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

Thank to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. As promised this chapter will be more exciting. We're going back in time for this so you can see what happened in Aaron's childhood.

This story will be a lot like Collide, there will be flashbacks so if you're not keen on that I wouldn't recommend reading.

Anyway. Please let me know what you think it the reviews.

Enjoy

"Don't hit me peas! I sowwy, Daddy! Peas, I be good!"

Ed shoved the child out of the car onto the dirt track. The kid landed on his backside and started whimpering when Ed got out and made his way around.

"Daddy...?" he murmured as Ed slammed the passenger door shut. He reached down and grabbed a clump of the boy's dirty blonde hair, yanking him up to his feet.

The child reached up to try and pull back the stained strands of hair, crying out all the while.

"Shut it, Myles," Ed snapped, still holding the boy's hair to drag him out to the lake.

"No daddy no! Peas! No watew! No!"

"What did I just say!?"

Ed shook the hand holding Myles's hair, causing the child more unnecessary pain. He was still trying to stand on his feet so his feet didn't drag and his scalp stopped pulsing but he had no luck. Ed had a firm grip and he wasn't stopping either.

He did, however pause long enough for Myles to stand up straight and give his hair a break.

Myles followed his father's gaze to the boat in front of them. It was rocking gently, a mangy rope tying it to the dock. Myles looked up at Ed who was looking over the lake.

"They'll be catching up with us soon, son," Ed muttered. Myles glanced back to where they'd come from.

"W-Who?" he whispered. Everything was so dark. He just wanted to cling to his father's leg but he didn't out of fear of being kicked.

"Whose toming, Daddy?"

Ed grunted and started toward the deck, pulling Myles with him.

"Dad-"

"Get in."

Myles blinked up at Ed and then down at the boat. The insides were painted white which had long since started to peel, the wood on the outside an alarming black. There was one oar inside, half of the wood snapped and splintered and decaying a similar black as the rest of the boat. There was even water pooling in the bottom of it. Myles swallowed thickly and looked back up at Ed.

"In," Ed commanded and Myles' lips started to tremble.

"I fall in, Daddy."

"That's the idea," Ed growled. Myles shook his head and stepped back.

"Get in it now or so help me god!"

"I 'tawed..."

"Oh you will be, boy."

Ed lunged out and snatched the boy up into his arms. He checked the gun was still tucked under his belt before stepping inside the boat. He dropped Myles on one of the planks of wood laid out for sitting. He had started to cry but Ed ignored him as he want to untie the boat.

"Go home, Daddy..." Myles whimpered, his little fingers crossed under where he was sat on them.

Ed threw the rope onto the deck and started to drag the flimsy oar through the biting water.

Myles began to sob as they left the shoreline and headed deep into the lake.

Ed glanced back the way they'd come. The cops weren't there. Not yet anyway.

"Daddy?"

Ed snapped his head back to the boy and his lips curled up angrily at the three-year-old's bullshit.

"Will you just shut your trap!? I'm glad I'm bringing you out here," Ed yelled and Myles covered his mouth to quiet the onslaught of terrified sobs.

They were getting further and further out and Myles was shivering badly, looking over at the midnight blue water and wondering with a pounding heart, what lay beneath those waves.

"Too bad your brothers couldn't make it, hey?"

Myles palmed his eyes while he sniffled, giving a small nod.

"Dey wove boat twips."

"Not this one." Ed stopped rowing from one side to the other and with a smirk he threw the oar out towards the shore.

"Daddy!" Myles spun his head back and gaped at the floating broken ore.

He stared at it in disbelief and when he turned back Ed had a small black pistol pointed at him.

"Time to get out, Myles," he said with a straight face. Myles whimpered and looked over the edge. There was just blackness there.

"No..." he said. He looked back at Ed who just raised the pistol into the air and shot it. Myles jumped and let out a sob at the sound. He had his hands to his ears and he stared into his father's psychotic eyes.

"I said, get out." Myles could tell his father's teeth were grinding against each other, that's why he had one chipped.

Myles stood shakily and looked down into the water. Ed rose. The boat shook with their movements.

"I tan't swim, Daddy," Myles whispered as his father's shadow loomed over him.

"I didn't think so," Ed replied, raising the gun so it's trajectory was directly aimed at his son's back.

"They went this way."

"How can you tell!?"

"The lake, Gideon! He always went to the lake, where will he take his son to finish it? The lake. Now turn left at the next junction."

Jason sighed but followed his partners command. He stepped on the accelerator. They had a chance to save this kid, it was their first and only opportunity to do so.

David checked his gun and turned to the agent and officer in the back.

"This guy is looking for his end game, alright? He's not going to surrender. If we catch him now he'll try suicide by cop. Aim for the shoulder, disarm him."

"Why? Clean shot to the head and this bastards dead," their young agent retorted. Gideon exchanged an eye roll with David who turned back and quirked an eyebrow.

"That's last resort. We want this guy to face justice. It's called a sweet life time sentence with no damn parole. Shoot to disarm; protect the kid at all costs," said David. The older officer, Jim Whitson nodded.

He knew the man personally. He had invited Ed, his wife and their three boys to a barbecue. Ed was a man's-man, he could talk to the guy about fixing the leak under their bathroom sink for hours. The family was secluded, socially awkward and twitchy.

The eldest boy, Aaron kept the two younger boys at his side, carrying around the youngest for most of the barbecue while the mother doted on them nervously.

Jim felt a fool for having to call in the FBI on one of his neighbours. He just guessed he never knew the man as his family did, not since Ed had murdered two young girls, a teen boy and now, potentially his own son.

Jim never looked at his neighbours the same again.

Finally, Gideon pulled up alongside Ed's truck and they all jumped out the vehicle. They raised the guns and scoured the shore line.

David saw something in the dust on the passenger side and he dropped to his knees to retrieve it. He stared at the rag. It was stained and torn but from the softness he could tell it belonged to a child.

It was some kid's lovey. He pocketed the rag, so it was ready to give back to the boy they were searching for.

"Hey, Jas-"

A loud gunshot broke into the quiet night. The three agents and Jim jolted upright, all their heads facing the lake.

"He's on the lake," muttered Gideon. David came to stand by his side, his torch in his other hand now. Gideon glanced at him grimly.

"He's... he's on the lake?"

Gideon nodded. "Shit... how... we can't get to him!"

"Backup is coming."

There was another gunshot and silence for a moment before another one tore into the air.

"God damn it!" David stomped to the waters edge, going ankle deep before Gideon called to him.

"You can't do anything like that," he said. David ignored him and pointed his torch in the direction of the shots. He pressed it on to its brghtest setting and let it roam across the lake. It hit shimmering water before bringing light to a boat rocking in the water.

"I see them!" David yelled. Gideon stumbled over with Jim and the other agent close behind.

"There! There, that boat!"

They all looked down the beam of light where the boat sat atop the slightly rippling and bubbles waves. David's own smile started to fall.

The boat was empty.

"We're too late."

Present

"I'm sorry, mom!"

His mother had made a mess. The drafts board was flipped and checkers littered the floor, some rolling under the chairs and the couch, an nuance to the carers who would have to fish them back unless they wanted to play with a half-complete set.

Spencer got up, glancing nervously at one of the nurses who stood at the ready to calm Diana down forcefully.

"You come here and you accuse me, Spencer! I love you, isn't that enough?"

Diana stopped at a bookshelf near the corner where a window stood. She looked out of it as Spencer joined her side.

"I love you," Spencer said softly and he swallowed. "But I need to know. Dad tells me this and you think I'm not going to ask? I can't forget about it! I physically can't."

"So you travel all the way here to inform me that I'm not a mother to you anymore?"

Spencer frowned. "That's not what I said."

"You barely visit anymore and to think I was looking forward to this."

"Mom..." Spencer started and he looked down sadly. His mother sensed his upset and with a sigh she reached forward and brushed his hair from his face. He looked up slowly. "I just want to know. You will always be my mom but if I'm adopted then I need to know. I have a right to know."

Diana stared at him.

"Mom please."

Spencer grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes pleadingly. "I hardly understand who I am as it is. Please-"

"I have always loved you."

"That's not what I asked."

Spenecr gave his mother a pointed look.

"Spencer, I don't want to do this."

"Do it for me," Spencer said and he reached out to put his hand on his mother's knee. "You'll still be my mom."

Diana looked away from him, blinking at the window across from them. She pretended to be looking down at the busy street below but really she was trying to clear the gathering tears.

"I never planned on having you," she mumbled and her head shot around suddenly. "Not that I didn't want you, baby. When you came to me I knew I'd love you." She looked down at her sleeves, pulling them up over her fingers.

"There was an accident. You were wet and tired and in no shape to...um ... well your father..." Diana paused, looking up at Spencer, her expression shrouded in regret. "William, he thought it was for the best we didn't... take you back."

"Take me back?" Spencer frowned as he tried to decipher what situation his mother took him from. Diana looked at Spencer with clear discomfort.

"Spencer your real father." She took a deep breath suddenly as if the thought brought a great feeling of revulsion. "He wasn't a good person."

"You realise I work for the FBI, Mom? I have seen the very worse of people."

"Yes, well he was in the same league. He killed three people before they caught him."

Spencer sat speechless as his mother looked back out of the window, shaking her head.

"He took you out... must have been on the lake, you never spoke of it so we didn't know for sure. But you were wet when we found you. They found him in the lake too."

"Dead?" Spencer asked and his mother gave a stern shake of her head and she grit her teeth.

"No. No, he lived. Your father knows what prison he's held at. He keeps those things out of my knowledge.

"Your dad found you, he'd been at a clients house and was walking home by the lake. It was dark and he nearly didn't see you." Diana's face crumpled sadly as she recalled the dying boy they'd found by the lake. "You were hurt. We called our friend to check on you and... it took about a week until you were better. I wanted to find your real family but William and our friend realised who they were. The other two boys had been separated from their mother and each other and put in a home for children. Your real mother was arrested too. At the time we thought returning you to that environment would just cause more suffering so we kept you."

Spenecr sat in shock. He didn't know what to say to Diana who was avoiding his eyes.

"She was released," she said. "The moth- your mother. After a few weeks she was aquited with having anything to do with the murders. I believe she got her other children back after several months but by then we were living in Vegas."

"The two boys," Spencer mumbled which seemed to finally pull his mother's gaze back to him. "Are they my brothers?"

Diana nodded slowly and a tear came to her eye. "I'm so sorry we never told you."

Diana stood up and clumsily fell into her son's embrace. He numbly hugged her back.

"I'll ask your father to find them for you," Diana said.

"Do you know their last name?"

Diana shook her head. "They were changed for their safety. They used to be Bingham like you but I'm not sure now." Diana just waved her hand indifferently before she smiled at Spencer. "I've always loved you," she said and Spencer nodded, forcing a smile.

"I love you too."

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought in the reviews.

See you soon, stay safe.