*A few hours after Chapter 1

"Shh, we have to be quiet!" Luke Alvez whispered as he pulled out his spare key. He still couldn't believe it had worked. When he and Reid had swapped keys for Michael's baby seat, he didn't expect Reid to hand over all of his keys. He was just going to chalk that one up to sleep deprivation. Four months of it and brain cells were bound to suffer. "Uncle Spence is sleeping." One could only hope.

Alvez led the way tip-toeing into his apartment, the little boys at his heels. They were met by a welcome sight: Reid and Roxy curled up on the couch. Success! Alvez put the groceries on the table and snapped a cell phone photo, unable to contain his evil grin. The team would never believe it.

"Henry, put the presents here! We'll open them later."

"But -"

"No, no, you and Uncle Spence both open yours together!" Alvez wasn't done with tricks up his sleeve for the evening. Not even close.

"Take a seat," he threw the blankets aside and set the boys on the recliner. "You ever seen 'Free Willy', kid?"

"No, who's Willy?"

"Well let's meet him." Luke turned the volume down as he handed the boys a bowl of ice cream. "No birthday candles until Uncle Spence wakes up."

He dug into his bowl of chocolate chip ice cream, his eyes on Henry's heartbroken face as the Ocra was captured by the fishermen. "I don't think I like this movie, Agent Alvez."

"Don't worry, kid. It gets better," he promised, his eyes locked on Reid's sleeping form. He pulled the blanket back over Reid's shoulder. "It gets better."

"They're gonna kill him."

Reid woke with a start. "What? Frazier No!"

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. It's just us."

Reid looked up in to the concerned eyes of his godson and then up at Alvez hovering over him.. "Someone's dying? Did you get hurt? What -?"

"Relax, Reid, it's a movie." He pointed the remote at the frozen screen. A room was flooding.

"The bad men are draining Willy's tank. They're gonna kill him. Poor Willy."

"Well they wouldn't call it 'Free Willy' if the whale was going to die." Alvez was never one to give away movies, but the kid was just too distraught. "Here, Reid, have some ice cream? You want chocolate chip or strawberry?"

"What time is it? Wait, where's Michael?"

"Playing behind the couch with some of Roxy's toys. Relax, I cleaned them with Lysol wipes...and its 7. So, you slept for what? 5 hours? That is one crazy long nap."

"Are you sick, Uncle Spence?"

"No."

Alvez raised his eyebrows, but decided against trying to explain PTSD to an 8 year old. "Time for cake, our little man has been quite patient, hasn't he?" Song sang and candles blown out with a mystery birthday wish, Reid was surprised when Henry handed HIM a gift with a piece of double chocolate cake and strawberry ice cream.

"For me?"

"Go on, open it." The kid was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Reid carefully opened up the box, wondering what book could be so small and light weight, but it wasn't a book. It was - "A stuffed animal." Did he happen to get Michael's gift on accident. Oh well. "Wow, it's...nice. Thanks."

"Henry, why don't you tell Uncle Spence why you picked an elephant."

"Because elephants are the smartest animal ever, just like you, Uncle Spence!"

Well when he put it like that. He pulled his godson into a huge hug. "Thank you, Henry. Thank you!"

"Come on, let's finish the movie. We're getting to the best part, aren't we 'Uncle Spence'?"

"I've never seen this before."

This may even better therapy than he'd planned on. Time to score some G-rated BAU points.

"Seriously, Reid? Okay, well now you HAVE to! Now quiet down, Henry and no more interruptions if we want to finish before your mom gets here."

Alvez had seen the movie a dozen times as a kid, but this time he found far more joy in watching Reid's face light up as the Orca made a jump for the open ocean. Freedom at long last.

"That was a good movie." He may have only caught the last half an hour, but it was still the best.