(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

Thanks for all the support. Here's chapter two.

Enjoy.

The team stared at the boy who barely rose higher than the table from where he was sat. Dave had given the kid his chair as he disturbed the team's lunch.

"Rossi, why have you brought in a kid?" Morgan scowled at the Italian. The kid glanced at him and Morgan felt his expression fall a little, and he attempted to smile at the boy. Dave just shrugged and looked down at Spencer who was cowering now.

"He came to me."

"From where?"

The small boy licked his lips nervously, his eyes darting to JJ and staying there for a moment before falling to his lap. He didn't like the way some of the adults looked at him.

JJ caught the gaze and looked at the boy piteously.

"Vegas," muttered Dave as JJ walked up to Spencer.

Morgan barked out a laugh but Dave continued to look sincere and his smile fell. "You can't be serious? The kid tell ya that?" he said.

Dave shook his head. "Yes, but I knew. He was at a seminar I spoke at last month, which was in Vegas. Bambino isn't lying."

While they talked JJ knelt beside the chair and reached a hand forward gingerly. She brushed the boy's fringe from his face and he jolted upright, flinching away from her touch.

JJ held up her hands and the boy looked embarrassed. He rubbed his cheek as if to brush off the blush blooming there.

"What's your name, sweetie?" JJ asked as Spencer wiped his other cheek. He looked into JJ's eyes and she felt her own breath catch in her throat at the sight of his soulful brown eyes.

"Spencer," the boy whispered.

"-Reid," Dave added before turning back to Aaron and pursuing te argument they'd started. "What else could I have done, Aaron? Security called me. They were gonna call the police. The kid obviously came for something."

"He looks five, Dave, what could he come for? At that age Jack would only think of leaving home if...if I don't know, Spider-Man was making an appearance. And if it was Jack I would want the police to find him," argued Aaron.

"He's not... he's the kid I told you about, the one after the seminar," Dave said, choosing his words carefully. He saw the kid watching him.

Spencer shifted uncomfortably and made a small noise to catch their attention. It seemed to do the trick when they all turned to look at him. "I-I... I'm four actually."

Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose but smiled genuinely at Spencer so as not to upset him.

"That's insane," Morgan whispered, scowling at Aaron and then Dave.

"Why did you leave home, Spence?" JJ asked, still kneeling in the position beside Spencer. The boy blinked bewilderedly at the nickname: no-one had called him that. He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them and bit his lip hard.

If dad finds out you're dead, he thought. But he'd come so far.

"I wanted Mr. Rossi's help," he said in a shaky voice. He tried to keep his head high but his fingers still twisted around in his lap. "I can't tell anyone else," he added, quieter this time; less sure of himself.

JJ put her hand on his knee which she noticed was rather bony but continued to smile at him.

"You know we all work for the FBI, sweetheart. We can all help you."

"B-but..." Spencer trailed off as images of his father's angry face filled his mind. If he told them all... he would never leave the room again.

Rossi let out a sigh and finally turned his attention back to Spencer. "It must be really important if you came all the way here," he said. Spencer nodded slowly. "You said it was about your sister?" Again, the boy gave a minute nod. "Why couldn't you tell your parents?"

Spencer stared at Dave with sad eyes and he wet his lips. "I need you to help me," he said forcefully.

"Did you tell your parents you were coming to see me?"

Spencer shook his head.

"Do you know where they are?"

"They... daddy's at work."

"What about your mummy?"

Spencer turned his head down and just shrugged.

Dave exchanged a concerned glance with his partner who also looked troubled.

JJ's hand was back on Spencer's knee and she gave it a reassuring squeeze. "So you came all alone?"

"Yea," whispered Spencer. He raised his head a little and Dave saw the tears reflect with the lights. "Please Mr. Rossi. No-one listens to me." He took a deep breath and started to explain calmly what he'd been stuttering out in Dave's office. "M-my half-sister went missing. Daddy doesn't believe me but I know she's gone. Y-you said a-at that seminar that you find victims a-and missing people. I thought... I thought you'd help me too."

Dave looked at the boy's serious expression and he slowly dropped himself down into a chair. "You're a complex kid, I'll give you that."

"Ooo, lunch hasn't even started, what am I missing?"

They all turned their heads to the back door where Garcia had entered. She was wearing a turquoise dress with a ruffled hem, a navy cardigan with an embroidered cat, cat ears to keep her hair off her face and knee high socks (with cat ears also) and a pair of pink heels.

Spencer looked her way and his mouth fell open in awe of her colourfulness. He liked her.

Garcia also saw Spencer and her mouth opened and shut and she pointed wildly.

"Which of you have blessed me with a new godchild!? And it can't be JJ cus it's not blonde!"

Dave cleared his throat and straightened up from where he'd been talking to Spencer. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder not realising how badly he flinched. "This is Spencer Reid," he said. He narrowed his eyes a little and spoke his next sentence slow and purposefully. "He's come here from Vegas. Could you get your laptop?"

Garcia frowned and looked from the boy to Rossi then back again. She nodded slowly, her frown still firmly in place. "I'll be back in a second. Um... oh, nice to meet you, hunny bun." She turned and clicked out of the room as fast as she could in heels. Spencer watched her go with a frown of his own, wondering what had made the colourful woman leave. Before the boy could ponder it further, Rossi turned his chair so they were facing.

He glanced at the team, sending some kind of eye signal because they all moved back and stopped staring.

Dave smiled assuringly. "What's your sister's name, Spencer?" he asked.

"Ashley. Her mummy was married to my daddy before he met my mummy," Spencer explained his chest puffing out as he used his grown up voice.

Dave nodded, pretending not to notice when Garcia walked in, quietly this time, sitting down at the table where their backs were turned. Morgan and Emily walked behind her and watched as she started to type.

"How old is she?"

"She's twenty-two, nearly twenty-three," Spencer said with a smile. His small hands were less wayward; instead they were gesturing different things as Spencer spoke. Dave couldn't help liking the kid.

Rossi raised his eyebrows. "Much older than you. You said her mummy 'was,' does she not have a mummy anymore?" Dave asked.

Spencer sighed sadly but nodded. "There was a carbon mon...mon...o-oxide leak at her mummy's apartment when Ashy was backpacking. Daddy helped sort it out."

"Did he?" Rossi asked in a cool voice.

"Yea... Ashley doesn't like daddy. But she always visited every two weeks. A-and she hasn't been back in... forty-three days."

Rossi took in the information slowly and gave Spencer serious looks so the kid knew he was on the same page.

"Rossi? Um, you should see this."

Dave glanced at Garcia who had her laptop turned his way. Emily and Morgan had moved but were watching Spencer almost suspiciously while Aaron and JJ leaned over to finish what they'd been reading on the laptop.

Spencer looked too and he swallowed thickly.

"Kid's been missing since Saturday," Morgan said as Dave read the digital missing persons poster with Spencer's face on. It was currently Wednesday.

"Your daddy's been worried sick, pumpkin," Garcia said, looking at Spencer with a sympathetic smile. Spencer looked away and sniffed.

Aaron pressed himself closer to Dave as he read over his shoulder.

"There's an interview with his father, William Reid."

Garcia clicked on it and threw it onto the tv screen which Dave still had no idea how she did it.

A man in his late forties came on screen with a grim expression. He glanced back before a question was asked and his brown eyes found the camera lens.

He nodded along to some questions.

"He doesn't normally go out so I would be surprised if he's run away but..." the man seemed to choke down a sob and he pressed a finger to his lips.

"His mother passed away a year ago. If someone out there has him please let him come home. He's all I have."

"Well," Morgan said when the video stopped. He put his hands on his hips and smiled at Spencer.

"Looks like we're going to be taking someone home."

Dave saw the way the boy's face drained suddenly. His hands went back to their nervous fidgeting.

"Derek, why don't you take Spencer to your desk for a little while, so we can look more into this," Dave said and he winked at Spencer who was suddenly beaming back at him.

"Um..." Morgan glanced around the room before his eyes landed on Spencer. "Sure. Come on, kid. Do you like YouTube?"

"What's a YouTube?" Spencer asked and Morgan laughed, offering the boy his hand and helping him slide off the seat.

"I think your pal Dave has also asked that question."

Dave scowled at Derek, his one eye narrowed as he watched them leave. He softened his expression when Spencer turned and offered him a wave. He waved back, a little too awkwardly.

"This is..." JJ sighed and sat further into her chair. "-Strange."

"How did he get here?" Garcia muttered, flicking through some stay news articles each amplifying Spencer's disappearance to proposterous heights; one local paper already claimed him to be murdered. Garcia shook her head and opted into looking back at the police report instead.

"It has been four days," Emily pointed out. The time seemed to fit, it would take over a day to get from one end of the country to the other, and owing to the circumstances it was no surprise Spencer took a little longer. JJ blinked dumbly at nothing as the monumental facts of the situation hit her.

"But he's... he's basically a toddler!" JJ said finally, her eyes still bulging with disbelief. Micheal was Spencer's age and she couldn't fathom the idea of her own son travelling to Vegas alone.

Dave stood and walked to his partner who was looking down into the bullpen at the boy. Aaron had a finger to his lips, another brushing his chin thoughtfully. Dave knew what Aaron was thinking.

"Did you hear what he was saying about his sister?"

Aaron nodded, glancing briefly Dave's way.

Emily looked over at the two. She had her arms folded in exasperation while her mouth opened to start an argument. "But he's a kid. He doesn't understand, his sister is an adult," she said.

Dave turned to Garcia. "Can you look his sister up?"

"Already did, sir."

Garcia poked some buttons and a photo of a young woman popped up on the TV screen. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and brown eyes like her little brothers.

"Ashley Knell," Garcia said, pulling up tabs of social media. "Her mum died when she was seventeen and she stayed with her grandmother until she was eighteen and she went to college until she was twenty-one. She's taken several jobs but it looks like she travels."

"Nice," mumbled Emily as she looked up at the pictures from the young woman's instagram. One was of a pastel blue sea and another was deep within some tropical mountains.

"Can I retire?" JJ asked, grinning back at Aaron who wasn't paying much attention. He was still watching Spencer who was sat in Morgan's chair, holding tight as Morgan spun him around. Aaron felt his lips turn up slightly at the grin on the boy's face.

"She also has a YouTube channel."

Garcia clicked on a video and Ashley came on the screen.

"Hi, guys! I'm back from Turkey! Honestly, one of the most beautiful places I've been so far. I'll have the vlog up soon. But today-"

Garcia paused the video. "She has three-hundred-and-eighty thousand subscribers."

Emily let out an impressed whistle, scanning some of the comments on the video.

"Her last instagram post was yesterday," Garcia added, a sad look crossing he face, her glasses lighting up blue as she pulled up Ashley's facebook and twitter.

"Looks like she updates regularly," JJ added, peering at Garcia's screen.

They looked toward Rossi who pressed his lips together.

"Alright. I still think the kid's remarkable but maybe he doesn't understand this."

William Reid walked up the stairs slowly, his hand resting heavily on the banister. The police were arriving with more questions and likely a search for any clue that may lead to his son's location.

William stood in front of his son's bedroom door. He pushed it open, ignoring the squeak of the hinge and stepping into the box room.

He glanced around at his sparse surroundings. He wondered if the cops could tell that Spencer's bed was rarely used. He'd hidden some things in the basement before they arrived but they'd only be interested in Spencer's room.

There was a small bookcase along the right wall, only partly decorated with old kids' books and a few of Diana's poetry books. The bed was on the opposite wall, a thin single bed, not high off the ground, the sheets a tartan green, tucked under the mattress and garnished with a single white pillow. There were no stuffed animals. But William knew Spencer had one. He made a face when he recalled the disgusting old bear Diana had given Spencer. William had torn the animal apart once but Spencer still carried around the mangled disgrace of a bear.

William knew the kid had his bear.

Spencer doesn't deserve them, William reminded himself as he took in the absence of teddies. He certainly didn't deserve the ratty bear he had. The police had asked if anything was taken, like a toy or a blanket and they seemed surprise when William said no, confirming that the room actually looked that bland normally. William had to right his statement when he recalled 'Gary' the bear and he'd chuckled after making a face, stating that the bear was a poor example of a toy since Spencer had practically destroyed him. The officers seemed to understand, their own kids having stuffed animals killed by 'love.'

There was a rug in the middle of the floor. A circular blue one: having resided in William's office in it's past life.

William glanced around the room, satisfied that apart from the lack of childhood joy, the room was unsuspicious.

That's one child, he thought bitterly, shutting the door behind him as he started toward his own room.

He twisted his hands together, pressing firmly into the creases on his palm. He tried to keep the thoughts of the worst case scenario from his mind.

He was terrified. It helped that he was anxious, the police melted into his hands. He'd even had a few calls from friends at several law offices offering their own services and giving their sincere concern over his missing son.

He imagined what they were saying at his own firm. Rachel, the receptionist, would likely be whispering to the other female workers about 'poor, Mr. Reid. First his wife and now the little boy.'

'Oh, I know.'

'The poor man can't get a break.'

William half-smiled at those thoughts.

He got to his room and walked to the side closest to the window.

William sat on the edge of his side of the bed. It was the one curtesy he had for his late wife. He didn't touch where she once slept.

William stretched out his feet across the floorboards, pushing his toes into a sharp joining of two pieces. He hoped his son had been kidnapped. Perhaps they wouldn't find him. It wouldn't be so much of a problem to him. An inconvenience, yes, but it was better than the idea that Spencer had... run away. There would be less questions.

William swallowed thickly, his fingers going numb as he lay them on his bedside table. The kid could do so much damage.

William inhaled deeply, focusing his eyes the table and his next task.

He reached into his drawer, carefully pressing his fingers down on one end of the wooden panelling until the other end lifted. William tucked his nails under the wood and lifted it, placing it carefully on his bed. He looked back at the draw where a silver laptop, decked in dozens of faded stickers, and an iPhone (it's screen cracked from top to bottom) lay. William picked up the phone, pressing the button and unlocking it quickly. He had unlocked it to himself a while back.

He ignored the photo of his son and daughter on the background of the phone and touched the Instagram app.

As it loaded he glanced over his shoulder, his eyes twitching on the open door for a moment.

He turned back to the app, a photo of some stereotype of a beach looking back at him. He sighed scrolling through and liking a few before heading to the profile. He scanned messages, made sure everything was in order.

He pressed the plus at the bottom of the screen and selected an old photo from the phone's albums, his daughter standing one foot in the sand the other in the sea. He applied a generic filter and a few hashtags that he just copied from another post.

He paused again, looking around, feeling as if he was being watched. He slowly turned back to the phone and hit share. He closed the phone and slid it back into the cabinet, reaching back and slipping the wood back into place and replacing some of his things back in the drawer.

He stood up, sighing deeply as he straightened his pants.

He had to keep things running smoothly. Spencer or no Spencer.

Another chapter done! Sorry! Updates are being proofread so you'll have something more soon!

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See you soon.