Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long between updates, thanks to DS2010 and Sherryola for reviewing the last chapter.
Please keep reading and reviewing, if anyone has any ideas for things they would like to happen me please feel free to let me know. Thanks!
Present day:
Hotch was sitting at the table reading the paper when Morgan knocked on the door and Spencer let him in
"Hey Hotch" he said as Hotch walked out of the kitchen
"Hi Morgan," He replied as Spencer put his shoes on
"I guess I'll see you when you get back, good luck" Hotch said going back to his paper as Spencer walked out without even saying goodbye.
"Bye Hotch" Derek called on his way out
Aaron didn't know what to do, if only Spencer would talk to him, or even yell at him, at least then he could get all his feelings out and they could start to work through it. Spencer had every right to blame him for what happened, if only he had gotten to him quicker he could have saved him.
Spencer had told him years ago that he wasn't mad at him but what else could be the problem? Hadn't he done everything to look after Spencer the way he should have? He just couldn't figure it out. He decided that he was going to talk to Spencer when he got home weather he liked it or not
xxxxxxxxx
"So what's happening with you and Hotch?" Morgan asked him getting straight to the point
"Nothing" mumbled Spencer
"Oh really? That didn't seem like nothing to me, you know he only wants to help you don't you?"
"Well I don't need his help Morgan, I'm a grown man remember?" Snapped Reid
"Yeah well maybe you should act like it then, Hotch is just worried about you, and I'm sure he doesn't really want you to move out"
"I know he does, I've just been a burden to him over the last 10 years and despite what he says I know he will be happier without me there"
"Ok pretty boy, but you're wrong you know" Morgan said
xxxxxxxxxx
Dinner time came and went and still Spencer wasn't home, it was unlike him to not even send a short text saying he would be late, finally he decided to text Morgan and see if he was still with him.
"Morgan is Spencer still with you?" He typed quickly
After what seemed like hours but was really only about 15 minutes he got a reply "yeah sorry Hotch we had dinner out and are just having a few drinks then I'll drop him home, sorry I didn't let you know earlier but Spencer said he would text you"
"Ok" was all he wrote back
When Spencer finally came home he could hardly walk. "Goodnight" he mumbled as he walked past Hotch
"Not yet Spencer, we need to talk"
"No we don't Hotch!" he yelled
"How drunk are you?" He said angrily as Spencer tripped over the coffee table
"That's none of your business!" He slurred
"I'm making it my business! We need to talk about the way you have been acting towards me ever since you changed back into your old self"
"We just had a few drinks with dinner and then a few more while we played pool! And I've been acting the same way towards you that I always have!"
"No you're not, you're angry at me and I want to know why!" Hotch yelled
"Because it's your fault!" Spencer yelled back
"What's my fault? That I wasn't there in time to save you? Don't you think I still feel guilty about that?"
"Yes...no...I don't know anymore" Spencer said throwing himself on the couch and putting his head in his hands "can't we talk about this tomorrow?"
"No we can't Spencer!" Hotch said in a slightly calmer voice
All of a sudden Spencer took off running to the bathroom and Hotch could hear him vomiting
"Well I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow after all" he muttered to himself
When the retching finally stopped, Hotch went to check on him "are you ok Spencer?" He called through the door, when he didn't get an answer he opened the door and found Spencer passed out on the floor.
"Spencer" he said softly approaching the young man "come on, let's get you into bed"
Spencer mumbled something under his breath and passed out again
Great, thought Hotch, as he tried to lift him without much luck. "Come on buddy, stand up for me" he said in his best "daddy" voice, and as he had hoped, Spencer tried to stand up.
Eventually with Hotch's help he made it into his bedroom and collapsed on the bed.
"Goodnight Spencer" Hotch said before he left the room "do you need anything?"
"Night dad" he mumbled before passing out again
—
The call came in at about 2 hours later as Hotch lay in bed thinking about what Spencer had said
"Hotchner?" He answered, "Ok, on our way" he said after listening for a moment
After trying for 20 mins to get Spencer out of bed, he finally called JJ, "we'll meet you on the jet, and you can brief us then, I'm having trouble getting Spencer up" he said shortly
"Ok" she said hanging up and turning to the others "that was Hotch, he and Spence will meet us on the jet"
"He's going to kill me" Morgan groaned
"Why what did you do?" Rossi asked
"I took Reid out for a few drinks and I swear he only had like three beers but he was pretty drunk when I dropped him off"
"Uh oh you're in trouble sugar" Garcia said seriously, "now back to the case"
"Ok so, we have a missing children case, mother reported her children missing 2 hours ago. She has two little girls Mackenzie 6 and Amelia 9. She claims she went to check on them before she went to bed and they were gone."
"Wheels up in 20" Rossi said as they all got up from the table
"That sounded weird coming from you" laughed Garcia "I'll have more to tell you once you board the jet"
—
When they boarded the jet they found Hotch already in his usual seat and Reid snoring on the couch.
Morgan was not looking forward to seeing Hotch and the glare he got as he walked past the older man told him he was right to be worried
"Hotch can I just say..." Morgan started
"Not now Morgan" Hotch cut him off "I need to get up to speed on the case and then we'll talk"
"Is Reid ok?" JJ asked
"He's fine JJ; can you please tell me what the case is about?"
"All we know right now is that we are looking for two missing young girls aged 6 and 9, reported missing by their mother"
"Ok" Hotch said shortly looking at the files JJ passed him
Once they were in the air Garcia called them with some additional information "the mother is separated from the girl's biological father and has a new boyfriend. The father says that he hasn't seen the girls in over a month because the mother keeps making excuses to cancel his time. The mother's new boyfriend also has a record for stealing cars and aggravated assault"
"Thanks Garcia" Hotch said ending the video call
"When we land Rossi and I will go to the station and speak to the local Police, then I will go and speak to the mother and her new boyfriend, JJ and Prentiss can speak with the father, and Morgan, you can go to the hotel and babysit Reid" Hotch said glaring at Morgan
"Ok now that's settled, would you ladies like a coffee?" Rossi said taking the girls to the back of the plane so Hotch could speak to Morgan
"Did you even think Derek?" Hotch said angrily
"I...I thought he could handle it. I swear he only had three beers, if I had known it would affect him like this I never would have let him drink anything"
"Three beers doesn't do this! You know he hasn't had a drink in over 10 years! You should have known better!"
"I'm sorry Hotch" Morgan tried to say
"I don't want to hear it Morgan" Hotch said angrily "he's your responsibility now until he's sober enough to work."
"Yes sir" Morgan said and he turned and went to sit closer to Reid in case he woke up
"What's going on Aaron? What's wrong with Reid?" Rossi said coming to sit down once he noticed the coast was clear.
"Morgan took him out and got him drunk, he came home stumbling all over the place and started throwing up" Hotch said
"Oh" said Rossi shortly
"He should have known better!" Exclaimed Hotch angrily.
"Yes he should have, but Reid isn't a child anymore and he can make his own decisions, whether you like it or not"
Hotch just looked over at Reid and didn't answer
xxxxxxxx
10 years ago:
"Hotch I'm not really a child so if I want to have another piece of cake then I will!" Reid demanded
"No you won't, I don't want to be up all night with a sick child because you had too much to eat" Hotch said taking the cake away from him
"Hoooootch!" Spencer whined
"Garcia please don't give him any more sugar today" Hotch said handing the slice of cake back to Garcia and ignoring Reid's pleas
"Of course sir" she said stifling a laugh
"I hate you" Reid called to Hotch's disappearing back
"Sorry baby, daddy's spoken" Garcia said as Spencer reached out for the cake
Reid gave Spencer a sad look "pleeeeeeeeease Aunty Pen" he said clasping his hands together
"Don't look at me like that" she said trying not to look at him "do you want me to get fired?"
xxxxxxxxx
Present day:
Reid was so much easier to deal with when he was a child thought Hotch as he snapped out of the brief flashback.
By the time they landed Spencer had woken up it was still feeling unwell.
"How are you feeling Spencer?" Hotch asked as the jet landed
"Not good" he groaned
"Ok, Morgan is going to take you straight to the hotel, have a shower and some coffee and I expect you at the station ready to work in 2 hours, we have 2 children to find and the clocks ticking. Understand?"
"Yes sir" he replied looking the floor
"So kid, how's the head?" Morgan asked on the way to the hotel
"Not good at all, I really need coffee and food" he replied "what happened last night?"
"I'm so sorry man, I didn't know the affect the beer would have on you or I would not have let you drink"
"It's not your fault Morgan"
"Well according to Hotch it's my fault and I shouldn't have let you drink"
"It's not your fault" Spencer repeated "when you were talking to that waitress I had a few shots of tequila"
"You what?" exclaimed Morgan angrily
"I'm sorry Morgan I didn't know he would blame you, it's my fault for how drunk I got" Spencer said getting out of the car
"Yes it is, how many shots did you have anyway?"
"Four? I think? Maybe five?"
"No wonder you fell over and threw up" Morgan said leading the way to their room "now, go and have a shower while I go and get food and coffee, ok?"
"Ok, hopefully it will help" Spencer said
xxxxxxxxx
"So when was the last time you saw the girls Ms Weston" Hotch asked
"Last night when I tucked them into bed, it was about 7:30?" she cried
"And what time did you notice they were gone?"
"I went to check on them before I went to bed at about 10:30 and they were both gone" she sobbed
"Have you noticed anything unusual lately? Anyone been paying the girls extra attention? Notice anyone following you?" Hotch asked
"No, nothing unusual"
"What about the girl's father?"
"He is the worst father in the world! He hasn't even seen them in months!"
"Ok and why is that?"
"He kept making excuses why he couldn't spend time with them, I assume his new girlfriend had something to do with it" she scoffed
"And where is your boyfriend?" Hotch asked looking at his paperwork, "Steven?"
"He's at work, he's a truck driver, he left for work after I put the girls to bed. He's on his way back now"
"Good we will need to speak to him"
xxxxxxxx
Once Spencer had finished his shower and had a large cup of coffee he was starting to feel better
"So what's the case about? I remember something about kids?" He asked Morgan
"Yeah two little girls are missing, so we're on the clock, I got a text from Hotch he wants us at the station ASAP, are you feeling up to it?"
"Yeah let's go" Spencer said grabbing his bag
xxxxxxxx
"When was the last time you saw your children Mr. Hattie" JJ asked
"It's been over a month now! That stupid bitch is trying to keep my kids away from me!" He shouted while pacing up and down
"Ok Mr. Hattie, I'm going to need you to calm down and tell us what has been going on, why wouldn't she let you see the girls?" Prentiss asked
"She kept making excuses, one weekend they were both too sick to get out of bed, the next time their mother had organized to take them to a friend's birthday party so they didn't want to come and the last time she didn't even have an excuse, she just rang me and told me they weren't coming"
"That must have been really hard for you?" JJ agreed
"Yeah it was, but she's always done things like this, every since we split up and she found her new boyfriend, it's like she trying to cut me out of their lives"
xxxxxxxxxx
"Garcia have you found out anything useful about the mother's new boyfriend? Or the fathers new girlfriend?" Hotch asked
"Not yet sir, the girlfriend seems to be clean, works a normal 9-5 job, has a few close friends according to her social media. The mum's boyfriend, Steven, as we already know has a record; he was just out of jail for aggravated assault when he met Amy"
"Ok can you find out where he is at the moment? Amy said he's working but is on his way back because of what's happened"
"I'll call you back when I find out" she said ending the call
xxxxxxxxxx
"So what do we know so far?" Hotch asked when they all reconvened at the station
"We know that the father and his girlfriend both have alibis for when the girls went missing, they were at her work function" Prentiss replied
"The mother's boyfriend was working so we have no suspects or leads yet" Hotch said
"Has Garcia looked into the mother's family?" Rossi asked
"She's checking on Steven for me now then I'll get her to look into the family's history"
Hotch's phone rang "what have you found Garcia?"
"Well sir I tracked Stevens phone and unless it's been stolen, he is not headed back this way, his truck is headed away from us"
"Who wants to bet he has the kids in that truck?" Rossi said
"How far away is he?" Hotch asked
"At least two hours sir"
" ok Garcia, I need you to call any local police in the towns he's headed towards and get them to set up road blocks and stop him"
"Already on it" she said as she ended the call
"Let's go" he said as they all rushed to their vehicles
xxxxxxxx
"The truck was stopped about an hour from where you are sir" Garcia said as soon as Hotch answered
"The local police had no choice but to shoot Steven. When they asked to search his truck he pulled out a gun, and the police officer shot him in the arm. The kids were found tied and gagged in the back of the truck but luckily they were unhurt" she reported
"Thanks Garcia" Hotch replied
When they arrived they found the children waiting with a welfare officer who was making arrangements to get them home.
Hotch and Prentiss followed a local police officer to the hospital so they could speak to Steven
"Where were you taking the children Steven?" Hotch started
"I was getting rid of them, they were nothing but brats the whole time I was living there, always fighting with each other" he replied angrily
"So what were you going to do with them? Kill them?"
"No I was just going to dump them in the middle of nowhere and let nature take its course" he sneered
Hotch stood and motioned for Emily to follow him, "I think we have learned everything we can from him, he clearly just didn't like kids and wanted them out of the way" he said
"Yeah I think you're right" she agreed.
xxxxxxxxx
"Ok everyone let's go home" Hotch said as they all gathered their things after arriving back at the station
"I spoke to the Pilot and he said there is something wrong with one of the controls, he's having it fixed now and we should be ready to leave at first light" Rossi said
"Ok then, how about dinner?" Said Prentiss "I'm starving"
"Sure I could eat" Reid said
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
10 years earlier:
"Would you like a booster seat for your son sir?" The waitress asked Hotch
"Yes, thank you" Hotch replied
"I don't need that!" Spencer insisted quietly
"Yes you do, you can hardly see over the table, you won't be able to see your food" he smiled as the waitress brought over the booster seat and Hotch settled Reid onto it
"There, much better short stuff" Morgan teased "Now I can see you"
Spencer was just happy to have them all back safe and sound. They had just returned from a dangerous case and Prentiss had been grazed by a stray bullet from the unsub and Spencer insisted that she sit next to him.
While they were all waiting for their food Spencer watched them all and thought about how much he loved them all, he was starting to realize that they really were a family. Hotch was the father, Rossi the grandfather, JJ and Prentiss were both sometimes like a mother figure and sometimes like an aunt and Will was like the uncle he never had, Morgan was the crazy single uncle, and Garcia was like a big sister/ young aunt that just wanted everything to be fun.
When his meal arrived Hotch cut his food into bite sized pieces and Emily tucked a napkin into his shirt like a bib, he laughed to himself as he started eating
"What's so funny handsome?" Prentiss asked
"Nothing mummy" he replied
Hotch nearly spat out his food and the others all stopped and stared at him. He kept his eyes on his food so he wouldn't have to look at any of them; he knew if he looked up he would start laughing
"Well that's interesting" said Morgan raising his eyebrows and staring at Spencer
"Well you guys do make an adorable family!" Garcia exclaimed happily
Hotch turned bright red and looked at Prentiss who just laughed "so do we need to work out some sort of custody arrangement?"
Hotch laughed nervously "I don't think that will be necessary"
Step one complete! Spencer thought to himself
By the time they had all finished eating, it seemed like they had all forgotten about his earlier comment, time to remind them "daddy I'm tired" he said stretching out his arms to Hotch
"Ok buddy, come here" he said picking him up, Spencer laid his head on Hotch's shoulder and waited until they were all saying goodbye then... "I want mommy!" He said loudly reaching for Emily and starting to cry.
"Ok" Hotch said calmly, handing him to Emily. Once they reached the car Emily kissed his cheek and handed him back to Hotch.
They all quickly said their goodbyes and left Emily and Hotch alone with Spencer, "ok what's going on?" Hotch asked him.
"Nothing daddy" he replied innocently
"What's up with all the mummy business?" Emily asked
"Nothing but I just thought that when we are out in public it would be more believable if we were a family, is that wrong? You told me to act like a child in public" he smirked
"No it's not wrong Spencer..." Hotch started
"It's fine baby" Emily said "now you be a good boy for daddy and go straight to sleep when you get home ok?" And she kissed him on the head and walked over to her car.
"Time to go buddy" Hotch said as he strapped him into his car seat.
By the time they got home Spencer was sound asleep. When Hotch lifted him out of the car Spencer snuggled into him and went back to sleep. Now the hard part, trying to get him into bed without waking him up, Hotch thought
Hotch quickly changed him and put him into bed without disturbing him too much then he went downstairs and made himself a coffee. It was cute that Spencer had called Prentiss mummy, but it was making him picture them as a happy family and that wasn't appropriate. Not that he hadn't thought about it though, he had… a lot.
Just as he was getting ready for bed he heard Spencer crying. "What's wrong buddy he asked as he went into the room and sat on the bed.
Spencer threw himself at Hotch "I had an accident!" He wailed
"It's ok buddy, let's get you cleaned up" Hotch said as he stood with Spencer in his arms and took him into the bathroom "it's too late to have a bath, I'll let you have a quick shower on one condition"
"What's that" Spencer said between sobs
"That you let me help you so you don't fall and have an accident, ok?"
Spencer kept sobbing "ok". He kept sobbing the entire time he was in the shower and Hotch was washing him
"Ok let's get out now" Hotch said holding out a towel for him
"Spencer it's ok, come here buddy" Hotch said as he pulled him into a hug "it was just an accident, it was my fault for not waking you up to go to the toilet before bed"
Spencer laid his head on Hotch's shoulder and stopped crying "sorry Hotch" he sniffed.
"There is nothing to be sorry for ok?" Hotch started "but I have something that you're not going to like… but maybe we should try?" the older man went into his bedroom and came back with a pull up
"No no no..." Spencer said as he started crying again "I'm not a baby! I don't need that, I'm sorry I wet the bed, it won't happen again" he said in a rush
"I really think you should try them, just during the night. I know you're not really a baby but your body doesn't know that right now, and isn't it better to not have to worry about wetting the bed? They're just like normal underwear" Hotch reasoned
Spencer hated it when Hotch was right, why couldn't the man be wrong just once! What he said made sense, thought Spencer, but what if the others found out? Oh god, what if Morgan found out? The thought of the others finding out was enough to make him start crying in earnest
Hotch pulled him into another hug and rubbed his back "please just try them tonight? For me?"
Still sobbing Spencer just nodded his head against Hotch's shoulder
"Good man" Hotch praised as he helped Spencer get dressed
Spencer was so embarrassed he couldn't even look at Hotch. Once he was dressed he ran straight into his room but then remembered that his sheets were still wet. Hotch came in and quickly stripped the bed then picked Reid up and took him into his room "I'll wash them in the morning, you can sleep with me tonight" he said as he laid Spencer on his big bed
"I can't sleep here, it's too weird" he whined "and my dog is still in my room, I need him"
Hotch hid his smile as he went to retrieve Spencer's toy dog. As soon as Spencer took the stuffed animal he laid down and cuddled it to his cheek "Goodnight" he mumbled
"Goodnight" Hotch replied as he climbed into bed and turned the light off
When Spencer woke up he found himself snuggled into Hotch's side. Oh well, he thought, might as well go back to sleep and he laid his head back down
"Morning Spencer" Hotch yawned as he woke up and looked down at Reid
"Tired still" said Spencer as he rolled over and snuggled under the blanket with his dog
"Sorry buddy it's time to get up now or we'll be late for work"
"You won't mind if I come in late today will you?" Spencer asked without opening his eyes
All of a sudden Hotch grabbed Spencer and lifted him above his head, "Yes I will mind!" He laughed and put Reid over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, "let's get some breakfast, what do you want?"
"I want pancakes please and coffee"
Hotch sat him in his booster seat at the table "no coffee but pancakes are a great idea" he smiled
"Please daddy?" Spencer said giving Hotch his saddest look
"Don't look at me like that" he said "it's still no"