After a long week solving a case in Philadelphia, Spencer was glad to be home and have the weekend off. This weekend was especially important to him because he would be bringing Lily home permanently. When he got home, he cleaned his whole apartment, went grocery shopping, and set up the bedroom where Lily would sleep. It was plain for now, but he figured that he could take her shopping and pick out what colors she wanted.

The next morning, Spencer met Mrs. Burke outside the foster home where Lily was staying. He was a little nervous about the reaction that Lily would have, but he was mostly excited. He has been waiting a long time to have a child that he could call his own.

"Good morning Dr. Reid," said Mrs. Burke, exiting her car. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Spencer followed her up the stairs and watched as she rang the doorbell. Spencer heard the shuffling of feet and angry voices behind the door.

"Are you here to pick up Lily?" A woman with disheveled blonde hair opened the door just a crack, so she could see who was on the porch. Spencer remembered that her name was Maureen Benson. She had been taking care of Lily while she was waiting to be adopted. If Spencer didn't adopt her, she would have been placed in an orphanage.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Burke, pushing the door open. "This is Dr. Reid. He's permanently adopting Lily."

"Oh, good," said Mrs. Benson. "Her bag is all packed and ready."

Spencer noticed how messy her house was. She was watching more children than Lily, and three rowdy boys ran rampant throughout the house. One of them broke a lamp on an end table.

"Boys! Stop running!" said the woman, but it was no use. "Lily, get over here and say goodbye to me!"

Lily appeared from another room, and ran right to Spencer, much to her foster mother's dismay.

"Spencer!" Lily wrapped her tiny arms around his waist. "Can I go home with you now? Forever?"

"Yes, you're going to live with me now." Spencer returned the hug.

"Do I get a goodbye?" said Lily's foster parent.

Lily let go of Spencer begrudgingly and embraced her in a short hug, then picked up her duffel bag.

"Ok, I'm ready!" exclaimed Lily, and walked outside with Spencer. He could tell that she was eager to get out of that house. He took the duffel bag out of her hands and frowned at how light it was. She couldn't have more than a few tee shirts and pants inside.

Mrs. Burke came out of the house, holding a file in her hand. "Ok, these are the legal adoption papers. I suggest you put them in a safe place. I will arrange for meetings to check on Lily from time to time, and over time the frequency of these meeting will lessen until I will stop coming all together. But for now, congratulations. Lily is all yours." She shook Spencer's hand and waved goodbye to Lily, and left.

Both Lily and Spencer smiled.

XXXXXX

"Ok, this is it." Spencer opened the door to his apartment. "It's small, but it's cozy."

"I like it. It's a lot nicer than Mrs. Benson's house. I didn't like it over there too much," said Lily. "Wow, you have a lot of books!" She ran over to the shelves and pulled out one. "This is heavy," she giggled.

"I love books," said Spencer, with a smile on his face. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?"

Lily nodded.

"This is my bedroom, down the hall is yours, that's the bathroom and this is the kitchen," said Spencer, taking her into each room. "I'm afraid it's not very big, but we'll fit. Would you like some lunch?"

"Yes, please." Lily took a seat at the kitchen table. "Could I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

"Coming right up." Spencer smiled. He wasn't the best chef around, but he could make a few decent meals. He taught himself how to cook after his Mom got sick, and he could definitely make a sandwich.

"Here you go." Spencer set the sandwich down and took a seat opposite her. "Would you mind if we talked a little bit?"

When Lily nodded, Spencer continued. "Could you tell me about your foster family?"

"The mom was okay. She was nice, but I never got to eat that much because those boys would take everything. They never left me anything."

"That's okay," said Spencer. "Because now you can have any food you want. You can help yourself to anything I have here." Lily smiled at that. "Now," continued Spencer, "In that bag that you brought, is that all the clothes you have?"

Lily shook her head yes. She looked a little embarrassed in her answer, which Spencer picked up on. "We could go and get you more, if you like," Spencer said. "And I know your room is plain, but I thought I could take you shopping for some things that you like, you know, since you'll be living here."

"I'd like that the a lot, but first I have a question for you." Lily grinned, which perked Spencer's interest. "Why do people call you Dr. Reid, if you told me you work with the police?"

"I finished a lot years of school and I got special degrees that means that people can call me Dr." Spencer wasn't used to dumbing down his speech, so this would be a new experience for him. "But I'm not like a doctor who helps you when you get sick."

"I remember you work for the police, and you travel a lot," said Lily.

"I do travel a lot, but I took two weeks off to spend with you. It will be just you and me for two weeks. We can do whatever you want." Spencer had so many vacation days saved up that he requested to Hotch that he take two weeks to get Lily settled in to her new life. Hotch had agreed that it was a good idea, and accepted his time off.

"Wow, I couldn't pick what I wanted to do since my Mom and Dad died." Lily had finished her sandwich and pushed her plate away.

"Well, that brings me to my next point," said Spencer, ignoring what Lily had said about her biological parents. He figured he would cross that bridge later. "You don't have to call me Dad if you don't want to yet. My first name is Spencer, you can call me that, or one of my friends call me Spence. My other friends call me Reid, which is my last name. Or you can even call me Dr. Reid. I don't really care." Spencer noticed he was rambling and stopped.

"I like Spencer for now," said Lily.

"I like that too."

XXXXXX

The first night with Lily went as well as could be expected. They spent the first few hours talking and bonding with one another. Spencer told her about some of his childhood (the good stories), a little bit about his job (minus the violence), and about his amazing friends. Lily was reluctant to tell him personal stuff about her, but then she started to open up. She told him a little bit about her life with her parents and some stories about her foster parents. Spencer got the sense that her foster parents didn't treat her the way she deserved.

After that, Spencer had made the two of them a dinner of pasta, which Lily ate a lot of. She looked at all of his books, watched a children's show on TV, then Spencer put her to bed.

"Can we go shopping tomorrow?" Lily asked. "This room is too plain. It needs more pink!"

"Of course," said Spencer, pulling up the blanket to her chin. "If you need anything in the night, come and get me. I'm in the other bedroom down the hall."

"Ok. Goodnight Spencer."

"Goodnight Lily."