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Growing Up Again	By : hatochiisai Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 21443 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor do I make any financial profit off of writing and posting this work.

Chapter List
- 1-Re-Birth
- 2-Age 1
- 3-Age 2
- 4-Age 3
- 5-Age 4
- 6-Age 5 & 6
- 7-Age 7
- 8-Age 8
- 9-Age 9
- 10-Age 10
- 11-Age 11
- 12-Age 12
- 13-Age 13
- 14-Age 14
- 15-Age 15
- 16-Age 16
- 17-Age 17
- 18-Age 18
- 19-Age 19
- 20-Age 20
- 21-Age 21
- 22-Age 22
- 23-Age 23
- 24-Age 24
- 25-All Grown Up
- 9
- 10
- 11
Ten Years Old

Aaron Hotchner woke slowly, yawning and stretching and thinking that despite all the craziness of re-raising Dr. Spencer Reid, this was a GREAT vacation…

Then, there was sigh. He blinked and looked down.

“… Spencer?!”

“Mmm?”

“… What are you doing in here?!”

“Sleeping… shhhh…”

“How did you get in?!”

“… Picked th’lock…”

“Spencer, you can NOT sleep in my bed anymore. You’re too old.”

“Can’t sleep’n Jack’s bed.”

“Then I’ll move you into the guest room.”

“Don’wanna…” Spencer mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes, lift his head or emerge from the blankets. “… I like it here.”

“You can NOT sleep here tonight.”

“Mmm… can’t stop me.” Came the grumble.

“… Get up. Come on.”

“No.”

“Spencer, up. Now.”

“Still sleepy…”

“That’s because you were awake last night picking the lock on my bedroom door!!!”

“Cuz YOU locked me out of OUR bedroom.”

“Uhg…” Hotch groaned and just got up and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. When he emerged, Reis still hadn’t moved. Hotch sighed and walked over, shaking the ten year old’s shoulder. “Spencer, come on. Up.”

“Nnnh…”

“Spencer, if you’re going to sleep in here then you need to get up when I do.”

“Deal.” Spencer said, immediately sitting up and getting out of bed, putting on a new pair of glasses. Hotch blinked, surprised.

“H-Hey… now waitaminnit… That doesn’t mean you can sleep in here tonight!”

“YOU said it! I just agreed to it!” Reid announced, heading down the stairs to check out the clothes and see what would fit him.

“Spencer, no!” Hotch said firmly, following the child.

“You can’t just go back on the deal that YOU just proposed!”

“I did NOT propose a deal!”

“Did too!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Did too!”

“Did not, Spencer.”

“Did too!”

“… I am NOT getting into an argument with you over this.”

“Then stop going back on your word!”

“I didn’t!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“DID TOO!!!”

“Did—DAMMIT SPENCER!” Hotch howled, once he realized that the child had indeed been successful in goading him into a childish argument. “DON’T.” Hotch ordered when the boy opened his mouth. The ten year old blinked, then gave him a smug grin and skipped from the room. Hotch glared after him, then sighed and shook his head, heading into the kitchen to make breakfast.

“DID TOO!!” Came a sudden shout, and then the slam of a door. Hotch whirled, then let out a low, exasperated growl and went into the kitchen.

He made breakfast, and he and Spencer ate together. Then they got Reid into some shoes, Hotch made sure that they weren’t TOO big but wouldn’t get too small over the day, and then he loaded Reid into the back seat of the car, turned on the classical music and off they went.

Reid plastered himself to the window when they finally pulled into the parking lot of the Smithsonian National Zoo. He twisted about in his seat to grin at Hotch, then looked back out of the window again. “Can I get a toy?!” He asked excitedly.

“We’ll see.” Hotch said with a smile, parking the car. As soon as the motor was off, Reid was scrambling out of his seatbelt and had thrown open the car door.

CRASH!

“SPENCER!” Hotch yelped.

“I didn’t mean to!” Reid cried, distraught. Hotch sighed and closed his own door, walking around to the other side and closing Reid’s door before turning to check the damage on the other car. Fortunately, it was a large truck, and the door of his car had hit the foot runner. There was a slight scuff, but no real damage.

“Just… be careful.” Hotch said, turning and smiling at the ten year old. Reid nodded obediently and took his caretaker’s hand. They walked to the front gate and picked up their admission passes, then entered the zoo.

Reid’s eyes widened in delight, and he grinned up at Hotch.

“What do you want to see first?” Hotch asked

“Crocodiles? Oh! Giraffe! Or or or, ELEPHANTS!!! Oh, but the lions are SO cool! Did you know that the tiger is the largest cat on the planet? And the snow leopard is the most rare, but it can jump better than any other cat?! And did you know that black panthers and jaguars are the same things? An actual panther is not a jaguar, nor is it black! And did you know that the cheetah is the only cat in the world that doesn’t have retractable claws? They have paws just like dogs! And the cheetah can reach speeds of up to and over 75 miles per hours, but they can only sprint for short distances. And they hyena has the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom! And did you know that the gorilla, in comparison with its body mass, has the smallest penis in the world?!”

Hotch’s eyes widened and several people nearby turned to STARE at Reid. Hotch felt his face heating up at this lovely public embarrassment.

“Um… No buddy, I didn’t.” He said, kneeling before Reid. “But listen… why don’t we, uh… keep the facts about animal genitalia to ourselves, hm?”

“Huh? Oh. Okay. Did you know that flamingos are pink because the brine shrimp that they eat are red?!”

“No, Spencer. That’s very interesting, though. How about this… we’ll go through the whole zoo in a big circle, and you can tell me one really cool thing about each animal that they don’t have on the information card, okay?”

“Okay!” Reid gasped, eyes wide and sparkling in delight. He whipped off his glasses, polished them a bit on his shirt, and then shoved them back up onto his nose, taking Hotch’s hand and tugging him towards the first exhibit. Hotch trailed along amiably.

They passed the Visitor’s Center, and made their first stop the Fishing Cats. Reid eagerly announced that he didn’t know much about that particular creature and happily ran his finger down the information plaquard, before staring at the cats. They were curled up together, having a mutual grooming session, making Reid smile and go off on a tangent about the importance of social grooming. Hotch let him talk for about three minutes, then cut him off, reminding him that this was only the first stop in the zoo, and they had lots more to see. And so they made their way to the enclosure of the Sloth Bears. One was curled up, dozing in the sun, but the other was foraging for termites in the large artificial termite mound. Reid pressed his face up against the glass in silent fascination, watching the bear patiently work. Hotch smiled, and soon found himself standing behind the boy stroking his shaggy hair.

Again, after a few minutes, Hotch guided Reid to the next exhibit, the Clouded leopards, followed by the Asian Small-clawed Otters, and the red Panda. Then they glanced in at the Japanese Giant Salamanders, but Reid shuddered and moved on as soon as he laid eyes on them, informing Hotch that they gave him the creeps. Hotch just followed, grinning. Their stop at the Giant Panda exhibit was much longer, with Reid immediately launching into a lecture that caught the attention of several other people who were looking in at the large bears.

After about ten minutes, Reid’s lecture had turned into a Q&A session with other patrons of the zoo. After another ten minutes of that, Hotch managed to herd Reid down the trail that led to the bird house. They decided to see the inside first, and Reid was completely delighted when he found the Kiwi bird, and Hotch had to pretty much pry him away from that little creature. They enjoyed the bird house, Reid pointing out things like a Keel-billed Toucan, a Mottled Owl, a Red-fan Parrot and a Pygmy Falcon.

In the Indoor Flight Exhibit, where the birds were free to fly about in one giant aviary, Reid had trouble deciding which way to look, but happily pointed out an Eclectus Parrot, a Fairy bluebird and a Great Argus. The Outdoor Flight Cage attracted Reid’s attention with the Golden Pheasant, the Mandarin Duck and the Ibis. And then they went to the outdoor exhibit…

“KOOKABURRA!!!” Reid shrieked, startling the bird and getting loud protests from the Flamingos, which Reid ran to see next. Hotch jogged after him, eyes wide at how the boy had suddenly taken off like a rocket. “And that’s a Cassowary!!! They’re one of the largest birds in the world, up there with the Emu and the Ostrich!”

“That’s nice, Spencer. Stay with me, okay?” Hotch muttered, taking the child’s hand and leading him to the Crane Line where they stopped to admire the Whooping Crane before moving on to the South American Run. Reid smiled as they looked at a Scarlet Ibis and he was fascinated by the King Vulture.

And then off they went back past the Asia Trail again and across the way to see some species from Africa. They looked at some Zebra, some oryx, gazelles, and spent nearly half an hour at the Cheetahs. After that, they headed to the elephant house, where Reid began a lecture on elephant intelligence and communication, explaining how they made sounds that were so low in frequency they couldn’t be detected by the human ear, and how elephants mourned their dead, and when they were at the hippos, he childishly made faces at the hippo in the water on the other side of the glass. At the small animal house, Reid was most entranced by the Golden Lion Tamarins, and spent nearly fifteen minutes watching the tiny little creatures leap and run around.

And then they went to the building next door, to the great apes… they didn’t spend long there… not after Reid suddenly announced, “Look Aaron! He’s masturbating!”

Hotch froze at Reid’s rather… loud announcement. And now people were staring. Hotch sighed and simply walked over, picking up the ten year old.

“Spencer… what did I tell you about keeping things like that to ourselves?” He asked, embarrassed as he walked through the crowd of people. Reid let out a wicked chuckle.

“Tell that to the aroused primate.” He said, and several people around them found themselves unable to contain their laughter at that one. Hotch just eyed the child in his arms, then sighed and set him down, took his hand and they walked away from the primates, skipping the rest.

The reptile house was next, and the hit for Reid there was the Komodo Dragon. Once again, he began a little rant that ended up a lecture to people visiting the exhibit. It was nearly an hour before they left the place, and Hotch was starving. But Reid was still going.    Next they reached Lemur Island. There was a large crowd of people, as the lemurs were in a very active mood. And there, Hotch got the fright of his life…

Reid ran to the railing, just as a group of school children passed by, and when the children passed… Reid was gone. Hotch ducked around a group of High Schoolers with sketch books and approached the rail.

“… Spencer?” He whirled, eyes darting around. “Spencer?! SPENCER!!!”

There was no answer. Hotch began pushing his way through the crowd, searching desperately for the boy, his mind immediately going off into terrifying directions… abduction… pedophiles… No no… don’t panic… He took a deep breath and leaned over the railing, looking along its length. There were several children at the rail, but none were his young charge. He turned and jogged away, and scanned the crowd as a whole. But he didn’t see the boy, nor did he hear his happy chatter as he had all day.

Meanwhile, Reid found himself surrounded by school children, all older and bigger than himself. They were probably junior high. And immediately, Reid found the fear rising up in him… Suddenly, he was back in school… younger than everyone around him… and tortured by them… He huddled in on himself, his little heart pounding as his body was jostled by the ones around him. Then they all stopped.   Reid glanced around, eyes wide. But then, he heard it. The vocalizing of a male lion, known as “coughing”. And he began to edge through the older children. And he found himself staring down into the pit. And sure enough, a large, black maned lion was looking over his enclosure and coughing. One of the lionesses rolled her head on her neck, looking back at him. She flicker her ears, then yawned and rested her chin on the back of another lioness, closing her eyes. Obviously, she was not impressed with her mate’s display.

Reid watched, mesmerized, until suddenly his elbow was grabbed in a harsh grip. “Hey!” Reid jumped and whirled, staring up at a tall boy. The boy blinked, then frowned. He eyed Reid up and down, then turned.

“Miss Dane?”

“Yes?”

“He’s not with us!!!” Reid watched as a young brunette turned and looked him over, then walked up to him, looking around. No one else was around. Reid swallowed, nervously. The woman knelt before him, saying “Stay with the group, Jacob.” The boy turned and ran after his class.

“I’m Lisa. What’s your name?”

“… Reid.” The boy said, eying her.

“Are you lost?”

“No.”

“… You sure?”

“I know where I am on the map of the zoo, so no, I’m not lost.”

“You’re not here alone, are you?”

“No.”

“Well… Where’s your mom?”

“In Las Vegas.”

“… Las Vegas? What’s she doing there?” The young teacher asked.

“She’s in a hospital. She lives there.” Reid said.

“Okay… where’s your dad?”

“… Las Vegas.”

“He’s not here with you?”

“No. He walked out on me and mom years ago.” Reid scowled, crossing his arms. The woman blinked, startled.

“Then… who are you here with?”

“… My guardian.” Reid said, carefully. “We were at the lemurs. But I got caught up by your students.”

“I see.” She said. “Well, let’s go find your guardian.” And she offered Reid her hand. Reid eyed her, then slowly slipped his fingers into her hand. She smiled, and guided him back down the path towards the lemurs. “What’s his name?”

“Hotchner. Aaron Hotchner.” Reid told her. “He’s my family, now.”

“I see.” She said, nodding. “So you’re from Vegas?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So why are you in DC now?”

“… Um… cuz Aaron lives here.” Reid said.

“How did you meet him?” She asked.

“He’s the Unit Chief of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.” Reid said.

“Really?” Miss Dane asked, smiling down at the child and wondering if he was being truthful.

“SPENCER?!” They suddenly heard.

“There he is!” Reid announced, pointing. She looked. A man in jeans and a gray sweater (tall, dark and handsome, she noticed) was rushing through the people, looking around. He seemed cool and calm, but only to cover up the panic. He turned on the spot, inspecting a group of children walking by, hoping to find the one he was looking for amongst them.

When he came up empty, he spun on the spot again, running his hands through his hair. Reid watched him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He had never seen Hotch so upset before… he had never seen the man near a panic… frightened like that… and it was because of him.

Miss Dane blinked when Reid jerked away from her, trying to free his hans from hers.

“Aaron!!!”

The man whirled, eyes darting around. Then, they widened and relief flooded him. “Spencer!” And the man broke into a run. Reid tugged harder, and Miss Dane let go. The little boy charged forwards, suddenly thrilled to see the man. When he reached him, Hotch knelt on one knee and caught the boy, hugging him close as he stood. Reid had his arms flung around the man’s neck and his legs around his waist, and Hotch just held him. It was as thought they had been separated for so much longer than just fifteen minutes…

“You scared me to death.” Hotch gasped.

“I’m sorry…” Reid mumbled. “I didn’t mean to. I got swept away in the flood of Freshmen!!!”

“Yes you did.” Hotch said, smiling at the boy, then hugging him close again. “God, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry…” Came the soft, guilty whine.

“I know… It’s okay. You didn’t mean to.” Hotch soothed, running a hand up and down the child’s back. Then, he turned and looked at the woman.

“You’re Mister Hotchner, I take it?”

“I am.” Hotch said with a smile, shaking her hand.

“I’m afraid your little one got caught up in the group I was herding.”

“I figured that’s what happened,” Hotch nodded with a smile. “Thank you for helping him back, he’s –“

“I’m hungry!”

“… Uh… apparently he’s hungry.” Hotch mumbled, and Miss Dane laughed.

“Well, I’ll let you get him fed. I need to catch up with my group.”

“Thank you again,” Hotch said, and the woman turned and jogged away.

“… You wanna go get something to eat?” Hotch asked, looking at Reid. Reid grinned.

“Lions first!!!” He announced, twisting about in Hotch’s arms and pointing. “THAT way!”

“Lions?!” Hotch cried in mock dismay.

“Lions!”

“Alright! Lions!” And he set Reid down and jogged after him as the boy took off running, tugging the man along behind him eagerly. They spent nearly another hour at the lions and the tigers, and then Hotch finally managed to pry Reid away long enough to eat. By then, it was WAY past lunchtime, and the pair were starving.

After eating, they went to see the tigers and the leopards, and then anteaters, seals and sea lions, where Reid delivered a lecture on the difference between the two, and then they saw the Beavers, Bald Eagles, and then spent another hour at the wolves. And with that, they had gone through the entire zoo.

They headed back towards the entrance, where Reid insisted on stopping at the gift shop. There, Hotch caved in and bought him a lion plushy. But by the time they reached the car, Hotch was carrying an exhausted Reid piggy-back. Smiling tiredly, he put Reid into the car and buckled him in, and then they drove home. Reid slept the whole way back, hugging his lion (dubbed Leonidus), and barely stirred when they got back to the house. Hotch had to carry him in, and ran a bath for the boy.

“Come on… get in.” He said. Reid looked down at the tub in Jack’s bathroom.

“Will you lock me out again?’ He asked, looking up at Hotch and blinking owlishly. Hotch blinked back, and melted under the pitiful gaze.

“… No.” He murmured. “I promise.” Reid gave him a sleepy smile, and began to undress. Hotch nodded and left him alone, heading upstairs to shower. He finished first, and when Reid emerged, he was handed a little cup of Easy Mac. Reid barely managed to finish it before Hotch took him into his arms and carried him up the stairs, tucking him into bed and giving him Leonidus. Hotch grinned when he realized that Reid was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He tucked him in, then leaned over and gently kissed his long, damp hair.

Then he turned off the light, slid into bed and closed his eyes. Sleep was almost immediate.
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Growing Up Again