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It was only after the adrenaline crash induced nap that Spencer realized that Derek Morgan would be staying behind with him.
It didn’t take him but a minute to understand why. Of course Derek would stay. Spencer had just been kidnapped and tortured, though there was no physical evidence of the wounds his father inflicted on him. But it was the BAU family’s way of keeping him safe, by having the man that was practically his older brother keep an eye on him for a few days. If only to calm their own nerves.
He’d be annoyed if it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t mind. He understood a lot better than they’d ever know.
Spencer treasured every moment he could spend with the team. He knew his tenure with the BAU had a time limit. When he left the BAU in five years, he would be leaving them all behind. It would probably be the hardest thing he’d ever have to do. So he spent every day, when not exhausted from cases, memorizing every detail of his found family.
No matter what might happen in the future, he couldn’t lose them. Lose the memories of them.
The morning after the case wrapped up, Spencer and Derek saw the team off at the entrance of the cheap motel the FBI had put them up in. The two men were instead moving to a hotel closer to Bennington Sanitorium, to make it easier for Spencer to visit with his mom, should she be up for a visit.
The fact that there was a chapel within walking distance from there was not mentioned by either man. Mostly because Derek didn’t know about that. Yet.
The black SUVs had pulled away with little fanfare. Spencer and Derek stood outside, watching them pull into morning traffic, both lost in thought. They’d let them get away, then call for a taxi.
A smaller SUV pulled onto the motel property, stopping only feet from them. Spencer looked over with a disinterested glance, privately wondering why the SUV didn’t just pull further down the drive.
The answer came in the form of a tight hug from the girl that was rapidly becoming his little sister.
Derek looked up from his phone where he was ordering their Uber, to see Nile Freeman practically tackle Spencer off of his feet with the force of her hug. He quickly closed the app and opened the camera, bound and determined to capture some happy memories for Spencer.
Spencer wrapped his arms around Nile, giving her a rare hug. When she didn’t let go immediately, he made a point of swinging around, turning his back on the SUV and giving Derek a look at the same time. “Well hello Nile. I hope your drive was well.”
She gave him a smile, one betraying her youth. “It was fine. Would have been even better if I could’ve driven a leg…”
Spencer let out a chuckle. “With them?” he shrugged, gesturing to the SUV where the other two men were getting out. “They’d never let you. Remind me to tell you about the getaway drive in Kiev a couple years ago…”
Derek watched as one of the men came up behind Reid and pulled him into a one-armed hug, not dislodging Nile from his arms. “Spencer Reid, we all agreed to never mention that again. And how did you hear about it, anyway! You weren’t there!”
“Booker. Who else?”
The slightest of pauses was easily noticed, before the last man joined them. “I take it that your case ended successfully?”
Spencer sent a quick glance to Derek before answering. “Yes, somewhat. Not really a conversation I want to have in public, though.”
Nile finally stepped away from Spencer, a smile still firmly in place. It was then she finally noticed Derek off to the side, slowly sliding his phone away. She strode up to him and gave him a hug as well, but one that was softer, one that spoke of years of history, hugs that they’d given each other practically all their lives.
Derek settled his chin on Nile’s head. “Hey kid. Been awhile.” She just tightened her arms.
Nicky watched the pair. “We’re sure that he won’t hurt her?”
Spencer gave his brother a look. “Derek is practically a kitten when it comes to family. She’s safe with him. Though, we probably won’t get her back for a few hours. It’s been over a year since they’ve seen each other in person.”
“They were close?” Joe asked while grabbing Spencer’s abandoned luggage from the ground.
“From what Derek said? Yes. I’ve heard them talk before. That’s how I made the connection back in Virginia. She’s from near his neighborhood in Chicago. They were close.”
The three men headed for the SUV, trying to get the Chicago pair to see them leaving. Derek only noticed when Spencer was completely out of his sight. He carefully tugged Nile towards the car, chuckling because she just wouldn’t let go.
And why would she? He was her last real link to home.
Spencer climbed into the back seat as they approached, but he quickly rolled down a window. Joe and Nicky hadn’t opened their doors, instead leaning against the metal. He knew exactly what was coming. Phone out, ready to record. Blackmail time.
Overprotective brothers all around.
Derek held out his hand as he got close, Nile still not really letting him go, which was almost comical in Spencer’s mind. “Derek Morgan. Thank you for being there for Reid and Nile when they needed it most.”
Joe easily shook his hand. “Yusuf Al-Kaysani. Joe. And of course. They’re family now.” He tilted his head towards his husband. “That’s Nicolo, my husband of many years.”
Nile rolled her eyes. “He’s gonna be overprotective, so be nice,” she whispered in Derek’s ear.
He looked down at her. “Well, obviously someone needs to be. I thought you promised to be careful? I saw the news reports from London. Swan diving out of a building?”
The younger woman shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?
Derek didn’t dignify that with a response.
To Spencer’s surprise, Derek managed to melt the ice between him and the husbands during the twenty minute ride to the hotel that Nile had picked out. He didn’t do it by playing up his personality, or acting like Spencer’s brother.
He did it by being a brother to Nile.
When Spencer had spent the day with his family in New York City, it had become immediately clear that Nile had cemented herself as part of the family. She was easily close to all of them, and had wormed her way into all of their hearts in an extraordinarily short amount of time. Perhaps it was her fierceness, or the fact that she came back for them when she could have fled and ran home to Chicago.
Spencer privately believed it was because she was smart, and absolutely hilarious.
Nile always seemed to know when to change the subject when things got too heavy. She’d suddenly tell a story of teenage Derek, and have everyone charmed. Or a story of her and her brother Layne, causing trouble for their mother.
Derek was able to keep up with her in every sense of the word. The two of them were almost in tandem. There were moments that he forgot there was over a ten year age difference between the two of them.
Of course, it also didn’t help that Derek also wasn’t above telling the others some of Spencer’s more… embarrassing moments. By the time they’d checked into their rooms in the hotel suite overlooking the Strip, Derek had already spilled several stories that Spencer had worked extra hard to make sure none of them had heard.
If the name “Lila Archer” came out of Derek’s lips, he’d riot.
In an effort to not strangle his best friend, he finally got control of the conversation. Mostly by talking over Derek and threatening to go walk into a casino, which would be a surefire way to get arrested and piss off Hotch. Two can play at this game , Spencer privately thought to himself when Derek stopped mid-word and looked at him in horror.
No one wanted to see a pissed off Aaron Hotchner. It was terrifying.
They all agreed to take a few minutes to change and freshen up before finding their way to whatever location the boys were planning on wedding at. At least it wouldn’t be a long courtship before they wed. Spencer had heard some rather fun stories from Booker the year previous at Joe and Nicky’s wedding in Malta. Something about a year apart before marriage, except they lived in opposing apartment buildings and would see each other in the dead of night, because they couldn’t bear to be apart.
Romance was invented by their brothers. Spencer still rolled his eyes remembering Booker’s deadpan statement.
“So.”
Spencer looked up from his suitcase to see Derek had finished changing. He’d gone with business casual, which was probably too fancy for the day, but then again, Spencer wasn’t the judge of that. “So?”
“How long have these guys been together, anyways? To just want to marry at the drop of a hat?”
Later, Spencer would feel bad for how quickly he broke into laughter. They had barely glossed over the family when he and Booker were giving Derek the highlights of everything. And they hadn’t named anyone by name, except for Nile.
He quickly got back under control when Derek gave him a look . “Well, they died in 1099 during the First Crusade. Killed each other, actually, should you believe Joe when he gets into it. They spent probably five years hating each other, mostly due to how they were taught, and then with Nicolo trying to atone for the atrocities. Five more years for friendship, and probably another ten or twenty for them to get their acts together. So, if my estimations are right, approximately nine hundred years, give or take a decade.”
“I’m sorry, how long?”
Spencer gave the man a sad smile. “About nine hundred. This will be their thirty first wedding. They usually wed once a lifetime, maybe twice if they are feeling fancy. Last year, they celebrated in Malta. I spent the weekend there, it was a beautiful ceremony.”
There was a pregnant pause from his friend’s side of the room. “I’m still wrapping my head around this. They don’t look a damn day over thirty.”
“Nicky says he was about thirty when he died. Joe is about three years older. So of course they look thirty. They aren’t going to age for a long time yet.”
Derek’s gaze settled on his best friend once more. “And you still look twenty five. You don’t age when you die, do you.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact.
“Derek…”
His friend crossed the room and tugged him into a tight hug. “We’re going to lose you one day, aren’t we. You won’t be able to hide this forever. Will you.”
Spencer hugged him back just as tightly. He knew that Derek would come to the realization that their life together had a time limit. “Probably five more years. Six if I’m lucky and don’t get really hurt.” Admitting it out loud to someone that wasn’t part of his immortal family felt like he’d swallowed broken glass.
He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want this to end any time soon. They were the first family that had ever welcomed him into their ranks. Sure, they’d all made mistakes - the weeks after Georgia came unwillingly to mind - but they were human. They were family.
And for so long, they were all he had.
His eyes burned as he tightened his grip. This was what would hurt the most. Losing them. When he left, he’d have to break it clean. Not look them up, not visit from afar. Leave his godson, leave his best friend, leave the job that finally helped him make sense of this crazy world.
He felt hot tears land on his shoulder like raindrops. With everything to come, he didn’t want to hurt them. But he had. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“Kid, when the time comes, you tell me first, okay? I won’t look for you, but I want to say goodbye in person. Don’t just walk away from me. Please.” Derek’s voice was rough with emotion. Rarely did he break in front of anyone, let alone Spencer. But he was.
“I swear. Unless I have no choice, I will come to you first.”
The ceremony that Joe and Nicky settled on was simple and perfect. A recitation of vows written nearly a millennia ago and the exchange of new tungsten rings, both etched with silver designs that looked almost ancient. They didn’t want fancy this time.
They wanted to see their little brother smile.
And smile he did. Spencer couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face, Though this was only the second time he’d attended his brothers’ weddings, he felt honored to be included.
Next to him, Nile was filming the entire ceremony on her phone. That would be a first for the boys, to have a copy for their own collection. Not just quickly taken photographs that they absolutely didn’t hide from Andy. No need to incur her wrath about leaving traces of themselves behind.
After the ceremony, they retreated back to their suite, where they ordered a late lunch and champagne from room service, which was jokingly withheld from both him and Nile, on account that they were still the youngest of the group. Only when Nile threatened to send pictures on to Andy did they relent.
It was during this joking argument that Spencer learned of James Copley, and his involvement with his family.
To say that Spencer was not exactly happy about that would be an understatement. He’d met Copley before, in a professional capacity, before the Georgia incident. While the man seemed competent, he had not hit it off with Penelope Garcia, which meant that the BAU was not happy with him. While he did apologize, unintentionally annoying Garcia in the cyberworld was not a good way to get on the good side of the BAU.
He knew there was more to Copley’s involvement than just “He helped out with the clean up in London.” Honestly, it was magnanimous of him that he wasn’t calling out that bullshit. But no, he wasn’t about to ruin a perfectly fine afternoon.
He’d do that tomorrow, after seeing his mom.
Speaking of which, Spencer turned his gaze over to Derek and Nile, both sitting on a couch somewhat removed from the others. Even from here it was clear that they were having a private and tough conversation. He wouldn’t interrupt to find out if Derek was going to follow him to Bennington in the morning until later on.
Until then, he sipped his hard-won champagne and listened to more stories of his family’s shenanigans from before he came aboard, gleefully recited by Joe, with Nicky cutting in at every turn to correct the stories.
It made the afternoon a wonderful time.
Bright and early on Friday morning found Spencer walking up to Bennington’s alone.
He’d been able to easily convince Derek to stay behind. It had been almost six months since he’d seen his mom, and he wanted to spend a little time with her by himself. Besides, Derek was exhausted, having stayed up well into the morning with Nile, getting wasted and talking about memories. Dragging both of them to bed at three, long after the newlyweds had turned in, was not his idea of a good time.
Joe and Nicky had offered to come with, when he ran into them leaving his room. He’d declined the offer, but thanked them all the same. They had been by his side the last time his mother started doing poorly, though she was back on an even keel, according to Doctor Norman.
No, today he wanted to spend time with her, without distraction.
He was quickly signed in and off to his mother’s room once he got inside. Each step filled him with anticipation and dread. He never knew what type of reception he would get from his mother when he visited without first writing and informing her.
Dr. Norman caught his eye before he made it down the hallway. He gestured to a small side room.
“It’s wonderful to see you, Dr. Reid, but I’m afraid that Diana...:” The doctor trailed off, clearly not wanting to finish his thought.
“She isn’t mentally aware today, is she.” Spencer didn’t bother asking. Dr. Norman would not come out and say it, but he knew that his mother was having less lucid days. He’d been hoping that today would be would be a good day, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to be the case.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Reid. She really isn’t aware of anything today. You can head in and see her, but I’m not sure she will react.”
Spencer took a deep breath, before nodding to the other doctor. “I’ll just look in on her, then. I don’t want to disturb her.”
From the doorway a few minutes later, he quietly watched his mother stare out the window, a book from Chaucer lying forgotten on her lap. His scrutting went unnoticed by all but the nurses, who gave him small smiles of sympathy. After ten or so minutes, he quietly turned and left the room.
Once outside, he made quick work of returning to the hotel. He wasn’t in the mood to really hang out with anyone, but he also didn’t want to be alone. They’d understand.
In the dark part of his mind, he finally let himself think the one thought he normally would never entertain. He was always going to lose his family, but at least his mother wouldn’t remember him enough to feel that pain.
Six months later…
They were on their way back from California, after a truly successful case. Someone had been setting fires to abandoned structures, causing the Los Angeles Fire Department to be stretched thin. But then someone noticed a pattern, especially because all the buildings were scheduled to be reclaimed by the city to be turned into low income housing. The BAU had been requested to help find the arsonist, who turned out to be a member of the LAFD that wanted to be recognized.
Everyone on the plane was in a celebratory mood. Rossi set down his manuscript and Hotch had been convinced to put aside the paperwork and join them in playing a rousing game of poker. Candy was used for chips, mostly because Reid or Emily would clean them out if cash was about to change hands.
It was when they took a two minute break to refill their drinks that Spencer felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He excused himself for a moment and stepped away, Derek following him out of concern.
When the immortal flipped open the phone, he paused. It was a text, from his banished brother. After six months, he was making contact. Then he read the words and almost dropped the device.
Quynh is alive.