Dazed | Spencer Reid FanFiction

Chapter 20: Thanksgiving Dinner*

November flies by as fast as October did. It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and there's still no new information on the stalker. Spencer is off on a case with the team in Milwaukee. He thinks they're close to solving it and will hopefully be home some time tonight. I'm on the phone with my mom while I work on changing out the Halloween decorations for Christmas decorations. I have to do it while Spencer isn't here or he will seduce me into leaving Halloween decorations up longer. To be fair, if I wanted to leave the Christmas decorations up until Halloween, Spencer would let me.
I'm taking down the fake cobwebs in the corners as I hear my mom say in my AirPods "sweetie, we miss having you at thanksgiving. Why didn't you and Spencer come to Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year?" I answer "because I have to be on call on Thanksgiving and Spencer also celebrates Thanksgiving with the team every year. He should get to keep some of his own traditions, too. The team is part of my family now that Spencer and I are married." My mom sighs and responds "I know, sweetie. It's just hard losing the traditions we used to hold." I nod to myself and tell her "we will be going to visit Diana in Vegas like we did last Christmas. I'm going to talk to Spencer about moving her to DC because she deserves to be a more regular installment in our lives."
My mom responds "I think that sounds like a good idea, she has memory issues right?" I nod as I move on to taking down the different lights and answer "she has schizophrenia which can affect her memory, yes." My mom asks me "if we ever wanted to move to DC to be closer to you, would that be okay?" I stop in my tracks and stutter a bit before answering "um..I-I guess that would be fine, but mom you have your whole life in Tennessee?" My mom answers "yes, I know, one day we may want to be close to you to be close to our future grandkids, though. Right now everything is perfectly fine, but one day you'll want us closer and we will want to be closer, too." I nod "you're right, I just don't want you to feel obligated to do that, mom."
My mom laughs "your father and I will retire and move out to DC and settle down. I'm sure I can substitute teach part time so I won't be bored and your father could easily find a less involved job in law than running his own practice in the area. It's just something I wanted to start thinking about and discussing with you." I nod to myself and answer "well, I'll have to discuss it more with Spencer, but I don't see any reason he might object." I can almost hear the excitement in my mom's voice as she says happily "okay, sweetie. It was good catching up, but I think I need to get going." I smile to myself and we say our goodbyes as I finish up taking down the Halloween decorations.
Killian and Alison are coming over soon for drinks and just to catch up in general. Killian and I are excited for some time with baby Elliot and I think Alison is excited for a short reprieve. I think she's doing better with her postpartum depression. After we figured out she was struggling pretty deeply with it, we were all able to band together to help her and give her the resources she needed. She still has tough days and times where she calls me and either needs me to come hold the baby while she takes a bath or just needs somebody to tell her she's doing a good job. I'm happy to do anything I can to help her out.
I have Christmas music playing as I put together a charcuterie board for tonight. Ryder is sitting in his bed in the corner, head resting on his paws and tail wagging. I smile at him and his tail wags just a bit faster in response. I ask him "you want some cheese?" He bolts up and is sitting at my feet in no time at all. I give him a piece of plain mozzarella after making him do a few tricks. He stays by my feet for the next 15 minutes, hoping I'll drop something for him to quickly snatch. I've just finished the charcuterie board when I hear the garage door open. I turn and see Killian walking into the kitchen. She glares at me and asks me "why on earth did you leave the door unlocked when you have a crazy stalker on the loose?"
I roll my eyes "for one we haven't heard anything from the stalker in months, for two we still have a protective detail posted outside and wasting taxpayer money at this point, and for three I only unlocked it when you said you were on the way." Killian says "oh, well then I retract my original statement." I chuckle and ask her "would you like a glass of wine?" She nods vehemently "yes, please." I smile and nod, pouring Killian and myself each a glass of wine. She asks me "is Alison on the way?" I nod as I sip my wine "yes, she should be here any minute." Killian then asks me "is she doing better?" I nod "I think so, she still has some rough days, but that's to be expected."
        Killian nods "I can't wait for some baby therapy." I smile and nod in agreement "yes, I need a baby fix so bad." Killian responds "I used to be like that before I was around a toddler most days a week." I chuckle "when I used to nanny regularly I didn't have baby fever at all." Killian nods "I still want to see the little babies, but I'm good to have a break from a running and screaming toddler for a little bit." I ask her "if you could pick a version of Hotch without Jack, would you still pick the version of Hotch with Jack?" She nods unhesitatingly "absolutely. Sometimes Jack can be inconvenient, but seeing Aaron interact with him and just how soft and kind he can be with his son when he has to be so tough and dominating at work is one of the best things ever."
         I nod "I just never would've pegged you as somebody who would date a man with a kid." She shrugs "it wasn't the intended plan. We were just having fun at first, no strings, but then we both started to get attached and develop feelings. It was an easy transition." I nod "that's sweet." We see headlights pull up and both Killian and I jump up to help Alison with the baby. Alison smiles as soon as she sees us and welcomes the help. I carry the diaper bag while Killian carries the baby in the baby carrier and Alison just follows us in holding only her keys and her phone.
         We walk back into the kitchen and I put her diaper bag in one of the chairs at the island. I ask Alison "what are you drinking tonight? I have sweet tea, red and white wine, Diet Coke, coffee, and water." Alison smiles "I'll take a glass of whatever wine you two have opened already. I'm pumping and dumping tonight." I laugh and nod as I pour her a glass. She takes the bottles of breast milk from her bag that are already prepared for the night and puts them in the fridge for later. Killian is talking to the baby as she gently picks him up while he's cooing. Killian says to Alison "I can't believe he's four months already."
         Alison nods "I know, he's growing like a weed. He's getting to where he's almost sleeping through the night. He can make it about 5 or 6 hours most nights which is a godsend compared to when we first brought him home." I smile and tell her "that's great. How is Luke doing?" She smiles "he's back in the field again and I think he's really missed it. We are looking into nannies now so that I can go back to work full time, I miss it so much. The job keeps me sane. I love my baby, but I also want to continue working the job I love." I smile and squeeze her hand "I understand completely. We will be sure to have Garcia vet all of the candidates, too." Alison nods "we are way ahead of you on that one."
Alison turns to Killian who is enthralled with baby Elliot on the couch and asks "having fun, Killian?" Killian smiles and doesn't look away from Elliot as she says "I'm having the best time." Alison laughs "you should have one, they're great." Killian laughs "well, I want to wait for Jack to be in school full time before I even consider that one. He requires so much of both Aaron's and my attention that adding a new baby on top of that would be too much for both of us right now."
Alison turns to me and asks "what about you?" I'm caught off guard and I'm sure my face shows it. I want to tell them I've canceled my Black Friday appointment to get my next depo shot, but I don't. Instead, I say "oh, um...we've been discussing it. We go back and forth on how much longer we want to wait. JJ pointed out to me recently that the circumstances will never be perfect. I was just hoping we could get our finances more in order and some renovations started on our house first."
Alison nods "I understand. Elliot wasn't planned, but we had been trying for so long it seemed like such a blessing to have such a great surprise." I smile warmly at that and nod in agreement. Killian asks me "what does Spencer want?" I smile and answer "he wants what I want. He's mentioned before that he knows having babies will affect me more than it will affect him physically so he's happy to do what I want to do. He's even willing to get a vasectomy when it's all said and done." Alison nods "wow, I haven't even brought up a vasectomy to Luke but I don't think he would be too keen on the idea."
I laugh "I'm pretty sure we discussed it the night we kept Elliot for you guys. After we got him to sleep for a while we talked about a lot of things. Just had some time together." Alison nods "that night really helped us out. Thank you so much for doing that. I will be sure to return the favor when it's your turn." I smile and tell her "well, we can cross that bridge when we get there." I stand and walk to Killian "I think it's my turn for some Elliot cuddles." Killian pouts but hands me the baby in response. I happily take baby Elliot and curl him around to sit in my lap where he can see everything. Alison follows and sits on the couch with Killian and myself, all of us sipping wine.
        We talk about anything and everything, work, family, funny stories, conspiracy theories, you name it. We are all yawning and the charcuterie board is nothing but crumbs by the end of the night. Alison stands and takes her glass to the sink, saying "I think I'm going to call it a night." Killian stands and begins helping put baby Elliot in the car seat. Once it's all said and done, the girls have helped me clean up and we've got the baby settled in the car, we say goodbyes in the driveway and I wave at my detail as I shut the garage door, lock the doors, and set the alarm. I make sure the flowers are on the table in case Spencer comes home tonight. I hope he comes home tonight because I've missed him so after sleeping alone the last few nights.