(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I'm having fun with this story. This chapter was difficult, I don't mind writing death but the aftermath is hard to write. It's annoying because I love to read/watch scenes like that because of the emotional connection... I guess. Anyway, I kept holding this chapter off because of that, so I apologise if it seems rushed.
Please keep reviewing, we haven't got much else to do ok this pandemic ;)
Enjoy.
Spencer was awake. Aaron was watching him through the glass in the door while he stood in the hallway thinking. Dave was talking to him. It seemed to be the only thing he could do since Spencer wasn't doing anything, not even eating.
After a moment more of watching with two nurses passing and giving him a strange look, Aaron dropped his hand from his face and pushed the door open.
Spencer's head instantly rose, a look of hope lingering in his tired expression. He stared at Aaron before dropping his eyes again.
"Aaron," Dave said, practically sighing the name. Aaron was suddenly wondering to himself when the last time they were able to be intimate was. Passion hadn't exactly been on the cards for quite some time. The thought was trying to distract him from the task ahead but as he looked back at David he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss him.
He didn't though. He needed to be there for Spencer now. He felt strangely responsible for the four-year-old who had so desperately sought them.
"Hey... hi, Spencer." Aaron smiled at the boy as he took a seat on Dave's opposite side. Once sat down Aaron could see how extensive Spencer's injuries were. The kid had heavy bandages around the wrist and hand that Aaron had thought was unrecoverable. The other wrist had a few layers wrapped around it, not nearly as heavy as its twin. The bandages weaved up and around Spencer's little fingers which were poking through the white, scratched and bruised, the nail beds a startling shade of purple. The gown Spencer wore seemed to be holding him together. Aaron knew beneath it was frail skin and fragile bones.
His face wasn't so swollen, the skin less inflamed, a mottled bruise tarnishing most of the skin, but the yellowing colours at least proving to Aaron that Spencer was healing.
"The nurse said he's healing well," Dave said, neither agent looking at each other. "They might have to do another surgery on his wrist if the skin doesn't start to heal properly but they said at the rate he's doing he might be able to leave by the end of the week."
Aaron stopped looking at the boy, glancing Dave's way for a moment and sharing an unspoken agreement with him. They had to tell Spencer.
Garcia sat at her computer, staring at the photo on her screen. Spencer was half-smiling in it, his lips slightly nervous. He was so young in the photo, Garcia knew it had been taken a few months before their current situation. They'd found it on Ashley's phone, along with a whole album of photos and videos dedicated to her little brother, spanning all the way back to his birth.
She was so surrounded in silent grief for what the boy had been through that she didn't realise JJ had walked into the room until there was a hand on her shoulder. Garcia jumped and clicked off the photo quickly. "W-what do you need?"
JJ smiled and squeezed Garcia's shoulder. "He's safe now," she said. Penelope looked back at her before dropping her head and sighing softly.
"I know... I-it's just... it's so sad."
JJ pulled up a stool nearby and sat beside Penelope.
"Can I see some more?" she asked, motioning to the photos. Garcia smiled.
"Yea, I've put most of them on a memory card for Spencer... I thought I might make him a photo album, but this way he can see videos too." Penelope opened the folder and clicked on the first photo. It was of a baby, clearly Spencer with his wide brown eyes and slightly curled tufts of baby hair. He was looking at the camera, his lips parted in a small 'o,' revealing a drooly tooth emerging from the bottom row. Both of his chubby little hands had torn wrapping paper in and between his legs was a partially unwrapped blue teddy bear.
JJ cocked her head, beaming at the photo. "He's adorable," she said.
"Makes you wanna keep him, right?" said Penelope and JJ nodded half-heartedly, knowing with a swell of guilt that she couldn't offer Spencer a home. "Me too," Penelope muttered, tapping a key to show a photo of Spencer sitting on his sister's hip with her pointing at the camera and smiling while Spencer stared at someone off to the side, his expression one a child wore before bursting into tears.
Both JJ and Penelope had a good idea of who he was looking at.
"Spencer," Aaron said. The boy didn't look at him. Aaron glanced at Dave who had his eyes in his lap. They had to tell him. "Spencer, we need to talk about your sister. Ashley? Come on, buddy. Your big sister." Aaron watched as Spencer raised his head slowly, his slightly unfocused eyes finally fixing on something, that something being Aaron's tie. Aaron reached forward and touched the boy's knee. Spencer flinched, his eyes falling momentarily before easing to Aaron's face. He didn't quite meet the older man's eyes but it was close enough.
Aaron smiled, his lips curling down slowly as the dreaded words started to form in his mouth. "Spencer, your sister... she passed away," Aaron said, hating himself for being so blunt but knowing there was no way around it. Spencer's eyes finally met Aaron's.
"I'm so sorry, buddy. She..." Aaron paused, searching for words he couldn't find. Spencer was staring at him, his chest rising and falling faster than before.
"Ashey..." the boy whispered, the stunted nickname brushing past his disused and cracked lips. He pinched his eyes shut and his shoulders rose in a sob. Dave watched, his heart aching as Spencer's lips trembled open and a quiet crow of sorrow fell from them. There were fat tears bubbling from his squeezed eyelids and Dave reached forward with a tissue to wipe them away, knowing they'd sting the kid's healing face.
"It's okay, kiddo. We're here, alright, we're not going anywhere."
Dave got up from his seat and perched beside Spencer, putting his arm around the shaking child. Aaron shifted uncomfortably, unable to stop feelings of guilt ballooning within him. He said the only thing he could think of to a grieving child, he recalled saying the same to Jack. "She loved you, buddy."
Spencer leaned his head against Dave's chest, his injured hand resting under his chin.
"I don't think she loved anyone more than you. Sh-she had lots of pictures of the two of you," Aaron said. Spencer opened his eyes, looking up at Aaron.
"Y-you have pictures?" he murmured, his voice clogged with emotion and from lack of use. Aaron nodded, motioning to Dave who pulled out his phone.
"You remember our friend, Penelope Garcia?" Spencer rubbed his good eye, his breath stuttering on another sob before he nodded. Dave smiled and held the phone in front of Spencer. "She found all of these on Ashley's phone. She's going to put them on a special card for the computer so you can keep them."
Spencer stared at the phone screen which held a photo of Ashley smiling with her mum. Spencer reached out and touched the screen.
"H-he-her mummy's in heaven," he said. His bottom lip trembled and more tears rolled down his cheeks, too quick for Dave to catch in a tissue. The older man was bewildered by how much the little boy was understanding, kids his age didn't understand death... then again, Spencer knew all about it. "Is she with her mummy?"
There was a momentary silence. Spencer was looking at Aaron who finally gave a small nod.
"I think she is, buddy."
Spencer rubbed his eyes again, an uncontrolled, high pitch whine rising past his throat. "M-m-my m-mummy is th-there too."
Dave squeezed Spencer's shoulder, hating himself instantly for doing it when Spencer let out a cry of pain. He'd forgotten which shoulder the kid had dislocated.
"They're together... they're probably looking down on us all now. They probably think I look silly sat like this."
Dave looked down with a grin when Spencer giggled. The happy sound didn't last long because the little boy was crying as soon as the giggle stopped.
The two agents sat quietly while Spencer cried, offering words of comfort every few minutes.
Spencer's sobs started to soften after some time, his eyelids drooping more as he rubbed them. When he managed to keep the sobs at bay, he pressed himself close to Dave.
"They can't look down on us," Spencer mumbled. "The only thing up is space..."
Dave held back his groan. He himself wasn't much of a believer in God but in this scenario, when a child had lost his mother and sister, believing in heaven just made the pain easier.
Dave was going to say something, to convince Spencer otherwise when the boy started to speak again.
"I think they're somewhere... their souls," he whispered and he raised a hand and motioned weakly around the room. "Mummy said when people go away to heaven part of them always stays behind with us..." he rested his hand against his chest. "Here."
Morgan took a deep breath before stepping into the interrogation room for the last time. William, who had been conversing with his lawyer, an old friend, looked up, turning his body toward Morgan.
"What's going to happen now?" he said. "Have you found Chris?"
Morgan reached into his back pocket and pulled out the picture they'd printed from Garcia. He looked at it for a moment. It was a selfie they'd taken from Ashley's phone. It was from the last time she'd visited Spencer. Ashley had her little brother in her lap, her arm around his middle and her fingers blurred from obvious tickling which was seen in the mid-laugh Spencer had been photographed in. Their heads were touching, Ashley's blond ruffling Spencer's curley brown. Morgan huffed a chuckle, his lips remaining closed.
"Frankly," Morgan said, pinching the corner of the photo. "I don't care about the people you traded your sanity for." Morgan hesitated, leaning on the table and dropping the photo face up. "The police can deal with your dirty business. Maybe you should start thinking about the lives you destroyed: these two for a start." Morgan rotated the photo and thrust it under William's nose. William craned his neck and turned away after seeing his children.
Morgan shook his head. "You make me sick," he muttered and he turned to leave.
"A-agent?"
Morgan paused with his fingers around the door handle. He glanced back, his face dark, his scowl heavy.
William opened his mouth as if to speak and Morgan saw how the lawyer next to him shook his head minutely, coughing as he did. William's eyes flickered to him before coming back to Morgan.
"I... i-it doesn't matter."
Morgan didn't care what the man had been trying to say, he yanked open the door and marched out, ignorant to the relief washing over William's lawyer.
"Dave?"
Dave turned around from his perch on Spencer's bed, the kid was still resting against him, his eyes shut and his hands gripping at Dave's shirt. "Yea?" Dave said.
"I was thinking about what you said." Aaron stopped and looked up at Dave who was frowning. "Maybe you're right."
"About what? Nice to hear you say you're wrong though."
Aaron dropped his eyebrows as if to say 'seriously?'
"About Spencer."
"About..."
"Adopting him."
Dave sat up straighter and nodded, inadvertently causing Spencer to turn his head into his shirt.
"I thought about it all. Perhaps you could retire, stay home with the boys. Or, if you don't, and let's face it, when will you ever retire, well, I thought, and I've thought about this before, but what if I retired? I've missed so much of Jack's life already."
Dave had a half-smile on his face. "You really have thought about this. I have rethought it and... are we really prepared to take care of a child with so much trauma?"
"Jack's had his struggles," Aaron said. "But yes, I realise this would be a lot of work but I can't watch him go."
The two agents' eyes met.
"He's grown on you?"
Aaron nodded and smiled.
"Me too," Dave said breathlessly.
They stared at one another for a moment.
"Are we doing this?" Aaron asked.
"I think we might be."
What was William going to say? We may never know... ;)
Thanks for reading.
Stay safe and see you soon.