Part 12

One year later

David Rossi walked into the BAU for the first time in a decade. He had retired quite some time ago, as he had needed a change, but now he was back.

He had been surprised to hear that his old friend Jason Gideon had left the BAU, but he also knew that everybody had their breaking point and apparently Jason had reached his.

He had just completed his meeting with Erin Strauss and she was still just as much of a schemer as ever.

He walked to Aaron Hotchner's office and knocked and was told to enter. He and Hotch were old friends and in fact he had trained the younger man and they had kept in contact over the years. Rossi knew all about the relationship between his old trainee and Spencer Reid thanks to Erin Strauss who was of course, against it. Dave had been surprised to learn that his old friend was in a same-sex relationship with his subordinate, but apparently they worked well together for it had been going on for quite sometime apparently. Of course, Dave knew that unlike him Hotch had never been married, not even once, while he had been married three times, so it was quite possible that Aaron Hotchner had always been gay and he had just never noticed, but the more likely possibility was that he was bisexual instead and his heart could've gone either way

"Welcome back to the BAU, Dave," Hotch said standing up from behind his desk to shake his hand.

"Thank you," Rossi said with a smile.

"I have no idea why you wanted to come back," Hotch said.

"Let's just say I have unfinished business," Rossi said sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in front of Hotch's desk.

Hotch nodded figuring that Dave probably had a case that was still bothering him years later and wanted to try to bring the victims some peace.

"So how did your meeting with Strauss go?" asked Hotch.

"About like I expected it to," Rossi answered. "Except for one thing."

"What thing was that?" asked Hotch

"Oh, Strauss was ranting about you and Spencer Reid," Rossi said giving his old friend a look.

"Ah," was all Hotch said not surprised, since Strauss had made it clear from the first moment that she had heard about the relationship that she considered them unnatural, abominations and any other negative descriptive phrases she could come up with. However, there was nothing she could really do about it for the director had a approved just so long as their relationship didn't interfere with their jobs.

Rossi studied his old friend not surprised that he hadn't denied it, because really there would be no point.

"I'm just surprised that you play for the other team," Rossi said and Hotch just looked at him his face expressionless.

"If you're trying to hurt my feelings and get me to admit to anything you're wasting your time," Hotch finally informed him calmly but with steel beneath his tone that told him Rossi that his old friend would not be backing down.

"Would I do that?" Rossi asked his old friend seriously looking hurt and Hotch begin to feel guilty.

"No, you're usually pretty open-minded," Hotch admitted with a small smile beginning to play on his lips. "As to your comment of a minute ago, I've always known that I could go either way when it came to my sex life. I never expected to fall in love with another man, but I did and I was just lucky that Spencer felt the same way."

Hotch didn't bother to mention the bond that was between them thanks to Spencer discovering that he was his mate or the fact that he was now a werewolf.

"So this isn't just a casual thing then," Rossi summarized.

"No, it's not or I never would have agreed to start a relationship with him and Spencer is far too sensible to get involved with his boss if his feelings weren't real," Hotch replied. "I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say."

"That neither one of you would have gotten involved if you didn't believe that what you had was going to be permanent," Rossi said.

"Exactly," Hotch agreed with a smile. "Unlike you neither I or Spencer are the type to fall in and out of love."

Rossi had to acknowledge that this was true, with Hotch at least, as he had always been very careful with his heart. He couldn't say the same about Spencer Reid because he didn't know him, however, he was sure that Hotch was right.

"Is that why Gideon left?" asked Rossi. "We both know that he was extremely old-fashioned in someways."

"No, he and Spencer made up, although it was pretty tense for awhile," Hotch said. "Gideon gave him the cold shoulder for months, but finally got it into his thick skull that we weren't going to break up just to make him happy. Gideon really does think of Spencer like a son since he was the one that brought him into the BAU in the first place. We had a case a few weeks ago where an old friend of his was murdered and that's what finally broke him."

Rossi winced at that as he knew that everybody had a breaking point, and Gideon's old friend being murdered had apparently been Jason's.

"So what's Spencer Reid like?" asked Rossi, which was a question that had been on his mind ever seen he had learned that he and his old friend Hotch were in a relationship from Strauss.

"You'll soon see for yourself, but he's absolutely brilliant and no I'm not embellishing. He's incredibly young as you'll soon discover as he's only 26, but he was brought into the unit as soon as he graduated the FBI Academy. Gideon was his advocate from the start and in fact recruited him from Caltech. He was only 13 when he went to college because as I said he's absolutely brilliant and he skipped quite a few grades in high school."

"He didn't have to go the normal route?" asked Rossi surprise.

"Well, if he has one fault, he's incredibly unathletic," Hotch admitted, "and Gideon knew that he would never fit into another department, which is why he called in numerous favors to get those requirements waivered at the Academy. However, he does fit into the BAU and he works mostly from behind the scenes to help us solve cases. Our percentage of solving cases has gone up considerably since he joined the team a few years ago. He has so much knowledge stored in that brain of his, most of it seeming like useless trivia until you actually need it, as once he learns something he never forgets it, as his memory is eidetic. I'm sure you'll like him once you get to know him, because even though he is incredibly intelligent he isn't arrogant with it and he really is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet."

Rossi decided that he had to meet this Dr. Spencer Reid as soon as possible.

"Also he might seem like a pushover but he can be incredibly stubborn about some things, and he has a tough side to him too because he helped raise his six brothers who are all younger. From what I know actually his brothers were quite the handful when they were children and had to learn how to get them to obey and also punish them when appropriate."

"So he has six younger brothers," Rossi said.

"Yep," Hotch said with a slow easy grin, "all the same age I might add."

Rossi started at Hotch as if he had lost his mind and then asked his voice sounding incredibly strange to his own ears, "Sextuplets?"

"Yep," Hotch said with another grin at Rossi's reaction. "Spencer will have to give you further information, but let's just say he, along with a distant aunt raised them from babies because the father was useless. In any case, you won't meet them for awhile as all of them are away at college and since they are almost as intelligent as Spencer is they got full scholarships. They could've skipped grades just like Spencer did, but their Aunt Shannon and Spencer forbade them to because either one didn't want them to go through what Spencer did."

"Severe bullying," Rossi said knowing how children could be, especially if they thought of someone as an outsider and usurper. Teenagers hated to be overshadowed by someone much younger and that often led to severe bullying, being pushed into lockers or down on the floor to be trampled on.

"Yes, severe bullying," Hotch agreed. "In any case, I think you'll like Spencer as well as a rest of team when you meet them in a few minutes and we had better get out there before they think something's wrong as this meeting has really been going on to long."

"I'm sure they realize that we're old friends and are just catching up," Rossi said and Hotch nodded in agreement.

"In any case, we can talk more later and Spencer and I can meet you for dinner if we don't catch a case before then."

"Sounds good," Rossi said.

"Perhaps, I'll even get Spencer to invite you for dinner sometime soon at his house," said Hotch. "He'll have to get to know you before he invites you to his home as he's very cautious about letting most people know where we live."

Rossi nodded and thought that this Dr. Reid was very cautious and he couldn't really blame the younger man either for there were a lot of wackos out there.

"So can Dr. Reid cook?" asked Rossi with a raised eyebrow. He could, but he was Italian and had lunch at his mother's knee.

"Yes, he can and he is quite good to," Hotch said. "His Aunt Shannon taught him how when he was a child. In fact usually when we're home we don't eat out much, except every once in awhile for a special occasion because we eat out so much when we're out of town. He does an excellent steak, for example."

Ever since he had been turned into a werewolf he craved steak, rare and not well-done like he had eaten it before his transformation and that's what he ordered a lot of times for dinner when the team was having dinner at a restaurant.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the whole team," Rossi said and Hotch nodded knowing that his old friend was especially looking forward to meeting Spencer. He couldn't blame Dave in the least for he was a naturally curious person after all and he was sure that what he had been told about Dr. Spencer Reid intrigued him, so that he wanted to learn more about him.

When the two of them exited the office the other members of the team pretended to be busy, however, it was clear that they have been watching the door and only went back to work when it opened so that they would look like they been busy the whole time.

Hotch nearly chuckled at their obviousness, but then he had known that Rossi, one of the founding members of the BAU, coming back would create a lot of curiosity.

"Everyone, I'm sure you know David Rossi by reputation. He will be joining the team as he is coming out of retirement," Hotch announced and enjoyed watching the teams various reactions, although his mate appeared the least curious and went back to work.

Hotch knew that Spencer was just saving his questions for later for when they were alone.

~~~Spencer and Aaron~~~

"Go ahead and invite Rossi to dinner," Reid urged his mate. "It's true that I don't like letting too many people know where I live, but you also have the right invite who you want, since this is your home as well as mine. If you trust him then so do I. It isn't like you are inviting a complete strangers to our home as you've known David Rossi for years, you watched each other's backs and worked together for a long time before he retired."

"Alright then," Hotch said who hadn't thought of it like that. "I'll invite him for dinner sometime next weekend unless we're gone out of town. Who knows maybe he'll reciprocate and invite us to his place and cook for both of us as he's quite an excellent cook as well."

"Besides, if you invite him here that means that I will be able to ask him as many questions as I like about his books as you know me I like to learn new things," Spencer added with a grin.

"Ah, now the reason you want him to come here becomes clear," Hotch teased him. "You just want to rack his brain."

"That's part of it certainly," Reid admitted without an ounce of shame, "but I would not invite him here just for that. He is an old friend of yours and therefore he will always be welcome in our home. This isn't just my house anymore it's both ours and you can invite who you like. However, I know you are also cautious as to who you let know where you live as there are many criminals out there that would love to get revenge on you for putting them in prison."

"You too," Hotch reminded him, "even if it's just as a way to get back at me, since I admit that you're the least visible member of the team as you do so much of your work from behind the scenes."

"And I haven't been with the BAU long enough to have the considerable collection of enemies that you and the others do," Reid said.

"You will, just give yourself another five or six years," Hotch said.

"So I need to be prepared to cook next weekend," Reid mused. "Do you know what Rossi likes?"

"Well, he likes just about anything," Hotch admitted, "as is not picky when it comes to food, but then he is Italian after all and most Italians know how to eat well."

"Perhaps, some kind of chicken dish," Reid said thoughtfully.

"Or steak," Hodge suggested eagerly as he had such a craving for steak ever since he had been turned into a werewolf last year.

"We eat steak enough," Reid said firmly. "I love it as much as you do, but it's not good to have it all the time. We might be werewolves, but we're also omnivores and we need to eat our fruits and vegetables and other meats."

Hotch didn't argue, probably because he knew Reid was right and he would have to learn to control his urge to eat steak all the time.

"We can have them tomorrow night if we're not gone on a case," Reid finally copulated, probably because he was in the mood for a nice juicy steak that was as rare as he could cook it.

"Good," Hotch said eagerly causing Reid to chuckle for normally Aaron wasn't one to show his emotions so easily, but he was pleased that with him his mate could let his emotions show more around him anyway.

"Now that's settled, I've been meaning to tell you that I got a call from Jase the other day.

Hotch had always felt that it was a rather odd coincidence that Reid's brother was named Jason and so was his mentor, but as far as he knew one didn't have a connection to the other and it was a pretty common name. Luckily, Reid's brother went by Jase most of the time so that made it easier to distinguish between the two and also the fact that Reid's mentor was used to being called Gideon.

"Oh? What did Jase have to say?" asked Hotch.

"Just that he's enjoying his college classes and has contacted the local pack. The local pack is really nice according to him and they accepted him immediately when he told him that he was going to college in the area and he would like a chance to run with a pack sometimes when he wasn't studying."

"Dating anyone?" asked Hotch now after all Jason was 18.

"No and in fact he's too busy settling into his new apartment and his classes to be worried about girls or boys for the moment," Reid said.

It had been decided that all the sextuplets were going to have their own apartments away from campus so that they wouldn't have to be back at a certain time. Having your own place was extremely useful when you were a werewolf and this way they could be gone all night and nobody would question where they had been. They were just 18 it was true, and a little bit young to be living on their own and Reid and Hotch both understood that they were technically of age now and when you were a werewolf there were also special requirements and living on your own especially when you had the money was one of them. Of course, in Brock's case it was different as he still hadn't told Blanche that he was a werewolf, and Reid for one thought he was putting it off too long and Blanche would be rightfully angry if she wasn't told soon.

Reid had offered to help his brother with his explanation, and Brock had already told him he planned on taking him up on that at some point.

"I know Brock is enjoying sharing an apartment with Blanche as I know I would have enjoyed sharing one with you had met back then," Hotch said, as he put an arm around the younger man's waist and Reid for his part simply sighed contentedly and sank into Aaron's side with his head on his broad shoulder.

"You have to remember that we are over a decade apart, while Brock and Blanche are the same age with only a few months between them," Reid said.

"It's too bad we weren't so lucky," Hotch said wistfully, "if only I had met you years ago."

"There's no point in dwelling on it," Reid said although he to looked wistful for opportunities lost. "We are together now and we will be until the day one of us dies, so we need to concentrate on that and not on the past."

"You're right and usually I'm not so broody," Hotch admitted, "but I can't help thinking what if we had met years ago and what if we were the same age with only a year or two between us?"

"That would have been nice, but we might as well just put it behind us as we don't have time for what ifs," Reid said.

"So how the rest of your brothers doing?" Hotch asked turning to put the rest of his broody thoughts behind him.

"Also busy settling in," Reid answered. "The only problem I see is Brock."

"He still hasn't told Blanche what he is I take it," Hotch said.

"No, he hasn't and even though I offered to help him with an explanation, he keeps putting it off," Reid said shaking his head.

"He's going to make her angry and possibly lose her if he doesn't go ahead and tell her soon. I can understand his nervousness about it, but he's got to go ahead and bite the bullet and tell her, as they've been dating for over a year now and if he doesn't tell her soon, especially since he doesn't have the same problem I did with her being his boss or older. Besides, Brock is intelligent enough not to have sex with her as that would complete the bond whether she had consented or not until after he explained. Not to mention he no longer has an excuse of being underage when it comes to sex and I'm sure Blanche is wondering what keeps holding Brock back."

"Yes, he does need to go ahead and tell her, especially since we both know what will happen if he does lose her," Hotch agreed.

"I'm trying not to butt into his life as he's a grown man," Reid said with a sigh, "but I'm so worried about him. I know I was incredibly lucky that you accepted that I was different in several ways from a normal human man, but there's no telling how Blanche will react when she is told and the longer Brock puts it off the more betrayed she's going to feel."

"You have to admit that it's not easy to tell a human that you're a creature out of legend," Hotch told Reid trying his best to calm him down. "It would have been much easier in the short run anyway if your brother had been the mate of another werewolf who would have immediately understood the implications and wouldn't have been able to reject him, although I realize that a lot of times life doesn't happen the way you expect. I don't want to lose your brother either if he takes his own life, if Blanche rejects him, but you have to admit that it's possible."

"Yes, it is, but from what I know of Blanche she's a sensible young woman, kind of like you and me actually and if she's giving a demonstration, she'll believe it, however..."

"However, even if she believes it, it doesn't mean she'll accept it," Hotch finished his mate's sentence.

"I truly believe she'll not say anything to anyone if she doesn't accept it as no one would believe her and she's too intelligent to make herself out to be some kind of crazy that believes in things like werewolves, but if that happens my brother won't live very long after that, not unless we can convince Blanche quickly to change her mind. I can't help but think about the many things that can go wrong, but probably won't. Sure some werewolves continue to live after their True Mates are gone just like Aunt Shannon did, but many just don't have the willpower to do that after half their soul has been ripped away. It all depends on the personality and how strong a werewolf is mentally and emotionally as physical strength doesn't matter, but how strong your will is as well as you're mind. Brock is a lot like me and I know I couldn't live if anything happened to you, and Brock thinks the same way I do. Not many people try to live after half their soul has been ripped away. To me Aunt Shannon is one of the bravest women I have ever known because she didn't take her own life after her husband Kennedy was killed and I'm glad she didn't or she never would've been around to help raise me and my brothers."

"Try not to worry about it too much," Hotch urged him, although he knew that his mate was a worrier and in this case he couldn't really blame Spencer for worrying since it was his brother.

Hotch decided that he was going to do his best distract Reid from worrying about his brother at least for a few hours and the only way he knew to do that...

"Come on, we barely get any time alone and we're wasting it," Hotch suggested already wanting his mate flat on his back underneath him with him kissing every inch of his lover's bare skin and Reid smiled as he knew this was his lover's way to distract him and cheer him up because it always worked.

"Alright," Reid said and got off the couch quickly heading for the stairs and his and Hotch's bedroom making Hotch laugh for he had been right about the best way to cheer up his mate.

~~~Spencer and Aaron~~~

Three months later

Reid took a deep breath before he knocked on the door to his brother and his girlfriend's apartment. Brock had finally decided that it was time to tell Blanche exactly what he was and Reid privately thought that it was about time.

Brock had chosen today to do it, because class was over for the day and they didn't have any through Tuesday, which would give Blanche a few days to get over her shock and hopefully, accept what she was being told. If things went well, the two of them would immediately have sex and that would connect them together, but only if Blanche accepted that she was the mate of a werewolf.

Spencer had taken a personal day off and had agreed to meet the team either back at the office tomorrow or in whatever city they had been called to.

"Hello, Spencer," Blanche said smiling opening the door after looking out the peephole to make sure it was they will expecting.

"Hello, Blanche," Spencer greeted the young woman giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"How have you been doing?" asked Reid.

"Brock and I are doing fine," Blanche promised him. "We're busy with classes and studying, but we try to take a break from all that at least on the weekends, although that's not always possible."

"Oh, yes, I remember those days very well," Spencer said sounding nostalgic.

"Yes, but from what I heard, you didn't have to read anything except once to remember all the information relevant to a test, so you mustn't have a lot more free time then Brock and I do."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Spencer his astonishment plain with a raised eyebrow. "I might've been able to study for a test or my classes much faster, but you have to remember that I had my brothers to help raise and they were only seven me when I started college and still quite a handful. Even with Aunt Shannon's help I barely had time to breathe or eat or sleep or at least it seemed that way. Trust me, without my eidetic memory, and my ability to read so fast I never would've been able to do it all and survived sane."

"I hadn't thought about it that way," Blanche admitted. "You must've really had your hands full."

"Trust me I did, but once they got to 11 or 12 it was a little easier," Reid said. "I don't know how parents do it, raise so many young children at one time, especially when they are all the same age."

"I'm glad you could make it, big brother," Brock greeted Reid with a smile, giving his brother a manly hug. Reid studied his brother and immediately saw how tense his body language was and the worry in his eyes and he completely sympathized with his younger brother.

"Of course, I made it, I just took a personal day that's all," Reid told Brock with a smile. "I've more than earned the right to take a day off, especially when you called and invited me to lunch. Besides, I can always keep in contact with the team through phone calls or Skype."

"Lunch is ready," Blanche said coming back into the living room as she had left a check on the lunch she was cooking as soon as she had let Reid in the front door.

Both men rose and headed to sit at the bar, which was partitioned the small kitchen from the rest of the apartment and really wasn't big enough for more then one person cooking at a time.

Everybody enjoyed lunch in the conversation was lively but it was clear that Brock was distracted and Spencer had to admit that he was kind of worried to about Blanche's reaction, he was just much better at concealing it then his brother was, but then he had years of practice as it was never good to allow the bullies to see you cry as that just made their torment worse.

Finally lunch was over and Brock cleared the dishes and put them in the sink saying that he would wash them later.

"So are you going to tell me exactly what your worried about, Brock?" asked Blanche as soon as everybody was settled in the small living room. "And why you really invited your brother here?"

Brock looked startled for a moment and then sheepish, "I guess I wasn't very good concealing my feelings."

"To most people it wouldn't be obvious," Blanche told him bluntly, "but I've known you for nearly 2 years now so I know how to read you better than anyone, except perhaps, for your family."

"Well, since you bought the question up," Spencer told Blanche, "the reason Brock invited me here is he has something important to tell you and he wanted me to be present for it. What we are going to tell you is something of a family secret, but if your relationship is as serious as my brother has indicated then you need to know."

"Why do I need to know matter how serious our relationship is?" asked Blanche genuinely curious and wondering why her boyfriend and his brother were being so mysterious.

"Because you're going to become part of the family," Brock told his longtime girlfriend, "or at least I hope you will once you learn our family secret."

"Why do I need to know this secret and why does it matter even if I do marry you after we graduate?" asked Blanche.

"Well, the answer to that question is is no way that Brock could conceal the family secret from you. It wouldn't be very fair to you in any case, since couples should never keep secrets from each other as that's a way to sour good relationship." Reid answered Blanche's very pointed question.

"And if I decide to break it off after I hear this family secret?" was Blanche's next question.

"Then you are free to do so, although I am requesting that you not say anything about what we're going to tell you," Brock said and the pain in his voice and eyes was obvious.

He didn't tell Blanche at least right that moment that even if she did tell someone they would never believe her.

Blanche considered her options carefully, but finally decided that she wanted to know what Brock and Spencer had to say as she loved Brock way too much to not want to learn everything she could about him and had ever since he had rescued her from the bullies to just abandon him, not without a good reason anyway.

"Alright then, what's this big secret that you have to tell me?" asked Blanche.

Brock sighed and begin to explain what the big secret was. By the time he was halfway through with his explanation Blanche was looking at him as if he had grown three heads.

"You can't be serious," Blanche said.

"I am serious," Brock told her with a sympathetic expression as he knew very well how hard such a fantastical story was to believe. "I can prove it to."

"How?" Blanche asked skeptically, "it's nowhere near the full moon."

"You see that's one thing I didn't get a chance to explain to you," Brock said after he and Spencer had a good laugh at Blanche's expense.

"Sorry for laughing," Spencer apologized, "but we'll explain why we were if you'll just sit and listen for a few more minutes."

Blanche nodded and sat back down from where she had risen prepared to storm out the door, until Spencer's calm, sympathetic tone stopped her.

"You see the reason why we were laughing is that so humans asked the same question when they are told. Most humans that are told are as skeptical as you are that werewolves are real, although there have been a few over the last 60 or 70 years that accepted it much easier," Spencer explained. "Our species call themselves werewolves, however, we differ greatly from the ones that are portrayed in the books and the movies. Really, we are more like shapeshifters then true werewolves as we can change anytime we desire, after we have gone through our first transformation at five years old. It's true that we werewolves tend to conjugate together in packs and there is an Alpha that is in charge of dispensing justice as our laws dictate, however, we are not the raving monsters that mass media portrays us to be. We never lose control of ourselves when we change, and while we can get angry and attack someone it's always for a very good reason."

"What could be a good reason to kill someone?" asked Blanche.

"Well, say a hunter just killed your spouse or one of your children for example," Reid said, "in our world that is a legit reason to kill that hunter. Also if someone discovers that werewolves are real and they're not supposed to know then they are killed before they can tell anyone, unless it is a child, as if it's unlikely they'll be believed."

Blanche considered that for a moment and admitted that although it sounded cruel and vicious it was a very good reason to kill someone at least from a werewolves point of view and it was becoming clear that they would never harm a child, no matter the reason.

"Why tell me then?" Blanche asked her tone still extremely skeptical.

"Before we get to that," Brock said rising from his chair, "why don't I show you what we're telling you isn't a hoax, so that the rest of the information we have to give you will be easier to accept."

"Where is he going?" asked Blanche in confusion.

"Into the bedroom to take off his clothes and do the transformation," Spencer explained calmly.

"I'd rather him do it out here where I can see," Blanche said still expecting some kind trick. "It isn't like I've never seen him naked before."

"Did you hear, Brock?" Spencer called to his brother who he was sure had heard thanks to a werewolves extremely acute hearing.

"Yes, Spence," Brock called back, "I'll be out in a moment."

A minute later Brock emerged from the bedroom and Blanche's tried not to drool at his body, which was extremely muscled and very fine for Brock kept himself in shape.

"Alright, you wanted to see for yourself," Brock said, as calmly as possible, although it was clear that he was still nervous. Brock's eyes never left Blanche's as slowly his fur, that was the same color as his hair began to emerge all over his body, his nose and mouth slowly turned into a snout, his eyes turned amber instead of their normal warm golden brown, and his arms and legs which always took the brunt of the transformation begin to reshape themselves and it was clear to Blanche that this was a far from painless process. Finally Brock fell to his hands and knees as his transformation completed which seemed to happen all at once, but the truth was it just seemed to happen that way, in actuality though, it was just that Blanche had been watching so intently and keeping her eyes on Brock's face that the transformation seemed to finish so fast.

Blanche stared at the form of her boyfriend, and was stunned at what she had seen. She blinked, blinked again and yet the vision of Brock as a wolf did not change and in fact his fur was exact same shade as his hair, which was a deep rich chocolate brown.

The wolf that was Brock whined at her and sounded plaintive, but didn't approach her at all and just stood there.

"So you're all wolves?" Blanche asked turning to Spencer who had been watching the scene silently.

"If you mean by all me and all six of my brothers yes," Reid answered honestly.

"Alright, I can't really deny that you're wolves since Brock changed right before my eyes, but that goes back to my question of a minute ago and that is why tell me? I can certainly understand why you want to keep this a secret, because if it became known that werewolves were real that would be a massacre and a lot of innocent people both humans and werewolves would be slaughtered. However, that still doesn't explain..."

"Let Brock transform back and he'll explain why he told you," Reid suggested thinking that Blanche was handling it much better then he had expected her to, especially since red heads tended to be rather temperamental and most had a very quick trigger for their temper.

"Alright," Blanche said sitting down and tapping her finger on her knee nervously.

Brock took that as an invitation it was and headed into the bedroom in order to transform back and get dressed.

When he emerged in less then five minutes and sat back down Blanche looked at him. "I'm assuming that what you understood what you're brother and I were saying, so would you care to answer my question?" asked Blanche.

"Well…" Brock began rather nervously. "In some ways we are just like our real wolf counterparts, we live in packs with an overall Alpha, we take only one mate and one only because those that do not obey the laws are thrown out of the pack. Unlike a real wolfpack however, we have what is known as our True Mate. Now some werewolves never find their True Mate, and some marry someone they believe they love, have children by them, but a lot of times it ends in divorce or if it doesn't the wolves in question are not as happy as they would be with their True Mates."

"What precisely is a True Mate?" asked Blanche suspecting she already knew, but wanted to hear it confirmed.

"A True Mate is the same thing as a soulmate," Brock explained, "at least from the werewolf side."

"So…you're saying that all this time I was your soulmate and you never said anything," Blanche said anger in her tone.

"Well, I wanted to get to know you first, and allow you to get to know me," Brock explained running a hand through his hair nervously. "You never would have believed me, if I had just told you after only a few months of us knowing each other. You see the thing is that a werewolf that finds their True Mate only has one chance."

"What do you mean one chance?" asked Blanche, not liking the sound of that at all.

"He means, that if you reject him it will be a death sentence," Spencer told her rather bluntly when Brock didn't respond after a few minutes. "A werewolf's mate that rejects him, if it isn't fixed rather quickly, then they will take their own life."

"No! You can't be serious!" Blanche exclaimed looking genuinely horrified looking between Brock and his brother.

When Blanche looked at him again Brock nodded slowly, which told her that Spencer was telling her nothing, but the truth.

"This is in no way to make you feel guilty enough to stay and accept that you are Brock's mate, this is nothing but the naked truth," Spencer told her his worry for his brother visible in his golden brown eyes.

"But you could lose your brother," Blanche said in a horrified voice, "and Brock could lose his life."

"I know," Brock told her in a gentle understanding voice. "Believe me, I've had it drilled into my head ever since me and my brothers were old enough to understand that a True Mate is everything. A bond between True Mates cannot be forced in anyway or not only will it not take hold, it will destroy the werewolf that tried to force it. A bond must be accepted willingly and because that human loves the werewolf enough to accept them for everything they are. This is only necessary when one of the mates is human because if both are wolves they immediately understand and know that the bond means that they will be loved unconditionally and that one will never leave the other, because it would be impossible to do so. You do not leave your True Mate, or soulmate if you prefer because it would destroy the wolf in question if they did. If you do accept me, I promise, I will always love you in the good times and the bad. When I rescued you that day from those bullies that were tormenting you I knew then that you were my True Mate, even if I never expected to find you so early in my life as the gene that controls that part of you doesn't activate until a werewolf turns 16."

Brock shrugged as if to say that was just the way it was.

"Why didn't you tell me before now?" Blanche asked. "I mean we've been together nearly 2 years now and you should have told me at least after we'd been together a year."

Brock didn't answer and looked sheepish.

"He was afraid to," Spencer finally said when it was apparent that Brock didn't want answer. "I kept urging him to come clean with you, I told him that if he waited too long he would lose you forever. It's true that he needed a chance to get to know you first and you to know him, but he should've told you months ago. It's always incredibly hard to tell a human about werewolves, because of books and movies that portray us as monsters that just love to bite and kill, and can only change on the full moon. None of this is true for us, because even though our species are called werewolves we are more like shapeshifters as we can change anytime we like even when the moon isn't full, although not until we go through our first transformation at five years old."

"I would think it would be rather unusual to have a mate who is human," Blanche said dryly.

"It's not really," Spencer said with a shrug, "but for two people in the same family, especially when they're siblings then yes, it's unusual."

"Who else in your family has found their mate?" asked Blanche now assuming that Spencer was talking about somebody else in his family and the only other people she knew of were Brock's six brothers including Spencer himself.

"Me," Spencer told her.

"How come I've never met her?" asked Blanche in surprise.

"Because it's not a her," Spencer told Blanche calmly.

"You mean your mate that is the same-sex?" asked Blanche looking surprised, although not repulsed by this revelation, which relieved both Spencer and Brock quite a bit.

"Yes, and that happens sometimes," Spencer told Blanche. "The way that most werewolves are raised is we are taught that we can't get stuck on any one sex because our True Mate could be the exact opposite of what we expect. Now most of the time the sex of your True Mate, if you do find them, is exactly what you expect them to be, if you're a male then it's a female and if you're female then it is a male, but that does not always happen. This is one of the reasons we are taught that we can't just concentrate on any one sex and that we must look at our options. The other is, great tragedies have been known to happen in the past when one family forced their son or daughter to marry someone that they didn't really love and sometimes one of them finds their True Mate. Nowadays, even though arranged marriages are still quite common among our kind, if one of the couple does find their True Mate then they immediately divorce the one they are married to and the parents that got the couple to agree to an arranged marriage can't really say anything about it, for to deny the bond that exist between True Mates has led to not only both mates deaths, but sometimes the ones that forced him into the arranged marriage in the first place."

Blanche winced at that as from the way Spencer gave her the information in a calm, monotone voice she knew that he was speaking nothing but the absolute truth, because the way he was telling her sounded like it was something he had learned probably as a child and not something he made up just to impress her.

"Now in my case, I didn't have any family to object to my relationship or to try to arrange a marriage for me because our father, who was also a werewolf died when we were young and my mother is very sick in her mind and is residing in a institution back in Las Vegas where Brock and I are originally from," Spencer said.

"Mom is human by the way," Brock told Blanche with sad smile. "She wasn't really much of a mother to us, but me all my brothers don't blame her for she was sick in her mind and it only got worse after we were born."

"What does she have?" asked Blanche looking at the sad expressions on both boys faces. She could tell that their mother was still a very painful subject for both of them and probably for their other brothers as well.

"Schizophrenia," Spencer told her and went on to explain exactly what that was. "When I was really young she hadn't yet started develop it, but by the time she was pregnant with my brothers she was getting the first hints of it. When she learned that she was pregnant for a second time she went off her medication because it could have been detrimental to Brock and his brothers. When my brothers were born something seemed to break within her and she barely acknowledged that they existed at all and if it wasn't for Aunt Shannon there's no way they would have survived, since our father was utterly useless when it came to helping take care of his sons. He told me more than once that taking care of the children was a woman's job, and that he wasn't going to get involved forgetting that taking care of six small children all the same age was impossible for just one person and that our mother was sick. I helped out when I could and luckily, schoolwork was incredibly easy for me, so easy in fact that I skipped almost all the grades and went to college at 13."

"So will you or any of your brothers develop it? You said it hits people who are extremely intelligent," Blanche asked.

"While this is very true, I'm mostly sure that our werewolves genes protect us from it," Spencer said, "there is still a small chance of one of us getting it, but it is extremely unlikely. I'm almost at the age where it could start to develop, as it hits between 30 and 40 and I will be 30 in less then 4 years."

"So you never did say who you mate was?" asked Blanche. "Have I met him?"

"Yes, do you have, do you remember Aaron Hotchner?" asked Spencer.

"Oh, you mean that tall dark handsome man that I met at the cookout and several other times," Blanche said remembering. She remembered blushing whenever she saw him as she had thought that he was extremely handsome. She hadn't known that he was Spencer's mate for the two of them hadn't made it obvious by doing anything overtly intimate in her presence. They probably saved most of those intimate moments for when they were alone as they had both struck her as private people.

"Yes, that's Aaron, alright," Spencer admitted with love and affection in his voice. "Women still chase him and even though he tells them that he's not available they try to change his mind. In any case, Aaron's not human anymore as he requested to be turned into a werewolf about a year ago when I gave him the option."

"You can do that?" asked Blanche surprised.

"Yes," Brock answered now, "but you don't need to worry about that. If you want to stay as you are that's perfectly fine with me. There are quite a few humans in various packs around the world that didn't want to be changed and yet they're still considered part of the pack."

"Yes, as you know our mother was human and she chose to stay that way, even though she knew perfectly well what our father was," Spencer said.

"Have you lied to me about anything other than that?" asked Blanche.

"No," Brock said immediately, "and I didn't really lie just withheld a few facts."

"A lie of omission is still a lie," Blanche quoted looking at Brock sternly.

Brock hung his head in shame.

Blanche reached a decision and told Brock quite calmly, but with a little smile on her face, "You should have told me sooner, but I can't understand why you did not, as I admit it is extremely hard to believe even after your demonstration. However, I love you, and I have ever since you rescued me from those bullies."

"Does this mean that you're going to accept the bond that is between us?" asked Brock looking up at Blanche hopefully, with his puppy dog eyes out in full force.

"Yes, so you can stop with the puppy dog eyes," Blanche answered simply and a joyous grin spread across Brock's face. "However, I expect you to be completely honest with me from now on. No more keeping secrets."

"I won't," Brock promised her. "I should've told you much sooner what I was, and I shouldn't have been afraid to. There are a couple of other things that you need to know, but they can wait a little while as they are not super important at the moment. Besides, you need time to absorb what you've been told and there's no point of piling even more on you until you've had a few days to let the information you've been given sink in."

Blanche considered that then decided that Brock was right, so nodded.

Spencer relaxed now that he knew his brother wasn't going to be rejected, which would have been a death sentence as Brock had already informed him that he didn't intend to survive if Blanche rejected him even though it had happened in the past.

"I'll just be on my way then," Spencer told the pair. "You two need some alone time right now and I just got a text a few minutes ago about how the team got called on a case and I'm supposed to meet them in San Francisco ASAP. I only took a day of personal time to help Brock with his explanation, but now that that's out of the way you two don't need me anymore."

"You're leaving? So soon?" Blanche asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid I am," Spencer told Blanche with a smile giving her a kiss on the cheek. "However, you can contact me at anytime if you need advice or just to talk. You are a part of the family now, even if you and Brock won't be officially married until after you graduate."

"Spence!" Brock protested blushing. "You're getting ahead of yourself, we won't graduate for almost 3 years, so I don't think we need to worry about a wedding quite yet."

"It will be up on you sooner than you think," Spencer told his brother with a teasing smile. "In any case, I need to see if I can get a flight out today and if I can't get one until tomorrow I'll have to contact Aaron and tell him I'm stuck here for awhile."

"Don't you ever get a real break from your job?" asked Blanche. "Brock was telling me that you work a great deal."

"That's one of the disadvantages of working for the BAU," Spencer told her with a smile. "However, I love my job and getting to work with my mate is just icing on the cake. If Aaron and I didn't work together then I would say I work to much," Spencer shrugged. "Both Aaron and I are workaholics, which is one reason we work so well together and besides, I need something to keep my mind occupied as it doesn't do so well with to much idle time."

"An idle mind is the devil's playground?" Blanche suggested with a smile causing Spencer to laugh delightedly.

"Something like that," Reid told Blanche with a smile. "I suppose I'm just not one of those people that do well with to much free time. Part of that is I'm used to being busy since taking care of Brock and his brothers, going to school and doing homework barely left me time to breath. Nowadays, I just prefer to keep my mind busy."

"I can certainly understand that," Blanche said. "If you are used to not having very much free time when you are a kid, then I can see you being uncomfortable with having to much idle time as an adult."

"You got it," Reid told her cheerfully. As he had been talking Reid had been trying to get the airport and kept getting a busy signal, until finally he got through.

"Yes, this is Agent Spencer Reid of the FBI, badge number..." Reid reeled of a long string of numbers off the top of his head. "I need your earliest flight out to San Francisco."

"No, flights out until tomorrow?" asked Reid listening. "What about a red eye?"

Reid listened again. "You have a 3am flight? I'll be there." Reid gave the woman on the other end of the phone line his credit card number, then hung up.

"Well, it looks like you'll be getting very little sleep," Brock told his brother.

"It's nothing new," Spencer told the pair with a shrug. "Luckily, for me I'm used to operating on just a few hours sleep and I'm still young enough for it not too affect me unduly. That won't be true in a few years, once I get older, but for now it comes in handy. Luckily, I was smart enough that I brought my to go bag with me and it has everything I need."

"Always prepared?" Blanche suggested with smirk

"I was never Boy Scout, but that doesn't mean I can adopt their motto," Spencer smiled. "I'm sorry this visit has to be so short. We need to get together sometime soon and get to know each other better, since you are going to be part of the family in a few years."

Both Brock and Blanche blushed and Spencer noticed and thought it was cute and endearing.

"It was nice to have you here if only for a few hours," Blanche said giving Spencer a hug.

"It was my pleasure, I'm glad you accepted that our family is just a little different from normal ones," Spencer told her with a smile.

"What can I say except I like a little spice in my life as just being normal is plain boring," said Blanche with a straight face causing the two men to laugh.

"I'll see you sometime," Spencer promised. "I better get going, and get a few hours sleep since I have to be at the airport by 12."

"Bye, Spence, thank you for all your help," Brock told his brother gratefully.

"You're welcome," Spencer told him giving his brother a manly hug before heading for the front door of the couples apartment. "Goodbye."

"Bye," both Brock and Blanche said at the same time as Spencer disappeared out the door of their apartment.

~~~Spencer and Aaron~~~