adore || spencer reid

II

we walked inside, following Persephone. she made her way towards the kitchen, where a young boy was waiting for her in a highchair, with his short arms grabbing for her.

"i know, baby. mama's right here." she comforted him, picking him up from the chair, and holding him as he wrapped his arms around her neck.

"when did you have a kid?" Derek asked her.

"two years ago." she responded, moving towards the stove where a kettle was already boiling. she opened a small pantry and took out a tea bag, as well as a bag of what looked like rose petals.

"are you making what i think you're making?" Derek asked her.

"my infamous rose tea? yes sir, i am."

"roses have many health benefits, including balancing hormones, as well as reducing wrinkles and premature aging." i said, before i could even stop myself.

she looked up at me with a smile, looking back at Derek then back at me, "gosh, you a genius or something."

"yes, actually, i have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and i can read 20,000 words per minute."

"holy shit!" she laughed, "you trying to make me feel stupid, Derek Morgan?"

"no ma'am, Reid just cant help himself."

Persephone giggled, and then looked over to Derek, "can you hold him for a second?" she asked, referring to the toddler in her arms.

"of course," he said, reaching out to take the boy from her arms. "whats your name?" he said, looking at the child.

"his name is Sebastian, but we call him Seb for short."

"Seb, huh? who's the lucky man?" Derek asked.

Persephone smiled softly, looking over at her son sadly. "he was an abusive asshole. when he found out i was pregnant, he was convinced that i had cheated on him because he thought i couldn't get pregnant if he used a condom, which is usually true, but i guess it broke. then he left."

"Percy I'm so sorry."

she shrugged, "I'm over it, plus, it got me out of an abusive relationship, and i got the best gift anyone could ask for."

"it may be out of place for me to say, but why not take birth control?" i asked her.

"it interferes with my medicine." she responded simply.

"how is that going?" Derek asked. i had no idea what they were talking about.

"good! the meds keep me stable enough to handle it myself when in a situation that they would come out. plus, therapy and meditation really help."

i put two and two together, "do you have Dissociative Identity Disorder?"

"yes, i do, Doctor. my father was also an asshole."

"I'm sorry, I'm asking a lot of invasive questions." i apologized, realizing i could be making her uncomfortable.

"its okay, i promise, any friend of Derek's is a friend of mine." she smiled warmly.

the kettle began hissing, and she turned off the burner, grabbing three mugs and pouring the tea into the mugs. "tea for three!" she said, setting them down on the table, "come sit!"

we sat down and Derek handed Seb back to his mom. Seb soon started squirming, and Persephone put him down on the ground and he crawled to the living room, which was only separated from the kitchen by the back of a long couch.

i could see Persephone contemplating whether or not to go supervise him.

"would you like me to go watch him?" i asked politely.

"oh- that's ok, I'm sure he'll be fine."

i could tell she wasn't sure if i could handle a kid, and Derek could too.

"Reid is pretty good with kids, he's the godfather to our coworker's son, Henry."

"aw, that's sweet! well, how about we all move to the living room?" she suggested, getting up from her seat.

we all moved to sit on the couch, sitting in a calm silence for a few minutes, watching Seb play with large lego blocks.

"Percy," Derek said,

"hm?" she responded, looking away from her son to look at Derek.

"i need to tell you the real reason we're here."

she furrowed her brows, "what do you mean?"

i took the file out of my satchel, looking for the picture of the wall.

"we have a case here. a young girl was murdered, her throat slit, and she was dressed in a toga."

"okay? what does this have to do with me?"

"there was something written on the wall behind the body, do you know what this could mean?" i asked her, showing her the picture of the bloody words.

her face quickly contorted to an expression of terror, her hand raising up to cover her mouth, her eyes watering. "he told me he would slit my throat." she said quietly.

"who?" Derek asked her, taking her hand from her face, and holding it gently.

"my ex, Alex Brown."