Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. I do not own anything you recognize. Don't like, don't read.
AN- Two quick things: First, I'm back at work. School started this past Monday so updates might be a little shorter and a little slower coming. And second:
I'm Cancer Free!
Previously on Criminal Minds- Laughing at the memory, the two friends made their way back inside.
CM
Rossi ran the wet paper towel over Reid's face one more time before tossing it in the trash. "There, now you look presentable." He commented, chuckling as the toddler's stomach loudly rumbled. "Just in time, too by the sound of it." Dave picked Spencer up off the counter and walked out of the bathroom, almost hitting an elderly woman standing a little too close to the door. "Excuse me ma'am, I didn't see you there."
"You don't need to apologize, young man. That was my fault. I shouldn't have been standing so near the doorway." Ruthie stated with a smile. "I just wanted to be sure I caught you. I overheard what those hoodlums said to this precious little baby and I needed to see if he was alright."
"That's very nice of you, ma'am" Rossi replied, unconsciously tightening his hold on his charge. "But as you can see, Spencer's fine, aren't you kiddo?"
Reid nodded before shyly hiding his face in Rossi's shoulder, playing his part to perfection.
"Oh thank Heavens! I was so worried about him!" the kind lady said, walking into the store part of the establishment with the profiler. "I hope you don't think I'm a nosey old bitty but he was so upset when you took him out of the restaurant. And I can't stand to see a little one like that. I'd like to give him a little something too, if you don't mind. I started to go ahead and get a toy for him but then I remembered telling my own children never to take anything from strangers. So I decided to wait and let him pick a stuffed animal out himself. If that's alright with you, that is."
Spencer glanced over at the enormous bin containing animals of all shapes and sizes and then peered hopefully up at Rossi. "Tan I?" he softly asked.
Dave ran a hand across his mouth before slowly nodding. "I guess that'd be okay." He responded, smiling as the boy in his arms bounced up and down excitedly.
"Wonderful!" Ruthie exclaimed. Looking at Reid, she instructed, "Pick anything you want, Sweetie."
Spencer bit his lip as he scanned all the different stuffed toys. He immediately discounted all the large plushies due to price. He didn't want the lady spending a lot of money on him. With those out of the running he still had a ton of animals to pick from. The tiny agent carefully looked over his choices before picking something. "Fat one" he announced, pointing to a small black and white penguin with blue feet.
Rossi reached into the bin, pulled out the stuffed toy, and handed it to Reid, who hugged it to his chest. "Spencer, what do you tell the nice lady?" he prodded.
"Fant you" Spencer said, giving the elderly woman a dimpled smile.
"You're welcome, Sweetie" Ruthie replied. "I'm so glad you're alright. You be good for your grandpa now, you hear?"
Without missing a beat, Reid turned and stared wide eyed at Rossi. "Daddy, her talled you gandpa!" he gasped.
"D-dad…oh, I'm so sorry sir. I didn't mean to imply…"
"It's alright ma'am. I've been called worse, trust me." Rossi told the woman. "Besides, I understand where you're coming from. I know I look more like a grandfather than I do a father."
"Still, I do apologize." Ruthie sincerely stated. "I was raised better than that." Seeing her husband motioning for her, she sighed. "I've got to be going now. It was nice meeting you. And again I'm sorry about the mix-up."
"No problem ma'am" Dave replied. "Thank you for checking on Spencer and for the stuffed animal. It's nice to know there's still some good people in this world. I hope you and your husband have a good evening."
"Bye bye" Spencer called, waving at the woman.
Rossi waited until Ruthie had made it safely to her husband's side before turning to the toddler. "Daddy? Really, kid?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Spencer nodded. "You'we not old nuff to be a ganpa." He stated.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but I am." Dave divulged. "In fact, I think I'm way past the being a father age."
"Not fafew(father), daddy" Reid corrected.
"Father, daddy? What's the difference?" Rossi curiously inquired.
"Anybody tan be a fafew. All it tates is DNA. William Weid is a fafew." Spencer explained. "Daddy's awe lite Hotch. Fey tate tawe of theiw tids, play wif fem(them), and love fem. You'd mate a gweat daddy."
Touched more than he'd ever admit, Dave hugged the toddler. "Thank you, Spencer" he whispered. Hearing a loud growling noise a few seconds later, the profiler laughed. "Come on, let's go eat before your stomach decides to rebel." Settling Reid on his hip, Rossi went through the store and back to their table. Noticing Hotch sitting in his seat, Dave walked around the table, placed the toddler in his seat, and then sat down in the chair beside him. Wanting to prevent the others from questioning the boy and setting off another round of tears, the seasoned profiler quickly spoke. "I take it the waitress has already been by."
"Yes" Hotch answered. "We ordered for you. I hope that's alright."
"I'm sure whatever you got is fine." Rossi said as he picked up a triangle shaped block of wood with what looked like colored golf tees stuck in it. "What's this thing?"
"It's a puzzle. You're supposed to jump pegs over each other until there are no other moves." Emily explained.
Catching on to what they were doing, Garcia swiftly joined in. "Yeah, if you do it right, you're only supposed to leave one peg. But none of us have been able to do it so far."
"Weally?" Spencer squeaked. "Let me twy." Holding out his hands, he took the game from Rossi and set it on the table. After studying it for a moment, he started rapidly jumping pegs until only one remained.
"Oh no way" Derek muttered, staring at the single peg. "How'd you do that Pretty Boy?"
"It's weally pwetty easy." Spencer began. He placed the pegs back on the triangle and turned to his friend. "See, it's jut a simple mattew of…"
The team listened to their youngest rattle off the solution to the puzzle. Seeing the youngster at ease, they decided to put off apologizing to him. They'd save that for later. Right now they were just content to watch Reid as he animatedly chattered away.
Soon after Rossi and Reid's return, the waitress appeared at the table with their meals. Setting the game aside, the group dug into their food. The conversation was light as they savored each delicious bite. All talk of the case tabled for the time being.
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Spencer slowly chewed the piece of turkey and swallowed it before putting down his fork and pushing his plate away. His small headache had grown to the point where it felt like a jackhammer was going off in his head. Rubbing his temple, the toddler snuck a glance at Rossi. The man was in the middle of a lively discussion with Morgan over who was the best cook. Not wanting to bother his friends while they were enjoying themselves, the tiny agent shifted around in his seat and then folded his arms and set them on the arm of his booster seat. Laying his head on his arms, Reid closed his eyes and tried to will the pain away.
Aaron frowned as he watched his youngest team member. "Spencer, are you alright?" he called, drawing everyone's attention to the hurting boy.
Glancing down and finding the toddler curled up and trembling, Rossi sighed. He gently untangled the boy and picked him up. "Is your head hurting again, buddy?" he quietly questioned as he ran a hand up and down the child's back in comfort. Getting a whispered "yes" in reply, he looked over at the team's tech analyst. "Garcia, did you bring the children's Tylenol with you?"
"Yeah, it's right here." Penelope replied, handing over the bottle.
"Let me get that." Morgan offered. He took the medicine bottle from Rossi, opened it, and quickly poured the recommended dosage. "Here you go, Pretty Boy. This will make you feel better."
Spencer lifted his head long enough to swallow the medicine. Dropping his head back on Rossi's shoulder, he closed his eyes once more.
"Dave, why don't you and JJ take Spencer back to the hotel?" Hotch suggested. "He'll rest easier in a bed."
"Will do" Rossi replied as he slowly stood. Taking the keys from Hotch, he handed them to JJ and the two quickly headed for the door.
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JJ pulled up to the hotel and cut the engine. "How is he doing?" she asked, glancing up in the rearview mirror.
"He's finally asleep." Dave whispered as he carefully unfastened the car seat straps. He lifted them over the toddler's head and then gently picked the boy up, settling Reid's head on his shoulder. The profiler slid out of the vehicle and followed JJ down the sidewalk and into the sliding glass doors of the hotel. Making a beeline for the elevators, the two breathed a sigh of relief as the doors of one of the lifts opened just as they walked up. Stepping inside, they pushed the button for their floor and stood back to wait.
Kyle Remington glanced up as the hotel doors swished open. His eyes got saucer wide and his mouth dropped open as he watched the strange group cross the room and get in the elevators. Punching his co-worker in the arm to get his attention, he gasped, "Did you see that? That old man just carried another dude into the elevator!"
"You must be on something Kyle cause you're seeing things. That man was carrying a baby, not a man." Sophie corrected, rolling her eyes at her friend.
"Say, what you want. I know what I saw." Kyle angrily defended
"Better not let the boss hear you talking like that. He'll fire you on the spot." The petite blond warned. "He's still angry about you missing two days work, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful." Kyle muttered, still staring at the elevators. He'd show her. He'd get the video tape for the camera in the lobby after his shift was over. Then she'd see he was right.
CM
Hotch glared at the evidence board. Five days. That's how long it had been since they landed in Vegas and they were no closer to catching the unsub than they had been when they got there. Leads had proven fruitless, suspects had been cleared, but they were still not any closer to uncovering the unsub's identity. Reid's profile had been the only bright spot so far. Spencer had managed to narrow down the area for the next attack to a county beside Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that had still left a huge area for them to cover. JJ had held a press conference warning the residents and with the help of several police forces, the team had spread out to search the places the unsub was most likely to be. But in the end it just wasn't enough. They hadn't gotten there in time and another family had paid the price. The deaths had hit the team hard, especially their youngest member. Reid had been devastated. He'd blamed himself for the murders saying that if he'd been his normal self, he would have worked out the profile earlier and thus gotten there in time. And that even if he hadn't, him being an adult would have meant that they would have all been working on the case. No one would have been taken away from the case to babysit him. With the whole team working nonstop like they usually did, the case would have been solved long before anyone else was taken. Which meant it was his fault the boy and his father had been killed. And nothing anybody said could convince him otherwise.
Spencer had thrown himself into his work after that, refusing to stop to rest. He'd work till he passed out from exhaustion. Unwilling to allow the youngster to run himself into the ground, Hotch had tried everything to force the hard headed agent to rest. Eventually, he'd had to resort to spanking the boy to get him to sleep. Since then, he'd made sure either Morgan, Rossi, or he was at the hotel at naptimes and bedtimes to ensure that Reid got the rest his body needed. So far it seemed to be working and while it wasn't the best solution, at the moment it was the only one they had. Hotch just hoped they captured the unsub before his youngest agent drove himself cr...Aaron quickly cut that thought off. Crazy was never a word he wanted associated with Spencer. Looking back at the evidence board, the weary man sighed. There had to be something they were missing; some piece of evidence they'd overlooked; something that would lead them to…
"Agent Hotchner! Police in Winchester just called! They've got him!" Captain Sturgess hollered.