"Wow! Nice place!" JJ commented looking around as she and the rest of the team entered the front door of Spencer's and Aaron's home.
"Spencer will appreciate that you think so," Hotch said with a little smile. "This house has been in his family for generations. I'll let him tell you the history of how it was acquired later."
"Why didn't he just get rid of it and get a smaller place I would think someplace this size would be too expensive to maintain," Garcia commented looking around.
"Money isn't a problem, as you know," Hotch said. "Besides, this house has a lot of happy memories of his parents before they died, and if you think Spencer was going to give that up unless he had to... Besides, Spencer also wanted to bring his brothers and sisters somewhere they were familiar with, after their parents deaths, but also somewhere that they didn't have their parents things everywhere they looked."
"Where is he anyway?" asked Morgan as he looked around the large living room that was decorated very nicely, but it certainly didn't scream wealthy.
"He's around," Hotch said briefly knowing that Spencer was in the library and would stay there until dinner was ready. "Why don't you sit down? Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, as you are all a little early."
"It sure does smell good," Garcia commented as she sniffed the air appreciatively. "I had no idea you could cook, bossman."
"Spencer and I enjoy cooking together when we can," Hotch answered with a little smile. "Spencer is an excellent cook and he's been teaching me some of his recipes, ones that belonged to his mother and grandmother."
"So do you think we can have a tour?" asked JJ as she looked around the living room.
"I'm sure Spencer wouldn't mind giving you all one after dinner," Hotch answered.
"You know I was kind of surprised to get your invitation to dinner as in the three years you guys have been together you've never once invited us to your home," Morgan said feeling just a little suspicious.
"Yes, well this is kind of a special occasion," Hotch explained calmly.
"What's the occasion, boss?" asked Garcia curiously.
Hotch didn't answer verbally and simply pulled down the collar of his shirt on the left side to show the team the permanent mating mark that Spencer had gifted him with, after they had done the ritual that was considered marriage among Shifters. It had happened the first time that they'd had sex afterwards and Spencer couldn't explain why he had acted like a Shifter and given his mate a permanent mark that would never heal completely, though it would fade over time. Hotch, of course, had done the same to Spencer as the wolf in his chest had roared its immense satisfaction inside his head.
"Ohhh!" Garcia squealed happily hugging Hotch around the middle. "Congratulations!"
"Alright, what's going on?" Morgan demanded suspiciously, "What's so special about a hickey?"
"Morgan calm down," Garcia said leaving Hotch to sit beside her good friend who was also her mate though she had yet to tell him. "Hotch and I will explain if you just sit back down."
Morgan nodded curtly and did so.
"The reason I'm so excited is that mark on Hotch's neck is not just hickey it's a mating mark."
"What do you mean a mating mark?" asked JJ trying to understand
"When a Shifter, goes through a certain ritual with their True Mate," Hotch began to explain, "it is considered marriage, without having to go through human conventions of the ceremony unless mates want to for the sake of their family and friends, or to give their children legitimacy within the Normals world. Once this ritual takes place, it binds the two even tighter together then having sex for the first time does. When Spencer and I made love that first time the True Mate Bond that I knew we had snapped into place. However, it is possible to break that type of bond, although it's extremely difficult to do so, and hasn't been done in centuries, but is still possible."
"Now however, thanks to the ritual that the two of them went through where they promise to always protect and love each other the bond will now be impossible to break and whoever tries will face severe consequences of the gods or the fates or whatever you want to call the ancient forces that most people do not understand or even believe in today for they do not take kindly to anybody who tries to force True Mates apart after the marriage ritual takes place or even before, but the consequences of trying to breakup a Shifter and his mate once they have gone through the Shifter version of a marriage ceremony are quite severe," Garcia said continuing the explanation.
"The ritual can only be done with two True Mates, as it doesn't work if you're just marrying because you think you love someone and also the ritual has to be done on both peoples free will as it cannot be forced, because it will not take hold if it is," Hotch continued calmly.
Garcia was nodding to what Hotch was saying and added, "It will also backfire in a rather spectacular fashion."
"The mark I showed all of you is permanent, and will never fade completely, although it will be less visible after awhile," Hotch said.
"So that's why Garcia was congratulating you," Morgan said realizing that the explanation made sense even if he didn't know as much about Shifters as he should.
"Yes, that's why," Hotch admitted. "The ritual that Spencer and I went through as I said before is considered a marriage, a marriage where divorce is not an option, nor will either mate bother to contemplate such a thing even if it were."
"When you meet your True Mate, it's the same as meeting your soulmate would be for a human, as True Mates are two halves of a whole and never want to be separated once they do meet."
"But Spencer isn't a Shifter, unless you've been holding out on us," JJ pointed out before Morgan could.
"No, he's not, but that doesn't matter," Hotch told JJ and Morgan with Garcia nodding in agreement. "Sure, it's more than possible that a Shifter's True Mate who is human, could reject the Shifter's claims and when that happens it usually always ends in tragedy unless the human in question changes their mind, within a reasonable amount of time, which varies from Shifter to Shifter. Shifters have been known to take their own lives if their mate rejects them, but a lot of times, depending on the personality of the Shifter in question they usually live a very lonely, unfulfilled life, because half their soul is either gone or has rejected them. The bond that is between a Shifter and his True Mate, especially with the marriage ritual added in is stronger than anything known to Shifter or humankind and therefore, it is unbreakable or at least it has never been broken in all the time the ceremony has existed. Not Strauss, or anybody else can break the bond and if they try they will face the consequences, which I promise will not be pleasant."
"A True Mate Bond is almost a living breathing thing and it knows if someone is trying to break it and it also knows when a Shifter's mate is trying to leave them permanently, not just for work or some other reason like how Hotch does."
"What happens if a Shifter's mate tries to leave permanently?" asked Morgan fascinated in spite of himself.
"Well, once the bond has been accepted if a human mate tries to leave, both partners or spouses will begin to feel quite ill and the further away the mates get from each other the more they will both feel sick and two shifters who are mates would never even contemplate leaving the other, so it is always a human who tries, even if it never works because of the bond. The only way to alleviate the symptoms is to get the two back together, so you see it is impossible for two True Mates to leave each other or at least it is after they've had sex for the first time as that is when the bond snaps into place. The ritual Garcia and I were talking about is a different bond altogether, although just as important and made the first bond much stronger."
"Some Shifters never go through the ritual, as they feel that the True Mate Bond is enough, others do, it all depends on personal preferences," Garcia added.
Suddenly the timer on the oven buzzed and immediately Hotch rose and headed into the kitchen so that his food didn't burn from inattention.
"Dinner is served everyone," Hotch said. "You all sit down and get started and I'll go see what's keeping Spencer."
JJ, Morgan and Garcia went to the kitchen where they were eating without comment, although they did wonder what was keeping Hotch's partner as it was kind of suspicious that he hadn't been there to greet them.
Less than five minutes later Hotch and Spencer joined them and Reid greeted all of them cordially.
"So where were you hiding?" JJ teased her brother in all but blood.
"Nowhere really, I just got involved in some research I'm doing that's all," Spencer told his three friends truthfully. "I tend to lose all track of time, when I'm doing research."
"What kind of research?" asked Garcia if interested.
Since everybody seemed interested Spencer went on to explain exactly what kind of research he was doing for a paper in an academic magazine.
"Yes, I found him, leaning over a stack of books about this high," Hotch said holding his hand quite a bit above the table. "There were papers scattered all around with the many notes that he has been making. Spencer just loves his research."
"What can I say except that I have to have something to do while you're out of town for work," Spencer offered with a grin knowing he was being gently teased, "and my siblings are at school."
The conversation flowed more smoothly after that and even Morgan's suspicions diminished for he could definitely see Hotch's mate getting lost in the research project, losing all track of time and blocking out external sounds.
"Would you like to stay for coffee and dessert?" asked Spencer finally as soon as everybody was done eating.
"We don't want to cut into your private time," JJ protested.
"It's fine, as I hardly get to see any of you, since you're always gone and when you're not I'm always spending time with Aaron alone," Spencer urged them. "Besides, Aaron and I have something to tell you, which is the second reason we invited you over for dinner."
"I knew there was something else going on!" Morgan exclaimed.
"It's nothing bad Morgan, in fact it's a very good thing, and we decided that it's finally time for you to know," Hotch said.
"Alright," Morgan said calming down on his own.
"Why don't you go into the living room, and Hotch and I will get dessert," Spencer suggested calmly. "After that we can give you a tour if you still want one."
JJ studied her friend for a moment then nodded as she saw her brother in all but name completely relaxed and carefree. It must not be anything bad then just like Hotch said, because there was no way that Spencer would be so relaxed if it was bad news or some sort of tragedy, JJ thought as she headed into the living room and the other two following.
~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~
"So what's this news you have for us?" asked Morgan with a raised eyebrow. "I can certainly understand celebrating your marriage with a nice dinner with friends, but what else could you possibly have to tell us?"
"Well, you see…" Spencer began trying to hide his nervousness. Spencer begin to tell them the other reason they had been invited over and just as he and Aaron had expected Morgan and JJ look disbelieving though surprisingly Garcia didn't.
"You've got to be joking!" Morgan exclaimed. "Magic doesn't exist!"
"How about I demonstrate for you?" Spencer asked smilingly.
JJ, Morgan still looked disbelieving, but Garcia was watching Spencer with a little smile on her lips as if she knew exactly what was about to happen.
Spencer removed a long slim stick that looked to most people like nothing more then a piece of wood, though one that was smooth and carved prettily from his wrist holster that was no longer invisible once the wand was removed.
JJ and Morgan stared at Spencer and both wondered if they were seeing things, for where there had been nothing but bare skin there was now a slim holster where the stick of wood had come from. Was it some kind of magician's trick? Although if it was neither one of them know how I could possibly have been done, since there had been no distracting their attention or smoke or mirrors.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Spencer intoned, pointing his wand at Morgan's empty pie plate which immediately rose in the air to hover several feet above Morgan's lap.
Morgan and JJ stared at the pie plate knowing that there was no way it could be in the air above them unless it was indeed magic.
Spencer released the spell by saying, "Finite Incantatem!"
The pie plate crashed to the floor and broke into several pieces.
"Why did you do that? That was a perfectly good plate," JJ protested.
"And it will be again," Spencer promised her. "Watch! Reparo!"
Spencer pointed his wand at the broken pie plate that was perhaps, in a dozen large piece. The plate immediately rose and begin to reassemble itself in front of JJ's and Morgan's astonished eyes and once it was completely repaired the cracks disappearing until it was as if it had never been broken it glided over to Morgan and landed gently back in his lap all without a word being uttered.
Morgan and JJ stared at Spencer and then switched their gazes Hotch who was watching his mate's display with a little smile on his lips.
Morgan picked up the pie plate and examined it minutely for any cracks and finding none he put it down on the coffee table.
"Alright, that was rather impressive," Morgan admitted, "but I've known you for almost three years yet you never showed us this ability of yours."
"That's because it isn't just my ability," Spencer begin to explain calmly. "There is a whole community of witches and wizards all over the world. However, we have very strict laws about revealing ourselves to muggles, which simply means somebody without magic."
"What about Hotch then he apparently knew," JJ pointed out.
"I don't count, because Spencer is my family and vice versa," Hotch said speaking for the first time.
"Yes, what Aaron has said is the absolute truth, because the minute he identified me as his True Mate was the minute that he became my family, even if we didn't confirm that bond for almost three weeks. A lot of times a witch or wizard comes from two complete Muggles like yourselves and why this occurs is unknown and if it ever was it has since been lost. In any case, when that happens the parents of the magical child have to know as they have to be given the option of sending their child to a magical school where their ability will be trained."
"Alright, what you're telling us make sense, but the question is why have you finally decided to come forward?" asked JJ.
"And why isn't Gideon and Rossi here?"
Hotch and Spencer looked at each other before Hotch explained, "Gideon isn't here because Spencer and I decided that he would never accept the truth and would think that Spencer was either possessed or some kind of evil devil, so it was decided between us that he would not be told."
"As for Dave he had other plans and so declined our invitation, but he will be told later. We didn't want to reschedule this dinner, because for one thing it's a rare opportunity for all of us to get together and for another we wanted to tell you as soon as possible and who knows when we would have another free weekend, since a lot of times our cases last a whole week or more?"
"Spencer and I also agreed that you could keep a secret and if you don't accept this then Spencer will simply put a memory charm on all of you and you will forget this conversation ever happened. If we have to do that, all you will remember is coming over for a nice dinner and to spend some time together outside of work, but nothing at all about this conversation."
"I know this is a lot to take in," Spencer told Morgan and JJ, "but one of the reasons Aaron and I really wanted to tell you was because you're not only Aaron's honorary family your mine as well. Yes, I have seven other siblings, but that doesn't mean I don't consider you part of my family."
None of Hotch's and Spencer's three guest liked the sound of the memory charm, but only Garcia truly knew what it was.
"So your brothers and sisters…" Morgan begin finally starting to get over his shock.
"All inherited our mother's magic," Spencer said.
"Not your father?" asked Garcia speaking for the first time which startled Spencer and Hotch both as they had almost forgotten she was there, she had been so quiet.
"Our father was a muggle, without an ounce of magic in him," Reid told his friend gently.
"So your siblings…?" JJ began.
"Are at their magical boarding school that is right out in the desert of Las Vegas. It is a very small school and can't take in more than a 150 students, but normally there's not that many that live in the Las Vegas area, so it works out just fine. My twin sisters who are four years younger than I am are due to graduate in just 2 1/2 weeks and they should be right in the middle of their final exams in their various subjects."
"How do you hide this whole community, I believe of...muggles is what you called us?" asked Morgan suddenly.
"With magic," Spencer said simply causing Morgan to look embarrassed and glared at his friend, as everybody else laughed as that should have been obvious. "Joke aside, sorry I couldn't resist, there are charms that will hide things like schools or other important buildings from muggle or Shifter eyes. For one thing the school is in the desert where nobody ever goes, and if a muggle does wander into that area that's what repelling charms are for. A repelling charm as the name implies, is simply a very strong magical ward that will make somebody without magic think that they have a important appointment, or some sort of emergency elsewhere. Of course, there are other protections on the school that I won't go into as it would take way to long."
"So can we trust all three of you to keep this a secret?" asked Hotch. "You won't be leaving until you give both of us an answer, because Spencer has already magically sealed the house and it won't be unsealed until we know one way or the other. I am truly sorry they had to be done this way, but we can't let you leave until you give us a positive or negative answer, because we cannot risk this getting out to where it fell into the wrong ears."
"Our government is very strict about who can know about magic," Spencer explained hastily, as all three of the people sitting across from him and Hotch began to look nervous and apprehensive, "and while the American government isn't as bad as I the one in say England, still, I am bending the law if not outright breaking it by telling you that magic is real. However, you are all as close to me as Aaron or my siblings are and as I said earlier I consider you a part of my family, but it is unlikely the magical government will see it that way and I could be in a great deal of trouble, if they discovered I had told you, which I would rather avoid, thank you."
"Which is why you sealed the house until you got an answer," Garcia said knowing that her two friends were absolutely correct about the government and their probable reaction.
Spencer nodded shortly.
"Think of it as an equivalent of a state secret and where you have to keep it for the sake of national security and this falls along the same lines," Spencer said.
JJ and Morgan seemed to think about it and then after a few minutes nodded realizing exactly what Spencer was saying. He was saying that the secret that magic was real couldn't get out, because there would be a lot of bloodshed and a lot innocent people would die if it did. Simply put ordinary people or muggles would want what the magical folks had and that was impossible, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be a lot of blood shed as people tried their best to get something they wanted and that was the ability to perform magic.
"Alright, I understand why you haven't told me before," Morgan said finally, "and so I give you my pledge that I won't say anything as you are my family to and I consider you a little brother."
"Thank you Morgan," Spencer told him simply with a small smile and Morgan nodded also with a smile.
"I also give you my oath that I won't say anything either," JJ said.
"Thank you, JJ," Spencer repeated with another sincere smile.
"Good," Hotch said his tone approving. "You must remember to never mention magic in a public place, as you never know who's going to be listening and especially not around Gideon."
"We know how to keep a secret, Hotch," Morgan protested. "We do keep plenty for the sake of national security after all."
"I know you do or Spencer and I never would have agreed to tell you," Hotch said, glaring playfully at his teammate. "However, it doesn't hurt to be reminded."
"What about you Garcia?" asked Spencer finally noticing that the woman he considered a flamboyant aunt had been awfully quiet as normally she was the life and soul of any gathering. Come to think of it she hadn't been surprised when he and Hotch had confessed their secret.
"Before I answer that I have a confession to make," Garcia finally said focusing the other four peoples attention in the room on her. Garcia look incredibly nervous, but plowed ahead anyway. "I am not only a Shifter, but I am also a witch and I went to the Salem Institute for Magic, which is in Massachusetts."
The other four people in the room looked shocked and Morgan in particular was looking at Garcia as if he had never seen her before.
"Why did you never tell me?" Morgan asked finally finding his voice, though it was several octaves higher than normal.
"We've only known each other for a year, Morgan," Garcia told her friend with a slight smile. "It's not something you just tell someone on first meeting and technically you shouldn't know at all, but I figured since Spencer told you his secret I would tell you mine and just get it over with and I know I can trust all to keep it to yourselves."
"So that's why you didn't look surprised, when Spencer told you he was a wizard," Hotch said appraising Garcia all over again. Hotch briefly wondered whether Garcia's rather flamboyant way of dressing and cheerful, upbeat attitude was her way of distracting everyone if something strange happened around her as Hotch well knew could happen as magic tended to happen if a witch or wizard was experiencing some kind of strong emotion, but only if their ability hadn't been trained or it could very well be just her natural personality and not a cover for anything.
"That's why," Garcia confirmed with a smile.
"Why work for the FBI if you have the ability to do so many wondrous things?" JJ asked her friend.
"Yes, magic can do many things, however, you muggles can do much more in some areas then we can with your technology. I had to make a decision, as to whether I wanted to pursue my interest in computers, or get a job with my magical education. As you can see, I decided on the latter and so I got a scholarship to college, and as computers have always fascinated me and well, to be modest, I became very good with them. I'm perfectly happy working at the BAU and have no intention to leave to get a job in the magical community. Yes, I'm very good in certain areas of magic, charms and transfiguration in particular, but I'm better with computers and that is where my true love lays and why make yourself miserable."
JJ absorbed that info she suddenly understood you had to go with your true love if you wanted to be happy as why work at a job that made you miserable? It was counterproductive as you got more done if you were happy then if you were unhappy.
"Alright then," JJ said, as calmly as possible, "but you and I will be having talk at some point about keeping secrets from one of your best friends."
"I'm sorry JJ, but it was necessary," Garcia apologized to her friend, sincerely.
"I hate to interrupt, but it's getting late and we have one more thing that we need to tell you before you go home and get some sleep," Hotch said.
"What else could you possibly have to tell us?" Morgan asked his mind still reeling from all he had seen and heard tonight.
"Well," Spencer began, "This is going to be even harder to believe then that magics real, but it's true nonetheless."
"This must be a doozy of a secret if it's harder to believe then magic being real," JJ told Spencer studying him intently.
"Oh, it is, trust me," Spencer said grinning, as he dropped the illusion he had been wearing and everyone except Hotch stared at Spencer's very swollen belly.
"What in the hell is going on?" Morgan demanded rising from his chair and taking a step forward only to be pushed back down by Garcia who was suddenly in front of him.
"Sit down Derek Morgan and give them a chance to explain before you go all ballistic! You hear me?" Garcia demand. "If you had done what you were likely thinking about doing you'd be laying on the floor probably missing a body part, as Shifters are very protective of their mates and their children. Of course, if you had attacked Hotch instead of Spencer you would still probably be laying on the floor missing a body part as magic can be just as vicious as gunfire and kills just as easily."
"Even easier actually," Spencer admitted candidly causing JJ to wince. "If you had actually gone ahead with your plan to attack either one of us, even if you never meant anything malicious by it, you would have instantly regretted it and we might have been sorry for our actions, but by then it would have been too late."
"I'm sorry," Morgan sincerely apologized, "you just shocked the hell out of me that's all."
"That's understandable, but remember to keep your emotions in check," Hotch ordered Morgan sternly, "as Garcia is absolutely right for if you actually had tried to attack either one of us, well, you probably wouldn't be dead, but would be missing some limbs more than likely and I would hate to have to find a way to explain that to our superiors at the FBI."
"I know you're very protective of me and consider me a little brother that can't protect himself, but let me promise you Derek Morgan, that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I only showed you a few simple charms to get you to believe in magic, stuff that's basically harmless, but the wizarding world has spells...well, let's just say there wouldn't be enough left of you to fill a thimble or your body would never be found and you would simply...disappear," Spencer told him seriously glaring at his friend.
Morgan gulped and nodded. He believed what Spencer was telling him without a demonstration because it was a certain glimmer in his golden brown eyes that he had never seen before and that told Morgan all he needed to know about what his friend would do to him if he went to far.
"Oh, come on Morgan, cheer up, you have no reason to worry and I promise you that I have no intention to do you or anybody else harm as you are like an older brother to me after all," Spencer joked. "Relax I'm still the same man you've known for almost three years, you've just never had a chance to see this side of my personality, that's all. Just like you I'm fiercely protective of my family and those I care for and so long as you don't do anything to harm them then we'll always be friends."
Morgan relaxed at that, as the Spencer he knew came back and he immediately promised himself that he would never give the man he considered a brother a reason to do him harm or to distrust him
"So why exactly do you look like you're pregnant?" JJ asked carefully.
"Because I am," Spencer explained simply, "With quints actually."
"How is this possible?" Morgan demanded as he stared in fascination and no little horror at his friend's very bulging stomach. "I mean you are a man after all unless there is something you want to tell us..."
"Well, there is something that Aaron and I wanted to tell you and no I'm still a man and no I was never a woman as I know that's what you are both thinking," Spencer said.
Both Morgan and JJ looked startled that Spencer had figured out what they were thinking so fast and then sheepish, as they supposed that their thoughts were pretty obvious.
"Okay, so what's the explanation?" JJ said, as she stared at Spencer's very pregnant and prominent belly.
Spencer told them, explaining slowly, all about how magic could give him a womb and other female parts temporarily.
"So let me see if I understand this," JJ said her mind still reeling at what she had been told. "A wizard about 11 years ago created a series of spells because his wife couldn't get pregnant and they desperately wanted a child. The couple were turned down for adoption, and so the wizard finally decided that if they were going to have a child then he would have to be the one to get pregnant, since thanks to a childhood disease the wife he loved was infertile."
"That's the story more or less," Spencer agreed calmly.
"You know how insane that sounds?" JJ demanded.
"Of course, I do!" Spencer told her in a near shout as the stress was getting to him. "Of course, I know how it ridiculous that sounds, but I'd rather tell you the truth as I didn't have to put a spell on you once our children are born to get you to just kind of look past the fact that they will probably look like a combination of Aaron and I!"
JJ looked startled at her friend's tone then realized ruefully that she deserved it. Here her friend was near the end of his pregnancy, not to mention he was carrying quints, and she was being pushy and near hysterical, but in her defense she'd had a lot things to accept in a very short amount of time, things that had absolutely rocked her world. Things she thought she knew to be absolutely true were not, so of course, she was shocked, was that so surprising? After all men weren't supposed to be able to get pregnant, spells or no spells and yet here was her friend, who was undoubtably a man and also undeniably pregnant.
"So when are you due?" Garcia asked, speaking for the first time since she had stopped Morgan from doing something stupid.
"Well, technically, I'm not due for about seven weeks, but I'm going to have a cesarean section in two."
"And where are you going to get this operation done since no regular hospital would take you and probably turn you over to the government for them to experiment on to try to figure out how a man got pregnant," Morgan pointed out what he thought was a perfectly logical point and everybody except JJ laughed at him.
"What's so funny?" Morgan demanded looking offended.
"You are," Garcia told her friend laughing heartily. "I thought you realized that when Spencer was talking about the spells that were put on him to allow him to temporarily be able to conceive that it was done by one of the magical communities own healers, which is doctor to you. I thought you would realize that the magical world is an entirely separate community and that there are witches and wizards all over the world. We of the magical community have our own hospitals, jobs, schools, banking and really anything that the muggle world has, it's just hidden from muggle eyes."
"You have to forgive me if I didn't quite catch that as I've had quite a lot to absorb tonight," Morgan told everybody sarcastically.
"Yes, you and JJ have had quite a lot to absorb tonight and we're sorry for dumping it on you all at once, but as Spencer told you he's due to go for a c-section, in just a couple weeks and we wanted to get all our secrets out of the way before that actually happened, so that you would have time to sit and absorb the news," Hotch apologized to his three subordinates.
"You did it because you didn't want to have to put a spell on us, so we would ignore how much the children will probably look like both of you together," JJ realized.
"Exactly," Spencer and Hotch agreed at the same time, causing the other three people in the living room to smile as they sounded almost exactly like twins at that moment, even if they didn't look like twins, with them being different ages, heights and masculinities.
"Also Spencer and I were discussing it and we would like you Morgan to be one of the godparents for at least one of them and you to JJ and Garcia," Hotch said.
"Just so you know being a godparent, is a very sacred duty in the magical world and I will be placing a spell on you after they are born that will make it official if you accept that is. You will all be a major part of any children we decide to have lives, even if you don't accept the godparent role."
"I accept," Morgan said immediately honored that they had asked him to be one of the children's godparents.
"So do I," Garcia agreed immediately
"And me!" JJ piped up not one to be left out.
"Good," Hotch said pleased. "We will also be asking Dave to be a godparent as well once we tell him all we've told you tonight."
"What about Gideon? Or Strauss for that matter? How are you going to explain how you have children?" asked Morgan. "I mean at least some of them are bound to look like a combination of both of you so you can't exactly tell somebody that you adopted them and that they are not related to you."
"Don't worry Aaron then I have already discussed this," Spencer told his three houseguests. "We're going to do the same spells that we would have done on you if you hadn't accepted that magic was real."
"Oh, you mean the one that will make somebody look at your children, but not recognize them as biologically yours?" asked Garcia, catching on immediately.
"Yes, and also one that will make someone forget our children as soon as they are out of sight and even if that person sees them again, they will not remember ever having met them before," Spencer explained.
"How are you going to take care of them by yourself?" asked JJ. "I mean Hotch is it work a lot of the time and your siblings at school for most of the year..."
"Don't worry as we have been interviewing nannies," Hotch immediately explained. "We haven't found one that's suitable yet, but hopefully, we will before these babies are born and if we don't find one Spencer can certainly take care of them until we do. Besides, Spencer's siblings will be home a week after their births and they can help out until we find a couple of suitable nannies."
"So you put an ad in one of the magical newspapers," Garcia said and both Spencer and Hotch nodded at the same time.
"Not just in one, but in both the Washington and Virginia one," Spencer said.
"So have you had many applicants?" asked JJ.
Hotch snorted and Spencer snickered and the other three people on the room looked at there to hosts in confusion.
"Oh, we've had plenty of applicants, but the thing is every single one of them has either come on to me, tried to convince me to hire them and then marry them, so they can live their lives as lazy bums in the lap of luxury, or they made it clear that they disapprove of two men in a relationship and the fact that I'm pregnant with another man's babies," Spencer explained. "They seemed to believe that our ad in the two papers, was just a cover for interviewing a woman for the position as my mistress."
Everyone burst out laughing at that, because if you knew anything about Hotch and Spencer there was no way in hell that Spencer had been interviewing and those women for that particular position. Anybody who couldn't see that Hotch and Spencer were deeply in love needed to have their eyes checked.
"Yes, I know what you three are thinking, and I don't blame you, but unfortunately, I wasn't here when most of the interviews took place, because I was working, so is it any wonder that those woman believed that Spencer was interviewing them for the position of his mistress?" asked Hotch, snorting in amusement again.
"No, not really," Morgan admitted, "not when you lay it out like that."
"So where will you be having this c-section?" asked JJ curiously.
"St. Murphy's magical hospital," Spencer told them. "I also work there just so you know and I just graduated to healer the status instead of trainee last year."
"Aren't you awfully young to already be a healer?" asked Morgan. "I mean you only what 22?"
"23 actually, and no I'm not too young," Spencer said. "You see most wizarding folks don't ever go to college and they immediately enter the workforce once they have graduated from whatever magical school they attended and have taken their final exams. Jobs like becoming a healer are along the lines of mentor and protégé. A senior healer takes you under his wing and teaches you everything you need to know. I would have graduated to healer status much sooner, but I've been taking the summers off to spend with my siblings while they were home from school, but since Liya and Leah graduate this year I'll have two less siblings to worry about, as they plan to get a place of their own, together."
"They promised that they'd be by to visit frequently and to help take care of the quints, but we still need at least two fulltime nannies and we've had no luck on that front."
"You'll find someone," Garcia predicted.
"I hope so," Spencer said with a sigh, "as I'm tired of these young women trying to come onto me."
"So what kind of nannies are you trying to hire?" asked Morgan.
"Magical ones," Spencer told Morgan knowing exactly what his friend was trying to ask. "We can't exactly hire muggle ones because some, if not all these children will inherit my ability to do magic and the magical world must remain a secret from most of those that do not have the ability."
"Why won't they all get your magical ability because after all you and your siblings got it from your mother, didn't you?" asked JJ curiously trying to understand.
"Because JJ, magical ability can be rather tricky," Spencer explained. "A lot of times when one parent has magic and the other is a muggle or a Shifter some children will get the ability and others won't and unlike with a Shifter where that particular gene is dominant, for about four generations, a lot times the magical one isn't. Me and my siblings were lucky that we all inherited mom's magical talent, but then it has always run strong in the Potter line and that has a lot to do with it as well. Think of magic like...well a child that gets blue eyes, even though his parents have brown. Brown is the dominant color over all the others and both parents would have to have the gene for blue eyes in order for their child to have even a slim chance of inheriting them, because otherwise they would be brown."
"So you're saying magic runs along the same lines," JJ said and Spencer nodded.
"If a witch or wizard has only a weak talent for magic then it's unlikely that more than one or two of their children will inherit it, depending on how many they have, of course. However, someone like the Potters, which my mother was before she married, that has above average magical abilities it is likely that all the children will inherit it, although it isn't a sure thing of course, because genetics are still a rather tricky area of science and tend to throw up anomalies from time to time."
"So what about that tour?" JJ suggested. "I know there's much more about the magical world that we have not heard about, but Morgan and I need time to absorb what we have been told before you try to tell us anything else."
"That's reasonable," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.
"I'll be happy to give you a tour of my home," Spencer said with a smile totally relaxed now that he knew his three friends had accepted what they had been told.
Spencer and Hotch both rose from the couch where they had been sitting very close together and started showing their friends around the ground floor of the house that had been in the Potter family for generations.
"This house has been in my family for generations," Spencer began as they continued the tour. "In fact it is not uncommon in a old pureblood family to have properties in different parts of the world and that is what my family was for many generations, although mostly they are not anymore. The Potter line is originally English and I might still have some relatives over there, somewhere. In any case, this house was bought sometime in the 1600s, by my great-great-grandfather. You have to understand the back then families were much larger than they are today and the Potters still produce quite a few children per generation."
"That ought to be obvious," Morgan snorted, "since you do have seven brothers and sisters."
"That's nothing Morgan, as I happen to have 18 brothers and sisters," Hotch chipped in causing JJ and Morgan to stare at their boss as if he had grown three heads.
"18? There're 18 of you?" exclaimed JJ.
"I'm afraid so," Hotch admitted looking rather sheepish. "Shifters are known for producing multiples anyway just like there animal counterparts, but I have to admit that 18 is out of the ordinary."
"Why so many?" asked Morgan now.
"Well, my parents marriage was arranged," Hotch begin to explain. "That's not really all that unusual in certain high society families like the one I came from, but my father came from one that has certain ideas about a woman's place. In father's view it was a woman's sacred duty to provide as many pups as possible and women Shifters tend to be unusually fertile anyway, although that's not always the case of course, but mostly it is. In any case, I am the only single birth in the whole family and my mother was pregnant only seven times in a 13 year period."
"She must have had several sets of triplets and twins to get that many," JJ said shaking her head in astonishment.
"She did except, she also had one set of quadruplets," Hotch said. "My mother begged my father after her fifth pregnancy to allow her to have her tubes tied so that she wouldn't get pregnant anymore, but my father refused believing that it was a woman's sacred duty to have as many pups as possible as I said a minute ago. Finally after two more pregnancies the last one of which nearly killed her he allowed her to have the operation, so that she wouldn't get pregnant again and he acted like he was granting her a great favor."
"Actually the odds of having multiples increases considerably when it's two Shifters together," Spencer interjected.
"Your father seems kind of…" Morgan said searching for a word that would not offend his boss.
"Oh, go ahead and say what you're thinking because believe me, I agree with you," Hotch told Morgan with a ironic little smile, knowing precisely what his teammate was thinking, but didn't want to say in case it offended him, since technically he was Morgan's boss as well as friend. "Where my parents are concerned I promise you that you don't have to worry about my sensibilities."
"Alright then, your father seems like a bit of the bastard," Morgan said.
"I agree with you," Hotch told him. "Believe me, father was a rather cruel man and my mother wasn't any better, although I realize that part of the reason she's so bad was because of the way my father treated her, as nothing more then a babymaker and someone to keep the house that kind of thing can change you permanently if you have to suffer or hear the same thing again and again."
"My family has also been known to have quite a few children, more than my parents did," Spencer said with a shrug. "The Potters were once quite numerous, but we are the only branch left that I know about anyway, although it's possible, even likely there are more out there that have just been lost track of over time. Families that have multiple children tend to loose contact with each other over centuries, as families move aware from the city they were born to start a new life elsewhere and I'm sure that if I truly did a search I would find numerous relatives."
"Anyway let's get back to the tour," Hotch suggested and the other four people present nodded
Spencer finished showing them around the first floor and kept telling them a little about the history of the Potter family, as he showed them the beautiful, elegant home.
Spencer led the way upstairs and open the door to one of the guestrooms to have his guests look inside and JJ Garcia were both suitably impressed.
"Wow! I might want to move in here!" Garcia cooed as her gaze swept the room. "These are really nice!"
"Thank you," Spencer told Garcia with a smile. "Most of the rooms are closed up actually except for the portion of the house that is being lived in at the moment. I will magically unseal the rooms when and if we need them, but really only some of the rooms on this floor and the first are being used at the moment. Mine and Aaron's room is on the fourth floor, but I only did that to, prevent myself from being woken up when my siblings made a lot of noise. Besides, the master suite is mine since I'm the one in charge since my parents are dead, which is on the fourth floor, as that is just the way the house was designed and that is the one that I have taken over."
"There is also a nursery on the fourth floor that was part of the house originally and it has been cleaned and redecorated for the children that will be here in a couple of weeks, so this way neither Spencer or I will have to go downstairs to check on them," Hotch said.
"Oh, can we see?" Garcia asked enthusiastically and Spencer nodded.
"Of course, let's finish the tour of this floor and then I'll take you up to show you the nursery, that I spent my days off for quite a few weeks repainting from top to bottom and rooting around in the attic and the basement for all the necessary baby equipment used by my ancestors. I did have to buy some things new or transfigure them, whichever one worked best, but there were quite a few cribs bassinets and other things like that shrunk down in several steamer trunks in the attic.
"What do you mean transfigure?" ask Morgan.
"It simply means changing something like a pebble into something else entirely," Garcia cut in before Spencer could start explaining. "Say you have a piece of wood and you would like to make it into a cradle all you have to do is do the proper spells and also have a good imagination as that is required to get what you want, but do it right and you have yourself a nice cradle, that will last for centuries and nobody will ever know that it was once just a piece of wood."
"Of course, you can reverse the transfiguration and turn it back into what it was originally, but why bother? Why spend the money unless you have to even if you have plenty of it? Transfiguring items into other items is a good way to save money when you're furnishing a new apartment for example," Spencer explained.
"Transfiguration is a very difficult branch of magic and some people just aren't very good at it. Of course, this has a lot to do with the power, as some transfiguration take a great deal and a lot of witches and wizards just don't possess the magical strength to be very good at this subject," Garcia continued.
"You'll find that a lot magic, transfiguration in particular, is all about concentration and intent as you have to have a great deal of concentration and a strong will in order to be good at transfiguration because it isn't just about the proper wand movement, or saying the words correctly and as Penelope said it takes a vivid imagination, but also a good understanding of the properties of whatever material you are trying to transfigure. Of course, every magic discipline has things that cannot be done, and one of those things is that you cannot conjure or transfigure something else into food just for example, well not unless it was food to begin with. Say you have army rations in your backpack, since it is technically food you can transfigure it to be some other food type, but you can't turn a piece of wood or stone into something edible," Spencer said.
"Magic sounds rather complicated," Morgan commented.
"It can be, but then so is anything that is worth learning or doing," Spencer told his friend. "Everybody has their different talents so that means that some magical people will be good in charms or transfiguration or both, but they might be lousy at say defense against the dark arts. It's very rare when a child is good in more than one or two subjects and no I'm not saying that they don't pass their exams just that they have to find what they have an actual flair for and what comes easily to them. There are subjects that they won't have to struggle with or study twice as hard and others that they will have to put more effect into. It's kind of like having a talent for music or football, or really anything like that."
"So like anything else you have to practice in order to get good at it," JJ commented and Spencer nodded.
"The exams that my brothers and sisters should be taking right now have both a practical and a written portion, so if you do lousily on one part and good on the other then you're still likely to pass, just not with as high grade as you had hoped for."
"I'll bet you got A in every subject that you're school teaches," Morgan told his friend who grinned.
"I certainly did on the academic portions," Spencer admitted, "but as for the practical application... Yes, I'm excellent in charms, transfiguration, arithmancy, runes, potions and history, but four of those don't involve magic while the other two do. I did okay, in defense against the dark arts and I certainly passed, but I just don't have a flair for it like some do. I also took a rituals class in my last year which also involves runes and it teaches you about certain light magic rituals that can be done, but most of them have to be done on certain days of the year like the spring equinox."
"Why do some rituals have to be done then?" JJ asked.
"Because you'll soon realize that a lot of magic is the magic of the Earth," Garcia said. "Back centuries ago before modern civilization the Earth was ancient and wild where gods and goddesses and acts of magic were common, especially in places like Greece and Japan. The human race has forgotten this for the most part, although they have plenty of legends, which had to come from somewhere. Nowadays, we don't practice most of that ancient magic and in fact a great deal of it has been lost, as it either fell out of favor or the families that taught their children how to perform it died out as that kind of thing was never written down since it could very easily fall into the wrong hands."
"Magic is different today than it was centuries ago," Spencer continued. "Magical people back thousands of years ago didn't use wands and in fact they hadn't even been invented yet. Magic was more wild and free, and less tamed and structured back then and of course, also more dangerous. Magic has been made safer then it was so long ago, and that is why so many practices fell out of favor as they were considered either too dangerous or wrong by the magicals of the time."
"Ritual magic is about all that remains of that ancient time, even though it is not used so much anymore, except for some of the really old families that have been around for thousands of years."
Spencer kept showing his friends house and they were amazed at how many bedrooms the house had each with it's own sitting room and fireplace.
"And finally this is a nursery," Spencer finally said pushing open the door to an extremely large room, where there was easily space for at least a dozen or more cribs.
"Whoah! Why so big?" asked JJ looking around and noticing that the walls had been painted in a light blue, and that there were already five beautiful cribs of some dark wood just standing waiting for their occupants. The cribs weren't made up yet, but they would be sometime in the next week JJ bet. Against one wall were several chest of drawers, as well as a large changing table, and everything else you needed when you had infants in the house.
"Well, centuries ago it was a common thing for all of one family line to live together," Spencer explained. "Grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, all lived in the same house and therefore, the nursery is necessarily big so that the family could grow. There were usually at least three or four young married couples, in the house at any one time and of course, they were going to have children, so the nursery is this size so that there was room for all of them without it being crowded."
"This room is about the size of four regular rooms that you showed us," Morgan said looking around.
"Yes, well, this room takes up most of the top floor on this side and really the only bedroom up here is the master and the nanny's suite as the person looking after the children if it wasn't family needed somewhere close by to sleep, so they didn't have to climb all those stairs in the middle of the night and the suite for the nanny is part of the nursery itself and isn't visible unless you actually enter the nursery first. Also if I took you to the other side of the hall there is another nursery over there that is just as big as this one is and the reason for that sometimes there was that 30 to 40 children of varying ages in the same house. The one across the hall though is set up for young children and not infants and it's kind of a combination playroom and nursery as children under five would spend a great deal of time in that room once they've passed the toddler stage being watched over by their caregivers, usually the grandparents, or uncles and aunts who didn't work, but as I said some families had nannies that were not related to the family and when they did they slept close to their charges. Nowadays, things are different and although the nurseries are still used, the children are allowed all over the house and aren't restricted to this floor."
"Of course, Spencer had already put a spell on the stairs and it will immediately turn into a slide if one of the children starts to tumble down," Hotch added.
"In the past that was one of the reasons that the younger children weren't allowed off this floor at least not without adult supervision because a tumble down the stairs...well, it was likely that they would break their necks, and centuries ago this spell wasn't invented yet so it was just safer."
"So you mentioned having 30 or 40 young children in the house at the same time this room isn't big enough for that many children under two," JJ commented
"It can be magically expanded and all you have to do is tap the wall and say the proper word, and it will become double the size of what it is like now."
"Magic is so strange," Morgan said shaking his head, "Don't you people believe, in things like walls? I mean if you expanded the room it would no longer fit the dimensions of the house."
"Did I say that the room would still be in this dimension?" Spencer asked his three friends with a wide grin, as everybody except Garcia looked confused. "Think of it like a pocket universe that when you expand it so that it no longer fits the dimensions of the original room. Have you ever seen Dr. Who?"
Everybody nodded and so Spencer said, "Well, think of the good doctor's Tardis and how it is much bigger on the inside and it is on the outside and you will understand as this is the same concept."
Spencer didn't bother to tell them that the room could be expanded an infinite number of times until there were 500 or more crib, because as the room expanded more cribs would appear and so would more chests and changing tables. Basically everything doubled each time the room was expanded, which he didn't bother to tell Morgan and JJ because he thought they had quite enough to accept for the moment.
"I think it's time for us to head home as it's getting quite late and it's a good thing I don't have to work tomorrow, so I plan on sleeping in," Garcia finally announced.
"Yeah, me too," JJ agreed.
"I'll show you out," Hotch said and gave Spencer a look that told him to get ready for bed without him having to say a word. He didn't really want to have his mate have to climb down and then back up the stairs again, especially not with him so close to his giving birth.
"I'm so happy for you and Spencer," JJ told her boss and Hotch smiled at her.
"Thanks, Spencer and I were both worried about whether any of you would accept what we had to tell you, because believe me, I know how hard it is to believe and you all know me well enough to know that normally I'm not the kind to believe in magic, real magic, not just stage magic," Hotch said.
"I'm so happy for you and for bossman," Garcia told Spencer hugging him around the middle her arms not connecting with each other like they normally did thanks to his very extended belly.
"Thank you," Spencer told Garcia returning her hug and kissing her on the cheek. "Believe me, Aaron and I did consider adopting until my mentor Addison told me about the spells that would allow me to have children of my own with the man I love. I know this would not be possible if not for magic, so for that reason alone I'm grateful that I'm a wizard, since it takes a person with magic for these spells to work, so it wouldn't work on a muggle or a Shifter, in other words, those without magic."
Morgan also gave Spencer a hug and then Hotch escorted them them downstairs and showed them out.
~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~