CM Fic: Building a Home (Part 6/8)
Title: Building a Home (Part 6/8)
Rating: T
Pairings: Reid/Hotch (established relationship)
Characters (entire story): Reid, Hotch, Jack, Jessica, Garcia, Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, and JJ
Characters (this part): Hotch, Reid, Jack, Garcia, Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, and JJ
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine. Neither is the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos.
Word Count: 3,817
Summary (entire story): Aaron and Jack move in with Spencer when renovations drive them out of their new house. Will it be a disaster…or a beginning?
Summary (this chapter): The team finds out that Aaron and Spencer are living together. Obviously they can’t just let this slide…
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.” - Erma Bombeck
Spencer’s phone dinged at him just as he was finishing up reading through the morning’s new memos. Distractedly he grabbed it and poked at the screen (why couldn’t he have a phone with real buttons again?) so he could view the new text message. It was Garcia, very tersely ordering him to: Get your cute little butt up to the round table room RIGHT NOW.
He stared at the message, perplexed. There was no way he was late for the daily briefing - aside from the fact that it was 9:05 and the briefings had always started at 9:30 since before he joined the BAU, he could clearly see that Prentiss, Aaron, and Rossi were still at their desks and he presumed Morgan was too. Garcia didn’t appear to be texting any of them either. What was going on?
He squinted up at the round table room and caught Garcia peeking out at him through the blinds. She must have spotted him looking at her because the blinds snapped shut and rustled like someone had brushed up against them. A few seconds later Spencer’s phone dinged again: 25 min. before we have an audience. You don’t want that.
Spencer sat stock-still for a half second. Then his brain and his body synced up and he snatched his stack of files, and scrambled up the stairs before Prentiss had a chance to ask him what was going on. It was obvious he’d done something to upset Garcia and anyone who knew anything knew that when you upset Penelope Garcia it was in everyone’s best interest to make it up to her - fast.
She was waiting for him, hands on hips, as he scurried inside and hastily shut the door. “Did you really think you could get away with this?” she demanded.
He searched his memory for something he’d done that would warrant this kind of reaction. “Garcia,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I honestly don’t know what -”
“I am talking about you and Hotch,” she said sharply.
Spencer shifted nervously, his eyes automatically darting to the door. The team had an unspoken rule that they never talk about his and Aaron’s relationship at work - there was only a slight chance that they’d be overheard by Strauss or some ass-kissing or disgruntled employee who might report them to her, but no one really wanted to take it. That Garcia was so flagrantly disregarding like this was really making Spencer uncomfortable. “This really isn’t -” he began, stammering slightly.
“I couldn’t believe it,” went on Garcia like he hadn’t said anything. “How could you not say anything about you and Hotch” she lowered her voice to a whispered hiss “moving in together!”
He gaped at her. “How could you possibly know that?”
“JJ and I had lunch yesterday,” said Garcia with an affronted scowl. “She told me about how you went out to brunch with her and Henry on Sunday. Do you know she thought she saw Hotch’s SUV parked outside your building? She didn’t have the time to get a good look at it, of course, because you were already out on the sidewalk waiting when they pulled up. She got another look later because it was still there when they dropped you off, and that time she was sure it was Hotch’s SUV. She was going to ask you about it, but she didn’t get the chance because you didn’t invite them up like you normally do.”
“I don’t see how you made the leap between that and” Spencer lowered his voice “living together. How do you know he wasn’t just over for the weekend?”
“Only if you left him tied to the bed while you ate scrambled eggs with your godson, and as scrumptiously naughty and kinky as that sounds I don’t think that’s something you and Hotch would be into,” shot back Garcia, smirking a little as his face flushed. “So naturally I had to do some digging and guess what I found? Your landline is now listed as Hotch’s alternate number with all of people working on the house and Jack’s school!”
“That’s - that was a complete violation of our privacy!” sputtered Spencer, horrified.
Garcia puffed up defensively and Spencer felt his stomach sink. “This is huge news and it’s your obligation to share huge news with your family, especially when the huge news is so utterly wonderful and yummy,” she declared, indignant. “I am very disappointed in you, Spencer Reid. I thought you knew I need to be informed when two gorgeous pieces of deliciousness start living in sin! Oh, I should take away your paper files and make you use an iPad for this!”
Spencer sucked in a breath and unconsciously tightened his grip on his beloved hard copies, flinching a little as she took a threatening step toward him. Thankfully, he and his files were spared by the unexpected faint scraping sound at the door. Garcia’s eyes narrowed suspiciously and she stomped over in that direction, throwing it open to reveal Prentiss and Morgan on the other side. “Just what do you two think you’re doing?” she asked brusquely.
Prentiss brushed her hair behind her ears, trying far too hard to appear casual, but Morgan merely crossed his arms and grinned. “Shouldn’t we be asking you the same thing, Mama?” he asked. He strolled in with Prentiss on his heels and looked from Garcia to Spencer, who’d sunk down into a chair and was now hastily shoving his files into his satchel. “What’s this powwow all about?”
“Nothing!” insisted Spencer emphatically at the same time Garcia announced, “Reid and Hotch moved in together.”
“Garcia!” protested Reid.
“What?” demanded Morgan.
“Whoa,” chimed in Prentiss, grinning broadly. “Congratulations, Reid! When did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” Garcia told her in an almost prim tone. “He didn’t tell me.”
Morgan bristled. “Me either.”
“You did this without asking our advice?” Prentiss teased Spencer. “Because I hear it’s true what they say: you give him all that free milk and he’ll have no reason to buy the cow.”
“Oh no,” declared Morgan, crossing his arms and glaring protectively at Spencer. “Hotch is going to be buying the cow.”
“What?” Everyone turned to see that Rossi had walked into the room. He wrinkled his brow at Aaron, who had come in right behind him. “You’re buying a cow?”
“Will everyone please stop referring to me as a cow?” whined Spencer.
Aaron frowned at them suspiciously. “Do I want to know?” he asked.
“I do,” spoke up Rossi. “What’s going on?”
“Hotch and Reid moved in together,” Prentiss told him matter-of-factly.
Rossi turned to Aaron with a grin that wouldn’t be out of place on a cat that had canary feathers still stuck in his teeth. “I thought you’ve been in a better mood lately,” he said jovially. He made his way over to Spencer and gave him a hearty clap on the back. “Good job, kid.”
Spencer groaned and buried his face in his hands. Garcia shook her head and clucked her tongue, but then took pity on him and gave him a hug. Prentiss grinned at this and Rossi stood watching with his arms crossed, thoroughly enjoying this turn of events. Morgan eyes shifted between Spencer and Aaron, torn between teasing his best friend and launching an inquisition to find out why he’d been kept in the dark about this.
Aaron just cast his most threatening glare at them all. “Why don’t I shut the door so we can discuss this in private?” he asked in a clipped voice that made it clear it wasn’t a suggestion as much as a command.
The team knew better to argue. They scurried to their seats while Aaron calmly closed the door and went to stand at Spencer’s side. “As you all may recall, my house is currently undergoing renovations,” he announced in a formal tone. He placed a hand on Spencer’s shoulder, pointedly ignoring the way Prentiss and Morgan’s eyebrows shot up and Garcia’s thrilled little smile. “Spencer was kind enough to allow me and Jack to temporarily move into his apartment so we wouldn’t have to live in a construction zone.”
“And how long have you been temporarily living together?” demanded Morgan.
Aaron lifted his chin, refusing to be cowed. “About two months,” he said.
“Two months next Sunday,” added Spencer reflexively.
“Well, that’s great,” declared Rossi, who somehow managed to sound both completely sincere and like he was up to no good at the same time. “Take it from me: you should always celebrate the anniversaries. I think this calls for a team dinner at your place Sunday night.”
Garcia smiled bright and evil. “Great idea!” she enthused, whipping out her phone and typing happily. “Dinner, Reid-Hotchner residence, Sunday at 6:00.”
“That’s not going to work, sorry,” said Spencer with a shake of his head, though he was still too miffed about the whole ‘cow’ thing to try to sound sorry. “We can only fit four people at the table.”
“No problem,” said Rossi smoothly. “We’ll have burgers and hotdogs and make it a picnic in the living room.”
“Sounds like fun,” spoke up Prentiss. “I’m in.”
“You bet I’ll be there,” added Morgan.
Garcia’s phone dinged; she looked at the incoming message and smiled. “JJ says she wouldn’t miss it. We can sort out who’s bringing what later,” she added. She smiled with fake obliviousness at Spencer and Aaron, who were staring at them all in disbelief, and clicked on the screen with the remote control. “Because right now we have a briefing…”
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Morgan was the last one to arrive on Sunday night. “Hey there, Pretty Boy,” he greeted Reid, who’d answered the door. His grin broadened when Reid shot him a kitten glower in response. “Now be nice - I come bearing potato chips.”
“Thank you,” said Reid in a perfectly even tone, snatching the two bags of chips out of his hands. He stared defiantly at Morgan, but the other man refused to rise to the bait and continued to just stand there, smirking at him. Blowing out a sigh, he opened the door a little wider. “Come in.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” replied Morgan, his voice all exaggerated politeness and innocence. He stepped around Reid and tossed a “hey, guys” to the others, all of whom were sipping drinks in the kitchen and dining area, before ruffling Reid’s hair affectionately. “Thanks for inviting me over.”
Reid made a face and lifted his hands to straighten out his hair, forgetting he had a bag of chips in each one. He made a face and shoved them onto the table. “You invited yourself over,” he reminded a chuckling Morgan with an irritated glare.
“That’s not how I remember it. Hey, little man,” added Morgan as Jack walked up beside Reid and hovered just behind his leg. “How’s it going?”
Jack stared up at him but didn’t say anything. “Jack, do you remember Mr. Morgan?” prompted Reid gently.
“Hey now, none of that ‘Mr.’ stuff - you can call me Morgan or Derek, whichever one you want,” Morgan smiled. He was a little thrown when Jack didn’t say anything or even smile, but just kept standing there staring at him with dark, suspicious eyes. Damn, no need for a DNA test - anyone could see that Hotch and Jack were father and son the second they saw those eyes. “I haven’t seen you in awhile. You’re growing like a weed, man; I bet you’ll be even taller than your dad soon.”
The little boy’s only response was to wrap his arms around Reid’s leg. “Morgan brought us some chips for the indoor picnic,” Reid tried. Jack eyed the bags on the table and gave Reid an uncertain, almost forlorn look. “Hey, did you know the potato chip was invented in 1853 by a chef named George Crum in Saratoga Springs, New York? You see, when -”
“Reid!” laughed Morgan, shaking his head a little. “Why don’t you give me and the kid a break?”
He was stunned when Jack’s face screwed up in fury. “He was talking to me, not you!” the little boy shrieked. “I don’t like you!” His expression crumbled from angry to tearful. “You’re mean…”
All chatter ceased instantly. Morgan, completely at a loss for words, gaped at Jack while Reid placed a calming hand on the boy’s back. The other four guests were now huddled together and staring at them as if entranced, Garcia with her mouth hanging open, Prentiss wincing a little, JJ shaking her head understandingly, and Rossi with his eyebrows raised.
The sound of a throat clearing behind them jarred the four back to reality. “Excuse me,” said Hotch evenly, emerging from the kitchen. He thrust a spatula and a pair of tongs at Rossi, but didn’t break his stride until he got to Reid and Jack. “Can you guys watch the grill for a minute or two? I think we need a little quiet time.”
With that, he scooped Jack up in his arms and carried him to the bedroom. Reid followed and shut the door behind them.
The rest of the team let out a collective breath. “Oh, man,” moaned Morgan, feeling guilty and confused in equal parts. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“We know that, my sweet studmuffin,” cooed Garcia soothingly. Her worried eyes shifted to the closed bedroom door and back again. “I’m sure Hotch and Reid know it too.”
“Yeah,” spoke up Prentiss awkwardly, not as adept at dealing with all the tenseness in the air as Garcia was. “Don’t worry about it too much, Morgan. Jack’s been acting a bit off since I got here.”
JJ gave him her motherly smile. “He’s pretty shy, and having so many visitors here at once is bound to make him feel a little nervous and clingy,” she said knowingly. “I’m sure one of us would have set him off soon enough if you hadn’t.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” said Morgan. “I don’t want Hotch’s kid to hate me. Maybe I should go apologize.”
“Right now I think they need a little space,” announced Rossi in a smooth but firm voice. He held up the tongs like they were a pointer. “The best thing we can do is get everything set up for dinner. I’ll man the grill -”
“Of course,” smirked Prentiss, sharing a look that said typical male with Garcia and JJ.
“Prentiss, why don’t you get the stuff we need out of the fridge?” went on Rossi with a good-natured glint in his eyes. “Morgan, I’m sure you can figure out where Reid keeps his plates and utensils; and I know you two,” he gestured to Garcia and JJ, “can get everything all laid out so we’re ready to eat when they come out again.”
The table was set up buffet-style and Rossi was just taking the last batch of hamburgers and hotdogs off the electric grill when the bedroom door opened. Jack slunk out first, not sparing a look in their direction as he tugged Reid down the hall away in the opposite direction. Hotch raised an eyebrow at this, but decided to leave it be for now and joined the others in the dining room. “Everything’s ready?” he asked, eying the table. “I could get used to this.”
“It was no problem,” said Morgan. “Look, Hotch, I’m sorry I upset Jack like that.”
“It’s all right, Morgan,” Hotch assured him. “Jack’s not used to sharing so much of Spencer’s attention with anyone but me and he got a little jealous.” He paused for a moment, considering, and added: “Well, that and he was angry at you for interrupting - he loves to hear all the little tidbits Spencer knows.”
The four of them let out incredulous chuckles that helped relieve a lot of the tension. “Wow, man” marveled Morgan, sharing grins with his fellow teammates. “So you have to put up with Reid’s ramblings at work and at home?”
“Oh, Spencer doesn’t ramble at home. He says something and then Jack says something, and so on. Sometimes I join in,” Hotch informed them dryly. “I think it’s what’s referred to ‘having a conversation’.”
No one knew quite how to respond to that. Fortunately for them, Jack and Reid emerged once more before any of them had to figure it out. “We washed our hands,” Jack informed Aaron somewhat sulkily before very reluctantly telling Morgan: “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“Well, I’m sorry too. It was very rude of me to interrupt Re-Spencer like that,” he said, nodding slightly at Reid, who quirked his lips skeptically. “I hope he’ll be willing to finish his story once we all have our food.”
Dinner turned out to be a lot of fun for everyone there. Wedging himself between his father and Reid, Jack listened with rapt attention as Reid told the story of the origin of the potato chip. Hotch couldn’t help smirking at his guests’ flabbergasted expressions when Jack asked at the end, “You mean Thomas Jefferson liked French fries?” and Reid replied with a simple, “that he did” instead of going off on the long-winded tangent they’d evidently expected. JJ recovered first and decided to try to break through Jack’s defenses by telling him some highly edited G-rated versions of a few of their cases. This quickly regressed into everyone sharing some of their favorite hilarious, if somewhat exaggerated, tales of their teammates’ most embarrassing moments, but it had the desired effect: Jack inched out of his safe place with each story told.
He was sitting at Hotch and Reid’s feet by the time Morgan got around to telling one of his all-time favorites. “So there we were, stuck in that elevator, and Re-Spencer is freaking. You should have seen it, little man! He was all,” Morgan rubbed his eyes with his fists, shaking his shoulders to simulate sobbing, and forced his voice to go as high as it could go, “Hotch! Save me! I’ll give you kisses if you save me!”
“I said nothing of the sort,” protested Reid, appalled, over their giggles. He huffed at Morgan. “I seem to recall you doing some yelling of your own. How did that go again? Ohhhh, that’s right.” He plastered a petrified look on his face, flailed his arms like a woman in an old monster movie, and stage-shrieked: “Hotch! Hotch! Not today - the world is too scary for me today!”
“Oh, so that’s how you want to play it?” Morgan teased him as the others doubled over with laughter. “Maybe Jack here would like to hear all about the time you ended up in what’s-her-name’s swimming pool with all your clothes on?”
“Or maybe,” interjected Garcia, grabbing Morgan’s arm hard enough to convey the threat of unpleasant repercussions if he said anything that might upset Jack again, “we can just head to the dessert portion of the evening. There are plenty of Garcia’s famous cookies to go around. I’ll get you a glass of milk, mon petit capitan,” she added to Jack. “I’m sure the rest of you can fend for yourselves.”
There was a flurry of activity as the team helped themselves to cookies and a fresh pot of coffee before setting once more on the living room floor. “I would like to propose a toast,” declared Rossi. He raised his mug and waited patiently for the others followed suit. “To cohabitation and the many joys that come with it - hopefully several times a night.”
“Hear, hear,” seconded Garcia as they all clinked cups, smiling with feigned innocence as she took in the truly adorable sight of Reid and his red cheeks. Her expression dropped almost immediately, though, when she saw Hotch’s patented glare; and she hastily added a respectful: “Sir.”
“Thank you,” said Hotch sardonically. He rose to his feet, pulling Reid with him. “Well, since you all set everything out, it’s only fair we handle the clean-up. Jack, do you think you can keep our guests entertained? Maybe you’d like to play Hungry, Hungry Hippos with them?”
“I loved Hungry, Hungry Hippos!” exclaimed Jack. He looked back at the others, slightly counting, and frowned. “But only four people can play.”
“That’s okay,” spoke up JJ smoothly. “I don’t mind watching.”
“Me either,” offered Prentiss.
One meaningful look at JJ was enough to tell Prentiss that her friend’s reasons for sitting out were, like hers, not entirely unselfish. The gleam in Aaron’s eyes when he made his suggestion was all they needed to know that no good could come of the game. How right they were, too - five minutes later, they were marveling at how ferocious a game involving little plastic hippos could be when played by a prepubescent boy from the safe distance of the couch. Poor Morgan, Garcia, and Rossi, however, were getting firsthand experience in being at the receiving end of unbridled Hotchner ruthless determination.
“Fu-u-u-dge!” yelled Morgan as Jack executed a particularly cutthroat move, barely stopping a much stronger curse from leaving his mouth.
The giggles from the two couch spectators turned into full-out guffaws. Shaking her head and grinning with impish amusement, Prentiss leaned to the side so she could peer into the kitchen, curious to see if their hosts were enjoying watching a child hand their teammates’ asses to them as much as she was. All thoughts of that left her mind, however, when she caught sight of them.
They were kissing, and not in a quick and chaste way either - it was deep and passionate and full of intimacy, bringing to her mind that cliché of a drowning man and oxygen and all that. Prentiss couldn’t help feeling a little stunned. Intellectually she knew Hotch and Reid’s relationship had a physical side; but they were so cautious about touching, even in a platonic way, while they were at work and positively Victorian about PDAs when off the clock that she never would have believed they kissed like that if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. Unable to tear her eyes away, she watched the kiss end, saw the open look of love on Reid’s face as he pressed a gentle, almost shy kiss to Hotch’s cheek and whispered something into his ear. She watched Hotch smile and breathe before pulling him close, brushing his lips against his ear as he returned what Reid had obviously said in kind.
Prentiss smiled again, warmly this time, and turned away. Reid and Hotch had been good enough sports about the whole thing. After calling them out at work, invading their space, and having a good deal of fun at their expense, she and the others owed it to them not to make a spectacle out that private moment.
Besides, they might make her play that game with Jack if she did; and that kid with his little green plastic hippo was scary.
To be continued in PART 7