Part 2

Dave whistled softly, as he closed up Rossi's Jeweler's in Glasgow Scotland. It was 10 years since he and his family had moved to Scotland and settled in Glasgow. Liana had been pregnant with their second child, a son that they had named Ambrose. They had decided to settle in a normal city where there was a section for the supernaturals, but where it was mostly ordinary people.

The section for those with powers was of course, invisible to those that didn't have them. Liana had agreed to have another before he was infertile for the next three centuries and this time they had another girl that they had promptly named Yolanda after Liana's mother. Yolanda had come along after they had gotten settled in to the magical section of Glasgow. Liana had claimed that three was all she was having, even though there was time to have at least one more, so long as Liana got pregnant right away and didn't wait two years like she had with the others.

Liana had known that Dave wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to get pregnant again especially right on top of just having a child, but her mate loved children so much that she hated to deny him the chance to have one more, before the mating season was over for 300 years. She would have a nice long break before she and Dave could have more children, so she decided just to let her body decide. If she got pregnant, because she wasn't using anything to prevent it then that was fine if she didn't, well, that was fine too.

She could understand Dave's driving need to increase the dragon race considering that they had nearly been wiped out and that dragons could only procreate every 300 years didn't help matters. He had been responsible and never had a child of his own before she came along, because there would be no way that he could lay claim to the child as most mothers would never give them up, not unless they were in desperate straights or were somehow dysfunctional.

Liana was well aware that some mothers had no problem giving up their children, because something went wrong inside their brains, but she knew Dave would never procreate with someone like that. He might have sex with them, but not children. Liana thought that was sensible personally and felt the females were lucky, because they didn't have that problem if they got pregnant by some man, not their mate. The man they got pregnant by didn't even ever have to learn about their son or daughter.

In this case, her body had been ready to go and so she got pregnant again easily just months after the birth of her daughter Yolanda. Dave had been ecstatic when he learned what his mate had done without talking it over with him first, Dave remembered with an inner grin. He had gotten an extra son that he had never expected and he was glad that Liana had made that decision on her own.

Apparently, each pregnancy hadn't been too hard on her and even not being able to use her magic much had bothered her. He knew that was because she was used not to using it much anyway, except for very minor things because she had been hiding from Templar for so long, even if that situation had been taken care of. She was just now out of the habit of using magic on a regular basis.

Dave figured now that mating season was over that Liana would get back into the habit of using more of her magic than she was used to. That didn't mean she could afford to be careless but it also didn't mean that she couldn't use it more normally now, that Templar was out of the way.

Dave put the wards in place on the store that would take quite a lot to take them down and started on his way home. He was looking forward to seeing his four children and also his grandchildren by Bridget, as she'd had two before the mating season was over. Bridget had finally agreed to have a couple of children before she couldn't for a long time and Aaron had been very happy with that announcement Dave remembered with an inner smile. Dave had found that Bridget had been right that he liked Aaron Hotchner a great deal.

Aaron actually reminded him a lot of himself, someone who would never abuse his children or his mate, so in that way they were very similar. Brigid was happy and that was all that mattered to Dave. Of course, he was even happier to get a couple of grandchildren out of his daughter and her mate as well. Aaron had agreed to settle down in the same city that he and Liana had decided on, so that they could get to know each other better and also because it would give the grandparents time to get to know their grandchildren. Both Dave and Liana were happy about this as they were both close to Brigid and didn't want her so far away and they also adored their grandchildren.

Dave continued to whistle softly as he headed home, which was only a few blocks from his store, so he often walked in good weather.

As he was walking past an alley he saw a bright light, felt the magic, as he was passing and when he looked into the alley he saw what appeared to be a frightened child.

The boy appeared to be around 4 or 5. The boy looked rather dirty Dave noticed.

"Hello, young man," Dave said gently, as he entered the alley.

The boy didn't answer, didn't even seem to hear Dave at all and looked around rather warily.

Finally, the handsome lad, with deep brown hair and eyes looked at the strange man before him once he had scanned his environment. The small lad didn't seem to fear him Dave noticed, but then he couldn't be more then five years old.

"Where did you come from?" Dave asked.

The boy finally looked at Dave and seemed to be considering whether to answer or not.

Dave wasn't expecting the rather suspicious look the young man shot him, as he was still very young. Dave knew that look very well, but it had always been on an adult or at least a teenager not a child so young. Something had happened to this child to make him have a suspicious nature. This was a child that likely didn't trust adults very easily, because he had been betrayed more than once and say whatever you like, but children weren't stupid, something that a lot of parents didn't realize or at least didn't care about. Children picked up a lot just from being quiet and observing those around them. There was definitely a sharp intelligence in the boy's eyes, but there was also a great deal of wariness and mistrust.

"I'm not exactly sure," the boy said his voice very clear his words well pronounced, for a five year old.

"What's your name?"

"Spencer," the boy supplied not giving a last name.

Dave was rather impressed with Spencer. The boy must know that he couldn't track down his family with just a first name as there were bound to be several hundred Spencer's in America alone and the boy had an American accent so that meant he was from somewhere in the States. However, that didn't help him much and he knew it.

"Where are your parents?" Dave asked next.

"Mom's dead," Spencer explained.

"And your father?" Dave asked.

The boy shrugged not answering and Dave got the feeling that Spencer didn't particularly care where his father was and that he could burn in hell for all he cared. There had been real emotion in Spencer's voice when Dave had asked about his mother and it was clear he had loved her very much. His father hadn't gotten the same response and Dave's suspected at least neglect.

Dave studied the boy again and then made a decision. Something odd was going on here. That bright light had been a portal and yet Spencer didn't seem to think that it was anything unusual. Dave had only caught a glimpse of the portal itself as it vanished into the air, though he had certainly felt the magic that had been released.

Perhaps the boy hadn't realized that he had stepped through from a totally different place. He already knew Spencer came from somewhere in America if the accent was anything to go by. There were magical cities all over the world after all and he was sure there was some he had never heard of. He could even have lived in a totally mundane city that had just a magical section for supernaturals. Dave never even considered the possibility that Spencer had come from another dimension entirely, because as far as he knew it was impossible without the proper procedure and incantations and he didn't see a kid possessing that knowledge.

"Well, you can't stay here youngster," Dave said. "A procurer or someone else will snap you up and have you enslaved before you can run away or even know you were in danger."

"What's a procurer?" Spencer asked curiously, not liking the sound of that.

Dave tried to find the words to tell him that wouldn't frighten a five-year-old, and finally decided that he would explain it in as simple terms as he could.

"It is is someone that hunts for specific people or objects," Dave told the boy. "Sometimes they hunt for something valuable for a buyer who is willing to pay a great deal for it. It can be something like a rare book that's worth a lot of money or even something like a baseball card, which if it's rare enough can be very valuable.

"But you said they also acquired people," Spencer said cocking his head.

"They do and it's not always legal," Dave said.

"You mean a kidnap them for their own purposes," Spencer said sounding much more intelligent than most other children Dave had encountered, though that wasn't to say, that Dave hadn't encountered some really intelligent youngsters over the years as well. This boy though, appeared to be exceptional, as he understood concepts that no child should even know about much less understand.

"Well, yes," Dave admitted. "They usually take them off the street or someone that won't be missed, but not always. I would like you to come home with me. You won't last long on the street believe me, as even adults have a tough time. As intelligent as you seem to be there are certain dangers you are in no way prepared for and I'm not just talking about the weather."

"How do I know that you're not one of these procurers," Spencer pronounced slowly and Dave was astonished that he got the pronunciation exactly. His mother at least must've been very proud at how intelligent her son was.

"Why don't you follow me and I'll show you what I do for living," Dave suggested gently. "I own a jewelry shop actually as the Rossis have been jewelers for many centuries."

Dave just didn't mention for the moment that he was the only Rossi that had ever been a jeweler, but who knew maybe one of his sons or daughters would want to open their own Rossi Jewelers when they were older.

When the boy nodded Dave led the way as the jewelry shop was only a few blocks. Dave quickly undid the wards not sure if Spencer was aware of magic, although considering the portal he had stepped through he should be. However, some of the worlds Dave had visited when in different dimensions knew nothing about magic, as such forces didn't exist in those particular universes. No, those universes had no supernaturals and believed that science and technology was the answer to everything. There were those known as Wiccan, who believed in magic and other supernatural forces, but it wasn't the same thing at all, not even close. They were in the minority in any case.

Dave unlocked the door once he felt the wards drop and gestured Spencer inside.

Hopefully, Spencer hadn't seen anything until he could determine how the boy had arrived in that alleyway. If he could create portals well there were certain factions that would just love to get their hands on his power not caring that he was only a child. The government would certainly love to have Spencer work for them, once he was an adult of course. Dave had never heard of anyone who could open a dimensional portal without the proper ritual or the proper incantations. Of course, Dave might be presuming to much and it was possible that some outside force had helped a little boy escape an abusive father.

Spencer looked around once the lights came on and saw the case of necklaces, rings and bracelets.

"Welcome to my humble shop, Young Spencer," Dave said.

"Wow! This is really neat!" Spencer exclaimed, as he looked at all the fine jewelry that he was just tall enough to peer into the cases.

"I always thought so, which is why I went into the business in the first place," Dave agreed amused smiling at the little boy's enthusiasm.

It was nice to know that his father's likely uncaring attitude hadn't ruined the child completely.

Suddenly, there was a ringing sound of a phone and Dave knew that Liana was worried about him, as it was likely her calling.

"I'll just answer that," Dave said calmly. "It's probably my wife."

Dave answered the phone while Spencer watched, as he said a few words into it. The only words that Spencer caught was home soon and guest.

"So Young Spencer how about some dinner? You must be starving," Dave suggested with a gentle expression.

"I can..." Spencer began to say automatically only to have Dave look at him with such a gentle look of reapproach that he stopped in the middle of his sentence and caved.

"If you were about to say that you can look after yourself, think again young man," Dave said. "You might be very capable, but you're also only a child. How would you keep yourself fed, warm and dry? You have to remember that you no longer have a roof over your head and you can't just go into the kitchen to get whatever it is that you want to eat. I don't think you realize how hard it is to live on the street and that's only if a procurer or someone else with evil intentions doesn't snap somebody like you up before you can protest.

"There are things that happen on the streets that would ruin a boy like you in the matter of a few months at most and you would likely end up taking your own life, no matter how tough you believe yourself to be. At the very least you would become hateful and bitter at what had happened to you, which would change your essential personality, as the streets will grind you up and spit you back out. You'll be lucky to survive even one winter and that's only if someone doesn't find you and use you for their own purposes like I mentioned before.

"There are many atrocities that happen to someone that have no one to protect them, especially a child like you. Even adults don't always survive on the street, as they are a very hard place to live. I can guess normally that you're very good at taking care of yourself, but I have no doubt, that's when you at least had a roof over your head and the presence of your father no matter how nebulous that presence was.

"At least you had a safe place to sleep, that was out of the weather the rain, the cold, the sleet, the wind and the snow in the winter. If the weather didn't finish you off and I promise you that it's very likely, you would've been picked up for your looks and put in a place where the people had their way with you."

Dave didn't say how adults would have their way with him, but then, he didn't need to. He knew very well that if some adults got their hands on him they would sexually molest him constantly, no matter how much he protested. Even though he shouldn't be aware of such knowledge at his age he knew that people could be depraved and that they saw nothing wrong with having their way sexually with a child.

He knew that his mother wouldn't have approved that he had such knowledge, but his mother was dead and his father had killed her. It might of been an accident, but Spencer doubted it. Spencer knew just from listening to an overheard conversation that his father planned to get rid of him.

His father didn't know that he had seen what he had done to his mother as he was good at being unobserved. His father often forgot he existed actually and if it wasn't for the kindness of the neighbors he would have starved. He had heard his father plotting how to get rid of a burden and get away with it. He had made his mother murder look like an accident after all. She was a mentally ill woman and so others believed that she had taken her own life by falling down the stairs, either that or it had been an accident. Spencer knew that they hadn't bothered to investigate any farther, as his father was a well-known lawyer, who couldn't possibly be responsible.

Spencer snorted at where his thoughts had gone because of course someone like his father couldn't be responsible for the death of his wife or anybody else. Just because he was supposed to be an upstanding citizen didn't change that fact.

It wouldn't surprise Spencer at all if his father had some of the cops in his pocket, so that they just closed the case as unsolvable or maybe suicide. He had decided once he had overheard his father's conversation that he would rather take his chances on the street then put himself at the mercy of a man who obviously had no warm fuzzy, feelings for him.

He wasn't entirely sure how he had gotten here for this certainly wasn't Las Vegas. He wasn't entirely sure that he was on the same coast actually. Had he been drugged? Was he dreaming this?

If he was it certainly wasn't like a traditional dreams. Dreams were supposed to be foggy around the edges. You also weren't supposed to be aware in dreams. No, this reality felt to real to be a dream, although he was aware that some dreams could be very realistic. Spencer unintrusively pinched himself to see if he would wake up, but since his reality never wavered, he had to come to the conclusion that this was real. If this was real that left several questions that he needed answers to, but even though he was young he was a very intelligent and inquisitive boy he had no idea how to find most of the answers he was seeking, not in this case.

He was sure that this David Rossi could answer a few of his more innocent questions. The first question would be what city was he in, as it certainly wasn't Las Vegas. For one thing it was much cooler than it was in Las Vegas at anytime other than at night. For another the scenery was just wrong. Where were the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, that he had lived near his whole life? He could see the glimmer of lights across the desert from a distance when the night were clear, sometimes even when they weren't. Also, this wasn't the desert not like in Las Vegas.

"Where are we exactly?" Spencer asked. "What city? State? Continent?"

"You're in Glasgow Scotland," Dave explained surprised at the boy's question. "Which is in the Midwest of Europe and part of the English Empire."

"Scotland?" The small boy asked in astonishment. "You're telling me I'm in Glasgow Scotland?"

"You seem rather surprised," Dave told him, knowing very well why the young man was so surprised.

"Considering I was just in Las Vegas Nevada in the States yes, I am astonished," Spencer said. "How in the world did I get here? There isn't anyway I know of to cross thousands of miles, not to mention an ocean in order to end up in Scotland, not in an instant anyway. I certainly don't remember traveling unless somebody drugged me and kept be unconscious the whole way, but if that was the case how did I end up in that alley? If somebody kidnapped me only to bring me thousands of miles from my home why would they leave me in a dirty alley instead of taking me whenever they planned too?"

"So you believe you were kidnapped then?" Dave asked curiously. Dave was still amazed at the small boy's dictation and speech patterns which were very mature for his age. That Spencer could think of the things he had been thinking about at his age was amazing and Dave had seen some amazing things in his time. This boy would be exceptional once he was grown.

"I don't know what other explanation there could possibly be," Spencer countered logically. "I certainly don't remember traveling to Scotland and there's no other explanation than I can think of that makes any sense."

"And yet you don't remember waking up," Dave said and Spencer nodded looking rather unsure. "You just remember walking through a bright light and you were suddenly elsewhere."

"What you are implying is impossible," Spencer protested. "This isn't an X-Men comic."

Dave didn't know who these X-Men were, but they had comics of superheroes in this world as well, so he got the general gist.

"No, this isn't a comic," Dave said. "I can tell you're an intelligent lad and if you can come up with a decent, logical explanation as to how you ended up here other than the fact you believed you were drugged then that's all very well, but if you can't you'll just have to accept that magic is real because Spencer it does exist. I've never heard of X-Men comics, but that doesn't mean I don't get the general gist of what you mean."

"But… But…" Spencer sputtered.

"You're welcome to come up with a logical explanation that doesn't involve you being drugged and how do you know about such things considering you can't be more than five is beyond me."

"I read a lot and there's nobody around to monitor what I absorb," Spencer answered. "I go to the local library whenever I can and read many books."

"Well that explains it," Dave said.

"Explains what?" Spencer asked curiously, even as he yawned behind his hand.

"Your dictation and speech patterns are way ahead for somebody your age," Dave explained.

"I've had a lot of people tell me that," Spencer said. "They seem to think it's weird just because I like to learn and that I'm reading and writing way above my age level considering I'm only seven."

Dave tried not to appear shocked at that, because the boy barely looked five much less two years older.

"It might be unusual," Spencer said his speech perfectly clear. "There are other children who are just as intelligent who are often not given the advantages to make sure that intelligence is realized until they're the proper age. Too many times that intelligence is stifled until it ceases to exist because the parents don't handle an extremely intelligent child in the right way."

Dave nodded at this, because it was very true and he had a feeling that even as old as he was he wasn't going to stop being astonished at what Spencer knew at his age. Of course, being young didn't exclude that child from having wisdom and being old didn't necessarily mean you were wise.

"How about coming home for dinner with me and my wife," Dave suggested. "We have four children of our own."

"I suppose," Spencer said slowly. "You've been so nice to me and if you had been one of these procurers you mentioned I know they just would've snatched me up and slung me over their shoulders like a sack of grain."

"They probably would've knocked you unconscious using some kind of knockout drug, so you wouldn't struggle too much. Chloroform is always popular," Dave gently suggested with laughter in his eyes.

Spencer shuddered, as he imagined that and Dave couldn't blame the lad in the slightest.

"Well, why don't we drop the subject for now, as I'm sure you're hungry. My wife is a good cook and I'm sure you'll enjoy what she fixes. She should be, I taught her a lot. She knew how to cook of course, but still, I helped her to improve her skills. I know you're tired, so instead of walking like I do most days unless it's raining, we'll catch a cab."

"I'm fine," Spencer protested, failing to hide a yawn.

"Now none of that, lad," Dave said in that same gentle tone of voice. "I know you're independent, but you're tired, and you can't walk the several blocks to my home, not in your condition. You need to learn to let others help you."

Spencer knew that Dave was right so nodded even as he yawned again.

"Can I pick you up it'll be faster," Dave gently suggested.

Spencer tried to keep his eyes open but just managed to nod his head before his eyes begin to close and he began to fall asleep right where he was standing, with a bag slung over his shoulder. He barely felt Dave lift him into his arms before he was totally conked out, with his head against the man's broad shoulder.

Dave gently carried the boy outside making sure he locked his door and set the wards before whistling for a cab that were quite numerous in this particular section of Glasgow.

Dave gave his address once he had climbed in and after he had done so he simply relaxed back with Spencer's head in the middle of his chest.

He knew that Liana would want to smother the boy with affection and want to legally adopt him but Dave figured it was probably better that no one knew he was here. That wasn't to say they wouldn't raise the boy until he was old enough to take care of himself, but he figured official adoption was out. Much like his daughter Brigid, he didn't want to draw attention to the boy's presence, since he was pretty sure he came from another dimension. He wasn't absolutely positive but the portal had seemed to suggest that as it was much brighter, an aura of many colors that somehow blended together, then if he had just been crossing a continent, nearly blinding actually, which meant it had a great deal of power behind it, more than necessary.

He had only caught the briefest of glances and at first it hadn't occurred to him that this boy could possibly be from another dimension, somewhere far away, certainly like a few thousand miles, but not from another world entirely.

He was pretty sure that Spencer didn't even know his own power. It was quite possible that his mother had escaped from a dimension that killed supernaturals by the thousands. He couldn't be sure of course, but he had visited dimensions where supernaturals and their powers were not appreciated by the humans that didn't have any. A lot of times they were imprisoned or forced to work for one government or another where they were treated well so long as they obeyed and didn't rebel. They were in the minority though Dave knew, as so many more were thrown in prison or just killed if they were discovered.

"Here you go, sir," the cabbie said and Dave nodded his thanks paying him, before exiting the cab with the boy still in his arms deeply asleep.

"I hope your son is okay," the cabbie said.

"Oh, he's fine," Dave promised smiling a little at Spencer being called his son. "He just wore himself out that's all. He's only seven and tried to do too much."

"I have a couple like that myself," the cabby agreed smiling before driving away.

~~~Dave and Liana~~~