Hell's Book of Random One-shots

Off Duty Lifeguard - Spencer Reid

It had been a long day at the college for Spencer, with lessons and additional tutoring for those who requested it outside of other office meetings, he was more than ready to get home and enjoy whatever surprise his wife had cooked up.

Wife, that was still weird for him to think.

Just as it was weird to think of going home to a house, a full house that they had paid for, not a cramped apartment which was only that way because of his abundance of books.

They had only agreed to move out of there so they had room for their baby.

Baby, even two years later he still felt giddy hearing anyone call him a dad.

A domestic life wasn't something he had imagined himself achieving despite how much he wanted it, but now here he was, smiling up at the house he called home where his family awaited his arrival.

Home.

His home.

His family home.

Spencer's cheeks hurt from smiling so widely, although he was tired his mood was still high and he was taking appreciation of everything little thing that seemed to be good in the world.

Unusually, he was met with silence when he stepped through the front door and that made his senses instantly prick with concern.

There wasn't the sound of crying or excessive laughter coming from any room in the house.

At this point, he would even accept the sounds of a temper tantrum, which he had already deduced that they were well overdue for.

He couldn't smell anything coming from the kitchen, which could mean that dinner hadn't been decided, he would be cooking it, they would be ordering in or his family had been kidnapped.

'No,' he rationalised with himself. 'There were no signs of forced entry.'

Spencer frowned, turning on the spot to be more certain of himself.

Perhaps they had gone out for a walk.

'Then the front door would have been locked.'

His heart was beating erratically in his chest, it had been a long while since he'd felt his adrenaline pump this wildly through his body and it felt foreign and uncomfortable.

Then something caught his attention.

A sound coming from the back.

Splashing.

"In the garden?" He mused out loud, gradually making his way through the kitchen to the back door.

Shielding his eyes from the sun as he stepped outside and looked to his left where, on the grass just beyond the securing metal bars of their garden path, his wife sat reclined against the corner of a paddling pool with a book in her hands.

Perched securely between her knees was their son, who was happily splashing about in the shallow water with two toys, his usually curly brown hair already soaked and plastered to his head.

All tension left him and his shoulders sagged, a long breath escaping him as he finally lifted the satchel from his shoulder and set it down on the top step before heading down to stand beside the pool.

"You worried me," he said, ducking to stand beneath one of the parasols she'd set up.

Tilting her head back, she smiled that beautiful smile that always won him over.

"I did?"

"Yes," Spencer nodded while crouching down beside the pool, the top ring dipping in as he rested his hands on top, "I jumped back into FBI mode when you weren't in the house."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she pouted a little, twisting so that she could lean up and press a kiss to his lips.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

He looked the pool over, dipping his fingers in and splashing the water a little bit.

"You sure look comfy."

"We are," she smiled, running a hand over their son's hair, who whined a little in protest before letting out a childish giggle. "It's been so hot the past few days that I thought we could spare a bit of money and treat ourselves."

"With a kiddie pool."

"Exactly."

"It does look comfortable, maybe I'll join you."

"Oh, please do, it can be a family affair."

"I'll get changed first," he smiled, watching as his son batted two toys together before splashing them into the water with all the grace a two year old could.

"Sounds like a plan, we'll be waiting right here, also no sharing gross facts about pools, okay?"

"Deal," Spencer laughed, "as long as you guys don't go disappearing before I can join in."

He stood up from his spot, rubbing his hands together as he took the moment to admire the two.

Never before did he think he'd feel this much love again, not after everything that happened with Maeve and yet here he was, feeling love in a variety of ways that he ever believed he would experience.

He had a lot of worries for the future, mostly for his child as any parent would, but he tried pushing it all aside to live in the moment and enjoy what life had given him while he had it, whether he felt he deserved it or not.

Carefully running his hands through his wife's knotted hair, he basked in the moment to cement it in his memories, storing the image for comfort in the future.

Tilting his head, he looked at what she was reading, his eyebrow slowly raising as a few key words stuck out from the page.

"Are you," he paused for a moment to try and stifle the laugh that was fighting to come out, "are you reading him the instruction manual to a kiddie pool?"

His wife looked up at him with a raised eyebrow then lifted the thin paper pamphlet as if to make a point.

"It comes with a manual so I must read the manual, he needs to be safe, Dr. Reid, safe!"

For once in his life, Spencer Reid was left at a loss for words.

Instead, all he could do was a huff a laugh and turn around to head back inside.

"I'll order us some food while I'm at it."

"That would be lovely!"

With a slight shake of his head, he stepped back indoors, grinning like the luckiest man alive.