Work Text:
The Sweetest Mess
[For the request - Can you write an imagine where Spencer is babysitting the readers kid at her house and she comes home to both of them giggling and covered in glitter or flour something like that.]
“Keep your hand on the railing, honey.”
“Oh, mom.”
“Oh, son.”
Six years old and he already had that sarcastic eye roll down, you could never say anything though, remembering yourself growing up he inherited most of that stubbornness from you. The elevator was broken for the third time this month now, and was now forced to carry groceries and your infant daughter up the flights of stairs.
“Hold on and I’ll help you!”
The voice echoing in the stairwell scared you; almost making you jump and lose your balance on the bags and car seat.
“Mr. Reid!”
You couldn’t help the smile coming on your face as you heard the excitement in your son’s voice. The man was a bit of a godsend, always helping, and being so kind to your children. It was something they needed, a male figure they could look up to, especially since the one that was supposed to be there had stormed out of your lives. You would never regret your children, the only good to come from that marriage, but you regretted falling for him. You regretted being stupid enough to believe you could find true love at seventeen.
“It’s okay, Mr. Reid we got it, we just want to be careful on these stairs.”
“Come on, mom you know he’s gonna help anyway.”
Your son was right, no matter how you tried to deter the help he offered you never could shake off the man. Though you never wanted a hand out, it was nice to have someone so infallible around. That small, shy smile he had curled on his lips as he approached the three of you, putting out his hand to take away some of your load.
“You know you shouldn’t keep doing this Mr. Reid, I feel like I’m taking advantage of your –“
“Spencer.”
You stared, a tad baffled. “Huh?”
His eyes downcasted, the smile still present. “I’d prefer it if you called me Spencer.”
“I’m sorry, I know you’ve told me that. I guess I get used to hearing everyone else in the building calling you that.”
He tilted his head, climbing the steps beside you. “Would you prefer it if I called you, Mrs. L/N?”
“God, no.”
The smile changed to amusement. “And why is that?”
“Besides the fact that I haven’t changed it back to my maiden name? I guess it’d make me feel older than I am.”
You saw him quirk a brow at you, and you chuckled silently. “Okay, I get it. Thank you for helping us, Spencer.”
“It’s not a problem, I enjoy getting to see all of you.”
You don’t know why but the statement made you flush a little. Approaching the door you cursed inwardly as you fumbled with your keys.
“We enjoy seeing you as well. W-would you like to come in?”
“Sure.”
It wasn’t the first time he had been in, and it wasn’t the first time you felt anxious having him in your home. You always forgot if you picked up everything and had put the laundry away, it worried you to have him think you weren’t taking care of your home. Though each time everything was in place, and Spencer always looked about as if it didn’t matter anyways.
“I see you guys have bought of cake ingredients.”
Your son pulled himself up on the island, the smile showing some of his missing teeth.
“Yep, we’re having a party at school tomorrow!”
“And this one volunteered us for cupcake duty.”
Your son looked sheepish for a minute before helping Spencer unload the bags. Undoing the straps you lifted your daughter out of the carrier.
“I’m going to change her and I’ll be right back, make yourself at home.”
Changing her diaper you snapped the onesie back in place, tickling her belly until her eyes crinkled in delight. You kissed her cheek as you wrapped her up, seeing the boys still at the island, you were about to offer Spencer a drink when the phone rang. It was your boss, needing everyone in the department to come in needing an overhaul for the inventory that was to be collected. You turned away, rolling your eyes as you told him you’d be there as soon as you could. Sighing, you shut off the phone, seeing the pout forming on your son’s face.
“No.”
“Honey –“
“No! You promised!”
“I know, and I’m going to keep it, I just have to go in for a little while and you get to stay with grandma for a bit.”
“I don’t want to go to grandma’s! She always makes me go to bed early and feeds me raw vegetables all the time.”
“It’s only for a few hours –“
“I can watch them.”
Startled you turned to Spencer, forgetting he was here in the middle of the tantrum. Your cheeks heated from embarrassment.
“Mr. Reid –“
“Spencer, and it’s fine, if you trust me enough that is. I have three godchildren that I watch all the time, I promise I’ll keep them safe.”
Your mouth opened and closed as your son came tugging on your shirt.
“Yeah mom please, Mr. Reid says he doesn’t care, he can help with my cupcakes.”
“No, honey, I mean –“
That shy smile was back. “I can’t say I’m that great of a cook, but I’d be glad to try.”
“Yeah mom, and Mrs. Reid can tell us about the knights again.”
You smiled, you had taken some meals over after seeing Spencer bring his mother to stay, she was a nice woman, as sweet as her son when it came to the children.
“It’s too much to ask Spencer.”
He laughed. “You make it sound like they’ll climb on the walls or something.”
“They could. And I can’t have you do the things that are my responsibility.”
“I’m not, but it’ll give us something to do and take a little bit off of you.”
You looked down at your son, who was giving the most pleading look he could muster and you couldn’t help but give in.
“If you’re sure –“
“I am.”
“Well, let me write down the number where you can reach me. I shouldn’t be gone but a few hours, I just have to fill out and file some data sheets and I should be on my way home. I’ll call if I take a little longer, and if something comes up for you, call, and I’ll have my mom come down…Thank you so much for doing this, Spencer.”
He grinned at you, all shyness gone, and inhibited look you didn’t think he could possess. “It’s no problem, like I’ve said I like spending with all of you.”
You pursed your lips in a smile, going about to write down and gather what you needed. Approaching him to hand over the baby. You felt bad, felt bad for Spencer but also having to leave your kids because of work…again.
“Say bye-bye, mommy.”
You smiled as Spencer gently raised your little girl’s hand in a wave, only for the bundle to turn and take hold of one of his curls.
“If they start driving you crazy, call me.”
This time the wave went smoother, and you couldn’t help the grin at seeing your kids happy with him. The papers kept coming, as soon as you finished and stacked your outbox another stack would appear and you milled about the computer filling out the boxes until your eyes wanted to bleed. No one called and you took that as a good sign, hoping your son hadn’t tied Spencer up and was holding him hostage. Stapling the last pages together, you assumed you had just went through a decade’s worth of production lists before you were able to leave. It was way past the time you were supposed to be back, and you were glad you had called Spencer beforehand. He had said it was fine, that everything was going good. Your daughter had gotten fussy and it took a little bit of effort to get her down for her nap but other than that had been fine. It was almost dinnertime now, and you had to make two dozen cupcakes and dinner when you got home. A great addition to what was supposed to be your day off.
Huffing up the stairs, you almost fell in the doorway. But the shriek of happiness your daughter emitted woke you up. Coming further in you stopped suddenly. The whole kitchen was a disaster area. Cake mix, eggs, milk, frosting, sprinkles, and spaghetti coated almost every surface. Spotting you, your daughter squealed again, thrusting her tiny fist that contained noodles up at you.
“Y/N, we were going to clean up as soon as we finished I swear.”
You turned to Spencer’s voice, before bursting out laughing. He was just as coated as the rest of the room, mix dusting his hair and clothing.
“What happened?”
Confused by your reaction, he halted.
“We made the cupcakes, momma, they’re good too!”
You glanced to your son, who was as worse for wear as everything else. “I’m glad, but how’d you make this huge mess?”
He bit his lip before turning to Spencer.
“The mixer didn’t cooperate right, and then when we were cooking the baby would start crying and I tried to juggle both –“
Taking a paper towel you stood on tip toe to wipe the frosting from his cheek. “It’s okay, Spencer, I can tell they had fun with you. I can easily clean this up in the morning.”
“Oh, absolutely not, I’ll clean it for you. It is my fault after all.”
“You took care of my children, fed them, played with them, and took care of something I would’ve had to stay up late to do, you’re fine.”
“But –“
“If you’re that worried, you can come in the morning and help clean then. Maybe…maybe we could make pancakes too, you could bring you mom over for breakfast.”
Your son cheered. “She can read King Arthur again!”
You smiled, grinning at Spencer. “I’d prefer Sir Galahad.”