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Spencer wasn’t a believer of things that consisted of the spiritual realms. Sure, it was fun to entertain and use the idea to help those greiving the loss of loved ones, but he didn’t personally believe that there was something outwardly. He believed in science, everyone knew that. But, of course, that didn’t mean sometimes he didn’t wonder if there was a life past this one, if there was something pulled the strings of his life. He considered it a lot, wondering if there was a God that loved tormenting him with the losses in his life, or rewarding him with Aarona and Jack.
He’ll never really know, though. He knows that, he’s accepted that fact at least.
Still, this was one of those moment’s when he wondered if this was a signed from something way past his understanding telling him one thing or another, because right now he was sitting on the sidewalk with Galaxy, and he should’ve been freezing, but the heat from the blazing fire from that was once his home kept him unfairly warm. He’d called Aaron as soon as he was safe across the street, fire trucks already piling in. Aaron arrived shortly after, and once he got an understanding of Spencer’s mental state he turned, speaking to police and firemen alike to get an understanding while Spencer processed losing everything.
“Okay, once we they get the fire out we can return,” Aaron said softly, leaning down to gently pet the pup before gently taking Spencer’s hand to not overwhelm him. “I let them know that you’re FBI so you’ll need to go in to make sure no files or anything remained, and if they were, you’d need to take them.”
Spencer nodded, staring at the blaze in his apartment.
“Did they tell you where it originated from?” Spencer whispered.
“No, no one’s been able to figure that out yet,” Aaron whispered, and Spencer nodded. “C’mon, you’re good to come home.”
Spencer walked with Aaron back to his car, thanking him gently when Aaron held the door open for him. Aaron opened the backseat door for Galaxy, and once they were both in and safe, he got in and drove them home.
Once they were all inside, Spencer immediately took a seat at the dining table to think, Galaxy sniffed around the floor as she recognized the place, going down the hall to find her favorite boy. Aaron sat down next to Spencer, waiting to touch him but watching the gears in his head turn.
“What’re you thinking about?” Aaron asked, and Spencer sighed softly as he leaned back.
“The universe,” Spencer admitted with a weak chuckle. “The odds of this happening now instead of later. What it means, where I’ll go, what I’ll do, how much I’ll have to change,” He groaned, rubbing his forehead, in annoyance.
“Okay, so let’s… break that down a bit then. I can’t help you with the universe, or the odds. But, I mean, you could stay here,” Aaron whispered. “We basically live together whether it’s at mine or your place. You’d have to change and adapt a lot, but… that’s nothing we can’t work though together, right?”
Spencer nodded, “Yeah,” He admitted, looking at his nail’s as he started to pick at the skin, and Aaron carefully took his hand to prevent it. “But what about my sensory issues, what about the days where we need time apart? I mean we work together, we live together, that’s a lot of time together without-”
“Breathe, breathe,” Aaron whispered. “We’ll figure it out together. If we need to find a bigger place, we can do that. If you really want your own apartment, that’s fine, we’ll figure it out.”
Spencer nodded, squeezing Aaron’s hand gently. “Okay,” He mumbled, and Aaron gave him a small smile of reassurance.
“Do you think you can sleep?” Aaron asked, and Spencer nodded.
“I smell like fire and ashes, I should probably shower first,” Spencer whispered, and Aaron chuckled as they stood, walking with him down the hall.
:-)
It wasn’t bad, living with Aaron full time. Of course, things had to be updated in his records, but they were given leeway with that since Spencer didn’t just move on a whim, giving them time to tell the team what’d happened and why Spencer was moving. Derek wasn’t completely thrilled, saying Spencer could’ve come to live with him for a while, but Spencer politely said he was comfortable where he was without going too far into it.
JJ and David shared knowing glances, and Aaron glanced at both of them so they’d calm down. They moved on shortly after, getting ready for their newest case. With Christmas fastly approaching, they wanted to get cases done and UnSubs behind bars quickly so they could spend the holidays with their families, so these were no-bullshit types of cases.
They dealt with another arson case, which hit a little too close for Spencer due to the recent tragedy of his home, but he handled it well. Which, all of them expected, but Aaron was especially surprised at how serious he was taking it.
“Are you alright?” Aaron asked when he finally found Spencer alone, looking at the patterns.
“Yeah,” Spencer nodded, crossing his arms.
“You’re thinking about your apartment?” Aaron asked.
“No, I’m thinking about the religious meaning behind fire,” Spencer admitted, as he leaned against the table. “Burning something is supposed to bless things, being a symbol of God or his presence in Christianity and Judaism. When people are disturbed by something they believe to be a bad spirit, they’re told to burn it to destroy it, you burn sage to bless a place. In Hinduism, fire is sacred, symbolizing things like purity.”
“So you think our UnSub is religious?” Aaron asked, crossing his arms.
“Look at everything he’s been burning, everyone he’s burning. They’re things, people, that’d be seen as impure. A strip club, prostitutes… be burned down the house of a popular queer couple in the area who were known to help people like kids and the homeless, but in a lot of religions, homosexuality is seen as impure. He attacked a school for their openness for disabled, queer, non-white, types of families. He burned that place too,” Spencer whispered, eye’s darting from place to place.
“So he’s trying to purify it?” Aaron whispered.
“He has to be, the only thing that really connects these places and people are their impurities in the eyes of some religions.”
“Christianity?” Aaron asked.
“If I had to guess, yeah,” Spencer nodded. “It’s the most prominent in America, plenty of people take their beliefs too far, disregarding what the bible actually said, or cherry picking,” he mumbled.
Aaron nodded, and after a moment of silence, he spoke, “Are you religious? I know you're a man of science but…”
”No, I’m not,” Spencer said, looking at Aaron for once in this conversation.”I sometimes wonder what else is out there, but… no. I tried, for a while, being a recovering addict. But I could never…justify it in my own head.”
Aaron nodded in understanding, “Did you ever learn what caused the fire at your place?” He asked.
“Yeah, allegedly some kids were smoking a couple doors down from me, they messed up, got a little too high, weren’t paying attention, and place went up in flames.”
“Do you think it’s that simple? It was a big fire for a little smoking incident,” Aaron asked.
“It happens,” Spencer shrugged. “I don’t want to think about it much, to be honest, the more I think about it the weirder it gets in my brain.”
“I understand,” Aaron nodded, “I’ll let you focus on this case, but talk to me, okay?”
“I will,” Spencer nodded, turning around as he heard Derek’s footsteps approaching, and Aaron stepped away to look at files.
“What’re we thinkin’?” Derek asked, and Spencer suggested waiting until everyone was in the room to give his big speech so no one got annoyed with all his talking, not that he said that last part out loud.
By the time they caught the UnSub, about to light another building, Spencer hadn’t cleared his thoughts about the fire of his own apartment. The smell of gasoline from the UnSub jogged something in his brain. He walked to their cars with everyone, picking at his skin as he thought more about his apartment. Aaron was somehow able to get next to him and touch his shoulder, reminding him to stop with the picking without grasping his hand, and Spencer blinked himself back.
“I need to talk to you,” Spencer whispered, and Aaron nodded.
:-)
“What’s going on?” Aaron asked once they were back in the safety of their hotel room.
“I think the fire at my apartment was set intentionally,” Spencer said, and Aaron crossed his arms with furrowed brows. “Something I didn’t register at first when the fire first started was the smell of gas, I wasn’t thinking about it, the entire building used gas stoves, and sometimes I could smell my neighbor’s if they’d been cooking for too long.”
“What happened when you opened the door?” Aaron asked.
“The fire was there. My brain went into work mode and I started helping people get out of the building,” Spencer explained. “I didn’t ever think about the gasoline, I’d almost completely forgotten about it.”
“So you don’t think it was an accident?” Aaron asked.
“I’m not sure,” Spencer said as he sat down, pulling his legs up. “I don’t…” he huffed, putting his hands in his hair. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice cracking. “It couldn’t have been the kids.”
“Hey, hey,” Aaron said, sitting next to him. “Okay, breathe. You don’t have to figure everything out all the time. Let’s settle with the idea that it was an accident, maybe it was maybe it wasn’t, but don’t think to hard about it. It wasn’t a personal attack, since it wasn’t set in your apartment. You helped get everyone out, so you don’t have a reason to feel responsible for anything. It happened, it’s done, and no one died.”
Spencer sighed, scratching the side of his head and nodding. “Yeah, yeah okay.”
Aaron wrapped an arm around him, and Spencer leaned into him warmly. After a while, they moved to get changed for bed, and Spencer curled into his side, a hand resting on Aaron’s chest.
“I know you don’t believe in things like fate and spirits,” Aaron whispered.
“I don’t, but I was thinking about that too, when it first happened. If there was a reason, suddenly, my entire home burned down for… seemingly no reason.”
“So, something like fate, or an omen?” Aaron asked.
“An omen is an event regarded as a portent of good or evil,” Spencer whispered. “It’s a sign for the future.”
“You said fire is seen as a sacred thing in most, if not all, religions,” Aaron whispered, and Spencer shrugged a bit.
“It didn’t just happen to me,” Spencer whispered.
“But it happened now, when there’s a big change going on in our lives right now,” Aaron reasoned.
Spencer hummed in reason, “Maybe,” he whispered, curling more into Aaron.
“Don’t think too much more about it, Reid. You’ll drive yourself crazy, especially since it’s too late to access the scene,” Aaron whispered, and Spencer nodded against his shoulder.
”Do you think we’ll be home for Christmas?” Spencer asked.
“I hope so, I know Jack is really looking forward to your first Christmas with us,” Aaron whispered, and Spencer smiled a bit, looking up at him.
“I’m excited too, ya know,” He whispered, and Aaron leaned in to kiss his nose.
“I am too,” Aaron whispered.