Chapters 2 are up. I hope you all enjoy them both.
I don't own Criminal Minds, but Santa, if you're out there reading this...
Happy and safe holidays to all, however you may celebrate them.
Happy reading and enjoy :D
JJ stretched in her bed as she woke up, her hand fumbling across the empty pillow beside her own, in which her face was currently buried. Then, as wakefulness set in, she remembered that the other side of the bed wasn't empty because her bedmate had already gotten up, but because she hadn't had one. She rolled over in bed, looking at the ceiling as she thought of the strange twist and turn of events. Then she smiled remembering not only the conversation she and Spence had last night, but also the kiss. Then it occurred to her that this would be their first Christmas together, at least in this reality, and a grin lit up her face at the thought of all of the fun they would have.
"Mama?" Henry's voice came softly across the baby monitor that sat on her nightstand. "Mama?" he called out again.
JJ flipped of the covers and swung herself over the side of the bed as she moved to collect Henry from his crib.
"Good morning baby boy." JJ said, kissing Henry on the side of the head as she scooped him up out of his crib. She reached over and opened up the top dresser drawer and grabbed a pair of big boy pants for Henry. "How about we go potty and put some big boy pants on and then you can wake up Uncle Spence?"
"Unca 'pence hewe?" Henry asked as he and Mommy moved down the hall to the bathroom.
"He is." JJ said "He's going to spend the next couple of weeks here with us for Christmas and New Year's, remember?"
Henry nodded. "Uh huh"
JJ sat Henry down on his feet in the bathroom and helped him out of his pajama pants and his pull up. "Do you need help?"
Henry shook his head. "No I do it."
"Okay big boy." JJ replied with a smile and watched as Henry pulled over his step stool so that he could reach the potty.
Once Henry had gone potty, washed his hands, and had a pair of big boy pants on, they headed back down the hall to the guest bedroom. JJ couldn't help but wonder if Spence liked to sleep in as much in this reality as he had in the other.
When they reached the door of the guest room, JJ knocked softly, while resting one hand on Henry's shoulder. "Spence?" she called out.
At the sound of a muffled come in, she opened the door and let go of Henry's shoulder. The toddler zipped over to the side of the bed and was attempting to climb up into the bed with Uncle Spence by the time Mommy made it across the room.
JJ had to laugh, not only at the sight of Henry attempting to climb up into the bed, but also at the sight of the Spence shaped lump in the bed, as he had the covers pulled all the way up and his head buried under a pillow, hiding his face from the daylight streaming in through the window.
She scooped up Henry once she reached the side of the bed and sat him on the bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching to see what Henry would do.
"Unca 'pence?" Henry said kneeling next to the Spence shaped lump and poking at it.
"Hey Henry" Spence's muffled voice replied from underneath the pillow.
"You wate up. We pway." Henry said poking again at his blanket and pillow covered Uncle.
"No, let's sleep a little longer." Spence replied, his arm snaking up out of the covers, finding Henry, and pulling the boy down next to him.
Henry wiggled and squirmed as he tried to break free from his Uncle's grip. "Unca 'pence wate up!"
"You know Henry" JJ said conspiratorially "I bet Uncle Spence is ticklish."
Spence lifted the pillow unseen by Henry, and gave JJ a lazy grin, letting her know that he was just playing.
"Unca 'pence" Henry said softly and then managed to escape from his Uncle's grasp and push the covers down, revealing Spence's upper body. "Tickwe tickwe" Henry said giggling as he tickled Uncle Spence's belly.
Spence laughed and threw off the pillow covering his face and rolled onto his back. As he rolled, he grabbed Henry and held the boy up above him. "Good morning Henry." He said as the little boy laughed. Then he lowered Henry and sat up, pulling the little boy into his lap. "Good morning Jayje." He said glancing at JJ, whose eyes he could feel on him.
"Good morning Spence." JJ said softly, her eyes on his lips, longing to give him a good morning kiss.
Spence cleared his throat attempting to push his desire to kiss JJ good morning to the back of his mind, unsure if it would be appropriate to do so in front of Henry yet. "So… um… what's on tap for today?" he asked as he glanced back and forth between Henry who was happily sitting in his lap, and JJ who was wearing the biggest and most beautiful smile he'd ever seen on her face.
"Well we have a lot to do this week to get ready for Christmas, but I was wondering, if you wouldn't mind, if you'd help me get Henry's big boy bed put together?" JJ replied.
"Big boy bed huh?" Spence asked as he looked down at his godson. "That's sounds great. Just think then we'll be able to read bedtime stories in your bed Henry."
Henry's eyes lit up and he nodded.
JJ smiled. "Then we need to get a Christmas tree, and decorate."
And then Henry's tummy gurgled causing the little boy to laugh. JJ and Spence laughed too.
"Sounds like somebody's a hungry boy this morning." JJ said. "What should we have for breakfast baby?"
"Tell you what." Spence said as he flipped the covers back and wiggled to the side of the bed with Henry in his arms. "Why don't Henry and I take care of breakfast while you take a shower and get ready?"
"Spence you don't have to…" JJ started to say and then trailed off as Spence interrupted her.
"It's okay. I want to." He said and then summoning his courage, he leaned in and kissed her good morning.
"Okay" JJ replied slightly dazed by Spence's kiss, brief and chaste though it was.
Spence smiled at JJ and then stood up from the bed. "So what should we make Mommy for breakfast buddy?" he asked Henry as they walked towards the door.
JJ smiled as she listened to Henry and Spence talk to each other as they moved down the hall to the stairs, their voices drifting back to her. As nervous as they both were, she realized, they'd figure it out and how to move forward. And then she stood up and moved to her room to take a shower and get ready for the day.
"Okay, the breakfast dishes are done. I'm ready to…" JJ trailed off at the sight of Spence and Henry seated together on Henry's big boy bed reading a story. "help." She finished in confusion. "Spence, how did you get this put together so quick?" she asked as she joined them on Henry's big boy bed which his crib had converted into.
Spence smirked. "Three doctorates Jayje, one of which is in engineering, did you think that converting a crib into a toddler bed would slow me down at all?"
"Well… I… no." JJ shook her head. "I didn't expect you to have problems, but I did expect it to take a little longer, or for you to need some help."
"Ah, but I did have help." Spence as he ruffled Henry's hair causing him to giggle. "My little buddy here handed me tools and kept me company.'
JJ's eyebrows rose. "How did you manage that?"
Spence shrugged. "Easy, we made it a game. Plus Henry was excited to be able to help put his big boy bed together weren't you bud?"
Henry nodded as he looked up from the picture book he'd been looking at. "Mama I hewp."
"I heard baby. I'm proud of you for helping Uncle Spence. Do you like your big boy bed?" JJ asked as she reached out and smoothed Henry's ruffled and messed up hair.
"Uh huh" Henry said nodding his head as he leaned against Uncle Spence's side.
"Well since you boys are all done putting together the bed, how about we go pick out a tree and pick up some decorations?" JJ asked.
"Go bye bye?" Henry asked.
Mommy nodded.
"Unca 'Pence come wit?" Henry asked.
"Yes, baby Uncle Spence is coming with. Maybe you and Uncle Spence can pick out the tree while Mommy picks out everything else." JJ said as she looked back and forth between Spence and Henry.
"Oh wow Henry. Mommy gave us a very important job." Spence said as he looked down at Henry.
"Okay, how about this one buddy?" Spence asked the bundled up little boy that he was carrying in his arms through the Christmas tree lot.
Henry shook his head 'no' and then pointed to a different tree on the opposite side of the aisle that they were looking at. "Dat one."
Spence walked across the aisle to the Christmas tree. "You're right Henry, that's a very nice tree." He said and then looked down at Henry. "Do you think Mommy will like it?"
"What are you wondering if Mommy will like?" JJ asked as she walked up the aisle meet them after picking out the other greenery they needed for the house this year.
"Mama we get dis twee" Henry said pointing at the tree he'd picked out that he and Uncle Spence were standing beside.
"Great choice Henry." JJ said as she looked at the tree that had to be about seven feet tall, as it was about a foot taller than Spence. By the time they trimmed the trunk, got it in the tree stand, and then got it decorated with a star at the top; it would be the perfect height for the living room. "That is the perfect tree." JJ said as she stepped up next to Spence and kissed Henry on the nose while wrapping an arm around Spence's waist.
"What do you think Henry?" Spence asked as he stepped back from the tree to see if it was straight.
Henry sat on the floor looking up at the Christmas tree that towered above him. "Big twee" he said in an awe filled voice.
"You're right." Spence said nodding as he knelt down next to Henry and picked the boy up. "Do you want to see something cool?" he asked as he looked at his godson.
Henry nodded as he looked at his Uncle Spence.
Spence reached out with his foot and tapped the on button for the Christmas tree lights. "What do you think of that buddy?"
Henry's eyes grew big. "Whoa" Henry gasped.
JJ smiled as she entered the living room. "Wow you guys got really far with the tree." She said as she walked up next to Spence and Henry. "Do you want to help Mommy put your ornament on the tree baby?" she asked holding her hands out to Henry who reached for her.
JJ pulled the lid of the box of Christmas ornaments and found Henry's 'Baby's First Christmas' ornament and together they hung it up on the middle of the tree. Then picked a few more ornaments out of the box. She handed one to Spence, she handed one to Henry, and she kept one for herself and then they began to decorate the tree together. At the culminating moment, Spence lifted Henry up put the star on the top of the tree.
"We did a pretty good job of decorating." JJ said with a smile as she came down the stairs from tucking Henry in for his nap and wrapped her arms around Spence who was standing with his hands on his hips looking around the living room at the decorations.
The tree was up, lit, and fully decorated. Stockings hung above the fireplace. A bough of holly was wrapped around the open banister of the stairs. Although it wasn't visible, a wreath hung on the front door. Also not visible at the moment, there were also the various sprigs of mistletoe that JJ had playfully hung in various doorways, unbeknownst to Spence.
"Henry's asleep?" Spence asked as they sat down together on the couch.
JJ nodded. "I had to promise him several times that Uncle Spence would still be here when he woke up though. He loves spending time with you. He loves you." JJ said as she looked up at Spence.
"I love him too JJ." Spence said softly as he thought about the fact that Christmas wasn't even actually here yet, but it was already shaping up to be the best he'd ever had.
"He's not the only one." JJ said as she turned to face Spence and pulled her legs up underneath her on the couch.
"You don't say?" Spence replied with a soft smile. "I suppose he got a pet fish or a turtle that you haven't told me about yet?" he said teasingly.
"I was talking about me you dork." JJ said laughing as she swatted Spence's chest.
Spence laughed. "I know. I love you too by the way." He said leaning down and kissing JJ.
"Mm" JJ moaned as she leaned into the kiss and her arm rose to wrap itself around Spence's neck and her finger's tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck, while Spence's arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer.
Eventually however, air became a necessity and they each pulled back panting to catch their breath slightly while lay against the back of the couch just looking at each other.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of that." Spence said with a grin, causing JJ to laugh. And then they spent the remainder of Henry's nap cuddled up on the couch talking.
JJ stood waiting for Spence and Henry at the entrance of the mall where they'd agreed to meet, with the last of her shopping bags in her hand. She'd been pretty much done before, but she'd needed to pick up a few last minute things. Her eyes got big as she watched Spence and Henry walking up to meet her. With a shopping cart. Completely filled. With what appeared to be bags from the toy store. "Spence, no… you can't just…."
Spence got a look of confusion on his face and then he glanced down at the contents of the shopping cart and quickly realized what she was thinking. He shook his head. "JJ, these aren't for Henry and he knows that. Don't you buddy?" he asked as he lifted the little boy out of the cart.
"Then who?" JJ asked in confusion as she looked from the cart full of toys to Spence and back again.
"Henry, do you want to tell Mommy who we bought toys for?" Spence asked as he shuffled through the bags of the cart looking for the right one and pulled it out of the cart.
"Dey for boys an girls got no toys Mama" Henry replied.
"Can you grab the cart Jayje?" Spence asked softly and then he walked with Henry over to the 'Toys for Tots' bin by the door of the mall. He set Henry down on his feet and knelt down next to him and held open the bag. "Okay big guy, which one should we put in first?" Spence asked as he and Henry looked in the bag.
JJ watched with tears in her eyes as her little boy one by one pulled the toys out of the bag that Uncle Spence held open and dropped the toys in the collection bin.
"Mama, you see me?" Henry asked as he ran back towards Mommy.
"I did baby. Good job. " JJ said as she knelt down to catch Henry and looked up at Spence and smiled. "So what about all the other toys?" she asked as she stood back up with Henry in his arms.
"Those are for the Christmas program at the Children's hospital." Spence said. "I go every year and do a magic show for the kids. All of the volunteers, we split up the kids to make sure they all get presents."
JJ nodded remembering going with Spence the previous five years, in another lifetime. "So what time do we need to be there?" she asked, shifting Henry on her hip while Spence picked up the remaining bags from the cart and put the cart away.
"You… you want to go with?" Spence asked as he paused to look at JJ.
"Of course I do. We would have come before if you would have ever told anyone. You know everybody would have loved to volunteer for something like that."
Spence shrugged. "I'm usually the only one who doesn't have holiday plans, so…"
"Didn't have holiday plans. You have holiday plans this year and from now on." JJ replied as they headed out the doors of the mall and for the SUV.
JJ sat with Henry in her lap watching as Spence worked his way through the crowd of sick children, not sick in the sense of having a cold or the flu, but fighting for their lives against leukemia, aplastic anemia, carcinoma, and a hundred other illnesses that no one should ever have to suffer through, let alone a child. Sitting here, with her healthy baby boy in her lap, she realized just how much she really had to be thankful for.
Spence moved about the room, he pulled coins from behind some of the kids' ears, he made a coin disappear in his hands and then reappear, he pulled scarves out of his hands, he levitated himself on a chair and then again standing up in front of the room. But his specialty, especially in large crowds like this and with him being from Vegas, was card tricks.
"Okay Lucy, pick a card, any card." He said holding out the deck and waiting as the little girl pulled a card out of the deck. Once Lucy had pulled a card out of the deck, he spoke again. "Okay, remember your card. You can even show your card to your friends if you want, just don't show me or tell me what card it was."
He smiled as Lucy showed her friends the card and one of them whispered something to her and then they both giggled. "Okay, put your card back in the deck." He waited as Lucy put her card back in the deck.
All of the kids were on the edge of their seats as they waited to see the rest of the trick. Spence shuffled the cards and then he pulled a card out of the deck and held it out to Lucy. "Is this your card?" he asked.
Lucy giggled and shook her head no.
"Huh… I could have sworn…" Spence replied appearing confused.
JJ looked on in disbelief. She'd never seen Spence mess up a magic trick. Ever.
Spence reshuffled the cards and tried again. "Is this your card?" he asked.
Lucy giggled again and shook her head no.
Spence screwed his face up into a funny looking perplexed look. "I must have done something wrong Lucy. Let's find your card." He said as flipped through the entire deck of cards showing each card to Lucy and leaving it on the table in front of her after asking her if it was her card. She and all of the other kids laughed a little bit louder each time as the answer was always no.
And then Spence was out of cards in his hand. He tapped his finger on his chin as he looked down at Lucy. "You're not secretly a magician are you Lucy?" he asked.
Lucy giggled and shook her head no.
"Are you sure you put the card back in the deck?" Spence asked teasingly. "You didn't put the card in the sleeve of your robe or in your pocket did you?" he asked with a smile on his face.
Lucy again shook her head and giggled.
"Hmm… where could the card be?" Spence asked as he looked around the room at all of the kids. "Can you all do me a favor? Can you check and see if any of you ended up with Lucy's card?" he asked.
The kids all scrambled to look and see if they had any playing cards in their pockets, but no one had Lucy's card.
"This is very strange. In fact this has never happened to me before." Spence said as he paced.
JJ watched Spence pace, wondering what he was doing.
And then Spence stopped and looked at the kids. "You know, I think I know where Lucy's card might have ended up." Spence said.
"Where? Where? Where?" All of the kids asked.
Spence walked over to JJ. "Did you guys all get a chance to meet my friend JJ?" Spence asked as he walked over to where JJ and Henry sat.
"Hi JJ!" All of the kids shouted, enjoying Spence's show.
"Hi" JJ replied back as she turned to look at the kids and then she shivered as she felt Spence run his fingers through her hair.
When she turned back around Spence was holding up a playing card, which he continued to hold up as he walked over and knelt down in front of Lucy.
"So Lucy, is this your card?" Spence asked.
"Yes" Lucy replied softly while nodding her head. At Lucy's confirmation, all of the kids cheered.
"Come on Spence." JJ begged as Spence followed her in the house carrying Henry. "I promise not to tell anyone how you did it."
Spence chuckled. "Sorry JJ, but a magician never reveals his secrets."
JJ smiled up at Spence. "Drat. I thought for sure I'd convince you to tell me." She said and then leaned up and kissed him. "Henry baby, should we open a present and then get ready for Santa to come?" she asked Henry where he sat perched in his Uncle Spence's arms.
"Pwesents?" Henry asked as he reached out for Mommy.
"Just one tonight baby. We get to open the rest of our presents tomorrow after we see what Santa brought you." JJ said as she peeled Henry's coat off of him and then slipped out of her own, hanging them both up and then she took Henry from Spence so he could remove his own outerwear.
JJ waited for Spence to join them in the living room and then she handed Henry to him while she turned the lights of the tree on and pulled three gifts out from underneath the tree. Then she sat down on the couch next to Spence and handed one of the presents to Henry and one of the presents to Spence.
"Go ahead baby boy, open it." JJ encouraged Henry as she helped him find a corner and start to tear the wrapping paper off. JJ smiled as Henry got into opening his present and threw the paper off to the side.
"Dinos" Henry squealed when he saw his new Christmas pajamas that sported dinosaurs. Then he held them up to show Uncle Spence. "Rawr, rawr, rawr" he said trying to sound like a ferocious dinosaur in a cute little baby boy voice, which caused Mommy and Uncle Spence to laugh.
Of course when Spence opened his present, he too had received new Christmas pajamas, an incredibly soft t-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants. JJ too received new Christmas pajamas, although she wasn't too surprised, having bought them for herself this year.
After having prepared a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, giving Henry a bath and changing him into his new pajamas and getting him to sleep, JJ and Spence sat on the couch in their new pajamas enjoying a few quiet moments together now that Santa had put his deliveries out underneath the tree and filled the stockings. Santa had also taken great care to eat all of the cookies and drink the milk that Henry had left out for him.
"So why new pajamas?" Spence asked as they sat cuddled up together on the couch.
JJ smiled as she lifted her head from Spence's chest. "Every year when I was a little girl, my parents let my brother, sister, and I open one gift on Christmas Eve. It was always a new pair of pajamas." She said with a soft smile on her face as she remembered the Christmases before her family had been ripped apart. "We'd get up the next morning and open presents and have a late breakfast in our pjs. I really missed it when…" JJ trailed off.
"JJ, what is it? You know you can tell me anything." Spence said softly as he reached out and tucked a stray strand of blonde hair between JJ's ear.
JJ cleared her throat. "When I was eleven…" JJ said tearing up as she began to tell Spence about the horrible car crash that had robbed her and her siblings of their parents at a young age. And if that hadn't been bad enough, when her sister hadn't been able to cope with the grief, she taken her own life.
"Are you okay?" Spence whispered in her ear as he held her tightly.
JJ nodded her head and leaned back from Spence's chest, where her face had been buried. She rubbed at the tear marks she'd left on his chest, and then she looked up at him. "So that's why I wanted to carry on the Christmas pajama tradition. It helps me remember the happy Christmases that I had with my parents and my sister. Plus my brother Alex does it with his family too."
Spence nodded. "It's good to have traditions. I… we didn't have any traditions really when I was a kid, at least none that my parents passed on, but I wish we would have. Like you said, it's something to help you remember loved ones after they've passed on. Traditions connect generations together and give you sense of history."
JJ nodded and stood up from the couch and pulled Spence up by the hand. "Come on, we need to get to bed."
Spence nodded and followed JJ up the stairs, his hand wrapped around hers and their fingers linked together.
"Goodnight JJ" he said when they stopped outside her bedroom door. He kissed her softly and then rested his forehead on hers. Then he moved to pull away and head to the guest bedroom, however JJ didn't let go of his hands.
JJ shook her head. "Spence, sleep with me." She said gently tugging on his hands.
"JJ" Spence squeaked. "I…"
"I actually really did mean sleep baby." She said as she leaned up to kiss Spence and then lingered to whisper in his ear. "Trust me, I would have worn much different pajamas than flannel pants and a t-shirt if I was trying to seduce you."
This time Spence groaned. "Now I will never get to sleep."
JJ chuckled softly as she walked backwards, leading Spence by his hands into her bedroom. "Spence, you've been my boyfriend for almost a week now… I think you bound to start having those thoughts sometime." She said playfully as she let go of one of his hands and turned to pull down the covers of the bed.
"Those thoughts aren't exactly a recent development." Spence mumbled as he climbed into the bed next to JJ and pulled the covers back over them as she snuggled into his side.
"Poor baby" JJ crooned as she rubbed her hand over Spence's chest and belly and then giggled as he tickled her sides for a brief moment. When she managed to stop laughing, she looked up at Spence. "Spence?" she asked as she propped herself up to be able to see his face and his gorgeous eyes.
"Yeah JJ?" Spence replied.
"I love you." JJ said softly.
"I love you too JJ." Spence replied. "I … this is the best Christmas I've ever had." He whispered as he rolled on to his side so that he and JJ were face to face.
JJ smiled. "This is the best Christmas I've ever had too. The two people I love most are both under the same roof."
Spence smiled and kissed her softly and then they cuddled up together in their Christmas pajamas to sleep.