Traded Mistakes

Chapter Eight: Letters & Talks.

We were now sitting down in a lounge area with many sofa chairs, couches and bookshelves. It made me smile knowing that my mom hadn't given up the pastime of reading old books and sometimes new ones if they weren't too modern for her taste. That was one thing that I figured that Spencer and her could "bond" with.

Not that I thought that they would be doing a lot of that. Bonding was usually reserved for fathers and older brothers. I was an only child as far as I knew. Until my mom told me that she had some illegiatmate child with someone or she adopted a child, I didn't think I'd have a problem with any bonding going on.

I saw Spencer face light up as he looked around at the bookshelves. He was like a kid in a candy store. I held back a smile as my mom smiled at him. "You read a lot, Spencer?"

That was an understatement. "Yes, ma'am." Respectful too. I knew he wasn't a bad guy but I hadn't really observed him around anyone else besides me or Meredith and his team members. This was definitely going to be interesting.

"You can read a few of mine if we get the chance. I think we'll all be a bit busy this weekend however, if we're lucky." My mom turned to me, she was noticing I could tell how silent I was. That wasn't exactly uncommon for me. But I think she expected me to be more outgoing since I had someone with me.

"Nati, why are you so quiet?" I resisted the urge to shrug before opening my mouth to speak but Spencer beat me to it which surprised me.

"She's not feeling so well. I asked her about postponing the trip this morning but she said she couldn't do that."

"Maybe you should go upstairs and get some rest. Your bags have already been brought in by one of my helpers. I can have a nice chat with Spencer in the meantime." I sat there for a moment trying to figure out if I actually wanted to leave the two of them down here to talk. I wouldn't be much of a guest right now considering I was still feeling under the weather.

"Okay." I sighed as I began to get up.

"Wait. Nati, have you read that letter that I sent to you a couple weeks ago." I stiffened a little at the mention of the letter that she mentioned. I hadn't read it at all. I had opened the envelope which contained another envelope that had my name in it written by my father. I wasn't sure when I would be ready to read it.

"No yet, I wanted to wait."

"Hm, maybe you should read it before you lay down. It may put your mind at a little ease about a few things." She paused for a moment as I began to head for the stairs. Spencer was watching me again, too. I could feel it. "I'll have Spencer come get you if you're not up by the time I finish cooking. Go on." She added quickly.

I shook my head as I began walking up the steps.

Spencer looked back at Nati's mother as Nati disappeared from his view. He was beginning to worry about her. He noticed how she stiffened at the mention of this letter that she had gotten a couple weeks ago. He hadn't even known about it. Obviously, she had been trying to keep it to herself.

"How'd you meet my daughter, Spencer?" Nati's mother began.

"A-At a goverment party. I asked her to dance."

"She actually danced?" She laughed. She began to remember all the times she declined her friend's sons pleas to dance at little get together/parties that they threw over the years. Spencer nodded. "She never really danced much, I suppose when she went to colllege did she only really begin to socialize with people. That's where she met Meredith, anyway."

"She hasn't really talked much about her college days. She hasn't really talked much of anything really, should I be worried about that?" Spencer mused, not really sure if he wanted to ask that in the first place.

"No. That's just how Nati is. You usually have to pull things out of her. Where are you from?"

"I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada with my mom."

"What about your dad?"

"He left when I was young."

"Do you visit your mom often since you live in Virgina?"

"Sometimes. I can't go a lot because of my job."

"You work with the goverment right?"

"Yes, I'm a profiler for the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit."

"You must be very smart then."

Spencer felt himself laugh a little at that. He was used to people being curious about his intelligence. It was different now however. This was Nati's mother. "I'm a certified genius. I have three Ph. D's. So I suppose I am."

Nati's mother wasn't surprised. Even if her daughter didn't date a lot, she never really liked going for the idiots. Spencer must have been pretty special for her to take a big step as having a child with her, especially when they weren't married. "Have you ever thought of marriage, Dr. Reid?"

Nati had told him to expect this. It still caught him off guard. "A little, yes. If you mean for Nati and I, it hasn't got that far yet but I'd be honored to have her as my wife."

"I'm glad she makes you happy then, are you any good in the kitchen?"

"Unfortunately not." Spencer chuckled. He wasn't exactly the cooking kind of person. He could do basic things like make sandwiches and heat up soup but he wasn't particularly great at doing huge dinner feasts. Nati had asked him about that before. He gave her the generic reason that he never really had the time to learn. He only made what he knew how and ordered out if he wasn't up for making anything.

"I'll give you your first lesson then. C'mon, we're going to the kitchen." She motioned for him to follow her out of the room towards the next. Spencer quickly got up and began to follow her.

Upstairs Nati finally found the nerve to open up the letter and she was already curled up holding a pillow tightly in her arms as she read her father's last letter to her. She had cried upon reading the first lines.

Dear Nati,

If you are reading this right now then something terrible must have happened to me. I've asked your mother to give this to you when she could. I'm not sure if it's a year or many years after my passing but at least you got it, right?

I hope that you aren't crying right now while reading this. I know you and you probably are but I wish you weren't. It's okay that I'm not there. Knowing your mother she gave you this when you're dealing with something huge in your life. Maybe you're about to get married or even better about to have a child of your own.

If that's the case I can't wait to see the little one from where I am. Or maybe it's little ones, our genes have always been so strong with producing and what not. I'm not sure if this letter will exactly give you closure but there are some things I know that you may not know of. Some things that your mother and I felt like you really didn't need to know as you were growing up.

You weren't alone when you were born, exactly. I'm not going to trying to put it nicely because I always was straight with you no matter what we were doing or dealing with. You had a twin but we were having a little difficulty at first taking care of you when we came home from the hospital so before your mom was released we asked a kind couple who had been trying to having a child for awhile to take care of him for us.

We heard from them quite a bit. We named him so don't worry about him having some odd name. His last name may be different from yours however. He's still our Nick.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you this now when I'm gone. Why I decided to hide it when we shared everything with each other? I didn't want you to have to worry about anyone else. I know that you had many walls up in your head about everything that was going on. We provided for you, but I know you knew that it was hard at times. I just didn't want to have to lay another burden on you anymore.

We never forgot about Nick though. He never forgot about us either. He even met you once, when you were younger. He knows who you are and he might have came around more than once over the years but you didn't know it. I'm not saying you have to go out and find him. I just wanted you to know that when mom is gone, that you won't be alone. That you and your family if you have one now, if you have a guy in your life that your with and is becoming pretty special to you that you aren't alone.

You have Nick.

Talk to your mother about it with an open mind. We had to give him a chance at having a more normal life than you had...that you're probably having.

I love you Natalia and remember I'ma always here for you.. No matter if you can't see me or not.

Love,

Dad-Jeffery

I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope as I lay down in the bed and clutched the pillow with my eyes close. My earlier thought had been like a sign. I did have another family member that I could hang on to if he let me. It was up to me if I wanted to officially meet him or not. I would have to talk to my mom to find out where he was.

I wondered if he knew that I mother was dying. I liked to know that someone else was dreading the day that I'd have to say goodbye to her...that we both would have to say goodbye to her. I sighed as I wiped my face and sank more into the comforts of the soft mattress.

I needed to rest for the moment. My mother was right, I did need to sleep.

"Nati." I felt someone gently shaking me awake. I groaned a little as I opened my eyes to see Spencer hovering over me from my left side. "You awake?" He asked with this confused expression his face. It was cute. I nodded.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked as I sat up slowly in the bed and ran a hand through my hair.

I realized that I was in fact better than I had been before. The queasiness was gone and the feeling of being overheated constantly had dewindled a little bit. I took that as a good sign. "I think so. Is it time to eat already?" I asked as I stretch a little.

"For us at least, your mom decided to lay down after we cooked. I think she overworked herself." That made me frown. She was really getting weaker. I didn't know why I didn't warn Spencer about that. "Sorry, I should have told you about that part. She tries to overwork herself and it ends up tiring her more easily." I sighed as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

Spencer didn't stiffen at all which surprised me a little bit. "What was the letter about?" I hear him ask as I sat there quietly enjoying his company for the moment.

I waited a moment before answering. "It was a goodbye and a confession."

"What does that mean exactly? Your mother told me you would tell me or that I would pull it out of you." I shook my head as I sat up and slid off the side of the bed where he wasn't blocking me. "I'll explain everything over dinner, c'mon."

I waited for him at the door before we exited out the room and made our way down the stairs. I just hoped I didn't breakdown too easily in front of him over this. I was actually going to talk to him about everything; everything that dealt with my father.

This was going to be tough.

But I needed to do this.

A/N: I'm trying not to rush things with this story. I like the pace that it's going on at the moment and I hope that you do to. I don't like rushing anything, when I write. But I hope you'll like the next couple chapters. The next one will be the dinner with Spencer and Nati and then some more stuff dealing with her mother...fun stuff! :D Reviews would brighten my day.

:3

~daisherz365