Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. Feel free to read and review, but please don't copy.

Previously on Criminal Minds- Smiling, the two men headed back to the hospital and their family.

CM

Dr. Sawyer pocketed his stethoscope, gazed at his tiny patient, and let out a sad sigh. "Well, I can't find anything else wrong with ya so I'm afraid I'm gonna have to turn you loose." He said.

"Yes!" Spencer exclaimed, pumping his fist.

Josh's frown deepened. "And here I thought you liked me." He teased as the corners of his lips twitched up.

Spencer paused his celebration at the physician's words. He stared up at Sawyer for a moment before pouncing on the good doctor. "I'm gonna miss you!" Spencer hollered, pasting on his best little kid grin. "You my fwiend!"

"I like you, too bud." Dr. Sawyer responded, hugging the youngster. "And I'm gonna miss seeing your smiling little face every day. But do me a favor, would ya? Try not to end up back here, okay?"

"Otay" Spencer agreed.

"Alrightie then, I'm gonna head on out so you can get dressed and get outta here." Dr. Sawyer told him as he sat the little boy on the bed and stood. He then turned to Morgan. "Dude, I meant what I said. I don't wanna see Little Britches in here unless he's visiting or getting a check-up."

"I don't either. Believe me." Derek replied, shaking the physician's hand. "And I plan on making sure the kid doesn't do anything that might send him back here. In fact he'll be lucky if I don't wrap him in bubble wrap as soon as we get home."

Sawyer laughed. "Man am I gonna miss you guys."

Spencer's head shot up as he froze mid-bounce. Remembering his role, he plopped down on his behind and crawled over to the two men. The toddler tugged on the doctor's sleeve to get his attention. "You not gonna miss us. We see you 'gain." He told Josh once he looked down.

One look at the boy's enormous brown orbs was all it took. "Yeah" Sawyer answered, patting the youngster's head. "We'll see each other again. Promise."

"Yea!" Reid cheered, jumping up and down on the mattress.

"Uh oh, you've done it now." Morgan tsked. "Short Stuff is gonna hold you to that. You know that, right?"

"I don't mind. I kinda like having y'all around." Josh admitted. "Though with our crazy work schedules it's gonna be hard to figure out a time to get together."

"You tan tome fow Twistmas dinnew." Spencer suggested.

"That's a great idea, kid." Derek praised before looking over at the doctor. "We'd love to have you over at Christmas."

"Sounds good to me" Dr. Sawyer replied.

"It's settled then." Morgan announced.

"Yea!" Spencer whooped, bouncing higher and higher.

Josh sighed as his pager chose that moment to go off. "I've really gotta go, guys." He said.

"Alright, see you later." Morgan told him. "Thanks for everything man."

Sawyer nodded. "Keep Little Britches outta trouble and we'll be even." He bargained as he walked to the door. He yanked open the door and then turned and looked back at his former patient. "Behave yourself, Little Britches. You don't want Santa Claus thinking you've been naughty."

Spencer vigorously shook his head. "I be good." He promised. "Bye!"

Dr. Sawyer waved and then left the room.

"Okay, Short Stuff let's get you dressed and get outta here." Morgan instructed as he tossed his best friend a bag of clothes. "Do you need help or have…"

"NO! I mean, I tan do it." Spencer swiftly corrected. He waited for the older man to turn around and then dived into the bag. Pulling out a t-shirt, a bright green sweater, corduroy jeans, and Goofy underoos, he grimaced. Evidently Garcia had packed this bag. Rolling his eyes at her choices, he quickly pulled on the underwear and pants. He managed to wrangle his arms and head into his t-shirt but wasn't as lucky with the sweater. The bulky garment was just too big for his tiny fingers to bunch up and hold. And that made slipping it on next to impossible for the preschool profiler. Time after time Spencer's attempts were thwarted by the infuriating piece of clothing. Finally after fighting with the green monster for several minutes, the little boy resigned himself to asking for help. "Morgan, I tan't get fis tupid fing on!" he huffed.

Derek immediately spun around. Seeing the BAU genius struggling with his sweater, he had to stifle the urge to laugh. The frustration in his friend's voice told him that laughter would not be the proper reaction to the boy's situation. So he bit the inside of his cheek to stop the chuckles from coming out, plastered a concerned expression on his face, and walked over to the bed. "Here, I'll get it." he softly offered. Taking the offending piece of clothing from Reid, Morgan pulled it over the toddler's head. He helped the youngster get his arms through the sleeves and then turned loose, allowing Spencer to finish putting it on himself.

Reid smoothed the sweater down before picking up his socks and shoes and sliding them on. "Otay, I'm weady to go!" he announced.

"Well then, let's get outta here!" Morgan responded, opening his arms.

Spencer eagerly jumped into his friend's waiting arms. He may not want to be carried but it beat having to ride in a wheelchair. Smiling as they walked out the door of his former prison, the little profiler glanced around expecting to see the rest of his family. The only people he saw however were hospital staff and other children's visitors. Something wasn't right. His team had been here the entire time he was hospitalized. Why weren't they here now? Had something happened? Spencer's breathing sped up. What if they had arrested the wrong men in connection with the accident? What if the accident and his poisoning were done by different unsubs? Panicking as various scenarios ran through his head each worse than the one before, Reid urgently patted his best friend's chest. "Mowgan, whewe awe the ofews? Did somefing else happen?" he questioned, the fear clear in his voice.

"Chill Pretty Boy, nothing happened." Derek assured the toddler as he pressed the button for the elevator. "Everyone's at work, well everybody except Prentiss that is. She's at my place waiting for us."

"What about Henwy?" Spencer inquired.

Morgan stepped onto the empty elevator before replying. "He's with his babysitter. We figured you could use a break from the little kid routine."

"Fant you" Reid gratefully muttered. "I was tiwed of pwetending to be a tid aftew the fiwst few houws."

"I can understand that. Pretending to be a youngster was one of the hardest parts for me and I wasn't as little as you." Derek said, setting the squirming boy on his feet. "So anything special you wanna do now that you're free?"

Spencer thought for a moment before nodding his head. "I wanna go to wowt." He answered.

"Anything but that" Morgan stated. He grasped the tiny agent's hand and the two stepped off the elevator. "Hotch would have my head if I brought you to the office today."

"But I'm fine!" Reid protested.

"Doesn't matter. The team made me promise not to bring you in." Derek told the annoyed toddler. "And Hotch said the director had made it clear that you were not to be at the office until at least tomorrow, maybe longer. He's gonna call Sawyer and get the lowdown on your condition before he allows you back."

"What? He doesn't have the wight to do fat!" Spencer growled, pulling his jacket tighter around him as they walked out into the cold weather.

"You know he does." Morgan argued. "And before you say it he and Hotch have it all worked out. He's going to act like a concerned boss and phrase it so Sawyer believes he's asking about time off for Hotch."

Spencer huffed. He was so tired of all this mollycoddling. He wanted to be treated like he was before all this happened. He wanted to be treated like an adult again. "It's not faiw." He grumbled, crossing his arms and poking out his bottom lip.

"I know little man, I know." Morgan softly said. He knelt down beside the little boy and patted his back. "But you've just gotta deal with it a little bit longer." Seeing a shiver run through Reid, he snatched his keys out of his pocket and after some fumbling, unlocked his truck. Derek then yanked open the back door, scooped up the trembling toddler, and settled him in his car seat. "You can hang on that long, right?"

"I guess." Spencer sighed.

Morgan ruffled the youngster's hair. "I thought so." He replied before shutting the door. He quickly climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. He wanted to get the heater going so Spencer could warm up. The last thing he needed was to get sick again. "Now I want you to try and forget about all this crap, okay? You, Prentiss, and I have a whole day to do whatever we want and I for one plan on making the most of it. So, come on! Put that big brain of yours to work and tell me what you wanna spend our day off doing!"

Spencer wiggled around in his seat as he ran through their options. They could go to the library. The little boy swiftly discarded that notion. He knew that while he would enjoy sitting and reading thick tomes, Morgan would be bored stiff. Maybe they could take in a museum? That might be interesting. Reid shook his head. He didn't think his friend would have fun there either. Think, Spencer, think! There has to be something we'd both…argh! All this wiggling around is making it impossible to…that's it! "Mowgan, tan we go to the pawt so I tan walt awound a little?"

"Sorry Pretty Boy, it's too cold for walking." Morgan answered, mentally adding 'or running and playing'. He drove out of the parking lot and onto the highway as he tried to come up with a viable alternative. "We could go to a gym." He offered after a minute of silence.

"Gyms awen't going to let a little tid wort out." Spencer scoffed.

"I know one that will." Derek countered already switching lanes.

"Whewe?" Reid curiously inquired.

"You'll see." Morgan vaguely stated. Smirking, he pretended to zip his lips and toss the key away. He then turned his attention back to the road.

It took a half hour to get to their destination and not once in that time did Reid close his mouth. He cajoled, threatened, cursed, and whined. He even pulled out the puppy dog eyes of doom. But all his attempts proved fruitless. Morgan's mouth remained tightly sealed. Frustrated, the toddler banged his fists on his seat. "Damn it Morwgan! Whewe awe you tating…" he broke off as a humungous warehouse type building came into view. "The Jump Gym? What's fat?" he asked.

"That my boy is our gym." Derek simply responded. He parked in front of the building, cut the engine, and got out of the truck. After rescuing Reid from his car seat, the muscular profiler hurried to the door. Once inside, they deposited their jackets, sweaters, and shoes in a locker and then walked over to the gate.

"Tool" Spencer gasped, staring gleefully out at the trampoline covered floor and walls.

"Yeah cool" Morgan seconded as he opened the gate. "Let's go kid! Time to get your jump on!" He took Spencer's hand and led the boy onto the closest tramp. Spotting a group of guys twisting and flipping on right side, he bounced the two of them to the far left. He kept his steps light at first, giving Reid time to adjust to the feel of it and find his balance. Once he was sure the toddler had it down, Derek released his hand.

Spencer glanced up at his friend before tentatively taking a teeny tiny jump. He squealed as he bounced up into the air. Giggling, the youngster started bunny hopping down the row of trampoline mats. "Tome on M-daddy! Fis is fun!" he shouted.

"I'm coming kiddo" Morgan called. He bounded down to his charge, eliciting a shriek of delight as his jump sent the toddler high into the air.

"Do it again!" Spencer shouted.

"You got it Pretty Boy." Morgan answered, stepping back a little. He jumped and landed on his behind just in front of Reid, sending him flying.

"Whee!" Spencer hollered. He bounced several times before finally stopping. "Again! Again!"

"Okay, you asked for it." Derek said. He bounced his way over to the next trampoline mat, ran, and leapt onto the tramp Reid was standing on.

"Woo hoo!" Spencer yelled as he bounced up and down.

Morgan waited for his best friend to stop for a minute before calling, "Hey Short Stuff! Watch this!" As soon as the tot looked his way the man took off. He bounced higher and higher. Once he had sufficient height, he flipped, easily landing back on his feet. "Think you can do that?" he challenged.

"Piece of tate" Spencer responded. Tongue stuck out in concentration, the small agent jumped once, twice, three times before executing a perfect flip.

"Nice one, Little Dude!" a shaggy blond haired teen commented as he and his group hopped over. "You wanna learn some more tricks?"

Morgan inched up and placed his hands on Reid's shoulders. "Hey boys" he warily greeted. "What are you three doing out so early? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"It's a teacher workday, sir." The blond teen replied. "So we thought we'd get in a little extra practice."

"Practice?" Derek repeated.

"Yes sir, we're part of the Elite gymnastics team. We have a meet in two weeks and this is a fun way to work out." the shortest of the three explained. "I'm Rick by the way and that's Mitch and the one with the mouth is Colin."

"Nice to meet you boys. I'm Derek and this is my son Spencer." Morgan introduced.

"Hi!" Reid said, waving at the teens.

Colin crouched down in front of the toddler. "So, what do you say Spencer? You wanna learn some cool moves? If it's okay with your dad, that is."

Spencer vigorously nodded. "Uh huh" he answered before turning his puppy dog eyes on his best bud. "Tan I daddy?"

Morgan rubbed his chin. "I'll let you do it on one condition."

"What would that be sir?" Mitch asked.

Morgan smiled. "I get to learn them, too."

"You've got a deal." Colin agreed as he stood back up. "Come on. We better get started before the lunch rush comes in."

Spencer bounded after the three teens. This was going to be awesome!

CM

Emily turned as the door locked clicked. "Bout time you two got here. I was starting to think I'd have to…" Seeing a half awake Reid leaning on Morgan's leg as he shuffled inside, she softened her tone. "Looks like somebody's tired."

Spencer shook his head. "No, I'm not." He disputed even as his eyes slid shut only to pop open again. Squinting at the TV screen through his heavy lidded eyes, he cocked his head to one side. "What awe you watching?"

"Oh, ummm nothing" Prentiss replied, flipping the television off. "Just some dumb horror movie I found in Morgan's entertainment center."

"Which one?" Derek asked as he walked over. He plopped down on the couch, handed one of the take out bags to Prentiss, and set the drink carrier on the coffee table.

"The Woman in Black" Emily answered, helping Spencer climb onto the couch.

Spencer picked up the DVD case and read over the summary. "Tan we watch it *yawn* while we eat?" he inquired.

"I don't think…"

"Sure we can kid" Morgan broke in. "This is your adult time so if you wanna watch a horror movie, we'll watch a horror movie."

"Fants" Spencer said. Glancing up at Prentiss, he sweetly added, "Tould you tawt it o *yawn* vew?"

"Okay" Emily hesitantly agreed. "But I still think this is a bad idea." Shaking her head, she turned the television back on and restarted the movie. She settled back on the couch with her sub sandwich, watching as the man said goodbye to his son and left to settle some woman's estate. She tried to get into the movie but she just couldn't do it. She was too worried about Reid and the effect the scary show would have on him. If he had nightmares tonight, she'd kick Morgan's ass for talking her into letting Spencer…her thoughts trailed off as she became aware of a tiny body snuggling into her side. Glancing down, Emily smiled at the sight of her sleeping friend. She reached down and gently rearranged him so he was lying with his head resting on her lap before covering him with the throw from the back of the couch. "You knew he wouldn't last, didn't you?" she whispered.

Morgan nodded. "The kid's routine is set in stone." He quietly replied.

Carding a hand through Spencer's long locks, Emily settled back against the couch once more and focused on the movie. There'd be no nightmares tonight.

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By the time JJ, Henry, and Garcia got home, the horror movie marathon was over and the threesome had started a pillow fight. The agents were on the floor tossing pillows like bombs at what looked to be sheet forts on opposite ends of the room.

"Henwy! Help!" Spencer hollered from the safety of his fort.

Giggling, Henry raced over and crawled underneath the sheet. Grabbing a pillow, he quickly joined in the fray.

JJ shook her head at the group. "I'm gonna go start supper." She told the tech analyst. "Do you wanna help?"

"Okie dokie" Penelope answered.

The two women maneuvered their way through the battlefield and into the other room, leaving the others to their war.

CM

JJ set the timer for the meatloaf and then headed over to the counter where Garcia had her laptop set up. "Whatcha doing Pen?" she asked.

Garcia startled. Looking up, she gave her friend a nervous smile. "Well, with everything that's been going on lately I needed something to cheer me up a little and I was looking online and I found this site and…"

"Please tell me you're not playing another one of those online games with someone." JJ said as she walked around the counter and claimed a stool beside the bubbly blond.

"Oh Heavens no! I learned my lesson last time. No way I'd get mixed up with some guy online again." Garica assured her. "I'm actually on this story site. One of the ladies at my grief counseling group writes stories to help her deal with her loss. She told us about it a while back but I haven't had time to check into it until now. Anyway, I went through the humor section a few days ago looking for something to take my mind off Spencer…and I found this really wonderful story. It's kind of like a parody of famous movies and TV shows and it is hilarious! You really ought to read it."

"Thanks but no thanks" JJ replied. "I checked out a site like that last year after Henry's babysitter told me about it. There was a story a lot like that that I started reading only this one dealt with famous novels. I was really into it, too. But then we got called on a case and I didn't get to read for a week. When we finally made it back and I was able to go online, I couldn't remember what I had reviewed and what I hadn't. So I clicked on the author's reviews and boy was I surprised! There were some really negative responses!"

"You should ignore them. You can't please everybody." Penelope pointed out. "And some people live to be mean and nasty."

"I know and if they had been directed at the author, I would agree with you. But they weren't." JJ explained. "You see, the author writing the story would always leave a note at the beginning or the end of the chapter telling whether she liked that set of books or not. She was always nice about it. She might say a particular book wasn't her thing or her cup of tea or something like that. And if she hadn't read it, she would tell us that, too. Of course, I'm not sure about some of those she said she hadn't read because some elements of hers were way too close to the books for that. Anyway, when I was going through the reviews to see where I left off, I noticed a pattern. The chapters for books she liked got nothing but good reviews, even from people who didn't like that book. But on the ones she didn't like or hadn't read, people were really ugly. They seemed to think by her saying that they were allowed to say horrible things about the book; a lot of them even said they hadn't read it but it was probably as bad or even worse than she portrayed it. Judging people or things without knowing them has always been one of my pet peeves. If you've read a book and didn't like it, then you have every right to say you didn't like it. But if you haven't even opened the cover, you have no right to say anything negative about it. It could be the best book ever written for all you know." JJ paused at the expression on her friend's face. "Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away. I just get tired of people downing something they know nothing about. Anyway, I stopped reading after that."

"Wait a minute! I remember reading…" Garcia trailed off as she searched through the story. "Aha! Here it is! Let's just see." The tech analyst hit a button. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth. "That's just…okay, that's enough of that." Penelope closed her laptop with a sigh. "That's the end of that."

"I'm sorry Pen. I didn't mean to make you stop reading." JJ apologized.

"Don't be. I'm glad you gave me a heads up. I don't agree with people judging things first. I've had too many people do that to me." Penelope revealed.

"Oh Pen! I'm so sorry." JJ said. "What can I…Ah!" Spinning around, she glared down at the two snickering troublemakers.

"You'we it! Tan't get us!" Spencer joyfully sang before dashing out of the room with Henry on his heels.

JJ scooped up the two throw pillows, throwing one to Garcia. "Pen"

"Get'em!" Garcia hollered as they tossed off their heels and ran after their prey.

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Rossi and Hotch walked in the door to find Will and Morgan wrestling with the boys. Deciding to try out Will's little trick, the two called out, "We're home!"

Spencer and Henry's heads snapped up. They grinned at each other before jumping up and racing over to the newcomers. "Daddy! Untle Wossi!" the boys hollered, leaping into the men's waiting arms and laughing as they were spun around.

"Did you have a good day, Spencer?" Aaron asked, as he carried the toddler into the living room.

"Uh huh, we went to the Jump Gym and payed on the twamp'line, and we had a howwow movie maw'fon and fen when JJ and Gawcia got home we had a pillow fight." Spencer recounted.

Hotch gave Morgan the stink eye. "You let him watch horror movies?" he gruffly asked.

"Just two" Derek defended. "We agreed it was his adult day and he could do what he wanted within reason. And he wanted to watch scary movies. It's no big deal."

"I'll remind you of that when he wakes up screaming." Aaron countered.

"Guys, he is wight hewe." Spencer growled. He wiggled out of his surrogate father's hold. "And a touple of dumb howwow movies awen't going to huwt him. He is a gwown-up, aftew all."

Aaron sighed. "Sorry Reid" he apologized. "I just can't help worrying about you especially after…"

"Supper time!" JJ hollered from the kitchen.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Morgan voiced as he hurried out of the room followed by the rest of the group. The room emptied out in a flash leaving father and son alone.

"Well, buddy, what do you say? Do you forgive me?" Aaron asked.

Spencer nodded. "Of touwse I do" he said, giving the man a hug. Letting go a moment later, he stepped back, put his hands on his hips, and attempted to duplicate Hotch's look of steel. "But don't you do it again ow I'll have to give you a time out."

Aaron laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He replied. "I…"

"Hotch! Reid! You better hurry it up before Morgan the Human Garbage Disposal eats it all!" Rossi called.

Spencer's eyes widened. "Tome on! Huwwy!" he hollered. He grabbed Hotch's hand and the two ran for the dining room.