down, buddy." Hotch said softly, ruffling his son's hair.
"Ok! I'm gonna go put Scooby-Doo on!"
After the child had careened out of sight, Spencer exhaled a puff of air and grinned. "What's got him so wired?"
Hotch managed to scowl and roll his eyes simultaneously. "Garcia's been feeding him cookies all day. Sick my ass. I've raised a little brat." He said with affection and some amount of pride.
"Don't let him see how proud you are about his ability to manipulate his teachers." Although he knew Hotch probably just found it amusing more than anything else.
The older man smiled and he looked at his son sitting on the floor in front of the tv. "No. But I won't call him on it either." He sighed and his eyes turned sad as he unfolded and refolded the dishtowel in his hands. "I've missed so much time with him already and him faking sick so he can come home and spend the day with me won't last forever."
Spencer frowned, wishing he could understand what Hotch was feeling.
"Thank you for coming over, by the way." the older man said suddenly, looking up from the dishtowel. "I would have been stuck otherwise."
He bit his lip as he followed Hotch into the kitchen, unsure if it would be appropriate to ask what the man was going out for. He decided it probably wouldn't be and kept his mouth shut, only nodding when Hotch asked if he'd like a cup of coffee.
When the two men sat down at the table there was a moment of silence before Hotch cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. The expression, while not unusual, was one rarely seen on Hotch's face and Spencer felt intrigued and a little nervous.
"Morgan mentioned something to me earlier today before we left the office."
Spencer now felt no intrigue and only nervousness. He couldn't believe Morgan had told the man after he had practically begged him not to, after he had confided in him! He especially thought the blackmail would have been effective in getting the other agent to keep his mouth shut.
He wished there were something he could throw up in.
"I wasn't actually mad at you today when Jack told me about the, uh, science magic that you taught him."
If Reid had been a religious man, he would have been thanking the deities at that moment.
"It was more to discourage Jack from trying anything unsupervised. If he thinks I don't like something he usually won't try it."
Spencer's eyes were wide. "Yeah."
"I just don't want him to try it by himself and have him put an eye out or something."
Reid felt that just continuing to nod was the best course of action at this point, since opening his mouth in such situations usually ended poorly for him.
"Anyway, I just wanted you to know that." Hotch continued, "Plus, I've been trying to get him interested in something besides Art class and Scooby-Doo for a while so I actually should be thanking you."
Spencer laughed when his boss did and wiped the sweat off his palms, feeling terrible for lying to the man but knowing that Jack really enjoyed skating and would not be allowed to do it anymore if his father found out.
After looking at his watch, Hotch rose and placed his empty mug in the sink. "Better get going I suppose." He said with a sigh. He gave off the impression that he didn't really want to go wherever it was that he was meant to be.
Jack was suddenly at Spencer's elbow, trying to get him to come to the living room to watch Scooby-Doo. "Come watch it with me, uncle Spencer. Daddy has to go on a date with Angela!"
Spencer heard Hotch make some sort of noise from the hallway and grinned, looking down at Jack.
"He does? That's very interesting, Jack!"
"She's really pretty!"
"I bet she is!"
"And she has really big-"
"JACK!"
Hotch looked scandalized, his eyes wide and his tie hanging loose about his neck. He glared at Reid, who was doubled over with silent laughter.
"I'll be back by ten." The older man grumbled, closing the door with a bit more force than necessary as he left.
The other two were silent as they listened for the car to start and then leave the driveway. It was at this point that Jack turned to him, "Can we go skateboarding now?"
Spencer smiled and told him to wait right there while he went and got a surprise from the car. When he came back in, Jack was in the same spot where he had left him and was practically vibrating with energy, making Spencer frown.
"How many cookies did auntie Penny give you today?" he asked.
Jack seemed to be contemplating his answer carefully. "She gave me three cookies."
Spencer felt his eyes narrow. "Ok. And how many cookies did you eat?"
Jack's face fell when he realized Spencer had caught on to his little word game. He looked down at the floor shamefully. "...seven."
"Seven? Ok, no bedtime treat tonight buddy. You've had enough sugar as it is."
After the brief argument that followed Spencer's decision to withhold bedtime snacks was resolved, he helped the boy don his new boarding gear, which took a lot longer than Spencer had thought it would do to the squirming, giggling and a hide and seek game that somehow developed between attaching the second kneed pad and trying to get on the first hand guard.
Forty five minutes later found them in the street, Jack carrying his little skateboard under his arm and struggling to move properly in the ridiculous amount padding and protection that was currently strapped around him.
"Ok, remember what you learned last week?" Spencer asked.
The boy nodded eagerly, only wobbling a bit when he stepped onto the board.
Reid smiled and dug out his phone to take a picture of the complete adorableness of the scene.
Jack gingerly lowered a foot to the pavement and gave himself an experimental push forward, immediately retracting his foot when the board rolled slowly forward. Spencer made sure to walk close to his side in case he started to fall but otherwise did not get involved.
Having successfully gotten the board to move without falling off seemed to embolden Jack and he lowered his foot again, a little more confident, and pushed himself forward with a bit more force, making an "Ohhhhh!" sound as the moved down the road.
"Good job!" Spencer encouraged, still staying close enough to catch the boy if he fell.
After a few more minutes, he felt Jack was doing well and he hopped on top of his own board and let himself roll down the road at the speed Jack had set, still watching carefully. They did this up and down the street for the better part of an hour, towards the end of which Jack was becoming more and more brave and making the board roll faster and faster.
Spencer called it a night not long after the sun had set, when it became obvious that little Jack was tiring quickly. There was no struggle getting all the gear off, getting the kid to take a bath and then going to bed. When Hotch got home, Spencer was peering stubbornly through tired eyes at the tv, trying to figure out what the hell he was watching.
"This cartoon makes no sense." he muttered as Hotch slumped wordlessly into the chair next to the sofa. "You would never be able to splice the DNA of a rhinoceros and a bird and have two brains in one body." he sighed and finally closed his eyes. "Ridiculous."
After a minute Hotch had still not said anything and Spencer peeled his eyes open to regard his boss.
"So...how'd your date go?" he asked with a smirk.
Hotch sent him a long-suffering glare. "I don't want to talk about it."
Spencer sat up. "Fair enough." He hadn't really wanted to hear about it anyway.
"Thanks again for looking after Jack. I owe you one."
Spencer stilled only for a fraction of a second before logging the handy little phrase away in his head for later use. He waved as he left and called over his shoulder "See you tomorrow."
Six Months Later
Spencer was on his way over to Hotch's house again to babysit Jack while the Unit Chief and Rossi went to some swanky bar where everyone drank scotch in small square glasses and the air was so thick with cigar smoke that you'd choke on it. He had spent most of the drive so far thinking about how incredibly talented Jack was when it came to boarding. The kid was picking up the skill at an incredible rate and had already mastered smaller scale jumps and ramps.
He was also thinking about telling Jack that it was high time they came clean with Hotch. They couldn't hide this forever, after all, and perhaps it wouldn't be so bad when the older man found out how much Jack enjoyed it and how good he was at it.
Spencer scoffed. 'Yeah, right.'
After Hotch and Spencer shared a short conversation and a cup of coffee, Hotch left and Spencer followed Jack out to his car to get the box of gear.
"Do I still have to wear all this stuff?" Jack asked, looking at the knee pads in his hands like they were something gross.
"Yes. If you want to keep skating, anyway." Spencer answered at once, leaving no room for argument.
The boy sat down on the grass and got to work putting them on. "Fine..."
"Do you want to go to the store and get a popsicle?" Spencer asked the disgruntle boy, knowing this would cheer him up.
It was a ridiculously hot day and a popsicle sounded like a damn good idea to the young genius. Apparently it did to Jack too, for the rest of his safety gear was in place in record time and they were moving down the street at an impressive speed for such a little kid.
Spencer swayed his board in a lazy zigzag pattern down the street, enjoying the feel of the sun beating down on his bare arms and face. Mirages could be seen in dips in the road and the air shimmered and wobbled from the heat radiating off the black pavement. On days like this, when it was unseasonably hot, he felt like he was home again.
They wasted no time in entering the little convenience store when they reached it, though, desperate for the air conditioning that it provided. It was for this reason that Spencer let Jack take his time picking out the popsicle he wanted.
They sat on the curb in the shade of the building while they ate. Spencer glanced down at the kid and sighed, seeing that most of the purple colored treat had ended up on the boy's face. He wiped away what he could with a napkin and scowled, "You might try eating the popsicle next time instead of wearing it like lipstick."
Jack giggled and continued eating like Reid hadn't spoken.
When they were on the way back to the house, popsicles gone and skin tingling from the heat of the sun, Reid heard a car coming up behind them and called for Jack to move to the side of the road. Jack did as instructed and hoped off his board to stand on the grass under a shady tree while he waited for the car to pass.
Spencer had the intention of following but frowned when the car sounded as if it were slowing down instead of passing by. He let his board slow down on its own as he drew closer to where Jack stood. When said boy waved at the vehicle, Spencer turned his head and swore.
"Shit..." he muttered under his breath, seeing the black SUV roll to a stop just a few feet behind him.
Not looking where he was going, the edge of his board met the side of the curb and stopped moving. Unfortunately due to the laws of motion, Spencer had no such obstacle to keep him from continuing his forward movement.
He groaned from his place on the grass and sat up, rubbing his shoulder.
"You okay, uncle Spencer?" Jack said, looking worried.
He heard the unmistakable sound of two car doors slamming closed.
"We'll see..."
When Jack turned to follow Reid's gaze his eyes widened comically.
"Hi, daddy..."
"What the hell is going on here?" Hotch snarled as he stepped off the road and onto the grass.
"Aaron..." Rossi warned gently from his spot by the SUV.
Spencer swallowed convulsively at the anger he saw in Hotch's face. Instinctively, he inched backwards on the grass, his eyes wide. He felt like a little kid that had just been caught doing something he knew was wrong. Unfortunately, this had been a familiar scene for him as a kid, the only difference was Hotch probably wasn't intoxicate like William would have been.
"Jack, get in the car."
"But daddy-"
"I said get in the car!"
'Oh my god, he's actually, legitimately going to kill me.' Spencer thought, alarmed by how the scene was unfolding like so many others he remembered.
Once Jack was in the car, Hotch seemed to be trying to control his anger by taking several deep breaths, his eyes closed and his hands on his hips. From where Spencer was, frozen in place on the ground, shoulder throbbing dully and stomach churning with dread, his attempts didn't seem to be working.
He could feel the weight of Rossi's gaze on him, but didn't dare look away from Hotch, lest the man lunge at him like-
'Come on, Spencer, Hotch isn't your father. Get a grip.' He told himself harshly.
Suddenly Hotch turned on him, eyes now open, and hand already raising into the air, "I told you-"
Against his will, Spencer felt his body flinch violently, honed by years of abuse at the hands of his father. His sore arm jerked up to deflect a blow he logically knew would not land and his eyes slammed shut. After a second though, he gingerly opened them and peered out at Hotch from under his arm.
His muscles unclenched when he saw that the older man had not raised his hand to hit him but to point at him. In fact, the Unit Chief's hand was still frozen like that, though the man didn't seem to notice, and he was staring at Reid with a concerned look on his face.
Spencer took the opportunity to stand on shaky legs, feeling a little ridiculous. He knew Hotch wouldn't have hit him. He should have been able to stop his reaction. 'Old habits die hard.' He reminded himself, accepting that this hadn't been the first time he'd reacted like this in a situation that did not call for it and it probably would not be the last. 'I really need to work on that.'
Spencer was pulled from his thoughts when Hotch stepped towards him and he instinctively moved back a pace to maintain the distance between them.
"Reid, I'm sorry..."
Something clicked in Spencer's head then and he shook his head. "No, I'm sorry! I should have told you, I wanted to, but Jack just loves it so much and I was worried that he wouldn't be allowed to skate anymore and then I thought about how upset he'd be and-"
"Reid-"
"-I didn't want to be the reason he had to stop skating. But then I thought-"
"Reid-"
"-it wasn't right to lie to you and-"
"Spencer!"
Reid's jaw snapped closed and he jumped, breathing heavily through his nose.
Hotch approached him slowly and gently said. "Take a deep breath, please."
Spencer did as instructed and waited with baited breath as Hotch observed him closely. After a few minutes his heart rate had slowed to it's normal pace and his legs were no longer shaking.
"Better?" Hotch asked at length, appearing much more calm as well.
Rossi went back to sit in the car with Jack, apparently no longer feeling as if he might need to play peace keeper.
Spencer nodded, "Yeah. Sorry..."
Hotch was watching him carefully, all signs of earlier anger gone. "You and I are going to talk about a few things tomorrow."
Spencer nodded at once, eager to appease the man and keep him from getting angry again.
Hotch studied his subordinate's face for another second before telling him to get in the SUV.
Spencer released a breath he hadn't even known he was holding when Hotch turned around. He wasn't sure what the man had been looking for when he'd scrutinized him so closely but he was just glad the confrontation was over and that Hotch no longer seemed homicidal.
He climbed in to the blissfully cool car and laid his board across his lap. When he looked over at Jack, the child was already staring up at him with watery eyes. Spencer smiled encouragingly and ruffled the kid's hair to let him know all was well and earned a tentative smile in response.
Not gonna lie, I did not anticipate this turning into a semi-serious story. I had originally meant to keep it light but it didn't happen.
This might develop into a chapter fic, but I'm not sure yet. I'll leave it open for now I guess.
Tell me what you think!