Chapter 18: Sleepover*

Spencer and the team have been on the case for about 4 days now. It is now Thursday at 6 pm and I just got home from work. It wasn't a bad day, the days just drag on when I know I'm not leaving to see Spencer because I don't have anything to look forward to besides dinner, Netflix, and Ryder. As I'm curling up on my couch with some ramen, Grey's Anatomy, and Ryder, my phone starts to ring and JJ's name is on the screen. I start to panic a bit and answer the phone saying "Hey JJ, is Spencer okay?" She quickly realizes why I'm asking and she says "Hey, Annie, Spencer is fine I was calling because I just wanted to know if you were serious about your offer to help with Henry?" I am immediately flooded with relief and say "yeah I was totally serious! Is everything okay with Henry?" JJ laughs lightly and says "Will is just being called in to work and he has Henry and Jack at our house because Hotch's sister in law, Jessica, had to go out of town for the week. Could you stay with them tonight? You can bring Ryder with you. We have a big fenced in back yard that he would probably love." I nod to myself and say "yeah I can do that! I have a day off tomorrow so I can stay for a while. I just need to pack up an over night bag real quick and I can head over there. Send me the address?" JJ lets out an audible sigh of relief and says "thank you so much, Annie. Will, Hotch, and I all owe you big time." I laugh softly and say "it's no problem, JJ. The best way you can repay me is bringing my boyfriend home unscathed, in one piece." She laughs at that and says "we will certainly do our best to do that. Texting you the address now!" I tell her "okay, thanks, JJ." And hang up. I get a quick overnight bag together and pack up Ryder's stuff. I am bringing his crate with me so he has a safe place at JJ and Will's house and I have a place I can put him if he gets himself into too much trouble. We pack up and head over to JJ and Will's which is only about 20 minutes away from my apartment complex. I get to the house and park in the driveway, careful not to block Will's car and go to knock on the front door with my overnight bag and Ryder. I knock on the front door and a stressed looking Will opens the door, immediately looking less stressed upon seeing me. He smiles with relief and says "Hey, Annie. Thanks for coming on such short notice! This must be Ryder." I smile and say "yeah JJ said I could bring him, I hope it's okay that I did?" Will nods saying "it's perfectly fine," as he lets me into the house. I smile and say "okay I just need to get his crate out of the back seat and I'm good to go." Will says "don't worry I'll get it," he grabs my keys from me and continues "the guest room is down that hallway, first door on the left." I walk into the guest room and put my stuff down, keeping Ryder with me on the leash. I let Ryder lead me with his nose and ears to the room Henry and Jack are in; it's a cute nursery with a crib and a trundle bed as well as toys for babies and probably toys for Jack when he's here. Jack is immediately excited to see me and runs up to me hugging my legs saying "Annie! You want to play LEGO's?" I chuckle and say "sure Jack we can play LEGO's. Remember I will also have to take care of Henry tonight. Will you be my little helper tonight and help me take care of Henry?" Jack excitedly smiles and nods and goes to pet Ryder. Will comes in the doorway and says "I put the crate in the guest room. You have all of our numbers if you need anything. They haven't had dinner yet but there's frozen stuff in the freezer for Jack and baby food and breast milk in the fridge and pantry for Henry. Thank you so much!" I smile and say "don't mention it, hope you have a good shift!" I hear him laugh and yell thanks as I hear the door shut and lock behind him. I look at Jack and say "you ready for dinner?" He jumps up excitedly and says "yeah!" I chuckle as I grab Henry from the crib who is happily babbling and head to the kitchen with a toddler, a baby, and a dog. It sounds like the opening to a weird joke, honestly. I get into the kitchen and place Henry in the high chair, get Jack set up sitting at the island, and I've got Ryder's leash attached to the kitchen door so he can't go explore in the house and steal stuff. I grabbed Ryder's bed from his crate and brought it with me to the kitchen with some toys so he could be comfortable and occupied while I took care of the kids. I look at Jack and say "let's look at what's for dinner!" I check the freezer and then the pantry before turning to Jack and saying "it looks like we have chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese, or pizza for dinner, Jack. What'll it be?" He looks at me smiling and hums before saying "chicken nuggets!" I chuckle and say okay as I get them cooking in the microwave. I go to the fridge and say "do you want ketchup or barbecue sauce or anything with them?" He gets excited and says "ketchup please!" I smile and start to get everything ready for him. I hand Jack his plate and get baby food ready for Henry. Jack asks me "why can't Henry have chicken nuggets, too?" I smile softly and say "Henry doesn't have enough teeth for that yet so he eats baby food that is soft and easy for him to chew with what little teeth he has and his gums." Jack looks at me still a bit confused but says "huh okay." I feed Henry some more and Jack asks me out of the blue "do you love Uncle Spencer?" I'm a bit shocked by the question and hesitate before I briefly respond "yes I do love Uncle Spencer." He nods and is quiet for a second before he says "and Uncle Spencer loves you?" I think for a second before saying "well he's told me he loves me before, Jack, but you'd have to ask Uncle Spencer that question to know for sure." He giggles and says "okay I'll ask him." I turn to Jack and ask him "why are you asking me those questions, Jack." He shrugs before saying "my mommy loved my daddy but my daddy left us alone for a while. And my mommy is gone now. Uncle Spencer leaves a lot with my daddy and I just don't know why they leave us if they love us." I can physically feel my heart splintering into a million little pieces. I pull Jack in for a hug and tell him "oh, Jack. Your mommy and daddy loved each other so much. Your daddy had to leave for a long time because he loved you so much because a bad man was after him. He was trying to save you from the bad man. Every time your daddy and Uncle Spencer leave they are trying to save other kids and mommies and daddies from bad guys. They leave so they can make the world safer, not because they don't love us. They always come back when they leave and that's how and when they show us they love us." Jack sniffles and nods. I look at him and tell him "I love you and I love Henry, too. I will always be here when you want me to be. Your aunt Jessica has my number and she can always call me if you need me. Uncle Spencer loves you guys, too, and would do anything for you." Jack leans forward and gives me a big hug and says "I love you, too, Annie." I feel my heart warm in my chest at his statement. Jack gets down from his chair and says "can we go play LEGO's now and watch Monsters Inc?" I smile and nod before saying "just let me finish feeding Henry and then I'll be in there." He smiles and goes to the nursery to play. I talk in baby talk to Henry while I feed him. After Henry eats as much as he will let me feed him I take him out of the high chair and go to the nursery to play with Henry. I crate Ryder in the guest room so I can fully focus on the kids. I sit cross legged on the ground in the nursery and play LEGO's with Jack while Henry sits in my lap. I work on building things with the LEGO's in between entertaining Henry. The LEGO's are big so I don't have to worry about Henry or Jack swallowing them. I check my watch and realize it's 8:30 and probably time to get them ready for bed. I put Henry in his crib and go to the bathroom to fill up the tub for Jack to take a quick bath before bed. I go back into the nursery and tell Jack it's time to take a bath and get ready for bed. Luckily he's old enough to sit in the bathtub by himself and only needs me for washing his hair. I try to stay within eye sight of both kids in the door way to the bathroom that's connected to the nursery. Henry is in the crib playing with a crib toy and Jack is having fun with the bath toys. After we get Jack all clean and in pajamas it's time to quickly bathe Henry. There's a little bath support thing that I use to bathe Henry while Jack brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed. The bath time for Henry is quick and I get him out and into a new diaper and sleeper. I carry Henry and hold Jack's hand as I fix a bottle of breast milk for Henry and a warm sippy cup of milk for Jack. We walk back into the nursery and I tuck Jack into bed and turn on the noisemaker and night light that projects stars on the ceiling and take Henry with me to the living room to have his milk while I watch tv. Henry finishes his breast milk and I burp him for a bit. After I'm satisfied with Henry's burping I hold him against my chest and feel his head nuzzle into my neck. He quickly goes to sleep sucking on a pacifier. After I'm sure he's fully asleep and not going to wake up I take him into the nursery and settle him into the crib. I check on Jack who is now sound asleep. I grab the baby monitor and make sure the cameras are on so I can flip the screen between the two. I lock all the doors and turn on the alarm to the house before getting Ryder out of his crate and settling on the living room couch watching tv for a while. After so long I go to take Ryder out before we go to bed and I let him roam around the back yard for a while. You know, let him get some energy out and explore. After he does his business we go back in the house and I double check the doors and alarm as well as double check that both kids are sleeping soundly before going to get ready for bed in the en suite guest bathroom. I quickly get ready for bed and send Spencer a good night text, thoroughly worn out from work today and the kids tonight. It definitely solidifies for me that I am not ready for kids. Although, you don't usually start out immediately with a 4 year old and a 10 month old. I turn on the guest tv to a random comfort show on Netflix and make sure the baby monitor volume is up so I can hear if Jack or Henry wake up crying. Ryder jumps on the bed with me and curls up next to me, he seems to be thoroughly exhausted as well and falls asleep instantly. I fall asleep quickly, too, happy that I was able to help my friends and their kids.

•••••

I wake up to somebody gently shaking me. I'm elated when I realize that it's Spencer. I immediately jump up and hug him and say "what are you doing here?" He laughs and says "we finished the case late and it was a short flight back. JJ told me you were here and said I could just come stay here with you." I smile sleepily and say "I'm so glad you did. I missed you. What about Hotch? Jack has been sound asleep all night." Spencer smiles and says "Hotch said he would come get him in the morning because he didn't want to wake him up." I nod sleepily and say "makes sense. Are you coming to bed?" Spencer nods and says "yeah I'm just going to get ready," before kissing me on the forehead, petting Ryder, and heading to the en suite bathroom. I hear the sounds of him brushing his teeth and washing his face before he comes back in the room and changes his clothes. He slides into bed behind me and I turn to face him. He caresses my face and says "how was your night with the boys?" I smile briefly and say "good. Jack has a lot of questions." Spencer has a quizzical expression and says "questions about what?" I say "well he asked me if I loved you. I said yes. He asked me if you loved me and I said you had said so but he would have to ask you to know for sure. Then he asked why his dad and you leave us for work if you love us. It was a bit difficult to explain but I think I helped." Spencer says "wow that's a tough question to be asked. How did you respond?" I tell Spencer "I said y'all leave because you love us. Because you leave to protect us. And you come back because you love us. I think he's still not fully grasping his mom's death which is probably to be expected because he's four. After that we played LEGO's for a while and then he went to bed." Spencer nods and says "you know I love you even though I leave, right?" I scoff and say "Spencer, if I didn't know that I wouldn't have said that to him. I don't like lying." He smiles and says "happily noted. How are you feeling? I know you were feeling some emotions after Saturday night." I laugh lightly and say "I'm fine, Spence, I think it was just girl emotions or hormones or something. It didn't last long either. I just missed you and us having sex the night before just probably made the feeling more intense." He nods before saying "a lot of people put a lot of their worth or stock into being virgins before they lose their virginity and that can make it a lot harder when they do. I want you to know that I don't think less of you now or anything like that. I feel closer to you and I feel honored that you felt safe enough with me to be that intimate with me. I love you so much." I give a shy smile and say "I love you, too, Spence. I do think it was hard for me to lose my virginity after so long. I never regretted having sex with you all week, I think it just unlocked a new level of emotions I have no experience with. You did everything right, there wasn't anything you did to cause those feelings. I think they were just something I had to work through and there was no way to avoid it." He nods and says "how are you feeling physically? Still sore at all?" I do a quick mental inventory and say "no I'm just normal sore from work." He gives me a sly grin and says "do you want to be." I look at him in shock and say "Spencer Reid! We are in our friends' house and there are two children asleep right down the hall from us. You also just woke me up and we don't have any condoms or anything." He chuckles and says "it isn't so bad if I just take care of you, but you have to be quiet," as he snakes an arm around my waist from behind me and just barely trails the tips of his fingers under the waistband of my pajama shorts. Before he moved any further he says "is this alright? If you really don't want to do anything and just go to sleep we can do that." I take a shuddering breath and say shakily "please keep going." He chuckles behind me and says "that's my girl," as he trails his hands below my waistband. I hear him laugh lightly again and he says "it always surprises me when you don't wear panties to bed, but in a good way." He slowly trails his hand down and between my legs and I take a deep shuddering breath. He trails his fingers through my folds lightly, teasing me. My breathing hitches as he plunges a finger into my heat. He slowly thrusts his finger in and out before adding another and continuing his actions. He slowly moves his thumb to my clit, rubbing slow circles against it. I let out a moan at the feeling and he covers my mouth with his other hand. He whispers directly into my ear "you have to be quiet or I stop." I nod and he picks up the pace with his hand and begins to trail kisses down my jaw and neck, still covering my mouth with his free hand. He picks up the pace, rubbing harsh fast circles on my clit, trying to bring me to the edge faster. He brings his mouth up next to my ear again and says "you going to cum for me, baby?" I nod my head as my body starts to convulse and I try desperately to stay quiet as my orgasm rips through my body. Spencer continues his ministrations on my body until the overstimulation is almost too much for me to bear. He pulls his hands away from my body and kisses me on the temple, saying "let's go clean up." I nod as we get up to go take a quick shower. He turns on the shower and strips as I go to pee before getting in the shower. I get into the shower with him and stand under the steam of water. He washes my hair with his shampoo and conditioner from his go bag and I revel in the smell, only associating it with good things. I wash his hair after he's finished and we finish the shower quickly after that as I'm fading fast. We dry off and get ready for bed, again, as I'm brushing my hair in his t shirt and underwear he comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and kissing my neck. I smile lightly leaning in to him, saying "okay, Spence, we really do need to go to sleep now. You're probably exhausted from your case and I was asleep before you got here, so I'm already sleepy." He chuckles and says "hopefully you'll sleep a lot better after that. Let's go to bed, Annie." He slaps my ass as he pulls away from me. I look at him in shock and he laughs as we get into bed again. He lays on his back as I latch on to his left side like a baby koala. He kisses the top of my head and says "good night, I love you, baby." I squeeze him just a bit and say "I love you, too, Spence. Sweet dreams," and we drift off to sleep happily in each others arms.

•••••

I wake up to excited screaming "Uncle Spencer!" and feel a small body jump on the bed with a force that should be impossible given he's less than 50 pounds. Jack crawls up the bed to Spencer and gives him a big hug. Spencer wakes up confused and then smiles when he figures out what the intrusion to his slumber is. Spencer gets excited and says "hey, Jack! Did you sleep okay?" Jack nods excitedly and says "yeah Henry didn't cry at all." Spencer nods and says "that's good! Did you have fun with Miss Annie last night?" Jack nods excitedly again and says "we ate chicken nuggets and played LEGO's. Henry ate mushy stuff and sat with Miss Annie while we played." Spencer smiles and says "that sounds like so much fun!" Jack nods and says "Aunt JJ told me to come get you guys for breakfast." I smile and say "okay, we're coming." We get up out of bed and Jack drags Spencer by hand to the kitchen, Ryder follows behind us. JJ is standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and her 10 month old on her hip. She smiles and says "I thought you sleepy heads would never get up. Jack was itching to wake you up at 8 but I made him wait until now." I check the clock on the stove and realize it's past 10 am. Henry reaches for Spencer upon seeing him and Spencer gladly takes him as JJ and I watch the cute sight unfolding before us. I go to make my coffee at the Keurig and JJ says "I had breakfast delivered because I didn't feel like cooking or going out." I laugh and say "I understand, you didn't have to include us in that." She looks at me shocked and says "of course I did. Spencer is family and now so are you." I smile and thank her and make a plate for Spencer and myself. Spencer is sitting at the kitchen table, bouncing Henry on his lap and I sit next to him, placing his breakfast and coffee in front of him. He smiles and kisses me on the cheek saying "thanks, baby." We sit and eat breakfast, all three of us catching up with each other and entertaining the children. Ryder settles at my feet and minds his own business. For once. Towards the end of breakfast we hear a knock at the door. JJ goes to answer it and she returns with Hotch. He's wearing jeans and a red quarter zip and smiling. I almost don't believe it. I say "wow, Hotch, you look like a dad." He laughs and says "yep that's the part I play today. I'm dad, not unit chief supervisory special agent Aaron Hotchner today." I smile and say "even the best superheroes deserve a day off, Hotch." He smiles and says "that's very true. Thanks for taking care of him last night." I look at Jack and say "oh he was great, we had so much fun together!" Hotch turns to Jack and says "Jack, can you tell Miss Annie thank you for taking care of you last night and playing with you?" Jack turns to me and says "thank you Miss Annie for taking care of me and playing with me." I smile and say "any time, bubs, can you give me a hug goodbye?" He lunges forward and gives me a big hug before pulling away and smiling before running to his dad's side. Hotch says "thanks again, you guys, now we are going to go to the park and to the movies. Enjoy your Saturday." We all say our goodbyes to them as they leave together. JJ looks at me and says "you're really good with him and with Henry." I smile and say "occupational hazard I guess." Spencer nods and says "Annie was a nanny when she was in college." I laugh and say "Annie the nanny, but Annie as a nickname didn't really take until I started dating Spencer." JJ says "well that explains why you take to kids so easily. I'm sure there are plenty of speech therapists not good with kids, but you can't really be a nanny and not be good with kids. Or at least not a successful one anyway." I laugh and say "that's true. One thing that nannying did for me in college is that it was a great birth control. I loved nannying and the babies but I loved going home and not having responsibility except for Ryder." I reach down and pet Ryder who is asleep at my feet now. JJ smiles and says "dogs are perfect practice babies, I had one in college, too. She passed away before I joined the FBI, though." I nod in understanding and say "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I would do without my fur baby." She chuckles and nods and says "well having an actual baby helps ease the ache, but it's not quite the same." Spencer offers to go change Henry, which really impresses me, and gives JJ a chance to talk to me. JJ says "so how is everything going with you and Spence?" I smile and blush slightly and say "it's been great, except for him getting shot and Haley, but I'm happy to be here for him." JJ nods and she says "I can tell you love him. I can see it in the way you look at him. Like you'll never be tired of him." I laugh and say "well him going away so much probably helps that. Absence makes the heart grow fonder." JJ laughs and says "that is not how it worked for his last relationship. Lila wasn't very understanding about his job or just in general. She was very pushy and everything was about her all the time. I think she's one of the reasons he turned to dilaudid a couple years ago. She was awful to him. I think he thought he deserved it. I don't know. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is you are so much better for him than she was and you bring out the best in him instead of the worst. So thank you for that." I smile and nod before saying "of course." Spencer comes back in with a freshly changed Henry, handing him to JJ. He turns to me as he says "well, Annie, ready to go home?" I smile and say "sure, baby, just need to pack up." We pack up the car and get ready to head back to my apartment and say goodbye to JJ and Henry. Spencer rode here with JJ so he's riding with me to my apartment. We get in the car and I start to drive back to my apartment. Spencer grabs my free hand and squeezes it and says "I'm glad you get along so well with everybody." I smile and say "me too, Spence." We sit in comfortable silence before I say "hey, Spence?" He hums in response. I look at him briefly and say "who is Lila?"