F O U R T Y T H R E E
SCOUT'S STOMACH GROWLED as she trudged into the kitchen in her pajamas and opened the pantry, peering inside.
"Do we have any cookies?"
"I think I saw some Oreo's in there." Harper, making herself a cup of tea, indicated the top shelf of the pantry.
"Ooh. Oreo's. Double Stuf?"
"I don't know. Whatever you ordered last time."
Scout found the package and peeled it open, only to let out a disheartening sigh, "Only four left. Damn."
"How many do you need?"
The younger woman considered this with a shrug and started to munch on the first cookie, "At least five."
"Well, you're out of luck. There's part of an apple pie in the fridge though."
"Okay. Thanks." Scout headed for the refrigerator, but stopped on the way. If she kept eating at this rate, she'd start showing her belly much sooner than she predicted.
And Spencer, she had had yet tell Spencer.
Shit. She had to tell her boyfriend of less than four months that she was pregnant. Worse – she had to tell the man that she had shot at, and his teammates, on a number of occasions that she was pregnant. And worse still, she had known about it and kept it from him for two months.
And Xander. Oh, God, Xander! What would she tell him? Could she even keep it a secret from him? The bright side was, she hadn't seen or heard from him in the past two months. No phone calls nor texts, not even an unscheduled visit. And Harper hadn't mentioned him or his relation to them since Scout's birthday.
And her own mother! What would Harper say?
"This is a nightmare." She whispered to no one.
"What was that, hun?" Harper inquired as she began to wheel herself out of the kitchen and towards the backyard. She almost exclusively had her first cup either by the window or, if the weather allowed it, outside in the sun.
Scout shook her head, "Nothing. Just - forgot to charge my cell phone."
"Well, go do it now before you forget."
She hummed a response and dragged her feet back to her bedroom, her internal thoughts weighing down her body with each step. Trying to shake the spiraling hole she was falling into, Scout began to pack her go-bag for the next trip the BAU was to take. At least, that's what she told her mother.
In reality, she started to spend more nights with Spencer than she did at her own house. All Harper knew was that there was a sudden influx of unsubs and BAU was helping with as many cases as they could handle.
Yesterday was the first night she had slept in her own bed since the last two weeks.
Scout's stomach growled and her mind trailed back to the apple pie that was calling her name from the fridge. At this point, she could almost taste the gooey sweetness and could care less about her stomach showing. All that mattered to her was a full, satisfied belly.
She silently made her way through the kitchen, her senses tuned to the slightest sound. She thought she heard the sound of a soft footstep behind her, and swung at it with her arm.
Her wrist was caught in a firm grasp and twisted behind her back. With a cry of pain, she was forced to her knees and she could feel the sharp edge of a shin biting into her back.
"Good morning."
She gave a grunt of frustration, and tried to throw her assailant off, but he just chuckled and leaned down to her ear.
"Aren't you going to say good morning, Uncle Xander?"
"No."
He gave a low, menacing laugh, and pulled her off the ground but shoved her away from him, not as roughly as she had expected but it was still hard enough to throw her off her balance. Scout sent him a sneer and rubbed at the sore skin of her arm that he had grasped.
"What are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes at him, sniffing the air to ignore the stinging pain in her joins.
"I was in the neighborhood."
"Sure," Scout rolled her eyes and opened the fridge door, digging around until she found the pie. "Let's pretend like you're not lying this time around and let me ask again. What are you doing here?"
Xander's playful smirk fell and he tucked his hands into his pockets, "I want to apologize."
"Apologize? You're joking right? You want to say you're sorry? For what? Years of fucking with my life?"
"I want to apologize for not telling you the truth that your father was my brother. We kept it from you to protect you."
"Protect me?" Scout scoffed and shoved the pie away from her, suddenly not as hungry as she once was. "The only person I should have ever been protect from was you. You made me into a killer."
"I was training you to protect yourself, to give you an irreparable value that no one else could have. If I had left you by yourself then you would be disposable."
"Disposable? Right, like how every other person is disposable."
"Not every other person had a father like yours."
Scout banged her fist on to the counter in frustration, "My father was a great man!"
"Your father was pure evil! He used people and threw them out like trash. He would have done the same to you!"
"He loved me! But then he had to fucking die of cancer and I got stuck with you!"
Xander chuckled and wiped his mouth.
"Everything I ever did was to protect you from men like him and take care of your mother! Who paid for your college tuition? Who pays for this house, for your car, your bills? Who took care of your mother's hospital bills when you were flat broke? She asked me to look after you and I'm still doing it to this day!"
"Why? Why the fuck did you do it then, huh? To make me a murderer and take jobs from your messed up boss? Do you even know how many people I've killed? Cause I don't fucking know! I lost count after I turned 16! Why are you still in my life?"
"Because," Xander shouted in a booming voice, "Because you are my niece and I care about you! Because if I didn't look after you, then no one would've! You go on those missions to prove every single person that you are not weak, that you are still valuable!"
Scout stared at him with the kind of disgust she had never felt before. It bubbled in her core and tempted to erupt, spilling over everything she had ever worked hard for.
She took a step closer to him, smelling his spicy scent and growled in a low whisper.
"I will always have value, it never mattered if I could sort mail or sharpshoot some random civilian. Now, get out."
"Scout-"
"Get out!" She pointed towards the door and turned away from him, not being able to look him in the eye, "And don't come back here for just another family reunion!"
The older man narrowed his eyes but sighed in defeat. She was far too worked up to talk to reasonably anymore. There were so many things he wanted to talk to her about but it would have to wait. All of it could wait.
Xander gave his niece one final look, a small smile forming as he saw her hunched over and now shoving a spoonful of pie into her mouth, before he turned and walked out the front door.
He had just hoped, for Scout's sake, all the arguing didn't put too much stress on to the baby.
Please consider voting/commenting if you like this story and want show your support for more content.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Xander just makes my heart go, ugh. Anyone relate? Like ugh.
a special thanks to readers who comment:
@landocalrissians
@_stxdia_
@-cruzzii
@friendlyneighbour
@maddy5479
@wackynatty
@siriusly_not_moose
@zoefredrick8
@reddie-going-steady
@breedawnwriter
@larae333
@moonlightascending
@lorisiacock
@alisknig
@ell_hound
@cyn161
@ilerb6
@tearsthatrain037
@epicmishamigo
@deborahsellis
@denauticat
@approximately_equal
@imymythebest
@ryback_96
· · · · ·