(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

Thank you Tannerose5, Tyalieva, Guest, Ludub, Diana, sherryola, Kas3y, lilyflower101, and Zhangxinna for reviewing. It means a lot to have your feedback. I'm so happy with the response of this story so thank you all.

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Previously:

Aaron frowned and looked back at the kids. Jack had lent Spencer his car and the toddler was sat with his legs crossed pointing at different parts and explaining something to Jack. "Not 'his' son," he muttered.

"You don't know that."

"Let's say I have a hunch." Aaron grinned at Dave. "Everyone says he's got a little Italian in him."


It had been a week with still no word from William Reid or his lawyer.

In that short space of time Spencer had developed quite an unhealthy obsession with both Doctor Who and dinosaurs, which Rossi blamed garcia for entirely, who had thought it would be a good idea to buy Spencer a bucket of plastic dinosaurs and Doctor Who figurines. Spencer on the other hand was in love with them and for that matter, in love with Garcia as well.

Rossi had also brought Spencer to work with him where the boy had taken residence under the conference room table with a bag of potato chips and several stuffed animals and Rossi's office had been converted into some what of a second play room, again another curtesy of Penelope Garcia. Despite their attempts at being inconspicuous some agents had noticed David's routine with Spencer and even though the child made no noise and had yet to disturb one person, not even the team (perhaps Rossi a little) some agents were narrowing their eyes at Dave's office and making judgements about the new Rossi kid. It seemed strange to them why Strauss was allowing this type of behaviour from one of her top agents, who surely should be setting an example.

It was a Wednesday, and as normal (or what was becoming normal) Rossi came in at 8.30 with Spencer's hand in his. The little boy was struggling with his bucket of dinosaurs which Dave had tried to carry for him, but he'd been given instructions to carry Pengi and teddy.

The team in the bullpen waved at Spencer as he went by and the small boy smiled awkwardly and looked at his feet. They first went to Penelope's office where Spencer got a big hug and a kiss and a lollypop from Garcia's special candy drawer.

Spencer sat playing with his dinosaurs. In his invented world the dinosaurs were about to become extinct, but from out of nowhere a blue police box appeared. Spencer dropped the Tardis into the midsts of his toy dinosaurs which he'd placed in various positions to make it appear as if they were minding their own business. He carefully turned all the dinosaurs so they were looking at the Tardis. He opened the Tardis door making a small 'whoosh' sound and pulling out the doctor. In the pretend world of Spencer's imagination the doctor jumped back and stared at all the giant dinosaurs. He explained how he could only take a few of them at a time to take back to earth and so the diplodocus, triceratops, and pterodactyl got first dibs.

Rossi watched as Spencer tried to cram some dinosaurs into his Tardis and lifted the box into the air. He got to his feet and flew the Tardis around the room. It landed on Rossi's desk and he grinned at the small boy as he unloaded the dinosaurs.

"What's the doctor up to?" Rossi asked with a smile. Spencer looked up and giggled.

"Saving dinosauws!" Spencer explained before shooting off back over to his small place on the carpet and forcing more dinosaurs into the box. Rossi chuckled and shook his head, retuning his attention to his work.

There was a knock on Rossi's door and Spencer crouched behind the couch suddenly.

"Come in," Rossi called; Spencer peeked over the couch arm as an agent walked in.

"Agent Rossi, there's a Angela Wordsly at reception asking for you, sir," the agent announced. Rossi glanced at his watch and groaned.

"Uh... Okay, Thanks," he looked around at his son who was hiding nervously behind the couch. "It's one of my publishers, would you... could you stay here with Spencer? I'll be ten minutes tops," Rossi said. He remembered what Spencer's therapist had said, that Spencer had to get used to 'new' people. He was getting better in public but was he ready to be left with 'new' people? Dave pursed his lips and decided it would be alright, it would only be five minutes. The agent before him shifted uncomfortably but nodded all the same.

"I can do that, Sir."

"Good man," Rossi patted the agent's shoulder and turned back to Spencer. "I'll be back as soon as I can, buddy. You stay here and do as the nice man says, okay?" Spencer looked over at the agent who smiled wearily. He licked his lips nervously and nodded but he reached out to his father as he swept out the door.

"Da-" he started but Dave was already gone. Spencer swallowed thickly and avoided looking at the 'nice man', he turned back to his dinosaurs. Mrs. Ansley had said that he would meet 'new' people, and that he could make friends with them. Spencer glanced at the agent quickly and wondered if they could be friends.

The agent looked over his shoulder to make sure Rossi was gone before stepping inside and closing the door. He was going to get to the bottom of this kid's attitude. Spencer put his Tardis on the arm of the couch and backed away from the agent; compulsive trembling took hold of his body. Friend? Spencer thought desperately. We could be friends, he tried his best to smile at the man but he trembled harder.

"Daddy?" He called quietly, realising he couldn't be friends with this new man. It was too scary. A step too far.

"Your dad's quite the guy, isn't he?" The Agent mused, picking up objects on Rossi's desk and having a good look at them. He picked up the dinosaurs and tutted, dropping them on the floor one at a time. Spencer yelped suddenly and went to step forward but he stopped himself midstep when the agent loomed over the desk. The doctor can save them, he thought to himself as he cowered back, and he prayed the dinosaurs hadn't hurt themselves.

"Hello? Earth to Rossi?" The agent chuckled and he stepped closer to Spencer who instinctively drew back. "You really are skittish," he laughed. He made a sudden move and Spencer squeaked in terror, falling onto his backside. This only made the agent laugh harder. Spencer felt hot tears filling his eyes.

"Why don't you speak?" The Agent demanded. Spencer's lip shivered in fear. "When they said Rossi had a kid I thought you'd be a talkative son of a bitch," he sneered. Spencer gulped and scrambled back on his hands and knees until he was pressed up against the bookshelf.

"Come on," The agent yelled and Spencer couldn't hold back, he burst into tears and hid his face in his hands. "Pathetic. I really thought-"

"Agent Rowney!"

The agent stopped berating the child and stood up slowly. He turned towards the door where section chief Strauss was stood with her hands on her hips.

"M-ma'am," he stuttered.

"Get away from that child, Rowney. Who the hell do you think you are, shouting at a two-year-old? Christ, get out of my sight," spat Strauss.

Rowney's eyes grew wide and he stumbled out the door, brushing against Strauss and darting back to his desk.

Strauss let her angry expression fall and she took a few steps towards the crying child before kneeling down.

"Sweetheart?" She murmured. Spencer shimmied back, his back now pressed against the wall, his head in his arms and his knees tucked up to his chin.

"Spencer, honey," Strauss whispered in a soft voice. "It's Erin. You remember? I'm one of your daddy's friends. I won't hurt you," she said. She kept her distance but continued to kneel. Spencer peeked up, his eyes watery and red.

"It's okay, now, that mean mans gone," she added and she let out a smile. The wet brown eyes blinked at her, tears still pooling in the corners. Erin looked around the floor and chuckled at the sight of all the plastic dinosaurs scattered around- she'd have to have a word with David about treating his office as a daycare centre.

She gently picked up a friendly looking dinosaur with a smile on its face and she tapped it along the floor. Spencer lifted his face up from his arms, still sniffing sadly.

"What's his name?" Erin asked while offering the dinosaur to Spencer. The little boy didn't take the toy but instead glanced nervously up at Strauss before fisting his eyes.

"Dats giwl," Spencer whimpered. Strauss smiled and narrowed her eyes at the yellow dinosaur.

"Really? What's her name?"

Spencer sucked on his bottom lip. "Sunsine," he mumbled.

"Sunshine?" Strauss asked, to be sure she didn't confuse the boy's limited pronounciation.

"Uh Huh," Spencer said with a nod. He released his knees and crawled towards the nearest dinosaur, making sure he didn't get too close to Erin. He picked up the small red dinosaur and held it out to her. "Dis Sawah," he explained, letting Erin take the toy.

"And why's she called Sarah?" Erin asked. Spencer frowned and sat back on his knees.

"See gwumpy," he replied simply as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

"She's grumpy?"

"Yep," Spencer exulted and his face broke into a smile. He wiped his nose and pulled himself up beside the couch before grabbing the Tardis and sitting back down by Erin, closer this time. "Dis da tarwdis," he exclaimed excitedly, giving her the figurine and then diving off to the side and grabbing the Doctor off the floor. "A-an' Dis da Dotow."

"Doter?" Erin asked, raising an eyebrow at the figurines in her hands. Spencer shook his head.

"Dotow," he explained. Erin frowned thoughtfully before nodding.

"The Doctor?"

"Yep!" Spencer cried eagerly.


Dave hurried back to his office. His publisher had kept him away for 15 minutes and he'd broken into a sweat to try and get back to his son. As he jogged up the steps to his office he wondered who had attachement issues now, him or Spencer.

He burst through his door and felt an icy dread fill him when Agent Rowney wasn't in sight, or for that matter, Spencer.

He glanced around at the trail of dinosaurs and heard quiet voices behind his desk. "Spencer?" He called. There was a sudden squeak of excitement and the sound of feet scrambling across carpet before Spencer bounced out from behind Dave's desk.

"Daddy!" He cried, holding his arms out and darting towards Rossi.

Rossi let out a sigh of relief and dropped down to his knees to catch his son. He pulled Spencer into his arm and pressed his lips against the top of the toddler's head. "What are you doing here alone?" He whispered.

"No awone," Spencer replied and he pulled away from Dave and turned back to the desk where Strauss was straightening up and dusting off her knees.

She and David locked gazes for an uncomfortable moment.

"David?" Strauss muttered and Rossi felt the colour fade from his cheeks.

"Miss Ewin loot aftew 'Pencew," Spencer exclaimed and Rossi smiled at him.

"Hey, Spencer, go show Uncle Derek your dinosaurs; I'm sure he was asking what a diplodocus was," Rossi said and Spencer's eyes grew wide.

"Tay wid Daddy," Spencer whimpered, clutching Dave's hand.

"I'll be right there, sweetheart, but uncle Derek really wants to meet Collin," Dave said with a smile.

Spencer took on a thoughtful expression for a moment before adding "an' Sawah?"

"Only if she's not grumpy," Dave chuckled. Spencer nodded happily and he grabbed Sarah and a green Brachiosaurus dubbed Collin before scuttling out of the room.

"Dave, you know this isn't good for the boy," Erin grumbled as she stepped out from behind the desk, the tardis in her hand.

"Are you saying that spending time with his father is bad for him?"

"No, that's not-"

"I'm all he's got. He's terrified of strangers and he has extreme abandonment issues so don't even try to tell me that sending him away while I work is beneficial for him because it isn't."

"You just left him with a man he's never met, David," Strauss chided as she set the tardis down on his desk. "Agent Rowney was shouting at Spencer when I got here."

"He what!?" Dave growled and he whipped his head back, scanning the bullpen for Rowney.

"If he's so bad, David, why would you leave him with someone you barely know?"

"I-I... I wasn't supposed to be gone long, and Spencer's therapist wants him to get used to 'new people'," Dave huffed in self defence. He glanced yet again for Rowney but instead he caught sight of Spencer sat on Derek's desk, with the older man pretending the dinosaurs were eating his paperwork which was apparently hilarious to the two-year-old. He turned back to Erin who had her arms folded.

"I think..." she mused, letting out a loud exhale. "That you are scared of leaving him. You just got him, so you don't want to lose him."

Dave shifted in the doorway.

"I understand, Dave, I have children myself."

"And did they find their overdosed mother in the bathroom? Or did they have to sit with their dead parent until the neighbours noticed something?" Dave snapped. As soon as he said it he realised it didn't make much sense.

"I know Spencer's a damaged child-"

"Damaged!? No, he's just... he's traumatised," hissed Rossi his voice trailing away in defeat.

"Look, Dave, I am not telling you to leave Spencer, you have my permission to bring him to work, I'm just warning you that in the long run this won't work." She unfolded her arms and pressed her lips together seriously. "I'm telling you to keep your options open." With that Strauss marched to the door. Before she stepped out, Dave caught her arm. They shared a brief glance.

"Thank you," He muttered.

"He's an easy boy, Dave, I actually enjoyed looking after him."

"No... not just for that, for... understanding," the Italian admitted. Strauss smiled affectionately at him before nodding.

"Pleasure," she replied before sweeping away.

Dave turned back to the bullpen where Spencer was now showing Emily his dinosaurs. He shook his head with a loving grin.


Sorry about the delay, I've been so busy, I'm moving out tomorrow and moving into university so I've been packing and stressing about student things.

Anyway, I also tend to wait until I feel like everyone's had a chance to read this story and review and that then gives me the motivation to wr the again.

So please do review, it means so much to me. If you're a writer you understand which is why I try to review everything I read ;)

Thanks for reading.

See you soon.