(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
Thank you Guest, FallWithMeOffACliff, Ash59, Mob85, fishtrek, ahowell1993, Cookieandjinx, Autxmnal Rain, CJ Fool, Hippiechic81, Rookblonkorules, lailyspenstar, Diana, Daisyangel, Guest, And Pechika for your reviews.
Please keep reviewing! They mean a lot and really motivate me to sit down and write.
Enjoy this chapter.
Previously:
He grabbed hold of the bottle to give himself a bit of control and soon he felt his eyelids growing heavy.
"That's it, honey. Nap time."
The team gathered in Hotch's kitchen, JJ visibly shaking as she poured out coffee, whether in anger or anxiety nobody knew, nor did they wish to ask. Garcia was smacking her keyboard as Hotch hovered over her shoulder.
"Do you have a printer?" She asked and Hotch nodded pointing to the small box printer hidden behind a bookcase. Garcia connected to it wirelessly and Emily collected the sheets of paper coming out.
"Those are the adoption forms you have to sign," Garcia said.
Rossi pulled his phone from his ear and hung up.
"What did Strauss say?" Hotch muttered.
"She's organising something with a judge, she didn't give me the details but I think she's getting the director on board."
"Seriously?" JJ gasped, nearly spilling the boiling water over her the brim of her mug. Rossi nodded.
"The police are coming to investigate some time," Hotch mumbled absentmindedly and Emily scowled angrily, her fingers tightening around her mug which she wasn't drinking.
"Why the hell do they need to do that?"
"Whoever told them said they believed Spencer was in danger-"
"Well he's clearly not," Garcia interrupted.
"Well, CPS won't be satisfied until we are fully investigated."
"That's bullshit," snapped Morgan and JJ sent him a quick look of warning, motioning to the boys in the front room.
Garcia sorted through the paper and laid them on the table, putting a pen on top. "Sign them," she ordered, going back to her laptop.
"And hurry, I need to give them to Strauss," Rossi added.
"Don't we have to read them?" Hotch asked as JJ scribbled her signature on each piece.
"No time," quipped Garcia. "You'll have time to read it later. It's proof that you've agreed to adopting Spencer. Just do it."
Hotch didn't argue he signed the papers and barely lifted the pen off the last piece before Rossi was snatching them away.
"I'll keep you updated," he said and he hurried towards the door. "These bastards are gonna realise they messed with the wrong people," he added and the door slammed behind him before JJ could scold his bad language.
Spencer woke up with a jolt, his fingers clawing at his stuffed rabbit. He stared at the bars of the crib he was in and shook his head groggily. "Daddy?" He called tiredly. There was no answer. "Aawon!" He yelled. Still no answer. "Daddy-"
The door opened and Natalie trudged in. "Shh, you don't want to wake the others up," she murmured sleepily. She bent down and lifted the child into her arms. Spencer whined and pushed her away.
"I better change you," she muttered to herself. She glanced at her watch and sighed. She hated being in charge of the young ones, especially when they were up at 3.24 am.
She carried the groggy child to the bathroom and lay him on the changing cabinet, reaching down for a change of clothes and a diaper.
"Right," she said as she stood up and started to undress Spencer.
"No!" Spencer screamed and kicked Natalie's hands away.
"Sit still," Natalie, the carer, hissed as she tried to pin the toddler down to the changing mat.
"Leave me alone!" Spencer wailed kicking his feet wildly at her.
"Urgh!" Natalie growled, holding his arms above his head. "What are you!?"
Spencer paused for a moment and stared at her. This isn't how a child acts, he chided. But I'm not a child, he thought. Then a scary thought hit him. If they figured he wasn't normal would they send him away to be... tested on? No...no they can't, but the thought had been planted and Spencer trembled in fear. How would a child react? He thought desperately and he decided to let the toddler in him decide. He let his emotions take hold and released a long wail.
"Oh great...uh, hush, sweetie. I didn't mean to shout at you," Natalie said quickly and Spencer sighed internally and continued to cry. Much to his reluctance he allowed the carer to change him into a diaper and a baby grow. She lifted him into her arms, he was still whimpering miserably as she rocked him, he faked sleep so she would put him back in his crib. When she finally left he let the real tears fall.
"I need you to get into Spencer's records before they do," Hotch ordered.
"And do what?" Garcia asked fearfully. Hotch paused to think for a moment.
"I need you to hide his real identity. I don't want anyone to have access to it."
"But... we can't do that," JJ breathed, looking to Aaron who avoided her blue eyes.
"If they find out he's Spencer Reid, they'll...they'll-," Hotch swallowed thickly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We won't ever get him back."
"He can never be Spencer Reid again," Garcia mumbled sadly and Hotch nodded.
"So what? They put his finger prints through the system and find nothing?" Rossi asked and Hotch nodded.
"They would have to check his finger prints, and if they found his background I don't know what they'd do."
"So we have to change his identity all together?" Emily asked.
"It's the only way."
"But what if a cure is foun-"
"There is no cure!" Hotch snapped. "There won't ever be; Spencer is not going back to his old life, we need to face that. This is our only option," he took a brief breath before continuing. "Garcia, I need you to make sure everything is hidden away about Spencer. I want his record blank as of now. They already have the hospital records of Spencer's time with us, right now we look highly suspicious. Do it, Garcia."
"Alright," Garcia sighed and she started to slowly pull up Spencer's record, and began to bury it within the system.
The team watched Garcia work in silence until all links between Spencer and Dr. Spencer Reid vanished.
"There. Now there is no way they can link the two together, unless they have mad tech skills. Dr. Spencer Reid is no longer a assessable record. He is under an alias in witness protection to anyone who gets suspicious about his disappearance."
"What do we do now?" Questioned Morgan.
"We wait until the adoption goes through," Garcia whispered in a dull voice, vacant of her typical bubbliness.
"How did they even find out?!" JJ mumbled, rubbing her temples as a painful headache erupted beneath her fingertips.
"Someone told them," Hotch replied. He glanced at Garcia who looked from him to her keyboard.
"Um... permission to dig a little further than the law permits?" Garcia asked, giving a pointed look at Hotch who nodded and muttering something along the lines of 'we've come this far already.' Garcia swivelled back around to her keyboard and started pulling up tabs and typing manically through the search engines, boxes filled with white writing popped up across the screen until a long blue tab interrupted all the others and information started pouring across it.
"So it's really hard to pinpoint but these are the calls that have come into CPS over the last month," Garcia said and then she nodded to another tab in the corner. "And that shows the emails CPS has received. I can narrow it down to calls and emails within Virginia."
"Expand the search a little wider, add the neighbouring states," Rossi said.
"Alright. That's a big number but I think we can work with it," Garcia put in. "There are 789 results."
"Can't you analyse the calls for keywords?" Emily asked. Garcia paused for a moment and glanced around at Emily with narrowed eyes as she thought.
"You are a genius!"
"Can you do that?"
"It takes time but I can. I can analyse all the calls to recognise certain words but it will take time."
Spencer lay restlessly in his crib and dreamed of strangers who prodded and poked and laughed at him. He curled up in the crib when the nightmares broke his sleep and he shivered as tears rained down his cheeks.
"I want to go home," he whined quietly.
Spencer woke up hours later to the sound of crying, he looked around and saw another toddler stood in a crib wailing loudly for someone. Spencer sighed and covered his ears, trying to get back to sleep. The door opened moments later and Spencer was pulled from the crib by one of the carers
He was silent whilst they dressed him in shorts and a t-shirt. He let them brush his teeth and comb his hair and he reluctantly opened his mouth for the lumpy porridge which he had decided he had no choice but to eat. His behaviour was starting to scare Natalie as she watched the boy sit compliantly whilst another career spoon fed him, there was a sad, vacant look in his eyes. She took him from the kitchen and made her way to the den. She was almost to said room when a loud bellow interrupted her light footsteps.
"Patterson, here now." Spencer felt Natalie go taunt and she looked around slowly.
"Miss Debra," Natalie mumbled, standing up straighter. The woman she was addressing was tall, her stomach broad and round, her shoulder square. Spencer was reminded of a rectangle as he looked at her. Her hair was dark brown, greying at the roots and slicked back with some sort of oil which made her look sweaty and her receding hair line seemed to shine with its gloss. The hair in question was long, brushed down her back and off her face. She wore long tight navy trousers which clung to her pot belly in an unsightly manner, revealing all her meaty parts.
"Am to believe this is the new child?" She deadpanned, her arms placed behind her back, making her bulbous chest stick out from under her light pink blouse, once again doing no wonders for her shape.
"Yes, ma'am. Arrived yesterday."
"And you have taught him the rules?"
"Well I-" Natalie started but the woman cut her off with a palm in the air, which appeared surprisingly soft.
"Hand the child to me; I will set him straight," she said.
Natalie passed Spencer over and he scowled at the woman.
"You had better wipe that look off your face unless you wish to face consequences," the woman growled but Spencer didn't let up.
"I won't," Spencer grumbled and he squirmed angrily in the woman's arms. The woman didn't seem fazed and she pulled Spencer to her chest, holding him with one hand while her other hand swatted his backside three side- so much for looking soft. Spencer gasped in pain and shock, trying to reach around and stop the offending hand. The woman held him out in front of her again and looked him dead in the eyes.
"You do not speak to me or any other adult in such a manner. It appears you were brought up by farm animals."
"A fawm would be bettew dan hewe," Spencer retorted bravely and this earned him another three swats which landed painfully on his back.
"I want my Mommy and Daddy!" Spencer cried but the woman was having none of it, she held Spencer firmly and shook him.
"You haven't got a mother or a father! That is why you are here! The sooner you understand that the easier it will be."
Spencer stared at her as hot tears ran unconsciously down his face.
"You will sit with the others like a normal child. Any nonsense from you and you will be punished, understand?"
Spencer pushed away from her and her grip grew tighter and more painful.
"Understand?!"
"Yes," Spencer wailed as her manicured fingernails gnawed mercilessly into his side. The woman thrust the child back to Natalie and Spencer welcomed her arms just to get away from the other woman. Spencer held back his sob as he listened to the women.
"Take him into the den and put him in the playpen. I need you to get the two other under 3's changed and fed. Don't spend all your time on that one."
"Yes, ma'am," Natalie replied in a shaky voice. She stood for a moment before Debra took a menacing step forward, her eyes burning into Natalie's pale green ones.
"What are you waiting for?" Debra barked and Natalie jolted and hastened away.
She could feel the toddler in her arms quivering and she ran a hand over his back. "It's okay," she mumbled and the toddler let out a stuttered breath before bursting into tears. He nuzzled his face against her shirt and clutched her tightly, terrified of the scary woman coming back.
Natalie shuffled to the den where most of the kids were sat watching the TV with dead gazes. She walked over to the playpen that had been duck taped together after one of the kids had a temper tantrum and she set Spencer down on his backside and r ruffled his hair. She gave him his stuffed rabbit and Spencer grabbed it and covered his face with it. Natalie sighed and glanced around at the kids, only a few were paying her any attention. She took a deep breath before going about her other tasks leaving Spencer to fend for himself.
Spencer peeked up from his rabbit and saw a cartoon playing on the TV. He glanced around the playpen and stood up, walking to the gate which reached to the top of his chin. Spencer gripped the bars and tried to lift his leg over. It was too tall so he stood thoughtfully for a moment before deciding on another course of action. He gripped the top bar and attempted to lift himself up. He grunted with effort but his arms were too weak and they gave out under his weight and he found himself falling onto his backside. Spencer grimaced in pain, pressing a hand to his backside which stung doubly from the swats of the evil woman's hand and now his fall. He seized his rabbit and threw it at the bar in frustration, a sob leaking through his gritted teeth. He covered his face and felt let tears fall onto his palms. He froze when he felt a dark shadow fall over him.
"Why you cryin', kid?" One of the older children looked over the playpen and Spencer peeked through his hands in terror.
"Leave him alone, Buster," a young girl sighed and the boy shrugged.
"I'm not bein' mean. Jus' wonderin' if he met Demon Debra."
"Demon Debwa?" Spencer mumbled and the boy chuckled.
"Yea, that big bitch who walks aroun' here lookin' for trouble. She's knocked a few heads together in her time and she ain't afraid to go further."
"Watch your mouth," the girl snapped.
"I'll do what I want."
"Fine, but if Miss Debbie hears you-"
"She won't! Anyway, did ya meet her kid?"
Spencer nodded slowly and wiped his eyes.
"She hurt you, right?" Another boy with dirty blonde hair and a hooked nose piped up.
Spencer looked down at the floor. He could still feel the imprint of the woman's fingernails in his sides and her palm on his back. He shrugged.
"That old cow," the girl hissed and Buster laughed.
"Thought you said to mind ya language, Sandy?"
"Cows not a swear word."
"I'll ask Demon Debra shall I?"
"No!" Sandy cried.
"Stop saying that," an older girl, maybe 14, whispered, her head flicking backwards, searching for signs of danger.
"Saying what?" Buster asked innocently.
"Demon Debra," she whispered back nervously.
"Chill out, she's not gonna catch me anyway. D'you wanna get outta there, Kid?" Asked Buster. Spencer looked up at the older children and then back at his prison and nodded. Buster was about to lean over when the 14-year-old girl pushed him out of the way.
"You'll only end up dropping him," she quipped, leaning down and lifting Spencer up under his arms. "My name's Rachel," she said to Spencer. "What's your name? We can't just call you 'Kid' forever.
"Spencew," Spencer replied in a small voice. She deposited Spencer on the floor and he grabbed his rabbit from where he'd thrown it.
"Well if you've already met Miss. Debbie then you should know that it's us against her. Don't let her win, Okay Spencer?"
Spencer nodded shyly.
"Good, now if I were you I'd stay in the den, running away isn't really an option around here, and if you try to then you're basically signing your death certificate: don't do it," Rachel explained.
"O-otay," Spencer mumbled.
"You know he probably can't understand us," the boy with blonde hair said and Spencer scowled at him with an affronted look.
"Yes I tan!"
"Alright then. We have a policy here of 'every kid for themselves.' You may only be a baby but that's our rule, so we're not going to be saving your butt around here if you get caught by Demon Debra-"
"Mike!"
"Sorry, Rachel. We stick together here, unless Miss. Debbie is involved, then you're on your own, Spencer. You got it?"
Spencer nodded slowly.
"Good. Welcome to Crawford house."
Hotch was arguing with CPS on the phone, demanding to know which home Spencer had been sent to. Analysing phone calls had taken much longer than expected and Hotch had to drive to the BAU to access the systems there. It still took all night. The team had gone home to get some rest while Hotch and Garcia worked. Garcia had apologised profusely for taking so long, complaining about being unable to access most of CPS's records and in order to do so she had to break several laws.
It was 8.42am and Hotch was trying to keep calm as he spoke to an ignorant CPS agent who sounded more like a robot. Garcia was typing faster and faster and suddenly her eyes grew wide.
"Sir, I found the call," Garcia said quietly and Hotch stared at her for a moment as the CPS agent complained on the other end. "Sir?"
"Hold on, Garcia," Hotch muttered before he turned his attention back to the phone. "I don't care about who you have to speak to, get it done. No. You tell her that," Hotch growled and he hung up before slamming the phone down. He looked up at Garcia with a urgent look. "What did you find?"
"You're no going to like it."
Hotch was pacing around Garcia's office when a flustered Rossi entered.
"I just had a meeting with Strauss," Rossi put in and Hotch whipped his head around. "The papers have been sent."
"And?"
"And," Rossi cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It's going to take at least 18 days for the adoption to go through."
"You're kidding!?" Hotch snapped. Rossi shook his head sadly.
"She was pushing it as best she could but there is only so far her powers go. We can't have people asking questions."
"So we just have to wait," Hotch grunted.
"Maybe not, she's talking to the director. They're eager to clear this up. Guardianship is the next best option."
"And how soon can we arrange that?"
"Well your apartment needs to be checked, which was already happening; and then they do a full background check on you and JJ," Rossi explained.
"And how long is that going to take?"
Rossi rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not as simple as I'm making it sound. Right now a week is the soonest-"
"A week!? David, I have no idea where my son is or what is happening to him, I'm worried sick, JJ isn't doing any better and you expect us to go on like this for a week!?" Aaron yelled.
"I don't expect you to, nor do I want you to feel that way; Strauss is actually working her ass off and I've already been pushing for too much. I'm just as worried as you are. Right now this is the best course of action," Dave said calmly and Hotch slammed his hand on the wall and left it there as he panted heavily, trying to control his breathing.
"Aaron?"
"I'm sorry, Dave. This isn't your fault."
"I know." Rossi said and there was silence for a moment before he smiled lightly. "You called him your son."
"I guess I did," Hotch replied, not disputing it.
"We'll get him back, Aaron, I swear. But um... Garcia said there was something important that you had to tell us."
Hotch glanced passed Dave and saw the team -minus Spencer and JJ, who was picking Henry up from school- hovering in the bullpen.
"We found out who reported us to CPS."
Rossi's eyebrows lifted with interest. "Who?"
JJ rushed into the conference room looking flustered, her hand holding Henry's.
"Will's coming to pick Henry up here, have you found anything?" She panted. She glanced at the closed faces of her team. "What?"
"We found out who reported us," Aaron murmured.
"Who?" JJ asked impatiently.
"Claudia."
JJ just stared back at Hotch for a moment before a lightbulb suddenly went off. "As in-"
"Yes."
"Daddy's girlfriend?" Henry asked but the adults didn't reply.
"That bi-" JJ started but Hotch motioned quickly to Henry and she cut herself off. "Why would she do that?"
"We're about to find out.You and I are going to have a quiet chat with Will and perhaps he could give us some insight."
"I'm going to kill her," JJ hissed.
Jesus! Now I seriously had writers block for this! I literally stared at a blank document for so long and wrote tiny bits and tried to piece them together. I hope this chapter is alright and I'm sorry I made you wait for it again! Next chapter will be better I hope. I'm not rushing to get Spencer home as you can probably tell. I want him to have a few new adventures at the foster home, but I promise not to do anything too drastic.
So we're going to find out a lot more about Claudia and therefore about Will and JJ's breakup. I can't wait...
Please review and I'll see you soon!