"I'm coming with you."

The words didn't seem to compute any better the second time around. Spencer sat there and stared at his best friend and wondered how on earth he hadn't seen this coming. How had he not realized that Derek would try and do this? It was exactly something that he would do. To support Spencer, to keep him safe, of course he'd insist on coming with him. But there was absolutely no way in hell that Spencer was going to let that happen. When he finally found his voice again, all he could think to say was "Absolutely not. You're not coming with me."

"I am." Derek countered calmly. He sat back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. The relaxed posture and the lifted eyebrow all dared Spencer to argue with him. They said clear as a bell that Derek wasn't going to just give in on this.

"Morgan…" Aaron spoke up off to the side, his voice low and carrying a hint of warning.

Spencer cut Aaron off before he could get out any more, though. "You're not. Morgan, you can't."

"I'm pretty sure I can." Derek said, still just as calm as could be. He gentled it all with one of those smiles that only those close to him got to see, the ones full of affection. "I'm not letting you go through this alone, kiddo. I'm gonna be there for you, no matter what."

That was probably meant to be touching, and at a later time Spencer would appreciate it. He truly would. However, in that moment he was far too emotional to react calmly to just about anything. So instead of softening or thanking Derek for kind words, the first thing Spencer did was open his mouth and demand "Are you insane?" Then he threw his hands above his head in a gesture of frustration. "Oh, yes, as if I'm not already stressed and panicked enough about fighting against an evil that could destroy all of Creation – please, let's throw my best friend in the mix and see if we can really push me over the edge. Great plan, Morgan. Fantastic!"

"And it's such a better plan to just let you go off alone?" Derek shot back. He didn't look as relaxed now. His body had tensed a bit and his eyes flashed hot. "You think we'd do any better sitting back here at home waiting and wondering if you were okay, if you were even still alive?"

"At least I would know you're alive!" There was no way Spencer could just sit here anymore. He had to get up; had to move. He shoved himself up from his chair hard enough that the chair actually went flying back a few feet, starting everyone around him. None of that registered with Spencer. Furious and scared, he paced over to the wall, away from them all. Then he spun back around to glare at Derek. "How on earth do you expect me to go back and do all this if I have to worry the entire time that I'm going to get you killed? You have no idea what you're volunteering for here. You have no idea the world you're stepping into. Being a Hunter is dangerous enough, Morgan. Do you know why there are so few? Because so many of them die."

"I won't stand by and let you go off alone, Reid. Don't ask me to do that." Derek said. He pushed up to his feet as well, only he didn't pace. He just stood there proudly and met Spencer stare for stare. "If our positions were reversed, would you stay behind? Or would you be right there beside me?"

That was enough to take the words right out of Spencer's mouth. All of them knew the answer.

There was no way Spencer would ever stay behind if any of his friends were in danger. He wouldn't let them go off alone. Whether they liked it or not, he'd be there with them. Just as Derek was fighting to be with him now.

Spencer licked his lips and let his eyes close for just a moment. "You have no idea what you're signing up for."

"It wouldn't change it if I did." Derek said, his voice just as soft as Spencer's.

The room went quiet. There was going to be no arguing this, Spencer realized. Nothing he said was going to convince Derek to stay behind. But it wasn't just him that was involved in this. The decision to bring another federal agent out to join their team wasn't one that he could make alone. Too many other people were involved - some of whom would most likely want to do anything and everything possible to avoid coming under the notice of the FBI. They trusted Spencer because he was technically one of them. Trusting one of his friends might not come easy to them.

Spencer blew out a breath. His wings curled in, out of sight of everyone, and wrapped themselves protectively around him. For just that moment he blocked out everyone and tried to focus on himself. Tried to just breathe. He knew what he needed to do here. Staying here and hiding was fast becoming less of an option. One day. That's all I get? Just one day to freak out and be by myself? It wasn't fair!

Fair or not, though, it was all he was getting. He couldn't just hide out here when there was something big waiting for him. And he had to talk to the others if he wanted to be able to deal with this whole issue with Derek. They had to be told what was going on and allowed to make their choice.

When Spencer opened his eyes again, everyone was quietly watching him. He took a breath and drew his wings back behind him once more. His eyes went right to Derek. "There are more people involved in this than just me, Morgan, and a few of them have quite valid reasons for not really trusting the Bureau or anyone connected with it. I'll explain the situation to them and ask for permission for you to come along, but I make no promises. If they aren't comfortable with it, I won't force it. This is their life and, in a sense, their home. I will not put them at risk or bring in anyone that they don't want there."

To his credit, Derek nodded. "I can understand that."

Spencer smiled at him. "I knew you would." Then his smile faded and he chewed on the inside of his lip. No time like the present.

A snap of his fingers brought his cell phone into his hand. JJ was the only one to jump at that. When they looked at her, she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. That's going to take some getting used to."

"It's fine." Spencer smiled reassuringly.

For a second he stared at the phone and debated a few things. Mainly, who to call. In the end there was really only one person he could think of to call. Dialing the number, he hit send and then held the phone to his ear and waited. His friends were at least kind enough to go back to their coffee and pretend that they weren't sitting there listening to his every word. The illusion of privacy eased just a bit of Spencer's tension. He turned himself to face the nearby window and watched outside while the phone rang in his ear.

Three rings later and someone answered. "Hello?"

"Hey. It's...It's me."

"Doc." Dean's voice was low and easy as it came over the phone line. There was something else there as well that Spencer thought might've been relief. "It's good to hear from you, man. We've been wondering about you."

Spencer lifted a hand and rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry about that..."

"Don't apologize for it. No one blames you for freaking out a little. This is a crap situation."

That was one way of putting it. But Spencer had known that Dean would probably understand his motivations here. Sam was most likely the one that understood it best; like he'd said in his prayer, he knew what it was like to run. But right now Sam wasn't the one that Spencer needed to talk to. Sam, for all his good points, wasn't a leader.

Spencer knew that the brothers probably considered themselves a partnership. That if you asked them, they'd say that they did this whole hunting thing together, that they went through all of this together. Especially after all the crap that had happened when they'd tried to be apart. But Spencer was a profiler; he'd watched them, seen the way they interacted with one another, and seen how they dealt with trouble that came up. Yes, for the most part, they were a team. But every team had a leader and Spencer had no trouble seeing which of the two that was. It showed not only in their interactions but also in the interactions that they had with their entire group. The addition of the archangels to their little gang had changed some things around - not everything, though. Michael may have thought that he was the leader of this team. Spencer knew better. He knew if he was going to have to convince anyone to allow Derek in, it would be this man on the phone.

"Is everything all right, Doc?" Dean asked.

Startling, Spencer realized that he'd been quiet too long. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I just, ah, well... I need to talk with you about something. Without everyone else there."

Even through the phone Spencer swore he could feel Dean sitting up at attention. "You got it. You need Cas to fly me there?"

"I'm not sure if you'd want to do that." Spencer chewed on his lip and leaned his shoulder against the wall. How was the best way to do this? "Are you alone right now?"

The phone line went quiet for a moment. Then Spencer could faintly make out the sounds of movement. A door opened and then closed and then there was the sound of wind. "There, I'm outside. Sammy's sleeping upstairs and the Archs flew off earlier to go deal with the Heavenly end of the apocalypse. The only angels here are Cas and Anna an I doubt they'll listen in."

Spencer didn't have any worries about them. "They're fine. I'm not worried about them."

"All right. Well, what's up, Doc?"

Hearing the low chuckle and soft snort that came after saying that had Spencer shaking his head. He hadn't gotten that joke the first time Dean had said it; it'd taken Sam explaining it to him for him to understand. "Your sense of humor leaves something to be desired."

"Shut up, you love my sense of humor."

"Keep telling yourself that." Still, Spencer was smiling, and he had a feeling that had been Dean's intention.

He could hear in Dean's voice that he was smiling as well. "Bite me, scrawny. Did you call just to pick on me or was there something actually important going on?"

"I told my friends." The words were just sort of blurted out. Spencer flushed at how quickly he'd said them – at how he felt sort of like a child confessing something that might or might not be a bad thing.

What he didn't expect was to hear Dean snort again before saying "Not a real big surprise. I had a feeling you'd go to them."

"You did?"

"Well, yeah. Where else were you going to go?"

Spencer furrowed his brow. "But... no one came here."

"I don't know if the others thought of it or not, or if maybe they just decided to give you your privacy. You'll have to ask them."

"That's just, I mean... wow. Thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome." Dean said easily. "Now, you said you told your friends. I'm guessing you told them everything?"

Sneaking a look over at his friends, who were still pretending to not look at him, Spencer blew out a breath. "Everything they needed to know. Some information... isn't mine to give out."

He knew Dean would understand what he meant by that.

Sure enough, when Dean's voice came back on the line, there was an extra gruffness to it that Spencer knew signified his appreciation. "So, ah, what was it you needed? Backup? Help explaining things? What?"

"No. I explained it all fine. It's just... one of my teammates, well, ah, he doesn't exactly want to stay behind."

"He wants to join us?"

The shock in Dean's tone perfectly echoed the shock that Spencer felt. "Yeah."

"Doc, that's..." Dean let out a low whistle. "Another fed on the team? It's one thing having you here. You're, y'know, you. But you wanna bring another one to the gang? Did he even know anything about the supernatural before today?"

"No."

"Shit. So not just a fed that wants to play Hunter, but a rookie, too?"

There was really nothing Spencer could say to that. He found himself kind of torn. He didn't want to argue to bring Derek with him – he wanted his friend safe. But at the same time he couldn't bring himself to argue to leave him behind either. The words just wouldn't come. All Spencer could really bring himself to do was stand there and stare out the window and wait for whatever it was his fiend had to say. Lifting a hand, Spencer ran his thumb over the windowsill, taking a step closer so that he was better able to stand there and play with the little bit of wood that seemed loose.

Dean sighed heavily in his ear. "You don't bring the easy shit, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Dean." There didn't really seem to be anything else to say to that.

"Yeah, well." Dean huffed out a breath and Spencer knew he'd be shaking his head. Then he went on and surprised Spencer yet again. "I'm not making any decisions until we meet with them."

Wait a second, what? Spencer froze with his finger hovering over the bit of wood he'd been scratching at. Wide eyes stared unseeing out the window. "What? You want to meet with them?"

"How the hell else am I gonna figure out if I trust em enough to bring any of em here, Doc? Not to say that I don't trust you or your word..."

"No, no!" Spencer interjected quickly. "No, it's fine. It's perfectly fine. I completely understand! It's more than I expected, really."

"So you're cool with it?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Good. I'll wake Sammy up and we'll have Cas or Anna fly us... where are you exactly?"

Dropping his head to rest against the side of the window, Spencer let out a low laugh. "If you hand the phone over to Castiel, I can tell him where I am. You might as well bring both he and Anna with you."

By the time Spencer hung up the phone he was once more shaking his head. When he'd gotten up this morning he hadn't planned on anything like this happening. He hadn't figured that his day would go like this. Yet here he was, about to bring together the two separate parts of his life. He turned once more to look at his friends, who were watching silently, and Spencer wondered what exactly would be left at the end of this. How much was he going to lose today? Or, how much might he gain?

Preparing for Dean's arrival required a few things. As it stood there were chairs enough for the BAU team to sit and talk. But there wasn't enough set up for everyone. Luckily, when Spencer asked, Derek let him know that there was a formal dining room in here, and that made it all a lot easier. Spencer snapped up a large table for them all to sit down at and plenty of chairs for them all. He flushed a little under the awed stares it got him. He had to remind himself repeatedly that his friends weren't used to this part of him yet. They weren't used to what he really was or what he could do. Seeing him do things so casually was bound to stun them.

It kind of brought home a few things for Spencer that he didn't want to really think about. How different he was and how much his life had changed – and how clear it was that he wasn't going to ever be able to go back to his old life. How could he? Things were too different now. He was too different now. There was no place for him at the BAU any longer. Even if this big war wasn't coming their way, Spencer still wouldn't be able to come home. Not anymore.

He'd just gotten everything together and al his friends seated, as well as fresh coffee for them, when he felt the presence of angels arriving outside. Spencer had modified the wards around the home in preparation for this. It left him feeling sort of exposed to take them down.

There came a knock at the front door that Spencer left his friends to go answer. His time for hiding was over.

Dean, Sam, Castiel and Anna were all waiting on the other side of the door. Spencer had to admit that it did his heart some good to see the cheerful way all of them greeted him. Even Dean, who looked kind of like a soldier getting ready to go to battle, gave him a small smile when he opened the door.

The younger Winchester didn't hide his smile at all. When Spencer gestured them inside, Sam went right up to him and pulled him into a hug that Spencer couldn't help but return. "I'm glad you're okay." Sam murmured to him.

Awkward though he felt, Spencer hugged him in return. "Thank you." Pulling back, he looked at the four of them. "Thank you all for coming. I... I appreciate this, more than words can say."

"Where is everyone?" Dean asked, getting right to the point as usual.

With one hand Spencer gestured towards the direction of the dining room. "They're all in there waiting. They... I told them about everything, about all of you, but I didn't tell them names. They have no idea who you all actually are. But they're willing to listen to whatever you want to tell them."

"You trust them?"

Dean's question had Spencer nodding. "I do."

The hunter nodded his head. "All right. Then we should probably get this started."

Oh, man. Spencer really wasn't looking forward to this. He hated conflict and it was almost a guarantee that there was going to be some. It was just inevitable. Especially considering the strong personalities that were being brought together in one room.

Both Anna and Castiel reached out their wings towards Spencer. In greeting, in response to whatever they were feeling from him, he wasn't sure which. But he accepted the touches gratefully. "We are with you, brother." Anna told him. At her side, Castiel nodded.

Those words relaxed him far more than they once would have. They'd come a long way, this group. They'd gone through so much together already and there was so much more waiting in their future. Whatever came, though, Spencer knew that he had them. Anna, who had pledged her loyalty – and sometimes Spencer worried, because he got this strange feeling that it wasn't just loyalty but fealty, something that he was beyond uncomfortable thinking about let alone accepting. And then Castiel, the brother who he had started on such rocky terms with, and who he had gradually built something with since then. What they had wasn't perfect but it was good. It was strong. They'd worked beyond the troubles they'd started with and now Spencer knew, without a doubt, that the seraph would be beside him. He wasn't a threat to Spencer. He was... he was family.

"Go easy on them." Spencer warned them. "They're still, new to this. None of them knew anything. So far they're taking it all well but I don't really feel like pushing that any further than I have to. So please, just..."

When he trailed off, Sam reached up to clasp his shoulder in a sign of support. "We'll be careful, Spencer."

That was all he could ask for. With one last nod, Spencer turned and led them all to the dining room. It was time for the two parts of his life to finally meet one another.

The dining room that had seemed so large before felt smaller now as Spencer brought everyone inside. He walked in and moved to stand at the end of the table closest to him, taking the head without any real thought. It left him with a Winchester moving to either side of him, and an angel with each Winchester. No real surprise that Castiel chose to be with Dean. Anna brushed her wing against Spencer's as she moved to Sam's side, and inside of his mind he heard her soft voice telling him I will stand by your al'alihm.

At the other end of the table Aaron had taken the head chair. To his left sat Dave, Penelope and Derek. To his right, Emily and JJ. All of them were watching the group that came inside.

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, Spencer put his hands on the back of the chair in front of him. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my team." Spencer gestured with one hand, pointing each person out as he went. "Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Penelope Garcia, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and Jennifer Jareau."

"Hey." Sam said, waving at them.

Dean, however, smirked in a way that sort of reminded Spencer of Gabriel. "We've heard a lot about you guys." Without any sign of hesitation or worry, Dean dropped his bombshell on them almost immediately. "I'm Dean Winchester and that's my brother, Sam. These are our angels, Castiel and Anna. It's good to finally meet you guys."

There was a long moment of silence that was broken by Derek, who gaped at them as he blurted out "Winchester? You're the Winchesters?"

"Subtle, Dean." Sam murmured, giving his brother a look that Spencer had heard described as his 'bitch face'.

Dean shrugged. "Best to get it out of the way, right?" He looked back at the BAU team while he dropped down into his chair. "I know you guys have probably heard of us. We were pretty wanted for a while there."

There was a reason that these profilers were considered the best. It took them only seconds to make the leap that Spencer had known they would. "All of the things written about you, the delusions they say you suffer from – those aren't delusions at all." Dave said. He didn't shout, didn't give any indication that this thing was strange or that he was uncomfortable at all. He was just looking at them with something like understanding on his face. "It makes a lot more sense now. Your profiles always seemed a little off to me."

"Most Hunters manage to stay under the radar." Spencer said. He drew the attention back towards himself as he sat down as well, gesturing to the others to do the same. Folding his arms on the table, he leaned forward on them, watching his team. "These two were just unlucky enough to have attention drawn their way. But they aren't crazy and they aren't the murderers that they're accused of being. They're just, Hunters. Some of the best, actually." Unable to help himself, Spencer shot a look at Derek and added on "Maybe you'll listen to them about how dangerous this is going to be."

"I told you, kid. I don't care about how dangerous this is." Derek said firmly.

"You should." Sam said. He wasn't the brother that Spencer had expected to speak up, but Dean stayed quiet and let Sam take the lead. The younger Winchester looked down at Derek and fixed him with a serious stare. "You should care a lot. I know you see danger working at your job but I can tell you it's nothing on what you'll face in the hunting life. Not just you, either, but your family as well. Demons aren't afraid to go after those you care about to take you down. If you have any family at all, going with us will put them at risk. Are you prepared for that?"

Derek flinched at Sam's blunt words. They didn't deter him, though. "They've lived with that risk since my first day in law enforcement. Humans might not be the same as the monsters you hunt, but they're dangerous too, and my family's always known that one of the monsters we hunt could decide to try and come after them to get to me." He turned his head and looked at Spencer as he said his next words, directing them to him. "I know that I can't even begin to understand all the risks that are being taken here, kid, but I also know that they aren't going to matter. No matter what you have them throw my way, I'm not going to back down. You're my family just as much as either one of my sisters. If you think for one minute that your friends here are gonna scare me away from trying to stand with you, you've got another thing coming." One corner of his mouth quirked up. "You know me better than that, Reid."

"I want you safe, Morgan." Spencer said softly. "I want all of you safe." His eyes ran over the rest of his team, who had stayed so quiet since Derek had first insisted on coming with him. "Until I met the angels, you guys were the only family that I had. I don't want to put any of you at risk." He had to close his eyes for a minute and draw in a breath to steady himself.

"You should be very sure of your course before you agree to this." Anna said suddenly.

"Anna is right." Castiel said, his deep voice making a few of the profilers jump in surprise. "This is not the same as aspiring to be a hunter. We are going to war and we have very little information about the evil we are going to fight. Many lives are going to be lost despite our best attempts. Even if we win, there will be casualties. Are you prepared for that?"

Derek didn't even flinch. His eyes ran over Spencer and then the look in them firmed before they turned to Castiel. "I am."

What happened next stunned Spencer more than anything else had so far. He'd expected this meeting to go so differently than it was. He'd expected shouting or shock or arguing. What he hadn't expected was this calm discussion, or Dean's response to it. The last one more than anything else had Spencer's mouth actually dropping open in surprise. Because never once could he have predicted that Dean would nod his head and say "Then welcome to the team. From the sounds of it, we can use all the help we can get."

Spencer couldn't help it. He stared at Dean and blurted out "What?"

The older hunter turned a fond smile Spencer's way. "He's protecting his family, Doc." Dean said. Shrugging, his eyes flicked over to Sam and then back to Spencer. "I can respect that."

And just like that, their numbers grew by one more.