A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to ahowell1993, lolyncut, criminalmindsrocks, Love. Fiction. 2019, Kelly, Skylar, Martha, Betty, Susan, and Amy for either reviewing Chapter 21, favoring and/or following the story.
Again, sorry for the delay!
My apologies if I had made any mistakes but do enjoy the chapter!
Also, I would like to credit ahowell1993 for helping me with this chapter.
"Oh, I can't believe it's already been a week," Élise said as she was packing up their stuff.
Hotch who was already seated in a wheelchair looked at Spencer.
"How are you hanging there, Reid?" Hotch asked.
Spencer looked at the bandages that was on his knee as he thought about his doctor telling him that he'll be getting around with the aid of crutches, a wheelchair, and a cane until possibly Christmas.
"I'm hanging in there."
"Look what I have for you." Élise walked into their room with a wheelchair.
"Oh, thank you, babe," Reid said as he was being carried into the wheelchair by Élise. "I feel comfortable now."
"That's good, babe." said Élise before looking at her fiancé, "We should probably hold off getting you fitted for your tuxedo until the beginning of next year," said Élise.
Spencer titled his head.
"Why?" asked Spencer.
Élise smirked as she pointed at her fiancé's crutches.
"Just imagine how your upper body is going to buff up while you're hauling yourself around on crutches for a few months while going to physical therapy," said Élise.
Before either Reid, Élise, Hotch could say anything else a voice sounded in the room, "Spencer!"
Spencer turned his head to see his mom causing him to wonder how his mom made it to D.C. without him knowing.
"Mom?" asked Reid.
"Oh, Spencer, baby!" Diana hurried over and hugged her son with all her might. "Oh, my baby!" She kisses the top of his head several times before facing him. "Oh, are you hurt?"
"I'm feeling better, thanks to the surgeons," Reid assured her.
"And I made sure he was taken good of, Ms. Diana."
Diana smiled at Élise.
"Oh, I know you did." Diana hugs Élise before setting her eyes on Hotch, "Ah! A fascist!"
Spencer shook his head.
"No, mother, that's my boss, Aaron Hotchner." Reid corrected her. "You've met him before, right?"
"Oh. Right." Diana calmed down before looking at Hotch. "You'll always look like a fascist to me."
Hotch smirked in amusement.
"Pleasure to meet you again, ma'am."
Reid wondered, "So, mom. How did you get here in DC since Aunt Ethel and Uncle Gordon are away on vacation?"
Before Diana could talk,
"By me."
All mouths dropped when William Reid quietly walked into the room. Soon, Hotch and Élise had pursed their lips.
"Hi, Spencer," William Reid smiles awkwardly at his son.
"Hello, father." Reid politely said.
"Agent Hotchner. Élise." William Reid gulped.
"Mr. William Reid," Élise smirked at him as she thought about the memory of making her future father-in-law wet himself when they saw each other around Christmas.
"What are you doing here?" Reid tranquility answered.
"I wanted to see you how you are doing," said William.
Élise who seriously doubted that looked at William.
"Uh-huh," said William.
Shrugging his shoulders, Spencer looked at his father.
"Well, as you can see, I'm fine now."
"But seriously, sir. What are you doing here?" Élise asked as she said 'sir' with civilized parenthetical.
William Reid looked at Hotch for a quick moment before looking at Reid.
"I realized that for once in my life, I needed to stop being a workaholic and come out here to DC and see you ever since I got that phone call from your hysterical mother a few days ago. I also realized I've been purposing avoiding you for years."
"Shocking." Élise sarcastically said.
Reid gently pats down on Élise's hands.
"It's no surprise you've been purposely avoiding me and mom."
"Mm-hmm." William Reid agreed.
"And I should kick you out right now."
"You should." William Reid nodded his head in agreement.
"But for some surprising reason, I'm actually not going to."
William Reid lifted his head up and raised his eyebrow.
"You're not going to?" asked a shocked William.
"Yeah. Like Élise and I told you, it's my decision if I want to let you back into my life. From time to time for now."
"And if you hurt him," Élise continued for him. "Even just one bit, hell, even in the smallest measurement…" Walking up to William Reid, staring him right in the eye. "You know what'll happen."
William Reid swallowed.
"I do," said Hotch.
"And to try and prove it, I want to invite you to the wedding."
William Reid's eyes lit up.
"Really?" asked William.
"Yup. But keep in mind, my boss will act as father of the groom."
William nodded as he glanced over at Hotch who was watching him like a hawk.
"I understand," said William just as Dr. James Blake came into the room and looked at Spencer.
"You're officially discharged, and my wife forced me to give you the all-clear to help her out with her classes on Monday as long as you're in a wheelchair," said Dr. Blake.
Diana tilted her head.
"Your wife is a teacher?" asked Diana.
Spencer looked at Dr. Blake.
"Dr. Blake, these are my parents Diana and William Reid," said Spencer.
Diana looked at Dr. Blake.
"Thank you for fixing up my baby boy," said Diana.
Spencer blushed.
"Mom!" exclaimed Spencer.
Dr. Blake smiled at Diana.
"You're welcome, and Spencer guest lectures for my wife's Forensics Linguistics class at Georgetown University," said Dr. Blake.
Diana looked at her son.
"I just wish that you would be a college professor instead of a fascist for the government like Professor Blake," said Diana.
"About that, Professor Blake is both a college professor and an FBI agent who works at the Washington Field Office when she's not teaching," said Spencer.
Two hours later Élise was pushing her fiancé's wheelchair into the guest bedroom that Rossi was lending them before she looked at Rossi who was setting their bags and Spencer's crutches down.
"Thank you for lending us your guest bedroom until we can move into a single floor house," said Élise.
"Not a problem since it's only Mudgie and me here," said Rossi just as Mudgie came into the room with a stuffed duck and placed it onto Spencer's lap before he nudged Spencer's right hand and placed it over his head.
"He wants you to scratch behind his ears," said Rossi.
Spencer started to scratch behind Mudgie's ears causing the black Labrador retriever to tilt his head and groan a few times.
"Mudgie must be broken," said Spencer.
"Why?" asked Rossi and Élise in unison.
"Ever heard of the Reid Effect?" asked Spencer.
"No," said Élise and Rossi in unison.
"Kids and even animal except for horses don't like me causing Morgan to call that the Reid Effect," said Spencer.
"Jack and Henry like you," said Rossi.
"I know, but Mudgie is the first dog that doesn't bark or growl at me like Clooney does," said Spencer.
Élise pets Mudgie, "Well, personally for me, dogs scare the crap out of me, but this little fella here doesn't seem to scare me. He's just so cute and adorable."
"So, this is the place," Élise said, observing the single-family Contemporary style house as she and Reid were parked the car and she stepped out.
"Yup," Reid said as Élise was helping him out of the car and stayed closed to him so he can get better use of his crutches.
"Pretty boy and pretty girl." Morgan said as he greeted Reid and Élise.
"You cleaned up pretty well, don't you?" Élise complimented Morgan, who was dressed up in a simple two-piece suit.
"Why, thank you." Morgan nodded his head. As they were walking towards the house on the stone tile, "Now, as you can see, the house is single-level and in a nice neighborhood."
"That's good."
As Morgan opened the door for them,
"Oh!" Was all Élise and Reid could say.
"The foyer leads to the great room, which has a fireplace, peaked timbered walls and ceiling and it is opened to the formal dining room."
"I like the wooden floors," Reid said, observing the parquet floors.
"And the dining room looks nice," Élise commented.
"Hardwood floor through the house," Morgan shows them the kitchen. "Not only does the kitchen leads to the backyard and screened-in porch—which includes a ramp, but also is also connected with a breakfast nook room with a two-level breakfast bar. The kitchen has been recently updated with custom cream cabinetry, tile and granite countertop, and top-of-the-line appliances. And it has a pantry. Plus, the place has recently new HVAC systems."
Reid said, "I'm liking the house so far."
"Now the house has four bed and bath," Morgan shows them the master bedroom and bathroom. "All have new carpeting and furniture."
"I take it this is our future bedroom?" Élise asked.
"Yup. Again, all-new capering and furniture. Bathroom's been completely renovated; handicap accessible spa-like owner bathroom with custom cherry cabinetry and neutral marble tile jetted and free-standing porcelain tub."
Élise grinned.
"Oh, now I really can't wait until we marry!" Élise squealed.
"I can imagine it." Reid purred.
"Same here," Morgan said before continued. "Also includes dual vanity and dual water closets. Plus, master suite has two large walk-in closets, built-in shelves with mirrored doors. The place also has a laundry area with storage, a den, and an office room."
"Well, that's always needed, considering our work."
Morgan opens the door leading to the backyard,
"Now, this is what I'm talking about," Reid said, stunned.
The backyard has perennial gardens, evergreen screening and beautiful flowering trees backing to protected green space.
"The patio is brick and flagstone paver. The pool is in-ground and heated. And there's a hot tub." Morgan singsonged the last two words.
"I think we'll take the house," Reid said.
"I knew you would."
"I'm sure you did," Élise smirked. "And if I may, I just have one request for you."
"Of course."
"Think you can rush to put an extension surrounding the pool, so we can use it all year-round? Let's say…within between two weeks to a month?"
Morgan nodded.
"Again, of course."
"Excellent." Élise clutches onto Reid's arm, squealing. "And for being such a good sport and showing up this lovely house, I think maybe…and I say maybe…perhaps we can raise the rent to…$1,175 or possibly a bit higher. But only if we like it."
"I think I can live with that," said Morgan.
"Good."
Spencer was sitting on the couch with his left leg and knee elevated underneath pillows playing chess against himself while Mudgie napped on the floor by him when Rossi entered the mansion causing Spencer to perk up.
"Did you sneak me some consults to work on?" asked Spencer.
Rossi shook his head.
"I didn't because you're on medical leave and you need to focus on resting when you're not teaching with Professor Blake for the next few weeks," said Rossi.
"Hotch said the same thing too when he fixed us some lunch," said Spencer.
Rossi pointed at Mudgie who was now awake and giving him a look that said: "Don't you dare come close to Spencer or you'll regret it".
"Has Mudgie been by your side since you got home?" asked Rossi.
"Yes, and I still think Mudgie's broken," said Spencer before spinning his small chessboard and moved a white rook.
"Who's winning?" asked Rossi.
"I'm playing against myself since Élise doesn't know how to play and I can't ask Emily to take time off since you guys are already two agents down," said Spencer before sighing, "I miss playing chess against Gideon," said Spencer.
"Speaking of Gideon, I use to play chess against him before I retired and he actually called me when he discovered you at Cal-tech," said Rossi.
"Really?" asked Spencer.
Rossi nodded before thinking about Spencer's upcoming wedding.
"Have you ever thought about writing a letter about Élise to Gideon and send it to his cabin in hopes of him reading it before your wedding?" asked Rossi.
"Do you think that he'll come if I tell him that I'm getting married?" asked Spencer.
"Most likely," said Rossi before moving towards the chessboard and moved a piece, "I see checkmate in five," said Rossi.
Three weeks later….
"Oh, I love being in the same bed as you, Brain Matter." Élise dreamily said.
"Hmm-mmm," Reid sweetly agreed. Still having his eyes closed, he tries to put his arm around her, only…
"Élise…"
"Yeah, Brain Matter?" Élise asked.
Reid slowly opens his eyes, only to see,
"Mudgie?!"
Élise opens her eyes, whispered, "What the bloody hell?"
Mudgie was curled up in a little ball, peacefully sleeping in the middle between Reid and Élise.
"How did he…?"
Reid and Élise's thoughts were interrupted when they heard a frantic knock on the front door.
"Must be his owner looking for him." Élise knew who that was. Opening the front door,
"Hey, Rossi." Élise coolly greeted him.
"Have you seen Mudgie?" Rossi asked, frantic as he walked into their new place.
"He's in our bed, resting." Élise and Reid showed him a sleeping Mudgie.
Stammering, "How the hell did he get in here?"
Looking around the house, "He probably snuck through the woods and found his way here." Élise points to the backyard door, "Doggy door."
"Actually," Reid began to rant, "Did you know that a dog's smell sense is much more powerful and strongest than our human noses; up to three miles. Studies have shown that unlike humans, dogs are able to smell in each individual nostril and have the ability to perceive the world through their nose. They can detect almost everything, even a woman's…"
"Uh…" Rossi stopped him. "I…think I get it. Plus, I'm sure there are things I don't wish to hear that I can never unhear."
"He must have really gotten attached to us when we were staying at your place." Élise figured.
"When he wakes up, I'll be taking him back, but there is a way to have a little piece of him." Rossi had an idea.
"How?"
"About two months ago, Mudgie had a quick…fling with my neighbor's female black Labrador, Kuki. And she's almost at the end of her pregnancy. I'll talk to my neighbor about giving you a puppy."
"You do that for us?" Élise grinned.
"Of course."
Until next time, everyone!