A/N: Hey guys I'm finally back! May is a pretty busy month for me, but I'll try my best to update.

I hope this chapter was worth the wait for you guys!

~Sam

Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of Criminal Minds. If I was, I'd have lots of money that'd be spent on kittens.

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"I'm sorry, what?" Hotch says into the phone, not believing what he heard. He goes into the kitchen as if he'd be able to hear Kate more clearly, Haley followed him along out of curiosity. She pressed her ear closer to the phone to try to listen.

"Yes, autism. He had an autistic meltdown when we had found him in the home. According to his file, however, he's high functioning. It's called Asperger's syndrome, he's exceptionally bright, too." Kate explained. Hotch was completely clueless. He along with Haley have been doing exceptionally well with JJ and Emily, the changes were noticeable in their demeanors. How were they supposed to care for a child with special needs? That was another thing about caring for foster children. Children with disabilities or other issues are seen in foster kids more frequently.

"Haley, how are we going to?—"

"We'll manage," Haley interrupted without even thinking about it, "We have room, you know."

"What about the girls?" Hotch remembered how JJ was talking about dressing Spencer up, and how excited she and Emily were,

"If he's autistic, he'd probably hate how people would touch him or hug him. You saw JJ and Emily's reaction for him to be coming here," Hotch took a breath, "The fact that when cops tried to touch him and he freaked out, imagine what it'll be like with two squealing girls." Haley seemed to be contemplating the situation, while Hotch had continued,

"Do we even mention that he has autism to them?"

"Only if he has a meltdown, then we explain it. Hopefully, they'll be understanding." Haley really didn't want it to come to that. She remembered telling Emily that she wouldn't blab about another foster kid's story, yet she had to keep her family safe.

"Um, guys? I'm still on the phone. Does this change anything?" Kate had asked.

"Of course it doesn't," Hotch found himself saying, surprising his wife as well as himself. "We'll still care for him. You just need to let us know his needs are."

"I can bring a file," Kate offered hopefully.

"That works," said Hotch, "Goodbye," he hung up on her for the second time today.

"Three," said Haley, bordering on eagerness as well as anxiety, "Three kids, and we didn't even think about adopting any of them."

"Haley it's too soon—"

"Oh, come on Aaron," said Haley, cutting him off, "It's going to end up happening. The only times Kate had ever called us up was to let us know that she needs our help with another child. It's clear we're used to having JJ and Emily around, we even enjoy it. You remember last Christmas. I thought I saw you shed a tear after you read Emily's poem."

"Oh stop," Hotch said, with a roll of his eyes, "Totally untrue." Haley gave him a teasing smile,

"Totally true. You're softer."

"Damn," Hotch said, grinning a little.

"Emily called me mom this morning," Haley said with pride. This got a pleasantly surprised reaction from her husband,

"Yes, I know. I've never felt so great! Even if it was a mother daughter fight that we kind of had."

"You have tears in your eyes," Hotch noted, "Why?"

"I feel like the void is being filled," she answered.

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Spencer clutched his teddy bear with all of his might, cowering in fear. He touched the bear's soft head, the texture of it that would soothe him. It wasn't working very well now, as he was in a van, not knowing where it was headed. Spencer hated not knowing. He heard a car honk loudly, which made him want to retreat into his own world. He wanted to hum, he wanted to scream. Hell, he needed to rock himself, he couldn't now, out of pure fear of those officers coming back.

He thinks about this until the van pulls up to a house, stopping abruptly.

Four people were waiting by the house. A tall girl with dark black hair, a little blonde girl, a woman, and a man who looked very stern. Spencer clutched the teddy bear even harder as the woman named Kate let him out of the car. She undid the booster seat and he hopped off.

She tried to pick him up, but it caused Spencer to whimper in fright, so she just let him walk.

"Spencer," Kate said softly to the boy, "This is where you'll be staying at. This is the Hotchner family." Haley tried to look at him in the eyes, but he was avoiding them. He seemed to be fixated on Haley's left eyebrow.

"My name's Haley," the blonde woman said, "These are my two foster daughters, JJ and Emily. Over here is my husband, Aaron."

"He's also known as Hotch," JJ said with a smile, slightly clueless on why he wasn't looking at them. Emily was silent, observing him cautiously. It still didn't change the fact that he was totally adorable. Years after being in foster homes taught her that you couldn't be too careful. Spencer's eyes were frightened, much like JJ's when she had first come here, they darted over to finally get a view of his new foster mother's face.

It reminded him too much of his mother's, especially with her blonde hair like hers. The thought of it made him burst into tears once more. The adults were clue on how to help a child who refused to be touched. JJ took a step closer to him, "Hi, I'm JJ. What's your bears name? My horse's name is Willy!"

"W-W-Willy?" The boy stuttered, he almost stopped crying. The boy had looked at the girl, and noticed she had crystal blue eyes, she was smiling, "Yeah! I got him for Christmas. What's your bear's name?"

"It doesn't have one. Toys are just toys," he simply said, reduced to light sniffles. She held her hand out to him, "Do you wanna play inside and color?" Spencer eyed JJ's hand with distrust, he couldn't.

"Can we do equations instead?"

"Can we do equ-what?"

"Sweetie how about we show you to your new room?" Haley said gently, not wanting to upset the boy any further, she noticed that his eyes were on Hotch's shoes, "Spencer?" His head snapped up, but he still didn't look at her. Haley tried again patiently, "Why don't we go inside?" This time she recieves a nod from him. It's a start, she thinks.

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Spencer didn't like his room. It had no books whatsoever. Nothing to read, nothing to do. There was a small window, that he couldn't climb and escape out of because of the lock. His bed was stiff, and the feeling of the sheets when he tried them made his skin crawl.

Nothing was right. Everything was wrong. Spencer hated when things were wrong. Things had to be right, he was always right. If he wasn't, then everything would fall apart.

His father is gone, now his mother is gone. All he wanted now was to be with his mother. Yes, she hit him on her bad days, but he'd still have her good days. Her good days outweighed the bad.

It was too much for him to handle. All he heard was the shouts from not too long ago, all he saw was the blood dripping from his nose when his mother hit him. He didn't understand his situation. He just didn't get it.

He hated not understanding.

Spencer let out a piercing scream that was undeniably heard in all of the rooms in the house. He didn't care who heard him, it hurt way too much. He fell to his knees and screamed even louder than before, as if it were even possible. He backed himself into a corner in his new room and began to rock in a mantra, hands clamped over his ears in fright. Haley and Hotch came running into his room, looking frightened and with pity when the couple saw the mental state he was in. They leaned down on the floor to reach his eye level. JJ and Emily were right behind them, their eyes wide with shock.

"Hotch, what's going-"

"Not now, JJ," said Hotch, with seriousness. He briefly faces Emily and says, "Take JJ and go to your room."

"But-"

"Now!" Hotch said forcefully. Grabbing JJ's hand, she led her foster sister back to her room, her head turning to Spencer's direction with curiosity and worry. When she and JJ were out of sight, the couple watched, completely clueless on how to approach Spencer.

"Is this the meltdown?" Hotch asks.

"If it isn't, then I'm terrified to find out what it is." Haley answered, hoping that it was a yes. Spencer stopped rocking himself suddenly, he began to hit his head against the wall forcefully and purposely. Haley's eyes widened, she no longer cared that Spencer hated to be touched, she had to do something. He was hurting himself. Haley gently grabbed Spencer by the shoulders, which got the reaction she expected, he screamed more. He didn't know how to express himself, he could only scream.

"Haley what are you-"

"I know what to do," Haley interrupted Hotch calmly, as she began to sit in a pretzel like style. She had cradled the screaming child, who had tears running down his small face. Hotch could only watch as Haley began swaying Spencer gently from side to side, hoping the motion was soothing enough. His screams had begun to quiet down, but he was still crying and sniffling.

"I...I-"

"Shh..." Haley kept repeating, hoping the white noise will give him something calming to focus on, "It's okay. Shh..." He leaned against Haley slightly, whimpering. His meltdown was coming to an end, and relaxed in his position as she kept swaying him. His eyes felt a little droopy, and it became a struggle for him to stay awake. Hotch was about to speak, but his wife shook her head meaning that now was not the time. She began to hum a melody, a melody that her mother sang to her as a child. She continued her light swaying as she hummed it. Spencer looked very sleepy now, listening to the rhythm of Haley's heartbeat.

Minutes seemed like hours, and eventually Spencer reached full exhaustion and ceased crying. He stood completely still with his eyes fixed on one place. He was enjoying it when she was rocking him, it reminded him of when his mother would do that. Spencer fully relaxed within her warm touch and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Hotch smiled at the sleeping form, and then smiled at his wife. She really was the perfect mother.