(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
Time to get to the real story. Hopefully Spencer will make his appearance in this chapter.
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Enjoy
"Let me get this straight," Morgan said, holding his hand up to Emily who had been trying to speak. She sat back in her chair and glanced anxiously at Rossi. He was just sat smiling stupidly. The same stupid smile he'd had for days since they found out about having Spencer, between the melancholy moments where he thought of Diana and William of course.
It hadn't been a pleasant few days and they still had to go shopping. However, telling the team was first on the agenda.
"So the kid you had... the one you didn't know the dad to, he's Rossi's?"
Emily nodded as Dave sat up to protest, but Morgan carried on speaking.
"And now... you're un-adopting him?"
Dave and Aaron shed twin scowls on Morgan who just raised his hands with an innocent look on his face.
"I wouldn't phrase it as such-"
"We were named as his guardians," Emily said. "We never thought..."
"Yea," JJ finished, smiling sympathetically at Emily.
"You and Rossi?!" Morgan asked in an exasperated voice, reaching a different pitch to his typical deep tone.
"Yes," replied Emily and Dave together.
"Thats... oh Jesus..."
"Alright, Derek, you've made your point," quipped JJ. She shot Morgan a look that forced him to close his mouth. Garcia also sat with her lips pursed, her face glowing with excitement. Aaron just had a placid look on his face. Dave had hinted their relationship to him before after taking time off during Emily's maternity. He probably guessed after having to stay in rooms next to theirs during their 'meetings.'
"We thought you all ought to know," Rossi said and finally Garcia couldn't hold it in anymore and she made an excited noise.
"Oh! A baby! Another baby! Can I please get him some tiny little Nike? Oh please!"
Rossi chuckled and waved Garcia's chatter away. Emily looked horrified at the idea. It made the fact they were taking Spencer back all the more real.
She'd let the team know that the child she was pregnant with would be put up for adoption. Garcia had forced herself not to be excited or disappointed; she kept her mouth shut but now she didn't have to restrain herself since the child would be in their lives.
"Look, don't get over excited. Emily and I have agreed for now, to have a trial run. It depends on our relationship and Em's mental he-"
"David!"
"Sorry. It's overwhelming but we decided that we should follow the Reid's wishes. If it doesn't work... well we'll decide that when we get there."
There was a long silence after that. Emily was looking at her hands that lay unmoving in her lap. Dave looked dead straight into Aaron's eyes as the unit chief gave him an understanding look.
"I think you guys are soooo brave," Garcia said finally. She elongated the sentence to an eager extent but Dave just grinned at her.
Spencer was the first child he was going to get to raise. Joy was and had always been fine on her own or with her mum, she never needed him and James... he never had the chance to be the son Dave had hoped for.
Spencer was his last chance to erase his botched parenthood.
As for Emily, who was trying hard to keep her face natural, she had almost tasted motherhood before, once when she found out she was pregnant with the child she later aborted and again when she held Spencer in her arms.
She thought it was karma that she was having to pick up responsibility for one of those children she'd tried to erase.
Her and Rossi has both talked themselves out of parenthood throughout her pregnancy, they'd only ever considered the negatives.
"He's only a few months old right?"
Emily glanced at JJ and nodded. "Almost four months now..." she said, clearing her throat as she did.
Garcia twitched excitedly but she didn't say anything.
"Where's it goin'?" Morgan asked which earned him a scowl from several parties, the most intense being from Garcia.
"Spencer's not an it," Emily said.
"Well you thought he was not long ago. You kept calling him an 'it' when-"
"Stop, Derek. We were doing what we thought was best." Dave squinted angrily at Morgan while Emily folded her arms uncomfortably.
"He has a point, Dave, where is Spencer going to stay?" Aaron asked in a strangely soft tone.
"With Emily and me. She hasn't moved back into her apartment since the pregnancy and she's not going to now. My house is plenty big enough for the three of us."
The team looked sceptical but Dave kept his head high.
He gripped Emily's hand and squeezed. They could do this.
They painted the guest room a soft magnolia, Emily had indulged and purchased a wallpaper border with woodland animals on. Dave even had the wooden flooring replaced with a soft mottled cream carpet.
They were supposed to pick Spencer that Friday. Dave made it his mission to have the nursery complete by Thursday, and he spent most of Wednesday night building baby furniture while Emily read out the instructions.
Emily looked at the complete nursery reluctantly and touched the spot on her stomach where the baby used to kick inside her. She loved how enthusiastic Dave was about it all but it just made her hesitation feel worse.
Friday finally came, and after Dave bought a chair swing which Emily had protested against, they were on their way to the arranged meeting point. Dave looked back and grinned at the car seat already in place. It was facing backwards and could be detached so they could carry the baby around if he was sleeping. He'd have to have that seat for a while until he was big enough for a forward facing seat.
Dave reached out for Emily's hand as he drove and he pressed a warm kiss to his hand.
"We can do this," he said. Emily nodded but went back to gazing at the window.
They got there much sooner than Emily had hoped and before she knew it they were inside, waiting for the lady to bring in their son.
When Dave saw his son he felt his heart break a little. The boy was struggling in a woman's arms. He was screaming and kicking his little legs wildly. Dave could see the faint bruises over his skin, the cuts on his face too, one sliced through his eyebrow, another across his cheek and along the bridge of his nose. He looked like someone after a fight, but he was only three months old.
The woman turned and smiled with relief.
"You must be the guardians," she said, hurrying forward and quickly depositing Spencer in Emily's arms. Emily stared at her and then the wailing baby and she turned and gave him to Dave.
"Sorry, he's been so fussy lately. Poor little guy has no idea what's happening."
Dave rocked the baby gently, pressing a kiss to his forehead, careful not to irritate the child's sore skin. He shushed him and soon Spencer's cries tapered off into sniffles as he clutched Dave's shirt curiously.
"Let's take him home," Dave mumbled, pressing a kiss to the top of Spencer's head.
Emily hovered next to them nervously.
The woman was smiling sympathetically at her.
"First time? You'll get the hang of it. Oh, there's some things from the Reid's. I had them bagged and boxed for you... here, ah, here's the child carrier they used." She held up a baby carrier, much less expensive than the one Dave had bought. He could see the scratches on the surface, there was a large chunk of plastic missing and a small part of the seat had been torn.
"Uh... I think we'll use the one we got," Rossi said, motioning to the one in Emily's hand as he stared with disdain at the broken carrier.
The woman stopped smiling as she too inspected it. "Oh," she mumbled, realising that it had been the one rescued from the car wreck.
"In fact," Dave said with a quick glance over some of the things compiled from his old friends. "I think we should have all the stuff he needs."
The woman also looked at the stuff and then back at Dave. She shrugged and lifted a small drawstring bag from the floor. She held it up to Emily who quickly set down their detachable car seat to take it.
"These are some of the toys collected. I'm sure you can find more use in them than me."
Emily opened it slightly to peek inside. The Reid's hadn't exactly gone all out. There was a soft butterfly made with different fabrics for a baby to feel and rings on its tail to touch and perhaps chew at a later stage. There were some other stuffed toys and a fabric book.
Emily nodded slowly as she looked up. Dave was at that moment very carefully slotting Spencer into his car seat. The baby squirmed a little in his white onesie, looking up at Dave with of betrayed sort of look. Emily smiled at the expressive child while Dave gently pulled the straps up and around the child, tugging to make sure they were secure.
"All set?" The lady asked, she'd been watching them with a weary smile, happy to have her weekend off.
Dave lifted the carrier by its handle, staring with concern at Spencer to make sure the action didn't distress him. The baby raised one arm and his eyes fell closed.
"I think so," Emily replied after watching Dave for a moment.
The woman beamed and started forward to walk them out when her face lit up suddenly.
"Oh!" she cried, turning back and grabbing her bag. "I nearly forgot this!" From it she revealed a soft black cat, the one Emily had chosen to give her son, along with a light green blanket that Dave had gotten to wrap Spencer in. She held both items out to Dave who just stared at them.
"T-they kept them?" he mumbled.
"Yea, they were with Spencer when the car crashed and we're kept them with him ever since."
She shook the items until Emily hurried forward and took them. She turned the cat in her hands and smiled. She got it because it looked like Sergio. She wanted Spencer to have a Sergio in her life, loyal and loving (often too loving since Emily had to clean up his 'presents.')
Emily also fluffed out the blanket before leaning past Dave and arranging it over Spencer's tiny body. She tucked the edges in and left the black cat against Spencer's chest.
"Perfect," Dave said as she stood up and he placed a brief kiss on her temple.
They managed to get out of the house without anymore interference, although Emily did have to take Dave's arm to steer him since he was busy looking down at Spencer.
"David please look where you're going; there's a curb there," Emily said, forcing Dave to stop and look down at the curb.
"Sorry," Dave mumbled and he tried with sincerity to look at the car instead of the baby.
He opened the back door and slowly set the baby carrier into the seat. He checked nemerous times that it was secure while Emily went to the passenger side.
"Do you think he needs a toy... to keep him entertained?"
Emily plugged in her belt and glanced down at the bag.
"Doesn't he have his cat?"
"Yea... but what if he gets bored?"
"He's three months, he'll probably sleep," retorted Emily. She looked in the rear view mirror as Dave reached into the carrier with a smile on his face, adjusting the cat and the blanket. Emily watched him coo uncharacteristically and a small baby whine following.
"Are you tired, kiddo?" Dave whispered, rubbing the pad of her finger under Spencer's chin. The baby opened his mouth and yawned, making a sweet little noise as he squirmed into the seat. Dave beamed and straightened up. He stared at Spencer for a moment as he blinked sleepily.
"Dave!?"
Dave jolted out of the car, smacking his head on the door frame and rubbing it as he quickly shut the backdoor. "Coming, dear."
I think that's a good place to stop for now. This story is basically fluff and that's it ;) so if you want a bit of action, I'm not sure there will be any, at least not for a while.
Thanks for reading. Please leave a review and I'll see you soon.
