Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. Feel free to read and review, but please don't copy.
AN- The date has been set for the Fancon (formerly known as Author's Note Convention) and I am excited! I'm going this year! For those wondering Fancon is where fanfiction authors and readers come together for a day of fun. And the money raised goes to charity.
Anyway, the ladies putting this together are holding raffles before the event and several wonderful authors (including yours truly) are participating in Stories-4-Charity. There are authors from several different fandoms participating. You can get stories written from Supernatural, NCIS, Sherlock, and Criminal Minds! You pick the author and give them a story prompt and they write the story. All the details are at fandom dash con period com.
Warning- One more kind of gross part coming up in this one. It's in the first paragraph if you'd rather bypass the nastiness.
Previously on Criminal Minds- Snickering, the family worked together to get the table set and the food ready and then tucked into their meal.
CM
Spencer skipped down the hallway to his twisty slide. He was so happy to be back home where it was warmer and he was surrounded by his whole BAU family. And what made it even better was that the director had given them the rest of the week off so they could just relax and enjoy the build up to Christmas. And Reid couldn't wait! He bet Garcia had a million and one things planned for them to do between now and Christmas Eve. The mini agent plopped down on his behind and whizzed down the slide, landing smack in the middle of the pillow pit. After crawling out of the fluffy fortress, he raced across the living room thoughts of the wonders to come still whirling through his mind. Skidding to a stop at the kitchen doorway, he was shocked to see no sign of his family. He'd expected them to be sitting at the table waiting for him. Wondering if they were outside setting up a surprise or something of that nature, Spencer hurriedly pushed a wooden chair over to the window and climbed up. The smile gracing his face quickly faded as he scanned the barren back yard. Sighing, the little boy jumped down. He trudged over to the table and dejectedly climbed onto his chair. Fighting back the tears being left alone caused, he glanced at the table and froze. There sitting around the table were the heads of the men in his family. The tops of the heads had been cut off from the forehead up and the men's mouths had been sewn into grotesque smiles. Gasping, Spencer looked away. He then screamed as he caught sight of JJ, Emily, and Penelope's skinned faces hanging on the wall. Shaking his head, the terrified boy slid off the chair and began backing away. Hearing footsteps approaching, he back pedaled faster. Eyes blown wide with fear Reid stared at the open doorway as he moved. His inattention to his escape route turned out to be a huge mistake. Tripping over something in his path, he flailed his arms in an attempt to stay on his feet. It was useless though. The littlest agent fell with a shouted, "NOOOOOOO!"
Aaron sat straight up in bed at the sound of his son's cry. Instantly awake and alert, he rolled across the sofa and dropped onto the floor next to the boy. "Spencer! Spencer, are you alright?" he worriedly questioned.
Confused eyes peered up at Aaron before going wide. "H-H-Hot-Hotch" Spencer stammered, launching himself at the man. Fisting handfuls of his protector's shirt, the quivering youngster burrowed into Hotch's broad chest. "Jut a dweam, jut a dweam, jut a dweam…"
"It's okay Spencer. You're alright." Aaron soothed, cradling the boy. "I've got you."
Footsteps announced the arrival of the rest of the team. Rossi took one look at the scene before him and called out, "Aaron?"
"We're okay, Dave. It was just a nightmare." Hotch explained, not taking his eyes off his trembling charge.
Spencer perked up at the sound of the senior profiler's voice. He squirmed out of Hotch's grasp and ran over to the Italian. "Wossi!" he hollered, hugging the man's legs. Quickly releasing his hold, the little boy went to the family member closest to them; Morgan. After hugging his big brother, Reid moved on to the next half awake person. He went from one loved one to another, hugging them to assure himself that they were alive and well. Once he'd finished his touch therapy, the tiny agent raced back over to the couch and leapt into Hotch's arms. "You'we otay! You'we all otay!" he sobbed. "I dweamed fat, fat…"
"That we were part of Mein's collection" Aaron supplied.
Reid shuddered. He nodded his head before snuggling further into his father figure's embrace.
Hotch tightened his hold on the boy. "I'm sorry Spencer." He apologized. "I should never have had you brought to the scene."
Spencer peered up at the man from his nice warm cocoon. "You didn't have a choice." he defended.
"Still, I should have…"
"Can the what ifs and should haves wait until morning?" Rossi called out. "I'd like to get some sleep."
"Yeah, it's way too early to be up and about. It's not even the ass crack of dawn yet." Morgan observed, earning a swat to the back of the head courtesy of the oldest agent. "Rossi" he whined, rubbing the back of his head. The muscular man smiled as his best buddy's giggling filled the room. 'Mission accomplished' he thought.
JJ waited for the laughter to subside before going into mommy mode. "Alright guys that's enough. Back to bed with all of you." She instructed. "Don't make me use my mom voice."
That wiped the smile right off Reid's face. It was impossible for him to go back to sleep. He knew what awaited him in dreamland and it certainly wasn't rainbows and lollipops. He couldn't go back to that house and those gruesome images. He just couldn't. He'd never… "Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted us to stay for awhile. You know, just till you fall asleep." Emily repeated, carding a hand through the boy's long locks.
"I'd lite YAWN fat." Spencer answered.
Smiling, the rest of the family gathered around the sofa. JJ and Garcia plopped down on either side of Hotch and Reid while the others pulled up chairs. They quietly sat offering the comfort their youngest so desperately needed.
Prentiss watched her friend fight sleep for a few minutes and then stood and motioned Morgan to do the same. The two glanced at the bleary eyed boy before slinking out of the room unnoticed.
Catching her junior G-man pinching himself in an attempt to stay awake, Penelope sighed. She wanted to soothe his fears so he could go back to sleep but she didn't know what she could do that Hotch and JJ weren't already doing to comfort him. The tech analyst racked her brain. There had to be something she could do to help her baby bunting relax. Wait! She had the perfect solution! Grabbing her ever handy purse, Garcia fumbled through it for a moment before pulling out the answer to Spencer's sleepy time problem. She swiftly opened the lid and held out the baby blue soother. "Here Sweetie" she softly said.
Spencer took the offered pacifier and popped it in his mouth. "Fant you" he muttered around the paci.
"You're welcome my Baby Bumble." Penelope cooed.
"Make way guys! Coming through!" Emily announced as she and Morgan tromped back into the room, their arms laden with stuffed animals. Taking up positions on either side of the pull out bed, the two carefully arranged the menagerie around the scared little boy. "There, now you're all set."
"How? Where?" a stumped Hotch stuttered.
"We each packed a couple of them in our go bags just in case." JJ filled in. "And it was a good thing, too huh Spence?"
Nodding, Reid immediately pulled his stuffed buddies closer almost burying himself in the soft plushies. "F-f-f *YAWN* fants" he mumbled as his eye lids began to droop. He blinked them back open only for them to close again seconds later. He fought for all he was worth but the blinking grew slower and slower before stopping as he drifted off into dreamland.