A year after leaving the BAU, Spencer Reid is restless and struggling to adjust to civilian life. Not finding any fulfillment or respite in it, he decides to take a position with Homeland. On assignment he meets you, a former Master Gunnery Sergeant...
Summary: Spencer finally learns who Teddy and Alijah are to you
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Two months went by in a flash.
Spencer's birthday had come and gone, and you and the unit had surprised him with a pile of mashed potatoes in the shape of a slice of cake with an emergency candle stuck in the middle of it.
"'S not ideal," You'd chuckled as you lit it for an embarrassed and amused Spencer. "But, we want you to feel appreciated, Doc."
On Halloween most of the base had filtered to one section for a movie night. Normally movie nights were held in a tent and the audience was rotated over a weekend, but for big holidays they set up a big wall with sheets stapled to it and people sat on blankets in the dirt with their units.
You fell asleep about fifteen minutes into Hocus Pocus, as always sleeping in places that weren't your bed. You'd slumped into his shoulder with your feet on Peanut's lap, snoring loud enough to wake the devil. Spencer had spent the entire time committing the sensation of it to memory, wanting to live in the moment.
Mercer sat with them all. He'd been different since Hitchens' death, quiet and more accommodating to your requests that he'd been previously. He was even trying to be Spencer's friend, and Spencer did his best to return it.
After thirty minutes of your raucous snoring, Mercer tugged on one of your braids to wake you up. You gave him a death glare, but he just smiled like a cat. You and Spencer spent the rest of the night sitting far away from the projector, chatting idly and tossing pebbles into an old tin can as you waited for the unit to finish the movie.
On Thanksgiving he had a call with the BAU in your office, and he ate a tray of slimy turkey and watery potatoes and laughed with them. Garcia cried when he had to hang up, but Spencer managed to wait until the video was over to put his head in his hands and sob.
He'd been taking steadying breaths to calm himself down when the creaking of the linoleum made him look up. You pretended not to notice his tear stained face and plopped down across from him in a chair, handing him a handmade turkey out of construction paper.
It made him laugh, so you pulled out some supplies and he spent a few hours with you drawing bad turkeys and talking about the BAU. You were attentive, kind, letting him get out how much he missed his family without making him actually say how much he missed them. Spencer just told you about old cases, nights at Rossi's or at the bar, JJ's wedding and all the other family nights.
You never told him about your family. You said you didn't have any.
Spencer shared some of the holiday traditions with Alijah, including making the hand turkeys, because he thought she'd like it. She did, and she was excited for Christmas... because he told her he'd gotten her a present.
