A/N: I don't own Criminal Minds.
"Papa," squeals the bright-eyed seven-year old as she rushes to Reid as he walks through the door and drops his go-bag. Her barrettes clack with her speed. "I missed you, Papa."
"I missed you too Nia," Reid responds, picking her up and holding her close to his chest. He presses his lips to her forehead and smells the coconut detangler Morgan buys her. The case he just returned from was about kidnapped children and holding his closer eases the part of him that was on edge the whole time. The part of him that couldn't sleep and the part of him that after not sleeping for three days went to the Walgreens around the corner from the hotel and bought the same detangler. He sprayed it on the Northwestern hoddie he keeps in his go bag for moments when he feels weak and lost.
"Hey, Spencer," Donovan calls from the couch where he's playing Xbox.
He shifts Nia to one hip and goes over and squeezes her brother's shoulder.
"Missed you too Donovan," Reid says softly, the slight turn up of the boy's mouth is the most positive acknowledgement that he's ever gotten from that statement.
"Where's daddy?" Reid asks Nia.
She points towards the kitchen and Morgan comes out with a big smile on his face. Reid can smell his favorite, spaghetti and meatballs, cooking.
"Daddy and I went to the Italian store for your favorite meatballs."
"Well, that was very nice of you," he tells her.
"Heard it was a rough case," Morgan says with a slight tilt to his head.
"That woman needs to learn when to keep information to herself."
"Somebody's got to tell me."
"I don't want you to worry."
Morgan scoffs, "I always worry about you, pretty boy."
Morgan reaches out and Reid leans into it. Morgan grabs a hold of his neck and kisses him on the forehead. He presses their foreheads together and kisses him again on the mouth.
"Me too daddy," Nia sniffs, Morgan smiles indulgently at her, and kisses her forehead.
Morgan takes Nia out of Reid's arms and puts her on the ground, "Nini, darling, go get your present for papa that you made at school."
"Okay," she screeches as she races to her bedroom.
"We've got maybe two minutes," Morgan says dragging Reid into the kitchen. He pushes him against the counter and grabs the back of Reid's neck roughly. Their lips and teeth crash together and Reid lets out a sigh that he's been hold in. Morgan reaches for Reid's wrists and gently runs his thumbs along the pulse points in sharp contrast to the way his mouth seeks to leave bruises on Reid's neck.
When the thunderous sound of a child at full tilt reaches their ears, Morgan stops and rests head against Reid's shoulder. One of his thumbs still runs along the throbbing pulse.
"Look Papa," she nearly shouts waving the paper-mache butterfly.
"Be careful," Reid says to her smiling.
"We learned all about butterflies," Nia rambles, "Did you know that butterflies start out as caterpillars and then they eat a lot and then they wrap themselves up and then become a crystal…a crystal -list."
"A chrysalis," Reid enunciates.
"That's what I said, Papa," she says petulantly.
"No, Nia, you said crystal-list. Let's try it together, okay?" Reid asks and Nia pouts for a second before nodding. She mumbles, "Chrysalis," while Reid says it emphatically.
"This is a very beautiful butterfly," he comments holding it up to inspect it.
"Thank you," she replies with a grin that overwhelms her face, "Some of the other kids painted theirs crazy colors, but I painted mine symmetrically that's what my teacher said it's called and that's what real butterflies look like. Their wings look the same on both sides. Just like I have arms on both sides."
"I'll keep this on my desk," he responds.
"Okay," she grins, "I'm gonna go play with my dolls now."
She skips out of the room and Reid kisses Morgan's forehead where it's still rested against his neck.
"That desk must be getting pretty packed with crafts."
"I have a rotation," Reid laughs.
Morgan laughs but his face gets quickly serious and he whispers, "God, I missed you," as he breathes deeply at Reid's neck. He moves suddenly away from Reid and goes to the stove.
"Nia seems good, how's Donovan?" Reid asks as Morgan tends to the pots on the stove.
"He's getting better; he's really liking basketball and I think his coach is having a great influence over him."
"But you still worry?"
"I mean, my mom thought Carl Buford was having great influence over me you know?"
"Yes."
"And to compound that, I still don't know how much Don trusts us."
"It has been a hard transition for him."
"Nia just wedged her way into our lives and us in hers and it's like she's always been ours."
"But, you have to remember, she came to us when she was four years old. We are basically all she remembers. To her, we've almost always been her parents. It's not like that with Donovan. He still needs to adjust. He was a really troubled twelve year old when we met him."
"He is getting better."
"He smiled a little when I told him I missed him."
"That's new."
"I know. I almost wrapped him in a hug."
"That would've stopped that."
"I know, that's why I refrained."
"Do you think he'll ever truly want to be our son?"
"I don't know, but I never thought you were going to give me a chance."
"But I did."
"Yes, you did."
It's not until his eighteenth birthday that he says it. It's like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. He almost packs his bags before he heads downstairs. He still sometimes thinks they only begrudgingly took him to get his sister, but he holds out just that little bit of hope and leaves all his stuff where it is in his room. There's Morgan and Reid in the kitchen talking quietly to each other as they drink their coffee, like any normal day. And when they look up, they smile excitedly at him and he can feel the tension drain from his shoulders.
"Happy birthday," they chorus.
"I made you your favorite," Reid says, "Banana-chocolate chip muffins."
"And I made the coffee," Morgan says, "Strong, but of course that's how we all like it."
"Thanks, papa, thanks, dad," he says as he walks to get the muffins and coffee from the counter.
He doesn't even make it the ten steps to the counter before chairs are scraped across the ground and he's wrapped in two sets of arms. He doesn't even realize he's crying until Morgan wipes tears from his cheeks.
"It's your birthday, but you've just given us one of the best presents ever."
They all sniffle.
"Why today?" Morgan asks seriously.
"Because you did all this and you didn't have to."
"What are you talking about?" Spencer asks.
"I'm eighteen, you don't have to do this anymore."
"You, idiot." Morgan sighs, pulling the back of his neck closer and kissing the top of his head.
He lets them hold him for another minute, and while he'll never admit it he soaks in their love.
"You finally said it," Nia says as she walks into the kitchen pushing sand from her eyes, "Finally."
"They actually love me," He responds.
"I've been telling you."
Reid smiles at the exchange and is overwhelmed by how happy he is that he didn't let his grief overwhelm him all those years ago.
A/N: Honestly, I haven't been writing in a long time and I'm not sure who I have to thank, but thank you if you read this and please review. I really do appreciate everyone who leaves feedback. I will be trying to work on The Time Between Games. Teaching has really killed my creative streak.