never grow up, criminal minds

048. mhm dinner

"Clara, how many times have I told you to pick up your stuff?" Spencer groans, grabbing the sweater off the floor. "I swear..." He mutters.

"You know, you were a lot more fun when you were barely home." Clara quips.

"We're both gonna be a lot less fun when I ground you." Spencer warns, tossing the sweater to her, the girl barely catching it. Clara rolls her eyes, but picks her stuff up, going to her room. "Thank you!"

+++

"Why can't we ever get a real tree?" Clara asks as her and her dad carry the box holding a fake Christmas tree in it.

"You're allergic to pine, remember?" Spencer remarks.

"Obviously not." Clara says.

"Well, remember in case you're ever offered pine nuts or want to get a real tree. If we got a real tree, you'd spend the whole month sneezing and doped up on meds." Spencer says.

"Okay, my arms are giving out." Clara says. "Drop it, drop it, drop it."

"Okay, okay." Spencer says, the two putting the box down. "We still have to get the decorations out." He reminds and Clara whines.

+++

Clara quietly hums along to the Christmas music while she decorates the tree. Spencer walks in, the now freshly washed stockings and tree skirt in his arms.

"I really don't think you needed to wash them. They're just stuffed in a box 11 months out of the year." Clara says.

"Yeah, 11 months of dust and possible bugs getting into them." Spencer scoffs.

"They're in a box. Do bugs know how to open the box? Can the dust do it?" Clara asks.

"You're not funny." Spencer tells her.

"I'm hilarious." She argues, getting back to decorating the tree. Spencer rolls his eyes despite his small smile.

+++

It's Christmas Eve and the two had gone to Rossi's for a team/family dinner. They got home around 9 and Clara agreed to watch a movie.

Spencer made popcorn and got out the cookies Clara made yesterday. They decided on The Santa Clause, buried under fuzzy blankets and both in Christmas themed pajamas.

"I guess teenagers don't go to sleep for Santa, huh?" Spencer asks.

"Nope. We can stay up all night." Clara says.

"Oh, watching me put gifts under the three. Yeah, that's magical." Spencer remarks making Clara laugh.

"You know what would really be magical?" Clara asks and Spencer hums in question. "You being Santa Claus. Letting me grow up in the North Pole."

"I'm not going up to the roof to wait to find him and shoving him off." Spencer laughs.

"I'll shove him." Clara says.

"Then you're Santa Claus." Spencer says.

"Oh. Right." She mumbles. "That's too much responsibility." Spencer quietly laughs.

~ ~ ~

They ended up just having a Santa Clause marathon and are on the third movie by time Clara falls asleep.

Once he had noticed her asleep, Spencer got up and put all the gifts for her under the tree before sitting back on the couch to finish the movie.

He watches while Scott Calvin gets transported to the alternate world where he isn't Santa Claus, frowning at the scene of him never being home for his family.