I do not own Criminal Minds

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"What happens now?"

It had taken Spencer five minutes to calm down enough to listen to Gideon, and it had taken him another ten to realize that he was telling the truth.

"I don't know. You can't go back to Las Vegas until they catch Charles, but when he is caught he will be tried for the murder of your mom, as well as for the murder of your father."

Gideon looked more upset then Spencer did.

"Spencer, this isn't your fault. There is nothing you could have done."

Spencer stood up and made to leave the room,

"Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it."

XThe monopoly game had been forgotten in favor of an all out popcorn war.

Spencer tried to navigate his way through the flying kernels without drawing any attention to himself.

"Hey Spence, you're on our team. It's you, me, and Elle against Emily, Penelope, and Derek."

JJ was laughing and motioning to Spencer to join her behind the couch.

"No thanks. I think I'm going to lie down for a little while, I don't feel so well."

He tried to smile at her, but he must have failed because she looked a little concerned "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

Morgan and Penelope were looking a little worried about him also. Spencer could feel his chest tightening.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just don't feel very well."

Emily looked toward the kitchen, where Gideon was still sitting at the table, with his head in his hands.

"Did something happen? Is it the school thing? Spencer, you know you can trust us." Spencer could feel himself getting angry, why didn't they just leave him alone.

"Nothing is wrong ok, just shut up and leave me alone."

Spencer walked past Penelope who looked like she was going to start crying into the room he shared with Derek and shut the door behind him.

He didn't feel angry anymore, he didn't feel sad, or upset. He felt numb, and that scared him more than anything else. He felt like his entire life was unraveling at the seams and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

X

Elle knocked on the door to Spencer's bedroom, they were all worried about him and she wanted to know what was wrong.

"Spencer I know you are in there."

There was no answer so she opened the door.

Spencer was sitting on the edge of his bed. he looked like he was thinking hard about something.

Elle closed the door and sat next to him.

"You can talk to me. You don't have to, but it will make you feel better if you do. I'm not asking what is wrong to annoy you, I'm asking because whatever it is bothering you, and I want to fix it. We all want to fix it. you are one of the best people I have ever met and I don't want you to have to deal with whatever it is alone."

Spencer was still looking at the wall

"Do you know that a common housecat will start to devour your body before it is cold." Elle felt like laughing, picturing a kitten trying to eat a corpse.

"That's nasty."

Spencer looked up at her and she realized just how young he was,

"I know you guys just want to help. I didn't mean what I said before, and I'm sorry for being a jerk."

Elle grinned at Spencer, trying to lighten the mood

"I'm a jerk all the time, there's nothing to apologize for. Well, not to me."

Spencer smiled back at her

"My mom is dead and I don't feel anything. That's bad right."

Elle tried to ignore the sickening feeling in her stomach.

"I thought your mom was at the sanitarium." His smile changed into something darker. "She was, now she's dead."

Spencer started laughing "Now I'm an orphan."

Elle didn't know what to say so she hugged him.

After a few minutes the laughter turned into crying.

The door opened silently and Elle could see JJ looking worriedly into the room with Emily and Penelope behind her, she motioned for them to go away.

X

Derek was worried when Spencer shut himself into their room, and from the way the girls were looking he wasn't the only one.

There was a silent argument between JJ and Elle before Elle went to talk to him.

Emily and Penelope started cleaning up the popcorn.

Rossi came into the living room carrying a bunch of papers he looked excited, and Derek was immediately wary.

"Where are Elle and Spencer?"

JJ pointed toward the room they were in.

"Gideon upset Spencer, so Elle went to talk to him. What are the papers for?"

Rossi seemed to get even more excited at the question.

"I am glad you asked. These are what you will be working on until you get off suspension. The school can not forbid you from getting an education, so I went and personally picked these up for all of you."

Emily looked annoyed

"So we aren't allowed to mingle with the general population, but they still want all of the same work done?"

Rossi smiled broadly

"Yup. Maybe next time you will think twice before sending three people to the hospital in a school with zero tolerance for violence."

JJ glared at him "It's sad you find this so amusing."

Gideon walked into the room toward the couch.

Rossi's smile slipped a little "You look like crap."

Gideon sat down on the couch.

Emily JJ and Penelope went to check on Elle and Spencer.

"I feel like crap."

Rossi put the papers on the table and sat beside Gideon

"What happened while I was gone?"

Emily, Penelope, and JJ walked back into the room looking worried.

Gideon seemed to consider the question before answering it.

"Spencer got some pretty bad news."

X

By the time Aaron walked into the house Elle and Spencer were sitting at the table. Spencer had apologized to everyone and they were halfway through a new monopoly game.

Aaron put his backpack down at the door and pulled out the last free chair.

"So how was everyone's day. You know being grounded and all."

Derek mock glared at Penelope who winked back before he answered.

"It started early and lasted a while."

Elle looked at Spencer but didn't say anything, he had asked her not to tell anyone about his mom.

Emily glared in the direction of the living room, where Gideon and Rossi were still sitting.

"Rossi went and got us a bunch of work to do while we are out of school. Apparently even degenerates like us need to do their homework on time."

Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"When have you ever referred to yourself as a degenerate? Do you even know what that word means?"

Emily threw the dice at Aaron while everyone else laughed.

"Careful Emily, or I will tell Rossi that you are being mean to me."

She gave him a death glare.

"Wow, since when do you have a sense of humor."

There was a knock on the door, JJ got up to answer it as Aaron threw the dice back at Emily and hit her on the forehead.

"Hey Spence, its your friend from school. The one that pushed that jerk into a vending machine."

Elle laughed at Aarons shocked expression, and even Spencer smiled

"His name is Adam."