Title: Love, Drama, and Parents: Enter William Reid (Part 3 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. Before they see Prentiss mother they see Reid's father in Las Vegas.
Notes: Big thank yous to those who have reviewed, altered and faved this fic. I am glad to see people are still liking what I am doing here. Reid is gonna open up a little bit more to Prentiss in this one. It's slightly less fluffy, but this fic may be stuck in fluff land.


Reid and Prentiss were enjoying dinner in the hotel restaurant. They had just finished their meal. It was actually fairly nice for hotel food. Reid didn't really like the casinos much, and was just glad to spend some time Prentiss.

"Want to share a desert Spencer?" asked Prentiss.

"Sure. I don't think I can eat a full one myself," Reid replied. "That brownie with ice cream and caramel sauce looks good."

"I was thinking the same thing. And your mother thinks we don't eat."

"She's been telling me I am too skinny since I joined the BAU. I think it's her way of telling me she doesn't really like what I am doing with my life. She's always been worried about me joining the FBI. I feel bad for making her worry, but I love my job."

Prentiss took his hand. "I think deep down inside of her she understands that, and that's why she only likes to mention your weight."

"I never thought about it that way. I'm thinking when we get up to our room we could play a game of chess. It's been a long time since we've played."

"That's a great idea, since I can't jump your adorable bones in order to get my frustrations out."

He laughed. "I'm sure that the other guests at this hotel will appreciate that."

She slapped his shoulder playfully. "Don't push your luck Doctor Reid." She leaned over to kiss him but stopped when she noticed a man starting at them. "Spencer how many people do you still know around here?"

"Not many why?"

"There's some guy staring at us. I don't like it."

He looked behind him to where she was looking; cursing under is breath. "Now I just want to go up to our room, and the room service for desert."

"Who is that?" she asked, he seemed very upset.

"That would be my father. I don't want to see him."

"You might not have a choice. He's on his way over here."

Reid sighed, and looked behind him again. Sure enough William Reid was walking toward him. He groaned. He didn't want to see his father. William had been writing Reid letters since the last time he was in Vegas. He thought that ignoring him would make him go away, but it hadn't worked. He wondered how he had found them there.

"Spencer who's your friend?" asked William, coming over and sitting in a free seat next to him.

"Not that it's any of your business but this Emily, she's my fiancée," Reid muttered.

"Nice to meet you Emily, I'm William Reid, Spencer's father." He held out his hand, and Emily shook it grudgingly.

She could tell the Reid was upset, and didn't want to encourage his father by pretending to be nice to him. She hated to see Reid looking so upset. He had told her a lot about how he had felt when his father had left him. They had also talked about finding him again. Reid had made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with his father.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Reid.

"It's not illegal for a father to want to see his son, and meet his girl- or rather fiancée."

"You lost those rights when you left."

"Spencer I thought you'd understand why I left. I didn't want to. I explained that to you. But after what had happened it was too hard to be with your mother."

Reid was playing with the cloth napkin that was on his lap. "I understand why you left Mom. I don't think that I would ever leave Emily like that, and I know that nothing will ever be bad enough for me to leave a child when I we decide to have one. You had over twenty years to find me, and you never did. You wanted nothing to do with me until I tracked you down."

"You tracked me down, that has to say something."

"I thought you were a murder and I needed to know the truth. I did not find you because I wanted to start a relationship with you. It is far too late for that!" snapped Reid.

Prentiss had leaned over the table and took Reid's hand in her gently. Hoping that this would help to calm him, she had never seen him look so upset before. She hated to see him like this. As much as she thought that a child should always have a relationship with their parents, this was stressing him out too much. Knowing his father was certainly not something that Reid needed.

"At least hear me out," William all but begged.

"No! I am not going to let you into my life only for you to leave again," Reid cried.

"Spencer I won't. I promise you that."

"I'm sorry, but I don't exactly trust you. Talk all you want, and I won't listen. Maybe if you had tried sooner I might have. Maybe if you had found me I'd consider it. But you didn't do anything!"

"I always followed your school work, and your career. I was at all of your big events," explained William.

"It doesn't count if I never actually saw you. Hiding in the back, likely in a baseball cap and sunglasses does not mean you attended those events! It means you were there, stalking me instead of being a father to me!"

"You're causing scene."

"You haven't seen a scene! I do not want you in my life. You had a yearsto find me, to talk to me, explain everything to me. So you could be a part of my life. You lost your chance a long time ago! I don't want you anywhere near me, or Emily, or any children we might have. I am not giving you another chance to hurt me! If I see you near me again I will get a restraining order!"

William dropped his business card on the table, and left silently. Reid looked at it, crumpling it as he shook his head. Prentiss meanwhile had gone over and paid for the meal. She then went back to the table. She kissed Reid's forehead gently.

"Let's go up to our room. I think it's my turn to show that I have a bit of magic in my fingers too."

"Sure," he said, not looking up, but taking her hand as they went up.

When they got into the elevator she gently pushed his chin up, to see his face. He didn't fight her, and looked at her straight in eyes. Tears were falling down his cheeks. She hugged him tightly, and kissed him gently before the doors opened, and they got out of the elevator. They got to their room, and he buried his face in her shoulder sobbing. She rubbed his back gently.

"Emily, tell me I did the right thing," he whispered, she had never heard his voice sound so small.

"I think you did Spencer," she assured him. "If you think you did the right thing why are you so upset?"

"Seeing him just brought up a lot of old feelings. Ones I didn't think I was allowed to feel before. My mom needed me to be strong when he left us. I never cried in front of her. I never told her, or anyone how I felt."

"How do you feel?" she asked him as they sat on their hotel room bed.

He curled up into her. "It hurt, Emily. It still hurts, I just pretend like it doesn't. I kept thinking that I had done something wrong to make him leave. The day before I left I beat him at a game of scrabble. Then I saw something he was working on and I pointed out a spelling mistake."

"You were four when he left."

"When we have a child you need to be ready for things like that. I could read before I could speak. It wasn't unusual for me to correct an adult's spelling or grammar. I always thought he left because I was not the kind of son he wanted."

She looked at him puzzle. "Having a genius for a child sounds kind of amazing to me."

"I really don't know. He kept trying to get me to play sports, but I wasn't overly co-ordinated. I thought he left because I couldn't pick up on baseball. I could spell huge words, I could beat almost every adult I knew at a game of chess, I was teaching myself algebra; but I could not figure out how to hit a baseball. Then he just left one day. I always thought that he left because I did that."

"You know you weren't the reason he left."

"I know the reason he left my mom. I still don't know why he left me. There were events in my life, which he claims he always attended, that my mother wasn't there for. Because she would have an episode. She once went two full years without ever stepping outside of the house. He had ample opportunity to talk me, without having to see her. He never did. I can't forgive him for that Emily."

She kissed his forehead. "You don't have to. I support your decision on this."

"Thank you." He kissed her gently. "You know I would never do that, right?"

"I know, Spencer." She began to massage his shoulders gently.

"That's really nice. Are you still sure you want to have children with me, after meeting my mother?"

"Yes, I am very sure that I want to have a child with you. I know that some days are harder than today, but the good days are worth it. The more I hear about you as a child the more I want a child just like you."

"Why?"

"Because I have always found it fascinating to watch a child discover the world. Just like you say about Henry, he's a blank slate and you get to watch as he learns new and amazing things. I think it would be almost surreal to watch how a genius discovers the world. Heck I find it amazing when you start learning something new, even now. You go from looking at a problem one second, then you wrap your brain around it, and you conquer it, then you move on."

"You do the same thing, Emily."

"Yes, I do, but you do it so quickly. Like when I taught you Italian. Once you heard a few of the pronunciations you got it. I'm sure that if we went to Rome you would have an easier time getting around than me, even though I lived there. It's amazing, and I really hope I get to see our child do that with everything he learns growing up. It will help me to understand you better."

He smiled at her. "I think I understand."

She kissed him softly. "Good."

"Now, how about that game of chess before we get ourselves all worked up and we can't do anything about it?"

"Good idea."

They got up and went to over to the small desk again. Reid took an old chess board out, and the pair began to set it up. Reid loved to play chess with Prentiss because they were fairly equally matched, so it was a challenge to him, and neither of them was ever the hands down winner before the game started. They didn't stay up very late, they knew they had one more long day ahead of them before they went home and returned to the slightly more manageable stress of their job.

End Part 3

Notes: I can't always have them jumping each other's bones at the end of the night lol.... I just wanted something a little different for these parts. I hope you liked this. Next up is what you are all waitng for... Fun with Ambassador Prentiss