Escaping to the Genius

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Stiffly Celeste leaned against Prentiss' support and walked down the hall to Spencer's room. Nothing would keep her from seeing him, making sure he was alive.

"Careful," Prentiss warned.

"Thanks, Emily." With a sigh of relief Celeste sank into the chair in his room. Morgan was still in there, and he looked surprised to see her.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"Waiting for my dad to wake up. What else?"

Prentiss looked at Celeste, then to Morgan. "Hey, Morgan, can you give me a hand with something?"

He nodded, and they left the room, the door clicking shut behind them. Celeste smiled, thankful that they'd given her a moment alone.

She'd been up for five hours, and people had been around constantly. Not that she really minded, considering that they were FBI and she was a little unstable. But it was nice to be alone right then.

The heart monitor was beeping steadily, which was a good sign. Celeste scooted forward and looked for any sign of distress on his face whatsoever. What she saw was fluttering eyelids and a twitching mouth.

And at that moment, somehow, calling him Spencer seemed like a very remote thing to do. Like she wasn't family. "Dad?" she said, her voice little more than a coarse whisper.

He opened his eyes, cringing at the light. But he didn't have to worry for long, because Celeste's head popped over and covered it. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, forgetting her pain and broken rib, throwing herself over him.

"Sweetheart," he sighed. He carefully took her in his hands. "What happened? The last thing I remember is Brent breaking in. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, laughing with tears in her eyes. "I'm perfect. You're awake." Quietly, to herself, she kept muttering that. "You're awake."

After a minute of silence, she said, "I called Morgan, before he got to me. Uh, I-I shot the man he brought with him. He shot you. I thought you were dead, Daddy."

She sounded so young, so vulnerable, but Spencer knew better. "You were very brave, Celeste."

She pulled back and winced, putting her hand to her stomach. "And, uh, he broke my rib, punching me."

Spencer moved to sit up, then swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Let me see."

She pulled up the hem of her shirt, exposing a bandage and several large bruises. If not for the machines he was plugged into, Spencer would've gotten up and left the room in determination to find Brent.

"Where is he?"

"The morgue," she answered easily. Spencer froze. "When Morgan got there, he tried to grab me, but Morgan shot him. He bled out before the ambulance arrived." She paused. "I'm sorry. He deserved jail, not dying." However badly he had treated her, he was still Spencer's brother, someone Spencer had trusted so inexplicably that he left her with him.

Spencer just nodded. "Sweetheart, can you find Hotch for me? I need to talk to him, but I can't leave."

"Sure thing, Dad." She smiled and walked out stiffly, holding one hand against her ribs.

He sighed and laid back down. Brent was dead. He couldn't hurt Celeste anymore; she didn't have a thing in the world to fear.

He couldn't think of a better way for Brent to go down.

~

Two weeks passed, and Spencer and Celeste slowly recovered together. No one went into the office, since Strauss had determined that what had happened with Brent and Spencer's near-death was distressing to the whole team.

But today was special. It was the one day out of the year that Celeste had always been left alone.

Her birthday.

In their new apartment Spencer let her sleep in as late as she wanted, having invited everyone over the night before after she fell asleep to set things up. They were all sleeping wherever they could, except Spencer who had gotten up at seven.

When Celeste's shower turned on, he woke them all up, and they took the few minutes they had to get the sleep out of their eyes and wake up a bit. Since they still weren't very close, Rossi took up the task of making breakfast-not to bribe her, but to show that he cared.

Garcia was squealing and running around, making sure everything was perfect. Morgan had to physically take hold of her. "Calm down, baby girl. It's all just fine. You're going to give it away." That calmed her down.

Two minutes later Celeste came out, clothed and ready for the day. She wore a knee-length skirt, short-sleeved top, and about seven bangles on each wrist. Spencer smiled. The bangles covered scars that reminded him of how many mistakes he had made, but the smile on her face reminded him that mistakes could be forgiven.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone cheered. JJ even held out the ugly pink birthday cake hat for her. Surprisingly, she just laughed and put it on.

Spencer smiled broadly when she hugged him. "Thanks, Dad!"

He would do whatever he could to make sure that smile remained there. If not present physically, then mentally. Forever.

~

Celeste did go on to become a BAU agent, and although she wasn't on Spencer's team, she was in the same office, so it was like she was. Because of her past she was on a team that mostly dealt with serial rapists, not killers. But it wasn't any less important to Celeste.

In her team she carved out another family. Timothy, their technical analyst; Quinn, the leader; Yumi, an American of Chinese decent; Helen, their communications liaison; and last but not least, their muscle-man, Gregory. It was only weeks before Celeste considered them as much family as she did Spencer's team.

Through the Reid's, the BAU came together more often. Celeste wanted to spend time with both teams, and Spencer with Celeste, so they had office parties, barbeque's, and most importantly, they helped each other out. Garcia would stand in for Timothy when he was sick, and Timothy for Garcia. More than once Gregory got hurt on a case, and Morgan would stand in (if they didn't have a case of their own). Once, Spencer even helped out her team when she fell sick with the flu.

Celeste was happy. She had family. She never felt alone, or unneeded, or useless. Her team trusted her whole-heartedly, even though she was several years younger than them. It was a nice feeling.

She did still have bad days, or nights. Spencer woke up even now and again hearing her cry. She sometimes just stared at her scars, wishing they would go away. On those days Spencer would take her hands in his, and kiss her scars. "You didn't do this to yourself," he would remind her. "These are true battle scars."

Battle scars. They were supposed to be mental. Mentally she was sound though, completely normal (apart from her IQ and subsequent abilities).

After a few months Timothy revealed something to the rest of the team. He was actually only twenty-one. He shouldn't have been eligible to be in the FBI at all, except he was exceptionally amazing at hacking and finding information, so they let him in.

With that piece of knowledge shared, a beautiful relationship began to blossom between Timothy and Celeste, and they developed a relationship not unlike Garcia and Morgan's, except they did keep it pg, and they had feelings for each other.

Celeste would be twenty-four before he proposed, with Spencer's willing blessing. She would be twenty-six before she had to go on maternity leave, and twenty-seven before Spencer became a grandfather and Quinn a godfather to a little boy (Hotch and Will both petitioned for it, but both Timothy and Celeste felt like Quinn was the right choice). This little boy played extensively with older boys Jack and Henry, who were always gentle with him. They showed him cars, motorcycles, Legos, and how to terrify his mom. And he would stay in Timothy's office while his mother was away, so that Celeste could be sure he was safe.

But that's another story entirely. Maybe someday, that boy's story will be written here. And maybe, just maybe, we might see Timothy and Celeste fall in love, for love is a beautiful thing.