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

Thank you all as always for your reviews. Thanks to Hippiechic81, Astrahan, AZCatmom, E.J. Morgan, and Sarry22.

Sorry for the delay on all of my stories, we had 25 cm of snow and a power cut last night from 5-10, so I didn't have any internet to write or publish :( but I'm back! Today and yesterday and the day before were official snow days (and from the looks of things, tomorrow will be as well!) and after I do a bit more sledding with my friends I am all yours and I will publish this today (Tuesday).

Some of you are curious as to whether Spencer is stuck like this...forever. Right now there is no cure and the likelihood of them making one is...pretty low. So does that answer the question?

Enjoy this chapter!

Previously:

He stopped shaking and his breathing had almost returned to normal, excluding the occasional hitch. Soon enough his eyelids started falling sleepily and he leaned heavily against Jack.

He felt safe in the presence of Hotch's family; His family.

It had been 6 days since Spencer had first come home with Aaron and JJ. It had been a little rocky at first, but Spencer was settling in well. He no longer referred to his room as 'the guest room' and Henry had hung a temporary 'S' sign on the door handle.

So when he woke up that morning he was used to the plain walls and the three-foot bed. He was also used to waking up earlier than the rest of the household and he'd had a desire, more than once, to wake up the others so he had someone to talk to. He hadn't gone through with that yet.

But this morning was different. He wasn't the first awake today. He heard footsteps and hushed voices coming from the room opposite. He rubbed his eyes, sat up and craned his neck just as Hotch came from his room, adorned in his suit and red tie. Hotch caught the big hazel eyes watching him and he couldn't help the smirk that slipped across his face.

"Morning, Spencer," he called.

"What's going on?" Spencer mumbled back sleepily. Hotch opened his door and turned the light on. Spencer hissed as the bright light stung his nocturnal eyes. He shielded them and squinted at Hotch.

"Sorry, buddy. Strauss wants us back today," Hotch explained, stepping over to Spencer's chest of drawers and looking for a decent outfit he could wear to work.

"Otay... does she know?" He asked nervously. Hotch shook his head as pulled out a tiny shirt and cardigan.

"Awe we going to tell hew?"

"We're going to have to," Hotch grimaced. He yanked a pair of small navy chords.

"Oh..." Spencer cringed a little and helped Hotch dress him.

After Spencer ate his normal bowl of Cheerios (which seemed to be growing on him) and was lifted from his chair, he hurried to the door and waited patiently.

"We're not leaving yet, Spencer," JJ called from the kitchen, but Spencer didn't move. She rolled her eyes and turned to her real son who was pushing around his cereal and resting his chin on his palm.

"Are you ready for school?" She asked, and he shrugged. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to go, I want to stay here with you guys."

"I thought you were excited about staying with your dad?" Aaron raised his eyebrows and Henry shrugged again.

"Yea, but Spencer needs me," Henry insisted, craning his neck to see the boy stood by the door. "I won't be here and he won't understand why," JJ exchanged a look with her boyfriend, knowing full well that Henry was the one who needed Spencer.

Suddenly, the doorbell chimed and Spencer jumped back at least a foot.

"We'll see you in a few days, Henry. Now go grab your stuff, that'll be your dad," JJ hopped up to answer the door as Henry trudged away to grab his things.

JJ ruffled Spencer's hair as she walked to the door. He stopped gaping at the door and looked up at her curiously.

"JJ," Will greeted her warmly with a broad smile as he tried to take a step inside. JJ put her hand on his chest to stop him and gave him a wryly look.

"Henry's coming now," she deadpanned. Will nodded and tried to pick the conversation up again.

"Was he good last week?"

"Of course he was. He always is. How's Claudia?" JJ folded her arms and waited. Spencer stood behind the door listening with intrigue.

"She's uh...come on Jay, I thought we got past this," Will muttered, twisting his fingers guiltily.

"I was just wondering if that woman was still sleeping in my bed." Will's mouth bobbed open helplessly and if Henry hadn't come to the door, their standoff could've gotten out of hand.

"I'm ready. Bye, mommy," Henry said, kissing his mother on the cheek while she hugged him tightly.

"Come on, Henry. We're already running late," Will grumbled insistently, holding his hand out to Henry, deliberately rushing his goodbyes with Hotch and Jack (and unbeknown to him: Spencer.)

"Be good, I'll see you real soon," JJ called after them.

"Bye Jack, bye Spencer, bye Aaron," Henry waved back, with Will frowning slightly, trying to figure out who Henry was referring to.

JJ shut the door and smiled at Spencer who suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Sowwy, I-I didn't mean to listen," he stammered shyly.

"Don't worry, Spence. You didn't hear anything exciting," she picked him up, much to his surprise and hitched him on her hip.

"Aaron, is Jack nearly ready?" She called into the kitchen. Hotch stuck his head around the door and shrugged.

"He's in his room, I think." JJ made her way up the stairs with Spencer looking over her shoulder curiously.

"Do you fink Stwauss will fiwe me?" Spencer asked nervously. JJ laughed and ruffled his hair, which he quickly swept back into his normal mess.

"No. She's not going to fire you," she insisted and before he could question her again she set him on his feet and opened Jack's door.

"Privacy!" Jack squealed as he covered up his bare chest with his t-shirt. "Go away!" He cried, glaring at JJ.

"Oh, come on, Jack. You have two younger brothers; you really think you have something that they don't?" She snickered, pulling his bag off the floor and putting his books inside.

"But you're not my mum," he grumbled. JJ sighed and deposited the bag on his bed before exiting the room.

"Come on, Spence," she mumbled, but Spencer stayed and shuffled up towards Jack.

"Whewe is youwr mommy?' He asked and Jack looked down and kissed his teeth, not knowing how to explain their situation to a two-year-old.

"She lives somewhere else."

"So does mine. She lives all de way in Vegas!" Spencer gasped and Jack frowned thoughtfully.

"Oh."

Spencer took a deep breath, mustering up his best attempt at a two-year-old. "Why don't you call mommy, mommy?" He asked innocently.

"You mean JJ? She's not my mommy she's yours and Henry's," Jack explained and Spencer looked up inquisitively.

"She's not my weal mommy, but she's still one of my mommies," Spencer almost confused himself with what he was saying, but it seemed to work on Jack who was deep in thought. So deep in thought, in fact, that he didn't notice the smaller boy snatch up the Rubix cube off the bedside table and sneak out of the room.

Spencer bounced his feet against his car seat, enjoying the rhythm he was making and the way his small feet swung freely.

JJ glanced back and smiled at the two quiet boys entertaining themselves.

Hotch stopped the car in front of Jack's school and got out to escort him in.

"Bye, Jack!" Spencer yelled energetically.

"See you later, Spence," Jack put his thumbs up and waved at the toddler. JJ rolled down her window and waved at Jack.

"We'll pick you up later," she said with a smile.

"Bye...J-...mom," Jack replied and he quickly followed Hotch to the school. JJ just stared at his back, not believing her ears.

"Did you hear that, Spence?" She asked in disbelief. Spencer was smiling smugly, but JJ wasn't watching him to notice.

"No, Sowwy," he said with a mischievous grin.

When they got to the office Hotch went straight to Strauss' office and Spencer insisted on following and waiting outside.

The team arrived and met up in the conference room. They took their seats and listened to Garcia talking about her neighbor's new kitten who she seemed to have acquired the night before.

"It's not stealing if the cat likes me more!" She defended. "Besides I've already named him." Rossi rolled his eyes while chuckling and averted his attention to the doorway

"How'd it go, Aaron? What's the verdict?" Rossi asked as Hotch walked in, with Spencer bouncing along at his heels, trying to keep up with his superior's strides.

"I guess she likes little Spencer more than adult Spencer," Hotch said, taking a seat and giving Spencer a boost up into his.

"Okay, well that's good, it's not the answer was looking for though," Rossi said with raised eyebrows, his fingers pressed together patiently.

"Well she was being difficult as always and I didn't think I was going to get anywhere with her until Spencer walked in. And like I said; I think she likes Spencer. She changed the subject completely and started talking to Spencer instead. I let her seeing that it was the first time I've ever seen her smile and then Spencer brought the conversation back and she just agreed with most everything I had originally proposed. I even asked her if she thought it would be better for Spencer to stay at home and she said that she was happy with him coming in."

"Wow! Looks like someone melted the ice queen," Morgan chuckled, tickling an unprepared Spencer under the neck and causing him to almost squirm right out of his seat.

"So what did you propose?" Emily asked.

"That Spencer would still continue to work with us, come on cases, and we both agreed that he will no longer be a field agent," Spencer stuck his bottom lip out, showing clearly that he had not agreed to that particular clause. "I explained that he has a new routine and that Spencer, JJ and I would have to work around it. That's where we were disagreeing and then Spencer walked in and saved the day."

"Why did you walk in?" JJ queried with a smirk and raised eyebrows.

"Hotch had my wubix cube," Spencer mumbled with a shrug. JJ frowned and thought for a moment.

"Isn't that Jacks?" Spencer bit his lip and smiled guiltily.

"Maybe."

"I saw him grab it when Jack was getting ready for school and I took it off him and forgot to put it back," Hotch pulled the cube from his pocket, which Spencer snatched eagerly.

"Go on. What else did you ask for?" Rossi asked, going back to the original conversation.

"Well, unsurprisingly, news about Spencer has spread pretty fast around here. Strauss has informed all the agents who know that it is confidential, she doesn't want the media finding out. I'm pretty sure she mentioned that she threatened some with redundancy," Hotch exchanged a look with the older agent, they were both surprised at how serious Strauss was taking this.

"She called me 'de FBI's biggest secwet'," Spencer announced with a proud grin.

"Exactly. So, we have to come up with an excuse as to why Spencer is with us to explain to the officers we will work with on cases," Hotch explained.

"And what did you have in mind?" Rossi raised his eyebrows with interest.

"The most obvious one is that he is our son. Other than that, he will probably have to work from the hotel with one of us." From Spencer's groan, they realised he was unhappy about that as well.

"So all in all, a good day at the office?" Chuckled Rossi.

"There's one more thing," Spencer looked up at Hotch with intrigue. When Strauss had told him to wait outside of her office he didn't think they would be discussing further clauses.

"Oh, yea? What's that?" Emily asked, catching the shocked look on Spencer's face.

"Spencer can't come on cases until he's turned two." Spencer's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but Hotch stopped him quickly. "To be honest, Reid, I agree with her. I'm surprised she is even letting you come back."

"Also, you're still pretty unsteady on your feet," Rossi added, with a thoughtful nod.

"And-"

"But whewe will I go!?" Spencer cried before Morgan could add to the growing points as to why he was weak.

"You can still help us, but you have to stay with Garcia. And when you do turn two and there are cases that Strauss or I feel will put you in harm's way, then you will also stay here with Garcia."

"Noooo," Spencer whined, rubbing his hands down his cheeks.

"It could be worse, Kid, they could've sent you to daycare," Rossi chortled, but from the look of horror on Spencer's face, he knew his joke had not been well received.

"Oh, no p'ese! I'll 'tay with Gawcia! Just don't send me thewe!" Spencer begged, clasping his hands tighter over the table and giving Hotch his best puppy dog eyes.

"Calm down, Spencer. We won't take you to daycare," Hotch promised, though he stowed the idea in the back of his mind in case Spencer gave him any more trouble.

"Fanks," Spencer sighed, wiping his brow and focusing his attention back on the Rubin cube which he was muddling up to resolve.

"Okay, so now that that's out of the way: what's on the agenda for today?" Emily asked.

"Paperwork," Hotch replied and it was the rest of the team's turn to moan.

"Uh, Spence..." JJ looked over the paperwork Spencer had filled in and saw scribbled writing.

"Yea?" He looked up from his file and grinned toothily.

"Have you seen this?" He looked at the work and frowned.

"Oh...sowwy, I can't hold da pen vewy well," he grimaced. JJ turned the work a little and squinted, just making out what it said. Aaron walked by with a mug of coffee and JJ collared him.

"Aaron, can you read this?" She asked, holding the work in front of him. Hotch took it and narrowed his eyes.

"Yea."

"Okay, good, as long as you can read it when you go through them," she put them back in Spencer's file tray and turned her attention back to him.

"I came over because I've been watching you fidgeting for 20 minutes now," Spencer looked at his feet guiltily.

"Sowwy."

"It's not your fault. Kids have lots of energy. So do me a favour and talk to Rossi."

"Why Wossi?" Spencer frowned, glancing at the Italian's office.

"Because I've been watching him pacing around and doing anything but work," JJ chided, what she really wanted was for Spencer to annoy the hell out of the older agent and tire himself out whilst he was at it.

"Otay!" Spencer grinned, shimmying from his seat and skipping over to the stairs. JJ watched him slowly make his way up the stairs, clinging to the railing for balance.

Rossi looked up from the framed photo he'd been studying to see Spencer standing in the threshold, beaming up at him.

"Hi, Wossi. JJ told me you wewe bowed," he giggled.

"Oh she did, did she?" Rossi chuckled and he motioned Reid over to him. "We're going to have some fun then, but you have to do what I say."

"Otay," Spencer beamed.

Morgan set his coffee down and sighed at the large stack of files in his tray. He lowered himself into his chair and a long fart sound echoed beneath him. His team all laughed loudly along with some other agents.

"What the-" he jumped up and pulled a whoopie cushion out from beneath him.

"Reid!" He growled, glancing over at Spencer's desk and finding the young genius missing. He caught movement in Rossi's office and saw the Italian close his blinds, but a small handprint remained on the glass where Spencer had been watching.

"Oh, revenge is a bitch," Morgan hissed with the flicker of a smile as he threw the whoopie cushion into the trash can.

Emily wiped tears from her eyes, smacking Morgan's shoulder as she passed him. He shrugged her off with a grunt.

"Come on, Derek. It was funny," she giggled.

"You weren't the victim," she rolled her eyes and deposited her mug in the sink. She turned on the tap and a stream of water sprayed straight at her face. She held her hands as a shield and yelled out as she tried to turn it off while trying to avoid getting drenched.

"Nah!" She cried, spluttering on the water and smacking the taps desperately. She finally managed to turn the faucet off and she turned to the bullpen with her arms outstretched and water dripping from her. Her hair hung limply down her face and she glowered at Morgan.

"Very funny!"

"W-what!? It wasn't me!" Morgan yelled through his laughs, holding his hands up in surrender. Emily clenched her hands into fists and continued to glare at the other agent.

"I swear-" he started, but she held up a dripping hand.

"Don't! You are so going to pay for this."

If any of you have any ideas of an excuse for them to give as to why Spencer is with them, leave a review with your idea, I would very much appreciate it ;)

Sorry, it's so short. The last few days have been unbelievably hectic!

Thank you for reading and please review!

See you in the next chapter.