Lies - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

37. Knowing

"Be leery of silence. It doesn't mean you won the argument. Often, people are just busy reloading their guns." - Shannon L. Adler

The Daughter

As promised, Hart was transferred back to New York. 

I made no formal complaint, and neither did Spencer.

Instead, we sat up for most of that night, discussing all of the times she'd stopped by the sanitarium, had caught him in the hallways of the bureau, and how she had eventually resorted to messaging.

The unfortunate thing about timing, was that as soon as she'd sent the naked images, I'd rumbled her secret. Even Spencer hadn't seen them yet.

I was thankful for this and completely overwhelmed with relief.

Darren and my instincts had been wrong; Spencer wasn't cheating on me.

It took us a few days to return to some semblance of normality, all of us feeling fragile and paranoid. 

I was still only working three days out of the week, being well and truly wrapped up by my team and my family.

I was simultaneously training a temporary replacement who would be covering my maternity leave. Speaking of which, I hadn't formally agreed on a date and everyone was growing rather shifty.

I'd just finished another disagreement with Spencer about how long I was spending in the office and had just hung up when my phone rang again.

"Chief Hotchner?"

"Ah, Mellow, it's good to hear your voice my little cherub."

My heart warmed, knowing that I was spending whatever remaining time he had left, in the best possible way.

"It's good to hear your voice, Grandpa. How're you doing today?"

"Ah, not so good Mellow. Not so good..."

The Lover

When we returned from the case, we submitted all paperwork and I returned home to Mel, eager to kiss her face and hold our bump.

We were at month eight now, and each day I spent away from them, was like pulling teeth and nails.

"Melly, I'm home!" I called as I entered the house, punching in the security code and locking the door behind me.

"In here!" Her voice called from the study.

"Please don't tell me you're working..." I groaned, heading inside the room whilst removing my coat.

"I'm working on the wedding, actually," She laughed, spinning around on the desk chair to grin up at me. She looked adorable in comfy pyjamas and socks, her hair piled high on her head and her reading glasses propped on her bare face.

I approached her and leaned down to press a kiss to her lips.

"I have something I'd like to talk to you about..." She said apprehensively, getting to her feet whilst chewing on her lip.

"Oh?" I pressed curiously. "Should I be worried?" I followed her into the kitchen as she lowered the temperature on the oven and removed the tray of food from inside.

"Not at all." She smiled innocently, pulling plates from the cupboard.

I washed my hands and helped her plate up, and both of us sat down at the large dining table, sitting together as closely as possible.

"Okay spill." I said after a while of silent eating.

"What?" She laughed innocently, looking at me through her lashes as her cheeks blushed.

"You can't say you have something to talk to me about and then proceed to not talk about it." I laughed and she smirked, gulping her water and taking a deep breath.

"So it's kinda serious..." She said softly, removing her glasses and cupping her hands on the edge of the table. 

I placed my cutlery down on the table and turned to her with a serious expression.

"I'm all ears..." I said patiently.

"Okay, well..." She heaved a sigh. "Several months ago, my Grandpa started contacting me," She said bravely and my mouth fell open, my eyes growing wide. "I know... I know," She nodded, holding a hand up to keep me from saying anything.

"We were on-and-off at the time, so it wasn't your place to know," She shrugged matter-of-factly, and I tried not to feel wounded.

"And I know, I should've mentioned something when we got back together officially but..." She sighed. "Anyway, it was like pulling teeth in the beginning. He'd call once every few months, trying to persuade me to talk to him, and then I realised how ill he is, and I didn't want to live with any regrets,"

She shrugged and rubbed at our bump.

"He's dying, it's terminal, and he only has a few months left. Whether I like it or not, he's my family, and whether it's right or wrong, he turned to booze to deal with the loss of the love of his life," She turned to me with sad eyes. "Knowing how I feel about you," She smiled, reaching out to run her hand over my face. "I can't say that I blame him." Her voice was thick and her eyes were shining with tears.

"Mel..." I whispered, covering her hand with my own, running it to my mouth so I could kiss her palm. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" I asked, lowering our hands to my lap.

"I thought that if I said something, it'd make it all real," She shrugged with an emotional smile.

"But he sent me his medical report today," She continued. "It is even worse than I thought, he's deteriorating and things aren't good."

"I'm so sorry, Melly," I apologised emotionally. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Well..." A wicked smile lit up her face and I grinned at the mere sight of it. 

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about..." She smiled excitedly and I laughed.

"What's on your mind, now, Melly?" 

She laughed too and got to her feet, hurrying from the room.

"Melly?" I called after her, laughing. 

A few moments later, she returned with a few printed sheets of A4, and lowered them down next to me.

Curiously, I examined the papers and looked at her in surprise.

"You want to get married in England?" I gasped.

She was chewing on her lip apprehensively, nodding her head sheepishly.

"I mean... it's something different, right?" She smiled innocently.

"You could say that..." I nodded, flicking through the pages before me. "Okay..." I nodded. "When?" 

She gave a nervous little laugh and reached forward, peeling the back page out from the pile and gesturing to the quote on the page.

"Three weeks?!" I gasped, almost dropping the pages onto my dinner plate.

"No time like the present?" She giggled sheepishly, blinking at me excitedly.

"Melly..." I sighed. "You really bring a whole new meaning to spontaneity, you know that, right?"