Okay, after the previous chapters I desperately needed something happy, so I thought of this. However, it will need a little bit of explaining to anyone who hasn't read "The Formation of Planets". This is a little missing scene from that story (which isn't yet finished, sorry!), that I included here because I want to keep that story mostly about Reid and Rossi. TFOP is an AU where Reid and Rossi find out they're father and son, which yes, is a soap-opera plot extraordinaire, but fun anyway. However, what you will need to know for this story (beyond the obvious AU nature of it), is a) Reid has left the team, and b) he moved to Asia and on the way met Linda Kimura again and is now in a relationship with her. Also, I've made the character of Linda younger than the actress herself, for reasons which will become apparent in the story.
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Pluto
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"I'm just saying," Reid commented, tugging apart the knot of his tie, "that it's not the way I'd want to find out."
Linda, removing her earrings and putting them in a box on top of the dresser, completely agreed with him, but still asked him why.
Reid dropped down wearily to sit on the bed and pondered the question for a moment. "I don't know. I suppose, first off, because it diminishes the role of the father somehow. Look at tonight - your friend's husband was essentially regulated to just another person in the room. Finding out at the same time as four dozen other people - as if he had no more importance in the equation than any one of them - or even later. I mean, I'd never met Rob in my life before tonight, but I found out he was going to be a father before he did! How's he going to feel about that once he figures it out?"
"Well Amy is more an acquaintance than a friend," Linda said a bit ruefully, flopping down lightly to lay on the bed. She tugged gently at Spencer's sleeve to pull him down beside her. "Ugh. I'm exhausted. Let's just sleep in our clothes."
"That's even worse. We barely know these people and yet we were witness to one of the most profound moments of their lives. And it's too warm to sleep in our clothes."
"That's because you're a man and men get to wear shirts, vests, and jackets. I'm freezing and will be perfectly comfortable under the covers in this," Linda pointed out, smacking him playfully on the arm. "But as for tonight's big revelation, don't you feel even a little bit honoured to be included in that profound moment?"
"Not particularly," Reid replied, getting up again to remove the rest of his suit. "Call me old school," he said, as Linda came up to him and turned so that he could unzip her dress, "but I think planning a party around the announcement would actually take something away from the moment rather than otherwise."
"What if the guest list was limited to people much closer to the expecting couple?"
"Maybe. But again, they weren't presenting the news as a couple, were they? Amy hogged the entire moment as if the news were hers alone to share."
"That really bothered you, didn't it?" Linda asked, turning around to examine him more closely.
Reid sighed. "I get that she'll play the biggest role in the whole thing, but they're supposedly bringing a child into the world together. Am I crazy to therefore think they should have made the announcement together? At the very least, Amy completely stole Rob's chance of being the one to tell his family. Maybe I'm selfish, but if I were about to be a father, I'd want to be at least in on telling Dave and my mother."
A small and dreamy small graced his face, a smile that gave Linda pause. "Honestly, in fact," he told her shyly, "that's something I'm really looking forward to."
"So, are those the only reasons you wouldn't want to be surprised with the news at a party?"
Reid shrugged. "The main ones, I suppose. I'd also hate the whole idea of being forced to display my first reactions in front of entire crowd, no matter how close to me they were, but that's just my personality. What if I react badly? Or not enough? Emotions come out in strange ways after all. Or I could simply be tired, or in a rotten mood, or maybe just feeling less than confident, who knows? But now I've got a bunch of people around me, staring at me, and judging me on the quality of my reaction."
"Rob seemed happy enough."
"Not if someone was looking at his micro-expressions."
"Oh no!"
"Don't worry, I think he was freaked out more than unhappy, but that's another point. Amy apparently had close to a month to adjust to the news privately. It seems a little unfair to Rob that he wasn't given the same courtesy."
Linda sighed and, now in her negligee, turned down the covers of the bed and lay back down. "All in all, I have to say that I completely agree with you."
"You do?" Reid asked, getting into bed and snuggling up close to her.
"I've always been a little iffy on the whole surprise birth announcement thing, but I put it down to my age."
"Of course, because you're obviously decrepit."
"Jackass," Linda laughed and smacked him on the arm again. "No, I just mean... I don't know. I guess it's because I went through adolescence before smartphones and Youtube and Facebook and the hundred other kinds of social media out there. Frankly, I just don't get the appeal of sharing every single moment with half the world. And I think that translates to Amy's party tonight. Everything has to be an event, to be dressed up somehow. Everything an announcement to an adoring crowd, whether that crowd is right there or on the net." Linda placed an arm on Spencer's chest and rested her chin on her hand to look at him. "Maybe it's me. I mean, I understand that people are different and for most people the first impulse is a genuine desire to share the happy news immediately, that it's joy and not vanity that makes them want to burst out in a big explosion of celebration, but for me, a big party like that would lessen the moment. Everyone talks about 'making it special' as if the news was momentous enough. Dressing it up suggests that it's something that needs to be dressed up. Not to mention, well, I've always been one to believe that privacy enhances intimacy. As much as I love our families, is it weird to think that some memories should be for us and us alone?"
Spencer brushed a lock of hair away from Linda's eyes. "Secret joys for the two of us to share for all the years to come," he agreed.
"So how would you like to find out?" Linda asked.
Reid squeezed her tighter and she lay her head in the crook of his shoulder. "Ideally? Sitting on the bed with my arms wrapped around you while we each stared at the test, waiting for it to change, experiencing all the nervousness and eager anticipation together."
Linda tilted her head back to kiss him. "I'll remember that."
-x-
Some hours later, in the deepest part of the night, Spencer woke up abruptly. No nightmare or noise to explain it, simply one moment his eyes were closed and the next they were open. Moonlight was streaming through the window and he could see that Linda remained curled up against him in the same position they fell asleep in, but still he could tell that she was wide awake.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly.
"How come we never had this conversation before?"
"You mean about how I want to find out I'm going to become a father? I assume because your friend's party was the first time we attended such a thing together."
She chuckled, but he could hear the worry behind it. "I'm sorry. I wasn't being terribly clear, was I? I mean about children in general."
"I guess I didn't know if you wanted to talk about it yet."
She sat up, and though her voice sounded calm, he could tell from her posture and the way she looked away from him that something was bothering her. "I suppose I never really considered until tonight how much you wanted children," she began.
A cold thread laced its way through his stomach. "And you don't?"
"Truthfully, I've never really considered it since Stephen died. We had planned on it, but then he was gone so quick, and afterwards I tried to convince myself that it was okay. That it made things less complicated, less painful, that there hadn't been..." Spencer saw her shiver. "Now I'm worried that I succeeded too well."
"So you don't want kids?"
"I don't know. I'm very confused right now. But what if I didn't?"
Reid pulled himself up and leaned against the headboard. "It would be lying to say I wouldn't be disappointed. But... this is going to sound weird... you're the prize here, Lin. I want children, but I want to be with you more. I'm not with you because I'm feeling broody and you've got the requisite anatomy to give me what I want, or because I've got some dream of domesticity with soccer games and a house with a white picket fence and you're the first woman I've met who might be willing to give it a go with me."
"But - "
"No." He moved to where she had to look at him. "You, Linda Kimura, sitting right here next to me in bed, just like this, fifty even sixty years from now - that's what I want. More than anything. Even more than kids. That's my dream. I know disagreement in this matter could possibly cause problems later, but as far as I'm concerned, there is no way it's enough to make me give up on this. If it's between having you and having a family with some woman I love less, that's no trade-off. You win every time."
"What if it turns out you love her more?"
"What if I don't?"
"Spencer..."
"Linda, look, because of my mother's schizophrenia, I've spent almost my entire life with a huge 'what if' hanging over my head. Every day I tried to come to terms with the fact that there are some things we just can't know in advance, so I know it's hard, but we can only go on with what we know now, and I know that I love you. I know beyond all doubt that I want a life with you. Maybe we're not ready to be married yet, but for me, that's the direction I want to be headed in."
Linda rubbed a thumb along the top of Spencer's hand. "Maybe waiting isn't the best course."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not exactly a spring chicken, Spencer. A woman's chances of conception fall off dramatically after age thirty-five, and I'll be forty-one in a few months."
"Is that what this is really all about?"
"Some of it."
He leaned forward, kissing her tenderly on the temple. "Lin, I've spent most of my life believing that the best way for me to have a child would be through adoption. Ironically, I didn't even consider otherwise until I found out that I was adopted. Either way, it means I'm more than fine with the idea. In fact, after seeing so many foster kids and kids in terrible homes during my time with the BAU, it might be an option to consider no matter if we can conceive a child or not. But one thing I'm not going to consider is rushing to have kids just because there's a clock hanging over our heads. Having a child is something we should never regret for even the slightest reason. Not if we can help it, anyway."
Linda reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand. After a long, lingering kiss, she whispered in his ear, "Whoever was it who told you that you weren't good with emotions? They must have been idiots."
Reid smiled and the two came together for something more enjoyable than sleep.
-x-
Seven months later...
They sat on the bed together, Linda nestled tight against him. They were both biting their lips as they stared at the object in her hand.
"Well." It was all he could say.
"Well," she repeated.
"Well," he said again, practically vibrating with happiness.
Small giggles began to bubble out of both of them. Spencer reached out so that their hands, touching, both held the test. He felt giddy, like he was drunk on champagne or his head was going to float away, but it was with a growing awe as well that he breathed out, "The three of us. We're the three of us now." He spared a brief second to think about how heartily glad he was there was no one else there with them; other people, no matter how loving, would only have distracted him from the indescribable mix of solemnity and wild happiness that was filling every inch of him. The very next second he pictured how wonderful it was going to be for he and Linda to be sitting side by side as they told Dave over Skype.
"The three of us," Linda whispered back, sounding completely amazed. Then, like a sudden cloudburst, she erupted in a storm of joyful tears and exuberant laughter.
Like kids themselves, they didn't know what to do with their excitement. Jumping up, Spencer spun Linda around and they laughed louder and louder, sounding like complete loons.
Reid stopped abruptly and grinned.
"What is it?" Linda asked.
"You know that story I told you about what I said to Dave when I first agreed to try and build a relationship with him as father and son? About the planets?"
"Yes."
"Let's tell him we're naming the baby 'Pluto'!"
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Well, there you go! Hope you enjoyed it!
I'd like to thank everyone who has read and/or reviewed. I think I PM'd almost everyone who reviewed last chapter (not something I do a lot, but I felt like it then), except for two I couldn't contact. So thank you to SpenceFTW and even to you, Guest. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the piece, Guest, but it's always good to get feedback. And I appreciate your politeness in the fact that you stuck to criticizing the story itself instead of getting personal.
Thanks everyone!
Oh, and P.S. - they're not REALLY naming the baby Pluto, though that might it's nickname until it's born...