Hotch's Niece | Criminal Minds

Almost

Ok first things first I do realize that I have been gone for more than a month, and I am very sorry, but I've been having family/personal troubles and haven't had any time to upload. I'm back now, and I hope I'll get to a more normal schedule for writing. Thanks to all who love this book, and for understanding and accepting my hiatus.

I was woken at half past three by a crying Izzie by my side. She was sat up in bed, looking very confused. Tears streamed down her chubby little cheeks, her lovely red hair splayed messily across her forehead.

"Izzie?" I whisper softly, stroking her hair and pulling her into my lap. At the contact, Izzie looks right into my eyes and begins full on sobbing.

"Mommy," she cries, and my heart breaks for the little girl. I rock her slowly back and forth, trying to get her to calm down. What was it that JJ had told me to do in a situation like this? Oh yeah. I shift Izzie so that her head is on my shoulder and I rub soft circles on her back as I continue rocking us.

Slowly, her breathing begins to slow. Izzie's cries gradually become weaker, and finally she's just limp in my arms, taking deep breaths. I know she's still awake because every few inhales she'd whimper softly. I'm careful not to move too quickly, but I slowly lie down on the bed, Izzie on my chest.

It's silent for a few moments before Izzie lets out a few more gentle cries, as if remembering her dream. I rub her back again, trying to get her to quiet back down.

"Shhh," I soothe, and my breath catches in my throat when Izzie makes another whimper for her mother. "I know, I know, you want your mommy." I murmur. "Me too,"

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My alarm goes off much too soon. It took me a total of half an hour to get Izzie back to bed last night, and another fifteen minutes before I fell asleep as well. Groaning, I shut off the beeping cellphone and roll out of bed. Dressing quickly, I brush my teeth before waking Izzie.

I help her into a pair of cute baby jeans, a frilly pink shirt, pink shoes, and a white cardigan that would most definitely be dirty by the end of the day. Just as I am brushing Izzie's hair, there's a knock at the door. I open it quickly to find Ried standing there, blushing slightly.

"Hey, Spence, good morning!" I greet.

"Morning, Avery! How'd Izzie do last night?" Spencer inquires, taking the aforementioned little girl from my arms and making faces at her, to which she responds with a lighthearted giggle.

"She had a nightmare last night," I sigh.

"Really? That sucks. However, I did order room service--pancakes and bacon for the three of us, if you're interested." Spencer smiles, and I light up.

"Oh, thank you GOD!" I nearly shriek. "I am starving," I exaggerate, causing Reid to chuckle at me.

I invite Reid inside, leaving the door open. He sits on the bed as I take Izzie back from him and continue fixing her hair. It's just too short to put in a ponytail, so I settle for cute little pigtails at the nape of her neck.

The second I've finished tying off the second pigtail, Izzie has deftly squirmed from my grasp and is waddling around the hotel room, moving as fast as she can on her chubby little baby legs. She races to the stuffed animals in the corner and begins to play with the stuffed giraffe that Morgan dropped off at the hotel last night.

I watch the adorable toddler with a content smile on my face, hardly noticing Reid setting up breakfast on a tray on the bed.

We let Izzie play for a few minutes more, and then call her over for pancakes. Not much is said as we eat, as all three of us are very hungry and are too busy shoving our faces to bother with speaking.

After a while of happy eating noises, Reid and I sit back with full stomachs and upbeat moods.

"Thank you for bringing Izzie and I breakfast, Spencer. It was very nice of you," I smile softly at the dorky genius.

"It's no problem, really, I wanted to do something nice for you," Reid shifts awkwardly. "I can't imagine it was easy for you to pack up your things and move out here in the middle of going to college, especially after... you know," Spence trails off.

"After my parents being murdered? Yeah, you could say it wasn't easy,"I state bluntly, not even paying attention to what I was saying for fear that I would start crying.

There's a long silence after that. At some point I find myself staring at Reid, and then the unthinkable happens. His eyes trail over to meet mine, and all of a sudden we're leaning in towards each other. I think time might being slowing down, as each millisecond crawls by like a drugged snail. A blush slowly creeps up Spencer's neck and towards his face, climbing up past his slightly puckered, full lips which are a pale pink color, accented by a softly arched cupid's bow. The blush comes to rest on the apples of his cheeks, just below his slowly shutting eyes. Goodness, Spencer has really long eyelashes.

Just before our lips can actually touch, there's a knock at the door, which I had previously left ajar. Reid and I whip around, and standing there in all his uncomfortable glory, is Uncle Hotch. Clearing his throat a few times, my uncle is clearly making a point to not look at Spencer and I's deep red faces.

"Um," Hotch's eyes stay glued to the floor. "I just came to tell Avery that we've found our Unsub," my uncle pronounces my name clearly, making sure Reid knows that I should have been the only adult in the room.

Hotch scuttles off, and Reid and I share an excited look, the near-kiss on a backburner for the time being. We both rush to get up and get going, as only one thing matters at the moment.

The chase is on.

Yes, I know, I'm terrible for not letting them kiss, but I promise it'll be worth it! Just wait, it's coming up very soon. Poor Hotch though, having to walk in on an almost-Avereid kiss.