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Spencer wanted to return to work without any fanfare but he hadn't reckoned on Garcia's level of bottled up worry and guilt, and her tendency to go overboard with anything that affected her emotionally. Spencer wouldn't have been opposed to a quietly sincere welcome back with possibly some baked treats but he was totally embarrassed by the huge, glittery attention grabbing banner Garcia had hung from the safety railing around the mezzanine hallway where Hotch and Gideon had their offices, raining glitter and blaring welcome music.
Even Hotch who had been camped in his office since just after dawn eager to glimpse his soulmate was irritated by the excessive display, and that was before he saw Reid flinch at the sight and sound of it. The explosion of glitter all over everyone was the final straw and instead of welcoming Reid back as he meant to do, he scowled at Garcia and demanded they all meet in the round table room once they'd de-glittered themselves to discuss their next case.
Spencer hadn't expected a warm welcome back from his soulmate but to be scowled at like that hurt, it seemed that Hotch was even less inclined to tolerate his presence now than he had been before the case in Georgia. He lowered his head and began the tedious process of trying to get the glitter off himself.
Hotch cursed to himself when he saw how his reaction affected his soul mate, sure Reid hadn't liked the over-the-top surprise party atmosphere but he was gritting his teeth and bearing it for Garcia's sake, now he actually looked like he wanted to turn around and leave, permanently.
Spencer thought again for what must have been the hundredth time about transferring to another department where he wouldn't be slapped in the face daily by the fact his soulmate did not even like him and didn't want him around. Then he thought about how he'd felt knowing the team were going out on cases without him. Never knowing if Hotch was in danger drove him crazy with worry during his leave and the man was on his mind more than while they were working on the team together. He wondered if the other man had felt the same when he'd stayed in New Orleans with Ethan, and if that was the cause of the increase in frowns directed in his direction. Spencer tried to convince himself that frowns were at least better than indifference but he wasn't at all sure he believed it.
Consoling himself that annoyed with him or not, Hotch was safe and well and just up the stairs, less than 30 seconds walk away and would be for the next eight hours unless they were leaving on a case and then he'd probably get to spend even more time with the man. It was a very small consolation but it was enough to help him turn to his files and begin work.
-o0o-
The rest of the week passed without any interstate cases they needed to go to in person. Spencer was quiet and powered through a ridiculous number of backlogged consults and the other's began to accept his presence without making a fuss of him until Morgan and Garcia insisted that Spencer come out with them for drinks that Friday night.
"Okay, I'll just call Ethan and tell him where to meet us," Spencer replied after Hotch made his excuses and headed home, realising that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it.
Morgan frowned but Garcia squealed in delight believing that Spencer and Ethan must be more than friends for Spencer to have allowed Ethan to kidnap him and force him into getting the help he needed the way he did.
"I didn't realise that he was staying with you, how long will he be here?" JJ said quietly.
"I can't wait to meet him," Garcia said. "Is he cute like you or more hot like my Chocolate Thunder?"
"I don't think that Ethan will want to hang out with us after the things he said that morning in New Orleans," Morgan said.
"Of course, he will. He'll want to check up on how we're treating his boy," Emily said teasingly.
"He's not my boyfriend Garcia, just my best friend from college and unofficial brother, I don't know if you'll think he's cute or hot. I've never thought about it. I'd say he's reasonably good looking, he never had any trouble getting dates once he was old enough to date in college," Spencer replied.
"Oh," Penelope said sounding disappointed for a moment, but she soon perked up. "Oooh! He can tell us embarrassing college stories about little Spencie."
Morgan, JJ and Emily really didn't think Ethan would be in the mood to tell them much of anything about Spencer in college, in fact he was likely to get angry if it seemed that they were asking for teasing ammunition.
"Umm Garcia, Ethan is probably still upset with us for not getting Spence help before he stepped in. I don't think interrogating him for things to embarrass Spence with is the best idea," JJ said quietly.
"It really isn't," Morgan agreed. "Be careful what you say to him Baby Girl. Ethan's Reid's friend, but he's no friend of ours. He was ready to start ripping off limbs and beating Hotch and Gideon with them for the way they let his boy down. If he comes out tonight it will be to gather information on us to protect Reid, not to be friendly."
Reid refused to ride with them, telling them that Ethan would pick him up and they'd meet them at the bar so the others left him with threats as to what Garcia would do if he didn't arrive.
-o0o-
Ethan laughed at the threats Garcia had made if they didn't turn up to this night out. "Like Penelope Garcia could even get through the encryption you have on your computer to do any damage," he said.
"She doesn't even know to look for it. She thinks that I'm a Luddite because I prefer to read paper files," Spencer replied laughing. "But she still could do nasty things to my credit rating, if she was motivated."
"Do you want to go? Because I'm more than happy to tag along and try to play nice if that's what you want but I'm not going to let you be threatened into doing something that's not good for you," Ethan said firmly.
"I don't think it would do me any harm," Spencer replied. "The bar isn't really my scene but I don't have a problem with alcohol and while I'm sure there will be drugs available there for thos who know how to recgnise a dealer, they wouldn't be any easier to get there than anywhere else and I don't feel the need to go looking for them."
"Is their friendship worth going to a bar or club where you don't feel comfortable?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, I think that it is. I need to be able to work with them, and if I can't then I need to find out now before we're in a strange town chasing a killer with resentful local law enforcement and nobody to have my back," Spencer replied.
Ethan nods, "Fair point, but we leave the moment you want out," he compromises.
Spencer nods. "I think they think we're in a relationship," he said.
"That JJ, knows better," Ethan said.
"Yeah but she hasn't told the team about visiting New Orleans to see Detective LaMontagne, so she can't tell them that she visited us or share any gossip about anything she found out about me there," Spencer replied.
"Didn't you say how hard it is to hide that sort of thing from profilers?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, if they're looking for it," Spencer agreed. "Gideon possibly knows but he won't say anything. He doesn't care what she does in her time off as long as it doesn't affect her job performance and Hotch isn't any better lately."
"Will he be there tonight?" Ethan asked gently.
"No, he had plans with his family," Spencer said slightly bitterly.
Ethan smiled sympathetically. "I don't think I could have been civil to him. Tell me more about the others who will be there, what will happen tonight?"
"Morgan will sit with us for a while before going to dance and will end up leaving with someone. Garcia will sit with us and pump you for information about yourself and about me, but once Morgan starts dancing most of her attention will be on watching him flirt with other people. I don't quite get that relationship, they're not dating and I don't think they ever did, they verbally flirt constantly, even over the phone during cases which has got them in trouble a time or two, he seems to be the centre of her world but she's not at all jealous of his hookups, and actually goes on dates with other people too. JJ and Emily will spend some time teasing her, JJ's still seeing Will LaMontagne but she doesn't want anyone else to know so she'll probably flirt a bit but not single anyone out and I haven't been out enough with Emily to know what she'll do. But if someone comes onto her with a stupid fake line she'll probably try to embarrass the hell out of him," Spencer said.
Ethan laughed. "And what would you normally do, if I wasn't there?"
Sit with the others until I feel that I can escape without consequences, unless there's someone there I know and want to catch up with. That type of dancing isn't my thing and the club will be too loud for talking unless you get up close, so it's not a place I feel comfortable talking with people I don't already know fairly well," Spencer replied.
"Do you ever get to choose the venue for these get togethers?" Ethan asked.
"No, every time I suggest going somewhere it's out to eat or to a foreign film," Spencer replied.
Ethan laughed. "Do they take you up on your invitations?" he asked.
"Banner and Roberts used to come and eat with me and Emily will often come to the films if she knows the language and doesn't have other plans," Spencer replied.
"I haven't heard you mention Banner and Roberts?" Ethan asked.
"No, I may have mentioned them when I first joined the BAU but you wouldn't have recently. They were killed in the bombing in Boston a few years ago," Spencer said.
"So, you lost your two best friends on the team?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Spencer said. "I wouldn't have called them friends, exactly, Morgan, JJ, Emily and Garcia are all better friends most of the time now that they were, but they both lived alone and didn't like to cook, and they tolerated my rambling better than the others did at the time. I used to ramble even more than I do now so it's not so surprising that I annoyed people too much to want to spend time outside work with me."
"That's bullshit, Spence! These people hired you because of your brain and knowledge. Yet they discourage you from reading and broadening your knowledge base and sharing that knowledge with them," Ethan said, irritated at Spencer's acceptance of the team's attitude.
"That doesn't mean they need to be my friends, we don't have a lot in common," Spencer replied.
"Then who are your friends, I want to meet them?" Ethan retorted. "You wrote about your team as if they were your friends. But you know friends don't treat people the way they treat you."
Spencer just looked at the ground. He didn't have any other friend's in DC. There were a couple of people from Caltech and some of the projects he worked on that he kept in contact with but mostly by phone or email, but there was nobody he could just call if he was feeling lonely and wanted someone to eat with or visit that would come. He only saw the team outside of the job on their terms. Sure, Garcia would take pity on him and let him come over and watch Dr Who marathons, when she was watching, and Emily enjoyed the foreign films he suggested if she was free and JJ would occasionally catch a meal with him.
"I know you're still mad at them and that you haven't had a chance to yell at Garcia like you did the others but I'd appreciate it if you didn't. She's not tough like the others I honestly think it might crush her if she was made to believe she'd treated me badly," Spencer requested quietly.
"You all indulge her too much, she's a fully grown adult who needs to take ownership of her own mental health. It isn't your job to make her feel better at the expense of your own peace of mind," Ethan said grumpily.
They arrived at the bar and Spencer introduced Ethan to Penelope Garcia. Morgan and the other's all held their breaths but Ethan was at least willing to make the effort to be friendly and greeted her politely.
The night panned out just as Spencer had predicted. Garcia could barely keep her eyes off Morgan as he danced and accepted Emily's teasing about the fact in good humour. JJ was friendly but not flirtatious and Emily looked at him assessingly.
"What's your verdict?" she asked bluntly.
Ethan was equally blunt. "I see very little evidence that any of you know or are trying to get to know Spencer at all. This is the first drink I've had in the three weeks I've been here and yet I could name dozens of pubs or bars that would suit Spencer better than this one. He hates it here, he only came because it was slightly less burdensome than sorting out the mess Garcia threatened to make of his credit rating if he didn't come. Threats that will get her arrested if I find out she follows through on making Spence's life difficult next time he refuses to fall for her blackmail."
"Blackmail is such a horrible word," Emily commented.
"Bullying then, is that idea more to your taste," Ethan replied seriously. "Because what happened this evening could easily be seen as both if Spencer wanted to put in a formal complaint against the four of you."
"The four of us?" JJ asked wondering what they were talking about.
"Condoning harassment and bullying makes you just as bad as the bully, and legally complicit. Have any of you ever tried to reign in Miss Garcia's attempts to manipulate those around her with threats? Or do you all placate her like a spoiled young child?" Ethan asked.
"She just wanted him to come out and relax with us and start to rebuild the bonds we used to have," Emily replied defending her friend.
"No this was for all of you. To make yourself feel better that he's still your friend and things are fine. If this night out was team bonding for Spencer's sake you would have chosen a venue that he'd be comfortable in, and not somewhere all of you must be aware he would hate," Ethan retorted. "I'm going to take him home before the lights and the music give him a migraine."
Emily and JJ looked at each other in shame, they hadn't even considered Spencer's preferences when choosing to go to the new club they wanted to try out, and they did all know enough to know he wouldn't like it at all.
"Good night, Spencer. Next time we go out it's your turn to pick the venue," JJ said.
Spencer just looked at her sadly, every time he'd tried to have an opinion on where they spent a night out as a group he'd been outvoted at best and occasionally even ridiculed for his choices. He had the feeling that even with JJ's support if she remembered it wouldn't make a difference.
-o0o-
Ethan stayed another week until Spencer had been on his first away case and returned home. Spencer thought it was good to have someone to come home to and if Ethan had wanted to move to DC he would have happily suggested sharing a flat, but Ethan's life was in New Orleans now and he was beginning to feel a little guilty keeping him from it for so long. He considered looking into moving into a shared house but he didn't want to risk sharing with a stranger, the wrong housemate would be much worse than being alone. He also considered a pet but even if he could find an animal that liked him, he didn't think it fair to leave it on it's own all day and for days on end while he was travelling. Still things were going well, he'd found support groups for both NA and rejected soulmates that he felt he could fit into well enough, he'd managed his first interstate case, the teams on the research projects he'd become involved in were beginning to gel. It was time t stand on his own two feet and let Ethan get back to his own life while he still had a job to return to.
"Remember you're always welcome, any time you need t get away for the weekend or for a month or two on sabbatical, my home is open to you, and I expect to hear from you so call when you can," Ethan said hugging him at the airport.
"I will," Spencer said looking almost ready to cry. "Thank you for everything!"
"I'm just glad a case brought you to me when you needed me," Ethan said. "I missed you Li'l Bro. I'm sorry for jumping ship on you at the academy. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to make amends and reconnect."
"You didn't need to make amends. I understood you needed to leave, just as I need to stay. Profiling is more fulfilling than anything else I could do. I do good here," Spencer replied.
"As long as you take the time out to care for yourself as well. I'll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you're doing okay," Ethan said hugging him again as the last call to board came over the loudspeaker, causing him to grab his backpack and run.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
Stay safe everyone.