Months had gone by since the last time Derek Morgan had seen his best friend. He'd missed the kid a lot more than he'd expected during that time – and he'd known he'd miss him if he wasn't around. There was just something about Spencer that got underneath the skin of pretty much everyone he met. Whether for good or bad was hit or miss. People either loved him or they hated him. Rarely had Derek seen a middle ground. Really, though, it mystified him that anyone could ever hate the awkward little genius. Sure, he could get annoying at times when he got a little too caught up in information and forgot that not everyone wanted to know the history of the pocket watch or something else equally ridiculous. But actually getting mad at him? It just didn't work for Derek.

However, he hadn't realized just how big a part of his life Spencer had become until the kid wasn't around anymore. The few phone calls that they managed to get in weren't enough. Derek had missed seeing him. He'd missed looking over at him during a case and seeing him bent over a map with a marker hanging from his lips and long fingers stained from the color of his other markers. He missed the lunches that the team shared together and watching as some of the shy Dr. Reid gave way to their friend, Spencer. He missed movie nights at his place, or dragging Spencer out somewhere. Hell, he even missed his ramblings.

The team wasn't just a group of people thrown together for work. They were a family. And without one of their members, that family felt slightly empty.

Still, when he'd envisioned that family member's return, it hadn't looked anything like this.

Derek still sort of felt like he was drifting in a state of shock. One that he'd been in ever since Spencer had appeared out of nowhere and came crashing to the ground right in the middle of Derek's living room floor. He thought to himself that the only reason he was managing to function beyond that shock was because he'd never been able to resist his instincts or urges to protect when it came to Spencer, and hearing the genius ask for help had set all those instincts off. It put Derek in a sort of autopilot. Spencer was hurt, terrified, mostly incoherent, and obviously in danger – the rest of it could come later.

He wasn't that surprised when Spencer refused a hospital. So Derek did the only thing he could think of to do. He called Aaron, had his Unit Chief gather their team, and then they all met up somewhere safe and secluded – one of Derek's private properties that he was still in the process of renovating. Together, the team would be able to figure out what was going on.

That had been the plan. Those clear set goals were the only thing that kept the panic and the questions at bay long enough for Derek to get them to the house.

But now they were here, all of them, gathered together in the living room of this halfway renovated house, and they were as safe as they could be for the moment. It was time for some answers.

There was no furniture here, so the group had to spread out on the floor. It seemed sort of strange to see Aaron Hotchner seated cross-legged on the floor. Almost as strange as it was to see Dave Rossi that way. Emily and JJ both looked more comfortable in their positions, as did Penelope.

Spencer looked miserable.

He was wrapped up in the blanket that Derek had grabbed for him before they left the house. He held it around himself now like a shield, his body curled up tight underneath it. Even across the room it was easy to see the way he was trembling. His eyes were wide and carried a panicked look that reminded Derek far too much of watching the kid on a video stream while the team was too far away to help and a crazy Unsub had stood there with a gun pointed at Spencer's head. Only there was no gun here now. None that Derek could see. So what had scared him so much?

"Spence," JJ's voice was soft and gentle, obviously pitched so as to try not to scare the man any more than he already was. "What's going on?"

A shudder ran down Spencer's body that shook him so badly it looked like he might actually fall over. Wide brown eyes looked up through a screen of hair and it wasn't JJ that they sought out. They moved past everyone to finally land on Derek, who stood against the far wall. "I'm sorry." The words were barely a croak, so hoarse and full of some sort of pain that it took everything Derek had not to just go over there and wrap the kid up – and really, in that moment he looked more like a kid than Derek could ever remember seeing – and just tell him that it was okay. That everything was going to be okay.

However, the memory of him suddenly appearing in the middle of the room, of him landing hard and crashing in a tangle of limbs, was still burned into Derek's mind. He couldn't chase that image away. And though he wanted to trust his friend, wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, he needed some answers first. He needed to understand. Because… because people didn't do things like that. People couldn't appear out of nowhere. "What are you?" In contrast to Spencer's aching voice, Derek's was almost flat, all emotion held back. He was afraid to let any of it out yet for fear that he wouldn't be able to contain himself once he did. He needed to… he needed answers. "You appeared out of thin air in the middle of my living room, Reid. I'm not crazy, I know I saw that. So tell me, what are you?"

Everyone else was looking back and forth between the two now with concern – concern for Derek.

Spencer, on the other hand, closed his eyes and shuddered once more. What he said next had all eyes in the room back on him. "What do you know about the supernatural?"

"What?"

There was no telling who'd asked that question. It sounded around them in more than one voice. But not a single one of them took their eyes off Spencer. Derek, more than the others, was staring hard. He'd been the one to see Spencer appear out of nowhere. He was the one who'd seen him land hard enough that it should've broken bones.

"I've always been different." Spencer said slowly. One hand came out of the top of the blanket just enough to wipe at his face. In that moment, Derek thought that he didn't look like a kid anymore – he looked almost, old. There were lines on his face that his friend didn't think had been there before. And there was something in his eyes that reminded Derek of some of the profilers he'd trained under at the academy, some of the veterans that had stopped by. The look that said he'd seen so much in his life, more than any of them could comprehend. Seeing that look on Spencer was stunning.

Spencer blew out a breath and withdrew the rest of his arm from the blankets. "You all know that I'm different. I just didn't realize why that was until I was home visiting mom and I found some people who could give me some answers about who I am. About what I am."

"You said you found out you have family you didn't know about." Derek said slowly. Wasn't that what Spencer had said?

The young genius nodded. "I wasn't lying. I did. But with that, I found out what I am."

"What…" Penelope repeated the word, her confusion clear in her voice and on her face. "Reid, what're you talking about?"

Another soft flinch made Spencer look smaller. "I'm not crazy." He told her, though she hadn't said that he was. We were thinking it, though, Derek thought to himself. I bet all of us were. Spencer had probably read it on their faces. He was certainly watching them now with something sad on his expression. "I'm really not, guys. Maybe it would be easier if I was. But I understand that you guys won't believe me without proof. I just," He paused and Derek swore he could actually see him swallow down the lump in his throat. When he spoke again his voice was whisper soft. "I hope you all won't hate me when I'm done."

No one got a chance to react to that. Spencer lifted the hand that was free from his blankets and held it up in the air in front of him. Then – he snapped.

The whole room around them changed. Derek's eyes went wide and he stared around him with stunned shock. The others were reacting the same, he knew, yet he paid them no mind. His eyes traveled over the wall that had been broken moments ago, halfway repaired, and which was now whole. The broken fireplace was perfectly done up in brick and stone and now had a fire roaring in it. Where there had been no furniture before, there was now a coffee table surrounded by seven comfortable looking armchairs – and each of them was now seated in one of those chairs.

"What…what the hell…"

Whichever one of them said that, Derek echoed the sentiment. His hands clenched down on the chair – it's real, it's really a chair right under me, Reid made a chair and put me in it with a snap of his freaking fingers! – and he gaped at the kid he'd thought he'd known.

Spencer, though still slightly shaky, looked at them from where he sat curled up in his own chair. His eyes had that aged look to them still and there was a sadness there, one that Derek had never seen so openly before. "I know it's hard to believe." Spencer said softly. "But I'm not going to hurt you. In a way, I'm still the same kid that you knew before. There's just, more to me than there was before."

"What are you?" Emily breathed out.

Spencer turned to look at him. Then he said the words that would change everything. "I'm part angel."

What came next was a conversation Derek had never in his wildest dreams imagined that he would be a part of. Spencer laid everything out for them in simple and easy terms. The supernatural world, his telekinesis as a child, his ability to see other creatures… and finding out that he was part angel. He told them all of it. Derek had no doubt there were a few things left out – mostly, the actual names of any of the beings he was talking about – but in the scheme of things that didn't matter. There was so much else it was almost too much to take in. Too much for Derek's brain to process. Angels, monsters, demons, the Apocalypse, the Devil.

When he was done, it wasn't hard to see just how scared he was. His hands were clenched in his lap and he stared down at them, no longer looking up at the stunned profilers watching him. "You don't have to believe me." Spencer whispered softly. "I… I know how this sounds. I could prove it and snap up thing after thing for you to show you more of my powers. I could even try to, to show you my wings, though I'm not sure I have the control to manifest them right now. But I swear to you, all of you, I'm not lying to you."

"You're telling us you're…" Dave paused, obviously gathering himself a little before he finished, "…part angel?"

Licking his lips, Spencer nodded. He shrugged his shoulder in a way that was probably meant to be casual and yet fell so far from the mark. "Mostly angel, really. My ol'alihm says I've grown so much I'm about ninety percent angel, maybe a little more, with just a sliver of human in me. Just enough to have a soul. He calls me a fledgling, but there's not really a name for what I am." He closed his eyes tight and let out a shaky breath. "Some things never change, I guess. I'm still a freak."

For some reason, that last shaky sentence worked like a bucket of cold water over Derek. Maybe it was the pain he could hear in it. Maybe it was just how often he'd heard Spencer put himself down in the past and how much he'd always hated it, how he'd always tried to argue it. Or maybe it was just something familiar and something easy for him to focus on amidst all this other stuff. But it worked to clear his head like nothing else so far and it had him glaring over at his friend. "You're not a freak. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Spencer looked up with surprise, and it hurt a little to see just how shocked he was by Derek's defense. Like he hadn't really believed that Derek would argue for him. As if this was going to somehow change how all of them felt about him. "Morgan, this is a bit more than being smarter than the kids around me. There isn't even a real name for what I am."

"Who you are is Spencer Reid. I don't care if you can snap up food or sprout wings or freaking fly up to the moon!" As he said those words, they clicked deep inside Derek, pushing away some of the fear and doubt and uncertainty that had built through Spencer's stories. The words steadied him a little, giving his voice more strength. There was a truth in them that was undeniable. No matter what else he said, no matter what else was going on, there was a truth here that Derek couldn't deny. "You're Spencer Reid and you've been my best friend for years. This… this doesn't change that."

"He's right." Aaron said.

His voice seemed to surprise Spencer more than anyone else's. It kind of surprise Derek, too. If he'd had to pick someone to not believe, it would've been Aaron. Yet the Unit Chief was looking at Spencer with a calm look that showed no hint of fear or doubt.

Spencer bit the inside of his cheek. "Hotch?"

"You're still Reid to us." Aaron told him. "I'm not saying that this isn't a giant reality check, or something that we're going to have to think on, but none of us can deny the proof right in front of our faces. We can't deny that you're different. But you've always been a bit different, Reid. That's never stopped us from caring about you before."

"He's right, Spence." JJ agreed. She was leaning forward, her arms coming to rest on her thighs and her hands dangling down between her knees. "You're still family."

That sentiment was echoed quickly by Emily and Penelope.

The only one who hadn't spoken yet was Dave. He was new to the family and the only one here who hadn't ever met Spencer before. He didn't know him, didn't know the kid that they'd known before. And if Derek had known that tonight was going to be such a big reveal, he never would've had the man come. Yet he was here now and he'd sat here quietly with them all through the whole story. Everyone was turning to glance his way now and he didn't seem the least bit bothered by it. Sitting back in his chair, one ankle resting on the opposite knee, he watched Spencer like one would study an interesting book. After a long pause in which every eye turned his way, he finally spoke. "You know, I've see a lot in my years at the Bureau. A lot of things that I couldn't explain." Pausing, Dave brought a hand up to rub at his beard. "I've always known there were things out there I couldn't explain. To me, angels have always been real. It's not a hard jump to believe that I could be sitting in front of one. Especially after the little display you put on." His hand went out to gesture to all the things that Spencer had done with his snap. "It's an insane story, I'll grant you that much, but I find myself believing it. I've been reading people longer than any of you have had your jobs and there's not a thing I can see on you that says that you're lying."

It seemed like a bit of Spencer's tension faded away at that. Like he actually deflated somewhat. "Thank you, Agent Rossi."

"Dave." He was corrected gently yet firmly. "Call me Dave."

"Only if you call me Spencer."

Dave smiled at him. "Of course." He gave a small nod of agreement. "Now, Spencer. Like I said, I see nothing on you to suggest you're lying. But I do see something else." Pausing, he tilted his head a little and all of them carefully watched the scene unfolding between them. "You're running. You crash landed in Morgan's house and then let him bring you here and you willingly told us all of this, something that I have a feeling you would've otherwise fought to keep a secret. That and the terrified way you've been acting – that tells me you're running. So," Pushing forward in his chair, Dave rested his forearms on his thighs and clasped his hands together in front of him, that so serious look of his fixed firmly on Spencer. "What're you running from, Spencer?"

"You're all safe." Spencer blurted out immediately. "I warded this place as soon as we got in here. No one, not any person or supernatural creature, can see in here."

"That's good, but that's not what I asked." Dave said.

It was like Spencer deflated once more. Shadows showed in his eyes for a brief moment before he bowed his head and his bangs came down once more. "Everything." The genius whispered. "I'm running from everything. I don't… I don't know what to do anymore. There's so much… so many things riding on me… I don't know what to do."

"Tell us what's going on." Derek said softly.

With one last sigh, Spencer did exactly that.