A/N: I know, I know! I'm soooo sorry! I know I promised to update Saturday, but with work and family visits, things got a bit hectic (also, this site isn't very conducive to writing). I've only just finished this chapter, so don't shoot me if I don't finish chapter 8 by Saturday, I don't think I could write 2000 words (that aren't awful) in just 3 days (on one of which I have to work again).

So here's to hoping you'll forgive me. Enjoy the chapter!

A/N 2: EDIT 12 May 2020: And more changes! Remember, after this chapter I threw everything out, and it's completely new. Enjoy!

Chapter 7:

Previously:

"Stay," she said, stepping towards him. The gesture confused him, and it must've shown on his face, because she went on. "Stay here tonight."

The words took a minute to register, but eventually, Spence replied. "What?" he asked, clearly confused.

Annabelle took another step closer. "There's a storm going on outside, and I don't think you'll be able to get back to D.C. at this hour with public transportation," she reasoned.

Spencer first glanced at his watch, and then at the window. The storm wasn't very powerful yet, but it was obvious it was only going to get worse. "I guess I should," he said, keeping his eyes on the window.

Annabelle smiled. "I'll make you a bed on the couch," she said, and moved into her bedroom to get sheets. Honestly, she didn't know what had made her make the offer. He was a grown man, and fully capable of getting home on his own. She knew that if anyone knew how they had met, they'd declare her insane, and maybe she was, but his presence soothed her. Unfortunately, he was the only man that didn't make her uncomfortable.

As she gathered the sheets, she couldn't help but think of her reaction to agent Hotchner at the Bureau. She bit her lip, it was probably obvious to trained professionals like them why she had refused to take the bag from the man. Because he was a man. Even some of her former friends made her nervous and panicky now, it was one of the reasons she hadn't kept in touch. They'd all given up after a month or three. Of course, it didn't help that they thought that a one-night stand was completely out of character for her, and she hated lying to them. Maybe she should call her therapist again? Being around men didn't bother her too much anymore these days, but she still couldn't stand to be touched, and crowds were a big no-no.

Annabelle rested her head against the pile of sheets she was holding. She had no idea what she was doing. She couldn't keep up this isolation, and she really needed to find a job again. Her sizable trust fund could keep them afloat for now, but it wouldn't last forever, especially not at the rate she was going through it. She needed to pay her rent, and buy more stuff for Matthew. She vowed to look for a hobby she could do that would allow her to bring Matthew along.

Glad to have made that decision, she walked back into the living room, where Spence was sitting on the couch, reading one of her books.

"Never read C.S. Lewis before?" she asked when she saw the cover.

Spence looked up, almost surprised to see her standing there. He moved to the little armchair that stood beside the couch so Annabelle could start making the bed. "No, I've never found the time. Do you have the entire series?" he asked curiously, replacing the book on the coffee table.

"I have the box set in the bookcase over there. You should start with The Magician's Nephew, it's the first one chronologically speaking," she explained.

Spence came over to help her with the sheets, so they finished quickly. "Would you mind if I borrowed it?" he asked, looking a little pink in the cheeks.

Annabelle grinned. "Maybe you should take the entire box, seeing as you'll finish them by tomorrow night anyway."

Spence grinned in affirmation, turning back to the book. Annabelle turned on a small lamp on the coffee table and turned off the main light. "You do have to work tomorrow, maybe you should get some sleep."

He nodded absently, turning another page. Annabelle checked over his shoulder. He was already at page 78. She rolled her eyes and left him to his own devices. He'd sleep eventually. "Goodnight, Spence," she whispered in the door opening.

/*/

Light was streaming through the window, and Annabelle was regretting not closing the curtains properly the previous evening. She rolled over so the sun wouldn't be in her face, and blearily blinked open her eyes. It was January, so it wasn't necessarily early, nor had she gone to bed especially late, but she felt a bit sluggish that morning. Maybe she had a cold coming on.

Slowly, she sat up and instinctively looked over at Matthew's crib. He was gone.

Annabelle jumped up from the bed, any sluggishness completely gone in the wake of the adrenaline now pumping through her system. She ran over to the crib, picking up the bunny JJ had gotten him, even though, logically, she knew he couldn't possibly be under there.

She fisted her hands in her hair, thinking furiously. She'd put him to bed and then–

Running into the living room, she came to an abrupt stop once the couch was in sight. The most adorable thing she had probably ever seen met her, in the form of a sleeping Spence and Matthew.

He'd probably heard Matthew wake up and, instead of waking her, had decided to feed the baby some of the milk she kept in the fridge himself. Thinking back, it was rather odd that she hadn't woken up a single time that night, seeing as Matthew was a far cry from sleeping through the night.

Spence was lying on his side, a small frown marring his face, while his arm was slung protectively over Matthew, who was sleeping on his back next to his father. He'd fisted his little hands in Spence's t-shirt overnight and was clutching it with that peculiar strength that babies sometimes had.

Raising a hand to cover her mouth, Annabelle was almost moved by the sight. Spence hadn't been ready to be a father – maybe he still wasn't – but he was working on it, and this view only proved how determined he was to get it right.

As softly as she could, she retreated back into her bedroom and retrieved her phone from her nightstand. JJ would kill her if she heard about this and didn't get a picture. Ditto for Penelope, probably.

Once she'd taken the picture and made sure it was a good one, she made to pick Matthew up, but decided against it. He'd wake up when he was hungry. She turned to the little kitchen and began fixing breakfast. It occurred to her that it was past ten in the morning and that Spence was late for work, but he looked so exhausted, and she didn't want to wake Matthew either, so she settled for sending JJ a text explaining what had happened.

JJ- I want that picture!

Annabelle grinned at the message and forwarded the photo.

It wasn't long after that until Spence woke up. Annabelle glanced over her shoulder and saw the FBI agent sitting up with extreme care, his hands never leaving Matthew. His gentle handling was all for nothing, however, because the baby soon woke up as well and started crying.

Annabelle chuckled at Spence's panicked face and came over to take the infant from him. "Make sure the eggs don't burn, will you?" she asked, already going into the bedroom to start feeding Matthew.

She'd never seen Spence cook, but she assumed he was able to, considering he lived alone and didn't eat out all that often. When she got back into the kitchen with Matthew, she thought that maybe she should take him out more often. He hadn't burned the eggs, but he looked supremely uncomfortable, and the salt and pepper that she'd put next to the stove were untouched. Obviously, he didn't make himself eggs very often.

Breakfast was spent in amiable silence, with regular intervals of Matthew's antics. Annabelle held him in her arms as she ate with one hand. Spence had tried to ignore him in favor of his food, but hadn't been able to help himself in the end. He made silly faces at the infant, who giggled adorably.

It was during one such 'show' that Spence happened to glance up at the clock in the kitchen. His face fell. "I'm late," he whispered, already getting up from the table, his eggs forgotten on his plate.

Annabelle got up as well. "Spence, it's okay, I texted JJ while you were still asleep. I'm sure she's come up with an excuse, and you told me yesterday that you didn't have a case outside of Virginia. They'd have called you if they were going to go out of state, wouldn't they?" she reasoned.

Spence paused. "I still need to go, though. I've accumulated a lot of sick days, but I can't use them all now…"

Annabelle came over and fixed his collar. "You could ask for paternity leave…" she suggested hesitantly.

Spence looked pained. "My work's too important… If I–" he cut himself off.

She nodded. "You think that if you're not there some bad guy might get away…" she surmised, her eyes on the door.

Spence didn't reply, but Annabelle had the feeling he was incredibly uncomfortable. "Go. I'll text JJ that you're on your way," she replied eventually, walking over to put Matthew in his play pen and retrieved her phone from her pocket.

Spence smiled in gratitude. "I'll come by again tonight." And with that, he left Annabelle alone with her thoughts.

/*/

"You're early," Morgan commented sarcastically when Reid finally walked into the Bureau. Reid ducked his head, but didn't rise to the bait. "Had a nice morning with the missus?" Morgan teased again, coming over to lean against Reid's desk.

JJ swatted the bigger man's arm as she passed him and wordlessly handed her phone over to Reid, a huge grin on her face.

The man in question took it and looked at the picture that covered the screen. He should have known that Annabelle would take pictures. "What is that?" Morgan asked, craning his neck, but not actually making a swipe for the phone. Thankfully.

"It's nothing," Reid deflected. "Are we on a case?" he asked, changing the subject.

Morgan shook his head. "Just the two we'd started working on last week. And Hotch said he still needed your report, so you'd better get to it, loverboy."

Reid knew the other man was just teasing and was, in fact, happy that Reid now had another person – two people, really – but it was still very annoying. Especially since he didn't really know what Annabelle was to him…

Reid, being the person that he was, liked to compartmentalize. Everything in his life had a specific label and place in his mind. Annabelle was… difficult. She was a friend, he supposed, but she was also… well, the mother of his child… It was also uncomfortably obvious to the profiler that she had similar problems in placing him.

It made for an uncomfortable situation, in all.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked, after having shooed Morgan back to his own desk. Those expressive grey eyes staring into his own, concern shining in them. JJ, the team – they were his family for so long, and now… now he had another one altogether, and he didn't really know how to handle that. Couple that with the immense guilt he still felt over what he'd done to Annabelle…

"How do you do it?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

JJ frowned. "Do what?" she asked, confused.

"You have a family at home, but… this is your family too, isn't it?" he asked, gesturing vaguely around the room.

JJ looked at him sympathetically. "I had time to balance it all out. I dated Will for a long time before we had Henry. You were thrown into it… It's not easy right now, but it will get better, with time."

Reid nodded. He wished he could ask her about the guilt that weighed so heavily on him. Would that get better, too? Or would he just get crushed by the weight? Or maybe he'd destroy Annabelle even more than he already had…