A few days later, Spencer was woken up by a phone ringing. He made no move to make it stop, thinking his dad would answer soon enough. But the ringing kept going. The little boy groaned and rolled over before sitting up and rubbing a fist into his eye. "Daddy?"

He got no response, so he finally looked to his right but found an empty spot where his dad had fallen to sleep next to him the night before. His first thought was to panic, his dad was gone! But then he vaguely remembered his father shaking him awake and telling him he was going for a run. Settling his panic, he realized the ringing was still sounding in the room.

He reached over to the nightstand on his dad's side of the bed and grabbed the device and pressed the answer button. "Hello?"

"Morgan?" asked a confused voice

"Nuh uh. It's Spencer."

"Oh. Hello Spencer. It's Aaron."

Spencer smiled. "Hi Aaron!"

There was a moment of silence between the two. Finally, Hotch broke the silence. "Spencer, where is your dad?"

"I think he said he was gonna go run. Why?"

"I just need to speak to him on a work matter." There was a pause over the line. "Spencer, you like Penelope, right?"

"Yeah! Penelope's really nice! She gave me a lollipop and a bear and she's really colorful!"

Hotch chuckled slightly. "She is pretty colorful huh? How would you feel spending the day with Penelope in her office?"

Spencer hesitated. "Um… will my daddy be there?"

"...He would be working but you could visit him whenever you'd like."

Spencer pouted slightly. "But I don't like when daddy's gone."

Hotch sighed. "Okay… How about you can stay with your dad if you are quiet and don't distract him or anyone else from working. You could read or play with some toys?"

Spencer thought for a moment before answering. "I can be quiet."

Before Hotch could respond, a sweaty Derek walked through the door. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Spencer on the phone. "Spencer, who are you talking to?"

"Aaron!" Spencer said, holding the phone out to his dad. "He wants to talk to you."

Morgan, still surprised, took the phone and put it to his ear. "Hotch?"

He heard his superior chuckle over the line. "You should teach Spencer not to answer the phone."

"Yeah, I'll get on that. Did you need something, Hotch?"

"I need you to come in to help with a case."

Morgan sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Hotch I can't. Spencer doesn't even want me out of his sight, and I don't have anyone to watch him anyway."

"Well that's what Spencer and I were discussing before you graced us with your presence." He said teasingly. "It's local, so we will be set up at the BAU. Spencer can read or play with toys in the round table room while we work."

Morgan glanced at Spencer, who was still tiredly rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up, as he thought the idea over. "Okay. I guess that would be okay. We'll be there in an hour."

"Thanks Morgan. I'll see you soon."

With that, Morgan hung up the phone. He turned to Spencer. "Okay buddy, let's get you dressed."

Morgan and Spencer got dressed and ready quickly, making it to the office before the hour was up. The two walked into the bullpen hand in hand. As soon as they walked through the door, Garcia ran up to them wearing an excited grin. "Ahh! I missed my two big strong men!" She leaned down to speak to Spencer. "Can I have a hug, my beautiful bouncing baby boy?"

Spencer smiled and nodded to her. She swooped down and squeezed him, giving him a tight bear hug. Spencer squeaked, but returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm. When she began pulling away he held on tighter and made a small whining noise. She lifted him up and placed him on her hip. "You give good hugs." He said quietly.

"Why thank you! I personally believe my amazing hugs are one of my best skills!"

Spencer giggled and Garcia smiled and cooed at him. Morgan watched the interaction with a big smile on his face.

"Are you going to spend the day with me so your daddy can work?" Garcia asked Spencer.

The little boy frowned slightly. "No… I'm gonna stay with daddy."

Garcia gave a worried glance over to Morgan, before looking back at Spencer. "Sweetie, don't you think you'd have more fun with me in my lair? Your daddy has to focus on work so he can't play with you. I've got fun toys and stuffed animals that we can both play with, okay?"

Spencer's lower lip trembled and he shook his head. "Nuh uh… I stay with daddy..." He reached for Morgan with grabby hands, who took him without hesitation. The boy buried his head into his dad's shoulder. "I stay with daddy?"

Morgan rubbed his back reassuringly. "Yeah baby you can stay with me." He looked over to Garcia. "Thanks for trying Baby Girl but Hotch gave the okay for him to stay in the round table room today. I don't think he wants to be alone here considering what happened last time."

Garcia's eyes widened in realization and nodded before she turned and walked into the briefing room, followed by Morgan carrying Spencer.

The rest of the team was already there when they entered the room. Upon seeing his aunts and uncles, Spencer wiggled in his father's grasp until Morgan placed him on the ground.

"Uncle Dave!" He yelled as he barreled into the older man.

Rossi leaned down to hug the boy. "Hey bambino" He said fondly.

Spencer next moved around the room giving hugs to Emily, then Hotch and finally JJ who scooped him up and positioned him on her hip.

"Hey Spence, what's with all the hugs?" She asked as she returned the hug.

"I missed all you guys! Well, I saw you all yesterday but I still missed you. And Auntie Penelope gave me a really good hug so I wanted to feel everyone else's hugs too." He said with a wide smile.

JJ smiled at the boy's adorable enthusiasm. "So who gives the best hugs?"

Spencer furrowed his brows in thought before smiling and wiggling to get down. He ran to Morgan and jumped into his arms. "Daddy does!" He exclaimed as he buried himself into his dad's chest.

Derek chuckled and hugged him back. "Thanks kiddo, you give really good hugs too."

They were interrupted by a small knock on the door. Erin Strauss was standing there, with a rare warm smile on her face as she looked at Spencer. When the boy turned and saw the newcomer, he cowered away and hid his face in his father's chest.

Morgan rubbed his back reassuringly. "Don't worry buddy. This is Erin Strauss, our section chief. She's not going to hurt you."

Spencer peaked out, and seeing only a look of worry on the woman's face, he gave her a small wave.

Strauss smiled at the boy and waved back. "Hello Spencer. Your dad is right, you don't have to be scared of me. I act kind of scary and strict sometimes, but that's just so everyone will listen to me." The last part was said in a whisper, though everyone could still hear it.

Spencer merely nodded and turned back into his father's embrace.

Strauss's smile fell, before she quickly put back on her hard mask. She turned towards the group of profilers. "As most of you know, this case is local. The higher ups will be watching your progress since it is so close to home and the victims are very important people. Because of this, I will be supervising this case."

Low groans could be heard from multiple of the profilers. Strauss continued nonetheless. "This case is a little different, as there are no bodies to work off of. The person responsible for these people's disappearances have left notes behind, which seem to be in some sort of code. As you are all some of the brightest minds in the FBI, I wanted you on the case."

She finished and nodded towards Hotch. He stood and approached the evidence board that was already set up. "All of the victims are of high intelligence and were clearly stalked. With every person he has kidnapped, he has left the same letter in some sort of code. Morgan and JJ, I want you to work on interviewing the family members of the victims. Prentiss and Rossi I want you both to visit the sites of the abductions. Strauss and I will work on finding someone to solve the code."

Everyone nodded in understanding and started to get to work.

Morgan moved over to the couch at the side of the room and sat Spencer down on it. "Okay baby boy, I need to work a case. I will be interviewing some people, so you can't come with me." Immediately, panic flooded his son's face. "But you can stay in here with Hotch and you will be able to see me at my desk through the window the entire time."

"B-but I wanna stay with you..."

Morgan sighed. "I know buddy but I need to work. If you need anything you can ask Hotch. Okay?"

Spencer worried his bottom lip between his teeth, but nodded. Morgan smiled warmly at him and gave him a quick hug, before getting up and leaving the room.

Spencer quickly got up and ran to the window, watching as his dad greeted a young woman in the bullpen. He stayed with his eyes glued to his dad.

Strauss and Hotch got to work, looking for different contacts to try and figure out the code. The older woman glanced over at the little boy by the window, her heart tugging at his longing stare. She gave a look to Hotch, silently asking if she could help. He gave her a nod, the corners of his mouth turning up into a slight smile.

She stood and walked toward him, before gently placing a hand on his shoulder. He let out a yelp and spun around, cowering away from the older woman.

"No, no it's okay sweetheart! I'm sorry for scaring you." She glanced out the window at the working agent. "Are you upset that your daddy is working?"

Spencer, who was still cowering slightly, gave her a nervous nod.

She smiled sadly at him. "Well maybe you can help work the case too? It'll help get your mind off it. Would you like to help me?"

He glanced at Hotch, before looking back at her. "H-how?" He asked in a small voice.

"Well, the bad man is leaving us puzzles to solve. Do you want to help us try to solve them?"

Spencer looked thoroughly intrigued. "Y-yeah, I can help" He said, once again only a whisper.

Strauss smiled and offered the boy her hand. He cautiously slipped his little hand into hers. They walked over to the couch where Spencer sat down. Strauss grabbed one of the photocopies of the coded message. "Okay Spencer. This is very important," She started, putting on a jokingly serious face, "I need you to try and decode this. It's okay if you can't, but I think you're up to the challenge. Okay?"

Spencer didn't take his eyes off of the sheet in front of him, but nodded enthusiastically. "I can do it."

The older woman smiled down at him, handing him the sheet as well as a box of crayons from the bag Morgan brought for him. "Okay. Get to work, agent."

Spencer giggled and pulled out a purple crayon, getting straight to work. Strauss made her way back over to the table and sat down. She took a moment to look at the little boy studying the sheet. She had fully expected him to just color all over it, but he was clearly taking his new job very seriously.

He reminded her of her own son when he was little. Her heart hurt thinking of all that poor Spencer went through. When Hotchner came to her to inform her that Agent Morgan would be bringing his son to work with him, she was angry, but after hearing the boy's story and meeting him in real life, she couldn't be upset.

She turned back around to her own work, glad she could make the little boy a little more comfortable while his dad was working. Hotch was still smirking. "Going soft, Strauss?" She tried to shoot him a glare, but she was still smiling from her interaction with the boy.

Spencer looked over the random letter jumble that was on the paper in front of him. He loved codes and puzzles, so he was really excited to try and solve this one. Any worry he had about his dad being out of the room was put to the side, and he focussed solely on his work.

After only about 2 hours, Spencer figured out the code. It was tough, but his mom taught him how to decode, so he was still able to figure it out. He held up the final message and read it to himself.

'If you are reading this, you are a worthy match for my intelligence. I have been taking others that believe they challenge my smarts, but they are nothing. Come to 1834 Alpine View Road, Highland Virginia and you may have them back. Otherwise, they are as good as dead. No one is smarter than me.'

Spencer's eyes widened as he realized the full message. No, no no no nononono! They can't know he's intelligent! He'll be sent away and he won't be able to stay with his daddy. But if he doesn't tell them, these people will die…

While the boy struggled over what to do, Hotch spoke up to Strauss in a tired voice. "Okay, well this is the last person I can think of that might be able to decode it. I'll give them a call. Could you stay with Spencer while I ring them?"

Strauss nodded, and Hotch got up and made his way out of the room. The Section Chief turned to Spencer and smiled at him, but that smile fell when she saw the nervous look on the boy's face. "Spencer, what's wrong?"

He wrung his hands together and didn't look up at her. "I… I, um… I solved it..."

She smiled at him again, not believing that he actually solved it. "Can I see?" She asked gently.

He nodded and carefully approached her, handing over the paper. She fully expected to see random scribbles, maybe a nice drawing. She did not expect, however, for the purple writing to actually make sense for a decoding.

With her eyes still wide, she asked "Can, can you explain what you did here?"

Spencer nodded, slightly relieved that she wasn't mad at him… yet, at least. "Yeah. The, uh, the spam had to be changed from m-matrix code to binary code, then switched to base 8 before being translated back into letters."

Strauss's mouth was practically on the floor at this point, amazed that the chicken scratch was making sense, and that the boy actually got a result. "Spencer, this is… wow… I didn't realize you were so smart-"

"No!" The boy screamed suddenly, "I'm not smart!"

Strauss was surprised by the outburst. "Sweetie it's okay. You're dad's going to-"

She was cut off by Spencer yelling again, tears now streaming down his face. "No! You can't tell my daddy!"

Strauss stood and ushered the now bawling child over to the couch and sat herself next to him. "Spencer, Your daddy will be happy to hear you helped."

"Please don't tell! Please! Please please pleasepleaseplease..." He continued begging. He couldn't let her tell his dad! What could he do to make her not tell? Whenever he wanted the Man to do something he had to make him feel good. But she was a woman, how does he make her feel good?

Strauss watched as Spencer stopped sobbing, turning to sniffles and hitches of breath. He looked up at her with his red-rimmed eyes, and slowly moved to rest both of his little hands on her breasts.

Strauss, confused with what he was doing, gently moved his hands away from her. "Spencer, what are you doing?"

The boy pulled away from her grip. "I'm gonna try an' make you f-feel good so y-you don't tell..." He tried again to move his hands to her chest, squeezing slightly.

The older woman once again grabbed his hands, slightly harder this time, making him yelp and start to struggle. Strauss had no clue what to do, she barely understood what was happening.

Suddenly Hotch entered the room, not looking up from his phone. "So he says that he will look at the code, but he isn't confident..." He looked up at the sound of crying, to find a sobbing Spencer struggling in the grip of his superior, who was clearly flustered.

Hotch quickly pocketed his phone and rushed over, grabbing the crying child off the couch. "What's going on!?"

He sat down on the couch next to Strauss, sitting Spencer on his lap. He gently cradled the boy's face in his hands, wiping a tear away with his thumb. "Spencer, why are you upset?"

Spencer was still crying, drawing in quick, harsh breaths between sobs. "I-I don't… I d-don't know h-how... how to make h-her f-feel good..." He whimpered.

Hotch, confused by what the boy meant, looked to Strauss for explanation. She still looked flustered and confused herself, but she tried to explain. "He did it…" She said with disbelief. When Hotch sent her a confused look, she continued. "He decoded the messages..."

"What?" Hotch asked, surprise evident in his voice. Strauss passed over the paper with Spencer's purple writing on it. He started reading, eyes widening as he went, until the little boy tried to snatch the paper from his hands. He was quicker though, and held it out of his reach.

"No!" Spencer tried to reach the paper, but it was being held too high. "You can't see it!"

"Spencer, it's okay. Why wouldn't you want me to see?"

"C-cause you can't know! I tell Mrs. Strauss only a-and she can't tell anyone!" Spencer started crying even harder. "B-but I don't know how to make her f-feel good!"

"Why would you want to make Strauss feel good?" Hotch asked carefully.

"So she won't tell daddy!" He let out a small gasp and looked straight at Hotch. "You can't tell daddy either! Daddy can't know!"

"Why can't I tell your dad?"

"Because he can't know!" Tears continued to spill out of his eyes as he begged the older man. "You can't tell him! Please I'll do anything!"

Hotch rubbed his back to try and calm him. "Spencer. I think your dad should know. He won't be mad that you worked on the case. All this does is shows how smart you are."

At the last sentence Spencer started crying even harder. His dad couldn't know he was smart! He would get sent away to another Man… He didn't know how to make the lady feel good, but he could make Aaron feel good...

Hotch watched as Spencer quickly slipped off his lap and kneeled in front of him. Spencer reached out and started undoing his belt while saying "Please, you can't tell him."

Hotch grabbed the boy's wrists to stop him, eliciting a yelp of fear from the boy as he shut his eyes tightly. The older man scooped up the tense child and sat him back in his lap before letting go of his wrists. He then enveloped the boy in a hug. Spencer, however, did not hug him back. He tried again to undo the older man's pants, managing to pull his zipper down this time, but Hotch held his wrists once again. "No, no, no. I can do it, let me do it. You can't tell him. Please."

Hotch closed his eyes and took a moment to calm himself. He then pulled Spencer back and gently placed him next to him. "Spencer, why do you keep trying to undo my pants?"

Spencer had silent tears running down his face. "I'm gonna suck your thingy like a lollipop… make you feel good." He whispered.

Hotch tried his best not to react at the incredibly upsetting statement. "No, you aren't. Why would you want to do that?"

The little boy pouted. "So you don't tell daddy..."

"Spencer, look at me." He waited for the child to look at him. "Can you calmly tell me why you don't want your dad to know?"

"Because I want to stay with daddy." He answered simply.

"And why wouldn't you get to stay if he knew that you decoded the message?"

"'Cause then he'll know I'm s-smart and a f-freak… He won't want m-me anymore and I'll have to go to another M-man." Spencer whispered, pain evident in his voice.

Hotch sighed. "Spencer. Being smart is a good thing. It doesn't make you a freak. Derek will always want you even if you are the smartest person on earth. Okay?"

Spencer shook his head frantically. "No. Being smart is bad. I get hurt for being smart. I get sent away for being smart. Daddy. Can't. Know." He said surprisingly sternly, before whispering, "I'll do anything to stay with daddy. Including making you and Mrs. Strauss feel good."

Hotch took a moment to debate his options, before nodding to the boy. "Okay, I won't tell him it was you who solved it. But you don't have to make me feel good." Spencer seemed to relax at that. "Why don't you lie down for a bit?"

"But what about Mrs. Strauss? I gotta make her feel good… But she doesn't have a thingy… How do I make a lady feel good?" He asked, looking up at Hotch with sweet, wide eyes.

Strauss reached out and started rubbing the boy's back with Hotch. "You don't sweetie. You don't have to make me feel good, I won't tell your daddy, okay?"

Spencer looked between the two faces, trying to tell if he should trust them. After a minute, he nodded.

Hotch picked him up and walked to his office. He gently laid the boy on his couch and covered him with a blanket he kept in his office for Jack. Spencer, still sniffling and crying slightly, curled up and stuck his thumb in his mouth.