CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: JUST ONE DAY OFF !

15x04

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          IT HAD BEEN OVER A FEW WEEKS SINCE CASEY HAD TO BE IN THE HOSPITAL. But she was now home and better than ever. Spencer had actually spent the night the night prior because they were... doing stuff.

          But something was up because the night prior after doing stuff, Spencer awoke twice in the middle of the night because of some recurring nightmare he kept having.

          So, Casey decided to wake him up with a soft welcoming to assure him that he was here, with her and that everything was okay. Today, she had woken up before he had and just admired him, like he often did when she was still asleep.

           Her hand was on his chest, his hand on top of hers as she rubbed her hand on his clothed chest and watched as he peacefully slept until he finally awoke, as he felt a gaze on him. The gaze just happened to be coming from his current girlfriend. "Morning, sleepy head." She giggled as he awoke.

          Spencer rubbed his eyes as he says, "Morning." in a raspy voice.

         "You finally get some sleep?" Casey wondered and Spencer nods, "Yeah, after around 2. You?" Casey nods, "Like a bear in hibernation." Spencer shrugs, "Technically, bears only hibernate in the winter. When the weather grows cold and the food supply finally dries up, they will retreat to their winter dens. Males bed down around mid-December and emerge in mid-March; females, which give birth during the winter and stay with their cubs for two years, remain in their dens longer, from late November to mid-April." He explains and Casey forgets how much she missed his little facts.

Casey stared at him longer than anticipated and Spencer furrows his brows. "Why are you staring at me?" He wonders and Casey shrugs, "Nothing, I just... missed your little facts. That's all." Spencer's cheeks turn pink and he smiles and then turns over to the table beside Casey.

"What time is it?" He asks and Casey sits up. "8:00." Spencer sits up himself. "We're gonna be late for work." Casey shakes her head, "Nah, we have a day off. It's Saturday, remember?" It has been their rare day off from work and Casey anticipated sharing the day with her boyfriend and child.

Casey sits up, straddling Spencer, knees on each side of his waist. "And besides, even if we did have work, I'm your boss so technically, I decide when you leave and when you go." Casey leans down and joins their lips for a kiss. They've been doing that a lot recently. And neither of them minded one bit.

        Spencer looks at the woman he loves and decides to ask, "How long do we have until Chris wakes up?" Suddenly, as if on cue, Casey's doorknob begins to rattle and Christopher's voice pops up. "Mom? Mom? Why is the door locked?"

         Spencer opens his mouth to say something but Casey immediately clamps it shut with her hand and shouts back at the door. "Don't worry about it, buddy! I'll be out there in a sec, okay? Just get ready for breakfast!"

        "Okay!" Christopher shouts back and the two hear the footsteps depart from the door.

         Casey takes a sigh of relief and then looks down at Spencer and removes her hand from his mouth. "Why'd you cover my mouth?" He questions.

         Casey sighs as she gets off of his lap to sit next to Spencer instead. "Because... I, uh, haven't exactly... told him that we're back together?" She admits and Spencer's eyes widen. "What?"

        "Look, it happened so fast and this happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to tell him about us. I didn't even tell him about what happened at the hospital. And besides, we've confused the boy enough, haven't we?" Casey had putting off telling Chris because she worried about confusing him most of all.

Spencer sits up as he sighs. "Don't you think he deserves to know, though?" He asks and Casey nods, "I know.  I just... feel bad if we do this to him. I mean, his parents were together, then they're not. Then, they're back together."

Spencer gives Casey a look and she knows it's now or never that she tells Christopher. Casey sighs and gives into that look Spencer gives her. "Okay, I'm gonna go downstairs and I'm gonna break the news to him after breakfast so that'll be your cue to come out."

         "Don't gotta tell me twice." Spencer tells as Casey stands up and gets ready to go downstairs.

          Casey had gotten ready and began to prepare some pancakes for Christopher. Usually with good news, she made pancakes and this should be pretty good news for a six year old to handle.

          After Casey tidied up a bit, she sat beside Christopher at the table. "How are your pancakes?" Casey decides to ask and Christopher nods, "Good."

          Casey taps her finger on the table and takes a sharp breath as she finds this the perfect time to tell him. "Hey, bud, I gotta have a conversation with you about something."

          "You're back together with Dad. Right?" The words come flying out of Chris's mouth faster than Casey's heart can continue pounding. She looks at her son wide-eyed and Christopher gives her a look, similar to his own father's.

Casey takes a sigh of relief and calls, "Spencer, you can come out now!" Suddenly, Spencer emerges from the hall, a look of shock spread across his face. "Hey, Dad." Chris greets, nonchalantly. "How'd you know?" Spencer decides to ask.

"Well, Dad, you almost slipped up when you took me last weekend and Mom, you always make pancakes when you have good news. Plus, you're wearing dad's shirt." Christopher nods at his mother, who looks down at the button-up dress shirt she grabbed off the ground which was Spencer's and so obviously smelt like him. "Plus, plus, you guys are profilers and you raised me. It's kind of a gift." Christopher shrugs.

"And what do I make when I have bad news?" Casey asks curiously.
          "Toast." Christopher tells.

          "Okay, now that we got that out of the way..." Casey leans close to her son and grabs his hand. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about what happened between your dad and I and we are not going to put you through that again. What we did, it was just a—" The woman looks up at Spencer, trying to look for the right word for the situation.

          "A break." Spencer told.
          "A break, exactly," Casey nods. "I needed to... think about some stuff and well, I finally thought about it and I'd rather stay with your dad." She looks up at Spencer with a smile on her face and Spencer returns the smile.

Christopher smiles at his parents and laughs as he exclaims, "This is cool! Wait until I tell Jeremy Hollbecker this and tell him he can suck it!"

          "Hey," Casey starts and Christopher thinks he's about to get scolded. "Normally, I don't condone this behavior but it's totally justified." Casey holds her hand up so Christopher can high-five his mom. "His mom can suck it." Casey shrugs over at Spencer.

         "Like mother, like son." Spencer chuckles.

         Casey smiles and looks at Chris. "Alrighty, kiddo. Dad and I have a day off today. Is there anything you wanna do?" Christopher thinks for a moment and then decides, "Can we go to the park?"

        Casey and Spencer exchange a glance and Casey nods, "Uh, yeah, sure! Let's get you ready." Casey and Christopher stand up from the table and as Christopher begins to walk down the hall, he stops for a second and faces Casey.

        "Hey, Mom?" He asks.
        "Yeah?"
        "Can we invite Emma? And Uncle Erik?" Christopher asks and Casey and Spencer look at one another and Casey nods, "Uh, yeah, sure."

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            Casey began to suspect that maybe her son had a crush on little Emma. As if it wasn't evident enough, the young boy and girl would play games that involved little Chris saving little Emma from "fire-breathing dragons". Like right now, for example, Chris is the knight in shining armor and Emma is damsel in distress.

            Emma had been on the top of the play structure as Chris was down below, fighting invisible dragons. Both Casey and Mandy sat on the benches as Erik and Spencer posed as trolls under the slide.

          "Looks like Chris is Emma's knight in shining armor." Mandy chuckled and Casey nods, "They've got some creative imaginations."

          Both of the women turn to one another and decide to have a conversation one on one, one regarding their new relationships.

      "So... you and Erik..." Casey starts with a eyebrow raise.
      "You and Spencer..." Mandy follows with and the two woman break out into laughter and Casey leans against the bench as she faces Mandy. "How's it going with you two?" She asks.

        Mandy turns to Erik as Chris hits him with his invisible sword. "We're taking things slow. And it's really healthy between us right now. And I think that's a really good thing." Casey smiles at the woman with the good news. "That's so good to hear."

        "And you and Spencer?" Mandy decides to ask and Casey shrugs as she watches her boyfriend play with their kid. "We were taking things slow but..." The two women make eye contact and Mandy already knows what she's about to say.

         "The sex?" Mandy guesses.
         "The sex." Casey nods and the two woman laugh again. Casey was merely noting that the sex was great and that it was nearly impossible to take things slow with the rate of them going at it like rabbits.

         "And I'd much rather be with him than anyone else. He makes me feel loved. Not that Marco didn't... it's just... it was different with him. I don't know, I just got wrapped up in the past." Casey explained and Mandy nodded in understanding.

         "It makes sense," Mandy nodded. "It was the same with Erik and I. I mean, he was so caught up in work, he didn't have as much time for us anymore. But now that he's working at the BAU and he has you as a boss, it's been... the best it could ever be. And I think with that time apart, it just brought us closer."

         Casey nods as she looks at Spencer and Chris. "I gotta agree with that." Sure, they went down a road of rough turns and bumps, but in the end, it was all worth it to have the two men (Spencer and Christopher) she loved by her side.

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A little after that, Erik, Mandy and Emma ended up going home and Spencer, Casey and Christopher decided to leave the park afterwards and to take a stop in the cemetery. Christopher had been doing his own thing, playing with his toys and junk as Casey replaced the old flowers with new ones for Leah's gravestone.

           Casey stood up and both she and Spencer stood over the gravestone. "I talk to her sometimes," Casey said and turns over to Spencer. "Is that weird?"

           Spencer shakes his head, "No, not weird at all." Casey nods at him. "Good." She takes a deep breath and looks down at the gravestone.

          "Hey, Leah," she greets. "I can't believe it's been a year. Feels like time's going by so fast. I wish you were here. I wish you could see Chris grow, Spencer and I back together. I wish Isaac would just talk to me. I'm wondering if maybe talking to him would get rid of this hole in my heart. I just... I wish I could have both of you guys in my life again."

           Things felt empty ever since Leah died and Isaac completely shut himself away out of Casey's life. It suddenly felt like ten years ago when she had nobody. Hell, even her dad wasn't around as much anymore. And that felt off to Casey in itself.

           Casey just wanted to fix whatever it was with Isaac that she needed to fix. But it felt like Isaac wasn't willing to even talk to her. And that was just something Casey had to live with.

            After that, the family began to just take a stroll around town. By then, Christopher grew hungry so they stopped by a food truck to get him something.

          While they waited in line, Spencer and Casey both received a text from Garcia. And they worried they might have to go back to work but Garcia had disclosed that whoever was available could come in, it wasn't a requirement.

            But to make sure, Casey wanted Spencer to call JJ to see if they really did need to go in. "Hey, Casey and I got Garcia's text. You guys need us to come in?" Spencer asked and he waited as JJ responded. "Do they need us to?" Casey asks.

           Spencer looks to Casey and shakes his head. "No, it's a stalking case, they have enough hands on deck." He goes back to talking to JJ. "Are you sure?"

           Suddenly, as Casey's ordering Christopher's food, a young kid, probably a little older than Christopher, approaches Spencer. "That's a strange haircut." he tells. Casey furrows her brows as she turns to the kid.

"Excuse me?" Spencer asks. "I said that's a strange haircut for a grown man. Most men don't have hair like that. Did you know that?"

           Spencer goes back to the phone call for a second. "Hey, let me call you right back." He turns back to the kid. "Are you you lost? You okay?"

          "You have a very slender neck. It makes your head look big. Did you know that? That's why I noticed the haircut." The kid tells and Casey chuckles, "He's kinda got a point, babe." She jokes.

"Where are your parents, kiddo?" Casey wonders but the kid seems to ignore Casey and he leaps towards Spencer, wanting to touch his hair. "Uh, you know what? Maybe not." Spencer backs away from the kid when a woman quickly approaches and grabs the kid.

"No, no, no, no. Don't touch this guy. We don't know him. Seriously, dude?" The woman questions and Casey is quick to come to Spencer's defense. "Hey, the kid approached us. We were worried he was lost."

Casey grabs Chris's hand and his food and they quickly turn to see that the woman has someone with her now. A man that Casey actually recognized as well as Spencer and Christopher.

"Isaac?"

The man turns back to Casey and he furrows his brows. "Casey?"

"Uncle Isaac!" Christopher cheers as he goes in to tackle his uncle with a hug. "Ooh— Hi, Christopher." Isaac says awkwardly as the young boy holds at him and he then looks at the two adults in front of him. The woman next to him points towards the adults. "Wait, you know them?"

Spencer is quick to chime in. "Of course he knows us. This is his sister." He motions to Casey. The woman turns to Isaac. "I thought you said you didn't have any siblings besides Leah."

Casey feels a jab at the heart as she scoffs it off. "Wow." I could see why he didn't bring me up but that just hurt.

"Look, I'll explain later. Let's just go." Isaac tugs towards the woman next to him and the young boy next to her.

"Wait, Isaac!" Casey goes to chase after him as they pass by the food trucks and towards them, Isaac's car and a tow-truck service as Isaac is quick to exclaim. "Oh, no, no, no! Wait, stop!" He shouts.

"No, we were just there for 30 seconds!" The woman next to him tells.

The man in charge of the tow-truck service looks at Isaac and the woman. "Signs are clearly posted, and once the wheels are off the pavement, it's going to the impound lot."

"Uh, excuse me. I, uh, I work for the FBI." Spencer holds his badge up. "Do you think there's any chance you could maybe show them some professional courtesy?"

The man looks at Spencer. "Are you ordering me to let it go?" He questions. "No, no." Spencer shakes his head. "'Cause if you are, that's a violation of title 5 code of federal rules. If you're trying to intimidate me, pal, that ship has sailed."

Casey pulls out her badge as well. "Listen, I can assure you he isn't trying to intimidate you. We completely understand that you're just doing your job, but, I mean, it's a family and their kid."

Isaac and the woman quickly shake their heads. "Oh, no, we've only been dating for..." The woman looks at Isaac as she answers with a shrugs, "A few months..."

"And they're not my parents," the kid chimes in. "She's my aunt. You didn't know that."

The man a part of the tow-truck service hands Isaac a ticket. "Address is on the form." With that, the man leaves in his own vehicle and Isaac sighs. "Jesus, I can't afford another ticket. This is just great."

"Well, looks like we're just gonna walk home. Come on." Isaac tells, looking at the woman and her nephew.

"Isaac, can we please just talk?" Casey questions and Spencer is quick to stop in front of the three before they leave. "Hey, just wait a second." Spencer tells. "Spencer—" Isaac tries but Spencer immediately interrupts him. "No."

"Dude—"
"Isaac, you've avoided this long enough. Casey's been wanting to talk to you forever now. She wants to make things right. And you can choose to walk away right now and I will not stop you but know this: not a day goes by that she doesn't think about Leah. She thinks about her everyday. And obviously she felt a lot of guilt for what happened. But that doesn't mean you should blame her for everything and carry about your life. But if you want to do that, fine, go ahead. You can spend the rest of your life wishing you had that conversation."

With that, Spencer walks towards Casey and Christopher and they both begin to walk away before the woman with Isaac calls to them. "He'll do it. He'll talk to her." Isaac looks at the woman like she's crazy and he doesn't agree to it.

Isaac and the woman both have a small conversation before Isaac takes a big sigh and nods, "Fine." The woman walks towards Casey. "I'm Max, by the way. I would say I've heard a lot about you but I, uh, actually haven't." She shakes Casey's hand. "Nice to meet you." Casey tells.

"Max, this is Casey... my sister..." He hesitates a bit as he says that. "And her..." He pauses as he looks at Spencer. "Boyfriend, I'm assuming?" The man next to Casey nods. "Spencer. And Christopher, their son."

"This is my girlfriend, Max and... her nephew, Sammy." Isaac introduces and everyone stands awkwardly in front of one another.

                Now, I kind of wish we did have a case, Casey thinks in her head.

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          Max had suggested that Isaac talk things out with Casey and she actually encouraged the conversation instead of going against it. Mostly because she just didn't know the whole story. Spencer had spent his time watching Chris as Max watched Sammy and they nonchalantly chatted.

           Isaac and Casey sat themselves over at a bench, one each side of it, almost as if they're trying to sit as far away from each other as they can. They sit there in silence for such a long amount of time and Casey decides to spark up conversation.

"So, how'd you meet Max?" Casey wonders. "Uh, Sammy is a student in my class. He was uh, having trouble with bullies and uh, Max was the one who talked to me and we just... hit it off."

"I'm glad you have someone." Casey nodded at him and he shrugged, "Yeah." He turns towards the ground. "I think about Leah sometimes, you know. She'd want me to be happy."

There's a pause at the brief mention of Leah and Casey sighs as she turns to Isaac. "Do you still blame me?" She wondered. "For her being gone?" Isaac stiffens. "Is that why you haven't said anything to me in over a year?"

"Will you just let that go, Casey?" Isaac turns to the woman and Casey shakes her head. "I can't let that go. I think about her every damn day. You blamed me for it."

"No. I just..." Isaac sighs as he turns to the sky. "I didn't know what to say. So I just blamed you. But it wasn't even your fault. I don't even know why I said that. I think I just... needed someone to blame at the time. For Leah's dying. And I didn't know who so I just pointed fingers."

Casey takes another breath as she admits to Isaac, "I don't blame you for saying it. Hell, I would've blamed me, too. You lost a sister... but Isaac, so did I. Granted, we didn't grow up together but... goddamn it, you guys are two of the most important people to me beside Spencer and Chris. And then I lost Leah and... that nearly killed me. And I understand if you can't forgive me."

"I know you and I weren't as close as Leah and I were. And how Leah and you were. I just wish this would've brought us closer than drive us apart." Casey admits.

Isaac sniffles and chuckles to himself. "She was always the people pleaser. She was better at accepting you than I was. She was... just better. I just... wondered how a good person just... dies."

"I wish she was here," Casey feels tears in her eyes as well. "I wish she could help us figure this out. Maybe knock our heads together or something." Casey wouldn't say it but in a weird way, she felt like Leah was there with them, helping them through this difficult conversation.

"She is," Isaac says. "I feel her. All the time. It's like she never left. And part of it comforts to know... that she's with our mom. And yours. And that's she's okay."

Casey puts a comforting hand on her brother's shoulder. "I'm sorry you lost her, Isaac." Isaac puts a hand on Casey's knee. "I'm sorry you lost her, too." In a way, it felt like this was Isaac's way of just saying sorry in general. Sorry for everything.

All that was needed was a long talk and Leah guiding them through the difficult notion of a long talk. And right now, it was what was needed and all to bare. Casey was happy that things turned out okay and that as soon as they got through the difficult pasture, they were able to open up more to one another about other things.

"So... you and Spencer are back together."

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After that, Isaac and his girlfriend, Max ended up walking back to Isaac's place together, leaving the Reid-Willows together with a promised play date between Isaac and Christopher and a double-date with Isaac, Max, Spencer and Casey.

Both Spencer and Casey decided that they were both hungry so they stopped by a pretzel stand to get themselves and Christopher one. Casey noticed Spencer zoning out a few times and she decided to ask, "Something on your mind? Penny for your thoughts?" Casey holds a penny up as Spencer takes it into his hands.

"I'm just wondering why I keep having that nightmare." Spencer admits. "Yeah, you never did tell me what it was about. Care to share?" Spencer motions to the six year-old with selective hearing. Casey narrows her eyes and motions that he's playing with his toys. "He's a six-year old. He hears enough."

Spencer clears his throat as he begins to tell Casey about the nightmare. He tells her that it starts with with a whole group of people dead at the BAU and he's the last one standing. He stands before an giant unsub with an axe and right as he goes to shoot him down, he has no bullets.

            "And then the axe comes down and—" He says thank you to the man at the pretzel stand. "I wake up." Casey thinks to herself, getting out years worth of AP Psychology back in high school out of her head. "Okay, so the guy with the axe, do you recognize him?" She wonders.

           Spencer shakes his head, "No, it's like an anonymous face." Casey sighs, "Babe, I think something at work is really stressing you out. I don't think I've ever seen you have actual night terrors like last night."

          "I mean, over a month ago, I did think that Luke got blown up by a mail bomb. Then the week before that, you were shot and put into a coma. Weekend before that, you and I were in a hostage situation. And then a few weeks ago, the elevator thing and then after that, you getting hypothermia, so yeah, I, uh, I think you might be right about the job being stressful. But why is it getting more to me than to you?" Spencer wondered.

         Casey shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe it's the compartmentalization thing. Ever since Leah, I guess, I've just been... numb. But this isn't about me. More about you. What's that, um, that hormone that gets released, the fight or flight thing... cortisol. It seems to me you have to find a way to ignore that at work just like I ignore it." Spencer thinks to himself.

         "Remember when you were a kid? You could just get on your bike and just ride until you had to come home for dinner?" Casey wondered.
         Spencer nodded, "Conceptually, yes, but practically, no." Casey chuckled, "Right, wrong example. Okay, but look, you understand that people don't really do that anymore because somewhere along the way, something got lost?"

         "Trust?"
         "Yeah, exactly."

         Suddenly, from the corner of Casey's eyes, she spots that the sprinklers have just gone off and decides to point innocently on the ground, "Ooh, look, magic penny." Spencer furrows his brows as he looks at the ground, gullibly. "What do you mean?"

           "I mean, this!" Casey smirks as she shoves Spencer towards the sprinklers and he falls on the ground as both Christopher and Casey laugh at him. "Oh, man. Not funny!" Spencer groans. "Worth it, though!" Casey shouts.

            Spencer gets up and rushes towards Casey and Christopher and the two shriek and he picks both of them up in each arm and runs through the sprinklers with them. They scream and shout but it's all in good fun.

           As Christopher runs around the sprinklers, Casey and Spencer share a loving kiss before going to chase their son around in the park. And for the first time in a long time, they have begun to feel like a real little family again.

           Of course, the fun did have to end when the sprinklers finally turned off and the family was soaked. They ended up stopping by a stand Washington DC souvenir merch and getting sweatshirts to change into that were far too big for their liking. Christopher had gotten a small women's sweatshirt just because it was the only smaller size they had available.

Spencer puts on a hoodie and shirt that's about three times his size and as he puts it on, he goes, "You know, I don't normally wear stuff like this, but I think I look pretty cool. Don't you?"

Casey nods, smiling at the fact that after years, she's finally seen Spencer in a sweatshirt and t-shirt combo. "Yeah, I think, uh, triple-X is a good look for you." She tells.

"What about me? With the 2XL women's sweatshirt?" Casey poses jokingly. "You look good in anything." Spencer tells, genuinely.

"And what about me?" Christopher asks, as he swings the sleeves around that don't even fit through his tiny arms. "And I think you need an even smaller size, buddy." Casey jokes as she ruffles her son's hair and he smiles at his mother.

Suddenly, Spencer's and Casey's phones go off and Casey's eyebrows raise as she gasps, "Kristy's in labor! We should stop by at the hospital!" Spencer looks at his son. "You feeling up to getting a new cousin today, Chris?" He asks. "Yeah!" Chris tells.

With that, Spencer, Casey and Christopher head to the hospital. When they walk in, Casey's holding Chris at her hip and everyone else is already there. "Anything?" Spencer asks and Casey follows with, "At all?"

"No, not yet." Tara answers. "You guys going for a new family look?" Rossi jokes, seeing their outfits all together. "Of course, you wanna try to out-family the families on the team." Erik jokes.

"Oh, please, Matt and Kristy already out-familied us with five kids, now." Casey tells. "Well, there's always room for another one." Spencer stated and Casey looks at the man, knowing what he's hinting to and she smiles. "Hm, maybe I'll take you up on that offer." Spencer smiles back at Casey.

When the time comes, Matt comes out into the waiting room and announces, "It's a girl." Everyone cheers and Casey goes in to hug Matt to congratulate him as well as Garcia. "Finally, a girl! We have too many boys here." Casey tells.

"Hey!" Chris pouts.
"Oh, no offense, bud." Casey says as she ruffles her son's hair and he breaks out into a smile.

"What's her name?" JJ asks. "Her name is Rose Mary Simmons. Closest we could get to Rossi." Matt says and Rossi goes to hug Matt and kiss him on both cheeks. Casey feels herself almost tearing up as well as JJ and Emily on her right side. "It's a beautiful name, and it goes with her rose-red crib." Rossi tells.

"When can we meet her?" Emily wonders. "Right now. Kristy can't wait to show her off." Matt tells. "Yay!" Casey smiles as everyone heads into that delivery room to meet little Rose Simmons.

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             After meeting the baby, the family headed to their vehicle, leaving the hospital. "Anything you wanna do when we get home, bud?" Spencer wonders and suddenly, Chris yanks at his dad's sweatshirt and pulls him down so he can whisper in his ear.

           "How about..." Spencer pauses and Casey furrows her brows. "We make a pillow fort..." Spencer looks down at his son and asks — "On our bed?"

Casey tilts her head towards her son. "It's more comfy." Christopher shrugs and Casey chuckles and looks at Spencer, "Pillow fort it is." She says.

           Once they had gotten home, Casey had Christopher change into his pajamas and brush his teeth and while they was happening, Casey and Spencer were getting the pillow fort ready.

           With Spencer's degree in engineering, of course he knew how to build a perfectly structured pillow fort. And of course, he succeeded and Casey decided to surprise Christopher with it by closing his eyes and then opening them.

           The first thing Chris noticed were the fairy lights around the sheets the pillows stacked everywhere. As soon as Christopher settled into their bed with them, he was out like a light, he was sprawled in between them on each side of the bed.

Spencer and Casey said nothing. All they did was watch Christopher sleep in between them, wanting nothing more than this moment right now. He was theirs. And they were so grateful for this little boy in between them, wondering just how they got so lucky with him.

          Finally, Casey broke the silence in a small whisper and said, "He's looks like you when he's asleep." Spencer smiles to himself and rests his head against the palm of his hand, much like Casey is doing right now. "I still think he looks like you." Spencer admits.

         "I didn't sleep as easy as he does, though." Casey points out, caressing Chris's cheek with the back of her index finger. "Remember how hard it would be for me to fall asleep when we started dating?"

         Spencer nods. Back when they started dating, Casey had so much trouble sleeping that Spencer always needed to read to her to bed, much like Chris needed as he grew up. 

         "Oh, I think you were worse than him." Spencer admits and Casey shrugged in agreement, "I always did have trouble. I remember on the really really bad nights, you'd read me probably like three books you memorized?"

        Spencer chuckled, "We wouldn't go to bed until six in the morning."

         There's a long pause and it's mostly filled with Casey staring down at her son in happiness. Spencer's eyes are more fixated on his girlfriend at the moment. He had then realized that he spent most of his time reading more to Chris than to Casey ever since he was born and it was okay, of course, the young boy needed that but Spencer also realized that Casey may have needed that over time as well.

         "It's been a while since I read to you, huh?" Spencer asks and Casey looks at him and thinks for a second, "Why don't we make up for lost time?" She winks at him. "Tell me a story."

"Are you sure?" Spencer asks.
"Of course, I'm sure."

Spencer looks up in thought, wondering a story for him to tell her. "Okay, um... hmm." He bites his lip in concentration but it doesn't take long for him to think quickly. Casey smiles once she sees he's figured it out.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was easily the most beautiful princess in the entire universe. In every universe, actually." Spencer says and these few sentences have Casey blushing like an innocent schoolgirl. "And the princess had this pretty smart guy of a friend who was... in love with her the minute he saw her. I mean, he didn't know it at the time, but he was."

Spencer thinks of the past as he tells this story and smiles at how much they've both changed since then. And how it was so obvious how in love they were but they were the only ones that just didn't see it until later. "She was the first person to ever really see him for him. She'd let him ramble about some irrelevant topic, she'd defend him. She was just... awesome in his eyes. But although the guy was smart, he never actually had the brains or the guts to ever ask her out because he was, well, intimidated by her."

Casey tilts her head forward and narrows her eyes at Spencer. "See, the princess was stubborn. So stubborn to the point that she was also oblivious." She playfully hits Spencer across the bed, making sure not to wake Chris up while she does it as well. "It's true!" Spencer whispers harshly as he stifles a laugh.
Casey chuckles as she shakes her head at the man. "Continue."

"So, the princess didn't see this for a really really long time. She'd often find herself looking for a prince all around their kingdom. And she ran into a few suitors but none of them made her feel what her friend always tried to make her feel. Special, loved, cared for." Spencer continued. "Until, finally... she realized what she had felt for her friend. So, she stormed out of the castle and ran nearly three blocks to go and find him and tell him how she truly felt. So, with that, they kissed and spent the rest of their days together."

Casey found herself yawning as she leaned against the pillow and closed her eyes. "And they lived happily ever after?" She wondered but it seemed that she was too sleepy to know the answer.

But Spencer knew that she knew the answer to that and she didn't even need to hear it from him. But nonetheless, Spencer faintly spoke, "Yeah, they did."

And with that, the little family fell asleep in the bed. Right before he went to bed, Spencer closed his eyes, feeling grateful for these moments shared with his girlfriend and son. He wouldn't want it any other way. Their one little day off was a day he's wanted with his family for a while now.

And finally, that night, Spencer didn't wake up in the middle of the night due to a waking nightmare. This time, he dreamt soundly.

hey lovelies!
i hope you guys really liked this one i'm really happy with how it came out hehe

and good news folks
more fluff is heading your way with another fluffy original
i feel like it's gonna be more of a blurb than an actual chapter but i feel like y'all need it after everything i've put y'all through

no meme but loOK AT HIM

LOOK AT HOW CUTE HE LOOKS DHSHAJAKKE
THATS MY MAN LOOKING SO CUTE AND FINE AND FLUFFY ANFGDHWJRH🤭

anywayssss
thank you for reading
i love you all
-mya </333

p.s. we should've had more of these kind of episodes dawg