"Something came up, won't be home for a few more days. Love you."

My heart sank as I read the message from Spencer on my phone that was waiting for me as I finished my class. The team had been in Las Vegas for the last few days and I could tell something was off with Spencer. He'd barely been in touch with me while they were away and whenever he was it was short and rushed and something inside me was telling me that something was wrong.

"Oh no, did something happen with the case? I thought you guys had saved the day already? Love you too."

My message went unanswered which I half expected, but I still felt uneasy so I did what I always did in this situation and called Penelope for the dirt. She didn't answer which added to my frustrations, but when she texted me a few minutes later and said just to come over for dinner with her and Kevin so we could chat, my concern grew. She knew why I was calling and obviously my instincts were right. Something was going on with Spencer.

I rushed over to her house as soon as I was done tidying up after my class and was greeted by Kevin.

"Hey, Mickey," He smiled. "How're you?"

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. "I'll get back to you after I talk with Penny."

"I guess that's understandable."

I eyed him up, trying to see if he knew what was going on, but as usual with these FBI agents, he was hard to read. I followed him into the kitchen and resisted the urge to bombard Penelope with questions.

"Hey, Pen," I started off slow. "How'd the case go?"

"It was fine," She nodded as she poured three glasses of wine. "Messed up as always, but we saved the little boy and reunited his family so that was nice."

"Good," I nodded before thanking her as she passed me a glass. "Why is Spencer staying behind?"

She sighed and shifted awkwardly.

"I really wish he would just tell you," She informed me. "I'm tired of being the middle man in your relationship when you guys refuse to talk to each other."

"I wish he would talk to me too," I agreed. "But all I got was a text telling me he won't be back right away. I would have just assumed he was going to visit his mom, but he's been so off lately and now with your reaction, I know something's up."

"It started with some nightmares," She informed me. "The case seemed to be getting to him and he was dreaming about finding a little boy behind a dryer in a basement, he even woke up screaming for Morgan to help him one night while they were staying at the family's house. Derek did some digging and discovered a boy named Riley Jenkins was found behind a dryer in a basement when Reid was little and in the same part of town that he grew up in."

"Oh my god," I cringed, knowing Spencer's eidetic memory could some times be a curse as much as a blessing. "Did Spencer know him?"

"His mom said it was just his imaginary friend, but that would be a hell of a coincidence. He must've known him, but he doesn't know for sure," She continued. "Then he had another dream and this time it was his dad who was hiding the body."

"No way," My eyes widened. "So Spencer thinks his dad killed that little boy when he was a kid?"

"That's the theory," She nodded. "Morgan and Rossi stayed with him to help him figure it out and of course, we'll do everything we can from up here."

"That's heavy..." I sighed before taking a sip of my wine. "I guess I understand why he wouldn't want to talk about it."

Penelope gave me a look that said she clearly disagreed.

"Not true, Mickey mouse," She insisted. "He should've talked to you before anyone else."

"Communication is key," Kevin piped up. "Leaving people in the dark just leads to unnecessary arguments."

"Trust me, we've learned that one the hard way over and over again," I reminded them as I put my bag on the counter and pulled out my phone to see there had been no message from Spencer since I last checked. "I just feel sometimes like all we do is worry about each other."

"That's what being in a relationship is all about," Penelope shrugged. "When you love someone, you're always going to worry about them especially with Spencer's job and what you went through."

"I know," I nodded. "But sometimes it feels like that's our entire relationship, you know? We bounce from what bad thing to the next, we never talk about it properly and it just seems like one of us is always being traumatized and the other one's being shut out and floundering to help."

"You've both been through a lot in your lives," Penelope said with a sympathetic smile. "And Spencer's job just makes things even more complicated. Dating an FBI agent unfortunately comes with a lot of worry and stress."

"I'm just disappointed," I admitted quietly, looking down at my wine. "I know I messed up when I didn't tell him about Nick, but we promised for the millionth time that we'd start being more open with each other and I hoped we'd stick to it this time."

"Maybe he just needs some time," Kevin said, trying to be positive. "With his dad being involved, he probably doesn't want to start spreading rumours before he knows what really happened."

I nodded, still feeling a bit wounded that he would share with his team and not with me even if they'd forced him into it with their all-knowing profiler ways.

"Can I get Derek's phone number?" I asked. "I just want to check in, see if he'll tell me how Spencer is."

Penelope rattled it off as fast as I could type it into my phone and I slipped off to her bedroom to have some privacy, assuring her I would be back by the time the lasagna was done in fifteen minutes.

"Morgan," He answered bluntly almost as soon as the phone started ringing.

"Hi," I said quietly, suddenly feeling nervous. "It's Mickey, I got your number from Penny."

"Oh hey, Mick," Derek chuckled. "I'm not surprised you're calling."

"Is he okay?" I asked, nervously picking at my nails. "Penelope told me what was going on and I'm worried about him. He won't answer my texts or calls."

"He's struggling," He admitted with a sigh. "We saw his dad today and it was the first time he'd seen him in seventeen years, it was rough. He's still holding a lot of anger towards him."

"I know. We don't talk about it because he gets so tense if I ever bring him up," I confessed. "Do you think he did it? Do you think Spencer will be okay if that's what you find?"

"I don't know, little miss," He sighed again, stealing one of Penelope's nicknames for me. "Honestly? I don't think he did it, but there's definitely something weird going on down here and I don't know how he'll react if he doesn't like what we find."

I was silent for a minute as my heart ached. Hearing Derek's concern for his friend only made me feel worse. I wanted to help him, I wanted to be there, I wanted to hug him and protect him from what could be such a horrible thing to discover about his parent. But he didn't want me to do any of those things and that was hard to accept.

"Don't tell him I called, alright?" I requested as Derek assured me it would be our little secret. "And Derek? Take care of him for me, please."

"I will, Mick. Hopefully we can wrap this up soon and I'll have him home with you by tomorrow night."

"Thank you," I said softly, wrapping my free arm around myself for comfort. "And can you maybe try to get him to call me? Or at least text me back?"

Derek agreed to try, but warned me not to get my hopes up. Spencer was obviously consumed by this case and I knew snapping him out of it would be difficult. We said our goodbyes and I hung up, feeling almost worse than I had before I called. But I took comfort in the fact that Derek and Rossi were with him and would take care of him to the absolute best of their abilities.


I didn't get much sleep that night. I stayed at Penelope's for a few hours after dinner, watching movies with her and Kevin and I was exhausted by the time I got home, but the apartment felt too big and empty without Spencer. Sure, he was gone a lot and I was used to sleeping alone in our bed, but it was different this time. Knowing he was upset and scared and worried and not answering my calls made the distance between us seem much larger than two thousand miles.

He called me that morning just as I was walking to work, but he hung up before I could even answer it and when I called back, it went straight to voicemail. My frustrations were growing quickly. I understood how stressful the situation he was in must be, but how could I not be offended when he had his whole team on it and wouldn't even answer my calls?

I was looking up flights later that day just to see if I could even afford to go and see him when a message popped up on my screen.

"It's time! JJ's having her baby! I know you have no classes on Tuesday afternoons so please come!"

A genuine smile burst onto my face and I momentarily forgot about everything that was going on. I quickly text her back to find out which hospital they were at and raced home to change.

Penelope was a bouncing ball of excitement when I got to the hospital. They'd already been there for a few hours and no real progress had been made, but Will was in the room with her now and apparently she was taking it all in stride. Not that anything else would be expected from JJ, she was always very strong and poised.

"Have you heard from Spencer?" Penelope asked once I'd settled in next to her.

"No," I admitted, shaking my head. "He called me this morning, but hung up before I could answer. How's the case going?"

"There's still a few holes in the story, but we're on the right track," Hotch piped up. "Depending how well the interrogations go, they should be home in a few hours."

I nodded, resisting the urge to sulk that everyone was more in the loop than me and tried to focus on the happy event that was happening instead.


Hotch was right and a few hours later Spencer was on his way home, due to arrive at the hospital any minute, apparently eager to meet JJ's new arrival, not that I would know as he still hadn't reached out to me. I pushed those grumpy thoughts from my mind though as we were finally allowed in to meet the little guy.

"How do you look so beautiful after everything you just did?" I asked JJ as I leaned over the bundle of joy in her arms to kiss her on the cheek.

She laughed, but shook her head.

"Not a chance, I can only imagine the state I'm in," She said, but the grin still stayed on her face.

"You look wonderful," I insisted. "And he's gorgeous. What's his name?"

"Henry," She smiled. "We've already asked Garcia, but we're going to ask Spencer to be his Godfather."

"He's going to love that, he's been so excited for him to arrive."

My heart melted at the thought and I was so happy for him to be given that opportunity, knowing how much he already loved the little guy.

"He's in great hands with Reid and I in charge," Penelope grinned. "But gosh, Will, he looks just like you."

"Well let's hope he grows out of that," Will joked, a proud smile on his face.

"Just as long as he doesn't inherit the accent," Emily piped up as there was a knock on the door.

I looked over and felt my heart pang at the sight of a very tired Spencer. He shot me a smile which I forced myself to match, not wanting to put a damper on this moment.

"Do you guys have room for one more in here?" He asked, slipping into the room before waiting for an answer.

"Spence, hi," JJ smiled as he moved closer to the bed.

"Wow," He smiled looking down at the tiny baby in his friend's arms as he reached out to shake Will's hand. "Congratulations."

Will thanked him, but JJ looked up at him, shaking her head.

"How is it that I just went through fifteen hours of labour and you look worse than I do?"

It was a question I was also ready to ask, but Spencer brushed it off.

"Don't be ridiculous," He told her as he stood next to me and brushed his hand against mine. I simply crossed my arms though, a move that Penelope noticed, flashing me a sympathetic smile. "You look beautiful, JJ."

JJ shot Will a look and he nodded slightly.

"Well I could sure use some coffee," He announced, obviously our cue to leave the old friends alone for a moment. "Anyone else?"

Spencer's eyes were so locked on the little baby that I doubt he even noticed us all slowly slip away, leaving JJ to have an important conversation with him.

I stood with everyone as they talked with Will about how it feels to be a father, but my eyes were locked on the door to JJ's room.

"Are you okay, Mick?" Penelope asked, appearing at my side.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm just hurt that he kept me out of something that was obviously huge for him, but we'll talk it over. It'll be fine."

My words came out much more half-hearted than I'd meant for them to and Penelope's eyes clouded with concern, but before she could question me, Spencer was strolling towards us. He went to Will first before coming over to us.

"Ready to go home?" He asked me. "I'm exhausted."

Penelope put a reassuring hand on my shoulder as she could no doubt see the rage bubbling inside me. Because of course he was exhausted, he'd just been through massively traumatic, emotionally draining experience, but I wouldn't know anything about that, would I? I wouldn't know if his dad was actually a child molester and murderer, I wouldn't know that he'd confronted the man who abandoned him and his mother when he was ten, I wouldn't know any of it because he wouldn't answer my fucking calls!

I took a deep breath, knowing the hospital was not the place to discuss this and simply nodded. He smiled and held out his hand for me to take, but I simply walked past him knowing that he would follow.

We made it all the way down to the parking garage before he stopped.

"Mickey, wait," He said, causing me to turn around and face him. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"I'm not mad," I sighed. "But I'm not going to stand here and pretend that my feelings aren't hurt."

Spencer frowned.

"I should've called."

"Yes, you should've," I insisted. "I was worried about you and it hurts that your whole team knew what was going on, but you kept me in the dark."

"I figured Garcia would tell you," He shrugged. "It was just a lot for me to process, I didn't know what was going on, my memories were fuzzy and I didn't want to worry you if it turned out to be nothing."

"And did it?"

I knew that wasn't the point of this conversation, but I did really need to know if his suspicions were true.

"In a way," He nodded. "My dad didn't sexually assault and then murder a child in my neighbourhood so I was wrong about that, but it was still a complicated situation."

"Well I'm glad it wasn't exactly what you thought," I said, relaxing a bit at that knowledge. "But I still don't understand why you cut me out."

"Everything just happened so fast," Spencer argued. "I didn't mean to, but there was no need to worry you anyway."

I stared at him for a moment, realizing that despite the situation being flipped just a few months ago, Spencer couldn't see how hurt I was.

"We can't do this anymore," I said after a minute of silence. "We can't keep insisting that we're going to do better with talking about our problems, but then push each other away
and distance ourselves when something comes up. It's not healthy and it's not working."

"You did it to me when Nick resurfaced," He pointed out, his jaw clenched with annoyance.

"I did," I nodded. "Which is why I said 'we'. I know I do it too, but aren't you tired of it? Aren't you tired of us always holding back from each other? Having this same conversation over and over again? I don't know why we always feel like we have to protect each other when time and time again, it's proven that it doesn't work."

Spencer took a minute to process what I'd said before giving me an answer.

"Maybe we're both just too used to solving our own problems," He suggested. "I had to fend for myself since I was ten, my mom was always there, but she had so much going on that I could never burden her with my issues and you were let down by the people you loved when they didn't believe you about what happened with Nick so from then on when something came up, you had to deal with it yourself."

For once, Spencer profiling our relationship came in handy. What he said made perfect sense. We weren't used to running to someone when things got heavy, we were used to dealing with it ourselves.

"You're right," I admitted. "But that doesn't make it healthy. It's going to drive us apart one day."

"It's not healthy," Spencer agreed as he moved towards me. "And I don't want to drive us apart. Really, I really don't want that. I didn't mean to make you feel like I was pushing you away, I just knew there was no way you could help so it seemed unnecessary to involve you. I thought about you a lot though, I even got you something."

"You did?" I asked, surprised.

I'd worked myself up so much I just assumed he was so tunnel vision focused on the case that I wasn't on his mind at all so I certainly wasn't expecting any souvenirs.

"I did," He nodded, fumbling with something in the pocket of his cardigan. He suddenly seemed a bit nervous as he swallowed hard. "I wasn't going to give it to you just yet, but after everything that happened these last few days and now, seeing Henry and how happy JJ and Will are. I think maybe it could be the right time."

With that, he pulled a little square box out of his pocket and opened it to show me an absolutely beautiful engagement ring.

"W-wha-um-wow-spen-" I stumbled over my words, completely floored by this unexpected twist. "Are you proposing?"

"I guess I am," He smiled softly. "I've just realized lately the importance of family. Having people that you love unconditionally and would do anything for even if sometimes the things you do for them don't make logical sense. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and even with all the uncertainty and confusion of the last few days, I haven't been able to shake that thought from my mind."

"You're really serious about this?" I asked, still in shock. "You really want to marry me?"

"Of course I do," He chuckled. "I mean, I was planning on picking a nicer location than a hospital parking lot, but it just felt right. And we don't have to get married right away, we obviously have a few things we need to work on, but I want to be with you for the rest of my life. So, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" I smiled, throwing my arms around him. "Of course I'll marry you!"

A grin burst onto Spencer's face as he pressed his lips against mine. I was still hurt by how the last few days had been, but I'd also been so worried about him and having him here safe in my arms, as my fiancé, made all my anger fade away. Spencer pulled away a moment later and grabbed my hand in his to slowly slide the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly and seeing it there made my heart soar.

"We do still need to work on our problems though," I insisted. "This can't be a band-aid to cover our issues. We need to learn to lean on each other more."

"I know," Spencer nodded. "I'll try to be better. I'm sorry for not being in touch while I was in Vegas."

"It's okay," I smiled, placing another soft kiss on his lips. "Now, let's get you home. You really do look exhausted and we have celebrating to do."

I shot him a quick wink after my last comment and he chuckled before lacing his fingers with mine and leading me towards his car.