Derek closed the front door of their house, taking off his jacket and looking at Spencer. "Out with it."

Spencer sighed, taking the slip of paper out of his pocket, holding it up to Derek.

"...What does a piece of paper have to do with anything?"

Spencer swallowed, before biting on his lip. "Hotch and I talked, we smoothed things over, and he gave me the name of the agent who told the director as a sort of peace offering."

Derek eyed the paper before looking back at Spencer. "You're serious?"

He nodded slightly. "I didn't look yet," he assured him, "I didn't want to without you, that is, if you want to know who was behind it."

He looked at it again, taking it from Spencer's hand, sitting on the couch and staring at it. Spencer sighed, taking the seat beside him.

"Are we going to look?" Spencer asked, wringing his hands.

"...I think we have a right to know who did it," Derek reasoned. "They're the reason we went through hell and back over the past year. Yeah, we're together now, but after going through so much crap to get here… we should know."

Spencer nodded his agreement. "The one condition Hotch gave me is that this has to stay between the three of us. He shouldn't have even told me, but I pulled it out of him. Can you do that?"

"Depends on whose name is on this paper-"

"Derek," he snapped, "promise me or I take it and put it in the fireplace."

Derek licked his lips before nodding. "I promise."

Spencer reached out, taking a deep breath, taking the paper from Derek and opening it, eyebrows raised. "...Wow."

Derek eyed it before groaning, tilting his head back. "And this is serious?"

Spencer nodded, balling it up and throwing it toward the fireplace. "Hotch wouldn't lie."

"After everything I taught her, after I made her feel like a member of this team, and after I helped her, this is how she rewards me? 'I'm not on your team anymore, so now I'm going to ruin your life', was that her mindset?"

He shook his head, swallowing. "I don't know. I don't know what I did to insult her. I mean, I made that comment about her earrings during that one briefing, but that was to prove a point, and I apologized! I was never anything but nice to her."

Derek ran a hand over his head, exhaling. "It could've been jealousy."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know, she did have a closeness to me while she was on the team. It could've been attraction, but that was when the two of us started dating, so I brushed off anything that felt like an advance."

"So as revenge, she tells the director about us, did she really think you'd be attracted to that?"

"We've been profiling for years, Spencer, but I can't even begin to profile a woman's mind."

Spencer smiled slightly, resting his head on Derek's shoulder. "It doesn't matter."

"Like hell it doesn't matter."

He shook his head, wrapping his arms around Derek. "It's the past, it's over, it's done with." He glanced up at him. "We're together, we're married, and we're both happy with where we are. I'm not going to let her affect me."

Derek thought about it before sighing, wrapping an arm around Spencer, rubbing his arm. "You're right. We're together, we're married, and everything's okay now."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "...You forgot happy."

He paused before looking at Spencer. "I'm very happy with you."

Spencer wanted to question him but shook it off, sitting up. "I'm going to turn in."

"What, you're not going to tell me what happened between you and Hotch?"

"In the morning," he said, kissing his cheek. "Are you coming?"

"In a minute."

He watched as Spencer walked to the bedroom and leaned back on the couch, sighing and running a hand over his face. He hoped that maybe tomorrow, an opportunity would present itself to talk to Spencer about the team.

The next morning, the two of them were sitting in the living room with their coffee, talking about the night before.

"You went off on him?!" Derek asked, glancing over at him.

"I wouldn't say that I went off on him," Spencer said, tucking his legs underneath himself and sipping his coffee.

"What would you call it?"

Spencer shrugged. "Letting out all of my built-up aggression?"

Derek smiled, shaking his head. "Did it help?"

"I'd say so. I mean, I kind of feel bad for everything that came out. I brought up everyone else breaking the rules, and yet I was the only person who was ever threatened with losing my job. I gave him prime examples of everyone else doing it."

"...You didn't throw me under the bus in this moment, did you?"

Spencer laughed softly. "I couldn't think of anything you'd done wrong. Don't tell anyone, but I even did it to JJ, and I had one ready for Garcia too."

Derek's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"You've learned the lesson, now he has. Never aggravate an MIT graduate, because we have a history of going nuclear."

"Indeed."

It was a few minutes of comfortable silence before Derek spoke up again. "So, are you two on good terms now?"

"We decided that we should declare a truce, for the good of the team."

"So no more awkward silences or either of you avoiding team gatherings?"

Spencer chewed on his cheek. "Well, I don't know how I belong at team gatherings, seeing as I'm no longer a member of the team." He eyed Derek before focusing on his coffee mug.

"You're still a part of the family, Spencer…"

Spencer bit his lip before taking a deep breath. "Doesn't feel like it," he mumbled. "I spent my entire life trying to belong somewhere. I finally had a place where I fit in and I mattered, and I lost it for being who I am." He scoffed. "Some family dynamic that is, right?"

Derek got up from his chair, setting his coffee mug on the table and sitting beside Spencer, wrapping his arm around him. "It's okay to be upset, Spencer. It's okay not to be strong and to let go if you're frustrated." He reached down, taking Spencer's mug and setting it beside his. "You were screwed over and you have the right to be pissed off."

Spencer sighed, looking down at his hands. "It's hard to still feel like part of a family when you've all but exiled yourself from it."

"You're still part of our family, Spencer. When JJ left to work at the Pentagon, did we stop including her?" Spencer shook his head slightly. "And when Emily came back, after we got over our feelings, did we make her an outcast?" When Spencer shook his head again, Derek pulled pulled him closer, kissing the top of his head. "You still matter, Spencer," he said, rubbing his arm. "It doesn't matter if you work with us, for the CIA, or anything else. You're still family, and besides," he held his ring finger in front of Spencer's face, "you're sort of stuck with me."

Spencer smiled slightly. wiping his eyes. "I guess I am."

Derek ran his fingers through Spencer's hair, rubbing his back. "Do you need to talk about anything?"

Spencer swallowed, resting his head on Derek's shoulder and sighing. "I'm happy with where I am, and I enjoy what I'm doing-"

"You just wish you didn't end up there the way that you did?"

He nodded slightly. "The BAU was my family, and it was my safety net, and the fact that I had to remove myself from there before they were able to get rid of me because of my life choices… it's not fair."

"Do you know that Hotch was going to fire you for what we did?" Derek asked, looking down at him.

Spencer thought about it before shrugging. "I would've gotten some sort of disciplinary action that I didn't deserve for it, though I'm not positive it would've resulted in expulsion."

Derek looked down at him, confused. "So you quit, not knowing that you were going to lose your job?"

Spencer ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, I wasn't thinking in that moment, I just wanted to prove my point."

"So you regret leaving?"

He paused before shaking his head. "I do miss the team and the dynamic, but at the CIA, I don't have rules and regulations to run my life for me. They don't care what I do on personal time, so long as I get the job done."

Derek clicked his tongue. "So… if the BAU were to invite you back, you'd turn them down?"

"They wouldn't."

Derek shrugged. "But if they did?"

Spencer let himself think about it before sighing. "Maybe? I don't know, it's not like the opportunity will present itself. They're not going to want me back for outsmarting them."

"They could."

Spencer sat up, wiping his eyes and exhaling. "We have a Sunday, you're not off on a case, I didn't have any work to bring home with me. We can go out and be a couple. How about we go out for a movie or something?"

"...Are you sure? We could keep talking, I don't mind."

He shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about the subject anymore. It's over, it's done with, and nothing's going to change it." He stood up, grabbing their coffee mugs. "I'll get us refills while you look up movie times. Is that okay?"

Derek nodded, reaching for the newspaper as Spencer went out to the kitchen. The talk may not have ended how he wanted, but at least he knew where Spencer's mind was at with everything, and it seemed like a beginning to talk him into coming back to the BAU.