When I felt shuffling beside me, I was worried that Spencer had woken up already. I was proven wrong when I opened my eyes and saw Delilah trying to silently slide in between the two of us.

"What are you up to?" I whispered, trying not to disturb the sleeping creature beside us.

"Just wanted a cuddle." I smiled, running my fingers through her long brown hair. After a moment, I heard her stomach start to grumble.

"Someone's hungry. Let's go make some breakfast."

We got out of bed and made our way to the kitchen, Delilah claiming her spot at the small island. "What do you feel like eating, Dee?"

"Waffles, please."

I put them in the toaster and turned to see my lovely daughter, her head propped up by her hands. It finally hit me that I needed to have a chat with her. I knew things were going to change around here and I didn't want her going into all of it blind.

"Dee, we need to have a little chat." She nodded and pulled her head out of her hands, giving me her full attention.

"First of all, your dad and I have some tine off of work. So you've got us all to yourself for six whole weeks."

Her face lit up with excitement. I could already see the gears turning in her head, planning all the different things she would want to do with us.

"But we've also got to talk about your dad."

The smile fell from her face. "Is he okay? He doesn't have to go away again, does he?"

"No sweetie, he's not going away again." I moved around the island to sit next to her, holding her hands in mine.

"Your dad went through something pretty scary while he was away. Remember how sad you were when he went away? Remember how certain things changed because your mood changed?"

She nodded, a frown appearing on her face.

"Well he's gonna be going through something similar. He might be sad or scared some days. He might want to be alone to help himself feel better or he might want to hang out with us. We just have to be mindful and supportive of him, okay?"

I hoped that was enough for a 6 year old to understand. But she is her father's daughter, so I think she understood it all.

She gave me a nod, giving my hand a squeeze. "It's like what the social worker at school said. He's healing and sometimes healing hurts. I just need to be a really good daughter."

"That's right, baby." I pulled her into a hug, placing a kiss in her hair. Our moment was interrupted when the toaster went off, signifying the waffles were done. I took them out, buttering them up and preparing them to my daughter's liking.

She started to dig in while I nursed a cup of tea. After a while, we heard some shuffling coming towards the kitchen. Spencer walked in, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It looked like the sleep did him some good.

"Morning, dad!" Delilah said as she jumped down from her stool, running up to give her dad a hug. "Good morning, bug." He returned her hug and placed a kiss on her hair. I started to prepare him a cup of tea as he talked to his daughter. I know he prefers coffee in the morning, but tea would be better for him right now.

He turned his attention towards me, taking the mug from my hands. "Thanks, love," he said as he placed a kiss on my temple.

As we had breakfast, I noticed he was a bit quiet. I didn't expect anything different. Spencer was always on the quiet side after tough cases. But this was more than a tough case.

When Delilah left to get ready for the day, he leaned over and grabbed my hands. His thumb was running over my knuckles. I could tell he was trying to form the words he wanted to say in his head.

"Did you sleep well?" I questioned him. He nodded, letting out a shaky breath before he started to speak.

"I think I need to find a place for my mom. Trying to fix her condition is what got us into this whole mess. I can't risk losing you two again. She's made peace with it, so I should too."

I gave his hand a squeeze, knowing that was hard for him to admit.

"I think Cheryl and Diana had been looking at places a while ago. I could talk to them about what they found."

He gave me a nod. I knew there was more he wanted to say, so I waited for him to speak his mind.

"I... I think seeing my therapist would be good."

"Okay, I can set that up."

He bit his lip, tears starting to pool in his eyes. "It's okay, Spence. You don't have to tell me everything right now. Take your time."

Once the first sob left his throat, I pulled him off the stool and into a hug. He started to shake, tightening his grip around me.

I could feel my own tears coming on, my lip starting to quiver slightly. I whispered more reassurances in his ear. After a while, he calmed down. His breathing slowed back to normal and he loosened his grip.

"I'm sorry," he sniffled out.

"It's okay. Let's get you dressed. I'm sure your daughter has our whole day planned out."

He chuckled, rubbing his eyes.

"You can say no to her, you know. I talked to her this morning and she understands that you're hurting. So don't worry about upsetting her."

He nodded, making his way up to our bedroom. The rest of the day went on pretty smoothly. He was on the quiet side, but he had a smile on his face all day. He was happy to be home with us once again.

It was when the sun went down that I started to worry. After putting Delilah to bed, I noticed he was starting to get fidgety. His hands were shaking slightly and sweat was forming on his forehead.

"I'm scared to fall asleep," he whimpered as we got into bed. I grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on his knuckles.

"I know it's tough, but I'll be right here, okay? You've helped me through plenty of rough nights, now it's my turn to return the favor."

He nodded and gave me a kiss before we got comfortable. After a while, I fell asleep, and he had been sleeping well for a bit too.

Hours later, I heard some whimpers from beside me. I opened my eyes and saw Spencer tossing in his sleep. I knew I had to wake him up without making his condition any worse. I placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly.

"Spencer. Spencer, wake up, sweetie."

He then shot up, breathing heavily. When he looked over, I could see the confusion and hurt in his eyes. He placed his hands on his ears, slightly rocking back and forth.

"Spencer, can you look at me?"

He picked his head up slightly. He looked so frightened, a look I've seen plenty of times in our line of work.

"I'm gonna try and bring your heart rate back down, okay? Can you tell me five things you can see?"

His eyes darted around the room frantically. "The-the plant on the dresser. The fan-"

He chocked on a sob, swallowing before continuing speaking.

"My satchel on the chair. The picture of us on the nightstand. And... the blanket."

"That's good, baby. Now what about four things you feel?"

He closed his eyes, his hands coming down from his ears.

"My pajamas... The comforter... The air conditioning."

He grabbed my hand, his breathing going down slightly.

"You."

"That's good. We're almost there. Now what about three things you can hear?"

His eyes darted around the room again.

"The fan... Delilah's white noise machine... My heartbeat."

I brought his hand to my lips, giving him a kiss before continuing.

"Alright, 2 things you can smell."

He sniffled, the tears in his eyes slowing down their race down his cheeks.

"The air freshener... Your deodorant."

Thankfully his breathing had gone back to normal, but I wanted to finish the exercise in the hopes that it could still keep his mind off of the nightmare.

"One thing you can taste."

"My tears, s' salty."

Once he finished, he all but collapsed in my arms. I ran my hand up and down his back.

"M' sorry," he mumbled into my hair.

"It's okay, I'm right here. Do you want to talk about it?"

He paused for a moment before he started to speak. He dreamt that he was back in prison, being beat up while they taunted him with hurting Delilah and me. The tears came back, but his breathing wasn't as labored as when he woke up.

"They can't hurt you anymore. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

He nodded as I placed a kiss on his temple. We both laid back down, his head buried into my chest. After a few moments, we heard a knock on the door. Standing in the doorway was Delilah, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"Hey sweetie, what's up?"

"I heard you guys and I wanted to see if you were okay."

Spencer sat up, patting the spot in bed next to us. She jumped in, giving her dad a kiss before getting comfortable.

"I'm okay, sweetie. Thank you for checking on me."

He gave her a kiss on the head before giving me a quick peck on the lips. "Love you both," he murmured.

"Love you too, dad."

After a few minutes, we all fell asleep, cuddled into each other. The first night back is always rough, but we'll take this one step at a time.

If only I could give Spencer Reid a hug :( Hope you guys are enjoying the story, we're in the home stretch!