AN: Hey! So this is chapter 33. Sorry it took so long, I've been busy busy busy with planning! Anyway, I hope you like it!
Just after 4x7- Memoriam
"Jenna, Jenna are you up?" a muffled voice peaked through my bedroom door. I turned my body to face the direction of the voice, still not able to see due to the darkness and poor eyesight.
"Mhm" I groaned, looking at the clock and realizing it was nearly three in the morning and I had school in a few short hours.
The person behind the voice was Spencer, and he entered my room and sat at the end of my bed. He was hard to read this time around. He looked disheveled, no surprise there, but I sensed a tinge of satisfaction.
"What brings you in my room at three AM?" I slurred out while sitting up lazily.
"JJ, JJ had her baby" The left corner of his mouth tilted up, forming a half smile. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I wasn't totally offended that I wasn't informed earlier, or taken to the hospital to visit. As great as the occasion was, it was too much chaos.
"What? Really? Finally!" I gave a slight giggle of relief.
"She uh, she asked me to be the godfather" The other corner of Spencer's mouth angled upwards, forming a full grin. He huffed a quick laugh, probably because he's the last person either of us thought would be chosen for such title. My jaw dropped, then formed a smile as well.
"Spenc, that's great. That's really great" I said tiredly, but with genuine care. I definitely didn't see that news coming.
"Yeah, yeah it is" Spencer pushed the air from his lungs and looked down to the ground. His grin slowly faded, and the air turned tense.
"What's wrong?" I asked, desperate for sleep, but too curious to leave the issue alone.
He waited a moment and licked his lips, leaving me hanging.
"The case- I won't go into detail, for your own sake, but- uh, it led me to see Dad" Spencer kept his eyes locked to the floor. My stomach dropped the entire seven floors of the apartment building and landed in the lobby. I felt the slight urge to throw up, I never thought I would hear that statement.
"Wait, Dad? As in...our Dad? W-what? CPS couldn't even find him, how did you? Did he kill a dozen people or something?" I fumbled out, completely frazzled.
"No- no he didn't. I thought he had something to do with the case, but it was all in my head." Spencer seemed just as puzzled as I did. I stayed silent, honestly not knowing what to say.
"He asked about you" Spencer broke his gaze at the ground and his eyes met mine, dull and emotionless.
"Well what did you say?" I shrugged my shoulders and brought my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them as a sense of comfort.
"I told him about how you landed a role in your school musical, how you love to dance, how maturity wise you're years ahead of your peers, and how your intelligence seems to baffle me day by day" Spencer laughed a bit his last line, I smiled slightly to go along.
"I showed him a picture of you, I hope that's okay" Spencer filled the tense silence.
"W-which picture?" I asked. I didn't even know he had any.
He reached into the back pocket of his tan slacks and pulled out his brown leather wallet. Upon opening it, a collection of images poured out like an accordion. The first was my school picture, which I thought was absolutely hideous and begged Spencer to throw every existing copy in the trash, but clearly he didn't listen.
The second picture was of me and Spencer in the round table room at the BAU, both sitting in a chair with our feet up on the wooden structure and holding a book in front of our faces. It was rather funny actually.
The third and final image was taken around a month and a half after my arrival, it was one of the rare occasions I didn't have rehearsal or dance and I had stopped off at the BAU right after school. I had each team member lined up on either side of me, everyone making their own goofy face, and me in the middle with a grin from ear to ear. Despite my obnoxiously large smile, I truly loved the photo. I remembered that that was the moment I finally felt accepted, like they truly were my family.
"I forgot about these" I chuckled, so caught up in the memories behind the photos I almost forgot what brought them to me.
"He'd really like to talk to you" Spencer's voice snapped me out of my reminiscent moment. I didn't even need to think about what to say.
"No no no no no" I shot out at warp speed. "When he left, he agreed to cut all family ties. He has to live with that. If he feels there is a problem, then tough" My voice grew more enraged as I went on. Spencer looked at me with sympathy. I imagined he had felt the same way at one point or another.
"You're still mad, I get it, I'm pretty angry too. I don't expect you to forgive him, I'm just asking you to think about it" Spencer remained calm, whereas I was noticeably heated.
"I don't need to think about it, I'm not calling him" I replied stubbornly. Spencer gave me a pleading look, but I ignored it entirely and kept my ground.
"Jenna, it's just a phone call. You don't need to be best friends with the guy" Spencer filled the silence. I thought about what would happen if I took him up on his offer, but quickly rejected the idea.
"What would I even say? 'Hi Dad, it's Jenna, the daughter you abandoned. Remember me? My mom is dead because of you and I spent nine years with two psychos because you wouldn't step up to the plate!'" I mocked in a rather harsh tone. Spencer rubbed his face with his two hands and took a deep breath. I felt slightly guilty for reacting the way I did, when I got worked up the filter in my brain just turned off. I could blame it on sleep deprivation or hormones, or I could just admit I was too screwed up to care.
"I'm sorry" I added, picking at the small pills of black fabric on my comforter.
"It's alright, just think about it" Spencer pushed his body up off of my bed, and leaned over to plant a kiss on the top of my head. He exited the dark room, but not before slipping a small business card atop my white Victorian double dresser. I heard him shuffle into his own bedroom and settle in, leaving me with a mind full of racing thoughts and school in the morning.