Chapter 4:
Author's Note:
So given all of the fantastic reviews that I got on the third chapter this story was all I could think about today. Thus this chapter was born! It's a really long one, and I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope you all love it as much as I do :P
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Criminal Minds, Doctor Who, David Tennant, or Batman!
Avery's POV:
I didn't think it was possible for two people's faces to turn so red, so fast. As soon as I told Spencer that I'd always' had a thing' for David Tennant, my face turned flaming red, as did his. I didn't regret saying it, it was definitely what I'd been thinking ever since I met him, but I did feel embarrassed at the way it came out. I was never so forward with guys! I never honestly even gave them a thought usually; I'd only dated one guy, once, and that was back in high school. I shook my head slightly, partially to try and draw some of the color from my cheeks, partially to shake those particular memories from my head. That was a chapter that was definitely sealed in my life.
"Ah, we should sit, uh, down" Spencer said finally. I gathered by the return of his overuse of the word uh that he was equally as embarrassed as me. His beet-red face sort of gave him away too.
"Yeah we should", I managed. As we sat down next to each other, I couldn't help thinking that I found his still pink face absolutely adorable. I somehow liked that I could cause such a reaction in him, I certainly had never experienced that with any other boy. That was to be expected I supposed, Spencer was unlike anyone I'd ever met before. Lesson learned, Spencer Reid was a secretly shy boy.
I shifted my weight so we were sitting near to each other, but not touching. After his reaction to my last comment I figured any physical contact would probably throw his heart into palpitations. Taking a cue from his adorable habit, I cleared my throat before asking, "So what's your favorite episode of Doctor Who? You know mine and Henry's, I think it's only fair we know yours".
This seemed to have been the right thing to say, as soon as the words left my mouth Spencer's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He began talking animatedly about his favorite episodes and why they were his favorites. His voice was high and clear, devoid of any traces of our earlier embarrassment, and he waved his hands to make gestures at many points in his speech. I smiled and nodded when it was necessary; I found it calming to just listen to his beautiful voice talk about something he was so passionate about. I like talking as much as the next person, but as long as it was Spencer talking I didn't mind playing the listener.
He soon asked me some sort of question, and we fell into an easy rhythm of conversation. In fact, we managed to talk all the way through our bus ride, and all the way into the building where he and Arrow worked. I don't think I've smiled that hard for so long; something about being around Spencer just made me happy.
As we walked into his building, Spencer seemed to get nervous, as if being here at his work was causing him anxiety. I wanted to grab his hand, to calm him down, but I realized how inappropriate that would be. He worked with Arrow for goodness sakes, he was a smart, handsome man. He would never want someone like me to hold his hand.
We stepped into a large room that had a large number of desks in it, each partitioned kind of like a cubicle, but shorter. I surmised by the odd looks that we were receiving that Arrow wasn't here yet. Or maybe they just weren't used to seeing a 19 year old with two kids and all of her belongings. Or maybe it was Spencer carrying Amelia. Either way, I searched excitedly for Arrow's desk. As much as I absolutely loved spending time with Spencer, I really wanted to see Arrow again. It'd been so long, and all I wanted was to talk to him. To have him meet Henry and Amelia officially.
"So which desk is Arrow's?" I asked Spencer, stopping in front of someone's empty desk.
"Actually Hotch doesn't have a desk", Spencer chuckled. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, trying to mask the way my heart began to beat faster at the sound of his chuckle.
"I thought you both worked here?" I questioned.
"We do, but Hotch is our team's leader. That's his office right up there", Spencer pointed up some stairs.
"Wow", I breathed. I was stunned. Possibly by the way that Spencer stood so close to me when he gestured to the office, possibly just because I couldn't believe my Arrow was really in charge. But my stomach definitely erupted into butterflies by the way he leaned into my shoulder. He was so perfect. He handled Amelia like she was his own sister.
"Wow indeed", Spencer agreed, seemingly as awestruck as I was. He looked at me with an emotion I couldn't quite place, and we both just stared like idiots for what seemed like an eternity. I wondered to myself if he could seriously be feeling what I was feeling; did I even know what I was feeling? I finally broke the spell of our intense eye contact when I heard Henry sleepily call my name from the stroller. As I knelt down to answer him I couldn't help but feel a sense of exhilaration. Staring into Spencer Reid's eyes was intoxicating, I even felt lightheaded. I genuinely didn't understand my feelings as of this moment, so I dove right into what I was born to do: being Henry's big sister.
Spencer's POV:
"Wow indeed", I said, feeling breathless. I'd stood so close to Avery when I'd pointed out Hotch's office to her, admittedly on purpose. The way we sat on the bus was pure torture, having to sit so close without touching. My mind was the only thing keeping myself a respectable distance from Avery, but her mere presence made thinking impossible. Even my mind couldn't save me from leaning in closer to her in order to show her where her uncle worked. I needed to get a grip on reality, Hotch was her uncle. My boss. I knew that, but when I heard her sweet voice's declaration of wonder I couldn't help but agree with her sentiment. The only difference being I was in awe of her.
She turned and looked at me with a face that I knew I would never forget. It was then that I seriously wondered, could she ever feel the same sort of attraction to me that I felt for her? I almost thought I saw something in her face that mirrored how I was feeling, but as I was contemplating a small voice called for Avery. She paused before turning her attention to Henry. I shook my head slightly, trying to get rid of some of the wonderful haze in my head. I chose instead, to turn my attention to Amelia, who was still asleep. It had always baffled me how babies were able to just sleep, anywhere and anytime. I knew the physiological reason of course, being that babies were essentially programed to sleep for a certain amount of time per day, but watching Amelia's peacefully dozing away in my arms I wondered how it was that babies just knew. How could they place all their trust in people, for their very existence? She seemed so calm, so happy in my arms, how did she know it was okay to feel so safe? Before I could bring my thoughts to a logical conclusion, I heard Avery speak up.
"I'm Avery, and this is Henry", she said warmly to someone. I looked up to see that Morgan and Prentiss had returned from their crime scene, and were speaking to Avery and Henry. Henry was now unbuckled from his stroller, still sitting in its seat drinking from some sort of colorful cup with a top. One look at Morgan and I was certain he hadn't missed the way I'd been looking at Avery; his smirk plainly said 'we'll be talking about this later'.
Thankfully he kept all of those perverted things he was probably thinking of saying, instead saying, "Well it's very nice to meet you Avery, and cool to meet you too Henry" as he leaned down to speak to Henry. He smiled at them both, and tapped on Henry's cup saying, "You know, this is a pretty sweet cup lil man. Thomas is my niece's favorite train. What about you?" Henry immediately straightened up in his seat and began talking excitedly about how Thomas was indeed his favorite train. I noted with satisfaction however, that it was with quite the same excitement as he'd shown when I was talking to him about magic. I'm not sure why that was so important to me, but I liked to think that Henry enjoyed talking to me more than Morgan.
"Yes very nice to meet you both", Prentiss continued. "Avery are you a friend of Spencer's?" I started to explain who Avery was, but she spoke before I even began.
"I'd like to think so", she said, smiling at me. I felt something in my stomach flutter at her words, she considered us friends?
"But I'm also Hotch's niece. That's what you guys call him right Spencer? "she added. I nodded silently, still trying to calm the array of flutters in my stomach.
"Niece?" Morgan said as he rejoined the conversation.
"Avery? Avery I want to color", Henry said from his seat.
"Okay Hen", she said to her brother. "Could we possibly borrow one of your guys' desks? Just for him to have a flat surface? Hen's a pro at coloring inside the lines, nothing will get on your desk I promise", she added as she grabbed a small coloring book and some crayons from one of the strollers many bags.
"He can use mine, seeing as we're standing right in front of it", I said turning to my small half-cubicle.
"Awesome", Avery said flashing me one of her amazing smiles. She placed the coloring things in front of my chair, and grabbed Henry from the stroller. He walked up to the chair and wobbled a little trying to get on. Avery just held the chair a little more securely, but let him climb up himself. Once he was settled she turned back to Morgan, Prentiss, and I; we had been watching with unabashed interest.
"So Hotch is your uncle huh?" Prentiss said curiously. She was probably wondering why we'd never heard of her before.
"How come you haven't come around the BAU before now?" Morgan asked. Yep, they were curious. I didn't blame them, Avery was a very interesting person. Not only had we never met her before, but she was a girl and I was very clearly the one she trusted most as of right now. That in and of itself was curious, even to me.
"Yes, he's my uncle. I haven't come around before because we'd lost touch before today. We stumbled across each other today at the shelter that we'd been living in, which is why I'm here now. He's meeting us here soon", Avery explained. I admired the way she didn't flinch as she explained her living situation. She certainly wasn't ashamed to have been living where she had.
"Hotch stopped to pick up Henry and Amelia's car seats", I explained, trying to shift some of the attention from Avery. It couldn't be easy having to explain your life story to people you barely knew, much less twice in one day. "Avery and I took the bus here to wait for him". Avery crinkled her nose and giggled. It was my new favorite face of hers I decided, outside of the awestruck wonderment she'd shown before.
"I love the way you all call him Hotch", she said. "I would have never thought to call him that", she said.
"Well what do you call him then?" Morgan said smiling.
"That's top secret I'm afraid agents", she deadpanned. "I just got him back and I'm not risking losing him over a childish nickname", she said with mock seriousness.
"Oh my god you really are his niece" Prentiss exclaimed giggling as well. "The seriousness, and the face you just made? Totally a Hotch face".
"Now Prentiss I wouldn't go that far", Morgan said. "This is a very pretty girl Hotch and Reid have got themselves here. You can't compare her face to Hotch's", he laughed too, possibly at my face, which I had felt heat up at the way he'd referred to Avery as my girl. Little did he know how badly I wanted that to be true. It was nice to hear them both laugh though, we didn't get much of that with this job. After agreeing, both Morgan and Prentiss returns to their desks, presumably to talk about the recent developments of the day. I groaned internally, imagining the interrogation I would receive as soon as Avery left.
"Avery? Avery I have… I have… I have to go potty", Henry said getting quieter with each passing word. Avery turned to me apologetically.
"I'm sorry Spencer, you've been holding Amelia for a long time. Your arms must be dying, but could you watch her for just another second while I take him to the bathroom?" she said hopefully.
"Oh no she's perfectly fine", I reassured her. It was the truth, I actually loved holding Amelia; it was the longest amount of time I'd ever spent with one child. "I'll watch her while you take Henry to the restroom Avery. Really it's no problem". She smiled in thanks and asked where the restroom was. I pointed her in the right direction, before taking a seat in my chair. I glanced down at what Henry had been coloring. Avery was right, the kid was a pro at keeping his colors in the lines, way more than most kids his age. I felt Amelia stir in my arms, she was probably beginning to wake up; she'd been asleep for a solid hour, most likely longer. I felt a surge of panic go through me, what if she woke up and started crying? What if Avery came back to a crying Amelia? What if she thought that I wasn't fit to watch her sister? Somehow I couldn't let that happen; I didn't want Avery to ever doubt me. Ever. As if she could sense my thoughts, Amelia began to cry. Well really it was more of a snort than a cry. Whatever it was it was heartbreaking and I wanted to make it stop; not only because of Avery, but also because it made me sad to hear such a sweet baby cry. I stood up and began to shift my weight from foot to foot and bounce, mothers often did that right? Failing that, I also began to pat her back like I'd seen JJ do with Henry. This seemed to help, but she still sort of whimpered and squawked so I did what I did best. I started talking.
"Heyyy. Shhh shhh it's okay Amelia. Avery will be back soon, I know you probably miss her. And I haven't even introduced myself yet to you, how silly of me. I'm Spencer, but you can call me Spence", I said quietly. Strangely enough, this seemed to work. Amelia began to drool all over her tiny balled up fist that she'd placed in her mouth. She seemed content enough. I smiled, happy that I had placated her and had been able to figure out what made her content. I continued to speak to her quietly, not even really hearing what I was saying. Just talking.
"Okay call me crazy, but I see a certain Spencer Reid holding a baby. Am I crazy?" I heard Garcia babble from behind me. I smiled, and turned around to see her and JJ standing near my cubicle. Garcia had one had on her heart, as if she was having some sort of heart attack and one hand on JJ for support. JJ just looked amused and also suspicious. I rolled my eyes as I contemplated what to say.
"Oh hush. It's not like you've never seen me hold a child before", I said looking pointedly at JJ.
"You've only held Henry, your godson, a few times Reid and never as easily as now. Seriously. Did you think you could just have a child and not tell us?" JJ replied with an incredulous look.
"Come on guys give me a little credit. I would at least tell you by the time my child was at least a few months old", I joked. They glared at me, with an exasperated sort of look.
"Seriously Reid. Whose baby is that? If you say yours I reserve my right to kick you in such a way that you will never be able to create such an adorable baby again", Garcia threatened.
"She's my baby", I heard a sweet familiar voice say behind me.
Avery's POV:
I was walking Henry back from the bathroom when I heard unfamiliar voices near Spencer's cubicle.
"Okay call me crazy, but I see a certain Spencer Reid holding a baby. Am I crazy?" I heard a blonde woman say. She was dressed in a flashy looking outfit, but I liked it somehow. It was certainly colorful, and I really liked her glasses. I'd always wanted a pair of cat eye glasses like that, but unfortunately my prescription was so high there was no way my lens would ever fit into such trendy frames. Thus why I chose to never wear my glasses and opted for contacts; the phrase coke-bottle didn't begin to describe my glasses.
"Oh hush. It's not like you've never seen me hold a child before", Spencer said good naturedly. I loved how protectively he held Amelia, who was now awake. I smiled at the realization that she'd woken up and he'd been able to comfort her. She looked extremely happy and safe in his arms. In this moment I envied her, safe and secure in Spencer's lanky arms.
"You've only held Henry, your godson, a few times Reid and never as easily as now. Seriously. Did you think you could just have a child and not tell us?" replied the other blonde woman. She was beautiful, everything that I'd ever wanted to look like. Her hair was the same color as mine, but it was silky and smooth unlike my nappy, wavy mess. What's worse is that she was thin and fit looking, while I was curvy and not at all thin. It was a sore spot with me, to say the least.
"Come on guys give me a little credit. I would at least tell you by the time my child was at least a few months old", Spencer said jokingly. I loved this side of Spencer. Lighthearted and kind, like he was with Henry. It was beyond adorable.
"Seriously Reid. Whose baby is that? If you say yours I reserve my right to kick you in such a way that you will never be able to create such an adorable baby again", the flashy dresser warned. I giggled, I knew I liked that girl. She was sassy, like all good women. I decided to step forward, lest Reid be hurt by a woman that was a good 6 inches shorter than him.
"She's my baby", I said stepping forward. "Hi, I'm Avery, Arr…uhm Hotch's niece", I said setting Henry down. I almost slipped up and called him Arrow; this was a confusing enough day for these people I'm sure, I wasn't going to further confuse them with my silly nickname. "Actually she's my sister Amelia, and this is my brother Henry". Though there was nothing shameful about having kids at my age, I was tired of people assuming that Henry and Amelia were mine. Better to just set the record straight from the gate.
"That's a lovely picture. You know my son's name is Henry too", the smaller woman said to Henry.
"Really?" Henry asked confused. "But that's my name". I giggled, as well as Reid.
"I know, and it's his name as well", the woman explained kindly. "What are you drawing?"
"I'm done", he stated proudly. "It's a picture of Batman. For Spencer", he continued in his sweet little voice. He handed his finished picture to Spencer, who took it very carefully. His face betrayed a surprising array of his emotions, but ultimately he just looked so grateful for that little piece of paper from my boy.
"Thank you Henry. I love it. I'm going to hang it right here, okay?" he said finally. He did indeed hang the picture near his computer. I thought Henry's grin was going to split in two. He eagerly began drawing furiously once more; Reid had better be careful, soon his entire desk would be consumed with comic book heroes. Somehow I felt he wouldn't mind.
"Oh totally forgot, I'm Penelope. Garcia. And this is JJ", the sassy woman (whom I know knew to be called Garcia) said gesturing to herself and the other woman. "I hope you don't get offended by this but can I please hold your baby, Amelia was it? She's just such a sweet little girl. Can I hold her? Please?" she squealed. She looked at my face for approval, which I gave. She took Amelia from Reid's arms. Amelia seemed slightly unhappy about the change, as if she had been taken from my own arms. I beamed with pride at Spencer, I knew there was something special about him. Mere hours from meeting this extraordinary man and my baby girl was as comfortable around him as she could be. Not that she'd ever been a fussy one, but I guess that she sensed what I sensed in Spencer, that indescribably good feeling that I got whenever I was around him. That thought alone was enough to convince me that not only did I have a thing for Spencer Reid, but I had it bad.
Author's note: I hope you liked that I threw in some of the other BAU characters this time around. I did my best to capture their personalities as best I can. Next chapter should have some serious Avery/ Hotch time and also some development with Avery and Spence (with a little help from Garcia ;P ). Read and Review!
