Don't Own.

Please R&R

Enjoy!

…

Spencer followed Penelope to where Payton was sitting at the back of the coffee shop in one of the big comfy chairs.

A wide grin spread across Payton's face as Penelope handed him his cookie "Thanks Mama," he said before taking a bite.

"You're welcome Sweetheart," Penelope said with a smile.

Payton made a face at the endearment. Then he noticed Spencer hovering behind his mom and gave him a questioning look.

"Mama what's he doing here?" Payton asked pointing at Spencer.

Penelope shook her head "Payton, don't point, it's rude."

"Sorry Mama," Payton muttered.

Penelope sighed "Payton this is Spencer, he's an old friend of mine."

Payton's eyes widened "Is he one of the ones you always tell me about, from your old team?" he asked excitedly.

Penelope took a moment to answer "Yes," she finally said tensely.

Payton bounced up and down in his seat "Really? My mom always talks about you guys. Is it true you work for the FBI?"

"Yes it is," Spencer said with a small smile, amused by the boy's excitement.

"That's so awesome!" Payton said "And my mom used to work with you guys?"

Spencer nodded.

"Cool. Do you carry a gun?" Payton just about shouted and a few people around them looked over.

"Payton!" Penelope scolded.

"Sorry Mama," he said and then in almost a whisper asked Spencer "Do you?"

Spencer looked to Penelope before slowly nodding.

"Oh wow," Payton mused "Can I see it?"

"No," Penelope said shaking her head.

"Oh Mama, please?" Payton begged.

"Actually Payton, this isn't the best place, your mom is right, maybe some other time" Spencer injected.

Payton deflated a little "Okay…" Spencer watched as he swung his feet back and forth with his head down.

Then he looked up hesitantly and bit his lip before asking "Do you know my…"

"Payton," Penelope interrupted a stern look on her face "why don't you work on your reading?" It was half suggestion, half order as she pulled an ipad out of her purse and handed it to him.

Payton pouted "Mama…" he whined.

"Don't whine Payton." she told him "Don't you want to watch your cartoons tonight?"

"Yes Mama," he said.

"Well then if you do your reading now you can watch your cartoons as soon as we get home."

"Okay Mama," Payton said though he still seemed reluctant.

"Thank you," Penelope said and handed over his headphones "now remember to read along to the words."

Payton nodded and put in his headphones. Then he tapped the screen of the tablet and his lips began moving along to the words.

Spencer sat down in a chair across from Penelope.

"Well he sure is inquisitive," he stated.

"Yes, he…" she trailed off before nodding and continued with "he is, isn't he?"

Spencer just nodded in return as he wondered what Penelope had caught herself from saying.

"How old is he?" Spencer asked glancing at Payton.

"He just turned seven last month," Penelope said.

Spencer quickly did the math "That means you were pregnant with him when you left, or was he born premature?"

"A bit of both actually," Penelope explained "I was two and a half months pregnant with him when we left and he was born a month premature."

"So is he why you left?" Spencer asked making sure to keep his voice down, Payton did seem immersed in his reading but Spencer didn't want to chance it.

"Yes," Penelope answered rather quickly and it made Spencer wonder if she was being truthful "after seeing what Will and JJ had gone through that time with the serial killing bank robbers, Kevin and I decided that we didn't want our child growing up in a world like that, always having to worry if he was safe."

Spencer studied his friend, it did seem like she was mostly telling the truth but there was just something about it that he didn't believe.

"Garcia, what aren't you telling me?" Spencer asked.

She frowned and Spencer noticed that her fingers were fidgeting.

"Nothing," she said though it wasn't convincing "there were so many times that the job seemed to interfere with our personal lives. When I was shot, when Foyet killed Haley, when Emily almost died…when you were taken by Hankel," Penelope looked down guiltily for having brought it up "I didn't want my child to ever have to go through something like that."

"But surely you knew that the team was there to protect you?" Spencer said "No matter what was thrown at us we always managed to get through it, as you always used to say, we're family."

Penelope cringed at that.

"There had to be more than that Garcia, no one ever believed you would leave, you were always the one trying to keep us all together no matter what happened."

"There isn't," Penelope said looking away.

"Garcia, don't tell me in all these years you've forgotten how hard it is to lie to a profiler?" Spencer stated.

Penelope bit her lip "Reid…" she began.

"No," Spencer said surprising her "I know there is something you're not telling me and I'm not leaving here until you tell me the truth."

Penelope didn't say anything, she looked past Spencer to Payton and Spencer could see her eyes beginning to tear up again.

Spencer leaned forward in his chair so that he was leaning into Penelope's space. He gently placed a hand on one of her fidgeting ones, her eyes flew to his in surprise but Spencer didn't pull away. "Please Garcia, tell me the truth, I still care about you and I can tell something is bothering you. Tell me so I can help you."

"I can't…" Penelope began looking around but before Spencer could protest further she added "at least not here."

Spencer frowned but then nodded "Okay, where then?"

"You can come to my place, I'll tell you there." Penelope said.

"Alright," Spencer agreed.

So they finished up their coffees, not really talking much while they waited for Payton to finish his reading. Once Payton was done they gathered up their things and Spencer followed them to their home which was only a few blocks away.

…

As soon as Penelope had unlocked the door to their small apartment, Payton ran inside.

"Mama, I can watch the Avengers now right?" Payton asked.

"Yes Sweetheart, you did a very good job with your reading today, do you need me to set it up for you?" Penelope asked.

"No, that's okay, I know how to do it" Payton said before running out of the room.

Spencer looked around the apartment. They were standing in the hallway, to the right there was a small living room area and next to it was the kitchenette. To the left, the way Payton had headed, there was another hallway where Spencer assumed led to the bedrooms.

Spencer had to admit that it seemed like a downgrade from where Penelope used to live, it was probably a bit more than half the size of her old place and really not meant for a family of three to be living in it. It seemed more like a bachelor apartment. Spencer wondered how Lynch could allow his family to live there.

Penelope gestured for him to follow her to the living room. His eyes scanned the room as he walked behind her. There were quite a few pictures on the wall and mantle. Mostly they were of Payton, a few of them were of both him and Penelope but Spencer didn't see any with Lynch which he found strange.

He sat down on the couch and Penelope sat beside him.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked.

"No I'm fine thanks," Spencer said.

Penelope nodded and then sighed. She looked at her hands for a moment before looking up at Spencer.

"Okay," she finally said, her voice kind of shaky "I'll tell you everything you want to know, just let me take my time because this…this is hard for me, and please don't interrupt. I know you'll have some burning questions but let me finish first."

Spencer nodded.

Penelope let out a shaky breath and Spencer took her hand again and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked up and gave him a small smile.

"Okay," she began "after I found out I was pregnant I was a nervous wreck. Kevin and I had never talked about children and to be honest at the time I was thinking about ending it with him. He had never really been able to get over the fact that I had said no to him the first time he asked me to marry him. I'm even surprised that we lasted another two years together after he asked me out after that case with JJ and Will. I wasn't sure what I was going to do," a tear rolled down Penelope's cheek and she said very quietly "I even considered getting rid of it just so I wouldn't have to tell Kevin or have a reason for staying with him."

Penelope shifted uncomfortably in her spot "But then Kevin found the test that I had taken and he was ecstatic. He said it was just what we needed since I think even he knew our relationship wasn't going anywhere. He said it would be a fresh start and asked me to marry him again. I said yes because I was selfish, I was too afraid of being a single mom to tell him the truth…that I didn't love him anymore. Then he suggested that we move away and at the time…well I guess I thought it was the right thing to do."

Spencer had a feeling that that wasn't the whole reason for moving away but he had promised to let her finish so he kept that thought to himself.

"We moved to a small two story house in Lansing Michigan and Reid, I swear to you, every day since I left I missed you guys. It only took me a week at the new house to realize I had made a mistake and I wished I could take it back and fly back to Virginia, but I thought if I just gave it a chance maybe it would get better. However it never did. Kevin and I still grew apart; the baby didn't change any of that."

Penelope stopped for a moment and looked at Spencer. Spencer gave her an encouraging look and Penelope closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists. This was the hardest part but she knew she had to come clean, that if she was going to tell Spencer she had to tell him the whole truth. She knew she would feel a lot better when she did, finally getting it off her chest and all, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Kevin was also getting suspicious." Penelope continued "There was a secondary reason for why I left and Kevin had started to figure it out. I'm sure he realized that the dates of conception didn't make any sense. He and I were barely intimate anymore and during the weeks that Payton would have been conceived he and I weren't even together. Kevin was working with Cooper's team and I was with you guys on a case."

Spencer tried to understand what Penelope was telling him but it was just so shocking. If Kevin wasn't Payton's father, who was?

"In the last few months leading up to Payton's birth, Kevin had become irritable, he angered easily and nothing I did seemed to please him. He never asked me outright if Payton wasn't his but he did ask me questions about how far along I was exactly and questions about the team that he wouldn't have normally asked. A month before my due date I knew he had figured it out and knew that I had to get away from him. He wasn't physically abusive but there were signs leading to it. I had seen those signs in victims before and began secretly planning to leave him."

Spencer listened intently; he never in a million years would have guessed that Penelope would cheat on anyone. He badly wanted to ask her who Payton's father was but knew not to interrupt.

"I had finally decided that I would leave Kevin and head back to Virginia. I knew I couldn't fly since I was so close to my due date so I had to make other arrangements. I planned to drive a few hours away where I had a friend who said I could stay with her and then take the train and two buses in order to get back. I took a week to get all my things in order and then on the day that I had planned to leave, as I was finishing packing, Kevin came home from work early. He asked me if I was going somewhere and I tried to lie and say that I was just packing a bag for when the baby came and we had to go to the hospital. He didn't believe me and as I was walking out of the bedroom he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back. He shoved me against the wall and then raised his fist and hit me. I was frantic and knew I had to somehow get past him. My cell phone was in my purse which was in the kitchen and Kevin had no intention of letting me go."

Penelope couldn't help it as tears rolled down her cheeks at the memory. Anger rose in Spencer, he couldn't believe Kevin had hit their Penelope; he wanted to strangle the man. However he pushed aside his anger for a moment in order to comfort her. His arm reached around Penelope and pulled her close. She cried on his shoulder while he rubbed her back.

After a few minutes she sniffed and continued her story.

"He started to rant as he paced back and forth. Saying he had known for a while that I had cheated on him and that he should have known I was such a slut. He thought Morgan was the father and said he should have seen it coming. He wasn't really watching me and I took a chance. There was an old antique clock we had that was on the wall above me. I managed to get it off its hook, it was a bit of a struggle because of the angle and because of how heavy it was but once I had it off I smashed it as hard as I could over Kevin's head. He fell to the floor and I was able to get away. I grabbed my purse from the counter but left everything else. I ran out to my car and began driving away, I was heading to the police station but then my water broke and I had to head to the hospital instead."

Spencer's eyes caught one of the photos that was sitting on the mantle of Payton in a soccer uniform; he took in the boy's pale complexion and knew that Morgan couldn't be the father.

New tears slipped down Penelope's face and Spencer felt horrible for making her remember and retell her story.

Penelope seemed to know what he was thinking for she patted his leg and said "It's okay, it actually helps to finally tell someone."

Spencer gave her a sad smile "I'm just so sorry you had to go through it in the first place."

Penelope nodded then took a deep breath and continued.

"Payton was born a few hours later. I told one of the nurses what had happened and when I told her I was going to go to the police she advised me against it. She told me being a nurse she had seen woman in my situation before and that she believed Kevin would only get a slap on the wrist since it was only his first offense and my injuries weren't severe. That scared me and so when she offered me help I took it. She told the other nurses and doctors that Kevin and I were separating and so he wasn't allowed into my hospital room. They allowed me to stay there for a week before she had a friend of hers drive me to Detroit where she knew a woman that could give me a place to stay."

"The place was small but nice and the woman, Mrs. Tillie, was very friendly and helpful. A few times I thought about trying to get back to Virginia but Payton was so young and I knew that if Kevin was looking for me he'd be searching all the airport databases for flights heading to Virginia and the surrounding area. I thought that if I booked a ticket for myself and Payton, if Kevin saw our names he might be able to get us before we were safely home."

Spencer continued to gently rub Penelope's back, knowing just how hard this was for her, he wished he could go back in time and stop her from going in the first place.

"We stayed there for four years. It was hard but we made it through. I was starting to think that maybe I had been overly dramatic and that Kevin wasn't actually hunting us down. I knew he had been angry but thought that I was probably over exaggerating and thought that Kevin must have moved on. But then one day when I got back from taking Payton to preschool Mrs. Tillie said that a man had come by asking for me. She had told him that there was no one by the name of Penelope living there but that he had persisted until she threatened to call the cops. The description she gave me sounded just like Kevin, fear took over me and I hurried to Payton's preschool to pick him up. I was so relieved when I got there and he was just fine. With the help of Mrs. Tillie we left that night. We got on a bus which took us through Indiana and to Illinois; we ended up staying in Chicago for 6 months before leaving and taking a bus to Iowa. Mrs. Tillie said that it was important to keep moving. So for the next few years we continued across the country. We only made it here to Colorado two months ago."

They sat in silence for a while before Spencer broke it "Wow, that's some story."

Penelope nodded "Now you see why I couldn't come back don't you? I wish I could have but there was just no way."

Spencer didn't say anything. Truthfully he believed that if Penelope had really wanted to come home she could have found a way. If she had just called him or one of the other members of the team they would have been happy to come and get her and they would have protected her from Kevin.

But then again, Payton's father was most likely someone from the team and since he had ruled himself and Morgan out that only left Rossi and Hotch, and Spencer could see Penelope not wanting to face that. However he couldn't know for sure, maybe Payton's father was someone she had met while they were on the case; there was only one way to find out.

"Garcia," Spencer said slowly "who is Payton's father?"

Penelope cringed, she knew the question was coming but she really didn't want to answer it.

"Garcia," Spencer urged "come on, you can tell me."

Penelope bit her lip and looked at the floor "Hotch," she muttered.

Even though Spencer had thought that would most likely be the answer it was still hard to grasp. He knew that Rossi was a more likely candidate given his history but Spencer could still remember the way Hotch had reacted when Penelope left.

He had tried to talk her out of it, had taken her to his office where they had a long discussion and he had looked so dejected when they finally emerged from his office without having been able to change her mind. He had taken it personally and afterwards had ended up blaming himself for her leaving. Spencer had just thought it was because he believed he had failed to keep the team safe so many times but now Spencer knew the truth. They had slept together and that's why Hotch blamed himself for her leaving. He wondered what had happened after they had slept together, what had been said that caused Penelope to decide to leave and tear the team apart.

"You remember that case right? The one in Kentucky where that internet predator was luring children to him with promises of escape from their abusive homes and then kidnapping them?"

Spencer nodded. There was no way he could forget that case. He rated it as one of the worst he had ever seen. When they finally caught the unsub they had found all of the children he had kidnapped dead, there was forty-nine of them going back ten years.

The whole team had gone out drinking that night; he had even had a few rounds just to numb the pain of what they all had seen.

"Well that night when we had all made our way up to our own rooms, Aaron had walked with me to mine since his was close by and instead of leaving when I had opened my door, he leaned in and kissed me. We were both drunk. Aaron had recently broken up with Beth and I was in a lonely, loveless relationship, not to mention the fact that I had always been attracted to him. Things just happened and then when we woke up in the morning he told me he regretted the night before, that he hadn't been in his right mind and that it could never happen again. The next few weeks I could barely look at him and he seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder. Then I found out I was pregnant and well…I ran away."

"I'm sorry Garcia," Spencer said.

Penelope shook her head "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault."

"I just wish you never had to go through everything you had and maybe if I had been a better profiler, I could have seen what was happening and helped you. I feel like we let you down."

"Oh Boy Genius, you did no such thing, there was nothing you could have done," Penelope said wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug "don't beat yourself up about it."

"That might have been true," Spencer said pulling away "I may not have been able to do anything before, but I can do something now."

Penelope frowned; she had no idea what he was going on about.

"Come with me," Spencer said.

"What?" Penelope asked in confusion.

"I have the jet waiting for me; I'm supposed to be heading out in about an hour. You and Payton come with me. If Lynch is still following you he'll have no idea until it's too late. Then you'll be back in Quantico and have the whole team to protect you and your son."

Penelope stared at him open-mouthed then she began shaking her head "I can't…"

"Garcia please, I won't leave unless you come with me. The team will protect you and you'll be with family again. Besides, I know it's not my place, but I think Hotch deserves to know he has another son."

Penelope looked at him worriedly, her fingers fidgeting with the material of her shirt as Spencer waited anxiously for her answer.

…