Chapter Text
Penelope pulled up the travel page and put in the specifics that Spencer required for his trip.
“Okay, I’m assuming economy class is a last resort…” Penelope said more to herself than to Spencer. Soon, she found a good deal for him.
“Look that over,” she said, turning sideways so Spencer could see the screen. On it was a flight and rental car bundle that cost far less than he was expecting.
“That looks good, but how did you get a business class seat this close to takeoff?”
“This place provides access to cancellations, and apparently someone had canceled their ticket, and there you go, business class cheaply because the airline wants to fill that seat.” Garcia paused, thought for a moment, and went to the Airbnb website.
“I was going to say hotel, but if my sweet genius is going to be there for two weeks, you need accommodations that are more comfortable and home-like,” she said.
With Garcia’s help, Spencer set up an account on the Airbnb website and found a small rental house that ended up costing less than a two-week stay at most comparable hotels.
“Spencer, do you need anything?” Hotch asked as Reid joined them in the bullpen.
“I… I really don’t know,” Spencer replied, obviously nervous about what he was to face the next day when he got to Henderson, Nevada. Penelope had shown him pictures of his sisters from the older girls’ social media pages, so he had a good idea what Victoria and Claudia looked like. They looked strikingly different. Victoria was tall, lighter-skinned, with bright blue eyes. If anything, she looked like the Reid family, looked like him. Claudia was petite with more Latino features.
“Their mother is from Mexico,” Garcia explained. “From the content of some of these posts I’d say Nuevo Leon.”
Reid started to leave but stopped when his cell phone rang.
“Hello…” he said hesitantly as he didn’t recognize the phone number.
“Garcia, trace that…” Morgan hissed silently, and Garcia rushed back to her lair to run a trace on whomever was calling their young genius.
“Who is this?” Reid asked as the man gave him a similar message to what Victoria had told him about earlier on. This time, the caller referenced two younger sisters in Henderson.
Garcia came back a few minutes after the call disconnected.
“Any luck, baby girl?” Morgan asked.
“No, it was a burner, purchased with cash… no usable information. I couldn’t even find where it pinged from; the call was too short.”
“Damn…” Morgan muttered, “Who is this guy?”
“I don’t know but I don’t like it,” Hotch admitted. “Be careful, Reid. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“I will,” Reid assured them.
“Reid, I want you to call me as soon as you touch down in Las Vegas,” Hotch continued, “I want to make sure you’re safe and give me the address to the Airbnb you’re staying at as well.”
Reid gave him an odd look.
“Humor me, I’d rather know where you are if things go wrong.”
“I’ve got it,” Garcia volunteered.
“Good. Now go and pack. This is going to be a big two weeks for you,” Hotch said.
Reid left to pack, and Garcia looked around at the rest of the BAU team, her eyes filled with concern.
“I know, baby girl. We’re all worried,” Morgan said quietly from his position, still sitting on Spencer’s desk.
“Do we have any idea how some random person knew that William had two families?” JJ asked the room, but no one answered. That was the question that bothered everyone. How did this person know when Spencer, Victoria, and Claudia didn’t?
Morgan followed Spencer to the elevator.
“Do you want a ride to the airport tomorrow?” Morgan asked.
“I was planning on getting an Uber or taxi,” Reid replied as if that was the most natural and obvious thing.
“No, you’re not,” Derek said, his tone final. “You are not wasting money when I’m here.”
Spencer gave Derek an odd look.
“Don’t look at me like that, pretty boy, I just want to make sure you make that flight.” Derek smirked as the doors opened and they both stepped onto the elevator.
“Are you going to follow me all the way to the bus?” Spencer asked as the doors closed.
“No I was thinking I could give you a ride home,” Morgan replied twirling his keys casually.
“I need to stop and get a new suitcase anyway, my go bag isn’t big enough for this type of trip.” Spencer admitted honestly.
They got to Morgan’s car and Spencer stopped to take in the grey Charger in front of him.
“You drive a 6.4-liter V8…” Spencer observed, unsure if this should have been something he already knew or a surprise.
“Yeah…” Morgan said casually.
Spencer started to get in then he noticed something.
“That mini, is that…”
“If you think it’s Garcia’s, you’d be right.” Morgan cut in, shaking his head affectionately. “She isn’t subtle at all.”
Spencer looked at the expression on Morgan’s face but didn’t comment on what he read in that expression. He didn’t want to risk reading too much into it but there was definitely some deeper affection there than he had seen in Morgan previously.
The stop at the store didn’t take long with Spencer picking out a nondescript hard-cased four-way rolling suitcase. He was going to pick the soft-cased option but Morgan convinced him to get something sturdier, noting that the airlines were not famous for handling luggage carefully and he’d need something sturdy.
He then arrived home and was expecting Morgan to go back to the BAU, but was caught slightly off guard when he didn’t.
“Morgan, I’m fine…” Spencer said.
“Look, kid, we both know you aren’t fine. Now let’s see what you’re packing.” Morgan smirked as he followed Spencer into his apartment.
Hotch turned to JJ after making eye contact with Morgan. An entire conversation had transpired between the two men in the time it had taken Reid to get to the elevator and Morgan was off following the young agent to make sure he was okay.
Prentiss joined them as the elevator doors closed behind Reid and Morgan.
“Are we really sure about sending the kid out there like that?” she asked.
Hotch had kept the elevator in his peripheral vision the whole time until it closed when he fully turned his back to it.
“Can we really be sure about anything?” he replied, answering the question with a question. Which would be infuriating if he weren’t absolutely right to question it.
“No, but you’re right. If everything Garcia has found is true, and we have no reason to believe it isn’t, this gives Spencer something he’s never had before: true family,” JJ replied, standing from her desk to join Prentiss and Hotch.
“Look, if this gives Reid a stable home for once in his life, he deserves it. God knows he’s seen more shit than anyone ought to,” Rossi chimed from his desk, pulling attention to him.
Everyone gave him an odd look.
“You’ve seen the kid’s mother and his father might as well be six feet under for the amount of time he’s spent with the kid over the years.” Rossi shrugged, sipping a cup of coffee. “If this gives him the kind of family life he’s never had before, let’s support it.”
Hotch sighed, looking at the older profiler and taking in the fact that he was right. The truth was Gideon had been more of a father to Reid than William ever was and it hit hard when Gideon left with nothing but a letter for goodbye.
Hotch had heard that Reid had spoken to Gideon and that had been smoothed over leaving Reid still able to look back at Gideon fondly. He secretly wondered if Reid would tell Gideon about his sisters but filed that information aside for a later time. Now he just had to worry about getting Spencer on that flight and to his sisters safely.