You did not break me
I'm still fighting for peace

Well, I've got thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade, it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
But I may snap when I move fast
You won't see me fall apart
'Cause I've got an elastic heart

-"Elastic Heart" by Sia


At first he couldn't pinpoint where the sound was coming from, or even what it was. And he couldn't remember why he was sleeping on the floor. His blankets were tangled around him and the carpet was cold and rough against his skin. And the sound persisted.

Hotch raised himself up on his elbows, squinting into the darkness of his dorm room. His head ached and he winced at the repetitive sound- a soft, painful little whine. He felt sluggish and faintly sick to his stomach, shaken awake too soon, and all he wanted was to go back to sleep. But then it clicked.

He pushed himself up off the floor and sank down on the edge of the bed. "Spencer, hey, buddy, it's okay," he said sleepily. He rested his hand on Spencer's stomach. "Come on, kiddo, wake up."

Spencer curled away from him, pulling at the bedsheets. He was crying, his voice breaking from his throat in raspy sobs, and Hotch tugged him back towards him. "It's okay, Spencer, wake up, it's just a bad dream," he said, raising his voice a little louder.

Spencer's eyes snapped open and he flinched away from Hotch looming over him. He hastily switched on the lamp on his nightstand. "Spence, no, no, it's just me," he said as Spencer closed his eyes tight and covered his face with his hands. "You're okay. You're okay, buddy."

Spencer looked up at him, blinking hazily. "I had a bad dream," he whispered.

"I know," Hotch said, smoothing his hair back. "I know, buddy, I'm sorry. But you're safe, I swear."

Spencer struggled to push himself up, his thin arms visibly shaking with effort. "I don't...I don't remember what I was dreaming," he said, rubbing his eyes. "But it was...it was bad. It was bad, Hotch."

"Yeah, I know," Hotch said softly. He squeezed Spencer's upper arm gently, careful of his sunburn. "You need water or anything?"

Spencer nodded; Hotch picked up the cup on the nightstand and handed it to him. It was room temperature but Spencer drank it quickly, holding the cup in both hands. Hotch took it back when it was empty. "You want any more?" he asked. Spencer shook his head. "You wanna go back to sleep?"

"I wanna sleep with you," Spencer whispered.

"I know, kiddo, I'm right here," Hotch said. "I've been sleeping on the floor the whole time, you're not alone."

Spencer shook his head. "No, I wanna sleep with you," he repeated, his lower lip wobbling.

It took a second for him to get it. Hotch brushed his hair off his forehead. "Move over, then," he said. Spencer obeyed, shifting around to make room, and Hotch grabbed the extra blankets off the floor.

The school-issued twin bed was narrow, but there was more than enough room for Spencer to burrow into his side. Hotch pulled the blankets around them both, making sure that Spencer's favorite blanket was pressed up to his cheek.

"Go back to sleep," he said softly, but Spencer's breathing was already evening out, deep and steady, one hand clutching Hotch's shirt and the other holding tight to his blanket. Hotch sighed and closed his eyes, hoping he'd be able to fall asleep too.


Emily stifled a yawn as she balanced her Macbook on her knees. She wasn't quite sure how she ended up like this. Three months ago she'd still be asleep after staying out all night; inevitably she would wake up at noon with a wicked hangover and beg the housekeeper to make her some kind of greasy, salty breakfast. Now she was spending her Saturday morning writing a paper that wasn't due for another two days, after going to bed at a reasonable hour, while babysitting her exhausted roommate.

She glanced across the room. Alex was still asleep, facing the wall, her long hair spread across her pillow and her covers pulled up to her shoulders. She had crashed the second they had gotten back to their room, not even bothering to change clothes, and she'd been sleeping soundly ever since.

Emily's phone buzzed and she checked the screen. She'd texted James a couple of times back and forth- he was clearly worried, and she didn't blame him. And he didn't even know yet that Alex had had a sobbing meltdown on the stairs, in front of what seemed like half of Roosevelt House. She figured she'd bring that up to him in person when she had the chance. For now she sent him a reply, and set her laptop aside to wait.

She was prepared when the door opened and James peeked inside. "Hey," he whispered. "How's it going?"

"How the hell did you get in here without Elle noticing?" she whispered back.

Elle stuck her head around the door from behind James. "Bitch, I let him in," she said, raising her fingers in a peace sign. "If Strauss asks, I've never met any of you."

She nudged James into the room and closed the door. "Jesus," Emily said. "Elle Greenaway is terrifying."

James shrugged. "She's not so terrifying when you meet her in the ninth grade and she's got braces and a Hello Kitty backpack," he said. He held out a cup. "Coffee?" She raised an eyebrow. "Iced vanilla latte."

"Thanks," she said warily as she took the drink. "You got it right." She took a cautious sip. "Shouldn't we be more quiet?"

"Oh, because of her?" James said, nodding towards Alex. "Oh, no. She can sleep through a hurricane. She'll wake up when she's ready." He sat down next to Emily on her bed, balancing his drink in his hand. "How are you doing?"

She blinked. "Me?" she repeated. He nodded. "Fine, I guess. I mean...I don't have a valid reason to be upset about anything. It's her you've got to worry about. She...uh, last night…"

"Elle told me," James said quietly. He balanced his cup in both hands. "I kind of figured that something like that would happen. She's really bad about bottling things up." He sort of smiled. "She likes to think she's bulletproof, but she's not."

"Yeah, I get that," Emily said. She took a sip of her coffee. "Do you know how the kid's doing?"

"Hotch says he got some sleep, so that's good," James said. "He'll be okay. It's just...it'll take some time for him to be himself again, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Emily said.

They fell silent. James seemed comfortable, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't discuss feelings on a normal day. This sort of thing was out of her depth.

Emily took a sip of her coffee and nearly spit it out as Alex suddenly sat up, her eyes still half closed. "Holy shit!"

"Hey, sleeping beauty," James said, seemingly unbothered by Alex's zombie act. "How are you feeling?"

She rubbed her eyes. Her long hair hung over her face in tangled tendrils and her smeared makeup made gray smears across her cheekbones. "Fine," she mumbled. "Where's...how's Spencer?"

"He's fine, I texted Hotch and he's still asleep," James said. "I brought you a chai latte, you want it?"

She frowned and pulled the strap of her tank top back over her shoulder. "You're sure he's okay?" she said.

"Positive," James said. "We'll go over there once you're a functioning human. Want your drink?"

"Uh-huh," she said sleepily, holding out her hand. "I'll be ready fast, I swear."

"Take your time, Miller, it's fine," Emily said.


Frustration prickled all the way down to JJ's fingertips. She was frustrated by the movie playing that no one was watching, she was frustrated that Penelope kept sniffling and swiping at her eyes, she was frustrated that Derek hadn't bothered to show up, she was frustrated that Hotch wasn't saying anything. But she said nothing. She kept quiet and kept it to herself.

She couldn't look at Spencer. Hotch had made him a little nest on one of the common room couches, trying to get him comfortable with pillows and blankets. He was so still and silent. Spencer was never still and silent.

She heard footsteps on the stairs and sat up. "Hey, guys," James said, smiling brightly. "I guess we're starting movie night early, huh?"

"Please tell me we're not watching Toy Story again, I can't take it," Dave said.

Spencer struggled to sit up. "Is Alex here?" he asked.

Alex slipped past the boys, pinching James's elbow lightly as she ducked around him. "Hi, baby," she said as she sat down on the edge of the couch. "Are you feeling better?"

Spencer nodded as he crawled into her lap and buried his face in her shoulder. "He's been drinking water and gatorade and hasn't puked it back up," Hotch said, his eyes closed as he leaned back against his chair and tilted his head against the back. "And he slept for a while."

Alex shifted around to get comfortable and cuddled Spencer on her lap, making sure his blanket was still close. "That's good," she said.

Emily perched on the arm of the couch next to them. "Can we pick another movie?" she complained. "I think Antebellum is on Amazon Prime."

"No, no, no horror movies," James said. "Penelope will have nightmares."

"Yes, Penelope absolutely will," Penelope said. "Something nicer, please. Preferably bright colored. With musical numbers."

JJ flexed her fingers as Emily started to argue her case playfully with the others. Some of the tension was beginning to ease. Penelope wasn't crying anymore, and Hotch had dozed off completely with his arms crossed over his chest. Spencer cuddled close to Alex; he was still quiet but now he seemed calm and sleepy rather than stressed and tense.

Now the stressed and tense one was Derek. He sat with his back to the wall, his phone abandoned on his knee, staring blankly at the television as if it was fascinating. JJ nudged his ankle lightly with his toe. He jumped in surprise.

"What're you thinking?" she whispered.

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said. He picked up his phone and busied himself with checking his texts. JJ bit back a sigh.

The older kids and Penelope had finally decided on a movie to switch to when one of the freshmen jogged up the stairs and passed by the common room, then double back. "Oh, hey, Morgan," he said. "Great job last night. I can't believe they subbed you in, they've never let an underclassman play quarterback before."

The room fell silent. JJ whipped around to stare at Derek. "I'm sorry, what?" she said.

He raised and lowered one shoulder unhappily. "It's nothing," he said.

"Nothing? Dude, you won the game practically singlehanded," the freshman said. "You did great, and you had to deal with second string teammates. I hope they sub you in again next week."

He left the room. Derek didn't look up from his phone. "Derek, something you want to share with the rest of the class?" Dave said.

"It's not that big a deal," Derek said. "Coach had me play quarterback last night. And, uh...it went pretty well."

"You won," JJ said. "I think that's more than doing pretty well."

"Why did they need a new quarterback?" Penelope asked.

"They had to pull half the team," Derek said. He pushed himself off the floor. "I'll be back."

JJ leaned back as he walked past her. Someone must've told on the half of the team to get them in trouble.

Someone like Derek. Someone who ratted out their teammates and then got rewarded for it.

She filed that thought away for later. It might end up biting Derek in the ass later.


Haley nearly dropped her book as her dorm room door banged open. "Holy crap, what's wrong?" she said.

Harper threw her bag on the floor. "Everything is fucking falling apart," she said. She sat down on the end of Haley's bed. "Half of the football team is suspended. And a bunch of the cheer squad."

"What? Why?" Haley stammered. "What did they do?"

Harper pulled up her slim legs to sit crosslegged. "It was like, two days ago?" she said. "Thursday. Remember when practice got canceled because it was too hot?"

She frowned. "Uh-huh," she said. "Did something happen?"

Harper tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Apparently everybody was super bored and didn't know what to do," she said. "They sent somebody to go find that ninth grader that got Willis and Lamb suspended."

"The little one?" Haley said. "Didn't he skip a bunch of grades? He's only like...ten or something. He's a baby."

"Yeah, well...they might have done something to him," Harper said.

"Like what?"

Harper fiddled with her phone and handed it over. "That," she said.

Haley watched the screen with mounting horror. The image bounced and shook, as if whoever filming was running. She could pick out several of the football players in their practice gear- Dylan, Brent, Tyler, John. And in the middle, gripped by his thin forearms, was Spencer Reid.

He was screaming something, panicked and unintelligible. Tyler pried his backpack off his shoulders and threw it aside into the neatly trimmed grass of the field. Spencer tried to wriggle away, but they were holding him too tight.

Haley looked up at Harper, her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god, what's happening?" she said.

"Keep watching," Harper said grimly.

They pulled off his clothes piece by piece, ripping his shoes and uniform away and tossing them into the grass. Spencer sobbed, struggling in their tight holds, but he was so small. He couldn't fight them off.

"Holy shit," Haley breathed. "They're not tying him up, are they?"

"Just keep watching," Harper said.

And they did. Haley stared in shock at Harper's phone in her hand as the football players lashed the ropes around the child. He was so small, and he was crying like his heart was broken- rough, ragged wails that seemed too big to come from such a tiny body.

The video ended abruptly. Haley raised her head slowly. "Harper, oh my god," she breathed. "How...how could they do to him? He's just a little boy."

"I don't know, I wasn't there," Harper said. "But there's so many people in trouble. It sucks that they took so many videos and photos, they should have known they'd get caught."

Haley tossed the phone on the bed. "No, it sucks that they did this to a little kid," she said, her teeth tightly clenched. "Harper, they tortured him. Anyone who could do this is an awful person and deserves to get in trouble."

Harper snatched up her phone. "Well, if you're gonna be so high and mighty about it, don't come crying to me when we can't go to Nationals without the seniors on the squad," she said. "It was just a stupid prank. Like, yeah, it was kind of shitty, but it wasn't that bad."

"It was that bad," Haley shot back. Her roommate rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Haley covered her face with her hands and exhaled in a sharp frustrated shriek, but every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the same images over and over and over again.


"Okay, but like...this movie has so many plotholes!"

"No! It's perfect! It's an underrated treasure!"

"How did everyone on the fucking island forget how to read?"

Alex bit back a smile as the other kids bickered, shrieking over the sound of the movie playing on the common room television. Spencer was lying down with his head on her lap; she tried to see if he'd dozed off, but he was still awake, staring at the TV with a blank, sleepy expression. She kept stroking his soft hair.

All day she'd tried to get him to fall asleep. He was fussy and irritable and couldn't get comfortable, no matter how he tried. At least he'd been able to eat a little bit, and he'd had plenty of water and gatorade. That was better than nothing.

"Hey, Jamie, can you grab his blanket?" she whispered. He leaned down and grabbed it; it had somehow slipped down to the floor. She draped it over Spencer and he took hold of it sleepily.

The rest of the kids continued to argue about the movie as the credits started to roll. Alex tucked her hands under Spencer's arms and lifted him onto her lap. "What?" he whined, dropping his head on her shoulder.

She kissed his temple. "You need to go to bed," she said. "It's getting late."

"No, I'm not sleepy," he protested.

"Yes, you are," she said. "You should go take a shower and I'll put more aloe on you, and then you need to get some rest."

Spencer's lower lip dropped in a pout. "I've been resting all day," he said. "I can stay up a little longer."

Alex caught Hotch's eye. He frowned at her for a moment, confused, but he got up when he saw her trying to slide Spencer off her lap. "No, it's late," she said. "Come on."

He tried to pull away from her. "No!" he whined, but Hotch caught him and picked him up. "Put me down!"

"You heard her," Hotch said. "Let's go, kiddo."

Spencer huffed and dropped his chin to Hotch's shoulder as Alex followed them down the hall. "I don't need to go to bed," he said.

Alex didn't acknowledge him, but she touched his arm lightly. "If you get him in the shower, I'll go get his clothes," she said.

"Yeah, sure, you get to do the easy job," Hotch said, but he grinned at her. "Yeah, I'll take care of it."

The door to Derek and Spencer's room was partially open, but she knocked lightly anyways. "Yeah, come in," Derek said.

Alex stepped inside. "Hey, I'm just getting some clothes for Spencer," she said. Derek shrugged. He was sprawled out on his bed with his phone in his hands, and he didn't look up when she walked in. "Are you doing okay? I thought you were going to come back to finish the movie."

"No, I wasn't really feeling it," he said. Alex opened Spencer's drawers. "Is he going to sleep with Hotch again tonight?"

"I think he might," she said as she picked through the drawers in search of pajamas that wouldn't bother his sunburn. "He's still pretty shaky." She nudged the drawers shut with her hip. "Hey, congrats on playing quarterback, by the way, that's a really big deal."

"No, it's not," Derek said. He got up and stuck his phone in his pocket. "I'm going to go see what everyone else is doing."

Alex sighed as he stalked out of the room. She had a feeling there was something going on, but he certainly wasn't about to open up to her about it.

She could hear the shower running through the closed bathroom door when she got to Hotch's room; Hotch sat at his desk with his chin resting in his hand. "Is he doing okay?" she asked.

"Well, he complained a lot, but I got him in there whether he liked it or not," Hotch said, rubbing his eyes and sitting back in his chair. "Do you mind staying until he falls asleep?"

"No, not at all," she said. She pulled herself up to sit on his desk. "I haven't gotten the chance to ask you directly, how did last night go?"

"Not bad," Hotch said. "But he definitely had nightmares. I ended up sleeping with him because he couldn't fall back asleep on his own." He folded his arms across his chest. "He asked if I could stay with him."

Alex bit her lip. "Poor baby," she said. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Do you want me to stay tonight?"

"No, I don't think he's as bad off as he was yesterday," Hotch said. "Plus I don't want you to get in trouble with Strauss. Hopefully she won't find out about the other night."

"Yeah, hopefully," she echoed.

The water stopped running in the bathroom. "Hotch, do you have my clothes?" Spencer called.

"I've got it, don't worry," Alex said, sliding down from the desk. She opened the door and set Spencer's clothes down on the counter. "Hi, sweetheart, I've got your stuff. Get dressed but leave your shirt off for right now, I'll put more aloe on your sunburn."

She dug the bottle of green gel out of Hotch's medicine cabinet as Spencer yawned. "I think I'm tired," he said.

"I'd be surprised if you weren't," she said. She hesitated. The bruising on Spencer's chest was even darker now, deep purple and blue where his fair skin wasn't burned red.

He blinked. "What?" he said.

She smiled at him. "Nothing," she said, kneeling down on the floor. "Just hold still, okay? It'll probably be cold."

She smoothed the aloe over his burned skin, trying to stay as gentle as possible, and helped him pull his tee shirt on carefully over his head. "Does that feel a little better?" she asked as she pulled the hem down over his stomach.

"Uh-huh," he said. He yawned. "I might be sleepy."

"Yeah?" she said as she squirted more gel into her hand. "See, I told you." She smeared aloe on his cheeks and nose and he unexpectedly giggled, trying to duck away.

"That's cold!" he said.

She hadn't heard him laugh or seen him smile in the past few days, and her heart squeezed in her chest. "Sorry, baby," she said softly as she smoothed it over his face. "There, we're done. How's that?"

"Better," he said. "Thank you."

She set the bottle back down on the counter and picked him up. He didn't weigh enough. She'd thought that before, but it somehow seemed worse now that he was in such bad shape. They needed to fix that.

Hotch looked like he'd dozed off at his desk, and Spencer didn't seem much farther behind. Alex set him down on Hotch's bed. "Lie down," she said. He obeyed, cuddling up against the pillows. "There's your blankie."

"It's not my blankie, it's just a blanket," Spencer said sleepily. "There's a difference."

"Oh, of course," Alex said. She tucked him in, but her hands lingered on the covers. "Spencer, do you want us to call your parents for you? Even if you don't want to talk to them directly, Hotch or I could-"

He shook his head. "No, that's okay," he said. "You don't have to do that." He rubbed his eyes. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Yeah, you can," she said.

"Can you stay until I'm sleeping?"

Alex brushed his damp hair back from his forehead. "I'll stay," she said softly. "Here, scoot over."

He made room for her and curled up on his stomach, his forehead pressing against her shoulder. Alex stroked his hair gently, keeping up a gentle rhythm until she heard his first little snores. When she was confident he was asleep she eased out of the bed and adjusted his blankets, making sure his blankie was close, and kissed him gently.

She stayed as quiet as she could as she crossed the room and patted Hotch's back. He bolted upright, dazed. "Hey, calm down, bubba, it's just me," she said. "Spencer's asleep."

Hotch twisted around in his chair and visibly relaxed at the sight of Spencer tucked into bed. "Thank god," he sighed.

"I tried to ask him if we could call his parents for him and tell them what's going on," she said. "He said no."

Hotch dragged his hand through his hair. "God, I don't know what to do about that," he said. "Does he even have parents? Does he have a family?"

"I'm not sure," Alex admitted. "But we'll take care of him. He'll be okay in the end. We'll make sure of it."


Penelope scowled at her laptop screen. The St. Thaddeus parental controls and firewalls were absolutely ridiculous, she couldn't get any real work done with them up.

Not that she didn't know how to get around them, of course she did. But she didn't want to set off any alarms. Not again.

"What are you doing?"

Penelope screamed and slammed her laptop shut. JJ screamed too, jumping back. "You scared me!" Penelope accused.

"You scared me! All I did was ask you what you were doing!"

Their dorm room door opened and Tara stuck her head in. "Ladies, quit yelling, it's quiet hours," she warned.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Sorry, Tara."

Tara shot them a last warning eyebrow and backed out of the room. JJ pulled her towel off her freshly washed hair and sat down on her bed. "Seriously, though, what are you doing?" she asked. "You're staring at your laptop like you want to murder it."

"Well, kind of," Penelope admitted. She sat back. "Okay, I'm going to tell you something, but I've only talked about it with Alex, so you definitely can't talk to anyone else about it."

JJ blinked. "Okay," she said. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to find Spencer's family," Penelope confessed. "Alex had me look, but she told me she only wanted me to use ethical channels. So I didn't, but I didn't find a whole lot. So I'm trying out some of the, uh...sketchier options."

JJ scrunched up her face in confusion. "You can't just, like...google them?" she said.

"How am I supposed to google them? Just type 'spencer reid's parents please' into the search bar and hope for the best?"

"Well, not like that," JJ said. "I mean, like...there's other options than google?"

"Oh, my darling, dozens," Penelope scoffed. "Are some of them questionable? Probably. Are any of them outright illegal?" She paused. "Not like outright illegal."

JJ combed her long wet hair with her fingers. "Have you had any luck?" she asked.

"Not yet," she said. "I was able to find the law firm where his dad works, and his mom's work email. She's a college professor."

"Maybe that's why Spencer's a little walking library," JJ said. "Have you gotten in contact with them?"

"I didn't try, but I think Alex tried to email the mom," Penelope said. "But I don't think she answered." She frowned. "That seems weird to me, though. Alex emailed her about her own kid, why wouldn't she answer?"

"Why did Spencer's parents send him across the country to boarding school without any stuff other than what he could carry in his backpack?" JJ said. "Maybe he's better off without his parents. Maybe he'll be better off with just us instead."

"Maybe," Penelope echoed. "Maybe Hotch and Alex can just adopt them. They're practically his parents now."

"No, it has to be James and Alex," JJ corrected. "If James ever asks Alex out. Do you think it'll ever happen?"

"I hope so, I have a lot of money riding on them!" Penelope said. "I think everybody's paid into Dave's betting pool at this point. He just needs to get his act together."


"Okay, sorry, it's...it's a really long order," James apologized. He scrolled through the text on his phone. "So...I need a large iced cold brew, absolutely nothing it…"

He had been tasked with getting coffee for everyone as soon as he'd gotten to Lincoln House that morning, and Alex had insisted that he take Hotch with him to help carry things. Judging by the way Spencer had immediately fallen into Alex's arms and dissolved into tears when she walked into the common room, and the dark circles under Hotch's eyes, it had been a rough night. Bad dreams keeping the kid awake, most likely.

Getting out of Lincoln House seemed to be good for Hotch, at least. He was quiet, but some of the tension in his shoulders seemed to ease when they walked into the Honeybean. Alex was right, Hotch was too stressed.

James leaned over to get a better look at the pastry case. "Do you think Spencer would want anything?" he asked.

"Usually he would," Hotch said. "If it's sugar glazed and covered in sprinkles, he'll like it."

"You want anything?" James asked. "Dave gave me his credit card so it's no big deal."

Hotch shrugged. "I don't know, I don't usually eat the kind of stuff they have here," he said. "I don't-"

He paused, his face going pale. "What's wrong?" James asked.

He followed Hotch's gaze. Haley Brooks had just walked into the Honeybean.

"Are we done?" Hotch asked in a low voice. "Can we go?"

"We still have a couple of drinks left," James said, half apologetic. "But if you need to go-"

"Hey, Aaron?"

James tried to make himself busy, but he couldn't help but overhear. And he sort of wanted to overhear.

Haley cleared her throat. "Hey, how are you doing?" she said.

"FIne," Hotch shrugged.

Haley dropped her hands on her sides. "I didn't know," she blurted out. "I didn't know about any it, Aaron. And...I'm so sorry. What they did was really shitty. And...and they all deserve whatever punishments they get. Even if they get kicked of the teams. They shouldn't have done any of it."

Hotch's shoulders stayed tense. "You didn't know?" he said.

She shook her head. "I really didn't," she said. "Are you doing okay? Is Spencer doing okay?"

"Spencer's getting better," Hotch said. "And I'm, uh. I'm fine."

Haley smiled up at him. "I'm glad," she said. She squeezed his arm lightly. "Let me know if I can do anything to help. And you got your hoodie back, right?"

"Yeah, Spencer's got it right now, actually," he said, and he smiled at her. "Thanks, Haley."

They were gazing at each other and it was very sweet, but James found himself with both drink carriers in his hand and he didn't exactly know what to do. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Hotch, you ready to go back?" he ventured.

Hotch jumped. "Oh!" he said, breaking his eye contact with Haley. "Yeah. Uh...I'll see you later, Hay."

She waved a little goodbye as Hotch picked up one of the carriers and followed James out of the Honeybean. "She's cute," James offered.

Hotch turned red all the way up to his ears. "Yeah, she's cute," he mumbled. James hid a grin. He wouldn't press too hard, not when things were still so stressful, but Hotch's puppy love crush on Haley Brooks was honestly adorable.

He made it to the seventh floor common room first. "Hey, we're back," he said. "I did my best, but if anything's messed up, I swear I didn't do it on purpose."

"You're a fucking saint," Emily sighed, reaching for her coffee.

"I try," James grinned. He picked up Spencer's drink. "Hey, buddy, I got you a hot chocolate. You want to sit up?"

Alex shook her head. She was lying down on the couch with Spencer cuddled against her chest, his face half hidden against her shoulder. "Give him a minute," she said softly, carding her fingers through his soft thick hair. "He dozed off and had another bad dream."

James nodded and set the cup down on the table. "Don't worry about it," he said. He squeezed Alex's shoulder. "You're doing great. He'll feel better soon."

He hoped he sounded confident. He wasn't sure how he felt.


Spencer tangled his hands in his blanket. He felt fidgety, like he desperately needed to move, but at the same time he was so tired he couldn't summon up on the energy. The soft texture of his blanket was the only thing that made him feel like he wasn't about to fall apart.

Alex shifted him in her arms and he curled himself up smaller against her. She'd held him almost the whole day, and part of him felt bad for monopolizing her attention all weekend, but selfishly he didn't care. She seemed to know that he needed to be held and hugged and reassured.

It had been a bad day. He was so exhausted, but every time he dozed off he drifted into nightmares that left him shaking and gasping for breath. His skin still stung, and his stomach hurt enough to make him nauseous again, and his head ached. He just wanted things to go back to normal.

Hotch crouched down beside him and rested his hand on his back. "Hey, kiddo," he said. "It's getting late. You ready to go to bed?"

"Yeah," he said. "But...but I want to sleep in my own bed. And I want to go to class tomorrow."

"Are you sure, baby?" Alex said. "You don't have to. You can stay home and rest again if you want. Someone will stay with you."

"No, I want to go," he said. He pushed himself up, the horizon dipping as he struggled to get balanced again. "I'll be okay."

"Only if you want to," Hotch said. He helped him up to his feet. "We won't force you."

"I'll be okay," he repeated.

He wanted to sleep so badly, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to. He took another shower and Alex rubbed more aloe onto his burns. They wouldn't let him see himself in the mirror, but he know the edges of his sunburn was beginning to burn and that he was covered with bruises too. Truthfully he was fine without looking at the damage.

He climbed into his own bed as Alex set up his nightlight. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine," he lied as he leaned back against the pillows.

Alex tucked him in securely. "If you need anything at all, you wake up Hotch or Derek, okay?" she said. "If you need them to call me, you can tell them, I'll be right there." She brushed his hair back from his forehead. "You're sure you don't want to sleep with Hotch? I'm sure he won't mind."

"I'm sure," he said.

She smiled wistfully as she stroked his hair back from his forehead. "Try to sleep, then," she said. She handed him his blanket. "I'll see you first thing in the morning. Goodnight, darling."

"Goodnight," he echoed.

The room was different in the dark with just the nightlight. He pulled the blanket close to his chest. He hoped he could sleep, but he wasn't sure.

At some point he dozed off, and he woke up with a start with terror coursing in his bones, leaving him loose-limbed and shaking. He thought about waking up Derek or Hotch, but he couldn't do it, he couldn't get up. Instead he started chewing on the corner of the blanket. Somehow it soothed him, even though he had no idea why. He couldn't go back to sleep, so he stared at the ceiling until morning light began to peek through the windows and Derek's alarm clock began to chime.


Author's Notes:

Holy CRAP this took me so long

October turned into an accidental weird hiatus, and then I really struggled with getting back into the groove with this chapter. But I did it! Please let me know what you thought, this was a struggle.

Also the kids are debating about a specific Disney movie- can you figure out which one it is?