Won’t See Me Again
Summary: Reader comes to pick up her father for his scheduled half day off. When it becomes apparent he forgot, the team sees what might be the end of your relationship. For some reason, Spencer is particularly bothered by this.
Tags: Somewhat angst, Gideon!reader, unknown daughter/half sister to Stephen, mentions of absent parenting.
You walk through the clear doors to an office you haven’t been in for over 8 years. It hasn’t changed much, if at all. You remember the days you dreamed of working here, the nights you skipped parties to study human behavior, the times you ditched friends to attend lectures or seminars for subjects well above your education level at the time. The times you snuck into those same seminars when you couldn’t afford the fees.
Maybe that dream still has a chance to come true.
As a child, it had started as a fascination with what your father did for work. Then, it was a way to get close to him - something to talk about with him. The older you got, the more distant you realized he was, and the more you clung to the one connection the two of you had.
You were the love child of what was practically a one night stand after what apparently had been a harrowing divorce. It was only somewhat comforting that he wasn’t any more of a father to your half brother, Stephen, than he was to you. Stephen at least had a present mother in his life though. You wouldn’t say you and your older brother were close by any means but you would bet you knew more about him than Jason Gideon did.
None of that matters right now though. You shake your head from your reminiscing, taking the stairs to your dad’s office. You knock and are met with silence. Slowly, you open the door to peek your head in only to find it empty. As you are about to turn around, a timid voice speaks up.
“He’s in the conference room, can I, uh, help you… Miss…?”
You turn to find a rather gangly man staring at you, his brown hair slicked back behind his ears. Your heart beat picks up a moment when met with someone so attractive before your eyes zoom in on the labeled coffee mug and you give an internal sigh to yourself.
“The conference room, you said? Hm, he must have lost track of time… thank you, Dr. Reid”.
You turn, ignoring the man who you logically knew you had no reason to dislike (and would probably get along quite well with) but were unable to not feel envious of. He’d only been in your father’s life for three years and already he had spent more time with the man than you ever had.
Meanwhile, Spencer cocked his head, wondering how in the world you knew his name and just who you were.
Then he realized he was letting a stranger, albeit an incredibly attractive one that he very much wanted to talk to, wander around the BAU, one who was looking for his mentor. Hurriedly, he trailed after you, realizing he hadn’t even gotten your name, too caught up in the color of your eyes. You reached the conference room before him and he can only stand awkwardly behind you, shrugging his shoulders at his teammates confused looks.
Only Hotch seems to know who you are, and Spencer catches a tinge of worry in his expression. It doesn’t take long to determine what’s caused the rare emotion when Gideon walks back in, file in hand.
“There you are! We were supposed to meet 20 minutes ago. I swear, one year I will buy you a watch with an alarm built in that you won’t be able to turn off on your own.” Your voice breaks the silence, and Spencer can somehow tell you’re trying to come off as teasing although your voice falls flat.
He watches as Gideon looks up, and his brow furrows.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing here?”
You feel as Spencer moves from behind you, going to stand between who you assume to be Derek and Elle. You try not to notice the quizzical expression on his face, or how only Agent Hotchner seems to know who you are.
“Today… it’s Thursday. The 4th. You took a half day off, remember?”
The team looks at each other and Spencer sees Hotch wince slightly. It appears you catch the facial expressions as your eyes narrow. You open your mouth but Gideon speaks first, cutting you off.
“Well, I’m sorry but we just got this case - I’ll have to reschedule. I am sorry sweetheart”.
You sputter a moment, your mouth opening and closing.
“Re- reschedule? We can’t reschedule. Do you seriously not even remember what today is?”
Gideon sighs, closing the file and is almost patronizing as he repeats that the team has a case. You straighten your shoulders, counting to ten in your head before speaking in a calm voice.
“Is it a hostage situation? Is it the first 24 hour period of a child missing?”
Gideon pauses, before indicating that it’s not. You continue, “Then statistically speaking, your team can afford for you to leave for 12 hours. Not even 12 hours. Whatever you miss I’m sure you can catch up on while on the plane.”
Gideon attempts to place an arm on your shoulder but you shrug him off.
“… you never even requested the time off, did you?”
Gideon sighs again, muttering out a strained “sweetheart, please”.
Briefly, you wonder what the team thinks about Gideon calling someone sweetheart. You don’t know the thought is going through Spencer’s brain - you seemed a bit too young for him to be dating you, and as far as he knew, Gideon only had a son.
You scoff at your father, resisting the urge to roll your eyes. You had hoped, just this once, that he wouldn’t let you down. You should have known better. Turning your gaze to the team you plaster on the fakest smile, approaching Derek with your hand out.
“I’m sorry, it was incredibly rude of me to come in and immediately talk to my father without introducing myself. I assume none of you even know I existed based on your expressions just now. Minus you, of course, Agent Hotchner - it’s nice to see you again, I hope Haley is doing well.”
Hotch gives a small smile, nodding his head towards you but focused on watching the way Gideon deflates behind you.
You state each team members name in turn, shaking their hands and introducing yourself. You wave at Spencer, and he wonders if you know he doesn’t like handshakes or if he has done something to you that he’s unaware of. He finds himself hoping it’s the first but also wishing you didn’t know, so he’d have the opportunity to hold your hand. Once introductions are done, you turn away from the team and find your father still staring at you hopelessly.
“Look, I’m sorry but we’ll reschedule, I promise, okay kiddo?”
“You can’t reschedule. This is an event. But don’t worry, dad, I shouldn’t have expected you to actually show up when you have missed every other life event. I’ll see myself out”.
You give the team a tight smile before turning on your heel to leave. Gideon grabs your elbow, and tries to talk to you in a low voice, as if the team hasn’t heard everything else you two have said. You don’t let him finish the conversation in private, your expression turning to utter shock.
You throw your arm out, pointing directly at Spencer as you speak clearly,
“He isn’t your child but you went to his third PhD graduation. If I remember correctly, you even took him out for a dinner afterwards. I am your legitimate daughter and you have missed my high school graduation, college graduation AND the one for my Masters. Why in the world did I ever think getting a single doctorate would measure up?”
“I’ll make it up to you when I get back,” Gideon tries to say.
Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Hotch trying to usher the team out, as if he knows the conversation isn’t going to end well but you hold up your hand, shaking your head and halting their stilted movements.
“Don’t bother, Agent Gideon. By the time you get back, I’ll be out of this city and not even this team will be able to find me. I hope your case at least ends well”.
Once more your head turns to the team and you give them a stiff nod before you make your way out the door.
Spencer expects Gideon to go after you, feels like he himself should go after you and apologize for - well he doesn’t know what to apologize for but he’s sure there is something. Instead, Spencer watches you leave and Gideon turn to the round table, clearing his throat and giving the team a look that warns them not to say anything.
Only Spencer notices you stop outside Gideons office, removing something from your key ring and leaving it on the floor in front of his office door. Only Spencer notices you look back at the table and shake your head when you meet his eyes, your expression sorrowful before you straighten yourself up and walk away.
Spencer wonders if he’ll ever see you again. He doesn’t know how to explain his sadness when he realizes he probably never will.
Shout out to @hotchfiles for giving me (and probably most of us) the idea of a Gideon!reader! I know many of us are currently having the reader be Gideons kid so I hope this story is different enough!
