Hey everyone, I'm trying to find time to keep updating but things are crazy in my life at the moment.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate any type of feedback.
CHAPTER 12
10 years earlier:
"Spencer, wake up buddy" Hotch said softly as he sat on the side of the bed and rubbed the small boys back.
An unhappy grunt came from the small boy, but he made no move to wake up or get out of bed. Hotch smiled and pulled back the covers "come on sleepy head we have an early appointment to get your cast off before work"
"I'm sleepy daddy" he mumbled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Ok well let's get you dressed quickly and then you can sleep in the car, unless you want to go in your pyjamas, and you can get dressed later once we get to work?" He laughed as Spencer gave him a disgusted look "no!" was all he replied
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"Well done Spencer you were very brave!" the doctor said to the small boy cuddled into his father's side. "Would you like a lollipop?"
Spencer smiled at the doctor and reached for the treat, but Hotch was quicker "thanks but I think he should have breakfast first" Aaron smiled putting the treat into his pocket.
The doctor smiled "of course"
As soon as they were in the car Spencer asked for his lollipop.
"No Spence, I was serious about having breakfast first" Hotch said smiling at him in the rear-view mirror. "Now, where should we grab breakfast?"
Spencer huffed and crossed his arms "I don't care, you won't let me have what I want anyway" and he turned to look out of the window.
Hotch frowned at Spencer's new found attitude "well how do you know that? Tell me what you want and then I'll decide if you can have it or not"
"What I want is coffee and I obviously know you won't let me have that, so I don't care where we go for breakfast" he sighed
Hotch decided that maybe they should get some take away so he drove through a McDonalds close to the office and took the food up to his office so hopefully Spencer would tell him what was wrong while they ate. Spencer ate most of his food before saying that he was full and getting up to go to his desk.
"what's wrong this morning Spencer?" Hotch asked taking a sip of his hot chocolate, he had gotten them both one so Spencer might be happy with the coffee substitute.
Spencer sat back down and looked at his feet "I don't know, I'm just tired I guess" he shrugged
"Are you sure there's nothing you want to talk about?"
"Why do you always want to talk about everything? Can't I ever just work things out on my own?" he stood up and went to leave the office
Hotch looked at him then turned back to his breakfast "ok then, you know where I am if you want to talk"
Spencer saw the hurt look flash across Hotch's face, and he felt guilty for an instant then his resolve hardened "thanks, but no" he said rudely and walked out.
Once he was gone Hotch sent a message to Emily and Morgan, "I'm not sure what's wrong with Spencer but tread lightly today and see if you can get him to talk about what's wrong. DISCREETLY. Thanks."
Emily responded quickly "don't worry we'll take care of him"
"Let me guess" Spencer said looking at Emily typing on her phone "daddy, has sent you a message telling you that I'm in a bad mood?"
Emily put her phone away and looked at him "I didn't need a message; I think we could have worked that out from your lovely greeting" she smiled at him "good morning to you too Spencer" she laughed and started opening the files in front of her.
Morgan looked over at him, "why so grumpy short stuff?" he smiled
Spencer glared at him, "nothing" he sighed and then got to work.
Over the course of the day Morgan and Emily tried to include Reid in their conversations but he only gave short one word answers when he even responded to them at all, so they spent most of the day talking over him. After lunch the conversation turned to Halloween and what plans they had for the holiday.
"Well, you know that Garcia will want to do something, even if it's just handing out candy to trick or treaters and watching a scary movie" Morgan said smiling
Prentiss laughed "of course, any excuse to snuggle up to you on the couch. Do you have any plans Spencer? Any good costume ideas?"
Reid glared at her, "No" he said shortly then looked back down at his case file. Morgan and Emily shared a concerned look with each other.
Garcia walked into the office not long after that, "So chocolate thunder, what scary movie are we going to watch this year? Also, we need to talk about coordinating costumes, I have a few ideas…."
Spencer got up and walked up to Hotch's office, he knocked as he opened the door "can we go home now?" He whined before realizing that Hotch was on the phone. He sat on the sofa and waited until Hotch was done.
"Sorry Spencer I still have some work to do but I should be done soon, if you don't want to wait I can see if JJ will take you with her? You could play with Henry for a while?"
He sighed loudly and dramatically "No, it's fine, I'll wait" and he sat back on the sofa and crossed his arms.
Hotch didn't ask what was wrong, he just continued working and taking calls until he saw Spencer's head falling towards his chest and decided that he had done enough work for one day. He quickly gathered his things and gently picked up Spencer who just sighed and leaned against his shoulder and went back to sleep.
When they got home Aaron had to wake him up so that he could eat dinner. Maybe he was just more tired than normal? Spencer was silent through dinner and then chose to go straight to bed. "goodnight" he called out to Aaron as he walked up the stairs.
"goodnight Spencer" he called back. He sent a text to Emily and Morgan again "did he say anything today? Any clue as to what's wrong?"
Morgan replied, "nothing definite, but he got up and left when we asked him about Halloween plans?"
"He normally loves Halloween?" Aaron responded
"Normally, might be the key word there" Emily suggested "this is his first Halloween since being a kid again, maybe that's the problem?"
"Yeah, maybe you're right, thanks"
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When Spencer came down to breakfast the next morning he was surprised to see Hotch wearing a cowboy hat.
"Good morning Spencer" he smiled placing a bowl of cereal in front of him. "Do you want some orange juice?"
Spencer ignored the question "why are you wearing that?"
"Well Halloweens only a week away and I can't decide on a costume so I thought I would try some different hats and masks this week until I find something that works" he said starting to eat his cereal, "do you have any ideas what you want to be? I know we haven't had time to go shopping yet but maybe we could go tonight?"
"Why bother dressing up if we are not going to do anything?" Spencer asked angrily
Hotch took off the hat "who said we weren't going to do anything?"
"ME!" he yelled "I don't want to go trick or treating, I'm not really a little kid you know!"
"I know you're not, but I thought maybe we could take Henry out and hopefully Haley will let me have Jack too and we could all go trick or treating together"
Spencer sighed, "no thanks. I don't really feel like being humiliated in public"
Hotch didn't know what to say, normally he could reassure Jack, but Spencer wouldn't be so easily convinced. "Ok well, if you're sure we can just stay home?"
"Thanks that would be good" Reid said sounding relieved.
Hotch just hoped that he would be able to change his mind and if he couldn't do it, he knew that Garcia could.
Thanks for reading!