Family

A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying so far. I promise, there'll be a little more of the team soon. Just a couple more things to get out of the way before I can bring in the others as well. Thanks for your patience!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable. Including, but not limited to: Criminal Minds and the characters. For very good reason. Alex and Julie and Julie's friends are my own creation.

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Chapter 9: Of Parties and Nightmares

Episode: The Popular Kids

Spencer stood back and looked at his handiwork. He had never decorated for a 13-year-old girl's birthday party, but he decided that the living room looked pretty good. He had made use of the decorations left from his birthday, added some new ones which Alex had bought and the over-all effect seemed generally aesthetically pleasing. He glanced at the clock and found that Julie's three friends would be arriving in an hour. Though the small family usually celebrated birthdays quietly, when Julie had practically begged him to be allowed to throw an actual party, he had been hard-pressed to say no.

He moved into the kitchen and eyed the cake that was sitting on the counter. He gently pushed it back so it couldn't be knocked off. This was the third attempt he had made at making a birthday cake. While baking the first one, he had fallen asleep, tired from a case and the trouble he seemed to be having sleeping lately, and burned it. He had lost the second cake when he had made the mistake of asking Alex to frost it, and while he wasn't exactly sure how Alex had gotten the cake to stick to the ceiling, he had banned his younger brother from the kitchen altogether. He would be damned if anything happened to this cake. "Wow, this looks great, Spencer!" Julie called from the living room.

"Yeah, it's not bad." Spencer nodded, joining her. "Is your room clean?"

"Yep. Everything's ready." Julie giggled. "This is kind of exciting… that's sad isn't it?"

Spencer shook his head. "I don't think so, but I'm not really the benchmark for normal…"

Birthday parties were impossible when they had lived in Las Vegas and Julie hadn't asked to have friends over since they had moved to Virginia. Because of this, Spencer was at a bit of a loss for what to expect or even what to do. He had simply allowed Julie to instruct him on the norm for parties.

He had been informed that birthday cake and pizza were necessities, as well as chips or popcorn. Decorations were nice, but nothing over the top. He, apparently, had to take pictures as well. Otherwise, she had said they would take care of themselves. Spencer and Alex planned on waiting the whole night out in their respective rooms, unless their presence was required. Dealing with hyper 13-year-old girls was not in their repertoire.

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Spencer was in his room, surfing on his laptop and killing time until Julie's friends began arriving when the doorbell rang. He headed for the door, but Julie intercepted him. "I've got it!" She told him before pulling the door open. There was a slightly chubby girl with long, light brown hair and glasses on the other side. There was also a tall, blonde man standing behind the girl. "Tina!" Julie greeted her friend, stepping aside and allowing the two in.

The man, presumably Tina's father, stepped up to Spencer, offering his hand and a friendly smile. "Reese McMillan." He introduced himself. "And you must be Julie's infamous big brother. A genius FBI agent, I hear."

"Actually, I don't really believe intelligence can be accurately quantified…" Spencer began his spiel, but stopped at the look Julie was giving him. "Uh, yeah, that's me. Spencer Reid."

"Wonderful." Reese shook his hand enthusiastically and then headed for the door. "Well, thanks for letting Tina stay the night, I'll be back at noon tomorrow. Have fun, girls."

With that, Reese McMillan was gone. "Sorry about my dad, telling him you were an FBI agent was the only way I could get him to let me stay over." Tina shrugged, staring up at Spencer.

"No, it's- uh, fine." Spencer assured her as Julie took the girl's bag and gift.

Before anyone had a chance to do much of anything else, the doorbell went off again. This time there was a lone girl on the other side. She was slender and wore her blonde hair pulled back in a headband. She was identified as Lianne Simmons. "Um, hi… are your parents coming up?" Spencer asked, casting a look around as though he expected them to jump out of the coat closet.

"No," Lianne shrugged. "But they'll be back at noon to get me."

"Oh… okay. Uh, make yourself at home, I guess and…" Before Spencer could get further, the doorbell rang a third and final time.

Julie answered the door and revealed a girl with dark hair and eyes who looked much younger than the other girls, with freckles and wire-framed glasses. She stepped into the apartment and Spencer realized that she was dwarfed by everyone by several inches at least. A severe-looking man with dark brown hair stepped in after her, glaring at Spencer. "I'm Ben Tanner, Margret's father. Maggie told me there would be adult supervision." He said curtly.

"Uh, yes… that would be me." Spencer said, trying not to sound snippy. "I'm Julie's older brother, Spencer Reid."

Ben looked him up and down with a critical eye. "You're in the FBI? How old are you?" He asked suspiciously.

"I'm 24." Spencer answered in a curt tone similar to the one Ben had been using.

Ben looked as though he would have liked to argue that point, but his daughter cleared her throat and glared over at him, causing him to drop it. "I'll be back at 12 sharp, Maggie." He said before taking his leave.

Finally, as the door shut, the girl spoke in an unexpectedly strong voice. "Sorry, about him." She paused and looked at Spencer, seeming to guess what he was thinking. "Yes, I'm actually Julie's age." She smiled and shook Spencer's hand.

He was unsure of how to answer that, but she spoke again, saving him the trouble. "You're very tall." She observed in a matter-of-fact tone, still smiling.

Once again, he was unsure of what to say, but Julie came to his rescue. "I told you he was." She said, taking Maggie's bag and putting it with the others.

Julie went into the kitchen to put the gifts on the table and Spencer was left in the living room with three 13-year-old girls who were staring at him. For once, he was completely at a loss for what to say or do. He hadn't been sure what to do with teenage girls when he was their age and he certainly wasn't much better now. If he wasn't interviewing them about a crime, he had nothing to do with them. Julie came out of the kitchen, took in the look on his face and shook her head. "Thanks, Spencer; you can go now, if you want."

"Oh, um… didn't you say something about taking pictures or something like that?"

"No, I've got it. Thanks."

"Okay, I'll, um… order dinner in an hour and… you guys- uh, girls have fun?" He offered before retreating to his room, relieved to be going.

"So, how'd it go?" Alex, who was sitting on the end of Spencer's bed, asked.

"I feel like they were all staring at me." Spencer mumbled, sitting down in front of his laptop.

"They probably were." Alex laughed.

"Why?" Spencer asked incredulously.

Alex shrugged. "Take whatever attracted Taylor to you and add the fact that you're now an FBI agent… well, you have a degree in mathematics."

Spencer frowned. "That's not math." He said, fixing Alex with a confused stare.

Alex only laughed and left for the safety of his own room.

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Spencer opened his eyes and looked around. He was at a crime scene… he stood outside an old house, the decaying yard sectioned off by crime scene tape, the red and blue lights of police cars flashing on and off. But this wasn't right… where was everyone? Cautiously, he moved into the house and was plunged into darkness. Suddenly, he heard a cry. It was a baby's cry; it was in trouble, he knew. But where… where was it? If he listened hard, he could find it. But it was no use, the screams came from everywhere. They were all around him. Finally, there was a light in the distance! If he just ran to it, he could save the baby.

He ran as fast as he could and he could hear the cries getting louder. And there was the baby, in a circle of light. But there was a man standing over it- no, not a man; a monster. He was twisted and misshapen, his eyes were dark holes. Spencer ran harder, faster, but he was too late. The monster snatched the baby just out of his reach. It brought the baby to its face and- Spencer sat up in bed, shaking and panting.

His breath came in ragged gasps as he slowly recalled where he was. He was at home, in bed. It had only been a nightmare. Another one.

The night came back to him bit by bit. He had ordered three pizzas for dinner and taken pictures of Julie opening presents and had spent most of the night in his room, falling asleep around midnight. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 2:30. Hushed voices from outside his room reminded him that there were four teenage girls nesting in the living room. He was about to lay back down and try to get back to sleep when the screaming from his dream returned. This time, however, it came from the living room.

Spencer leapt out of bed faster than he'd previously thought possible and flew into the living room, flipping on the lights. The four occupants of the room screamed again as he did so, turning to face him. "Spencer!" Julie's voice came out of the screams. "You scared the hell out of us!"

"I scared you?" Spencer asked incredulously, his voice gaining an octave. "Why are you screaming?"

"We're watching a movie!"

Spencer's eyes flicked to the television screen where some unknown horror movie still played. "Oh…" His heart beat began to even out again before he glared over at the four girls. "Should you be watching that?"

"It's PG-13…" Lianne told him, holding up the case.

Spencer shook his head. "Okay. Uh… don't stay up much later." With that, he returned to his room, feeling a little sheepish.

After a moment, Julie followed him. "I'm sorry we woke you up… are you okay?" She asked quietly.

"Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Spencer replied.

"You've been really tired lately, I heard you shouting last night, you fell asleep while baking a cake and, Spencer, you ran out in front of my friends without a shirt on." Julie pointed to his bare torso.

Suddenly becoming aware of his half-dressed state, Spencer turned red and snatched his robe off the end of his bed to put on. When Julie was still staring at him expectantly, he sighed. "I… I've been having dreams… Nightmares." He muttered.

Julie seemed a little surprised by his admittance, but nodded. "It's understandable. You should talk to someone."

Spencer shook his head. "I can deal with this on my own." He said adamantly. "No one else seems bothered with them and… I don't want them to think I'm having trouble."

Sighing, Julie turned to leave, but not before adding one more quiet comment. "It's not healthy to keep things bottled up."

When she was gone, the door shut behind her, Spencer sighed and got back into bed. Facts began to rush through his brain unbidden. Pent up emotions can lead to a short temper, escapism, depression, or even physical illness. It can even lead to "exploding" at people who do not deserve it when the emotions need release… He sighed again. Maybe could talk to someone. Maybe he'd ask Morgan about it on Monday…

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A/N: So, that's my story behind Reid's nightmares (as mentioned in The Popular Kids). Plus, the idea of Reid attempting to arrange a girl's slumber party was just plain entertaining. Hope you guys enjoyed!

I officially have gotten more reviews for this story than I've gotten for any other thing I've written! I'm all excited and stuff. So, thank you to criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak, clt, RockerChild1987, Eriks angel 15, morgo7kc, criminalminds99, xXxOtAkU-444xXx, Daisyangel, KASEY64, CRIMINAL-MINDZ-FANZ, Rasgara, and donttouch for your wonderful reviews and thank you also to everyone who has put this on their alerts and favorites!