Disclaimer" I don't own Criminal Minds. The occasional scenes from episodes of Criminal Minds in this story belong to the writers of Criminal Minds and CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Shout out to criminalmindsrocks for being the 50th reviewer for this story and also a shout out to Fashionista7, fishtrek, and Esther for reviewing chapter seven.
When it comes to the topic of who got primary custody of Henry in this chapter, I hope that I did justice because I was thinking about how the custody arrangement would be arranged in real life because of JJ being a profiler who's on-call 24/7 and travels all over the country while Will is a police officer who rarely travels for work unless he's sent out to identify a body of a colleague or attend a conference.
This chapter starts the morning after the last chapter and please don't forget that Spencer never got addicted to Dilaudid in this universe while I also made a few changes because of being upset about how Spencer's anger in Proof was handled.
Spencer woke up in his father's guest bedroom to his phone vibrating causing him to see a text message from JJ.
WANT TO HAVE BRUNCH THIS MORNING OR TOMORROW MORNING AFTER YOUR DONE ATTENDING MASS? I HAVE HENRY UNTIL TOMORROW EVENING AND HE WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU AND DOESN'T WANT OLIVIA TO JOIN US. ~ JJ
Spencer let out a loud groan as he set his phone back on the nightstand.
Olivia opened her eyes and looked at her husband, "Did you just get a case, Doc?" asked Olivia.
Spencer shook his head, "No case."
"Then what caused you to groan?" asked Olivia.
Spencer thought back to Will telling him that a family court judge decided that Will won primary custody of Henry while JJ gets Henry every other weekend and pays child support due to JJ refusing to transfer to a unit that allows her to go home to Henry every night and not travel for work or leave the F.B.I. altogether after Sandy Jareau told the judge that she's not going to uproot her life in Pennsylvania and move down to Washington D.C. so she can take care of her grandson while JJ has to travel to another state for a case for a few days due to being highly disappointed in her daughter for breaking up with Will so she could try and break up his engagement to Olivia so she could get together with him while he was on sabbatical, "Jennifer just texted me that she has Henry until tomorrow evening and is hoping that she, Henry, and I can go out for brunch either today or tomorrow."
"I wasn't invited?" asked Olivia.
Spencer shook his head, "Even though Henry loves you, Jennifer claimed that Henry just wants to see me."
"I believe that she's twisting Henry's words in hope of luring you into spending all your free time with her so I would be able to annul our marriage after claiming that you're having an affair," said Olivia.
Spencer nodded in agreement, "That's why I decided that I'll visit my godson when Will has him while I firmly told JJ that I wasn't going to spend one on one time with her outside of work if you or no one else from the team is joining us too when she told me that she broke up with Will and asked me out to brunch when she knew that I was engaged to you."
"Are you going to reply to her text?" asked Olivia.
Spencer shook her head, "Aside from not being ready to talk to her about her faking Emily's death, I don't want her to know that we're in Las Vegas visiting my parents on my last free weekend before I return to the B.A.U. on Monday."
Olivia nodded, "I support your decision," said Olivia before looking at the time on her phone and noticed that it was 5 A.M. causing her to reach for her prosthetic leg and put it on, "I don't know about you, but I feel like getting up so we can go on a walk through your father's neighborhood before we either eat breakfast here or go out for breakfast before visiting your mother."
Spencer nodded, "Let's go for a walk."
A minute later Spencer and Olivia were taking turns in the bathroom before they got dressed and wrote a note for William telling him that they went for a walk and they'll be back in time for breakfast before they slipped out of the house and walked for a mile before turning back.
Later on that morning at 9 A.M., Spencer, Olivia, and William were watching Diana read a book before Dr. Norman walked over to them.
"Hello, Dr. Norman," said Spencer.
Dr. Norman looked at Spencer as he shook the son of one of his favorite patients' hands, "Aside from being glad that I finally get to congratulate you on your nuptials in person since your mother has been telling everyone about how beautiful your wedding was, I heard that you had a rough couple of weeks when it came to finding out that a teammate's death was faked, dealing with an earthquake, Hurricane Irene, and ending up in the hospital with appendicitis."
Spencer nodded, "Not the best way to start off married life."
"The first year of marriage is always considered the hardest, but what matters is that you and Olivia are surviving everything that has been thrown your way so far," said Dr. Norman.
"Hopefully everything settles down since I return to the B.A.U. on Monday since the F.B.I. refused to accept my resignation for another four months so I could work for academia or another government agency," said Spencer before looking towards where his mother was sitting without realizing that he's there, "How is she?" asked Spencer.
"When I checked on her an hour ago, she was still lucid. So why don't you go visit with her for two hours before we meet up about changing your mother's medication," said Dr. Norman.
"OK," said Spencer.
A minute later Spencer, Olivia, and William were each hugging an excited Diana before Diana looked at her son, "How are you feeling, sweetheart?" asked Diana.
"I'm recovered enough from my appendectomy to return to light duty on Monday," said Spencer.
"Meaning that you'll be working with Jennifer again after how much she hurt you this year, sweetheart?" asked Diana.
Spencer nodded, "The F.B.I. is refusing my resignation for another four months while I was given my own office to work in, the F.B.I. will pay for a nurse to help Olivia out when we finally get pregnant, while the F.B.I. will be paying for your medical care that isn't covered by health insurance for the next ten years in hopes of making me return to the B.A.U. more bearable for me."
"You couldn't say no to the government?" asked Diana.
"The F.B.I. is refusing to let me leave until the end of January, mom," said Spencer before deciding to change the topic, "Let's not talk about work right now."
Diana nodded before looking at her daughter-in-law, "Even though you've been telling me about your work at Georgetown University in your letters, please tell me about how much you're loving your job and what you're doing when you're not working at Georgetown University.
Olivia nodded as she started to tell her mother-in-law about the professors she's getting along with.
Two mornings later, Spencer who was reading a file exited the elevator only to find JJ and Emily.
JJ looked at Spencer, "Hey, where have you been? I wanted to do brunch this weekend," said JJ.
"Olivia and I spent the weekend in Las Vegas visiting my parents, Aunt Ethel, and Uncle Gordon since it was my last free weekend to visit my family without any cases interrupting my time with Olivia and my parents. Have you seen Garcia?" asked Spencer as he briskly walked away.
"Uh, she's with Rossi," said JJ before sighing as she looked at Emily with a sad look in her eyes, "He hates me."
Emily scoffed as she thought about how much of a right that Spencer had to be angry since he thought that he was having a schizophrenic break when he saw her during his honeymoon while knowing that Spencer ended up becoming more confident after Olivia came back into his life, "Mm, he was just busy. Let it go."
The next day, Spencer was walking to the conference room that he and the rest of his teammates were given to work in so he could grab some files so he could head to the hotel so he could keep his Skype session with his therapist when JJ quickly approached him.
"Spence. Look, we gotta talk about this," pleaded JJ.
Spencer continued to sort through the files as he spoke quietly, "I don't want to talk about it."
JJ decided to ignore Spencer's request, "I get it, OK? You're disappointed with the way we handled Emily."
"Listen, I have a lot going on, all right?" asked Spencer before he tried to walk away with a file.
JJ took a breath as she thought about wanting Spencer to hear her out, "You know what I think it is?" asked JJ.
Spencer turned around and snapped, "What?" asked Spencer.
"You're mad that Hotch and I controlled our micro-expressions at the hospital and you weren't able to detect our deception," said JJ.
Spencer started tears leaking in the corner of his eyes as he thought about JJ belittling his profiling skills when he has been a profiler for over seven years, "You think it's about my profiling skills? Jennifer, listen, the only reason you were able to manage my perceptions is that I trusted you while you also tried to break my wife and me up before I married the love of my life and not had the decency to tell me the truth."
"I couldn't," said JJ sadly.
"You couldn't? Or you wouldn't?" asked Spencer.
"No, I couldn't," said JJ firmly.
"When I ran into Emily during my honeymoon, I thought that I finally became a paranoid schizophrenic like my mom and I was," before JJ interrupted.
JJ shook her head, "You didn't have a schizophrenic break, Spence."
"I know since my wife forced both Hotch and Emily to clean up the mess that you, Hotch, and Emily caused so I wouldn't be institutionalized for the rest of my life like my mom," said Spencer before he thought about what he could say to finally get JJ to leave him alone as he yelled, "but I was also planning on committing suicide so I wouldn't have to lose nearly everything just like my mom did," said Spencer before storming off.
JJ's eyes went wide as she realized that the deception almost cost Spencer's life as tears started to leak through her eyes, "Spence."
Spencer turned around and threw his arms out as he glared at JJ who had tears leaking from the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry," said JJ.
"It's too late, all right," snapped Spencer before storming away while ignoring the fact that Morgan and Rossi now knew about what he almost did in Paris.
Emily who had a flashback to Olivia yelling at her about the possibility of Spencer going to end his life looked at Spencer, "Reid."
Spencer just ignored her as he went to find an officer to take him back to the hotel.
A few seconds later JJ looked at Hotch and Emily, "Did you two know that Spence was going to commit suicide just like my sister did?" asked JJ.
Hotch and Emily both nodded.
JJ instantly burst into tears, "Why didn't you two tell me?" asked JJ.
"The fewer people who knew the truth the better since we both didn't take Reid's mental health into consideration when we faked Prentiss's death and I wanted to protect Reid's personal and professional future by coming clean to the doctor that was in charge of his care in Paris," said Hotch.
Rossi noticed the officers who were watching them, "You should have waited until you were in a private place to confront Reid because you might have cost him his job by confronting him in a public place."
Hotch nodded in agreement, "You should have waited."
JJ released some tears, "I thought that I could get him to listen to me here since he's refusing to talk to me in the SUV or at the hotel."
Morgan looked at JJ, "Reid is mad at both Garcia and me for not including him on the search for Doyle even though he was busy preparing for his wedding, so it's going to take a long time for him to talk to any of us personally because you tried to break him and Olivia up before the wedding while you just belittled him on his profiling skills too."
Rossi's phone vibrated to see a text message from Spencer.
I'M HEADING TO THE HOTEL FOR A FEW HOURS SINCE I HAVE A SKYPE APPOINTMENT WITH MY THERAPIST. I DON'T WANT ANYONE BOTHERING ME UNTIL I'M READY TO RETURN TO THE STATION. ~ SR
Rossi quickly texted Spencer back.
TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED, KIDDO. I ALREADY TOLD JJ THAT SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE CONFRONTED YOU IN A POLICE STATION. ~ DR
"Was it Reid?" asked Hotch.
Rossi nodded as he pocketed his phone, "He has a Skype appointment with his therapist, so he's heading to the hotel for his Skype appointment. I told him to take all the time he needs."
"Thank you," said Hotch before looking at Morgan, "I know that you want to talk to Reid, but let him attend his Skype therapy session since he's required to have weekly therapy sessions whether he's on a case or not."
"Plus he'll most likely want to Skype with Olivia after his session since he deserves a few hours to cool down without us barging on him," said Rossi.
Hotch gave each team member a look, "When Reid returns, no one brings up what Reid mentioned," said Hotch before giving JJ a stern look, "And do not talk to Reid about anything but the case until we're back in Quantico."
"I understand," said JJ sadly.
"If complaints are made about what Reid said by this police department, you can either be demoted back to a media liaison or be fired and never be allowed to work for the government again," said Hotch before he stalked off to talk to the officers who overheard so he could fix the damage that could happen because of JJ not choosing to wait until they were in a private place to confront Spencer.
Over an hour and a half later at the hotel, Spencer smiled a bit when he saw Olivia's face on his laptop, "Hello, Livy," said Spencer.
Olivia quickly recognized the hotel room that Spencer was sharing with Rossi, "Shouldn't you be at the police department right now?" asked Olivia.
"Yes, but I just got done with a Skype therapy appointment since I had to pull myself from the case for a bit to keep my appointment with my therapist," said Spencer.
"How did that go?" asked Olivia.
"We talked about how angry I'm feeling and Riley Jenkins," said Spencer.
"Due to your father protecting your mother by burning her clothes that were full of blood after your mom watched Lou Jenkins kill Gary Michaels?" asked Olivia.
Spencer nodded, "Yes," said Spencer before sighing, "When I first started reconnecting with my father, it took six months for me to finally start forgiving him after I contracted a lung infection that almost killed me."
Olivia thought back to seeing Spencer coming back to CalTech after visiting his mom in Las Vegas with some cuts, bruises, and even a broken arm once causing her to tell Spencer that he should really think about getting his mother more help, "I understand that you couldn't forgive him for six months since he left you in a dangerous situation," said Olivia before seeing the tense look in her husband's eyes, "What happened today?" asked Olivia.
"After giving the profile, Jennifer decided to confront me about faking Emily's death in a crowded police department causing me to tell her that I was thinking about committing suicide after I saw Emily as my way to get her to leave me alone so I could head here for my therapy session," said Spencer as he recounted everything that he and JJ said.
After Spencer was done recounting the words, Olivia nodded, "I agree that Jennifer should have waited until you two were in a place where you two could talk privately. Even though you have been forced to stay in the B.A.U. for another four months, you can lose your job if any of the officers who witnessed yours and Jennifer's blowout end up reporting you for claiming that you were suicidal."
"At this rate, I don't care if I lose my job with the F.B.I. since I didn't want to return in the first place and we have plenty of money that would allow me to be a house husband for a long time while I'm almost done with my book," said Spencer before looking into his wife's eyes, "Do you believe that I have a right to be angry at Jennifer, Emily, and Hotch and no one should force me into forgiving them quickly?" asked Spencer.
Olivia nodded, "You have a right to be angry for as long as you like since you could have been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia if Emily and Aaron didn't follow my orders on cleaning up the mess they caused when we accidentally ran into Emily when we were told that she died," said Olivia before taking a deep breath, "Remember how angry I was when I was struggling to relearn how to walk after I lost my left leg to a Mojave rattlesnake bite?" asked Olivia.
Spencer nodded, "I allowed you to be angry for as long as you decided to be angry at the world since your life has been changed completely," said Spencer before he laid his eyes on the case file that was by his side causing him to rethink about the case.
Olivia noticed a look on her husband's face, "I can see the wheels turning in your brain, Doc."
"I think that my teammates and I got the profile wrong since we were thinking that the unsub might have a physical disability who's a typical homeless person who has used chemicals to burn his victims," said Spencer.
"You believe that the unsub has a disability that affects his mental state instead?" asked Olivia.
Spencer nodded, "Yes."
"My prosthetic leg sometimes scares both children and adults, so I always keep my prosthetic leg hidden with knee-high socks, jeans, long skirts, and western boots so everyone sees me as a math genius and not as an amputee," said Olivia.
"He's good with chemicals and owns a car while he should be smart enough to use his disability to his own advantage so he can come across as harmless," said Spencer.
"Go tell your teammates that so you can come home to me, but please don't participate in arresting the unsub yet since it's been three weeks since your appendectomy," said Olivia.
"I promise. I love you and thanks for listening to me," said Spencer.
"I love you too and your welcome," said Olivia before signing off.
A few minutes later Spencer was calling a cab to take him back to the police station.
The next night Spencer was sitting away from the rest of his team reading a book when Emily sat down across from him.
"So, the surgeon said he believes he can restore feeling to Tammy's hands," said Emily.
Spencer nodded, "Good. We got there in time."
"I heard Mr. Bradstone wants to watch the tape," said Emily.
"People have an innate curiosity to see things in order to confirm them," said Spencer quietly.
Emily smiled, "Oh, that explains why I'm going to Rossi's tomorrow night. I want to see if he really can cook. You coming?" asked Emily.
Spencer sighed as he thought about how busy the next day was going to be for him since he and Olivia were going to attend Mass before they spend time with Edmund, Danielle, Abigail, Brayden, and baby Spencer, "I don't know. I'm not so sure I can make it."
Emily sighed as she forced Spencer to put his book down and look at her, "Look, Reid, I know you're mad at us because we didn't tell you what really happened while you thought that you were having a schizophrenic break when you saw me when you were on your honeymoon. But I promise you, we had no choice. You mourned the loss of a friend. I mourned the loss of six," said Emily before sighing as she gave Spencer a pleading look, "This whole thing gave me an ulcer. Please don't give me another one."
After a moment of silence, Emily looked at Spencer again, "Are you gonna go to Rossi's tomorrow?" asked Emily.
Spencer bit his tongue as he thought about the anger he's been feeling due to Emily just trying to blackmail him emotionally, "We'll see."
A few hours later Spencer stepped into his and Olivia's house to find Olivia asleep on the couch while her crutches were laying on the floor causing him to realize that his wife wasn't wearing her prosthetic leg causing him to gently shake his wife awake, "Please wake up, Livy," said Spencer.
Olivia woke up and smiled at her husband, "Welcome home."
Spencer kissed his wife, "I missed you."
"Me too," said Olivia before noticing the hint of anger in her husband's eyes, "What's wrong?" asked Olivia.
"Even though I found out that none of the officers reported me for admitting that I thought about committing suicide, Emily emotionally blackmailed me during the flight home," said Spencer as he quickly told his wife about what Emily said to him during the flight home and the cooking lesson that Rossi told him about when they were heading to the motel that the last victim was abducted from.
When Spencer was finished, Olivia looked at her husband, "Emily didn't lose six friends since she was able to come home as soon as Doyle was arrested."
"That's what I was thinking, but I kept my mouth shut," said Spencer.
Olivia took a breath, "Even though I believe that you and the team should attend counseling together instead of having a cooking lesson, it's going to be your choice if you choose to go to the cooking lesson or not."
"I know," said Spencer.
"If you do decide to go and you choose to consume onions, you will need to take a shower, brush your teeth, and change your clothes before you're allowed to touch me if David forces everyone to use the original recipe even though he allowed us not to use onions when I told him that I'm allergic to food that's in the allium family."
"Since your allergic to onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, scallions, and chives and Emily just emotionally blackmailed me into coming, I'm not going to go since I rather spend all day tomorrow with you, Edmund, Danielle, and our niece and nephews," said Spencer.
Olivia smiled a bit, "Well it might be a good idea that you're not going to go."
"Why?" asked Spencer.
"Since you've been given the all-clear to have sex again, I went to the doctor while you were in Durant to make sure that I'm healthy enough to have a baby. My doctor did an ovulation prediction test, and I was told that based on my cycle I should be ovulating from tomorrow through your 30th birthday on the 9th," said Olivia.
"Even though we've been married for eight weeks, are you ready?" asked Spencer.
"If I want to make sure that I'm healed from giving birth and return to work by the start of the fall semester next year; tomorrow through October 9th will be the best time for you to try and get me pregnant since I won't be working during summer break next year," said Olivia before taking a deep breath, "If you're not ready to be a father by June or July of next year, we'll have to wait almost another year."
"Why?" asked Spencer.
"I need to be fair to all my students who are paying thousands of dollars to work under me during either the fall or spring semester and not disappoint them by being forced to take a sabbatical for one semester because of my due date, so we need to try for a baby during the next week or we wait until September of next year to try for a baby so I could give birth and recover during the summer of 2013 and be recovered by Labor Day," said Olivia.
Spencer nodded, "I understand. My mom was forced to take the fall of 1981 semester off to give birth to me and recover."
"Your mother was the one to give me the advice on planning the conception date so I can give birth between graduation in May and the 4th of July so I don't have to take a full semester off," said Olivia.
Spencer smiled at his wife, "We might as well start trying tomorrow evening."
"Now let's go get some sleep so we can be well-rested for Mass tomorrow morning," said Olivia.
A few seconds later Olivia was letting Lafayette outside one last time while Spencer took a quick shower before they went to bed with Lafayette sleeping between them.
The next day after Mass, Spencer looked at Rossi who decided to join in on attending Mass with them, "Can we talk in private before my wife and I spend time with our niece and nephews?" asked Spencer.
"Is it about what I overheard Emily say to you during the flight home?" asked Rossi.
Spencer nodded, "Yes."
A few minutes later Spencer and Rossi were sitting in Rossi's car when Spencer looked at Rossi, "I know that I'm going to upset you and the rest of the team, but I'm not going to go to your cooking lesson because I'm not happy with Emily emotionally blackmailing me into coming, I'm allowed to be angry for as long as I want, I know that you're going to let the team use allium ingredients and I can't put Olivia at risk even if I can shower, brush my teeth, and change my clothes before I go near Olivia, and Olivia already told me that she made plans for me at the time the cooking lesson is supposed to happen before I got home last night since last night was our eight-week wedding anniversary."
"After what Emily said last night, I already had an inkling that you aren't going to be coming last night," said Rossi.
"Are you upset that I'm not going to come?" asked Spencer.
Rossi shook his head, "After how much Emily's 'death' affected you, you have a right to be angry for as long as you want while you deserve to spend every free moment you have with Olivia so your marriage doesn't end up in divorce like Aaron's and my first two marriages did because of our job," said Rossi before giving Spencer a look, "Even though I'm giving you a pass on attending, you and Olivia better be working on giving me a grandchild to make up for not coming tonight."
Spencer blushed a bit, "I promise."
"I'll also make sure to give JJ and Emily some choice words I've been thinking of since JJ confronted you in a crowded police station since they shouldn't be forcing you into forgiving them while I'll be arranging the team to go through counseling together," said Rossi before smiling a bit as he glanced towards Olivia who was waiting for Spencer while she held baby Spencer with a wistful look on her face as she looked at baby Spencer before looking at Spencer, "Now go enjoy the rest of the day with your family and I'll make sure that none of the team ruins your romantic evening with Olivia tonight."
A few minutes later Spencer, Olivia, Edmund, Danielle, Abigail, Brayden, and baby Spencer were going out for lunch before Spencer and Olivia took Abigail and Brayden to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum because of Abigail and Brayden both being 11 and currently reading "Number the Stars" in school as the required reading for fifth-graders while baby Spencer took a nap.
The next evening, Spencer and Olivia were belatedly celebrating being married for eight weeks by cooking a romantic dinner together before they spent the next couple of hours having sex for the first time since the night before Spencer's appendectomy.
A/N: In real life, a family court judge will consider the work hours that both parents work before he/she determines who gets primary custody while I've been told that grandparents do have a right to refuse on helping out their children raise their grandchildren depending on the circumstances. When my parents divorced, my mom got primary custody because of my dad working third shift and couldn't leave three teenagers home alone every night to work so what happens to Henry is based on what happened to my brothers and me even though Will gets primary custody instead of JJ.