𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆. Spencer pulled himself out of bed after a loud phone ring interrupted a particularly steamy make out session between the two. Spencer groaned as he pulled away, glancing at his cellphone for a moment, "It's Hotch, I need to get this." Celia nodded, sitting upright just in time to watch him leave the room, already on the phone. She knew what it was about before Spencer even came back to the room.
He was being called away on a case.
Her suspicions were confirmed less than five minutes later when Spencer re-entered her bedroom with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry," he told her, scanning her face for any signs of anger. "He wouldn't have called if it was important."
"I know," she admitted, feeling a ping of sadness. She had known that having a long distance boyfriend with a busy schedule was going to be hard, but it didn't make it any easier to feel their time together slipping like sand through her fingertips. Celia could try to hold onto it no matter what, but for the two of them, there would always be something to pull the other away. But she couldn't be mad at him for that, because she knew that their lives were hectic, and she had signed on board for that when Spencer became her boyfriend. That didn't mean she couldn't be disappointed about their circumstances, though. "I'll come out and see you in a couple weeks, okay?"
"I'm so sorry," he told her again. "There's a case, and they need me, and I wouldn't leave unless I had to-
"Spencer, I get it," she cut him off, trying to convey her expressions to him. He paused, cocking his head to the side like he didn't quite understand why she wasn't throwing things and shouting at him. "Go solve your case. I'll be fine, I promise."
"I know you'll be fine," he replied cooly, fiddling with his fingers nervously. "I just don't want to leave you."
"It's only temporary," Celia reminded him. She hoped that her words would do something to try and reassure him. He visibly relaxed for a moment and nodded, like he was trying to reassure himself now. "Besides, I'm thinking of going home for a few days."
"To Connecticut?" Spencer asked, and Celia nodded. She had a few things she wanted to do out there, one of which was to see the construction on the new house. She hadn't been over there to visit since the original Clairmont estate had burnt down, but Sebastian had taken it upon himself to oversee all of the new construction to rebuild the house. She'd been meaning to go out there for some time, but she wasn't ready to go back and face it all. She felt ready now, though.
"I have unfinished business there," Celia vaguely replied. "I think it would be good for me." She hadn't been out to see her family's graves in the family plot since the funerals, and it felt like now was as good a time as ever for Celia to finally get closure. "And your brother's gonna be there?" She nodded, and Spencer didn't say anything for a moment. "If you think you should go, then go." Celia didn't say anything for a minute, and the two of them just stared at each other, mutual understanding between the two of them.
"You have to go now?" She asked, hoping he'd tell her he could stay for a few more hours, but the look on his face told her that wasn't the case. He nodded, and Celia crawled out of bed and approached him, getting on her tippy toes and wrapping her good arm around his neck. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and lowered herself back onto her feet. "I'll go make some coffee so you can have a cup before you leave." She left her bedroom and Spencer took the opportunity to grab his things from around her apartment while Celia put the pot of coffee on. She tried and failed to perch herself onto the counter, but it proved difficult without the use of both of her arms.
Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms gently gripping her waist from behind, lifting her up so she could sit on the edge of the countertop. "You looked like you needed some help," he told her with a smirk. She crossed her arms defiantly and glanced at the coffee pot, "Coffee's ready if you want a cup."
"I don't want coffee right now," he admitted, glancing down at her lips.
"What do you want then, Dr. Reid?" She teasingly asked him, raising her eyebrows suggestively. He grinned as he lowered his mouth to hers, slotting his lips over hers. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer to her, sliding her hand under his shirt to lightly run her fingernails down his back. Spencer pulled away with a grimace, "Your hand is freezing," he told her. "Warm me up, then," she murmured, leaning up to kiss him again.
Celia loved how natural things felt between the two of them, like Spencer was the piece of the puzzle she'd been missing the whole time. Just as things finally started to become heated between the two of them, a loud record scratch came in the form of Spencer's phone ringing. "Son of a bitch," he cursed, pulling away as he answered his phone. "Hello?" He paused, adjusting the collar of his shirt. "Yeah, I'm coming. No, not like that." he rolled his eyes, looking up to grin at Celia, still perched on the counter. "I was not 'getting any', Morgan. Jesus." He used his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. "I'll be there in twenty minutes. I'm leaving now." His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed. "Twenty minutes is not a sufficient amount of time- Actually, you know what? I'm not having this conversation with you. Twenty minutes."
Celia hopped off the counter as he aggressively hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket. She grabbed his bag from the stool and held it out for him to take. "You better get going," she told him. He nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist to place a fleeting kiss on her mouth. "I'll call you tonight when I get back to the hotel. It might be late."
"I'll wait up," she assured him.
"If it's too late, I'll call in the morning."
"I don't mind, seriously." He nodded, his hand wrapping around the doorknob as he leaned in to kiss her again, struggling to pull away after a moment. "You're dangerous," he warned, glancing at her mouth again before forcing himself to leave. "Lock your door when I leave."
"Got it," she nodded, ushering him out of her apartment. She shut the door behind him, and glanced through the peephole, noticing him lingering outside of her apartment door. She turned the lock, feeling comfortable once she heard the familiar click. As soon he heard the sound, Spencer turned and walked away.
✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«
"Do you like it?" Seb asked, giving her the grand tour of the house. It wasn't quite finished yet, but the general structure was there. There was only a few more finishing touches to make, including the drywall and the flooring, but the house layout was generally the same, with a few more modern touches.
"It's nice," she admitted, letting her brother lead her up the stairs.
"I was thinking we could put the library in here," Sebastian suggested, opening up a door into a room with large windows, and bookshelves already being built into the wall. "I think the bay window makes it perfect. Do you like it?"
"It's perfect," she praised. Nothing would quite match the old one, with years of memories and little secrets that only belonged to her. Now, she had to start completely from scratch, but she hoped that the new library would be as sacred to her own children as it once was to her. She didn't see herself making much use of it anymore. Not when she couldn't find her initials carved into the ladder, or the dings in the wall from where she'd hit the chair too many times. It wasn't the same, no matter how hard Sebastian was trying. "I like what you've done with the place."
"It's yours just as much as it is mine," he told her, taking note of every reaction to the house. "If you don't like something, we can change it. It's not too late." She shook her head. Sebastian had done a better job than she ever could. She told him as much. "I don't really care, if I'm being honest," she admitted. "It's not the same as it was before. It doesn't feel like home anymore."
"I know," he answered, glancing around. "But I also can't bear to part with it." The property had been in their family for so long, and neither of them had it in them to sell it. "I think that we'll have to have a future discussion about selling the property, if no one's going to be living here."
"Is it even worth it to sell it after paying so much to rebuild the house?"
Sebastian nodded, "I've crunched the numbers. Since the house is going to be basically brand new, I'm anticipating that we'd get over asking price. Even factoring in the price of the remodelling, we'd still be making a pretty large profit, even after it's split between the two of us." When Celia asked how much money they were talking, Sebastian uttered the rough estimate, and it was enough to have Celia's eyes widening. She was already pretty well off, and would be for the rest of her life, so whatever money she got from selling the house would most likely be invested or donated to charity.
"What about mom and dad's house?" Celia asked. Although the Clairmont grandchildren spent most of their time at their grandfather's estate, they did technically grow up in their parents house. Celia hadn't been there since before her parents died, and once they were gone, she couldn't find it in herself to go back.
"What do you want to do?" He cautiously asked her. Celia shook her head, "I don't want to sell," she declared. Her grandfather's house may have burned down, but her parent's house was about the last physical thing from her childhood that she could hold on to. Sebastian's shoulders sagged, like he was relieved by her answer. "Good. Me neither," he told her. "I was thinking we could split the costs and hire someone to clean the place monthly." Celia nodded, because it wasn't ideal for her or her brother to be going in there to clean all the dust and maintain it. It wouldn't be a major expense to keep it either, especially since there'd be rarely any bills to pay if the house was left vacant.
"I don't want to talk business with you," her brother told her, and Sebastian's tone changed almost instantly. He crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Celia knowingly. "I want to know how you're doing. You've been ignoring my calls."
"Have not," Celia was quick to defend, scoffing. She had been ignoring her brothers calls, but not for the reasons that he thought. Celia wasn't mad at him, in fact she was the furthest from mad she could be. However, she didn't appreciate her brothers incessant phone calls, and the hundreds of messages he'd leave. She knew he was worried, but she couldn't deal with his helicopter parenting. It felt like he was suffocating her, and it wasn't helping the matter at hand.
"You can't lie to me, Cecilia." She winced at the use of her full name, and Seb narrowed his eyes. Celia threw her arms up in defence, "Fine. I may or may not have been screening your calls."
"Why?" He asked her, the pain evident on his face. He looked...sad. Sebastian, her brother, the fixer was trying so hard to fix everything, but Celia couldn't be fixed. Not in the way he was hoping. "You're kind of... a lot sometimes, Seb," Celia admitted. She knew that this was going to hurt her brother, because all he ever wanted was to make sure that she was okay. But she couldn't keep doing this with him, she needed to be treated like an adult and not a fragile little girl. She needed that from him. Her brother needed to stop trying to protect her from all the bad things out there, and just accept that Celia is strong enough to fight her own battles.
"I know you have good intentions, but you can be a little overbearing sometimes." He listened intently, and dropped his head low in shame. "I love you so much, Seb. But I'm not that little girl who needed you to hold her hand when crossing the street. That's not me anymore. She's been gone for a long time now. I need you to stop treating me like a kid."
"You're my baby sister," he defended. "I am always going to do whatever I can to protect you. I won't apologize for trying to protect what family I have left."
"I'm not asking you to stop caring, Seb," she told him, brushing her hand over his shoulder. "I just need you to relax. You can't protect me from everything, and the last thing I need is you constantly trying to keep me in a bubble. Yes, I've gone through shit, but I feel like I'm suffocating with you breathing down my neck constantly."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice cracking slightly. Celia threw her arms around her brother and held him. Sebastian probably needed the hug more than she did. For him to be hugging her back as tightly as he was, he must have really needed it. He was never openly affectionate with anyone, but rather showed his love through other things. One day, Celia had mentioned that her grocery store was out of the cereal that she liked, and the next day a large box of it was sent to her, from none other than her older brother. "I never meant to add onto your stress. I just wanted to help you."
"I know," she whispered back, fighting the tears threatening to spill over. "And I love you for that."
"You've been seeing your therapist?" Celia nodded, finally releasing him. He sighed, "That's good. I'm proud of you."
"While I'm here, I want to go to the cemetery," Celia blurred out, twisting a ring around her finger nervously. "Could you drive me there?" She needed to get this out of her system, to finally say all the things she wanted to say and move on.
"Of course," he told her. "I'll go grab my keys. Go wait by the car." She nodded, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Celia made her way down to the garage, and Sebastian reappeared a moment later. They made a pit stop at the florist, where Celia purchased three bouquets of flowers to bring to the headstones. When she stepped out of the flower shop, she came to a complete stop when she saw two familiar faces walking down the sidewalk.
"You!" She snarled when she saw her, placing her bag of groceries in the hands of her son before she marched over to Celia. "You've got some nerve showing up here."
"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Rutherford-"
"You should be!" She yelled, so loud that people i the street had gathered to watch the spectacle. "You're the reason he's dead, you little tramp! I always told my son that you'd be the death of him, but he never listened, and look at where that got him. Such a bright future, gone because of you, you little trollop." She reached her hand out and slapped Celia directly across the face, the sharp sting causing Celia to wince. She reached up and ran her fingers over the spot on her cheek, now warm to the touch.
"Hey," her brother warned as he stepped out of the car. "You keep your hands off of her."
"Or what?" Williams brother taunted, raising his eyebrows.
"You keep your mother away from my sister," he snarled, taking a step forward. Seb had a good two inches over him, and everything about his stance was intimidating.
"If your whore sister went back to the hole she crawled out of, then we wouldn't have a problem."
"What the fuck did you just say?" Sebastian calmly asked, and Celia winced, knowing that Mount Sebastian was about to erupt. He rolled up his shirt sleeves, and dared Will's brother to repeat himself.
"I said that your sister's a whore-" Sebastian's fist flew out before he could even finish the sentence, and he went falling like a sack of bricks. Seb hit him across the face once more, while the man under him couldn't get in so much as a scratch or a kick. It wasn't until Celia grabbed her brother and physically pulled him off, that he had finally calmed down.
"Seb, I can't have you getting arrested today. He's not worth it," she assured him, watching as he wiped the corner of his mouth, where he'd managed to get hit. His opponent was still laying on the concrete, while his mommy wailed, attending to his wounds. His face was already turning blue and purple, and Seb didn't seem to care at all. "He's scum, just like his brother."
"What did you just say?" Mrs. Rutherford asked with a gasp, staring up at Celia with nothing but blind hatred. "I said that your son was a scumbag," she repeated. "And I hope he's rotting in hell."
Celia stepped over her son, still crying in pain on the ground, and made her way back to their car. Neither her nor her brother said anything about what just happened, and he drove her to the cemetery like it had never happened at all. When he parked the car, Seb began to unbuckle his seatbelt, but she stopped him. "Do you mind staying in the car? I just think this is something I need to do alone." He nodded, killing the engine and slumping in his seat.
"Take as much time as you need." Celia braced herself as she got out of the car, and made her way down the path to where all of the other Clairmont's were buried in the past, and she stopped when she saw her grandfathers name. She kneeled down in front of the headstone and set the flowers down, running her hand over the stone.
She sniffled, already feeling the tears start to come. "I really want to hate you," she whispered. "I should hate you. I grew up admiring you, only to find out that my entire childhood was a complete lie. You were a complete lie. You had this whole other life that no one ever knew about," she shook head her head, feeling stupid for talking to a headstone. But Celia liked to believe that he was out there somewhere, hopefully hearing this. If not, she needed to say it anyways in order to get closure after his death. "I don't understand how you could just abandon your family, when you did everything you could for us."
"I almost died and it's your fault." The words physically pained Celia to say, but they were true. She loved her grandfather, she really did, but it was hard to not resent him after everything he did. He cheated on her grandmother, had another child, and nearly killed two of his grandchildren. All to protect his secret and his family legacy. Now her grandfather was gone, and Celia was the one paying for his mistakes since Rebecca was out for blood, and the person she really wanted wasn't around anymore. "You made her like that," she whispered. "You did that. And now I'm the one paying the price."
It was difficult, grieving a man who was a horrible person. Celia couldn't come to terms with the fact that the same man that Rebecca knew is also the same man who would buy her sewing machines and fabrics and tell her she could rule the world if she wanted to. Turns out, that wasn't who he was at all.
Celia wiped her nose, and adjusted the flowers on his tombstone before she rose up from the ground, and made her way to the matching headstones a few plots over. When she saw her parent's names, her knees buckled as she fell to the ground, and she let out a choked sob. She couldn't bring herself to come to the family plot, knowing that when she did it would make all of this real. Her parents were gone, and her life was a mess. "Sorry that I haven't been out to see you sooner," she told them both, setting the flowers on their graves. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, telling them everything that had happened in the months following their deaths.
"I found a guy," she told them, finding herself smiling despite everything that happened. Out of all the terrible things that have happened to her, Celia could say that there was only one good thing to come out of it, and that was Spencer. "His name is Spencer, and he's so great. I, uh, I think I love him." Celia hadn't said the words out loud before, but it felt like a huge weight off her shoulders to finally admit it. Maybe she wasn't ready to utter the words to Spencer just yet, but it was enough for her right now. "I wish you could have met him."
By the time she finally found it in her to leave their graves, the sun had already started to set in the distance. She brushed off the knees of her jeans and walked down the same path she came, and out of the Clairmont family plot. When she stepped out of the gates, she nearly burst out into tears again when she saw two cardinals, perched on the fence post, and Celia knew in that moment that she'd be alright. She stopped in her tracks and simply stared at the cardinals for a moment, and it felt like they were watching her too, until they flew off the fence and Celia waited until they were out of her line of sight before she finally made her way back to the car.
Sebastian was still sitting there, with his seat reclined all the way back, as he typed away on his cellphone, unbothered by how long Celia had spent in there. He glanced over at her when she sat in the passenger's seat, and set his phone down as he brought his seat up once more. "Feel better?" She nodded, and he hummed in acknowledgement, starting up the engine again as they drove back to Seb's place. She'd only been to his house a handful of times, but it was certainly bigger than her apartment back in New York.
"I have chicken in my meal plan today. Is that okay with you?" She snorted, "Of course you have a meal plan." Her brother was more high-strung than she was, and that was saying something. He probably had a schedule for every little thing in his life, including his bathroom breaks, most likely. He raised his eyebrows like he was waiting for Celia to reply, and she sighed, "Chicken's fine, Seb." He nodded and started pulling things out of his fridge, and Celia took the opportunity to snoop through his place. Normally, when Celia came home to visit, she always typically saw her family at her grandfather's house. She'd only been here once or twice, but it would have been when he first bought this townhouse.
Celia stopped in front of his fireplace and stared at the pictures he'd had on the mantle. She picked up the frame containing a picture from her college graduation. She was holding her diploma, clad in her cap and gown from NYU, smiling brightly as she stood in between Sebastian and her parents. On her brother's face was a rare smile as he threw his arm around her shoulders, and in the corner, a glimpse of Nathan trying to squeeze his way into the frame.
"Are you snooping?" Her brother called out from the kitchen. "Maybe," she called back, a small smile on her face. "It's not like I'll find anything interesting. You are so boring."
"I'm practical," he corrected. "A house is just a place to live in. I couldn't care less how it looks," he shrugged. Celia walked into the kitchen where her brother had a dishrag over his shoulder as he obsessively scrubbed his kitchen sink and counters like a maniac. "Dinner should be ready soon."
"I think it's clean enough, Seb," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, seriously, I think I can see my reflection in your countertops."
"You wouldn't believe the amount of bacteria that can be transferred through cross contamination."
"Jesus, you sound like Spencer," Celia chuckled, shaking her head at her older brother.
"Speaking of the boyfriend," Sebastian started, pausing his vigorous cleaning to glance at her. Here we go, Celia thought to herself. "How's that going?"
"It's great," Celia told him, and it was the complete truth. Her brother raised an eyebrow at her, "I still can't believe you got a boyfriend. I thought you were the biggest commitment-phobe on the planet."
"Uh, hello? Pot, meet kettle," Celia pointed to her brother wildly. Sebastian, as far as Celia knew had never been in a relationship, and if he had been, it was never serious enough where he brought them home. "I've never seen you with a guy, well, ever."
"That's not true," he quickly defended, and Celia challenged him by raising her eyebrows. He couldn't name one guy that he was ever serious with, because there wasn't any. "You met that one guy, that one time, at the restaurant."
Celia rolled her eyes, "I didn't meet him, I just happened to run into you because we were both eating at the same restaurant. That doesn't count."
"Whatever," he mumbled. "And you're sure about this guy?" Celia nodded. She wasn't the kind of person to just do something without thinking. When she wanted something, she jumped in head first, all the way in. If she wasn't one-hundred percent certain about Spencer, then she wouldn't be with him. Period. Celia didn't want her time wasted, and she wouldn't do the same to anyone else. "How's that gonna work long-term?"
"I don't think we've reached that stage yet, Seb."
"Don't you think that's something you should think about?" He crossed his arms over his chest, and Celia knew that he was transitioning into big brother mode. He had refrained from commenting on her relationship up until now, so Celia had a feeling that he was ready to finally air all of his concerns out in the open. "I mean, you live in New York, and he lives in Virginia. You won't give up your career, and I doubt he will either."
"So, if neither of us is willing to sacrifice our jobs, then we won't last?" She questioned, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "The distance isn't an issue between us."
"For now," he told her, and Celia was starting to grow annoyed with him. "Did you really have to fall for an FBI agent?"
"Oh my god," she sighed, running a hand down her face. "Why are you lecturing me on this right now? Aren't you the one who was flirting with Riley Carter all night on my birthday? You're being a hypocrite."
"No, I'm being practical," he retorted. "Do you know what you're getting into with him?"
"Yes," she firmly replied. She knew from the very beginning, and she was fine with that. She didn't need a boyfriend who needed to be with her constantly. Celia didn't like being suffocated. "He's the one, Seb."
"You said the same thing about William Rutherford, once upon a time." Celia's eyes narrowed into slits. Her brother was known for his brutal honesty, but he had gone too far. To compare her judgement now to the judgement she had when she was nineteen was a low blow. She made a mistake when she got engaged in her twenties, and she had payed for it in the end. "So, I apologize if I'm questioning your judgement."
"Nate's right," she bitterly chuckled. Her and her brother rarely argued, since it was normally Nathan on the receiving end of these kinds of things. It sucked. "You are such an asshole."
"I know," he stated bluntly. Sebastian was who he was, and he never made any claims to try and deny it. He knew he was an asshole, but he simply didn't care because in his eyes, he was only telling her what she needed to hear. But he had it all wrong. "But I'm an asshole who cares about his sister, and doesn't want to see her get hurt again."
"I don't need you to protect me," she told him quietly.
"Trust me, I know," he chuckled dryly. She had proven to him multiple times that she was smart and able to handle herself on multiple occasions. Hell, she had escaped death's grasps more times than she could count, yet he somehow stilled tried to shield her from the world like he was terrified it would break her. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying to."
"Would it kill you to ever just apologize?" The words I'm sorry were nearly impossible to get out of her brother. When he did something wrong, he did everything but apologize to make things right. Maybe it was because no one in their family actually communicated emotions growing up, and they spent most of their lives pushing arguments under the rug until everything blew over. Or maybe her brother's ego was far too inflated, making him unable to admit when he was wrong and out of line. "Would it kill you to say 'Cece, I'm sorry' ?"
"Cece, I'm sorry," he replied, and her face softened just a little bit. "It's not my place, I get that. I'll just keep my mouth shut next time." She nodded, glancing up at him, trying to read his face. Surely that wasn't easy for him to say, but he had said it, so Celia couldn't stay pissed at him. "Thank you," she told him. "Now check on your chicken. It smells like something's burning."
"Shit!" He exclaimed, rushing to the oven to grab the tray, with the charred chicken on it. Her brother cursed under his breath, trying to somehow salvage it. Celia pulled out her phone and was already looking up takeout restaurants in the area when her brother sighed. "Fuck it, we're ordering take out."
"Already on it."
A/N:
finally finished university for the year so now i have more free time to write, YAYYYY