It took longer than Spencer had expected to get through his story. When all of it was said and done, every detail that he felt comfortable sharing – right up to his unexpected arrival at Derek's house – he felt sort of hollowed out. Like someone had come along and scooped out his insides. He felt, empty. These past few days had taken their toll on him and he'd finally reached his limits. Famine, Zachariah, Lucifer, the prophecy, it was just too much. He'd finally reached too much. His whole body sagged in his chair and was screaming for the rest that he'd slowly been needing less and less.

This wasn't a physical exhaustion, though. This was an exhaustion of his mind, his soul, and his grace.

The others saw it. How could they not? JJ was the one to do something about it, though, and that was really no surprise. She held up a hand to stop the questions that Spencer could see had been building on the lips of everyone else. "I think that's enough for now." She told them all. When Derek tried to speak anyways, she cut him a sharp look. "Enough, Morgan. Look at him. He needs sleep."

"JJ's right, sweetie." Pushing up from her chair, Penelope made her way over to Spencer without any of the hesitation he'd expected to see on her. On everyone, really. Her expression was kind and just a bit worried when she reached out and smoothed his hair back from his face. "You need some sleep. You've had some rough days it's been a long night."

Spencer was startled to realize that it was night now. Between the time differences from where he'd been and here, as well as how long it'd taken to properly tell his story, night had fallen.

Sleep sounded wonderful. If the nightmares would stay at bay, it was exactly what he needed. But first, he lifted his hand and snapped, ignoring way that drained him just a little more. On the coffee table appeared a tray with a full coffee carafe, a few cups, and another tray with sandwiches. They were all no doubt hungry and he figured the coffee would help them stay awake while they talked about him and what they'd just learned, as he knew they would. "Help yourselves." He told them tiredly, bracing his arms to try and push up out of the chair. It was kind of embarrassing that Penelope had to help him a little. JJ moved forward to do the same, taking the arm opposite Penelope. Any other time and Spencer might've protested it. Right then, he just couldn't. He couldn't even bring himself to care.

He felt sort of like a zombie as the girls led him out of the living room and back to what looked like a spare room. He'd heard Derek murmuring to them; he must've been directing them in here. There was a bed waiting and it actually had blankets on it. Spencer knew that sometimes Derek set up a bed for the nights he got too tired while doing his renovations. The girls led him over to it and he found himself being laid down and tucked in by their gentle hands. It was a balm against the aching parts inside.

Even after they were gone, though, he didn't fall right to sleep. For a while he just laid there under the covers and stared at the wall. He didn't try to pay attention to the low hum of voices out in the main room. Let them talk about him. Let them figure it all out. He didn't care. He just… he was so damn tired. How was he supposed to deal with all this? How was he supposed to cope?

Though he wanted nothing more than to be in here alone, as he wrapped his wings around himself there was a part of him that he couldn't deny that wished desperately it was a different pair of wings wrapping around him. Like a child, he wanted Gabriel here with him. Wanted the archangel who had become like a father to him to gather him up and hold him safe and tell him that it was all going to be all right. He wanted Gabriel there like he wanted air to breathe. Closing his eyes, he pictured one of the many nights that he'd laid there in bed. How Gabriel would sit against the headboard, his legs stretched out in front of him and Spencer right up against his hips. How one of his wings would curl around Spencer and the other would lightly stroke over Spencer's wings. The sound of his voice as it would weave the story of Rand Al'Thor and Lews Therin around him while one of his hands came down to stroke soothingly through Spencer's hair. Childish though it may seem to others, Spencer had come to love being put to sleep by the sound of Gabriel's voice as he read. They'd already made it through most all of book one and Spencer enjoyed the story almost as much as he enjoyed the whole scene itself.

Gabriel was probably so worried right now and Spencer hated that. He hated worrying him, especially after how upset he'd been while Spencer was with Zachariah.

Something deep inside of Spencer's grace gave a soft little…tingle. He wasn't quite sure what else to label it. Some strange sensation that drew his attention down and inwards. As soon as he focused on it, he let out a soft gasp as a voice filled his head. A voice that was extremely familiar.

"I don't know if you're getting this. I have no idea if you can hear this or not." Sam's voice echoed along Spencer's grace in a way that the fledgling hadn't even known was possible. Eyes shut, he focused on it, letting it fill him. "Gabe said it was worth a try, though. He said you're enough angel that you can tap into angel radio, so you must be enough angel to hear a prayer directed your way. So I, uh, I figured it was worth a try."

Prayer? He was hearing Sam's prayer? That seemed so, intimate, in so many ways.

"Everyone here is worried about you." Sam prayed. "Well, I'm sure you know that. I'm sure you know how much we all care about you. I'm not here to lecture you on vanishing or anything like that. That's not why I'm doing this. I just… I guess I wanted you to know that I kind of understand what you're going through. Hell, if there's anyone out there who understands what it's like to have this great destiny shoved on them, it'd be Dean and I. And I know just how much it sucks and how terrifying it can be. To have people tell you that you're destined to do this, that your life is all mapped out for this one purpose – it's one of the most terrifying things in the world. I understand completely why you ran even if no one else does. I've been there. I know how scary this all is."

It was. It truly was. Spencer was beyond terrified by it. To think that his apparent purpose for even being born was to come along and fulfill some great prophecy scared him down to the very marrow of his being.

"I wish there was some way I could make this easier for you. I can tell you that it gets easier. I mean, it does. Your destiny may be written but I think Dean and I have proved that you don't have to follow it. We were destined to be vessels and look how well that turned out, right? But… I bet that's not much comfort right now. I know there's not a whole lot I can say right now that would be a comfort. Anyways, I'm sure you'll get enough of those speeches when you come back."

He sounded so sure of that last part. like, to him, it was a foregone conclusion that Spencer would be coming back.

The fledgling focused a little closer as Sam's prayer continued to come in.

"What I really wanted to say here is that, um, just… I don't know. I guess I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. That there are people here who care about you and who understand. People who will be here for you. You've become more than just a friend to us, Spencer. You've become like family. And family supports one another no matter what. So it doesn't matter to us that you've got some great destiny or that you're supposed to fight this big bad. Dean and I, we're kind of getting used to these apocalyptic messes. It's not gonna scare us away. No matter what anyone says, no matter what happens, I just want you to know that we care about you, and that we'll be waiting for you when you come back. You've always got a place with us to come back to, all right? Don't think this changes that. So you… you take care of yourself, all right? Be safe until you come back. Your family will be waiting. Amen."

Curled up tight in a ball in his blankets, feeling just slightly less alone than he had moments before, Spencer didn't fight back the tears that slipped from his eyes.

The house seemed so quiet now. Derek sat back in the chair that Spencer had conjured up earlier and sipped absently at the cup of coffee that their friend had also snapped up. His mind was racing with everything that Spencer had said, everything he'd told them. It was all so – he wasn't quite sure what. There didn't seem to be a word to describe what it was that he was feeling. In one evening everything there Derek had thought he'd known about Spencer, about the whole damn world, seemed to have gone right out the window.

Hell, he was sitting on something that hadn't existed until Spencer had snapped his fingers and was drinking a cup of coffee that had also appeared out of thin air!

"This is insane." Emily's voice interrupted Derek's slightly disjointed thoughts. He blinked his eyes clear and focused over on his friend, watching as she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. Emily's usually calm expression was gone and she had the look of someone who'd just been told their entire life was a lie. Which, in a way, she had. "I feel like I just stepped into the twilight zone."

"We can't deny it." JJ pointed out.

Emily lifted a hand and waved it in JJ's direction. "No, I know. I'm not. It's just..."

"It's a lot to take in." Dave finished for her. Out of them all, he still looked the calmest.

Derek wasn't the only one to notice that. All their eyes had turned towards Dave now and Aaron was actually the one to voice what all of them were thinking. "How is it that you're so calm, Dave? You didn't even know Reid before. Out of us all, it would've made sense for you to discount him immediately. You don't have the history of trust with him that we do."

Amusement curved Dave's lips. "It's kind of hard to deny anything when you're sitting in a chair that the kid brought into existence with just a snap of his fingers."

"Yeah, but you didn't even, like, freak out." Penelope said. She looked calmer, but it didn't escape Derek's notice how her eyes kept glancing back towards the direction that they'd taken Spencer earlier, or how she held herself in just a little tighter than normal. He'd bet that she was freaking out a lot more on the inside than she was showing on the outside. When had she gotten so good at hiding that? From the others he expected it. Profilers couldn't study body language without learning how to manipulate their own. But Penelope was their technical analyst. She'd always stayed pretty well away from the profiling tricks the others had picked up.

Shrugging, Dave sat forward and casually started to prepare himself a cup of coffee. So far, Derek had been the only one to take one. He wondered if maybe the others didn't quite trust it. Dave, however, just prepared himself a cup like it was nothing. Like it was any other day. "I don't see the point in 'freaking out'. What good does that do us? The kid looks like he's freaked out enough for all of us. Besides, like I told him, I've seen some things in my years with the Bureau. It's not that hard to make this kind of leap for me. Especially the idea that angels are actually real. I've always believed in them anyways."

"Yeah, but...angels using humans as vessels, possessing them." Emily made a choked sound, some sort of strangled protest. "That's like nothing I've ever heard of."

"I still can't believe Spence is an angel." JJ said softly.

That brought quiet back over the room once more. Because, all the other stuff aside, this was a big one.

Spencer, their awkward little doctor, was an angel. Well, mostly an angel. It was just so... so... Derek had no idea. This was another thing he didn't have a word for. How was he supposed to find words for a situation like this? There was nothing that seemed to describe it.

"Sitting here speculating over it isn't going to change the facts." Aaron finally said after the room had been quiet for a while. His voice was steady, that leader's voice that they'd all learned to listen to and sort of rely on to keep them all together, keep them grounded. The man was sitting up a little straighter in his seat and he was taking control of the situation the way that he always did. The way they needed him to. "We can debate and argue the facts all we want to but it doesn't change them. What we can do, what we can deal with, is helping Reid through this. Because all of us here – with the exception of Dave – know Reid. Finding out his heritage doesn't change who he is for us. He's still the same kid. And that kid right now is beyond terrified. We need to figure out what it is we can do for him before he wakes up and decides that maybe he should run from us, too, just to keep us safe. If angels can't find him, we stand no chance if he decides to run."

That sobered them all up quick enough.

"What can we do for him?" Emily asked. "This… it's bigger than anything we've ever gone up against."

Derek's eyes shot up and a bit of temper burned away some of the numbness. "You think we should just sit back and let him go? Let him run off fighting with angels and demons and who knows what else and just, what? Sit back here and do nothing?"

"We have no idea about the world he's living in! I want to help him, Morgan, not get him killed by trying to do something I'm not equipped to do!" Emily shot back.

Temper filled Derek and he sat up straighter. What was she suggesting? That they just send Spencer off because they weren't equipped for this fight? They'd never abandoned their friends before if they could help in any way. Why on earth would they start now? This was Spencer they were talking about! Their scrawny little geek who had never once hesitated to help any of them when they were in need. So what if they weren't equipped to handle this kind of threat? If their roles were reversed, Spencer would be the first to step up and offer his help. How could they do any less?

It was Dave who spoke up next, cutting off the impending argument. "Emily's right." He held up a hand when both Derek and JJ made as if to protest. "Calm down. She's right – but so are you guys. Patching him up and sending him on doesn't seem the right road, either. There's got to be some kind of middle ground. I know all of you care about him. He's not just your friend – he's your family. I can respect that. I'm sure if we put our heads together we can figure out something."

The only question was, what?

What could they, a group of humans – humans who had no idea bout this lifestyle – do to help their part-angel friend in a war they were so utterly ill-equipped to handle? Derek hated that he didn't have an answer to that. He hated it as silence fell over the room, each one of them trying to figure something out, and each one of them coming up with nothing. What were they going to do?