Author's Note: Just a short little one-shot of Rossi coming to Reid's rescue.
Reid paced anxiously back and forth. He couldn't do this. Not today. His head was completely spinning. How had he gotten stuck baby sitting both Jack and Henry? Reid ground his teeth together slowly and made sure that he could still hear the boys, and keep them in his sight. Hearing them wasn't hard. They were being very loud.
He couldn't call Hotch for help, as Hotch was on a date with Beth. JJ was spending some time with Will. His first choice for help had been Garcia but unfortunately, all he got was her voice mail. Apparently she was with Kevin. Why did Valentine's Day do this to people? He then had tried Morgan but once again, heard only voice mail. Morgan must also have a date. Reid realized there was one member of the team that he hadn't called. Would he have a date? So Reid picked up the phone nervously, and called David Rossi...
And now he sat in the park, anxiously trying to control two very hyper kids who were on a major sugar high.
"Reid, what's going on?"
He turned to face the older agent whom had his eye brows raised. There Spencer Reid stood, with slushie spilled all over his shirt, drenched from head to toe. He was still dripping. "Baby sitting is hard work," Reid moaned pitifully, pulling a soggy cheezie out of his hair.
"Why are you soaked?" Dave asked calmly, trying not to look amused. He failed miserably, the corners of his mouth twitching into the smallest of smiles.
"Don't even ask," Reid muttered, keeping his eyes glued to the little devils running around. He hoped and prayed they'd burn off some of the energy they'd acquired. Maybe they would even pass out early.
"Reid!" Rossi lectured, gesturing towards the bench, which was cluttered with candy wrappers, "Did you give them all this today?"
"Yes," Reid said with a helpless shrug, squinting into the sun as he scanned the play area. He focused on keeping sight of both kids, hardly knowing what trouble they could get into if he let them out of his sight for even a second.
"There's your problem," Rossi said, sighing as he rolled his eyes. "You don't give young children this much candy. I'd think you as the genius you are would know that."
Reid looked at Rossi, exhaustedly telling him, "Just because I'm a genius, that doesn't mean I know what I'm doing when it comes to baby sitting. One kid, alone, I can handle. But they seem to feed off each other's energy."
Dave smirked and gently responded, "Well, next time, baby sitting lesson 101, never feed the children sugar."
Sighing as he acknowledged the point, Reid began to throw the wrappers and unwrapped candy out. He knew this was one mistake he'd never make again.
"Let's just hope this sugar wears off before Hotch and JJ retrieve their kids," Rossi said carefully. He wondered how the two profilers would react when each came to get their son, and saw the trouble the kids were making.
Rossi then grabbed Reid and began to quckly pull him over towards the boys, who were now chasing the ducks around the park.
"Hey, cut it out," Reid protested, trying in vain to get Jack's attention as Jack pretended to be a duck.
Henry was holding a small duckling gently in his arms and was smiling from ear to ear. Reid felt things were okay for a moment, before realizing that Jack was about to go swim with the ducks in the pond. Luckily for Spencer, Rossi had been on top of it. Rossi spotted Jack's move and had already smoothly pulled the kid out.
"Great," Reid muttered darkly. Surely, he thought, the day couldn't get any worse.
"It's not so bad," Rossi responded, though he was grimacing as he was soaked worse than Reid had been by the slushie.
"It's not that," Reid moaned, "let's go," he said impatiently.
"What?" Rossi asked, clearly bemused, as he held a struggling Jack.
"It's about to rain," Reid declared, gesturing up toward the dark, stormy clouds that had come seemingly out of nowhere.
"Rain?" said Jack with an unhappy tone. He stopped suddenly and became still, causing Rossi to stumble a little.
"Rain," echoed Henry, a wide smile forming on his face.
"I hate the rain," Jack squealed before bolting for the car. Reid couldn't hide the relieved expression on his face, but Henry had moved to sit down on the grass.
"I love the rain," Henry said, disagreeing as he lay back and looked straight up, seeming to be without a care in the world.
Reid shot Rossi a desperate, pleading look. "What do I do now?" he said softly, feeling a mild headache coming on.
"Bye, Henry," Rossi said with a shrug, as he walked over to the car. He'd walked over to the park, but he wasn't walking home when the threat of rain was obvious.
"Bye," mumbled Henry, looking up at the grey clouds in the previously blue sky.
Reid shot Rossi a look when Rossi gestured that Reid follow away from the park, and then reluctantly, Spencer listened. He began to walk slowly away from Henry, wondering why Rossi would even suggest this. Reid really hoped the older profiler knew what he was doing. And Rossi did. Sure enough, Henry came running after Reid. "Don't leave me!" Henry cried out as he hurried to catch up.
Sighing with relief, Reid stopped to allow the young boy to reach him. If only he'd begun to listen sooner, Reid would have been much happier. That was the moment when the skies opened up, and a sudden downpour hit. Reid's hair was soaked, and stuck to the back of his neck as Henry shrieked excitedly and ran for the cover of the car.
"Drip, drip, drop little April showers," the boys sang loudly.
Spencer knew Henry's singing and excitement, and the fact that Jack had joined in, meant that this was going to be a long night. He could only hope JJ didn't leave him stranded like she'd done before.
But after a moment, he couldn't help smiling. Sugar or no sugar, he really was fond of the two boys. Reid joined in the singing as he got in his car.