Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. No copyright infringement intended. I own only my own characters. Everything here is made up based on my own imagination.

Thanks to lucy62 for pointing out the mistake.

Here's the next chapter. Hope you will like it.

THANK YOU to my beta reader mabelreid.

Family

Reid recovered well during the next few days in the hospital. The team took turns visiting Reid and filling him in on the missing two months of his memory. At Gordon's request, they didn't tell Reid about his relationship with the Director or the truth of his kidnapping. They worried that the information might affect his recovery.

As he could feel that Reid was uncomfortable being alone with him, Gordon usually visited with one of the team members and would bring Maria and the kids along. It cost Gordon great effort to convince Ivan and Denise to refrain from telling Reid that they were his siblings. Reid was still interacting well with the kids, just like before and Gordon really hoped that even if he didn't recover his memory, he would be able to accept the truth and become part of his family.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey Gideon are you alright?" asked Hotch.

"Oh, I'm fine." replied Gideon.

"Are you sure? I've been knocking on your door for a while and you haven't responded. What were you thinking about?" asked Hotch.

"It's about Reid. Do you think he is…?"

"Well, I have my suspicions." Gideon looked at Hotch to confirm that they are talking about the same thing.

"It's Reid we are talking about here. We know him, always putting others before him. But we can't force the truth from him."

"Well, I think we have to," replied Gideon and Hotch knew he had a plan.

_________________________________________________________________

Friday had come, and Reid was really excited because normally, the whole team would come and visit him after work. They would have lots of fun chatting, and joking, with one another. He was also told by the doctor that he could be discharged the next day and he couldn't wait to tell them the news. Most importantly, he knew that Gordon and his family would be leaving early next week as the exchange program was coming to an end. His eyes began to tear up when he thought about it.

Reid looked at the clock on the wall and it showed 9 o'clock. It was way over visiting hours, and he wondered why the team hadn't come yet. Usually, they would inform him if there was a case, but so far, no one called. He was getting worried and was thinking of calling Morgan, when a distracted Gideon walked into his room.

"Is everything alright? Where are the others?" Reid asked as Gideon reached the side of the bed.

"Gordon's car collided with a truck while he was on his way to meet his family for dinner. He was sent to this hospital and we were there the whole time waiting for his news. The doctors just informed us that he didn't make it."

"No…You're joking, right?" Reid asked timidly.

"No, I'm not. I think there is a special report on it now."

Gideon retrieved the remote from the top of the drawer and turned on the TV. On screen, it showed a car burning furiously, and then it exploded. On the right hand side of the screen, a photo of Gordon was displayed and the news reporter announced that they just received the news that he had passed away in the hospital.

"No….." Reid shouted. Tears began to stream down on his face as he clenched the front of Gideon's shirt.

"He can't die just like that. He still needs to attend Ivan and Denise's graduation ceremony, see them going for their first date, getting married and….and... He's supposed to live happily with them. That's why I didn't want to tell him about my mum and me. I don't want him to be upset about mum's condition, or to feel guilty about not taking care of me since he doesn't even know I'm his son!"

Reid looked at Gideon with pleading eyes, while his hands still clenched onto his shirt. "Please tell me that he is not dead. Please…I'll do anything so long as he's alive." He burrowed his head into Gideon's chest, crying uncontrollably.

"Spencer………..I'm sorry." Gideon said.

"No! Don't tell me that you're sorry! Just tell me that he's not dead." Reid cried.

"I'm sorry Spencer, I lied. Gordon isn't dead." Gideon said.

"What?" Spencer removed himself from Gideon and before he could finish his question, he saw that one by one the rest of the team, and Gordon were entering the room.

"We'll leave the two of you alone." Gideon said and together with the others they left the room.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reid was looking down at his hands as he kept twisting them about. Gordon couldn't help smiling as Reid looked like a kid caught in mischief. "I'm sorry Spencer," He said as he slowly sat down on the bed. He continued as he got no response from Reid.

"Gideon came to me this morning and said that you might be faking your memory loss. So we came up with this plan to test you out. JJ got her media friends to help with the television report, and together with Garcia; they put up the news report on your room's TV set." Gordon paused, waiting for Spencer to respond, but he didn't speak.

Taking a deep breath Gordon continued, "Spencer, why did you lie about your memory? Is it because you hate me…"

"No…" Spencer said, as he looked up from his hands and met Gordon's eyes. "I don't hate you. It wasn't your fault at all."

"Then why did you do this?"

"Don't you understand, mum doesn't want to burden you with her illness and….and….and there is a chance that I might end up like her too….I didn't want to be a burden to you. You never knew about my existence until recently and now you have a happy family. What's the point of disturbing them?" Reid choked at his words and tears start falling from his and Gordon's face.

"The point is, I know about your existence now. You are my son and I am never going to let you out of my life no matter what might happen in the future. I have already missed out on a large part of your life and I don't intend to lose anymore in the future. Besides Spencer, we're both working a dangerous job, so we should treasure whatever time we can have with each other. Don't you agree?"

Reid turned wide eyes and said "How could I be so stupid not to think of that… I am sorry…dad."

"Its okay my son….everything is going to be okay". Gordon replied while pulling Reid into a tight hug.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the team outside the room smiled broadly as they heard the father and son's conversation.

"You guys sure that's our genius?" Morgan asked.

"Geniuses can be stupid at times." Elle replied with a large grin.

"Come on guys…let's go get some food to celebrate." Garcia said happily.

"Sorry guys, I can't join you. I agreed to meet up with that media guy tonight to pay him back for helping up with that news report." JJ said

"Oh…..you "sold" yourself for Reid?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah….but I am going to make him pay back in the future. Bye and enjoy yourself guys. See you all next week." JJ said.

_____________________________________________________

4 days later…

The director exchange program had come to an end and the BAU team was gathering in the conference room for a mini farewell party. They were saying goodbye to both Gordon and Reid. Reid would be staying at Washington with Gordon during his medical leave. The doctor strictly advised that he needed to take good care of this health during this recovery period. This meant that he'd need to eat good and healthy food, which wouldn't happen if he was left to his own devices. The team knew he could survive on coffee, cookies and chocolates if left alone.

Since the team could be called out on case anytime, they couldn't look after him, so it was decided that it would be best that he stay with Gordon. Maria would be able to look after him and the kids would be able to keep him company. Reid agreed reluctantly to the arrangement after Garcia threatened to hack into is computer and delete all his published works. To give Reid time to build up his relationship with his new family, Hotch ordered him to clear two weeks of his vacation leave.

It was almost 1pm when Gordon and Reid left the FBI building. While driving back to Washington, Reid couldn't help feeling happy that finally he had his own family to add to his BAU family. After all these years, good things were finally coming into his life. Slowly, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Hi everyone that's the end….thanks for following the story until the end! I would like to thank those who had reviewed the story as that's what kept me writing the story…..I am not sure if there would be a sequel but am thinking of a one shot but it might not be up so soon as I am quite busy at the moment.

Finally would like to thank mabelreid again for helping me all these while with the editing…without her my story won't be readable :P.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter :D!