A/N: Meeting the family (Part One).

P.S. I've described Luke's heritage as his father being half Puerto Rican and half Cuban while his mother's family is from Puerto Rico, the reason for this is to match the actor Adam Rodriguez who plays Luke. Also in this story Spencer hasn't officially 'learned' piano, I know in the end of the episode 'Coda' Spencer can be briefly seen buying a keyboard but it never comes up again so I'm using my creative licence, plus it was not long before the Emily/Doyle scenario so I think the idea that he may have never stopped to practice isn't too much of a leap.

Chapter Twenty One

My Boyfriend's a Genius By The Way

"You nervous?" Luke asked as the pair walked up the garden path, the entire drive he'd seemed calm and only curious about who he would be meeting, but as they arrived at the Alvez family home he could see the telling signs of anxiety taking over his precious genius. The fingers that tapped, he worried his bottom lip in thought and kept trailing off, not as easily coaxed into an enthusiastic ramble as he usually was.

"Yes, I am completely nervous" Spencer admitted, knowing there was no point in trying to hide it.

Luke chuckled, glad at least his lover was being honest, "you'll do great, Mari's already been singing your praises and it's a full house, I'm sure my nieces and nephews will grab most of the attention." Spencer nodded, he still felt anxiety but did his best, no turning back now and honestly he felt really warmed by Luke wanting him to meet the family, he'd never gotten to that part of any relationship before. In the car he'd read some 'good luck' texts and messages and while considerate his mind couldn't help but run through just all the reasons he might need so much luck to start with.

The house was lovely, it wasn't where Luke had grown up as he'd been born in the Bronx originally and this was clearly a home bought in retirement to have the grandchildren visit and have the family around. The snow covered the garden but from the shrubs and trees the garden was well kept, very homely and inviting even if Reid was feeling the nervous butterflies in his stomach. Before Spencer could speak again or either could knock the door started to open, the spit of Mariana only older could be seen with a warm smile, Luke's mother Lilliana, her thick dark hair with with only a few silver strands adding to her loveliness. Her brown eyes lit up as she said "I thought I heard talking out here, welcome home, Luke" she said before giving the man a hug, Luke smiled and said a "hey ma" returning the hug too.

After greeting her son she waved hello to Spencer "hi sweetheart," she welcomed, everything in her demeanour was warm "it's so nice to finally meet you, Luke told us about the handshake thing, come on in" her tone cheery and understanding and Spencer hadn't expected her to have been told that never mind observe his boundaries so acceptingly. Truth be told he would have endured it for the sake of appearances, even if it got his nerves worse, the people he was meeting worth feeling uncomfortable around at first but to see her be so considerate he felt a lot better.

"Thanks, it's good to meet you too…" Spencer said, his voice a little quiet as nerves got the better of him.

As the couple entered the house and out of the cold Luke gave Spencer a private smile to reassure him and it reminded him of why he was here in the first place, it was a privilege to meet the family and to be welcomed by them. By the time Spencer had closed the door behind him he saw Luke getting the masculine shoulder pat hug from his father Anthony and instantly he could see the similarities in them, just where Luke got his jaw, his nose and his frame. The man was half Puerto Rican and half Cuban though he was born in mainland US and with Lilliana's heritage also from Puerto Rico it was no surprise to hear other voices in the house speaking fluent Spanish.

"Muy buenos, Spencer" the father said and gave a respectful nod, also respecting his personal space with a smile that looked so much like Luke's it warmed his heart a little.

"Good morning, thanks so much for having me" the genius managed to get out more confidently this time.

Instantly a nosey nephew skidded on slippery socks over the hardwood floors into the hallway, no more than seven with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt on and holding a plastic light sabre, the sight bringing a smile to the couple's faces. "Uncle Luke!" the boy said excitedly before practically tackling said man around his middle, Luke just chuckled and gave the kid's hair an affectionate ruffle "hey Josh, you've gotten so big, hey…I want you to meet Spencer, my boyfriend" he introduced and gestured to him. The boy gasped and adorably the first thing out of his mouth was "Auntie Mari says you're like Einstein!"

The adults chuckled and the boy's mother Alicia was following shortly behind, she flashed a smile at the newly arrived pair but didn't interrupt as Spencer replied to Josh "did she say that? What a compliment" and gave a smile.

"Are you really as smart as Einstein?" the boy asked bluntly, just curious in ways that didn't necessarily leave room for tact but luckily Spencer could answer with confidence.

"Well being smart is relative…" he started but controlled his want to ramble and answered "but actually Einstein is thought to have had an IQ of 160 and I have an IQ of 187." Instantly the boy looked impressed and shocked, a "whoa" escaping the child before he ran off into the living room again likely to tell his siblings what he'd just learned.

Luke's father could hear sometimes, the loss of hearing in one ear from incidents in work so when the room was chatty or busy people knew to sign, usually along with saying the words aloud and luckily in the hallway he could hear just fine. This however didn't weigh in on why Anthony signed to Luke asking if the IQ number thing was true and both Luke and Spencer signed back in unison 'yes' - answering the question in more ways than one. The father instantly smiled realising he'd been caught doubting the genius through sign language but could only smile at Luke's impressive partner.

After entering the main living room and saying a proper hello to Alicia, Mariana practically jogged to hug with both boys, the contact brief and from meeting her before Spencer's nerves didn't flare up badly, immediately she said hello and introduced her fiancé, Eduardo. The man was seriously tall but friendly, and as Luke greeted him he mentioned that Spencer doesn't really do handshakes like it was no big deal before introducing him properly, turns out having Luke as a social buffer did wonders to avoid awkwardness.

In a blur Spencer went from being nervously by the front door to having met all three sisters Mariana from before, Alicia and Gabriela, their partners from fiancé Eduardo, and husbands Benjamin and Matthew, one cousin Paola was in the house with her husband Alexander and then the small army of children between the three pairs of parents. And that is how the flurry of names and faces passed by, luckily Spencer's eidetic memory serving him well given the sizeable family, the comparison to his own the stark contrast given it was just him and his mother really.

After some initial chit chat there came the inevitable questions about them as a couple, the family also specifically trying to get to know him and the mother playing hostess making sure everyone had teas and coffees, juice for the children and nipping to the kitchen preparing a lunch for everyone. Luke's father and sisters more than happy to talk and make conversation, and Spencer luckily wasn't left to twiddle his thumbs at any point especially as the children were very curious about him. Josh and a little girl by the name of Maya with adorable freckles the two most active in saying hello and after a while conversation became the children testing him with questions or exploring the first super-human genius they'd ever seen in real life.

"What is thirteen times three hundred and seventy nine?" asked Maya confidently, surely he wouldn't get the answer and not quickly but such expectations were dashed when Spencer took no time at all to reply "four thousand nine hundred and twenty seven". Immediately the kids were in awe and it was Eduardo who used his phone to immediately check the math, "wow, he's right" the man said in disbelief.

"You doubted him" Luke teased smugly.

Then as if it could could get even more impressive Spencer was curious how the children knew he had gotten the answer right and not just answered randomly, so he asked "did you ask me that sum in particular because it's the one Matilda answers in the movie?"

"Wow!" Maya said, her little hands in her hair, mind blown by the man's incredible brain. Alicia's jaw dropped as she informed "we just watched Matilda this morning before we left…and it's Maya's favourite…" the adults just as amazed as the children, perhaps more so given all the worldly experience in their collective lives couldn't even begin to comprehend a brain like his.

"How does he even exist?" Gabriela asked jokingly, clearly her tone just as wowed as the rest and Mariana was quick to reply "the better question is how did Luke convince him to go on a dat-" her sibling teasing interrupted by Lilliana whom had joined the room a couple minutes ago hearing more than enough before leaning towards her son and saying "oh Luke, he's incredible." Luke couldn't help but smile, glad his family could see Spencer for how wonderful and incredible as he was. Then for all of that brilliance to not be snobbish too, for him to happily answer the children's random questions covering everything from dinosaurs to hiccups.

"How many stars are in the galaxy?" Josh asked, bouncing on his tip toes excitedly.

Nobody in the room expected of all people to answer that it would be Luke, the ex-ranger confidently saying "roughly one hundred thousand million" and when the children looked to their uncle in surprise they then shifted back to Spencer who told them it was the right answer. The whole room suddenly finding it either surprising or funny, none of them aware that Luke knew the figure from Spencer's poem, it was the first line of it and he had read it so many times of course he had it memorised. Mariana didn't know that however, and in classic sibling fashion she teased "you getting smarter by osmosis?" and the room filled with laughter.

Lunch had been served and Spencer was finally a lot more relaxed, a couple of times Luke even reached out to squeeze his hand reassuringly or gave him a peck to the cheek sweetly and he felt a lot better. In the short time spent there he could see where the friendliness and sense of humour came from, very much a family trait, and Spencer got to talking with Anthony about literature, in his retirement he had taken to reading the classics and the man was clearly made joyful by the fact that Spencer could not only speak Spanish but also sign fluently, especially as while several of the in-laws may speak Spanish but no other partner but Spencer could sign.

Luke meanwhile was getting slipped all sorts of curious questions and congratulations on the amazing boyfriend, getting enough teasing about how lucky he was but he had to agree and equally teased his sister's lives. The house smelled of cinnamon and the christmas tree stood proudly in the corner of the room and the children were playing games which just made the whole place feel so cozy. There was a sudden lull when Lilliana entered next to an elderly woman, no doubt Luke's grandmother, and she barely even looked around the room instead she just walked through it to get to the sunroom, Spencer able to catch her mumbling in Spanish words to the effect of 'oh please, just because I sleep like the dead you get all panicky…" and while dark it was rather funny to hear.

The woman was elderly and was taking more and more naps, for her advanced age she looked well but Luke had mentioned that she went through times of the day where she basically ignored people until she woke up fully. She was a funny woman and had always taken a shine to Luke out of her grandchildren and could say quite pointed things, apparently the first thing she'd said to Eduardo after meeting him was 'I'm too sleepy to talk to the human lighthouse…' dismissing him both out of an understandable tiredness and a not so warranted joke about his tallness.

Rolling her eyes, Luke's mother tried to steer grandma into the room but to no avail, instead from the sounds of things the elderly woman had started to play the piano in the other room very nicely. Luke smiled and gestured for Spencer to walk with him, the pair joined Lilliana to go see Grandma away from the main room. Lilliana tried to introduce Spencer but was only given silence, the woman engrossed in playing a ditty, and apologised to him that she wasn't being her most polite self. Spencer quick to reply "no apologies needed" as he listened to her play, it wasn't anything he'd heard before but it was very pretty. Luke tried next to get her attention and again she seemed entirely focused on the piano, her eyes near closed she was practically asleep which was sweet.

Spencer decided whether she answered or not there was no harm in spending some time with her so he stepped closer and said "that's lovely, what song is it?" and again there was no reply. Watching her fingers the eidetic memory was able to quickly memorise the notes as sections were repeated "do you mind if I join you?"

To everyone's surprise she did pause proving at least to that she had listened and on the bench she shuffled along the seat leaving room for Reid to join her, Lilliana and Luke watched on as Spencer sat next to Grandma with a respectful smile before timing it just right to press the keys along with her, matching her song despite never hearing it before or frankly Spencer never formally learning piano. During the sections that weren't repeated Spencer only played the repeated base notes that continued throughout and as she neared the end her nimble fingers cheekily showed off a little, an almost jazzy spin on what she had been playing and the older woman could be heard giggling.

After the room went silent Grandma turned to look directly at the guest and her lifetime of wrinkles went from a look of tiredness to something bright as she smiled, her brown eyes opening wider like she had finally fully woken up and taking in the sight of Spencer for the first time "who is this pretty thing?" she asked and before anyone could respond she reached out and pinched his cheek. While Spencer did stall at the contact he couldn't find it in himself to mind, especially with her friendly and complimentary question.

"Hi, I'm Spencer, it's nice to finally meet you, Luke cares for you a great deal…" he said making sure to introduce himself again despite his boyfriend's and Lilliana's attempts to do so already.

"Oh, you are Luke's boyfriend" she recalled, her voice sweet "he got himself a lovely one, and smart too, he said you were a doctor?" she rambled, suddenly very animated and her eyes travelling over him curiously just trying to get a good look at him.

"Yes," he smiled "I have PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering."

The woman let out a laugh, it was delicate and definitely cheeky as she joked "is that all?"

Deciding to answer her joke with unabashed confidence Spencer said "actually I also have BAs in Psychology and Sociology, I'm also working on Philosophy at the moment" and as her brown eyes read him, checking to see he was sincere and her smile didn't move, it only widened she had made her assessment and looked him right into those hazel eyes.

"You're a good one" she decided.

"Thank you."

Grandma asked if Spencer knew certain songs to play and they agreed on one to share, four hands returned to the piano and started playing again and something very impressive, meanwhile Luke and his mother watched on in a stunned silence. Never had Grandma taken to a guest, hell even some blood family, anywhere as well or easily as she did to the genius and it made both smile. "To think he was so nervous meeting all of you" Luke whispered so only his mother could hear and the woman practically beamed at her son.

"We're very glad you brought him," she said honestly before she found herself looking at her son. Luke for years had been a man of short answers, somewhat aloof or private, then this young man comes into his life and his heart seems to much more open, and he looked happier. "You know you've never looked more like your father…" she mused aloud and Luke just let that sink in, his father a good role model, a hopeless romantic and very sweet, for the longest time he hadn't thought they had much in common other than the military background…but now he knew all he needed was the right person.

"People keep telling me that…" he replied and then smirked "you wanna hear another genius thing about him?" he offered.

"Of course" Lilliana said with an enthused smile.

"…Spencer's never actually learned piano…" and rather than remain in the dumbstruck awe they both just started giggling, no end in sight to the man's talents.

Quote: "The piano ain't got no wrong notes."

― Thelonious Monk