i'll keep you safe, criminal minds

016. family stuff

"I'm sorry. You-- you want her to live here?" Mackenzie asks.

"Yes. To help her better. The studies in Houston aren't working." Spencer says.

"And you're gonna be the one to magically get her better?" Mackenzie remarks.

"That's not what I'm saying. Look, she'll have a nurse who will take care of her, especially when I'm not here." Spencer says.

"Yeah, but between the schizophrenia and the dementia, shouldn't she be in a hospital or-- or home or whatever she was in?" Mackenzie questions. "Not living with her son who doesn't even live here, like, 200 days out of the year and his adoptive daughter who she barely knows."

"Mackenzie, this is happening, okay? It'll work out."

"I know I'm a kid so my opinion becomes irrelevant once it's stated, but I don't think you're really getting how hard this is gonna be."

"I am the adult!" Spencer yells making Mackenzie step away from him. "My mother is moving in with us and you're just going to have to deal with it!"

Mackenzie rolls her eyes and storms off to her room, slamming the door shut. Spencer flinches with the slam, wincing as he starts to calm down.

+++

Mackenzie runs to her room as well as she can, grabbing her phone off her nightstand. She calls Spencer, covering her other ear to tune out the shouts coming from Diana and her nurse.

"Hey." Spencer answers his phone.

"Your mom flooded the place." Mackenzie informs.

"What?" Spencer asks, confusion in his tone.

"Your mom's losing it and the apartment is paying the price and both women are yelling at each other." Mackenzie says.

"Okay, st-stay there, I'm on my way." Spencer says.

"I have school." Mackenzie says.

"Gimme me a minute." Spencer tells her, Mackenzie faintly able to hear him talk to somebody else. "Kenzie?" He asks after a few moments.

"I'm not staying." She states.

"Kenzie, she recognizes you. Maybe it'll help her calm down since she's not super familiar with the nurse."

"She's met me once."

"But she knows you from pictures."

"That doesn't mean she trusts me anymore than this nurse. Besides, it's your mom. Last I checked, you didn't want me stressing over all this, so I'm going to school."

"Macken--" She hangs up.

+++

Mackenzie gets home from school, shutting the door behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Mackenzie asks, finding Spencer at his desk.

"I had to stay back. The nurse quit." Spencer says.

"Isn't it her job to... handle... all that?" Mackenzie nods to the spare room.

"Well, she quit." Spencer says, a bit of venom in his voice. Mackenzie assumes it's directed more at the nurse than her.

"Can I quit?" She asks. Spencer opens his mouth to reply to her remark, but is prevented from doing so.

"Who is she?" They both turn to Diana, both rage and fear in her eyes.

"Mom, that-- she's Mackenzie. You know Mackenzie. She-- I adopted her." Spencer says, slowly getting up and moving away from the desk.

"No. No, she's a spy! A spy!" Diana yells, storming over.