Help! Not Just Anybody

One

"How many more have we got left?" Spencer asked JJ with a loud sigh.

His friend look at the page in front of her and squinted. "Two. The next one should be along any second now. I'll go put another coffee on whilst we wait. You doing okay?"

Reid nodded, grasping Jen's hand when she squeezed his shoulder as she stood.

"I'm good. Just tired. And fed up of listening to people tell me how they'd raise my daughter for me. And then seeing the judgement on their face when they hear about her sister."

"What's funny is watching them struggle to hide their judgement. From two profilers at that. Nah, don't think so" JJ grinned at him, collecting their mugs.

"You're doing the right thing Spence. A live in Nanny will help you so much. And it's not like you can't afford it. You won't have to worry about finding last minute sitters or having to run Ella over to Georgia or Amanda in the middle of the night. And I know you've missed being out in the field."

"I know. It just.... feels like I'm asking someone to replace her mom. And that's not right."

Jennifer tilted her head to the side and gave Spencer another smile, a sadder one this time.

"You're not though and she knows that. But you miss your job and Hotch can't keep you out of the field forever, not unless you switch departments. And it's not often were out of state for more than two or three days at most recently. I can't remember the last long one.... "

"Seventeen months and four days ago. We were out for thirteen days. The Edison Strangler."

"See, good run. And you're offering a great deal here. Accommodation, a car, an amazing salary. Jessica was doing all of that for free when she was looking after Jack. And you can't rely on Georgia or Amanda forever. Amanda loves her grandchild to pieces but she's getting on a bit herself and expecting her to take care of a nine year old constantly is a bit much."

Reid shoved his hands through his hair. "I know, I know that you're right. And I'm sure once we find the right one I'll feel better about this."

"You will, I promise. Now, coffee."

JJ left the room leaving Spencer to his thoughts. He still wasn't sure how he felt about having a strange live with them and driving his car but both JJ and Georgia had convinced him that it was the right thing to do. Gee would still have Ella on the last weekend of the month but she couldn't keep picking her up from school for him, not now that she had gone back to work full time. It hadn't been so bad before when the girls were at the same school but when Gee had remarried and moved in with her new husband it meant a new school district for Ellie.

After Ella's mom had died and Spencer had finally managed to pull his head together enough to care for his daughter, he'd made the decision to move Ella and him to a two storey town house near to his old home with Georgia, changing her schools so that she was in the same one as Ellie. But now, he hadn't wanted to uproot her again, she'd already changed schools twice and although Ella and Ellie were obviously close, they hadn't actually been in the same class so had both made other friends. It didn't seem fair to make her change schools just that it would be easier on him because she could go home with Ellie and wait there until Spencer could collect her. So for the past six months Spencer had been relying on Ella's Grandma Amanda to travel across town to pick her up or Georgia and Tim, her new husband to watch her until he could get home from work. Occasionally even Will would pitch in and she'd spend time with Henry.

It was all affecting Spencer and Ella badly. When he had free time he wanted to be able to spend it with Ella, and when it was his weekends to have Ellie he wanted to be able to take the girls out. Instead, because he was rarely at home until late in the week because of work and then having to drive to various places to collect Ella from whichever caregiver was looking after her, chores were piling up so he was having to spend time doing them. He was also neglecting his job because he was having to think about making sure he was in a certain place at a certain time, or what things he needed to do that night before he could finally rest. Hotch had been fantastic about letting Spencer stay at HQ but that wasn't what Spencer had signed up for when he joined the FBI. He actually enjoyed travelling to the different states on cases but because of his situation, he'd had to pull back from that a lot. And so JJ had suggested he look into a nannying service. He had the room at home for a live in one and a car that he rarely drove. Having someone there all the time would make things easier for him and Ella, she could come home from school and start her homework straight away and be in her own home. And as part of the role would be basic housekeeping, he wouldn't have to worry about chores so could spend more time with Ella, and Ellie when he had her.