The Strange Case of Dr. Reid and Ms. Green Chapter Four
There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Thanks, Garcia," Dave sighed and rubbed his forehead. He slipped his phone in his pocket and started up the SUV. "Mary James lives with no one but her daughter at 5476 Hilltop Lane. She works at a privately owned deli on Vincent Road. We're checking the house, Morgan is meeting us there. JJ and Emily are checking the Deli. Hotch is at the morgue with the Keighton's so they can confirm that the new body is their son."
"Vincent Road, that's where Ashley lives," Spencer pointed out, his mind once again flickering to Dylan's mother. He was more determined than ever to find her son for her. He had the strangest urge to just see her really smile, and that was unsettling for him. He was letting himself get too emotionally involved. Well, if anything does come of me and Ashley, she's less than two hours away, a small voice said in the back of his mind. But he quickly dismissed that thought. Regardless of the distance between Baltimore and Quantico, he didn't have time for a relationship, especially when a child would be involved.
Rossi gave him a strange look but said nothing and instead drove quickly towards the previously mentioned address. It took almost fifteen minutes to get from the school to the house. When they arrived they found the driveway empty and there was no answer when they knocked on the front or back doors.
"Maybe they found her at the deli," Rossi suggested when they did a window check and still saw nothing.
"Wait," Spencer hushed him and held him in place as a noise caught his ears.
"Is that crying?" Spencer just nodded before impulsively—why was this case making him act so strange?—trying to open the window in front of him and when he failed at that he tried all the others. When none of the windows were open he returned to the back door which, he had noticed, had a fairly old weak frame. It had probably been there when the house was originally built, sometime in the fifties or sixties by the look of it. He drew his gun as a precaution and kicked the door in. His knee, which still gave him trouble occasionally, throbbed painfully but he ignored it and hurried inside. He heard Rossi pull his own gun and follow him in.
"I'll check the basement, you check upstairs," he said, sounding unusually authoritative after they checked the main level only to find a bunch of empty rooms. As he began to descend the stairs the crying-which had stopped shortly after they started their search on the first floor—started up again and he knew Dylan was down here somewhere. And not hidden very well, he observed when one of the first things to catch his eye was a playpen in the middle of the floor. And sitting right next to the gate was Dylan screaming away with his head thrown back and tears streaming down his face. The good thing about this kind of kidnapper, they are so delusional they don't feel the need to find a good hiding spot for the missing person.
He slipped his gun back into the holster on his hip and quickly went and snatched Dylan up to hold him tightly on his other hip. "Mama," Dylan sobbed and gripped Spencer's sweater like it was a life-line.
"I know, you'll see your mom soon," Spencer told him quietly and turned and went back up the stairs. "Dave," he called up the steps leading to the second floor, "I've got him."
Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Ashley rushed into the pediatric ward waiting room and looked around, not letting out a sigh of relief until she saw Dr. Reid with Dylan on his hip and talking to one of the physicians. She had to use some extreme self control to stop herself from running, but still borderline jogged over to her new favorite FBI agent.
"Mama," Dylan cried happily and clapped his little hands together as soon as he saw Ashley begin to approach.
Tears of joy began to stream down her cheeks as she readily accepted him when Spencer handed him over. "Oh, my baby, I've missed you so much," she told her son and hugged him tightly and kissed him repeatedly. "Is he okay?" she looked at the two doctors in front of her.
"Not even a bruise," the physician told her with a grin before excusing himself and walking back to the exam rooms.
"Thank you Dr. Reid . . . Spencer," she turned to him and he finally got to see her really smile.
He stumbled over some syllables for a minute, and then managed, "It's no problem. I'm just glad we got to him quickly. I didn't want you to be kept up worrying. He's a good little guy, though. Except for when I first found him he's barely fussed at all."
"Yeah, he's my good man," Ashley grinned proudly and giggled slightly when a rather large string of drool landed on her chest. "He's a drool bucket, but he's still my main man." Dylan laughed enthusiastically and planted a sloppy kiss on his mother's shoulder, leaving behind a quarter sized spot of drool.
"What?" Spencer furrowed his brow in confusion when Dylan reached one hand to him and made a whining sound.
"He wants you to hold him; he likes you," Ashley laughed.
"Oh," Spencer chuckled nervously and allowed Ashley to hand Dylan back to him. Ashley thought when she finally did get him back she would let no one else hold him for some unknown length of time, but for some reason she trusted Spencer more than that. Probably just because he's the one that found him for me, Ashley rationalized.
"Did you find a new friend?" Ashley asked Dylan and tickled his side making him giggle loudly and rest his head on Spencer's shoulder. "Sorry about the drool," she told Spencer with a grin as she saw it beginning to pool on his sweater.
"It's fine," he reassured her.
"Where are the other agents?" she asked him as they stood around in the waiting room.
"Back at the police station. They found Mrs. James at the deli where she worked and took her into custody. We'll probably be heading home before the day is over."
"Oh," Ashley replied, somewhat disappointed she wouldn't be seeing Spencer again unless he showed up at the woman's trial, which she knew she would more than likely be expected to testify at.
"Do, uhm, do you want me to walk you to your car?" Spencer asked nervously and shifted Dylan up higher on his hip.
"I'd like that," Ashley replied with a blush.
Except for the occasional phone call, it was three months before Spencer heard from Ashley again. The phone calls were usually fairly short, just catching up mainly and either he got interrupted by work or she had to attend to Dylan. Every time he had gotten up the nerve to try to make plans with her—twice—he ended up getting called on a case and had to cancel. Ashley had begun to wonder whether or not he was really interested or if he was just putting up with the phone calls to humor her.
It was on a whim that a week after Dylan's first birthday, when she had gone with him down to her father's home in Quantico to visit, that she made a pit stop at the BAU. "Dylan," she asked the one year old boy after kissing her father goodbye and she began to get Dylan into his car seat. "Do you want to visit your friend Spencer? Do you remember him?"
Dylan did not actually remember him, he was only a baby after all, but he parroted his mother none the less. "Spence-err, Spencer, Spencer," he squealed happily and flashed Ashley a wide grin, revealing his new teeth that had come in not too long ago.
"Yeah, you two were good friends for the little while you saw each other," she laughed and told him as she got into the driver's seat and pulled out of Evan Green's driveway. She took one hand from the wheel to wave goodbye to her dad who was still standing on the front porch and watching as she left.
Luckily for Ashley, once she got out of a long bout of "sight-seeing"—most people would say she was lost, but she has yet to accept the fact that she is geographically challenged—one of the security guards at the building where the BAU was located was able to confirm for her that Dr. Reid had returned from a case that morning and was still in, along with the rest of the team, working on the subsequent paperwork. As she had expected, all of her things were searched before she was allowed to enter and she received directions from the same guard that had told her Spencer was in today.
"Come on, Mr. Man, let's go say hi to the people that brought you back to Mommy," she murmured to Dylan as they approached the doors to their destination. A blond woman that she recognized reached the glass doors at the same time as Ashley. "Agent Jareau?" she asked, feeling slightly nervous now that she was there.
It took JJ a moment to remember the face, but when she did she grinned widely and shook Ashley's free hand. "Ms. Green, hi. What are you doing here? And please, it's JJ."
"Well, Dylan just turned one so I brought him down here so my dad could see him, and figured I may as well visit you guys while I was here. I'm just glad I came on a day when y'all were here."
"I think you being here will just about make Spence's day," JJ said cryptically with a smirk on here face and pulled the door open, gesturing for Ashley to go first. "I'll take you to his desk," JJ told her and began walking ahead of her. Ashley followed obediently and tried to ignore the curious stares she was getting from other agents. "Spencer, someone's here to see you."
"What?" He looked legitimately surprised and stared at JJ puzzled.
"Spencer," Dylan shrieked excitedly almost as if on cue.
"Hey," Ashley added on, blushing a little more than slightly.
"Oh, uhm, hey . . . err, hi," he replied nervously and stood up fast, knocking some papers off his desk in the process. JJ walked away shaking her head and chuckling. "Thanks, sorry," he said as she helped him pick up the fallen documents. Once they were both standing again he asked, "What are you two doing here?"
"My dad lives around here, and since Dylan just turned one we came down so Dad could see him and do the whole birthday thing. And since I was in the area, I figured I may as well take a chance and stop by in case you all were here," Ashley explained.
"How long are you going to be in Quantico?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. He tried to ignore Derek watching from his desk, smirking as he watched their interaction.
"Just for today. But I'll probably be hanging around for a while before heading home, if you wanna, I don't know, do something later . . ." she offered and cracked the knuckles on her hand nervously.
"Yeah, uhm, yes, that's . . . that'd be great," he said quickly. "I'll have to finish these first, but—"
"Relax, kid," Derek cut him off and walked over, grabbing the papers from Spencer's desk. "I'll finish these. You go on your date."
"Thanks, Derek," Spencer told him. Part of him wanted to argue but he knew that it would be futile to do so, and even if he did argue it and win he would never hear the end of it and probably give Ashley the wrong impression as well.
"Hi," Ashley said awkwardly and waved at Derek. She remembered him from the day Dylan was missing. He had come to her house with JJ and Spencer.
"Hey," he smiled at her. "This must be Dylan. Hey little man."
"Dylan say 'hi'," Ashley instructed with a smile and held up her hand to imitate a wave.
"Hi," Dylan flashed a toothy grin and followed his mother's action.
"He's cute," Derek laughed.
"Thank you, for helping to find him before . . ." she said gratefully.
"No problem, Ashley," he replied.
"Maybe I'll see you around," she answered hopefully as she started to walk away with Spencer.
"I'd better," he called after them and made sure Spencer caught the pointed look he cast his way.
"So, do you want to meet the rest of the team before we go?" Spencer asked as he saw the rest of his family collected around the coffee, JJ along with them. There was no doubt in his mind that JJ had spread the news of Ashley's visit and now they were all waiting around to see if it was true.
"Sure," she grinned. She had wanted Dylan to meet all of those responsible for getting him back to her. She had even debated inviting them to his birthday, but those plans were cancelled, along with another what she hoped would have been a date with Spencer when they got called in on a case in Ohio.
They approached the cluster of agents and Spencer spoke up. "Guys, this is Ashley and Dylan. This is Aaron Hotchner, Penelope Garcia, Dave Rossi, Emily Prentiss, and you've already met JJ."
Immediately Garcia and Emily began to gush over how cute Dylan was, and much to Spencer's surprise he actually saw Hotch crack a smile at the small boy. "Can I hold him? He is the cutest baby ever!" Penelope asked Ashley and held her hands out to Dylan, who had already taken to the friendly woman and reached his arms to her in response.
"Looks like he says yes, so I have no objection," Ashley laughed and handed him over.
"Be careful, it looks like she might keep him," Emily joked.
"You think he's cute now; you should see him pretend to be a dinosaur. It's hilarious." Ashley turned her attention to Dylan, "Dylan, are you a dinosaur?"
"Big disaur," he exclaimed and bounced excitedly on Garcia's hip.
"Are you a scary dinosaur?"
"Rawr!" he shrieked and made a clawing motion with one hand.
"Oh, so scary," Ashley feigned fright and placed a hand over her chest with a giggle. Hotch finally managed a full smile and resisted pulling his phone out right there and calling Jack. He'd wait until he was back in his office. After everyone, even Hotch to everyone's surprise, took a turn holding Dylan, Spencer said they should probably go soon so she doesn't have to drive home too late.
"Awh, bye baby Dylan," Garcia told the little boy and ruffled his hair.
"Mwah," Dylan giggled as he brought his hand to his mouth and then flung it towards Garcia in an attempt at blowing a kiss.
"Flirt," Ashley teased him and kissed his cheek. "They're all really nice," Ashley told Spencer with a smile once they were out of the building.
"Yeah, they're the closest thing I have to a real family," Spencer admitted and followed her to her car.
After putting Dylan in his car seat, she tossed Spencer the keys. "Unless you are in the mood for random sight seeing, you should drive. I accidentally went sight seeing for almost an hour before I found this place."
"You mean you got lost?" he asked once they were both seated and buckled in.
"No, accidental sight seeing," she insisted with a grin. He just shook his head and smiled at her. Maybe this could work after all.
I know, you're all in shock, I actually updated! Sorry it took me so long. Four AP classes, computer crashes, and general lazyness do not combine well. But I hope you all enjoyed the update, even if it did take me forever plus a few days. Thanks go to everyone that took the time to review chapter three and I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about this one!