Chapter 29:

The air in the car felt uneasy and she was sure it was all coming from her. When Chris had gotten back to the car, he had a smirk on his face and when he shared an unspoken nod with Dean, she knew something was wrong.

From her seat in the back, she clearly saw Chris pull out a few napkins from his glove box and watched him begin to clean blood from his right hand. A panic rushed through her system and her fingers gripped her purse so tight the beads were sure to leave an impression on her skin.

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"

Spencer jumped slightly in her seat at the sound of his voice breaking the silence that had been settling in the car. "Uh-yes, I did."

He let out a small chuckle. "You don't sound very sure of yourself Spence."

"What happened to your hand?" She asked choosing to ignore his comment.

"Oh nothing just had to remind someone that actions speak louder than words."

"Do you do that often?" She asked while reaching into her purse and pulling out her phone, her eyes still focused on Chris. "Beat people up to prove a point?" She continued as she casted a quick glance down at her screen after opening up her message log and wrote a quick 'Are you okay?', to Toby.

"You make me sound like a monster." Chris had turned in his seat, a full grin on face.

"Aren't you?" She questioned sitting up straighter in her seat as she slipped her phone slowly back into her bag.

Chris let out a soft laugh while shaking his head slowly. "No Spencer, I am not a monster, I am merely the nightmare that follows closely behind the monster."

"I don't understand." Spencer felt her bag buzz beneath her hands and her fingers gripped her purse, hoping Chris had not heard.

"You will. Soon." He sent her another grin before turning back around in his seat and she knew the conversation was over.

Spencer felt her heart begin to race faster as she tried to process the meaning behind his words. He is the nightmare behind the monster, what does that mean? If he is talking about ranks, than it would be correct to assume that he is not as in charge as Toby and his team think he is. Thinking about Toby, she reached back into her purse and pulled her phone forward enough to read his message from within the bag.

'I'm fine Spencer. Where are you right now?' Toby's message read and she let out the small breath she was holding in worry that Chris had done something to him before they left.

Spencer looked up from her phone quickly and noticed that they were nearing her apartment. 'We are a few streets away from the apartment.' She wrote back.

"I'm going to need you again tonight, same time but a different club." Chris voiced out from the front, not bothering to turn to face her.

"I can't tonight, it's my day off. I'm sure Jamie can get one of the other girls to join you."

Chris now turned in his seat and Spencer took notice that his playful mood was long gone, replaced with a stern expression that gave her the chills. "That's not how this works Spencer, I was told, If I need you for an event, you'd be there no matter what else is going on with your schedule."

"I'm sorry but I can't." She repeated with more force in her words. "I have another commitment that I cannot get out of so I will personally see that you are set up with one of our best girls for your event. That's the best I can do, take it or leave it Chris." She challenged, her brown eyes locking with his green.

Chris stared for a few minutes before his expression softened and a half smile pulled on his lips. "You drive a hard bargain Hastings. Make sure she dresses the part and I'll be by the club at 11 to pick her up."

Spencer only nodded and looked past Chris when the car started to slow into her parking lot. "Thank you for tonight, if you need me later in the week, just call Jamie." She instructed as she scooted closer to the door and let herself out.

"I can grantee that you will be seeing me soon Spencer." He grinned with a wink.

Spencer just gave a tight smile and shut the door, taking a step back when Dean started to pull out of the lot. When the car fully disappeared, she pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Toby's number after reading his last message.

"Hey," She said into the line when it clicked over. "Chris left, where are you now?"

"I'm down the road; I'm making my way to you now, just wait outside for me." Toby said hanging up the phone a second later.

Spencer opened her purse and as she tossed her phone inside, her eye caught sight of orange. Her heart was still racing; her fingers still felt numb with tingles and the aching pit in her stomach seemed to grow.

Casting a quick glance down both ways of the road, she reached inside and quickly popped the cap off the plastic bottle. Her fingers wrapped around two small pills, palming them tightly as she raised her hand towards her mouth.

Hearing the sound of tires on the pavement, she quickly threw the pills into her mouth and swallowed them dry. By the time Toby's truck had pulled next to her, the cap was back on the bottle and her purse was zipped closed, held tight to her side.

She wanted to smile the minute saw him, but instead, she gasped. "Toby, oh my god, you said you were fine, what happened?" She was at his side in an instant, her hand going right to his busted lip, only to be stopped before she could actually touch it.

"I meant what I said Spencer," Toby smiled, only wincing in pain as his split lip opened slightly to bleed again.

Spencer frowned but decided against pushing the issue. Instead, she reached for his hand, lacing their fingers and gave him a small tug. "Let's get you cleaned up okay, I'm sure I still have a few of your shirts folded away that you can change into."

"Am I finally getting my clothes back?" He teased as he allowed her to lead the way to her apartment.

"We'll see." She smiled back.


"Okay, let me have a look Toby." Spencer said as she re-entered her bathroom with a bowl of warm water and a small dishcloth.

"What's in the bowl?" Toby questioned from his perch on the counter.

The minute after stepping into the apartment, Spencer had handed into a wrapped ice pack and ordered him to go wait in the bathroom while she quickly changed and grabbed some supplies to clean his lip.

"It's a salt-water mixture that will ensure that your lip will not get infected." She said while dabbing a corner of the cloth into the water. When she looked up, she tried not to laugh at the face he was making and when she brought the cloth up, she laughed at him pulling away. "Really Cavanaugh, this is nothing compared to the actually punch, stop being a baby."

"It's going to hurt more than the punch. Can't you just like, rub some Neosporin on it and call it a day?" He asked keeping the ice pack pressed against his lip to block Spencer and her cloth.

Spencer narrowed her eyes at him and rested her free hand on her hip. "Look, I'm giving you a choice. Either let me clean the cut and deal with the pain for a few minutes to ensure your health. Or leave now and risk having your lip blow up with a nasty painful infection that will require a doctor to re-open your healed over mess and drain all the puss and other good stuff that goes along with it before doing the exact same thing that I wanted to do in the first place." She huffed out all in one big breathe. "So, what's it going to be?"

Toby stared at her in amazement, and lowered the ice pack away from his swollen lip. "I love it when you talk dirty to me." He teased with a grin.

"You're such an asshole." She had said with a laugh while sending a slap to his chest, but when he leaned forward letting out a painful groan, the laughter in her throat ceased. "Toby, what's wrong?" The cloth that was in her hand was now abandoned on the counter as both of her hands went to the bottom of his shirt to lift it up, only to be stopped again by Toby. "Baby please," Her brown eyes pleading into his blue ones. "Let me help you."

She watched as Toby slowly nodded, dropping his hands from her wrists and let them grip the edge of the counter instead.

Spencer gave a weak smile and being as careful as she could, she lifted his shirt, her eyes widened and she let a small gasp slip past her lips at the sight of stomach and ribs. Both were bruised, his ribs looked the worst and she gentle ran her fingertips over the purple/blue skin for a moment, withdrawing them when he sucked a shape breathe in.

"I'll be okay." Toby muttered out, almost as if he was reading her mind when she slowly lowered his shirt back down.

"Your ribs could be broken Toby, which is not okay. You need to go to the hospital and have them look you over."

Toby shook his head, reached over picking up the cloth from before, and held it out to her. "I'm fine, just, take care of my lip for now; I'll worry about my ribs later."

"Toby…" She started but bit her lip, stopping herself once again. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him, so she took the cloth from him and re-wet the corner before moving to stand in between his legs to have a better angle at his lip.

She placed one hand on his jaw to keep his head from jerking away and with her eyes focused on his lip, she lowered her other hand gently to his wound. "Sorry." She quickly threw out when he hissed in pain and tried to move away, but her hand pulled him right back into place.

Spencer felt his stare and waited a few moments longer before glancing up at him with a small smile. "What are you looking at?" She asked as she moved the cloth from his lip to the bowl to wet it once more.

"You," He half smiled and placed his hands on either sides of her waist, pulling her as close as the counter would allow into his body. "I can't get over how beautiful you looked tonight and even now," He lowered his head, letting his eyes trail down from her thin strapped tank top to her tiny sleeping shorts. "You still look amazing and I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am to have you in my life, loving me and taking care of me. When I know for a fact that it would be much easier to scream and yell at me after everything that has happened tonight." He said looking back into her eyes.

"Chris did this to you didn't he?" She asked as she placed the cloth back to his lip, her eyes once again pinned to the task in front of her.

"You've known the answer to that question from the moment you texted me to ask if I was okay, so why repeat it."

"Because I don't want it to be true, I want you to tell me that you fell on your way to your car, or that Davis hit you instead." Spencer took a step back, not enough to break his embrace, and tossed the bloody cloth into the bowl next to him. "I don't want to hear that you got into a fight with him, not after everything you told me he was capable of."

"I'm sorry Spence; I didn't go to the club tonight to start trouble with him. I promise you," Toby said in a soft voice as he pulled her back towards him. "I would never put myself in a position that could cost me my future with you and our boys." He reached up to cup her cheek in his hand, his thumb caressing her skin while he looked into her eyes with a smile. "I love you Spencer."

Spencer smiled back at him, resting her hand over his as she leaned into his touch. "I love you too Toby."

Moving his hand to the back of her neck, he leaned forward and despite the pain he knew it was going to bring, he placed a kiss to her lips, letting the moment last for a few seconds before pulling away. "That was totally worth the pain." He smiled at the sound of her laugh.

"I'm sure it was." She said returning a smile to him and pointed down at his shirt. "Why don't you take that off and put the ice on your ribs while I go find you a shirt to wear."

"You just want to see my abs, admit it." He teased as he reached down to the bottom of his shirt and slowly started to lift it up., which ended up being Spencer taking over when he couldn't raise his arms over his head.

"You caught me; the whole thing was planned for days in advance all because I want a stare at your rock hard abs all night." She said with a laugh as she carefully slipped his arms out of the shirt and pulled it from around his neck. When she brought the shirt to her chest, she smile faded to a line of concern as her eyes got a better look at the beating that Chris gave him.

Toby followed her gaze and frowned. "For something not so bruised, it sure hurts like hell."

Spencer reached to the side of the sink and picked up the warmed ice pack. "There is some extra strength Tylenol above the sink, I'm going to get you another ice pack and a new shirt."

"Great, thanks." He nodded and slipped off the counter as she walked out of the room.

Opening up the cabinet, he let his eyes wander over each shelf until he found the white bottle. Pulling out the Tylenol he noticed the two prescription bottles that sat behind it and glancing over his shoulder quickly, he slowly turned one of the bottles around on the shelf to read the label.

He got as far as reading her name and the doctors name before hearing her footsteps coming back down the hall. By the time she re-entered the bathroom, Toby was placing the bottle of Tylenol on the counter and popping two of the white pills into his mouth.

"Alright, now this is going to be really cold but it should help." She warned as she pressed the wrapped ice pack to his skin.

"Jeez!" Toby jumped back into the counter. "Why does it have to be so cold?"

"For a tough looking guy, you sure do act like a baby." She said rolling her eyes with a big smile on her face. "I just want to ice your ribs for a few minutes; do you think you can stand still for that long?" Her voice was coming off entirely motherly.

"Yes mom."

"Good, back up on the counter you goofball."

Spencer waited until Toby sat himself up on the counter before applying the pack once again to the bruised area. "Thank god the boys don't take after you when it comes to this stuff." She said with a half smirk when she saw him wince again at the contact.

"Speaking of the boys, I want to meet them."

"Did Chris hit you in the head too?" She let out a small chuckle. "You've already met them."

"Not as their father. I want to officially introduce myself to them and start making up for lost time."

She paused before speaking, looking into his deep blue eyes for any sign of uncertainty that she might have missed in his words.

"I'm going to my parent's house this afternoon to spend the day with them, would you be interested in meeting us for lunch at The Brew? It might be easy to talk to them there, instead of at the house with my father lingering around waiting to strike at you."

"I would love to; does 1:00 work for you?" He asked flashing a big smile.

Spencer smiled back and nodded. "I will make it work." She pulled the ice pack away from his skin, placing it on the counter and grabbed the spare t-shirt that she found. "Here, I'll help you put it on."

As careful as she could be, she eased the shirt over his head and helped guiding his arms through the holes before pulling the material down his torso the rest of the way. "You sir are all done. I've done about all that I can without being an actually hospital."

"You did plenty Spence, thank you." He moved his hands forward to hers and intertwined their fingers. "As much as I would love to stay here until morning, I do have to head back to the station, paperwork is calling."

"I'll walk you to the door."

Without another word, the couple left the bathroom and walked hand in hand to the apartment door. "The Brew at 1:00, call me if anything changes alright?" Toby asked while pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I will, now go on, finish your work and get home, you need to be resting."

"You know, I find it extremely sexy when you go all motherly on me." He whispered right before catching her lips in a sweet slow kiss. Pulling away, he rested his forehead against hers and smiled. "I love you Spencer Hastings."

"I love you Toby Cavanaugh." Spencer whispered back, her eyes still closed as she savored the moment between them.

With a finally kiss, Toby broke from their tight embrace, and she waited until he disappeared out of sight before shutting her door with a soft click.


Toby checked his watch for the 5th time since arriving at The Brew, it was a quarter past 1:00 and Spencer and the boys still hadn't shown up. Pulling out his phone, he dialed her cell and listened to each ring. "Hey Spence, it's me. I am just calling to see where you three are, it's after 1:15 and it's not like you to be late without giving a heads up. Call me back when you get this, I'm going to wait here for a bit longer just in case you're on your way. Bye."

Toby placed his phone down on the table and reached for his mug of coffee, his eyes shifting back and forth between the windows and his phone. "C'mon Spencer, where are you?" He muttered softly to himself as he flipped his wrist over again to check the time, 1:44.

He grabbed his phone again, pressing her name in his recent call list and waited for an answer. "Hey you've reached Spencer's cell, I'm not able to answer right now, but please leave a message and I'll call you back when I'm free. Thanks, bye!"

He groaned when her chipper message played in his ear again. "Spencer, it's me again, it's just about 1:45 and I'm starting to get worried about you three. Please, call me back as soon as you get this, or text me, either one will do. Just let me know that you are getting these and that you guys are okay. Bye."

Flipping through his contact list, he found Emily's number and raised the phone back to his ear, praying for her to answer.

"Hey Toby," Emily's voice answered after a few rings.

"Emily!" He let out the breath he was holding. "Is Spencer with you by any chance? She was supposed to meet me here at The Brew with the boys at 1:00 and I haven't been able to get a hold of her, I'm starting to get worried."

"No, she isn't home. I spent the night at Paige's and when I got home this morning, the mustang was gone from the lot. I'm sure she is fine, she must still be at her parents, do you want me to call over and check?"

"Uh-no, thanks though, I'll just drive over, her dad must be giving her a hard time about leaving with the boys to see me."

"Good old Mr. Hastings. I wish you luck with trying to spring them."

Toby smiled, "Thanks Em, I'll talk to you soon." He hung up once Emily said her goodbye, slipping the phone into his front pocket; he stood up and pulled out his wallet to throw down some bills for his coffee.

The drive to the Hastings house seemed to drag as he hit every red light on the way to the neighborhood. "Are you kidding me?" He cried in frustration as he stopped at another light and hit the wheel as his way to vent. "C'mon on, hurry up and change." His eyes willing the lights to switch faster, his foot waiting to pounce over to the gas pedal.

Before the light could fully shine green, Toby was already driving through the intersection towards the house, ignoring the blaring horns from the other drivers.

He counted the numbers on each mailbox as he raced his old truck down her old street, coming to a screeching halt at the end of long driveway. His keys ripped from the ignition and he thought for sure the door was going to break off with the amount of force he used to open it, but that thought slipped from his mind as he jogged up the way, her mustang nowhere in sight.

His stomach sank and his heart started pounding in his ears but as the door to the Hastings manor opened in front of him, he was sure it was actually the sound of his fist banging on their wooden door repeatedly.

"Are Spencer and the boys here?" Toby asked hastily as he barged his way into the front hall passed a shocked Veronica Hastings.

"Toby," She said trying to keep her voice as normal as possible. "You shouldn't be here right now. You need to leave." She looked nervously towards the door that Toby recognized as Peter's office.

"Not until I see Spencer, something isn't right and I need to see her to know that she is okay." Toby said holding his ground in the walkway led to the kitchen and living room.

Veronica shot another glance at the door as her grip on the front door handle tightened. "Spencer isn't here Toby, now please." She opened the door more and nodded her head to the outside. "Go, before Peter…"

"Before I what Veronica?" The strong voice of Peter Hastings caused Toby to turn around and find himself face to face with the man who held many years of dislike towards him. "You need to leave," Peter raised his hand and pointed at the door. "Right now Toby or I will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing on private property." His voice was full of challenge, his dark eyes daring the blue ones to question him.

Toby jaw tightened, his hands balled into fists at his sides, as he stayed locked into place holding Mr. Hastings glare. "Call them; because I have just as much right as you do to be standing in this house right now."

Peter let out a snort and took a step closer to Toby, his white smile slipping through his lips. "And what makes you think that huh? You and my daughter aren't married, so therefore you have no right to stand in my house. I'm not going to ask you again Toby, leave now before I lose my temper and throw you out."

Toby opened his mouth to speak but stopped when laughter and movement coming from the kitchen filled the quiet air in the house. He turned his head slightly to look at his boys when they both came to a halting stand still in the doorway from the kitchen, their faces still brightly smiling as they looked at each adult before them.

When Toby locked eyes with each of his boys, a small smile replaced the hard-pressed one that he wore only moments before they arrived. Turning back to face Peter and seeing the mocking grin made his anger for the man rise again.

"My son's, Tristan and Nathan."


A/N: Spelling and grammar mistakes you found are all my own, sorry.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I would have had it finished last night, but my car died when I was leaving work and I had to wait 4 hours for a tow, by the time I got home, I passed right now. Now for the end of this chapter with Toby and Peter, I've had it planned out for awhile now and been waiting forever to be able to write it for you guys! So please let me know your thoughts, good and bad, I really want to know what you readers are thinking about with all these chapter's you've read so far.

Thank you to tobyequalshottness,spobylover1237, TheVelvetDusk, Jubilation Bells, and choose joy xox for reviewing, enjoyed reading what you had to say about last chapter! :)