And I've been meaning to tell you
I think your house is haunted

Your dad is always mad and that must be why
I think you should come live with me
And we can be pirates
Then you won't have to cry
Or hide in the closet
And just like a folk song
Our love will be passed on

Please, picture me in the weeds
Before I learned civility
I used to scream ferociously
Any time I wanted

-"Seven" by Taylor Swift


sunday

"Um. Hi. Excuse me. What are you doing in our common room?"

James glanced up from his phone. "Well, first of all, this isn't your common room either, Penelope," he said. "You live on a different floor."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Minor details."

"Second of all, I'm waiting for Hotch and Alex," he said. "They borrowed my car for the day."

Penelope's eyes gleamed behind her lavender glasses. "Ooh! What are they doing?" she asked. She plunked down on the common room couch beside him in a flurry of clinking plastic bracelets. "Are they going on a date?"

"No!" James said, a little too quickly. "No, no, no, they're not going on a date."

"I heard they were dating," Penelope said. She paused. "But I also heard that they're actually twins. So I really hope that both of those rumors aren't true."

"Well, they're not dating, and they're not twins," James said firmly. Penelope frowned, and then after a moment scooted a little closer to him. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"I just realized we haven't had much one on one bonding time," she said. "Where were you born? What are your hopes and dreams? Why didn't you tell us your family owned literally the cutest, most Instagram-worthy bakery in the world?"

James laughed. "I was born in Auden's Ridge, lived here all my life," he said. "Hopes and dreams...going to medical school and becoming an emergency room doctor. As for the bakery...I don't know, I guess to me it's just a part of my life and I don't think about it as anything special."

"All right, those are good answers," Penelope said. She tucked her feet underneath her and shifted her weight. "This whole Alex thing, though. You're going to ask her out at some point though, right? Some of us have a lot of money riding on this."

He sighed heavily. "I don't know, it's complicated, I guess," he said. "She-" He stopped. "Did you say money?"

"Don't worry about it. Keep going."

He eyed her carefully, but he sank back in the couch and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Alex has been my best friend since the first day of ninth grade," he said.

"I thought Dave was your best friend."

"Well, he is, but like...you know. It's different."

"Different because you have a crush on Alex and not on Dave?"

"All right, yes, fine, I've had a crush on Alex since the beginning of ninth grade," he said, sinking further down into the couch. "It just...it was never the right time, you know? She's always been so focused on school and her grades and getting into a good college. And honestly, I kind of did the same. Dave was the one who was always asking girls out, Alex and I have had scholarships to maintain."

"So...you never asked her to anything?" Penelope asked wistfully. "Not a coffee date at the Honeybean, a school dance?" Her eyes widened. "Not even prom?"

"No," he confessed. "I was going to ask her, but...Carolyn moved right before prom last year, and Dave was crushed, so the three of us went as a group so he would stop moping."

"Did you at least ask her to dance?" Penelope pressed.

"No," he said miserably. "She said she's not the dancing type."

"She's literally a ballerina."

"Different dancing. We spent most of the night seeing how much confetti we could stick down Dave's collar before he noticed."

Penelope regarded him solemnly for a moment, then smacked him lightly upside the head. "What was that for?" he complained.

"You sweet, adorable, absolute dingbat," she said. "You've had so many chances to at least tell her you like her!"

"I know! I know! People need to stop reminding me of this!" he said. "It's just...she doesn't do emotional stuff, you know? She's kind of...closed off when it comes to these kinds of things. Her family doesn't really do emotions."

"What do you mean?"

"She comes from a family of cops," James said. "Her dad's chief of police, her older brother Danny is in the police academy, her younger brother is already planning on being a cop too. They don't...they love her but they don't get her, you know what I mean? Her brothers are always screaming and shouting and roughhousing. They were always messing with her. They still don't get why she wanted to go away for school. Her mom does, which is good, but...they don't talk about their feelings in her house. Alex always deflects if you try to talk about emotional stuff that deals with her."

Penelope sighed. "Yikes," she said. "I never thought of any of that."

"I don't want to do anything that would push her away," he confessed. "Or ruin our friendship. I don't want to make her uncomfortable and end up losing one of my best friends."

"That is tough," Penelope agreed. She nudged James's shoulder lightly. "Well, don't stress. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And also, I'm extremely good at matchmaking."

He laughed. "I'll let you know if I'm in need of your services," he said.

Heavy footsteps echoed on the stairs and he sat up. "Are they back?" Penelope said, immediately distracted. "Where did they go? What were they doing?"

Hotch walked slowly into the common room, carrying a fast-asleep Spencer against his chest. "Jesus, why is he suddenly so heavy when he's sleeping?" he complained in a half-whisper.

"I could have carried him for part of the way, or we could have woken him up," Alex said, following close at his heels. She'd dressed down for the day in a soft knit dress and a tote bag was slung over her shoulder. "You had options."

"I wasn't about to wake him up," Hotch said.

"Well, give him to me now, I'll put him down for a nap," Alex said.

Hotch shifted him over to her carefully. "Don't wake him up," he warned.

"I won't, I won't," she said, pressing her hand lightly to the back of Spencer's head. "I'll be back."

She shifted Spencer on her hip and carried him down the hallway to his room. Hotch yawned heavily and plunked down on the couch at James's other side. "How'd it go?" James asked.

"Good," Hotch said. "Really good. He, uh...he made some friends, I think."

"Where did you guys go?" Penelope asked. "James just said you guys borrowed his car. I thought you might be on a-"

"They took Spencer to a playground," James said quickly. "There's a big indoor playground two towns over."

Penelope wrinkled her nose. "Really?" she said. "Spencer? He doesn't seem the type. It's noisy, it's full of germs, he'd have to run around, and there's children there."

"You know Spencer is a child, right?"

"That doesn't seem correct. He's a grown scientist in a very tiny body."

Hotch stretched out his long legs. "Well, he found a couple of other kids his own age, and I think he had a pretty good time," he said. "The mom of two of the kids invited him to get ice cream afterwards too. So he ran around for a couple of hours, ate a bunch of ice cream, and conked out in the car in five minutes. I call that a success."

Alex walked back into the common room. "Child is successfully asleep in his own bed," she said, kicking off her shoes.

"Thank god," Hotch sighed. "He hasn't been sleeping much at all lately."

"Well, we'll have to wake him up for dinner at some point, but we can let him nap as much as we can right now," Alex said as she settled into one of the armchairs. "I'm just so glad that went well. Your mom was right, James. Socialization was really good for him. We need to take him back."

"Good," he said. "You can borrow the car whenever you want."

Alex ran her fingers through her long hair. "I got Mrs. Clark's number too, in case there's another chance for the kids to play," she said. "Jesus. I have my first mom friend. I am seventeen years old, I don't have a child, and I have a mom friend." She paused. "She does think that Hotch and I are siblings and that Spencer is our little brother, so...that'll be interesting."

"I've heard that rumor too," Penelope said, nodding sagely.

"I just hope that doesn't bite us in the ass later," Hotch said. "Hopefully we can keep that up without anyone asking too many questions."

"Yeah, like asking to meet our parents," Alex said. She leaned back in her seat. "So where's everybody else?"

"Dave went home after he dropped me off," James said. "The sports kids are doing sports things. And Emily is…" He paused. "I'm not sure where Emily is, actually."

"Oh, she has a date today," Alex said. "Some guy she met at one of Dave's parties. Ian."

"Is he her boyfriend?" Penelope asked eagerly.

"I don't think they're official," Alex said. "I think it's their first date, actually."

Penelope clasped her hands, bracelets clanking. "Oh, I want to hear all about it when she gets back," she sighed. "I want to go on a date."

"You're thirteen, darling, you have plenty of time to go on dates."

"Yes, I know, but they look like so much fun," Penelope said. She looked slyly at James. "Don't you think so?"

He could feel his face suddenly heat up. "Hey, I think there's an Iron Chef marathon on the Food Network," he said a little too loudly, fumbling for the remote and switching on the TV. He sat back, refusing to make eye contact with Penelope. "Who else can't stand Bobby Flay?"

They were halfway through the second episode when Spencer shuffled into the room, his blanket trailing behind him and his hair sticking up in the back. "Hi, sleepyhead," Alex said. "Did you have a good nap?" He nodded and stretched out his arms to her; Alex lifted him onto her lap. His cheeks were flushed pink and his mouth was stained faintly blue.

"You still have ice cream on your face, kiddo," Hotch laughed.

"You picked Superman, huh?" James asked. Spencer nodded, cuddling close and tucking his head under her chin.

"We'll give you a little time to wake up, and then you can clean up and go to dinner," Alex said, kissing his cheek. "Did you have fun?"

"Uh-huh," Spencer said, biting back a yawn. "We played pirates."

"Yeah?" Hotch said. "It looked like you had fun."

Spencer rubbed his eyes. "Nell knows a lot about pirates, but I know more and she thought that was cool," he said. He sat up a little bit. "Did you know that some pirates used to do a kind of torture called woolding? They would tie a cord around a captive's eyes, and then put a stick in it, and then tighten the cord around the stick until the eyes popped out."

"Wow, that's...that's really gross," Penelope said.

Alex laughed as she tugged him closer. "Maybe don't pull those sorts of facts out on your new friends right away," she said.

"Oh, no, they thought it was cool," Spencer said.

James grinned. He hadn't seen Spencer that relaxed and happy in a while. And Alex seemed happy too, the tenseness around her eyes easing as she cuddled him on her lap.

Oh no, he thought. Penelope's right. I need to ask her out before it's too late.


monday

JJ grabbed her books as soon as the bell rang. "I'll see you after soccer practice!" Penelope called.

"Yeah, I'll see you at dinner!" JJ called back. "Have fun at model UN!"

"Today is ultimate frisbee club, but thank you!"

JJ bit back a laugh. She could never keep Penelope's extracurriculars straight, even with her colorcoded calendar hanging by their door. Sometimes she wondered if Penelope was able to remember everything herself.

She ran back to her dorm and changed out of her uniform, tossing everything on her bed- she could clean it up later. It didn't take long to change into her practice clothes and sneakers, and she tied her hair up into a neat bun at the crown of her head, pinning into place with the ease of practice.

She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder, humming tunelessly to herself as she jogged down the stairs and out the door, but when she reached the sports complex she didn't head towards the soccer field. Instead she headed down the quiet hallways of the gym to the dance studio.

At this point she figured out the schedule. There was a hiphop club that met once a week (she was honestly shocked that Penelope hadn't signed up for that one), plus a couple of yoga and pilates classes. The musical theatre class used the space once a week, and the ballet classes were held three times. As it turned out, the best chance to find the studio empty was during soccer practice.

She dug her bluetooth speaker out of her bag and set up her phone to play a barre exercise video on Youtube before kicking off her shoes. Dancing barefoot or in socks was definitely not her favorite thing- and if she was being honest, probably not safe, either- but unless she could find a way to have her mom send her some of her ballet gear without asking too many questions, it would have to do.

Already she could tell a difference- her flexibility was starting to come back, and her stamina. Ballet needed different muscles, different skills. Her releve still wasn't consistently as high as it should be, and her turns were a struggle, but she was getting there again.

She spent an hour and a half dancing- stretching, barre work, center work- and by the end of it she was red faced and sweating. There was a yoga class coming in by five, so she hurried to pack up her things and jam her sneakers back onto her feet, and she made sure to close the door as quietly as she could as she slipped out.

"Hey, Jayje!" Derek called from down the hall. She jumped. "Wait up!"

"You're out of practice early," she said, digging her fingers into the strap of her bag.

Derek beamed at her, his bright smile broader than she'd ever seen it. "Yeah, it's, uh...they've been doing some restructuring of the team with all...you know," he said. "The stuff that happened. They've been just having us do a lot of drills."

"Oh," she said. She needed to leave. She needed to get out of there before someone from the soccer team noticed her. "That's...that's cool."

"Guess what, though?" he said. "They bumped me up to quarterback."

Her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" she said. "You're only a sophomore! They never give that to a sophomore!"

"You're telling me!" he said. "It's just a trial basis, and the other coaches aren't too sure about it, but Coach Buford really wanted me for it and talked them into it."

"Derek, that's amazing!" she said, throwing her arms around him in an impulsive hug. "Congratulations!"

He hugged her back. "I'm so excited," he said. "My mom's gonna see me playing quarterback on Friday night. The timing's perfect." He paused. "Oh, shit. I left my water bottle in the coach's office. I'll be right back, I gotta go grab it."

He darted back down the hall. JJ raised herself up on her toes. She was starving. Hopefully there would be something good in the dining hall for dinner- if the big kids tried to talk her into eating raw tomatoes again she would scream.

"Ah, Miss Jareau. So this is where you've been."

JJ sank back off her toes and turned around slowly. "Hi, Coach," she said in a small voice.

Her soccer coach tilted her head. "I've been wondering where you've been, Jennifer," she said. "You realize you've missed multiple practices."

Her blood ran cold. "I...I've been sick," she said.

"And you're here in the gym because…?"

She swallowed hard. "I, um…"

Derek jogged over to her. "Hey, I'm ready to go now," he said.

The coach paused. "Morgan, good to see you," she said. "Did you talk to Buford and the team today?"

He flashed his charming million dollar smile at her. "Yes, ma'am, just a minute ago," he said.

"Well, congratulations on making quarterback," she said. "You've got a promising future ahead of you." She turned back to JJ. "Just don't make these absences a habit, Miss Jareau. I'll see you at our next practice?"

She shrank back. "Yes, ma'am," she said.

The coach gave her a long look before nodding curtly and striding away. "What was all that about?" Derek asked.

"Nothing," she said. "Let's go find the others so you can tell them the good news."


tuesday

"Okay, you have got to scoot over, I have absolutely no room."

"You have plenty of room! Stop complaining"

"I'm about to knock your coffee over with my elbow if you don't move it!"

"Guys, stop fighting. One of you move."

Dave glared at Alex from across the table, then slowly moved his pile of books to the edge of the table. She smiled angelically at him as she shifted into the empty space. "Thank you, David," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "You're welcome, Alexandra."

"Jesus, you guys need to stop," James said. "This is hard enough without y'all making it worse."

Dave sighed. "Sorry," he said.

The three of them had set up shop in the Honeybean, spreading out papers and books and glossy brochures as they worked on college applications, trying to beat the rapidly approaching deadlines. The stress was starting to get to them all- James's tie had long since been discarded, Alex had stuck at least three pens into her ponytail, and Dave was working on his second iced Americano.

He minimized the window for his application to NYU (his father's idea; his mother was still dead set on Yale) and opened the word processor. His latest story for Strauss's class was due by Thursday, and he didn't know what to write. So far he'd put together at least four different beginnings, but he never made it past a page before everything he'd written seemed stupid and silly and insignificant, and he deleted it.

"I really should have done more extracurriculars," Alex said, pressing her fingertips to her temples as she stared in bleak frustration at her laptop screen. "God. I shouldn't have quit orchestra. I wasn't that bad at cello."

"Mediocre at best," Dave said. She shot him a dirty look. "What? You didn't suck completely, it was a compliment. Kind of."

"You were good," James reassured her. He paused. "Well. Pretty good."

She sat back and groaned. "I could have done more," she said. "I can't go back and fix that now, though, can I?"

"Don't worry, Alex, you're going to get so many acceptance letters you won't know what to do with them," Dave said dismissively.

"Yes, but will those letters come along with full ride scholarships?" she asked, flipping through her notebook. "Because you know as well as I do that without a scholarship, I'll be living at home with my parents, going to community college in Kansas, babysitting my dad's coworker's kids and doing my brothers' laundry."

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down," James said. He reached over and squeezed her forearm lightly. "You're gonna be fine. Take a break, you're psyching yourself out."

Alex slunk further down in her seat. "I don't want to take a break, I want to get this done and submitted," she sulked. "I'm tired of stressing about getting this finished. I want to get it sent, so then I can stress about hearing an answer back."

Dave frowned at the empty document. "Can I ask you guys something?" he said before he could stop himself.

"Shoot," James said, tossing his pencil down on the table. "Please, give us a distraction."

"Are you guys really that worried about colleges?" he asked. "And scholarships?"

James and Alex looked at each other, and for a moment Dave felt uneasy, as if they were sharing a silent secret he wasn't privy to. "Well...yeah," James said. "How else are we supposed to afford a good school."

"Don't your parents have a college fund?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, but that only goes so far," James said. "Besides, sometimes the college fund has to get dipped into. Remember when it flooded real bad freshman year? My parents had to replace all the flooring in the bakery."

"My parents had to make three college funds," Alex pointed out. "And part of mine already went to going to school here. If I hadn't gotten scholarships and the library job, I wouldn't be here, I'd still be stuck in Kansas, taking AP Spanish if I'm lucky enough that they're offering it this year."

"So what happens if you don't get scholarships?" Dave pressed. "You wouldn't really go to community college in Kansas, right? You could get loans or something."

Alex blinked. "Loans, yes," she said. "Loans so I can go to Berkeley like I've wanted since I was twelve? No way. I'll never get them paid off. My grandchildren will be paying off my student loans."

Dave stared at his Macbook screen. "I thought you guys were just being...you know, kind of dramatic about this whole thing," he said. "No offense."

James raised an eyebrow. "No offense, Dave, but you knew that even when we were in middle school I spent my summers working in my dad's bakery while you got to fly to Europe," he said. "I thought you'd figured it out by now."

Dave drummed his fingers frenetically against the edge of his Macbook. He didn't know how to respond. "Sorry," he said finally, but it didn't seem like the correct answer. "I- sorry."

James shrugged. "Don't be sorry," he said. "One day Alex is going to be a world-renowned linguistics expert, and I'll be in charge of an emergency room, and you'll have your name on a law firm. Alex and I just have to work a little bit harder to get there, that's all."

Or a novelist, Dave thought, but the blank document taunted him and he closed it out, pulling the NYU application back up. "Yeah, we will," he said, and he started typing.


wednesday

Haley pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the stage next to Harper. "Hey, captain," she grinned. "How's it going?"

Harper beamed. "Amazing," she said. "I mean...it sucks that Alexa got demoted, but like…" She leaned closer. "This is the best thing that could have happened to me. I thought there was no way I could make captain until Alexa graduated."

"She doesn't deserve to be captain, she's an awful person," Haley said. "Everybody who got kicked off the squad and the football team, too."

Harper pulled her long dark hair over her shoulder. "You know what this means though, right?" she said. "Now that I'm the new Alexa, you're the new Harper. You'll be in line to be captain your senior year, now that you're my second."

"Maybe," Haley said. She nudged Harper playfully. "Maybe I'll get voted in myself." She looked across the auditorium. "Miss T's coming in today, right?"

"Yeah, she's going to teach the dance combination for auditions today," Harper said, flipping her hair back. "Oh, Jesus. Look at Kate. Is she wearing LaDucas?"

"Yep," Haley said grimly. "If she tells me one more time about how her parents took her to New York to buy those fucking shoes I'm going to throw up on them."

Harper laughed. "Oh my god, Hay, you're vicious," she said.

Haley sort of smiled. She didn't want to be vicious. She wasn't even sure why she said that in the first place. Was it annoying that Kate had been in vocal training since the first grade and always got the leads in the school musicals? Sure. Did she need to be mean about it, just to keep up with Harper?

Probably not. But she didn't want to think too much into that.

Harper elbowed her in the ribs. "Oh, look, it's your boyfriend," she teased.

Haley's heart skipped a beat. "He's not my boyfriend," she said.

"I can't believe you actually have a crush on Hotchner," Harper said, rolling her eyes. "Do you know how wide open your options are now that you're my second on the cheer squad?"

"Mm-hm," Haley said absently.

"And yet you're still crushing on the gangly guy from Lincoln House," Harper said. "You disappoint me, Brooks. Look at him. He's literally a scarecrow."

Haley jumped down from the edge of the stage, the heels of her Capezio character shoes striking the floor with sharp twin clicks. "I don't remember asking for your opinion," she called.

She sidestepped the crowd (and Kate tapping in her LaDucas) and caught up to Aaron, who was being forcibly dragged by Penelope pulling on his wrist. "Penny, please, let go, I don't think this is a good idea," he was pleading.

"It will be fun and you will like it and you need to stop complaining," Penelope said. She was dressed for a dance class in a tank top and a hot pink tennis skirt, a pair of jazz shoes dangling from her other hand, but Aaron was wearing his favorite hoodie and worn-out converses. His one concession had been swapping his jeans for black joggers. "And besides, you might get to talk to- ahhhh, hi, Haley."

"Hey, guys," she said, wiggling her fingers in a little wave.

Aaron immediately straightened up and struggled to pull his sleeve free from Penelope's grip. "Hi, Haley, sorry, I was...I was just leaving…" he said, an embarrassed blush rising on his cheekbones.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," she said, linking her arm through his and tugging him down towards the stage. "Penelope's right, it'll be fun."

"You'll have a good time!" Penelope chirped behind them.

Aaron dragged his heels. "I don't think this is a good idea, I should go…" he said.

A small woman in a St. Thaddeus theatre department shirt and her red hair tied in a high ponytail stepped to the edge of the stage and the students instantly began to quiet. "Hey, guys!" she called. "You ready to learn the dance combination for auditions?"

The auditorium echoed with excited shrieks. Aaron shrank back. "Stop that!" Penelope said, giving him a gentle push forward. "Listen to Miss T, she's not scary, she's so nice."

The theatre teacher waved her hands for them to settle down. "I'm going to teach two parts from the opening number, okay?" she said. "First part is going to be partner work, so find a partner and get up on the stage."

Penelope immediately zipped off in search of one of her theatre nerd friends, but Aaron looked like he wanted to sink into the floor. "Don't look like that," Haley said.

He glanced around helplessly. "I don't have a partner," he said.

She linked her fingers through his. "Yes, you do," she said. "Now come on."

"Haley, Haley, I can't dance," he hissed as she pulled him up the steps and tugged him to a spot towards the back of the stage. "This is a bad idea."

"No, it's not," she said. She gave his hand what she hoped was a reassuring little squeeze. "I'll help you, don't worry."

Miss T tightened her ponytail. "We're going to pick up at the top of the first chorus. Who here has listened to the cast recording?" Every hand shot up. "Oh. Wow. All right, so this is the first 'it's your wedding day.' You're going to face your partner, you're going step together, step twice to your right, and then that last step it's a jump and clap. Then repeat to the left. Super easy, right?"

"This is not easy," Aaron whispered. "What's happening?"

"Like this," Haley whispered back. "Just watch, she'll demonstrate. See? Not as hard as it looks." She paused and laughed. "No, no, babe, go to your right, not your left." He blushed red all the way to his ears, stumbling through the steps.

Miss T clapped her hands. "That's great, you guys!" she said. "Okay, so moving on. From here you're going to a chainé turn out to the right, take a beat, and then chainé turn back."

Kate's hand shot in the air. "Miss T, how would you like our arms on the chainé?" she said a little too loudly. Haley saw Harper roll her eyes from across the room.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" Aaron asked.

"It sounds fancy but it's just a three step turn," Haley said. "See? That's all it is."

He really wasn't doing that badly, all things considered. Clearly he was self conscious, keeping his eyes on the floor, and he stumbled here and there, but he had a good sense of rhythm and coordination. And he was so tall. Even with her heels on, she just barely reached his shoulder.

"Guys, this is looking so good," Miss T said. "Everybody take five, get some water. We'll pick up with the second part after that."

Aaron let out a loud, heavy sigh, but jumped as everyone chorused a bright "thank you, five." He looked at her in surprise. "You'll get used to that," she said, letting go of his hands. "You're doing really good."

"You don't have to pity me," he said. He unzipped his hoodie and tugged it off; the sleeves caught on the tee shirt he wore underneath and hiked it up for a second. He tugged the hem down swiftly. "Think I can sneak out the back without Penelope noticing me?"

"Nope," she said. "C'mere."

She pulled him across the stage to the theatre teacher. "Hi, Haley, it's good to see you out here," Miss T said. "I'm looking forward to seeing you at auditions. And who's this?"

"Aaron Hotchner, ma'am," he said.

She smiled and held out her hand. "Lucy Trevelyan, and now you know why the theatre kids all call me Miss T," she said. "Are you coming to auditions?"

"Sorry, I'm...I'm not much of a dancer," he said.

"No, no, you're doing fine," Miss T said. "Trust me, I've seen much worse. I did four years of show choir." She paused. "My fiance also did a couple years of show choir, and you can definitely dance better than he does. And besides, Miss Brooks here is one of the best dancers in the department. With her help I'm sure you'll be in good shape in time for auditions."

"Miss T, can you please clarify the rockstep?" Kate called. "I wanted to make sure I'm doing it right."

Miss T smiled at them. "Go get some water before we start the next section, I'll talk to you two later," she said.

Aaron sighed. "I didn't know this is what I signed up for," he said.

"It's theatre club, singing and dancing is usually a part of it," Haley laughed. "You've got time, anyway, auditions aren't until family weekend is over." She ran her fingers through her hair, untangling the ends. "Do you have family coming in? My parents are bringing my sister, but Jessica's mad because she's missing a chorus concert."

Aaron hesitated. "I, um...I remember what you said about your dad," she said quickly. "Lung cancer, when you were thirteen. Right?"

She chose not to bring up his accidental remarks. They were burned into her memory- It's not the first time somebody's smacked me around to make themselves feel better. He, uh...had a lot of issues. He kind of took them out on me- but she wasn't about to remind him of that.

He cleared his throat. "My aunt and uncle are coming," he said, a little stiffly.

"What about your mom, and your little brother?" she asked. "Are they coming?"

He cleared his throat. "My mom died in a car accident when I was ten," he said, keeping his eyes down. "It's just me and Sean now. Our aunt and uncle have custody of us, he lives in Virginia with them."

Her mouth went dry. "Aaron, I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

He raised and lowered one shoulder. "It's nothing you need to be sorry about," he said. "It's fine."

She looked up at him, unable to think of anything to say. The expression in his dark eyes was unreadable.

"All right, I hope you're ready for part two, everybody back onstage!"

Aaron pressed his mouth together in sort of a grim smile. "You ready?" he said.

She held out her hand. "Yeah, let's go."

She was almost afraid he wouldn't take her hand, but he did, and when she laced her fingers through his she was almost sure that he gave her hand a tiny squeeze.


thursday

Penelope sat down at the top of the old amphitheater, the concrete cool under her legs. "I'm almost done," she announced. "And then I can hand these out to everybody."

"Pen, I really don't think we need color coded schedules," JJ said as she sat down beside her and pulled a packet of Cheetos out of her backpack. "They emailed all of this stuff to our parents, we won't have to worry about it."

"I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly," she protested. "This is a big deal! I haven't seen my grandparents in so long!"

"It's been a month," Derek said dryly. "But everybody's coming to see the football game on Friday night, right? It's my first night as the official quarterback."

Emily tossed her tie and blazer on top of her backpack. "What's the big fuss about family weekend anyway?" she asked as she unbuttoned her shirt. "Do people realize that not everybody is pee-their-pants excited about the whole situation? What am I supposed to do?"

"There's plenty of stuff for you to do too," Derek said. "You're not the only person without family coming in. Hell, some people have family visiting and it's still rough for them." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the wrong ears weren't listening. "Last year Hotch turned into a completely different person. But I think things are just weird with his aunt and uncle."

Emily paused. "Wait, Hotchner's parents aren't coming?"

"His mom got killed in a car wreck when he was ten, and his dad had a heart attack three years later," Derek explained. He glanced back at Hotch, Alex, and Spencer who were walking through the gate at the top of the steps. "He, uh...he doesn't like to talk about it."

Emily let out an aggravated huff as she pulled off her tie. "I just don't see why everyone is losing their shit over it," she said. "It's just going to be a whole lot of chaos for three days, and everybody's going to go home in November anyway. Hell, Dave and James see their parents every day, it's nothing new for them."

"Some of us like spending time with our family," Derek teased, and Emily stripped down to the cropped tank she wore under her uniform and tossed her shirt in his face. "Jesus!"

"It doesn't matter to me one way or the other," Emily said. "I'm just going to be fucking bored while you guys are off having quality family time."

Spencer squinted up at her in the bright afternoon sunlight. "My family isn't coming either," he said. "I'll hang out with you."

Emily sighed and cupped his chin in her hand. "Just what I've always wanted, a babysitting gig," she said. She blew a raspberry on his cheek, making him shriek with laughter and try to escape.

"You're more than welcome to hang out with us," Alex said as Emily chased Spencer around the steps. "I'm sure no one will mind having an extra kid or two for the weekend."

Penelope leaned back as Spencer climbed over her, trying to get away from Emily who was now trying to tickle him. "You know, this probably isn't a very good idea," she said, hastily gathering up her markers before they could kick them down the steps. "He drank a lot of chocolate milk at lunch."

Hotch picked Spencer up by the back of his shirt and lifted him out of harm's way. "That's a good point," he said. He set Spencer down next to Alex. "Here. Sit with Birdy."

Spencer frowned. "I want a nickname too," he announced.

"You have a nickname, passerotto," Emily said.

"A matching nickname, that starts with a B," Spencer explained patiently. "I don't think it's fair that you two have nicknames and I don't have one. I've never had a nickname. My mom-" He stopped abruptly. Penelope held her breath. She'd never heard Spencer mention his parents before. "My mom called me Crash, and I don't like it. It's because I'm clumsy, but I can't help that. I'm probably just getting ready for a growth spurt."

"Maybe you'll eventually hit five feet tall," Derek said with a playful smirk. Spencer's lower lip dropped in a pout.

"I'm sure you'll be very tall when you grow up," Alex promised. "And we'll figure out a nickname for you too. Something you like." He beamed at her, pleased.

Penelope spread her markers back out again. "Okay, so when is everybody arriving?" she asked. "Everybody text me flight information."

Hotch sat down next to Alex and Spencer immediately clambered over her to get to him. "Sean will be getting here around ten," he said, hoisting Spencer onto his lap. "I think you two will get along, he's just a little bit younger than you."

"Great, another rugrat around here," Emily said. She dug around in her bag and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a neon purple lighter. "I'll be right back."

"You know you can get suspended for that," Penelope said. Emily flipped her off playfully and jumped down the stairs two at a time.

She sighed heavily and went back to color coding her papers. The others could bicker and fuss if they wanted to. Her grandparents were going to be there in the morning, and there were all sorts of fun activities on the schedule, and it was going to be a great time. Everything would go smoothly.

Right?


Author's Notes:

oh no Penelope don't jinx it please please please

So if you'd like to see Spencer's playground adventures, you'll want to check out SwallowsSong on AO3- Brenna wrote a really adorable oneshot about Spencer making new friends, and I had to incorporate it into the main fic!

You also might recognize the theatre teacher if you read my Glee stuff back in the day! I originally was going to write Francey Anderson as the teacher, but a couple of people on tumblr requested to see Lucy again, and I couldn't say no!

Now we're getting to family weekend in the next chapter. Let's hope things go well.

(they won't.)