SSA Scottley - A collection - S.R.

Outsmarted

Date night - Part 3

Spencer barely had time to breath after Cat had been taken away, back to prison, before Penelope hastily approached him with wide eyes and tears streaming down her face.

"What happened?" He asked, feeling his heart already dropping at the sight in front of him. "Alec. Is... Is Alec."

"Alec is fine." Penelope sniffled, tugging Spencer by the arm toward the elevator.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

"Lily is missing." Penelope said, her voice breaking at her every word.

"No..." Spencer mumbled, shaking his head as he tried not to cry. "No, no, no..."

Penelope bit her lip, keeping her hands on Spencer's arm, trying to offer him some comfort at the same time she tried to draw some comfort from him as well. As soon as the elevators door opened at the sixth floor, Spencer was out, rushing toward the bullpen and widening his eyes as soon as he noticed all of his team standing there, waiting for him - well, all of them except Lily. He lost his breath for a second, though, when he noticed his son sitting in JJ's arms.

"Alec." He called, as the boy squirmed a little while JJ placed him down before wobbling his way toward his dad, who was already crouched down to the floor to receive him. "Alec, oh, my boy... Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"No." Alec shook his head, wrapping his tiny arms around Spencer's neck as the man just squeezed his tiny body against him. "Are you okay, daddy?"

At that, Spencer smiled. There he was, his son... Shortly after having experienced something terrible, asking him if he was okay.

"Daddy's fine, buddy." Spencer assured, picking up Alec in his arms and placing him in his hips. "I'm very happy you're okay."

"I want to see mommy." Alec pouted a little and Spencer was sure he almost cried just then.

"I know, buddy. Me too." Spencer said, as the whole team watched them with soft eyes. "She's not here, though, okay? We're gonna find her, okay?"

Alec still had a pout on his lips, but as he looked at his dad, he nodded.

"Okay."

"Good boy." He smiled sadly, walking with Alec toward the small kitchenette they had in the bullpen to leave him on a table there while he talked to the rest of the team. After all, they would be discussing the disappearance of his mother and, even if he still wasn't able to comprehend everything, Alec was a smart kid and he would understand enough. Besides, both Spencer and Lily had agreed never to discuss cases around Alec ever. "Listen, buddy, daddy has to work a little alright? Can you stay here for a while? Here... You can draw a little."

Alec nodded then, happily doodling away on the piece of paper and the pen his dad had given him. Spencer checked one more time to see if he was okay in his chair and once he figured he was safe enough, he rushed back to his team.

"What happened?" Spencer asked, almost desperately, as Emily sighed.

"Listen, we're gonna start this from the beginning, okay?" She said. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Okay." Spencer nodded, even though he was already growing impatient.

"We had to think fast." Tara was the first to speak up. "But we pulled it off."

"Pulled what off?" Spencer asked.

"Outsmarting Cat." JJ said.

"How?"

"Basically, kid, we had to keep you in the dark." Rossi said. "And if you knew what we knew, we were afraid that Cat would know, too."

"When did all this start?" Spencer asked.