(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
Enjoy.
Spencer finished work with a smile on his face. He waved goodbye to Morgan, the last one to leave for the night, and headed for the subway. He was in such a good mood that his eyes skimmed past Aaron's empty office without a hint of melancholy.
While on the subway he checked himself in the window, pressing out the creases in his shirt when they passed through a tunnel, his reflection clearer against the darkness.
Satisfied, Spencer bypassed going up to his apartment once off the subway, heading to the parking lot instead. He was hoping to get to his dad's early and talk to him about a few notable ideas he'd had regarding Dave's next book.
Spencer got to his dad's house two hours before their reservation and he beamed at the driveway where only his dads car was parked.
"No floosies tonight," Spencer mumbled, grinning as he unbuckled and slid from his car. He smoothed out his shirt again, knowing his father preferred him to look respectable, something he claimed Spencer hadn't looked like since he started dressing himself. Spencer shook his head with a smile, brushing off his pants one last time before hurrying to the front door.
He didn't knock, it was his childhood home after all.
He walked inside and into a quiet hallway. He glanced toward the kitchen. Spencer waiter a moment before assuming Dotty was outside somewhere. She was always alert to the door opening and Spencer usually had her jumping up on his clean clothes whenever he walked in.
Spencer sidestepped the rug, glancing further into the kitchen.
"Dad?" he called as he passed the front room. He could hear quiet, static laughter coming from somewhere and he stopped before entering the kitchen. Spencer took a step back, turning the corner into the front room where the sound was coming from.
"Dad?"
Spencer stepped into the room and saw the TV on. He looked and the couch and found his dad. He had his head leant back on the pillows, eyes staring ahead with a dull gaze while his arm hung around the shoulders of Charity who Spencer jumped back upon seeing.
"Oh, hello," Charity said, turning her head and smiling sweetly at Spencer as she snuggled back into Dave. "I see you let yourself in."
Spencer glanced back at the door before looking back at the two on the couch. He took note that his dad hadn't looked up yet.
"I Uh... your cars not there," Spencer mumbled dumbly, motioning to the window where only his and his dad's cars were parked.
Charity leaned against Dave, patting his chest. Light bounced off the large stone in her ring as she moved her fingers around Dave's shirt as if she were petting a dog. Spencer felt himself draw away from the sight. He also noticed the dark marks down the front of his dad's shirts, something Spencer knew his father would be embarrassed to be seen in.
Charity cleared her throat, still petting Dave with a smirk. "David took it into the garage for an upgrade. He has to drive me places until it's done."
"Right uh... well we um... dad and I are going for a meal tonight so..." Spencer reached back and rubbed at his neck. He was looking at his father who still hadn't acknowledged his presence. He was just staring at the TV with his mouth half-open, reminding Spencer of the sights he'd seen in nursing homes rather than from his spritely father. "Dad?"
Charity looked up at Dave, tilting her head back to grin up at him. "He's busy," she said, leaning her head back and smirking at Spencer. "He's making me food tonight."
"But... we made plans yesterday."
Charity grinned fiercely. "Such a shame," she muttered, sighing as she pressed herself further into Dave.
"Dad?" Spencer called again and the man's eyes drifted slowly away from the TV. He looked up at Spencer with a frown. And Spencer felt his heart sink when he saw the lack of recognition in his dad's normally warm gaze.
"What?"
Spencer stepped back, his fathers gaze menacing and... drunk.
"Giovani's," Spencer said quietly. "Just you and me. Tonight remember?"
Charity scoffed and turned bodily to look at Dave who blinked down at her immediately. "Do you see how he pushes me away," she said, holding Dave's focus on her, reinforcing the canine dynamic Spencer was beginning to see. "You need a better handle on your child, David. He can't treat me this way."
"I wasn't- I-I was just explaining that we have plans."
"He's just selfish, David. Terribly selfish."
Spencer gaped at a Charity who reached up and petted Dave's face. She whispered something, something which triggered Dave's eyes to lock on him again.
"Out," Dave hissed.
"What?"
"You heard your daddy, out you go," Charity said, her voice reaching sing-song pitch. Spencer ignored her, staring instead at his father who was looking back with a dead gaze.
"Dad? Are you alright? You don't look right," Spencer numbers and Charity snapped her head away from Dave and glared at him.
"Don't speak to him like that!"
"He's my father," Spencer said but his voice failed him, dipping quietly under his dads gaze. He grew less confident as each word left his mouth, 'father' dying on his tongue.
"David, maybe it's time you started disciplining your son," Charity said and she sat up, taking her weight off Dave. He shifted, looking at Charity with the same dead stare he had watched Spencer with. Charity leaned over him, her face disturbingly close to his for Spencer's liking, and she reached over him and lifted the barely drunk beer bottle off the side table. Dave watched Charity place it in his hand and he blinked slowly. He looked up at Charity again and she grinned.
"Teach him a lesson," she said and she turned back around to look at Spencer. "Are you leavin', kid?"
"I-I... dad?"
Charity sighed and looked back at Dave before giving him a quick nod.
Dave stood up and Spencer, for the first time in his life, feared him. He stepped back when Dave walked forward.
"Go on, David," Charity said, egging him on from the sidelines. "Set him right."
Dave lifted the bottle and brought it down hard on the coffee table and Spencer stumbled back, his back hitting the wall, keeping him from falling over.
"D-dad?" Spencer's voice trembled terribly as he stared at the smashed bottle and the amber liquid dripping from the sharp edges. Spencer pushed his back right against the wall, pressing his shoulders into the hard drywall as Dave held the bottle up, his hand shaking. The same hands that used to stroke Spencer's cheeks to get him to sleep. The very hands that carried him to bed and held him after nightmares.
The bottle shook in Dave's grip as he held it up but Spencer saw the glint in his father's eyes.
"Out," Dave snapped, thrusting the bottle in the direction of the door while he glared at his son. Spencer slowly slid against the wall, moving around the coat stand and grabbing the front door handle. His dads body turned, the bottle still pointing at him.
Spencer looked back, trying to get through to his dads strange stance. "Dad," Spencer mumbled, his voice shaking. "It's me."
"Get out!"
Spencer clamped his teeth together to stop them chattering and he opened the front door. His dad moved toward him and Spencer fell through the door, falling to his knees in his desperation to get away.
He heard his fathers footsteps and Spencer turned quickly, pushing his hands against the porch to put distance between himself and the door.
Dave stood in the doorway, one hand on the door handle and the other wrapped viciously around the bottle neck, the jagged end still sticking out menacingly. He looked down at Spencer, his expression indifferent to Spencer's terror. He huffed, stepped back and pulled the door shut after him.
Spencer stared at the door for a moment, a quiet tear slipping down his chin as he heard the lock turn and a key being pulled violently out. He breathed out and his breath hitched, his body beginning to tremble.
Spencer clambered to his feet, nearly falling off the porch as he stepped back from the door and the people behind it.
He snuck one last look at the window and he saw his fathers body moving back toward the couch. Spencer lifted a hand to his mouth to muffle a sob which burst suddenly from him. He turned away and ran for his car. He averted his eyes from his fathers car as he yanked open his door and got into the drivers seat. His hands shook as he tried to put the key in the ignition.
He glanced at the house, fearful that his dad would be stood there again, the bottle poised in his hand, lusting for Spencer's blood.
The key wouldn't stop shaking and Spencer threw it down with a cry. He fell forward into the steering wheel, sobs wracking his body with an exhaustive suddenness that Spencer couldn't hold himself up any longer.
It took a while for him to find the strength again to pull himself back up. He rubbed his eyes as he looked at the house. He thought of Aaron and he knew what he had to do.
Spencer dug his fingers into his pocket. They shook violently as he pulled out his phone.
Spencer glanced at the house again before unlocking his phone and finding the number he was looking for. Spencer lifted the phone to his ear quickly and he looked across at the house, waiting for something to move.
"Hello?"
"Aaron?" Spencer whispered, his eyes fell and he lifted a hand to his face and began to chew a fingernail, something he hadn't done in years.
"Hey buddy are y-"
"It's dad," Spencer mumbled, sniffing quickly to keep himself from crying.
"Spencer, what's happened?"
"It's dad," Spencer said again, and his voice shook as a warning for the onslaught of tears about to hit again.
"Is he okay?"
"I-I don't know... h-he threatened me." Spencer couldn't help it; he sobbed, loud enough for him to pull the phone from his face. He could hear Aaron's frantic yelling as he put the phone back.
"-Are you?
Spencer licked his lips and looked back up at the house. "Huh?"
"Where are you?"
"A-at his house."
Aaron paused. "Did he hurt you?" he asked, his voice pinched.
Spencer shook his head.
"Spencer?"
"N-no," Spencer said quickly. "He didn't s-seem right and then... he ..." Spencer swallowed quickly, rubbing his nose. "She e-encouraged him and he just... he smashed a bottle and... he... I thought he was going to kill me." Spencer whispered the last part of the sentence and he heard Aaron curse on the other end of his phone.
"Stay there," Aaron said. Spencer looked at the window of the house, he could see the lights on but he didn't see anyone moving inside. Spencer heard a jingle of keys before Aaron's stern voice came back through. "I'm coming. Don't go in again. Leave your dad to me."
When Aaron arrived Spencer collected himself enough to jump from the car and catch up to him before he slammed through the front door.
"Aaron!"
Aaron turned sharply. Spencer saw the way he was glaring, his fists clenched at his sides.
Aaron grabbed his arm and pulled Spencer towards himself, looking him up and down as he did. "He hasn't hurt you?"
Spencer shook his head, struggling to swallow as he looked back at Aaron. He wanted to say that Dave would never lay a finger on him in such a way but after what he'd seen not even an hour before Spencer felt less confident in those words.
Aaron seemed to sense the inner conflict and he let Spencer go. "Stay here," he said, turning back to the path and making his way to the door. Spencer followed quickly behind.
"He's not himself," Spencer called. He stopped when Aaron placed his hand on the door and pressed his ear against it to listen inside. "H-he's really strange, Aaron. Somethings wrong."
"He's drunk," Aaron muttered as he pulled his ear from the colourful glass panel in the door. Aaron hadn't known Dave to be a mean drunk but his protectiveness over Spencer trumped his friendship with Dave. He was very much inclined to believe his nephew. It was his job to do so.
"Wait-"
"Just stay there, Spencer," Aaron said glancing at Spencer who was biting his lip and wringing his hands nervously.
"Charity's there too." Spencer looked toward the window and Aaron followed his gaze. Although he couldn't see her, Aaron sensed Charity's suffocating presence behind the curtains.
"S-she was telling him to do it," Spencer mumbled.
"Do what?" Aaron asked, his eyes narrowing on the curtains. He looked back at Spencer when he didn't answer and saw that the young man was looking down, his fingers pinching the skin on his palm. "Spencer?"
"Hit me I guess," Spencer said. He shrugged and looked up. "She didn't stop him when he smashed the bottle. She just kept... kept encouraging him."
Aaron shook his head in disbelief. David Rossi had crossed the line and Aaron was dammed if he was going to let him get away with it.
"I'm coming."
Aaron looked back again and saw Spencer had joined him on the porch with a determined look on his face. It reminded Aaron of how the kid used to look when doing math homework.
"Well stay behind me," Aaron said, knowing to argue with such determination was futile. Spencer nodded and he stood back as Aaron tried the door handle. It was locked and Aaron sighed, preparing himself to push the door in when Spencer hurried forward with a key in his hand.
"Here! Don't break the door."
"Your dad deserves it," Aaron muttered, unlocking the door and handing the key back to Spencer.
The door opened slowly and, true to his word Aaron blocked Spencer's way and stepped inside first. He didn't have to look far to find Dave, he was in the hall.
But neither of them expected to see Dave lying on the floor.
His face was turned to the side and his arms lay lifelessly beside him. Charity was crouched close to him, watching him with her hands hovering but not helping him. Spencer moved around Aaron who had stopped suddenly and he too froze when he saw his father.
"Dad!"
Spencer pushed past Aaron, forgetting the 'stay behind me' rule. He stumbled down to his knees, crawling forward to press his trembling fingers to his dads neck.
Charity moved away, glancing quickly at Aaron, her eyes wide. She lifted a hand to her mouth. "I-I don't know what happened," she said, looking back down at Dave. Spencer was trying to turn him over as he cried for his father to wake up. "H-he just collapsed." She shook her head, moving back again when Aaron pushed his way through.
"Papa please wake up!" Spencer leaned down, turning his head to listen to Dave's breathing. He pulled back and grabbed his father by the shoulders, sobbing as he shook him.
"Is he breathing?" Aaron said and he pressed his own fingers to Dave's neck seeing as Spencer was too distraught to answer. He felt a thready pulse under his fingertips and he sighed. He looked at his friend's face and was shocked at how sunken and old he looked. Rossi was sweaty too and his lips were brushed with a slight blue tint. Spencer continued to frantically shout to his unconscious father and Aaron moved back, pulling his phone from his pocket.
"Wake up, papa. What's wrong, what's wrong!" Spencer turned his head into the crook of his arm to stifle a loud sob. Panic gripped him once he caught his breath and he held his father again.
"Call for an ambulance," Spencer cried, shaking his dad, his hands clinging to Dave's stained shirt.
"Spencer don't shake him."
"He's not waking up!" Spencer looked up at Aaron with tears in his eyes. Aaron stared down at his friend, his face deathly pale and his chest rising shallowly. "Call for help!" Spencer yelled, reaching out and grabbing Aaron's ankle desperately. "Please! Please, Aaron, please! Call an ambulance."
"I'm calling!" Aaron said, feeling a similar panic to the one possessing Spencer rising up inside himself. He looked across at Charity who still had her hands over her mouth. The phone rang and Aaron stared into Charity's eyes.
'This is 911, what emergency services do you require?'
Charity pulled her hands from her mouth and Aaron felt his chest tighten when he saw her lip quirk in a smile.
'Hello? This is 911...'
Thanks for reading. That was a heavy chapter. Sorry if this seemed rushed, I wrote most of it today...
Let me know what you thought in the reviews.
Stay safe and I'll See you soon.