A/N: It's been a long time, hasn't it. Long story short, I'm babysitting for days at a time, I now have college and I was in the hospital with pneumonia. Time for joy! I am back :) Enjoy!

chapter11

Emily stared as Derek pointed at old pictures hanging on the walls of the mansion and explained whose ancestors they were to Spencer. The teen stared at the pictures in awe and gently ran his fingers across the one with the Black Lake.

"Something wrong?"

The woman looked up to see JJ sit next to her on the couch. Prentiss shook her head and sighed. "He's so young." She said low. "Can he really be the first Reader?"

JJ lightly shrugged. "It's possible." She said low. "He's very smart, you know. He could do anything. At least that's what Derek said."

Prentiss sighed again. "I don't doubt what he could or could not do. I just don't think he should be here."

JJ frowned.

Emily shook her head then leaned in closer to the blond. "Does he realize how much danger he's in just by knowing us?" She eyed Spencer and Derek, who were suddenly facing each other with their fingers entwined and staring into each other's eyes lovingly, while sending small pecks to the other's lips. Prentiss leaned in even closer to JJ. "If Charles finds out how close they are, he'll do anything to get his hands on Spencer." She whispered.

"We'll protect him." JJ smiled. "That's what we do, remember?"

Emily frowned more. "Yes JJ, but when's the last time we actually succeeded in saving someone?"

JJ's smile slowly faded.

Prentiss' eyes suddenly widen. "JJ, Charles knows about Spencer's powers. He'll be back. You know he will."

JJ's blue eyes trailed towards Spencer, who was now looking at some photos alone. The blond looked back at Prentiss. "Do you want to tell Derek his new love can't stay?"

Prentiss sighed and sat back in her seat.

JJ smiled. "Exactly." She stood up from her seat. "We should get Hotch to make a plan." With that, she turned and walked towards Spencer.

Spencer ran a finger across a crystal vase.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

The boy's eyes trailed to the voice to see the blond young woman. He nodded. "It is." He cleared his throat when his voice came out raspy.

"Hotch won it during a mêlée in the year 1906. It was one of the very first made crystal." JJ looked from the vase to Spencer. The teen was gnawing at his bottom lip and seemed to be thinking about something. JJ couldn't help but smile. "So...Spencer, Derek told us that you had an ex?" She said questioning. She didn't want to force the boy to talk about anything he didn't want to.

Spencer licked his bottom lip then slowly nodded, still not meeting her eyes. "Yeah." He said low.

JJ walked closer to him. "We're going to have to know about him." She said low.

Spencer finally turned and met her eyes.

"Derek also told us your ex is a darkling." She said low. She sighed. "He'll back come Spencer, and when he does he'll realize what you and Derek did. And he'll be angry."

Spencer blinked confused. "What we did?"

JJ smiled. "I can sense it Spencer."

The teen frowned.

"The mark." JJ whispered.

Spencer's mouth slightly open. "..." He looked towards the vase again and blushed. "Oh...that..." He exhaled a breath. "I forgot about that."

JJ silently laughed, then she lightly shrugged. "It'll be hard living with us Spencer. You know that?"

"No harder than it was living on the street...or with Toby." He frowned more.

"I'm just saying," She leaned in close and whispered. "You get used to it, Spencer, we all do in the end. Except maybe Derek." She joked and shook her head. "He gets too grouchy, doesn't like playing around like the rest of us."

The teen lightly laughed and looked back at her. "Thank you." He said low. Knowing JJ was trying to make him feel at home.

JJ smiled then turned and walked towards the kitchen where Derek suddenly came out.

"Spencer?"

Derek stood and gestured for him to come and Spencer followed. When he was inside the kitchen, he saw Aaron and Emily sitting at the center counters and JJ standing near the door and staring. Spencer suddenly felt uncomfortable. He took a step back and grabbed Derek's arm.

"What's going on?" He said low.

Hotch smiled. "Spencer, after very harsh discussion and some debate, we decided that you can stay."

Spencer eyed each Darkling. "Why do I feel there's an "if"?"

Hotch stood up from the stool and sighed. "Spencer... you have to..." The man looked down and sighed.

The teen's brows narrowed and he frowned then looked towards Derek, who stared angrily at Hotch.

"We're going to have to bewitch you."

Spencer took a step back. "What?" He said with wide eyes.

The man nodded. "It's an easy process Spencer, you won't get harmed. All we have to do is set a spell so you don't betray us. You'll still have your own heart, do what whatever you want. Your mind will just be... a part of ours."

Spencer's brows narrowed. "My mind?"

Hotch nodded. "We just decided-"

"Don't say "we" Hotch." Derek snapped. "I was against this from the beginning. I still am."

Spencer held on tighter to the man's arm.

Hotch stared Derek in the eye and spoke slowly. "It's better to do it now when his powers aren't formed yet. We discussed this."

"You discussed it, not me! Spencer is still human, remember? He isn't one of us, the spell could hurt him."

Spencer's eyes widen. "What?" He whimpered.

"Derek." Hotch warned.

"He wasn't planning on telling you, but it could kill you, Spencer."

The teen looked towards the other three Darklings. "Then I'm not doing it." He gasped when his arm was grabbed and he was pulled from Derek. He stared into Hotch's dark eyes.

"You don't have a choice." The man said low. "You don't realize the power you have, and that puts us all in mortal danger."

Spencer tried pulling his arm away but Hotch's grip didn't even loosen. His brows narrowed and Spencer looked up at the taller man. "The only one who's in mortal danger here is me. The rest of you are already dead, remember?" He looked at each of them.

"Spencer."

He looked back at the man holding him.

"You have to understand that I can't let you walk around here to hurt us."

"I'm not going to hurt anybody." The boy whimpered as he still tried pulling his arm away.

"I can't just go on your word." The man said low.

"Then let me go." Spencer said desperately. "I'll leave. I'll leave and never come back."

Derek shook his head worriedly. He didn't want Spencer to leave.

"No." Hotch said simply.

All the other darklings suddenly stared at their creator shocked.

"Aaron..." Derek whispered.

The older Darkling gulped deep and pulled Spencer closer. "You don't realize how much power is in you. I am not going to let any body else get their hands on you so they can damn us."

Spencer's chest quickly rose and fell with his heavy breathing.

"Either you do as I say, or I will kill you."

Derek's brows narrowed and he launged to pull Spencer away, but Hotch was quicker, he turned the teen around so his back was pressed against his chest, the man's sharp teeth suddenly sticking out.

Emily jumped from the stool and gasped and took a step towards the two.

Derek stopped in his tracks. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'll kill him." The older Darkling warned.

""This wasn't part of the plan!" JJ tried.

Hotch looked at her. "All I want to do is protect us. Just... let me set the spell and I'll set him free."

Derek shook his head angrily. "How could you do this?"

Spencer shut his eyes when he felt the Darkling's hot breath on his neck. He held his breath trying to escape from the commotion happening in front of him. That's when it happened. He could hear it, he could see it.

It was Aaron, and he was fighting against... himself. Spencer squinted confused.

...Hotch was staring at the person before him. "Let him go." He snarled.

The other darker one smiled madly. "Why?" He said happily. "We can rule the world, and no one can stop us."

Hotch shook his head. "I don't want that. This... this is the reason I let him stay. So this wouldn't happen."

The darker smiled still. "You know you want his power. You can't control yourself."

"Yes I can." The man said quickly. "I always control myself."

The other hummed then walked closer. "Then why am I here?"
...Hotch seemed to freeze, and the darker chuckled loudly and madly.

Spencer's eyes snapped open and he started at Derek. The man had a knife in his hand. Spencer gasped. "No!" Just as the dark-skinned man charged forward, Spencer suddenly found his strength and pushed Aaron back and away from the aim.

The man fell towards the wall, his face crumbled in pain when his head hit the wall. Derek went after him.

"Don't!" Spencer found his strength once more and pushed Derek. Everyone watched in shock, including the teen, as his lover was flung across the room.

Derek stood on the floor with his back against the wall, also shocked. "..." The man stared at Spencer. "What the hell..."

They heard a groan, and Spencer quickly shook his head and ran towards Hotch. The teen kneeled down. "Hold still." He ordered.

"What..." Hotch groaned in pain. The man gasped and quickly shut his eyes when Spencer brought his hands to his head. He could feel Spencer, it was like a mortal cycle rolling through his brain. It stopped through so much of Hotch's past, the man did his best to block paths that not even his Darkling family knew about. Then Spencer stopped at the dark door.

Hotch reached to the teens hands. "Spencer no!"

Too late, the boy went inside.

...Spencer stood in front of the dark Hotch, who suddenly looked confused. "How did you get in here?"

Spencer stared. "That doesn't matter. What matters is, I'm giving you a choice."

The man stared with narrowed brows.

"Leave." Spencer ordered. "I don't know who you are, but you better leave Aaron alone."

The man suddenly smiled. "What did you say?"

Spencer stared.

"Are you threatening me, boy? Do you realize who I am?" He chuckled. "I could break every bone in your body with a blink of my eye." He laughed louder.

Spencer stared with his own face in anger. "I can so more than that." He suddenly brought out both hands and the dark Aaron froze. He seemed to be gasping and choking. He brought his hand to his neck.

"What are you doing?"

No answer.

The man started shaking and his eyes turned pure black as he tried to fight back. But he couldn't. He stared at the boy in front of him in shock as ...he fell to his knees. He gasped. "Reader." He exhaled a breath then burst until there was nothing left.

Spencer gasped and pulled his hands away from Hotch's head. He rubbed his skinned hands together he realized Hotch's nails dug into his skin.

The Darkling stared at the boy with his mouth open in shock. He slowly got to his feet. "Spencer I..." He shook his head angry with himself.

The boy gulped.

"I'm sorry. You know I would never hurt anybody."

The boy nodded in agreement.

"Spencer, it there's any way I could make it up to you...please tell me."

Spencer licked his bottom lip. "You can explain to your family why you weren't you."

The man looked towards Emily, JJ, then at Derek, who stared in pure confusion and no more anger.

XOXOXOXO

Hotch sat on the couch, Spencer next to him. The boy seemed to be the only one who wasn't suddenly afraid of him. JJ sat next to Prentiss on the couch across them and Derek stood standing behind them.

Aaron stared down at his hands and gulped. "The day Charles decided he wanted power, was the day he betrayed me. Well, he said I betrayed him, that's why he created the darkling in my head." He exhaled. "I... tried getting rid of him myself, but out of everything I tried, nothing worked." He finally looked up. "Charles created him, in hopes that I would crave what he craved, power. He hoped that one day I would go back and join him."

Spencer nodded. "That's why the darkling was so interested in me." He said.

Hotch nodded back. "Charles created a power-hungry darkling, hoping that it could... in his words, open my mind to the great possibilities of having all the power in the world."

Derek's brows narrowed. "Why didnt' you ever tell us about this?"

Hotch shrugged. "I thought I could take care of it myself. And...my worst fear was that someone would find out and try to block my mind from the world so that the darkling wouldn't get free."

Spencer nodded again. "And that's why he wanted to trap my mind." He stated. "Because your worst fears were his, and he knew you wouldn't want me to have a trapped mind."

Hotch stared at the boy shocked. "...How do you know all this?"

Spencer suddenly looked at the floor to Hotch then back at the floor ashamed. "I was in your head." He said low. "I know everything that went on between you two."

Hotch stared for a moment more before looking down at the floor. He gulped loudly. "Spencer, how did you know how to get rid of him?"

The boy shook his head. "I don't know. I just...wanted to get him out as much as you did. So I did what came to mind. I attacked him from inside his own head. I turned his worst fear against him, and when he was trapped, I showed him a world that will never be. A world where he never will rule."

Hotch nodded then stood up from his seat. "Can I talk to you in private?" He walked, without waiting for a response.

Spencer nodded and slowly stood then followed. When he was in the kitchen, Spencer saw Hotch standing near the counters. The boy sighed. "You don't have to worry, I'm not going to tell."

"What?... Are you reading my mind?"

Spencer shook his head. "No. I don't have to read your mind to know you don't want your family to know all your fears."

Hotch exhaled a breath and leaned on the counters. "Spencer I-"

"Why don't you tell them?"

The man looked at the boy. "I can't."

"You don't have to be ashamed, Hotch." He walked closer. "It really isn't anything to be ashamed of. We're all scared of loosing each other." He smiled. "You're the Father of our group, if they find out, they'll know you love them more."

"It's not that I'm worry about Spencer. Anybody else could find out, and they could hurt any of them... even you... to get to me."

Spencer blinked then looked down at the counter and smiled. He reached out and grabbed spoon Hotch was using and grabbed some of the ice-cream from the man's bowl. Before bringing it to his mouth, he smiled again. "What about your other secret?" He brought the spoon in his mouth.

Hotch frowned.

Spencer suddenly frowned. "You can't deny it, I'm the first Reader in 2000 years, remember? I know when you're lying." A small smile slowly appeared on his lips. "Your stash of snacks are no longer safe."

Hotch groaned. "Arg..." He rolled his eyes and brought his head on the table. His shoulders suddenly jumping as he laughed.

The boy laughed too.

XOXOXOXO

Prentiss pulled her head away from the kitchen door, her mouth slightly open. "Something's wrong."

JJ tried looking over his shoulder. "What?"

Prentiss looked at the two behind her. "Aaron is laughing." She gasped.

Derek's brows raised. "Something is definitely wrong." He tried looking inside.

"Wait." Emily stopped him. "He's also sharing his ice cream." She said low.

JJ gasped. "Maybe Spencer broke something when he was in his head."

The other two broke out into laughter.

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