(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

This is kind of the final chapter... I want to continue but I have a problem where I don't know when to stop writing a story, so this is technically the finale, however, when I get things more organised amongst my stories I might return for a second part of this story.

The second part of the story is a maybe, let me know if you guys want to read more of this little family.

Anyway, enjoy.

Eight Months Later

"Okay, kiddo, sit still. Straighter. This is very important, I need your full attention."

Dave lowered his glasses and looked over them, pointing his pen at the boy in the chair opposite him.

Spencer covered his mouth and giggled, squaring his shoulders and trying to look serious against his dad's feigned sternness.

Dave gave him a look, an eyebrow raised but he retracted his pen, pressing it to the paper. "Understand, kiddo!"

Spencer nodded, pulling his hands from his mouth and forcing his lips into a straight line. "Yes, papa."

Dave pushed his glasses back up. "Alright, because I need your help as second-to-the-head-party-planner."

Aaron, who was walking past the kitchen with wrapping paper under his arm and tape in his hand, glanced their way with a smirk.

"I thought I was your second," he said, causing both Dave and Spencer to turn toward his voice. Dave smiled sheepishly.

"Well, technically you are but it's the kid's birthday so..."

"I see, you're pushing me out. I'm just going to have to eat that birthday cake on my own!" Aaron raised his chin, putting on a petulant expression.

"No! Not the cake!"

Aaron paused, peeking his head back around the door frame.

"Alright, we can share," he said before hurrying away. If he wasn't careful he wasn't going to be able to wrap Spencer's presents in the time Dave was keeping him distracted.

Dave turned back to Spencer, clearing his throat. "Sorry about him," he said, his tone professional. "Okay, so I'm going to go over the party plans, I need you to check them for me."

Spencer nodded, clasping his hands on the table.

"So, first we have breakfast."

"Lucky Charms," Spencer corrected.

Dave made a quick adjustment to his totally unneeded checklist. "Lucky Charms for breakfast," he ammended.

"Check," said Spencer.

"Presents from me, daddy, and Jack."

Spencer beamed across the table and mumbled a jittery "check."

Dave grinned. "Then the team will come here and we'll do presents. Then we'll need to leave for the petting zoo." Dave raised his eyes to see the wondrous expression on Spencer's face.

"Um... check."

"Then, we come home and have party food."

"Check! Me and daddy made cookies a-and cupcakes."

"And sausage rolls," Dave added.

Spencer shook his head. "No, daddy bought frozen ones."

"No!? I have been tricked!" Dave said with a gasp, clutching a hand to his chest and making Spencer laugh.

"Okay, after that bombshell, then we'll go on that walk you were talking about."

"With Mudgie, check," Spencer said, nodding quite seriously.

"We're gonna need some coffee for this," Dave muttered, looking down his list. "And finally, we'll watch the new doctor who episode and then go to bed."

Dave ticked off the list before pulling off his glasses. "Which is where you're going now."

"Wait," Spencer said, grabbing for Dave's list. "What about the cake?"

Dave raised his eyebrows grabbing the list back.

"Sorry, kiddo, you're right. We'll have it at lunch."

Spencer nodded seriously. Then he bit his lip, pulling the list toward him. "Um..." he pointed at the word 'presents' and frowned up at Dave.

"Presents?"

"From who?"

Dave paused, looking at the scowling boy across from him. "Well... from your aunts and uncles of course."

"They're getting me presents?"

Dave sighed and stood up from his chair. He walked around to Spencer's side and gestured for Spencer to raise his arms. Once he had the small boy in his own arms he ruffled his hair.

"You know you're loved, right Spencer?" he asked, his finger curling under Spencer's chin to make the boy look up at him.

Spencer hesitated, his eyes not quite able to hold Dave's stare, although he was getting better at it. "Yea," he said uncertainly.

"You really are, Spencer. And that means everyone in this family cares about you. It's normal to have lots of presents. There's nothing to worry about."

Spencer rested his head on Dave's chest, his fingers gripping his night shirt.

Dave started walking to Spencer's room, smiling briefly at a rapidly wrapping Aaron on his way past their bedroom. "Just remember, kiddo, tomorrow is all about you."

Dave went to sleep that night with a grin. They'd come so far since they'd first taken Spencer in. They had him toilet trained within the first two months, although they had the occasional times where Spencer shuffled out of his room in wet pyjamas, tears streaming down his face while he stuttered out that he'd had an accident, it was still such an improvement from the boy not even knowing how to use the toilet.

Jack and Spencer were best friends, they had yet to fall out, although it did get a little tense a month before Jack's birthday when Jack refused to share his legos, but they quickly resolved that.

Dave hadn't told Spencer the whole story regarding his father and his involvement in Diana and Kim's deaths. After a long discussion, both Dave and Aaron decided to tell Spencer when he was older. The boy thought his mother's death was an accident, the idea of his father forcing Diana to take an overdose would only scar the boy more. They promised themselves to explain the entire case to Spencer when he reached a more mature age.

Dave sighed, pushing William Reid far from his mind. Spencer, Jack, and Aaron were all he needed to worry about now.

Jack was the first up. He lay in bed for a minute before remembering what day it was and he quickly jumped up from the covers, scampering from his room to the kitchen. Despite knowing the day was about Spencer, Jack was still just as excited. Birthdays meant cake and a party. Birthdays were never very exciting when his parents divorced, his mum didn't like to celebrate her birthday, sometimes Aunt Jess would take her shopping but that was boring for young boy. And his dad worked for most of Jack's and his birthdays. But since his dad had remarried and they'd fostered Spencer, birthdays were so much better.

Jack grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and dragged in to the counter under the cereal cabinet. With his tongue poking out to the side, Jack scaled the chair, pulling himself up onto the counter. He pulled open the cabinet to reveal several bright boxes of cereal. Jack narrowed his eyes along the line before stopping on a red box and grinning. "Ah hah!" he cried, grabbing the edge of the box and giving it a tug. He caught it before it could fall to the floor and he quickly hopped back down, leaving the chair where it was.

Jack marched to the table with the lucky charms box clutched to his chest like treasure.

"Jack?"

Jack turned around after placing the cereal on the table and saw his dad in the door way. He was still in his pyjamas and his eyes were squinting from the sunlight beaming through the windows.

"What're you doing?" Aaron asked, stifling a yawn as he reached across the counter for a mug.

Jack carried on what he had been doing, heading to the fridge for milk. "I'm getting breakfast ready," he said, heaving the milk onto the table and turning back into for bowls. Aaron flicked on the kettle and turned to his older son.

"I see. You even got the lucky charms." Aaron raised an eyebrow and Jack turned suddenly, opening his mouth to argue.

"It's the weekend, dad! A-and it's Spencer's birthday!"

Aaron chuckled, spooning coffee into two mugs. He waved off Jack before the boy could start talking again. "I'm teasing," he said.

Jack stuck his tongue out to his father and turned back as he dropped his and Spencer's bowls on the table. "I'm gonna get Spencer," he said. His brother had slept for long enough, or at least that was Jack's opinion.

Aaron nodded, heading to the table to get the milk.

By the time his coffees were finished Spencer and Jack were back. The former looked tired still, rubbing at his eyes as Jack guided him to the table.

Jack helped Spencer up into his chair and ran around to his seat. "Look," he said, holding the box of lucky charms up triumphantly.

Spencer's eyes opened a little wider and he smiled and stuck his thumb up.

Jack grabbed the bowls and started to pour the cereal into Spencer's. Aaron shook his head when the lucky charms started to overflow.

"That's enough. I know it's a weekend and Spencer's birthday but you need to remember portion control, Jack," he said, raising both eyebrows at Jack who had rolled his eyes.

"Yes, dad."

Jack grinned again and passed the full bowl to Spencer who picked out some marshmallows and popped them in his mouth while Jack poured his own bowl.

Aaron grabbed the cereal box from Jack when his bow started to overflow and he put them away.

He smiled at the two feasting boys, Jack chattering about all sorts while Spencer munched and listened happily. Aaron leaned close to Spencer and kissed his cheek. Spencer smiled up at him, his spoon clutched in his fist.

"Happy Birthday, buddy," he said, ruffling Spencer's hair as he went back for his coffee.

Dave was roused from his sleep half an hour later and he had to warm his coffee in the microwave while Jack bounced around the living room begging for Spencer to be allowed to open his presents.

"Five minutes," mumbled Dave behind his coffee mug.

Aaron watched him behind his own second mug of coffee and he chuckled to himself. Dave looked at him sharply, slurping up his coffee.

"You're lucky Strauss gave you the weekend," Aaron said. He started toward the living room where Jack was trying to tempt Spencer into pulling the edge of one of the wrapped presents. "Boys," Aaron said as he stepped past them to the couch. He turned back to Dave while Jack huffed. "And tomorrow you can sleep all morning."

Dave sighed loudly as he lowered himself onto the couch.

"He's already slept all morning!" Jack said with a laugh and Dave just narrowed his eyes at him.

Spencer was looking sweet as normal, although his eyes were straying mischievously to the presents. Dave watched him quietly before asking, "is it someone's birthday?"

Spencer's head flicked up and away from the gifts and he grinned toothily and pointed to himself. "It's mine," he mumbled as Dave took one more big gulp of coffee.

"Right you are!" he said. He heaved himself upright and put his coffee on the table. "Do you want some presents?"

Spencer glanced at the beautifully wrapped packages. Jack was also watching the presents. "Can I help him?" he mumbled, his eyes gazing hungrily at the gifts.

"Let Spencer do it, Jack," Aaron said. This was potentially Spencer's first proper birthday since any previous ones he had were eclipsed by William Reid's selfishness and greed.

"He can help," Spencer mumbled.

"Alright, lets see. Those are from your daddy and I," Dave said, pointing to a pile of presents all wrapped in stripy blue, green, and yellow paper. Spencer crawled forward on his knees, recached out and patted one of the smaller ones.

"This one?"

"All of them, kiddo. All the stripy ones are from us. All for you."

Spencer gaped back at Aaron and Dave. Surely not all of them were for him? It was too many!

"This one's from me," Jack said, pushing a big box with sparkly orange wrapping paper on it and a badly placed white bow. Spencer's gaze fell away from his fathers and landed on the present from Jack. He turned back to look at the presents from Aaron and Dave and he shook his head, his eyes turning imploringly on Dave.

"That's too much," he whispered.

"Huh?" Jack frowned at the presents.

"Too much," Spencer mumbled again, shaking his head as tears came to his eyes. He crawled to Dave and grasped his knee.

"It's not, Spencer. This is normal."

Spencer shook his head, pulling his lip between his teeth to stop crying. "I don't deserve all this," he said and Dave couldn't stand it anymore. He reached down and grabbed Spencer under his arms, pulling him up into his lap.

"You deserve all of that and more," he said, cradling Spencer to him. "We love you so much, Spencer. And when it's a special day, like your birthday, we get you lots of presents, okay."

Spencer stared up at Dave, still confused. "B-but-"

"There's no buts, buddy," Aaron said, leaning close to push Spencer's bed hair away from his face. "Today is your day, remember?"

Spencer pulled in a deep breath and nodded.

"Remember our plans?"

"Yea."

"What was first?"

Spencer calmed down and sat straighter in Dave's lap. "Lucky charms for breakfast."

"Then?"

Spencer blinked with realisation. "Presents?"

"Exactly," Aaron said and he reached out and patted Spencer cheek. "Now go and open some presents."

Dave helped Spencer off the couch and onto the floor and the boy crawled back toward the presents shyly. Jack pushed his present forward and smacked the bow.

"Open this first, Spence."

"Alright," Spencer mumbled and pulled the box toward him. He looked back at Jack with a soft smile. "Thanks, Jack."

Jack blushed and got onto his knees to get a good view of Spencer opening the present.

Spencer unwrapped the box carefully and pulled out a set of walkie-talkies which Jack took from him quickly.

"Look, you have one, and I have the other and we can talk to each other," Jack said, taking one and giving it to Spencer. "It's gonna be so fun."

Spencer took the device and smiled as he moved it around his palms. "Cool. Thanks," he mumbled. Jack grinned and pulled Spencer into a hug.

"He picked that himself," Dave added with a proud smile and Jack blushed. Aaron smiled at Jack too as the boys started to set up the devices.

They gave up when they needed batteries and Jack promised they'd do it later after Spencer's other presents. Spencer gave the small pile an apprehensive look before, encouraged my the identical grins on his fathers' faces, he dove in.

Jack was eager to help and they had them all unwrapped in minutes. Spencer was in awe of all his goodies. Jack had already grabbed his Nintendo switch to compare it with Spencer's. most of the presents had been games to go with the device as well three new stuffed animals and a pillow.

Aaron knew they'd spoiled Spencer more than needed but he really did deserve it, and they certainly had the money to spoil him.

JJ was first to arrive with her boys who forced Spencer to open his present. They then asked to take a go on the bow and arrow set they'd gotten him.

It wasn't long before Emily arrived and then Garcia.

"Oh no," Dave said when he looked out of the window.

"What is it?" Jack had jumped away from the rest of the boys and ran up to Dave's side. He grinned at what he saw. "Auntie Penny's here!"

Spencer got up and raced to the door. When it opened he realised why Dave was so dismayed. Penelope had several bags, their straps lining her arms like a washing line.

"Woah," Spencer mumbled, stepping aside so Penelope could walk in. Aaron hurried up to shut the door behind her and heoffered to take some of the bags.

"This is too much," he said, looking down at the bags handed to him. Penelope smiled and shook her head.

"It's really not. Those three bags are for Henry, Michael, and Jack."

"Awesome!" Henry said from where he was sat.

JJ shook her head. "You don't have to get all the boys a present on someone else's birthday, Pen."

"I do," Garcia said. She beamed down at Spencer then. "Happy Birthday, honey bun!" She leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek, it was a little awkward with all of the presents.

Michael took his bag from Hotch quickly and stuck his arm inside while Garcia got situated in the front room.

"Michael!"

Michael ignored his mother and pulled out a hoody. He made a face. "Clothes?" he mumbled. Aaron gave Jack and Henry their bags and they pulled out the same hoodies.

"Oh, wait a second!"

Penelope turfed our a bag the same as the other boys' bags and handed it to Spencer. "They match," she said.

"Thank you," Spencer said before he pulled out a small hoodie. There was the FBI logo embroidered on the front with his name under it. He turned it and on the back was a big colourful version of the FBI logo.

"Cool," Jack said, turning his hoodie back and forth. Henry had already got his on.

"Thanks, auntie pen!"

"Yea, thank you!"

Penelope blushed and smiled up at Aaron. "And that's why I do it," she said.

Morgan showed up ten minutes after Penelope and after Spencer had opened all his presents from her. She'd gotten him a lot of clothes, including a bear onesie she'd picked out when she, Aaron, and JJ had gone shopping. She also got him lots of Doctor Who merchandise and plenty of toys.

Morgan walked in quiet and cool, an unwrapped box in his hand.

Emily saw him first and she shook her head. "Would it have killed you to use wrapping paper?" she muttered.

Morgan looked down at the box and shrugged. Spencer saw him then and jumped to his feet and ran into Morgan's legs.

"Uncle Derek!" he cried. Morgan chuckled and reached down to ruffle Spencer's hair.

"Hey, pretty boy. Sorry I'm late," he said, looking to Dave and Aaron. Dave shrugged while Aaron rolled his eyes. "I didn't know what Spencer likes, so I just-"

"We'll have to do it when we get back," Aaron said, interrupting Derek. He stood up and looked down at his watch. "We have the petting zoo to ourselves at eleven. We need to leave now."

Morgan put the package down and rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. "Sure, Emily, Penelope, you two are with me, right?"

The girls nodded, getting up. Dave ushered Jack and Spencer toward him. Spencer went to say bye to Mudgie first, and he and Jack grabbed a toy each for the ride before they went to the car.

They got to the petting zoo with three minutes to spare.

Spencer grabbed Jack's hand and ran to the fence outside the entrance where a horse was watching them.

"Neat," Jack said, reaching up and patting the horse's wet nose. Spencer got up on his tippy-toes but couldn't quite reach so Jack leaned down and lifted him. Spencer giggled when the horse's thick, wet tongue pressed to his palm.

"Boys, over here!"

Jack pulled Spencer back to the others. Dave was shaking the hand of an older woman in Wellies and dungarees. She smiled at the children and pointed toward the pens and small barns behind her.

"Who wants to see some animals?"

Henry stuck his arm in the air while the others just chanted "yes."

The woman smiled again, wider this time. "And who's the birthday boy?"

Aaron stepped aside and pulled Spencer forward. Spencer put his hand up nervously but the woman continued to grin.

"Awesome. So you must be Spencer. I'm Anne, I'll be your guide today. Follow me." Anne straightened and started to march across to the horses.

"You two have already met Horace," Anne said, patting the small horse that Jack and Spencer had already seen. She pointed further across the pen where a white horse was trotting over. "That's Lavender."

Michael pushed passed Henry and hopped on one foot to see the new horse.

"Are they boyfriend and girlfriend?" Henry asked and Anne chuckled.

"Sort of."

"D-do they have foals?" Spencer asked, staring in awe at Lavender as she pushed her nose under Anne's arms.

Anne raised her eyebrows at Spencer as she patted Lavender. "Not yet, but they're still young."

Spencer nodded, smiling up at Horace.

"Anyone want to feed them?"

"No thanks," Emily said, looking at Horace's dirty teeth as he whinnied at Lavender.

"Yea!" Jack and Henry said, hurrying to Anne's side. Spencer followed timidly, holding his hand flat like Jack and Henry.

"I'll give you a piece of carrot each," Anne said, placing a slither of orange in each of their palms. "Keep your hands flat. It might tickle but you need to keep your fingers flat, like this. Okay." Anne made the same position with her hand. She glanced at Spencer who was struggling to see over the fence. She looked to Dave who was watching the boys with a smile.

"Little help, dad," she said, pointing to Spencer who was straining his neck.

Dave laughed and unfolded his arms. Spencer jolted when Dave's arms went around him but he realised it was his father and that he was helping him.

"Here, kiddo." Dave held Spencer at just the right height for Lavender to reach them. Spencer held his hand out very flat and he offered the carrot to Lavender. The horse chuffed and pulled the carrot away with her tongue. Spencer giggled, raising his hand to show Dave and the others.

"Yuck," Dave said with a laugh. Spencer beamed and reached toward Lavender, forcing Dave forward. He pet the horse's mane and her ears flicked around, her eyes half-closed in contentment.

Anne took them to the alpacas next. The boys were screaming with laughter when one took an interest in Morgan and started to follow him along with the fence.

"Hey!" Morgan cried when his stalking alpaca lunged at him, grabbing the fabric of his jumper. When he pulled away Spencer was nearly on the floor with laughter and he moved swiftly and grabbed the boy.

"That wasn't funny," he said, dangling Spencer upside down while the boy giggled and laughed. "You wait, kid. I'm gonna get you back."

"No way!" Spencer said breathlessly when Morgan righted him from upside down. He gripped Morgan as he came down from his giggles. They soon started up again when Henry pointed out that the alpaca who was still watching Morgan, his legs shaking in anticipation.

They were then shown the pigs and the goats next. Jack decided he wanted a goat by which point Aaron decided it was time to move on.

They saw chickens and other birds almost as colourful as Penelope.

They were taken into a barn for the final part of the zoo/farm where they were shown rabbits, guinea pigs, and chicks. Aaron, Penelope, and JJ pulled their phones out to capture all four boys with the animals in their lap. Dave looked totally at home with Claudia the white and ginger guinea pig, as did Spencer with his small fluffy rabbit.

By the time they got home Aaron had heard enough about getting a guinea pig that he was ready to smack Dave who was the ringleader in the debate against Aaron.

"Did you not see her?" Dave asked as he stepped out of the car and opened Spencer's door. "She was so sweet."

"I saw her. We are not having one. We have a dog."

"We only have a dog," Jack said. "We need another pet. We could get one each, one for me, Spencer, and Papa."

Aaron scoffed, taking Spencer's hand from Dave. "Who said your papa can have one," he said with a smirk and he glanced at Dave who looked affronted.

Jack jumped up excitedly. "Does that mean we get one?!"

"Stop. Come on, let's go eat."

Jack sighed but followed after Aaron and Spencer as the rest of the teams' cars arrived.

The boys were more interested in the new toys than the food, although Aaron made his boys take a plate to the front room while they played. Spencer opened his gift from Morgan which was a baseball bat and glove and the promise from Derek to teach him. Spencer thanked him nervously, eying the bat with slight hesitation. Morgan just laughed and pulled him into a hug. Spencer felt better when Morgan said it was only for fun and that he'd be great.

They forced the boys into the dining room for birthday cake. Dave sat Spencer at the head of the table, where he sat, with the help of three pillows, at the centre of the team.

He was blushing when Aaron walked in with a cake, five candles stuck in it.

Spencer covered his mouth when they started to sing happy birthday and he looked between his fathers, his hands covering his smile.

"Blow them out," Jack whispered when they'd finished singing and the cake was in front of Spencer. Spencer glanced at him with a grin before taking a deep breath and blowing out two of the candles. It took another breath to finish them off but the team were already clapping and cheering while Spencer shrunk into his seat, his cheeks growing hotter with embarrassment.

They all ate cake and talked cheerily about the rest of the weekend.

The team left when Rossi went to get Mudgie's leach. Their walk was a happy one. The boys loved walks and by the time they got home, they each had a stick they were using as swords against each other, and occasionally against Mudgie who kept trying to steal them.

They got back and Jack grabbed Spencer's hand and tugged him into the front room where the floor was still littered in presents.

Jack went straight to one of the boxes of Lego, convincing Spencer to open it. Spencer nodded but reached for the Doctor Who figurines instead, staring intently through the plastic packaging.

Aaron held onto the door frame and watched the two play with a smile on his face. He crossed his arms and leaned against the threshold when Dave came to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. Aaron turned his head and smiled, leaning forward to accept Dave's quick kiss.

"It went well," he whispered, glancing back at the boys. Jack was now helping Spencer get the figurines out of the packet.

Dave didn't reply and Aaron glanced back again. Dave was looking down at something he was holding and Aaron looked down too. He saw the box they'd delicately wrapped the previous week. When he looked back up Dave was staring back at him, his eyes already growing a little wet.

"Should we?" he mumbled, holding the box forward. They both looked at the boys and Aaron gave a slow nod and took the box.

"Spencer?"

Both boys turned around, three of the Doctors still waiting to be saved from their plastic prison.

"Yea?"

Aaron held out the box for Spencer who frowned back at it.

Dave chuckled and took the box, placing it straight into Spencer's lap and he nodded. "It's yours," he said but Spencer was still frowning in confusion.

"But... I... you already gave me presents," he said and he bit his lip as he looked down at the box, not sure whether they'd made a mistake. He couldn't be allowed this many gifts.

"And this is just something extra," said Aaron, nodding eagerly down at the box. "It's not really a gift as such it's... we thought it would be nice for you to open it today."

Spencer slowly pulled the ribbon away from the box and popped the lid open. Rossi took the lid from him quickly, glancing across at Aaron with a wide grin.

Spencer stared at the white envelope and he carefully pulled it out of the box, as if the paper would disintegrate under his finger tips. Spencer looked up to see Aaron and Dave nodding for him to open it.

Spencer sucked in a breath and gently pulled open the envelope. There was thick paper inside and Spencer pulled it out.

"Here," Aaron whispered, reaching out to take the envelope. He stepped away again as Spencer looked down at the paper in his hand. It looked like a certificate. He saw his name... and Dave and Aaron's and... Spencer stopped, his eyes finding the all important words on the paper. His heart was practically in his throat as he read and reread those words.

Certificate of Adoption.

Spencer stared at the brilliant font, tracing his little fingers over it. He managed to blink and a tear trickled down his cheek.

Dave got down onto his knees and reached forward to touch Spencer. The boy looked up slowly, tears in both his eyes.

"Really?" he whispered.

Dave wiped at his eye quickly and he smiled and nodded. "Really. We want you to be our son."

Spencer looked to Aaron who was also smiling and not trying to hide his own tears. He had his arm around Jack who seemed to be in on it since he was grinning.

"We can be officially brothers," Jack said. "Right, dad?"

"Yes," said Aaron. "Not that you two aren't already. This just makes it a little more official."

Spencer looked down at the certificate, unable to stop smiling. His new name was written under the words 'Certificate of Adoption.' Spencer Rossi-Hotchner.

Spencer's fingers curled around the paper and he pulled it up to his chest, holding it close to his heart.

He'd found a home.

Well this was an emotional chapter. I toyed with the last scene a lot, I just wanted it to be right. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts in the reviews.

If you liked this story, check out some of my other ones. I'm also working on some new ones.

Stay safe.