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Emily Hotchner sighed as she dug her keys out of her purse. It had been a long and unexpectedly trying day at the office. First, her phone had been nearly drowned by an aggravating intern. Then, as if that weren't enough, she had to spend most of the day down in the archives searching through legal texts to make sure her charge's abusive father had no way to contest the adoption she was trying to push through. Luckily, everything had worked out on that front and Allison was well on her way to being part of a much safer family.
Finally locating her keys she began to unlock the door to her apartment. At least Emily could take comfort in seeing the results of her plan to play Cupid. If everything went well she should be walking in on a blushing, stuttering genius spouting random facts in front of her attractive older brother and his son. Yes, the day might have been a bust but she hoped this evening would be very entertaining. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed when a large throw pillow hit her in the face the second she walked in the door.
"Ow! Spencer what the hell?" She cried rubbing her nose, "What was that for?"
"I think I'm falling for a gorgeous, kind, intelligent, straight man and it's all your fault!" Her roommate yelled from his position slumped across the couch.
"I take it you met my brother then."
"Met is not the proper word to describe it Emily" Spencer hissed sitting up to glare at her. "Frankly I can't think of a word to describe the utter disaster that was our first encounter and I'm a goddamned genius!"
"What? How was it a disaster? Did you trip over Jack's toys and fall on your face when he came to pick the kid up? That's embarrassing but not a disaster."
"I wish that was what happened, it certainly would have been a lot less mortifying. Sadly I didn't meet Aaron when he was picking Jack up, I met him downtown and thought he was an UNSUB."
"Wait WHAT?" You took Jack out of the apartment?"
"Yes and if you had bothered to turn your phone on you would have known that."
Emily held up the plastic bag containing the pieces of her phone and about two cups of rice.
"Unfortunately Keith decided to give my phone a little bath this morning when I got to the office."
"That still doesn't excuse you for not telling an FBI agent that I was in possession of his child."
Emily sighed as she sat down on the couch beside the angry genius.
"I'm sorry Spencer. I was worried about Allison's case and didn't think about it. You know what her father's like. I saw you reading her case file when I came home last Monday."
In reality, Emily had planned to leave Aaron and Spencer in the dark about the situation. She and her co-conspirator had decided it would be best if the two didn't know they were meeting so Aaron wouldn't become stiff and formal and Spencer wouldn't freak out. In hindsight it really wasn't a good idea to keep her brother in the dark about who was watching his child.
"Yes. I'm glad that you managed to get her on the track to adoption but it still doesn't change the fact that your carelessness caused the second most mortifying moment of my life."
"Okay explain to me exactly what happened Spencer. I'm only getting a vague idea here. Why did you think he was an UNSUB? Where did you meet my brother?"
Spencer got up and paced the room as he described the events of his day, starting with the trip to the natural history museum. As his story progressed he became more agitated and his gestures got bigger. He was practically flailing by the time he recounted how Aaron grabbed him in the middle of the ice cream parlor and threatened to arrest him before Jack ran in and Spencer managed to explain the situation.
"Shit!"
"Yep"
"Shit!"
"I know"
"Shit Spencer I'm sorry!"
"You should be! Thanks to you the father of the only kid on the planet who can stand my presence for more than a minute thought I was a kidnapper."
"God this is a mess."
"Yes it is. God he probably secretly hates me. What if he never let's us see Jack again?"
"Calm down Spencer! Tell me what happened after you explained everything and I'll tell you if you need to be worried."
"We agreed to start over, had ice cream with Jack and then he gave me a ride back here."
Emily sighed in relief.
"He's not mad at you Spencer."
"How do you know?"
"I know my brother. If he were mad at you he never would have taken you home. He would have sat through the ice cream to keep Jack from getting suspicious and then he would have taken him and left."
"But Jack's stuff was here..."
"He would have made me bring it over. Ever since Foyet he doesn't trust himself to be around people when he's angry with them."
"Ok but I'm still worried that he won't want Jack to come over anymore."
"You let me deal with that"Emily said placing her hand on his shoulder. "Besides, Jack adores you and Aaron can't say no to him."
"I hope you're right."
"I am. Now on to more important matters. I seem to recall you saying something about falling for my gorgeous, kind, intelligent, straight big brother." Emily goaded trying to lighten the mood.
Spencer blushed brightly and vigorously shook his head.
"Oh no Em. I'm still mad at you. You're not getting any gossip out of me."
"Come on Spencer you clearly wanted to talk about this. What sparked such feelings of love in my antisocial little genius."
"I don't love him I just..."
"You just?"
"God he's probably one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen and when we were eating he was so charming. He even seemed interested in all my random fun facts and it just felt like..."
"A date?"
"A family."
"A family?"
Spencer's blush deepened.
"Yeah we were there with Jack together and discussing everyday things. It was just so domestic that for a minute, it felt like I had found a home."
"Oh Spencer."
"An he thanked me Emily. At the end of the night he came up to gather Jack's things and he actually thanked me for protecting him."
"Wow Spencer that's big. You definitely won major points with him."
"Yeah but it's not like I can cash in those points. Aaron's straight and I haven't got a chance!" Spencer cried burying his face in their only other throw pillow.
Emily laughed. The day might not have gone as planned but at least she still has an opening.
"Aaron's not straight Spencer."
"Don't mess with me Em, he had a wife. He has a son. Of course he's straight."
"He also spent several summers at a middle eastern embassy where he was very friendly with our male gardeners, who happened to be well-muscled and frequently shirtless. He's bisexual."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Unfortunately I've had visual evidence that confirms it." Emily said making a face.
"You caught him with another man?" Spencer Laughed.
"Yep and if you ever want to make sweet nerdy love to my brother you'll be doing it at his place. There's no way I'm going through that again."
"Oh just shut up Emily. I still don't have a chance. Why would he ever want me?"
"Because your an incredibly sexy genius who loves his son and happens to be totally adorable."
"Thanks Em but it's not going to happen."
"Whatever you say Spencer."
"Can we just stop talking about this please" Spencer begged, blushing again.
"You're right" Emily said standing. "Enough moping and teasing. I'm going out to get Indian food, alcohol and cigarettes."
"What, why?"
"The Indian food is the first step in the process of making this up to you. I'm even going to go to the good place three blocks over since I almost got you arrested."
"Okay I'm all for that but what about..."
"The alcohol and cigarettes are for me. If I know my brother as soon as I put my phone back together we're going to have a very tense conversation. When we're done I'm definitely going to need the release."
"But you don't smoke."
"Not anymore," Emily said as she grabbed her coat and prepared to leave "I did as a teenager and I still feel the need to light one up every time I fight with Aaron."
"Six minutes Em."
"Yeah yeah I know, but I think that just this once it might be worth it" Emily said as she walked out the door.