Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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William Reid knocked on the door of Dr. Raymond's office and heard, "Enter," from within.

He opened the door and walked in. "Good morning," he said as he sat in the chair across from the desk.

"How are you William?" she asked.

"I'm well, Dr Raymond," came his standard reply but the doctor had to agree that this inmate looked a lot better than when she'd first met with him. At the time he'd still been recovering from a severe beating he'd taken at the hands of a convicted serial killer. He had lost a great deal of weight and his once brown hair was now completely grey. His young friend Chico had been working on helping 'the professor,' as he called him, bulk up a bit and return some strength to his body. He'd been eating better and some of the weight had returned, although William Reid was one of those people that would always be thin. The biggest difference had been in his eyes. The hopelessness had diminished. The visit from his sons and Evan's and Allie's letters had raised his spirits immensely and he'd been working hard at attempting to come to terms with his relationships with his sons, especially Spencer. So many of the men that came to her office looked at their court ordered sessions as an hour out of work and made little attempt to address the issues that landed them here. She was happy that William Reid was trying and she would do her best to help him as much as she could.

"Did you watch the news on the rescue of those little girls in Topeka?" he asked.

"Yes," Beverly Raymond replied, intrigued that William should mention this. They had never discussed events in the news in the past. "It was an amazing thing. I'm so glad they're going to be alright. It's a good thing that Sergeant Tillman was there when he was or it might have been too late for them."

"Sergeant Tillman, my ass," William replied angrily and Dr. Raymond saw they were now getting to the root of the innocent question.

"You don't think the sergeant deserves to be commended for what he did?" she asked.

"The guy's running around, talking to the press like going into the storm drains was all his idea. I doubt that jackass has ever had an original thought in his life."

"And your answer is…?"

"Spencer, of course; the Topeka PD didn't have any leads. Then the BAU arrives and suddenly they've got a man in custody and they're searching storm drains, which is where Sergeant Tillman conveniently found the girls."

"Perhaps one of the other profilers," Raymond said, playing devil's advocate.

"Look, I'm sure the other profilers are very intelligent but they don't have the deductive reasoning power Spencer has. Did any of them tell their fathers when they were four that they'd figured out there was no Santa Claus because it was impossible for reindeer to fly? He told me they couldn't possibly achieve the velocity necessary for takeoff and with their shape it was not aerodynamically feasible."

Dr. Raymond was silent for a moment. She didn't doubt William's conviction that it was Spencer who had come up with the idea of searching the storm drains. She was fairly sure he was right. She just couldn't help thinking how sad it was that a little boy's brilliance wouldn't let him believe in Santa Claus.

"I used to call him my little man, you know," William continued, "because he seemed more like a mini adult than a child. Do you think that's why I felt it was alright to leave him, because he didn't seem like an ordinary ten year old? Well, he wasn't an ordinary ten year old, was he?"

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The flight home had seemed so long. Spencer Reid suddenly realized the flights home always seemed longer these days. He figured it was because now he looked forward to coming home. He'd open the door now to her smiling face and Joanna's little baby noises. Sometimes, more frequently now that Allie was on maternity leave, there'd be the most glorious smells to fill his senses when he walked in the door. Homecoming was a wonderful thing he thought as he pulled into the driveway.

Reid stepped out of his SUV, grabbing his ready bag from the back seat and headed for the front door. He fumbled with his keys until he found the house key and inserted it in the lock. He opened the door with the oft used, "Honey, I'm home." He was greeted with silence. The alarm didn't even beep. He rushed into the living room, empty. As he passed by the kitchen he saw potatoes and vegetables had been peeled and cut on the chopping board, ready for cooking. He went towards his and Allie's room and stopped dead in the doorway.

Allie was lying on her side in the middle of their king sized bed, her hair all mussed from sleep, her beautiful long eyelashes rested against the soft flesh of her cheeks. Beside her on the bed in a little pink sleeper with bunnies on it, was Joanna. They were so beautiful his breath caught in his throat. He longed to pull an Allie and run for the camera but he didn't want to risk the flash waking them.

He quietly entered the room, removing his glock and locking it in the gun safe. He didn't have to worry about his ready bag. Allie had solved that problem when he was away on a case. She'd gone out and bought him a second ready bag and packed it for him. So now there was always one ready bag packed and he didn't have to worry about it and could just spend time with his girls.

He looked down again at the two sleeping figures on the bed, Allie's hand protectively around their baby. They were what was most precious in his life. He sat gently on the bed and kicked off his shoes, lying down beside Joanna and softly covering Allie's hand with his own. Homecoming was indeed a wonderful thing.

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William sat alone in his cell; it had seemed like a long day. He took the next letter from the elastic bound bunch.

Hi Dad,

I hope you're doing well. We've been quite busy. Spencer continues to work on the baby's room in between cases that always seem to pull him away. He gets a little done at a time and being such a perfectionist, it takes him longer. Oh well, he's got a few months left. I'm about halfway through my pregnancy and so far no problems. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

I'm so excited about Christmas. We're going to Ohio to spend Christmas with my family and it's extra special this year for two reasons. It's the first time Spencer will be there and we have a new addition to the family. My sister had a baby boy they've named Dallas. I'm so excited to be an aunt and, of course, Spencer's never been an uncle before either. I can't wait to see my new nephew.

Spencer's been kind of taken aback with all the plans for Christmas. Christmas has never been a big thing for him. He said he and his mother never even put a tree up after you left. He was too small to do it by himself and he said there wouldn't have been any presents under it anyway. Well, he's going to get his eyes opened this year because we're getting a tree for our house and there'll be a huge one at home in Ohio, and lots of presents. My mom plans on spoiling him. I don't know who she's more excited about spoiling, Spencer or her new grandson. She's knitting Spencer a really nice sweater. I think my mother's got a soft spot for him.

Poor Spencer, after all the pictures we took at the wedding, he thought he was done. Then we took a ton at Thanksgiving and I told him there'll be even more at Christmas. I've been trying to get him used to it by taking pictures of him while he's working on the nursery. He'll be in the middle of painting and I'll say "smile." He's gotten now that he makes his eyes go all funny and sticks his tongue out at me. I take the picture anyway. I'm trying to make up for all the pictures he doesn't have of his childhood. I guess his mom, in one of her paranoid episodes, destroyed them all because she thought the people in the pictures were looking at her. I know she's ill but I still feel so bad for my husband. Anyway, I must run. Take care, Dad.

Allie

William Reid folded up the letter. For the first time since he'd come here, he had to make a phone call.