I Will Never Let You Go (A Maxcer Fanfic)

That A Horse?

Spencer pulled up to a house in a different neighborhood and parked in the driveway. Ever since the day they met each other, Willow and Harper had been inseparable at school. They ate lunch together, they played together, sat next to each other at the same table; Harper had even come up with a cute nickname for Willow: Yo-yo, since her Ls were pronounced as a Y. The girls begged to have a playdate everytime they were picked up from school, so today they were finally going to Harper's house.
Over the course of a month that the girls have been going to school, Spencer and Max made good acquaintances with Harper's parents, Jean and Richard. Jean worked as a high school history teacher, while Richard was a medical doctor. They had two older boys, Zachary who was six, and Ezra who was four. Ezra was also in the preschool that Harper was attending, just in a higher level class. Both sides of their family were originally from Virginia, however they both had grown up in many different states on the East Coast.
Spencer took Willow's hand while Max took Ayla's carrier and they walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell. They only waited a few seconds before Jean opened the door with Harper on her hip.
"Hey guys! We're so glad you could come. Come in, come in." She said cheerfully.
At the sight of each other, Willow and Harper's faces lit up. Harper was let down onto the floor and Willow let go off of her dad's hand, and immediately they hugged and ran off together.
"They are literally the cutest things." Max said, stepping in front of Spencer as they entered the house. Right as they stepped inside, they took note that the house wasn't anything like theirs; the opening to a staircase was present right as they entered the house and their living room was off to the side. In between them was a hallway that led to the dining room and off of that was another hall. Nonetheless, they thought it was a beautiful home.
They told Jean as much and she politely thanked them, then led them to the kitchen where Richard was just now closing his laptop and ruffling his youngest son's hair.
"Spencer, Max, nice to see you. How are you guys?" He asked, shaking Spencer's hand and waving to Max as he noticed she had her hands full.
"We're doing alright. How about yourselves?"
"Well we weren't bored this morning, that's for sure." Richard joked.
"Can we get you guys something to drink? Coffee, tea?" Jean asked.
They both settled for some coffee, even though Spencer gave Max a look that said she shouldn't have it. She didn't care, and he didn't make too much of a fuss about it like he normally did. Just then, Ayla started to wake up in her carrier, so Max took her out and let Jean hold her.
"Oh those cheeks. How old is she now?"
"Almost two months."
"That's sweet. I love that age, where they're not trying to squirm out of your arms. Erza from the time that he was five months old did not like to be held back."
"It's funny, Ayla's the exact opposite. Sooner or later you put her down and she starts screaming."
Harper and Willow ran from the playroom and into the kitchen, chasing each other with princess wands. They started to run around the table they were all seated at, and the adults had to tell them to slow down so they didn't trip and fall.
"Alright girls, how about you go play outside where you can run all you want?" Richard said, holding his leg out to stop them from running anymore.
"Yeah!" They said in unison.
Spencer went with Richard to watch the girls outside, leaving Max and Ayla inside with Jean.
"So how'd you snag a FBI agent and a genius?" Jean asked jokingly.
"Honestly I still don't know. We kinda just met out of the blue one day. It was one of the best days of my life."

"So who's the craziest person you've put away?" Richard asked, sitting next to Spencer as they oversaw the backyard. Ezra had joined them outside and was running around the swingset with the girls, and they could hear their loud squeals of laughter from where they sat.
"Typically I don't love to get into specifics about my job outside of work--."
"Oh my bad, I didn't--."
"No, it's quite alright. I get asked about it by all sorts of people. Umm, I don't know. There's just been so many, and I know how cruel each one has been, while I also know that they might've not had it easy. That's part of my job; in order to find them, I have to try and see life through their eyes."
"That must get rough."
"It does, but so do a lot of things in life. And just like everything else you need to find outlets."
"Ain't that the truth." Richard said, chuckling.
When they glanced up again, the three kids were all looking out of the back fence, looking to the neighbors backyard. There was a small red brown barn and a man was letting a horse out of its stable. Richard led Spencer across the yard to the kids and stood with them as they watched the horse in fascination.
"Daddy, that a horse?" Willow asked, looking up at Spencer as she held onto the wire fence with her little fingers.
"Yes it is."
The man noticed he had an audience and brought the horse over, waving to Richard.
"Hey Bryan." Richard said as he waved back.
"Hey yourselves. I see you got company."
"This is Spencer and his little girl Willow. Willow is a friend of Harper's from school."
"Aw, you girls having a playdate?" Bryan asked, looking down at the two girls.
"Yeah!"
"Your horse pretty." Willow said.
"Why, thank you. Her name is Val. Would you like to pet her?"
Willow and Harper nodded, so Richard and Spencer picked up their daughters and leaned them in towards the horse, allowing them to pet Val's head.
"It sof."
"Yeah." Harper agreed.
Spencer reached his hand and pet the horse as well, not having been near one in quite some time. Years ago, not many animals really liked being close to him, nor was he very fond of them; but he had grown to really see the beauty in animals and the Reid effect seemed to diminish.
Bryan waved goodbye and led Val away from the fence, and the girls were placed back on the ground to play. Willow cried and leaned against the fence, looking out towards where Bryan had gone.
"Willa, what's the matter?"
"Horse bye-bye." She whimpered.
"It ok Yo-yo." Harper said, pulling on her arm to get her away from the fence. She eventually complied, but every so often when she spotted Val through the fence she'd stop in her tracks and watch. A girl, Bryan's daughter as Richard pointed out, was just getting into horseback riding, and so she was getting used to the basics with Val.
Around 2 p.m. both girls were starting to get overtired and needed a nap to recharge, so the Reids thought it best to head out. They thanked Jean and Richard for their hospitality and allowing Willow to aid in making a mess of their playroom, to which they said she was always welcome.
"So Willow, did you have fun?" Max asked.
"Yeah." She said. They could both hear the tiredness in her voice, but she remained awake during the entire car ride. Once home, Spencer carried her upstairs to lay her down, tucking her in a little with her soft blanket that had her name all over it in pink lettering with various fonts.
"You have sweet dreams okay?" Spencer whispered, smoothing her hair away from her face.
"I gonna deam about Val."
"Yeah? You really liked that horse huh."
"Yeah."
With that, Willow closed her eyes and fell asleep on the spot. Spencer kissed her temple before leaving her room, smiling to himself about how much Willow was intrigued by seeing a horse for the first time.

•Author's Note•
Typically I post every three days, however I've been having writer's block and haven't gotten a lot of chapters done. There will be plenty more to come, just not as quickly as usual.
Hope you all are enjoying the story and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments!