See. I told you this would be up earlier. (I mean it's not that much earlier but in my defence I've had a lot of work this week so...)

WARNINGS: Mentions of abandonment, suicide and past drug use.

Spencer Reid – Age 26
Athena Reid – Age 9 - 10
Thomas Reid – Age 2 - 3

Location – Washington, D.C.

He had to call the police, but first he had to get the kid, who was presumably called Thomas, somewhere warm and into some dry clothes. Spencer instantly became more worried when he tried to wake the boy but couldn't. He ended up carrying him across the street and up the stairs to his apartment. Knowing Athena had just got in after staying over at a friend's but not having the time to wait for her to unlock the door he juggled Thomas, his bag and his keys to open the door himself. Stumbling into his apartment he made his way to the sofa, dropping his bag in the process and toppling over a few books as well. Laying the limp boy in his arms down he called out for his daughter.

"Athena, sweetheart, I need your help." Having heard the door open she was already half-way towards him but upon hearing his call she ran the rest of the way, curious about what was going on.

"Daddy who's that?" she immediately questioned.

With all his attention on Thomas he didn't even look back at her to reply, "Athena, not now. Please do as I say."

He hated doing that, there was no reason to shout at her, she'd done nothing wrong, but Thomas had started turning pale blue and his fatherly instincts were screaming at him to do something, and something fast.

Athena caught onto her father's distress and was immediately more alert, running to get blankets and dry clothes for the boy.

When he finally woke Spencer almost cried with relief. Thomas was quiet and confused, but with Athena's help he managed to get him to eat and drink a little.

With Thomas finally awake, warm and curled up on the sofa, with Athena looking over him, he reached for his phone and called the police to report an abandoned child.

By some small miracle the police managed to identify Thomas and his family. His father was military and had died a few months earlier whilst out of the country on a mission. Thomas's mother, Natalie, was a former alcoholic who relapsed when she heard the news of her husband. She had tried to get sober again but could never quite do it. Two hours after Spencer had found Thomas, Natalie's body was found. She had been drinking and ended up crashing her car into an abandoned building. She died on the way to the hospital. In her personal effects there was a similar note to the one that was found with her son, this one saying that she intended to take her own life.

As far as the police could tell none of their living relatives could take the child in. Natalie's family had wanted nothing to do with her or Thomas and had refused to even acknowledge his existence. Thomas's father's family were a little better but they were all military with large families of their own and none had the space to take a child in. They did, however, give a list of some distant family members who lived nearby and the names of any friends who were looking to adopt.

It was three hours into the search for a home for Thomas and Spencer knew it wasn't looking good. They had managed to work through a significant portion of the list but every one of them was too ill, too far away or not willing to take in a two-year-old boy.

When they finally gave up it was late and the two children had fallen asleep. Due to the late hour Spencer had temporary custody of Thomas until someone from child protective services could come and decide his fate. But in the past few hours with Athena and Thomas, Spencer had another idea.

Walking to the kitchen and picking up his phone he dialled a familiar number and hoped that the person on the other end was still awake.

"Hotch I need a favour. Can you come over?"

Before Hotch arrived Spencer had managed to move both kids to bed; Athena to her own room and Thomas to his, where he had set up Athena's old crib. As he was coming out of his room there was a knock on the door. Gesturing Hotch inside he waited for the older man to sit before he began explaining.

By the time he was finished he was exhausted. Hotch had his concerns and said as much but Spencer was pulled away from answering by a cry from his room which he quickly went to investigate. When he came back Hotch had one last question, just to make sure that Spencer knew what he was asking for.

"Are you sure about this? I still don't think it's a good idea."

"I know, and to a degree, I agree with you. But Hotch...I can't explain it, but please, help me."

Finally relenting he sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

With a nod to his boss Hotch left and Spencer started mentally preparing for the possibility of a new addition to his family.

Somehow, a couple of weeks after he legally adopted Thomas, while he was away for a case, a pregnant stray cat had found her way into the apartment. At first, he was going to take her to a shelter but he couldn't say no to his kids and they ended up keeping her. Unfortunately, a week later, she had died soon after giving birth, along with one of her kittens. The other 4 which had survived were doing well though.

There were lots of tears, especially from Athena, but looking after the kittens had seemed to help and cuddles had fixed the rest. Pudding and Toffee were wary of the new additions but even they warmed up to them eventually.

In the following weeks Spencer had found an NA meeting close to home. Melissa and Emma were amazing in their support, but sometimes he wanted to talk to someone else, someone who had been through what he had.

It was after the Owen Savage case that Spencer decided that he should start telling the team about Athena and Thomas. That's how he ended up asking Garcia where Morgan was one late Friday night.

He was extremely nervous when he approached Morgan and thought that blurting out what he wanted to say would be good enough, he wasn't really in the best state to do anything else. "I want you to meet someone, or rather...two people." He managed to say without stuttering or making a fool of himself.

Putting his coffee mug down there was a moment before Morgan responded, "Reid what's wrong?" His voice full of worry.

"Nothing." It was said too quickly, but that was the only way Spencer was going to get through this. He just wished Morgan would agree instead of ask questions that, at the moment, he couldn't answer.

"Kid." He sighed.

"I'm serious Morgan. Will you come by my place tonight?" he voice slightly taking on the tone he used on the kids when they were misbehaving.

The tone confused Morgan and sensing that it was important he didn't argue, "Sure, is six ok?"

"Perfect. Hey, Morgan? Thanks." He finished before walking away so that Morgan couldn't reply.

By the time six came around Spencer hadn't stopped fidgeting for going on two hours; the only reason it wasn't more was because work and getting dinner made had provided temporary distractions.

So focused on his thoughts Spencer didn't even hear the knock on the door. It was only when Athena popped out of her hiding place did the sound register. Putting his finger to his lips to make sure she stayed quiet until the right time he walked to the door and opened it, cutting off the now near constant knocking. When the door was opened it looked like Morgan was about to break it down and Spencer wondered how long he had been knocking.

"Hey man, are you ok?" he asked as soon he walked through the door and it had closed behind him, his eyes scanning the apartment for any danger.

He wasn't using his usual nicknames so Spencer must have worried him earlier when he asked about coming over.

"Yeah. Do you want to sit or have something to drink?" Spencer asked ever so softly.

Morgan's worry was understandable. After all, in all the years they've known each other this was not something that they had ever done before. Team nights out were common, but Spencer was private and kept his two lives separate and despite the little moment where Spencer told Morgan a small piece of the golf-post incident, it was still out of character for him. So really, Spencer didn't blame him, he would be exactly the same if the roles were reversed. But still, Morgan worried made Spencer worried, even if it was directed at him in the first place, and it did nothing to calm his nerves. He didn't even know why he was so nervous, it wasn't as if he was in trouble or in danger, what he had to say was actually a really good thing.

But a little part of Spencer knew exactly why he was nervous. What if Morgan judged him? Told him he wasn't good enough? What if he took his kids away?

That last question he dismissed as soon as he thought it. Morgan would never do that…he hoped.

The one problem he had at the moment was that he'd kept this a secret for so long that he didn't know how not to avoid the subject. Instead of just outright saying he had two amazing kids and 6 cats (OK maybe he'd leave that part out), he was stalling; and Morgan knew it.

"Reid? What's going on?" he all but demanded, choosing to avoid Spencer's earlier question. Instead he was walking towards him, both agents still stood in the hallway of his apartment.

"Please, sit down." His voice once again taking on a tone Morgan was unfamiliar with. It was the voice he always used to try and get Athena to open up to him about whatever was bothering her at the time. As before, the sound confused the older agent but once again, instead of arguing, Morgan stayed quiet and sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Spencer sat opposite him and as he was about to open his mouth to explain Thomas began crying. Forgetting about Morgan, Spencer all but ran to his bedroom where Athena was also hiding along with the cats. When he opened the door he saw Athena trying to calm her little brother down. Immediately he picked up the child to find out what was wrong.

"Daddy?" Athena asked from beside him. Her voice caught his attention and he looked down to see her staring at the doorway. Spinning around, with Thomas still in his arms he took his daughter's hand.

"Reid, what's going on?" The question coming from the older agent standing in the open doorway.

"Well, I said that I'd like you to meet a couple of people. Here they are."

Morgan didn't need to ask out loud his question because Spencer could already see it on his face.

Looking Morgan dead in the eye he took a breath and answered his silent query, "They're my kids."

And there it is! I hope you enjoyed it :) We will be going back to the normal 2-week updates for the next few chapters unless said otherwise

Don't forget to leave a review with any comments or suggestions.

I'm also looking for names for the kittens so let me know if you have any ideas! =)