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 fishtrek, Fashionista7, criminalmindsrocks, Kelsie, Daisyangel for reviewing chapter 33.
I have three words for you faithful readers, sinus infections suck. I currently caught a sinus infection that kept me from writing yesterday since I had a fever, stuffy nose, runny nose, and a headache which caused me to not even open up my laptop while I saw a doctor who told me to take decongestants and use a nasal spray. Thankfully as someone who has a bleeding disorder, I don't nose bleeds while I'm feeling much better now even though I had to cancel the date to a local historical village I was supposed to visit with my boyfriend of seven-months today.
Kelsie: If you reread chapter 19, you would know that Arthur is about 16-17 minutes older than Violet.
This chapter starts on November 4th of 2007, so Violet and Arthur are now six-months-old.
Spencer looked at Violet as he stripped his daughter down to her diaper, "Since you enjoyed the scrambled eggs that your grandma Mary cooked for you this morning, are you ready to eat pureed baby food so you can eventually start eating what your mommy, grandparents, Aunt Stephanie, and I eat for lunch or dinner, flower?" asked Spencer.
Violet grinned at her father as she clapped her hands, "Aye."
Maeve finished stripping down her son, "Now let's have you eat some baby food so you can continue growing big and strong like your daddy, Arthur."
Arthur smiled at his mother, "Mama. Mama. Mama."
After Violet and Arthur were strapped into their high chairs, Maeve looked at her husband, "Should we film Violet and Arthur trying baby food for the first time?" asked Maeve.
Spencer nodded, "And I email the video to our relatives?" asked Spencer.
Maeve nodded, "Yes."
A few minutes later Spencer was filming Maeve feeding Violet and Arthur jars of various baby food that consisted of the flavors spaghetti in tomato sauce and beef sauce, carrots, peas, and bananas.
20 minutes later Spencer turned off the video camera as he gave an amused look at Maeve whose face, hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, and her blouse was covered with baby food while Violet and Arthur were covered head to toe in baby food because of occasionally turning their heads causing their mother to miss their mouths, "You three need a bath," said Spencer.
Maeve nodded, "I know."
Joe laughed as he started using some wipes on his grandchildren, "Just wait until Violet and Arthur are old enough to start feeding themselves. You and Johnathon had so many food fights with your food, Maeve."
Stephanie thought about all the home videos her mother had of her that she was able to show her brother, "Did ever film any of those food fights?" asked Stephanie.
"I did, so we'll watch them later on tonight," said Joe.
While I take a shower, you four can decide which of you two will give Violet and Arthur a bath and which of you two will clean up the kitchen."
"While my daughter cleans herself up, who wants to bathe Violet and Arthur and who wants to clean up the kitchen?" asked Mary.
"Stephanie and I will give Violet and Arthur a bath," said Spencer.
"Joe and I will clean up the kitchen," said Mary.
"After Violet, Arthur, and Maeve are all freshly bathed and the kitchen is cleaned up, can we get out of the house for a few hours before we go over to Aunt Erin's for dinner?" asked Stephanie.
Maeve nodded, "Since it's not too cold out today, we can go to Rock Creek Park and take some photos of Violet and Arthur to celebrate them turning six-months-old today."
Violet looked at her father, "Otch. Otch. Otch."
Spencer shook his head as he thought about his unit chief being one of Violet's favorite men aside from his father-in-law and himself, "I guess Violet has spoken about wanting to see her godfather," said Spencer before thinking about Hotch and Haley coming up with a custody agreement with a lawyer since Hotch and Haley were both at fault for their impending divorce since Haley was cheating on her husband while Hotch would be away for days at a time or come home late, "Since Hotch has Jack until 5 P.M., maybe we should see if Jack wants to play with Violet and Arthur before Jack goes back to Haley."
Maeve smiled, "Please call Aaron as soon as you and Stephanie get Violet and Arthur cleaned up, Spencer."
Spencer nodded, "I will," said Spencer before grinning a bit as he thought about already sending his mom a video of Violet and Arthur eating scrambled eggs for the first time after breakfast at 8 A.M. even though his mother hasn't called him to tell him that her doctor showed her the video, "I'll also email my mom's doctor the video of Violet and Arthur eating baby food for the first time too."
A few minutes later Spencer and Stephanie were giving Violet and Arthur a bath, Maeve was taking a shower, while Mary and Joe were cleaning up the kitchen from their lunch.
90 minutes later, Violet and Arthur who had fallen asleep during their bath were taking a nap in their nursery and Stephanie was working on her homework when the land-line rang causing Spencer to answer his phone, "Hello?" asked Spencer.
"Hello, sweetheart," said Diana.
"I take it that you've been shown the videos of Violet and Arthur eating scrambled eggs and baby food for the first time?" asked Spencer.
"I have and the video of my grandchildren getting baby food all over their mother and themselves got Dr. Norman and me laughing while I had to show the video to my friends," said Diana before sighing, "I can't believe how big my grandchildren are getting."
"They turned six-months-old today, mom," said Spencer.
"Where are my grandchildren now? I want to hear them babble and laugh like they were in those two home videos you emailed to Dr. Jesson this morning," said Diana.
"They're currently taking a nap while Maeve, my in-laws, and me do some light cleaning and Stephanie works on her homework," said Spencer.
"That's OK," said Diana.
"With the three-minute call time limit you have, we can always call you back later so you can talk to your grandchildren," said Spencer.
"I'll be waiting for your call. After Violet and Arthur wake up, what you, Maeve, and my grandchildren going to do?" asked Diana.
"Aside from planning on having dinner with Aunt Erin this evening, Violet wants to spend time with her godfather since she was saying Otch, so my unit chief who has his son Jack for the weekend is going to meet up with Maeve, Violet, Arthur, Stephanie, and me at the Smithsonian Zoo," said Spencer.
"Since it's early November, you and Maeve better be bundling up my grandchildren," said Diana.
"We will be, mom," said Spencer.
"I have to get going, so I love you, please keep on sending me letters and pictures and stay safe if you get another adventure to go on," said Diana.
"I love you too and I promise," said Spencer before hanging up.
Later on that afternoon at 2 P.M., Spencer smiled as the newly turned two-year-old Jack ran over to them at the Smithsonian National Zoo.
"Unca P," said Jack as he hugged Spencer's legs.
Spencer swooped up Jack, "How are you doing, Jack?" asked Spencer.
"Daddy says I get to see elepant," said Jack.
"Elephant," corrected Spencer.
Hotch smiled as he shook his head, "At this rate, Jack is going to become a genius like you if you keep on giving me books while you correct every word he mispronounced."
"Even though he just turned two a week ago, he's advanced for his age," said Spencer.
"Thanks to all the time I made you spend with him to end the Reid-Effect," deadpanned Hotch.
Violet who was in a double stroller with her twin brother grinned when she saw Jack, "Ack!"
Jack grinned when he saw Violet and Arthur, "Hi, Vio-let. Hi, Artur."
Hotch smiled at his godchildren, "I heard that you wanted to see me, Violet."
Violet grinned as drool from the new tooth she was cutting in dribbled down her chin, "Otch. Otch. Otch. Otch."
A few minutes later Spencer, Maeve, Violet, Arthur, Stephanie, Hotch, and Jack were walking around the Smithsonian National Zoo while Spencer and Hotch took turns carrying Violet who refused to be in the stroller while Spencer told Jack a bunch of facts and statistics about every animal they saw.
Later on that night, Spencer and Maeve were watching Violet and Arthur sleep in their cribs for a few minutes before they left the twins' nursery and headed to their own bedroom.
"I can't believe that they're finally six-months-old," sighed Spencer.
"Me too," said Maeve before looking into her husband's eyes, "Even though we agreed to wait until Violet and Arthur have been a year old for a few months to try for another baby or two, would you believe it that I want to stop taking my birth control pills so you to get me pregnant again?" asked Maeve.
"I do," said Spencer before sighing, "Even though I'm pretty much back to my old pre-Hankel self: I'm still going to therapy for PTSD, I'm adjusting to having a 12-year-old half-sister, and I'm still grieving for Gideon."
"It might be better to wait," finished Maeve.
"With us both being 26, we still have plenty of time to have more kids," said Spencer.
"I know," said Maeve.
"But if I get you pregnant before we're ready, I'll be happy about becoming us becoming parents again," said Spencer.
"Me too," said Maeve before looking at her husband, "Do you want me to stop taking my pill so we can see if I get pregnant again or not?" asked Maeve.
"It's your body, so it's your choice on whether you want to stop taking birth control so you can have another baby," said Spencer.
Maeve grinned, "Well it's a good thing I choose to take my birth control pills at bedtime instead of the morning, so I won't take the pill while I'm getting ready for bed since I'm supposed to be ovulating this week."
"I support your decision," said Spencer.
A minute later Spencer and Maeve had locked their bedroom door and were ripping their clothes off of each other while not caring that buttons from Spencer's dress shirt and Maeve's blouse were flying all over the room before they were furiously kissing each other as they slowly made it to their bed.
The next evening, Spencer was sitting on the edge of Morgan's desk talking about "Star Wars" as he told Morgan about one of his favorite movies as he thought about wondering if he would be able to eat the dinner that Maeve was keeping warm for him or he'll not be able to help tuck in Violet and Arthur as he thought about a car bomb in Montana being the reason why he wasn't able to go home yet, "A popular theory among leading astrophysicists estimates that the hyper-matter reactor would need about 10 to the 32nd jewels of energy to destroy a planet the size of the Earth. Now, Lucas said it took 19 years to build the first death star, right? But if you look at the new essential chronology, there's a testbed prototype for a super laser that spans…," rambled Spencer just as Morgan got up, "Where are you goin'?" asked Spencer.
"Taking back the last five minutes of my life," said Morgan as he headed to Rossi's empty office.
Spencer realized where Morgan was going, "You can't go in there. In my house, no one enters a bedroom that's isn't their own without permission."
"Don't you want to know about this guy?" asked Morgan.
Emily quickly got up from her desk, "I do."
"Got it all memorized... His books, his bio," said Spencer.
"Yeah, books have sold over a million copies," said Morgan as he gestured with his hand.
"So?" asked Spencer.
"There are a million reasons not to come back if you know what I'm sayin'," said Morgan.
A few seconds later Emily and Morgan were looking around Rossi's office while Spencer stood outside the doorway of Gideon's old office.
Emily studied the color of the walls in Rossi's office, "Huh. Taupe walls. That's a negative color. Cold, distant. You know, emotionally, taupe is linked to loneliness and the desire to escape from the world."
Morgan looked at the empty walls in Rossi's office, "I just figured the guy's walls would be covered with plaques and commendations."
"Huh. Maybe he doesn't want to be reminded of past victories. It's a new chapter for him," said Emily.
Spencer looked at his surroundings before entering Rossi's office, "What happened to the moratorium on inter-team profiling, guys?" asked Spencer.
Morgan looked at Spencer, "Come on, Reid, team? I don't think this guy knows the meaning of the word," said Morgan as he pulled a painting out of a box, "Oh, I found something. Looks like some type of religious art. Original, maybe? Definitely expensive."
Spencer took the artwork from Morgan causing him to think about his mom, "It's Renaissance art. If that's original...," said Spencer.
"Is it?" asked Emily.
Spencer examined the artwork, "I don't know, it's kinda hard to tell. Means he's into the classics,."
"What else?" asked Morgan as he didn't even realize that Rossi was nearby.
"Uh, Italian, Strict Catholic upbringing. Probably believes in redemption," said Spencer.
At that moment Rossi who had been hiding outside of his office and listened to his teammates' profile decided to alert his presence while being impressed that Spencer was mostly spot on about him, "Well, I believe in a lot of things. Catholic, yes. Italian-American, 52 years. Strict upbringing, not so much. Now, the artwork, that's 15th century, original. Cost more than my first house. And as for the wall color, it's just a base coat. Painters will come in and finish tomorrow," said an amused Rossi as he saw Spencer's, Morgan's, and Emily's guilty expressions, "Now, if you're all finished, I think JJ and Hotch are ready for us," said Rossi before looking at Morgan, "Isn't that how a team works?" asked Rossi.
A few hours later, Spencer had enjoyed eating the penne pasta that Maeve and his mother-in-law kept warm for him, helped bathe Violet and Arthur before tucking the twins into their cribs, and looked over his sister's homework was locking his and Maeve's bedroom door before he pulled Maeve into a heated kiss as they undressed each other as they slowly walked to their bed.
The next morning Emily looked at Spencer who was already working on a geographical profile to help him pass the time during the long flight, "You know, I could have gotten you a coloring book at the airport," said Emily.
"I would have just saved the coloring book for when Violet and Arthur are old enough to learn how to color," deadpanned Spencer before looking at his teammates, "I'm creating a topographical map, weighing down and geocoding all key locations looking for algorithms."
Emily opened her mouth, "Yeah. That's exactly what I thought you were doing."
Hotch who was making himself a cup of tea decided to explain the type of geographical profile he asked Spencer to make, "It's called a jeopardy surface. It's a way of narrowing down where the unsub could reside."
"And by default, where he may be stashing Angela Miller," said Spencer as he continued to work on his map.
Morgan looked at the file that he was reading, "You know, it says here the guy had a fully loaded gun, so we know he had options. Why the grenade?" asked Morgan.
Hotch sat down while Spencer opened up a file.
"He wants to be remembered. And he wanted to be sure To take as many cops with him as possible. He knows he's outgunned. So he waits. Times it to the last second. Boom! There are some very committed people in those parts," said Rossi.
"Who loves their firepower," said Hotch.
"Almost as much as they hate us," said Rossi.
"Militia," said Morgan.
"And they're heavily armed," said Spencer.
Emily looked at Spencer, "Yeah, but hand grenades?" asked Emily.
"It's not uncommon for militia members to have military experience. Oftentimes, they resent the structure and they get discharged, and they form their own paramilitary governments," said Spencer.
JJ looked up from her cell phone, "Dental records are on their way to Garcia. I'll tell her to check the military first."
"Prentiss and I will go meet the husband," said Hotch.
"I can walk the other abduction sights," said Morgan.
"Everybody else, set up base, work on geographical profiles. Establish contact with the locals, and tread carefully. They'll be watching us," said Hotch seriously.
As they were heading to the house, Spencer looked at Rossi, "Here's a heads up that I have a latex allergy and carry an EpiPen, so if you're going to be wearing any latex gloves please don't touch me," said Spencer.
Rossi nodded, "I understand. Any other allergies I need to worry about?" asked Rossi.
"I'm allergic to Beta-lactams, so if I ever end up in the hospital again and you need to give the nurses some medical information please tell them that I'm allergic to Beta-lactams," said Spencer.
"Hospital again?" asked Rossi.
"When Maeve was 24-weeks pregnant with Violet and Arthur, I was abducted and held hostage for over two days by a serial killer an hour away from Atlanta, Georgia," said Spencer as he briefly told Rossi about his abduction, the torture that briefly killed him, and having to save himself from Hankel without mentioning the Dilaudid.
When Spencer was done explaining what happened, Rossi looked at him, "It's admirable that you were able to recover and still work this job," said Rossi.
"Aside from being on medical leave for six weeks to go to rehab and go to therapy, I dealt with severe PTSD during my first few weeks back at work. Thankfully I was pretty much back to my old self by the time Maeve went into labor when she was 36-weeks pregnant," said Spencer before sighing, "I'm required to talk to a therapist once a month now while I need to attend NA meetings and do random drug tests."
"You developed an addiction to drugs?" asked Rossi.
Spencer shook his head, "Hotch realized that I was drugged against my will with Dilaudid over six times when he was hugging me and he refused to let me ruin my life by developing a drug addiction. After spending a week in the hospital, I ended up spending two weeks in a rehabilitation center for two weeks for intense counseling while the therapist at the rehabilitation center suggested that I adopt a dog and exercise more to reduce the chance of cravings for Dilaudid."
Spencer got out of the front passenger seat of an SUV, and a minute later Spencer was knocking on the door when an older man opened up the door and looked at Spencer.
"What the hell do you want? Can't you read?" asked the manager.
"I'm not a salesman, I'm with the FBI," said Spencer as he pulled out his badge and showed it.
"FBI? You're not serious," said the manager as he gave Spencer a once over causing him to notice that Spencer was too skinny for his height while noticing the gold wedding band on the young agent's finger, "You look like a pipe cleaner with eyes. I could snap you like a twig."
At that moment Rossi decided to appear while being impressed that Spencer wasn't upset about what the manager said, "But then, he isn't alone. We're here because this was the address listed for Francis Goehring."
"I haven't seen him in months," said the manager.
"We'd like to see his residence. Francis Goehring abducted three women. We're looking for a fourth," said Rossi as he held up a picture of Angela as he spoke firmly, "He took her while her husband and son were in a store. This isn't about us, it's about a woman from your community."
"I'll show you his place," said the manager before looking at Spencer's Glock, "Piece of advice, pipe cleaner, the way you're wearin' that gun... Beggin' someone to take it off you while you need to tell your wife, mother, and mother-in-law to feed you more."
A few minutes later Spencer and Rossi entered the house that Francis was living in, and the first thing Spencer glanced at was the mail.
"Mostly just junk mail," said Spencer as he started going through the magazines, "Catalogs for firearms... Survival preparedness."
Rossi who had felt around for dust looked at Spencer, "He doesn't sleep here."
Spencer looked at some of the envelopes, "Postmarks are new. He probably just uses this address for mail."
Rossi grabbed a book before looking at the rest of the books, "Odd choice of reading material."
Spencer took a nervous breath, "Uh, speaking of reading material, I've, uh, read all your books."
Rossi thought about how he spent part of the weekend looking up the articles that Spencer had published, "Thanks," said Rossi as he unlocked a trunk.
Spencer approached Rossi, "Um... One thing that always kind of struck me as odd is that you really just sort of glance over Ruby Ridge," said Spencer before he noticed a look on Rossi's face, "I mean, you don't... You don't have to tell me, I...,"
Rossi opened up the trunk and pulled out a picture of Francis with his wife, "This picture seems old. It's part of a past life. We need to find where his new life is," said Rossi before looking at Spencer as he thought about the geographical profile that the young agent was creating during the flight while he heard that Spencer is one fo the best geographical profilers in the F.B.I., "How's that map of yours coming along?" asked Rossi.
"I've got it narrowed down to about a 30-mile radius," said Spencer.
"Well, Hotch seems to think he was on foot. That's a long walk," said Rossi as he started to go through the trunk more.
"I'm still refining it," said Spencer.
"Good," said Rossi before he found some tapes, "Hello. Home movies."
After Henry Frost was killed and Becky was saved, Spencer who was working on his report on the case looked at his teammates as they flew home from Montana, "Seeing Francis's and Henry's victims all being brunettes, I kept picturing Stephanie as an adult while I ended up being grateful that Violet has inherited Maeve's hair color or I would have been seeing what Violet could have looked like when she's an adult too," said Spencer softly.
"It's never easy to picture your child or children during a case," said Hotch.
"I know," said Spencer.
"Speaking of brunettes, are you and Maeve ever going to have another baby genius that ends up being a baby girl who inherits your brown curly hair like Arthur?" asked Emily
Spencer smiled a bit, "We've started talking about trying another baby since we're both sad that Violet and Arthur are now six-months-old."
"Have you two finalize your decision on whether you two should try again or wait a bit longer?" asked Hotch.
"Despite the rough and emotional year I just had, we agreed that we would wait until Violet and Arthur are about a year and a half to try for another baby so the twins would be two when they become a big brother and a big sister," said Spencer before smiling a bit, "but if we end up expecting another child sooner than we originally planned we'll be happy and excited."
Rossi looked at Spencer, "Are you going to be telling Maeve about the nickname the manager at Goehring's trailer gave you?" asked Rossi.
Spencer nodded, "I already texted her earlier and she said that I'll be expected to eat four helpings of turkey and everything else that she and her mom cook during for Thanksgiving in two weeks."
"Speaking of Thanksgiving, are you and Maeve going to give Violet and Arthur pureed turkey?" asked Hotch.
Spencer nodded, "We're already planning on giving them baby food that deals with Thanksgiving dishes," said Spencer before looking at Hotch, "Maeve wanted me to tell you that you're invited to join us for Thanksgiving."
"I'll think about it," said Hotch before the team started talking about Thanksgiving plans.
A few hours later Spencer walked into his silent house and locked up his Glock before he headed upstairs to watch Violet and Arthur sleep, checked on Stephanie who was sitting up in bed reading a book, and then joined his wife who was taking a bubble bath in the bathtub as he talked about the case.
A/N: My mom had my brothers and me close apart while she was 22, 23, and 25 when my brothers and I were born. I was 355 days old when my Irish twin was born while I was 13 days from reaching two and a half years old and my Irish twin was three days away from turning 18-months-old when my mom had my youngest brother. Even though my mom found out that she was expecting me a few months after she married my father, she doesn't regret having my brothers and I close together even though we were all unplanned.