Turning Page

Clara

5 Years Later...

"Spencer!" I shout from the kitchen, when I get no reply I sigh and stomp up the stairs. I hear little giggles coming from Quinnly's bedroom. When I peak inside I see Spencer crouched into a tiny little chair with a feather boa wrapped around his neck, a matching tiara on his head. Quinnly is wearing similar attire but hers is purple, not pink like Spencer's.

"Quinnie, are you having a tea party without me?" I smile at my daughter who quickly shakes her and insists it's makeover.

"Daddy is ugly so he needed to dress up," She jumps from her chair and runs over to the other side of the table and tells Spencer to turn and face me. When he does I slap my hand over my mouth trying not laugh, he has blue eye shadow on and bright pink lipstick, there's glitter everywhere too. He's trying to make a kissy face but he keeps laughing and can't form his lips into the right shape.

"Why don't you do mommy's makeup now?" Spencer says grabbing a dancing Quinnlys hands to keep her in place.

"Mommy is pretty she doesn't need to." She snaps back at him and I laugh.

"Auntie Emily is coming over later, so are some other people. So, let's get you clean up and let daddy take a shower?" I offer her and she nods in agreement but only after I sweetened the deal with a lollipop.

Quinnly ended up with my dark hair and my smile, everything else is pure Spencer, her giant hazel eyes, her smarts, her attitude.

Quinnly gasps when we walk past the door and there's knocks on, when she knows Emily is coming over she paces around waiting for those knocks. When she latches onto the door handle I help her twist it open. Emily comes in with a little box and hands it to Quinnly.

"There little genius!" She beams leaning down to hug her goddaughter, Derek comes in after her with an even bigger box and I stare at them in disbelief, they spoil her too much.

"What? I can't let her out do me," He ruffles up Quinnlys refresher done hair and Spencer comes downstairs finally to greet everyone. Hotch walks in with his girlfriend and Jack, Rossi and Penelope arrive shortly after that and JJ brings along Will and her two sons.

It's pasta night, which is usually at Rossi's place but Quinnly complained she was bored last time and she believed that everyone would have more fun at her house. So, here we are.

Quinnly calls Rossi grandpa and she calls Penelope kitty, I'm not sure why she calls her kitty but it's really cute. She makes everyone sit down while she performs a fashion show and once it ends Rossi is putting us all to work in the kitchen, besides Penelope and JJ's sons, who have been captured to play barbie's upstairs.

"Is she starting kindergarten in August?" JJ asks as she sits up at the counter next to Emily. I sigh and Spencer's head whips around because he knows what's coming.

"We just registered her the other day, I cried." I sit down next to Emily at the counter and Spencer places his hand on my back.

"For three hours," He adds and JJ waves him away.

"Hey Reid, you gotta a little sparkle on your face today." Emily points at him and chuckles and he starts wiping his face.

"I wish I could say it gets easier but, it doesn't."  JJ takes a sip from her wine glass and I sigh again.

It feels like just yesterday I was freaking out over a positive pregnancy test, now i'm freaking out over my little baby starting kindergarten.

"Did Clara tell you how smart she is already? I don't even think she needs kindergarten," Spencer butts back into our conversation and Emily cocks her head.

"She can already read simple words and write her full name, she knows all the colors and shapes and we're working on addition and subtraction right now." Spencer has a huge smile on his face and I while I love how smart our daughter is I sometimes feel like Spencer is rushing her to grow up. I know he's not really doing that, he's just teaching her because Quinnly is very smart, she picks up things very quickly.

Spencer was in highschool at 12, and while that's a very good accomplishment, i don't want that for Quinnly, I want her to stay in the house as long as possible and never grow up and move out.

"Did you ever consider having more?" Emily nudges me as we watch Rossi boil the noddles.

I hum in response and turn to her not fully hearing what she said.

"Having more baby genius', did you ever think about it?" She repeats and I turn to look and Spencer who is talking to Derek.

"We did, we wanted more kids but you don't always get what you want." I sigh thinking about what could have been ours just two years ago.

It was our three year anniversary and I found out I was pregnant; we were so excited. I carried our son for two months before the world decided it wasn't ready for him. After that we never discussed having anymore kids.

"The universe works in mysterious ways." JJ pats my back, she went through something similar a few years back when she was out of the country.

"I think Quinnie would be a great big sister, she's so bossy." Emily flips her hair, indicating where Quinnly gets all her sass from; her auntie Emily.

I hear Derek yell up the stairs for everyone to come down for dinner, Quinnly wraps feathered bows around everyone before sitting down between Emily and Derek. Spencer and J are trash when they're around.

"Grandpa," Quinnly looks Rossi dead in the eyes and my heart stops for a moment, unsure of what is going to fly out of her little unhinged mouth next.

"Daddy told me that you're," She stand up in her chair and leans over the table, just like Emily does when she talks to people over the counter, minus standing up on the chair.

"He told me that you're old." She puts emphasis on that last word and Spencer about spits water out of his mouth.

Rossi's mouth drops open as he stars at Quinnly who is nodding her head as Emily tries to get her to sit back down.

"Did he really?" He turns slowly to Spencer, Quinnly is referring to yesterday when she was rambling about something Rossi told her and Spencer responded with "Well Grandpa Rossi is old, he doesn't know how it works anymore."

"Quinnly Diana, sit your butt back down in that chair right now." I snap my finger at her, i hate to yell at her but she doesn't listen sometimes. Especially when Emily is around. She sticks her tongue out at me and I turn to Spencer, Emily and Derek are both covering their smiles.

"Quinnly." He stands up and she sits her butt right down. Emily leans in to whisper something to her and I watch her head nod. Spencer sits back down and we all continue to talk after a few minutes pass.

When everyone leaves Spencer and J begin our nightly routine of getting Quinnly ready for bed, as we tuck her in I ask what Emily told her earlier at dinner.

"It's a secret mommy, I can't tell you." She giggles and I pull the covers over her tiny body, she's a small girl still, she's going to be short, despite Spencer being tall and me being an average height.

Spencer kisses her forehead and flicks the light off as we exit the room, swinging the door shut behind him. I flop into our bed when we reach our bedroom and sigh.

"What?" Spencer sits down next to my body and puts his hand around my waist, it sends shivers up my body.

"I think I want another one." I turn to my side, propped up on my elbow. Spencer's eyes widen at me in disbelief.

"Another baby?" He fiddled with his hands and I sit up to grab them.

"Quinnie will start kindergarten soon, the age gap will already be around 6 years and that if we even get pregnant this month." Spencer shakes his head back and forth.

"Don't think about it like that, don't say if," He squeezes my hand.

I freeze in place when I hear a faint knocking noise. "What was that? It's 9:30 pm," I look and Spencer and he shrugs not hearing what i did. When he tries to speak i cover his mouth and force him to listen.

Three knocks, each one louder than the next.

"Okay, yeah I heard that." I stand up and so does Soencer as we walk to Quinnlys room, she fast asleep.

"Maybe someone forgot something," I say walking downstairs as the knocking continues. Spencer follows me and by the time i reach the door he's just hitting the bottom the stairs behind me.

I open the front door and who stands in front of me shocks me to my core.

"Dad?" I say, he looks freaked out, his eyes are red. That's when I noticed the gun. I back up as he walks into the house. Spencer notices instantly.

"Luke? What are you doing?" He asks slowly walking toward me until he's able to push himself in front of me. I instantly think of my sleeping daughter upstairs.

"Your mother." His hands shake as he tries to point the gun behind spencer towards me.

"Dad, have you been drinking?" I ask given his clearly intoxicated appearance, how did he even get here?

"Go ahead and tell her Luke, how you were never clean." Spencer's hands are up, this probably nothing compared to situations he's survived before. I'm shocked at the words that fall out of his mouth. What does he mean never clean?

"I've never been sober Clara, never. And you, you waltz back in, and then your mother waltzing right back in to see Harper graduate, and then she disappears again. I couldn't take it anymore Clara. I've been looking for her, but I found you instead." My dad is clearly not in the right mind space, I can't even process what he's talking about, Harper graduated five years ago. Why is he here now, and why did nobody tell me my mom came back?

"You'll have to do," He pulls the trigger but he misses, leaving a bullet hole in our wall. This whole time Spencer and I have been slowly backing up to the stairs and that's when I see Quinnly peering down from the top.

I look at her trying to signal to grab my phone and call the police. I widen my eyes and look at my hands, she's a smart girl, but how smart can a five year old really be? I look down at my hands still with wide eyes making a phone signal with my hand hoping she notices.

"What are you doing?" My dad shouts and I jump back to look at him, out of the corner of my eye i see Quinnly take off towards my room.

"Luke, put the gun down. I know you love your daughter, you don't want to do this." Spencer tries to talk him and he keeps shaking his head.

"Love? I don't love her, I despise her." My heart sinks. "She's the reason Marilyn left!" He shouts and I jump back at the sudden outburst.

"Your mother never wanted kids! She didn't want you, she didn't want your sister. She left right after Harper was born because she hated you both, you made her leave me!" He waves the gun around in the air.

"Now you're, you're gonna pay for that." He looks like he's about to start crying, Spencer moves his body directly in front of me just as I hear the sound of the gun go off again. Only this time I don't hear the sound of the wall thudding, I hear Spencer make a noise.

No.

I look down and he's on the floor, I fall to my knees and scream, just as I do Derek is running through the door and tackling my dad to the floor, Emily is right behind him.

"Spencer!" I shout holding his face as he holds his torso. Blood is leaking out everywhere, based on the placement his chances of survival without being at a hospital in 15 minutes is slim.

I hear Quinnlys footsteps behind me and I turn to look at her. Emily is quick to grab her and take her out of the house, all while on the phone with 911.

"You had a kid?" I hear Luke shout as Derek drags him out of the house, as far as i'm concerned I have no parents anymore.

"Clara," Spencer whispers weakly, barely able to talk. "I love you." He mumbles and I shake my head.

"No, don't say that. You're going to be fine." I start to cry when Spencer shakes his head no.

"Clare, it's okay. You're going to get through this, and you're gonna tell Quinnie how much I loved her everyday, and that I'm always going to be watching over her." He started to cry now too. Derek comes back inside and leans next to Spencer.

"You're gonna be okay Reid, help it's almost here. Stay with me, kid." He puts his hand over the wound since Spencer's strength is giving out. I watch as his eyes roll back.

"Spence! Get up, Spencer please." I shake him, begging him to open his eyes.

"Don't leave me here alone." I scream at his limp body, pain running through every inch of my body. I feel as though a piece of my soul has been torn out.

3 Years Later..

"Does it get easier?" I turn to look at Emily who is sitting next to me in the backyard. She shakes her head.

"Definitely not, just be happy Dereks here to teach her." She chuckles and so do I. I never learned to ride a bike when I was a kid, Quinnly despite her determination was always too scared until recently. She's only now decided to learn at 8 years old because her new best friend, Tara, has just invited her to come ride bikes next week.

"Yeah because that's exactly who we need teaching her things," I laugh turning my head as the back door opens up.

"What are you guys laughing about?" The voice chimes in as the door slams shut and a little girl comes running out to the sand box.

"Just laughing at Derek, how about you get your butt in there genius?" Emily looks Spencer up and down and he holds his hands up in defense.

"June is awake, if you couldn't see her speed by." He smiles and kisses my forehead before going over to swap places with Derek.

"How's JJ and the boys?" I turn to Emily and she smiles at me.

"Boys are with Will for the weekend, and JJ is at the hair salon right now. Said she'll be over when she's done." Emily picks up her phone, they started dating soon after Spencer got shot. That was a real turning page for us, Spencer getting shot, not JJ and Emily, we all saw that coming. Everything was in slow motion those first few days in the ICU with Spencer.

I almost thought I would lose him the same way I met him. A gunshot wound.

We had another daughter two and half years ago, we named her Penelope June. We all call her June though so it doesn't get confusing with Penelope, who she is named after. She's all me, my little carbon copy.

"Mom look!" I hear Quinnly shout at me as she peddles her bike down the sidewalk.

"Look at you!" I shout back as Spencer stands a few feet behind her, he walks up to me and sits down in the chair at the table where Emily and I are at.

"Hi Mr. Reid," I beam up at him before he fully sits down.

"Doctor." He squints and points his finger straight at me.

"My apologies," I smile. "Doctor Reid, I forgot about all those PhDs while you were over there being the world's best dad." I grab his hand and he smiles at me.

"I love your smile, did I ever mention that?" He stares at me with nothing but love behind his eyes. I'm so thankful that 9 years ago Spencer got shot in the leg while working a case. I smile even more, it's habit I can't help it when he compliments me.

"Just a few times, maybe."

—————————AN: did i have you guys scared for a second? remember when i said i was going out with a bang. 😉

This is the end of Unexpected Connections. Omg my babies, i'm crying so hard.

I want to personally thank you all for reading this fanfic and supporting it! It truly does mean the world to me, I love reading all your comments on here and on TikTok. I hope you'll all enjoy the next book as much as you enjoyed this one. I love you all endlessly and I am truly sorry for scaring you multiple times throughout this book. 😝

Much love, Lissy ❤️