Hi again! I loved reading your reviews so thank you! :) To answer few question and queries..."who is going to look after the kids when Spencer is called away on a case?" I do know the answer to this question but it's not a problem at the moment and I don't want to spoil it for you guys when we come to it...I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Also, eventually, at individual points team members will find out about the kids so it's not as if they will be a secret forever, again you'll just have to wait and see! :D

Now that that's over with on with the story!

Spencer Reid – Age 18/19
Athena Reid – Age 1/2

Location – Nevada moving to California

One year. That's how long he and Athena had lived together; and it was the best year of his life. She was amazing and despite the tragedy in her life she was as happy as any other child. Yes there were ups and downs, moments where he could have just given up, times when he thought he wasn't good enough to look after her... but he stuck with it and he couldn't be happier.

The first few months were the hardest. Athena's injuries were slowly healing and she was in less pain but lack of sleep meant that it had taken longer than expected. Almost every night Athena had nightmares and woke up screaming and crying. Sometimes she would wake up four or five times and be unable to fall back asleep. The intensity of the nightmares made Spencer glad he had decided to stay in Vegas. It gave them privacy and nobody was disturbed in the middle of the night. Every time he was woken by her cries he rushed to her to calm her down; all the while hoping that the images of her parents dying would fade from her memory soon.

Spencer didn't want to keep the identity of her parents from her, although in time she would end up forgetting them. He didn't have a reason for his decision but knew it was the right thing to do. One day, when she was old enough, he would tell her everything. But for now, he wished that she didn't have to go through the pain of their deaths every night. The one blessing in all this was that she wasn't alone and that they had each other.

As more time passed, the nightmares started to fade and he and Athena were sleeping through the night. Some days the nightmares returned, but with significantly less strength than before. Mornings after these nights were spent with Athena not letting him leave her side. Almost always they ended up cuddling on the sofa eating breakfast and watching some cartoon. In a way the nightmares had brought them closer together, more so than the months she had lived with him

The first time she called him 'Dada' Spencer cried for two hours out of pure joy. It wasn't her first word, for some reason that had been 'floor' and it had been a week after she had come to live with him. As random as it was Spencer treasured it, after going through such a traumatic experience he wasn't expecting her to start speaking so soon. After that first word she had gone silent for a few weeks before trying other words like 'hat', 'book' and 'bye'. When she called him 'Dada' though it was like the world froze. He dropped what he was doing, grabbed her for a hug and broke down, sobbing onto her shoulder. Admittedly he didn't mean to break down and scare her the way he did but he couldn't regret it, he was too happy to even think straight.

Joy from being called 'Dada' faded rather quickly after those two hours of happiness. He couldn't help but wonder if her first word was something else; something that she had said to her parents. It would have made sense, the average age of a child's first word is 12 months and he had met her a couple of months after that. For all he knew she could have called her real parents 'Dada' and 'Mama' long before she had called it him.

After that revelation Spencer, for the first time, lost the smiles and happy eyes he had from being a father. Instead he felt like a replacement, something cheap and dirty, someone that Athena wouldn't love and who would never be family. Spencer ended up letting his thoughts take control, making him spiral into depression. Almost immediately Athena noticed this and in her own little way she started healing him. Slowly dragging him from the dark place he was headed.

During the nightmares and the first words Athena had also graduated from crawling, to a few small steps and finally to walking. At points he still worried that she was going to fall and hurt herself but every time she fell she got straight back up. Spencer had never been more grateful of the thick carpeted floors than in those brief moments of panic.

By the time her 2nd birthday came around the joy from being a father was back. A party was held for her by a few of his neighbours, some of which had children Athena's age. The whole day was filled with squeals of happiness that only a 2 year old could produce. Through the happy day's one thing sat in the back of Spencer's mind, it wasn't a bad thing but it was always with him. For months he had ignored it but now it was time to do something about it.

As much as he loved being with Athena in Vegas, Spencer was bored. He kept up with the case work but it wasn't enough anymore. There were too many hours in the day and not enough things to do to occupy his genius mind.

He made up his mind in June, a few days after Athena's birthday. This year he was going to go back to Caltech to get his next PhD, this time in engineering.

Over the next couple of months he made arrangements to move out of Vegas and onto the campus. There was no way he was going to leave Athena in Vegas and make the trip to University every day. Moving to California was the smart choice and it meant that he wouldn't have to pay a fortune for an all day babysitter. Instead, he could do most of his work at home and would only need a babysitter a few hours a week.

When the day came to move Spencer realised how many friends he actually had in Vegas. He had expected to load all of their stuff into the van by himself but by lunchtime everything was packed and he hadn't picked up a single box.

Saying goodbye also went a bit differently than he had expected. Mrs Arnold, who had stayed in contact with them, had spent the past week cooking and had given the two almost a month's worth of frozen meals. Detective Davidson had also stopped by and given gifts of books for him and toys for Athena. He also made Spencer promise to keep in touch and asked if he could call once in a while if he needed help with a case. Finally there was the present from Mr. Harrison; 2 leather satchels.

"For all that paperwork you're going to have; and for all the paperwork she's going to have when she gets older." He explained with a smirk.

With final hugs and waves the family of two left Vegas behind.

Ok guys that it! (I'm sorry I couldn't resist with the satchel :D) The ending kinda annoys me but I couldn't think of a better way to end it :( This chapter is just really a recap of the year seen as nothing particularly interesting happens. The next year will be split into two chapters and we go more in depth of Spencer and Athena's lives.

Also know that I have exams coming up, I'll try to stick to posting every two weeks but be warned the next chapter might be a bit late.

Don't forget to follow and review! :)

See you next chapter! :) :)