Work Text:
Aaron Hotchner was sitting at his desk doing paperwork when he heard a knock at his office door.
“Come in,” he said, without looking up.
He heard the door open and close, and heard footsteps enter the room, but nobody spoke. He finally looked up when he heard sniffling.
“What’s wrong, Reid?”
The doctor didn’t answer, looking down at his feet.
Hotch saw him clutching his bag and knew what was wrong. “What’s wrong, Spencer?” He amended.
Finally, he looked up at his boss. “‘M feeling little,” he said, quietly. “And Gideon’s not here.” It was a rule that Spencer had to tell a caregiver right away when he was feeling little at work, no matter if they were at the office or out in the field.
It had taken a while for Spencer to feel comfortable going to anyone but Gideon, his main caregiver. Even when he wasn’t regressed, the two had a father-son relationship.
“Okay, buddy. Why don’t you hang out in my office with me, then? You wanna sit on the couch?”
Spencer sat cross-legged on the couch.
Hotch got up from his desk and crouched in front of the regressed doctor. “Can I get you anything? Do you want a snack or some juice?”
“Yes, please. Both. Can you close the blinds so I can take out Sarah?” Sarah, his favorite stuffed tiger. He’d named her after Sarah Jane Smith, his favorite of the Doctor’s companions in Doctor Who. He wanted the blinds closed because, while the rest of his team knew he regressed, his team weren’t the only people out there. He didn’t want anyone to look in and see him cuddling a stuffed toy and think he was unfit for working in the FBI. He was already the youngest one there!
“Of course, bud.” Hotch closed the blinds. “I’ll be right back with your snack.”
When Hotch returned with a banana and a sippy cup of apple juice, Spencer was playing with his stuffed tiger.
“Did you know tigers love eating deer?” The little asked. “But they also like a lot of different foods, like boar, and buffalo, and fish.”
“I knew they liked fish, didn’t know all the others. Do you need help peeling your banana?”
“No, I can do it.” Spencer set Sarah on the seat next to him so she wouldn’t get messy and opened up his banana and took a bite. “Tigers also eat fruits and vegetables! Bet you didn’t know that !”
“I definitely didn’t. Does Sarah like bananas?”
Spencer shrugged and picked up his tiger, holding her up to his ear so he could listen to her. “She says she does, but she doesn’t want any right now. She just ate a chital deer, so she’s full.”
“Okay. Would you like one of your coloring books when you finish your snack?”
Spencer nodded. “Can I get my 64 pack of crayons from Gideon’s office?”
“I’ll go get it for you. Stay here.”
“Kay.”
Hotch returned quickly with the crayons and a handful of coloring books that Spencer could choose from.
“Thanks, Hotch,” Spencer smiled, picking the rainforest coloring book. He wanted to find a picture of a tiger.
“You’re welcome, buddy. I’m proud of you for coming to me when you started to feel little.”
Spencer hummed around the sippy cup in his mouth.
That night, before Hotch left work, he found a page ripped out of a coloring book. It was a picture of a tiger, messily colored in. “To Hotch, From Spencer” was written on it. He smiled and stuck the page in a drawer where it would be safe.