JJ gripped his shoulder tighter in sympathy and surprise, Morgan reeled back slightly, Rossi and Hotch looked at him in surprise and appraisal, while Emily looked on in sympathetic sadness. It was Hotch who spoke first
"Spencer there is no record of you having a child." He said gently but with authority
"No there wouldn't be. Rose was listed as the mother but I was never listed as the father." Reid said without resentment he knew Hotch was just trying to understand the situation
"Why not: if you loved her why not claim her?" Emily asked
Reid surprisingly laughed though with little mirth and much bitterness before answering "I'm surprised at your naivety Emily. Do you honestly think the state government would allow a fourteen year old living alone with a schizophrenic mother to raise an infant even if the child is their own daughter?"
The BAU agents looked at each other but didn't answer they all knew it was no. A few minutes passed to allow Reid to regain his composure, the others to come to terms with the revelation about their friend
"Spencer who was Lily's mother?" Rossi asked gently breaking the silence
"Rose Singer she was only two months older than me. " he answered taking another glass of water from JJ
"How did you two meet?" Morgan asked
Reid smiled slightly "I was in a casino playing an electronic poker game when a security guard came over to me. I said I was waiting for my mother but he didn't believe me and dragged me to the security office. Rose was there doing her homework, she was impressed I had been able to successfully scam a thousand dollars from the casino." He answered taking a drink
"Was she daughter of the head of security?" Morgan asked
"No, he was just babysitting her. Her father owned the casino and had asked him to look after her for a few hours."
"So you two became friends were you also romantically involved?" Morgan said teasingly
"No, no we were way too young for that. We did however end up sneaking into a party at the Mirage Casino and after some drinks and a few drugs…" Reid said
"After one time she became pregnant and you two decided to keep the baby. How did how did her father take the news?" Emily asked
Reid didn't answer he just gripped the glass in his hand tighter and tighter as memories flooded back suddenly the glass shattered and broke drenching the floor and Reid's hand with water and glass. Reid jumped and looked around for the cause of the sound completely unaware of the broken glass. JJ hurried into the galley for the first aid kit, while Emily joined her and grabbed paper towels,
"Kid, Spencer are you okay?" Morgan asked taking his injured hand
"Yes, I'm fine what broke?" he said puzzled
"You shattered a glass remember?"
"I did? It was that bastard I hate thinking about him." Reid said as JJ came over and started bandaging his hand
"Yeah kid we got that. Are you feeling alright now?" Morgan said as JJ finished bandaging his hand and Emily and Rossi finished cleaning up the floor
Reid stood and didn't answer; he moved to walk away when he glanced back at Morgan. He grabbed the teddy bear and walked into the bathroom. Morgan sighed rubbed his head, he then stood and sat down across from Hotch
"That's some story Reid told us. How much of much of it is true do you think?" Morgan asked Hotch
"You doubt him, why would you think he's lying?" JJ demanded
"The story is improbable: a child Hotch didn't even know about, getting a girl pregnant at thirteen, losing the child at seventeen, a casino owner so angered by his teenage daughter's illegitimate child he throws her out on the streets. Come on you guys believe him?" Rossi said chiming in
"His grief and his anger where very real, I'm going to call Garcia and have her look into Rose and Lily Singer and the Mirage casino." Hotch said
Reid stormed past him grabbed his messenger bag and drew out a faded photo album. He thrust it at Morgan, picked up the book he had left on the seat and resumed his seat on the couch. After Reid was settled Morgan opened the photo album. On the first insert was a folded up birth certificate for Lily Singer born thirteen years ago to a Rose Singer. The next item was a picture of a beautiful teenage girl her hair in a long heavy braid sitting in a twin size bed propped up with pillows an infant a few hours old wrapped up in a towel in her arms. The next picture was of Reid sitting on a couch with Rose holding the baby now a few days old on his lap. The third picture was of Diana Reid holding Lily on the same couch now a couple of weeks old. There were a few more pictures showing Rose with either her parents or grandmother. An interesting picture was when Lily was six months old she was wearing a very nice pink gown with bows, Spencer was holding her wearing a grey suit while Rose was standing next to them her hair in a plaited bun wearing a sedate knee length elbow length blue dress an engagement ring on her hand.
"Guys look at this." Morgan said passing around the photo album
"They were engaged?" Emily said upon seeing the picture
"It appears so." Rossi said looking at the picture
"No we weren't, it was a desperate attempt to get Henry Singer to forgive Rose and be a part of her and Lily's lives. I would find Rose crying the bathroom or in the nursery she tried to hide it but I caught her enough times that she eventually told me that she missed her parents and her old life. After Lily was born she knew she could never go back to being a fun loving thoughtless teenager again but she missed her parents so much. I thought if I agreed to marry her a shotgun wedding so to speak Henry and Lila would forgive her." Reid said putting aside his book
"Did it work?" JJ asked
"No that bastard said I was diseased that he had brought illness and shame on his family line. He called my daughter a beautiful sunny intelligent girl a diseased bastard and that Rose should have drowned her at birth before Lily disgraced the entire family." Reid said angrily
Everyone was horrified but not surprised there was a lot of hostility and misconceptions about mental illness especially hereditary ones.
A/N A bit of back-story if anyone was interested. I'll write more if people are interested. If you liked please Review I would love to know peoples thoughts, or favorite, subscribe this was an experiment and I could really use the feedback.