Title: Growing up Genius Part 3: Being Who You Are
Author: Trista Groulx
Disclaimer: I don't own these folks, never claimed to as they belong to their creator, network, writers and actors and actresses that bring them to
Rating: T
Summary: Reid and Prentiss' daughter is now four years old. What's she like?
Notes: This one seems a little jumpy to me. I just had two ideas and only wanted one last part to make it an even ten. I am trying to show that Sonya is smart but still a four year old. I hope it's working.


It had been a week since Sonya had broken her arm and was getting used to having the cast on. Normally Prentiss loved to watch Henry. But that day Sonya and Henry had gotten into some kind of an argument when Sonya had gotten her hands on his math book. She was proud of her daughter for having figured out a lot of the math problems her friend was working on, but having the two kids not talking meant that she hadn't been able to get anything done in the house since one of them was always asking her questions. She was glad when she heard the doorbell ringing.

"Henry your father's here, get your things together," she told the boy before she answered the door.

"Hi Emily," Will said when she opened the door. "How was he today?"

"He was fine," Prentiss replied. "He had and Sonya aren't talking right now, I haven't gotten the whole story yet."

"Well you know kids, the strangest things can set 'em off."

"She nodded. "His homework is finished, and I double checked it."

"Thank you, but you know you don't have to do that."

"I know, but Sonya always wants to see his homework, so it's just as easy to get him to get it done right away."

"I always appreciate the help. I got a call from JJ on the way over here, they just touched down, they have to wrap up some paperwork, and will be home, she says in time for supper. So it's great that Henry's got his homework done so we can have more family."

"That must have been what Spencer was calling about, but I had a four and six year old to deal with and didn't get to the phone."

"I understand that, am I picking Sonya up from pre-school on Thursday?"

"Yeah, they switched one of my classes, you shouldn't have her more than an hour, depending on traffic. Hopefully the two of them will want to speak to each other before then."

"She's no problem at all, don't worry about it. With any luck," he agreed. "You almost ready Henry? I want to pick up something for supper on the way home to surprise your mom."

"Mom's gonna be home for supper?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, do you wanna go by her office an pick her up?"

"Yeah! Thank you Aunt Emily!" He was scooting out the door.

"What about saying goodbye to Sonya."

"I'm not talking to her."

Sonya was plunked down on the couch reading a book, and didn't even look their way. Will shrugged, and followed his son out of the house after saying his goodbyes to Prentiss and Sonya. Prentiss was happy that Reid would be home. She had made a lasagna which was in the oven already. She was glad that he would finally get to try it fresh instead of warmed up. She decided to put a load of laundry on while she had a few minutes.

"I'm upstairs sorting laundry if you need help with your book Sonya," Prentiss told her daughter.

Sonya nodded not even looking up from her book. Prentiss laughed. She was so focused when she read, just like her father. Sonya spent a lot of time reading her various books when she was at home. Prentiss was glad that the little girl seemed to be a good combination of both her parents, she had her father's brain there was no denying that, but she had gotten her mother's social skills. When Sonya was at day care or pre-school she liked to participate in the activities and she made friends easily.

Reid was glad to be home. The last case the team had been on had been a rough one, and it hadn't ended well. They had caught their guy, but not in time to save the child he had kidnapped. He was glad that he was home early enough to enjoy some time with his daughter and forget the horrors that came with his job, even if it was only for a few hours.

"Daddy!!" exclaimed Sonya, dropping her book, and running toward her father.

Reid smiled and picked her up when she got close to him. He loved it when he got to come home and see his daughter awake. There were many times where he would get in long after her bed time, and could only go into her room, and kiss her forehead. He could also smell the distinct smell of his wife's homemade lasagne. Suddenly he felt domestic, like he was just a regular father coming home to his wife and daughter.

"I missed you too Amorino," he told her. "Where's your mom?"

"She's doing laundry. I think," Sonya wrapped her free around her father's neck to hug him closer. "Guess what!?"

"Chicken butt!"

She giggled. "No silly! I learned math today!"

"That's great, but where did you learn math?"

"From Henry's book, then he got mad at me 'cause I helped him with a question. He had it wrong and I told him that it was wrong, and then he got mad at me and told me that I was wrong, and that he wanted to go home! I don't understand Daddy!" she rambled, just like any child her age.

Reid smiled, he loved to listen to her, he never remembered being so talkative when he was that age. "Do you remember when you were learning how to read, and you'd get mad because I would help you with a big word before you ready for my help? That's what you did to Henry today. You made him feel bad because you are younger then him, and he didn't ask for your help is."

"It's not my fault I figured it out before him!" she cried. "You say that I gotta be who I am all the time."

"I know that, but you need to ask someone before you help them, Sonya. Like you ask Mommy and me to do when you are trying to learn something new," he explained, putting her down on the couch. "You should always be yourself Sonya, always but you also need to respect your friends feelings."

"I understand Daddy, I'll tell Henry I'm sorry and that he can ask me if he wants help. When do I get to start real school like Henry?"

"Not until you're six."

"That's two years away! If I can already understand Henry's homework I don't understand why I can't be in real school insteada preschool."

He sat down next to her, and she cuddled into him, trying to butter him up, Sonya always tried to get her father to cave into her demands. Usually Reid could tune out the adorable faces she would make, and do the right thing for her, but other times it was hard for him to say no to his daughter.

"Because your mom and I decided before we even knew that we were going to have babies, that if our baby was well – like me, that we wanted her to have a childhood. I know you want to be in school like Henry, but we want you to enjoy things other four year olds do."

"But Daddy!" she exclaimed. "I don't like that stuff!"

"You don't like playing tea party with Melody from day care? Or playing police with Henry?"

"We don't play police, Daddy, we play FBI and we catch all the badsubs."

Reid laughed. "But do you like that?"

"Yeah I do, but I'd like to go to school too Daddy!"

"It's not easy to be in school with people that are older then you Amorino. Mommy and I still have to talk about that. Now what would like to before supper?"

"Hm, could we play with my train?"

"Sure!"

They went down into the basement, which had been made into Sonya's play room after her first birthday, when they realised that their daughter had more toys then she could ever play with and their living room was no longer usable. Sonya took out her wooden train tracks, and trains dumping all the pieces on the floor.

The two of them started to put the train tracks together. Prentiss came down with a load of laundry. She watched the two of them on the floor putting the train tracks together. It never ceased to amaze her how Reid could show the same amount of determination and focus playing with their daughter as he did when he worked. They looked like two engineers as they put the track together in a different way then they had figured out before.

"Mommy look!" Sonya exclaimed. "We did it!"

She looked at the strange maze of tracks that somehow came together so the train would not fall off its tracks when they began to push it around the jagged loop. They had bought her a battery operated train for her last birthday, but she still liked to play with the wooden one and push it around the tracks she would make.

"That's amazing Sonya," Prentiss said smiling.

Prentiss enjoyed watching Reid and Sonya play together. They could spend hours putting tracks together, or solving puzzles, or reading books. Neither of them ever got bored with the activities. Sometimes she wondered if Reid had ever gotten a real childhood. It warmed her heart to know that she had a part in making sure that her husband got to experience that with their daughter now. She folded the laundry, slowly, getting distracted by the two of them playing on the floor.

"Sorry to ruin your fun," Prentiss told them. "But supper is just about ready, how about you two get washed up?"

"'Kay!" Sonya exclaimed then she ran up the stairs to wash her hands.

The three of them ate their supper, as always Sonya was telling stories about pre-school, and what she had done with Henry that day between bites of her food. When Reid was home Prentiss always let him take over their daughter's bedtime routine. Prentiss decided to curl up with a book while Reid gave Sonya her bath. When Reid was home Sonya usually got over an hour of story time.

"Daddy I wanna read you a book," Sonya told her father, as they sat in her bed with a pile of book around them.

"All right," Reid agreed.

Reid grinned, he loved it when his daughter would decide to read to him. She had started to do it about a year ago. She was getting better but was still shy about reading out loud even if it was only to her daddy. She jumped out of the bed and took "The Velveteen Rabbit" off of her bookcase, and began to read it to him. Reid had never really liked the story before but hearing his daughter read it to him he enjoyed it.

When she was done reading him the story the two of them reached for the same book "I Love you Forever." They smiled at each other. Although they both knew every word by heart, since he read it to her so often, it was still special to both of them when they actually got to both hold the book and read it together, before Reid tucked Sonya in for the night.

"Goodnight, Daddy I love you," Sonya whispered, curling into her bed after he closed the book.

"I love you too Amorino, goodnight," he told her, kissing her forehead before he left the room.

He then went into the living room, quietly. He went up behind his wife, and put her bookmark in her book. He then closed it. He went around to sit next to her on the couch and pulled her close to him.

"I missed you too," she whispered.

He kissed her softly. "I love you."

"What's going on in that mind of yours?" he seemed distracted as she pulled him toward her.

"Just thinking about something Sonya told me. She learned math from reading Henry's textbook today."

"I know, I was there, I tried to trick her, and she still got the answers right. She's so smart."

"I know, she wants to start school."

"We discussed this already, Spencer."

"I know Emily. But shouldn't we talk about this again? We talked about it when it was in abstracts, and now she is here, we know she's like me, and she wants to start school."

"You don't have to tell me that!" she snapped. "That doesn't change my mind about what we decided."

"So we can't talk about this? Emily she's going to get to her first day of class and she'll be telling the teacher all the answers."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's not fair to the other students, and they'll tease her."

She sighed. "You don't know that for sure."

"So we just pretend like we don't know that she's like me, and just send her to school to be a pariah!"

"That's not what I said, Spencer. I don't want her being skipped ahead and becoming a social leaper!"

"So she has to pretend to be something she's not!" he snapped. They had always told Sonya to be herself, now Prentiss seemed to be back peddling.

"I didn't say that either. Stop putting words in my mouth! I would never ask her to be anyone but who she is!"

"Then consider letting her start school early!"

"No! She is not going into a classroom full of kids Henry's age! It's not happening. No! She will never be the same kid after that!"

"Emily we can't keep pretending like she is going to start grade one when she's six like every other kid! She's already reading at a second grade level! What is she going to learn in the next two years?"

"Spencer, we're not doing this right now. I'm too tired!"

"You're too tired to discuss our daughter's future!?"

"We're not discussing anything, we are arguing, and I can't argue with you right now. It's too hard to fight with you. I'm going to bed."

"Fine. I'm sleeping in the library tonight!"

"That's a good idea!"

Usually she would argue and tell him that she was not going to sleep alone on a night where they were under the same roof. Reid was floored that she had stormed into their bedroom, slamming the door behind her. They had put in a chaise lounge and Reid often fell asleep reading well into the night. Prentiss would go up and wake him and bring him back to their bedroom. Reid took his go bag, a blanket, and a pillow then he stormed up to the attic. He fell into a restless sleep, his mind filled with thoughts about his daughter. While his sleep deprived body reached out for his wife who wasn't there.

End Part 3

Notes: The book I keep mentioning is a great book. Just google it and it'll come up, I know my "Canadian" is showing by putting Robert Munsch in there but I loved that author growing up and still do. I know another cliffhanger but I needed some drama.