A Voice Cries Out

Chapter 24

"Surprise, Daddy! We're here!"

The protective big brother in Henry allowed Rosie to get to their father first.

"Daddy!"

Reid's lightning quick mind barely had time to process all of it before his arms were full of little blondes. He may not have been the most coordinated on the ball field, but he'd long since mastered the art of holding a child in each arm. And the shape of his upper torso was evidence of how often it happened.

"What are you doing here?!"

"It's a 'pise, Daddy!"

"A sur-prise, Rosie. A sur-prise," corrected her older brother. Directing his next words to his father, he said, "Mommy wanted us to surprise you!"

Reid cast a glance at JJ, whose facial expression told him they would talk about it later. So he just basked in the loving embrace of the two littlest people who filled his heart. Looking past them, he saw his in-laws.

"Hi…..and thanks." Reid gently lowered the children to the floor and moved toward the adults behind them. He extended his hand to Charles, who used it to pull him into a quick embrace.

"I'm sorry for what you've been through, Spencer. And I'm glad your father is out of danger."

Reid had time to murmur another quick "Thanks" before Sandy wrapped him in her arms. She may have struggled after the death of her elder daughter so many years ago, but Sandy Jareau had found her way back to the demonstrative, loving self she'd once been.

"Spencer, I'm so sorry for your troubles. Charles filled me in on everything that's happened." She'd been too wrapped up in the care of the children before. The back of Reid's mind marveled at the true partnership the Jareaus had developed, neither keeping secrets from the other, neither falsely 'protecting' the other.

They're just open. And, if something hurts one of them, the other is at their side to keep them strong. There's no hiding things, and there's no running away.

He knew it hadn't always been like that between the Jareaus. JJ had told him how it was after her sister died, and her mother entered a prolonged depression. Charles had gone into 'protector' mode with his family…..and then realized how futile it was. Then he'd concluded that the only way to deal with real pain was to face it, and experience it, holding on to one another until the assault subsided. That they were all still there, and all still clinging to one another when things finally turned in a better direction, was ample evidence that his strategy was sound.

As a child, Reid had learned much the same thing. His father's abandonment had forced the child Spencer into a situation where he would have to commit his own act of abandonment if he was to avoid his pain. For a great many years he'd felt like he'd done just that…abandoned Diana primarily to ease the discomfort of living with a chronic schizophrenic. In her final days, Diana had relieved him of that burden, acknowledging the dilemma of his choice, and forgiving any residual guilt he carried.

"Thank you," he whispered to his mother-in-law before she released him.

Reid turned quizzical eyes back to his wife. They could discuss it more later, but he needed some sort of explanation now.

"I just thought….your dad's going to be okay, and we're on personal time anyway, and poor Mom and Dad were pretty much house-bound with the kids…..I thought it would be good for all of us."

"But we haven't got anyone in custody….."

"I know. But we figured out he was targeted, right? There's no danger to anyone else."

He conceded it. She hadn't needed to explain. Reid knew JJ would never put their children, or her parents, at risk. "What about school?"

Sandy overheard the question and interjected. "Henry showed me how to e-mail his teacher, so I could get his assignments. But then, apparently, the boiler broke and is going to take a few days to repair, so they are out of school until Monday next week. His teacher wrote back telling us to have a good time. Although she did pass along a little homework. She doesn't want the class to lose momentum, she said."

The homework was apparently news to Henry, who frowned. "Aww….do I have to? We're on vacation!"

JJ ruffled her son's head affectionately. "This is a bonus vacation, Little Man. Bonus vacations come with homework."

"I'll help you if you need me to, Buddy." Reid embraced homework as a father/son activity the way others did fishing, or camping.

JJ stepped over and ushered her husband to the table. "And we really do have food. Eat something, Spence."

Remarkably, Reid's appetite was returning. He settled himself in front of a hamburger and fries, but had to push back from the table when his daughter insisted on getting into his lap. Mimicking a game he'd played with her, Rosie picked up fry after fry and zoomed them into her father's open mouth, giggling each time he snatched one from her fingers.

"It's gonna take you all night to eat like that, Spence."

"Mmmph…..tastes better this way." A dash of Rosie enhancing the flavor of love. What could ever be better?

"I still can't believe you did this," he whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping dynamos in the center of their bed. "When did you do it?"

"Yesterday. Remember I asked Mom to have Dad call me? We decided that, if they were dug out and the roads plowed by morning, they'd get on the first plane west."

As grateful as he was to have his whole family with him, Reid had a concern.

"Um…didn't that cost like…a fortune?" Wishing, for the umpteenth time, that the BAU job came with overtime.

She managed to giggle without shaking the bed. "Only a small one. Mom and Dad traveled a lot after he retired. They had a ton of frequent flyer miles."

"Whew."

"So, where did you go today?"

Reid was still basking in the happiness of being reunited with his children, and didn't really want to think about all that had been troubling him earlier. But none of it had gone away. It had simply been buried in love. He knew it wouldn't stay there for long.

"I just walked. I'm not even sure where I went. But, at some point, I knew I needed to turn around."

She heard the metaphor in it.

"Thinking about your Dad, of course."

"What else?"

"What did you come up with?"

"More questions, mostly. I can't put it together. He walked out on us, but he kept tabs on us. How else would he have known when she went to Bennington? He never sent flowers to our home, so he must have known when she wasn't living at home any more."

"You know, I've been thinking about that, too. About all of it, of course. But I was thinking about that other time we were in Vegas, when you stayed behind….."

"When Henry was born…"

Her smile was tinged with sadness, her feelings about that time complex. Happy to have brought Henry into the world, sad with the knowledge that the boy's father and she couldn't sustain their love. Sadder still to remember that Will was permanently absent from his son's life. Happy that Henry and Reid had bonded so easily, first as godfather and godson, and now as father and son.

All of that flashed through her features in a matter of seconds. Her husband saw, and knew, because he shared it with her.

"Yes. I was thinking that they must have been in contact then. Because you said they came together to see you, but…..how would your father have found her? Or how would she have called him, to say she wanted to tell you the truth? They each had to have known where the other was, and how to reach them."

Reid just stared at her for a moment, and then snorted, sending a vibration through the mattress. He quickly stilled himself as he looked to make sure he hadn't roused the kids.

"See….I married a woman smarter than myself. Can you believe it, in all this time, it never even occurred to me, but you're right. I should have known."

"You were upset, Spence. Even a genius can have trouble concentrating sometimes, right? Although, maybe you're right…..maybe you did marry someone smarter than you."

He grinned at her. "I am more than willing to be outsmarted by the beautiful Jennifer Jareau Reid any day."

She grinned back. "You may regret that, Spencer Reid. But, seriously, you were saying about your dad...?"

"I was saying that it didn't go together. The idea that he would leave us, but still show affection for Mom. That he would care so much about his brother….it just wasn't consistent with the person I've always thought he was."

She tried not to let the hope rise. As much as she'd understood and respected her husband's feelings about his father, she'd also seen them eat away at him. She'd long wished Spence would find his way to resolution, whether it involved reconciliation or not. Anything that would allow him to move forward without that aftertaste of bitterness and resentment that seemed to surface so unexpectedly. Could he be moving in that direction?

"Spence, what are you saying?" She hadn't yet shared with him about this afternoon's conversation with William. It had been lost to the arrival of their family, and this wasn't the right setting for it right now, either.

"Well, at first I kind of concluded that maybe he hadn't run away from my mother. That maybe it was me."

He'd known it would sound childish even before he'd spoken the words. And he'd considered not telling her at all. But she was his sounding board. Withholding from JJ served no purpose except to leave him feeling isolated.

"And?" Her body tensed as she waited for his answer. What he'd been thinking simply wasn't true. But it wasn't entirely untrue either.

"And I realized it didn't make sense. I may have been an unusual child, but I don't think I was particularly difficult. Maybe he felt challenged by my intellect, but it wasn't like he didn't have experience with that. After all, his brother was a genius, too. So I don't think he was running away from me, alone."

"But you still think he was running."

"What else?"

Henry made a half-turn in the bed, prompting Rosie to squiggle until her rump was raised in the air, her sweet toddler breath blowing at her father. Not wanting to risk a full awakening, JJ and Spence each mouthed a "Good night" and an "I love you" to each other.

The rest of their conversation would have to be postponed. There would be time enough tomorrow to face the challenges of that day. For now, all that mattered was that they were together with all of the people they loved. In their crowded hotel bed, in the neon-littered dark of a Las Vegas night, peace descended on the Reid family.