Part 10

"Congratulations, Spence," JJ said rising from her seat across from him and giving him a gentle hug.

The team was indeed flying to yet another city on the same day of Reid's return, as Reid had already known was likely to happen and so he had warned Keziah about it before he'd left that morning. Still, Reid had made sure to text Keziah the details so she would know that he wouldn't be home at the end of the day and she had immediately texted back that she would go look for a condo while he was gone.

"Thanks JJ," Reid said smiling, as he and Hotch had been right about her acceptance of the situation.

"I'm happy for you two," Morgan told his friend slapping him on the back in a gesture of friendly affection. "I can already tell that Hotch's sister has been good for you and you only met less than a week ago."

"Thanks Morgan," Reid said accepting the gesture for what it was.

"Aren't you moving just a little fast," asked Gideon and immediately everyone looked at him as if he was nuts, except for Hotch who glared at him with a warning in his dark brown eyes.

"Haven't we already had this conversation?" asked Hotch his voice low and menacing. "You remember the one about letting Spencer live his life? The one about bonds? Why should he wait and make himself miserable just to meet your criteria? All the bond really means is that you have met your match and you'll only be miserable without them and even if you spent the rest of your life searching the world you'd never find another that was a perfect match for you?"

"Whoah protective much?" JJ questioned in amazement.

"Well, Spencer is now technically my brother-in-law and I will not have the man he considers his mentor upset him just because he doesn't understand about bonds, since the human race doesn't have such a thing. Come to think of it, JJ was the first to congratulate him and she is also human and doesn't really understand about bonds either, but sees that her friend and teammate is happy and that is enough for her," Hotch said.

"Thank you, Aaron, but I can fight my own battles," Reid said. "It doesn't really matter what Gideon thinks."

"Reid, you don't really mean that," Gideon protested.

"Yes, I do," Reid told his mentor and friend bluntly, causing everyone one on the team, except Hotch to blink in surprise. Hotch for his part simply smirked. "Keziah is part of me now, as she filled a place in my heart that I didn't even know was missing until we had met. As Aaron said it doesn't matter how long we've known each other if you try to come between us I know which I will choose as it really is no contest, none at all. I already miss Keziah desperately and you aren't helping the situation with your attitude. Would it hurt me to lose your friendship, a friendship that has meant so much to me? Of course, it would, but it would hurt a lot less then losing Keziah, as that just wouldn't hurt it would literally destroy me. Accept the situation or not and when you have decided let me know, otherwise don't talk to me, except about work as I'm not the mood to put up with your attitude. I would think you would want me to be happy, instead of miserable."

Reid turned away from Gideon ignoring him completely.

"Wow, Reid! I've never seen you so commanding, not in the over five years I've known you," Morgan said staring at his friend in something akin to awe, as he had just throughly told off one of the leaders of the BAU, someone who was a close friend and father figure. It wasn't that Gideon hadn't deserved it considering he had no reason to object to the relationship between Reid and Hotch's sister, none at all, since Reid was a grown man and not some kid that needed to be told what to do. In a way he could understand it for not only was Gideon old fashioned he was also human and really didn't understand about the bonds that could form between two vampires, two shifters, or a human and a shifter or a vampire and a shifter, not deep in his heart.

"Everybody has their limit, Morgan and I'm trying to avoid having an argument with Gideon about it at a later date, trying to nip trouble in the bud in other words. You've never seen me this commanding before as you put it, because I never needed to be. You have to remember that I'm the oldest of 10 siblings. After my father left, I had to take charge and look after all my younger ones, even if my brother and two sisters helped me. I haven't had any reason to let that part of me out in the last five almost six years. You know I'm usually a pretty easygoing guy, but I will not have the best thing in my life ruined by a stubborn, set in his ways man who can't see that I'm far happier with Keziah in my life then without her in it."

"I am sitting right here you know," Gideon said finally, sounding annoyed.

"Good, then maybe you'll take my words to heart because if it comes down to a choice between Keziah and our friendship I know which one I will choose, in a heartbeat. Make of that what you will," Reid said.

Reid immediately went back to ignoring his mentor.

Gideon said nothing, because deep down he knew everything that had been said to him was right and he had no right to be against his protégé's relationship. He wasn't sure why he was, except that it had been very sudden and that made him suspicious. It was more the timing then anything else that made him suspicious as he didn't normally believe in coincidences. He didn't say anything else though, as he knew Hotch was too honest to set one of his team up and get them into a bad situation or lead him like a lamb to the slaughter as vampire or not, Aaron Hotchner was one of the most honest and forthright individuals he had ever met. Gideon knew realistically that Hotch's sister had only showed up to see her brother and to get to know Emily his mate. Besides, if Keziah's shocked look the first time she had laid eyes on Reid was any indication she had no more expected to find her mate then Reid had, so it seemed in this case it was indeed pure coincidence.

"Emily will be very happy for you too and so will Garcia when they find out," JJ said with a smile.

"Emily knows as I ran into her first and no I didn't tell her, but she is a vampire and she'd know all the signs," Reid said with a smile. "As for Garcia I know she will be happy for me and I plan on telling her as soon as we return as I didn't have a chance to before we caught this case."

"She'll be upset that she's the last to know," Morgan chuckled.

"Probably, but I can't really help that we caught a case, before I had a chance to tell her," Reid shrugged. "I suppose I could've done it before we left, but I was too busy texting Keziah to let her know I wouldn't be home."

"So Hotch how is Emily really doing?" JJ asked her boss but also her friend.

"She's fine, but since she's due in a week we just decided that it was better if she stayed back at Quantico. Her doctor's there for one thing and Keziah has promised to keep a very close eye on her and get her to the hospital when it was time."

"It's a good thing you're sister decided to come into town now, isn't it?" Gideon said his tone of voice almost accusatory.

"If she hadn't then I have many friends that would have gotten her to the hospital, including Garcia," Hotch said without missing a beat. "It just happened to work out like it did, as I certainly wasn't expecting for my sister to just show up out of the blue without at least warning me she was coming, but then Keziah has always done exactly what she wanted, any time she wanted and has a stubborn streak a mile wide."

"I for one am very happy she just showed up out of the blue," Reid said, his golden brown eyes sparkling.

"Of course, you are," Morgan teased him. "I certainly would have been if such a gorgeous woman was my mate."

"I won't deny that she is gorgeous, but that's just an added bonus," Reid said. "In my mind that fact that she makes me laugh, which I've never done very much of, not even as a child. The fact that she doesn't make me nervous like so many women do. Or the fact that we can talk about anything and she understands what I'm saying without me having to find a way to phrase it layman's terms. So many people don't understand what I'm talking about unless I break it down into concepts they can understand, is far more important."

Not to mention that the lovemaking is spectacular, Reid added in his thoughts, but didn't say so out loud.

Hotch smirked at him briefly, seeming to know what he was thinking and Reid nearly blushed, but managed not to, as he didn't want Morgan to see it and suss out the reason for it, as he would be teased unmercifully by the big black man if that happened.

The last of Gideon's doubts crumbled at that. No matter how fast the relationship had happened it was helping the young man he considered a son come out of his shell. It was true that their relationship was rather sudden, but then so had Hotch's and Emily, so apparently this mate bond was a powerful force. Reid was certainly happier then he had ever seen him and Gideon knew that Hotch's sister Keziah was responsible for that happiness, so how could he object? Gideon well knew that Reid wouldn't have lasted much longer at the BAU if he didn't learn how to truly relax and let go, forget about all the horrors he had seen instead of his life being an unending round of work. Of learning new facts and trivia to help the team solve cases, as he would burn out much sooner without a personal life. A life that was something more then a unending round of work in one form or another. He needed a real life and it looked like he had finally found it.

"Looks aren't everything," JJ agreed.

"You do have a point," Morgan conceded, "as I've known some gorgeous woman who are as dumb as stumps."

"That's not very nice, Morgan," JJ chided.

"Doesn't make it any less true," Morgan shot back totally unrepentant.

"I think JJ means that it isn't polite to say so, Morgan," Gideon said entering the conversation.

"I didn't express that opinion to the ladies in question and I'm not giving you any names, I'm just telling that I've known both women or men for that matter that didn't have the intelligence or sense that god gave a gnat," Morgan defended himself.

"You're missing the point, Morgan," Hotch told him with a shake of his head.

"So I'm assuming that at some point you're going to become a vampire," Gideon mentioned.

"Yes," Spencer agreed. "The date hasn't been set yet, but I'm going to have to take a rather lengthy leave of absence. However, I have every intention of returning to the BAU afterwards."

"Is that even possible?" Morgan asked in astonishment. "Taking say a year off and then returning?"

"It's possible," Hotch promised everyone. "It's happened before that vampires have found their mates in other FBI agents who weren't vampires themselves and sometimes they were even agents themselves, so something had to be done. If Strauss tries to cause trouble I'll just take it to the higher-ups and I know the whole team will back me up on that. There is a precedent for it, even if it's only happened a dozen times in the century or so that the FBI has been in existence and that's all that matters."

"Strauss can try, but if we take the higher-ups then she won't succeed," JJ said wanting reassurance.

"She won't," Hotch promised, "because once the director above Strauss sees how much our percentage of solving cases drops because Reid isn't there, well they'll be very eager for him to return. Of course, as I said there's also a precedent for it as well, so really Strauss won't have a leg to stand on."

"I'll miss you while you're gone, pretty boy," Morgan told his brother and all the blood.

"We'll keep in touch," Spencer promised, "but I do need at least a six months to a year away to get control of my bloodlust and also several other factors are involved. You don't need to worry about it right now, as it hasn't been decided when my transformation is going to take place, just that it will. It probably won't be for at least six months or so though so let's just forget about it until then."

"So long as you come back," JJ mock scolded her friend.

"I have no intention of leaving the BAU or my friends on a permanent basis," Reid promised. "It would take an extraordinary set of circumstances to prevent me from returning to a job I love and also to people I consider family."

Gideon wasn't very happy, with his protégé's upcoming transformation, but he knew that it was going to happen whether or not Reid agreed to it, as he knew that vampires were nearly immortal and that they would find a way to meet their deaths if anything happened to their mates. Besides, Reid could also feel the bond that he had with Hotch's sister so for that reason alone he would agree to be transformed into a vampire.

"Perhaps, I can help you out over the internet," Reid suggested. "I'm sure Garcia can help you set something like that up and there are programs that will allow you to talk to me and see me at the same time."

"Skype, comes to mind," JJ suggested. "It's a program that allows you to talk over the computer, kind of like a telephone except you can see who you're talking to."

"That's a very good suggestion," Morgan approved.

"We'll see how it goes, but I won't promise," Reid said. "They're just too many unknown factors involved to predict exactly how I'll take to being a vampire. I might take to it very easily, but then again I might not, there's no way to know until it actually occurs. I'll have to get control of my strength so I don't crush everything I touch even if it's an accident. In many ways vampires that are born have it much easier as they don't come into the full strength until they're fully grown and therefore, have it easier in learning how to control it."

"Everybody who's ever been made a vampire instead of being born into it is different," Hotch added, "so there is no way of knowing how Reid will take to being transformed."

"Well, at least let us know how you're doing even if that's through Keziah, as I for one will worry less," JJ requested.

"I will," Reid promised.

~~~Unexpected Bonds~~~

"Point 1: You're saying that you've met your mate and she just happens to be your boss's younger sister," Sabrina began counting off points on her fingers, "and that this Aaron Hotchner you've told us so much about is willing to change all of us into vampires. Point 2: Whenever someone is changed into a vampire they try to do the same with at least a few of somebody's siblings or other family so that they won't feel regret or remorse for abandoning the people they love and so that they have a sense of family, belonging and continuity. Point 3: Sometimes this is impossible as that person has no other family or not one they are close to. Point 4: If we decide against this it will not be forced upon us and it is our choice. Is that a pretty accurate summary so far?"

"Pretty much," Spencer agreed calmly. "I know this is shocking news, I certainly didn't expect to find my mate in my boss's younger sister and believe me, when I tell you it shocked the bloody hell out of me. However, there is no way I could deny the connection that is between us, as not only would that make both Keziah and me miserable, Hotch would kick my ass."

All nine of Spencer's younger siblings were present and sniggered at their brother's choice of words for normally he would never use such foul language.

"In any case, you can say no and it would upset me, but I wouldn't be able to blame you for it. I would promise to keep in contact until each one of you died and then keep in contact with your descendents, since they would still be my family. All I know for sure is that I am going to go through the transformation, because I love Keziah so much and yes, I'm aware that we've only known each other for a very short amount of time, but that doesn't change the fact that I do. Keziah and I have already completed the bond that is between us and we all know what it takes to do that, so I could no more leave her then I could stop breathing."

"What about our jobs though?" asked Oliver, Spencer's brother who was also the same age as he was and who was also a surgeon.

"You can always get other jobs, but as for me there's apparently a precedent and I'll be able to go back to the BAU, although I am aware that not many jobs would allow you to take a six month to a year off and then go back."

"That's not really fair," Oliver complained.

"I never said it was fair, Ollie," Spencer told his brother who had his dark brown hair, but his mother's blue eyes. "I for one am glad that there is such a precedent in place, because I do love my job, even if I don't always like the paperwork involved. However, I've already experienced being separated from Keziah and that wasn't very fun, although I've been told that the intensity of the bond between us will start to die down in a few years to where we won't miss each other quite so much. However, a vampire's emotions, especially a newborn's are at least five times as strong as a shifter's or humans or a magical's, so it will take me awhile to get a handle on having such strong emotions as well as other things. You don't have to make the decision right this minute, as it's going to be awhile before I actually go through the transformation and also Hotch said that it's more difficult handle to many newborn vampires at once so we'll likely just be me and maybe Ollie, Sabrina and Perdita and then once we get a handle on the fact that we're vampires it'll then be Marla's Raina's and Carol's turn."

"And what about us?" Timothy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd prefer the three of you to be a few years older before you go through it like at least the same age of Marla, Raina and Carol are right now, although really I would like you to wait until all of you reach at least 30."

"Why?" asked Marla.

"Because the age you are now is the age you will remain for the rest of your existences," Spencer explained. "I would just prefer for you to look a little older and to gain some more experience with life before you are changed, although it is your decision, since you're not pups too young to make their own decisions."

"Well, it'll probably be at least a year before I, Marla and Carol are changed," Raina pointed out. "Depending on when you, Ollie, Sabrina and Perdita go through your own transformations it'll be at least a year after that, so we'll be 27 to 28. If Tim, Xavier and Bea don't go through it for a year after we do well, there'll be at least 26 or so."

"And that's only if we all decide to do it," Perdita said logically. "You did after all say it was our decision."

"I did," Spencer agreed. "We're just discussing possibilities right now and no definite decisions need to be made right this minute. I wanted to tell you about the fact that I have found my mate and that I am going to be changed into a vampire at some point. I also wanted to give you an option to join me, but yes, it's still your decision. You have to consider the fact that vampires are nearly immortal, which means that you will be too if you decide to go through with this. Think about what eternity really means and since I have found my mate I'm actually looking forward to it."

"This could be a way to get back at our father," Xavier suggested, with a gleam in his eyes as he thought about that. "You know what he thinks of vampires in general and how prejudiced he is against the species. If all of his children or even just some of them were transformed from shifters to a species that he considered creatures, ones that should be eliminated permanently that would be a suitable revenge. After all Vince and his wife and their children taught us really what we need to know about shifters and other species in general and we definitely don't share the same opinion as our father."

The other nine siblings in the room considered that, but finally Spencer said firmly. "I don't want you to do this just to get revenge on our father, because we all know that he's a useless waste of space, as he used to call us at least when it comes to maintaining relationships and only because he's not willing to put in the work required."

"He is the successful attorney," Raina pointed out.

"Yes, he is, but there is a difference in being successful at your job and being successful in your personal life," Spencer told his siblings. "Father works hard at his job so maybe he feels like he didn't need to do the same when it came to his marriage, but both of them take work in order to be successful at them and he wasn't willing to put in the hours or effort in to be successful at the second. For example just because Keziah and I are mates does not mean that neither one of us is going to have to put in the effort required in order to maintain a healthy relationship. We might be made to be together, but if we don't want to go stagnate we need to retain the romance, the spark if you will. We'll never break up that's true and always love each other, but that doesn't mean you stop doing things for your partner taking them out to dinner for example, well, if they're not a vampire that is," Spencer corrected.

"Buying them flowers, planning vacations together they are a lot of ways to show you care," Carol said.

"Yes, they are," Spencer agreed, "and we all have to admit that I'm not very good at that kind of thing, but then I've never had any practice, so I plan on learning, because I never want Keziah to think that I'm taking her for granted, as I'm going to be gone enough as it is with my job. One day I'll decide to retire, and maybe we can travel the world together, but that's decades away at the very least."

"So do you actually plan on tying the knot or not?" asked Beatrix.

"Yes, we are going to actually get married," Spencer said, "although the date has yet to be determined. I proposed within a few days of knowing her, as I didn't see point of procrastinating since it's not like I had to figure out if I was in love or not because I already knew I was."

"You gave her great-grandmother's ring," Perdita said with certainty.

"I did indeed," Spencer said with a rather goofy grin a rather unusual expression on their usually serious brother's face.

"Oh, our brother's really in love," Oliver wisecracked.

"That's been obvious ever since we got here," Carol told her older brother. "Spencer is far to sensible to even consider doing what he's talking about unless he knows he's in love. Of course, the fact that the bond has activated helps with that, so why humans or magicals don't have the same thing that both vampires and shifters do is beyond me. I for one am very happy for him as he helped raise all of us, even if he had help with that task and if anyone deserves some happiness it's him."

"I definitely agree with that," Xavier said immediately. "You looked out for us, even when you had your own problems and your own studies. I know that Spence was really super intelligent and read extraordinarily fast and if he hadn't he never could've kept up with all his homework as looking after all your younger siblings took a lot of time and I, of course, include Ollie, Sabrina and Perdita in that, since they helped. Still, it was a lot for four 10 year olds to take on and I as well as others know that."

"We did have the help of the few shifter families that lived in our neighborhood as well, especially Vince and his wife and his children," Sabrina said reminiscently.

"Yes, they really helped us out a lot," Spencer admitted, "and I really didn't want to accept anybody's help even if I know we needed it in order to survive."

"Mom, always told us that we should never be too proud to ask for help when we needed it," Carol reminded her brother.

"Or to proud to accept help when it was offered so long as it was from somebody we knew and trusted," Oliver remembered.

"The other shifters are the ones that forced father to leave us money so we could support ourselves," Sabrina said. "I mean after all father made plenty, so it's not like he was poor or anything."

"He was going to leave us without any money at all and would have if the shifters in our neighborhood hadn't stepped in," Oliver said his eyes sparking with fury, as he still got mad every time the subject was brought up and none of his other siblings could blame him.

"We weren't rich or anything, but we made it through, even if we had to watch our pennies," said Carol.

"He shouldn't have had to be forced to support his own children, as he should've been paying child support from the minute he divorced mom, without having to be badgered into it," Spencer said his anger clear. "He expected us to just disappear out of his life and perhaps, die so that his conscience would be clear. I mean he didn't even bother to take a couple of his children with him now that I'm not grateful for that, but it sure would have made the constraints we were forced to a little better at least moneywise. You don't just leave 10 children without any financial support, especially when the mother is incapable of working or taking care of them and is sick to boot. I'll never forgive him for what he did to all of you, but that doesn't mean that we let him control us by getting revenge on him. The best way to get back at him is to continue to live our lives and he'll get his when he dies and he has to face the big guy upstairs."

"So you said numerous times in the past," Xavier said not looking like he agreed, but then he was the most sensitive out of all the Reid children and their father leaving had hurt him deeply.

"If you had gone off looking for revenge you just would have ended up in very serious trouble," Spencer told his younger brother gently. "I know what he did hurt all of us, but you were hurt the worst. However, if you had gone haring off either you would have ended up dead or at least in prison as those were the two most likely possibilities and why give him the satisfaction? If you had succeeded in killing him, as angry as you are and as much as you hate him for what he did you would have hated yourself and wished that you had held your temper. Trust me, killing someone does something to you, even if it's justified and killing father would be in no way justified, but revenge. It would have given you nightmares at the very least, and the cops would have likely caught you and you would have ended up in prison something you don't want trust me."

"How do you know?" Xavier argued.

"Because at the BAU we interview killers and other criminals to add to our knowledge to what we already know," Spencer explained calmly. "When we do this, we of course, have to go to the prison that they are at to do the do the interview and all of them are all places that you wouldn't want to end up. I wouldn't be surprised if you either emerged from there a very changed man, or you killed yourself before you were released, as that does happen quite frequently, particularly to shifters who don't like being caged. As bad as our lives were after father left they were still infinitely better than ending up in a place like that. It's also possible that you would've been used by some other inmate as a boy toy, and trust me that is not a fate you want for yourself as I've interviewed plenty of people who get their jollies from breaking other inmates and you're certainly handsome enough, so you would definitely be a target. Also you wouldn't be able to transform in prison and if you did you would be put in solitary and that would be even worse."

"And there would be no guarantee that there would be any other shifters also in the same prison," Oliver realized.

"That's true enough or at least not in the same cellblock," Spencer agreed. "It's usually shifters that have the highest suicide rate in places like that, as they need the freedom to transform and feel the wind in their fur and to be able run beneath the trees."

"Alright, you've made your point," Xavier said shuddering. "I won't go give father what I believe he deserves, because I definitely don't want to end up in prison if it's even half as bad as you indicate."

"It's worse, trust me on that, as I've been in enough of them interviewing serial killers and even for a case once or twice," Spencer told his younger brother. "I had a hard enough time being in a place like that and it was never for more than a few hours and there's no way I could take months, a year or even more."

"So when do we get to meet this Keziah, that you've been raving about?" Perdita asked her brother changing the subject.

"As soon as you like as she's just waiting for me to call and then she'll be over here to meet all of you. She's waiting at my apartment, but it's much too small for so many people to be comfortable and we're looking for another place we can live together."

"Wow! You've changed big brother," Carol told Spencer. "I've never seen you so relaxed, happy and looking towards the future."

"Being in love will do that to you," Sabrina teased Spencer, who simply grinned a her.

Spencer didn't bother to deny it, only said, "I'll call her and she'll be here in just a few minutes."

"Go ahead, I for one am looking forward to meeting this lady who has managed to change you so much and in such a short amount of time to," Timothy said.

Spencer rose from where he was sitting and walked to the other side of the room pushing a series of button on his phone as he went.

"Spence has changed so much," Timothy mentioned as he watched their brother to talk softly to someone.

"I think it's more that we're seeing what Spence could have been like if father had been more supportive and hadn't left," Perdita said. "He took the responsibility of looking after all of us very seriously at a young age and while we helped him out that kind of responsibility can still change a person. I've always thought that he just needed a serious relationship to get him to lighten up some, but he's still basically the same Spence. Really it's just the part that has been buried, since father left that is starting to a emerge again, the more lighthearted side of his personality. Nobody except me, Oliver and Sabrina remember what he was like before the pivotal event that changed all of us as the rest of you were much too young particularly you Tim, Bea and Xavier, as you were barely months old when he left."

"He was always a serious little boy," Sabrina remembered.

"But he also knew how to lighten up and have fun," Oliver said and the two older siblings nodded in agreement.

"I always believed that he just needed something or someone to truly lighten him up instead him being, so serious all the time, people to accept him for who he was instead of picking on him, just because of his intelligence or his awkwardness in social situations," Carol said.

"Is it any wonder since he never had a chance to really socialize with kids his age as they never accepted him and we all know how mean-spirited kids can be to someone they consider different," Sabrina said.

"It didn't help that all of us were ahead of our peers by great deal. particularly Spence," Oliver said. "All of are extremely intelligent, but he's the one that took the worst of the bullying."

"I think he liked it that way as it protected the rest of us," Raina said.

"That would be just like Spence," Timothy admitted. "He'd want to protect the people he loved from being bullied and picked on if at all possible."

"Don't worry about him so much, Tim," Raina told her brother. "Personally, I think this is a very good thing and exactly what he needs. I always felt that he needed to get some fun in his life instead of him working all the time."

Tim nodded and kept his reservations to himself, because all the others seemed to agree, but then he wasn't the family worrier for nothing.

~~~Unexpected Bonds~~~