Author's note:
I can't believe I already got two reviews on that first chapter! I have to say, they really made my day today. So much so, that I already have the second chapter up for you all! I promise to try and post at least one chapter a week, probably on the weekends (being that I both work and go to school full time).
Thank you so much to everyone who has read, followed, or reviewed! Keep it all coming.
Oh, and I don't own anything from Criminal Minds, I only own Avery, Henry, and the little baby girl (Amelia).
Chapter Two:
Reid's POV
"Niece?" I choked out. The beautiful girl that I was actually able to talk to was Hotch's niece? His niece?
"I wasn't aware that Sean had children", Rossi interjected.
"He doesn't", Hotch said finally, looking quite pale. "We have…had another brother. Jeremy".
"Jeremy was my father", said Avery, "He died when I was 10 years old. When he died my mom… burned her bridges. She had Henry, and later Amelia, and then she split. I've been taking care of them since".
"Avery… why didn't you call me, or Sean? Why didn't you… we could have helped you" Hotch said sadly. "I mean I didn't even know that we had… that you were taking… you can't be more than…"
"19", she interrupted. "I'm 19 now, but I turn 20 in a few days. Henry is four, and Amelia is 6 months" she gestured to each child as she said their age. "I have legal guardianship of both of them. I have a job, and we're only staying here temporarily. I just need to save up enough to be sure we won't have to worry about rent", she said. She seemed firm, resolute. She was sure she was doing the right thing. She was only 20? She seemed so much older, but I surmised that sort of demeanor came from having to grow up early. I suddenly felt a wave of fear, realizing that she was the perfect target for the unsub.
"Avery, this is ridiculous. You and the kids will come stay with Jack and me. This shelter… it's not a safe place for you to stay right now. You can stay with us for as long as you need to, please", Hotch said, almost pleadingly. It was strange to see my boss, my leader on the verge of some sort of emotional break.
"That's very kind of you Aaron, but you don't even know us. I mean when my dad died…", she said hesitantly.
"It doesn't matter", Hotch interrupted firmly. "You and Amelia are my nieces, Henry is my nephew, and you really aren't safe here. Please".
"He's right", I spoke up. Everyone looked at me. I cleared my throat nervously, "This shelter is the, uh, last place that our last victim was seen, and our, uh, unsub seems to target women who look a lot like you do". I didn't want to seem too eager to get her and Henry out of here, but I really didn't want her staying here any longer. I felt a strange connection to this girl, this girl that I'd only known for what? 15 minutes? I didn't understand my feelings as of this moment.
She looked around at all of our faces with a somewhat overwhelmed look. She lifted her hands in mock defeat.
"Alright, you guys win. We'll come!" she said finally, grinning at us.
Avery's POV
"Alright, you guys win. We'll come!" I said, throwing my hands up like I was surrendering. I grinned, I was never really opposed to the idea of going with Aaron. He'd always been a great uncle, my favorite in fact (Sean was always sort of young and aloof when I was a child). I knew that family was important for Amelia and Henry, but up until today I just assumed that would always just be the three of us. When I said earlier that mom had burned her bridges after dad died I was putting things mildly. Aaron knew that too. When she lost her husband she got rid of everything in her life that would remind her of him: pictures, clothes, and family members alike. I remembered that day very well, we came home from the funeral and she slowly began to pack up all of his things in his room. I can remember the fear I had, realizing that she was taking my dad away from me. I had sprinted downstairs and grabbed my favorite photo of us from the coffee table. I took the frame and threw it away and kept the picture in my sock drawer. After that she allowed no mention of my dad, and refused to let anyone that she equated with him to come near us. To my extreme sadness, that included both Sean and Aaron. They called, mom wouldn't answer, they came by and she sent them away. That must have taken a toll on Aaron as well, not being able to see the one thing his brother left on earth. Me. With all those memories swimming around in mind, I wrapped my uncle into another hug.
"Good, that's settled then", the older man next to Aaron said as we broke apart. I wasn't clear on his name, but he seemed to work with Spencer and Aaron. "Why don't you gather your things, we're just leaving anyway. You seemed to be the closest one to Samantha, and we've given the woman in charge our card, in case anyone thinks of anything else", he continued.
"You're looking at all of our things", I said gesturing to Amelia's stroller. Henry was still digging in the various bags and backpacks looking for his screwdriver. Not that there was much to look through, but he could never seem to remember which bag was his.
"Okay", Aaron said after some hesitation. "Let's go. Do the kids have car seats?"
I raised my eyebrow at him. "Do I seem like I'm in any position to have a car Arrow?" I said sarcastically. He smiled in spite of my sass, most likely at my use of the nickname I'd given to him when I was small. I had trouble pronouncing Aaron, and thus Arrow was born. I was glad he remembered, and glad I didn't have to call him Aaron. It felt too formal, too grown-up. "We take the bus everywhere. I have my old student ID from high school, I 'lost' it just before I graduated. They gave me a new one, and it doesn't expire for another 2 years. Students around here ride for free", I explained with a smirk. I saw Spencer smile at me, as if he appreciated my plan. Or, perhaps he was just humoring me. I mean, there was no way that he actually appreciated the underhanded ways that I managed to survive.
"Okay so what if Spencer and I drove back, and you ride on the bus with her back to the BAU?" the older man asked. "We could pick up some car seats on the way, meet you at the office".
"Dave, you don't have your license, and I would prefer if Spencer didn't drive the FBI's car. If he gets one more ticket, Strauss will throw a hissy fit", Aaron said. "Dave you and I will drive to get the car seats, and Spencer can go with Avery, Henry, and Amelia on the bus. We can all meet back at the BAU. I'll take Avery and the kids from there", he reasoned out in an authoritative tone. I got the sense that of the three agents in front of me, Arrow was in charge. It made sense, even when I was little I remembered him working a lot.
Spencer cleared his throat once more. Either he had a serious tickle in his throat, or he did that when he was nervous. Given the nervous way that he began biting his nails and the amount of times he said 'uh' in his recent conversation, I guessed the latter. I myself had bitten my nails since I could remember. The question was, why was he nervous? There was absolutely nothing remarkable about me, outside of my odd living situation. Plenty of girls took care of their siblings, plenty of girls looked just like I did (prettier even). He had nothing to be nervous about.
"I, uh, don't mind at all", Spencer finally said. I realized that he had been fairly quiet for the last ten minutes or so, probably just taking in the circus act that was my family life. I smiled at him, determined to erase the handsome man's nervousness. I felt the need to befriend him, just like I did with nearly everyone that I meet; the compulsion to make people like me was a constant factor of my personality. Luckily I usually found that to be an easy task, but he seemed different. In the best sense of the word. I was going to have to work for his affections. He smiled back, albeit nervously, and looked at Aaron and the older man.
"Good. It's 1:00, the next bus comes in 18 minutes, but it'll take us at least 10 to walk to it. We should get going", I explained to the men. "Arrow are you sure you know what car seats they'll need? Because to be honest, neither one of them has ever had one. I'm not even certain really what they would need", I said quietly. I was a little ashamed to admit that to them. Even when mom was around she was never a stellar motherly figure to any of her kids. She had Henry and Amelia and she seemed to feel as if that's where her responsibility ended. I had never had any money for a car, and no need for car seats.
Aaron gave me my own sassy face, raised eyebrow and all. "Yes Avery, I know what they need. We'll meet you all back at the BAU soon", he said. I grinned at his response. I may have my mother's blonde hair and blue eyes, but my face looked just like Aaron's, just like my father's. I watched as Arrow returned my grin, and then I turned to Spencer.
"Alright, let's go", I said. Arrow and the older man, whose name I think was Dave, gave Spencer and I a nod and walked briskly out of the front doors. Spencer stepped closer to me, hands in the pockets of his slacks, and smiled nervously.
"I, uh, don't know where the closest bus stop is", he said. "You'll have to show me the way".
"No problem Spence", I said with a genuine smile. He was just so cute when he was nervous. Too bad he looked like he was quite a bit older than me. And he'd introduced himself as Dr. Spencer Reid. Anyone who had dedicated that much of their life to academics would never consider a girl like me. As we stood and smiled at each other like idiots, Henry finally found his toy to show Spencer. As he ran up and excitedly grabbed Spencer's arm (a bad habit I was trying to break him of), Spencer finally broke eye contact and knelt down to his level, and began animatedly talking with Henry about his sonic screwdriver. I felt my heart melt with that one small action. Men who were genuinely good with kids, especially mine, were kryptonite to me. I watched their interaction with amusement, but eventually knelt down too.
"Hen? We have to go catch our bus baby. Can you climb in the stroller please? It's time for your rest time anyway", I said as I pulled a now sleeping Amelia out of the stroller.
"Okay, but. Is Spencer going to come with us? Cause I want him to come with", Henry said, looking between myself and Spencer with curiosity.
"Yes baby he's going to come with us", I said. "Now climb in, we gotta get going".
As he climbed into the stroller, I handed Amelia to Spencer. He straightened up and made an awkward sort of cradle with his arms. I chuckled.
"No no, just hold her like you would Henry. One hand under her bottom, let her head rest on your shoulder, and use your other hand to cradle her head. Trust me, she's too big to be held like you're trying", I explained. I watched as his face turned pink, and he reached for Amelia as he described. I placed my now open hand on his bicep (trying not to take note of how solid it felt under my touch) and said, "Don't worry about it. The only men in the world who know how to hold a baby, have one themselves. You did just fine". I gave his arm a squeeze before turning to Henry in the stroller, buckling him in.
"Ready?" I asked.
He cleared his throat once more, and nodded. I pushed the stroller out the door and down the street.
Reid's POV
As I awkwardly put my arms out as a cradle for the sleeping Amelia, I rather hoped that it was the right way to hold a baby. My experience with them was limited exclusively to my godson Henry, and I'd only held him a few times when he was a small baby. Avery giggled at me. I surmised that this was not how I was meant to hold a baby of Amelia's age and weight.
"No no, just hold her like you would Henry. One hand under her bottom, let her head rest on your shoulder, and use your other hand to cradle her head. Trust me, she's too big to be held like you're trying", she explained kindly. I felt my face flush red. The first time she asked me to do something and I was already messing it up. Way to go Spencer, I thought to myself. I took Amelia from her, just like she described and gave her an apologetic smile. She touched my right arm gently, and I felt a strange spark run through my entire body. I would ordinarily hate the invasion into my personal space, but I somehow really enjoyed how her hand felt on the thin button up sleeve I was wearing.
"Don't worry about it. The only men in the world who know how to hold a baby, have one themselves. You did just fine", she said, squeezing my arm reassuringly. As she knelt down to strap Henry into the stroller I let out a silent breath of air I wasn't aware I'd been holding. I watched her gently position Henry in the seat. I couldn't help but notice her form as she did it. Her clothes were average enough, but they left little of her body to my imagination. She was curvy, average height. As she shifted her soft hair out of the way I noted another tattoo peeking up from her left shoulder blade, this time a colorful one. It was positioned to low on her shoulder for me to see more than the top of what appeared to be a round shape. I wondered how someone so young had ended up with this large number of tattoos, she didn't strike me as the type to waste money on something like that. Bottom line, she was beautiful. I didn't know it was even possible for me to be so attracted to someone, even when Lila had kissed me I hadn't felt this level of affection for her. She soon straightened up, and turned to me once more.
"Ready?" she asked. I nodded, and cleared my throat. I sincerely hoped that she hadn't noticed my staring. I indicated that she should lead the way, and opened the front door for her. Out we went to catch the bus.