Eric sighed and rubbed his temple, the headache he had taken Advil for an hour early, was apparently to strong for normal Advil, especially now that Paris was around and in his 'I'm going to be the obnoxious 10 year old' routine, it might be time to pull out the prescription stuff.

"You'll have to excuse him, he's a good kid and despite the impression he just gave you he is a sweet kid. But he's had a helluv a day, a helluv a past few months actually and sees fit to take it out on me."

Gideon put some papers down on the desk and looked at Eric sternly

"When did she pass away?" he asked.

Eric was taken aback by the question, he looked at his officers for an explanation, something none of them were able to give

"Excuse me?"

"His foster mother,"

"What makes you think she's dead?" Eric asked

"He talks about her in the past tense and there is some resentment in his voice when he started talking about her. I've seen your office, you have a number of photos of your daughter and you have a very recent picture of you, your wife, and your daughter at her high school graduation, dated nearly two years ago. But there are no sign of Paris save for one picture of him at about three or four with a woman I presume was his foster mother because they look nothing alike, a photo of him at I'm assuming seven on a family trip to Disney World, and one very recent school photo, taken at the beginning of this school year. Paris only recently came to live with you and your family, though he has been a part of your family for some time, because even if he had been with you for a few years, there would at least be some pictures of him growing up, at least in your daughter's graduation photo, since it appears to be the whole family, but it is just those three pictures. His voice also tells me that she gave up custody of him and he feels betrayed by her, not just by her, but by other adults who have also tried to keep her decision from him. I get the impression that she gave him up on her own accord and it wasn't a decision she came to lightly, most likely because she had no other choice." Gideon paused and looked towards the office; he could see Paris looking back at him through the blinds, listening intently to the conversation. Seeing this, Gideon lowered his voice. "He feels as though she abandoned him, but the fact that she gave him his name…his identity, is strong in his mind. Since she named, him it's fair to guess that Paris was given up at birth and he stayed in her custody until recently. I think his anger at the world persona is more of a mask than actual hatred towards those around him, because he seems angry at himself for not fighting to stay with her, more so than at anyone in his life."

All the officers stared at Gideon, Eric included. Partly because in such a short time of meeting one another, the older agent had nailed Paris perfectly; only Gage voiced his astonishment

"Whoa, holy crap you guys are good," Eric rolled his eyes at Gage who shrugged. Before he turned to Gideon,

"Leslie was my wife's best friend…an…and my cousin, she became Paris's foster mother when he was barley forty-eight hours old, named him and raised him like her own when she could finally bring him home from the hospital. Paris was born four months premature and his birthmother gave up custody of him as she was going into labor, at least that's what Leslie was told. Doctors weren't even sure if Paris would make it because he was so small and so weak. Leslie couldn't even bring him home for nearly four months after he was born. An official adoption was supposed to happen last year, May 3rd actually." Eric sighed, his voice cracking a little. Leslie had been more than his cousin, she had been his best friend since they were kids.

Growing up next door to one another and being around the same age they were very close. Eric and Lori were such constant fixtures in Paris's life, and were the two people that she trusted with him the most, that Leslie hadn't given a second thought to her two best friends taking custody of her soon to be adopted son, a request that Eric and Lori could not refuse, they were in talks with Paris's caseworker about setting up a date to finish Leslie's paperwork to finalize his adoption.

Elle came up next to Eric and patted his shoulder gently, he looked over at her and then back over at his office, he saw Paris looking at him, watching intently.

"What changed?" Elle asked

"Leslie was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer about a year ago. She was given three months to live. So she gave up custody asking that my wife and I take Paris, and she checked herself into a hospice. She didn't want him to find out"

"No one told him what was happening?" JJ asked exchanging a look with Morgan

"It was Leslie's wish…"

"She didn't want him to watch her die," Hotch spoke up, he was only half paying attention to the conversation between Williamson and the team,

"Leslie's mother, my Aunt Beth died of the same thing; Leslie had to watch her die a very painful death with nothing she could do. She didn't want Paris to go through the same thing. The doctors…they gave her three months, but she lasted four, everyone thought she would beat it, despite the odds. She died last June. We tried ever…everything to keep it from Paris, but he's a smart kid…figured it out, but we kept it from him pretty well and he didn't find out until after the fact, literally a day after we received the call that she was gone." He paused "Lori, my wife…she couldn't stand lying to him, she didn't want Paris to grow up thinking that Leslie gave him up because she didn't want him or didn't love him. It was her own way of grieving I suppose."

"This may be personal, but are you and your wife planning on adopting him?" JJ asked, more out of curiosity than anything, Eric nodded.

"We are…at least we're trying…we're really not sure how ready we are. Paris is a good kid and we've known him his entire life, he really needs someone who is able and willing to fight fire with fire with him…Leslie could counter anything he managed to throw out. She was smart…book smart and that's what he needs, someone who can level out to his intelligence, he's good at reading people and knows how to push buttons if he feels he needs to, it's his defense mechanism I guess. Our main obstacle is his damn caseworker, she is really making things difficult with certain agreements she wants met in the adoption paperwork… things she couldn't get Leslie to agree to. I've personally come to the conclusion that she just wants everyone to be as miserable as she is. But the truth of the matter is, that as long as Paris is technically a foster child, she has some say in his wellbeing, he gets adopted, she knows she will lose all say."

"Has he ever been given an IQ test?" Gideon asked, looking over at the empty window where Paris had been watching, he suspected the boy was still trying to listen, but had moved from the window, to perhaps the floor.

"When he was eight, Leslie was completely against it, but his caseworker insisted. Not that it mattered in the end."

"How's that?" Reid spoke up

"Paris scored a 118, which from what I've read is right around average. So as far as the test could tell, he was a typical eight year old, with some strengths in reading and math, but nothing extraordinary."

"You don't think the test was accurate?" Hotch asked, finally giving his full attention to the conversation, like JJ, he was curious about the ten year old, especially the boy's obvious high intelligence, but strong desire to hide it from the world.

"Like I said…I've known Paris pretty much his entire life, he was just four months old when Leslie was finally able to bring him home from the hospital…He's a smart kid…knows how things work and how to work things. Of course there's no proof, but Lori, Leslie, and I all believe he purposely and carefully answered each question so it would put him in the average category." Elle and JJ exchanged a look before JJ spoke up

"Why would he do that…how could he do that?"

Francis looked up from his own paperwork; he exchanged a look with Eric before turning back to the team

"Ma'am, ifen you can answer those two questions you win all the chips in the casino" he said

"no one…not even Leslie, has ever figure out why…or even how he did it." Eric explained.

A/N: Since both 8 and 9 are fairly short chapters, nine will be up right after this! Thank you all my readers!