A/N In this story Spencer's middle name is Reid and it was also Carolyn Rossi's Maiden name.

Spencer Reid Rossi loved his parents he really did but sometimes he couldn't stand them. It was hard being their son because sometimes nothing seemed good enough for them. He knew why, he knew they loved him, but he also knew that they always compared him to the ghost of James. Would James have been like him, better, worse? It was hard to live in the shadow of the ghost of a sibling you'd never met. So he pushed himself to be better to be smarter, but with every grade he skipped and degree he earned he saw that flash of what if on his parents face.

He followed his father's foot steps into the BAU all his father did was pat him on the back and say good luck. Not that he and his father were super close. No that was more him and his mother his father was to busy chasing down ghost of cases past and ghost of his own past. To busy marrying wife after wife. Just to busy over all. After he'd retired from the BAU Spencer had hoped that it would change that there would be more time. It hadn't panned out that way though. His dad had went from Top BAU to best selling Author traveling the world.

So Spencer kept in contact with his mother and he buried himself in his work and he lied about his name because being a genius with an IQ of 187 with an eidetic

memory and more degrees then most of the department combined already set him apart made him different he didn't want his last name to get in the way too. So he went by his middle name his mother's maiden name. He knew it pissed his father off and maybe just maybe that's why he did it

Only two people knew who he really was at the BAU Jason Gideon and Aaron Hotchner. He'd known Jason his whole life. Aaron he'd met well he was visiting his father in Settle during a case years back. He'd been fifteen at the time and hadn't thought much about the older man. It wasn't until a year later when Aaron as he'd been told to call him came to DC and joined the BAU that Spencer really started to get to know him. not well as he'd been in California but he'd see him when he'd come home for visits. A tentative friendship formed between the two of them. where Jason Gideon was more a paternal figure. Aaron Hotchner was more of a best friend. So it was odd when at 21 after being Friends with Aaron Hotchner for years. After his father had retired. Spencer Joined the BAU and Aaron Hotchner or Hotch as he now called him was his boss.

Hotch and Gideon kept his secrets. Haley Hotch's wife kept his secrets. He felt bad lying to Morgan, Garcia and JJ but he just didn't want anyone else to know to connect him. to think he'd gotten into the BAU because of Nepotism.

He wanted them to see him for him. Not for his father. There was a lot about Spencer Reid that his co-workers at the BAU didn't know. And his name wasn't even the most surprising. No the most surprising was no matter how he and Hotch were in the field in the office. They were still best friends outside. NO one would believe it some wouldn't even believe it if they saw it with their own eyes. This is the story of Spencer Reid Rossi and Aaron Hotchner. Best friends to lovers. No one saw this coming especially not his father.