Disclaimer: Criminal Minds isn't mine! Neither are it's characters :(
WARNING: Implied sexual abuse - not too graphic but enough to know something was taking place. It starts and ends in the italics.
That night Spencer stayed in Derek's hotel room. The two sat on the bed and the four year old showed the older man every card trick he knew and had learned from his father's friends and from books he'd read. It was a nice distraction for the both of them. He won every game they played and kept some secrets on how he won to himself, giggling whenever Derek got fake-upset about losing, finding the man's dramatic reaction amusing.
It was after their fifteenth game of poker, when they switched over to a game-play of war, that Derek asked him about how life with his father was. Carefully and cautiously approaching the subject with a casual tone. Spencer reluctantly told him some things, opting to stay silent on most, not wanting to relive too much through the memories.
He told Derek about his father's general mood, what things set him off, how often he yelled. He spoke quietly in a hushed tone, almost as if he felt he'd get in trouble for divulging the information.
Derek stayed silent, didn't respond, listening in frustration as the little boy continued speaking of the hell he had to endure. He knew he was leaving things out, he knew he was only telling him as much as he could and as his mind filled in the blanks of what he wasn't being told, he found himself getting angrier. What he was going to do to Scott Ross...
"Is daddy in jail?", Spencer abruptly asked, putting an '8' down in front of Derek's '2', breaking the man out of his violent thoughts.
Looking down, watching as the brunette scooped up the two cards, he sighed, "No". Shaking his head in defeat, he slipped a new card from his pile and placed it face up.
Spencer tilted his head and gave him a curious look, laying a '5' down next to Derek's 'Jack', "Where is he then?".
Derek didn't want to tell him. Derek didn't know HOW to tell him. How do you tell a four year old that his criminal father had evaded the police yet again. Ross didn't end up showing up, the team and police had no doubt that it wasn't his intention to abandon his son, he had just somehow been informed, heard, or had seen them there. By the time they showed up to the residence that Spencer had told them they had been living in, they had found it had already been abandoned. Unmarked police cars were sent to keep an eye in case of a return but Derek was sure that location was a lost cause.
He didn't doubt Scott Ross would do anything in his power to get back his kid but he had a feeling that the man didn't know how far Derek himself was willing to go to prevent just that. Spencer had been taken from him too many times and this time was the last, he was never gonna let this boy out of his sight.
Locking up his inner musings, he looked the boy straight in the eye, "I don't know, kid.". He observed the way Spencer's brows furrowed and the small frown that formed upon his lips. "But what I do know..", he started back up, "is that you're with me now.. and not anybody or anything is gonna change that. You hear me?".
With the tiny frown still plastered on his face, Spencer nodded, gently letting his card pile drop and reaching his arms out for the man in front of him.
Derek immediately scooped him up, dropping his own cards and cradling the little boy to his chest. Rubbing the back of his head and hugging him close, a silent confirmation associated with his words.
Nightmares flooded the four year old that night and every other night after that. Back in Virginia Morgan set Spencer up with a child therapist to help with his emotional stability but no matter how many sessions the child went to he continued to have his nightmares. Only once in a blue moon was Derek able to get Spencer to talk about what he was seeing behind closed eyes, but more often than not the boy shut down and refused to talk about it.
It was on a Friday night, when Derek was out of town on a case, and Spencer was home with Garcia, when his biggest nightmare hit.
Spencer was kneeling in front of the coffee table, coloring in a color book one of his father's women had bought him, when his father stumbled in through the front door.
Scott Ross was drunk and the friend he brought with him was carrying in a six pack. Spencer looked up at the men and then back down at the lion he was coloring.
Walking past the boy, Scott reached down and ruffled his hair before going into the kitchen.
"Hey", the other man said, taking a seat on the couch behind him.
"Hi", Spencer's voice was low and unsure. It was almost a whisper. He didn't really like strangers or his dad's friends much, only the nice ones and those were rare. And this guy.. he'd never seen this guy before so he didn't know what to expect.
The man leaned forward and looked over the boy's shoulder at his picture, "That's a nice job you've done there".
Spencer sucked in his lips before turning around to look at the man. He had dark jet black hair and equally dark eyes. He kind of reminded him of the guy who took him from JJ.. from Derek. Spencer didn't like this guy.
"What? No thank you?"
Biting his lip, Spencer turned back around to finish his coloring.
"Dont be rude, kid. You don't want me to tell your daddy that you're not treating his friend nice do you?"
He stopped coloring and froze. He didn't want to get in trouble. His dad had already hit him that morning and he didn't know if he could take another beating. He shook his head.
The man grinned, "What's your name?".
"Sp-Spencer"
"I'm Jimmy."
He watched the little boy start back up coloring and watched as his little face concentrated hard on the task of coloring the lion's mane.
"Why don't you come sit on my lap, Spencer?"
Confused, Spencer looked over at the man by looking over his shoulder. "Why?".
"You don't want to be sitting on the floor, it's dirty. Come here.", he reached out and grabbed the little boy's arm.
Spencer allowed himself to be pulled up and stood in front of the man. Jimmy licked his bottom lip before biting it and looked the kid up and down. Spencer tilted his head and looked down at himself to make sure nothing was on his shirt.
Pulling Spencer closer, he turned him around so that he was now staring at the boy's back. Lifting him up, he brought the kid onto his lap and that's when Spencer felt it.
He wasn't sure what was going on but he didn't like it. He attempted to pull himself off the man's lap but Jimmy's grip only tightened. He felt the dark-haired man's face on the back of his head and tried to turn his neck to see what he was doing. Fear creeping up on him.
As Jimmy pushed him a little forward on his lap, Spencer heard the sound of a belt being unbuckled.
Garcia was in the kitchen, looking for a midnight snack when she heard the scream. Breath hitching, she quickly made her way to Derek's bedroom and over to Spencer, who was thrashing in the sheets, crying in his sleep. Chanting a repeated mantra of, "stop stop stop stop".
The tech analyst carefully woke up the boy with a small nudge, voicing comforting reassurances, and he flung his arms out, wrapping them around her and crying into her shoulder.
When the quivering boy began mumbling in her shirt, begging for Derek... her heart broke.
"Sweetie, papa bear isn't here.", she frowned, hugging him tighter, her hand soothingly rubbing small circles into his back.
Immediately sobbing at the words, Spencer struggled to breathe. Not physically able to take what was being said.
"OH NO NO NO!", Garcia yelled out, continuing to rub the boy's back, trying desperately to calm him down. "Spencer.. we can call him! Lets call him! Shh it's okay!", reaching over and grabbing the phone sitting on the nightstand, she hastily dialed the number to sanity.
"Morgan"
"DEREK!", she screamed, a little louder than she had expected to, "Spencer had a nightmare, he wants to talk to you.", she quickly handed the phone over to the little boy who took it with a sob.
"Garcia is he alrigh-"
"D-Derek?", Spencer sniffled into the phone and let out another heavy cry.
"What are you doing up, pretty boy?"
"I h-had a bad d-dream.."
"Wha'd you dream about?"
Unable to vocalize what it was, terrified of saying it aloud, the little boy started sobbing again.
"Ay ay.. it's okay. You're ok, Spencer."
"C-could you c-come home?", he asked, clutching the phone tightly between both of his little hands.
"I wish I could buddy. But I'm gonna be there tomorrow ok?"
"N-no", Spencer shook his head and cried.
"Spencer listen to me ok? Nothing can harm you. I'm coming home tomorrow and-"
"I-I miss you", Spencer cut him off with a sob. All he wanted right now was to see Derek, he needed him here with him so that Jimmy couldn't do it again.
"I miss you too, Pretty boy. You're fine, do you hear me? I'm coming back as fast as I can tomorrow. The sooner you sleep, the sooner it's morning and the sooner it's morning the sooner I'm home. Put Garcia back on for me, ok?"
Spencer sniffled, and with a small agreement of "ok", he handed the phone to the quirky blond, leaning forward so that he could hear Derek's voice through the device now being held at the blond's ear. Needing the reassurance that he was there.
A few minutes later, after being given an approximate time of Derek's potential arrival back, Garcia hung up the phone and frowned while looking down at the little boy. Suddenly, a light bulb sparked in her head and she smiled, extending her hand out for Spencer to take, wondering why she hadn't thought of it before. Clutching her hand tightly, Spencer let himself be helped off the bed and led over to the dresser. With a curious eyebrow raised, he looked at Garcia.
Penelope smiled as she gently released his hand and opened one of the drawers, digging in and bringing out a red shirt.
Staring at the item of clothing, Spencer cocked his head to the side.
Garcia giggled at the reaction, "This will keep the nightmares at bay!", she exclaimed. "No monster, boogy man or boogy lady..", Garcia shuddered, "will bother you if you wear this. They will see that it's Derek's shirt.. smell his intoxicating, ferocious smell and they will run screaming.". She nodded her head frantically as if to support her own words.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Spencer immediately made a grab for the garment and, with help from the blond, put the large shirt on his small frame over his pajamas. Immediately feeling safer. He could smell Derek's natural scent and wrapping both little arms around himself, he held on tightly.
Garcia mock-gasped, "I didn't think it was possible for anyone to look better in that shirt than Derek..."
Spencer's face began to heat up and with a shy laugh he looked away, still holding onto himself and the shirt he was drowning in.
Pinching his cheek, Garcia smiled, "How bout some ice cream?", she suggested.
Spencer looked up at the woman and hesitantly nodded, taking her hand and following her out of the room and down the hall.
Once in Derek's kitchen, Garcia raided his freezer for the frozen goodness. "A-ha. My delicious chocolate God has delicious chocolate ice cream. How very.. Narcissus of him", she chirped.
Tilting his head Spencer gave Garcia a curious look and a shy smile. What she was talking about, he had no clue, but she was so happy that he couldn't help but absorb some of it. It was contagious.
The colorful blond made them each a bowl and settled herself and Spencer on the couch with a nice warm blanket covering them both. "Ok now what to watch", she mused aloud, tapping the remote in her hand against her chin. "Cartoons or a movie?", she asked, looking to the four year old to help decide.
Spencer bit his lip thinking hard before saying, "Um.. what movie?". Taking a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, he waited patiently to hear his options.
Garcia perked up, "OOh let's see what our delicious Derek has shall we?".
Spencer laughed and watched as the blonde got up from the couch and went to the movie shelf.
"Let's see here... we got.. The Godfather, the trilogy..hmmm too mature.. umm Rudy.. blah.. boring. Live free die hard.. The Bourne ultimatum.. The Punisher.. Ooh Back to the future! I don't know how well a kid would like that one though hmm... The Cable Guy!.. NICE. Ahh here we go Batman forever", Garcia picked up the DVD and slipped it into the player.
Settling herself back in near Spencer she huddled close and stared contentedly at the screen as the movie started. If any movie could take the boy's thoughts away from whatever nightmare plagued him, it was Batman.
When Derek got back the next day, he walked in on Spencer and Garcia running around with towels wrapped around their necks, looking to be fighting imaginary villains.
"What's this?", Derek smiled, amused, as he walked in through the front door and saw Spencer kicking air and Garcia karate chopping a pillow.
"This is us.. saving the world", Garcia answered with a smile.
"Oh yeah?", he smirked, taking in the sight of his Baby girl with her towel cape on.
"Yes. We watched batman last night.", she informed him. Throwing another air-slicing chop down onto the cushion.
Derek laughed, "So which one of you is Batman and which one of you is Robin?". Closing the front door he placed his go-bag near it and walked further into the apartment.
"I'm Robin.. he's Batman", Garcia said, pointing at herself and then Spencer when stating their respective titles. Looking Morgan up and down, she licked her lips while sizing him up, "And you my lovely lover are the epitome of perfection".
Spencer stopped fighting his fake villain and hopped on Derek. Morgan caught him mid-jump with a laugh, bringing him up to his chest and settling him in his arms. "So if you're batman who am I?", he asked the little boy, raising an eyebrow. "And it better be a good pick.. if you peg me as the Penguin we're gonna have a problem".
Spencer laughed and started picking at Derek's face, examining a cut he had on his cheek that wasn't there before, "Ummmm...".
"Alfred!", Garcia yelled, chiming in. At the incredulous look Derek gave her she sucked in her lips.
"Really, Baby girl? Of all the characters to choose from you label me as a guy as old as Rossi?", he shook his head with a smile and feigned mock hurt, "I mean I know Batman was taken but...".
"Psh!", Garcia piped, effectively cutting him off, "It's the most fitting. Are you forgetting that Alfred's sole reason for living was to take care of Batman?". Her eyebrow knitted up as she waited smugly for an answer.
A grin broke out on Derek's face, "Alfred...", he pondered, "I can work with that. What do you think, Batman?". Brushing the boy's hair back he looked into the child's sparkling eyes.
"Appropriate", he nodded, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and squeezing tight.