"Uncle Steven, he- he didn't do anything!" The officer ignored Layla's words, his gaze never wavering from Spencer.
"Where's your warrant?" Spencer asked, his voice calm. "You can't arrest me without a warrant."
"I have two witness-" Spencer cut him off before he could say anything else.
"Your wife? I- I bet she wouldn't be able to identify me in a line up."
"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down and do as you're told." Layla moved between them.
"Spencer didn't do anything. Lucy lied to you." Steven looked at his niece, looked at the stitches on her face.
"Layla, move out of the way, I'm trying to help you." He less then gently pushed past her. "Come on, hands behind your back." Layla's eyes almost popped out of her head, but Spencer had an idea.
"You know what? Go ahead." He did as the officer said, turning around with his hands behind his back. He saw the panicked look on Layla's face as he turned. "Layla, my phone is upstairs. Call my boss, Aaron Hotchner, he's under Hotch. Tell him what happened," Spencer winced at how tight Steven mad the cuffs, "he'll meet you at the police station."
"You have the right to remain silent…" Steven read off the rights, interrupting any further attempts at conversation between the two of them. Leo nosed Layla's hand as she watched Spencer get pulled from the house. What the actual fuck? Layla just watched her uncle push him into the back of the police cruiser. Layla couldn't for the life of her, understand what Lucy planned at gain from accusing Spencer of hurting her, she hadn't even met Spencer! For all she knew, Spencer wasn't even here. Steven came back into the house, his face softer then she had ever seen it directed at her.
"Your aunt was worried you would let the abuse go unreported." He said, "but you don't have to worry, I'll make sure its all taken care of." He seemed legitimately sincere.
"Spencer wasn't the one that hit me, Lucy hit me, and I was planning on reporting it later this afternoon." Layla felt her frustration growing. "Let him out of the car!"
"I don't know what he's been telling you, threating-"
"He hasn't done anything!" Layla felt like she was beating a dead horse.
"Its going to be okay." Steven reached his hand out to touch her and she moved away like his hand was on fire.
"No, it's not going to be okay because you're not listening to me. Aunt Lucy hadn't ever seen Spencer before! And he hadn't hit me. Aunt Lucy backhanded me outside the hospital last night." Layla said it slowly. Steven shook his head.
"You need to take a step back and look at what you do to this family." Steven said coldly, "you've already ostracized your parents, I'm not going to let you do it to my wife too."
"Get out." It had to be the pregnancy hormones, there wasn't anything else that could give her the confidence to meet his gaze like she was doing. He also seemed taken aback by her tone.
"Don't-"
"I swear to god, you, your wife, my parents, Angela…ugh!" Layla couldn't convey the words that were running through her mind. She moved away from the front door, shaking her head.
"Layla."
"Get the fuck out of my house." She called over her shoulder, Spencer's phone was still on the nightstand, for a moment she was worried there would be a lock on it, but there wasn't, Spencer would have told her if there was a lock. She heard the front door slam, she was slightly concerned about Spencer being alone with him, but reminded herself quickly that he would get into a lot of trouble if something happened to Spencer, he would be the last the person with him, and with Layla as a witness to them leaving together, it would be really hard to play it off as something else.
Her hands shook as she looked through his contacts, she couldn't tell if her hands were shaking out of anger or out of fear. Either way, she had to hold the device with both hands to keep herself from dropping it. She went through the names so fast that she passed it.
"Damn it." She pressed it too quickly, she hadn't even thought of what she was supposed to say, she didn't know if Spencer had told anyone about her, there was a huge chance that this man wouldn't even know who she was.
000
"Here is the McCarthy File." Emily Prentiss set said file on the end of Aaron's desk. Despite the order to stay home today, she decided that she would rather catch up on her files today and go home early tomorrow. She regretted her choice immediately but pushed through her exhaustion.
"Thank you." He picked it up, flipped through it before nodding and setting it on the growing pile on the corner.
"I should have the Tyler file finished up within the hour." Emily said, shuffling through the names in her head.
"As long as I get it in by tomorrow, we'll be right on time." Aaron assured, his cell phone vibrating on top of the desk. 'Reid' in bold on the screen, Emily caught sight of it before Aaron answered it.
"Reid." Aaron's frown deepened as he thought over the reasons Spencer would be calling him on his day off.
"Um…my name- I'm Layla, I don't- I don't know if- Uh, Spencer told me to call you.". Her voice on the end was shaky and Aaron had a hard time understanding her. He knew Spencer was seeing someone named Layla thanks to overhearing the other agents talking about it.
"What happened? Is Spencer alright?"
"He got arrested, but he didn't do anything!" She added quickly, he could tell she was frustrated, but the shakiness in her tone didn't add up with frustration. "Someone, my- they lied. They didn't have- there wasn't a warrant- Spencer told me to call you." Emily was still standing in front of Aaron's desk, she wanted to ask questions, but she knew to wait until the phone call was over.
"What was he arrested for?"
"Uh, assault I think. I-I…I didn't hear everything he said." He heard the sound of her breathing and a dog barking in the background and
"It's alright, take a couple of breaths, okay?" She wouldn't be able to tell him anything if she had a panic attack, "Did the officer already leave?" Aaron Stood up from his desk, gathering the things he needed.
"Yes, he took him back to the station, I think, I uh got angry and yelled at him."
"Did you get the officer's name?"
"Steven- Steven Wilson. He's my uncle."
"Your uncle arrested Spencer?"
"I…my family is nuts. I…my aunt lied to him, at least I think she lied…I don't know-" Her voice sped up and got louder as she spoke, her words breaking.
"Okay, Layla, I need you to calm down, I can't understand what you're saying when you talk that fast, okay? Spencer's going to be fine, if they didn't have a warrant and nothing happened directly in front of the officer, it won't even go to court. I'm going to go to the police station. Can you meet me there?" His tone was slow, it wasn't comforting, but the authority in his voice calmed her down, it reminded her of her therapist's.
"Yes- I- yes, I'll be there."
"Good, I'll see you then." He hung up.
"Spencer got arrested?" Emily asked, following Aaron out of his office.
"From what I understood; he was arrested for assault. She said that 'they lied' but she didn't say who. The office that arrested him is her uncle."
"Who got arrested?" J.J. asked, they had nearly run into her as they left Aaron's office.
"Reid." Emily said.
"What? Do we know what for?"
"Assault." Aaron said, "I'm on my way to the station now."
"Wait, let me drop these files off in the office." J.J. said, "I'll meet you at the elevator." She didn't give Aaron time to argue before hurrying off down the hall. Emily grabbed her phone and badge from her desk before catching up with Aaron at the elevator, true to J.J.'s word, she was right behind them.
000
Spencer wasn't surprised to find three of his team members waiting for him at the station. Aaron was speaking with the Chief of Police inside his office while J.J. and Emily were sanding off to the side of the front desk.
"Reid." J.J. was relieved to see him, a little surprised to find him in his pajamas, but relieved all the same. Spencer stopped walking, much to Steven's surprise, he attempted to push him forward, but Spencer resisted. "Hotch is speaking with Brown. Are you okay?"
"This isn't a social hour. Come on, move it." Spencer ignored him.
"I'm okay. How much was Layla able to tell you?"
"Just that there wasn't a warrant and that he's her uncle. Hotch was having a hard time understanding what she was saying." JJ explained as Aaron and Brown came out of the office. Brown looked pissed.
"Wilson, what the hell are you doing?" To say that Steven was confused would be an understatement. "Did you seriously arrest a federal agent without a warrant?"
"He's a federal agent?" The question tumbled out of his mouth before he could think them through.
"You would have known that if you had gone through the proper channels." Spencer said rather coldly.
"He assaulted my niece." Steven defended; a badge doesn't protect him from the law."
"Did you witness this assault?" Brown questioned.
"I did not but-"
"But your niece called Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner and told him that you arrested Dr. Reid here for no reason. If you didn't see this alleged assault, then how did you hear of it?"
"Another witness contacted me-"
"Did they make a police report? or did you simply listen to this witness and take it upon yourself to arrest him? That's not how we do things, there's policies and procedures that you must follow before you can arrest someone. Even a rookie would know better!" The conversation was grabbing the attention of the other officers in the building. Brown glanced around, and while he felt the public embarrassment was good for the officer, he'd already aired enough dirty laundry in front of the agents. "Uncuff him." Steven protested but Brown cut him off. "The agents have agreed to stay here until, Layla right?" Spencer nodded, "Until Miss Layla gets here and straightens out the story, if Dr. Reid did in fact assault her, then we will make a report and follow the law as it was written." Steven begrudgingly removed the cuffs, Spencer rubbed the raw skin, his fingers prickling as the blood began to flow back into the appendages. "Go wait for me in my office." Brown waited until the officer passed the threshold of the office door before turning back to the agents. "I'm sorry for how my officer handled the situation, I'll make sure he is punished accordingly."
"Thank you for your cooperation. Once Layla arrives, I'm sure we can figure out the whole story." Aaron said.
"Yes." Brown nodded, "if you could let me know when she gets here?" He nodded back to the office, "I'm going to straighten my officer out."
"Of course." JJ answered.
"Thank you. If you'd like, you guys can wait in that room off to the side. There's a couch and some nice chairs." JJ nodded and Brown left. Emily waited until they were in the room to start talking.
"What the hell was all that about?" She asked Spencer.
"I'm not sure if he was trying to cover for his wife or if she lied to him."
"What was he trying to cover up?"
"Layla called me at four in the morning from the hospital parking lot having a panic attack. Her grandfather fell and was admitted sometime around three, when she was leaving, she ran into two of her aunts, they got into an argument and her aunt Lucy hit her. I'm assuming her wedding ring got caught onto Layla's cheek and cut her, she needed to get stitches. Layla and I were going to come down here and file a report this afternoon, but we had just woken up." Spencer explained.
"So, she tried pinning it on you." JJ connected the dots, "wait, is this the same aunt that tried getting her to eat the nuts she's allergic to?" Spencer nodded.
"Yes."
"What a bitch." Emily shook her head. "What were they arguing about that would make her backhand her niece?" Spencer knew he should tell them about the pregnancy at that point, they would find out the moment Layla walked inside the station, she couldn't exactly hide it unless she wore a really big coat. Layla's 5'1, 110-pound frame didn't do much to hide the three growing fetuses growing inside her.
"Layla's pregnant." Spencer said quickly, "Lucy found out." Both JJ and Emily sputtered, even Aaron's normally stoic face showed his surprise.
"Is it, is it yours?" Emily asked, Spencer nodded.
"Oh my god, Spence!" JJ wasn't sure if she should congratulate him or not. It was hard for her to wrap her brain around the concept of Spencer having a baby. "How far along is she?"
"12 weeks and 6 days." Spencer said, he looked out of the window to the room they were sitting in, just in time to see Layla come in through the front door. He didn't say anything to the other agents, just left the room, Layla was speaking to the receptionist quickly and judging by the woman's face, Layla was speaking to quickly for her to understand.
"Layla." Spencer moved up next to her, her wide eyes zeroed in on him. He nodded to the receptionist before pulling her back towards the room he'd been in a few moments before.
"Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" She blurted out. She wasn't paying any attention to where he was leading her. "I- I, they they're crazy. I-i-I don't understand what her thought process is, it doesn't make any sense and then Steven, Steven's just a, he's a dick. I'm sorry. And, and, and-"
"It's not your fault." Spencer said, cutting her off. "Not even in the slightest, the only people to blame here are Lucy and Officer Wilson." She was wearing a rather pretty dress, but he was guessing she just pulled on the first one she found in her closet, and black flats. The dress was tight though and he was thankful he had given his teammates a heads up.
"No, if you hadn't gone home with me, he wouldn't have arrested you, he wouldn't have even known your name!"
"Correlation does not prove causation."
"In this case, it does!" Spencer shook his head. Layla huffed and for the first time, noticed the other people in the room.
"Layla, this is JJ, Emily and Aaron."
data-p-id=cce82fb1b87b0d224253a4d9d1d6570d,JJ extended her hand for Layla, "it's nice to finally meet you." Layla forced a smile on her face, while she was happy to meet the people who Spencer cared about, this is not how she wanted to meet them. Emily was next. It took a lot for her to keep from gapping at the obvious baby bump, now Emily might not too much about pregnancy, she knew Layla looked farther along than 12 weeks.
data-p-id=fab15e74eaed7c95cafbaecc2a1d5e35,"We spoke on the phone." Aaron said once it was his turn to shake her hand. Her face reddened at the comment. She knew just how much of a wreck she sounded like on the phone. She glanced up at Spencer. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.
data-p-id=7707e199ef2fe584cf12889b7dfc5d3a,"Um, Spencer's told me a lot about you guys." She said finally. "I wish we could've met on better circumstances." She absolutely hated it when people found out just how dysfunctional her family really was. It was usually met with horrified expressions and people apologizing or something they never did or had anything to do with. As far as Layla was concerned, this was the worst possible first impression.
"Don't worry about it," JJ said with a soft smile, "our technical analyst Penelope has been on Spencer to set up some kind of meeting. She's going to be very upset that we got to meet you before she did."
"I told Spencer to let me know a date." Layla frowned at him.
"We're not home often." Spencer defended, "and…"
"And…?" Layla continued. "Eh, my friends are bugging me about it to." She confessed. "I'm kind of surprised that Linda hasn't followed me to your apartment."
"That sounds like something Penelope would do." Emily admitted. "Maybe they'll get along." Layla smiled.
"Chief Brown wants to speak with you." Spencer told Layla after a break in the conversation, "your uncle is going to get into a lot of trouble." He warned.
"Fuck him." She huffed in frustration. "Fuck both of them. I…they're just as bad as my parents, they used to do shit like this to me all the time. Every time I would make a friend or, or, or show any kind of enjoyment or confidence, they had to take it away to 'protect' me. They didn't want me to be 'corrupted' or to get any 'crazy' ideas." She shook her head. "They never got the cops involved though." She said, scoffing. Just thinking about being in the same room as Steven, made Layla want to throw up, she was that angry. "We didn't even get to finish eating breakfast!" She realized.
"Breakfast? Isn't it like, four?"
"Well, the actual definition of 'breakfast' is breaking the fast. I woke up around 2:45….so breakfast." Layla shrugged. JJ and Emily shared a look as Layla thought about all the food she left out on the table and counters; Argos probably got into the food anyway. Layla was still trying to train him to not take unclaimed food. The dog was big and stubborn. It didn't help that Lucy chose that moment to walk inside the station. "What the hell." Layla huffed.
"Is that Lucy?" JJ asked. Layla glanced back at her and nodded.
"Unfortunately. Can I just talk to the guy and fill out the report? I really don't want to get yelled at by her right now." Layla looked back up at Spencer who nodded.
"Is there anything else we can do to help?" Emily asked.
"There should be security footage of the incident, it happened right outside the hospital." Spencer said.
"I'll have Garcia pull when she gets into work in the morning." Aaron said. "I think we should stay until Brown clears everything."
"Emily and I can keep Lucy busy." JJ said.
"You don't have to do that." Layla said, "I wouldn't with a conversation with her on…anyone really."
"Trust me, we can handle her." Layla still didn't like the idea, but she
Spencer led Layla towards the office where Steven was still getting his ass chewed out by Brown. Lucy saw Layla but before she could grab her attention, she was intercepted by both Emily and JJ.
Spencer knocked on the door to Brown's office and opened it when Brown answered. "Layla's here.' Steven looked tense and Layla forced herself not to smirk. It was about time someone got into actual trouble for the awful things that her family does.
The conversation was pretty uneventful, Steven didn't utter a word while she told her side of the story, starting from seeing her aunt at the hospital to Steven showing up on her front porch. The look on Steven's face told her she'd have hell to pay once they were out of his boss's office. Layla did her best to ignore him, they wouldn't do anything, they were already getting into enough trouble.
After Brown was satisfied with her retelling, he got her set up with another officer who drew up a report. While Layla was doing that, Spencer went back to his coworkers, he didn't want them to have to wait when they probably had work to do. Aaron was off to the side on his phone.
"She is filling out the police report now." Spencer crossed his arms over his chest, he was starting to really feel uncomfortable in his pajamas. He didn't see Lucy and briefly wondered where she went, but as long as she wasn't messing with Layla, he didn't really care.
"Good." JJ said. "Are you okay? You've never been arrested before." Her tone was joking.
"Well, since I knew that I would make it anywhere farther then a holding cell, I wasn't to upset." Spencer said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm more worried that Lucy's going to escalate after we leave here. She tired pinning in on me because she didn't want to get into trouble. She probably thought she could make Layla go along with it just by telling her to."
"Layla doesn't seem like that much of a pushover though."
"She was a month ago. She would barely look me in the eyes the first time I took her out to dinner. I'm surprised she didn't have a panic attack when she got here." Emily raised her eyebrows.
"That's a fast change."
"I think it's the pregnancy hormones."
"It could also just be from being pregnant, the more she thinks about having her own kid, the more she thinks about the stuff that happened to her when she was a kid and she just now starting to realize just how messed up it was." JJ offered. Spencer nodded.
"Speaking about her being pregnant." Emily said, Spencer could hear some disbelief in her voice, "she looks a lot farther along then 12 weeks, are you sure all her numbers are adding up?" Spencer's expression darkened rather quickly. "I'm sure she's a really nice girl, I just don't want you to get too caught up or attached if she turns out to be lying. You've only known her for what, three and a half or four months at most? And two of those months were spent not even knowing where or who she was."
"Its triplets." Spencer said, "I was there for her doctor's appointment where they conferred all the dates. She's not lying."
"Triplets? Three babies? Spencer!" JJ thought her eyes were going to fall out of her head. "Oh my god!" Spencer cringed at the volume of her voice.
"How are you- that's a lot Reid." Emily said. "You went from being single to being with a girl and, even one kid is a huge change, but three?"
"I'm fine." Spencer said quickly.
"Are you sure? Even after everything that happened last year?" JJ asked. Spencer glanced over his shoulder to make sure Layla was still to far to hear the conversation. "You haven't told her?"
"I'm…I'm, stress is one of the worst things during pregnancy, it's one of the leading causes of miscarriage. Her family already stresses her out enough."
"Spence, that is not the way to start off a relationship."
"I'm fine." He repeated, "I'll tell her eventually. Right now, Tobias isn't a threat and her family is actively harassing and threatening her. That's what I'm focusing on." Having seen all the blood on her face when he opened her car door, it had really started to hit him how fragile the lives inside her were, her emotions already rocked back and forth pretty dramatically.
"If you need to talk, you know we're here for you."
"I know." Spencer glanced over his shoulder again in time to see Layla stand up from the desk she was at and look around the room for him. She looked as tired as Spencer felt.
"You ready to go?" Spencer asked her and she nodded. She looked to Emily and JJ.
"Do you guys like red velvet cookies?" The random question made JJ's eyebrows lift.
"I like red velvet anything." Emily answered.
"You're just looking for an excuse to bake." Spencer said accusingly.
"I am not!" She huffed at him, "I want to thank your friends with baked goods because baking is what I'm good at."
"You don't have to." Emily chuckled.
"I like cookies." JJ protested, giving Emily a look, "if she wants to make them…"
"Morgan would be pissed." Emily said.
"Is Morgan the one who was eating lunch with you that day?" Layla looked up at Spencer.
"Yes."
"I'll make him some to- wait! I'll make everybody some! Ohhh, I can make a bunch of different kinds! I have to make some for my grandfather too anyway!" She literally bounced on the balls of her feet as she said it. Half a second passed and her face got suddenly very serious, "is anyone allergic to anything?"
"There aren't any listed allergies in any of their files." Spencer said and Layla nodded, JJ and Emily gave him a look.
"How many people are on your team?"
"Seven with me included." Layla nodded again.
"Soooo, does 2 dozen a piece sound like enough?" She asked the girls, her tired tone replaced with an excited one.
Thank you guys for all your reviews! I love reading them. i hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Questions:
What do you think Lucy will do?
DO you think Lucy told Layla's parents? If so, what do you think they will do?
Thank you for reading!