Scarlet Rose

14

I walked down the stairs after putting the twins to sleep, heading into the kitchen and washing the babies' dishes.

The door opened and Spencer walked in, closing the door behind him and setting his bag and keys down on the table next to the door.

"Did you just get back from work?" I asked, drying my hands on a towel.

"Rossi's, actually. He had the team over for dinner at his place."

"Oh." I said simply.

He looked at me closely. "What's wrong? You said 'oh' in that tone that reminds me scarily of Hotch when he's about to blow a fuse."

"No, nothing. It's just that if you wanted to stay over at Rossi's with the team, you could have called me to let you know you were coming home late."

"Vanessa, it's only......" he looked down at his watch and back up at me. "Eleven."

"Did you have a good time at Rossi's?" I asked.

"Vanessa, please don't be like that." Spencer said as he walked over to me, placing his hand over mine. "I just lost track of the time. You know how hard the job can be."

"I know, Spence. And I get it that this job is hard, but I at least deserve a phone call from you to make sure you're alright." I replied, turning around to look at him fully. "I don't want to have to take care of these kids alone."

"You won't have to." he said.

"Well how will I know that I won't unless if you call me?" I asked, my voice raising.

Spencer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Vanessa, can we please not do this now? The kids are upstairs."

"They're asleep." I said, crossing my arms and sighing. "It took me an hour to get Morgan and Emily to finally sleep, because they wanted their father."

"I'm sorry, Vanessa, okay? I'll try my best to be there for the three of you, but work calls me in in the most inconvenient times." he said.

"Don't try your best, Spencer. Our kids aren't just some thing you can try—"

"I know that!"

"Do you? Then why haven't you been here straight after you are done at work? It's like me and the kids are your second priority right now."

"You're not, Vanessa. Come on, sweetheart, please don't be like this." he said.

Wailing could be heard upstairs and I sighed. "We'll talk about this later." I said, pushing past Spencer and walking up the stairs.

Emily laid in her crib, crying loudly as Morgan was fast asleep next to her.

I picked her up and her wails died down into quietness, her head falling on my shoulder and her soft breathing followed soon after, telling me she was asleep; I stayed like that a few minutes longer before gently settling her back in the crib, drawing the quilt over the two babies and kissing their foreheads.

Closing their door and walking downstairs, I saw Spencer grabbing his stuff and heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked once I went down the stairs.

He turned around to face me, his hand on the doorknob. "I'm going to stay at Morgan's if we're just going to fight the rest of the night."

"Spencer—"

"I don't want to leave, but I don't want to fight with the kids upstairs."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine. Go then."