A/N: I combined this chapter, because I am SO excited for the next chapter and the chapter after that that I didn't want to wait so long to give it to you and string it along. So review review, and I hope you enjoy this and I can't wait for you to see the next chapter or two ;) I have my first day of school tomorrow and won't have as much time to enjoy these quick updated and be happy I was eager and stayed up after work to write the next chapter which is my favorite so far! So you get one chapter that was supposed to be two, lucky readers! Thank you for those who always review and let's get atleast 3 and you'll get my favorite chapter as of yet!
"Lying down beside you, what's going through your head
The silence in the air felt like my soul froze
Am I just overthinking feelings I conceal
This gut feeling I'm tryna get off me as well
I hope we find our missing pieces and just chill
We cannot sweep it under the carpet" -DJ Snake
For one of the first times Caitlyn let Spencer drive, and he drove fast. He drove so fast within the limits of federal requirements that he actually beat Derek and Rossi there who were right behind them. There was nothing that they could say to one another, so they just sat in the car and waited outside of the office where his father had been working for ten years. Caitlyn realized that sometimes the best thing that you could say was nothing at all, so she just waited until Rossi and Derek pulled up. Caitlyn and Spencer exchanged a glance and they all walked in, Spencer leading and the other agents trailing behind.
When they finally got into the office, Spencer walked up to the desk. The young attendant stood up and asked who they were there to see. Spencer greeted her and then struggled to say his father's name. From the outside Caitlyn could almost visibly see what was happening, it was like everything was hitting him at once.
"We're here to see William Reid." Caitlyn stated.
"Is he expecting you?" The receptionist asked, and Rossi held up an FBI badge in response.
"He's in a meeting right now, I'm going to get him and then he'll be right with you." she said turning away. Caitlyn didn't take her eyes off of Spencer once, she could hear the gears in his brain turning and see the change of emotion on his face.
"Are you okay?" she asked, all of the other agents expressing the same amount of concern.
"Yeah…no." Spencer stammered, "I gotta go to the bathroom." He spun on his heel and went down the hallway.
"I've never seen him like this before." Morgan said, looking at him as he went down the hallway. Caitlyn had, but it was almost as though this was worse than any drug withdrawal anyone could do.
"17 years is a long time between visits." Rossi said. Caitlyn wanted to go after Spencer, but she didn't. She wanted to look in the eyes the man that was making him so nervous, that left him to deal with his sick mother and put all of this burden on him that he didn't deserve to have to do alone. Caitlyn knew most of this case was Spencer being angry at his father, well, Caitlyn was angry too. She had a thing about dads, apparently.
"Not long enough, the kid's still angry." Morgan responded.
"You're just now getting that." Caitlyn mumbled as a man came out of an office, giving a manilla folder to his receptionist.
"Are you the FBI?" He asked, Caitlyn stood up tall and stared at him sternly.
"Yes, sir. William Reid?" Rossi asked.
"This isn't about the city council meeting is it?" William tried to joke, no one laughed.
"It's more of a personal matter." Rossi responded.
"It's about your son." Caitlyn finally said.
"My son?" William started, seeming to look panicked, "did something happen to him?" Caitlyn was so focused on the man infront of her that she didn't hear Spencer coming up from behind her.
"That's what we're trying to find out. Hi, dad."
After the shock had somewhat worn off, all of the agents made their way into Williams office. William, Rossi and Morgan all took a seat while Spencer stood tall right infront of his father and Caitlyn leaned off to the side against a wall, arms crossed and her glace locked.
"You don't look like me anymore, people used to say he looked just like me." William tried to charm.
"They say people look like their dogs too." Spencer struck. "It's attributed to prolonged mutual exposure. Elderly couples also, they unconsciously mimic expressions of people they've been around their whole lives. It kind of makes sense why I wouldn't look like you I haven't seen you in twenty years."
Caitlyn had never seen Spencer like this. She had never seen anyone like this. He was the most confusing yet impressive mix of strong and sad at the same time. He was angry, and yet fighting back tears, she could see his chin quivering and him clenching his teeth to keep it from doing so.
"You here for work?" William asked without a response to Spencer's previous statement. The agents informed him that they were there working on a case about a child. When Spencer brought up Ethan Hayes from the previous case that they had been working, Spencer's eyes shot to Caitlyn in confusion, they connected for a second and then went right back. This time his eyes were on fire, he told his father about how the case brought up thoughts about Riley Jenkins and that this time after years of having the dream, he saw the killer and it was him.
"Interesting dream." his father responded.
"You don't seem surprised." Caitlyn said sternly.
"I stopped being surprised by Spencer's mind a long time ago." He smiled in response.
"Yeah, twenty years ago." Caitlyn fired back, the smile from his face faded and Caitlyn realized how cruel her response was, Rossi shot her a glance. They then informed William with the type of case that they were looking at how he fit parts of the profile. This is when he started to get riled up,
"I can't believe you think I killed Riley Jenkins," he exclaimed.
"We didn't say that." Spencer said non-chalantly.
"We're just asking for your cooperation. And access to your files." Morgan responded.
"If you want access to my files, get a warrant."
Another silent ride back to the hotel, the agents were going to try and find more information and get Garcia to go under the radar to get onto William Reid's computer. When they got to the hotel, the couple got into the elevator.
"I'm not going to ask if you're okay because you're going to say you are even if you're not." Caitlyn said, Spencer bit at his bottom lip.
"I don't know if I'm okay or not." he admitted, the elevator door opened and he started to walk down the hallway but Caitlyn grabbed him by his wrist.
"You were really brave back there, but I know what being angry is like. Especially at your dad, not in the same way but…how was the last book you read?" she asked.
"What?" Spencer said furrowing his brow, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"This whole time since you walked through that door, since I was supposed to head back to D.C. all we've talked about is this case, and your dad and if you're okay or not. And if we're not talking about that we're not talking at all. I just want to change the subject for a second, give you and your brain one minute to breathe." Caitlyn explained. Reid's frown started to fade from his face and Caitlyn stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him tightly, turning her head and resting it on his chest. Spencer just stood there for a second and then Caitlyn felt his arms wrap tightly around her and he rested his head on top of hers. They hugged each other in that narrow hallway for what felt like an hour until Spencer finally kissed the top of her head.
"Okay, let's go."
When they arrived back to the room their small five minutes away from it all was over. There was an envelope left under Spencer's door that contained the picture and information of another man that also had a note that read, you're looking at the wrong guy. The envelope went straight to his room and the timing seemed suspicious. Caitlyn asked if Spencer knew him and he racked his brain and was unsure, there were so many memories that he had buried he could have. Garcia called along with Hotch and Prentiss there was nothing unusual on his computer. And had almost every piece of information posted online about Spencer, which didn't seem to phase the young genius at all.
"Your dad is keeping tabs on you, that's saying something." Rossi said.
"Yeah, he googled me." Spencer said, "I'm going to get some air."
Caitlyn knew to give him some space and not to go with him and they gave the name of the new suspect in the case. Off of speaker phone, Morgan handed Caitlyn the phone.
"Robertson," Hotch started on the other side, "how is he doing."
"Honestly, he's mad. He's not going to stop until he figures out what happened and if it was his father he's not going to feel anything until the case is solved and it's too late and that's what scares me." Caitlyn admitted.
"Has he talked to his mother about it?" Hotch asked.
"He's tried to, I'm afraid of opening her mind up as well."
"Well you can't be afraid you have to be strong, for him."
"I know." Caitlyn responded.
"Keep me updated." Hotch said hanging up, time had passed so they went to go find Spencer. He was sitting at a video poker machine, and there was a busty blonde with her shirt too far down and leaning too close to Spencer.
"I'll put my cigarette out if you buy me a drink," she was saying to him as they walked up. Reid was obviously not interested as Caitlyn intervened.
"Not today, or any day." Caitlyn said looking down at her, "we've been looking for you everywhere." Caitlyn said to Spencer who stood up and went with the agents.
"Hey, you won like 2,000 here!" The woman called.
"Keep it," Spencer said back to her quickly.
"You know you're giving 2,000 to a hooker right." Rossi said to him.
"Wait…" Caitlyn said after the red anger from a woman hitting on Spencer faded from her eyes. She almost never had to deal with that. "Did she say 2,000? I can run back really quick and cash that."
"Must have been a helpful conversation, what was is it about?" Morgan said as Caitlyn contemplated going back and getting the ticket for the $2,000. They could use some renovation in their apartment, mostly in Caitlyn's closet.
"Hypnosis and how to stop smoking." Spencer said, the lightbulb that went off in his head shining so bright it metaphorically blinded Caitlyn.
The next couple of hours went by so quickly that she could barely keep up. They went to a hypnotist that gave Spencer some insight on the case. His father burning bloody clothes in a fire. His mother freaking out. When Spencer went to go and visit his mother, he made sure that Caitlyn stayed back outside with Morgan. His mother wasn't able to remember, or maybe she did. It sent her into a break and she had a complete freak out. All she kept saying was Poor Riley, Poor Riley. And finally, it could have been you. When he came back into the hotel room that night, Spencer came out of the hospital he was clearly frustrated and she could tell by the way his hair was messed up that he tugged at it and palmed his face multiple times.
"I don't think that this is going well. He's losing objectivity, anything that she says isn't going to be reliable she thought that Riley wasn't even real until he told her otherwise." Morgan said.
"We've been on this case for three days. In the beginning I was just being supportive but now even to me something seems sketchy." Caitlyn admitted. "He's not going to stop no matter what we tell him. And that little boy deserves justice, just like any other case. We can't lose objectivity either because Spencer is involved and his dad may have been the killer. That would never stop us before."
"She said it could have been me." Spencer said finally reaching the two conversing agents. They were walking towards the police station and saw Riley Jenkins father's leaving. The lead detective didn't want to bring Spencer's father into custody. Things started to get heated, and when Spencer started to get hot headed Caitlyn had to step in. Finally she got him to agree to 24 hours. Spencer stormed out of the room and Morgan went after him telling him he needed to keep his head. He had dealt with people like this before, but all that Spencer cared about was that he got what he wanted and he was going to be able to interrogate his father.
"I want you to go in there with me." Spencer said to Caitlyn. So much for not interrogating her boyfriend's father, it was coming to that point.
And at that moment, JJ was about to give birth to her first baby boy. Caitlyn's phone buzzed in her pocket with a text from Emily.
JJ is going into labor!
Caitlyn looked at William Reid through the glass.
"I don't know if you really want me to go in there with you." Caitlyn admitted.
"Why not?" Spencer asked.
"Because first as we both know I have a bad temper, secondly I just don't want to interrogate your dad. I'll go in there, but I'm just going in to back you up." Caitlyn said.
"Do you remember how resistant the detective was when I said I wanted to bring in my father?" He told me to go back to the Bellagio, have a drink by the pool and think about things. I never told him where I was staying." Spencer said and opened the door to the interrogation room. Caitlyn stood in the back corner as Spencer sat right infront of his dad, looking him dead in the eyes.
"How did the blood get on the clothes?" Spencer started.
"I told you, I'm not going to talk without council." William responded cooly.
"You don't have anything to hide, you don't need a lawyer."
"Whose that over there? She's not doing any questioning, why is she in here?" William asked.
"That's none of your business she's just another agent." Spencer blew it off.
"Spencer, please." William pleaded, but Reid didn't even flinch, "I'm not stupid… I'm proud of you, you know."
"I'm not stupid, either." Spencer replied.
"No you did a lot of good, with your special talents you could have made a fortune. But you chose to help people. I didn't do this Spencer." William said looking down at his hands.
"Like you said, I do have special talents and one of those is knowing when someone is hiding something."
"You're angry that I left, I understand that."
"If you want to make it up to me, tell me the truth."
"I didn't kill that boy, but I know who did." he confessed, when Spencer brought up the name of the other suspect there was pure shock on his father's face.
"How did you know that?" he asked.
"That was the whole idea wasn't it? Where is he now?"
"Spencer, forget it. You don't want to go down this path." William pleaded with him. Caitlyn was getting mixed signals and the heat between the two was getting so hot that she was starting to sweat.
Gary Michaels, their suspect, was found buried across state lines, and he was beaten to death with a bat.
"Maybe it wasn't Riley's blood on the clothes your dad was burning." Caitlyn said to Spencer who was staring his father down as he was getting escorted out of the station. The team went to go and investigate further looking into the ID of the death of Michaels. There was a fingerprint on the glasses. All of the signs pointed to no of his father being the killer. Reid was just determined to nail his dad. Reid and Morgan got into a spat between running the print or not. During this time, Diane was refusing her medication. She needed a window of clarity and she needed to remember. All of the agents were waiting in the lobby of the Bellagio for the finger print to come back. It was a match for Riley Jenkin's father. Caitlyn didn't want to go and arrest him, she felt wrong about the whole thing. When they were looking into Gary Michael's remains the officer said it was a public service murder, and she agreed. She waited at the station for them to bring him in. He rode in linked up and Spencer was the first person in the door. Caitlyn stood up from where she was sipping her cup of coffee. Morgan and Reid took him into the interrogation room and Caitlyn watched as they berated him with questions about the murder.
"I'm going in there." Caitlyn thought that she had lost her mind for a moment when she heard Spencer's mother's voice and then she really thought she lost it when she saw William standing next to her.
"Diana," Caitlyn started.
"Sweetheart, I'm going in." she said, Caitlyn saw where Spencer got his determination from. Caitlyn nodded and opened the door.
"So you're his girlfriend." William said, "that makes sense."
"He's gonna have a heart attack." Caitlyn mumbled opening the door.
"Caitlyn!" Spencer growled at her, "do not interfere with this intero-" he stopped at the sight of his mother and father standing behind her.
"Spencer, it was me." Diana said.
The four of them moved into another room. Diana explained that she saw that Gary Michaels had played chess with Spencer when he was younger. She could sense that he was a pedophile and that's why he was in danger. She told Riley's dad, and he took her to show him who Gary Michaels was. She was there and fell in the blood of Michael's blood and what Spencer saw was William was burning Diana's clothes. Caitlyn kept quiet throughout the whole interaction, at one point Diana stopped and William urged her to go forward. Caitlyn wondered what it was like for Spencer to be in the room with both of his parents at the same time. Caitlyn saw Spencer tearing up a bit and Caitlyn cleared her throat.
"I'm going to give you guys a minute, okay?" she said leaving the room after all was said and done.
Reid's Point of View
He wanted Caitlyn to stay in that room with him more than anything. He felt guilty about what he had done, after hearing the whole story and not being able to take any of it back.
"The knowing… you can't burn that away. It changed everything." William said, and Spencer for once in his life didn't hate his father for leaving. This was such a big episode in their lives that he never knew about. But that wasn't something they could have told him when he was just a little boy.
"Is that why you left?" Spencer asked, trying to fight back tears.
"I tried to keep us together Spencer, I swear to you. But the weight of that knowledge was too much." Spencer saw his father was trying to fight back the tears in his eyes as well. Spencer waited a little before talking again, not wanting to lose the last bit of control over the emotions that he had.
"You could have come back." he said, his voice surprising him at how weak it sounded, he thought he was keeping it together, "we could have started over."
"I didn't know how to take care of you anymore, when I lost that confidence there was no going back."
"At least now you know the truth." Diane said, and Spencer finally started to lose it, the guilt hit him like a tidal wave.
"I was wrong about everything, I'm sorry." he said, William walking over to sit next to him.
"I am too Spencer," he said, "but maybe we can start over now."
Spencer nodded his head and looked at his mother.
"Did you see that blonde agent, that's his girlfriend." Diane said, immediately going back into mother mode.
"I did. I didn't even really have to ask. Anytime you were talking to me she looked like she was a lioness wanting to tear my eyes out." William laughed.
"She can be like that sometimes with me." Spencer smiled.
"That's the kind of girl that you marry. Especially when you both see and go through the same things… the things that I had to leave after witnessing." William said.
"That's what I told him!" Diana interjected.
"You want to go officially meet her before we leave?"
Caitlyn's Point of View
When the family emerged out of the office she could tell on their faces that the dynamic was different. William went up to her first, and Caitlyn looked at Spencer first and he gave her a nod.
"Let's start over again, I'm William." he said, shaking her hand which Caitlyn returned firmly.
"I'm Caitlyn, nice to meet you. Sorry about being how I was earlier it was a delicate situation to say the least." she smiled as Spencer came beside her and pulled her to his hip.
"I always knew that my son would hook a good one," he winked at Caitlyn.
"They're going to give us the cutest grandchildren." Diana daydreamed. Spencer instantly went red,
"Mom!"
"Sorry Spencer but I want grandchildren and you both are adorable so they're going to be perfect." Diana responded.
"Oh my god," Caitlyn said, "I totally forgot, JJ is in labor she's having her baby."
"What! Okay, mom… dad. We have to go." Spencer said and the two said their goodbyes before leaving the station and heading to meet the team on the jet.
Reid's POV
During the plane ride Caitlyn fell asleep and Spencer played with the wedding ring in the pocket of his bag, keeping it out of the sight of the rest of the agents. He wasn't going to propose to her on the birth of JJ's baby, he was going to wait for the right moment. He didn't even know if Caitlyn was ready for marriage but he knew he wanted to marry her. When they landed he gently shook her awake and the team rushed to the hospital. JJ was glowing holding her newborn baby boy.
"He's so… little." Caitlyn said looking at the baby. Hotch gave Reid a knowing glance and a handshake as the rest of the agents left the room and Caitlyn and Reid stayed.
"Do you wanna hold him?" JJ asked, Reid instantly panicked, he never held a baby before.
"I- uhm don't" he started, but JJ insisted and put the baby in his arms.
"Oh, watch his head." Caitlyn said, putting her hand on his to move it to support Henry's skull.
"I wanted to ask you something but you just got back from that case…" JJ said.
"What is it?" Spencer said not taking his eyes off the baby.
"I want you to be his godfather." JJ stated, Caitlyn awwed, "anything happens to me or Will you and Garcia have to get him into Yale."
"Hi Henry. I'm your god father. You wanna go to Yale? That was your god father's safety school. Don't worry I can get you into Cal-Tech with one phone call." he whispered, looking at the innocence in his hands. He looked over at Caitlyn who had the same look on her face as they both looked at the baby, he imagined what it would be like someday having a baby of his own and a family he couldn't think of anyone else in the world he would rather do it with. He was going to marry that girl.