Strength of the Pack - Section Four

[welfycat]

Back to the Master Post





Section Four

Derek was used to the sound of the phone ringing in the middle of the night, and had long ago learned to start getting dressed while the section chief or the director explained why their presence was needed immediately. He turned on the lamp and swung his feet out of bed, still waking up as he listened to Aaron's half of the conversation.

"We'll be there as soon as possible," Aaron said into his cellphone before hanging up and rubbing his eyes. "Men are being kidnapped in central Chicago. They are held and tortured for two days before being killed and then their bodies are dumped in the streets. They just found the body of the fifth victim."

"Dumped in the streets and nobody's seen this guy?" Derek asked as grabbed his cellphone off the nightstand. "I'll get JJ, you get Gideon?"

"Have her bring Garcia in as well. I want her on the surveillance footage as soon as possible," Aaron said as he held his phone up to his ear again. He got out of bed and walked towards the closet. "Jason, we've got a case."

Derek glanced at the clock, deciding that five hours of sleep was going to have to be enough for the next thirty six. Chicago was only a short flight on the jet and they'd barely have enough time to brief before they got there. He pressed JJ's assigned number on his cellphone and reached for his watch while it rang.

"Agent Jareau speaking," JJ said, sounding not entirely awake.

"We've got a case. The jet is leaving in about forty-five minutes," Derek said, automatically calculating how long it would take everyone to get to the airfield from their homes. "Have Garcia come in too. All hands on deck. I'll forward the pertinent information to your phone."

JJ was silent for a moment before answering. "We'll be right there," she said before hanging up.

Derek couldn't help his small smile at the reminder that JJ was not a morning person and probably wouldn't be fully awake until they were sitting on the jet with the case files. "Nothing like home for the holidays," he said to Aaron as he glanced down at the calendar on his cellphone. With five days until Christmas he might as well go see his family for a few hours when the case wrapped up.

"Are you going to be alright?" Aaron asked, turning from where he was adjusting his tie in the mirror.

Derek got up and walked over to Aaron, straightening his tie for him. "Of course. It will be good to see my mom and my sisters."

"What about your old pack?" Aaron asked, his hands on Derek's shoulders preventing Derek from slipping away.

"They weren't my pack. You're my pack," Derek said. He placed a kiss on Aaron's lips before pulling away. He went into the bathroom before Aaron could pursue the matter, doing his best not to focus on his reflection in the mirror as he shaved.

*****

Derek stood at Aaron's side as they waited in the lobby of the Central Chicago Police Department, the rest of the pack gathered quietly behind them. Aaron had stopped the entire pack just before they'd disembarked the jet, reminding them that there was a local wolf pack who worked for the police department and that they were stay together until they had been permission to be on the local pack's territory. He had paused, his frown enough to warn them that he was completely serious, before going on to say that they were all to remain alert and with another member of their own pack at all times when possible.

It wasn't a reminder that any of them needed, except for Spencer. He had looked intrigued about the possibility of meeting another pack. The pack had worked cases in Chicago before, they knew they lay of the land and they knew about Derek's personal connection to the pack that was part of the local police force. None of them were thrilled about being there again but they had a case that couldn't be ignored.

"I've set up a conference room for your team and arranged to have the city traffic surveillance accessed through our systems here in the department," Chief Davis said, glancing over his shoulder with an air of impatience. "I'll bring you there myself as soon as these formalities are finished. You have my word that Detective Miller and his team will not interfere with your team or your investigation in any way. I removed them from the case as soon as I requested your presence here."

Derek watched as Aaron nodded with only the slightest tension in his jaw to indicate exactly what he thought of the local pack. Detective Miller should have been there to greet them immediately; this was a power play to make them wait at the edge of the pack's territory. Derek suspected he was part of the reason, but mostly it because Miller couldn't deny their pack entrance. Chief Davis could rebuke Miller for being tardy and delaying their work on the case, but the message was loud and clear.

Derek could practically feel his skin crawling and he was certain that it wasn't just his irritation at being back in the territory of his former pack. Garcia had insisted on coming along, stating that the traffic surveillance systems would be far easier for her access and interface with inside the city itself. Aaron had only considered her for a moment before allowing her to come on the case. Derek wasn't sure if Garcia had wanted to come because she was worried about Derek returning to Chicago, or if she had sensed the pack's unease and didn't want separate herself from them.

Between having Garcia and Spencer with them, Derek felt every protective urge in his body practically thrumming in alarm as he tracked the members of the Chicago pack in the area around them. He could sense twelve pack members in the immediate area, although only four were on the police force, and he was uneasy with the growth in their pack since he'd last been in Chicago. There would be cubs in the city as well, maybe nearly as many as there were fully grown wolves on the pack. Derek was fighting the edge of panic. His pack was outnumbered and trapped.

Spencer took a step closer to him, his hand brushing against Derek's in what could have been an accident, but Derek thought not. Derek smiled as reassuringly as he could, realizing that Spencer was responding to Derek's own unspoken distress.

Aaron tensed when a door at the side of the lobby opened and Derek automatically stepped to the side so that he was blocking Spencer, Garcia, and JJ from the members of the pack that had just entered the room. Gideon stepped even with Derek's other side and Derek found himself slightly stunned at how relieved his was to have Gideon there.

"Agent Hotchner," Detective Miller said as he stepped so that he was directly in front of Hotch, two of his pack flanking either side.

"Detective Miller. I trust you and your pack are well," Aaron said. He was the very picture of a proper pack leader.

Miller's eyes flickered to Derek before he responded. "And yours."

"We request access to your territory. My pack is my own and I carry full responsibility for them. We will cause no trouble for you and yours, nor trespass upon your grounds without cause," Aaron said formally.

"I've met most of your pack before and understand them to be honorable shifters. However, you have a new member traveling with you." Miller zeroed in on Spencer. "I would like to see him for myself."

"He's just a cub," Derek said, immediately finding himself fighting the urge to shift. The urge wasn't uncontrollable, and Derek knew that he couldn't shift here if they were going to take this case, but he desperately wanted to protect the pack from someone who was nearly the very definition of threat to his senses.

Aaron met Derek's eyes, the warning implicit, before looking back to Spencer. "Step forward," he said, his reluctance clear.

Spencer did as Aaron requested, his body stiff and still under the the layers of clothes he was wearing. Miller took a step forward, but stayed at the edge of what was appropriate for approaching a cub that belonged with another pack.

After a minute of consideration, Miller stepped away and laughed. "A cat. You've adopted a leopard into your already impure pack." The two pack members with Miller, police officers as well, shared a smirk.

"Miller, get on with it," Chief Davis snapped, looking thoroughly irritated.

Miller turned and stared at Derek for a long moment, taking in the way Derek had adjusted his stance so that he was closer to Spencer. "Hotchner, your pack has permission to move freely upon my territory until the case you are working has been resolved or until your team is recalled. You are no threat to my pack."

Derek watched as Miller backed away, neither of them looking away from the other until Miller and his pack members had reached the exit.

"I understand the necessity, but sometimes this just isn't worth it," Davis muttered, sending a glare in both directions. "Follow me, I've had everything pertaining to the case gathered. The morgue is prepared to present the bodies and their findings whenever you're ready. I hope, for all of our sakes, that this case is solved quickly. I don't need a serial killer and another pack running around my city during Christmas."

Aaron and Derek glanced at each other before following, the rest of the team close behind them.

"We'll do everything in our power to catch the unsub with as few lives lost as possible," Aaron said carefully.

Derek held back as they walked further into the building, still able to sense Miller's pack spread around the local area. He didn't think that his former pack, however brief a period of time that had been, would try to approach any of them. But he wasn't going to let down his guard either; he couldn't even if he'd wanted to.

*****

It was late in the night by the time they'd finished going through all of the evidence that had been gathered. Aaron and Spencer had been down to the morgue to see all of the bodies, Derek had sat with Garcia as she worked her way through each dump site on the city's surveillance systems, and JJ and Gideon had started interviews with family members of the victims.

After dinner they all met back in the conference room that had been assigned to their team. Derek was sitting quietly next to the door with a file and a pounding headache. So far, they had very little to go on; no DNA evidence recovered from the bodies, two images of the side of a dark colored SUV where the bodies were dumped from in the middle of the night, and an inconclusive victimology.

JJ got up from the table and walked over to stand in front of the board where they'd pinned up each of the victims in the order of which they'd been killed. "Well, our unsub certainly has a type," she said, her blonde hair tumbling forward over her shoulders as she tipped her head.

The rest of the team looked up. Each of them quickly examining the photographs and basic information that had been posted before they turned to JJ in confusion.

"What?" JJ asked when she realized that everyone was looking at her.

"What do you mean the unsub has a type? We have victims of different race and ethnicity, their ages range from nineteen to in their mid-forties. Two were married, three weren't. None of them share a profession or job history, though two of them went to the same university but not at the same time or in the same major," Aaron quickly reiterated.

Derek silently agreed. He'd been going through cellphone records for the past two hours, searching for something that might link at least three of the victims.

JJ turned back to the board, looking at the pictures more carefully. "I guess so. But look at them."

"Skin tone and facial features vary dramatically, as do hair color and style. There's no way the unsub is seeking victims based on their appearance," Derek said as he got to his feet and joined JJ and Spencer at the board.

"No, she's right," Spencer said suddenly. He walked quickly from one victim's information to another. "There is no victim taller than five foot, eight inches, which is just under the average height for a man within the country. None of them are exceptionally well muscled, nor are they overweight."

Derek looked at all of them again. "In other words, they're all the size that someone who was of a smaller stature or not particularly strong could move enough to drag the body and push it out of a vehicle."

"None of the victims have defensive wounds, though they showed signs of being bound in multiple locations, including their hands and wrists," Spencer added.

"And there have been no emergency calls indicating a struggle in a public venue, even though it's believed that all of the victims were heading out for the evening when they were abducted. What would cause a man to go willingly with someone they didn't know, even with the newspaper and television headlines shouting this story?" Gideon asked.

It was probably a rhetorical question, but Derek answered anyway. "A pretty girl or a handsome guy. At least two of our victims were known to be heading for local bars in the city on the nights they were abducted. Combine a few drinks and a pretty face..." Derek shrugged and smiled in Aaron's direction when his mate raised an eyebrow.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation, though Spencer had grabbed a marker and was scribbling a list down the side of one of the empty white boards.

"Chief Davis," Aaron said quietly.

The team paused where they were. They were familiar enough with serial cases to guess what that tone of voice meant.

"I have a young woman downstairs who is convinced her boyfriend has been taken. He didn't appear to pick her up from work, and she insists that he always picks her up when she works the late shift downtown," Davis said. "Maybe it's nothing, but there's no answer on his phone and she's fairly distraught."

"Where was the last place her boyfriend was going before he was supposed to pick her up?" Spencer asked, his hand hovering over a half finished word.

Davis frowned but answered the question. "He was supposed to meet friends at a bar. We talked to them and they said he was usually there before they got there, but he never showed up tonight."

Derek looked to JJ. "We'll interview her. Why don't you bring her upstairs?"

"You think he's been taken?" Davis asked.

"It's a possibility, but the more we know now, the more chance we have to reach the unsub before they kill again," Aaron said, nodding as Davis left. "JJ, Derek, get what you can from the girlfriend. Find out what bar and when it closes. We'll keep working on the profile here."

Derek touched Aaron's hand as he passed by, using the touch to remind him that he was surrounded by his pack even though he could still feel Miller's wolves lurking in the city.

*****

Spencer shivered miserably as he crouched down in the snow next to the mangled body of Tommy Harner. The sun hadn't even risen and it was well below freezing. There had been a storm in the night and three inches of fresh snow covered everything around them. The body had only been found when an early morning commuter had run over it with his vehicle.

"His girlfriend was right," Derek said from where they thought the body had been originally dropped off. "She said she was always right."

With his hand encased in a latex glove, Spencer pushed back the shoulder of the victim. Being run over hadn't done the man any favors, but there was something different about this body compared to the ones he'd seen in the morgue. "Derek?"

Derek was at Spencer's side almost instantly. He looked around the street, focusing on the group of officers blocking off the area before he crouched down next to Spencer. "What is it?"

"The cuts on his chest weren't there on the other victims. The cuts aren't very deep, and I doubt they were the cause of death." Spencer directed his flashlight over the wounds. "Why would the unsub start cutting him? Why this victim?"

"These are hesitation marks. The unsub wasn't sure about cutting him. Look at the gash on the left side of his chest," Derek instructed. He rested his hand on Spencer's back.

Spencer leaned in closer to Derek under the pretense of looking at the victim's chest. "That's a stab wound. Maybe the unsub wants to stab the victims, but hasn't felt confident enough to do so before now?"

"Or maybe the unsub hasn't felt enraged enough? Like you said, why this victim?" Derek patted Spencer's back and stood up.

Spencer pulled his hands inside his coat sleeves and bunched his frozen fingers up inside the fabric. He stood, a little unsteady on the slick ground, and wrapped his arms around his torso the best he could. "What now?"

Derek turned away from where he'd been watching Hotch and JJ interview the man who had run over the victim. "Garcia's looking at the surveillance footage from the traffic cameras. Unless the unsub has gotten sloppy, she won't find much."

"Not in that storm. It felt like the snow was going to come through the windows last night," Spencer said. He was shivering again, and he wondered whether or not it was possibly getting colder.

"I've got an idea," Derek said. He unzipped his jacket and put it around Spencer's shoulders.

Spencer frowned even though having the second jacket actually did feel a little warmer. "You're going to freeze."

Derek shook his head. "We're only going to be out here a few more minutes. Go get in the car and turn on the heat." He pressed the keys into Spencer's hand before trudging through the snow towards Hotch.

Wrapping his fingers tightly around the keys, Spencer took one last look down at the victim. They'd been working the case for two days and they still weren't any closer to finding the unsub. They hadn't been in time to save this man and Spencer felt sick when he thought about the woman who had barely left the police station the last two days as they searched for her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry," he said. He was grateful that Gideon and Garcia weren't there to hear him speak to the body. It seemed like a maudlin thing to do, but there was a growing sense of guilt that he'd started to carry with him. Intellectually, he knew that they did everything they could to save this man. Emotionally was an entirely different matter. He tugged Derek's jacket closer around himself, surprised by how strongly the leather smelled of Derek.

The coroner and his assistant approached and Spencer moved away through the snow to where they'd parked the cars. He could hear the murmur of Derek and Aaron's voices as they talked, JJ chiming in after a moment. By the time Spencer closed the door to the car and had started the engine, Derek was walking towards the car. He seemed utterly unfazed by the weather.

Derek climbed in the driver's seat and put on his seat belt.

"Aren't you cold?" Spencer asked as he stripped off his latex gloves. He cupped his hands eagerly to the heating vents. There wasn't any warm air yet, but he left them there in anticipation.

"I grew up in Chicago. This isn't cold yet," Derek said as he pulled out of their parking space and did a U-turn away from the crime scene.

Spencer shook his head. He hadn't really appreciated the winters in Vegas and Pasadena until he'd moved to Virginia. In stories and on television snow had always seemed like a somewhat mystical and beautiful phenomenon. Spencer could still understand that; one late night when he couldn't sleep Spencer had sat on the floor next to the back door of Gideon's house and stared up as the snow fell down from the sky. It had been strangely calming and peaceful and Spencer had drifted to sleep wrapped up in a blanket on the floor. However, the experience of being outside in the snow, freezing and sliding around as they looked for evidence, had been more than enough to put him off the entire idea.

"Where are we going?" Spencer asked. He clenched and unclenched his fingers in front of the air vents as warm air blasted from them.

"Back to The Rail Yard," Derek said.

The Rail Yard was the bar their victim had last been seen in before he went missing. Derek and Gideon had gone there the night of the disappearance but hadn't learned anything other than that their victim had definitely been there.

"Will there even be anyone there?" Spencer asked.

"It's not even six in the morning and last call isn't until four. There will be people there closing up," Derek explained.

Spencer leaned back into the seat and nestled further into Derek's jacket. "Okay, but why are we going? I thought you and Gideon talked to everyone there."

"We asked around. No one saw him leave with anyone, but no one remembered when he slipped out either." Derek glanced over and adjusted one of the heating vents so it was blowing directly on Spencer. "We'll just see what people say when we ask again."

Trusting Derek's investigative techniques more than his own, Spencer settled in for the short ride. They had canvased a number of local bars over the past two days without any significant results, but so far The Rail Yard was their best lead.

*****

"Why is the bar called The Rail Yard?" Spencer asked the waitress as they stood near a group of tables. He had already looked around the bar as he and Derek walked in and he'd seen no sign of railway associated decor.

She had stopped working while they talked, though she still held a damp rag idly in one hand. "Well, people come here to make connections. They move around, bumping up against other cars until they find where they fit."

Spencer stared, uncertain if she was making a joke or otherwise obscure reference.

"And I think the boss has a thing for railways, I don't know," the waitress admitted with a shrug. "Generally people come here to meet someone. Sometimes they go home alone, but most of the time they find someone who catches their interest for the night."

"You mean people don't come here to just hang out with their friends?" Spencer asked, hoping he'd understood her meaning.

She raised her eyebrows and sat down on one of the stools. "Friends will meet up, but they typically don't stay together for more than an hour. The point is to put yourself out there, meet new people, try new things. I bet you get people wanting to try new things with you all the time."

Spencer blinked as she reached up and gently tugged on a strand of his hair that had fallen forward on his face. "Not so much," he said. He twisted around to see where Derek was still chatting with the bartender.

"Oh, I see how it is. Shame." The waitress leaned to the side so she could get a better view of Derek. "Not bad at all."

Deciding that he really didn't want to know, Spencer returned to his initial line of questioning. "So a man that said he came here to meet up with his friends-" he started.

"Is lying to his girlfriend. And probably those friends are lying to theirs as well," the waitress finished. "Wish I could tell you more about the guy you're looking for, but everyone blurs together after a while. He's a cutie though."

"He's dead," Spencer said flatly as he looked down at the picture of the victim he was carrying. They'd shown the picture around on the night the man had gone missing, as well as over the past two days at the other bars they'd canvased.

"Too bad." The waitress leaned in to look at the picture. "He would have been popular here with a pretty face like that."

Spencer frowned as a scenario formed in his mind.

"Ready to go, pretty boy?" Derek asked as he walked up. He placed his hand on Spencer's arm and stood so that he was nearly in between Spencer and the waitress.

"Ready," Spencer said. Derek was wearing his own jacket now that Spencer wasn't so cold and Spencer found himself strangely conflicted about the loss.

The waitress smiled and gave a little wave to Spencer as they walked away. Spencer awkwardly waved back.

Derek's hand still was on Spencer's arm as they left the bar. "You have no clue, do you?"

"What?" Spencer asked, getting the feeling that Derek wasn't talking about the case.

Derek shook his head. "Never mind. You learn anything?"

"Tommy Harner was probably cheating on his girlfriend," Spencer said.

"And he wasn't too picky with who he went with either," Derek added. "Which is maybe why the unsub decided to start stabbing with this victim."

Spencer thought for a moment as they climbed back into the car. "Why not with the married victims?"

"Maybe the notoriety of this bar for one night hookups is what set her off. He wasn't just cheating with one woman, he was cheating with anyone who caught his attention." Derek started driving toward to police station.

"That's worse than falling in love with another person?" Spencer asked.

Derek was silent as he pulled into the morning rush hour traffic on the main road. "Love means something. It doesn't make the cheating right, but at least there's a reason," he said after a few minutes.

Spencer considered this as he stared at the line of cars edging forward.

*****

Spencer spent the early afternoon sitting in the conference room surrounded by the team. He had several city maps and a list of bars that were in a ten mile radius and had been trying to narrow down which bars would be the most likely to attract the unsub. After calculating the unsub's comfort zone and marking off bars that were either exclusive or too high end, the list of bars left was still ridiculously long. Their best chance of catching the unsub was to find them tonight before they took another victim.

He felt that his work was only being impeded by the presence of the rest of the team. Even though it was comforting to be in the same room, it was becoming more difficult to concentrate on the maps as they milled around him. Spencer was still slowly adapting to his ability to physically sense the members of the team but it didn't make his skin crawl and itch anymore. He was even grateful for it at the moment.

When he'd been out canvasing bars with Gideon and Derek, he had felt like something was following them and slowly circling around their location. Gideon had noticed how distracted Spencer was and had quickly explained that it was the local pack. It was more difficult for Spencer to sense the other pack and he couldn't separate out individuals. After meeting up with the rest of the pack following a few hours spent canvasing, Spencer had discovered that being with his own pack almost completely blocked the other pack out.

Derek didn't seem to get any such relief and Spencer spent more time watching Derek move around the room than he did examining the maps. Derek's restlessness seemed to be contagious because Aaron rarely sat down and JJ wasn't making any progress on the file she had open. Only Garcia at her computer and Gideon bent over his notebook seemed unaffected.

Spencer shook his head and refocused on the map spread out on the table. He'd been staring at Derek for nearly twenty minutes, and still hadn't drawn any conclusions about Derek or about the bar. Not that the two weren't connected.

At first, after Spencer had stopped being overwhelmed by the changes in his life, he'd thought that Derek was just friendly. They spent a lot of time together because their desks were together in the bullpen. When they were on cases, even before Hotch had declared Spencer wasn't to be by himself, Derek spent time with him and explained things that the others didn't even seem realize he wouldn't know. Spencer hadn't had a lot of friends before and the ones that he'd had were always transient and gone when they'd finished their degrees. The prospect of having a long term friend, someone who wasn't planning on leaving, was simultaneously thrilling and a little scary.

Then, as time passed and Spencer learned more about profiling, body language, and trusting his own instincts, he realized that Derek wasn't just friendly. Spencer wasn't entirely inexperienced with relationships, though those had also been infrequent and fleeting. He didn't think the way that Derek casually sat too close and wrapped an arm around him, or the way Derek looked at him stemmed from a desire for a platonic friendship. Derek stepping in between him and the waitress at The Rail Way, and how Derek had almost growled when a bartender at one of the bars had stepped too close only confirmed Spencer's previous suspicions.

Spencer had confirmed that Derek was in a relationship with Hotch, which had only confused him further. Obviously Derek wouldn't cheat on Hotch and Spencer couldn't imagine that Hotch wasn't aware of Derek's flirting, if it could be called that. The strangest part of it all, in Spencer's mind, was that he actually found himself looking back at Derek on occasion and wondering. Nothing could happen between them, but Spencer found that he didn't want to resist leaning into Derek when the opportunity was presented. He felt safe and accepted with Derek, and with the entire team. He would never want to jeopardize that.

"Any suggestions?" Hotch asked.

Looking up, Spencer wondered how long Hotch had been standing next to him. He blinked, suddenly feeling completely useless.

Hotch sat down and spoke quietly. "There is a chance that we'll be wrong. It's even possible that the unsub will have seen the media coverage concerning our arrival and will have moved on to another portion of the city. Make the best deductions that you can and we'll work from there."

Spencer turned back to the map, looking over each of the abduction sites again. "I think the unsub will go back to The Rail Yard or another bar with a similar clientele and purpose."

"Why?" Hotch asked.

"The hesitation marks on the victim we found today, those mean that the unsub wants to cut the victims, right?" Spencer asked. "Wouldn't the unsub seek another victim that will provoke similar emotions?"

"Unsubs escalate. It is very rare that they will return to less violent acts after experiencing something more potent," Gideon said.

Spencer looked up to find everyone curiously gathered nearby. "The unsub has twice abducted from the same locations. There's no reason for them not to go back."

Hotch nodded and stood, touching Spencer's shoulder briefly as he walked away. "We'll go to The Rail Yard tonight and station other teams from the local police department at other bars in the area that cater to a similar crowd."

Swallowing hard, Spencer looked back at the map and hoped that he'd made the right call. It made logical sense to him, but that didn't mean the unsub was using any sort of logic when hunting for a victim.

"Come on," Derek said, tapping Spencer's shoulder to catch his attention.

"Where are we going?" Spencer asked.

Derek grinned. "You don't think you can go out to a bar dressed like that, do you?"

Spencer followed Derek out of the room, self-consciously examining his vest and tan slacks and wondering what exactly Derek considered acceptable clothing for going to a bar.

*****

Aaron sat at a table in the middle of The Rail Yard with a glass of coke that was masquerading as a rum and coke. It felt a little strange to be sitting in a bar, dressed casually, and crowd watching in the middle of the case. Of course, crowd watching was actually looking for an unsub who was about to abduct a man to torture and kill, but it still seemed odd to be kicking back with a drink.

Spencer placed his drink on the table and pulled himself up on the stool across from Aaron. From where they sat they could see most of the occupants of the bar and would hopefully be able to spot their unsub.

"You go to places like this often?" Aaron asked, mostly joking. Spencer looked completely out of his element in the bar, though the black jeans and soft blue button-up shirt helped him blend in a little bit. From the amount of time Derek and Spencer had spent getting dressed, Aaron suspected Spencer had rejected most of Derek's suggestions.

Spencer blushed strong enough that Aaron could see him flush even in the somewhat dim light. "This is my first time in a bar, not including when we went canvasing."

Aaron couldn't decide whether or not to be surprised by this. On one hand, Spencer didn't seem the type to go out to bars very often. On the other, Spencer had been at a university for years. Surely he'd gone with friends at least once. "There weren't any good bars near Cal Tech?"

"I wasn't old enough. I turned twenty one in early October." Spencer shrugged and traced the rim of his glass with his finger. "I could have forged an ID, but I never really wanted to go to the bars that badly."

"We'll go as a team when we get back to DC," Aaron said. He felt a small pang of guilt that he'd never looked to see when Spencer's birthday was. "For real, not on a case."

"What? Why?" Spencer asked.

Aaron grimaced and took a drink from his coke. "Derek and Garcia will never forgive me, or you, if we deprive them of a valid opportunity to go to a bar and celebrate."

"If you say so," Spencer said with a shrug. He scanned the area he could see of the bar, frowning when he returned his gaze to Aaron.

"It's still early," Aaron said. He understood why Spencer was worried. Even now, after years of giving suggestions on how to proceed in cases, he occasionally worried that he'd given the wrong advice or had looked in the wrong direction.

Spencer glanced at the watch he wore over his shirt sleeve and nodded.

Feeling Derek moving through the crowd, Aaron casually looked around the bar and found each of his pack members. Jason was sitting at the end of the counter. He was about as out of place in the crowded bar as Spencer, though he hid it better. The bartender was flitting back and forth and Jason leaned in to speak with him, feigning asking for a refill as he held out his glass. JJ and Garcia were sitting together near the entrance, simultaneously observing everyone who entered the bar and fending off anyone who might approach them. JJ met Aaron's eyes and shook her head; they hadn't seen anyone who matched the profile.

It took a minute for Derek to cross into Aaron's line of vision. Aaron was slightly concerned when he saw how predatory Derek looked as he moved easily through the crowd. Anyone watching who was familiar with shifters would be able to identify Derek as a wolf shifter just by Derek's movements and how he carefully looked at anyone in his path before dismissing them as inconsequential. Aaron doubted that the reversion to unconsciously mimicking wolf behavior was because of the case and probably had everything to do with the local wolf pack they could feel circling the edges of the area.

Derek's behavior wasn't discouraging people from expressing their interest. In the short time Derek was in Aaron's range of vision, he saw Derek shake his head and walk away from three people who approached him. It was a good thing that none of his team fit the victimology for this case. Aaron was relieved that he hadn't been forced to make the decision to send one of his people out as bait when they were already in the midst of a hostile environment.

Aaron again scanned what he could see of the bar patrons and looked back to find Spencer watching him. Spencer didn't look away when Aaron made it clear that he was watching in return. "How are you finding being a member of the pack?" The noise of the bar would mostly cover their conversation from Jason and Garcia's extraordinary sense of hearing.

Spencer's eyes widened. "Good. I like being here. Well, not here, obviously," he waved his hand to indicate the bar, "but with the team."

"It doesn't bother you that your form is different?" Aaron asked. After a month of watching Derek avoid the issue, Aaron couldn't see a reason not to ask. They could be at the bar for another few hours if the unsub didn't appear.

"Well, I haven't had a lot of success with achieving my form." Spencer winced when Aaron raised his eyebrow. "No success, at all, but Derek says I'm getting closer. I think he's just saying that to make me feel better."

Aaron suspected that was probably so. "But you don't mind that your form isn't a wolf?"

Spencer's eyes focused across the bar, distracted by something in the distance. Just when Aaron thought he wasn't going to answer, Spencer spoke. "It doesn't bother me because no one on the team has suggested that it bothers them. If they don't think it's important that my form is different, it doesn't really matter to me. I've never fit in anywhere before. Even in my doctoral programs I was something of a freak, an anomaly that even the professors found threatening. But the team acts like it doesn't matter. Better actually: they act like what I can do is important and useful."

"That's because it is," Aaron said immediately. He'd read Spencer's background check the first time the Spencer had shifted, but he'd evidently discounted the effects of the social isolation Spencer had experienced. Derek's insistence that Spencer wouldn't leave made more sense to him now, though he doubted they'd arrived at the conclusion the same way.

"Does my form bother you?" Spencer asked.

Aaron discovered that Spencer was watching him intently, though his expression was carefully guarded. It sounded like Spencer was used to being judged for what he was, rather than who, and he probably expected the same from Aaron. "I was concerned that your form would lead you to be less inclined to stay with my pack."

"And now?" Spencer asked.

"I think you're a valuable and much needed addition to my team and my pack," Aaron said. He smiled, gratified when Spencer returned the smile, even if both smiles were uncertain.

They both turned as Jason approached the table. "Female in a black dress, near the back pillar. She's been with the same man for nearly thirty minutes; he fits the victimology."

Aaron didn't think that was exactly a condemning statement but glanced in the direction Jason had indicated. "That's a lot empty glasses on the table."

"All ordered by her, mostly drunk by him," Jason said.

"He's wearing a wedding ring and I'm going to suggest that isn't his wife," Spencer added.

It was all circumstantial, but Aaron could see what was setting off Jason's alarm bells. "She's not interested in him. Her body language suggests she despises him."

"But she's pursuing him anyway." Jason looked away and touched Spencer's arm.

Spencer turned back to both of them; his eyes were almost comically wide. "Look at her boot."

Aaron leaned back casually and looked. He didn't see anything until the woman changed the way she was sitting. There was a bulge in her right boot and when she moved to cross her legs he saw the glint of a knife hilt - unmistakable to his trained, shifter enhanced eyes.

The woman stood, though she had to lean back down to help the man to his feet. They were similar in height now that they were standing and it was easy to see that she would be capable of moving his dead weight.

"Spencer, go get JJ and Garcia. I want the three of you to go wait near the bartender. Do not leave this bar," Aaron said. He stood up and caught Derek's eye from across the bar.

The woman - likely their unsub - was already guiding the man towards the side exit.

Derek visibly followed Aaron's gaze and then nodded before hurrying out the front entrance. They had thoroughly explored the area surrounding the bar before it had opened and had developed plans for all of the exits. Derek would be waiting at the edge of the building long before the unsub reached the parking lot.

"Call dispatch, let them know we'll need backup," Jason said to Spencer. He discreetly adjusted the holster under his jacket.

Aaron didn't have to look back to know that Spencer was going to JJ and Garcia, his cellphone already out. He pushed his concern for the younger members of his pack aside. As much as he didn't want to leave them alone, he knew that JJ was very capable with her gun and that Spencer knew the basics of physical self-defense. They would be fine for five minutes while the rest of the team talked down and arrested an unsub.

*****

The take down was fast and uneventful, or as uneventful as talking someone out of a hostage situation ever was. The unsub, Teresa Bower, had held her knife at her hostage's throat for an intense minute while Aaron and Jason kept her attention on them. They always hoped the unsub would put down their weapon peacefully and it did happen from time to time. Aaron had concentrated on keeping his eyes focused directly on the unsub, knowing that one look at where Derek was creeping up behind her would give his mate away.

Derek had easily disarmed the unsub and cuffed her, though Aaron hadn't relaxed until he had the knife well out of her reach. He could still vividly remember the last case where Derek had been stabbed and could feel the thin scar whenever he touched Derek's bare arm. The unsub had fought only momentarily before sinking down into the snow and remaining there until the local police showed up to take her in for processing.

Aaron's team made it back to the police station with a minimal amount of fuss and a local detective had already let them know that there was more than enough physical evidence in the SUV in order for a confession to be virtually unnecessary.

"We can stay, if you'd like," Aaron offered. It was still their case and they could interview the unsub if he deemed it necessary. He had taken a moment to reassure himself that it wasn't just his desire to get his pack away from Miller's pack and that he honestly believed the local detectives could handle the interview. The team was already cleaning up the conference room; Derek helping Garcia with her computer equipment, JJ and Spencer taking down the pictures and erasing their boards, and Jason finishing the preliminary notes that they would leave with the department.

Chief Davis shook his head. "I appreciate that, but I think it's best if you go. The sooner the better. Not that I'm not grateful for your assistance. This would have gone on much longer without your help."

"I understand," Aaron said. Pack politics were never understood by non-shifters and even to shifters it was complex and fraught with friction. "We'll be off pack lands tomorrow morning."

"We can be off pack lands tonight," Derek said. He walked over to stand next to Aaron's side. "I called ahead, we're welcome whenever we're done here."

Aaron looked back at his team. They all looked tired and a little strange in their bar clothes. It was only about an hour to Derek's mother's house and they could keep the government issued vehicles for a few extra days. "We'll be gone tonight." He wasn't going to make Derek stay here any longer than necessary.

"Thank you," Davis said, though it wasn't clear whether he was thanking them for their help or for leaving quickly.

"Anytime," Aaron said as they shook hands.

Davis shook hands with Derek as well before leaving the conference room in a hurry.

"Thank you," Derek repeated to Aaron.

With no one in the immediate area except for their pack, Aaron stepped close and pressed his forehead to Derek's. He didn't pull away when Derek wrapped his arms around him, but the moment was still brief.

"Let's go," Aaron said, grateful to see nothing but acceptance and love from his pack.

*****

They stayed together as a pack as they gathered their bags from the hotel suite and checked out at the front desk. The few times one member strayed more than a few feet away Derek or Jason would circle around and corral them closer to the group. Aaron noticed that Spencer rarely left Derek's side, even venturing a few steps into the bedroom that Aaron and Derek had shared to watch them pack.

"Miller's here," Derek said as they stood in the lobby.

Aaron nodded grimly. "We're leaving. He's not stupid enough to bother us while we're leaving."

Derek snorted but hunched his shoulders defensively.

"I won't let him near you," Aaron promised. When Derek glanced to where the rest of the pack was gathered together, Aaron grimaced. "I won't let him near any of the pack."

"I know," Derek said. "Let's just get out of here."

If this were a different situation, a situation that was less personal to Derek, Aaron would split them up and have Derek drive one of the cars while he drove the other. They were the strongest in the pack, but Aaron wouldn't leave Derek alone in Chicago if it wasn't necessary.

"Spencer, you're with us. Jason, you're taking JJ and Garcia in the second car. Follow us out of the city on the Kennedy Expressway. Do not stop until we're out of the local pack's lands," Aaron said. "Move quickly and stay alert."

They fell easily into formation and left the hotel. A wolf howled to the east as they walked to where they'd parked the cars near the front of the building.

"Stay with me," Derek whispered to Spencer, his voice carrying further than intended in the near quiet. It was a clear night though their breath was visible in the cold air as they moved under a street lamp.

Aaron and Derek helped load Jason's car first, making sure they were all locked inside before they moved onto their own car.

When Derek and Spencer were settled inside the car, Derek starting the engine, Aaron carefully looked around the parking lot. Even with his sharp eyes he couldn't see any of the wolf pack that he could feel gathered at the edges of the lot.

"My pack is leaving your territory. Your word for our safe passage does not end until after we have left," he said clearly but without shouting. Most members of their pack would be able to hear him. Aaron looked directly at the shadow where he could feel Miller's presence. This wasn't the time or the place to address old grievances, but that didn't quell the rage he felt toward the other shifter.

Aaron got into the driver's seat and backed out of the parking space, making sure that Jason was following closely behind before he drove through the parking lot. They made the Expressway within ten minutes, though it wasn't until they were off the local pack land's that they felt Miller's pack members stop following them.

Derek sighed, leaning back in his seat. Aaron reached over and put his hand on Derek's, letting Derek grip as tightly as he needed.

"Could I get some heat back here?" Spencer asked a few minutes later.

"Sure thing." Derek released Aaron's hand and started messing with the controls to send warm air to where Spencer was sitting in the back seat and then turning on the radio to music that Aaron couldn't readily identify.

Aaron glanced at the clock. It would be well after midnight when they reached Fran Morgan's house but Aaron had met Derek's mother enough times to know that she wouldn't mind. They didn't come to Chicago often and while Aaron was certain that Derek's family understood why, it probably didn't make it any easier for them.

"What are we listening to?" Spencer asked, leaning up between the seats so that he could see.

Derek chuckled. "Finally, something I can teach you about."

Aaron rolled his eyes, but settled in to listen to what would probably be an hour long lecture on the history of hip hop and various branch offs of the music genre. He was happy to listen to Derek talk about anything if it meant Derek lost the tight and anxious expression he'd worn ever since they'd received the case.

*****

Derek pulled the blankets up to his chest and closed his eyes. Aaron was resting right next to him, breathing evenly but not slow enough to mean he was completely asleep yet. It felt strange, after all these years, to be sleeping in the bedroom of his adolescence next to his mate. In some ways it was like no time at all had passed and he was still an angry and trapped teenager. Then he would turn his head and see Aaron, and it would remind him that everything had changed.

The clock on the nightstand read a few minutes past midnight. It was officially Christmas day and Derek was still wide awake. He had slept heavily the night before, exhausted and so relieved to be away from Miller's pack that he'd dropped off as soon as he'd climbed into bed. It had taken his sister Desiree pounding on his bedroom door and threatening to come in regardless of his and Aaron's state of dress in order to rouse him from bed that morning. Derek smiled as he rolled over in bed. Hearing his sister bang on his bedroom door and complain that mom wouldn't start lunch until he'd come down for breakfast had been a strangely excellent start to Christmas Eve.

Actually, it had been one of the best Christmas Eves he could remember having since he was very young. Being surrounded by his pack, his mom, and his sisters had been like settling into some kind of safety net. It helped a lot that his mother and sisters had taken one look at Spencer and had immediately become attached. His mother had taken a month or two before she'd warmed up to Aaron, though Derek understood why she'd been concerned at first.

Derek turned over again and got out of bed. Aaron was still awake and if Derek had wanted to he could have talked to him or even just moved closer so that Aaron would put his arm around him. They had an agreement: if one of them was up in the night, from nightmares or insomnia, and wanted to be alone they could leave the bedroom without the other being concerned. If they needed to talk or wanted someone to sit with them, they had promised to wake each other. Mostly Derek just felt unsettled and awake and he didn't want to keep Aaron awake by moving around every five minutes.

He walked out into the hallway, pausing by his sister's old room to listen briefly as JJ and Garcia slept. Satisfied that they were both asleep, and that his mom was sleeping in her room at the end of the hall, Derek crept downstairs. He stopped again outside the office they'd made into a temporary bedroom for Gideon. Gideon was asleep as well, his soft snores easy to hear through the door. About the enter the kitchen, Derek saw a light on in the living room and walked back a few paces.

They'd run out of bedrooms, even with his sisters sleeping at their own homes, and Spencer had volunteered to sleep on the couch. Derek's mom had fussed and brought out extra blankets, all the while talking darkly in Derek's direction about Spencer being too thin, even as Spencer assured her that he was fine. Derek smiled as he leaned against the wall and peered in the living room. Spencer was sitting in the pile of blankets on the couch, two of them over his lap with a third draped around his shoulders. He was wearing a sweatshirt that was too big for him and it took Derek a moment to identify it as one of his old college sweatshirts that he'd left at the house. One of his sisters, probably Sarah, must have gotten from his room.

It had been six weeks since Spencer had last shifted, even though Derek had spent time almost every weekend sitting with Spencer trying to help him. JJ and Garcia had sat with him as well, though neither of them were any more successful than Derek had been. He knew that Gideon was working with Spencer, though from Spencer's reticence to approach the subject, Derek figured that wasn't going well either. Spencer had looked healthier for around two weeks after he'd shifted, but slowly his appetite had once again waned and JJ and Garcia had renewed their campaign to constantly ply him with food. Derek had noticed Spencer looked more exhausted recently, now that he had something to compare to Spencer's usual state. If Spencer didn't shift again soon Derek wasn't sure he could stand by and watch Spencer's form fade, but he didn't know what else he could do to help.

"You can come in," Spencer said without looking up from the pad of paper in his lap.

Derek walked into the living room. He considered the armchair across from the couch before deciding that he'd rather sit with Spencer. Slipping under one of the blankets, Derek was careful to leave enough space so it was clear he couldn't see what Spencer was writing. "Couldn't sleep, pretty boy?"

Spencer turned to Derek. The nickname, applied here when they were alone, didn't make him blush as badly as it usually did. "Writing a letter to my mom."

Derek frowned, suddenly feeling a little built guilty for not even asking Spencer if he'd planned to travel to see his mom during Christmas. He was mostly certain Spencer would have said something if he'd planned on visiting, but only last night Aaron had to him that Spencer's twenty first birthday had been in October and they needed to do a belated celebration. "Do you usually go see your mom over Christmas?"

"No. I don't visit very often. And even when I was living with her we never really celebrated Christmas. For some reason the holiday bothered her. I'm not sure if it's the lights or the trees or maybe just the change in routine, but she doesn't react really well." Spencer looked down at the paper in his lap. "I write her every day."

Derek raised his eyebrows. Writing a letter every day was a lot of guilt that Spencer had been saving up. During one of their shifting practice sessions Spencer had told him a little about his mother's condition, quietly defensive and nervous all at once.

"I don't send all of them. Just the ones that actually say something." Spencer closed the cover of the notebook and put it aside. "I think that she's happy for me now. Or, I'd like to think that. She was worried about me coming to DC, but I've written a lot about the team. She'd be happy that I have friends."

Derek smiled at Spencer's shy declaration that he had friends. "I think she's very happy for you. And proud of you."

Spencer smiled again, though it wasn't really a smile that expressed happiness. "Your family is nice. Is this what Christmas is always like here?"

"More or less. The Christmas tree, stockings, and meals aren't always consistent, but the important part is being together. I'm not here for Christmas as often as I should be," Derek said. He winced and leaned back against the couch cushions. "I should come back more often."

"But you don't because of Miller and his pack?" Spencer asked.

Derek sighed, his chest feeling tight just from hearing Miller's name.

"You don't have to answer that," Spencer quickly added.

"I should," Derek said. He looked at the window, the night blocking his view of anything but darkness. The rest of the team knew, they'd known from the first case they'd taken in Chicago. Aaron knew more than the others, knew details and specifics that Derek had held back when he'd told his story to the rest of the pack.

Spencer shook his head. "There's no should here."

"I want to," Derek said, even though it felt like more of a question than a statement. He felt like he needed to explain himself to Spencer. It wasn't something Derek talked about, unless he had to, and he knew that the rest of the pack would never talk about it without his permission. But it was something he needed Spencer to know.

"Okay," Spencer said. He adjusted the blankets surrounding them so that they were sitting closer.

The light from the lamp on the table simultaneously seemed like it was a distant beacon that Derek could barely see and a flood-lamp filling the entire room. Derek focused his eyes across the room on the set of family pictures that hung on the wall. The center picture was the oldest, taken when Derek was seven years old, and had their entire family gathered together. His dad was in the center of the picture, surrounded by Derek and his sisters, and Derek concentrated on him as he spoke.

"To understand Frank Miller and his pack, you've got to go back before he was leader of the pack. I was nine when my father died. He was a police officer. Shot right in front of me during a convenience store robbery." This part came easy to Derek now. He was proud of his dad, always had been, and the knowledge that his dad had died in order to protect him and the other people there that day had stayed with him through everything.

"That's him?" Spencer asked.

Derek glanced towards Spencer and saw that Spencer had followed Derek's gaze to the picture. "Yeah, that's him."

Spencer nodded and looked at all the surrounding pictures before turning back to Derek.

"My mom isn't a shifter, but my father was. We were members of the same pack that our father had been, the same pack that ran out of Central Chicago. Patrick Miller was the leader at the time. Typically leadership in packs doesn't transfer from father to son, especially not in packs that aren't biologically related, but Frank Miller had just made detective and was in position to take over when his father died." Derek stopped as he realized that he was talking around the problem.

"Your mom didn't want to take you and your sisters away from your pack," Spencer surmised.

Derek sighed. "That's right. Sarah was just starting to shift and Desiree was still learning to control her form. My mom couldn't help us with that, even though she did her best. But she made sure that we were at the pack meetings and hanging out with other cubs. She tried to be involved in that part of our lives as much as possible even when the pack actively ostracized non-shifters."

They sat in silence, which stretched out into minutes. "Derek, you don't have to tell me," Spencer said quietly.

"You saying you don't want to know?" Derek asked, hating the small part of him that hoped Spencer would say he didn't want to hear this.

"Of course I do. I want to know you, and well, I always want to know everything. It's kind of a curse," Spencer said, smiling ruefully.

Derek shook his head, but smiled anyway. "After my father died, I started getting into some trouble. Nothing major, but enough that I got pulled in by the police after a fight with some local kids. Patrick Miller took me aside, explained that he was responsible for me now that my dad wasn't around. He said that pack meant everything and as a result we were family." Derek turned so that he could catch Spencer's eye. "And he was right about that. Pack is everything. Your pack doesn't replace your family, but they become part of your family."

Spencer nodded. "But you're not part of Miller's pack anymore. They felt, different. You don't feel like that at all."

"Pack can be a little more complicated if you're not born into one. Or if you don't stay with the pack that you were raised with. There are theories, unsubstantiated because any kind of methodical research is almost impossible to conduct, that there is a genetic imperative that decides what packs we belong with. Regardless of form, apparently. Just like you knew when you met us that we were your pack, we felt the same thing." Derek reached out and touched his hand against Spencer's, relaxing at how very right it felt. He had never doubted Spencer belonged with him and their pack.

"What about leaving a pack?" Spencer asked. He tucked his hand down under Derek's. They weren't quite holding hands, but their fingers rested against each other.

Derek felt a small stab of unease. He didn't believe that Spencer would leave them, but Aaron's persistent concerns about Spencer's form not being suited to pack life echoed uncomfortably. "Shifters leave a pack for a few reasons. The first and most common is when a pack grows too large. In that case, the pack will splinter and territory is redefined. That's usually when you'll hear reports of shifters fighting in a city."

Spencer frowned. "Gideon said that there is a lion pride on the Cal Tech campus. Why didn't they react negatively to my presence?"

"Lone shifters, if they aren't considered a threat, will generally be allowed on a pack's territory without any concern. It's possible that since you weren't shifting they didn't even realize you were there," Derek said.

"I couldn't feel them on campus, even when Gideon pointed out their leader," Spencer said. "When I met my father I didn't feel anything from him either."

"That makes sense. They weren't your pack and you're shifter senses weren't really activated yet." Derek tightened his fingers briefly around Spencer's before letting go and bringing his hand back to his own lap. "Sometimes a shifter will decide to leave their pack of their own free will, particularly if it was the pack they were born into and they are drawn to a field that doesn't mesh with their pack's lifestyle. These shifters usually find another pack in their field quickly, though there are some that choose to remain alone. Some shifters decide not to ever join a pack, though their forms are typically solitary."

"But you didn't choose to leave Miller's pack," Spencer guessed.

Derek shook his head and clenched his hands tightly in the blanket that covered his lap. "The other reason a shifter will leave their pack is if their pack forces them out. When that happens, their best course of action is to get away from the pack's lands, as the pack won't hesitate to attack if they encounter their former pack member. Their scent changes, just as the pack's scent changes to that shifter."

"Why?" Spencer asked. He had folded his long arms around his chest and looked distressed at the very idea.

Derek understood that Spencer wasn't asking about the specifics of scents and packs. "In general, breaking pack law or attempting to usurp the pack leadership. It was a little bit more complicated than that in my situation. The pack leader has absolute say in who is in the pack and who isn't. If a particularly strong member of the pack is sent away, it's possible that members of the pack will follow them instead of their former pack leader." Derek paused and took a steadying breath. "I was still a cub when Frank Miller sent me away - sixteen years old in my human form. My sisters chose to leave the pack as well, even though Miller didn't have anything against them, and my family moved north of the city."

Spencer frowned. "Why?" he asked again.

Derek turned so that he was meeting Spencer's eyes. He wanted to look away, but he had promised himself that he wasn't ashamed anymore. "One of the pack members, Carl Buford, ran a local youth center. After I started getting in trouble, Patrick Miller set things up so that I was under Carl's supervision after school until my mom got home in the evening. Carl taught me how to play football and basketball, helped me get good enough that there was a possibility I'd be able to go to college on a scholarship."

When Derek stopped, Spencer reached out and placed his hand on the blanket next to Derek. Derek unclenched his left hand and wrapped it around Spencer's, focusing on how Spencer's hand felt slightly chilled.

"After a while, Carl started touching me. At first, I didn't know what to think; maybe it was just an accident, or maybe I was just overreacting. That continued for more than a year before one evening, I was alone with Carl at the center. My mom was working late that night, and she was supposed to come pick me up when she finished her shift. Carl started rubbing my shoulders, like he sometimes did before he touched me, and then he was touching himself too. He had his pants undone and was helping me touch him. He tried to guide my head down and I panicked. I shifted." Derek paused and took a few breaths. He could feel his heart racing and that he was shaking. The urge to shift was strong and it would have been easy to slide into his wolf form, but Derek stopped himself.

Spencer had gone still and his expression mirrored Derek's horror but was also empathetic.

"That was the first time I shifted. I was thirteen years old. I don't remember what happened, but my sister's felt me shift and came to find me. They brought me back home and later I shifted back into my human form. It turned out that I had attacked Carl after I'd shifted. My wolf form was little, and I probably would have killed him if I had been older. As it was I had bitten his arms and face before he'd had the opportunity to shift. The scarring was deep, and by the time he shifted back, they were healed enough that there wasn't much they could do without performing surgery." Derek shrugged, squeezing Spencer's hand when Spencer tightened his grip.

"Derek," Spencer said.

"Let me finish," Derek said, waiting until Spencer nodded. "After that, there was a pack meeting, and I had to explain why I'd attacked Carl. If I hadn't know that Patrick Miller would be able to sense that I was telling the truth, I don't think that I could have done it. Lying to the leader of your pack is virtually impossible; they always know. Patrick banished Carl from the pack that very night."

Spencer frowned. "But Patrick was a police officer."

"Yes, but he was also very insistent that pack business stayed pack business. Even if my mom had tried to report Carl for what he'd done, nothing would have come from it." Derek closed his eyes, trying to clear the image of Carl from his mind. "A few years later, when Patrick died and Frank Miller took over, Frank called a pack meeting. One of his first decisions was the cull weakness from our pack. He had always said that his father allowed the pack to be too soft. I was the first he declared as no longer a member of the pack. After that, after we moved, and my sisters took it upon themselves to teach me about being a shifter."

"You're not weak," Spencer said. He turned so that both of his hands encompassed Derek's. "Not at all."

Derek nodded, a little surprised that he hadn't summoned Aaron downstairs by almost shifting. He sunk back into the couch cushions, suddenly exhausted but glad that he'd told Spencer. Whenever he told someone, even now when he would occasionally talk about a detail he hadn't told Aaron before, he always felt that flood of fear that he wouldn't be believed or that they person he was telling would react with disgust. The relief that came after, when the person believed him or when Aaron nodded and clenched his jaw in suppressed anger, almost made pushing past that fear worth it.

Spencer's mouth twisted slightly as he scooted closer to Derek. "Well, now I get why Hotch spent the past few days looking like he was about to shift and maul someone."

"He did?" Derek asked, a little surprised. Every time they came through Chicago Derek spent most of the time concentrating on protecting the pack and not shifting that he barely was aware of what everyone else was doing.

"Yep. The entire time he walked like he was about to shift. I kept expecting him to go bounding off towards Miller's pack," Spencer said.

"Aaron wouldn't shift in another pack's territory. His control is excellent," Derek said.

"He would if he thought you were being threatened," Spencer said.

Derek rolled his head to the side. Spencer was sitting right next to him; if they were any closer their legs would be touching.

Spencer reached up and placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "This is completely inappropriate, but may I kiss you?"

Derek blinked, his heart rate speeding up again. He nodded, not really sure what to expect.

Spencer leaned in and pressed his lips briefly against Derek's. It was one of the most gentle and careful kisses Derek thought he'd ever received. There was no sexual intent in Spencer's kiss, just compassion and warmth.

"May I?" Derek asked, when Spencer had pulled away.

Spencer nodded and he closed his eyes as Derek leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. This kiss lasted just barely longer than the first and Derek felt a whisper of regret when he backed away.

There was a brief moment as they looked at each other. Derek watched as Spencer's face flickered with love and confusion and Derek's own chest still ached slightly. Spencer's eyes widened with surprise right before he shifted, Derek's sweatshirt suddenly covering him completely.

Derek stared at the moving sweatshirt as Spencer squirmed around inside the fabric and then chuckled. "I guess now we know one way to get you to shift," Derek said. He picked up Spencer's glasses from where they'd landed on the blanket and put them on the table where they wouldn't get crushed. Spencer was halfway through wiggling out of the neck of the sweatshirt when Derek rescued him.

"Come on, I can't leave you down here all night. If you think Garcia's bad, wait until my sisters see you," Derek said as he picked up Spencer. He thought that Spencer's leopard form felt a little heavier than it had the first time he'd shifted, though he couldn't see a visible difference yet. "I hope you like ham, because my mom makes the best ham on Christmas."

Spencer didn't seem particularly interested in what Derek was telling him, but he let Derek cradle him in one arm while Derek untangled them from the blankets and turned off the lamp.

The house was quiet, but when Derek reached his bedroom he realized that Aaron hadn't gone to sleep despite the fact that Derek had been gone for more than an hour. Derek climbed under the blankets that Aaron held up for him, resting Spencer on his chest.

"We kissed," Derek said immediately. He was mostly sure that Aaron didn't mind but he wasn't going to try to keep it a secret either way. "And talked."

"I know," Aaron said, leaning in to kiss Derek's temple and then his lips.

"You're not mad?" Derek asked, watching as Aaron rubbed Spencer behind the ears.

Aaron shook his head and adjusted his position so that he was pressed against Derek with his arm wrapped around Derek's shoulders. "I'm not, but we need to talk later."

Spencer settled down so that he was resting on both Aaron and Derek. Derek adjusted the blankets so that Spencer would be able to see and breathe without trouble.

"Alright," Derek said. Aaron wasn't angry or hurt and they could deal with anything else. Derek felt his eyes flickering closed, he was somehow more tired than he'd realized.

"It's okay, go to sleep," Aaron said. He kissed Derek's temple again and pulled Derek in closer.

Derek let his eyes shut and fell asleep with one hand resting against Spencer and the other one pressed against Aaron's chest.

*****

The first thing Spencer noticed when he opened his eyes was the somewhat hazy quality of light. He reached up and pushed the edge of the curtain aside. The snow on the windowsill was several inches deep and Spencer shivered before he let the curtain drop and tucked his arm back under the blankets. The second thing that Spencer noticed was that some of the blankets that he'd had on the couch downstairs where now layered over the top of the blankets on the bed he'd been sleeping in.

Spencer closed his eyes again, casting out to find the rest of the team inside Derek's mother's house. They were all downstairs, along with the presence of two shifters that Spencer was able to identify as Derek's sisters. He could smell something in the oven and his stomach rumbled pointedly.

He had obviously shifted - there wasn't any other good reason for waking up naked in a place he hadn't fallen asleep - and after a moment of mentally retracing his steps the previous night he recalled talking with Derek. Spencer opened his eyes, remembering being horrified as he listened and wanting to do anything he could to take that haunted look from Derek's face. Then Derek had kissed him back, and it wasn't anything like the first kiss.

Spencer realized that he remembered shifting, not entirely, but enough that he could identify the sensation that the rest of the team talked about when they were coaching him. Gideon had described it as following a cord or a line inside to where your form was, and JJ had explained it as letting her wolf form follow a path forward. Spencer understood now why they would describe it that way but when he pictured it, it was more like a hook suddenly reaching forward and pulling him deep inside. He thought he might be able to find that hook again if he reached for it, but decided that he would rather go find something to eat before he risked shifting again.

A glance at the clock on the nightstand informed him it was late in the afternoon. He had vague recollections of crouching underneath a tree and ribbons that were just begging to be chased and bitten, but he guessed that he'd slept most of Christmas day. Someone had brought his bag up to the bedroom and Spencer found that his clothes were freshly washed. Incredibly grateful, Spencer got dressed and sat down on the bed to tie his shoes.

There was a knock on the door. "Spencer?" Hotch called.

Spencer doubted that it was a coincidence that Hotch showed up right after he finished getting dressed. He'd probably felt him shift back into human form. He decided to be thankful that Hotch had waited that long considering the team in general was far too comfortable wandering around half-dressed. Spencer sometimes got the feeling that any clothes that were worn on pack nights were out of deference to him.

"Come in," Spencer said. He stood up as the door opened and Hotch came inside. When Hotch shut the door behind him, Spencer twitched slightly. This was a conversation he'd never thought he'd have to have with his boss. "I kissed Derek."

Hotch's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Well, Derek kissed me as well, but I kissed him first," Spencer clarified, wondering why he felt the need to explain further. "When I kissed him, I didn't intend for it to be a kiss that-"

"Spencer, I know," Hotch said, holding up one of his hands in the way that Spencer was learning meant Hotch wanted him to stop rambling. Hotch walked over and sat down on the desk chair.

"Derek told you?" Spencer asked. He wasn't really surprised by that, but it was good to know.

"He didn't have to, I know when my mate kisses someone else." Hotch nodded slowly. "But, yes. Those were the first words out of his mouth when he brought you up here. At least I know that neither of you would try to keep that a secret."

Spencer looked down, feeling guilty. He'd never kissed someone when they were involved with someone else, never been a party to cheating on someone before. "I'm sorry."

Hotch leaned forward in the chair. "That's not something you need to feel sorry about. Actually, I wanted to thank you for listening like you did. Derek struggles to talk about his past, but I know that it was weighing on him to keep you excluded from something the rest of the pack knew."

Spencer folded his arms and glared at the worn floorboards, letting some of the anger he'd felt last night show. He hadn't expressed how furious he was at Derek's former pack and at Buford because he'd known that it wouldn't help Derek. "I don't know how you can come to Chicago without wanting to hunt them down. All of them."

"I do want to. Every time I see Miller I want to shift and snap his neck under my teeth," Hotch grimaced, turning away to look out the window. "But that's not what Derek wants, and I wouldn't start a pack war unless it became necessary. I would do anything to protect any member of my pack. That includes you."

Spencer looked up, surprised to discover that he actually believed that. "You're not angry that I kissed Derek, or that he kissed me back," he said, reading Hotch's body language as he mentally went over to the past few minutes.

"No, I'm not," Hotch agreed. "Fran sent me up here to collect you for dinner, now that you're able to sit at the table. Though I think Sarah and Desiree were looking forward to feeding you while you were a cub."

"Great." Spencer covered his face with his hands.

Hotch laughed, a strange but pleasant sound coming from a man who was usually more reserved. "You'll survive," he said as he stood up.

Spencer followed Hotch downstairs into the kitchen. He found himself enjoying the many conversations he had with both his team and Derek's family. This was the first Christmas he had actually celebrated; most years when he was growing up he considered it a good Christmas if he and his mom made it through the holiday break from school without her having a major episode. Even when he'd been at Cal Tech, and had declined to return to Vegas over the holiday break, he had spent Christmas researching or working on a project. He found it surprisingly nice to sit down at a dinner table and be surrounded by people who considered him part of their family. It was taking some time, but Spencer thought that he was starting to think of them the same way.

They ate dinner soon after Spencer and Hotch came downstairs. Spencer wound up sitting between Hotch and JJ and across from Derek's sisters. Sarah teased him gently about the fact that he'd apparently tried to climb up the Christmas tree in his form and Spencer decided that Derek was his favorite person ever when he got everyone off the subject of Spencer's form and talking about the meal instead.

At the end of the night, Spencer stuffed from dinner and somewhat sleepy, found himself being hugged by Derek's mother. He leaned down and rested his head on her shoulder, momentarily lost in remember the last time his mom had hugged him before he'd started his master's degrees and would be living away from home.

"You're a good man," Fran Morgan said quietly, patting his back. "You're good for my son."

"I hope so," Spencer whispered.

She squeezed him briefly before she let go and bid the rest of the team goodnight.

Spencer gave and received hugs from JJ and Garcia, and clasped hands with Hotch and Gideon as they all said goodnight. It was strangely comforting, though he felt a little bit overstimulated by touch by the time Derek reached him.

"Goodnight," Derek said. He rested his hand on Spencer's arm, like he realized that Spencer was slightly uncomfortable.

Spencer wrapped his arms around Derek. He hadn't had a chance to be alone with Derek since the previous night, not even just to say a few words. "I'm sorry I shifted on you last night."

Derek shook his head, his own arms now holding Spencer against his chest. "Don't worry about it. I didn't scare you, did I?"

"No, not at all. It was nice." Spencer leaned in, staying in Derek's embrace for as long as he could before he shivered and reluctantly backed away. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, pretty boy. Merry Christmas," Derek said.

"Merry Christmas," Spencer replied, the words almost unfamiliar on his tongue.

He curled up in the blankets that had been returned to the couch for him and picked up the notebook he'd been writing in the previous night. Reading over what he'd written the night before, Spencer turned the page and started a new letter. This would be one that he wouldn't send, as he wrote about the Christmas tree, and the dinner, and bumping elbows with Hotch as he passed the gravy, and how everyone had talked over each other and laughed and been happy.

When he finished that letter, he turned the page and started another one. This was one that he could send. He wrote that he was safe and doing well. He wrote about the cold and the snow, and how he missed winters in Vegas where the chill only required a jacket on the coldest days. He said that he missed her and that he remembered sitting with her and listening to her read to him whenever he sat down with certain books.

Spencer closed his notebook and turned off the lamp before arranging the blankets so that he was wrapped up against the cold. He thought briefly about reaching for the hook, the one that would shift his form, so that Derek would come and take him back to bed. Spencer could just barely remember being surrounded by the warmth of Derek and Hotch as they all slept.

After deciding that was probably a bad reason to want to shift, Spencer slowly drifted to sleep. They would be returning to Quantico the next day, assuming the weather was good enough for the pilot to fly back to Chicago, and Spencer forced himself to think of the soothing lull that came with flying instead of being surrounded by Derek and Hotch.

*****

Section Five