never grow up, criminal minds

030. surprise

The first few days back home, Spencer avoided the subject. He knew after living through it and being questioned by the cops, Clara needed a break before he tried to talk to her about it. They both needed a breather after everything.

Clara spent all her time attached to her father, only letting him out of her sight when it was absolutely necessary, like one of them going to the bathroom or taking a shower. She's been sleeping in Spencer's room, thankfully getting much more rest than she ever would while at Lily's.

After they finished dinner, Spencer did the dishes from earlier while Clara colored. After he finishes, he glances at Clara, wincing as he knows they have to talk about.

"Hey." He gently calls getting her to look up at him. The serious look instantly makes her nervous. "I gave us both a few days to recover from everything. But we still have to talk about it."

Clara sighs, frowning.

"I know." She mumbles. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"I'm not mad." Spencer promises. "Why didn't you, though?"

"He-- her boyfriend threatened to kill you. He had a gun." Clara says. "I-I know you have a gun and it's your job to get bad guys, but... but I just kept picturing him shooting you an-and it scared me. I didn't want to lose you." She says, the frown remaining on her face. "I'm sorry. I-I know I should've told you." She sniffles.

"No. No, no, honey." Spencer rounds the corner and pulls her into his chest. "It's okay. You're okay. I understand. I'm not mad, I promise." He tells her. "I know that... that it was really terrifying to be dealing with all of that, especially on your own. I know you were scared, that's okay. It's okay to be scared. You're not gonna lose me, okay?"

"What about custody?" Clara asks.

"Trust me, she is not getting custody of you." Spencer promises. "Custody is going to be all mine."

"What about foster care?" Clara asks.

"There's no need for that. I'm a stable parent, I can provide for you. I will get custody." Spencer assures. Clara nods.

"Can you... can you tell me about anything they did?" Spencer asks, pulling away from the hug. He rubs her back, providing comfort while they talk.

"They weren't that bad at first." Clara says. "Lily's always been rude. Aunt Penny said I explained passive aggressive. And Chad was just rude at first. All he did was sit around and drink if they weren't in her room doing stuff."

"Stuff?" Spencer asks.

"Mm-hmm." Clara nods. "There was a lot of banging and screaming. But she... she didn't sound like she was in pain. It... she was... happy screaming, I guess?" Clara frowns. Spencer grimaces. "Do you know what that is?"

"It--" He groans. "It's an adult thing you will learn about when you're much, much, much older." Spencer says. "I-- moving on." He orders.

"They started getting kinda mean. Yelling all the time. They kept calling me a brat and a little bitch."

"You're neither of those things." Spencer immediately shoots down.

"Are you sure?" Clara asks.

"Positive." Spencer nods. "I don't want you to believe that. You're an amazing girl. You're funny and smart and kind. You care about other people. Okay? As Garcia says, you're the sweetest person on earth."

"They'd grab my arm really tight to drag me somewhere, but it just hurt. It didn't leave any marks." Clara says. "She threw my coloring book out. They made me do a lot of cleaning. Like Cinderella. I never got a fairy godmother, though."