As he ended his brief and admittedly abrasive call with their shocked unit chief, SSA Rossi sat down heavily in the nearest available armchair and sighed with his well versed Italian melodrama.
Why Lord, why oh why did I come back this friggin' madhouse…
I thought I was done with migraine inducing kids when Hotch turned out alright, but oh no, now Reid's clearly decided to pick up where Aaron left off and drive me into an early grave…
I wonder what the official procedure is for re –retiring….
As he looked around the tastefully decorated hotel room, he was relieved that the case was at an end.
When the slightly dishevelled Dr Reid had turned up to the complete surprise of the field based team, they were at the beginning stages of recuperating from a particularly exhausting four days.
Rossi had instantly suspected something was not right with Reid's explanation of events that he had pressed from him. Which was time consuming, as the kid had taken his ease before finally getting over his sulk that the unsub had been apprehended before he had reached them, and carefully answering the many questions the irate Rossi had posed.
It didn't take a profiler to know that there was something distinctly evasive about the way the younger man answered his inquiries and it equally just didn't make sense that Hotch would relieve Reid of his desk duty stint, after only serving half of his sentence.
It made even less sense that the strict unit chief would allow the youngest member of their already young team to travel to a dangerous area. On his own. With no heads up or warning. It didn't however, cross the eldest team members mind that the kid would lie quite so brazenly through his teeth like he had.
Closing his eyes in weariness and suddenly feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, he realised he could do nothing more than wait for his soon to be earthly departed youngest to return. The team had headed out to finalise their liaison with the local law enforcement team, and to submit the final paperwork required. He had seized the opportunity to return to the privacy of his room to ring the Quantico based Hotchner for a much needed explanation.
The minutes snailed by almost mockingly as he fought to attain a calm and composed demeanour. He found it to be a battle where he was planted firmly on the losing side. The god damned kid could have been injured, disastrously so. They were deep in gangland territory, where street muggings resulting in death were a dime a dozen.
He readily conceded that Reid may well be able to think his way through the most complex physics theory known to man and devise an international global warming recovery programme at the same time. However, it caused the elder agent to pale a deathly white as he thought about how he would fare on the streets of an unfamiliar and highly dangerous area, when no one even knew he was there.
Feeling the familiar anger that he had experienced so often with a hard headed Aaron boil to the surface once more, he focussed on his breathing. His ex wives always did say he needed to focus on his breathing, after all.
Soon thereafter, his phone bleeped. Glancing at it, he saw it was a message from Morgan informing him that the team were in the bar and inviting him to join them for a drink. Well, at least that's what he thought it said. The depressing shorthand that affronted his love of languages, made very little sense to him.
Why can't any of these youngsters speak in plain English he grumbled as he heaved himself out his chair and began to make his way downstairs with purpose. If the rule flouting Reid thought he was going to relax with a few of his favourite appletinis with the rest of the team, he was sadly, oh so sadly mistaken.
Storming into the lavish hotel bar, he quickly spotted the team grouped around a booth and laughing happily. JJ and Prentiss were clearly mocking Morgan who had been snubbed by a nearby model as he had attempted to chat her up in traditional Morgan style. Striding up to the booth in mere seconds, he clapped a hand on the chagrined Morgan's back and congratulated the team again on a job well done.
Reaching around the booth to where Spencer sat, resolutely avoiding eye contact with him, he dropped down into the boy's personal space. As the team resumed their chatter once more, it looked that Rossi was having one his many jovial chats with the boy wonder, and they paid the two men huddled together no attention.
Placing a hand on Reid's shoulder, he spoke quietly, but the flinching kid heard every word.
"Two options here, Spencer" he began, in conversational tones, calmly pleasant, like they might have been talking about the weather.
"Option one, you tell the team that you've got a headache or stomach ache, or some kind of an ache, and you get yourself up those stairs and go straight to my room. Option two, I take you upstairs to my room myself by the ear and the team can use their very creative imaginations to figure out why. It's entirely your call."
With that he removed him hold on the grimacing Reid's shoulder and stepped back, studying the young agent intently.
Reid huffed and scowled for a moment, but eventually had the good sense to made his excuses to the team that he needed an early night. This, they accepted without much provocation. Reid was never one for the late nights that Morgan and Prentiss championed. Rossi surreptitiously passed the pouting kid his room key card as he passed him sulkily and restrained himself from clipping the boy smartly round the ear for his attitude.
Loitering with the remaining BAU stragglers for long enough so as not to arose their suspicions, Rossi too made his excuses and began to trudge upstairs to his room. As angry as he was with Reid, he had only been bluffing when he threatened to march him forcibly upstairs in front of the others. He firmly believed that any matters of discipline ought to be handled privately, and therefore unless the kid wanted to tell the other three about what was about to happen, they would never know.
Fishing the spare key card from his pocket, he quickly entered the room Reid would have to share with him tonight, and sighed when he saw the kid slouched in the chair he had previously vacated, clearly in the middle of a tantrum. Snapping the door shut behind him, he walked over to the bed that faced the chair the scowling Reid was currently occupying, and perched on the side of it, so that he was levelly faced with the darling doctor.
Arching an eyebrow, he fixed the boy with a stern stare.
"Explain yourself Spencer. This minute."
Turning his pouting face away from the now evidently angry older man, Reid muttered rudely.
"Well, when a donut and an éclair give each other a very special hug, it results in a baby do-clair."
Rossi couldn't help but gape at the uncharacteristic waspishness of the young genius.
Standing up and reaching out, he firmly yanked the mutinous Spencer up out of his chair. Spinning him around, he landed a fast but fierce volley of swats across his slacks clad backside, and just as quickly, deposited him back in the armchair.
It took Reid a moment to register what had happened, before he let out a quiet whimper.
"Are you ready to talk to me without that disgraceful attitude now Spencer, or do I have to put you over my knee first?" demanded a less than impressed Rossi.
Looking up with now doleful eyes, the kid shook his head quickly.
Rossi sighed in relief somewhat, the quick flurry of swats had done the trick and Reid had visibly, and thankfully, deflated and dispensed with his adolescent demeanour.
"Good. Now for the second time, explain yourself."
Reid squirmed in his chair and quickly assessed his options. They were pretty bleak. Realising that the truth was the only viable choice, he licked his lips nervously and willed the words to travel from his brain to, and out of, his mouth.
"I..uhh, well I…you see, what happened was….well I mean, what it is, is…."
Feeling the gaze of SSA Rossi begin to infiltrate his soul, Reid closed his eyes in despair and pressed on as best he could, aware that full and frank disclosure was utterly inevitable and deciding to just bite the bullet.
"I skipped out on desk duty without telling Hotch. I deliberately lied to you when I got here. I didn't and don't have permission to be out in the field. I know that you're probably also angry with me because this area is notorious, and I came here alone and without anyone knowing where I was if anything were to happen."
With that, he ducked his head as the foolishness and selfishness of what he had done begun to consume him. This was right up in there in the top ten stupidest things he'd ever done. Rossi was going to kill him, and then, whatever was left of him, if there was anything, Hotch would systematically dispose of. He had to be the dumbest genius on the face of the earth he concluded wryly.
Rossi stared intently at the kid, as rapid micro bursts of emotion played across his youthful face. A combination of his extensive profiling experience and his growing Reid experience, allowed him to accurately surmise what was going on inside his head.
"What you did today Spencer, was inexcusable. It was selfish, dangerous and pointless. We get it, you don't like desk duty. News flash kid, you're not supposed to. You think Hotch likes it? You think anyone likes it? Not liking it does not give you the right to act like a spoiled, petulant child. Anything could have happened to you today, absolutely anything."
Rossi took a moment to take a breath, fighting not to raise his voice with the now very sombre looking Reid.
"Besides the danger you put yourself in today, did you stop even for a second to consider the potential consequences for Hotch if Strauss were to find out about this little stunt? A unit chief, not knowing where his agent is, when his agent is supposed to be right under his nose. How do you think that would go down Spencer?"
One look at the now anguished look on the kids face told him the thought hadn't even crossed the highway to get to the point where it would be capable of crossing his mind.
"Yes" he said in a now dangerously soft voice, "quite the sad state of affairs isn't it, when the actions of a hard headed, childish agent could cause serious damage to the career of a man who's given everything to it."
The loaded speech hit its mark. Reid's eyes widened and his lips twitched as the words of the elder man rattled around his brain. Closing his eyes he cursed his own stupidity. The guilt that bubbled in his stomach was making him feel nauseous.
Dropping his head to his chest, he choked out, with some difficulty.
"I'm sorry Rossi. I'm so sorry….I didn't think, I'd never mean to…..I'm…I'm just so sorry."
Rossi softened somewhat, he was well aware of the close bond that existed between Reid and Hotch, it was very similar to the one that existed between Aaron and himself. He didn't like having to cause Reid to feel so much guilt, but if that's what it took to keep the kid safe, he'd do it again in a heartbeat.
"I know Spencer, I know you didn't think and I know you'd never mean to cause any damage to Hotch, but do you see how it could have so easily happened?"
Reid looked up in misery.
"Yes Rossi, I do…it'll never happen again."
Feeling his jaw tighten at the mere thought of ever having to repeat this conversation with the youngest team member again, the elder agent ground out.
"Oh I know it won't Reid, I intend to make damn sure of that right now."
"Stand up."
Reid looked up in consternation, clearly knowing what the older man intended.
He had been spanked by Rossi before, twice actually. Whilst it was a certainly unpleasant experience in its own right, the issue that was flying around his mind, made it doubly so.
"Uhh..but, but Rossi?"
"Yes Spencer?"
"Well….it's just, you know…Hotch is probably going to wear me out when we get back…."
"Oh I don't think there's a 'probably' needed in that sentence Reid" came the pleasant reply.
"Right" agreed the squirming doctor nervously, "so…you know…. you don't have to."
"Oh really? Well, I think I do. I also think if I have to ask you to stand up once more you're going to very sorry" replied Rossi, in a tone that brooked no argument.
Cringing in defeat, the young agent slowly got to his feet.
Jumping briskly off his bed based perch, Rossi lost no time in plopping himself down in the seat just vacated by the now twitching Spencer. Not seeing any reason to prolong the obviously remorseful kid's misery, he gently reached out and took a hold of his wrist. Guiding him over his knee, he stifled a groan when the forlorn doctor let out an involuntary whimper. He hated punishing Reid every bit as much as he had always hated punishing Aaron.
Wrapping one arm around the boy's waist, he raised his outside knee slightly higher so that Spencer's soon to be warm backside was raised higher into the firing line. Closing his eyes briefly in an effort to summon up his resolve, he quickly reminded himself that this was for the kids own good. Raising his arm high in the air, he brought down the first swat on the upturned bottom across his lap. The boy's torso stiffened somewhat in response, but otherwise Reid made no reply.
Quickly settling into a familiar rhythm, Rossi spanked Spencer's backside with methodical precision. He ensured that every portion of the boy's rear was peppered with searing swats in a logical cycle, before starting another volley of swats.
Reid's attempts at stoicism were starting to dwindle as the heat began to mount across his rear, and the soft strains of whimpering and sniffling could be heard intertwined with the sharp sounds of Rossi's hard hand coming down on the kids soft backside, over and over again.
Closing his eyes once more in distaste for what he was about to do, the elder man tipped the now openly crying Spencer forwards and began raining down swat after stinging swat on the now exposed sit spots of the chastised doctor.
Reid yelped and began squirming vigorously in response.
Smiling a small smile, at the similarities between the way Spencer and Hotch reacted to having their backsides warmed, Rossi finished his onslaught of the kids sit spots and began a new progression of swats at the top of the whimpering agent's posterior. As he systematically delivered several more rounds of stinging swats he stopped for a brief moment to rub the small of the now wailing Reid's back comfortingly.
"Stand up, buddy" he ordered gently.
As Reid clambered off his knee with almost hilarious haste and with a look of fervent relief dancing in his very watery eyes, Rossi grimaced.
Steeling himself, he looked at his reprobate sternly.
"Pants down please Spencer, and back over."
Predictably the kid's eyes widened with horror, and he shook his head frantically, throwing his hands back to protect his presumably glowing rear.
Striving to make his tone as firm as possible and certainly firmer than he felt, the supervising agent spoke quietly.
"Reid, pants down and get back over my knee. Do not make me do both for you."
Cringing at the thoughts of the lingering threat coming to fruition, Spencer very reluctantly and whilst looking every bit the hard done by puppy dog, unzipped his slacks and bent back over the awaiting knee.
Sighing somewhat fondly at the kid's chance taking, Rossi rolled his eyes and pulled the boxers that remained up, down to Reid's knees.
Reid groaned in response and muttered something inaudible under his breath, which Rossi chose to ignore.
Wrapping a tight arm around the doctor's waist once more, he brought his hand down on the now bared and crimson backside, once again. Reid again yelped and whimpered and Rossi instinctively knew that fresh tears were making their way down the boy's face.
Resolving to wrap up the punishment as quickly as possible, he set about covering every inch of the exposed backside with hard and deliberately placed swats. Reid began squirming vigorously around his lap, presumably aghast at the loss of his albeit thin layer of protection.
Merely tightening his hold on the wriggling agent with ease, the elder of the two continued with the well earned spanking. When he tipped Spencer forward once more to tend to his sit spots, he felt him go limp across his knee and heard the loud crying transition into to quiet sobbing.
Taking this as a merciful indicator that a lesson had been well learned, Rossi landed a few last token swats to the each cheek of the ruby red backside and dropped his hand away from the sore bottom and instead deposited it on the small of the repentant Reid's back.
He let the kid cry himself out whilst still laid over his lap, all the while rubbing his back softly and murmuring soft words of reassurance and forgiveness. When Spencer eventually made to stand up, he stood with him and made a fuss of placing the armchair back in its original position, it having been moved slightly due to all Reid's wriggling.
The kid appreciated the subtle gesture and quickly pulled his pants back up to their original location, letting out a low and involuntary hiss as the albeit soft fabric rubbed against his smarting backside.
Hearing the expected gasp, Rossi turned around and surveyed the now fully dressed Reid with paternal fondness. He looked about ten years younger with his red eyes, more tousled than usual hair and his rueful expression. The seasoned agent observed the sniffling boy for a few moments with a genial expression before silently opening his arms wide and arching his eyebrow in the kid's direction.
He chuckled when Reid shot into them with more speed than he thought the awkward genius was capable of. Wrapping his arms around his slender frame he held him tightly and again told him without hesitation that he was completely forgiven and that he was proud of the manner in which he had accepted his punishment, being answered with muffled responses, due to the fact that Spencer currently had his face buried into his chest.
When the two men broke apart, Rossi ruffled Reid's hair affectionately.
"Why don't you go on and get washed up for bed Spencer and I'll see if I can get one of those god awful documentaries you love so much on the box."
As the boy wonder nodded his head happily and darted into the bathroom, Rossi let out a soft laugh.
If only my two had any idea how alike they really were….he thought to himself as he scoured the television in the corner in an attempt to find what would most likely be the most boring thing he had been subjected to since his last and lengthy session with his divorce lawyer.
Having found a show that looked suitably horrific and that he therefore knew Reid would love, he stretched out on the three seater couch the room also housed and suddenly felt exhausted.
I'm really getting too old for this he mumbled to himself, not really meaning it, even to himself.
As Spencer bounded out of the bathroom, seemingly nearly back to his usual excitable self, Rossi smiled in relief. Patting the space beside him, he chuckled when Reid approached it tentatively and then turned towards the bed and grabbed two fluffy pillows.
Placing them carefully on the sofa, he very gingerly set himself down on it, ignoring with dignity the rolling eyes of the senior agent beside him.
The two men were soon engrossed in the factual show the TV was showing, with Rossi much more interested in than he would he ever care to admit.
"Hey Rossi?" Reid suddenly said.
Glancing towards the now sweatpants and sweatshirt clad prodigy, he raised his eyebrows in unspoken response.
"Is there...well, is there any chance you can make Hotch go easy on me? He'll listen to you" the suddenly puppy eyed doctor pleaded.
Snorting, Rossi reached out and mussed the boy's unruly hair in affection.
"Oh no, not a chance kiddo. I punished you for the lying and putting yourself in danger, you still disobeyed Hotch and what he chooses to do about that is between you and him. Nice try though."
Scowling, the genius ground out angrily "my life is so unfair."
…
"OWW…"
"Sorry Rossi."