Part 5

Las Vegas, Nevada

Reid Residence

"Spencer!" exclaimed Diana Reid happily when she saw her son. "It's so good to see you," Diana said giving her son a big hug.

Safina watched this with a smile on her face, as it was clear that Diana Reid really adored her son. Of course, she had had no doubt, as the affection that had been in Spencer's tone every time he had talked about her had told her that much.

"So is this the lovely lady you've been telling me about for months now?" Diana inquired.

"Of course, mom," Spencer said with an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "Mom, I'd like to introduce you to Safina Hotchner."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Reid," Safina said politely shaking the Omega's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Miss Hotchner," Diana said returning the handshake firmly.

"You can call me Safina, as after all your son and I are mates after all," Safina said.

"Oh, this is wonderful news," Diana said her face lighting up. "Why don't we go sit down instead of standing out here in the entry hall."

Diana led the way to the living room that had comfortable furniture in it. "Please have a seat. Would you like anything to drink."

"Tea will be fine, mom, since I know you already have some brewed at this time of day," Spencer said.

"Yes, tea, will be fine, as Spencer has infected me with his love for it," Safina said with a smile kissing Spencer's cheek.

"Well, it's certainly better for him than all that coffee drinks," Diana said with a scolding look at son.

"I need my coffee, mom, if I want to stay awake during the long hours I put in. That doesn't mean I don't drink other things," Spencer told his mother his tone even.

"I'm only trying to look after your health son," Diana said.

"I can look after my own health, thank you," Spencer told her. "It has never been proven that coffee is actually bad for your health."

Diana just shook her head and went to fix three cups of tea.

"Well, your relationship is rather interesting," Safina said with a smile.

"We're really close actually," Spencer said smiling as well. "She only wants what's best for me. She was really worried when I decided to move to Virginia, join the FBI, but had to acknowledge, I had a right to do with my life what I wanted. She was less worried when she met the team and realized how much they looked after me. She was just afraid that I wouldn't have any family to be happy with. She never did like Gideon, but I think that was more because he was the one that convinced me to join the FBI in first place. When he retired she often said she was right and she had known eventually he would abandon everything, the people he cared for, even the young man he had come to consider a son."

"You'll tell me the whole story behind that later," Safina ordered softly.

"I will," Spencer promised.

"So when is the wedding?" Diana asked coming back into the living room. "I know you don't have to have one, but I'm hoping you will."

"Around Christmas," Spencer answered. "The team should be on standdown and not on call this year, which means that they'll be no interruptions. Also you will have off around then to, so you won't have to take the time off."

"That's only a few months away," Diana murmured.

"Yes, I know and Safina wants to make it the event of the year, mostly so she can send father pictures to show dad, pictures what he's missing out on," Spencer said. "While I think he deserves every bit of misery, I don't know if I want to even let him know I met someone. I don't want him trying to claim time with his grandchildren once they come."

"You don't worry about that, sweetie," Safina said. "Let Aaron and me deal with it. Aaron was rather upset when you told us some of your past, especially at your father. If he tries anything we'll get rid of him I promise and he'll know never to bother you again."

"So who is this, Aaron?" Diana asked curiously.

"He's my brother," Safina explained.

Diana nodded at this, having figured it was something like that, because there's no way her son would get involved if Safina was seeing someone else.

"He's a very strong Alpha like his sister, but he's really nice as Alphas go," Spencer said. "We have become friends over the last few months. He's very protective of his sister, but still, allows her to live her life."

"He definitely approves of your son," Safina told Diana who smiled proudly. "He's been keeping an eye on him for me for several years."

"Why would he do that?" Diana asked.

"He knew I was rather infatuated with him," Safina explained. "We met when he was giving a lecture on physics at Georgetown. Much to my annoyance at the time he didn't seem to notice me, but then, I was still a student and he had already graduated, sometime ago."

"I did remember her, because she asked some very intelligent questions, but as for thinking of her as a potential mate that never even occurred to me at the time," Spencer explained.

"My brother owns a large firm with many different arms, so it wasn't hard at all for him to keep an eye on him for me, without alerting Spencer to that fact."

"Oh, that Aaron Hotchner," Diana said. "I've heard a lot of good things about him."

"So had I and they're probably all true, because as I said he's a good man," Spencer said. "He's certainly better man then dad ever was."

"Spencer!" Diana scolded.

"Don't worry, I've heard all about the Senior Reid by now," Safina said. "My father was wonderful, but Aaron's wasn't. We're only half siblings, you see."

"I told her a lot about my past including that time in college," Spencer said.

Diana stared at her son and knew that it must be love indeed for him to bring up such a painful subject.

"Well, if he told you about that time in college then he really trusts you. The only ones aware of that are me and his two siblings Finn and Marnie," Diana said. "Welcome to the family. Finn and Marnie will be thrilled that their brother is finally settling down."

"Finn can't really talk, considering he hasn't settled down either," Spencer said.

"No, he really doesn't have a right to tease you that you haven't settle down," Diana agreed. "So any children in the immediate future or are you going to wait until after you officially wed in the human fashion."

"That's another thing," Safina said, as she rubbed her belly a universal gesture, that Diana instantly recognized.

"You're pregnant?" Diana asked excitedly.

"Yes, she is," Spencer grinned happily. "It was a mutual decision. She's only a few weeks along, so it will be awhile before she starts to show. We could've used condoms I admit, but we discussed it and decided we wanted a family right away. I'm only hoping that what happened last time won't happen this time."

"I understood his concern," Safina said. "What happened last time while he was just 18 was more than tragic. It's rare, but it happens, sometimes with no logical explanation as to why. Spencer really doesn't expect things to go wrong, but wants to be prepared just in case."

"No, I don't necessarily expect anything to go wrong, but you never know," Spencer interjected. "Safina understands my worry considering what happened with Maranda."

"I think he's very brave to want to try again with anyone," Safina said, putting an arm around Spencer's shoulders.

"He was the one I worried about the most," Diana admitted. "To lose his children like that, even if their conception was accidental...would be devastating to anyone, but especially an omega. I was upset at him at first thinking he had been careless, but I should've known better, because if there is one thing Spencer is not, it's careless."

Safina modded on agreement with that, because Spencer was not at all careless

"Did they ever catch the people that did that? Deliberately put tiny holes in the condom? It would've had to begun at the factory," asked Safina.

"Yes, they did," Spencer said. "It was an FBI case, because it happened across state lines. At the time there was one woman that was told never to get pregnant again, because it could cost her, her life. I looked up the file out of curiosity, several years ago. Luckily, it was computerized so that made it easier. It was also a BAU case, back when Gideon was still on the team. It was long before, we had a technical analyst, as Garcia didn't start until a few years after that. It was this Beta that had a real grudge against Alphas and Omegas. She wanted the whole world to be run by Betas and have the Alphas and Omegas be subjugated. The pharmaceutical company was also in on it and those Alphas and Omegas on birth control were actually getting the counteractant. The substances aren't found in nature, as they are entirely man-made so, none of our kind could accidentally consume it. Condoms and at the time that particular birth control were the most commonly used methods, for preventing conception."

"So it was a plot between that Beta and somebody at the pharmaceutical company," Diana said.

"Yes, an Omega in that case that worked in production. In the Omegas case he was being paid a great deal to do it, as he was having money problems. The Beta in question got over 15 years in prison and as for the Omega, well, he got off more lightly, because it was found out he was trying to support his kids by himself. While the pharmaceutical company paid well, he had a lot of kids and his mate was a stay-at-home mom."

"Then they either needed to have less kids or the mom need to get a job," Safina said, unsympathetically.

"But on the other hand, someone has to be home to watch the kids if they didn't have anybody they trusted to do that," Diana said. "They probably weren't able to afford daycare, as that can be a rather expensive option, especially with so many children."

"I'm lucky that I work a job that has its own daycare center. It was started by some of the women that didn't work outside jobs. There are quite a few children of our kind that are there almost every day while their parents work. It probably won't ever be necessary for me to take them into work with me, as I'm sure Safina and I will hire someone or maybe the nanny for Jack and Britney would be willing."

"Jack and Britney are my brother's twins," Safina explained before Diana could ask.

"What happened to their mother?" Diana asked.

"Let's just say she's not around anymore," Spencer said.

"One of those things, huh?" Diana said in instant understanding. Diana figured that Safina's brother had to caught his mate cheating on him and that was a cardinal sin. There were several options for dealing with a mate cheating on their other half. Safina's brother could've taken her to the Council or he had every legal right to kill her.

"I've met them and they're simply adorable," Spencer said smiling.

"All children are adorable," Safina said. "I can't help imagining what our own children will be like."

"Well, we'll soon find out," Spencer said.

"You'll bring them up here to see me, right?" Diana asked.

"Of course, mom," Spencer agreed. "You can come and visit us to though. I just bought this nice big house, and if we need to build on we can."

"You'll always be welcome to visit," Safina added. "Marnie and Finn to if they want to come."

"Well, I can visit in the summer anyway," Diana said looking happy. "I do that anyway some years."

"But before you had to stay in my guest room in my apartment and my siblings couldn't come at the same time, unless they stayed in a motel," Spencer said. "We have plenty of bedrooms, though I know that will change as the children come along. We might decide not to have anymore after this."

"I suppose it's much too soon to tell how many you're having," Diana said.

"I'm afraid so," Safina said. "We won't be able to tell for a few weeks. We know it'll be at least twins or that's the likely possibility, but it could be triplets or more."

"I can hardly wait," Diana smiled brilliantly looking forward to those grandchildren.

"We'll let you know as soon as we do," Spencer promised his mother.

"You're always so thoughtful, Spencer. It's too bad I won't get to see your father's expression when he gets a newspaper article about you actually marrying. I'm sure he'll be rather shocked, but it's the least he deserves," Diana admitted.

"He'll probably think that Safina is only marrying me, because I got her pregnant, probably not even considering the fact there's no way I could've forced her to do anything. I know that our kind is vulnerable during heat, but how would I get to her unless I break into her place of residence? If father really thinks I'm capable of then then there's no hope for him," Spencer said.

"I don't think there's any hope for him anyway, as he abandoned his family after all. The least he could've done was keep in contact with his children," Safina said, with disdain in her tone.

"I'm sure he'll actually hate to see the son he predicted would never get anywhere in life is actually happy. It won't be that hard for him discover that Safina is related to Aaron Hotchner, the business mogul, if he cared to find out," Spencer added. "Hotchner is an uncommon surname, especially in America. If he isn't stupid, he'll figure that Safina and Aaron the business mogul are related, because the likelihood of having two blood related Hotchners, living in the same city are astronomical. The Hotchner name isn't like Reid or Rossi or even Morgan, as it's very unusual."

"Will's not stupid, just careless and thoughtless," Diana said. "Since you're getting married to a Hotchner Will will figure that Safina has to be the sister or maybe niece of Aaron Hotchner. I can see him coming to the realization that what he lost out on all because of him abandoning his children and also not treating them decently. He lost out on the chance to ever get to know his grandchildren. I'm not even sure he knows that Marnie is married and has triplets."

"You really should've taken him before the Council you know mom," Spencer said. "You shouldn't have let him get away with just abandoning you and his responsibilities."

"Yes, I should have," Diana admitted. "I just wanted Will gone after how he treated you and your siblings. I should've made him face up to his responsibilities. You and your siblings could've been my witnesses, though you're hardly impartial."

"Yes, but you were also children and young children are usually unable to lie, at least not to where it's not very obvious," Safina offered. "At least he would've been heavily censored and forced to pay a decent amount of child support. The Council is capable of wrecking his career and at the best he would lose any clients that were our kind. I don't know how many clients are human and how many are our kind, but if he lost a lot of clients, that could certainly change his standards of living."

"I think at least half of his client base at one time was our kind. Our kind tend prefer a lawyer that's the same species as them, because a human might not understand all their needs," Diana said. "It's been over a decade though, so his client base might have changed in that amount of time."

"Well, I suppose it's too late now," Spencer said.

"Yeah, it is, and I'm sorry I didn't do something about him, Spencer," Diana said. "The least you and your siblings deserved was to see him get what was coming to him."

"It's over and done with, mom. Let's not dwell on it. Let's look towards the future where you'll soon have more grandchildren to spoil."

"Something I'm seriously looking forward to," Diana smiled.

"So are we," Safina grinned happily William Reid forgotten for the moment.

~~~Spencer and Safina~~~

"Congratulations," Finn told his brother. "I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you," Spencer said grinning from ear to ear. "I never imagined that actually find someone."

"Why not?" Finn asked puzzled.

"Because working at the BAU is hell on love lives and families, just as I told Safina awhile back. It requires a very large commitment and a lot of people aren't going to understand why I love it so much. I know that a lot of relationships end in divorce in our type of job. A few of them do manage to maintain their marriages or matings, but if they do then their spouses are very understanding about the job they do."

"Ah, I see what you mean," Finn said. "You're not going to quit your job."

"No, that's something I made sure Safina understood before I agreed to mate with her. I told her I would never become a House Omega, even though I realized her protective instincts were incredibly strong. Her brother reminded her that she'd lose me if she tried to curtail my freedom. While I would like children, I will never allow myself to be made into someone I'm not."

"I can't blame you there," Finn admitted. "I'm surprised you're actually going to hold a wedding as you're already mated after all."

"It's mostly to poke father in the eye," Spencer said. "Safina's idea, as she's heard enough about father by this point to be very upset with him. Me, I'd rather just ignore he existed, but Safina is determined and I have to admit I'm rather pleased to make him realize I did get mated despite all his predictions to the contrary."

"Yeah, he was really hard on you and mom," Finn said.

"He was hard on you and Marnie too," Spencer corrected. "He just wasn't father material, but then, a lot of Alphas aren't. Mom really should've taken him to task, gone to the Council. She didn't and it's too late now. This is a way to get a modicum of revenge and if he tries to demand the right to spend time with his grandchildren Aaron, Safina's brother will have no trouble denying that request. If he tried to go to the Council, well, Aaron has some contacts on it so it won't come to anything and in fact, it might just get him in trouble, which would be no more than he deserves. I don't think even father is stupid enough to go to the Council when he treated us like he did. I mean he hit us on several occasions, even broke my arm once and all we would have to do would be to dig up old medical records, which wouldn't be hard because computers were very common, by the time we were born and a lot of places like hospitals started to keep their records on them."

"Yeah, I know, he did break your arm, didn't he?" Finn said. "I think we were only eight at the time."

"The only reason he didn't break anymore bones is mom came into the room and was so enraged even father noticed. Father wasn't an idiot and simply left before mom did something she would regret later, but by then it would be too late."

"Their marriage started to break up after that," Finn remembered.

"I can't really blame mom at all, for leaving him. I mean if he broke my arm, just because he got mad because I was supposedly bothering him by asking him questions, what would he have done when he lost his patience with one of us and was really, really enraged for whatever reason. I mean seriously he broke my arm on accident, simply because he had no patience for his own children and I know very well that sometimes children can be annoying when they're young, but that doesn't mean you treat them like crap."

"If dad had his way he probably wouldn't even have bothered to take you to the emergency room," Finn snorted, his disdain for his father's attitude obvious, but then, Finn was an Alpha that knew his responsibilities to his family.

"No, he probably just would have expected me to deal with it on my own," Spencer said. "How he would have expected me to deal with a broken arm all on my own is beyond me Thank goodness, for mom."

"Yeah, their relationship didn't last much longer after that," Finn remembered.

"I was actually really glad when that happened, even though I know you barely remember our father," Spencer told his brother. "Mom would never stand for us being abused like that and even though it was accidental dad wasn't even sorry, and thought it would make me stop being annoying by asking him questions or expecting him to deal with the bullying I endured in school. Dad being not sorry for his actions I think, was the last straw as far as mom was concerned."

"I suppose it's just as well I don't remember dad very well," Finn said. "The only memories I have are only from the last few months before mom left and those are very vague. I know I'd probably be a lot more pissed at him if I remembered more of his treatment."

"Yeah, you would," Spencer agreed. "Marnie would be too."

"I think we be more pissed at him because of his treatment of you instead of us," Finn said. "It shouldn't matter if you're a Omega or not. They're is usually at least one Omega in every birth."

"That might've been one of his reasons, but I just think that he only married because it was expected of him," Spencer said. "Most lawyers had families, even if the spouses left them for whatever reason."

"I suppose," Finn said. "Anyway, let's change the subject, this is supposed to be a happy occasion."

"As you wish," Spencer agreed. "There are more important things to concentrate on now, like Safina being pregnant."

"This is wonderful news," Finn said slapping his brother on the back.

"Mom was ecstatic," Spencer grinned, his eyes twinkling in happily.

"I just bet she was," Finn chuckled.

"Any chance of you settling down anytime soon?" Spencer asked his brother.

"Why do you ask that?" Finn asked trying not to blush. Dammit he never blushed, unless it was one of his siblings asking him an embarrassing question he didn't really expect.

"Because I would've given it low odds that I would find someone for me before you and Marnie did," Spencer told his brother. "The way you're blushing tells me that you've likely been seeing someone that you really like, and since mom mentioned just shortly ago you still haven't found anyone I'm assuming you haven't even mentioned that you've been courting anyone."

"I have been seeing someone for a few weeks," Finn admitted. "I really like her, but we're just dating right now not courting."

"Well then, brother, you need to tell mom, because otherwise she'll pester you about it. She wants all her children to be happy, settled down with mates of their own. I can't blame her after what happened with dad."

"Neither can I," Finn admitted his blush having faded long since. "I'm not ready to tell her yet though. I'm not sure it's going anywhere quite yet."

"Well then, brother, she'll just keep pestering you until you tell her about this girl you're seeing. I won't help you out on that, because there is really no way I can, unless I tell her what you told me and if I do that then she'll insist on meeting her. There is a reason I waited several months to tell mom about Safina."

"I'll handle it," Finn promised.

"Don't keep her in the dark too long," Spencer warned his brother. "If this girl you're dating is the one for you, you need to tell mom soon. You know she'll be very happy and excited for you."

Finn could only agree as he knew what their mother was like, especially when it came to her children's happiness.

~~~Spencer and Safina~~~