My Life Had Stood
Chapter 43: A Father's Revelation Pt 1
William Reid entered the hospital courtyard concerned, his eyes searching for his son. He hadn't expected Spencer to agree to meet, let alone answer his call, so he agreed to meet his son here without thinking about the reason why the hospital. It wasn't until he'd gotten out of the cab that worry took a hold.
Did something happen? Was Spencer hurt?
He couldn't help worrying about his son, and he wondered why he hadn't had the foresight to ask Spencer why meet at the hospital and not a cafe or diner, or even Quantico.
"Dad." Spencer called out, glowering at the older man. His expression barely held any warmth, instead it was angry. Seething. Not that it was visibly noticeable, except to those who knew the younger man.
"Spencer." William Reid muttered, surprised by the level of anger he saw and heard in his son. It was such that he wondered why his son had agreed to meet. The thirty-three year old wouldn't talk to him at all normally, let alone when he was angry. Unless Spencer was going to accuse him of something.
William Reid considered his son, wondering if Spencer had agreed to talk in order to blame him for something.
"..." Spencer glowered at his father, part of his subconscious rebelling against demanding the truth from the man. Alsie's plea to simply ignore what they both suspected, to act like it was unknown or impossible, echoed in his head.
"It's been a while." William Reid uttered, suddenly uncomfortable. Calling his son had been a split-second decision, and he'd done so mostly because he thought he wouldn't get a response. Now that he was in front of his son, who visibly seemed fine despite the anger, his mind drew a blank.
"...What's that you're holding?" Spencer asked, ignoring his father's observation that it'd been some time since they spoke. His anger at his father, which had started to dissipate over the last few years, had returned to the same level as before he met the man as an adult. "Is...that's the folder you kept locked in a drawer in your study. The same one you grounded me for looking at when I was five..."
William Reid hesitated, raising up the folder so that it was in clear view of either of them. "That's correct. The same one..."
"...you started keeping it at work after that..." Spencer stated slowly, his brain wandering back to that age. It was so long ago, and he'd been very young, almost too young for even his eidetic memory to be accurate. Which had been the reason why he'd had such difficulty with recalling Riley Jenkins and had initially thought his father had been responsible. "It's thicker than it was before..."
"Yeah." William Reid said quietly, then sighed, before asking if they could sit somewhere. Preferably away from those coming and going from the hospital. Spencer agreed, though more from the fact that his gut had started brewing with nausea, than actually wanting to do so. Once the both of them were seated at a bench, William Reid started to speak. "Spencer..."
"...'Elsie'." Spencer mumbled, not at all paying attention to his father but rather to the memory he had of finding that folder. It'd been his fifth birthday and he'd noticed it on his dad's desk. He had just opened the folder when his dad had stormed in and ripped it away from him. "...that was the name on the top...paper..."
"Spencer? What's..." The older man's eyes widened in concern as the anger in his son's eyes was replaced with something else. It looked like the younger man had suddenly realized something that struck him senseless on top of horrifying him. "What is it?"
"...Elsie...Alsie..." Spencer swallowed, realizing at that moment just how long his subconscious mind must have known the truth. His young age that day, coupled by his blocking out everything connected to his dad, had hindered his recollection. But the moment he saw that folder, it returned. He had seen it, had seen the first thing in that folder's left pocket. It was a receipt for a headstone for a child. For 'Elsie'. Elsie Reid.
"Are you all right?" William Reid's concern for his son intensified seeing how upset the younger man was.
"Why...why did you never tell me? You never mentioned her. Neither you nor mom. Ever" Spencer spat, his tone scathing and hurt. He glared at the older man. "Even after I met her at that park?"
William Reid stared at his son, flabbergasted for a few seconds before realizing what the younger man meant. Realizing who he meant. "Spencer...I..."
"Were you ever going to tell me that I wasn't an only child?! That I had a sister? A twin sister?!" Spencer glared at William Reid, who had subconsciously held out the folder to the younger man. Not that he needed to peruse it to know what it contained.
The older Reid ran his hand through his hair and exhaled a breath he hadn't been conscious of holding. It felt like a weight had been lifted while he was also being pushed into a gauntlet. "Spencer, I never told you because...it never seemed...it wasn't something you needed to know..."
"Didn't need to know? I didn't need..." Spencer drew in a breath, his stomach roiling though thankfully his migraine hadn't returned. He didn't know if he could stop himself from shouting at his father if he had to endure crushing agony on top of everything else. "What about mom? Why did she never mention...she...you...both of you lied to me? Both of you...?"
"No. Spencer, your mother would never lie, not intentionally..." William Reid leaned back on the bench, and inhaled then exhaled a breath. "After the doctor told us your sister...didn't make it. Diana couldn't...she couldn't handle it. She...she eventually blocked out that you had a twin." He grimaced, trying his hardest not to sound bitter. "It was...a mercy for her. To forget. So I...I accepted that. And...I never told you because I...I didn't want to risk you mentioning anything to your mother. It probably wasn't the best decision, but your sister was...gone."
Spencer, nearly interrupting his father a few times since he thought the man's excuses would be selfish, fell silent at mention of his mother's distress. He wanted to angrily retort, to blame his father and shout at him for lying, but he couldn't. His father had lied to protect his mother, to allow his mother to escape a terrible memory.
"...when you came home that day, from the park, and started mentioning an 'Elsie', I didn't know what to think..." William Reid shook his head, exhausted. "Then you insisted it was with an A not an E, that it was a nickname based on that girl's initials, ALC. I..."
"...you and mom argued about her that night." Spencer mumbled, still glowering. "If mom had forgotten her..."
"Yeah. That did happen." William Reid mentioned, lips twisted slightly in surprise. "I forgot you overheard that argument. I was shocked as well when Diana came home and went on and on about the girl she saw you with. That was the first time your mom remembered you had a sister since..." He faltered, grimacing. "It didn't last long. She blocked out Elsie again. Perhaps, if I'd found..."
William Reid stopped, noticing how Spencer flinched hearing him say 'Elsie.' That alone wasn't what frightened him - rather it was noticing the redness around his son's eyes, and the moisture in them.
"Spencer, what...what is wrong? Why...?"
"You should've told me. You should've mentioned it. After the Riley Jenkins case was solved, you could've mentioned it. That I have a sister." Spencer scowled, though it was even less threatening mixed with his held back tears. What his dad had said, this truth, it was something he desperately wished could disappear. "...instead of leaving me unsuspecting..."
"Spencer, what...?"
"Reid, there you are...oh." Hotch's voice cut through the conversation, noticing only as he got close who was with the younger agent. "Mr. Reid, when did you arrive in D.C?"
"Late last night. I needed to..."
Before the older Reid could finish answering, Spencer stood up and stormed off. His face kept hidden from view.
"What? Reid?" Hotch started to call out to the agent, but stopped when it quickly became obvious that Spencer needed to be alone. That something must have happened. He turned back to the older Reid, realizing quietly what it was that likely upset the younger Reid. "Mr. Reid, what were you and your son talking about?
"Um. That..." William Reid's first instinct was to tell the other man it wasn't any of his business, but he didn't. There was a reason he came to D.C, other than telling Spencer the truth. That reason had to do with a case connected to the Bureau.
"It's about his sister right? His twin?" Hotch stated when the other man hesitated, though the hesitance was only for a few seconds.
"How did..." William Reid gaped, gazing at the agent suspiciously. Though it had more to do with how Hotch knew what he and Spencer had talked about than with the man knowing about the twin in general. His eyes widened when Hotch glowered down at him, making him wonder what he'd done or said to make the other man angry. "What's going on? First Spencer, now you...what...?"
"It's...it'll take a while to explain, but..." Hotch studied the man, his voice trailing off as he noticed the folder. Somehow when Spencer had stood up, the folder had been knocked open. His eyes twitched, noticing the papers it contained. One of which was an article about the Connell-Somerfield case. "You already suspect it. That's why you're here. You suspect the Connell Case is connected to your daughter..."
"Yes." William Reid answered quietly, and a bit unsure. He picked up the folder, making sure all the papers were stowed safely inside. "I don't have proof. Just a feeling. I know it's not likely, but..."
Hotch sighed, and motioned for the other man to walk with him back inside. "Mr. Reid, your daughter...I believe it is likely that Connell switched her with another family's child."
"...what?" William Reid's eyes widened, and he stopped, having just started to follow Hotch. "You have evidence? Proof?"
"We found enough to suspect. But no hard evidence, yet." Hotch said carefully. "A DNA test would..."
"...DNA test? That means...You...you found her? You know where she is? She's..." William Reid's eyes grew round as he stared at the hospital. "Is she in there? Is Elsie..."
"Al...?" Hotch paused, surprised upon hearing the name. That was until he remembered the name he saw written on one of the papers in the folder. It was the name Elsie, written with an E not an A. "Mr. Reid, I need to ask you. Did you ever meet the Crawfords or the girl they named Adrienne Leigh?"
"Shit! They did take her?! They're the ones...? Those..." William Reid cursed, anger filling him. He glanced at the folder he held, then gave it to the agent. "Here."
"What is..." Hotch started to ask at the same moment he opened the folder, glancing through the various sheets. His eyes widened at the report from a detective agency. "You looked for her. You looked into the Crawfords? Why? Did you know...?"
"No. Diana...she said she saw Elsie playing with Spencer at a park when they were kids. She was insistent, and I...I looked into it. The Crawfords vanished though and I couldn't find anything remotely like proof, so I...gave up. I put it down to Diana's...illness acting up. I did try again after I left, but...there was even less of a trail by then." William glanced downwards, recalling both times he'd given up searching for his daughter. The first time he'd done so because he felt his wife and son needed his attention more, and he honestly believed Diana had been mistaken. The second time - he didn't know why he didn't pursue it longer, though he had done so a year longer than the previous time. "...do you really suspect, that my daughter...that the girl the Crawfords had is really her?"
Hotch didn't respond for a few minutes, the other man's question prompting him to think about Spencer and Alsie. He knew he was the first of the team to notice the similarities, or at least the first to suspect, or allow himself to suspect, the reason behind them. He also understood how the younger Reid felt about Alsie, based on how Spencer acted with Alsie both at Quantico and at the hospital after Shelly's attack. And if that wasn't enough, the way Spencer stormed off just moments ago clinched it.
"Mr. Reid, you really should have told your son about his sister sooner."
A/N: Alsie/Elsie are pronounced the same. Furthermore, in the upcoming chapters I'm going to use mostly just the 'Alsie' spelling, except when William Reid is referring to her.