Unbroken Souls (Spencer Reid x Reader POV)

Epilogue

"Athena, I thought I asked you to unload the dishwasher twenty minutes ago?" I called out from the kitchen and heard her start running over to me.

"Sorry mama, I was doing the bonus questions on my geometry homework" she said as she wandered into the kitchen and began unloading the dishwasher. She truly was her father's daughter; at eight years old she was wise beyond her years, reading at a high school level, getting top grades in all subjects but physical education, and was a great big sister to her four-year-old brother, Gabriel Morgan Reid. After the immense joy that Athena had brought us, Spencer and I decided we wanted to expand our family again; unfortunately, this was much easier said than done.

It had taken a while for me to get pregnant again, and when I finally conceived our second child, our little one became an angel only a few short weeks after. The miscarriage tore Spencer and I apart, and while we did our best to stay strong in front of each other and Athena, Spence began working 18-hour days and distancing himself, while I failed to sleep and spent the time I was alone crying. One day Spencer came home earlier than I was expecting to find me nearly three-quarters of a bottle deep into straight vodka and tears streaming down my face without my crying to release them. That's the night he held me back from relapse, the night he let me in on how he was feeling and struggling to cope with our loss, and together we found comfort in each others' discomfort and grief. We talked to Prentiss and Morgan not too long after this and they ended up being a huge turning point for us; helping us get back to the joy and love that Athena and each other brought to the world. We got back to our weekly family outings where we would take Athena to explore new places like museums, libraries, parks, and more, and we would spend the whole day as a family, living in Athena's little world that we were slowly expanding. This was something we had started doing when she was about one and a half, and it's something we continue to do now (although now Athena helps us pick the places she wants to go and where she wants to show Gabriel).

Only a few months after the healing started we found ourselves scared to death that this third pregnancy would end in sad outcomes. Thankfully, Gabriel became our rainbow baby and Athena flourished in her new role of big sister. Spencer still worked but he worked less than pre-miscarriage which thrilled both the kids and I. He was truly the best father in the world and seeing him with the kids filled my heart with butterflies and joy. He embraced fatherhood with nothing but joy and excitement, and with every extracurricular the kids got into, he was right there; taking them to their practices, meetings, and he was always first row at every ballet recital, guitar recital, soccer practice and games, and all the other things the kids tried. When Athena started her ballet stage, she was so nervous to do the recital. In the parking lot of the dance hall, she refused to get out of the car and cried, telling us how scared she was that she would look silly. Without even a second thought, Spencer opened his bag and pulled out another tutu, and turned to look at her with a smile on his face.

"Would it help if daddy was the fairy princess again? Like how we practice at home in the living room?"

I thought he was joking at first, or that he would just stand in the wings of the stage, but he was dead serious and Athena perked up immediately. So there I was, in the audience, watching my beautiful daughter do her ballet "solo" while my tall, incredible husband twirled around in a tutu with and fairy wings just to make our daughter feel less nervous.

When Gabriel recently wanted to try tee-ball, Spencer (who couldn't play a sport to save his life), made Morgan help him learn the sport inside out and then went on to be the assistant coach. Through it all, we were an unstoppable team with two brilliant, gorgeous, caring children.

After a close call with an unsub three years ago, Spencer had made the decision to spend most of his time teaching at a local university and FBI academy, still doing classified casework for the FBI here and there. As selfish as it sounds, I'm really grateful he decided to step back from the line of duty; it meant I saw him a lot more and he got to be a big part of the kids' lives as they grow up, especially in all the extracurricular things they did. It also brought comfort knowing he wasn't always in the line of fire and at risk of not coming home. As for myself, I moved to part-time with the FBI acting as the secondary unit chief of victim services when Sawyer stepped down to part time. This allowed me to be at home for the kids when they needed, and in the extra bits of time, I would assist in teaching the training for the new social workers coming through the academy, and integrating them into the unique victim services branch of the FBI. The change in both of our careers allowed for us to see each other a little more, and we made a point to do a fancy date night at least once a month; Penny and Emily would come and watch the kids for us, and the kids loved getting this time with their aunties. Sometimes JJ and her boys would also join in, and the kids just loved this! The life we had created was one my younger self dared to dream of, and getting to spend my days with Spence and the kids was everything I could ever ask for.

I looked out the kitchen window to see Spencer pulling into the driveway, and immediately smiled. One thing that never changed between us was how his presence brought an overwhelming sense of security and safety.

"Kids, guess who's home?" I called out in a sing-songy voice and they both excitedly ran to the door, jumping up and down and yelling "daddy!" repeatedly. He came through the door, immediately dropping his bag and embracing the kids in a big hug.

"Oh my goodness look at my two favourite kids in the whole wide world! How were your days? Tell me everything!" He said excitedly to them, kneeling in front of them waiting to hear about their days like he does every time he comes home.

"Today I got my math test back and I got an A+ and TWO gold star stickers!" Athena proudly showed him her test, and he got even more excited.

"I knew you could do it! I'm so very proud of you, Thea! We should put it on the fridge!" He smiled and gave her another hug, and she giggled excitedly as she took off to put her test on the fridge proudly. She really was Spencer's daughter in every way, shape, and form.

"And my little prince, how was your day?" He turned to Gabriel, who had just recently started going to preschool and was loving it.

"I drew you a picture daddy. Look, that's muma, and that's Thea, and that's me, and here's you! And we're at the planetarium looking at stars" Gabe pointed to each part of his drawing, proudly showing Spence his work. It didn't matter how many crafts, paintings, or drawings the kids made, Spencer kept every single one of them and treasured them all equally. His office looked like an explosion of our kids' creativity, as did our fridge and family room. When we ran out of room, we put the older projects into keep-safe boxes and put the new ones in their place.

"Gabe-y! This is so beautiful, it belongs in a museum! And you made this for me?" He looked at Gabe with that surprised and excited look he always had when the kids presented him with new art, and Gabe nodded happily at him.

I slowly wandered over and around the corner, he looked up, giving his son another hug before sending him off to join his sister in their evening chores.

"God, I have the most beautiful wife in the universe" he said, licking his lips and picking me up, spinning me around and kissing me.

"I missed you. How was your day?" I asked softly, kissing him again before he could answer.

"It was good, it was midterm review time so a relatively easy lecture. How was your day?" He asked, this time kissing me before I could answer.

"It was good, we just hired two new social workers to the unit so we started them on orientation today" I kissed him one more time, savouring the moment I'd been looking forward to since he left the house this morning.

We heard the kids both exclaim "ew"s from the kitchen and we both looked over, smiling, before turning to look at each other with the same smug look on our faces.

"You know what we need to do now, right?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I know exactly what happens now" I smirk back and we look at the kids, both running over to them and pulling them into a big family hug as they scream and giggle.

This life, these kids, this man... he hung the universe in my eyes, and I never could have been happier. I've come to learn that the shattered pieces of the life I once had weren't to be looked at as damaged goods that couldn't be loved, but instead to see them the way he did; a beautiful kaleidoscope of memories, moments, pain and growth, opportunity, and hope. It's not like our pieces broke so that we could find each other and realize they fit together perfectly, because that just doesn't happen. But what did happen, was the convergence of our broken pieces that created a beautiful mosaic that we built together. I looked into his eyes and he stared into mine, his arm around my waist as he pulled me in and kissed my forehead, looking back at the kids and life we had made, smiling. His hazel eyes would always bring me peace, his arms always being my home, and he... he would always and forever be my boy genius, my Spence.