A few weeks after Aaron proposed to Spencer in the middle of the entire BAU while getting a stare down just holding his bag, Aaron decided to just ask Spencer how he procured it. It was during dinner when the question spilled from his mouth, "Spencer, honey...why is your bag so important?"
"It's been in the family since I was a child…" Spencer eyed Aaron over their meat loaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and stuffing dinner. "Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"
"Considering your intense reactions these last few months, it piqued my curiosity about the importance of the bag to you."
Spencer sighed and said, "I'll tell you after dinner with a nice glass of red to help things along."
"I can do that." Aaron answered knowing that whatever Spencer told him, he definitely hadn't told anyone else.
The two went back to eating their meal and talking about everything but Spencer's bag. Spencer admired his engagement ring that Aaron had given him a few days after he proposed by card. When their food was finished Aaron put the plates in the sink and grabbed a chilled wine bottle out of the wine refrigerator. He picked up two wine glasses and the corkscrew before he went to the living room where Spencer settled. After he poured their wine, he handed Spencer his glass and decided that sitting next to Spencer's legs on the floor would be best for the tale.
Spencer took a sip of wine and carded his left hand through Aaron's short locks. He gathered a few thoughts and flipped through his memories. He started, "Do you remember Vegas a few years ago?" Aaron nodded against Spencer's hand still stroking his hair. "William Reid reacted to my bag very subtly but he did. That's because I've had it since he left me and my mother when I was ten. That bag is almost twenty five years old."
Aaron turned his head and looked at his fiance. "So you hid his bag when you realized he was leaving for good?"
"Yeah. I knew I'd never see him again so I wanted something of his to hang onto…."
"Like a keepsake?"
"Yeah. I didn't start using it until I was working on my first doctorate twelve years ago. I get the leather worked on over the years to keep it in good shape."
"So your way to keep your dad in your life?"
Spencer took another drink of his wine and continued running his fingers through Aaron's hair. "Not anymore. I outgrew that childish thought when I started my doctoral programs. It's a part of my history without screaming out loud. Besides carrying around thoughts of my dad with that bag I hold onto parts of my mother like I'll carry her favorite books or the paper and pen I use when we're on cases so I can write to my mother."
Aaron set his glass on the coffee table and climbed onto the couch and set Spencer's glass next to his before he pulled his lover into his arms and said, "Not another soul will touch that bag."
Spencer bit his lips and snorted against Aaron's chest. He said, "We'll get to those battles when we get there." He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped at Aaron's declaration.
His fiance might be a man of few words - yet to Spencer that was a far better, 'babe I love you.' He respected one of Spencer's idiosyncrasies and didn't make fun of it. He listened and supported Reid - he just hoped that Hotch would let him do that in return.
For once, despite their job - the future was looking bright - and the only witness apart from the lovestruck couple, one messenger bag.