A/N: Okay, so I know it's been a really long while since I updated, so you can all thank the amazing Cloverfield over on AO3 for inspiring me to finally finish this chapter. (Also, I thought I'd posted this chapter weeks ago, and I somehow completely forgot! I'm a really, really awful person, and I'm sorry!)

Chapter 12:

After they met JJ and Henry at the entrance, they quickly decided to leave it up to little Henry where to go. The little guy was absolutely fascinated by Matthew, which was adorable, but it also meant that he asked Annabelle to crouch all the time so he could look at him. JJ just thought it was all very amusing.

"Mommy, can we go see the lions?" he asked once he was done looking at Matthew.

JJ smiled indulgently. "Of course, sweetheart. Why don't you lead the way? But don't let go of mommy's hand!" she warned. Henry immediately started enthusiastically pulling JJ in a random direction.

"I can't for Matthew to reach that age," Spence whispered, and walked ahead to catch up to JJ.

For a second, Annabelle couldn't move. Of course she'd known that Spence wanted to be a part of Matthew's life, but… somehow she hadn't thought that he had pictured a future with them. A smile tugged at her lips.

With a light heart, she caught up to JJ and Spence, who were nearing the cheetah enclosure. Feeling giddy, she walked next to Henry and held out her hand. He'd proclaimed earlier that he liked her, so he wasted no time in grabbing hold.

"Henry, what do you say we make this an adventure?" Annabelle asked excitedly. "Do you want to be an explorer? Because I think Spencer would really like that."

His eyes lit up and he quickly looked to his mom for approval. As soon as JJ nodded, he was off like an arrow, dragging her along. Annabelle just laughed and went along with it, pointing out imaginary obstacles in the 'jungle' they had found themselves in.

/*/

They were just about to board a little train that went through the Lion enclosure when JJ and Spence got the call.

Spence turned to her with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, we have a case in Chicago," he said as soon as he hung up. JJ was still on the phone, but she was holding Henry close to her.

Annabelle felt a little twinge of disappointment, but quickly shoved it to the back of her mind. "That's okay, I know you're always on call."

Spence leaned forward and kissed Matthew's head, whispering something Annabelle couldn't quite catch. JJ then turned to them with a sheepish expression. "We have to go right away…"

Annabelle waved a hand. "I understand. I'll take care of Henry and I'll make sure he gets home safely. Don't worry."

JJ smiled gratefully, and knelt down next to her son. "Hey, buddy. Mommy has to go to work now."

"Are you going to catch bad guys, mommy?" Henry asked. Spence was gently stroking Matthew's head, but Annabelle watched JJ instead. She knew how the other woman felt.

JJ smiled. "Of course. Now you be good to Annabelle, okay?"

Henry nodded and looked up at the other woman. JJ pressed one more kiss to his head and walked towards the entrance.

Spence finally stepped back. "I'll call when we land," he said, and turned to follow JJ out.

Annabelle opened her mouth to say something else, but no sound came out. And what would she say anyway? 'Be careful'? He always was, especially now that he had someone to come back to. And there was no way she was going to say that she cared about him. Neither of them were ready for that yet.

A tug on her hand reminded her of where she was. "Can we go get an ice cream?" Henry asked sweetly.

Unable to help a grin, Annabelle leaned down. "Sure, why not. But we're going to have to find a vendor. You wouldn't happen to have a magnifying glass, would you?"

Henry grinned. "No."

Annabelle put her hands on her hips in mock indignation. "What? You don't always keep a magnifying glass in your pocket?"

By now, Henry was all out giggling. "No!"

"Well then, how are we going to find a vendor? This jungle is very big, you know," Annabelle asked, grinning widely. "Do you think we should just give up?"

"No! We follow the path," Henry said, pointing ahead. Tugging at her hand, he led the way, leaving the lion enclosure without going in the little train.

"Watch out for the lava!" Annabelle warned playfully. Henry nodded seriously and decided only the dark stones were safe to step on. Slowly, but having a lot of fun in the process, they finally found an ice cream vendor.

/*/

"Thanks so much for looking after him," Will – JJ's husband – said in a heavy southern drawl when Annabelle dropped Henry off.

"It was no problem at all. Henry was a perfect gentleman. Oh, but you're going to have to make sure he didn't smuggle and snakes or lions home with him," she replied with a wink.

Will laughed. "I'll make a note of that."

"Daddy, we saw really big spiders! They were bigger than my whole hand!" Henry said, pulling on his dad's hand.

"Really?" Will said, looking from his son to Annabelle.

She shrugged. "He really liked the reptile house. Where they apparently have huge bugs too," she said with a slight shudder. Spiders had always creeped her out.

"Well, thanks again," he said with a grin as he ushered his son inside. "And take care of that little one, too," he said, gently patting Matthew's head as the baby slept.

"Will do," she replied, smiling, and walked back to her car.

/*/

She only did it on a whim. She hadn't really expected to find anything. But she had. And now she had no idea what to do. Penelope Garcia was too curious for her own good.

Before they'd known who she was, it had been fun to speculate on what she'd find if she used her FBI clearance to find out exactly who Annabelle Crawford was. Penelope hadn't expected to her name to pop up in the Joshua Dunn case they'd solved last year.

Penelope had her finger over the speed dial on her phone before she could really think. But what would she tell Morgan? Obviously this was something neither Reid nor Annabelle wanted known, since they'd told the rest of the world it was a one-night stand, but… they were a team, didn't they deserve to know the truth?

Oh, why was this so hard? Why, why had she decided to look Annabelle up? She was a nice girl, and Matthew was the cutest baby ever, so what had possessed her to look the other woman up?

The team was on their way back from the Chicago case, and they were all exhausted. She probably shouldn't bother them anyway. Except… The phone was already dialing. Sometimes, Penelope really hated that her hands went faster than her head.

"Hotchner."

"Sir," Penelope said, suddenly at a loss for words. This wasn't even really her business. Plus, she'd used FBI resources to get gossip about Reid's girlfriend, and Hotch wouldn't be happy about that.

"Garcia, is something wrong?" Hotch asked. Penelope could hear the other members of the team talking in the background.

"No, sir, nothing's wrong. It's just… I know I shouldn't have done it, but I was curious, and then I found out, and now I wish I didn't know, and it's not even any of my business, but I don't know what to do, I mean–"

"Penelope, breathe. What is it?" Hotch said in his reasonable voice.

She took a deep breath. "I found Annabelle's name in the Joshua Dunn case. She was the woman captured along with Reid. Sir, Matthew was born eight months later." She was worrying her lip and wringing her hands.

Hotch sighed on the other end of the line.

Penelope listened for a moment, before she couldn't keep silent any more. "I don't hear an exclamation of surprise. Unless it was silent. You seem like the kind of person to be silently surprised, sir, re you silently surprised?" she babbled.

"I had my suspicions," he admitted reluctantly.

This was bad. Because if Hotch confirmed it, this couldn't just be a bad dream or hallucination anymore. "But what do we do? It's not my place to tell anyone, anyone else I mean, but I can't keep a secret! Morgan will know I'm hiding something, and then I'll blab, and–"

"Garcia, breathe," Hotch said again. After she'd done what he asked, he told her to stay on the line. There was some rustling, and then she heard the telltale sound of being put on speaker.

"I know you've been holding something back, Reid, and I need you to tell me. In order for this team to work, we all need to know that we can trust each other with anything," Hotch said calmly. Penelope kept quiet, knowing the question wasn't directed at her.

More rustling, and the sound of a sigh again. "How long have you known?" Reid asked.

"I've suspected for a while, but I didn't know for certain until just now. You need to tell the team, Reid, this is something they need to know."

"Why?" Reid challenged. "This is personal, it doesn't have anything to do with–"

"It has everything to do with the job and you know it. We need to know which situations are going to be difficult for each member of the team, we need to be able to anticipate every move any member of this team makes," Hotch reasoned. "I'm not going to order you to tell them, nor am I going to do it for you if you refuse, but if you do choose to follow my advice… we're a few minutes out from landing. Now's your chance."

Penelope heard footsteps and then the sound of someone sitting down in one of the plane's leather seats. "Garcia, I need you to come by my office once we're back."

She winced. "I'm going to get lectured on the use of FBI resources aren't I?"

"Yes," he replied, and she swore there was a hint of a smile in his voice.

/*/

"You told them?" Annabelle asked incredulously as she opened the door.

Reid was confused. "I thought you wanted me to share?" He put his bag down by the door and walked over to Matthew's play pen.

"Yeah, like with a psychologist, not your team! It was a private matter, Spence, you should have talked to me first," she said, rubbing her forehead. She looked tired.

"I'm sorry," Reid said, picking his son up and walking over to her. "I didn't realize… Garcia and Hotch found out, and… I figured the rest of the team should know."

"It's fine," she said, but it didn't sound sincere. "I just… I don't want them to look at me like a victim."

Reid frowned. "But you're not. You're one of the strongest people I know." He was just stating a fact. Like the members of his team at the BAU, Annabelle had a strength of character that was all too rare in this world.

Matthew was playing with his tie, which momentarily distracted him, but when he looked up, Annabelle was staring at him with her mouth slightly open. She looked surprised and confused. "You think I'm strong?" she whispered. "Why?" She sounded so incredulous, like that was the most unfathomable thing she'd ever heard.

Reid shrugged. "Because you are. Statistically, women who have gone through what you went through… they can't do what you did."

Annabelle smiled, just a tiny bit. "I don't think there are a whole lot of women who've been through what I went through." Her smile fell. "But… I'm not strong. God, I still have panic attacks when I'm in a crowd of people, specifically, when I'm around men. I don't like to leave this apartment, I feel like I have to look over my shoulder all the time."

Readjusting his grip on Matthew, Reid digested that information. "But you still go out. You go to the store, and I know you have lunch with your friend Mary every other day. You still go to class, you go to the movies… You don't let it define your life. And I think that's brave."

To his horror, Annabelle's eyes were a little misty. "I don't think anyone's ever said that to me before," she murmured. Then she smiled. "I'm glad I met you Spencer Reid, despite the circumstances."

Reid smiled back gingerly. He really hoped she wasn't about to cry. Instead, she just kissed him on the cheek, which was not what he had been expecting. "I'm going to make lasagna," she announced, turned around, and left him to his own devices.

She was by far the strangest woman he'd ever met… but he was also glad to know her, because he was starting to have trouble imagining his life without her.

Matthew chose that moment to start squirming, and Reid put him down to play with his toys. They'd be alright, the three of them. Eventually. It would take time, and it wouldn't be easy, but… as he looked at Annabelle bustling around in her kitchen, and Matthew happily chewing on the ear of his stuffed dog… he honestly believed they would get there in the end.

A/N: I know the beginning was sort of 'meh', but I do like the ending. What do you think?

Unfortunately, I can't promise that I'll update again soon, since I'm sort of all wrapped up in my newer fics, and I'm sort of lazy. I'm trying though.

Also, I sort of screwed up. This chapter is set during 9x08 The Return, but I mentioned Prentiss a few chapters back, and it should be Blake. In fact, Annabelle shouldn't even know about Prentiss, since she left the team ages ago. Sorry for that.

Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think!