Epilogue
Spencer took a deep breathe and with Safina support he knocked on the door.
It had turned out that his father indeed had a sister. Her name was Molly and she had been married a long time, he had multiple cousins he had never known about. It turned out that just like he and Aaron had speculated his sister was a famous musician now semi-retired. She still worked occasionally, but only for really special events.
"Can I help you?" asked an older woman who answered the door. She was beautiful, she had dark brown hair like his father with streaks of natural blonde.
"Um, yes my name is Spencer Reid and um, my father is William Reid. This is my mate Safina."
The woman stared at Spencer and then something seem to come into her eyes. "Come in. I'm William's sister Molly and I have not spoken to my brother in over 30 years."
"I can't actually blame you for that," Spencer said, as Molly led them, into a very nicely appointed living room.
"I had no idea that Will had ever married. I believe you would call us estranged."
"As I said, I can't blame you. My father is a hard man," Spencer said. "I never realized that I might have other relatives, father never once mentioned you. Safina's brother made me realize that I should wonder why I had never met his siblings. He was bound to have at least one."
"So you're my nephew then," Molly said.
"Yes, I am and I'm sorry I've never met you before now," Spencer said. "Aaron made me realize that I should learn more about my family. I had a friend of mine do a computer search on my father to see if he had a brother or sister. When that didn't pan out, since any records weren't put into the system Aaron knew someone that could probably trace my family. Ever since I became a father myself, I realized that I wanted to know more about my family."
"Congratulations," Molly said.
"Thank you," Safina said smiling. "We're very happy with the children that were just born recently. Perhaps, if you want, you can come and meet them, as they're too small to do much traveling right now."
"I would love to," Molly said enthusiastically. "I think we need to get to know each other better first though."
"Yeah, we do," Spencer agreed. "I have followed your career for some time not realizing that you were my aunt. I've always liked music, even if I have no talent in that area and you were always one of my favorites. I was sorry when you mostly retired."
"That's really nice to hear," Molly said, smiling. "You look like my brother you know," Molly said finally after a few minutes of conversation. "So how is my darling baby brother?"
"Don't ask me how he is he was not a positive influence in my old my siblings lives. We are estranged just like you are."
Molly nodded in sad understanding at that. Will had always been jealous of her obvious musical talent. He had felt he should be better than his Omega sibling.
"He tried something really stupid just a few months ago," Safina added.
"What did he do?" Molly asked curious. "I won't be surprised or angry at what you tell me, I promise. I always knew he was capable of criminality."
"Well, I sent him a letter along with a newspaper article and several photographs of our wedding, a wedding we only had in order to poke Spencer's father in the eye. Basically, I said that this is what you lost by not treating your children decently."
"So you didn't have a happy childhood then," Molly said looking at Spencer who shook his head.
"I did after mom threw dad out, when he accidentally broke my arm and wasn't even sorry for it. That was not the first time that he wasn't sorry for some action against mainly me. He locked me in the dark cellar once for several hours while mom had a meeting at the University, and my two siblings were not home until around dinner time. I was about four or so."
"I hate to say this, but that sounds like Will all over. I'm not surprised that he hasn't changed," Molly said shaking her head. "He's been like that ever since he was a child. He would often try to get me in trouble for something, but luckily, for me our parents never believed him."
"Well, he just tried to get Spencer declared incompetent, so he could supposedly see his grandchildren," Safina explained.
"His real reason though, was that I've made quite a bit of money for certain inventions. I don't talk about it, nor do I advertise it, but there are a lot of ways he could've found out."
"So he wanted some of it for himself," Molly guessed.
"It was a stupid move really," Safina said shaking her head. "My brother Aaron Hotchner is a powerful figure. He owns a large corporation and has more contacts and power then Spencer's father does and could easily have torn him apart, then had a dozen witnesses swear he was elsewhere when it occurred, had the tapes from the security cameras in his workplace altered very easily. At the least he could've ruined his reputation with his law firm if he cared to and lost him at least half of his client list."
"Your right, that was stupid," Molly said shaking her head at her brother's idiocy. "I'm assuming he makes plenty as an attorney."
"Yes, he does, as he's quite well-off. I would even say rich really," Spencer agreed. "He felt that because I was an Omega that I didn't deserve all the money I had. He often called me useless when I was a child. I went out of my way to prove him wrong. I think, because I was proving myself so intelligent, that offended him."
"Probably," Molly said soberly. "He never liked it when I was better at something. He felt that because I was an Omega and he was the Alpha he should always be better than I was. I was playing the flute very well by the time I was 10 years old as I had music lessons for several years. It turned out I had a natural talent, but it still had to be homed, you know? Will, had absolutely no talent for music as he tried several instruments, but then, he didn't have the patience to truly practice either."
"Trying to blackmail my brother is dangerous at best," Safina said. "Aaron is like me, a very strong Alpha that has more of a moral code then Spencer's father does. He tried to make money off a child's pain, a child that he hadn't seen since he was eight years old. He assumed that his son would be exactly the same as he was when he was a kid."
"He didn't bother to do his research and he got burned," Spencer said. "There was no way he could ever have gotten away with declaring me mentally incompetent or incompetent in any other way either. Even if he could've managed it. Safina wasn't about to let him near his grandchildren."
"Spencer has too many people that know he is not incompetent in anyway," Safina said. "He didn't bother to do his research."
"That sounds like him, lazy to the bone. How he ever got his degree as an attorney I'll never know."
"You can be lazy in someways and not in others," Spencer told his aunt. "If you're really passionate about something then naturally, you're not going to be lazy."
"I suppose," Molly said thoughtfully.
"I'm also a member of the FBI, the behavioral analysis unit to be precise, and while that's not where my real money comes from it's a career I enjoy. I am the first Omega in the unit, a unit that is overrun by Alphas."
"I bet that was that rather hard," Molly winced in sympathy.
"A little, but not as much as you're probably thinking. The team was prepared to accept whoever Gideon chose, because he was trusted not to choose anyone that wasn't suitable. We got along rather well from the first. The three Alphas on the team tend to be overprotective of me, particularly Morgan, but other than that, I really enjoy working there. I won't say I like everything I see or do for the unit, but on the whole I do like my job. Once I proved I knew what I was doing the team accepted me relatively easily."
"I'm glad," Molly told him. "I'm glad you have so many people you can depend on. So how did you two meet and how long have you been together."
Spencer and Safina took turns telling how they met.
"I never would have agreed if we hadn't come to an understanding. I will never be a House Omega and anybody trying to force me to become one will regret the day they were ever born. They would also bring the team down on their heads, as they're very protective of me, as you know. I swore to myself, I'd rather die then become what my father insisted I would become."
"I'm sorry your father told you that, Spencer," Molly said shaking her head.
"It's not your fault, Aunt Molly," Spencer said with a smile. "There's nothing you could have done as his attitude was too set. People have to want to change in order for that to happen and father never did."
"Do you want to stay for supper at least?" Molly asked.
"If it's okay with your husband, then sure," Safina said. "We don't want to inconvenience you or your mate."
"My husband should be home shortly," Molly said looking at the clock on the mantle. "So are you heading home tomorrow or you better stay for a few days?"
"We can stay for a few days as our children are being looked after by the nanny we hired and their uncle is also taking a hand. His children have fallen in love with ours already," Spencer said. "I've taken the next week off and I can get more if I needed. We each get 30 days a year and most of us never use all of it."
"As for me, I'm a physicist at my brother's company and he gave me as long as I needed knowing that this was important and made it okay with my supervisor," Safina said.
"I would love to meet your kids," Molly said looking wistful. "I miss my kids, but they're all grown-up now with careers of their own."
"I for one never imagined I'd find someone who would be understanding about the job I do. That was another thing I made sure that Safina understood before I agreed to mate with her and that is I would not give up my job."
"Yeah, it's hard to find an Alpha that understands, that you deserve your freedom to do what you want with your life. I didn't want to be just a House Omega either, so I can understand that desire very well. I finally met Malcolm and he was more understanding than I expected any Alpha to ever be. I expected him to demand that I give up my job, but he never did. Of course, my job was never dangerous like yours is Spencer, but still... If he had I never would have agreed to mate with him as I would've died inside."
"He probably knew that if he is intelligent," Spencer suggested. "Yes, a lot of Alphas demand that an Omega quit whatever job they're working and that's not right at all. If they do you tell them no to the mating."
"We both got lucky that's all," Molly smiled. "I've been happy for a long time now."
"And I have just found my own happiness," Spencer smiled back. "It no longer hurts when I spend time with JJ's kids, who are my godchildren, or when I go up and visit my family up in Las Vegas and spend time with my sister's children."
Molly's husband Malcolm came in the door then and she introduced him to a nephew she never knew she had.
"Of course, stay for dinner," Malcolm said. "I have to admit I never met her brother, but from everything Molly's told me I wouldn't want to."
"No you wouldn't," Spencer agreed. "We've been estranged for a long time now. He said and did some things to a child that I'll never forgive him for."
"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes," Molly said. "We have a cook, because I can't cook to save my life I'm afraid."
"I actually cook quite well," Spencer said. "I was used to taking care of myself once I grew up and I eat out so much when I'm out of town for work that I enjoy a good homecooked meal when I'm actually home, even if I have to prepare it."
"Yes, he's quite a decent cook," Safina said. "I can cook as well, so I always cook dinner when Spencer's not there. Sometimes we share duties if we are both home."
All of them chatted getting to know each other, as they headed to the dining room where dinner would be held.
"Hopefully, you can come up and see us, meet our children sometime soon," Spencer said.
"We should be able to manage that in a few weeks," Malcolm said. "I hate to say it, but I think William Reid is useless. I can't believe that Molly never knew she had other family. No offense," Malcolm added looking at Spencer.
"No offense taken, I promise. I'm kind of pissed off at him to that I never knew I had other family out there. He never once mentioned he had a sibling, but really it makes sense. Single births are so rare among our kind that I should've figured out a long time ago that he likely had a brother or sister. I'm not saying it was impossible it was only him, just that it wasn't likely."
"Well, at least we can get to know each other now and I would love to be your two siblings as well," Molly said cheerfully.
"Perhaps at Christmas," Spencer said. "The team isn't on standdown this year as we had that last year."
"So what do you do? Malcolm asked.
"I'm in the FBI," Spencer explained. "The behavioral analyst unit to be specific."
"That's a demanding job," Malcolm said impressed.
"Yes, it is, but as I was telling Aunt Molly here, I mostly enjoy it. You can't like everything about a job after all," Spencer explained. "The paperwork for instance is a pain, especially since the others, Derek Morgan in particular, try to foist off their paperwork on me."
"Why would they do that?" Molly asked.
"Because I read 20,000 words a minute and can have mine done way ahead of anyone else. He hasn't done that as much, after I got mated, but he used to do it all the time figuring I didn't have anything better to do. He hates doing paperwork, even more than I do and I can't really blame him, but at least he's being considerate now that I have a family."
"Neither can I," Malcolm acknowledged. "I get frustrated at portions of my job to."
"And so do I," Safina agreed.
"Everybody does, I'm sure," Molly said. "You may love what you do, but you can't love every aspect."
The four of them kept chatting for some time but finally Spencer and Safina took their leave.
"We'll see you tomorrow. Perhaps you can show us around the city. If not, then I'm sure we can find our own way," Safina suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Molly said smiling. "I know that Malcolm will be busy at least some of tomorrow, so he won't be joining us."
"You have a good time sweetie," Malcolm said kissing his wife's cheek.
"I'm sure we will," Molly said smiling, kissing his bearded cheek affectionately.
Finally, Spencer and Safina left and headed back to their hotel. Spencer was certainly happier than he had been in a long time and had been ever since he and Safina had started courting over a year ago. Life had just gotten better since. He now had a mate and a family, something he had wanted for a long time and he was going to do everything possible to keep the happiness he had found. He swore this silently, even as he and Safina climbed into their rental car and headed for their hotel.