Desiree slightly leant against the kitchen counter, in her new friend's house, with a coffee cup in one hand. She took a sip and let the hot caffeine sink in. "Anna won't stop bugging me to paint her room" She explained to Jenna who was washing up the spoons she'd used to make their coffees.
"Sophie asked for almost a year before i gave in" Jenna agreed as she dried her hands on a dish cloth and turned to Desiree. "Scott and I aren't the most artistic of people so it cost a bomb just to hire a guy to do it for us!" She continued as she led the way to her living room. "we've told her she can't get it repainted until she turns ten but Scott's such a sucker for her puppy dog eyes i've got a feeling the decorator is gonna be back here before long" She added with a laugh as they sat down on the sofa.
"The move was expensive enough even with my brother's help but now Spencer wants a new skateboard, Anna wants her room painted along with a million other things" She explained and exhaled heavily.
"You know, if you ever just want some time to yourself my door's always open" Jenna said softly, she could remember moving here when her children were young and it had felt like hell, she couldn't imagine what it was like having to deal with older kids trying to adjust. "Sophie and Anna seem to be getting on and Danny's got a spare skateboard... he could always take Spencer over to the skate park" She added with a cheery smile.
"I think once they've adjusted most of the trouble will settle down. Half the stuff Anna's asking for is probably just to fit in with her new friends and Spencer... I don't know what's going on with him at the moment" Desiree said quietly and subconsciously shook her head in an attempt to free herself of the bad thoughts. "Did i tell you he came back with a split lip a couple of days ago?"
"Yeah, i asked Danny about it. He thinks it was some guys on the football team but he's not sure. Most kids try and keep clear of all that stuff... Half of the guys have parents who work for FBI so there's never any punishment for them" Jenna explained with a disapproving tone to her voice.
"It's ridiculous though! We never had any of this trouble back in Vegas even with its reputation. I move to a place swarming with cops and my son comes home dripping with blood... I just don't know what to do! Spencer's acting as if nothing's wrong, Derek says telling the school will make everything ten times worse and my brother just shies away whenever i try and talk about it with him" Desiree said hopelessly.
There was a short pause as Jenna thought of what she could say to brighten the conversation. "How'd the date go with Derek?" She finally asked with a cheery smile.
Desiree couldn't help but smile ad nod slightly. "It was good... I thought he was just gonna be another arrogant FBI guy but we talked about his beat cop days and... Well, it was nice" She explained with a soft smile. "He was nice"
xxxxxxxxxx
"Come on, man! Don't tell me you aren't curious about him!" Morgan was leaning against one of the walls of Garcia's lair with an unconvinced Reid standing a few paces opposite him. Garcia was watching the argument, which had been going back and forth between them for a few minutes, with confusion. Morgan had wanted to look into Spencer and Anna's dad for the last two days and had come to Garcia to do that but Reid wasn't as eager to do so.
"Of course i'm curious but it's an invasion of their privacy and we should respect that when Desiree wants us to know she'll tell us" Reid said indignantly.
"Spencer has some serious daddy issues, Reid" Morgan began his reason to why they should do some research on the guy but Reid cut him off.
"Some would say I do too but that doesn't give you the right to look into him, does it? Why is it different for Spencer?" Reid asked and raised an eyebrow.
"Reid, I..." Morgan began but didn't finish as he tried to think of something to say. "Spencer protects his dad and is always ready to challenge anybody who might want to replace him. But Desiree hasn't mentioned him once in the whole time we've known her- no mysterious names or even a story he happened to feature in. It's like he doesn't exist in her mind. Spencer practically idolises him, but he doesn't mention him at all around his mom. And what about the fact there's no pictures of him? Something pretty bad must have happened if-" Morgan explained but was cut off by Reid barging past him.
"Don't profile my family" Reid growled as he stalked out of the room leaving a stunned Morgan and Garcia behind.
After a few seconds of silence Garcia cleared her throat which made Morgan's eyes shift from the empty door space to the tech queen's face. "So do you still want me to run checks or...?" She asked. She was definitely on Reid's side for this argument. She hated rooting through people's personal lives; she couldn't imagine doing that to family which Desiree and her kids was now considered as.
"No, it's fine" Morgan breathed out before he shifted forward and left the lair to look for Reid.
xxxxxxxxxx
Spencer's eyes were gliding over the text book in front of him while his mind slowly sorted through the information, it was times like these he wished he was as smart as his uncle. He heard a chair creak close to him but didn't bother looking up, it was uncommon for people to spend their study period in the school library after all. It was only when someone cleared their throat that he glanced up at the girl sitting opposite.
The girl smiled warmly at him and he couldn't help but return the gesture. She lifted up a book and pointed to the font cover that read 'biology level 4' then pulled a face which made Spencer struggle to stifle a laugh in the silent library. She quickly tore a piece of paper and scribbled something down on it, pushing away a few strands of her long brown hair that fell into her face as she did so, then passed it to Spencer.
'Hey, i'm Paige. I think we have biology together, right?' Spencer read in his mind, matching the girl's name and face to the girl he'd caught eyes with during class just the day before. Spencer looked up and nodded with a stupid grin on his face that made Paige smile even more.
She ripped another piece of paper of the sheet as quietly as she could then scribbled a new message and passed it over to him.
'Do you wanna get out of here and study together?' it read. Spencer hesitated then slowly looked up at Paige's sweet face, how could he pass up time with her for studying by himself? He smiled widely, nodded then closed his books and followed Paige out of the library.
Chapter four! I tried to get a few different perspectives in this one so you get a little more variety than one character's perspective which i'll try and do for future chapters. I've also decided to run with the idea of Spencer being bullied so you should (hopefully) see some more of that in the next chapter. Please try and review if you have time, the favourites and follows mean so much and it really encourages me to write faster. Hope you liked the chapter! :)