𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 |~𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍~|

Chapter Forty-One

-yayyy you guys we're 40 chapters in and they're finally together.

dont get too used to it tho-  :/

Spencer and I walked into a small diner, a little overdressed. 

I smiled at him and blushed as he looked at me. "You look great." 

"You do, too," I said. 

This was our third attempt of a first date. Somehow, our dates kept on getting interrupted by calls from work. The odds were really very slim of this date getting called off another time. 

However, just as we were ordering our meals, both of our cell phones went off. We knew what that meant. 

We had another case. 

I sighed and shrugged at Spencer as we stood up, apologizing to the waitress. 

Then, we were back off to the BAU. 

~- A couple days later -~

We were on our way home from the case. 

Spencer had grown really close to his cousin, Maeve, despite her stalker getting more and more dangerous. 

As I smiled and laughed at a joke Morgan made, my phone lit up. It was my dad.

I stood up and headed to the back of the plane, knowing something was wrong. 

"Hey, Laney." 

"Hi, Dad," I said. 

He sighed, a sure sign that bad news was coming. "I just got some results from the doctors; they did some genetic testing." 

I pressed my fingers to my lips. "What is it?" 

"I have Huntington's Disease." 

I didn't process the words at first. No, my dad couldn't have Huntington's Disease. "What?" I asked, wanting it to not be true. 

"I'm so sorry, Laney," he said. 

I frowned. Sorry? Why was he sorry for me? 

Then it hit me. My father had HD. I had a 50% chance of having HD, and if I had it, my children would have a 50% chance of having it. 

"Oh my God," I muttered. "We're on the jet right now, but I can book tickets to fly up there as soon as we land." 

"No, it's ok, I'll fly to you." 

I frowned. "Okay," I said, still not fully processing what happened. 

I could tell he was holding something back. "They told me its already pretty far along. I have maybe 9 years left."

"Did you realize any symptoms?" I asked him. 

"No, I mean, I guess I just thought I was getting old." He paused for a second. "I've gotta go, but I promise I'll see you soon." 

"Okay." I gulped and took a deep breath before saying, "I love you." 

"I love you too, Angel." 

He hung up. 

I pinched the bridge of my nose and went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face before going back out to the main part of the plane, sitting by JJ and Reid. 

"Everything ok?" asked JJ.

I shook my head. "My dad. He has Huntington's Disease." 

Reid frowned. "Laney, I'm so sorry." 

I nodded and studied my hands. 

For the rest of the plane ride, I was silent, lost in thought. What was I supposed to do? 

I needed to get genetic testing done to see if I had it. If I did, there wasn't anything I could do about it. There wasn't a cure for HD. 

However, I knew that there were some operations you could do to lower the chances of your children getting it. I sighed when I remembered that; I could probably still have kids. 

I got home late that night, after grabbing some coffee. I knew that I wasn't going to sleep anyway, and spent the night reading every article there was about Huntington's Disease. 

Scientists didn't know a lot about it. The nerve cells in the brain break down over time, until you're just a vegetable. 

Eventually, my dad would need full time living assistance. I could put him in a nursing home, but I knew that he would hate it there. He never liked going to any hospital-like facilities. 

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. 

I had no idea how my dad was functioning right now. He was probably in one of the first two stages; he had still been running his restaurant up until now. 

My guess was that he was in stage two- only requiring slight assistance in daily activities. He would probably be alright if he just stayed in my house with me. 

Then, my cell phone rang. It was Spencer. "Hi, Spence," I said. 

"Hey, Laney. You ok?" 

I sighed. "I don't know. Just overwhelmed." 

"Do you want me to come over?" 

I realized that I wanted this more than anything. "Yeah, please do." 

"Ok. See you soon." 

"Yeah," I said. 

I sighed and tidied up my house a little, not really caring that it was a mess; Spencer had seen my house in all sorts of conditions. 

He pulled into my driveway. "Hi," he said. 

I let him in. "Hi." 

"Do you want to talk about it or be distracted from it?" he asked. 

"Could you distract me?" 

"Of course," he said, grabbing a blanket from my couch and going into the backyard. 

I smiled a little. "What're you doing?" 

"You know, its a pretty clear night; you can see the stars really well," he said, grabbing my ladder and propping it against the roof. 

"Okay," I said, climbing up the ladder and sitting on top of my house. Spencer got up and laid out the blanket. 

I sighed and laid down next to him, looking up at the sky. 

"Remember the last time we did this?" 

Spencer smiled. "Yeah." 

I moved a little closer to him and put my head on his shoulder. He took that as an invitation to wrap his arm around me. 

Even though it felt like my whole world was falling apart, right there, with Spencer, I somehow knew that everything would be okay in the end.