I don't own Criminal minds or the characters.

Ok, sorry this has taken so very very long. I wrote most of the last chapter but couldn't get it right so I took a long break. I think I did the story justice. I hope you all who have stuck by it and read it will like it.

"Here, wear these," Spencer said, handing Derek one blue and white argyle sock and one tan and green one.

"They really don't go with the suit," Derek said.

"About that," Spencer said, looking at Derek's suit with disgust.

"This restaurant you are making me take Emily to is fancy. That means a jacket and tie are required."

"I'm not making you. It's just that Emily is a fine woman, she deserves to be treated well."

"A fine woman? Have you been listening to your Aunt Sarah again?"

Spencer just shrugged his little shoulders. "I'm glad you're taking her out on a date."

"You are, are you?"

"Yes. Statistically, men and women who are married have longer life expectancy than unmarried men and women."

"Hold it, I agreed to a date, not marriage."

"Don't worry," Spencer said simply before leaving the room. Derek didn't think for one minute he had given up his crusade.

It had been three months since the incident with Delroy and Ulrey. Spencer had been refusing to talk to his psychologist until they had gotten a shocking letter. His mother was well enough for a visit. The boy was over the moon and readily agreed to anything Derek asked of him.

The visit went well until it was time to leave. Spencer had grabbed her and cried, saying he wanted to stay with her. It had hurt but Derek had to put himself in Spencer's shoes. He had only had him for a year and a half. His mother was his moon and stars for so long in his short life. Thankfully, Diana was able to calm him down and explain that he needed to go with Derek.

Spencer wrote her every day, Derek would post them on his way to work.

Then there was the deal with his own mother. He hadn't backed down, she hadn't listened to Spencer or put his needs first. That couldn't happen again. After a few long talks with Spencer they decided to get another caregiver. It happened that they found the perfect person, though Derek almost never hired him. It was sexist he knew but he had big trouble leaving his son with a man. Eugene was perfect for the boy though.

Eugene was getting his PhD in sociology of childhood. Spencer was had even gone to classes with him several times. Many of his Eugene's professors had already talked about mentoring him. Derek wasn't ready for him to grow up so soon.

The trial for Greg Ulrey was coming up and Spencer would have to testify. Derek had already put in for time off for that time. He didn't want anyone else taking Spencer there for it. He was glad that even with the small boy's intellect he was still amazingly innocent; Derek wanted to keep it that way. Although the Delroy situation caused a lot of anxiety and fear. It took almost a month for Derek to be able to travel again. His mother checked on Spencer and Eugene regularly when he was gone though. It was still good to have someone else making sure that he hadn't read Eugene wrong.

Derek sighed and sat back down on the bed. He took off his black socks and put on the ones Spencer picked out. He couldn't say no to his son, no matter how odd it made him look. Standing back up, he looked in the mirror and straightened his tie.

The sound of laughing greeted him as he made his way down the stairs. "What are you two doing?" he asked Spencer and Eugene.

"We're going to work on a puzzle," Spencer answered as he cleaned off the kitchen table.

Derek picked up the box on sitting on the table. "Primavera."

"Yes, it's one of Botticelli's best works," Eugene said, washing up his and Spencer's dinner plates.

"Well, have fun." He didn't think they would be able to finish a 5000-piece puzzle but what did he know.

"Bye Dad, tell Emily that she's beautiful…even if she has something in her teeth."

"Thanks for the tip, Romeo."

The dinner date had gone surprisingly well, they didn't even talk about work…much. That date was followed by several more. On the fifth date, Emily had asked him and Spencer out. Spencer was over the moon. Derek laughed because Spencer was very demanding on what they did. The date ended up eating pizza and ice cream at their house, watching the latest show Pen had gotten his son into.

Once Spencer feel asleep Derek carried him to bed. Emily met him at the bottom of the stairs. "I think we need to talk," she said, her eyes shining with sadness.

"That doesn't sound good."

He had only been humoring Spencer in the beginning with the date. But over the past few months, his feelings for Emily had expanded. He would dare to say he had fallen in love with her. Not that they had done anything more than a goodnight kiss, closed mouthed.

Silently, he followed her into the living room. As she sat on the couch, he took the chair by the fireplace that Spencer liked to read in. He waited for her to bring the hammer down and end their budding…whatever it was.

"Spencer asked me when we were getting married today," she said quietly.

"Oh, that. Yeah, he's been on that lately. Sorry."

"That's not only it. I've been offered a job. One that I would be insane to turn down."

Derek's heart sank. "What job?"

"Interpol in London. I would be running my own office. I accepted the offer yesterday."

"Oh," he said numbly. It seemed he had been the only one falling in love.

"This was a hard choice it was, I swear. The thought of leaving you and Spencer kills me. But this is something I wanted since I was a child. That's why I was thinking, maybe we should get married."

His jaw dropped open. "You can't be serious."

"Why not? I love you."

"Wait. Hold up. You break the news that after two months of dating you accepted a job across the ocean. Not only that, you never even mentioned it to me. It's your job and choice so I get that. But then you ask me to marry you, that you love me. Ask me to quit my job, a job that I've dedicated my life to this. Now you want me to move, take my son with me. On what? Two months? I'm sorry Em, I can't." It broke his heart to say it, if it was just him, he would have accepted. The BAU had been wearing on his soul. But he had Spencer to look out for.

"I understand."

She stood up and brushed her hands down her dress, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Wait," he said. She looked at him expectedly. "Spend the night, just for tonight."

The look in her eyes showed she knew this would be a one-time thing, just like with him. A goodbye.

A month later, Emily was gone. Ulrey's trial date came and went, Spencer's testimony went as well as expected. Things slowly went back to normal, although Spencer did seem a little more down a lot of the time.

Spencer sat on his bed, holding Ralegh to his chest. His missed Emily, she called a lot in the beginning but now it was only once a week, and then only for a moment. His dad was sad all the time now, they didn't do any of the fun stuff they used to do. Eugene did his best but he had finals and didn't want Spencer to interfere. Spencer like Eugene but he wasn't his dad. His dad had left the day before to go to Pittsburgh. Watching the news, he found out someone was killing male joggers.

Eugene was in his room studying, that left Spencer with nothing to do. His dad didn't like him to go over his Gran's when he wasn't home. Spencer thought about calling Emily but it would be too late in the night for her.

Quietly, Spencer stood up and made his way to his dad's office. His dad's password on his computer was pretty easy to crack. After that, the information he looked for was easy. For the rest of the night he filled out application after application and hoped for the best. He was thankful his father kept his school records in his computer for easy access.

Derek was bone weary when he got back home. True it was a short investigation. They were able to find the man soon after they profiled him. His heart just wasn't in the job anymore. He was missing his son growing up. He was missing finding someone to grow old with. Looking at Rossi and his many failed marriages. He didn't have high hopes for a happy life.

It was his calling to help people, but why did it feel so much like a burden now?

Eugene was cooking something when he walked into the kitchen, Spencer was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Spencer?"

"Said he wanted to lay down before dinner."

That wasn't like the boy. Derek worried that he was becoming depressed. The signs were there before he left, he just hoped Spencer would get over it. Kids were resilient after all. How could he bounce back from his kidnapping, abuse, and everything else but not be able to handle Emily leaving.

"I'm going to go check on him."

At the top of the stairs he heard noise from his office. Slowly, he crept up to his office door and peeked in. Spencer was sitting at his computer typing something.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Spencer jumped, his face paling before a huge smile took over. "Daddy, you're back!" he yelled before jumping up and running to him.

Derek hugged him but knew his son only called him Daddy when he was scared or wanted something now days.

"What are you doing at my desk?" he asked.

"I don't want to say until I hear back."

"Hear back from who?"

"The McMillon School. The Sliver End School. The Herald V. Michael's School."

"Stop. Why are you waiting to hear from these school?"

"Because they are the best in London. If I get into one I can be close to Emily."

Derek's heart constricted a little. "And far from me."

"Not if you come along."

"What would I do there?"

"Be my dad?"

His little sad eyes told Derek he had been failing at his most important job again. He had taken Spencer in, sure that he would be the best choice for him. Time after time he had failed him. It was time to put Spencer first over his job. He just had to choose what to do next.

Emily's flat was quiet, not so different from her apartment in D.C. She didn't miss the states per se but she did miss Derek and Spencer. Spencer had cried and held on to her tight when she said goodbye.

When she first moved to London, she had called Spencer all the time. But the calls were just too hard, he begged and pleaded with her to come back. Promised to be better if she came back. Soon the calls were down to once a week. But now, she hadn't talked to him or Derek in four months. Six months since she had seen them in person. She missed them both so much and her heart broke more every time she thought about them.

She was just about to order food in when someone buzzed her intercom.

"Yes," she answered.

"It's freezing out here," Derek said.

"Derek? What are you doing here?"

"I just told you, freezing."

"Oh, sorry, come in." She buzzed him in.

Her mind went wild with questions. What was Derek doing here? Where was Spencer? How long was he going to be here?

She barely had enough time to make sure she didn't look hideous in the hall mirror before there was a knock on her door.

Opening it, she was shocked to see that Derek wasn't alone. Spencer was asleep in his arms.

"Can I put him somewhere?" he asked, his voice low.

"Sure, I have an extra bedroom. You can put him there."

She showed Derek the room, and watched as he put the sleeping boy on the bed and covered him up. Spencer looked so very small in the large bed, even smaller than he had in the hospital.

After Derek stepped outside the room, she shut the door just leaving it open a crack. Derek followed her into her living room.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Lots of things have changed since you left. I quit the BAU."

"You did? Why?" She couldn't believe it.

"I was never there for Spencer. I had to depend on others to take care of him. He was away from me more than with me. He's destined to do amazing things. It would just be better if I was around to help him succeed."

"Alright, I get that. But why are you here?"

"Do you know what university he has his heart set on?"

"Cal-tech, he told me after reading an article."

"That was before he discovered Oxford. Let's just say, his goal in life is to get there now. He even applied to schools that would help him get there."

"What schools in the states do that?" she asked curiously.

"None. He got accepted to Beckman Grant, here in London."

She stood there in shock. "What?"

"The school is here in London."

"You're moving here?" she asked, her heart beating wildly.

"No, we've moved here. All our stuff is here, we have a small house in Berkshire."

"How?"

"Turns out, Spencer is a smart kid. So smart that the government here was pretty happy accepting our Visa applications. The boy is smart, scary smart."

"So, that's the only reason you came. The school?"

"And this."

Her eyes widened as Derek knelt on one knee, pulling a box out of his pocket. She couldn't breathe.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, opening the box. Inside was a gorgeous platinum diamond halo engagement ring with a V split shank. The pear-shaped diamond made it sparkle in the dark hallway.

"I-uh-I"

"Say yes."

Emily turned around and saw the no longer sleeping Spencer, his face lit up with excitement.

"Yes," she said, turning back to Derek.

"Really, yes?" he asked. She knew he was making sure Spencer wasn't guilting her into it.

"Really. Yes." Derek slid the ring on to her left ring finger, it fit perfectly. "How did you know- "

"Pen, she's great at figuring out ring sizes."

She felt little arms wrap around her legs. With her free arm, she pulled Spencer to her. "Are you happy?" she asked him.

"Yes, so very happy. Are you going to move in with us?"

"I guess I have to if I'm going to be a married woman."

"And my other mom."

"And your other mom," she agreed.

"I can't wait to have a little brother," he said hugging her tightly.

Her eyes widened and looked at Derek, he only smiled and shrugged. With the way, they had taken over her life she would be married and pregnant by the end of the year. Surprisingly enough, it didn't bother her.

"I love you both," she told them.

"Yes, we know," Spencer answered, smiling.

If this was a dream she didn't ever want to wake up. Looking at the both of them, she thought they would agree.

THE END